Best Champions Ban Tier List For Ranked by Rank - Patch 26.14 July 2026

Mordekaiser Rules the Ladder, Locke Still Haunts on Top

Mordekaiser is the story of this patch's ban phase outside of the very top of the ladder: he's a God Tier ban at every single rank from Emerald down to Bronze/Iron, the only champion on this entire list who can say that. Locke, meanwhile, is still the scariest number on the sheet: three out of every four Diamond+ games see him banned, even though his own win rate never strays far from 50%. Between the two of them, this patch has no shortage of things to fear in champion select.

Season 16

Patch 26.14 Ban Tier List

Ban List

Mordekaiser Rules the Ladder, Locke Still Haunts on Top

Mordekaiser is the story of this patch's ban phase outside of the very top of the ladder: he's a God Tier ban at every single rank from Emerald down to Bronze/Iron, the only champion on this entire list who can say that. Locke, meanwhile, is still the scariest number on the sheet: three out of every four Diamond+ games see him banned, even though his own win rate never strays far from 50%. Between the two of them, this patch has no shortage of things to fear in champion select.

Check out the full list below!

Be sure to check out the regular ranked queue list as well!

The purpose of this list is to discover optimal bans, with the knowledge that enemy teams will likely ban the ones at the top of the list.

Banning Thought Process

1. Which champions could the enemy team pick that would really screw my team over?
2. Which champions could the enemy team pick that would really screw ME over?
3. Which of the champions above is the enemy team likely going to pick if it's not banned?
4. Which of the champions above is the enemy team probably going to ban?

After considering these items, it's time to hit the ban phase.

Optimal Bans

Diamond+

God Tier [Likely/Should Bans]

1. Locke
2. Thresh
3. Leona
4. Ahri
5. Senna
6. Jinx

Good Bans [Popular Strong Champions]

1. Pyke
2. Naafiri
3. Sylas
4. Lee Sin
5. Nautilus

Meh Bans [Probable But Unnecessary Bans]

1. Mel
2. Zed
3. Akali

Emerald

God Tier [Likely/Should Bans]

1. Mordekaiser
2. Nocturne
3. Thresh
4. Locke
5. Jinx
6. Garen

Good Bans [Popular Strong Champions]

1. Sylas
2. Seraphine
3. Nautilus
4. Viktor
5. Leona

Meh Bans [Probable But Unnecessary Bans]

1. Mel
2. Pyke
3. Caitlyn

Platinum

God Tier [Likely/Should Bans]

1. Mordekaiser
2. Nocturne
3. Leona
4. Jinx
5. Malzahar
6. Thresh

Good Bans [Popular Strong Champions]

1. Locke
2. Sylas
3. Seraphine
4. Nautilus
5. Garen

Meh Bans [Probable But Unnecessary Bans]

1. Mel
2. Caitlyn
3. Morgana

Gold

God Tier [Likely/Should Bans]

1. Mordekaiser
2. Leona
3. Nocturne
4. Malzahar
5. Garen
6. Seraphine

Good Bans [Popular Strong Champions]

1. Locke
2. Sylas
3. Nautilus
4. Lux
5. Yone

Meh Bans [Probable But Unnecessary Bans]

1. Mel
2. Caitlyn
3. Zed

Silver

God Tier [Likely/Should Bans]

1. Mordekaiser
2. Malzahar
3. Teemo
4. Miss Fortune
5. Sett
6. Seraphine

Good Bans [Popular Strong Champions]

1. Morgana
2. Master Yi
3. Lux
4. Nocturne
5. Nautilus

Meh Bans [Probable But Unnecessary Bans]

1. Mel
2. Shaco
3. Caitlyn

Bronze/Iron

God Tier [Likely/Should Bans]

1. Leona
2. Yorick
3. Mordekaiser
4. Shyvana
5. Veigar
6. Dr. Mundo

Good Bans [Popular Strong Champions]

1. Teemo
2. Morgana
3. Seraphine
4. Illaoi
5. Warwick

Meh Bans [Probable But Unnecessary Bans]

1. Locke
2. Mel
3. Caitlyn

Method

To do this list, I pull directly from op.gg's per-tier statistics, going rank by rank instead of assuming Platinum and up all look the same. Afterwards, I check the most banned champions and separate them into either "God Tier" or "Meh Bans" based on win rate and popularity, sometimes subjective reasoning (in which case I'd do a write-up).

Last I do an analysis of both the win rate and the popularity by division and add in good bans for that division based on such.

Explanations

Mordekaiser [God Tier, Emerald through Bronze/Iron]

Mordekaiser is the single most consistent ban on this entire list once you drop below Diamond+: he's a God Tier top lane ban at Emerald, Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze/Iron, with his win rate actually climbing the lower you go, all the way up to nearly 55% in Silver. His self-sustain and true damage ultimate punish exactly the kind of extended, low-coordination fights that dominate mid-to-low elo, which is why he shows up as an elite ban everywhere except the one bracket sharp enough to punish his early game before he gets there.

Locke [God Tier, Diamond+ and Emerald]

Locke is the headline story of this patch at the top of the ladder: a ban rate near 76% at Diamond+ and still north of 73% at Emerald, easily the single most-feared name on the whole sheet. What's remarkable is his win rate barely cracks 50-52% at either rank, which means the ladder isn't banning him because he's dominant on paper, it's banning him because nobody wants to be the one who finds out the hard way. That fear evaporates fast as rank drops, though, sliding into Good Bans by Platinum and all the way down to a middling Meh Bans entry in Bronze/Iron.

Nautilus [Good Bans, Diamond+ through Silver]

Nautilus is the quiet, dependable name of this list: a Good Bans support pick at every rank from Diamond+ down through Silver, hovering right around a 50% win rate with a double-digit pick rate the entire way. He never headlines a rank's God Tier, but he never falls off the list either, which is exactly the profile of a champion whose hook-and-knockup combo is simply always going to be a strong, popular first-pick-or-ban regardless of who's playing him.

Mel [Meh Bans, every single rank]

Mel is the only champion on this entire list to land in Meh Bans at all six ranks, and her numbers only get worse the lower you go: her ban rate climbs from 30% at Diamond+ to nearly 38% in Bronze/Iron, while her win rate never once leaves the mid-to-high 40s at any rank. That combination usually means one of two things: players are banning her out of pure annoyance from being hit by her kit, or her power is real but the execution is hard enough that only a fraction of the playerbase is pulling it off. Either way, she's clearly living in a lot of players' heads.

Caitlyn [Meh Bans, Emerald through Bronze/Iron]

Caitlyn is this patch's ban-rate anomaly: her pick rate climbs from 16.6% at Emerald to over 22% in Silver and Bronze/Iron, and her ban rate climbs right alongside it, up to nearly 28% at the bottom of the ladder. Despite being the single most-picked ADC at most ranks, her win rate never breaks 50%, stuck in the 47-50% range from top to bottom. She's a textbook Meh Bans case: banned constantly out of respect for her range and safety, even though the numbers say she's not actually winning enough to justify it.

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