The Short Version
- Top: Singed (S, 53.39% WR) - free wins into a wide top lane meta with no answer to proxying.
- Jungle: Rek'Sai (S+, 53.17% WR, rank 1 of 77) - the highest win rate jungler in Patch 26.9.
- Mid: Vladimir (S, 53.10% WR) - safe scaling lane bully, rank 3 of 98.
- Bot: Jinx (S+, 52.39% WR, 99.6% lane share) - rank 1 ADC, dominates the new item curve.
- Support: Seraphine (S, 54.19% WR) - the highest win rate champion in any role this patch.
- Spicy picks: Karthus bot (55.47% WR), Yasuo bot, Naafiri flex top/jungle/mid (53%+ in all three).
- Why this meta exists: Trailblazer and Opportunity removals, the return of Stormraider's Stormsurge and Deathfire Touch, and the new role quest tuning.
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How We Pick
Every champion ranking in this guide uses LoLalytics Patch 26.9 Emerald+ data. We filter for champions that pull both real game volume (so the win rate is not a small-sample illusion) and a strong main-lane share (so we are not promoting an off-role flex pick that only one Master player makes work).
For each role we picked the highest win rate champion that also has at least 60% main-lane share and a meaningful pick rate. That gets you a champion that is genuinely strong in the role you queue for, not a 56% win rate Riven smurf top who only has 7% lane share. We then validated each pick against pro builds and the Patch 26.9 changes to confirm the data is real, not a one-week noise spike.
If a champion in this guide gets nerfed in a B-patch or a hotfix, this list will be revisited. For champion-specific build help in your live games, the Hexgate overlay reads the matchup live and recommends items based on the same Emerald+ data this guide uses.
Patch 26.9 Tier List Snapshot
The five highest-leverage picks per role, sorted by Emerald+ win rate. All numbers are from Patch 26.9, the opening patch of Season 2 Pandemonium.
| Role | Champion | Tier | Win Rate | Lane Share | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top | Singed | S | 53.39% | 86% | DFT proxy abuser |
| Jungle | Rek'Sai | S+ | 53.17% | 90% | Rank 1 of 77 junglers |
| Mid | Vladimir | S | 53.10% | 65% | Scales through any item meta |
| Bot | Jinx | S+ | 52.39% | 99.6% | Rank 1 of 49 ADCs, free Yun Tal scaling |
| Support | Seraphine | S | 54.19% | 88% | Highest WR in any role this patch |
Two patterns jump out. First, every winning pick this patch is a champion that wants to scale through items rather than win level 3 - the new Patch 26.9 jungle pacing, the role quest changes, and the loss of Trailblazer all push games slightly later. Second, the supports are eating: three of the top five highest win rate champions in the entire game are supports (Seraphine, Rell, Nami), driven by the return of Stormraider's Stormsurge and the rune retunes.
Best Top Laner: Singed
Singed
53.39% WR S TierWhy Singed Climbs This Patch
Singed has quietly been the best blind-pick top laner since the Patch 26.9 changes hit. The return of Deathfire Touch in the Sorcery tree gives him exactly what he wanted: flat magic damage on every poison tick. His Q (Poison Trail) and W (Mega Adhesive) both proc DFT for as long as enemies stay in the area, turning every fight into a damage-over-time blender that ignores resistances better than any AP top in the game.
Top lane this patch is also a wide meta with no dominant counter. The Trailblazer removal slowed jungle clears slightly, which means Singed gets fewer pre-6 ganks while he proxies. Most top laners cannot solo-kill him, and his roam pressure into mid is uncontested when the enemy jungler is a slow-clearer like Sejuani or Rammus rebuilding their pathing.
Core Build
Starting:
Late game:
Runes
Primary Sorcery: Deathfire Touch, Nimbus Cloak, Transcendence, Scorch.
Secondary Inspiration: Cash Back, Cosmic Insight.
Stat shards: Move Speed, Adaptive Force, HP scaling.
Phase Rush is gone from the tree, and Singed never wanted it anyway. Deathfire Touch is the keystone in the highest win rate page (57% WR over 4,300+ games), and Nimbus Cloak gives him a free flash-in chase tool when he ults.
Skill Order
Q > E > W, taking R at 6, 11, and 16. Max Q first for poison damage. E has a higher base than W, and you only need one point in W for the Mega Adhesive root utility.
Best Jungler: Rek'Sai
Rek'Sai
53.17% WR S+ TierWhy Rek'Sai Climbs This Patch
Rek'Sai is the highest win rate jungler in Patch 26.9 and the only S+ tier jungler whose lane share is over 90%. With Trailblazer gone, tank junglers (Sejuani, Rammus, Maokai, Zac) lost their default first back and are forced into a slower, more fight-coupled clear. Rek'Sai already did that, and now her pre-6 invade window gets a full extra 30-45 seconds before tank junglers come online.
Her tunnel network punishes Patch 26.9's role quest changes too: top laners are getting pushed to teamfight earlier, and Rek'Sai's level 6 flank into a 5v5 mid skirmish is one of the best pure tempo plays in the game. Her bruiser scaling off Titanic Hydra into Spear of Shojin makes her a real teamfight threat after item three, not just a snowball ganker.
Core Build
Starting:
Late game:
Runes
Primary Domination: Hail of Blades, Sudden Impact, Treasure Hunter, Ultimate Hunter.
Secondary Inspiration: Magical Footwear, Cosmic Insight.
Stat shards: Adaptive Force, Adaptive Force, HP scaling.
Hail of Blades pairs with Rek'Sai's three-hit Q in burrowed form for instant burst on the gank. Sudden Impact procs every time she resurfaces or uses E to dash. Ultimate Hunter is doing real work this patch since her R cooldown determines how many cross-map flanks she can pull off in mid-game windows.
Skill Order
Q > E > W. Max Q for damage and Fury generation, E for execute damage and dash range, W last for the burrow utility. R at 6, 11, 16.
Pathing tip: Start red side opposite scuttle, full clear into a level 4 invade on the enemy red. With Trailblazer gone, most tank junglers cannot fight you at level 4 and your knockup gives you the engage. This single pattern is worth 1-2 LP per game alone.
Best Mid Laner: Vladimir
Vladimir
53.10% WR S TierWhy Vladimir Climbs This Patch
Vladimir is one of the most reliable mid laners in Patch 26.9. Naafiri is technically higher win rate but only 23% of her games are mid (she flexes top and jungle as much as mid), and Zed is item-dependent in ways that make him swingy without a snowball. Vladimir is the highest win rate mid lane main with consistent results across Emerald through Master, and his pick rate is low enough that you almost never see him banned.
Two things power him this patch. First, the new mid lane role quest reward (6% bonus AD and AP) compounds with his AP-scaling W shield and ult execute - he gets free stats just for hitting CS milestones. Second, the meta around him is bursty assassins (Zed, Talon, Naafiri) who cannot finish him through pool, so he wins the mid lane skirmish that defines the early game.
Core Build
Starting:
Late game:
Runes
Primary Precision: Conqueror, Triumph, Legend: Alacrity, Last Stand.
Secondary Sorcery: Manaflow Band (you do not use mana, but the AP is real), Gathering Storm.
Stat shards: Adaptive Force, Adaptive Force, HP scaling.
Conqueror over Phase Rush - Phase Rush no longer exists in Patch 26.9. Conqueror gives Vladimir the sustain he needs in extended trades, which is exactly when his Q heal compounds.
Skill Order
Q > E > W. Max Q first for the heal and trade pattern, E second for waveclear and damage, W last as a positioning tool. R at 6, 11, 16.
Best Bot Laner: Jinx
Jinx
52.39% WR S+ TierWhy Jinx Climbs This Patch
Jinx is the rank 1 ADC in Patch 26.9. Her rocket auto-attacks scale extremely well off the Yun Tal Wildarrows first item, and her late-game teamfight reset pattern is unchanged from previous patches. The bot lane meta around her is also forgiving - Caitlyn dropped to A- tier and Lucian is below 51% win rate, which means Jinx wins the mirror against most contested ADCs.
Jinx benefits indirectly from the Stormraider's return too: her Get Excited! passive stacks on top of Stormraider's burst threshold movement speed when her support is running it. The combined sticking power lets her chase down kills she previously had to give up on.
Core Build
Starting:
Late game:
Runes
Primary Precision: Lethal Tempo, Triumph, Legend: Alacrity, Coup de Grace.
Secondary Inspiration: Magical Footwear, Cash Back.
Stat shards: Attack Speed, Adaptive Force, HP scaling.
Lethal Tempo is winning over Press the Attack on Jinx specifically because the rocket-on-hit pattern eats more attack speed than any other ADC. Cash Back accelerates her three-item power spike, which is when Jinx becomes oppressive.
Skill Order
Q > W > E, R at 6, 11, 16. Q max first for the rocket damage, W second for the long-range poke and waveclear, E last for utility points.
Best Support: Seraphine
Seraphine
54.19% WR S TierWhy Seraphine Climbs This Patch
Seraphine is the highest win rate champion across any role in Patch 26.9 with at least 30,000 games of sample size. Three of the top five champions in the entire game are supports right now, and Seraphine is the most consistent of them. She is countered most by Elise, Milio, and Brand - all niche picks that most people will not be running into a Seraphine specifically.
Her dominance is partly the meta and partly the patch. The support item path through World Atlas into Zaz'Zak's Realmspike is being abused by AP enchanters (also why Janna and Karma feel strong), and Seraphine's wide-AoE kit takes more advantage of Realmspike than any other support. Her ult is also one of the few non-ult engages in the game that hard-counters Stormraider's-empowered burst champions, since the chain root cancels their dash mid-air.
Core Build
Starting:
Late game:
Runes
Primary Sorcery: Summon Aery, Manaflow Band, Transcendence, Scorch.
Secondary Inspiration: Cash Back, Cosmic Insight (or Approach Velocity if your ADC has a self-slow like Caitlyn or Senna).
Stat shards: Adaptive Force, Adaptive Force, HP scaling.
The Sorcery + Inspiration page is the highest win rate Seraphine page in Patch 26.9 (54.4% WR over 28,000+ games). Aery scales with her AP from Realmspike and Rylai's, and Cash Back makes the Atlas-to-Realmspike-to-Rylai's spike land faster.
Skill Order
W > Q > E, R at 6, 11, 16. W max first for the AoE shield and damage, Q second for poke, E last (one point at level 2 for the slow-into-stun setup).
Off-Meta Sleepers Worth Picking Up
If you have already mastered the meta and want a pocket pick that nobody bans, three off-meta picks are putting up real numbers in Patch 26.9.
Karthus Bot (55.47% WR, 29% Lane Share)
Karthus has been an off-meta bot pick for years, but Patch 26.9 makes him genuinely strong. The Sorcery rune retunes (DFT, Stormsurge, Scorch) all stack on his passive lane bullying, and Yun Tal Wildarrows-driven bot lane meta forces ADCs into longer farming windows that Karthus's Q out-trades. His 55.47% Emerald+ win rate is the highest in the bot lane and only 29% of his games are bot, which means players who specifically pick Karthus bot know what they are doing.
Build:
Yasuo Bot (53.81% WR)
Yasuo bot is a niche pick, but it works specifically well into AoE-light enemy supports (Soraka, Janna, Senna). His double critical strike with Phantom Dancer + Infinity Edge cores faster post-Yun Tal-Wildarrows era, and Stormraider's gives him an alternative to Conqueror that fits his hit-and-run pattern in lane. Pick this when the enemy bot is a non-engage support and you can win level 2 all-ins.
Naafiri Top/Jungle/Mid (53%+ in All Three)
Naafiri is the most flexible champion in Patch 26.9. She holds 53.98% win rate top, 50.95% jungle, and 53.73% mid - all at S or S+ tier. Her 27% ban rate means she is the second-most-banned champion in the game, so do not hover her in champ select. If you queue top, jungle, or mid and she actually gets through bans, she is one of the strongest blind picks in the game. The new lethality build path (
Why This Specific Meta Exists
Patch 26.9 made four changes that converged on the current tier list:
- Trailblazer was removed. Tank junglers lost their default first back. Skirmisher and bruiser junglers (Rek'Sai, Lee Sin, Graves) all moved up the tier list as a result. Tank junglers are still playable but have to commit to a slower clear path.
- Opportunity was removed. Lethality assassins now build
Youmuu's Ghostblade first by default. This widened the assassin item pool but slightly weakened their early game burst, which is why scaling mids (Vladimir, Ahri) climbed past them. - Stormraider's Stormsurge and Deathfire Touch returned. DFT specifically rewards persistent damage champions like Singed, Brand, and Cassiopeia. Stormraider's gives juggernauts and high-burst champions a sticking tool that did not exist last patch. See our full DFT and Stormraider's guide for the rune-by-champion synergy notes.
- Mid lane role quest now grants 6% bonus AD and AP. This is a flat scaling buff to anyone who CSes well, which is why Vladimir and Naafiri (both AP scaling assassins) climbed.
The big winners are champions whose kits matched these changes already - they did not need to be buffed, they just got a tailwind from the system around them. The tier list will compress as players adjust their builds and pick rates over the next two patches, but the directional shifts are real.
How to Actually Climb in Season 2
Knowing the tier list is the easy part. Translating it into LP is harder. A few rules of thumb that work specifically for the first month of any season:
Play Two Champions, Not Five
The first 30 games of Season 2 ranked are placement-heavy. You will face wildly different MMR opponents and your performance variance is going to be huge. The best counter to that variance is comfort. Pick the highest win rate champion in this guide that you have at least 50 games on, plus one backup pick for when it gets banned. Resist the urge to expand your pool - mastery of two picks beats average play on five every time.
Counter-Build Every Single Game
Patch 26.9 changed enough items that your old "default build" is probably wrong. The lethality core changed. The tank jungle path changed. Spellblade items got retuned. If you are still building Patch 26.7 muscle memory in Patch 26.9 ranked, you are giving away free win rate. Read the enemy team in champ select, identify whether they stack AD or AP, and pivot your build accordingly. Our counter-building guide has the framework if you want to drill it.
Don't Chase Mythics That No Longer Exist
The mythic system is gone. The "you have to build this first" instinct dies hard for older players, but the highest win rate Patch 26.9 builds often skip what used to be your mythic and rush a Legendary item that fits the matchup. Check the actual Patch 26.9 build for your champion before you ranked queue, not the Wiki page that has not been updated since Season 16.
Use a Live Tool, Not a Static Tier List
This guide is a snapshot. Win rates shift on B-patches, hotfixes, and player adaptation. The Hexgate overlay reads the enemy team in real time during champ select and item shop, then recommends the highest win rate items for your specific matchup using the same Emerald+ data this article is based on. If you are at the rank where two correct item choices a game is the difference between climbing and stalling, that is where the leverage is.
Reality check: No tier list will get you to your rank if you are not honest about your fundamentals. CS at 10 minutes, vision score per minute, and deaths in winning lanes are still the three biggest variables in solo queue MMR. Tier lists matter, but they matter less than your last 50 games' worth of reps.
FAQ
What is the best champion to climb in Season 2 Pandemonium ranked?
Seraphine support has the highest Emerald+ win rate in Patch 26.9 at 54.19%, with Rek'Sai jungle (53.17%) and Singed top (53.39%) close behind. Jinx is the dominant bot lane pick at 52.39% with a 99.6% lane share, and Vladimir mid sits at 53.10% as the strongest mainstream mid laner.
Why is Seraphine so strong in Season 2?
Seraphine support runs Summon Aery into a Zaz'Zak's Realmspike and Rylai's Crystal Scepter core that abuses her wide AoE poke and hard CC ult. The return of Stormraider's Stormsurge is also a soft buff: opponents who would normally engage on her are now slower than her after she lands her ult, keeping her safe in the late game.
What are the best off-meta picks in Patch 26.9?
Karthus bot at 55.47% win rate (29% lane share) is the standout off-meta carry. Yasuo bot at 53.81% works against melee or AoE-light enemy supports. Naafiri flexes between top, jungle, and mid with a 53%+ win rate in all three roles, and a 27% ban rate that makes her a strong blind pick when unbanned.
Should I play meta or comfort picks for ranked?
Play comfort first, then meta. A champion you have 100+ games on at 50% win rate will outclimb a meta champion you are still learning at 47%. Use the meta as a tiebreaker for which two-three pocket picks to invest practice into, not as a reason to play something you have never touched.
How often does the meta change in Season 2?
Season 2 Pandemonium runs for six patches (26.9 through 26.14), and Riot has historically pushed mid-cycle B-patches when something is overtuned. Expect at least two notable meta shifts inside the season as items, runes, and outlier champions get tuned. Re-check the tier list every two weeks if you want to stay current.
Where does this data come from?
Win rates, tier rankings, and pick/ban rates are pulled from LoLalytics in the Emerald+ ranked Solo/Duo bracket on Patch 26.9. Build paths are the highest win rate Patch 26.9 cores from the same dataset, validated against pro builds where the sample size was small.
Are these picks the same in lower elos?
Mostly yes. The same champion strengths show up across Gold, Platinum, and Emerald, with two adjustments: in Gold and below, Seraphine's win rate climbs even higher (lower elo enemies do not respect her ult range) and Singed's win rate dips slightly because his proxy strategy depends on opponents recognizing the wave state. Vladimir, Rek'Sai, and Jinx are stable across the entire bracket.
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