The definitive League of Legends tier list: The best Champions on Patch 26.16

Naerlyn Last Updated August 14, 2026

Patch 26.16 is the second patch of Season 3 of 2026. While most eyes are fixed on League Classic, 26.16 also rebalances mages to put ADCs back in the bot lane.

So if you’re looking for the best champions to carry your ranked LoL games with in Season 3, search no further! Here’s our League of Legends tier list for patch 26.16.

Best top lane champions: Tier list

Kayle, scaling to the top

Ever since Dusk and Dawn came out, Kayle paired her scaling DPS with early burst. The Righteous now has power spikes everywhere: she now has a good mid game before her excellent late game. To top it off, Kayle can easily get cheese kills by going for all-ins at level 1 with Lethal Tempo, as opponents don’t expect her level one to be so powerful.

Nasus, stacking in lane again

In 2026, Nasus became a terror in the jungle. In order to rectify this, Riot reduced his jungle stacking in 26.16 and increased his regular stacks from +3 to +4 to compensate. Naturally, this made him very powerful in lane instead.

Strongly lowering the time it takes for Nasus to become a threat, his weaknesses became rare in solo queue. By level 6, he beats most top laners in all-ins and is only really vulnerable to being kited.

Best jungle champions: Tier list

Zac, ganking from the next screen

Ever since his release in 2013, Zac has been among the best gankers in the entire game. The green blob can use his E even through the biggest walls, landing for damage and CC. This requires the opponents to adapt the way they ward, which rarely happens in solo queue.

Additionally, his passive makes him an excellent tower diver. Zac can use this to allow his bot lane to snowball from the get-go and take things from there.

Zac is one of the best LoL junglers. Image credit: Riot Games

Rammus, doing OK

On patch 26.16, the strongest junglers are all champions with high sustain or auto-attackers. Rammus happens to be exceptionally strong against champions with high attack speed, and to always build Bramble Vest as his first item.

The armadillo is very draft-dependent, being too good against many champions and invisible against many others. So when the patch favors a majority of junglers that he’s great against, he’s a great jungle pick. Even more so with ADCs all getting buffed.

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Best mid lane champions: Tier list

Ahri, between mage and assassin

Ahri is a very versatile champion. The nine-tailed fox has an obvious assassination pattern: ult and charm, burst, ult away. Ahri has the burst and the mobility to find and kill a target, so long as she hits her E.

However, she’s capable of much more. Ahri has good damage that she can dish out from range. With her charm and mobility, she’s also safe from fighters trying to reach her.

Ahri can sit in the mid lane and clear waves, split push in a side, or hide and ambush her prey. The fox’s downside, though, is that she pays for that versatility by having a lower damage output. Ahri can create a lead and snowball it, but she’ll get outclassed if she makes mistakes and falls behind.

Xerath, winning from one screen away

When mages fill the bot lane, who then belongs in mid? Still mages! Xerath belongs to the former category in the meta: a champion who outranges his fellow spellcasters.

The Archmage has the strongest artillery in the game. Xerath’s combos end up being able to take down a full health carry, and if he misses a Q, he can try again three seconds later.

Xerath is a safe pick, who doesn’t have to wonder whether he should go in or not. The answer is always no, he doesn’t need to.

Lightning never strikes twice, because the enemies will be dead after the first hit.

LoL tier list best mid lane champs: Xerath. Image Source: Riot Games

Best bot lane champions: Tier list

Jinx, the return of hypercarries

Since Classic and until now, Jinx has been the premier crit champion and hypercarry. No matter what happens, she will become a threat.

The star of Arcane has a weak early game and needs to stay cautious for a while. Afterwards, the moment she’s left alone with a turret, that building is gone and her pockets fill up.

With mages getting nudged out of the bot lane in 26.16, Jinx is a great beneficiary of the class-wide ADC buffs. Once again, she can safely scale to walk up to a teamfight and take over after a single kill.

Tristana, the bot lane assassin

On patch 26.16, almost all ADCs received +3 MR. Tristana, on the other hand, got +5 as her baseline was lower to nerf her in the mid lane. With an 18% increase to that stat, she’s suddenly much more resilient to the damage type of half the bot lane champions.

Much like Jinx, Tristana is a hypercarry with high range, attack speed, and AoE, who excels at destroying turrets. However, whereas Jinx scales better, Tristana also doubles down as an assassin, capable of taking out any squishy target at all levels.

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Best support champions: Tier list

Taric, truly outrageous

Taric is one of those forgotten champions as most of his kit isn’t visible or convenient to land. However, he’s a solid pick into both enchanters and tank supports. Against tanks, his passive allows him to repeatedly chain his spells, giving him strong utility and even damage. Against enchanters, his stun provides him with good burst to take them down.

Taric’s ult is also one of the strongest spells in the game. Despite being harder to play around, it has insane potential paired with a solid baseline. To ward off divers, dispel AoE ults, nullify an engage comp, or allow the team to engage while invulnerable during an objective stand-off, this ultimate can turn games around. The paladin fills a unique niche in the support role, and he’s currently very strong.

Taric is one of the best supports in LoL in Season 2026. Image Source: Riot Games

Poppy, to deny all dashes

Ever since engaging supports rose in popularity, so did Poppy. The Yordle is everything those champions fear. At first, she matches their damage in lane. Then, she can simply block their engages with her W.

Read also: How to play support in LoL

If she doesn’t, she can beat them up afterwards. Poppy’s E and Q allow her to turn a genius enemy engage into an int. As for the cherry on top, she’s also a flex pick, able to go support, jungle, or top.

Featured image credit: Riot Games