The definitive League of Legends tier list: The best Champions on Patch 26.18

Naerlyn Last Updated September 12, 2026

Patch 26.18 is the fourth patch of Season 3 of 2026. As the dust settles from the support and ADC changes, the bot lane meta stabilizes again.

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 26.18.

Best top lane champions: Tier list

Shen, the one-shot tank

In 2026, the ninja has greatly benefited from Dusk and Dawn. Shen has always been a good tank with strong 1v1 potential, backed up with his trademark ultimate. Stand United affects fights across the entire map and turns Shen into one of the best splitpushers in the game. With that ultimate, the top laner doesn’t need to be present with the team, he can simply occupy another lane and can join any fight at a moment’s notice.

With Dusk and Dawn paired with Titanic Hydra, Shen pairs up his tankiness with incredible burst after his taunt, making him a versatile threat for solo queue.

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. Even after a follow-up nerf, this left 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

Sylas, to seize the means of ulting

Usually, Riot says that they don’t want Sylas to be a jungler, as this allows him to steal ults too easily. Every now and then though, he finds his way back there again.

While he has a lackluster early game and can’t initially duel well, Sylas provides good ganks with a long engage range, CC and burst. Afterwards, his ultimate makes him a flexible pick. Sylas is very valuable against many champions whose ults he uses better, such as Alistar, Swain, or Gnar.

Sylas is one of the best picks in League of Legends. Image Credit: Riot Games

Cho’Gath, the thing under the bed

For a long time, players have favored carry junglers and forgotten about the tanks. Then, pros started picking jungle Cho again.

Cho’Gath has easy CC to land with his silence, a long-range engage for ganks, and deceptive burst in the early levels. With Hail of Blades, he’s a fearsome duelist, and everyone knows the terror of facing him when his ult is up.

Additionally, Cho’Gath can always stack his Feast while in the jungle, since there’s no risk of needing to recall or there being no wave as the spell will come up. It’s also in the jungle that he will most easily have a champion or epic monster available to eat. Lastly, no need to worry about 50-50 objectives when he’s got two smites.

Don’t miss: How to play jungle in LoL

Best mid lane champions: Tier list

Xerath, winning from one screen away

Even more so than the other mages, Xerath is content staying one screen away from his foes – and hitting them from there. 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.

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.

The best mid laners in League of Legends: Ahri. Image Credit: 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.

Yasuo, the wind brother

Everyone has faced a bot lane Yasuo once, and loathed the experience. What’s worse is when he’s meta and actually strong. Since the buffs to his passive increasing his critical damage again, Yasuo has become one of the best bot laners.

In a duo lane, Yasuo can easily gain an advantage by having a better early game. A 2v2 and long lane allows him to get up the opponents’ faces, strike, and back out safely. Bot laners can’t play against the wind wall either.

The one downside is that he’s much harder to play in the mid game, to the point where he regularly throws his lead. Yasuo wants to regroup instead of staying on his sidelane to get ganked, but the lack of a real, ranged ADC prevents from pushing turrets in the mid lane.

See also: All Faker skins in League of Legends

Best support champions: Tier list

Seraphine, the not-so-silent musician

Seraphine is an enchanter who doubles down as a lane bully. Paired with an ADC with long-range spells like Ashe or Ezreal, she adds an artillery barrage and gives wave clear.

At the same time, being an enchanter, she also scales excellently. Seraphine’s one weaker spot is warding, when she can be picked off and easily killed. That aside, she excels at engaging and disengaging both, while also doing everything that enchanters do.

Seraphine is one of the best supports on patch 26.18. Image Credit: Riot Games

Braum, shields and smiles

Braum protects his marksman, stuns the opponents, and has good damage in lane. This champion provides very little risk, makes life easy for his partner, and can even make plays. While he’s been nerfed two patches in a row, he remains as much of a trustworthy pick.

Read also: How to play support in LoL

Braum has both a low skill floor and a high skill ceiling, while being a great champion overall. One underappreciated advantage of the pick: people like playing with a Braum, and expect a Braum player to be nice. While it may sound dumb, passively boosting the morale of the team does increase the odds of winning.

Featured image credit: Riot Games