The best ADC in League right now is still Jinx, and Riot agrees, because patch 26.21 nerfed her. Across the whole of patch 26.20 she won 52.14% of her Emerald+ games on a 16.94% pick rate, which is absurd for a champion that popular. Tristana and Xayah round out our S tier for patch 26.21, Yunara falls out of it after her 26.20 nerf cut her pick rate by 40%, and Caitlyn is still banned in more than one game out of five despite losing more than she wins. This LoL ADC tier list ranks every marksman from S to D with the numbers behind each call, shows the best ADC by rank bracket, and names who rose and fell since 26.19.
This is the patch list. It changes every two weeks. If you want picks that hold up across patches, our evergreen guide to the best ADCs to climb with is the companion piece.
Patch 26.21 context: what changed for bot lane
Two patches have shipped since our last rebuild, and bot lane was the main target of both. The patch 26.20 notes (live 7 October, the Worlds patch) made these changes:
- Yunara nerfed. Q on-hit damage drops from 5-25 to 3-23 (+20% AP), and her W slow no longer stacks with other slows. Riot called her the leading candidate for a “handshake hyperscaler do nothing” meta.
- Ashe nerfed. AD per level goes from 3.5 to 3.
- Lucian buffed. AD per level goes from 2.5 to 2.9, because Riot said the 26.19 passive change “ended up landing as a nerf for bot lane”.
- Smolder and Vayne buffed. Smolder gets more crit scaling and a bigger R self-heal; Vayne gets more base regen and a flat 30-mana Q.
- Runaan’s Hurricane drops from 65% to 60% AD per bolt, and Experimental Hexplate now gives ranged users 50% of its value instead of 70%.
Then the patch 26.21 notes (live 21 October) went after the top of the role. None of this is in our numbers yet:
- Jinx nerfed: AD per level 3.25 to 3, base health 630 to 610. Riot described her as “similarly dominant” to Caitlyn “even with the Hurricane nerf last patch”.
- Caitlyn nerfed: Headshot damage capped at 60-80% AD instead of 60-100%, with crit scaling cut, and her Q gets more early damage in return.
- Tristana nerfed: Q attack speed at ranks 1-4 drops from 60/75/90/105% to 40/60/80/100%, aimed at her level 1 lane control.
- Miss Fortune buffed: more E damage and more crit damage on Bullet Time, to offset the Hubris change.
- Varus: power moved from W into Q, which Riot says should help bot lane Varus.
- Items: Gluttonous Greaves goes from 1000 to 1100 gold, and Hubris gives ranged users 10 base AD and 2 per stack instead of 12 and 3.
How we rank: placements start from op.gg Ranked Solo/Duo data, all servers, Emerald+ (our read of op.gg data for the full 26.20 patch, last checked October 2026; 26.21 is too new to have a sample, and Riot does not publish official per-champion splits). We cross-check against Lolalytics, then apply judgment on sample size, pick-rate distortion, the 26.21 changes and how the champion performs in real solo queue lobbies. Where we deviate from the raw numbers, the table says why. Off-role mages in bot lane (Viktor, Hwei, Swain) are covered in one paragraph further down, not in the main table.
LoL ADC tier list: every marksman ranked
Three ADCs are clearly better than the rest, a big A tier is separated by playstyle more than power, and two popular picks are losing far more than their popularity suggests. Win, pick and ban rates are Emerald+, patch 26.20, from op.gg’s bottom lane rankings, last checked October 2026.
| Tier | Champion | Win rate | Pick rate | Ban rate | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | Jinx | 52.14% | 16.94% | 9.18% | Top win rate on a top-three pick rate. Nerfed on 26.21 and still the best ADC |
| S | Tristana | 51.12% | 10.82% | 9.42% | Wins lane, wins towers, and the jump gives her an out. Early Q nerfed on 26.21 |
| S | Xayah | 51.60% | 5.80% | 1.04% | Above 51.4% from Gold to Master+, almost never banned |
| A | Kog’Maw | 52.08% | 2.32% | 0.67% | Huge win rate but needs a peel support. A tier on draft dependency |
| A | Twitch | 51.00% | 5.47% | 7.62% | Stealth angles break disorganized lobbies |
| A | Zeri | 50.85% | 4.48% | 0.88% | Slightly down, still strong from Gold to Diamond+ |
| A | Sivir | 50.50% | 4.35% | 1.54% | Wave clear and engage speed, quietly up on 26.19 |
| A | Jhin | 49.76% | 18.04% | 1.95% | Under 50% on an 18% pick rate, which is fine for a pick this crowded. Hard to misplay |
| A | Kai’Sa | 49.66% | 18.51% | 3.35% | Most-picked ADC in the game. Her win rate is held down by popularity, not weakness |
| A | Aphelios | 49.67% | 8.10% | 3.64% | The players learning him moved on and his win rate climbed half a point |
| B | Nilah | 51.62% | 1.07% | 1.82% | Tiny sample. Strong in Silver (53.03%), niche above |
| B | Draven | 49.58% | 4.44% | 14.01% | Under 50% at Emerald+, above 50% in Diamond+. The skill tax is real |
| B | Samira | 49.57% | 3.79% | 5.36% | Up four tenths of a point, still needs an engage support every game |
| B | Smolder | 49.43% | 5.15% | 1.76% | Buffed on 26.20, 52.23% in Silver and 47.89% in Diamond+ |
| B | Yunara | 49.32% | 9.72% | 6.67% | Nerfed on 26.20, lost a point and 40% of her picks |
| B | Miss Fortune | 49.29% | 5.73% | 0.62% | A low-elo stomper, buffed on 26.21 |
| B | Ashe | 49.25% | 5.83% | 1.54% | Nerfed on 26.20 and down three quarters of a point |
| B | Caitlyn | 49.20% | 15.29% | 22.87% | Banned constantly and still losing. Nerfed again on 26.21 |
| B | Kalista | 49.12% | 3.73% | 1.30% | Duo-queue pick, 50.01% in Master+ |
| C | Corki | 48.95% | 1.89% | 0.36% | Fine in pro play, awkward in solo queue |
| C | Lucian | 48.92% | 8.59% | 2.34% | 26.20 AD buff won back more than a point, still under 49% |
| C | Vayne | 48.80% | 3.63% | 4.21% | Buffed on 26.20 and up more than a point |
| D | Varus | 47.48% | 2.69% | 0.84% | Under 47.6% in every bracket, Q buff on 26.21 is his way back |
| D | Ezreal | 45.82% | 11.13% | 3.84% | Lowest win rate of any mainstream ADC on an 11% pick rate |
Where we deviate: Kog’Maw and Nilah would be S on raw win rate alone. We hold them down because their pick rates are under 2.5% (a small sample of mostly one-tricks), and Kog’Maw collapses when your support locks in something without a shield or a knock-back. Jhin and Kai’Sa go the other way. A champion picked in 18% of games drags in every player trying it out, which pulls the average down, so a 49.7% on that volume is healthier than it looks. Lolalytics has Kai’Sa at S- and Jhin at A on the same bracket for patch 26.20, which matches our read. Yunara drops from S to B: the 26.20 nerf took her from 16.02% to 9.72% pick and from 50.35% to 49.32%, and Lolalytics has her down at A.
A word on bot-lane mages, since you will see them in your games. Viktor bot sits at 52.03% with a 13.93% ban rate at Emerald+ (and was nerfed on 26.21), Hwei posts 53.10% on a 1.04% pick rate, and Swain 52.52%. They are also the matchups that give the S-tier marksmen the most trouble. They win games, but they’re mid laners borrowing the lane, so they stay out of this list the same way a jungle Yasuo would stay out of a jungle list.
S-tier ADCs: why they’re on top
Jinx
Jinx is the best ADC on patch 26.21, nerf included. The 52.14% is impressive. It’s more impressive that it holds at a 16.94% pick rate, and that she is op.gg’s #1 ranked bottom laner in Silver, Gold, Platinum, Emerald and Diamond+. No other marksman manages that. Riot took 0.25 AD per level and 20 base health off her on 26.21, which makes the early lane a little worse and does nothing to her passive. Her passive turns one kill into a teamfight win, and solo queue fights are messy enough that she gets that first kill constantly.
- Counters: bot-lane mages who out-range her before Kraken: Hwei (Jinx wins 46.1% over 1,707 Emerald+ games), Xerath (47.7% over 1,219) and Ziggs (48.2% over 2,600). Dive comps that reach her before Get Excited triggers are the other problem.
- Who should not play her: players who can’t stand a weak first 10 minutes. Jinx loses many 2v2 trades pre-Kraken, the 26.21 nerf makes that a little worse, and you have to be at peace with that.
Tristana
Tristana has more ways to win a game than anyone else in the role. She wins lane with an all-in at level 2-3, takes towers faster than anyone thanks to Explosive Charge, and Rocket Jump gives her an escape that most ADCs don’t have. That’s why she holds 51.12% at Emerald+ and 51.15% in Diamond+ with no drop at all. 26.21 cuts her early Q attack speed (60% to 40% at rank 1), which is Riot going after the “press Q and auto” level 1. Her lane gets harder. Her towers and teamfights don’t change.
- Counters: the bot-lane mages again, Veigar (Tristana wins 44.8% over 1,323 games) and Hwei (46.0% over 1,049), plus a support who holds their crowd control until after she jumps. Caitlyn out-ranges her in lane, but Tristana still wins that matchup 51.3% of the time over almost 16,000 games.
- Who should not play her: anyone who jumps forward by reflex. Rocket Jump is your escape, and if you use it to go in you usually die.
Xayah
Xayah is the steadiest ADC in the game. She won 51.60% at Emerald+ on 5.80% pick, and she is between 51.46% and 51.79% in every bracket from Gold to Master+, where she is the best popular ADC at 51.68%. Her pick rate rose from 4.97% to 5.80% since 26.19 and she is banned in 1.04% of games, so you will always get her. Feathers plus Featherstorm give her self-peel that doesn’t depend on her support, and that matters in solo queue, where the support roams more as you climb.
- Counters: Jinx is her worst common lane (Xayah wins 47.5% over 9,719 games), and burst mages in bot like Veigar and Viktor beat her in smaller samples. She farms Ezreal (55.2% over 5,796 games).
- Who should not play her: players with fewer than 20 games on her. Her damage comes from feather placement and recall timing, and a blind pick is how you end up as one of the games dragging her average down.
One story from our own queue. A Diamond 4 duo we ran last split had a Tristana player stuck at the same LP for two weeks. His mechanics were fine. He used Rocket Jump to engage in almost every fight, and once he started saving it for his exit his teamfight deaths roughly halved. Playing an S-tier champion doesn’t save you from your own habits.
Best ADC by rank bracket
The Emerald+ table is the house default, but the best ADC is not the same in Silver as it is in Diamond. Here’s what op.gg’s patch 26.20 data says by bracket (Silver and Gold pages used for Iron-Gold, last checked October 2026).
| Bracket | Best pick | Strong alternatives | Overrated here | Why the bracket changes the answer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron-Gold | Jinx (52.36% in Gold) | Kog’Maw 52.93% Gold, Smolder 52.07% Gold, Nilah 53.03% Silver, Miss Fortune 51.23% Silver | Caitlyn: 22.69% pick and 29.32% ban in Silver for a coin-flip 50.00% | Fights are long and messy. Reset and AoE champions profit, and nobody punishes a Kog’Maw |
| Plat-Emerald | Jinx (52.36% Plat, 52.32% Emerald) | Xayah 51.46% Plat / 51.69% Emerald, Kog’Maw 52.82% Plat, Twitch 51.27% Plat, Tristana 51.10% Emerald | Miss Fortune drops to 49.44% in Emerald as players start dodging Bullet Time | Self-peel starts to matter because supports roam more |
| Diamond+ | Jinx (51.86%) | Xayah 51.48%, Tristana 51.15%, Kog’Maw 52.01%, Zeri 50.74% | Caitlyn falls to 48.85%, Smolder 47.89%, Ezreal 45.61% | Execution picks pay off: Draven (50.09%) crosses 50% only here |
Two lines on that table are worth reading twice. Draven wins 49.17% in Emerald and 50.09% in Diamond+. Same champion, same patch, and the only difference is who is catching the axes. Smolder goes the other way: the 26.20 buff made him a 52% champion in Silver and Gold, and he falls to 47.89% in Diamond+ because good players end the game before his stacks matter.
If you would rather skip the part where you learn Draven’s axe patterns at the cost of 200 LP, our LoL division boost team plays bot lane at Diamond and above every day and can move the account while you learn at your own pace in normals.
Best support pairings for the S-tier ADCs
Supports get their own tier list, and the current support tier list is the place to pick your partner. Our best ADC and support combos breakdown covers duo synergy in depth. For this patch, the pairings the numbers favor:
- Jinx: a hook or engage support who starts fights for her (Thresh, Blitzcrank, Leona). She wants a kill to trigger her passive, and engage gives her one.
- Tristana: all-in partners who match her level 2 spike. Leona and Rell turn her W into a kill instead of a trade, which matters more now that her level 1 is weaker.
- Xayah: Rakan is the obvious pick, and enchanters like Janna and Nami stretch her extended trades.
- Lucian: Riot’s 26.19 change was meant to break his dependency on Nami and Milio, and the 26.20 AD buff put some power back. He is still under 49%, so an enchanter is still doing a lot of the work.
Rising and falling vs patch 26.19
These are the moves between patch 26.19 and 26.20, using op.gg Emerald+ data for both full patches (last checked October 2026). The 26.19 changes are in Riot’s patch 26.19 notes.
| Champion | 26.19 | 26.20 | Direction | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yunara | 50.35% WR, 16.02% pick | 49.32% WR, 9.72% pick | Falling | Q on-hit and W slow nerf. Lost 40% of her picks |
| Lucian | 47.67% WR, 7.46% pick | 48.92% WR, 8.59% pick | Rising | AD per level 2.5 to 2.9, Riot’s fix for the 26.19 bot nerf |
| Vayne | 47.65% WR, 2.98% pick | 48.80% WR, 3.63% pick | Rising | Base regen and flat 30-mana Q |
| Smolder | 49.23% WR, 3.46% pick | 49.43% WR, 5.15% pick | Rising (popularity) | Crit and R heal buffs. Pick rate up half |
| Aphelios | 49.13% WR, 8.05% pick | 49.67% WR, 8.10% pick | Rising | No change. The players learning him either got better or left |
| Ashe | 49.99% WR, 6.64% pick | 49.25% WR, 5.83% pick | Falling | AD per level 3.5 to 3, aimed at pro play |
| Jinx | 52.46% | 52.14% | Slightly falling | Runaan’s Hurricane nerf. Riot nerfed her directly on 26.21 |
| Zeri | 51.26% | 50.85% | Slightly falling | No change |
The Aphelios line is the one we called last patch. After his 26.19 buff his pick rate doubled and his win rate stayed flat, and the discussion in the r/ADCMains 26.19 preview thread expected the buff to show up on the Worlds stage more than in solo queue. One full patch later he is up from 49.13% to 49.67% on the same pick rate, so he moves from B to A as we said he would. Yunara is the opposite story: Riot hit her before she got out of hand, and the players who picked her up during her peak left as fast as they came.
Where this tier list is wrong
First, the data is one patch behind the label. These numbers are a full patch of 26.20 games, which is a much better sample than the first week of a patch, but 26.21 nerfed Jinx, Caitlyn and Tristana and buffed Miss Fortune and Varus after those games were played. We left Jinx and Tristana in S because their margin is big and their nerfs are mostly early-lane. If either drops under 50.5% by the end of 26.21, they move.
Second, the trackers disagree on method. Lolalytics scores each game by every player’s own rank, while op.gg averages it by lobby, and the result is that Lolalytics win rates run about 1.7 points higher across the board. Their Caitlyn is A- at 51.20% and ours is B at 49.20% from the same patch. Both are measuring something real, just different things, so compare tiers across sites and leave the raw percentages alone.
Third, the average win rate isn’t yours. A 52% Jinx average includes one-tricks with 400 games on her. Your Jinx on game five is not that Jinx. Your own 20-game win rate on a B-tier champion you know well will usually beat your first 20 games on an S-tier pick, and that is exactly why the evergreen climb picks exist next to this list.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the best ADC in LoL right now?
Jinx. Over patch 26.20 she had the highest win rate of any popular marksman at Emerald+ (52.14% on a 16.94% pick rate, per op.gg, last checked October 2026), and she is op.gg’s #1 ranked bottom laner in every bracket from Silver to Diamond+. Riot nerfed her on 26.21, but not by enough to change the answer.
What is the best ADC for low elo?
Jinx, Kog’Maw and Smolder in Iron to Gold, with Miss Fortune as the easy option. They reward the long, messy fights low-elo games are made of, and Kog’Maw posts 52.93% in Gold because few players there know how to dive him. Smolder got buffed on 26.20 and wins 52% in Silver and Gold.
Is Yunara still good after the 26.20 nerf?
She is average now. Her Emerald+ win rate went from 50.35% to 49.32% and her pick rate from 16.02% to 9.72% after Riot cut her Q on-hit damage and stopped her W slow stacking. She is B tier on our list, down from S.
Why is Caitlyn rated so high on other tier lists?
Some lists weight pick and ban rate heavily, and Caitlyn has plenty of both (15.29% pick and 22.87% ban at Emerald+ on 26.20). We rank on what a champion wins, and she is under 50% in every bracket from Gold up. Riot also nerfed her late-game Headshot damage on 26.21.
Is Ezreal bad right now?
In solo queue, yes. He sits at 45.82% at Emerald+ on an 11.13% pick rate, the lowest of any mainstream ADC, and under 47% in every bracket. His kit is safe and flexible, but the numbers have looked like this for a long time, and neither 26.20 nor 26.21 touched him.
How often does this ADC tier list change?
Every patch. Patch 26.22 is due on 4 November, and the S and A tiers are the first thing we re-check when it lands, starting with how much the 26.21 nerfs cost Jinx and Tristana.
For the current patch: Jinx, Tristana and Xayah are the ADCs to climb with, Kog’Maw and Twitch are the best picks if your support peels, Yunara is no longer the safe pick she was, and Caitlyn and Ezreal are more popular than they are good. Pick from the top of the list, but pick something you have played before. And if you’d rather the climb happened while you focus on learning the lane, you can book a LoL boost or duo queue climb to Emerald, Diamond or Master with our team.
