Here is the LoL Arena tier list in one line: on patch 26.21, bruisers and tanks with a healing or damage-over-time engine still run the mode. Swain, Shyvana, Sion, Rell, Xin Zhao, Amumu and Sett sit at the top, Yuumi drops out of S after a heavy 26.21 nerf, and assassins like Akali, LeBlanc and Zoe are near the bottom. Arena is still live and still 3×6: six teams of three. Most Arena tier lists are still written for 2v2, but the numbers and the duo advice below are built for that format.
You get a full S to D table with average placement and first-place rate, a short breakdown of every S pick with the augments and prism items that make it work, the best duo pairings inside a trio, and what the 26.21 Arena changes do to the list. If you are new to the mode itself, our Arena mode guide covers rounds, augments and anvils from scratch.
How Arena works on patch 26.21, and how to read this list
Arena on 26.21 is still 3×6: six teams of three, one team left standing. Riot introduced it as a Season 2 event in May and extended it through Act II “due to popular demand”. Every Arena game op.gg logged on patch 26.20 was 3×6, and the 26.21 patch notes are a full Arena balance patch with no change to the format. The community mostly agreed with the call. The r/LeagueArena thread on Swift Arena being cancelled for more 3×6 is mostly people saying the trios format is where the mode is most fun. Season 2 also added Augment Levels, so a repeated augment gets stronger instead of being dead weight, plus a Crafting Round at round 8 where you can add an augment slot or delete a bad pick.
Riot moved Arena balance to odd-numbered patches from 26.17, so 26.20 had no Arena changes and the mode still ran on the patch 26.19 Arena changes (new augments like Archmage and Titan’s Resolve, Ivern, Senna and Thresh as Guests of Honor, and nerfs to Sion, Bel’Veth, Rell and Zed). The patch 26.21 notes are the next Arena patch, and a big one: Riot said it wanted to pull “champion outliers in power (both high and low) closer to the center” and take the edge off one-augment combos. That means 26.21 nerfs to Yuumi, Zaahen, Galio, Renata Glasc, Briar and Bel’Veth, buffs to Ezreal, Gangplank, Skarner and Gnar, and changes to Dual Wield, Courage of the Colossus and Moonflair Spellblade. Summoner’s Rift changes such as the Sion and Xin Zhao buffs also carry into Arena unless Riot overrides them. This list should hold until the next Arena patch, 26.23.
How to read the numbers. Every figure comes from op.gg’s Arena stats, global, patch 26.20 (op.gg labels it 16.20), last checked October 2026. That is the latest full patch: 26.21 went live on 21 October and has no usable Arena sample yet, so we moved champions for its changes by judgment and say where. Riot publishes no official Arena stats. Three numbers matter:
- Average placement: lower is better. The lobby average in a six-team game is 3.5.
- First-place rate: how often the champion wins the whole lobby. The baseline is 16.7% (one in six).
- Top-half rate: op.gg’s Arena “win rate”, which on our read of the data counts a top-3 finish. The baseline is 50%.
The tiers follow op.gg’s placement-weighted ranking, and we note where our judgment differs.
The LoL Arena tier list, S to D
In 3×6, the champion that survives the longest fight wins. Three players per team means every round is a longer brawl with more crowd control flying around, so sustained fighters with healing, tanks that scale off health, and engage supports that lock a whole team down all beat burst. The Arena tier list for 26.21:
| Tier | Champion | Avg place | 1st place | Top-half rate | Pick rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | Swain | 3.20 | 18.68% | 57.93% | 16.98% |
| S | Shyvana | 3.22 | 22.98% | 56.68% | 11.19% |
| S | Sion | 3.26 | 21.51% | 55.69% | 11.89% |
| S | Rell | 3.26 | 22.51% | 55.74% | 12.15% |
| S | Xin Zhao | 3.29 | 19.20% | 55.41% | 12.60% |
| S | Amumu | 3.29 | 20.32% | 55.27% | 10.48% |
| S | Sett | 3.33 | 21.43% | 54.06% | 20.34% |
| A | Taric | 3.23 | 22.19% | 56.53% | 8.57% |
| A | Zaahen | 3.25 | 20.35% | 56.49% | 11.49% |
| A | Renata Glasc | 3.30 | 21.39% | 55.07% | 9.57% |
| A | Volibear | 3.31 | 19.24% | 54.56% | 15.68% |
| A | Cho’Gath | 3.35 | 21.77% | 53.39% | 16.04% |
| A | Galio | 3.36 | 20.15% | 53.25% | 14.24% |
| A | Yuumi | 3.37 | 21.23% | 53.51% | 9.48% |
| A | Vel’Koz, Corki, Milio, Zilean, Fiora, Renekton, Soraka, Lillia | – | – | 53.1% to 56.1% | 5.8% to 12.3% |
| B | Zyra, Karthus, Briar, Brand, Yasuo, Tristana, Singed | – | – | 52.1% to 53.0% | 10.2% to 16.4% |
| B | Jinx, Ahri, Bel’Veth, Vayne, Master Yi | – | – | 50.3% to 51.7% | 10.1% to 15.6% |
| C | Ezreal, Katarina, Kai’Sa, Miss Fortune, Gangplank, Jhin | – | – | 47.6% to 49.7% | 10.5% to 17.5% |
| C | Dr. Mundo, Teemo, Aatrox, Tahm Kench, Ashe, Pyke | – | – | 44.9% to 47.3% | 8.0% to 14.4% |
| D | Akali, Zoe, Twisted Fate, Shaco, Ornn, LeBlanc, Locke, Bard, Zeri | – | – | 36.0% to 44.6% | 7.5% to 13.9% |
Where we deviated from op.gg: Yuumi is op.gg’s number two on 26.20 and we dropped her to A, because 26.21 cuts the heal and shield power she gives her host from 10-25% to 4-8%. That is most of what made her strong. Zaahen (op.gg number five) goes to A for the same reason, after his passive AD per stack was cut from 1-2% to a flat 1%. Brand, Vayne, Master Yi and Bel’Veth are op.gg tier 1, and we dropped them to B. Their average placements (3.41 to 3.49) are basically the 3.5 lobby average, and Master Yi’s strong trio numbers belong to the Yuumi attached to him, not to Yi. Briar goes to B as well, since her Q stun drops from 0.85 to 0.5 seconds. Taric goes up to A despite being op.gg tier 2, because 3.23 average place and 22.19% first place are S-tier results on an 8.57% pick rate. And the popular ADCs (Kai’Sa, Jhin, Ezreal) sit in C for us, since all three hover below a 50% top-half rate while being picked in 15% or more of games.
Worth knowing: Lolalytics’ Emerald+ Arena list for patch 26.20 disagrees with op.gg at the top. It has Renata Glasc, Vel’Koz, Ahri, Milio and Lillia at S+, with Swain one step down at S. The better the players, the more mages and enchanters pay off. Across the whole population, tanks and juggernauts are the safer bet, and two of those five S+ picks, Renata Glasc and Milio, took nerfs on 26.21.
S-tier Arena picks: why they win, and the augments that make them
The augment lists are op.gg’s most-picked augments for each champion on 26.20. The prism item numbers show average placement and first-place rate when that prismatic item is built.
Swain
Swain is op.gg’s number one Arena champion on 26.20, picked in 16.98% of games and banned in 28.25%. He has the highest top-half rate in the mode at 57.93%, with a 3.20 average place. He drains from everyone around him, and in a three-man brawl there is always someone around him. His damage-over-time also stacks with burn augments.
Most-picked augments: Infernal Conduit, Goliath, Tank Engine, Dreadbringer, Rabble Rousing. Best prism items: Dragonheart (2.88 avg place, 27.75% first) and Pyromancer’s Cloak (2.95, 19.60%).
Who should skip him: anyone expecting a lot of first places. His 18.68% is only two points above the baseline. Swain gets you to the top three very reliably and wins the lobby less often than Shyvana or Rell.
Shyvana
Shyvana has the best first-place rate in the S tier at 22.98%, with a 56.68% top-half rate. On-hit augments turn dragon form into a blender that keeps going as long as the fight does.
Most-picked augments: Mystic Punch, Goliath, Tank Engine, Heavy Hitter, Quest: Steel Your Heart. Best prism items: Divine Sunderer (2.78, 28.08% first) and Dragonheart (2.84, 34.57% first). A 34.6% first-place rate with Dragonheart is still the best number on this page. Moonflair Spellblade (2.82) was another strong option, and 26.21 cuts its cooldown refund.
Who should skip her: teams with no crowd control. Shyvana needs someone to hold targets in place while she chews through them.
Sion
Sion has infinite health scaling in a mode where fights run long. The 26.19 Arena nerf (passive stacks per round cut from 133 to 111) pushed him down op.gg’s list, but he still averaged 3.26 with a 21.51% first-place rate on 26.20. Then 26.21 gave him a Summoner’s Rift buff that carries over: 95 health per level instead of 87, and more R damage. We moved him up for it.
Most-picked augments: Goliath, Tank Engine, Quest: Steel Your Heart, Heavy Hitter, Celestial Body. Best prism items: Black Hole Gauntlet (2.92, 27.01%) and Gargoyle Stoneplate (3.03, 24.36%).
Who should skip him: teams with no damage. Sion is the wall; somebody else has to be the threat behind it.
Rell
Rell is new to our S tier. She averaged 3.26 on 26.20 with a 22.51% first-place rate, second only to Shyvana in the S tier, and her duo with Swain is the best high-sample pair in the mode at 2.88 average place over 1,840 games. Her engage drags all three enemies into one spot, which is exactly what a 3×6 brawl rewards.
Most-picked augments: Courage of the Colossus, Tank Engine, Goliath, Quest: Steel Your Heart, Celestial Body. Best prism items: Cruelty (2.93, 26.50%) and Black Hole Gauntlet (2.95, 26.89%). Courage of the Colossus, her top augment, goes from a 5 to a 6 second cooldown on 26.21, which is the one thing that could pull her back to A.
Who should skip her: players without a damage dealer behind them. Rell sets the fight up; she doesn’t finish it.
Xin Zhao
Xin Zhao posts a 55.41% top-half rate and the best average placement of any prism item build on this page. His knock-up and constant auto-attack resets make him the best diver in the tier, and 26.21 buffs his Q ratio (40% to 45% bonus AD) and his E attack speed scaling on Summoner’s Rift.
Most-picked augments: Dual Wield, Mystic Punch, Twice Thrice, Lightning Strikes, Symphony of War. Best prism items: Reverberation (2.61, 31.37% first, 72.70% top-half) and Reaper’s Toll (2.91, 25.91%). Dual Wield, his top augment, loses on-hit effectiveness at its higher levels on 26.21 (60% down to 50%), so the champion buff and the augment nerf roughly cancel out.
Who should skip him: players who do not rush on-hit augments. Build him like a Summoner’s Rift bruiser and you lose the thing that makes him S.
Amumu
Amumu is the best engage partner for a mage. He averaged 3.29 on his own, and paired with Brand the duo averages 3.03 over 2,014 games, with a 62.16% top-half rate. His R lands on a lot more bodies in 3×6 than it ever did in 2v2.
Most-picked augments: Tank Engine, Goliath, Courage of the Colossus, Infernal Conduit, Quest: Steel Your Heart. Best prism items: Pyromancer’s Cloak (2.92, 23.52% first) and Cruelty (2.98, 23.82%).
Who should skip him: solo-queue players who got stuck with two ranged carries and no frontline. Amumu scales with his team’s follow-up.
Sett is the seventh S pick and the most popular champion in the mode at 20.34%. He doesn’t need a section of his own: tank augments (Goliath, Tank Engine, Celestial Body), a 3.33 average and a 21.43% first-place rate, and he shows up in a dozen of the strongest high-sample duos on op.gg.
If Arena has you hooked on a champion like Swain or Sett and you want to take it back to Summoner’s Rift ranked, keep in mind that Arena stats do not carry over. When you’d rather have the ranked climb handled while Arena stays your fun queue, our League of Legends boost covers division climbs, placements and duo queue on the Rift.
Best Arena duos inside a 3×6 trio
Even in a three-player format, your team is built around a duo. Most trios are two players who planned it and a third who fits around them. If you queue with one friend, the matchmaker fills your third slot. These are the two-champion cores op.gg’s Arena synergy data rates highest on 26.20, limited to pairs with 1,500 games or more, because a pair with 40 games is a highlight clip and not a trend.
| Duo | Avg place | 1st place | Top-half rate | Games | Why it works |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rell + Swain | 2.88 | 26.63% | 65.11% | 1,840 | Rell groups the enemy team, Swain drains all three |
| Master Yi + Yuumi | 2.92 | 30.19% | 64.48% | 4,575 | Most-played strong pair, and the one 26.21 was aimed at |
| Swain + Zaahen | 2.97 | 23.38% | 64.18% | 1,865 | Two fighters who heal through long rounds |
| Shyvana + Swain | 2.98 | 24.84% | 62.88% | 2,069 | Swain’s drain keeps Shyvana alive long enough to chew |
| Briar + Swain | 3.02 | 22.85% | 62.25% | 1,987 | Two drain engines, very hard to kill |
| Corki + Sett | 3.03 | 24.70% | 62.35% | 1,506 | Sett holds the front, Corki shreds from behind him |
| Amumu + Brand | 3.03 | 23.78% | 62.16% | 2,014 | Amumu groups everyone, Brand’s passive detonates on the stack |
| Cho’Gath + Xin Zhao | 3.06 | 26.42% | 60.32% | 1,870 | Xin dives, Cho’Gath silences and eats whoever is left |
| Briar + Sett | 3.15 | 24.71% | 58.84% | 2,578 | Two frontline brawlers |
| Amumu + Katarina | 3.15 | 20.63% | 59.03% | 1,677 | Stun into Death Lotus, the oldest combo in the book |
Swain is in four of the top five pairs. If one of you locks Swain, the other should pick an engage tank or a fighter who wants to stand in his circle. Master Yi + Yuumi is the odd one out, a pair with no tank where Yuumi’s healing does most of the work, and it is about to get worse: the 26.21 Yuumi nerf goes straight at the healing and shielding that keeps Yi alive.
And for full trios, the ones with a real sample on 26.20 (op.gg team synergies):
| Trio | Avg place | 1st place | Games |
|---|---|---|---|
| Master Yi + Leona + Yuumi | 2.54 | 38.95% | 172 |
| Master Yi + Sion + Yuumi | 2.76 | 35.37% | 147 |
| Master Yi + Swain + Yuumi | 2.78 | 26.00% | 100 |
| Master Yi + Taric + Yuumi | 2.95 | 31.96% | 219 |
| Galio + Master Yi + Yuumi | 3.01 | 30.95% | 126 |
| Alistar + Malphite + Yasuo | 3.10 | 24.49% | 98 |
Five of the six best-sampled trios are Master Yi and Yuumi plus a frontliner, which tells you exactly why Riot cut Yuumi on 26.21. Expect every one of those rows to drift toward 3.2 once the nerf lands. The last row is the one we like. On 26.19, Malphite + Yasuo + Yone was the most-played trio in the mode and won the lobby below the 16.7% baseline. Swap Yone for Alistar and the same knock-up comp averages 3.10, because Alistar adds a second knock-up and a heal for the two of them.
Rising and falling with the 26.21 Arena changes
Riot went after the top of the list and the one-augment combos, and buffed a set of champions who were stuck near the bottom. The 26.20 column is op.gg’s Arena data (rank and average place, or top-half rate where that is what op.gg shows); the change column is from the 26.21 notes.
| Champion | 26.20 result | 26.21 change | Our call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yuumi | Rank 2, 3.37 avg place | Host heal and shield power 10-25% down to 4-8% | Falling: S to A, and Yi + Yuumi trios with her |
| Zaahen | Rank 5, 3.25 avg place | Passive AD per stack 1-2% down to 1% | Falling: S to A |
| Galio | 3.36 avg place | W shield and taunt cut, R knock-up 1.5s to 1s | Falling, still A |
| Renata Glasc | 3.30 avg place | Longer R and W cooldowns | Falling, still A |
| Briar | Rank 7, 3.39 avg place | Q stun 0.85s to 0.5s, much bigger E AP ratios | Falling for AD Briar, AP Briar is the experiment to try |
| Ezreal | Rank 67, 49.70% top-half | R bonus AD ratio 100% to 150%, cooldown 50/40/30 to 40/30/20 | Rising |
| Gangplank | Rank 125, 47.76% top-half | W AP ratio 90% to 135%, shorter W and R cooldowns | Rising |
| Skarner | Rank 96, 50.68% top-half | Q ratio 90% to 150%, W cheaper and stronger | Rising |
| Gnar | Rank 99, 50.95% top-half | W speed doubled for half the time, R AP ratio 150% | Rising |
A few item and augment changes shift the list too. Turbo Chemtank now restores 20% of maximum health instead of 4%, which helps every tank in the S tier. Rite of the Forge God goes from 40% to 60% item stat amplification. Trueshot Prodigy and Nesting Doll lose power, and Chroma Flux comes down from a 10 to an 8 second cooldown.
Where this tier list falls short
Arena is a high-variance mode, and a tier list hides that. One Prismatic augment can move a C-tier champion into first. The data averages thousands of games, while your game is one roll of the dice, so treat the tiers as a head start.
The data is one patch behind the label. These are full-patch 26.20 numbers, which ran on 26.19’s Arena balance. The 26.21 calls in this list (Yuumi and Zaahen down, Sion and Rell up, the rising buffed champions) are judgment until op.gg has a 26.21 sample.
The data is global and not split by rank. op.gg’s Arena page does not filter by rank, and Lolalytics’ Emerald+ numbers show that skilled players get more out of mages and enchanters. If your party is strong mechanically, Vel’Koz, Ahri and Lillia may do better for you than Sett.
Arena strength does not transfer. Swain being S in Arena tells you nothing about Swain in Solo/Duo. For that, use our Summoner’s Rift tier list by rank. The skills overlap, but the champion rankings do not.
The format can change under this list. 3×6 is an event format. If Riot brings back eight teams of two, the duo table stays useful, and the placement baselines and trio picks need a full redo.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the best champion in LoL Arena right now?
Swain. He is first on op.gg’s patch 26.20 Arena list with a 57.93% top-half rate, a 3.20 average place and a 16.98% pick rate, and 26.21 did not touch him. Shyvana has the best first-place rate in the S tier at 22.98%.
Is Arena 2v2 or 3v3 right now?
Three per team, in a six-team lobby (3×6). Riot introduced it as a Season 2 event and extended it, every Arena game op.gg logged on patch 26.20 was 3×6, and the 26.21 notes keep the format.
What is the best duo in Arena?
Rell and Swain have the best average placement of any high-sample duo on 26.20, 2.88 over 1,840 games. Master Yi and Yuumi are the most-played strong pair (2.92 over 4,575 games), but the 26.21 Yuumi nerf is aimed squarely at them.
What is a good average placement in Arena?
Anything under 3.5 beats the lobby average in a six-team game. The S-tier champions sit between 3.20 and 3.33, and the best trios get down to 2.5 to 3.0.
Does Arena affect your ranked LP?
No. Arena has its own Fame progression, and nothing you do in it touches your Solo/Duo or Flex rank.
How often does the Arena tier list change?
Riot moved Arena balance to odd-numbered patches starting with 26.17, so 26.20 had no Arena changes and the next Arena patch after 26.21 is 26.23. Expect a shake-up about every four weeks, plus a bigger one whenever a new event changes the format.
To recap: in 3×6 Arena, fighters with drain and tanks with scaling still win. Lock Swain, Shyvana, Sion, Rell, Xin Zhao, Amumu or Sett, build around a duo core like Rell + Swain or Amumu + Brand, take Dragonheart or Reverberation when the prismatic anvil offers them, and don’t count on Yuumi carrying your Master Yi anymore. And when you take the pool back to Summoner’s Rift and want the ranked side sorted while Arena stays your fun queue, our LoL boosting team can handle the Solo/Duo climb on your schedule.
