Mobile Legends Tier List September 2026: Who to Ban First

The September meta only makes sense read against the last few patches. Patch 2.1.88, launched alongside Season 41 in June, handed survivability buffs to Roaming heroes, Tanks and backline Supports while reworking the early jungle to raise Retribution damage. Patch 2.1.95 in August revamped Kaja outright. A recent balance pass buffed Hanzo, Lukas, Suyou and Miya while nerfing Aamon, Leomord, Sora and Yu Zhong. The live patch is 2.1.95a, with 2.2.14 in Advance Server testing.

Check those buffed names against the list below. Hanzo and Lukas both sit in the jungle SS tier, Suyou is the sole S+ jungler, and Miya — a starter hero — is in the gold lane SS tier. Four buffs, four surges. That's the clearest evidence you'll get that this meta is patch-driven rather than discovery-driven.

One note on what this is. The tier list below reflects one creator's ranked assessment at Epic and above. Tier lists are opinions with evidence attached, not measurements — the reasoning is the useful part, the letters are shorthand.

EXP Lane

Tier SS: Belerick, Paquito (mandatory ban or pick), Uranus, Sora, Gloo, Sun, Barats, Yu Zhong, Esmeralda, Alice, Guinevere, Dyrroth. Sun is flagged as a late-game specialist.

Tier S: Phoveus, Terizla, Atlas, Balmond, Edith, Hylos, Thamuz, Lapu-Lapu, Cici, Benedetta, Masha, Silvanna, X.Borg, Freya, Minsitthar, Hilda, Ruby, Arlott.

Tier A: Aldous, Yin, Jawhead, Zilong, Gatotkaca.

Role notes: Kalea and Badang are rated better in Roam. Lukas and Leomord are considered stronger in the jungle.

Sora and Yu Zhong both hold SS despite being nerfed, which is worth more attention than a promotion would be. A hero that survives a nerf at the top of the list was overtuned rather than merely popular.

Ruby's S placement traces to 2.1.88, which buffed her alongside Saber and Argus. The sustain-heavy SS tier — Uranus, Esmeralda, Gloo, Belerick — is what a survivability patch looks like three months on.

Gold Lane

Tier SS: Melissa (mandatory ban or pick), Brody, Obsidia, Beatrix, Clint, Miya.

Tier S+: Hanabi, Freya, Claude, Lesley, Granger, Karrie.

Tier S: Natan, Harith, Bruno, Layla, Ixia, Moskov, Lunox, Irithel, Wanwan, Yi Sun-shin, Kimmy.

Tier A: Popol and Kupa.

Miya in SS is the entry that demands explanation, and the patch supplies it. She's a starter hero who was buffed in the same pass as Hanzo, Lukas and Suyou, and she's landed in the top tier of her lane as a result. Balance changes to simple heroes move the ladder faster than changes to complex ones, because far more players can execute them immediately.

Claude at S+ is the counterpoint. He was among the eleven nerfed in 2.1.88 and remains near the top of the lane, which says more about his ceiling than the nerf did about his weaknesses.

Jungler

Tier SS: Hirara, Guinevere (mandatory ban or pick), Yi Sun-shin, Harley, Lukas, Hanzo, Fredrinn, Fanny, Balmond, Hayabusa, Nolan, Ling.

Tier S+: Suyou.

Tier S: Saber, Leomord, Bane, Aulus, Alice, Freya, Alpha, Barats, Joy, Baxia, Akai, Roger, Lancelot, Esmeralda, Julian, Aamon, Sun.

Tier A: Helcurt, Popol and Kupa, Martis, Natalia, Alucard, Karina, Yin.

Three of the four recently buffed heroes are here — Hanzo and Lukas in SS, Suyou alone at S+. The jungle absorbs balance changes faster than any other role because the early objective race compounds small advantages into map control within minutes.

The 2.1.88 jungle rework underpins the rest of it. Higher Retribution damage and altered creep pacing shortened the gap between spotting an objective and taking it, which rewards heroes who cross the map and commit immediately — Ling, Hayabusa, Fanny, Nolan.

Aamon and Leomord sitting at S rather than higher is consistent with both having been nerfed in the same pass.

Mage

Tier SS: Eudora (mandatory ban or pick), Zhuxin, Gord, Zetian, Vexana, Yve, Faramis, Selena, Valir, Lylia, Kagura. Vexana and Faramis are both listed specifically as counters to Gloo.

Tier S: Kimmy, Lunox, Cecilion, Valentina, Xavier, Pharsa, Kadita, Odette, Gusion, Nana, Aurora.

Tier A: Novaria, Vale, Chang'e, Harith, Zhask, Cyclops, Luo Yi.

Eudora as the mandatory ban is the most surprising line in this entire list. She is one of the game's oldest and simplest mages, and she's rated above Kagura, Lylia and Selena. When a burst mage with no mobility and no escape reaches ban priority, it usually means the meta has stopped protecting backlines — which fits a season where roamers were buffed to engage rather than to peel.

Pharsa's drop to S is the other movement worth noting. She has been a fixture near the top of mage rankings for a long time, and sliding below Gord and Zetian is a real shift rather than a rounding difference.

Roam

Tier SS: Marcel, Guinevere, Atlas, Belerick, Kaja — all five mandatory ban or pick — then Mathilda, Franco, Gloo, Badang, Hylos, Carmilla, Minotaur.

Tier S+: Floryn.

Tier S: Chou, Helcurt, Khaleed, Hilda, Tigreal, Gatotkaca, Saber, Grock, Khufra, Kalea, Ruby.

Tier A: Selena, Minsitthar, Natalia, Akai, Jawhead, Lolita, Edith, Sun.

Casual picks: Johnson, Angela, Chip, Estes, Rafaela, Diggie.

Five mandatory bans in one role is the clearest signal in this list, and it follows directly from 2.1.88 buffing roamer survivability. A roamer who lives long enough to land the engage changes matches in a way a fragile one never could.

Kaja specifically is a patch artefact. The 2.1.95 revamp turned his Skill 2 into Soaring Wings, letting him fly over obstacles, and replaced his single-target suppression ultimate with Divine Binding — an area restraint that drags multiple enemies at once. He stopped being a pick tool and became a teamfight opener, and the ban priority followed.

Note where the pure healers landed. Rafaela, Estes and Angela sit in the casual bracket while Floryn holds S+ alone. Sustain without engage isn't enough this season.

The Gloo problem

Gloo was nerfed in 2.1.88 and still appears at SS in two separate roles. More telling, the mage list justifies two placements — Vexana and Faramis — specifically as answers to him.

When a tier list ranks heroes by their ability to counter one opponent, that opponent is defining the meta regardless of what the patch notes did to him. If Moonton's balance team is watching one hero this season, it is reasonable to expect this one.

Flexibility is the real currency

Guinevere is the only hero rated SS in three separate roles — EXP lane, jungle and roam.

But the pattern runs deeper than her. Sun appears in three roles across three tiers: EXP SS, jungle S, roam A. Freya appears in three: gold S+, EXP S, jungle S. Belerick and Gloo hold SS in two roles each. Atlas and Hylos span EXP and roam. Selena covers mage SS and roam A. Kimmy and Lunox appear in both gold and mage lists. Saber, Akai, Natalia, Popol and Kupa, Yin, Ruby, Hilda, Gatotkaca, Jawhead, Minsitthar and Edith all cross roles.

In draft, flexibility is worth more than raw strength. A hero picked early without revealing a lane assignment forces the enemy to prepare for several possibilities at once. That is why Guinevere carries mandatory-ban status in two roles rather than merely being strong in one — and it's why banning her costs the enemy more than banning a hero locked to a single lane.

How to actually use this

1. Ban the flex threats before the lane threats. Guinevere, Ling, Kaja and Eudora constrain more of the enemy draft than a hero fixed to one role.
2. Don't chase SS heroes you can't play. A Tier S hero at high mastery beats a Tier SS hero you're still learning.
3. Read the conditional notes, not just the letters. Vexana and Faramis against Gloo, Sun's late-game scaling, and the Kalea, Badang, Lukas and Leomord role reassignments are all situational calls that become wrong picks in the wrong draft.
4. Watch the buffed heroes first. Hanzo, Lukas, Suyou and Miya all climbed on the back of one balance pass, which means they're also the most likely candidates for the next round of nerfs.
5. Expect movement. 2.2.14 is already in Advance Server testing, and Season 42 arrives 16 September with a rank reset behind it.

What isn't settled

The 2.2.14 contents remain in Advance Server testing, where balance changes routinely shift before release. Tier placements from any single source reflect one ranked bracket and one creator's read — cross-check against your own server's ban rates before rebuilding your hero pool around them.

Our Season 42 guide covers the rank reset and Fragment Shop rotation landing on 16 September.

A tier list is only worth what your roster can field

Knowing Guinevere is a mandatory ban in three roles doesn't help if she isn't in your hero pool, and Season 42's reset drops every account above Elite into Legend 5 regardless of where it finished. Mobile Legends accounts list hero pools, skins and Collector Level up front, which matters in a meta that rewards flexibility over depth in one lane. If your roster is fine and it's ladder time you're short of, Mobile Legends boosting covers rank, star and win-rate work through verified high-rank players. And for heroes and emblems you still need before the reset, Mobile Legends top up runs through competing verified merchants with Buyer Protection holding payment until the diamonds land.

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