Last Updated: April 2026

Support is the most impactful role that nobody respects. You control the lane, set up every fight, and one good engage or one clutch shield decides whether your team snowballs or falls apart.

But picking the right support champion matters more than ever on Patch 26.7. The meta has shifted hard toward enchanters and aggressive hook champions, while some former staples — looking at you, Nautilus — have fallen off a cliff.

This tier list ranks every viable support based on Emerald+ data from u.gg and cross-referenced with lolalytics. No vibes-based rankings. Just data, context, and honest opinions on what's actually winning games.

How We Rank: Methodology

Every champion's placement factors in:

• Win rate in Emerald+ solo queue (Patch 26.7)
• Pick rate — a high win rate on 500 games means nothing
• Matchup flexibility — can they perform against multiple lane opponents?
• Teamfight impact — do they fall off, or do they scale?
• Skill floor — is the win rate achievable for most players, or only one-tricks?

S-Tier: Best Support Champions Right Now

These are the picks that consistently win games across all skill levels. If you want to climb, start here.

Soraka

Soraka is quietly the highest win rate support in Emerald+ at 52.0% WR this patch. That's not a fluke — her sustain in lane is oppressive when played correctly, and her global ultimate turns losing fights across the map.

Max W (Astral Infusion) first, then Q for the self-healing. Land your Qs consistently and you'll never run out of health to trade. Her E (Equinox) is also one of the most underrated abilities in bot lane — a well-placed silence zone shuts down engage supports before they can combo.

Why she's S-tier: Raw healing output that scales with items. Global presence with R. Punishes teams that don't build Grievous Wounds early.

Milio

51.6% WR with a massive sample size — Milio is the safest enchanter in the game. His kit does everything: heal, shield, buff your ADC's range, and his ultimate (Breath of Life) is a full-team cleanse that counters heavy-CC compositions.

Skill order is E > W > Q. Warm Hugs first for the shield and attack range buff — it turns your ADC into a lane bully without them doing anything differently.

Why he's S-tier: No bad matchups. The cleanse ult alone wins teamfights. Incredibly easy to pick up.

Thresh

The Chain Warden is S+ rated on u.gg with a 51.7% WR. Thresh has been a meta support for years and Patch 26.7 is no different. Hook, Flay, Lantern, Box — his kit does literally everything.

I believe Thresh is the single best support to one-trick if you want to climb long-term. He's never truly bad in any meta because his utility is so flexible. You can engage, peel, save teammates with lantern, and zone with The Box.

Why he's S-tier: Does everything. High skill ceiling means you keep improving. Never gets hard-nerfed out of viability.

Leona

51.2% WR and S+ on u.gg. Leona is the purest engage support — E in, Q stun, W for tankiness, R for the AOE lockdown. When she goes in, someone dies.

Max W first for survivability, then E for the cooldown. Her level 2 all-in (E + Q) is one of the most lethal combos in bot lane. If your ADC follows up, the enemy carry is dead or burning both summoners.

Why she's S-tier: Unmatched hard engage. Simple execution. Punishes any ADC who stands too close.

Sona

Don't sleep on Sona. She's sitting at 52.1% WR in Emerald+ — one of the highest in the entire role. Her laning phase got her flamed for years, but post-rework Sona scales into a teamfight monster with constant heals, shields, and her Crescendo stun.

Max W for sustain, then Q for poke. She's weak before first back, but once you get your support item completed, you start ramping hard.

Why she's S-tier: Insane scaling. Team-wide buffs. Crescendo wins teamfights by itself.

Janna

Another 52.1% WR support that flies under the radar. Janna is the anti-engage queen — her tornado, W slow, shield, and Monsoon ultimate completely shut down dive-heavy compositions.

Max W first for the poke and slow, then E for stronger shields. She wins lane by being annoying — constant W poke while your ADC farms safely behind your shield.

Why she's S-tier: Hard counters engage metas. Incredible peel. Low mechanical demand with high impact.

A-Tier: Strong Picks That Win Games

A-tier supports are excellent but either require more specific conditions or have exploitable weaknesses.

Nami

S+ rated on u.gg with a 50.9% WR across a huge sample (133K+ matches). Nami's placement here vs S-tier is close — she does everything well. Her W bounce heals and pokes simultaneously, her E empowers your ADC's autos, and her ult is a long-range engage/disengage tool.

She loses to hard engage (Blitzcrank and Leona are her worst matchups at 48.1% and 48.8% respectively), which keeps her out of S-tier on a patch where those champions are everywhere.

Karma

S+ on u.gg with 50.9% WR and 77K+ matches. Karma's Mantra Q poke chunks health bars in lane, and her Mantra E team shield is one of the best teamfight tools in the game. She's flexible — poke lane, protect lane, roaming support — she does it all.

The reason she's A-tier and not S: her late-game falls off compared to dedicated enchanters like Sona or Milio. She's strongest in the first 20 minutes.

Rell

51.3% WR and S-rated on u.gg. Rell is the engage tank that's actually good right now (unlike Nautilus). Her W engage into E stun into R pull is a devastating combo that can catch multiple enemies. She's tanky, she's got CC for days, and she shreds resistances with her passive.

Requires coordination with your ADC to maximize, which is why she's A-tier — in solo queue, sometimes your team just doesn't follow up.

Bard

51.5% WR, S-rated. Bard is the best roaming support in the game and it's not close. His chimes give him experience and movement speed even when he's off collecting them across the map. His portal (Magical Journey) creates gank paths that don't exist for any other champion. And Tempered Fate (his ult) is the single most high-skill-ceiling ability in the support role.

A-tier because he requires strong game sense. A bad Bard ult loses fights. A good one wins games.

Blitzcrank

S+ on u.gg with a 50.6% WR. One hook = one kill. Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab is the most feared basic ability in bot lane, and his level 2 all-in (Q + E knockup) is devastating.

He's A-tier because he's binary — if you're not landing hooks, you're essentially a melee minion with a mana barrier. His win rate is propped up by players who know their spacing, but the variance game-to-game is massive.

Maokai

A-tier on u.gg with 51.3% WR. Maokai support has been quietly strong for multiple patches. His saplings provide insane bush control and vision, his W is a point-and-click root, and his ult is a massive teamfight zoning tool.

Works best when your team needs frontline and your opponents cluster in the jungle.

Brand

A-rated, 51.0% WR. Brand is the "support" that outdamages your mid laner. His passive burn and R bounce deal disgusting teamfight damage even on a support budget. If the enemy team groups — and they always do — Brand ult bounces turn fights.

Downside: zero utility. No shields, no heals, no CC that isn't his unreliable Q stun. You're trading team support for raw damage.

B-Tier: Situational Picks

These supports work in the right matchup or team comp but aren't reliable blind picks.

Lulu

A-rated on u.gg but only 50.5% WR. Lulu is the classic "protect the carry" enchanter, and she's still good at it — polymorph shuts down assassins, her ult saves your ADC, and Pix buffs make hypercarries like Kog'Maw or Jinx absurd.

She's B-tier because she's entirely dependent on having a good ADC to buff. In solo queue, that's a coin flip. If your carry is bad, Lulu has almost no independent agency.

Rakan

A-rated, 51.1% WR. Rakan's engage is flashy and his combo (R + W) is one of the fastest multi-man CC chains in the game. Paired with Xayah, he gets bonus recall and E range that makes the duo legitimately overpowered.

Without Xayah though, Rakan is squishy and gets punished hard if his engage doesn't land. High risk, high reward.

Morgana

A-rated, 51.0% WR. Black Shield (E) is the single best anti-CC ability in bot lane — it completely negates hook champions and engage supports. Her Q binding is a 2-3 second root that sets up free kills.

She's situational because she's a counter-pick, not a blind pick. Into Thresh, Leona, or Blitzcrank? Morgana is amazing. Into poke lanes? She struggles.

Seraphine

S-rated on u.gg. Seraphine has strong teamfighting with her double-cast passive and a long-range charm/stun ultimate. She pokes, shields, and heals all in one kit.

B-tier because her laning phase is weak and she needs items to scale — something supports don't get quickly. She also gets outperformed by Sona in the "scaling enchanter" niche.

Zyra

B-rated, 49.5% WR. Zyra's plant damage and zone control are strong in theory, but her WR tells the story. She's immobile, squishy, and gets destroyed by engage. When she works — usually into other immobile lanes — she can bully hard. But the current meta doesn't favor her.

C-Tier: Avoid Unless You're an OTP

Nautilus

I know this one hurts. Nautilus has been a support staple for years, but he's currently D-rated on u.gg with a 49.5% WR. The problem is clear: his hook is slower than Thresh's and Blitzcrank's, his base stats have been nerfed repeatedly, and enchanter-heavy metas punish him hard because he can't reach the backline.

If you want a hook-tank, play Thresh or Blitzcrank. They do his job better right now.

Pyke

D-rated, 49.0% WR. Pyke's assassin playstyle means he either snowballs the game or becomes useless. His ult execute is flashy, but he has zero defensive tools for his ADC. In a meta where enchanters and tanks both outperform him, Pyke is a liability.

Yuumi

D-rated, 48.4% WR. Yuumi's been in the gutter since her rework, and Patch 26.7 didn't change that. She's entirely dependent on her host being good, and in solo queue, that's a gamble. She offers less healing than Soraka, less shielding than Lulu, and less agency than any other enchanter. Pick literally anyone else.

How to Pick the Right Support for Your Playstyle

The best support champion for you depends on how you want to play:

• Want to make plays? Thresh, Leona, Rell, Bard
• Want to keep your ADC alive? Milio, Soraka, Janna, Sona
• Want to deal damage? Brand, Zyra (but accept the tradeoff)
• Want a safe blind pick? Milio or Karma — they work into everything

I believe the biggest mistake support players make is picking champions that don't match their ADC's playstyle. An aggro Leona paired with a passive Ezreal is a recipe for disaster. Talk to your duo partner. Or better yet — find one who actually plays around you.

If you're looking for a duo partner who synergizes with your support style, or you want coaching from someone who actually knows the role, Tapin connects you with real League of Legends players who can duo queue, coach, or just help you grind.

FAQ

What is the best support champion in LoL right now?

Based on Patch 26.7 data, Soraka and Sona have the highest win rates in Emerald+ at 52.0% and 52.1% respectively. For overall reliability and blind-pick safety, Milio is arguably the best support champion because he has no bad matchups and his cleanse ultimate counters engage-heavy compositions.

Is Thresh still good in 2026?

Yes. Thresh is S+ rated on u.gg with a 51.7% WR on Patch 26.7. His kit is so versatile that he's been meta for nearly every patch since his release. He's one of the best supports to one-trick because he never falls out of viability completely.

Why is Nautilus ranked so low?

Nautilus is currently D-rated on u.gg with a 49.5% WR. Repeated base stat nerfs, a slower hook than competing champions (Thresh, Blitzcrank), and an enchanter-favoring meta have all pushed him down. He's still playable, but Leona and Rell outperform him as engage tanks.

What's the easiest support to climb with?

Milio has a high win rate, low skill floor, and works in every team composition. Soraka is another strong option — land your Qs, heal your team, and press R when someone is about to die. Both champions let you focus on macro decisions rather than mechanical execution.

Should I play enchanter or tank support?

It depends on your team and your elo. In lower ranks, engage tanks like Leona tend to perform well because they force plays. In higher elo, enchanters like Milio and Janna shine because teammates actually know how to play around shields and heals. The data this patch slightly favors enchanters overall, with more enchanters in S-tier than tanks.