By GamGem ResearchLast updated 18 Oct 2026
Matriarch of War
Patch 26.20 · Stats from the 26.18 Master+ sample (7,298 games).
Ambessa, Matriarch of War, tacks a short dash onto every ability she casts, and Public Execution blinks her onto the farthest champion in a line. Master+ players take her Top far more often than Jungle and split almost evenly between Grasp of the Undying and Conqueror; Eclipse opens her most common item path.
FighterAssassin
Patch 26.18 · Top · Ranked Solo/Duo · Master+ · EUW · KR · NA · 7,298 games · Preview sample
7,298
Games
Very High
Confidence
Win rate by lane
55.5%Win Rate
Flash
Teleport57.1%Win Rate
FlashTeleport55.3%Win Rate
Flash
Ignite
This exact page: taken in 5.3% of games·45.1% win rate over 384 games.
Every 4s your next attack on a champion deals bonus magic damage, heals you, and permanently increases your health.
Whenever you gain a shield, your next basic attack against a champion deals bonus adaptive damage.
After taking damage from an enemy champion heal back some missing health over time.
Gain permanent max health when minions or monsters die near you.
Gain a free Biscuit every 2 min, until 6 min. Consuming or selling a Biscuit permanently increases your max health and restores health.
You get free boots at 12 min but you cannot buy boots before then. Each takedown you get makes your boots come 45s sooner.
Conqueror34.4% taken · 48.0% win2,508 games
Electrocute18.4% taken · 48.3% win1,346 games
Stormraider's Surge6.8% taken · 50.5% win495 gamesResolve + Inspiration29.1% taken · 47.3% win2,127 games
Precision + Inspiration20.9% taken · 47.5% win1,524 games
Domination + Resolve15.4% taken · 47.4% win1,127 gamesWhich ability to max first, and the level each point goes in — Ambessa's most common path.
QAmbessa sweeps her twin drakehounds in a semicircle in front of her, dealing bonus damage to enemies hit by the blades.
Cooldown 14/13/12/11/10s · 70 Energy
WAmbessa gains a shield, briefly braces herself, and then slams the ground to damage nearby enemies.
Cooldown 18/17/16/15/14s · 70 Energy
EAmbessa whips her twin drakehounds around herself, damaging and slowing nearby enemies.
Cooldown 13/12/11/10/9s · 70 Energy
RAmbessa blinks to the farthest enemy champion in a line of her choosing and suppresses them upon her arrival.
Cooldown 130/115/100s · No costMax Q first, then E, then W. Take R whenever available (6 / 11 / 16).
| Ability | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QCunning Sweep / Sundering Slam | Q | Q | Q | Q | Q | |||||||||||||
| WRepudiation | W | W | W | W | W | |||||||||||||
| ELacerate | E | E | E | E | E | |||||||||||||
| RPublic Execution | R | R | R |
How Ambessa performs against enemy top laners
Recommended items by enemy team composition
AmbessaTop average
102030
102030
102030
Avoid extended fights — its sustain grows with every trade it survives
Deny the reset — it wants a kill to come back out; a warded exit removes it
Punish the cooldown — Ambessa is exposed while its rotation is down
Ward the flank — vision is what turns its best opening into a worse one
Respect the spike — Riot rates the kit 10/10, so a practised player gets more out of it than the average
PDrakehound's Step
Entering an attack or movement command while casting an ability will cause Ambessa to dash a short distance once the ability is cast, granting her next attack bonus range, damage, and attack speed, and refunding energy.
Passive — never cast
QCunning Sweep / Sundering Slam
Ambessa sweeps her twin drakehounds in a semicircle in front of her, dealing bonus damage to enemies hit by the blades. Striking an enemy will transform the next cast of this ability for a short period of time, causing her to slam her twin drakehounds down in a line in front of her, dealing bonus damage to the first enemy hit.
Cost 70 EnergyCooldown 14/13/12/11/10sRange 650
WRepudiation
Ambessa gains a shield, briefly braces herself, and then slams the ground to damage nearby enemies. If she blocked any non-minion damage while bracing herself, this ability will deal increased damage.
Cost 70 EnergyCooldown 18/17/16/15/14sRange 325
ELacerate
Ambessa whips her twin drakehounds around herself, damaging and slowing nearby enemies. Initiating Drakehound's Step from this ability causes her to strike a second time at the end of its dash.
Cost 70 EnergyCooldown 13/12/11/10/9sRange 325
RPublic Execution
Ambessa blinks to the farthest enemy champion in a line of her choosing and suppresses them upon her arrival. She then slams the enemy into the ground where they take damage and are stunned.
No costCooldown 130/115/100sRange 1250
Riot's notes from patch 25.S1.1 to 26.20 change Ambessa in 6 patches. The latest is patch 26.20, published 2026-10-06.
PDrakehound's Step
Ambessa has been too reliable in her late game output for players with high mastery in all brackets, but especially pro-play.
QCunning Sweep / Sundering Slam
RPublic Execution
After getting to see the impact of last patch’s ultimate nerfs, they’ve been very effective at increasing counterplay at high skill levels. However, we still see an opportunity to shift some power from jungle into top while promoting a bruiser playstyle. As a result, we’re giving her some better early power, while keeping her jungle clear and general lategame potential the same.
RPublic Execution
Ambessa has carried the Medarda legacy a bit too well. Her brutality and fantasy has resonated with her mains, but we believe her ult has felt slightly fast to the point that players hit by it often don't have clarity on what happened. We're extending her cast time to open up clearer counterplay, and will be keeping a watchful eye on opportunities for follow-up work.
QCunning Sweep
We had always anticipated that Ambessa would have a jungle audience and we're happy to see that she's taken root there, but she also needs to be equally balanced across her two primary roles, so we're lightly nerfing her monster damage.
QCunning Sweep / Sundering Slam
Ambessa's jungle play rate never really took off but it's always been right behind top lane in terms of actual power. We're giving it a light nudge that should make her balanced in this alternate role and especially help unoptimized players who can't always get sweet spots to land on large jungle monsters.
ELacerate
Ambessa is a bit too good at assassinating squishy targets quickly, so taking down some base damage to make sure she needs to hit the right number of spells to kill her targets.
Riot's data lists 3 looks for Ambessa with their own art, the base skin included and 12 chroma variants.
Best ARAM build
This champion’s win rate on each patch the preview sample spans, over its own games there. What actually changed each patch is in Riot’s own notes.
| Stat | Ambessa | Rank | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base health | 630 | =61st | 620 |
| Health per level | 110 | =25th | 104 |
| Base armor | 35 | =31st | 30 |
| Armor per level | 4.9 | =36th | 4.6 |
| Base magic resist | 32 | =32nd | 32 |
| Magic resist per level | 2.05 | =4th | 1.55 |
| Base attack damage | 63 | =41st | 59 |
| Base attack speed | 0.625 | =117th | 0.656 |
| Attack speed per level | 2.5% | =75th | 2.5% |
| Move speed | 335 | =74th | 335 |
| Attack range | 125 | =129th | 175 |
| Stat | Level 1 | Per level | Level 18 | Rank at 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health | 630 | +110 | 2500 | =33rd of 173 |
| Armor | 35 | +4.9 | 118.3 | 25th of 173 |
| Magic resist | 32 | +2.05 | 66.85 | =5th of 173 |
Riot Data Dragon 16.20.1. Growth curve: League of Legends Wiki — Champion statistic.
Ambessa, Matriarch of War, is a Fighter and Assassin champion in League of Legends. Riot rates the kit 10/10 for difficulty, 9/10 for attack, 2/10 for defense and 0/10 for magic. Ambessa spends Energy and has 3 skins with their own art.
All who know the name Medarda respect and fear the family's leader, Ambessa. As a Noxian general, she embodies a deadly combination of ruthless strength and fearless resolve in battle. Her role as matriarch is no different, requiring great cunning to empower the Medardas while leaving no room for failure or compassion. Embracing the merciless ways of the Wolf, Ambessa will do whatever it takes to protect her family's legacy, even at the cost of her own children's love.
