By GamGem ResearchLast updated 20 Aug 2026 · 00:00
Ambessa
Matriarch of War
FighterAssassin
League of LegendsPatch 26.16TopRanked Solo/DuoEmerald+NA35,351 gamesSample data
Role snapshot (Top)
- 51.6%
- Win Rate
- 6.9%
- Pick Rate
- 4.2%
- Ban Rate
35,351
Games
High
Confidence
Matchup map (Top) — level 1–18
Conditional build matrix
| vs AP Burst | vs AD Assassins | vs Tanks | vs Sustain | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mythic / Core |   |   |   |   |
| Core 2 |   |   |   |   |
| Core 3 |  |  |   |   |
| Boots |  |  |  |  |
| Situational |   |   |   |  |
Popular build
16,261 games52.0%Win Rate
Flash
IgniteReliable build
11,666 games50.7%Win Rate
Flash
TeleportHigh observed win rate
4,242 games54.1%Win Rate
Flash
ExhaustRunes
Primary: Inspiration
Glacial Augment
Cash Back
Triple Tonic
Jack Of All Trades
Secondary: Domination
Cheap Shot
Sixth Sense
Shards
+9 Adaptive Force
+9 Adaptive Force
+10-180 Health (based on level)
Skill order
| Q | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| E | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| R | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
Ability details
Drakehound'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
Cunning 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
Repudiation
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
Lacerate
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
Public 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.
Cost 0 EnergyCooldown 130/115/100sRange 1250
Scaling — level 1–18
AmbessaTop average
1918
1918
1918
Counter plan — how to beat Ambessa
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
ARAM performance
- 53.2%
- Win Rate ▼ 0.9%
- 3.2%
- Pick Rate ▲ 0.8%
- 0.6%
- Ban Rate ▲ 0.8%
- Damage dealt
- 92.3%
- Damage taken
- 104.2%
- Healing
- 101.0%
- Shielding
- 94.4%
- Ability Haste
- +4
Best ARAM build
Patch timeline
We hold the rates, not the balance log. What actually changed each patch is in Riot’s own notes.
- 26.16Live now-0.5
- 26.14Sample win rate across this patch-0.7
- 26.11Sample win rate across this patch-0.2
- 26.08Sample win rate across this patch-0.6
- 26.05Sample win rate across this patch+0.1
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Methodology
- Data window
- 512,340 games on patch 26.16, Ranked Solo/Duo, NA. Last refreshed 20 Aug 2026.
- Rank aggregation
- Emerald+ and above, pooled. Splitting further leaves samples too small to separate a real effect from noise.
- Role assignment
- A champion is filed under the lanes it actually plays, not the one class it belongs to — which is why several appear in two.
- Counters
- A matchup, not a tier gap: how this champion does into that one specifically, over that pairing’s own games.
- Minimum sample
- The confidence indicator beside every rate is driven by how much of the window this champion appears in. A low reading means read the figure loosely, not that it is wrong.
- Why a build is not a cause
- The best-scoring build is the one the best-placed players happened to take. Correlation is what a rate can show; it is not evidence that buying those items caused the wins.
- Where the numbers come from
- Names, classes, lanes, abilities, items and runes are Riot Data Dragon. Win, pick and ban rates are derived samples — Riot publishes none of them, and nothing on this page presents one as measured.