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By GamGem ResearchLast updated 18 Oct 2026

Samira Counters, Build and Runes — Bot Lane Matchups · Patch 26.20

the Desert Rose

Patch 26.20 · Stats from the 26.18 Master+ sample (1,136 games).

Samira, the Desert Rose, builds a style combo by varying her attacks and abilities, and her Wild Rush cooldown refreshes on a champion kill. Conqueror was on virtually every counted Master+ Samira, and The Collector into Infinity Edge was the path bought most. Tristana and Kalista beat her most often in the bot lane. Jhin and Draven she held the edge over. Yunara, Caitlyn and Jinx were level with her.

MarksmanAssassin

Patch 26.18 · Bot · Ranked Solo/Duo · Master+ · EUW · KR · NA · 1,136 games · Preview sample

League of LegendsPatch 26.18BotRanked Solo/DuoMaster+EUW · KR · NA1,136 gamesPreview sample

Role snapshot (Bot)

CTier

Win Rate: 47.9%
Pick Rate: 1.7%
Ban Rate: 0.5%

1,136

Games

Moderate

Confidence

Most common path

433 games

54.3%Win Rate

Start

Flash

Barrier

Other first item

23 games

52.2%Win Rate

Start

Flash

Exhaust

Runes

Patch 26.18

This exact page: taken in 16.8% of games·47.6% win rate over 191 games.

Primary

Precision

Conqueror

Gain stacks of adaptive force when attacking enemy champions. After reaching 12 stacks, heal for a portion of damage you deal to champions.

Triumph

Takedowns restore 5% of your missing health and grant an additional 20 gold.

Legend: Bloodline

Takedowns on enemies grant permanent Life Steal, up to a cap. Once the cap is reached, increase your max health. Weaker earlier but stronger later game than other Legend Runes.

Last Stand

Deal more damage to champions while you are low on health.

Secondary

Domination

Taste of Blood

Heal when you damage an enemy champion.

Treasure Hunter

Unique takedowns grant additional gold the first time they are collected.

Shards

Attack Speed
Adaptive Force
Health

Other keystones taken

Electrocute0.4% taken · 60.0% win5 games
Dark Harvest0.3% taken · 33.3% win3 games
Lethal Tempo0.2% taken · 0.0% win2 games

Tree pairs

Precision + Domination49.7% taken · 46.9% win565 games
Precision + Inspiration40.6% taken · 49.2% win461 games
Precision + Resolve6.4% taken · 46.6% win73 games

Skill Order

Which ability to max first, and the level each point goes in — Samira's most common path.

Flair

Samira fires a shot or swings her sword, dealing damage.

Cooldown 6/5/4/3/2s · 30 Mana

Blade Whirl

Samira slashes around her, damaging enemies and destroying enemy missiles.

Cooldown 30/28/26/24/22s · 60 Mana

Wild Rush

Samira dashes through an enemy (including structures), slashing enemies she passes through and gaining Attack Speed.

Cooldown 20/18/16/14/12s · 40 Mana

Inferno Trigger

Samira unleashes a torrent of shots from her weapons, wildly shooting all enemies surrounding her.

Cooldown 5s · No cost

Max Order

QEW

Max Q first, then E, then W. Take R whenever available (6 / 11 / 16).

Level-up Order

QFlair
WBlade Whirl
EWild Rush
RInferno Trigger

Ability	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
QFlair	Q			Q	Q		Q		Q
WBlade Whirl			W											W	W		W	W
EWild Rush		E						E		E		E	E
RInferno Trigger						R					R					R

Matchup map (Bot)

How Samira performs against enemy bot laners

Levels 1 – 18 · Master+40%60%Samira's win rate

≥ 60%Very favorable

55 – 60%Favorable

50 – 55%Even

45 – 50%Unfavorable

40 – 45%Hard

< 40%Very hard

Conditional build matrix

Recommended items by enemy team composition

Master+ · Patch 26.18

Mythic / CoreFirst major item

Core 2Second item

Core 3Third item

BootsBoot slot

SituationalPick as needed

Scaling — minute 10–30

SamiraBot average

Gold

102030

Damage to champions

102030

Counter plan — how to beat Samira

Close the gap early — it wins at range and at three items — neither before ten minutes
Deny the reset — it wants a kill to come back out; a warded exit removes it
Punish the cooldown — Samira 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 6/10, so a practised player gets more out of it than the average

Ability details

P
Daredevil Impulse
Samira builds a combo by hitting attacks or abilities unique from the previous hit. Samira's attacks in melee range deal additional magic damage. Samira's attacks against enemies affected by Immobilizing effects will dash her to her attack range. If the enemy is Knocked Up, she also keeps them Knocked Up briefly.
Passive — never cast
Q
Flair
Samira fires a shot or swings her sword, dealing damage. If cast during Wild Rush, strike all enemies in her path upon completion.
Cost 30 ManaCooldown 6/5/4/3/2sRange 950
W
Blade Whirl
Samira slashes around her, damaging enemies and destroying enemy missiles.
Cost 60 ManaCooldown 30/28/26/24/22sRange 325
E
Wild Rush
Samira dashes through an enemy (including structures), slashing enemies she passes through and gaining Attack Speed. Killing an enemy champion refreshes this ability's cooldown.
Cost 40 ManaCooldown 20/18/16/14/12sRange 600
R
Inferno Trigger
Samira unleashes a torrent of shots from her weapons, wildly shooting all enemies surrounding her.
No costCooldown 5sRange 600

Samira balance history

Riot's notes from patch 25.S1.1 to 26.20 change Samira in 5 patches. The latest is patch 26.5, published 2026-03-03.

Patch 26.52026-03-03
QFlair
- The Right Tool for the Job: Samira Q will now do multiple additional checks to see if there are units on both the right and left of her. If there are, and importantly if there are no units far in front of her, she will use Sword Q. If a unit is far in front of her, she will still use Gun Q regardless of units on the right and left.
- Itchy Trigger Finger: Samira Q is now properly sealed during her passive. This resolves a case where Samira Q can go on cooldown despite not being used if pressed during her passive’s animation. This also applies to an instance where her ultimate was cast after her W.
- Can’t Out-Walk Me: Samira Q will now do a check to see if the enemy is walking away from her and in the very last part of her Sword Q’s range. If so, she will instead use Gun Q. This should resolve the extreme cases where champions can simply walk away from her Q at very low move speed (higher move speeds will still likely be able to do so, rightfully.)
Why, in Riot's words
We’re giving Samira some love in the form of QoL and minor bugfixing around her Q! Sometimes Q doesn’t do what you want which can be a bit frustrating, and we’re hoping to fix some of the extreme end of feels-bad cases by adding some additional logic on the decision of when to use her Sword and when to use her Gun.
Patch 26.42026-02-18
QFlair
- Life Steal Effectiveness80%to100%
RInferno Trigger
- Life Steal Effectiveness80%to100%
Why, in Riot's words
Samira is already a solid performer every way we can measure it, so this change isn't meant to be a significant buff. Instead, this change is more an acknowledgement that Bloodthirster should be competitive with Endless Hunger and shouldn't heal her for less just due to some rules text.
Patch 26.12026-01-07
QFlair
- Q Non-Crit Damage5/10/15/20/25 (+ 95/102.5/110/117.5/125% total AD)to0/5/10/15/20 (+ 110% total AD)
- Q Critical Strike Damage1.25/1.65x with IEto50% of bonus crit damage: 1.5/1.65x with IE
RInferno Trigger
- R Non-Crit Damage5/15/25 + 45% total ADto20/40/60 + 30% total AD
- R Critical Damage1.75/2.15x with IEto100% of bonus crit damage: 2.0/2.3x with IE
Why, in Riot's words
We like that Samira's R and Q are almost direct auto-attack replacements and want to preserve as much of their crit damage as possible. However, with the value of crit going up, the value of AD must then go down.
Patch 25.122025-06-10
PDaredevil Impulse
- Style Bonus Movement Speed per Stack: 2 / 2.5 / 3 / 3.5% (max stacks12 / 15 / 18 / 21%)to2.75 / 3 / 3.25 / 3.5% (max stacks: 16.5 / 18 / 19.5 / 21%)
QFlair
- Damage0 / 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 (+95 / 102.5 / 110 / 117.5 / 125% AD)to5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 (+95 / 102.5 / 110 / 117.5 / 125% AD)
Why, in Riot's words
Samira's lifesteal buffs last patch succeeded in introducing Bloodthirster as a viable first option and otherwise ended up power neutral. We’re opting for a more direct buff to her early lane agency through a small bump on her most used ability’s damage, and an early game-focused buff on her ability to run down her opponents with style!
Patch 25.112025-05-27
QFlair
- Lifesteal Effectiveness66.66%to80%
WBlade Whirl
- Damage per hit20 / 35 / 50 / 65 / 80 (+ 60% bonus AD)to20 / 35 / 50 / 65 / 80 (+ 50% bonus AD)
RInferno Trigger
- Lifesteal Effectiveness50%to80%
Why, in Riot's words
Samira is statistically fine, but she's very sharply dependent upon getting kills in lane and struggles to teamfight without a large lead. We're bumping up her lifesteal synergy in order to enable builds that aren't all about maximum damage and taking a bit away from her burst combo to compensate.

Samira skins (7)

Riot's data lists 7 looks for Samira with their own art, the base skin included and 35 chroma variants.

ARAM performance

EstimateS+

Win Rate: 53.5%; ▼ 0.3%
Pick Rate: 8.6%; ▲ 2.5%
Ban Rate: 1.3%; ▼ 1.4%

Damage dealt: 109.4%
Damage taken: 100.9%
Healing: 108.8%
Shielding: 91.3%
Ability Haste: +8

Best ARAM build

Patch timeline

Riot’s notes

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.

26.1946.0% over 311 games · small sample-0.4
26.1848.8% over 611 games · small sample+0.1
26.1748.1% over 210 games · small sample—

Samira's base stats against all 173 champions

Stat	Samira	Rank	Median
Base health	630	=61st	620
Health per level	108	=53rd	104
Base armor	26	=110th	30
Armor per level	4.7	=42nd	4.6
Base magic resist	33	=4th	32
Magic resist per level	1.1	=145th	1.55
Base attack damage	57	=107th	59
Base attack speed	0.658	=54th	0.656
Attack speed per level	3.3%	=31st	2.5%
Move speed	335	=74th	335
Attack range	500	=64th	175

Samira at level 1 and level 18

Samira reaches 2466 health at level 18 — 630 at level 1 plus 17 × 108, the 50th-highest of 173 champions on patch 26.20.
Samira reaches 995 mana at level 18 — 349 at level 1 plus 17 × 38, the 46th-lowest of 145 mana users on patch 26.20, shared with 1.
Samira reaches 105.9 armor at level 18 — 26 at level 1 plus 17 × 4.7, the 79th-lowest of 173 champions on patch 26.20, shared with 1.
Samira reaches 51.7 magic resist at level 18 — 33 at level 1 plus 17 × 1.1, the 6th-lowest of 173 champions on patch 26.20, shared with 27.

Stat	Level 1	Per level	Level 18	Rank at 18
Health	630	+108	2466	50th of 173
Mana	349	+38	995	=99th of 145
Armor	26	+4.7	105.9	=94th of 173
Magic resist	33	+1.1	51.7	=141st of 173

Riot Data Dragon 16.20.1. Growth curve: League of Legends Wiki — Champion statistic.

Quick answers about Samira

How does Samira do against Tristana?: Samira won 34.8% of 69 counted Master+ games against Tristana. Tristana is one of the opponents that beat Samira. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.
How does Samira do against Kalista?: Samira won 45.9% of 37 counted Master+ games against Kalista. Kalista is one of the opponents that beat Samira. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.
How does Samira do against Viktor?: Samira won 38.7% of 31 counted Master+ games against Viktor. Viktor is one of the opponents that beat Samira. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.
How does Samira do against Jhin?: Samira won 53.3% of 75 counted Master+ games against Jhin. It is a matchup Samira wins more often than not. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.
How does Samira do against Draven?: Samira won 53.7% of 41 counted Master+ games against Draven. It is a matchup Samira wins more often than not. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.
How does Samira do against Yunara?: Samira won 51.7% of 143 counted Master+ games against Yunara. It is close to even.
How does Samira do against Caitlyn?: Samira won 52.0% of 50 counted Master+ games against Caitlyn. It is close to even. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.
How does Samira do against Jinx?: Samira won 47.9% of 48 counted Master+ games against Jinx. It is close to even. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.
What class is Samira?: Riot classes Samira as Marksman and Assassin. This site files the champion under Bot.
How hard is Samira to play?: Riot rates Samira's difficulty 6 out of 10.
What resource does Samira use?: Samira's abilities spend Mana.
What is Samira's attack range?: 500 units — the 64th-highest of 173 champions on patch 26.20 (shared with 8 others).
What are Samira's abilities?: Passive — Daredevil Impulse, Q — Flair, W — Blade Whirl, E — Wild Rush and R — Inferno Trigger.
How many skins does Samira have?: Riot's data lists 7 skins with their own art, the base look included, plus 35 chroma variants.
How much health does Samira have at level 18?: 2466 — 630 at level 1 plus 17 × 108 per level, Riot's own values, before items and runes.
What is Samira's ultimate cooldown?: Inferno Trigger (R): 5 seconds by rank, before ability haste, in Riot's Data Dragon 16.20.1.
When did Riot last change Samira?: Patch 26.5, published 3 March 2026 — the latest of 5 patches that change Samira in Riot's notes from 25.S1.1 to 26.20.

Samira at a glance

Samira, the Desert Rose, is a Marksman and Assassin champion in League of Legends. Riot rates the kit 6/10 for difficulty, 8/10 for attack, 5/10 for defense and 3/10 for magic. Samira spends Mana and has 7 skins with their own art.

Attack8/10
Defense5/10
Magic3/10
Difficulty6/10

Samira's story

Samira stares death in the eye with unyielding confidence, seeking thrill wherever she goes. After her Shuriman home was destroyed as a child, Samira found her true calling in Noxus, where she built a reputation as a stylish daredevil taking on dangerous missions of the highest caliber. Wielding black-powder pistols and a custom-engineered blade, Samira thrives in life-or-death circumstances, eliminating any who stand in her way with flash and flair.

— Riot Games, Data Dragon 16.20.1. League of Legends Universe

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Methodology

Data window: Preview sample — a one-time snapshot of 65,406 ranked games (Master+, EUW/KR/NA, patch 26.18), counted by GamGem while our Riot production key is under review. Figures will update daily once it is approved. Counted 26–27 Sept 2026; patches 26.18 (35,477) · 26.19 (18,580) · 26.17 (11,048) · 26.16 (293) · 26.15 (8); by server EUW 22,382 · KR 21,922 · NA 21,065 · EUNE 20 · TR 17. 642 games without a result — remakes ended by vote in their first minutes, and games recorded with no winner — were not counted.
Rank aggregation: Master, Grandmaster and Challenger, pooled — the three ladders the count read its players from. Splitting further leaves samples too small to separate a real effect from noise.
Role assignment: A champion is filed under every lane that holds at least a tenth of its counted games — the position the match itself reports, not the champion’s class. Its headline win rate is across all of them; each lane’s own win rate and games are counted too, and a lane’s tier list ranks by them.
Counters: The two champions in the same position on opposite teams, over that pairing’s own counted games — ranked on the edge pulled toward zero by its sample size, printed raw.
Minimum sample: None — no figure is hidden for being thin. Every rate prints its games, and the confidence band is its 95% margin: Very High within ±1.5 points, High ±2.5, Moderate ±3.1 (1,000 games), Low wider.
Why a build is not a cause: An item is counted when the match ENDS with it, so late items show long games and an item bought when already ahead shows games that were being won. Correlation is what a rate can show; it is not evidence that buying the item caused the win.
Where the numbers come from: Names, classes, abilities, items and runes are Riot Data Dragon. Win, pick and ban rates, builds, keystones, spells and matchups are counted by GamGem from Riot's ranked match records. An estimate, not a count: this panel is not in the preview sample, and is labelled so.