Which Legends are the strongest?

Riftbound: the League of Legends trading card game has no Legend that is the strongest for good. A Legend is only as strong as the cards in its two domains, the cards Riot has banned and the decks everyone else brings, and all three change with every set. The fairest way to judge is by how Legends placed at the Regional Qualifiers, the large open tournaments of 2026.

This article follows those results up to the last Regional Qualifier of 2026, held in Los Angeles from 25 to 27 September. Radiance, the fifth set, adds nine new Legends with its release on 23 October 2026, so the order described here is the one from before Radiance.

Which Legends did best in the Vendetta season?

Kennen was the Legend to beat in the Vendetta season, yet its three Regional Qualifiers were won by the Legends of Ornn, Akali and Rengar.

• Barcelona, 21 to 23 August 2026. Heart of the Tempest, the Legend of Kennen in Chaos and Order, was the most played Legend on both days and took three places in the Top 8, second place among them. The winner played Fire Below the Mountain, the Legend of Ornn in Calm and Mind.
• Singapore, 4 to 6 September 2026. Kennen was again the most played Legend and the most common one in the Top 8. The title went to Rogue Assassin, the Legend of Akali in Fury and Calm.
• Los Angeles, 25 to 27 September 2026. After a ban that took a key card away from Kennen decks, Blade Dancer, the Legend of Irelia, became the most played Legend and finished second. Pridestalker, the Legend of Rengar in Fury and Body, won. Kennen still sent more players into the second day than any other Legend, but none reached the Top 8.

The Top 8 in Los Angeles held two Irelia decks, two Azir decks and one deck each for Master Yi, Akali, Ornn and Rengar. It was the last Top 8 of a Regional Qualifier before Radiance. Riot's reports on Barcelona, Singapore and Los Angeles give the Top 8 decklists and how many players brought each Legend.

Which Legends have stayed strong all year?

Three Legends have kept reaching the Top 8 through 2026, from one set to the next: Wuju Bladesman, Emperor of the Sands and Blade Dancer.

• Wuju Bladesman, the Legend of Master Yi in Calm and Body, gives a friendly unit +2 Might while it defends alone. It comes from the Proving Grounds starter box, finished second at the Regional Qualifier in Lille in April 2026 and reached the Top 8 at all three Regional Qualifiers of the Vendetta season. Riot banned it in two-versus-two Constructed from 24 July 2026, where its bonus helps both teammates.
• Emperor of the Sands, the Legend of Azir in Calm and Order, makes a 2 Might Sand Soldier token for 1 Energy in a turn in which you played an Equipment, and gives your Sand Soldiers Weaponmaster. Azir won the Regional Qualifiers in Lille and Utrecht and had two decks in the Top 8 in Los Angeles.
• Blade Dancer, the Legend of Irelia in Calm and Chaos, readies a friendly unit you choose when you exhaust it and pay one Power of any domain. Irelia won the Regional Qualifier in Sydney in May 2026 and reached the Top 8 at Regional Qualifiers from Bologna in February 2026 to Los Angeles in September.

Results also reflect the players. The same player won both of Azir's titles, and the winner in Los Angeles had already won Atlanta with Annie.

What makes a Legend strong?

A strong Legend helps its deck every turn without costing much, and it has good cards in its domains to work with. The Legends that have done well show three patterns.

• Help that costs nothing. Pridestalker gives a unit +1 Might this turn whenever you play a unit, and Wuju Bladesman strengthens every lone defender. Neither costs Energy or has to be exhausted, so the deck spends all its resources on cards.
• Extra cards or resources. Glorious Executioner, the Legend of Draven, draws a card each time you win a combat, and Fire Below the Mountain adds one Power of any domain each turn for gear. One extra card or Power a turn adds up over a game.
• The cards around it. Heart of the Tempest is Empowered when you play a card from outside your hand, such as a spell with Flow from your trash. Riot explained that Kennen decks used Stacked Deck with his signature spell Lightning Rush to dig through the deck too efficiently. The Legend set the plan, but the cards around it made the deck strong.

How do bans and new sets change the strongest Legends?

Every ban and every new set reshuffles the order, and Riot has said that it does not want one Legend, domain or play pattern to dominate the game for long.

Draven was the strongest Legend early in 2026. At the Regional Qualifier in Las Vegas, a few weeks after Spiritforged came out in February, five of the Top 8 decks were Draven decks, the winner among them. From 31 March 2026 Riot banned his champion unit Draven, Vanquisher and left the Legend legal. Riot admitted a mistake with Glorious Executioner but called banning a Legend a last resort, since that takes away every deck of the champion. Draven decks still reached the Top 8 in Lille and Atlanta, but none reached it at the Regional Qualifiers of the Vendetta season.

Kennen's Legend arrived with Vendetta and was the one to beat within weeks. From 18 September 2026 Riot banned Stacked Deck, saying it wanted Kennen less consistent while leaving his deck intact. That was the third change to the banned list in 2026, after 31 March and 24 July, and on the list of that day no Legend is banned in one-on-one Constructed.

Radiance brings nine new Legends with its release on 23 October 2026, and the Core Rules update for Radiance takes effect on 16 October 2026. The European Regional Championship in Stuttgart, from 6 to 8 November 2026, is played with Radiance cards, as Riot's event information says, and its results show how the new Legends hold up against the old ones.

Should you play one of the strongest Legends?

Play a strong Legend if you want to win tournaments, but pick one you enjoy and can learn, since a Legend you play well often beats a stronger one you play badly.

Some strong Legends are also easy to learn. Wuju Bladesman and Pridestalker work on their own, and both have placed well. Wuju Bladesman leads the Master Yi deck in Proving Grounds, a box with a launch price of $29.99, which makes it a natural first step toward a tournament deck. Heart of the Tempest asks for more practice, since it only gives a unit Assault 2 once cards played from outside your hand have Empowered it. At a weekly store event such as Nexus Night, knowing your deck matters more than having the strongest Legend. Strength is only one reason to choose a Legend, since the champion you like, what the Legend's ability rewards and the two domains it brings count as well when you pick a Legend.

Every Legend is on the Legends page, and the shared decks can be filtered by Legend to show what players build around each one. Riot publishes the Top 8 decklists of its Regional Qualifiers in its organized play news, and the large events to come are on the major events page. A Legend is only one card of a deck, so the decks that placed at recent events show more than the Legends alone: which decks are strong in the current meta names them, and a tier list groups them from the strongest down, although a list is only as current as the cards and banned list it was made with.