MLBB: Marksman Tier List for Patch 2.1.90 (July 2026)

Since patch 2.1.90 went live on Mobile Legends: Bang Bang's official servers on July 8, 2026, the balance of power in the Gold lane has been significantly reshuffled. The nerfs applied to dominant Tank Junglers (Baxia, Fredrinn, Akai) give the bottom lane real breathing room again, the early-game gold jungle buff accelerates carry spikes, and the long-awaited Bruno revamp brings an old favorite back into Mythical Honor and Mythical Glory compositions. This Marksman tier list breaks down the entire roster, from S+ to C, with pick rate, win rate measured in high ELO, power spikes, key matchups, and counters you absolutely need to know to avoid getting caught out in draft.

How to read this tier list

Tiers reflect effectiveness measured in Mythical Honor and above (Mythic Immortal, Mythical Glory) over the period from July 12 to 19, 2026, cross-referenced with trends observed in MPL scrims and data aggregated by MLBBHub, MLBB Meta, and GameMarket. S+ denotes a priority ban or first-pick; S represents a carry capable of winning a game single-handedly; A covers versatile picks and reliable counter-picks; B groups situational heroes that require a dedicated composition; C brings together those who suffer too much from the current dive-heavy context.

Tier S+: the priority picks of patch 2.1.90

Kimmy — 52.8% win rate, 6.4% pick rate

Patch strength: a physical and magic hybrid who harasses at maximum range without entering the reach of enemy dashes. Her ability to hit multiple targets via Chemical Refinement remains particularly toxic in the grouped-fight meta.

Power spike: Necklace of Durance paired with Concentrated Energy. By the twelfth minute, Kimmy can carry a teamfight without a backline.

Best matchups: punishes any composition lacking its own engage (Layla, Miya, Clint, Lesley). Counters: Ling, Fanny, Lancelot — mobile assassins who knock her out of position before she can stack three charges.

Playstyle: mid-to-late. Quiet farming until level 6, then methodical poking around Turtle and Lord.

Karrie — 52.3% win rate, 4.9% pick rate

Patch strength: her true damage delivered via Lightwheel Mark tears through the last layer of tanks still present in the meta (Terizla, Gloo, Barats). Speedy Lightwheel lets her dodge CC in the middle of an initiation.

Power spike: Demon Hunter Sword, Corrosion Scythe, then Golden Staff. At three items, she evaporates a full-health tank in four seconds.

Best matchups: anything that stacks health — Hylos, Uranus, Esmeralda (buffed in exp lane). Counters: Natalia, Ling, Saber, who burst her down before she can stack her charges.

Playstyle: mid-game. Karrie is no longer the best late-game marksman in the game; close out the match between the twelfth and eighteenth minute.

Melissa — 52.5% win rate, 5.1% pick rate

Patch strength: Melissa received a targeted Mythical Honor buff in 2.1.90 (per-tick damage on Muddles readjusted at high ELO). She single-handedly repels any dive thanks to Muddles paired with Falling! Cotton!, and her companion Cotton absorbs nearly 90% of the tanking after her death.

Power spike: Corrosion Scythe plus Windtalker. She stacks attack speed procs very quickly through her skill 1.

Best matchups: severely punishes assassins who dive her — Ling, Hayabusa, Lancelot, Saber. Counters: Franco and Khufra, who pull her out of Muddles, as well as Wanwan, who dodges her ticks.

Playstyle: early-to-mid. She has exceptional one-on-one dueling power from level 4 onward.

Hanabi — 53.9% win rate, 8.7% pick rate

Patch strength: simply the highest marksman win rate of patch 2.1.90. Her passive Ninjutsu: Petal Barrage spreads damage to nearby targets, and her ultimate Forbidden Jutsu: Higanbana grants her total immunity to crowd control effects. In a meta where Franco, Khufra, and Chip lock down backlines, this immunity is decisive.

Power spike: Berserker's Fury plus Scarlet Phantom plus Haas's Claws. The crit and lifesteal combination makes her unstoppable in Lord fights.

Best matchups: stacked compositions, clumped tanks, teamfights in jungle corridors. Counters: Selena, Aamon, and Nolan (burst from outside her range), plus Wanwan, who dodges her shurikens.

Playstyle: pure late-game scaler. Never engage a serious fight before level 8 and two completed items.

Tier S: the carries who win games

Wanwan — 51.8% win rate, 6.2% pick rate

Patch strength: unmatched mobility thanks to Crossbow of Tang — four weak points to reveal in order to unlock Tiger Pace, which grants CC immunity during the final volley. The Tank Jungler nerfs make the bottom lane easier to breathe in during the early game.

Power spike: Swift Boots plus Windtalker plus Berserker's Fury. At three items, she becomes a backline-picking machine.

Best matchups: particularly strong against Beatrix, Ixia, and Hanabi. Counters: Nolan, Gusion, Saber, and tanks who kite her (Khufra, Chip).

Playstyle: late-game. Very high skill ceiling — reserved for players who master the weak-point stacking mechanic.

Claude — 51.6% win rate, 4.7% pick rate

Patch strength: the ideal counter to late scalers (Ixia, Obsidia). Battle Mirror Image with Dexter doubles his DPS output and serves as a repositioning tool. The Dexter stack pushes his attack speed to extreme levels.

Power spike: Demon Hunter Sword plus Golden Staff. A combination that tears through Gloo, Terizla, and Uranus in under three seconds.

Best matchups: both anti-tank and anti-scaler. Counters: Kaja, Franco, and Chou, who isolate him from Dexter.

Playstyle: mid-to-late. Particularly patient farming and flawless teamfight positioning required.

Granger — 51.2% win rate, 5.8% pick rate

Patch strength: the highest burst in the marksman roster thanks to Death Sonata. Less farm-dependent, he can carry a game with a decent mid-game without finishing six items.

Power spike: Berserker's Fury plus Blade of Despair. Two items are enough to erase a backliner with one combo.

Best matchups: fragile compositions, Beatrix, Ixia. Counters: tanks equipped with Immortality, Wanwan, who dodges him.

Playstyle: mid-game roamer. Best played like a semi-assassin around rotations.

Beatrix — 51.4% win rate, 5.3% pick rate

Patch strength: extreme versatility thanks to her four weapons (Renner sniper, Bennett shotgun, Wesker minigun, Flora crossbow). She punishes early-game brawls.

Power spike: Corrosion Scythe plus Endless Battle. The Endless Battle proc on each weapon swap is devastating.

Best matchups: Hanabi, Ixia, Melissa. Counters: Granger (57.6%), Wanwan (51.8%), and Moskov (50.3%) according to head-to-head data.

Playstyle: early-to-mid. High skill ceiling: the key lies in weapon-swap timing.

Tier A: flexible picks and counter-picks

Bruno (2.1.90 revamp) — 50.9% win rate, 3.8% pick rate

Patch strength: a full revamp — improved knockback (target propelled to his max range), Powerball prioritizes heroes on bounce, increased throw range. Bruno becomes viable again after more than a year in obscurity.

Power spike: Corrosion Scythe plus Malefic Roar. Counters: Nolan, Ling, Fanny. Playstyle: mid-game, one to watch closely — he could climb to S in the coming weeks.

Ixia — 50.8% win rate, 4.2% pick rate

Patch strength: unmatched AoE teamfighting via the sideways shot of Overload Mode. She punishes disorganized compositions without requiring flawless mechanics.

Power spike: Endless Battle plus Corrosion Scythe. Counters: Ling, Wanwan, Natalia, Brody, Claude, Franco, Kaja — she gets counter-picked frequently. Playstyle: mid-game teamfighter, avoid as a solo-carry against dive comps.

Brody — 51.0% win rate, 3.6% pick rate

Patch strength: long-range harassment via Abyss Corrosion, accelerated spike thanks to Endless Battle. Solid against frontal engages.

Spike: Endless Battle plus Bloodlust Axe. Best matchups: Ixia, Hanabi, Melissa. Counters: Nolan, Wanwan, Fanny. Playstyle: early-to-mid, bullies the lane from level 4.

Popol and Kupa — 52.8% win rate, 2.1% pick rate

Patch strength: the player-plus-wolf duo offers permanent vision, a useful slow, and a second target for assassins to deal with. Low pick rate, exceptional win rate.

Spike: Berserker's Fury plus Scarlet Phantom. Counters: fast AoE clear (Valentina, Yve). Playstyle: mid-to-late lane bully.

Moskov — 50.5% win rate, 3.3% pick rate

Patch strength: penetration on his shots — a single auto-attack hits multiple heroes lined up. Monstrous single-target DPS when the composition protects him.

Spike: Windtalker plus Berserker's Fury. Counters: Ling, Fanny, Kaja, who isolate him, plus anything that interrupts his knockback ultimate. Playstyle: late-game, needs two solid frontliners.

Obsidia — 50.3% win rate, 2.4% pick rate

Patch strength: a new late-game marksman who stacks Bone Energy. Once stacked (minute 20+), she crushes any tank-heavy composition.

Spike: Windtalker plus Golden Staff plus Wind of Nature. Counters: Claude, who tears her apart faster, Wanwan, who kites her, any early dive. Playstyle: very farm-dependent late-game.

Tier B: situational picks

Miya — 52.1% win rate, 3.9% pick rate

Patch strength: the early durability buff in 2.1.90 gives her breathing room in lane again. Arrow of Eclipse remains an excellent zoning tool around objectives. Spike: Windtalker plus Demon Hunter Sword. Counters: any dive composition — without peel, she dies in two seconds. Playstyle: mid-to-late, better at mid ELO than in Mythical Glory.

Irithel — 52.9% win rate, 2.2% pick rate

Patch strength: able to shoot while moving — a fundamental mechanical advantage in chaotic fights. She walks through skillshots while continuing her DPS. Spike: Berserker's Fury plus Scarlet Phantom. Playstyle: late-game, very reliable once the mechanic is mastered.

Yi Sun-shin — 51.6% win rate, 2.5% pick rate

Patch strength: a jungler/marksman hybrid. Mostly works as a jungler this patch thanks to the early gold buff; in pure Gold lane, he loses much of his edge. Counters: the nerfed jungle meta complicates his rotations.

Natan — 50.4% win rate, 2.0% pick rate

Patch strength: the Superposition passive creates a clone. Excellent in teamfights where two Natans double the AoE pressure. Spike: Corrosion Scythe plus Malefic Roar. Playstyle: mid-game teamfighter, very skill-dependent.

Lesley — 49.8% win rate, 3.1% pick rate

Patch strength: long-range sniper, guaranteed crit out of combat. Ideal for punishing grouped compositions. Spike: Berserker's Fury plus Blade of Despair. Counters: Ling, Selena, Nolan — too much mobility for her firing angles.

Tier C: to avoid in Mythical Honor+

Layla — 48.9% win rate, 1.4% pick rate

Weakness: no mobility, no available peel. She scales decently into the late game but will die roughly fifteen times before reaching her spike in a serious competitive draft. Best reserved for Brawl mode and beginner lobbies.

Clint — 48.4% win rate, 1.7% pick rate

Weakness: acceptable mid-game but poor late-game. The current meta demands either a solid scaler (Hanabi, Wanwan) or a specialized anti-tank (Karrie, Claude) — Clint genuinely fits neither box.

Roger — 47.9% win rate, 1.1% pick rate

Weakness: a marksman/fighter hybrid struggling to find his true place in the 2.1.90 meta. Recently buffed exp-lane fighters (Argus, Nolan) simply steal his window of opportunity.

Cross-tier matchups to remember

• Wanwan vs. Beatrix: Wanwan wins the head-to-head, provided she dodges the first Renner sniper swap.
• Claude vs. Ixia: equipped with Demon Hunter Sword and Golden Staff, Claude destroys Ixia before she has time to stack.
• Karrie vs. Melissa: Karrie punishes her on Muddles over-extension; Melissa wins when Karrie engages without peel.
• Granger vs. any squishy: with Death Sonata, he eliminates any tier B or C marksman in a single combo.
• Hanabi vs. compressed backline: her passive wrecks Lord fights — ban her if your composition tends to group up.

Core items by marksman archetype

Patch 2.1.90 favors three distinct Gold lane builds, to be adapted based on the hero and the enemy composition:

• Anti-tank: Demon Hunter Sword + Malefic Roar + Golden Staff — on Karrie, Claude, and Bruno against Gloo, Terizla, Barats.
• Crit scaler: Berserker's Fury + Scarlet Phantom + Haas's Claws — for Hanabi, Miya, Irithel, Popol, who capitalize on critical hits.
• Hybrid attack speed: Corrosion Scythe + Windtalker + Endless Battle — on Melissa, Beatrix, Moskov, Brody, who trigger procs on every hit.

The third defensive item has become nearly mandatory. Wind of Nature remains essential against dive-heavy physical compositions (Ling, Fanny, Saber); Immortality takes priority against magic burst (Aamon, Gusion, Kagura).

Recommended emblem and Battle Spell

The Marksman emblem remains the default choice, with a variable talent: Weapons Master for critical scalers (Hanabi, Wanwan, Miya), Weakness Finder for anti-tanks (Karrie, Claude), Electro Flash for burst carries (Granger, Beatrix). The Battle Spell Inspire covers most situations; Flicker remains essential on immobile heroes (Layla, Clint, Lesley), and Aegis is well justified on Melissa and Miya, who are stationary during their ultimates.

Draft: who to first-pick, who to ban?

As a safe first-pick, Hanabi and Melissa are the best choices since they are very difficult to counter-pick. In the second phase, Karrie and Claude become excellent counter-picks, respectively against tank-heavy compositions and late-game scalers. On the ban side, prioritize Kimmy (poke control), Hanabi (the best marksman win rate), and Melissa (recent beneficiary of the Mythical Honor buff). Wanwan remains bannable in solo queue against a player who has mastered her, but her skill ceiling makes her less of a priority in ranked.

What to remember for late July

Patch 2.1.90 rewards marksmen able to survive the initial engage. Hanabi leads in win rate thanks to her CC immunity; Kimmy, Karrie, and Melissa form the S+ trio you need to know by heart, both for drafting and banning; Wanwan, Claude, and Granger remain the high-ceiling carries; the Bruno revamp deserves to be tested without delay, before the inevitable corrective nerf. Focus on having an anti-tank and a late scaler in your pool to always have a coherent answer in draft, and always plan for a third defensive item — in the current dive-heavy meta, survival outweighs the extra three hundred damage from an offensive item. Good climbing to all of you.