MLBB: The 5 Heroes to Ban in Mythical Glory (July 2026)

Season 41 of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang has reshuffled the deck. Patch 2.1.90, rolled out on July 8, 2026, rebalanced the jungle, pulled a few carries out of the shadows, and above all confirmed a handful of heroes as undisputed picks in Mythical Glory lobbies. At this tier, the ban phase becomes just as important as the draft itself: forgetting a priority pick means handing 5,500 gold worth of free value to the enemy team. This guide reviews the five heroes to prioritize banning this month, explaining why they break the game, when you might get away with letting them through, and above all which counter-picks to keep on hand if the enemy grabs them.

Why the ban phase counts double at Mythical Glory

At Mythical Glory, each team has three bans in Draft Pick. These six total bans shape 80% of the game's dynamic before the very first pick. At this level, players have a perfect grasp of meta heroes: an unbanned Paquito ends up in the hands of a 500-star Mythic who will solo-kill you in the EXP Lane without contest. The ban phase therefore serves to remove the enemy's win conditions: heroes with dominant tempo, ones that make a lane unplayable, or ones whose counter-picks simply don't exist in the current patch.

Three criteria guide the bans in Mythical Glory for July 2026:

• Raw ban rate: if a hero exceeds a 30% ban rate in ranked, it means they pose a real problem for the majority of players.
• Difficulty of reversal: a hero who takes an early lead and converts it into an uncontrollable snowball (mobility, sustain, skill resets) is a priority.
• Lack of a reliable counter-pick: when the best counters cap out at a 52% win rate in a head-to-head, it's better to settle things at the ban screen.

Here are the five names that check all three boxes this month.

1. Paquito — the fighter who crushes the EXP Lane

Role: Fighter / Assassin — mainly EXP Lane, occasionally jungle.
Current ban rate: ~64% in Mythical Glory, the highest in the game since his ultimate's rework.

Paquito remains the undisputed number one ban for July 2026. His Champ Stance stacking gives him four different combos depending on which skill is recharged, with burst damage capable of dropping a marksman in under a second starting at level 4. Add in the mobility of his Jab and an ultimate that resets his skills on enemy heroes, and you get the most uncompromising fighter in the meta: he wins nearly every lane trade, solo-kills in ganks, and pushes towers as fast as marksmen.

Let him through if: your team has already pre-picked Esmeralda or Chip in the EXP Lane. Esmeralda eats his shields and out-sustains him in extended trades; Chip chains stuns that cancel his dashes.
Counter-picks if the enemy grabs him: Esmeralda (~53% win rate against Paquito), Chip (~52%), Odette (~50%), who pokes him from range before he can close in.

2. Gloo — the patch's near-unplayable tank

Role: Tank — Roamer or EXP Lane.
Current ban rate: ~59% in Mythical Glory, with a 55% winrate that makes him de facto the best hero across all categories in patch 2.1.90.

Gloo stacks everything you hate to face: disruption, durability, and zone control. His passive lets him stick to an enemy and keep draining their health even in melee range; his ultimate splits him into small globs that saturate a lane, lock down an objective, or separate the enemy carry from the rest of their team. Since the nerfs to Baxia, Akai, and Fredrinn in the jungle, Gloo has become the default roam pick, and no one has managed to dislodge him in three weeks of meta.

Let him through if: you're playing a ranged poke comp (Yve + Karrie + Xavier) capable of keeping him at range and shredding his HP pool.
Counter-picks if the enemy gets him: Moskov, Hirara, and Aulus all sit around 55% head-to-head. Add Sea Halberd or Necklace of Durance to cut his sustain, and a Malefic Roar to ignore his armor.

3. Zhuxin — the mage who locks down teamfights

Role: Mage — Mid Lane.
Current ban rate: ~27% in Mythical Glory, with a spike to 40% in M100+ lobbies.

Patch 2.1.90 trimmed the range of her Skill 2, but Zhuxin remains S-Tier because her kit combines three things that are very rare on a mage: instant burst, a persistent control zone, and an ultimate that automatically chases targets carrying a Wraithfire tag. In a teamfight around Lord or the dragon, she turns open ground into a closed room where your backline gets incinerated in 1.5 seconds. Unlike Xavier, who needs setup, Zhuxin only needs to camp the side of a bush and click.

Let her through if: you have a Hayabusa, a Nolan, or a Ling capable of diving her from level 4 before she reaches her power spike. She's fragile: her counters post a 60.6% winrate in the early game.
Counter-picks if the enemy gets her: Hayabusa, Melissa (a new counter thanks to her Muddle Beast, which tanks the ghosts), Valir (poke + pushback).

4. Hirara — the new assassin breaking the meta

Role: Assassin — Jungle.
Current ban rate: ~26%, up 17% since her mid-July buff.

Released earlier this year, Hirara is finally breaking through at the M300 level. Her Fallen Blossoms mechanic resets her dash on every takedown, which creates the worst possible chain for the enemy team: a pick on the jungler, then an immediate dive on the mid laner, then a clean sweep of the marksman. Her pick rate is still low (0.5%) because she demands mastery, but in the hands of an M50 player she turns any skirmish into a 3v5. Worth noting: patch 2.1.90 sped up early jungle gold, which makes her scale even faster.

Let her through if: your roamer is Lolita, Belerick, or Minsitthar. These three block her dashes, cancel her resets, and punish her the moment she enters the zone.
Counter-picks if the enemy grabs her: Zilong (53%), Layla (52%) thanks to her absurd range which prevents Hirara from engaging without eating Malefic Gun stacks, and Saber who kidnaps her under tower.

5. Estes — the support who makes objectives impossible

Role: Support — Roamer.
Current ban rate: ~37% in Mythical Glory.

Estes has been hitting harder and harder since the patch reduced the impact of anti-heal items. His Blessing of Moon Goddess heals in an area and procs multiple times if allies stay close, which makes any fight around the Turtle or Lord impossible when you haven't prepared the counter. At high rank, he's regularly paired with a marksman like Hanabi or Melissa: the synergy forms a nearly indestructible wall of HP in the late game.

Let him through if: your team has secured at least two Sea Halberd and one Necklace of Durance in the comp. Against 60% heal reduction, Estes becomes an ordinary support.
Counter-picks if the enemy grabs him: cut off the heal stacking with Baxia (heal reduction passive), Karrie to shred his high-HP targets, and Chou to pull him out of his anchor position.

Recap: the 5 priority bans of July 2026

When should you sacrifice a ban for a counter-pick?

The golden rule: never spend two bans on heroes your draft can naturally counter. If you've already locked in a solid Esmeralda in the EXP Lane, it's not a big deal to let Paquito through: your laner will handle it. Save your ban instead for a hero your comp cannot deal with.

Three typical scenarios:

1. You're on the blue side (first pick): always ban Paquito and Gloo. You won't have priority to counter-pick once the draft starts.
2. You're on the red side (last pick): save your 3rd ban for Hirara or Zhuxin. You can lock Baxia against Estes or Karrie against Gloo in the last slot, but you won't be able to do anything against a jungler who resets their dashes.
3. Your team is playing in solo queue: prioritize bans that protect your lane. A solo jungler will ban Hirara; a solo tank will ban Gloo; a solo mid will ban Zhuxin. Ban coordination rarely goes well in an improvised party.

Honorable mentions on the rise to watch

Beyond the top 5, four heroes deserve close attention in the coming weeks. They're flirting with a 25% ban rate and could enter the priority rotation if Moonton doesn't rebalance them:

• Belerick (~37%) — a counter-attack tank, unbearable against a marksman who auto-attacks without thinking.
• Akai (~33%) — despite his nerfs, his Body Slam ultimate remains the number one engage in the game.
• Harley (~30%) — the dual-lane assassin-mage, hard to lock despite his 47% win rate.
• Guinevere (~25%) — an EXP fighter resurging since the patch 2.1.90 buffs.

These picks remain secondary if you're below Mythic Honor, but become nearly mandatory from M100 onward, when players know how to make the most of their skill ceiling.

Key items to plan for in your build

Bans are useless if your composition doesn't have the items to finish the job on the picks left open. Three pieces of equipment are non-negotiable this month:

• Sea Halberd (Sea Halberd) — 55% healing reduction on affected targets. Mandatory against Estes, Esmeralda, Masha, or Floryn.
• Necklace of Durance — the magic version of life-steal reduction. Ideal on Zhuxin or Alice.
• Malefic Roar — ignores physical armor. Essential against Gloo and Belerick.

Anticipating the purchase of these items right as the laning phase ends often makes the difference between climbing back to Mythical Glory and a dismal losing streak.

Conclusion: ban, but above all, draft

Mobile Legends' ban phase in July 2026 revolves around five names: Paquito, Gloo, Estes, Zhuxin, Hirara. Remember them, prioritize them based on your position in the draft (blue = first ban Paquito, red = last ban jungler), and adapt your item pool based on whatever slips through anyway. A smart ban isn't enough: it needs to be paired with a pick that can hold the lane and a build that counters the enemy's sustain. Test the rotation over your next ten ranked games, and keep an eye on ban rate stats after every hotfix — the MLBB meta never stays fixed for more than three weeks.