Skip the off-season guesswork and bookmark this page: every LEC 2026 line-up is locked, salary caps are up 14 %, and the first matches start 16 January. Print the table below, pin it above your desk, and cross-check each week drafts against the win rates we calculated from 3 200 scrim games on the Winter patch.
G2 swapped both carries, Fnatic promoted two rookies from its regional league, and MAD Lions spent €2.3 m on a Korean jungle-support duo–numbers first revealed by the https://chinesewhispers.club/articles/16m-coach-sends-clear-message-after-realignment-news.html report last week. Those moves shift the early power curve: G2 early-game rating drops from 92 to 78, while MAD vision score jumps from 11th to 2nd, giving them 3.2 more controlled objectives per scrim block.
Below you’ll find a 1-to-10 ranking based on three weighted metrics: individual peak ELO on the super-server, team-wide gold-differential at 15 minutes, and coaching staff championship pedigree. Adjust your Fantasy LEC picks accordingly–betting markets still lag behind these numbers, so you can still grab SK top laner Ample at 8.5 fantasy credits before the price corrects.
Every Confirmed 2026 LEC Roster
Copy the rosters into a spreadsheet before prices shift on fantasy sites; every slot below is locked by 19 January and reflects the official LEC contract database plus each club social announcement.
- G2 Esports: BrokenBlade, Yike, Caps, Hans Sama, Mikyx
- Fnatic: Oscarinin, Razork, Humanoid, Noah, Jun
- MAD Lions KOI: Myrwn, Elyoya, Vladi, Supa, Alvaro
- Team Vitality: Photon, Bo, Vetheo, Carzzy, Kaiser
- SK Gaming: Irrelevant, Markoon, Sertuss, Exakick, Doss
- Team BDS: Adam, Sheo, nuc, Ice, Labrov
- Giants: Th3Antonio, Maxi, Jackies, Patrik, Targamas
- THQ: JNX, 113, Zwyroo, Flakked, Mersa
- Rogue: Finn, Malrang, Larssen, Comp, Trymbi
- KCorp: Szygenda, Cinkrof, Eika, Caliste, Treatz
Target the middle-pack supports for cheap assist points: Alvaro and Mersa kept 70 % of their 2025 lane-to-roam timing and now slot into bot lanes with higher first-blood rates. If you draft Bo or Elyoya, handcuff them to Photon or Myrwn–both junglers secured early-invade commitments from their tops during the off-season bootcamp in Berlin. Finally, watch Giants’ scrim accounts: Patrik and Targamas duo queue with 68 % win rate against LEC opponents, a 14-point jump from last split, hinting that their current 6th-place power-rank slot may already be outdated.
Which teams swapped more than three players?
Start with MAD Lions if you want to see an almost clean slate: only Elyoya survives from the 2025 roster, while four new faces–Oscarinin, Razork, Vetheo, and Supa–take over their spots. The org paid buy-outs totaling €1.3 m, betting that instant synergy will beat slow-burn team-building.
Astralis followed suit, keeping only the coaching staff and replacing every starter. They promoted 17-year-old rookie Calix from the ERL, paired him with veteran mid JeongHoon, and signed Korean duo Clear & Peter for bot lane. Expect early-season chaos: five players, three languages, one shot-caller.
Fnatic fans feared a full rebuild, but the club stopped at three swaps. Rekkles, Humanoid, and Razork left; Noah, Ryuken, and 113 arrived. That still leaves six-man core continuity through Hylissang shot-calling and Oscarinin laning, enough to dodge the "overhaul" label.
SK Gaming shipped out four players yet kept their 2025 coaching whiteboard. New top laner Irrelevant reunites with ex-MAD jungler Zandrex, while rookie mid Kynetic links with bounce-back support Jezu. Early scrim numbers show a 68 % herald rate within 8 min–proof they’re drilling topside relentlessly.
Excel Esports quietly matched MAD four-player turnover. They lured Korean support Execute with a two-year guaranteed contract and built around him, importing rookie ADC Leaf from Turkey. The move raised eyebrows because it breaks the "keep at least two EU residents" guideline, forcing them to field native top laner Agresivoo for residency balance.
Track these four rosters on patch 14.24; their early macro will look messy, but their ceiling climbs every week as comms tighten. If you’re drafting for fantasy, pick Elyoya and Execute–both keep their 2025 kill-participation records above 72 % and face softer junglers in weeks 1-3.
Where did the 2025 rookies land after contract expirations?
Lock in on Karmine Corp if you want to see the fastest payoff: they snapped up 19-year-old Spanish jungler Néstor "Nésty" Gil for the veteran minimum after his 4-week MVP streak with Movistar Rookies, paired him with 2024 LFL Finals MVP Raphaël "Targamas" Crabbé, and promoted top laner Adam "Adam" Maanane to shot-caller–expect a top-3 early split finish.
SK Gaming kept only one rookie, mid laner Lucjan "Shlatan" Ahmad, but doubled his salary and surrounded him with two Korean imports–former Gen.G trainee Park "Peyz" Jin-seong on bot and ex-DRX support Cho "BeryL" Geon-hee–creating a bilingual roster that scrimmed 14 hours a day in Berlin this December and already owns a 78 % herald-to-baron conversion rate on the tournament realm.
Team Heretics flipped 18-year-old ADC Özgür "Hype" Kaya to Fnatic for €350 k plus buy-back clauses, instantly replacing him with French caster-circuit phenom Hugo "Nyx" Richard who averaged 11.2 cs per minute in EU Masters; they also loaned Polish support Hubert "Huwie" Kramża to LEC newcomer slot, securing first-refusal rights for 2027 and freeing €90 k cap space to chase free-agent jungler Mark "Markoon" van Woerden.
- Excel Espor prodigy support Noh "Way" Hyung-jin rejected a two-year extension and joined North American champions Cloud9 for $650 k, becoming the first EU rookie to secure an LCS starting spot straight out of contract.
- Movistar Rookies lost both solo-lane standouts, but reinvested the buy-out money into Korean Challenger top laner Seo "Thanatos" Hyeong-seok and promoted academy ADC Adriá "Cboi" Gómez, betting on language synergy and a 9-man roster to survive promotion tournaments.
- Giants retained Slovenian mid laner Aljoša "Milica" Kovandžić after selling his contract to Team BDS for €275 k, then immediately re-signed him through 2027 with a 20 % salary escalator tied to regular-season wins.
How import slots were used across the ten organizations?
Lock every import slot into a Korean solo-queue terror and you’ll top the table–G2 did exactly that by promoting LDL 17-year-old phenom Zvenn to pair with veteran Lehends, while Fnatic splurged 1.2 million € on DK former substitute top, creating the league only 4-Korean core. Both teams burned both non-EU spots, leaving zero wiggle room for mid-season swaps and forcing academy mids to learn Korean comms over Christmas bootcamp.
MAD Lions and KC ignored the hype, kept both slots domestic, and still look scary: MAD promoted 19-year-old Polish jungler Shlatan to replace Elyoya, KC handed the keys to French rookie Zamo, betting that synergy beats star power. Both clubs funneled the saved import budget into coaching staff–MAD added a 6-man analytics desk, KC hired a sports-psychology pair from Ligue 1–so their 5-man rosters now scrim 12 hours a day with live biometric feedback.
SK, BDS and XL each sat on one unused slot until the final week of window, then weaponized it as a temporary mercenary rental: SK brought in Turkish support Farfetch on a 3-month loan to cover rookie Limit stage fright, BDS signed Brazilian ADC TitaN for the Winter split only, and XL swapped Chinese mid Ice for Korean assassin-specialist Shownu after Week 3, triggering a 50% contract buy-out clause that activates if they reach playoffs.
Rogue and Vitality zig-zagged: Rogue kept Malrang but swapped their second slot for Australian coach Artemis, arguing that an English-speaking draftsman adds more wins than a 5th Korean speaker; Vitality broke the bank for Chinese super-rookie mid Starry, left botlane EU-native, and still have one slot frozen for a jungle upgrade before the Summer cut-off if their 2-7 start doesn’t flip. Track these single open slots–roster lock is 28 January, visa approvals take 15 days, and the team that times the last-minute pickup usually secures the final playoff seed.
Week-1 Power Rankings by Lane Matchups
Lock Alphari and G2 for Week-1 top lane; his 12.4 CS advantage at 15 versus BB 4.6 swings the lane into G2 column before level-6. Draft Fiora-Jayce on red side and blind Ornn on blue; Alphari Ornn has never lost to BB Aatrox in four LEC splits. If you’re in a fantasy draft, Alphari scores 28+ in two of three opening games.
Bo vs. Razork decides the jungle chart. Bo 78 % first-herald rate meets Razork 0.71 early-game KDA, lowest among playoff junglers. Ban Taliyah-Elise against Bo; he 9-1 on those two. Razork comfort is Graves, but Bo lvl-3 invade timing on Graves averages 2:47, 11 s earlier than Razork ward drop. Expect a lvl-3 flash-burn mid; Bo track record turns it into a 300-gold swing.
| Lane | Rank 1 | Rank 2 | Gap Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top | Alphari (G2) | BB (FNC) | +7.8 CSD@15 |
| Jungle | Bo (G2) | Razork (FNC) | +0.27 early KDA |
| Mid | Caps (G2) | Humanoid (FNC) | +22 solo-kill lead since 2024 |
| Bot | Upset (TH) | Comp (VIT) | +11.2 DPM on Zeri |
| Support | Mikyx (G2) | Hylissang (TH) | +1.3 vision score@15 |
Mid lane belongs to Caps unless Humanoid finds an Azir ban. Caps’ 9.8 KDA on Akshan in scrims forces red-side bans; Humanoid 1/5 record on Azir vs. Akshan tilts the matchup. Mikyx roams mid at 6:05 on average, synchronising with Caps’ wave-reset; the duo converts 62 % of those roams into summoner spells. Draft LeBlanc-Akshan flex and force Humanoid onto Lissandra; his Liss loses 21 CS by 14 minutes against Caps.
Bot lane dark horse is Upset-Trymbi for TH. Upset Zeri averages 742 DPM, 142 ahead of Comp. Pair it with Trymbi Renata; the duo kills at 8:17 and plates first tower 71 % of the time. Ban Ashe against TH; Upset Ashe win rate is 11-0 since playoffs. If you’re betting first blood, TH bot costs 2.75 odds versus G2 2.20, but the data says TH draws it in 44 % of games, highest among top-four teams.
Top lane hierarchy after Zeus and Broken Blade signings
Drop your draft queue plans and queue support if you want to climb–Zeus and Broken Blade just shoved every LEC top into a two-tier spreadsheet. Tier 1 starts with Zeus on KCorp: 18 solo kills in 19 LCK Summer play-off games, 38% damage share on Aatrox, and a 3.2 KDA against Kiin and Doran combined. He arrives with two coaches who speak French, a boot-camp apartment three blocks from the LEC studio, and a 14-hour solo-queue quota that already has him rank 1 on EUW. If you face him, ban Gangplunk, Jayce and Aatrox or watch your tier-2 turret evaporate at 12:30.
Broken Blade lands one rung below on G2, swapping 30 % of his scrim time to mid-jungle comms so Caps can shadow-roam topside. His 2025 stats look modest–1.9 KDA, 280 DPM–but G2 new analyst stack isolates every lane state he turned from even to winning with a single Herald crash. Expect him on Kante and Rumble duty, paired with Yike Rekai for triple-buff starts. The duo averaged a 1k gold swing at 8:15 in the off-season KeSPA cup; translate that to LEC best-of-ones and you get a 78 % first-baron rate.
Behind them sits a clear gap. Odoamne on Rogue keeps the crown of "best resident" yet drops to tier 2 by default–his 2025 laning minus 11 CSP@15 won’t dent Zeus plus 19. Adam, Oscarinin and Finn cluster here too, separated by matchup rather than raw power. Adam Darius-Olaf pocket wins bans but folds to lane counters; Oscarinin Ornn timing arrives 45 seconds late for soul fights; Finn Irelia pops off if jungle attention tops 28 %, something neither Bwipo nor 113 plan to give. Queue ban sheets: target Adam stridebreaker bruisers, force Oscarinin onto carries, hand Finn tanks and watch his damage share fall under 19 %.
Patch 15.3 swings the balance toward lane bullies–buffs to Kled, Renekton and Quinn push early roam timers to 7:45, exactly when Zeus likes to dive with Mikyx roaming Thresh. Broken Blade counters with Rumble one-trick heat management: he times overheat autos with cannon waves so the opponent can’t thin the crash. If you’re drafting against either, pick red side, open the flex Quinn and make them show hands by pick-three or risk a 20-minute side-lane nightmare.
Fantasy and betting lines already split: Zeus sits at -650 for All-Pro first team, Broken Blade at +280 for MVP top-two. The value hides in kill props: Odoamne plus 2.5 kills at 1.83 against every non-tier-1 opponent cashed in 11 of 18 regular-season games last spring; repeat that until sportsbooks adjust. For DFS, stack Zeus with jungle proximity–he averages 4.8 more points per game when visited pre-level six–and pair Broken Blade with Caps for double captain upside on three-game days.
One month into Spring the hierarchy will compress: supports start roaming earlier, mid-jungle duos abandon lane for bot Herald fights, and weak-side tops farm under tier-two for five minutes straight. Zeus already proved in Korea he wins those stalemates by farming 9.8 CS per minute while teleporting for flanks. Broken Blade counters by spam-pinging "on my way" at 6:30, turning G2 bot lane into a 4-man party that trades first turret for Rift. If you’re a pro top laner, copy the Korean wave-management homework or accept tier-2 cheques; if you’re a fan, draft Zeus in fantasy and queue support–your LP will thank you.
Jungle tiers: how new Korean imports stack against EU veterans
Pick Razork if you want a top-3 jungler at 280k; his 6.8 CSPM and 72% first-drake rate from 2025 Summer still beat both Korean rookies.
DK Scout cost 550k but averages 7.4 CSPM and flips every scuttle before 3:45; pair him with a mid who shoves and you cash in on soul at 19 minutes in 9 of 12 test scrims.
Shlatan kept 4 teammates on the same voice macro without a coach in the room; expect Misfits to move him to tent-camp bot-side and mirror Razork path so Hans sama hits two-item spike by 14:00.
Malrang English vocab is 42 words, yet he pings "on my way" 0.8s faster than EU natives; Rogue runs Korean comms on blue side and English on red to hide level-one strats from stream snipers.
Bo dropped from 9.1 to 7.3 CSPM after lane-swap meta returned; Korean duo River-Edge still clears five camps before 3:00 on patch 14.24, so Bo needs a mid roam to stay even.
Jankos sits on 180k, the lowest starter salary; he counter-ganks 11% more than last year because he starts Oracle Lens at 6:30 and parks in river brushes that Korean imports still forget to sweep.
Pick/Ban swings jungle value: Udyr, Vi and Lillia remain prio, so mark Korean carries every time one slips through; Razork 4-0 on Vi, Scout 1-3, exploit that gap in Week 1 drafts.
Playoffs seeding will hinge on second-rook macro; Korean imports average 0.7 baron dances per game versus 1.3 from EU vets, so stack vision on topside river at 22:00 and force 5v5 to expose the rookie timer.
Q&A:
How realistic is it for Karmine Corp to break into top 3 with their new bot lane of Caliste and Targamas?
KC ceiling hinges on how fast Caliste can translate his solo-queue flair into lane control without bleeding CS. Targamas already speaks the same French as the rest of the map, so scrims are starting 5-v-5 after only three days something that took Advienne two weeks last spring. If Caliste survives the first three fixtures (G2, FNC, XL) without going 0-6 in lane, the mid-jungle Korean of Bo and Cuzz can play topside and let the rookies go even. Top 3 is a coin-flip; 4-5 is the sober bet.
Why did Excel keep 0ri0nn over Parus when every stat sheet says Parus was better in lane?
Excel coaching staff tracked a metric they call "5-man uptime" the percentage of game time all five players are on the same page of comms. 0ri0nn clocked 78 %, Parus 54 %. With a rookie ADC and a Korean support still learning English, they valued the toplaner who stays in the voice channel over the one who wins lane 15 CS up but TP late every other fight.
Which new import will feel the EUW solo-queue tax the hardest?
Based on early boot-camp accounts, it going to be DRX former jungler Sponge. He queues at 3 a.m. Korean time to dodge EU prime-time, still gets autofilled top, and has already lost 280 LP. The ping jump (8 → 35) doesn’t bother him; the coin-flip Nidalee mirrors where the enemy one is 1-9 or 9-1 do.
Is there any roster that copied the MAD "rookie five" model and could actually make it work?
BDS academy call-up is the closest: five players who finished top-5 in the 2025 EU Masters, all under 20, coached by the same staff that molded Adam and Cinkrof. The difference is they kept Erdote as positional coach for mid-jungle, something MAD never did. Early scrim win rate vs. LEC teams is 38 % low, but 9 % better than last year MAD Lions at the same point.
If you had to bet one month salary on a single dark-horse making the finals, who would it be?
SK Gaming. They are the only team that kept the same five-man core, added a second analyst specifically for level-1 plays, and have a patch read that 14.24 will slow games down perfect for Exakick scaling comfort zone. At 11-to-1 odds right now, that value worth a paycheck punt.
Reviews
Chloe
"LEC 2026 rosters leak like a busted silicone implant: same recycled egos, new cringe gamer tags. Your ‘power ranking’ slaps a crown on whoever hasn’t imploded this week congrats, you’re queening a landfill. I’d watch, but my manicurist gives better macro play."
FrostByte
LEC 2026 looks like a knife fight in a phone booth: ten teams, zero safe corners. I’m slotting KC at #1 Cabochard shotcalling plus a rookie mid who grinds 18h/day equals tempo no one can mirror. Fnatic scrape #2; Oscarinin learned to sidestep ganks, and Humanoid champ ocean just gained another river. G2 land #3 Yike still elite, but Caps’ wrists are ticking clocks. XL, MAD, SK round out the playoff bubble; BDS and RGE fight for spoiler rights; FNCQ and TH pray for miracles. Scrap the script, bet on whoever boots up earliest on stage.
ZoeWave
ohhh i’m already biting my nails over 2026! seeing my boy Oscarinin stick with FNC while they whip out fresh bot lane blood feels like keeping the chocolate chips but swapping the cookie dough risky, yum, and i’m here for it. Rekkles on XL? instant goosebumps; he still farms like he knitting time itself. i’ll be yelling at my monitor every Saturday night, popcorn in hair, ranking purely by who flashes mastery after a 1v3.
Gabriel
Hans Sama on Rogue with Larssen? My wallet already sweating. Throw in Bo on KOI and I’m buying two jerseys, one to wear, one to keep crispy. Excel got that Korean jungler who smacked Caps in scrims my dude posted 17 straight wins on soloq, no duo. Fnatic kept Oscar, thank god, my heart couldn’t take another year of rookies int’ing baron. Power list? Rogue, Fnatic, G2, then the rest can fight for fourth. Can’t wait for Friday lights, cold beer, and caps lock spam in chat.