Season 40 launched on Patch 2.1.61. Gloo sits at a 69% ban rate, Marcel at 68%. Five heroes are functionally removed before picks even begin. Here is how to read what that ban phase is telling you and draft around it.
MLBB most ranked losses do not start at the first fight. They start at the draft screen, thirty seconds before the game loads. A team that walks into a bad matchup — three physical damage dealers into a Baxia, no anti-heal against an Estes, a hyper carry with no frontline to protect it — is already playing from behind before the minions spawn. Season 40 has a specific meta shape. Understanding that shape is what this guide covers. Players who want their diamond balance ready for hero unlocks can manage their LootBar MLBB top-up before the next ranked session.
How the Draft Works in Ranked
Ranked draft in MLBB runs on a 10-ban, 10-pick format. Each team gets five bans and five picks, alternating in a snake pattern. Blue team bans first, then teams alternate. Bans and picks follow MLBB's official draft sequence, and the full process happens before the match starts. There is no second draft phase mid-game.
The ban phase runs first. Both teams ban simultaneously in rounds, with each round revealing what the opposing team is targeting. The pick phase follows, with teams alternating selections. First pick is a meaningful advantage for securing contested heroes before the opponent can take them. Second pick has the counter-picking advantage — seeing the enemy's first pick and responding to it directly.
What the Ban Phase Looks Like in Season 40
The Season 40 ban phase tells a specific story. Gloo at 69% ban rate and Marcel at 68% are the two most banned heroes in ranked as of May 2026. Sora, Freya, and Estes follow closely. In a standard ranked game, those five heroes are effectively removed before picks begin. That is not just information about which heroes are strong — it is a map of what the opposing team is afraid of and what they want to secure.
When Gloo is banned first, the opposing team is either protecting themselves from Gloo's split-push and engagement mechanics or denying the pick to prevent a tanky frontline that heals through burst damage. When Marcel is banned first, the denial is about his support kit — the healing and crowd control that keeps carries alive through engagements that would otherwise end them. Reading which heroes go out first reveals the enemy's intended composition before a single pick is made.
Season 40 launched on Patch 2.1.61 on March 11, 2026. The patch adjusted 13 mages and made significant support changes including the introduction of Marcel. Mid lane became the dominant snowball role as a result. Assassin junglers that performed well in Season 39 — Ling and Dyrroth among them — dropped in priority. The marksman emblem change made gold lane a stronger late-game win condition. A draft that does not account for mid lane pressure in Season 40 is behind the meta.
Three Ban Phase Reads That Change Every Draft
The sustain composition read. When the opposing team bans Baxia or Nana in the first two rounds, they are likely planning a healing-heavy lineup. Estes, Floryn, and Angela are the carry supports of Season 40 — they sustain entire teams through extended fights and force opponents to either build anti-heal or lose the attrition war. If the bans signal a sustain composition incoming, anti-heal items and burst damage become draft priorities.
The fighter-heavy EXP lane read. Season 40's EXP lane is dominated by fighters. Sora, Freya, Masha, Guinevere, and Hilda all perform at A-tier or above as of the April 2026 data snapshot. When the opposing team spends a ban on Freya or Sora specifically, they are aware of the EXP lane problem and are trying to remove the options. This signals that their EXP lane pick is likely a tank or utility fighter rather than a carry fighter — which changes how much pressure to expect from that lane.
The jungle aggression read. When the ban phase leaves contested assassin junglers untouched — Hayabusa, Gusion, Julian — one of two things is happening. Either the opposing team intends to pick one of them, or they have enough frontline to survive early jungle aggression and are not concerned. Either way, the pick phase needs to account for where the opposing team's damage is coming from before all five positions are locked.
The Counter-Pick Principle
Counter-picking is the most discussed draft concept and the most misapplied one in solo queue. A counter-pick is not simply choosing a hero who has a statistical advantage over the enemy's pick. It is choosing a hero who disrupts the enemy's intended game plan while fitting the team's own game plan at the same time.
Picking a counter that cannot be played well is worse than picking a comfortable hero with a neutral matchup. A Chou against a Fredrinn is a textbook counter on paper. A Chou played at 55% win rate by someone who rarely touches the hero loses more often than a Fredrinn player who has 200 games on their hero. Know the counter-pick options available at the current hero pool depth before committing to one at the pick phase.
The most reliable counter-picking window is second pick in the first pick phase and first pick in the second pick phase. Seeing one or two enemy picks before making a selection narrows the counter options and makes the decision cleaner. In solo queue, communicating counter-pick intent in the draft chat before locking prevents duplicate roles and keeps the composition coherent.
Building a Composition Around the Draft
Season 40 favors sustained teamfighting over quick burst compositions. Durable frontliners combined with healing supports have higher win rates in extended fights than assassin-heavy lineups that need to end engagements quickly. A draft that produces a composition with no frontline, no healing, and no crowd control is not adapted to the current meta — regardless of how strong the individual picks are.
Role balance is the floor requirement. Every composition needs a tank or durable frontliner to initiate, a carry to deal damage, and enough utility to peel for that carry. Five damage dealers with no peel loses to a coordinated engage with one healer. Five tanks with no damage runs out of kill pressure. The pick phase should be checking role coverage at every selection, not just individual hero strength.
Damage type balance matters in Season 40 specifically because of the mage normalization. Teams running three or four physical damage dealers are easier to itemise against — one or two magic resistance items cover most of the incoming damage. Mixing physical and magical damage sources forces the opposing team to build differently for each source, which dilutes their item efficiency.
Practical Habits for Solo Queue Draft
Check the ban rate data before each session. mlbb.gg and mlbb.io update win rates and ban rates after each patch. Five minutes of pre-session review identifies which heroes are in the ban-or-first-pick category, which counters are relevant, and which picks have climbed or fallen since the last session. This information changes how to approach the ban phase before a single game starts.
Build a pool of three to four heroes across two roles minimum. A single one-trick hero pool means the draft can remove the option entirely with one ban. Two roles and three heroes per role provides enough flexibility to adapt to whatever the ban phase takes away. Solo queue draft is partially a flexibility test. The players who can shift roles and picks based on what the team needs tend to climb more consistently than those locked to a single hero.
Use the draft chat. In solo queue, most players do not communicate before locking. Typing a role or position in the first ten seconds of draft costs nothing and prevents the most common composition failure: three people locking marksman or two people picking the same role without realising.
Conclusion
Season 40's ban phase is dense. Gloo at 69%, Marcel at 68%, Sora and Freya and Estes right behind them — five contested heroes removed before picks start is a tighter draft environment than most seasons. Reading what the ban phase is removing and what it is leaving available tells the team what composition the opponent is building toward before a single pick is made. Counter the game plan, not just the hero. Build for role balance and damage type diversity. Check the data before each session. Those three habits cover most of what separates draft losses from draft wins in ranked.
Players who want their diamond balance ready for hero unlocks can manage their MLBB top up through LootBar.
