The gold lane marksman pool in Season 39 is split clean down the middle. Three heroes sit comfortably above 53% win rate. Two sit below 49%. And one, Granger, has fallen to 41.5%, a number that requires active effort to achieve.
Patch 2.1.47 didn't introduce sweeping marksman changes, but the Demon Hunter Sword nerf hit harder than most expected, and Miya's ultimate cooldown reduction quietly pushed her back into relevance. The downstream effects on the meta are clear.
This list covers all primary gold lane marksmen ranked at Mythical Honor and above. Win rates sourced from mlbbhub.com hero pages for Patch 2.1.47.
#S Tier: Pick or Ban
These three are your gold lane meta. Non-negotiable first-phase targets at high rank.
| Hero | Win Rate | Pick Rate | Ban Rate | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hanabi | 54.9% | 3.06% | 6.3% | S |
| Karrie | 53.7% | ~1.8% | ~4.5% | S |
| Melissa | 53.2% | ~1.4% | ~3.2% | S |
| Popol and Kupa | 53.1% | ~1.1% | ~2.8% | S |
Hanabi (54.9% WR). The Uncontested Queen
54.9% win rate with a 3.06% pick rate is the highest pick-win combination on the entire gold lane roster this patch. Hanabi has the highest pick rate of any hero in the game right now. The CC immunity passive makes her a nightmare to peel against burst-heavy team comps that currently dominate Mythical Honor lobbies. Her kunai bounce mechanic in grouped teamfights, combined with Windtalker and Demon Hunter Sword (even after the nerf), keeps her damage output ahead of most alternatives.
The DHS nerf trimmed roughly 10-11% of the item's total DPS contribution. Hanabi feels it least because her bounce mechanic amplifies the remaining sustain across multiple targets.
Karrie (53.7% WR). Tank-Killer in a Tank Meta
53.7% win rate in a roamer meta stuffed with Gloo, Atlas, and Hilda is not a coincidence. Karrie's true damage passive ignores all physical defense, making every off-tank and tank roamer a liability the moment she reaches two items. The roamer meta that Patch 2.1.47 reinforced (analyzed in depth here) directly feeds Karrie's value proposition.
Her DHS dependency is real, but her true damage passive means the item nerf hurts her less than it hurts basic-attack marksmen like Miya or Moskov.
Melissa (53.2% WR). Anti-Dive, Every Lobby
The Cursed Needle sits at 53.2% and her value is structural rather than stat-based. The doll zone hard-counters the fighter-heavy and assassin-heavy dives that define this meta. She's the marksman equivalent of a defensive draft tool. If your team has no peel and the enemy runs three gap-closers, Melissa answers the question before it gets asked.
Popol and Kupa (53.1% WR). Undervalued, Underbanned
53.1% win rate at a low ban rate is the textbook sleeper. Popol's trap placement provides permanent vision on jungle paths, which synergizes with a roam-dominant meta where the enemy roamer is constantly rotating. The wolf companion absorbs dives that would delete any other marksman. Low ban rate means you can count on him in draft.
#A Tier: Strong, Situational
Solid picks. They win games. They just don't win as consistently as the S tier when properly countered.
Ixia (52.8% WR)
Strong teamfight presence with AoE damage and a built-in execution mechanic. Ixia lands at A rather than S because her floor is lower than Hanabi's. Against aggressive early game roamers who invade gold lane (Atlas, Khufra), she can get strangled before she scales. In protected compositions with a proper tank line, she performs closer to S tier.
Irithel (52.7% WR)
Moving-while-attacking remains one of the most underrated mechanics in the game. Irithel's kiting against melee divers is borderline unfair once she has her first two items. 52.7% is honest. She doesn't have Hanabi's CC immunity or Karrie's true damage, but against physical-heavy drafts she's a legitimate first pick.
Claude (51.3% WR)
51.3% is below his historical average. Claude benefits from coordinated play and his Blazing Duet ultimate requires setup. In solo queue at Mythical Honor, his ceiling is high but his floor drops significantly without reliable teammates to chain-CC before his ult. Still A tier because a Claude with proper setup wins teamfights by himself.
Natan (51.8% WR)
Hybrid physical-magic damage bypasses single-damage-type defense stacks. His reverse clone positioning is genuinely difficult to punish for non-burst roamers. 51.8% is consistent and his low ban rate means he's available most drafts.
#B Tier: Viable, Not Optimal
These marksmen won't lose you games. They just require more favorable conditions or specific compositions to match S tier output.
| Hero | Win Rate | Tier |
|---|---|---|
| Moskov | 50.4% | B |
| Yi Sun-shin | 50.7% | B |
| Miya | 49.9% | B |
| Beatrix | 49.3% | B |
Moskov (50.4% WR)
Wall-pin mechanics reward map awareness. Moskov's global ultimate provides mid-game presence most marksmen can't replicate. 50.4% is break-even, and that's about right, in open-space teamfights he's strong, in closed-corridor meta games he's exceptional. Not worth banning.
Miya (49.9% WR)
The 2.1.47 buff was real: ultimate cooldown dropped from 46-26s to 30-20s. Miya can now cycle her invisibility-plus-purify tool far more reliably, which patches her main weakness against assassin dives. She's climbed from D tier territory to a genuine B. 49.9% at high pick volume is respectable. Not dominant, but not a liability.
Beatrix (49.3% WR)
Four weapons, one problem: she's the hardest marksman to play consistently at the level required to justify her pick. Her competitive ban rate is a relic of pro play, not Mythical Honor ranked. In solo queue, the mechanical investment rarely pays off. 49.3% confirms it.
Yi Sun-shin (50.7% WR)
His jungle flex capability makes him a useful pseudo-roam pressure tool. 50.7% is fine. He's rarely the right gold lane answer but he fills a niche when your team needs global map control.
#C Tier: Avoid in Ranked
Wanwan (48.6% WR)
The weakness-mark mechanic is punished hard by the CC-heavy roamers dominating this meta. Wanwan needs breathing room to cycle her dashes and pop all three marks. She doesn't get that against Atlas or Khufra. Down from a previous high of 51.2%.
Lesley (48.9% WR)
Long-range niche. Stealth poke. Both sound useful in theory. Neither translates well into the current roamer-forward meta where the enemy front line just walks through her critical hits and forces her off position. 48.9% doesn't lie.
Layla (47.9% WR)
47.9% is the predictable outcome of picking the most immobile marksman in the game into a meta with three gap-closers on every team. Range advantage means nothing when Suyou or Arlott deletes her before she fires a second volley.
Granger (41.5% WR). A Number That Needs Explaining
41.5%. Not 47. Not 45. 41.5%. That's bottom-10 win rate across the entire 131-hero roster.
Granger's six-bullet mechanic is feast-or-famine: the sixth bullet crits, the other five don't. In a meta where tanks have 5,000+ HP and the roamer meta extends game lengths past 20 minutes, he runs out of burst windows. His ultimate's long-range execution is satisfying but situational. He's not being played wrong, the meta just doesn't fit his damage pattern right now.
#The Demon Hunter Sword Nerf: What It Actually Did
Patch 2.1.47 reduced DHS HP Regen from 20 + (4 × Hero Level) to 10 + (4 × Hero Level). At level 15, that's a drop from 80 HP per proc to 70 HP per proc. Across a full teamfight, you lose roughly 200-400 HP of sustain depending on attack speed.
| Marksman | DHS Reliance | Nerf Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Karrie | Core item | Low (true damage passive still hits) |
| Hanabi | Core item | Low (bounce mechanic spreads remaining regen) |
| Moskov | Optional | Low |
| Miya | Core item | Medium (sustain was key to her survivability) |
| Wanwan | Situational | Medium |
| Irithel | Core item | Medium |
The nerf was designed to reduce marksman sustain in extended fights. It worked on Miya and Irithel. It barely touched Hanabi and Karrie. That differential is why the tier gap between S and B exists this patch.
#Mythical Honor+ Priority List
For the full MLBB tier list covering all roles, the gold lane picture is simpler than it looks. Boil it down to three rules at Mythical Honor:
- If tank-heavy enemy draft: Karrie, no debate.
- If assassin-heavy enemy draft: Melissa or Popol and Kupa.
- Default pick when unsure: Hanabi. 54.9% win rate at the highest pick rate in the game is not a coincidence.
Claude and Ixia are the correct secondary options for players who can execute on their mechanics. Everyone else is a pick you're choosing despite the numbers, not because of them.
For comparison on how the roamer meta is enabling these gold lane outcomes, see the Best Roamers in Patch 2.1.47 breakdown. The Best Jungler Tier List for S39 is also worth cross-referencing if you're drafting from a full-team perspective.
Granger players, the data is not ambiguous. 41.5%.