By Rafael “Rafa” Alves
Two weeks into Season 40, the MLBB meta is starting to show its real face. Patch 2.1.61 didn’t just touch a few numbers. It ripped the entire mid lane apart, threw 13 mages into a blender, nerfed some of the most picked heroes in Mythic+, and dropped a brand-new support named Marcel right in the middle of everything. If you haven’t adjusted your hero pool yet, you’re handing out free stars to people who have. Let me walk you through what actually matters heading into week 2, what pro teams are already showing us, and where you should be spending your ban cards.
π The S40 Tier List Just Got a Major Shake-Up
Let’s start with the biggest winner of this patch: Aurora. She went from a below-average mid pick in Season 39 to a genuine threat almost overnight. Her Skill 1 cooldown dropped from 4 seconds to 3 seconds at max rank. That’s a 25% reduction on her primary freeze tool. In extended teamfights, Aurora can now chain freeze sequences way faster than before, and if your team has any follow-up CC at all, that’s basically a death sentence for whoever gets caught. Trust me on this one, Aurora with Enchanted Talisman in the current meta feels almost unfair.
On the other end of the spectrum, Kagura got hit hard. Moonton listed her changes as “adjustments,” but let’s call it what it is: a nerf. Her Ultimate scaling went from 105% to 90%, base damage ratio dropped from 70% to 60%, and Skill damage fell from 170% to 155%. Yes, she got some mana cost reductions, but that doesn’t compensate for losing that much burst potential. If you’re a Kagura main, you can still make her work. The nerfs hit her ceiling, not her floor. But if you don’t own her yet, spend your Diamonds elsewhere.
Ixia finally got what was coming. She’s been a near-mandatory pick or ban in Mythic+ for two straight seasons, and Patch 2.1.61 targets both her wave clear (Skill 1 damage reduction) and her sustain (passive HP regen cut). She’s not dead, but she’s no longer the lane bully who could out-trade anyone while farming at full speed.
And then there’s Pharsa, who was also overdue for nerfs. Longer cooldowns on her skills mean opponents actually have windows to play into her now, instead of just getting poked from across the map with zero counterplay.
π Who’s S-Tier Right Now? The Full MLBB Meta Breakdown for Week 2
Here’s where every role stands as the S40 meta settles in. This reflects Mythic+ ranked data and early pro trends.
EXP Lane: Sora remains the undisputed king with a staggering 70% ban rate in Mythic. Nine abilities across three forms give him unmatched versatility. He wins most 1v1 matchups in Thunder Form and turns into a massive AoE initiator in Cloud Form. If he’s open, you pick him. Period. Behind Sora, Phoveus has risen as the premier counter-pick in a meta full of dash-reliant heroes. Every time an enemy dashes near him, his ultimate resets. That alone makes him invaluable against assassin-heavy compositions. Freya is still strong after her revamp, though her sustain took a hit this patch with a 33% reduction in HP regen during her Ultimate. She’s less unkillable in the first eight minutes, but still a top-tier duelist.
Jungle: Fredrinn is back as the daddy of utility junglers. His taunt plus gray HP mechanic lets him soak damage for the team and then throw it all back as burst. He frees the EXP lane for damage-oriented fighters, which is exactly what the meta wants. Alice sits right next to him as a sustain jungler with wide AoE crowd control. Behind them, Hayabusa and Yi Sun-shin remain dangerous for players who can execute at a high level, though YSS is getting another nerf on the Advanced Server (his global ult duration is being trimmed by 33%).
Mid Lane: This is where things got messy. The 13-mage buff wave reshuffled the entire pool. Kadita enters S40 untouched and sits as the safest mid lane anchor with a 53% win rate at Mythic+. Zhuxin brings execute potential and zone pressure that makes her a first-rotation draft pick. Aurora is the big riser, as I already mentioned. Meanwhile, Yve got absolutely destroyed. She lost around 980 HP by level 15 due to base stat and growth cuts, and her slow values on Skill 2 and Ultimate dropped from 60% to 40%. Mobile heroes can now just walk through her zones.
Gold Lane: Karrie is the natural solution in a meta full of high-HP tanks like Fredrinn and Gloo, thanks to her true damage passive. Kimmy remains relevant with hybrid physical-magic damage that’s tough to itemize against. Moskov showed up strong in MPL PH Week 1 as a carry pick for aggressive comps.
Roam/Tank: Tigreal stays S+ tier. His Flicker-Ultimate combo displaces entire teams and pairs perfectly with AoE mages like Aurora. Khufra is the go-to anti-dash tank, while Gloo continues to terrorize carries by literally sticking to them.
π MLBB Pro Picks in S40: What MPL Teams Are Drafting
MPL PH Season 17 kicked off on March 20, and the opening week already gave us a lot to chew on. This is the first season with international imports: AeronnShikii from Indonesia joined Team Liquid PH at gold lane, while Savero made the same cross-regional move to ONIC PH.
Team Liquid PH opened their campaign by taking down the reigning M7 World Champions, Aurora Gaming PH, in a 2-1 series. Their macro looked polished, and stand-in gold laner Daiki (stepping in for AeronnShikii, who was unavailable for Week 1) delivered a standout performance on Moskov that matched up against the best in the world. That’s a statement win if I’ve ever seen one.
Team Falcons PH also came out swinging, beating ONIC PH in their first match. The big storyline here: Hadji replacing Pheww in the midlane. Two MPL PH titles with Blacklist International, M3 World Champion with the highest tournament KDA of 6.58, and now a fresh start with a stacked roster. With Hadji’s flexibility and Flap anchoring the EXP lane on durable fighters like Arlott and Yu Zhong, Falcons look like legitimate title contenders.
AP.Bren quietly put together the best week of anyone, going 2-0 including a win over TNC. After finishing at the bottom of the standings in Season 16 and missing playoffs for two straight splits, the return of captain KielVJ from his international stint seems to have injected new life into a roster that nobody expected to compete. That was the feel-good story of Week 1.
On the Indonesian side, MPL ID Season 17 officially kicks off on March 27 with nine teams competing for two MSC 2026 qualification spots and a prize pool of approximately $288,000. Keep an eye on RRQ Hoshi vs ONIC this weekend. Those matchups will tell us a lot about how Indonesian teams are reading the S40 meta on this patch.
π What’s Coming Next on the Advanced Server
Patch 2.1.62 is already in testing and brings some notable changes. Terizla is losing his entire mana system, which sounds crazy but mostly just removes the recall tax that interrupted his sustain cycle. He can now chain full rotations without running dry. Though Moonton already followed up in Patch 2.1.64 with cooldown increases to keep him balanced, so they’re clearly watching him closely. Melissa is getting a full kit restructure with new skill chaining mechanics and an Ultimate shield. And Freya is catching a second consecutive nerf, which tells you exactly how dominant she’s been.
If you’re looking to stay ahead of the curve, start practicing Aurora and Terizla now. Both are trending up hard. And if you haven’t learned Sora yet, I genuinely don’t know what you’re waiting for.
That’s the state of the MLBB meta going into week 2 of Season 40. Patch 2.1.61 broke the mold, the pro scene is already adapting, and the ranked ladder is wilder than ever. See you in the Land of Dawn.
