Q. What is Fearless Draft in League of Legends, and why can't teams pick a champion twice?

Dplus KIA’s late comeback against T1 put them 2–0 in the Swiss stage of the 2026 League of Legends World Championship. From Round 3, matches that decide who advances or goes home become best-of-threes, and multi-game series are where a draft rule called Fearless comes in. So what is Fearless Draft, and why can’t teams pick the same champion twice?

The short answer: Fearless Draft is a League of Legends esports rule under which a champion picked in one game of a series cannot be picked again by either team for the rest of that series. Riot Games, the maker of League of Legends, says it wants teams to show deeper champion pools and fresh strategies, and since 2025 it has used the rule in multi-game series across its leagues and international events.

How does a normal League of Legends draft work?

League of Legends is a five-versus-five game in which each player controls one champion, a playable character with its own abilities. The League of Legends Wiki counted more than 170 of them as of June 2026.

Before each game, the teams draft. A ban removes a champion from that game; a pick claims one for your team. In pro play the teams alternate through three bans and three picks each, then two more bans and two more picks each, for five bans and five picks per team. A champion can appear only once per game, so 10 different champions take the map.

In a normal draft, everything resets after each game, so a team can play the same champion in every game of a series. The strongest “meta” champions of the moment tended to be banned or picked game after game.

How does Fearless Draft work, and does it lock champions for both teams?

Yes, it locks them for both. Under the version Riot has used since 2025, once either team picks a champion, neither team can pick it again until the series ends. If your team plays Ahri in Game 1 and your opponent plays K’Sante, both are gone for both teams from Game 2 on.

Riot describes it as 10 extra “Fearless bans” added with each game, on top of the usual 10 bans. That makes 20 champions unavailable in Game 2 and 30 in Game 3.

Two details trip people up. Regular bans do not carry over: only champions that were actually played get locked, so one that was banned but never picked is back in the next game. And the last game has no exception; Riot says there are no repeat picks, even in Game 5. A best-of-five that goes the distance has 50 champions off the table in Game 5: 10 regular bans plus the 40 champions played in Games 1 to 4. The slate is wiped clean when the series ends.

	Normal draft	Fearless Draft
Bans and picks in each game	5 bans, 5 picks per team	Same
Champion your team played earlier	Can pick it again	Locked
Champion the opponent played earlier	Can pick it	Locked
Champion that was only banned earlier	Can pick it	Can pick it
Champions unavailable in Game 5	That game’s 10 bans	50 (10 bans + 40 played)
Best-of-one match	No difference	No difference

Where did Fearless Draft come from?

The earliest documented case is in China. In July 2022, the LDL (League of Legends Development League), the development league below the top-flight LPL (League of Legends Pro League), added a “Fearless” mode to its best-of-three series. Upcomer tied the move to complaints about the same meta champions appearing again and again. That version only stopped a team from repicking its own champions; the opponent could still take them. Inven Global and others call this “soft” Fearless, and the both-teams version “hard” Fearless.

In November 2024, Riot announced Fearless for every region’s first split of 2025 and for its new international event, First Stand. In March 2025, citing overwhelmingly positive fan feedback and talks with teams in all regions, it extended the rule through the rest of the season, international events included.

Why did Riot adopt Fearless Draft?

Riot’s reasons come in two kinds. One is the viewing experience. In November 2024 it said Fearless would make every pick matter more and games less predictable, and in March 2025 it said it expected more champion variety.

The other is skill. In a normal draft a team can bring back its best champion every game; under Fearless it gets one use per series, so teams need second and third options as a series goes on. Riot says the format rewards deeper champion mastery and adaptability.

The cost is a heavier preparation load, and the effect is debated. A March 2026 analysis by the esports site RFT.GG found that new champions appeared in the LCK (League of Legends Champions Korea) at the same rate in 2025 as in 2024, and argued that Fearless mostly spreads the same champions across more games. Riot says it keeps gathering data to refine the format.

Is Fearless Draft used at Worlds 2026?

Worlds first used Fearless in 2025, when Riot applied it to all best-of-three and best-of-five matches and left the best-of-one Swiss stage alone.

This year’s Swiss stage, where teams with the same record meet until they reach three wins (through) or three losses (out), opened with two rounds of single games. In Round 3, the 2–0 and 0–2 matches are best-of-three while 1–1 teams still play once. Rounds 4 and 5 are all best-of-three, and the knockout stage is best-of-five. Fearless changes nothing in a single game; it only matters when a series has a next game.

Wikipedia’s page on the 2026 tournament says Fearless is expected in every best-of-three and best-of-five. Riot’s 2026 Worlds primer and event-specific rulebook do not spell it out, so treat it as expected rather than confirmed.

In short

Fearless Draft locks every champion picked in a League of Legends series for both teams until the series ends, so 50 champions are out by Game 5 of a best-of-five. A softer version appeared in China’s LDL in 2022, and Riot made the both-teams version standard in 2025. At Worlds 2026 it is expected in every best-of-three and best-of-five.