Shanks LoL: Career, Champions and Worlds 2026

Shanks (Cui Xiao-Jun) is the mid laner for Anyone’s Legend, the LPL organization he has played for since December 2023. In LoL esports he is known as a control mage specialist built around Azir, Ryze and Orianna, and as the mid laner behind LPL titles in both 2025 and 2026. He comes into Worlds 2026 as China’s top seed after winning the LPL 2026 Grand Finals on 13 September 2026.

Shanks is winning less often in 2026 than in 2025, but he is still clearly above even. His 2025 season finished at 117–66 with a 63.9% win rate, a very high bar for any mid laner across a full calendar of domestic and international play. This year his win rate and his KDA have both come down from that level.

The drop is in involvement more than in output. His share of his team’s damage is almost unchanged from 2025, when it sat at 24.6%, but his kill participation is lower and he averages fewer assists. In plain terms, he still does the same share of the damage when fights happen, he is just present for fewer of them.

Other numbers point to a slightly different job on the map. His CS per minute is higher than last year and his vision score per minute has risen, which reads like a mid laner taking more side waves and doing more of the warding around mid. That fits a roster that leans on him to scale and hold lane rather than roam for early kills.

With Worlds still to come, the 2026 sample is smaller than the full 2025 season, so these gaps can still move. The season table sets both years side by side.

Ryze and Azir are the backbone of Shanks’ 2026 pool. They are his two most played champions this year and both have winning records on a real sample. They are also the two mages his builds show the clearest plan for: Ryze as a mobile, mana-scaling teamfighter and Azir as a sustained-damage carry who controls space with soldiers.

The best results on a meaningful number of games come from Annie and Orianna. Annie gives Anyone’s Legend a mid laner who can start fights with a stun, and Orianna has produced his cleanest KDA of any regular pick, a sign that he is surviving fights while still contributing to most kills. Galio, another engage and teamfight tool, also has a winning record across a dozen games.

Viktor is the late-season riser. He has only a handful of games on it, but the record is excellent, it has the highest damage per minute in his pool, and he went to it against both Invictus Gaming and Bilibili Gaming in the Grand Finals. If Viktor stays strong on the Worlds patch, expect to see it again.

Cassiopeia is the outlier. She is his third most played champion of 2026 and the only one of his regular picks with a losing record, though her best game, from the Esports World Cup, is linked further down. Behind the main group sit pocket picks with samples too small to judge: Yone, Twisted Fate, Akali, Sylas, Syndra, Ahri, Taliyah and Aurora.

Across his career, Azir, Ryze, Orianna, Annie and Sylas are his signature champions, with Azir the most played of all, while LeBlanc and Taliyah, two picks long tied to him, have barely appeared in 2026.

Shanks’ builds favor mana scaling and sustained damage over burst, which fits a player who wants games decided in mid- and late-game teamfights. On Ryze, Rod of Ages and Seraph’s Embrace form the fixed core in every game. Actualizer is the usual third item, and Zhonya’s Hourglass comes in when he needs to survive a dive.

The Ryze rune page runs Deathfire Touch in Sorcery with a Resolve secondary of Second Wind and Overgrowth. The standout choice is Flash and Ghost instead of Teleport. Paired with Swiftmarch or Chainlaced Crushers, Ghost turns Ryze into a rotation champion: he reaches flanks, joins fights first and kites out of engages, trading Teleport’s cross-map reach for speed around the fight.

Azir is built as an attack-speed carry. Nashor’s Tooth opens every Azir game, and Lethal Tempo heads a Precision page with Presence of Mind, Legend: Alacrity and Cut Down. The rest of the build shifts with the threat, from Shadowflame for damage to Zhonya’s Hourglass, Rylai’s Crystal Scepter or Banshee’s Veil for safety and control. Flash and Teleport keep his lane standard with a side-lane play available.

Cassiopeia follows the Ryze template: Rod of Ages first and Deathfire Touch, then Seraph’s Embrace or Rylai’s Crystal Scepter depending on whether the game calls for mana or slows. Liandry’s Torment, Cryptbloom and Blackfire Torch show up as situational damage items. The rune pages come from only a few logged games per champion, so read them as recent preference rather than a fixed rule.

Shanks’ latest games come from the LPL 2026 Grand Finals, where Anyone’s Legend played Invictus Gaming and Bilibili Gaming. The drafts leaned on his core of Viktor, Annie, Orianna, Azir and Ryze, with Yone, Akali, Lissandra and Anivia brought in as situational answers. Games with a recording carry a Watch link in the table.

Watch his best Cassiopeia game of the season below.

Shanks made his name at Team WE, where he played mid from 9 November 2020 to 5 August 2023. Those seasons built the control mage foundation of his pool, but the team results that define him came after he left.

He joined Anyone’s Legend on 25 December 2023, and the move turned him from a solid LPL mid laner into a title winner. The roster competed under the AG.AL banner at the Esports World Cup in July 2025 and again in July 2026, and he returned to the Anyone’s Legend roster on 22 July 2026 for the rest of the LPL season.

Stability is the theme of the career table. Outside the Esports World Cup stints, he has played for only two organizations as a pro, both in the mid role. You can find the rest of the LPL field and other leagues on our esports hub.

Shanks’ standing rests on domestic dominance. With Anyone’s Legend he won the Demacia Cup 2024 on 29 December 2024, then LPL 2025 Split 1 and the LPL 2025 Split 2 Playoffs. In 2026 he added LPL 2026 Split 1 and the LPL 2026 Grand Finals, which places him among the most decorated mid laners in China over the last two years.

The gap is an international title. His best results abroad are 3rd place at MSI 2025 and 2nd place at the Esports World Cup 2025, deep runs that ended short of a trophy. Worlds 2026 is his next chance to add one.

Shanks is at Worlds 2026 with Anyone’s Legend, which enters the event as the China #1 seed. The team skips the Play-In and starts in the Main Event’s Swiss stage on 23 October 2026, with the knockout stage to follow for the teams that advance. Follow every stage on the Worlds 2026 hub.