If you’ve ever sat in a Mobile Legends draft pick screen confused when your team asks you to lock in or send a specific hero, you’re far from alone. Many new players skip learning this core draft mechanic because it feels intimidating at first, but mastering how to send hero in Mobile Legends is one of the fastest ways to boost your win rate and avoid frustrating your teammates. This guide breaks down everything you need to know, from basic draft rules to pro-level strategies that work for every rank, even if you only main 2 or 3 heroes. You don’t need a full hero roster to pull this off, just a little bit of planning and awareness of what your team needs to win.
How to Send Hero in Mobile Legends: Basic Draft Pick Rules First
First, let’s clear up the most common misconception: sending a hero doesn’t mean you’re giving up your own spot to play, or that you’re wasting a pick. When you send a hero, you’re selecting a hero on behalf of a teammate during your team’s turn to pick, before they’ve had a chance to lock it in themselves, to stop the enemy team from stealing it. This mechanic only works in ranked draft pick and tournament modes, not in classic or brawl matches, so you won’t have to worry about it in casual play.
Let’s walk through the basic steps first, so you don’t mess up your first attempt:
- Wait for your team’s turn to pick, and listen for calls from teammates about which hero they want to play that is at high risk of being stolen
- Select the requested hero from the roster, but don’t click “lock in” immediately
- Tap the “send” button that pops up next to the hero icon, which will send the hero to your teammate’s selection slot
- Wait for your teammate to confirm they received it, then proceed to pick your own hero for the match
That’s the basic process, but there are a lot of small mistakes new players make here that can derail the whole draft. For example, you can only send a hero that you own, or that is on the weekly free rotation, so if a teammate asks you to send a hero you don’t have access to, be honest and tell them immediately so someone else on the team can do it. Don’t stay silent and let the enemy steal the hero, that’s a surefire way to start the match on bad terms with your team.
When You Should Send a Hero Instead of Picking Your Own First
You don’t need to send a hero for your teammates every single draft. Most of the time, your team can pick their own heroes without help, but there are specific scenarios where sending a hero is non-negotiable if you want a good team comp.
First, if a teammate is calling for a meta jungler or mid laner that has a 70%+ pick rate in the current patch, you should always prioritize sending that hero if it’s your turn to pick first. These heroes get stolen almost every draft if you leave them open, and losing your team’s intended core can make the match 10x harder to win before it even starts. It doesn’t matter if you already have your own main picked out, you can always pick your hero after you send the high-priority one for your teammate.
Another scenario is when a teammate is a one-trick pony for a specific off-meta hero that they have a 60%+ win rate on. Even if the hero isn’t meta, if someone on your team has hundreds of games on them and can carry with them, it’s worth sending that hero to stop the enemy from banning it or picking it first. I’ve seen so many matches lost because a team refused to send a one-trick’s main hero, only for the enemy to steal it and destroy the whole team.
So when shouldn’t you send a hero? If the requested hero is a low-priority support or roam hero that has a pick rate under 20%, you don’t need to prioritize sending it. These heroes almost never get stolen, so you can pick your own main first and let your teammate pick their support later on their own turn.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Sending Heroes in Draft
Even if you know the basic steps of sending a hero, it’s easy to make small mistakes that cause chaos in the draft. I’ve made almost all of these mistakes myself when I was new to ranked play, so I know exactly how frustrating they can be for everyone on the team.
First, never send a hero without confirming first that your teammate actually wants it. I once had a random teammate send me a Ling when I was planning to play a support, and I didn’t notice until the draft ended, so I was stuck playing a jungler I had zero experience with. We lost that match in 12 minutes, and it was entirely because my teammate assumed I wanted Ling without asking. Always ask for confirmation before you hit the send button, even if you think you heard them call the hero correctly.
Second, don’t lock in a hero you were supposed to send. This is one of the most toxic mistakes you can make in draft, and it will almost always lead to your team throwing the match out of frustration. If you’re picking a hero to send, make sure you tap the send button, not the lock in button, unless your teammate explicitly tells you to keep it for yourself.
Third, don’t get upset if a teammate asks you to send a hero instead of picking your main first. A lot of new players take this as a personal attack, but it’s not. Your teammates are just trying to build the strongest possible comp to win the match, and sending a high-priority hero only takes 2 seconds of your time. If you’re worried about not getting your own main, you can call your pick first before the draft starts, so your teammates know to send it for you if someone else on the team gets an earlier pick turn.
The last common mistake is forgetting that you can’t send a hero after you’ve already locked in your own pick. Once you lock in your hero, you lose the ability to send any heroes to your teammates, so if you’re first pick on your team, always wait 5-10 seconds to see if anyone needs a hero sent before you lock in your own pick.
Pro Tips to Optimize Hero Sending for Higher Rank Wins
Once you’ve mastered the basics of sending heroes, you can use these pro tricks to get an even bigger edge in draft, especially in Epic rank and above where every draft pick matters.
First, keep track of which heroes the enemy team has already picked, so you know which heroes your teammates are at risk of losing. For example, if the enemy team already picked a tank, you don’t need to worry about sending a tank for your teammate, because the enemy won’t steal a second tank. Focus on sending core damage heroes that the enemy still has space to pick.
Another pro tip is to pre-plan your draft with your teammates during the ban phase. If you’re first pick, ask your team right at the start of the ban phase if anyone needs a hero sent, so you don’t waste time once the pick phase starts. This cuts down on miscommunication and ensures you don’t run out of time to send the right hero before the pick timer runs out.
You can also use the hero send mechanic to test out new heroes without risking your own pick. If you’re curious about playing a new hero but don’t want to lock it in and let your team down, you can send it to a teammate who called it, and get a close look at how they play it during the match. It’s a low-pressure way to learn new hero mechanics without throwing a game.
That said, don’t overuse the send mechanic. If every person on your team is sending heroes back and forth for no reason, you’ll run out of time to pick your own heroes, and the game will assign you random heroes which is almost always a loss. Use it only when it’s necessary to secure a high-priority hero for your team, and keep the rest of the draft simple.
Sending heroes doesn’t have to be a confusing or stressful part of Mobile Legends ranked play. Once you get the hang of the basic steps and learn when to use the mechanic, it becomes second nature, and you’ll notice your team comps get far stronger and your win rate goes up almost immediately. Take a few matches to practice in lower rank drafts first, so you don’t make mistakes when you climb to higher ranks where every pick counts. If you take nothing else away from this guide, remember that mastering how to send hero in Mobile Legends is less about following strict rules, and more about working with your team to set everyone up for success before the match even starts. Next time you’re in draft pick, don’t be afraid to offer to send a hero for your teammates if you have an earlier pick turn, it might be the small choice that wins you the match.