The Best BJJ Submissions to Learn First (66 Ranked)

You’re Going to Spend Hundreds of Hours Hunting Submissions

Most of them won’t work. And the ones that do work at white belt will stop working at blue belt. And then you’ll be three years into a game built around the wrong stuff, wondering why you plateaued.

That’s not a hypothetical. That’s the most common submission story in jiu jitsu.

So which submissions actually deserve your time? We ranked 66 of them across four criteria: effectiveness at the highest level, risk versus reward (both short-term and long-term), versatility across gi, no-gi, and self-defense, and availability in live rounds. Not Instagram cool points. Not what looks best on a highlight reel. What actually works, keeps working, and won’t destroy your body in the process.

Why Submission Selection Matters More Than You Think

Here’s the thing most people miss: the submission you choose to chase determines the positions you spend time in. If you build your game around a low-percentage flashy move, you’re spending hundreds of hours in positions that don’t pay off. But if you invest in high-percentage submissions, you’re also getting good at the dominant positions those submissions come from.

An Americana from side control isn’t just an Americana. It’s hours of practice controlling side control. A rear naked choke isn’t just a choke. It’s back control mastery. The submissions teach the positions. Choose the right submissions and the rest of your game develops as a side effect.

The SS Tier: Learn These First, No Excuses

Five submissions hit the top tier. If you only learned five submissions and nothing else, these would give you a functional game from almost every position.

Rear naked choke. Most people are terrible at it, and it’s the single most effective submission in grappling. Works in every ruleset, every situation, at every level. You can’t be tough to it. If you’re on someone’s back and you can’t finish the rear naked choke, you don’t have a finishing problem. You have a back control problem. Master it.

Triangle choke from guard. Versatile, effective at the highest levels, and the risk-to-reward is outstanding. When you miss it, you usually end up in a position where you can attack something else. Learning the triangle also teaches you how to control distance and angle from your back, which transfers to everything.

Kimura. You can grab a kimura from almost any position: top, bottom, guard, side control, half guard, standing. It’s a submission, a sweep setup, a guard pass, and a back take all in one grip. The availability alone puts it over the top. If you only mastered one grip in jiu jitsu, this would be a strong candidate.

Guillotine choke. The most natural submission that exists. When two people with no training get in a fight, head level drops and guillotine opportunities appear. Learning to actually finish one (hint: it’s about closing off both carotid arteries, not squeezing harder) changes your entire front headlock game and opens up d’arce chokes, anaconda chokes, and guard passes.

Inside heel hook. The one leg lock in the top tier. When someone good at inside heel hooks catches you with a clean entry, you’re getting heel hooked over and over. The positional control it requires teaches you leg entanglements, which is the foundation of modern no-gi grappling.

The S Tier: Build Your Game Around These

These are all excellent investments of your training time. You can build an entire competitive game around any of them.

D’arce choke. Overpowered when the conditions are right. Translates well for wrestlers. The only knock is an arm-length-to-body-size limitation, but when it’s there, it’s devastating.

Arm bar from top. An essential position that works at every level. The short-term risk is losing position, but the availability and versatility keep it firmly in this tier.

Straight ankle lock. Almost everyone who got good at leg locks started here. It’s legal in every ruleset, and mastering it teaches you the leg control that transfers to every other leg attack. The long-term investment value is enormous.

Arm triangle (head and arm choke). Could easily be top tier except for a size limitation. Against opponents your size or smaller, it’s absolutely dominant from side control and mount.

Omoplata. One of the few submissions where missing it actually improves your position. When someone rolls out of your omoplata, you end up on top. Sets up sweeps, back takes, and transitions to other attacks.

Toe holds. Overpowered when people don’t know how to defend them, and even when they do, they lead to knee bars and better positions. Pairs naturally with everything else in the leg lock game.

Mount triangle. People sleep on this one. The control is incredible, and if you understand that the finishing angle is the same as from guard, you’ll start catching people who have no idea what just happened.

Bow and arrow choke, clock choke, brabo choke. If you train in the gi, these three are your bread and butter. The bow and arrow from back control, the clock choke when opponents turtle, and the brabo from side control and half guard. In a gi-only tier list, all three would be top tier.

The A Tier: Low Risk, High Value

These submissions share a common trait: most of them carry almost zero risk when you attempt them.

Americana. Sounds basic. It is basic. But the defense of an Americana opens up arm bars, kimuras, and straight arm locks. It’s a pressure tool that makes people choose which higher-percentage submission they’d rather get caught with.

Wrist locks. Available from everywhere, risk almost nothing, and can be used to break grips and set up arm bars. The ultimate complementary submission.

Knee bar. The angles can be tricky to learn, but once you understand the positioning, it adds a whole new layer to your leg lock game.

North-south choke. Hard to master, but the people who do make it look effortless. And the risk is essentially zero because even if you miss, you’re still in a dominant position.

Straight arm lock. From top side control, when someone straightens their arm defending an Americana or kimura, the straight arm lock is right there. Almost no risk, leads to other attacks.

What to Skip (At Least for Now)

Some submissions are traps for beginners. They work on people who don’t know what they’re doing, which makes you think they’re good. Then they stop working entirely and you’ve wasted years.

Buggy choke. If top players understood head position, nobody would hit these. You’re choosing to master a bottom side control submission instead of getting better at not being in bottom side control. The risk-to-reward makes no sense.

Ninja choke. Take a guillotine and a d’arce, combine them, remove all the control. That’s what you get.

Baseball bat choke from bottom. You’ll win matches at white and blue belt by belly-downing into these. Then you’ll become known as the baseball bat choke person, everyone will know your one trick, and your back will get taken every round. Short-term reward, long-term trap.

Japanese necktie. If you’re in a position to hit a Japanese necktie, you could have hit a d’arce. Just do the d’arce.

Flying submissions in general. If the setup requires you to leave the ground with no control of your opponent, the risk-to-reward is horrible. Learn them for fun at open mat when you’re a purple belt. Don’t build a game around them.

Calf slicers. They can be effective, but the long-term cost to your own knees isn’t worth it. If longevity matters to you (and it should), there are better options from every position where a calf slicer is available.

What We Teach at GJJ and Why

At Golden Jiu Jitsu, our curriculum covers the submissions that rank highest on this list. We teach arm bars, triangles, and kimuras as foundational attacks because they’re effective, low-risk, and teach you the dominant positions at the same time.

We don’t start beginners with heel hooks or calf slicers. Not because they don’t work, but because the positional understanding required to use them safely and effectively takes time to develop. You’ll get there. The path just goes through the fundamentals first.

Our approach is game-based, so you won’t drill arm bars 50 times on a non-resisting partner. You’ll play games where the arm bar is available and your training partner is actively trying to prevent it. That’s how you build submissions that actually work when someone is fighting back.

Come see what that looks like. Your first class is free.

Try a free class at Golden Jiu Jitsu