With the 2022 League of Legends World Championship around the corner, people might be questioning about which teams are participating and how they are stacking against each other. Just like every year, we prepared our LoL Worlds Power Rankings, taking into consideration the 10 best teams coming into Worlds 2022.
Unlike last year when we only had 22 teams, this time Worlds ’22 will have all the 24 participants. With that being said, the LCL representative will not be playing due to the league being canceled. Instead, the slot was given to EU, who will have 4 seeds, 2 in Group Stage and 2 in Play-ins. But hey, the VCS is back in full force.
What makes this year’s Worlds even more exciting is how close the top teams are, with three strong potential contenders. China and Korea are still leading the charge, but the western teams can be quite hard to deal with this year. Most of last year’s participants have made it back to the grand stage, with G2 also returning to Worlds after missing out last year.
TOP 10: LOL WORLDS 2022 POWER RANKINGS
In this LoL Worlds Power Rankings list, we will look at the most dominant LoL Worlds 2022 teams. We ranked and filed the top ten most fearsome lineups that should go deep into the tournament. The lack of recent international matches (the last being at MSI) makes the power rankings tough to predict well. We will try to make some objective analysis and try to come up with a more or less accurate representation of the teams’ strengths.
10. C9 (CLOUD 9)
Following a non-exciting regular summer split, Cloud9 found great success in the LCS Championship. They fought until the end, and dominated 100 Thieves in the finals. Despite ending up in the same group as strong teams like T1 and EDG, Cloud9 now has a roster with the potential of making the upsets.
The lineup has the perfect mix of young talents and strong veterans. Fudge proved he can play almost anything, from tanks to bruisers to duelists and creating advantages in isolation. Blaber is the best domestic jungler NA can offer. He seems to have sorted out his inconsistency and it will be now time to prove that on the international stage. While he wasn’t the number one in single stats in the LCS, you could find him in the top three for almost every metric.
Jensen is now covering a more supportive role, having the highest average vision score per minute per game. He sacrifices his laning more often in order to help his team and it has been working great. I’m slightly worried about how he will match with the best mids in the world, but C9 must play as cohesively as possible if they want to win. Additionally, Berserker is proving to be the talent that everyone was expecting at the beginning of the year. Now that he has adapted to the environment better, you can see that things are working.
Finally, a lot of merit goes to Zven, who role swapped to support. Having played as ADC for a long time, he’s the best partner for Berserker since he knows both roles extremely well and can adapt to the T1’s former marksman. Not only that, but he also has a strong presence in shotcalling, which can help the rest of the team.
It’s still early to say but I personally think that this team can be the dark horse for 2022.
9. ROGUE
Having won the LEC Summer Playoffs this year, Rogue comes to Worlds with a new level of expectations on them. As the first seed, they will feel the pressure of representing EU and the tough goal of beating the eastern teams, but RGE has shown promising stuff this year.
Odoamne won his first LEC title and was gapping everyone in the top lane. While he is known more as a weakside player, he had a positive XP and CS differential during the laning phase. My main worry is how he will perform against the mechanical gods. Watching T1’s Zeus makes me question if he’s able to hold his own. Yet, RGE has solid chances of fighting for Knockout Stage.
All the rest of the team has been performing strongly in playoffs, but Larssen and Malrang for me are the ones to watch out. We saw a new “face” from the Swedish mid laner, who is known for playing scaling mages. In the G2 finals, he took the gamble and played LeBlanc, proving that he’s willing to take the risks and go outside his comfort zone when needed. Malrang, instead, has returned to be the King of the jungle, with the highest %KP by a large margin. He’s known for being a low-economy player that puts a lot of emphasis in the early game: I’m curious to see how he will behave at Worlds.
8. DWG KIA (DAMWON GAMING)
Damwon Kia had an up and down season so far. Despite being in the top three of the LCK, they found themselves in a weird situation where they were struggling against the top two but playing better than the rest.
The roster changes done over the off-season felt a downgrade and the results seem to back up that statement. Nuguri and Burdol didn’t seem superior to other top laners and the bot lane couldn’t really match T1’s or Gen.G’s.
Coming in as the 3rd seed at Worlds, DK’s chances of making it to the finals seem slim. They can count on Canyon and ShowMaker as usual, but I feel like DK’s strong points don’t match the bot-centric meta of this season. Things might change with Patch 12.18, but unless there’s a drastic meta shift, DK’s journey might not be as good as previous years.
7. G2 ESPORTS
The next team on our list is G2 Esports. It might become as a surprise to see EU’s second seed placed higher than RGE, but I think there are quite a few reasons as to why this choice was made.
First of all, I think that G2’s preparation coming into the LEC finals was not done well. They were probably expecting to face FNC so they couldn’t adjust for RGE in time, and the meta isn’t favoring their playstyle, which consists in putting Flakked in a weakside position.
Regarding playstyles, I believe that they are similar to DK in the sense that they both like playing around their mid-jungle duo. But contrary to the Korean team, G2 also has Targamas, one of the best performing players and support in the LEC. With most teams having strong marksman and bot duos, G2 can try to let Flakked hold his own and look to play through other lanes. BrokenBlade had a rough final against RGE, but other than that, he has been really solid.
G2 ended up the ‘Group of Death’ with DK and JDG, but if there’s a team to make the miracle happen, it’s definitely G2.
6. RNG (ROYAL NEVER GIVE UP)
RNG is the only team on our list that has to go through Play-ins. Despite being the 4th seed, RNG has a high chance of dominating the play-in stage and snatch a spot at the Group Stage.
We saw how close the games were against EDG in the regional finals. Most Chinese teams have showcased highly competitive levels of play. Compared to MSI though, I believe that RNG didn’t have the same evolution other teams had. Their best strength is that they can play many different team compositions and strongside either top or bot, depending on the draft. But their flexibility also doesn’t really allow them to be top tier in any of these playstyles. And when they face teams that are better at one or the other, they struggle.
Their best identity for me is playing through bot or mid, with jungle and support roaming around the map and go for proactive plays. If they can find they can combine their strengths, we might be able to witness a much stronger version of RNG, which can easily compete with the top teams…
5. T1
After one of the most dominant splits in the LCK in spring, T1 wasn’t able to replicate the same results in summer. Despite finishing 2nd, they looked shaky at moments and were run over by Gen.G in the finals.
While it may seem like an involution, my general sentiment is that T1’s weaknesses were exploited in the second part of the season. We saw how they could get away with non-optimal drafts, as the individual players could fill the gaps with their own talents. When everyone proved, however, T1’s problems persisted.
What’s positive about T1 is that they have probably identified the main issue and made a crucial change for Worlds. They removed Polt from the head coach position, promoting former SKT T1 jungler Bengi to interim head coach. We’ll have to see how the team will adjust for the most important tournament of the year. They have extremely talented players and all the cards to do well, so T1’s expectations are going to be high, as Faker will also be hoping to become 4-time world champion.
4. EDG (EDWARD GAMING)
I had mixed feelings when deciding where to put EDG on this list. Being the current World Champions, I wanted to put them in the top three since they have an “additional” reason to perform this year. With that being said, I think that the top three teams are a tier above the rest, which made me put EDG 4th in this list.
The team’s shining points are for sure the bot lane players. Viper is one of the best ADCs in the world, period. Solid laning phase and always ready to make the plays and carry the teamfights on his back, with Meiko covering for any of his mistakes. I’m slightly worried about how the best champions for Viper (Zeri, Sivir, Kalista) were nerfed and how that might impact EDG overall.
The team also had a weird moment where Jiejie wasn’t delivering and Junjia played in his stead. EDG is a team that largely depends on their jungler for the general pace of the game, so they are influenced harder than most teams when the player is underperforming. Luckily for them, Jiejie made a strong comeback in the playoffs as well as the Regional Finals.
What I like about EDG is that they have a mix combination of LCK and LPL, playing both the macro game as well as going for the play when necessary. They might not be as explosive as other teams but having more composure can make the difference in vital games.
3. TOP ESPORTS
I think that the top three teams are going to be the same for most people. Orders might change depending on preference. For myself, TOP places third in these Worlds Power Rankings.
The main reason for my choice is primarily results-based. They seems to be overconfident in some situations, and people can’t forget JackeyLove’s jump as Zeri in Game 5 of the LPL Summer Finals, as TES ended 2nd in both splits, always losing in Game 5. It can happen due to the pressure or the nerves of the series. The fact that it happened on two occasions raises some questions.
Nevertheless, TES are a formidable team with top class players across all roles. Knight, Tian were consistent throughout the season and Wayward, despite some ups and downs, proved that he’s a must in this line-up.
Overall, I’m still expecting them to fight for the top spot in groups and go deep into the tournament, but if they face one of the other top two teams before that, I think that Top Esports’ chances of advancing will be slimmer.
2. GEN.G
Gen.G is one of the big favorites of the tournament. Following a crushing dominance in the LCK Summer, all hopes by Korean fans will be on Gen.G this year. The team has managed to put together the best non-T1 talents from the League, and results have finally paid off. Ruler and Lehends are the undisputed number one bot lane from LCK: they can play a lot of different combinations and you can always feel their impact on the game, regardless of their gold situation. Chovy continues to terrorize the mid lane and teamfights, with Doran holding off his own in the top lane.
The most surprising member for me was Peanut, the LCK Finals’ MVP. After some rough years, he made his way back on a top-tier roster and he improved a lot, especially in the way he plays. He’s still mechanically strong, but his game sense and adaptability are what’s making him so valuable this year.
While I agree that Gen.G could’ve also been the number one on these Power Rankings, the lack of competitive teams at their level in the LCK have been a determining factor for me. Aside from that, the patch 12.18 have greatly nerfed the Lucian-Nami bot lane as well as Zeri, the champions the team has had the most success with. Patches get often overlooked before Worlds, but when everything is so close at the top, each detail can make the difference.
1. JDG GAMING
JDG are, for me, the number one team in our Worlds 2022 Power Rankings. As the current LPL Champions, considered by most as the best region in the world, it was logical to put them first.
Considering how important the early game is this season, as well as having strong teamfighting ability, Kanavi is the perfect player that ticks both boxes. He’s a very flexible player that can play both utility as well as carry style. On a roster like JDG, he’s given a lot of freedom.
This is also thanks to all the other teammates, who all can adjust depending on the enemies and the draft. Yagao earned the Finals’ MVP, with Hope and Missing being consistent and the backbone of JDG’s teamfights.
With that being said, I think that 369 was the one to surprise me the most this season. He was already considered highly last year, but he took his level up a notch again this year. His strength relies in his ability to both play tanks and bruiser-duelists, which will likely become relevant at Worlds.
After missing out last year, JDG has the great chance of redeeming themselves at Worlds 2022. The LoL Worlds Odds on them actually doing it are solid, but expect a tight competition all around.
