Will the LPL stay on top?
After conquering the Summer playoffs and regional qualifiers, the best League of Legends teams in the world will now compete in the biggest LoL tournament of the year.
Worlds 2022 welcomes 24 teams from its 11 regional leagues. Worlds 2021 champions Edward Gaming are back to defend the throne, but they’ll need to look over their shoulders, with top-performing teams JD Gaming and Gen.G poised to challenge them for the Summoner’s Cup.
Here are our power rankings for all the teams competing at Worlds 2022.
Worlds 2022 power rankings
Happy to be here
- Beyond Gaming
- Chiefs Esports Club
- Istanbul Wildcats
- Isurus
- LOUD
A lot to prove
- CTBC Flying Oyster
- Saigon Buffalo
- Evil Geniuses
- MAD Lions
- DetonatioN FocusMe
Dark horses
- G2 Esports
- 100 Thieves
- Fnatic
- GAM Esports
Red-hot challengers
Best of the rest
- Edward Gaming
- Royal Never Give Up
- T1
Best of the best
- JD Gaming
- Gen.G
- Top Esports
Happy to be here
- Beyond Gaming
- Chiefs Esports Club
- Istanbul Wildcats
- Isurus
- LOUD
These minor region representatives have a long way ahead of them before winning the coveted World Championship trophy. All five teams will be participating during the Play-Ins, one of the bloodiest stages in the competition.
Turkish team Istanbul Wildcats and Latin American team Isurus will be facing off LPL terror Royal Never Give Up, the champions of this year’s Mid-Season Invitational and LPL Spring split. This might just be the toughest Play-Ins ever for minor regions, considering the tremendous feats of this Chinese team.
A lot to prove
- CTBC Flying Oyster
- Saigon Buffalo
- Evil Geniuses
- MAD Lions
- DetonatioN FocusMe
Saigon Buffalo made waves earlier this year by drawing first blood against LCK 2022 Spring Champions T1 in MSI 2022‘s opening match. The team continued their dominance into Summer, taking second place in the VCS playoffs after a tough grand final loss against GAM Esports.
Returning to the global stage, Saigon Buffalo has the chance to prove once again that they’re a world-class team. If the team manages to pull off a few upsets as they did at MSI, the VCS representative could set themselves up for a Group Stage appearance in no time.
As Kyle “Danny” Sakamaki takes a break from competitive play, Evil Geniuses will enter Worlds 2022 with an Academy substitute.
Muhammed Hasan “Kaori” Şentürk has already subbed in for Danny during the LCS Summer playoffs, where the team came close to beating 100 Thieves in the lower bracket final. Despite the recent roster change, EG could still power through the Play-In stage with its other key players Joseph Joon “jojopyun” Pyun and Jeong “Impact” Eon-young.
Dark horses
- G2 Esports
- 100 Thieves
- Fnatic
- GAM Esports
G2 Esports holds the potential to go all the way to the Knockout Stage to fight top-tier teams from the LPL and LCK. G2 won LEC Spring 2022 Playoffs, but fell short during the LEC Summer 2022 Playoffs and landed in second place after Rogue.
Will they finally turn their unfortunate 0-3 grand final loss in Worlds 2019 into a clean sweep to win this year’s World Championship?
After two years of absence due to COVID-19 restrictions, GAM Esports are finally back in the global scene, lead by star jungler Đỗ “Levi” Duy Khánh. They are the unprecedented best and most consistent team in the VCS, finishing first in both Spring and Summer since 2020.
Seeded in the Group Stage, fans are expecting them to burst through the competition, and perhaps make history as the first VCS team to qualify for the playoffs.
Red-hot challengers
DWG KIA returns to Worlds with three members from its Worlds 2020 championship roster. After taking a break in Spring, top laner Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon reunited with Heo “ShowMaker” Su and Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu in Summer.
Heading into the Summer postseason, DK experimented by substituting Noh “Burdol” Tae-yoon more frequently for starter Nuguri. Head coach Yang “Daeny” Dae-in explained that Burdol came in when they’re were playing on red side so they could counter-pick opponents.
The new strategy turned out to be a success, after DK secured the third LCK Worlds slot by beating Liiv SANDBOX in the regional qualifiers.
Best of the rest
- Edward Gaming
- Royal Never Give Up
- T1
T1 has been a dominant force in the 2022 season, claiming the LCK 2022 Spring title in a perfect run. They also took it all the way to the MSI 2022 grand final where they narrowly lost out to Royal Never Give Up 3-2.
Top laner Choi “Zeus” Woo-je stepped up his game in Summer, securing 11 Player of the Game awards. For his outstanding efforts, he was selected for the All-LCK first team alongside four Gen.G players.
While T1 sometimes struggles in drafts, we’ll have to see how they adapt to the tournament meta this Worlds. Their individual prowess and mechanics might be enough to propel them to top four just as they did last Worlds 2021 with largely the same roster.
Royal Never Give Up may have made history with back-to-back MSI championships, but the team noticeably struggled in Summer when the meta shifted after patch 12.10’s Durability Update which put the onus on bot laners to scale and carry on marksmen champions.
Scaling will still be the name of the game at Worlds 2022, so we’ll have to see if RNG members in other roles will be able to take advantage of recent patch changes to set up for Chen “GALA” Wei.
Best of the best
- JD Gaming
- Gen.G
- Top Esports
JD Gaming’s last international appearance was at Worlds 2020. After a disappointing exit in the quarterfinals where they lost to Suning 3-1, Yoon “Homme” Sung-young took a year off to take care of his health. Now that he’s back, it’s no surprise that JD Gaming are once again at their prime and looking to go beyond the first round of playoffs.
Gen.G stands tall as the best team in the LCK right now. While Gen.G always considered T1 their toughest opponent in the league, they managed to beat the LCK Spring 2022 champions 3-0 in the LCK Summer final, proving that their stacked roster is ready for the global stage.
Worlds 2017 champion Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk continues to be the star of the Gen.G show. At the LCK 2022 Summer awards, he achieved a Triple Crown, winning the All-LCK first team, Player of the Split, and regular season MVP awards.
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READ MORE: Worlds 2022: Schedule, results, format, teams, where to watch