The League of Legends World Championship is over and the winner is determined. This year, 109 of 162 champions were played at the Worlds. We at Mein-MMO have selected the 10 most coveted champions for you and listed them.
The largest champion selection so far: In recent years, an increasing number of champions have been picked in League of Legends. While there were fewer champions in 2011, only 54 different champions were picked (via liquipedia). This year at the Worlds, there are 162 different champions.
Over the years, there has been a steady change between 60 and 98 champions played. However, in 2022, there were 109 different picks. This led to more diverse games than before. We even saw a Nasus pick in the bot lane.
Each season has had its favorites among the players. This year, much revolved around Aatrox in the top lane. However, he is not the only champion on our list.
Here you can listen to the anthem of the Worlds again:
The Top 10 Champions of the Worlds 2022
Among the top 10 champions, we focused solely on the played characters. The total number of picks and bans or the ranking of banned champions is not included. The characters can also be roughly classified based on their role.
For example, we see no support in the list, which is a sign that the most different champions were played in this role. And this, even though just before the Worlds, they buffed the supporters like Thresh. The following data comes from Liquipedia, LoL-Fandom, and Games of Legends eSports.
10. The Purifier – Lucian
- With 30 games played, Lucian is in 10th place on our list.
- The character was played because of his strength at the beginning of the game. He can build a lot of pressure on the lane and create space for his jungler.
- Often played in combination with supporters who can enchant him. Nami was the supporter that Lucian was paired with the most. Other picks included Karma and Lulu.
- Due to the almost permanent ban of Caitlyn (67.72%), Lucian + Nami became one of the strongest combinations in the bot lane.
9. The Rebel Assassin – Akali
- Akali reaches 9th place on the list with 33 games played.
- An assassin in the mid lane offering many opportunities to take down single enemies from the fight.
- Akali was the answer to champions like Azir and Viktor, as she could withstand their pressure in the lane.
- Both finalist teams often played her. The mid laner of DRX, “Zeka,” had the pleasure of playing the champion 6 times, and “Faker” from T1 5 times.
- Here we have a clip for you showing how much potential Faker brings out of the champion:
8. The Outlaw – Graves
- Graves shares the number of games played (33) with Akali but was banned more often, landing him in 8th place.
- He was played 9 times as a response against both Viego and Sylas (via liquipedia), leading to exciting fights in the jungle and around the mid lane.
- In the jungle, the character can quickly take down neutral monsters, giving him more time to assist his team.
- The champion has great burst potential, meaning he can deal massive damage in a very short time.
- The major downside of Graves is that he does not bring strong crowd control (CC). Only with his W ability can he slow down enemies and steal vision within the radius of his grenade.
7. The Fallen King – Viego
- Viego reaches 7th place with 38 games played.
- The champion has the highest win rate in the jungle at 63.16% at the Worlds 2022.
- He offers great flexibility for team compositions. With his combination of damage and CC, he can fulfill both roles.
- With his ultimate and passive ability, he had many opportunities to turn the enemies’ strengths against them. He can transform into the last defeated enemy and temporarily take over their stats.
6. The Lunari Weapon – Aphelios
- This place is also a shared place. However, Aphelios was banned less frequently and thus only ranks 6th.
- Aphelios wields 5 different weapons. One as a primary and one as a secondary weapon. This makes him the ADC that can be used most flexibly. By switching his weapons, his attacks and abilities gain different effects.
- The champion poses a high demand on the player. It’s about needing the “right” weapon combinations for team fights, which are different if he just wants to take down minions, or fights 1v1 or 2v2.
- Aphelios is a character that works super well with supporters who want to catch opponents off guard. He can also be played with supporters from the enchanter category, like Lucian, to build pressure on the lane.
5. The Corrupted Treant – Maokai
- Maokai won the head-to-head race with Aphelios due to his number of bans and is thus in 5th place.
- The tree is, along with Seraphine, the only champion played in three lanes. During the Worlds, Maokai was selected in the top lane, jungle, and as a support.
- With his mechanics, aiming to catch opponents and dive in, he became the champion with the 2nd most deaths at the Worlds.
- He brings a lot of flexibility and resistances. With his high health, he absorbs much damage in team fights and can annoy enemies with his CC.
4. The Blade of the Darkin – Aatrox
- If it were about which champion had the most involvement at the Worlds, Aatrox would be much higher, but with 46 games played, the champion ranks 4th.
- Aatrox was probably the most hotly contested character, with a pick and ban rate of 98.43%.
- Players faced massive difficulties throughout the Worlds in devising a strategy against Aatrox. This led to many different confrontations in the top lane.
- Since Aatrox had such a high win rate at times, he was simply banned outright. This massively opened up the top lane meta, as top laner Sergen “BrokenBlade” Çelik mentioned in an interview (via jaxon.gg).
- He was the key player for DRX in the final game of the Worlds. Hwang “Kingen” Seong-hoon was able to defend the base against Zeus (Top) and Faker (Mid) on Aatrox in Game 5 of the finals, thus winning the game (The scene starts at minute 57:35):
3. The Emperor of the Sands – Azir
- Azir is in 3rd place on our list with 48 games and has a 50% win rate over the Worlds.
- He is a character with very high range. He also brings a high value scaling for the late game. This means that he becomes very strong with more items in the game.
- With his passive ability to temporarily place towers, the character can force plays and cause opponents to give up neutral objectives like the dragon or Baron Nashor.
- The character was often played against Sylas or Akali due to his range.
- Azir seems to emerge as Faker’s mascot. He can be seen at the stage show of the finals and in the trailer for the Worlds from Riot Games:
2. Fury of the North – Sejuani
- Sejuani ranks 2nd on the list with 49 games played, just one game more.
- The champion was played in two different lanes. Both in the top lane against Aatrox and in the jungle against Viego.
- Overall, Sejuani lost more games than won. Her win rate is at 48.98 (via liquipedia).
- Sejuani was the champion with the most deaths at the Worlds. She ranked 1st in the predictions of lolesports in the category “Who has the most deaths at the Worlds?”
- She was especially played due to her synergies with auto-attack based champions like Aatrox, Sylas, and Akali. By using basic attacks, she charged her ability and briefly stunned enemies.
1. Breaker of Chains – Sylas
- Sylas is the most played champion at the World Championship 2022 with 50 games.
- He participated in 50 out of 127 games. Otherwise, he was banned in 49 games. The remaining 28 games did not fit into the team composition, or the pros did not feel secure on the champion.
- He is a character that stands out due to a lot of fighting ability. In close combat, he can restore health and thus fight for a very long time. Players even bought an item that ultimately was not worth it.
- Sylas proved to be the strongest answer against Akali at the Worlds. In 13 games against her, he secured 9 victories (via liquipedia).
Which champion from the list have you wanted to play, and which champion will inspire you? Let us know in the comments.
If you are interested in the results of the World Championship, we still have this article for you: LoL Worlds 2022: The best player in the world plays at risk, fails, loses the World Championship
