Riot Games today, on September 19th, presented an official global power ranking of 80 professional teams in League of Legends . The strength of the teams is ranked according to an ELO principle. While the top spots are relatively clear, there is already controversy at position 5. For there, a European team, G2, has landed ahead of T1 and Faker, the current world champions in LoL. Additionally, US fans are upset that their teams are ranked so low.
How is the power ranking established? The power ranking is established based on an ELO principle. This takes into account the strength of the team as well as that of the league. The evaluation criteria include which other teams were won against and how strong they are rated.
For the league evaluation, Riot Games includes results from the last 3 years, while for the team evaluation, results from the last 2 years are considered. Furthermore, each match is assessed; thus, a 2-3 loss is valued higher than a 0-3 defeat. International victories have a greater impact on the ELO rating than national victories.
Riot Games states that it thoroughly tested the results and believes the values reflect reality well. You can read the foundations for the power ranking in LoL here (via lolesports).
He and T1 are only in 6th place, still behind G2 and Caps:
The top teams from Asia dominate, but the pride of Europe comes in at 5th
Who are the best teams in the power ranking?
The top 6 positions are held by:
- Gen G. with 43-3 – Korea
- Bilbili Gaming with 36-5 – China
- Hanwha Life Esports with 34-10 – Korea
- Top Esports with 32-11 – China
- G2 with 38-11 – Europe
- T1 with 36-17 – Korea
You can see the entire power ranking here (via lolesports).
Riot Games rates the major leagues as follows:
- Korea, LCK – 1946
- China, LPL – 1830
- Europe, LEC – 1600
- USA, LCS – 1493
What about teams from Europe and the USA? G2 is ranked quite high at 5th. Fnatic comes in at 13th.
The first US team enters at 14th with Team Liquid, while the current LEC champion FlyQuest lands in 16th.
The Power Rankings in LoL place Caps above Faker
How do the official power rankings differ from others? The “actual” power rankings that bookmakers refer to, for example, to assess who will win the LoL Worlds 2024, see the 8 teams from Asia participating in the Worlds as all stronger than the teams in the West.
While there is general agreement on the top spots, teams like G2 or DK Plus, which were strong in the past but had to let go of good players, fare better in the official power ranking than in reality.
World Champion tied with a weak US team
What are the points of contention? On reddit, mainly fans of US teams are present. Here, they discuss that the US team Team Liquid is ranked below the EU team Fnatic.
Additionally, the fact that G2 is placed ahead of T1, the world champions from 2023, raises some eyebrows. T1 had to face teams from the top 10 to qualify for the Worlds, while G2 only needed to beat the number 13 and 27 in the world to qualify for the Worlds.
It is considered particularly absurd that the 2022 world champion DRX achieved the same score as the mediocre US team Shopify Rebellion and is only one place higher than Dignity, which is generally regarded as the weakest, because stingiest US team.
However, DRX collapsed after the 2022 World Championship title and lost almost all players. In the current Summer Split 2024 of the LCK, they were at 4-14 in second to last place. And the results from 2022 no longer count for the team’s evaluation, but only for the league’s strength.
Pure mathematical rating does not reflect the true “power”
This is explained as follows: Such an ELO ranking is purely mathematical and reflects the poor results of US teams in recent years, while European teams have managed to achieve at least honorable successes against Asian teams repeatedly. Therefore, the European league is rated higher than that of the USA.
However, it is criticized that “power ranking” is actually the wrong name for such an ELO system, as it ultimately reflects historical performances and not the “current power measure”.
Considering history is challenging in LoL because many teams interchange numerous players year after year, sometimes even the entire team.
If you would like to read who, according to bookmakers, is currently the strongest team in League of Legends and has the highest probability of winning the LoL Worlds 2024, we recommend this article: Who will win the LoL Worlds 2024? Two professionals aim to finally replace Faker
