The League of Legends World Championship is kicking off in a few days, and teams are preparing their picks and strategies for the most important tournament of the season.
After the end of the various regions’ summer playoffs played in patch 12.15, Riot Games has released three new patches, with huge changes and updates across all roles. At Worlds, teams will play on patch 12.18. Udyr, however, will be disabled throughout the tournament since he wasn’t enabled in the four major regions in playoffs.
With the meta shifting towards a new direction, it will be crucial for teams to identify the new strong picks and adapt their playstyle. Here are the best champions that will be highly contested at Worlds.
Hecarim
After being off the radar for almost an entire season, the horse of the Shadow Isles has returned among the best picks in the jungle pool.
The buffs Riot Games gave Hecarim in patch 12.17 made him go from being one of the weakest to one of, if not the best, champions of the patch. While they lowered his base damages, the balance team overshot the numbers on his attack damage scaling, making him too oppressive when fed. As a result, he has been tuned down immediately for the Worlds patch.
With that being said, Hecarim will still be among the best picks in the jungle: expect him to be banned or picked in most games.
Miss Fortune
Like Hecarim, Miss Fortune is another champion who received major changes in patch 12.17, making her the most popular ADC. The bounty hunter found herself with all the basic abilities buffed.
Overall, those changes pushed her back among the top-tier marksman, as she was able to pressure the laning phase with her Q and E and then having ridiculous damage with the ultimate. She became so strong that Riot immediately had to hotfix her on the same day of the patch release.
For Worlds, she had reduced some of her base stats, which should bring her more in line with the rest. Nevertheless, she will still be the best ADC and likely one of the most banned champions.
Draven
Draven is one of the few champions that has remained relevant from playoffs. Despite the base damage reduction on his Spinning Axe (Q), he will still be a meta pick at Worlds.
The axe master can count on great damage in the early game and bully the enemy laner permanently. There aren’t many ADCs that can go one-on-one with him before three items, and thanks to his passive, he’s guaranteed a gold lead over his opponent. Having said that, Draven has quite a large mechanical ceiling, and not many players have mastered him over time. He can become a 1v9 machine in the right hands, and he will be present at Worlds.
Caitlyn
Caitlyn also got some love from the balance team after the end of the playoffs tournaments across the world. The sheriff of Piltover has had a sequence of buffs since the durability patch, and the last one brought her back into the meta.
With that being said, Caitlyn is a particular pick for competitive. Not only does she needs strong positioning due to her immobility, but she also requires an impeccable understanding of the laning phase from the whole team.
In addition, she must be paired with specific supports, such as Lux or Morgana, that are strong in tandem with her to keep priority in lane and pressure the enemies. If Caitlyn cannot find substantial leads in the game’s first stages, it will be tough for her to be impactful in the teamfights.
Teams will likely prefer Miss Fortune or Draven, but Caitlyn will likely make her way onto Summoner’s Rift if those two are banned.
Aatrox
The top lane meta is in a weird spot currently, but in a positive way. After years of complaints, we will have one of the most diversified top lane pools in the recent Worlds history.
Not only can you play tank front liners like Ornn and Sejuani, but you can also opt for more damage-oriented champions like Fiora, Camille, and Darius. None of them, however, are considered great blind picks, except Aatrox.
The Darkin Blade can easily deal with both types of champions during the laning phase, making him the ideal champion in situations where you don’t know what the enemies will pick. Moreover, his most recent armor penetration build proved to be more effective than the one with Goredrinker, increasing his overall damage output. This is why Aatrox will be among the most popular top laners at Worlds.
Maokai
Until recently, Maokai was nowhere to be seen. Luckily, Riot Games decided to help the tree “rediscover his roots” (citation from the patch notes), giving him substantial buffs to bump his play rate up.
What’s important about the Maokai changes is how the balance team tweaked him. In the changes, they also included some numbers that could bring him in as a jungler. The fact that he can be flexed across top, jungle, and support can make him into a secret weapon some teams will abuse. He doesn’t seem overpowered as Hecarim might be, but he will be a champion to watch out for.
Graves
The outlaw hasn’t been able to compete with the other meta junglers so far. His slower clear speed and time needed to reach his spikes made him disappear throughout the various playoffs.
Now that all the other early game champions have been tagged, Graves will likely make a return to the meta, especially given his latest buffs. With the rise of carry junglers over tanks, Graves can be a great pick in the right spot. He’s best against heavy attack damage team compositions thanks to his armor stacking on the E and thrives in prolonged skirmishes and fights.
He also has the advantage of being a flex between top and jungle, which is always a nice bonus to have in the drafts.
