League of Legends is a competitive game where periodic updates and changes always cause the meta to evolve. While champions can become dominant in specific moments of the season, others have stayed in Summoner’s Rift for almost the entire year.
Here are the five most picked champions in professional play this summer. (according to Games of Legends)
5. Zeri
Not only is Zeri one of the most banned picks in professional play but she also is the most-played marksman in the 2022 season. Ever Since she made it to the public servers at the beginning of the year, the Spark of Zaun was omnipresent in competitive.
Despite the numerous nerfs and attempts at tuning her down, players were always able to find new ways of making her relevant. Her long-range poke with her W and ability to kite enemies infinitely made her the perfect late-game carry.
No matter the region, Zeri was a pick-or-ban for the majority of the season, until she was hard-hit with major nerfs that made her obsolete before the 2022 League of Legends World Championship. Despite that, she still has a 64 percent pick and bans presence, according to Games of Legends, and it will likely stay above 60 percent when the season ends.
4. Nautilus
Thanks to his powerful kit, the support champion was the most popular pick for the year. While he hardly ever was the best pick for any given patch, his abilities made him the best champion when it came to engaging and making picks around the map.
His hook or his ultimates are perfect tools for pinning enemies down and paired with the slow from the E as well as the root from his passive, Nautilus guarantees you enough crowd control. It’s exceptional when you want to play aggressively and look for openings to punish.
His stats, however, aren’t the greatest. Despite being the fouth most-picked champion in the world this season, he only has a 50 percent win rate, according to Games of Legends. The champion has clear weaknesses and in a season mainly dictated by enchanters, Nautilus didn’t find much success. Nevertheless, he hasn’t been touched by the balance team and he will likely stay as the most picked support for this season.
3. Viego
Riot Games is known for wanting to push the newest champions in competitive play, and Viego was no exception. That said, Viego didn’t have much success this year, as his win rate is the lowest among the top five, currently at 47 percent.
This is mainly because tanks and utility-based junglers fit better in this year’s meta. Viego was one of the few carry junglers to still be relevant, and the fact that he could possess souls and use other champions’ abilities made him a valuable pick.
The downside of picking Viego was the difficulty in giving him resources and the transition into the late game. With the introduction of the durability patch, all champions became harder to kill. It became a great indirect nerf for a champion like Viego, who based his strengths on bursting enemies and getting resets. Nevertheless, players still love to play him, making him one of those “evergreen” champions that people are willing to play even when they are not meta.
2. Gnar
Despite being dependent on his switch of forms, Gnar is one of the game’s most complete and all-rounded champions. The yordle has both the kitability and mobility with his mini form and the tankiness and crowd control with the Mega form. It’s basically a bargain: you pick one champion to get two of them.
The champion is also not that hard to pick up and master and players love to abuse the enemies with the range advantage of his mini form. Not to mention that he has a game-changing ultimate with his Mega form, which is perfect for engaging or turning around teamfights.
Paired with the fact that the champion only has a few bad matchups, Gnar has been of the best picks for this season, especially as a blind choice.
1. Wukong
The Monkey King is and will be the iconic champion of the 2022 season. After the balance team pushed him as a jungler, Wukong has had the highest pick or ban presence this summer, with an incredible 84 percent and a 57 percent win rate.
In a meta dictated by prolonged teamfights, bruisers like Wukong are the best picks possible. He offers tankiness, damage, and sustain, making him almost impossible to kill.
Despite Riot’s intention of nerfing him down as it did with Zeri, Wukong continued to be the most popular jungle pick. Just like last year’s Xin Zhao and Lee Sin before them, Wukong has been the go-to jungler in 2022. Now that he received repeated nerfs, Wukong has dropped in priority. With that being said, it is highly unlikely that others will replace him as the most-picked champion of the season.
