Before the League of Legends flagship tournament heads to European shores, we can start to draw conclusions from a year in which the bulk of the metagame has already been played out.
It's been a campaign full of diversity in terms of champion selection, in which 90% of the game's champions have appeared at least once -- going a long way to fulfilling some of Riot's objectives in that regard.
The aim here is to try and determine which champions will be most relevant at Worlds. We will focus on the most-chosen champions in each role during the Summer Split among the major leagues.
Riot has promised not to make too many changes in the run up to Worlds, and apart from the unknowns of the latest gameplay updates, it seems that we can bet on a marked continuity trend.
The best champions to watch out for at Worlds
Riot's official criterion for measuring the competitiveness of champions is presence in the the champion select phase. Data such as win rate or other subjective aspects are not taken into account.
'Presence' is defined as how many times a champion is picked or banned in champion select, and is the same base figure they use as a rule when carrying out balance changes.
Also, when we find ourselves in a situation that is too tight, we will use the last two patches to settle the tie. To try to determine the best champions for Worlds, it is of little use that a champion has been selected in all games at the beginning of the summer split, if they have fallen into oblivion by the end. Recency bias will apply, to a degree.
And so, these are the champions we think will be the most relevant heading into Worlds.
