All League of Legend players hopes to get interesting meta at World every year. We all want to see skill-expressive champions being used by the hands of the best players and show the best plays beyond what we could imagine.
But the sad truth is that winning is the top priority of players now, not to satisfy viewers. Their main aim of coming to the tournaments is to be the best champion even if the games may be boring to viewers. That is the reason why last year we got to watch the Ardent Censer meta, in which except Misfits players, we got to witness every supporting player kept on playing enchanters or how Riot nerfed Nidalee really hard and nearly got banned permanently two years ago due to the fact that the champion was so broken. Again, it seems like we also some overpowered champions on the World’s patch. There are still many possible changes in the upcoming weeks because metas of the World Championship are likely to evolve during the Championship, but we do not think there would be any change for several champions as follows:
Top lane: Jarvan IV and Aatrox
Notes of the Patch 8.18 had this line about Aatrox: “Our last set of Aatrox changes brought his lane bullying under control.” Now, look at how he performed after those Patch 8.16 changes.
Aatrox was once of the champion that was among the most bans and picks, only below Akali which is a mid lane champion. The 52 percent win rate of Aatrox is not truly representing the truth because it was significantly reduced because NA teams performed poorly using the champion. Top laner of TSM Kevin “Hauntzer” Yarnell played Aatrox like that was the first time he touched the champion before picking him in the regional gauntlet against C9. Well, that was two patches before, now he even got buffed more on Patch 8.18. I guess you can figure it out what is going to happen.
Jarvan is similar because he is the one that may handle the power of Aatrox. He can out-range Aatrox with his Q and with his passive now having lower cooldown enables him to trade hits once Aatrox uses all his spells.
Jungle: Olaf and Gragas
There are several buffs for junglers in Patch 8.19, but Olaf is not affected by those changes. With Sejuani and Trundle being unfavored, Olaf is dominating. He is fast in clearing, fast in ganking and do not bother to run away when he got his ult.
Gragas is also the one that is benefited from Trundle and Sejuani being nerfed. While we want to see AP Gragas to be played, it seems like last year is going to repeat where Tank Gragas is just too powerful at controlling important objectives.
Mid lane: Akali and Cassiopeia
When control mages are the mid lane meta, it is predictably that Ryze got to the top tier list. He is not only good in laning, side lane safely but also team fight with the best of them. And the best teams and players at the World Championship are likely to utilize the most out of his ultimates.
But I think the significant nerf on Patch 8.18 to its Rune Prison may have some effects on him. And Cassiopeia is ready to take over the current position of Ryze. She is considered to be a good pick due to her ability to control zones with her W and R.
There is also Akali who is also broken to the point where she even defies the mage meta. Even though the trading pattern in lane of Akali is not affected by the nerf on Akali on Patch 8.18, it would be interesting to watch the match between her and the equivalent AD champion - Irelia. If she falls out of favor, split pusher like Irelia is expected to back to the game.
Bot lane: Xayah and Kai’Sa
We would be glad if Varus was banned permanently as he is such a disgusting champion due to him being so versatile and good at everything like poking around objectives, dominating lane, starting fights, putting out damage in team fights and build AP or AD. But instead of doing so, Riot just tried to nerf Varus into the ground in the Patch 8.18. A reduction of 50 points in his initial health may not sound like a lot to you. But you should remember that when ADC nightmare happened in Patch 8.11, it was mostly due to just a nerf of four point to the initial AD of ADC champions.
So with Varus being nerfed hard, the rising ones will be Xayah and Kai’Sa. The latest nerf on Kai’Sa was almost nothing while Xayah has not been touched in recent patches.
If you are finding an overpowered champion that not yet be revealed, check out Tristana. In the late game, she basically outranges any champion and that makes it really easy to team fight and execute sieges. With Martin “Rekkles” Larsson and Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao being at the tournament, you can expect Tristana to be played.
Support: Braum and Tahm Kench
Riot has shown its attempts to nerf Braum and Tahm Kench in last several patches, but the majority of those nerfs hit the mark. They are still in good conditions, at least in the controls of professional players that can utilize them well and the nerfs on those patches cannot stop their intentions to use him.
The utilization of those two is the most interesting part. Korean and Chinese players are better at utilizing map control and positioning ult of Tahm Kench. That makes sense as those players understand how to play multiple lanes. Meanwhile, NA and European players love the lane presence and the ability to start team fights of Braum and well they also suck at playing the map.
That makes sense as those players and teams actually know how to play multiple lanes. Meanwhile, lane presence and ability to start team fights of Braum are favored by North American and European team and they are not really good at playing the map. Nonetheless, many of us want to see players utilize Braum stuns and Kench’s ult creatively, after last year enchanter meta. Wait, Janna is buffed again? Please stop pushing Janna to Worlds.
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