At the League of Legends World Championship, every single role will look to perform to its utmost best to be essential for a team’s success. This year, however, the mid lane at Worlds might be one of the most stacked roles in the tournament’s history.
Multiple icons will be attending the event, and although they might not all meet on Summoner’s Rift, fans will get to witness all of these superstars in action. All of these players are the life force of their respective rosters and will be a huge focus for not only their own gameplan but the gameplan of their opponents as well.
Anything but perfection won’t be enough to win Worlds, but these select few love the spotlight. Here are the top five mid laners at Worlds 2022.
Yagao
Although his regular season left something to be desired, JD Gaming’s mid laner Yagao made up for everything with an amazing playoff performance that helped him earn Finals MVP honors.
Whether it was perfectly executed teamfights on Ahri, good playmaking on Lissandra, or monster plays on Azir, he rose to the occasion and led his team to victory with 16 kills and a solid 37 assists to boot. He is the perfect addition to JDG’s powerful top side combo of 369 and Kanavi and should be a player to watch out for as the group stage moves along.
If he can continue this same level of play into Worlds, then JD Gaming should have no problem steamrolling their way to a deep run through the tournament.
Faker
Faker might not be the hyper carry that he used to be, but the greatest League player of all time still remains one of the best at Worlds. As T1’s ever-trusty Swiss army knife in the mid lane, the 26-year-old showed off his champion ocean across the 2022 Summer Split, breaking out 15 different picks through the regular season.
The veteran superstar had the most assists in his role during this past split, according to Oracle’s Elixir, frequenting playmaking champions like Galio, Lissandra, and Seraphine to help set his teammates up for success. His experience and leadership skills will be paramount in T1’s quest for another title, especially after showing that he can still keep up with the likes of Chovy.
The GOAT has his work cut out for him, but you can never count him out.
Xiaohu
Across Xiaohu’s legendary career, only one achievement has evaded him so far: winning the World Championship. The veteran mid laner has already won three Mid-Season Invitationals in two different roles and even had an explosive 2022 Summer Split where he had the fifth-most assists of any LPL player, an impressive 74.9 percent kill participation, and the second-highest average damage to champions per minute in his role, according to Oracle’s Elixir.
He might not have had a great playoff run, but Xiaohu is already an all-timer for a reason. He knows when and how to show up on the international stage. But now, he’ll need to elevate his game even higher as he takes on the best mid laners in the world.
Scout
Scout and the rest of the defending world champions have gone through one hell of a ride just to qualify for Worlds this year. Individually, the 24-year-old did work during the postseason as he clashed against Xiaohu, Knight, and Doinb multiple times over to help earn his team a place in the main event.
Even though they didn’t win the LPL championship this split, Scout was still able to tie for the most kills among playoff mid laners with the highest KDA of the pack. Along with a summer champion pool going 13 deep, Scout is a perfect playmaker and carry for a team looking to make it two in a row later this year.
When Scout is in form, there’s almost no one better.
Chovy
After four and a half long years without an LCK title, the mid lane prince of Korea has finally taken his place as the king of his region. The 21-year-old phenom has been astounding all year long, and as he steps onto the Worlds stage, he arrives as the best mid laner of the pack.
This past summer, he led all LCK mid laners in KDA, all early-game statistics, and average damage per minute, according to Oracle’s Elixir. He does get plenty of resources from his team, racking up the second-highest gold share in his role, but he takes that lead and sprints away with it. During the playoffs, Chovy leveled up even further by dealing a whopping 30.5 percent of his team’s total damage along with a destructive average of 767 damage to champions per minute.
Chovy is here and he’s the biggest fish in a pretty big pond.
