The 5 most banned League of Legends champions in pro play in 2022

This year saw many champions come and go in League of Legends, as regular updates brought meta shifts to keep the game fresh. Some of them have dominated the competitive scene for just a few months but others have been around for the whole season.

Here are the five most banned champions in professional play this year.

Zeri

Zeri is undoubtedly the champion who marked the 2022 season. Since her release in January, she has been virtually permanently picked or banned in the competitive scene, as well as on the ladder. She has been so strong that Riot Games has had to apply numerous nerfs to her kit throughout the year—but she stayed in the spotlight nonetheless. She has had a 67 percent pick and ban presence, according to League stats aggregate Games of Legends.

Technically, she wasn’t the most-banned champion in professional play, but she had the most consistent ban rate in every region. From Europe to Asia, she was picked or banned the most times.

Since she received an additional nerf ahead of the World Championship, she might falter towards the end of the season. But realistically, she’ll probably survive her latest nerf like she did the previous times.

Wukong

In terms of pure numbers, Wukong had the strongest stage presence this summer, with a whopping 85 percent ban-pick rate. He was picked nearly as many times as he was banned and boasts one of the best win rates with 57 percent. He replaced Xin Zhao as the go-to pick in the jungler.

These numbers, though, are heavily boosted by his overwhelming popularity in Asian regions, and in China in particular, where the number of series surpasses those in every other region.

Still, Wukong was largely the most popular and successful jungle champion this year, and he’ll undoubtedly make waves in Worlds as well, even if the focus is being put on other junglers such as Lee Sin and Maokai.

Gwen

Gwen was the most-banned top lane champion in professional play this year, and the third in all roles, with a 60 percent presence rate in all professional leagues.

Her numbers are similar to Summer 2021, meaning she’s had long-term domination in the meta since her release.

The second champion to follow is Renekton. He earned a strong spotlight in the spring, but faltered in the summer, especially in the major leagues. The champion remained popular in ERLs and especially among teams with hyper-carry top laners.

Caitlyn and Kalista

This year, the meta provided many highlights to bot lane champions. They often have a significant impact on the game, while top laners remained in the shadows. It’s not surprising to see that the most-banned champions, after Zeri, were bot laners.

While Caitlyn took the spotlight in the spring, Kalista took over in the summer, even though Lucian was banned often, too. With the World Championship approaching and a new patch bringing many adjustments to the bot lane, Caitlyn might return to full strength again.

The support champions also received numerous bans across the various leagues. Tahm Kench was the most-banned support champion in the spring across all major leagues, and Bel’Veth took over the following split.

Unlike many popular champions, Caitlyn and Kalista were similar in the sense that they were banned in every region of the game, from the beginning of the splits up to the playoffs. Kalista, in particular, was banned more often than picked. While she has received a nerf with Patch 12.18, it will be interesting to see how often Caitlyn is picked or banned at Worlds 2022.