The 2020 League of Legends World Championship has already proven to be one of the most interesting tournaments in its history! The 10.19 patch is such a versatile version of the game, that pros have picked or banned a total of 78 unique champions during the Play-in stage only! The event is full of experiments and off-meta picks which surprise everyone. So, the tier lists for each role are now blown wide open!
But like every year, at Worlds 2024 has its fair share of champions that simply can’t be replaced! These are the strongest choices in the game, with the highest priority for every team. They usually come to popularity because, throughout the year, the meta of League of Legends has evolved in such a way to perfectly suit their play styles. The value in damage, utility, and presence they bring, can rarely be matched by the other champions!
But who are the top 5 power picks of the League of Legends World Championship 2024? Which champions absolutely dominate their lanes and games? But also, which runes the professional players run on them? And how do they build the strongest champions on such an important international stage?
Top: Ornn
Ornn is the king of the top lane! He is amazing at team fighting and helping out his teammates. His laning phase is safe and defensive, so he’s rarely a risky pick. Ornn starts off slowly, but scales extremely well and turns into a monster tank later in the game.
But, the real reason why he ranks up so high at Worlds 2024 is because of his supportive role. Ornn’s passive – Living Forge – allows him to craft and upgrade items for his teammates. These items are a great boost in damage, health, or cooldown reduction, and can’t be accessed otherwise. So, the boost Ornn provides for his team is invaluable!
Players like Hanabi, Langx, and Doran used Ornn multiple times to secure victories for their teams.
LGD Langx’s Rune Page for Ornn:
During the Play-in stage of the tournament, Ornn was heavily prioritized and had a presence of 86,8%, with 22 bans and 11 picks. Out of that, Ornn has walked with a 90,9% win rate, meaning, that he only lost 1 game and won 10 out of the 11 played. That’s a huge advantage compared to the next 2 champions in the top lane, like Camille and Renekton, which have around 45-55% win rate.
Take a look at what Langx was able to do with Ornn against Rainbow7 during the Elimination Rounds. This is the true power of Ornn!
Langx didn’t experiment too much with the items. Most of the games, he prioritized buying Sunfire Cape first and Abyssal Mask second. Then his purchases depended on how the particular game was going, but he usually went for Warmog’s Armor, Thornmail, and Ninja Tabi. This is Langx‘s full item build for Ornn:
LGD Langx’s Build for Ornn
It is a well rounded build for Ornn. Combined with the runes, it gives him enough sustain in the early game to survive aggressive opponents, but to also trade and secure kills. Even though Ornn is a defensive champion, he is still able to melt down squishy enemies in certain situations. Langx‘s KDA score on the champion is 29.0, which is amazing!
Jungle: Nidalee
The best champion for jungle at Worlds 2024 is Nidalee. Her long-range poke and high burst have made her another top priority choice for many teams. She is an aggressive champion that can punish every mistake in the early game!
Nidalee has been considered in more than 90% of the games so far, and she has the highest number of bans currently. Her only rival in the role has been Lilia, which is also a highly contested pick at the tournament, but a far less successful one. But, Nidalee was used many times as the perfect counter pick for Lilia. And In the Play-ins, she finished with 63,6% win rate, 80% of which against Lilia, and an excellent KDA of 4.3.
UOL AHaHaCiK’s Rune Page for Nidalee
AHaHaCiK was the player who utilized Nidalee the most during that stage. He played a total of three games with the champion, and he demolished the junglers of SUP and LGD. All of the games were against Lilia, and AHaHaCiK played so well that he secured three victories for Unicorns.
When it comes to itemization, AHaHaCiK leans more into a supportive role. He buys utility items rather than damaging ones, and offers his team a lot more healing. After upgrading his Skirmisher’s Sabre into Runic Echoes, he always goes for Athene’s Unholy Grail and Zhonya’s Hourglass. As for boots, AHaHaCiK shuffles between Mercury’s Treads and Sorcerer’s Shoes. This is his core build for Nidalee:
UOL AHaHaCiK’s Build for Nidalee
But most recently, Pyosik from dragonX played Nidalee against Unicorns and AHaHaCiK’s Evelynn in the group stage of the World Championship. And he destroyed them! He went on a rampage and finished the game with a legendary score of 13/1/6. Pyosik was a constant threat that UOL couldn’t deal with. He managed to pick up a quadra-kill and win the match for DRX.
Check out Pyosik‘s quadra kill:
Pyosik used an entirely different rune setup than AHaHaCiK for Nidalee. With Conqueror as a keystone, he was able to continuously fight over and over again and secure objectives and kills, which ultimately resulted in victory.
DRX Pyosik’s Rune Page for Nidalee
Pyosik also differs a lot in the items from AHaHaCiK. He is a much more aggressive player, so his build for Nidalee is AP focused. So, items like Lich Bane, Void Staff, and Rabadon’s Deathcap are a must for him.
DRX Pyosik’s Build for Nidalee
Nidalee will continue to be one of the most dominating champions of the tournament. There aren’t any hard matchups for her and in the right hands, she can take over games! We predict that Nidalee will be the most used champion at the League of Legends 2024 World Championship!
Mid: Orianna
Orianna is the classic mid lane pick. She makes her appearance at every Worlds event, but this year she is the strongest champion overall! What is great about her is that she can fit in every team composition and will carry from the role successfully! She has a very safe laning phase and a crazy amount of damage in the later stages of the game. And her ultimate is practically an AOE one-shot!
In nearly 90% of the games so far, Orianna has been either picked or banned. In the Play-ins, she finished with a 90.9% win rate, out of 11 games total. This, however, has changed in the group stage, where Orianna has already lost three games and won none. But that doesn’t downgrade her potential to win over games!
LGD Xiye’s Rune Page for Orianna
Xiye from LGD Gaming was the player who destroyed the Play-ins as Orianna. In both games against Rainbow7 and V3 Esports, he played perfectly, raising his KDA on the champion to 7.0. Xiye’s runes for Orianna aren’t unique at all, but he was still able to show what this champion is capable of.
The case is similar to the item choices. Xiye’s uses the common Orianna builds, sometimes opting for Archangel’s Staff instead of Luden’s Echo. But that’s only if he needs extra defensiveness.
In the group stage of Worlds 2024, Orianna’s popularity went down a bit. But she is certainly not gone and it’s just a matter of time when this ticking bomb will be unleashed. In the meantime, check Xiye‘s dominating play on the champion!
Bot: Twitch
In truth, Twitch isn’t the most prioritized champion at Worlds 2024. He came as a surprise and became popular due to his combo with Rakan. His invisibility increases in value the longer the game goes on, and he is able to turn over team fights with his spray-n-pray power!
Tactical was the first one who unleashed Twitch and carried Team Liquid to victory against MAD Lions. But Gadget from Unicorns also played Twitch in two games and won them both with a high KDA of 6.4. Tactical’s KDA, however, is 8.8 on the champion.
TL Tactical’s Rune Page for Twitch
Both of these players found massive success with Twitch, even though they used almost completely different rune setups. Where Tactical went with Lethal Tempo for more attack speed, Gadget went for Press The Attack for more on-hit damage. However, Gadget also played the Lethal Tempo page in one game, though with different secondary runes.
UOL Gadget’s Rune Page for Twitch
But in the items, Tactical and Gadget don’t differ at all! They both go for the usual Twitch power build, from Blade of the Ruined Kings, through Runaan’s Hurricane to Infinity Edge.
TL Tactical’s and UOL Gadget’s Build for Twitch
In the UOL vs LDG game of the Play-in stage, Gadget massacred his opponents, securing an 1v3 triple-kill! Check out the Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
Support: Leona
Leona has risen to international popularity once again and Worlds 2024 is now her home! She has been such a contested pick in the bot lane, because she goes super well with every ADC champion. Leona brings a lot of crowd control to the team and she is incredibly valuable to have. She has one stun and one slow ability, which are on a fairly low cooldown, and an AOE ultimate to lock everybody down! In this high-damage meta of League of Legends, Leona a perfect choice, because if she gets near one enemy champion, then that champion is eliminated.
Leona has been either picked or banned in nearly 70% of the tournament, with a score of 12 wins and 11 losses. The most successful player by far on this champion has been Mark from LGD Gaming! He has played Leona for a total of six games and has lost only one! His KDA is around 7.0, which has inspired the rest of the support pros to take up Leona and make her the best choice in the role.
LGD Mark’s Rune Page for Leona
Mark didn’t prioritize any special items on Leona. In all six games, he went the same route and purchased the same items, with a few minimal changes here and there. Gargoyle Stoneplate is his most used item, along with Zeke’s Convergence. However, Mark always saves up one slot of his inventory for a Control Ward. And he goes with Ninja Tabi much more frequently than Mercury’s Treads.
Leona continues to be the first choice for many supports in the group stage too. Aggressive players become real nightmares on her and that will be the case until the end of Worlds 2024. It won’t surprise us if she’ll end up as the most used support champion in the tournament either!
Honorable Mentions
And we have to mention the rest signature champions of Worlds 2024. These are also the strongest and the most popular champions at the tournament, yet statistically not as much as the previous 5.
Sett and Lucian have been dominating in the mid lane, with Bdd, Chovy, and Nemesis raging on them. Ashe, Ezreal, and Jhin are the most used marksmen of the tournament, together with Alistar and Nautilus as their supports. Graves and Lilia have been deadly in the hands of Canyon and Clid, and Camille unstoppable in 369‘s.
We’re curious to see which champion will rise to popularity next as the League of Legends World Championship 2024 unfolds. But what do you think? Who will be the next secret pick that will take over Worlds 2024?