We are still just in the group phase of the 2022 League of Legends World Championship, but already it's making itself out to be one of the most unique viewing events ever. How many unique champions have we got already?
Last year, Riot approach Worlds in a way that was supposed to shake up the meta. It seems they used the same approach this year as well, using one patch to make bigger changes while the Worlds patch itself was used to make small adjustments.
Well, this year this approach to patching ahead of the biggest League of Legends Worlds event seemed to have worked, because we're got a record high of unique champions played at the event. How many have we seen already and how many more will we get? The meta is diverse, fun and unique.
LoL Worlds 2022 Breaks Record of Champions Played
This is crazy because we haven't even gone through the entire group phase yet. Sure, it is usually the minor region teams that pull out the fun picks, like ADD playing Teemo top and Zilean top int he play-in stage, but every player on the Worlds' stage has a few spicy picks up their sleeve.
Then, during the final day of the first round of groups action, when DAMWON faced off against the LCS' Evil Geniuses we got to witness a new record of unique champions picked at the League of Legends World Championship.
In 2019 we saw a total of 99 unique champions, while in 2020 and 2021 we only got 90 and 92. Well, 2022 has entered the chat and in the DWG vs. EG game Nuguri played the 100th unique champion of the tournament and that is none other than Jayce.
Fun fact that Jatt, a caster on the analyst desk, tweeted out was that Jayce is actually also the 100th champion to be released in League of Legends.
Unique Meta at Worlds 2002 A Breath of Fresh Air
This shift in the meta is welcomed by just about everyone and anyone who watches professional League of Legends. The 2022 Summer Split was dominated by Sivir and Zeri in the bot lane, which made some games stale since teams just waited for their bot laners to scale and then single-handedly carry the games.
With such unique picks and a better balance between top and bot lane, we get more unique picks and fun champions, depending on a team's strategy. Which champions do you want to see at the World Championship still?