League of Legends: The Top Ten Players in Professional Play By Position

While previously, we have been experimenting with player ratings and rankings for LCS players. Now, it’s time to take rankings international. In this first, new endeavor, we will be giving the top ten players in each position across the four major regions – LEC, LCS, LCK, and LPL.

These rankings will be statistically based and adjusted for the quality of competition (meaning an average player in the LCS is considered to be slightly worse than an average player in the LEC or LPL). While these rankings are just a snapshot of player performance at this moment in time, not an indication of their overall career’s level of play or the skill they’ve already demonstrated to be capable of, this will be an interesting insight over the course of the next season to see which players stand out atop their position.

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Top Lane

1. Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon (FunPlus Phoenix, LPL)
2. Barney “Alphari” Morris (Team Liquid, LCS)
3. Kim “Rascal” Kwang-hee (Gen.G, LCK)
4. Choi “Doran” Hyeon-joon (KT Rolster, LCK)
5. Chen “Breathe” Chen (Team WE, LPL)
6. Andrei “Odoamne” Pascu (Rogue, LEC)
7. Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok (Invictus Gaming, LPL)
8. Zhang “Zoom” Xing-Ran (JD Gaming, LPL)
9. Li “Flandre” Xuan-Jun (EDward Gaming, LPL)
10. Kim “Khan” Dong-ha (DWG KIA, LCK)

As you can see, among the top laners, we have a decent mix of players with all four regions represented. That said, the LEC and LCS are only two of the top ten players, while the LPL alone has five players from their league among the top ten. On the other hand, the LCK appears to be very top-heavy with two members in the top five.

Some members of this group – Nuguri, TheShy, Zoom, and Khan – won’t surprise many casual League of Legends fans. But seeing career journeyman players like Doran, Rascal, and Flandre start to come into their own is encouraging. And, of course, the elephant in the room is that Alphari, the LCS representative, is technically a European import so even in this slight victory NA really lose again.

Here are the top ten players in professional League of Legends for each position!

Jungle

1. Zhou “Bo” Yang-Bo (FunPlus Phoenix, LPL)
2. Robert “Blaber” Huang (Cloud9, LCS)
3. Jiang “beishang” Zhi-Peng (Team WE, LPL)
4. Lu “Leyan” Jue (Rare Atom, LPL)
5. Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu (DWG KIA, LCK)
6. Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski (G2 Esports, LEC)
7. Zeng “Meteor” Guo-Hao (Bilibili Gaming, LPL)
8. Wei “Weiwei” Bo-Han (Victory Five, LPL)
9. Javier “Elyoya” Prades (MAD Lions, LEC)
10. Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek (Fnatic, LEC)

As you can see, the LPL still dominates these rankings (five of the top ten players play in the Chinese league) but we also see that Europe has a strong class of junglers including, of course, Jankos. Interestingly, the LCK only has one jungler in the top ten, though it’s no surprise that it would be Canyon of DWG KIA. And, LCS fans, at least your representative on this list is an actual native!

Mid Lane

1. Emil “Larssen” Larsson (Rogue, LEC)
2. Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon (Hanwha Life Esports, LCK)
3. Zhuo “knight” Ding (Top Esports, LPL)
4. Rasmus “Caps” Winther (G2 Esports, LEC)
5. Heo “ShowMaker” Su (DWG KIA, LCK)
6. Chu “FoFo” Chun-Lan (Rare Atom, LPL)
7. Lee “Scout” Ye-chan (EDward Gaming, LPL)
8. Yuan “Cryin” Cheng-Wei (RNG, LPL)
9. Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang (FunPlus Phoenix, LPL)
10. Li “Mole” Hao-Yan (Victory Five, LPL)

Even more bad news for Western fans, as only two of the top ten mid laners are from the LEC and none from the LCS (however, Perkz of Cloud9 was 11th on this list). The LPL, once again, leads the way with six members, but the role is fairly close.

They rank ahead of players like Perkz, Bdd, and Ucal on the assumption that they’re facing tougher competition (among those LPL players missing the top ten but in this same range of players are Rookie, Zeka, Yagao, and Angel), but it’s not outside of the question that someone like Perkz could hold his own against any of those players.

AD Carry

1. Martin “Rekkles” Larsson (G2 Esports, LEC)
2. Yu “JackeyLove” Wen-Bo (Top Esports, LPL)
3. Lin “Lwx” Wei-Xiang (FunPlus Phoenix, LPL)
4. Park “Viper” Do-hyeon (EDward Gaming, LPL)
5. Elias “Upset” Lipp (Fnatic, LEC)
6. Steven “Hans Sama” Liv (Rogue, LEC)
7. Tang “huanfeng” Huan-Feng (Suning, LPL)
8. Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk (Gen.G, LCK)
9. Chen “GALA” Wei (RNG, LPL)
10. Zhao “Jiumeng” Jia-Hao (Team WE, LPL)

Six LPL ADCs, headlined by stars like JackeyLove, Lwx, and Viper. However, it was a very strong showing for the LEC, who featured three members of the top ten players in the ADC role. Rekkles is obviously a boon to G2, but he’s followed by underrated stars like Upset and Hans Sama.

For the LCK, this is perhaps their weakest role, as they only have one player in the top ten, with Ruler slotting in at eighth. And for you LCS fans, like in the mid lane, the top representative, FBI, just barely missed making the list, coming in as the #12 ADC.

Support

1. Mihael “Mikyx” Mehle (G2 Esports, LEC)
2. Tian “Meiko” Ye (EDward Gaming, LPL)
3. Lou “Missing” Yun-Feng (Team WE, LPL)
4. Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in (Team Liquid, LCS)
5. Norman “Kaiser” Kaiser (MAD Lions, LEC)
6. Liu “Crisp” Qing-Song (FunPlus Phoenix, LPL)
7. Cho “BeryL” Geon-hee (DWG KIA, LCK)
8. Zaqueri “Aphromoo” Black (Dignitas, LCS)
9. Liu “ShiauC” Chia-Hao (eStar, LPL)
10. Shi “Ming” Sen-Ming (RNG, LPL)

Finally, a good position for the LCS, which featured two supports in the top ten thanks to the strong play from CoreJJ and Aphromoo. The LEC also sent two representatives in Mikyx and Kaiser. While the LCK only sent one member, BeryL, the rest of the list was, no shocker, dominated by the LPL.

Observations

• The LPL had 27 of the top 50 players in the World. The LEC had 11 players on the list while the LCK had 8. The LCS had 4.
• Grouped by positions, the LEC has the strongest top laners, mid laners, and supports. The LPL the strongest junglers and AD Carries. The LCS is only weaker than all other regions in two roles: top lane and ADC. In the jungle, mid lanes, and support roles, the LCK is overall weaker.
• Overall, the LEC is actually the strongest region, followed closely by the LPL. The LCS is third, beating out the LCK. However, these rankings don’t account for the quality of competition, as it’s (presumably) easier for LCS players to put up stellar numbers against weaker competition in their region as opposed to LCK players.
• FunPlus Phoenix, currently in second place in the LPL, has all five members in the top ten players by position. EDward Gaming, who are first in the LPL have four. G2, Team WE, and DWG KIA also have four players that are top ten in their position.