Worlds 2026 · Your Pick’Em guide

Welcome to Pick’Em season

Call the upsets. Back your favourites. Explore the Crystal Ball questions, size up the bracket, and take a trip through Worlds.

Explore the 18 questions ↓Make your picks on Riot ↗

Worlds is under way. Bracket picks open in stages; Riot’s form has the exact deadlines.

Crystal Ball · 18 questions

Make your Crystal Ball calls

Predict the players, champions and moments that will define Worlds. Pick a question to find your angle.

843 top-league games · 17 Jul 2026 – 5 Oct 2026
Champions · Question 1

Highest champion presence

Picks plus bans as a share of drafts.

Cassiopeia was picked or banned in 80.4% of drafts.

Recent form · picks and bans
ChampionPickedBannedPresence
Cassiopeia12954780.4%
Nocturne11749172.3%
Vi16641068.5%
Orianna17838166.5%
Ezreal22526358%
Jarvan IV22021952.2%
Poppy4839152.2%
Jayce16826751.7%
Lucian17125350.4%
Akali10730248.6%

Based on 841 games with complete picks and bans.

What to watch

Watch the champions teams fight over in the draft, and those they refuse to leave open.

Open Riot’s Crystal Ball ↗
Bracket picks

Prepare for the Play-In

Bracket picks are about who wins each matchup. Start with the Play-In: who makes it to Swiss?

Published Play-In series
MatchDate (UTC)FormatStatus
C9 vs KC15/10/2026, 18:00:00Bo5completed
FUR vs MVK15/10/2026, 23:00:00Bo5completed
KC vs MVK16/10/2026, 18:00:00Bo5completed
C9 vs FUR16/10/2026, 20:50:00Bo5completed
MVK vs FUR17/10/2026, 18:00:00Bo5completed
KC vs MVK18/10/2026, 18:00:00Bo5completed

Riot’s Play-In bracket has 6 series picks for 35 points: 5 per correct winner; 10 for the final.

Play-In teams · recent form
TeamGamesWinsWin rateFastest win
C9321856.3%22:20
FUR352262.9%25:57
KC392666.7%26:23
MVK281346.4%29:16

Different opponents, different tests. Weigh the strength of each team’s opposition alongside its win rate.

Open Riot’s bracket ↗
This season

The 2026 season so far

Pentakills and champion pools from top-league games this year.

Pentakills

0Worlds 2026 so far
57in top-league games in 2026
Artemis
4
Peyz
4
Doggo
3
Hope
3
Caps
2
  • Kojima on Lucian vs 9z GlobantCBLOL · 5 Oct 2026
  • GALA on Jinx vs Team WEWorlds qualifier · 18 Sept 2026
  • Hope on Miss Fortune vs Bilibili GamingLPL · 13 Sept 2026

Worlds counts cover 2026: 0 games. LPL games mostly lack multikill data, so that league is undercounted. Games up to 5 Oct 2026.

Team that plays the most champions

BLG
101
DK
101
LYON
101
T1
98
HLE
97
CFO
95
GEN
95
KC
94

2026 champion pools for 19 of 19 Worlds teams. Hover over a bar for games played.

The last three Worlds

A trip through 2023 to 2025

Dynasties, narrow escapes and favourites sent packing. Relive the last three Worlds, one chapter at a time.

Who lifted the trophy

T1, 3 years running.

The finals of 2023–2025, and the Swiss record each winner took into the knockouts.

  1. Worlds 2023T1beat Weibo Gaming 3–0 in the finalSwiss 3–1
  2. Worlds 2024T1beat Bilibili Gaming 3–2 in the finalSwiss 3–1
  3. Worlds 2025T1beat KT Rolster 3–2 in the finalSwiss 3–2From the Play-In
The surprise run

One loss from home, then a deep run.

The team that went furthest after finishing the Swiss stage 3–2, one defeat from elimination, or after coming through the Play-In. The dots show their Swiss results in order.

  1. Worlds 2023Weibo GamingWLLWWReached the final
  2. Worlds 2024Bilibili GamingWLLWWReached the final
  3. Worlds 2025T1WLLWWWon WorldsFrom the Play-In
The biggest upset

Every year, a 3–0 team went home early.

The knockout series won by the team with the weaker Swiss record, by the widest gap.

  1. Worlds 2023Bilibili Gamingbeat Gen.G 3–2QuarterfinalSwiss 3–2 vs 3–0
  2. Worlds 2024Weibo Gamingbeat LNG Esports 3–1QuarterfinalSwiss 3–2 vs 3–0
  3. Worlds 2025T1beat Anyone's Legend 3–2QuarterfinalSwiss 3–2 vs 3–0
Best KDA

Gumayusi set the mark at 10.58.

Kills plus assists, divided by deaths. Minimum 8 games.

Crystal Ball · Question 4Highest player KDA →
  1. Worlds 202310.58GumayusiT1 · Bot56/12/71 in 15 games
    • Keria8.37
    • Peyz6.83
    Most kills in one game: Aiming, 14 on Kai'Sa vs Weibo Gaming
  2. Worlds 20249.30ScoutLNG Esports · Mid34/10/59 in 8 games
    • Peyz8.53
    • Chovy7.28
    Most kills in one game: Peyz, 14 on Kai'Sa vs Top Esports
  3. Worlds 20258.07ViperHanwha Life Esports · Bot62/14/51 in 9 games
    • Bdd6.53
    • Cuzz6.52
    Most kills in one game: Ruler, 14 on Ezreal vs KT Rolster
Barons and steals

Who takes the most barons.

Who controlled Baron, and who stole it away.

  1. Worlds 2023
    Bilibili Gaming
    17
    Weibo Gaming
    17
    GAM Esports
    15
    No steals recorded for 2023 yet.
  2. Worlds 2024
    T1
    15
    Weibo Gaming
    15
    Bilibili Gaming
    14
    No steals recorded for 2024 yet.
  3. Worlds 2025
    T1
    19
    KT Rolster
    12
    Gen.G
    10
    No steals recorded for 2025 yet.
Pentakills

3 pentakills in 3 Worlds.

Every Worlds game counts, Play-In included. 2024 and 2025 had none.

  1. Worlds 20233in 110 games with data
    • Crownie (Team BDS) on Xayah vs DetonatioN FocusMe
    • Slayder (GAM Esports) on Xayah vs Movistar R7
    • Route (LOUD) on Kai'Sa vs GAM Esports
  2. Worlds 20240in 106 games with data
  3. Worlds 20250in 84 games with data
Game length

Worlds 2023–2025: no games under 20:00.

300 games with recorded times. Fastest: 20:59 (2024). The median game lasted 31:39.

Crystal Ball · Question 11More games before or after 32:00? →
  1. Worlds 2023Fastest: T1 vs Cloud90 of 110 under 20:00
  2. Worlds 2024Fastest: MAD Lions KOI vs GAM Esports0 of 106 under 20:00
  3. Worlds 2025Fastest: CTBC Flying Oyster vs KT Rolster0 of 84 under 20:00
16–18 min: 0 games18–20 min: 0 games20–22 min: 1 games22–24 min: 4 games24–26 min: 17 games26–28 min: 43 games28–30 min: 51 games30–32 min: 44 games32–34 min: 40 games34–36 min: 35 games36–38 min: 21 games38–40 min: 14 games40–42 min: 9 games42–44 min: 12 games44–46 min: 6 games46–48 min: 2 games48–50 min: 1 games20:0020m25m30m35m40m45m50m
Champion pool

How many champions see the Rift.

Choose a year to light up every champion that made an appearance.

Crystal Ball · Question 10How many unique champions? →
The Swiss stage

Who landed where

Sixteen teams, three wins to advance, three losses to go home. Pick a final record to see which teams finished there.

0–0161–080–182–041–180–243–062–161–260–363–192–261–393–292–39
Final records across past Worlds
Advanced · 3 Swiss stages

Went 3–0

  • 2025Anyone's Legend, KT Rolster
  • 2024Gen.G, LNG Esports
  • 2023Gen.G, JD Gaming

Swiss stage series results, from Worlds 2023 onwards.

Your turn

Ready to call it?

Trust your read. Make your picks on Riot, then come back to see how Worlds unfolds.

Make Crystal Ball picks ↗Make bracket picks ↗