LPL Fans Concerned About the 2024 World Championship Meta
At the upcoming World Championship 2024, patch 14.18 will be implemented as the official tournament version. Essentially, Riot Games has heavily nerfed Marksman champions and buffed Mage items in this patch. This aims to help Mages return to the Mid Lane after Marksmen dominated that position for too long. Additionally, another goal of Riot is to bring Physical Fighters back to the Top Lane to ensure a balance in damage output as Mages return to the Mid Lane.
Accordingly, statistics from Op.gg show that Aatrox has quickly risen to the top tier of Top Lane champions with a win rate of 50.33% and a pick rate of 12.58% at the Grandmaster rank and above. With Aatrox being so favored, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Darkin Blade becomes a meta champion at the upcoming World Championship 2024. However, for LPL fans, this news is not so pleasant as their number one seed – BLG – is not a team that utilizes this champion well.
It is worth noting that since MSI 2024, Bin has not used Aatrox even once in official matches. This may indicate that Bin lacks confidence in using this champion regardless of whether Aatrox is in the meta or not. It’s possible that BLG will face difficulties in the ban/pick phase when facing strong opponents at the World Championship 2024 if they discover a significant gap in Bin’s champion pool.
The LCK Benefits from Aatrox’s Return in the 2024 World Championship Meta
Meanwhile, looking at the LCK, viewers can see that the Top Laners of this region are using Aatrox very effectively. Players like Doran, Kiin, and Zeus are all proficient with this champion in various matchups. As for Kingen, he even has a world championship skin with Aatrox, so fans need not worry about this player’s capability with the Darkin Blade.
Therefore, the concerns of LPL fans about the upcoming 2024 World Championship meta are understandable. The performances and international achievements of LPL teams in 2024 have already lagged behind their LCK counterparts. Even if the meta of the 2024 World Championship favors this region, the chances of the number one representative of LPL – BLG – winning the championship seem to be diminishing in the eyes of the fans.
One consolation for LPL fans is that the representatives from this region do not have to compete from the play-in stage. This gives them more time to practice and study to adapt better to the 2024 World Championship meta. Hopefully, BLG (and other LPL teams) will make good use of this time to prepare thoroughly for the upcoming World Championship.