LoL Worlds 2026 power rankings: All 19 teams ranked from S to D tier

Wasif Ahmed Published 14/10/2026

The 2026 League of Legends World Championship has arrived. The moment every team has been building towards is finally here! 19 of the best teams that LoL esports has to offer will be battling it out over four grueling weeks in North America. But which team is the favorite? Who has an outside chance? And who is going home early?

We take a look at all the answers all in our official Worlds 2026 power rankings:

How We Power Ranked All Worlds 2026 Teams

This power ranking will be divided into several sections ranking from S tier to D, which is standard with most esports tier lists. These teams will be judged not only on their play across the year internationally, but also on their form coming into the World Championship.

S tier is reserved for teams we genuinely believe will win the World Championship. These are your tournament favorites, like Gen.G, for example. Of course, every team can win Worlds, but the likelihood of one of our S-tier teams winning is significantly higher.
A-tier teams are squads that, if they put it together, can go on a deep run to win Worlds. Just look at KT Rolster in 2025; they were pretty low on people’s minds to win the tournament, but were able to put it together and reach the finals.
B tier are teams that, on their day, can cause an upset in Swiss but are unlikely to do anything past the quarterfinals, while below that are teams that need to drastically improve to move up any tiers.

S Tier: Championship Favorites

Image credit: Riot Games

To the surprise of no one, Gen.G is the first team that features on our S tier, and are, in our opinion, the tournament favorite. Bilibili Gaming and Hanwha Life are also our other two teams that are in this tier list.

Bilibili Gaming may have been upset in the LPL finals, but they have had an amazing 2026, winning First Stand at the beginning of the year and just losing out to HLE at MSI.

BLG will be looking to correct the wrongs of their LPL final defeat to AL, while HLE have two of the former T1 dynasty members in Zeus and Gumayusi – the former is looking to win his fourth Worlds trophy in a row, denying his older roster of the same record.

A Tier: Serious Players

Image credit: Riot Games

More often than not, the team that wins Worlds is not from the S tier. DRX and T1 are two prime examples of squads that did not have their best years but were able to go on historic runs. T1 is in a similar spot; they aren’t the best LCK team, but when the lights are bright, Faker and co find a way to get it done.

Anyone’s Legend, G2, Dplus KIA, and Team Liquid are all squads that should be in the A category. AL dominated BLG when it mattered most in the LPL playoffs, Dplus KIA proved they aren’t pushovers, and the Western squads have proven they can compete on the international stage.

B Tier: Something To Prove

Image credit: Riot Games

You could argue that, on paper, the squads in B tier could easily match up well against the squads in A tier. The teams in B tier have something to prove.

Let’s take a look at LYON, for example; they are a squad that finished third place at MSI, but struggled in the LCS playoffs to recapture the form they’ve been showing all year.

Top Esports is another team with a big question mark lingering. They are having to sub in 369 due to visa issues, but he has not played professionally for a good portion of the year.

Here is the full B tier list:

Dplus KIA
Invictus Gaming
LYON
Movistar KOI
Top Esports

C and D Tier: Unlikely To Progress

There are a few teams in the C and D tier that have had high highs, but very low lows. And this is why we can’t realistically put them in any of the above tiers.

Looking at the two Western teams in Cloud9 and Karmine Corp, who will square off in the first series of Worlds, are squads who are fundamentally sound, but wildly inconsistent.

We saw that from these two in their respective playoffs. C9 had an amazing series against LYON, but could not get over the line in favourable games in their series against TL, and LYON again in the finals weekend.

Karmine Corp looked like one of the best Western teams for the entirety of the regular season, one of the most dominant we have seen in a while, only to get bounced out of the playoffs by MKOI, a squad that was on its last legs. Let’s take a look at the full list:

Cloud9
Karmine Corp
Team Secret Whales
LOS
CTBC Flying Oyster
MVK Esports (D Tier)
Furia (D tier)

Featured image credit: Riot Games

Wasif Ahmed

About Wasif Ahmed

Wasif Ahmed is the Lead Esports Editor for WIN.gg. He has been covering esports for nearly eight years, although his gaming journey started much earlier, when he was just four years old and was introduced to Road Rash on a dusty PC. Hit him up on X to talk about esports, why partnership models are the best fit for esports games, or if Halo 7 has finally been announced.

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