Worlds 2022 started with the play-in stage this week; let's take a look at the best supports in the event before we get deeper into it. These five incredible players will affect the outcome of the League of Legends World Championship, and their performance will be crucial to their team's success.
Many great players are coming to North America for the tournament, but not all made it to this short list: Trymbi, Hylissang, BeryL, Kaiser, Targamas and more. Those players are as good as the ones listed here for many. However, considering summer season performances and the potential of each player, these are our picks.
Mark
Joining Top Esports on February 2022, Mark quickly established his dominance in the LPL and showed why he was a great pick-up for the team. With an excellent grasp of tank champions, strengthened by some enchanters, his wide champion pool and superb skills will help TES and JackeyLove a lot.
In a team with knight, Tian and JackeyLove, Mark isn't a superstar for sure. However, Top Esports' loyal fans saw what he brought to this team, how he made JL better and more stable, and Mark's performance will decide if Top Esports can get to the finals of Worlds 2022.
Missing
Together with Hope, Chinese support Missing found success at JD Gaming this year after impressing the analysts and fans at Team WE. The young support player mostly has a wide champion pool consisting of enchanters, but his Nautlis and Leona performances suggest that he is ready for a meta change.
JDG has 369, Kanavi and Yagao on their top side of the map, but Hope and Missing were crucial to winning LPL with their performances in the grand final. Creating the perfect synergy with his lane partner, Missing will win lanes and proceed to dominate team fights for JD Gaming.
Hope and Missing duo didn't struggle against the best bot laners in China, including Viper and Meiko. If they can continue that performance against flashy names like Ruler and Lehends or Gumayusi and Keria, I think an MVP award is due for Missing.
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Meiko
Meiko is one of the best three supports in the world for me. He is a playmaker and a helper to Viper. Whatever his team needs, Meiko can be that support. Although he is criticized for his performance now and then because he sometimes starts dying inexplicably, Meiko is still one of the legends coming to Worlds 2022.
A big part of EDG's Worlds 2021 success is owed to Viper and Meiko. Even though Scout, Jiejie and Flandre obviously fought a lot and gave everything they had, such a strong bot lane was key to EDG's success. That continued in the LPL when the team struggled to get a good place in the playoffs. Viper and Meiko stepped in to take their team to Worlds.
EDG wasn't among the favourites at making Worlds, but it is great to see a man with such a story behind him come to Worlds 2022 and participate. I am looking forward to seeing Meiko on the Rift.
Lehends
Lehends was criticized similarly as Meiko, "he is a great support but sometimes takes things too far". Well, getting paired with Ruler has done wonders for Lehends, as the Korean support improved his performance immensely in 2022 and took his team to Worlds 2022.
Ruler and Chovy were obviously the two main carries of Gen.G this year, but Lehends' effect on the championship is undeniable. His weird picks like Singed and his ability to play anything make Lehends one of the most feared players in Worlds 2022.
Sometimes he goes too off-meta, but Lehends showed that he is ready to drop some of his destructive behaviours if it can get them the Worlds trophy. It is evident that he believes GEN can get to the top, trusts Ruler dearly, and he will do whatever it takes to get to the grand final.
Keria
Even though Lehends managed to outplay T1 and Keria at the LCK finals, Keria is still my number one player at Worlds 2022. Keria is the most skilled support player we have seen in a while, a player that was considered the "best player in the world" during Spring 2022. We rarely see a support getting called that.
T1 invested in Keria after benching Effort, questions were raised after this decision. Although DRX Keria was a different monster, fans were already happy with Effort, a player that was raised within the team. However, Keria showed why he was picked over such a support quickly.
Today, a wide champion pool, superb skills and the ability to carry bot lane while overshadowing Gumayusi, the ADC, defines Keria's game. If the meta in Worlds 2022 suits him and he is able to get some help from Oner and Guma, I think he can take T1 to the Worlds finals single-handedly.
