League of Legends global power rankings through March 12

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Every week, we look at each team in the five major regions and rank the teams according to how they are performing. A few new teams have broken into the Top 20, including Splyce and 100 Thieves, but KT Rolster is starting to slip.

Nos. 1-10: World contenders

Nos. 11-20: Playoff contenders

Nos. 21-30: Middle of the pack

Nos. 31-40: Struggling

Nos. 41-52: Bottom of the barrel

World contenders

1. Kingzone DragonX

Record: 12-2 | League: LCK | +/-: --

It was once again smooth sailing for Kingzone DragonX this past week, which embraced Patch 8.4 wholeheartedly. Jungler Han "Peanut" Wang-ho kicked off Kingzone's 2-0 week by trouncing his former team SK Telecom T1 with Olaf. Kingzone also started the Sion mid trend in South Korea, showing further draft flexibility and a strong understanding of the new patch. With two weeks left in the regular season, Kingzone are already guaranteed spot in the playoff gauntlet at the second round or higher.

2. Afreeca Freecs

Record: 10-4 | League: LCK | +/-: --

The Afreeca Freecs are another team perfectly happy on this latest patch. With strong skirmishing abilities, the Freecs also made the most of mid laner Lee "Kuro" Seo-haeng's flexibility. Kuro played carry champions Kassadin and LeBlanc, overwhelming the ROX Tigers' Kim "Lava" Tae-hoon, and then took his turn on the Sion in a sub-30-minute near-perfect Game 1 win over Kongdoo Monster. Afreeca continue to be a fun and aggressive team to watch that, like Kingzone DragonX now looks to lock up the highest spot possible in the playoff gauntlet.

3. Invictus Gaming

Record: 11-1 | League: LPL | +/-: +1

Invictus Gaming continued to roll last week with a 2-0 victory over Bili Bili Gaming and already kicked off this week with a 2-0 sweep of Vici Gaming. Against BLG, iG were also able to give Ge "Kid" Yan a nice, albeit bloody, LPL sendoff, starting him in the jungle position over Gao "Ning" Zhen-Ning alongside rookie AD carry Yu "JackeyLove" Wen-Bo's favorite Draven pick. iG still tend to overextend at times, as shown against VG, but they remain the LPL's best, and most fun, team to watch for now.

4. KT Rolster

Record: 10-4 | League: LCK | +/-: -1

With the middle of LoL Champions Korea still in flux -- teams from fourth-place KSV Esports to ninth place bbq Olivers can all take series off of each other -- KT Rolster is still a cut above the rest, even with the team's loss to KSV this week. KT has improved as a unit, but has the same problems with mid lane priority when playing Heo "PawN" Won-seok and still overestimates what they can do with map pressure at certain times. As the final two weeks of regular-season play begin, and with tough matchups against Kingzone DragonX and the Afreeca Freecs still to go, KT is in a precarious position.

5. Snake Esports

Record: 9-2 | League: LPL | +/-: --

With EDward Gaming's loss to Royal Never Give up and Bili Bili Gaming dropping down in the West Region standings thanks to a 2-0 loss to Invictus Gaming, Snake Esports holds its position as best in the West Region of the LPL. Snake doesn't look as comfortable on this patch as the team did in Unsealed Spellbook's heyday of 8.2, but still have a strong understanding of how to pressure the map, especially when top laner Li "Flandre" Xuan-Jun is on the likes of Shen, allowing him to still appear at any moment with his ultimate on top of Teleport. That being said, Snake's recent series against Topsports Gaming was shaky, and the 2-0 sweep was partially thanks to a timely Lê "SofM" Quang Duy Baron steal. Snake will have to do a bit better to stay this high up in the rankings, especially with Royal Never Give Up rising.

6. Royal Never Give Up

Record: 7-4 | League: LPL | +/-: +8

It's safe to say that pre and post-Lunar New Year Royal Never Give Up are two completely different teams. The obvious starting player change since the break is star AD carry Jian "Uzi" Zi-Hao, but the focal point of the team has been jungler Hung "Karsa" Hau-Hsuan who, with the recent lineup and patch 8.4 has led the team to victory. It hasn't always been smooth sailing for RNG. The team has dropped games due to execution errors and miscommunication. Yet, this lineup is now steadily improving into the top team that was promised. We'll just forget about those few matches before the break.

7. ROX Tigers

Record: 7-7 | League: LCK | +/-: -1

It may be the end of the line for the ROX Tigers, who were previously ranked highly due to their consistency and ability to become a team far greater than the sum of its parts. Although the Tigers had a tough opponent in the Afreeca Freecs, they also dropped a series against MVP that they had well in hand in Game 1 until a bot lane Baron push led to a triple-kill for MVP AD carry Na "Pilot" Woo-hyung's Tristana. The Tigers execution was out of sorts during the first week the latest patch, despite having fairly strong drafts for its specific lineup. With the large group of teams vying for playoffs, this patch could send the Tigers down further in the standings.

8. SK Telecom T1

Record: 6-8 | League: LCK | +/-: -1

The question of "How good are SK Telecom T1?" was partially answered this week thanks to resounding losses against both KT Rolster and Kingzone DragonX. While there was logic in starting jungler Kang "Blank" Sun-gu against KT -- strong historic winrate, Park "Blossom" Beom-chan had just been destroyed by Han "Peanut" Wang-ho in the KZ series -- it was a brief return to the old SKT, who unsurprisingly had the same issues while starting Park "Untara" Ui-jin and Blank as the team's top side. Hopefully Blossom just needed a breather after the Kingzone series and will be back on the starting SKT lineup this coming week, since the team will need that extra aggression he brings to make the final push for playoffs.

9. Rogue Warriors

Record: 9-2 | League: LPL | +/-: --

There were a lot of reservations around Rogue Warriors when this roster was formed. With names like Sung "Flawless" Yeon-jun, Kim "doinb" Tae-sang, and Han "Smlz" Jin, ROG had on-paper talent, but there wasn't one player who stood out as a person who could bind the team together and steer it in any one direction. Yet, Rogue Warriors keep winning, further proving the strength of the East Region (Invictus Gaming, Royal Never Give Up) in cross-conference play with a resounding smackdown of FunPlus Phoenix in its latest series. This also looks to be a strong meta for both top laner Chen "Mouse" Yu-Hao and doinb, the latter of whom has been known to play a few tankier mid laners.

10. KSV

Record: 8-6 | League: LCK | +/-: +2

It's with reluctance that KSV Esports move into the top ten, and has a lot more to do with how shaky some of the other South Korean teams (namely ROX Tigers) looked on the LCK's first week of 8.4. KSV's 2-0 victory over bbq Olivers was not inspiring, and the win against KT Rolster was thanks in large part to carry performances from top laner Lee "CuVee" Seong-jin. Lee "Crown" Min-ho continues to be inconsistent in the mid lane, which also affects the jungle position -- KSV started Kang "Ambition" Chan-yong in both series this week, likely for more team stability. Ultimately, KSV's struggles are still born of map pressure, execution, and a general lack of proactivity, not necessarily the individual performances on the roster, especially when KSV were previously a team that succeeded due to its strong synergy and teamfighting.

Playoff contenders

11. Fnatic

Record: 12-4 | League: EU LCS | +/-: +1

Europe was a mess this week, but its top team held strong with little issue. Fnatic was near immaculate against the opposition with two near perfect games, only surrendering one kill the entire week. Roccat and Unicorns of Love are not killer opponents, but champions have to take care of business. The meta is favoring Fnatic's style as the regular season comes to a close and it is looking to finish strong.

12. Jin Air Green Wings

Record: 6-8 | League: LCK | +/-: -2

On paper and in draft, the Jin Air Green Wings have a good understanding of the latest patch. With how late some of its games have gone this split, it's easy to forget that the Green Wings are capable of having strong early performances, especially when jungler Eom "UmTi" Seong-hyeon invades with proper vision and mid lane priority. UmTi is notoriously inconsistent and often out of position, which leads to early-to-mid deficits that the Green Wings are then tasked with turtling through until AD carry Park "Teddy" Jin-seong can carry in late-game teamfights. Now on 8.4, Jin Air don't have the luxury of relying on the late-game and it remains to be seen how this will affect Jin Air, especially against stronger opponents.

13. EDward Gaming

Record: 7-4 | League: LPL | +/-: -5

Initially, EDward Gaming looked like a different team. With Chen "Haro" Wen-Lin in the jungle and Jeon "Ray" Ji-won in the top lane, EDG had turned a bit more attention to the top side of the map, moving away slightly from the laser-focus on bottom lane that had been the team's modus operandi for the past three years or so. As the season has worn on, EDG and Haro have returned their attention to bot lane. Against Royal Never Give Up's Hung "Karsa" Hau-Hsuan, Haro often looked out of his depth and the team faltered. With time and experience, Haro and EDG will continue to improve. The only question is that whether this will happen in time for them to make another run at an LPL title.

14. Team WE

Record: 7-5 | League: LPL | +/-: +2

Mid laner Su "Xiye" Han-Wei appears week after week in the Team WE power rankings paragraph but it bears repeating once again this week: Xiye is having a career split. This comes just in time to help integrate jungler Zhou "Magic" Jun-Xuan onto the team as WE are a team in transition, trying to figure out their new playstyle with both Magic and support He "Celestial" Xin in the starting lineup. WE still make a lot of mistakes, but it also adapted to the latest patch by actually committing to stronger lanes and early jungle pressure in draft, something that the team has previously struggled with.

15. BiliBili Gaming

Record: 6-5 | League: LPL | +/-: -2

Like Snake Esports, Bili Bili Gaming knew how to use, or abuse depending on how one wants to look at it, Unsealed Spellbook, relying on team coordination and strong teamfighting to become one of the stronger teams in the West Region. However, with WE slowly stabilizing, FunPlus Phoenix's solid cross-conference performance, and an 0-2 loss to Invictus Gaming that acted as iG Ge "Kid" Yan's retirement party, BLG's position as a top team in the West is under siege. BLG's final two cross-conference matches are significant ones against fairly tough opponents in Suning Gaming and JD Gaming. It's the team's last chance to pick up a few wins before returning to all-important in-conference games.

16. Splyce

Record: 10-6 | League: EU LCS | +/-: +12

Splyce surges in the rankings as the second-highest ranked European squad after G2 Esports' stumblings. Not only that, but the team notched fairly clean victories against both Misfits and H2K Gaming. A controlled victory, deathless victory over H2K was impressive, but pulling back against Misfits further proved the team's knowledge of compositional strengths.

17. Cloud9

Record: 11-5 | League: NA LCS | +/-: --

North America has become a mess at the top. Echo Fox's regression isn't too much of a surprise considering its brute force style, but Cloud9 not breaking away from the pack has turned heads. C9 is still in a comfortable position to lock down a first round bye in the playoffs and go directly into the semifinals, though a loss to rival Team SoloMid is going to bring back memories of last spring when TSM denied C9 a title in Vancouver. On a positive note: Licorice has already locked up Rookie of the Split honors in a season with only three eligible candidates, and the only question now is if he'll win the award in unanimous fashion.

18. MVP

Record: 5-9 | League: LCK | +/-: +4

With a surprise sweep of the ROX Tigers and a 1-2 loss to the Jin Air Green Wings, MVP sneak into the eighteenth spot. Initially one of the worst teams in South Korea, MVP have risen as of late, with an even 4-4 record across the past four weeks that includes 2-0 over the falling bbq Olivers. The latest patch gives jungler Kim "Beyond" Kyu-seok a bit more room to move, despite the fact that MVP still struggle to have mid lane priority with An "Ian" Jun-hyeong. Although MVP remain a long shot for playoffs, this is a team that could sneak games and series off of a sluggish KT or SKT, both of which they play in the final week.

19. Suning Gaming

Record: 6-6 | League: LPL | +/-:--

Suning Gaming are almost there. A few steps removed from contending with heavy hitters like Snake Esports, Team WE, and EDward Gaming, Suning beat the teams that they're supposed to beat, including an important victory over FunPlus Phoenix this past week. It can take games off of the top teams, but not series, and even in the losses, Suning frequently show glimpses of a top team. Just as often, Suning have glaring composition execution errors, where it fails to take advantage of opportunities presented to them by opponents. Its consistency, even in losses, is what keeps the team just inside of the top 20.

20. 100 Thieves

Record: 10-6 | League: NA LCS | +/-: +9

Watch out, the Thieves want to steal a first round bye into the NA LCS spring playoffs. After having a terrible mid-season that put the team on the verge of falling out of the playoff picture entirely, 100T is only one game back of the top regular season record with two games remaining against a pair of teams also contending for that spot. Zaqueri "Aphromoo" Black has gotten his team rolling, and the evolution of Cody Sun on Immortals to now has put the 100T bottom lane among the best in the league. And now that top lane ace Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho is finally starting to feel himself and round into form, this expansion franchise could be eyeing a final in its inaugural season.