League of Legends: Picks We’ll Be Seeing in MSI 2023

Listing the strongest champs in the 13.6 update that'll see more action in this year's mid-season invitationals.

The world is only a stone's throw away from witnessing the second biggest LoL tournament of the year. As it stands, we're only weeks away from witnessing the eventual spring split winners conquer their respective regions for a spot at this year's Mid-Season Invitationals.

Organized by Riot games, 13 of the winning teams from all over the world will compete in the second most important League of Legends tournament this year. The invitationals will see the best teams from the LEC, LCK, LPL and LCS compete for the lion's share of a $200k+ prize pool, and serve as a high-stakes warm-up for the World Championship. If you plan to bet on the MSI games this season, this betting guide is for you.

Only a Few Weeks Left

All of the major leagues are gearing up for MSI 2023. Since the mid-year tournament introduced changes like best-of-three's (or bo3's) and double-elimination brackets, the best of the best have had to stay on their toes. Presently, we already have the T1 and Gen.G titans joining the fray as the toughest to beat. Their contenders in the Bracket Stage so far includes western powerhouse Cloud9, with the Golden Guardians following closely behind in the MSI 2023 Play-In Stage. Joining them is EMEA Winter Split champs G2 Esports and the LPL.

With so many powerful teams in one place, it's anyone's guess as to who will finish Gold in MSI. Knowing all that raw talent, years of dedicated experience and sheer luck all get channeled in a team's macroplay, a lot of importance goes into which champion you pick. Familiarity with the best enemy counters can significantly affect your chances of winning against strong opponents. That said, it's easy to guess which champs we'll be seeing more of this year.

Matt Leaung-Harrison, Lead Designer of League of Legend's balance team recently released the official list of changes coming to Patch 13.8. This meta is what the MSI 2023 rosters will be playing under, and contains all of the champion updates coming to the Rift. With all that in mind, here are the champions that we'll likely see in MSI 2023:

Full 13.8 changes.

We landed on pretty known changes to nudge a few champions in and out of meta. We weren't looking to take large swings and get surprise 100% champs

Nerfs are targeted at SoloQ (barring Rakan & Malph). Pulled Zoe for larger work, no ETA on timeline though pic.twitter.com/TGb7ANm28J

— Matt Leung-Harrison (@RiotPhroxzon) April 11, 2023

Garen

The Might of Demacia. Everyone who's ever played League enough to get good at it knows Garen as one of the easiest champs to get into. His passive ability heals him out of combat, and his Q ability deals a significant amount of damage while silencing enemy champions.

The simplicity of Garen's kit makes him a safe pick that can counter a good variety of champions. Since he's bound to receive a significant boost to both his Base AD (Attack Damage) and Base Armor, you can expect to see the whirling Vanguard on the international stage soon.

Leona

The Radiant Dawn. Support mains know that if you want an aggressive champion that can set teamfights and tank a few hits, Leona is a sure pick. The hero doesn't have a bad learning curve, and provides hard cc (crowd control) to isolate key targets.

The Bonus Armor and Magic Resist scaling of her W skill will be greatly improved, as well as her overall Magic Damage, which will make her even more of a problem in the laning phase.

Poppy

Keeper of the Hammer. Another tank champion that makes this list. Poppy's versatile skillset allows the rambunctious Yordle to line up stuns with her charge ability and halt enemy dashes, all the while sustaining herself with her passive.

Knowing that her Q scales off of her total HP pool, the developers at Riot gave her increased HP% scaling. Other than that, players will now passively gain more Magic Resist off of her W skill. This, along with the circular wall that surrounds her can counter assassins and other jungle hyper carries which were prevalent in the previous meta.

Lillia

The Bashful Bloom. This skittish fae fawn uses her powers on the rift to slow and disable opponents. Her passive “Dream-Laden Bough” allows her skills and attacks to deal extra damage that scales with the target's HP.

Multiple stats were buffed in Lillia, including the base numbers for Monster Damage, Monster Healing and Champion Healing. the same areas were also given lower level caps. These changes to her starting numbers makes this fawn a more challenging adversary in the early game, but a weaker one in the later phases of the match.

Kog'Maw

The Mouth of The Abyss. Kog'Maw satisfies his curiosity by consuming everything in its path. This champion can zone enemies with his slowing Void Ooze and melt an enemy's Armor and Magic Resist overtime with his Q skillshot.

With higher damage and shorter cooldowns in the early game, the void spawn is more of a threat on the Rift than ever before. His late-game Physical Damage now packs a bigger punch (550 >> 650), making Kog'Maw too dangerous to be kept alive.

Kha'zix

Lastly we have the Voidreaver. Kha'zix is easily the champion with the highest skill ceiling on this list, making it a wildcard pick in S-tier tournaments. The ever-mutating hunter thrives in 1v1 situations, evolving its skills to switch between stealth or movement speed. It's W skill also gives it a bit of sustain, making it deadly in longer team fights.

His Q skill “Taste Their Fear” is his most important offense skill, capitalizing on lone enemy heroes and buffing the range on his Basic Attacks. The 13.8 buff focused on this aspect, and buffed the scaling by ten per upgrade. Practice the buddy system whenever you need to go into unwarded territory, because the Voidreaver is hungry.

For the latest news in LoL and LoL Esports, follow ESTNN.