Play to your strengths: MSI 2025 meta breakdown

The 2025 Mid-Season Invitational is right around the corner, with the world’s best League of Legends teams heading to Vancouver from June 27 to July 12.

Unlike previous iterations where Riot would introduce big updates ahead of tournaments to shift the meta, this year’s MSI Patch (Patch 25.13) only came with a couple of champion changes. Nonetheless, the highlights include buffs to several unpopular champions as well as nerfs to pro-focused picks that have defined the meta over the past months, meaning there will be shifts in champion priority.

In this feature, we’ll be analysing: the key meta shifts brought by recent patches, how those changes could shape teams’ performances, and which squads are best positioned to capitalise. Whether you’re following as a casual (or hardcore) fan, this is your complete meta breakdown of MSI 2025 in detail.

Starting from the top side, the two champions we are going to be looking at are Gangplank and Yorick. The latter has been rather popular across all regions, and while he will still have a relevant presence in the meta, the base armor nerf will impact his laning phase and trading potential. Nothing to be scared of, but players will have to pay more attention in the early phases.

Gangplank, instead, is getting some important buffs that will raise his priority. I doubt he will be a top-tier pick, but we are expecting to see him this tournament, especially if the series goes deep with the Fearless Draft format. 

For the jungle, the biggest change is Vi’s nerf. The jungler has been nerfed repeatedly in recent times, but even this change won’t push her out of the meta entirely. The champion is far too reliable when it comes to pulling the trigger and finding engages, so expect her to still be played quite extensively. 

The two other junglers worth keeping an eye on are Kindred and Nidalee, especially the former, who got 20 seconds reduced on the first level of the ultimate. If teams want to play around their jungler, Kindred might be worth checking out. 

For mid lane, we’re still expecting to see Twisted Fate increase in priority following the buffs to his ultimate. While Riot dialled back on the buff this patch, his early game agency will still prove powerful to teams that can execute early game rotations well. Ryze received a minor buff, but it won’t be significant in the grand scheme of things. Overall, the mid lane pool is set to be similar to the one seen in the playoffs across major regions, and it will depend more on the matchups and team compositions.

In the bottom lane, there are no changes to champions, although we should see a difference in champion priority given that many ADCs received number changes in the previous Patch 25.12. 

Sivir and Zeri got some major buffs that will push them much higher in priority, especially for teams who can take advantage of their late-game carry potential. Senna, Varus, and Kalista were nerfed a few weeks ago, but I think all three will still be relevant, especially the last two, as they guarantee strong lane priority in the bottom lane. 

Ever since the changes to Void Grubs, teams have progressively realised the importance of dragon stacking once again. Getting early dragons allows teams to dictate the pace of the game and force the enemy into unfavourable situations to contest soul points and dragon souls. For example, T1 did this against Hanwha Life Esports in the MSI qualification series: after taking two drakes, HLE was forced to take a fight to prevent T1 from stacking another dragon, and were caught by T1’s engage. 

With that in mind, bottom lane priority has become a crucial aspect for most teams, especially in the first games of the series, where more picks will be available. Dragon stacking was a common strategy in previous competitive seasons, but with the introduction of Fearless Draft, the whole approach has changed. 

Picking champions only one per series means that you will have to find more winning combinations and construct team compositions that not only allow you to have a balance among roles, but also synergise well with one another. 

Teams want to have good agency over the laning phase in the bottom lane, but more often than not, the priority in champion select is given away to the top side of the map. If top-jungle-mid gets favourable combinations, then it becomes easier to enable the bottom lane or play around the early objectives. This also explains why most teams look to go for proactive junglers with high early impact: they want to leverage that power for the rest of the team, and ultimately put the carries into an optimal condition to take over games later on. 

At MSI, the teams that can adapt to the champion priority and quickly find combinations that can take advantage of the players’ strengths will have a clear edge over the others.

Expect Korean teams to maintain their level of play, as they are traditionally strong when it comes to teamfighting and macro. Both Gen.G and T1 also have arguably the best jungle-mid duos of the tournament. 

The other team that is set up for success is Anyone’s Legend. The players are highly versatile, and their head coach, Tabe, has been one of the best at balancing comfort and meta, optimising the team’s potential. 

The two other teams that might benefit from the current meta are LEC’s Movistar KOI (MKOI) and LTA’s FlyQuest (LTA). Both have arguably the best junglers in the West with Elyoya and Inspired, and these teams have been good at finding advantages early on in their respective leagues. It might not be as easy internationally, but it’s a good foundation to start with. On top of that, both teams have ‘X factor’ players, capable of unconventional picks to throw off opponents. 

Patch 25.13 is not expected to shift the meta heavily from previous updates, but teams that can pinpoint the new priority picks at the start of the tournament will reap great benefits in terms of performance. Matches will hinge on drafting, macro execution, and champion pool proficiency. Teams will need to take advantage of individual players’ strengths and differing play styles to make quick decisions, deepening the pool of champions you’ll be able to use. Korean teams are expected to be the front runners, although the top seeds from the LEC, LPL, and LTA might have enough tricks up their sleeves to contest them.