The Winter Split of the five major
League of Legends regions has come to an end, crowning
Hanwha Life Esports in
LCK,
Top Esports in
LPL,
Team Liquid in
LTA,
Karmine Corp in
LEC, and
CTBC Flying Oyster in
LCP. These teams will compete in the inaugural edition of
Riot Games' new international event,
First Stand, starting Monday, March 10th at LoL Park in Seoul.
The 2025 Winter Split introduced the
Fearless Draft, a format that reshaped the drafting phase—often a game-deciding factor. With teams unable to pick the same champion more than once, draft diversity increased, reducing the dominance of predefined metas as the series progressed. While most teams favored the blue side, such as KC, HLE, or CFO, TL and TES thrived on the red side, leveraging last-pick advantages for stronger counterplay.
HLE and GEN.G drafting in game 5 of LCK Cup with 50 banned champions. Credit: LCK/Riot Games
The Season 15 meta has been heavily influenced by the changes introduced by the publisher, such as the arrival of the new monster Atakhan, the shift in spawn times for epic jungle monsters, and the addition, modification, or removal of publisher's changes have heavily influenced the Season 15 metaseveral items. The lane swap has also been a major aspect of this Winter Split.
Toplane: K'sante Gaming
In the toplane, K'sante remains the most prioritized champion, with 134 picks and 160 bans across all regions. The LPL is the only region where Rumble outranks K'sante in Prioscore, which factors in both pick frequency and draft timing. Some toplaners heading into the first stand have leaned more into K’Sante than others. KC's toplaner,
Kim "Canna" Chang-dong, played it just twice this split, while
Choi "Zeus" Woo-je and CFO's Taiwanese toplaner
Hsu "Rest" Shih-Chieh locked it in six times.
Beyond the Pride of Nazumah, the meta largely revolved around Ambessa, Rumble and Jayce. Pocket picks occasionally surfaced, with Zeus and
Jeong "Impact" Eon-young pulling out Gwen, Fiora or Gangplank. It's worth noting that CFO plays with two toplaners, Rest and Shen "Driver" Tsung-Hua
, whose differing playstyles allow for greater in-game adaptability. However, swap lanes have significantly impacted the toplane, often forcing players into weakside roles and limiting champion agency. This should no longer be an issue from patch 25.5 onward, as Riot has implemented changes to prevent lane swaps from affecting First Stand.
Jungle: you won't see Skarner
Skarner held the highest priority score of the Winter Split across all five major leagues, despite being picked just 36 times and banned 402 times. The scorpion’s overwhelming ban rate has raised questions about the impact of his rework. Beyond Skarner, the jungle meta remained highly diverse, largely due to the Fearless Draft, which allowed teams to shift playstyles from game to game. Vi, Zyra, and Nocturne emerged as top jungle picks, each boasting over 40% priority score.
Yike celebrating the LEC Winter Split trophy. Credit: Michal Konkol/Riot Games
With Atakhan’s arrival in Season 15 and the introduction of Void Grubs a year earlier, the jungler role has never been more crucial—a shift
Seo "Kanavi" Jin-hyeok has embodied at TES. His impact since joining has been undeniable, dominating the map with the widest champion pool alongside
Martin "Yike" Sundelin (13 champions played). He holds a 100% win rate on Viego (four games) and Nidalee (three games) and remains the only player to have excelled on Olaf and Shyvana this split. The jungle meta has also seen unconventional picks emerge, with Amumu, Diana, Ivern, Trundle, and Rengar making their way into drafts.
Midlane: Finally, some diversity
Unlike 2024, when Tristana, Corki, and Azir dominated the midlane, the Fearless Draft has brought significant diversity. Every midlaner has played at least ten different champions, with
Kim "Zeka" Geon-woo reaching 14. The release of Aurora and Viktor’s rework have been major influences, particularly for
Vladimiros "Vladi" Kourtidis, who played seven games on Viktor, losing only once. In the Americas,
Eain "APA" Stearns forced frequent Ziggs bans—except in the final against 100 Thieves, where he capitalized with a 7/1/11 performance.
Zeka celebrating the LCK Cup trophy. Credit: LCK/Riot Games
Over in the LCP, 17-year-old rookie
Tsai "HongQ" Ming-Hong made a strong impression, dominating
Chu "FoFo" Chun-Lan in the final and proving crucial to CFO’s Pacific dominance. Meanwhile, China’s meta stands apart, with
Lin "Creme" Jian favoring a unique Orianna, Aurora, and Hwei trio—champions no other First Stand midlaner has played as frequently.
AD Carry: Not that much of a carry
Kalista ranks just behind Skarner in Priority Score, drawing 382 bans this split. Her ultimate provides strong playmaking potential, while her damage output remains a key asset. However, the current meta hasn’t been particularly favorable for ADCs, and with Kalista frequently banned, botlaners have leaned toward Varus and Ezreal, both highly contested, though Varus holds a slight edge in win rate (54% vs. 50%). Beyond them, the botlane pool has remained diverse, featuring Ashe, Kai’Sa, Miss Fortune, and even Corki as viable picks.
Of the five botlaners competing at First Stand,
Sean "Yeon" Sung leads in both damage per minute and KDA. The American ADC didn’t get to fully showcase his champion pool due to the limited number of games in the LTA, but his performances remained impressive. While some APCs like Mel and Taliyah have surfaced, they haven’t significantly disrupted the otherwise stagnant botlane meta.
Support: Sacrificing for the greater good
Even though the Fearless Draft has brought some diversity to the support role, the meta remains largely centered around tanky champions with strong engage. Rell, Rakan, and Leona are the three most-picked supports of the split. While the first two are performing well, Leona seems to be a bait, with only a 38% win rate across 126 games. Some players have had fun with less common picks like Blitzcrank, Pyke, and even Elise, who appeared in no less than 46 games. Initially played by
Son "Lehends" Si-woo, Elise spread to other Asian leagues, though it was less common in the West.
Delight during the LCK Cup Final against GEN.G. Credit: LCK/Riot Games
Yoo "Delight" Hwan-joong is currently without a doubt the best support in the world. The three-time LCK champion played 16 different champions during the LCK Cup, just one fewer than
the number of games played by Team Liquid throughout the entire Winter Split (17). He is also involved in more than 50% of HLE's first bloods. It seems the meta doesn’t apply to him—he’s played champions like Neeko, Lux, Shen, Bard, and Karma. He is undeniably one of the key players behind Hanwha's LCK Cup victory and enters First Stand confident and favored in his role.
The meta expected at First Stand is similar to what we saw towards the end of the Winter Split, with one key difference: there will likely be no lane swaps, meaning toplaners can play traditional lanes without falling behind in gold and experience. First Stand is also the first international event with the Fearless Draft format, so it will be interesting to see different playstyles clash during this exciting week of competition.
Header photo credit: Riot Games
