Welcome back to the second edition of our top five players at the League of Legends World Championship. Today we're looking at the other half of the bottom lane -- the AD carry.
Yu "JackeyLove" Wen-bo (Top Esports)
JackeyLove won a title in his rookie season with Invictus Gaming, and many thought he would stay with iG for the rest of his career. But a wonky offseason for him personally eventually led him to Top Esports where he's become not only a strong carry for the team but a strong voice. It would be disingenuous to say that he "transformed" Top Esports, but he appears to have been the missing link between having a good team and a great one that is now a worlds title contender. JackeyLove is an aggressive bot laner who will occasionally overstep, but is a strong teamfighter and will still excel even if the bot lane meta shifts. -- Emily Rand
Park "Ruler" Jae-hyuk (Gen.G)
A former world champion, Ruler returns to worlds after Gen.G finished off T1 and kept longtime rival Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok from getting his shot at another worlds title. This year's Gen.G was meant to be one of the best teams in South Korea, with the addition of former T1 jungler Kim "Clid" Tae-min hoping to complement Gwak "Bdd" Bo-seong and Ruler. And while the team's not performed 100% as expected, Ruler's been the consistent bot laner that he's needed to be.
With a rumored shift in meta to be more AD carry-focused at worlds, Ruler seems like a prime fit to benefit from it. Heading into the world championship Ruler will want to channel his 2017 experience, where he won with Samsung Galaxy, rather than 2018, where Gen.G bottomed out in one of the most disappointing finishes for a South Korean team ever. -- Jacob Wolf
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Lee "LokeN" Dong-wook (JD Gaming)
On a team that preaches five working as one, a lot of what has made JDG so strong this year has come from a breakout performance from their bottom lane, particularly their South Korea AD carry. LokeN has utilized champions like Ashe and Aphelios to gain early dominion of the bottom lane through turret plates and early kills, which opens up his support Zuo "LvMao" Ming-Hao to freely roam and to work in tandem with Seo "Kanavi" Jin-hyeok to take control over neutral objectives. While not the flashiest player or the stereotypical ace of JDG, he, like the rest of the team, knows what to do to get their team into the mid-game where their bread and butter, immaculate teamfighting and macro decision-making, takes care of business. -- Tyler Erzberger
Martin "Rekkles" Larsson (Fnatic)
When we named Rekkles as the final player on our Top 20 players, a lot of people were not happy. Rekkles is often seen as a cleanup player, particularly from a time where he played on Fnatic teams of old alongside former stars like Enrique "xPeke" Cedeño Martínez and Paul "sOAZ" Boyer. But that's far from the case with Rekkles anymore.
This year Rekkles really was a cut above the other European AD carries, reclaiming the title of best from Luka "Perkz" Perković. Rekkles proved to be one of the most important pieces of Fnatic in a consistent carry while other players on the team like Tim "Nemesis" Lipovšek and Gabriël "Bwipo" Rau at best being inconsistent and at worst, being liabilities to the team. Rekkles' 2020 earns him a nod here alongside some other veteran AD carries who have all competed on the world stage at the highest level too, like JackeyLove and Ruler. -- Jacob Wolf
Tang "huanfeng" Huan-Feng (Suning)
Suning has marked Huanfeng as their future, and with good reason. Huanfeng is yet another up-and-coming LPL bot laner with fairly strong expectations from the community based on scrim rumors and his time as a trainee. His LPL debut wasn't as explosive as the likes of Hu "iBoy" Xian-Zhao, but unlike iBoy or other young LPL bot laners who have debuted recently, Huanfeng is much more subdued in his playstyle. He doesn't die as much as most of his LPL bot lane counterparts, but is still a formidable opponent in teamfights. This current bot lane meta has suited him, but based on his play on iG Young last year, if there is a meta shift, he'll still be right at home on Kai'sa or Xayah. Of all LPL players, Huanfeng is a player that everyone should be watching -- a prodigious rookie at his first international event with the chance to become a breakout star on the worlds stage. -- Emily Rand