The upcoming Valorant world championship will feature the 16 best teams.
Having demonstrated their prowess in international leagues and global events, we have evaluated the top teams in our Valorant Champions 2023 power rankings.
This year’s Champions trophy will feature four teams from the Pacific and Americas Leagues and five top-ranked teams from the EMEA League. The top three finishers from the VCT China Qualifier will also compete alongside the international league teams.
After winning VCT LOCK//IN and Masters Tokyo, Fnatic are the clear frontrunners to win Valorant Champions 2023. However, there are many notable contenders on the list who have the potential to spoil their historic run.
Valorant Champions 2023 power rankings
Happy to be here
- Bilibili Gaming
- FunPlus Phoenix
A lot to prove
- Natus Vincere
- Giants
- FUT Esports
- T1
Dark horses
- KRÜ Esports
- Zeta Division
- Edward Gaming
Best of the rest
- NRG Esports
- DRX
- Team Liquid
- LOUD
Best of the best
- Paper Rex
- Evil Geniuses
- Fnatic
How much better is Paper Rex with their full roster?
PRX was one of the favorite teams to win Masters Tokyo after they won the VCT Pacific League. However, their fortunes took a sharp downturn when Ilya “something” Petrov could not secure a Visa, which prevented him from traveling to Japan.
Something was PRX’s driving force, propelling the team to new heights. Since he became a part of the starting roster in Week 4 of the regular season, PRX went on a seven-series win streak.
At Masters Tokyo, Patiphan “CigaretteS” Posri replaced Something in the PRX lineup. Despite the substitution, PRX finished 3rd behind Evil Geniuses and Fnatic.
PRX’s chances of becoming the first Pacific team to win an international trophy in Valorant Champions 2023 have significantly improved now that their full roster has been confirmed.
Will Edward Gaming’s Kang Kang elevate his game to another level?
At Masters Tokyo, EDG displayed remarkable progress, securing multiple upset wins and achieving a commendable 5th-6th place finish. This marks the highest standing achieved by any Chinese team on the VCT international stage.
Propelling EDG’s run was Zheng “ZmjjKK” Yongkang (colloquially known as Kang Kang, the last two letters of his IGN), the breakout star of the tournament.
Kang Kang outshined his competition at the tournament, impressively securing 103 Operator kills, which exceeded the combined total of the four players following him.
Can Fnatic collect all the global trophies this year?
Undoubtedly, Fnatic is the clear favorite going into Valorant Champions 2023. They won all their matches in LOCK//IN São Paulo and edged out LOUD 3-2 to claim their first international VCT trophy.
The European squad continued their championship run with another impressive showing at Masters Tokyo. Fnatic won all four of their matches and swept Evil Geniuses 3-0 in the grand final to win the second international event of the VCT 2023 season.
Fnatic has been described by fans and analysts as a team without any weaknesses, evident from their strong performances in LOCK//IN and Masters Tokyo. Notably, four of their players secured top-five rankings in Masters Tokyo, underscoring their dominance and peak performance.
Fnatic is on the verge of accomplishing a groundbreaking feat no Valorant team has achieved. They have the opportunity to sweep all three of VCT’s international events this season, a historic achievement that would cement their place in Valorant’s history books.
READ MORE: Feel California love with the Valorant Champions 2023 merch collection
