Grading Every LCK Team’s 2026 Offseason

The LCK won Worlds once again and proved it is the most competitive league in the world. With one of the most hectic transfers windows in the past five years, here are our offseason rating for the LCK teams.

BNK FearX — 6.5/10

BNK FearX made the right choice by sticking with the same 2025 roster, although the team added one new mid laner to split stage time alongside VicLa. Bringing in Daystar can have major upside over a longer period of time, especially if he were to become a reliable carry player like Diable is in the bot lane.

The issue for BNK is that it looks like the team will have fiercer competition in the mid pack this season, making their playoff chances slimmer.

DN SOOPers — 7/10

DN SOOPers, who recently rebranded from DN Freecs, got away with a decent offseason despite the initial worries of losing out the star player Berserker. The ADC has been replaced by the former KT rolster bot lane of deokdam and Peter, alongside support Life. Both have already previously played with deokdam previously so there aren’t many doubts that the synergy will be there.

2026 DN SOOPers 출정식에 갈테야테야🚶🏼

출정식 당첨자가 발표되었습니다 📢
참여해주신 모든 팬분들께 감사드립니다 💙

SOOP에서 출정식 생중계도 진행될 예정이니, 아쉽게 참여하지 못한 팬분들께서는 SOOP 라이브 방송 시청 부탁드립니다!#GODNS #DNSWIN pic.twitter.com/UsTCbSW0Sn

— DN SOOPers (@SOOPers_LoL) December 24, 2025

The DN Freecs lineup, however, will still depend on its top side map. The team looked lost for the majority of the season in 2025 and it’s not possible to disregard those results. Overall, this should still be an overall upgrade, making DNS an interesting lineup to follow in 2026.

DRX — 5.5/10

I must be completely honest: I’m not sold on DRX’s roster at the moment. Aside from jungler Ha ‘Vincenzo’ Seung-min getting his shot in the LCK, the rest of the roster doesn’t really hype me that much.

While you could argue that the team has plenty of experience with solo laners like Lee ‘Rich’ Jae-won and Son ‘Ucal’ Woo-hyeon, most of these players have shown their limits when it comes to fighting the crazy LCK competition. Losing ADC Park ‘Teddy’ Jin-seong and Bae ‘Sponge’ Young-jun will definitely hurt them so I wouldn’t be surprised if we see DRX fight at the bottom of the league once again this year.

Dplus KIA — 7+/10

Speaking of excitement, I must say that DK’s performance at the KeSPA Cup definitely helped raising the expectations of the team. While I still think they are not as strong as the top three in the LCK, picking up Shin ‘Smash’ Geum-jae from T1 was definitely a smart move.

DK really needed an ADC player that could reliably carry in the late game, and Smash was probably the best profile they could get. I’m excited to see how he and Oh ‘Career’ Hyeong-seok will perform against the top LCK bot lanes.

한 해의 마무리, 2025 LCK AWARDS 나들이 끝!
2025 LCK Awards: Ending the year!
 #DplusKia #DKWIN #LCKAwards pic.twitter.com/aVLxm073XI

— Dplus Kia (@DplusKia) December 20, 2025

Keeping the same top side was the right choice since Jeon ‘Siwoo’ Si-woo and Choi ‘Lucid’ Yong-hyeok continue to mature. DK’s chances of returning to Worlds, however, will still likely lie on Heo ‘ShowMaker’ Su’s performance: the guy underperformed heavily this year so hopefully he can make it up in 2026.

Gen.G — N/A

Considering Gen.G made no roster changes in the offseason, they are not eligible for a rating. That said, I believe that keeping the same roster was the correct choice. The only question mark would be the jungler Kim ‘Canyon’ Geon-bu, who struggled a lot more than the rest to keep a consistent level of play. Other than that, Gen.G will definitely benefit from keeping the same lineup, despite not having won the world championship once again.

Hanwha Life Esports — 8/10

If there is a team that won the offseason in the LCK, it’s Hanhwa Life Esports (HLE). Despite losing jungler Han ‘Peanut’ Wang-ho and Park ‘Viper’ Do-hyeon, the team made it up by picking the best replacements possible.

🏆𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 𝗟𝗖𝗞 𝗔𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗦

🔥𝗚𝗨𝗠𝗔𝗬𝗨𝗦𝗜 – 𝗕𝗢𝗧𝗧𝗢𝗠 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗥🔥
2025년을 빛낸 올해의 원딜, 구마유시 선수의 수상을 축하해 주세요🧡🎉

Please congratulate Gumayusi, Bottom of the Year who shined throughout 2025. pic.twitter.com/aR4XPg91Rh

— Hanwha Life Esports (@HLEofficial) December 19, 2025

Jungler Seo ‘Kanavi’ Jin-hyeok can be considered an upgrade over Peanut, although the player is known for having his moments and being much more volatile. Lee ‘Gumayusi’ Min-hyeong, on the other hand, is the only one that could really match Viper in terms of individual skills, and you could argue that the former could fit Hanwha Life Esports’ playstyle better. If the KeSPA Cup can give us any indication, this roster is expected to be much closer in peak potential to Gen.G and T1.

KT Rolster — 6.5/10

I must say I was surprised when I found out that KT Rolster picked up former world champion Jang ‘Ghost’ Yong-jun as a support player. I think they did good by also picking up Oh ‘Pollu’ Dong-gyu from OK BRION to make them split stage time with Kim ‘Aiming’ Ha-ram.

KT’s new lineup looks like a downgrade compared to the 2025 roster, although we tend to forget that deokdam struggled a lot at the start of the season and the bot lane often looked like a liability. Luckily, they were able to maintain the core jungle-mid duo of Moon ‘Cuzz’ Woo-chan and Gwak ‘Bdd’ Bo-seong, so KT could still deal some damage in 2026. That said, I would be shocked if they were to repeat the same run as 2025.

Nongshim RedForce — 7/10

Nongshim RedForce‘s transfer moves could make or break the roster depending on how the new players show up this season. While you could argue that mid laner Lee ‘Scout’ Ye-chan was a great pickup, he comes from a disastrous season in the LPL where he looked like a shadow of his former self.

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For ADC Kim ‘Taeyoon’ Tae-yoon, it’s the opposite. He comes from a good season on Team WE, but he’s known for struggling a lot more in the LCK against stronger ADCs. On paper, this is a promising roster that could even fight for the top five in the LCK, but we would have to wait and see whether they can live up to the expectations.

OK BRION — 6.5/10

OK BRION went for a full rebuild during the offseason, and the new roster could be a major surprise in the new season. The highlight is Park ‘Teddy’ Jin-seong, who is going to be the core player of the team alongside mid laner Lee ‘Fisher’ Jeong-tae.

While I don’t expect BRION to be fighting with the playoff teams, it’s always positive to see new rookies like top laner Shin ‘Casting’ Min-je and support Namgung ‘Namgung’ Seong-hoon getting their opportunity in the LCK. And who knows… they might turn out to be the real deals.

T1 — 7.5/10

With Gumayusi leaving, T1 got their hands on one of the best players on the market that can fill his shoes: Peyz. Despite his young age, the former Gen.G and JDG ADC proved he got the skills and maturity to be on the most prestigious LoL team in the world.

He will definitely face a lot of pressure but I believe his playstyle can be beneficial for the team, considering T1 needs someone who can take over the late-game teamfights. Peyz and Viper were the only two profiles that are on Gumayusi’s level… anyone else would’ve been a clear downgrade.