Top 10 best Call of Duty players of all time

Call of Duty is a first-person shooter franchise that has dominated the space for decades, with a rich history of millions of players — but only very few reach the top of the mountain in the Call of Duty League. With multiple world championships and millions of dollars in prize money won, here are our top 10 best Call of Duty players of all time.

Ranking players isn’t an easy task: you have to weigh up the total number of events they’ve won, how many world championship rings they earned, their raw talent in-game, and the intangible abilities that helped get them to the top.

There are a number of honorable mentions that don’t quite make the cut for us: the likes of Jordan ‘JKap’ Kaplan, Bryan ‘Apathy’ Zhelyazkov, and Sam ‘Octane’ Larew are all worthy of a mention as being among the greats, and just missed out on the top 10.

Our final list, though, is as follows:

10. Austin ‘SlasheR’ Liddicoat

SlasheR just beats his former Envy teammates Apathy and JKap to the 10th spot on our list. Despite having one less world championship ring than both players, SlasheR has almost always been looked at as an S-tier assault rifle player as well as a ruthless but efficient leader.

While SlasheR hasn’t seen the success he expects of himself and his teammates in recent years (even his 2022 Major 2 victory seems a lifetime ago), there’s no doubting that SlasheR has been an all-time great in Call of Duty as a three-time Champs finalist and one-time champion.

9. Patrick ‘Aches’ Price

Aches has been the villain of the CoD scene for as long as he’s been in it, always king of the trash talk, but he’s got the silverware to back it up, too.

Known as the OpTic killer when it comes to Champs time, Aches is a two-time world champion and helped lead the first great dynasty of Call of Duty, his Black Ops 2/Ghost Complexity team, to superstardom.

8. Tyler ‘aBeZy’ Pharris

aBeZy is the first of the new generation of players on this list, but he’s not the last. Alongside Tiny Terrors duo Chris ‘Simp’ Lehr, aBeZy has dominated the competition ever since arriving on the scene in Black Ops 4 and is commonly regarded as the best entry SMG in the game.

Despite his lack of years playing at the top, aBeZy is a two-time world champion and got to two more world championship finals, making him no stranger to success.

7. Alec ‘Arcitys’ Sanderson

Arcitys has quickly rose through the Call of Duty earnings rankings to challenge Crimsix for the top spot despite not having as much time competing at the pro level.

After breaking out in the CWL days on United with his brother Prestinni, he went on to help turn the 2020 Atlanta FaZe team into multiple-time champions and world champions in 2021, with his combination of leadership skills and incredible AR talent making for a terrifying combination to come up against.

6. Matthew ‘FormaL’ Piper

A shining star of the OpTic dynasty and often considered one of the greatest AR players of all time, FormaL moved from Halo to Call of Duty during the Ghost season and was instantly recognized as an insane talent.

He went on to be a key component in perhaps the best CoD roster of all time, including finishing his 2017 Champs MVP run with a 1.44 KD, one of the most dominant performances ever seen in Call of Duty.

5. Chris ‘Simp’ Lehr

After much hype as an amateur player online, Simp first joined the pro ranks halfway through the Black Ops 4 season after finally turning 18, and was immediately the best player in the game. He won two championships that year, including a world championship, and has followed it up with three straight seasons of being the gold standard with consecutive world championship finals and an extra ring to his name.

Unless something goes seriously wrong, Simp, alongside his Atlanta FaZe teammates, will go down as the greatest to ever touch the game. His talent is second to none, and now he just needs to keep collecting the silverware that he’s already become so familiar with.

4. Damon ‘Karma’ Barlow

The first player to ever win three world championships, Karma’s career was one that can be matched by very few. Even now, two years after his retirement, there are always murmurings that players and teams would love to bring the Canadian star into their team.

Karma was the world’s greatest in his run on Fariko Impact and Complexity, winning the 2013 and 2014 world championships, before spearheading the dominant OpTic dynasty and winning it again in 2017. He won 24 total chips in his career, and was widely considered the GOAT before his career slowed at the start of the CDL.

3. James ‘Clayster’ Eubanks

Clayster, another three-time world champion and a name that has become as synonymous with Call of Duty esports as any other. His accolades are even more impressive when you consider the fact that he went on a 1,400-day championship drought between Advanced Warfare and Black Ops 4, with the later years of his career proving to be his most successful.

While Clay didn’t play the second half of the 2022 season, he hasn’t hung the sticks up yet, and any team looking for an AR player will have him high on their list of priorities going into Modern Warfare 2.

2. Seth ‘Scump’ Abner

Scump may not have the world championship rings that those around him on this list do — his sole win came in 2017 — but Scump is more than deserving of a spot right near the top.

He’s won 30 championships in his career and proudly boasts that he is the oldest SMG player in the league, still looking mighty impressive while doing it. He’s always been one of the most talented players to touch the game, and that’s not changed in well over a career. Being the Warzone Solo YOLO $100k champion doesn’t exactly hurt his resumé, either.

1. Ian ‘Crimsix’ Porter

One thing the community can almost unanimously agree on is that Crimsix is the GOAT. While he might not have the raw talent that the likes of Scump and Simp still do, he’s certainly no slouch on the sticks and none can question his winning mentality.

With 37 chips to his name, including three world championships, any team Crim is on is instantly looked at as a potential winner, and that doesn’t look likely to change any time soon.

Obviously, all of these are completely subjective. Someone who values world championships more may put Karma and Clayster above Scump, while others might argue to have Simp even higher based purely on how incredibly talented he is.

That said, these players are truly the cream of the crop, and it will be hard for anyone to knock those players off the top without a seriously dominant run — but the 2023 Modern Warfare 2 season could certainly see some movement, especially towards the bottom of the list.