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Tolkien’s going to be near the top of this list: his stories were essentially a side effect of his world building, itself a side effect of his language building.
Eddings’ Belgariad (etc) had a brilliant world, the story came naturally out of the world, rather than merely being situated in it.
Herbert, Frank: none of his stories do any world building. You’re just supposed to get a glimpse of it from the stories.
Dune has loads of world building, what are you talking about? Do you not know anything of Fremen culture? Anything of the structure of the empire? The guild and its navigators?
I was thinking of his other works like BuSab, Void.
For Dune, there is a very complex world, but the reader only gets the minimum necessary exposure to it. There’s no explanation for how the major powers came about, they just are, ditto for what the Holtzman filed/effect is, how a no-ship works, etc. There’s no history/explanation of what the Butlerian Jihad was, just it’s long term effects.
Don’t get me wrong, I love his style of storytelling, Dune is my all time favorite series of books. That why I listed him in a list of the best.
I think that’s also the best world building. I just want to read the story, I don’t need or want to read some nerd’s Wikipedia article about the story!
I think the only other Herbert novel I’ve read is The Green Brain which I can’t even remember to comment on though.
The Green Brain was… weird, even for Herbert: humans attempt to eradicate all insect life on earth, insect life fights back and evolves a super hive mind.
Xanth. I mean the puns alone. Seriously though. Tolkein wrote languages and the mythology of his world without real intent for readers to read it. Just to flesh out how people thought and how the world worked.
J.R.R. Tolkien by a furlong
Robert Jordan wheel of time?
Adrian Tchaikovsky does a fantastic job of world building.
He has several different series going, and each one is unique.
The Tyrant Philosophers books are completely different than the Children of Time.
I agree with so many of the comments, but I gotta include Sanderson, especially the world Roshar in his Stormlight books. Multiple cultures spanning 10,000 years with cool plants, animals, weather, and magic that are all connected. Say what you want about his writing or books 4/5 (I don’t have issue with either but lots of people do), I think the worldbuilding is top-notch.