League of Legends
League of Legends
LoL Patch 9.22 adds Senna, True Damage skins, nerfs power picks
William Davis
League of Legends Patch 9.22 is loaded and ready to go. Patch 9.22 is the final update before the end of the ranked season, currently scheduled for November 19. The most recent updates bring a new set of skins, changes to multiple champions, and the release of Senna. Senna the Redeemer is the newest champion in the League of Legends universe. Her release was announced through the 10 year celebration. …
League of Legends
Everything you need to know about TFT Set 2 in Patch 9.22
William Davis
Teamfight Tactics Set 2: Rise of the Elements is coming to the live server with Patch 9.22. It will mark the end of the ranked season and a new beginning for TFT players. Rise of the Elements is changing the game completely, starting with a new board and new synergies. Rise of Elements also brings more flexibility to the game. In Patch 9.21, there were only three truly effective compositions …
League of Legends
cvMax signs with Kingzone DragonX amid Griffin controversy
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
Griffin’s former League of Legends coach Kim “cvMax” Dae-ho has found a new spot in the scene with Kingzone DragonX. cvMax is the organization’s first League of Legends team member newly signed for the upcoming season. Kingzone DragonX announced on Twitter that cvMax is joining the team, saying he will be the one to guide the team to victory in 2020 and inviting their fans to support him on his new …
League of Legends
Only 3 players have a chance for perfect Worlds Pick’ems
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
From over four million players that participated in Worlds Pick’ems, there are only three left that still have a chance for a perfect score. With their final picks different, it’s now assured that at least one player will grab the Worlds 2019 perfect pick cache. Over a month after the first League of Legends 2019 Worlds Championship match was played, the tournament is finally coming close to an end. Only …
League of Legends
Invictus Gaming knocked out of LoL Worlds by FunPlus Phoenix
William Davis
FunPlus Phoenix is headed to the 2019 League of Legends World Championship finals after knocking out defending champion Invictus Gaming. The clash between LPL giants didn’t disappoint. The four-games series was one of the bloodiest of the tournament, averaging one kill per minute. IG and FunPlus are two of the LPL’s most recognizable brands and yet the teams couldn’t be more different. IG relies on strong individual efforts from its players, while …
League of Legends
Pick’ems predict iG and SKT advancing to 2019 Worlds finals
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
With the 2019 League of Legends World Championship coming to a close, only 34 Pick’ems still have a chance for perfect picks all-around. They predicted it will be Invictus Gaming and SK Telecom T1 that will be making it to the finals. The Worlds semifinals are here, and the four best teams in the world are left to fight for the Summoner’s Cup. Two LoL Pro League teams are first …
League of Legends
TSM Keane wins TFT Red Bull Rise of the Elements Invitational
William Davis
Team SoloMid’s Jang “Keane” Lae-young is the winner of the Red Bull Rise of the Elements Invitational. On October 31, TSM Keane became the champion of the first TFT invitational organized by developer Riot Games. The Korean player earned $15,000 and an exclusive commemorative jacket. The two-day tournament was the first official competition on TFT Set 2: Rise of the Elements, which included new origins and classes. The Red Bull …
League of Legends
LCS Scouting Grounds has rebranded as Honda Scouting Grounds
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
North American amateur event LCS Scouting Grounds has been rebranded as Honda Scouting Grounds. Car manufacturer Honda has been investing in esports since 2016, with the biggest feather in its cap being a partnership with Riot Games surrounding North America’s top League of Legends circuit. Three months ago, Honda became the first automotive brand sponsoring both a team and esports league in North America, by becoming the partner of the LCS and a …
URF patch brings first round of balance changes to the game mode
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Ultra Rapid Fire mode, or URF, is one of the most popular game modes in League of Legends. Due to its chaotic nature, Riot Games implemented a few balance updates for a smoother style of play. Many League players’ favorite game mode went live a few days ago. Riot’s technical game designer Geoff Marsi shared on Twitter that URF has been patched with a few balance changes on October 30. This …
TFT will get some new Freljord arena skins in Patch 9.22
William Davis
League of Legends
A new set of Teamfight Tactic arena skins is now available on the PBE and will soon be available for purchase on live servers. Teamfight Tactics might be the newest game mode in the League of Legends universe, but it has already become the first to have map skins. The new set includes three arena skins inspired by the Freljord region of Runeterra. Avarosa, Winter’s Claw, and Frostguard are the …
LoL Clash returns in December for final beta test before 2020
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games has announced a new edition of Clash, coming to all the regions in December. The tournament is coming back one more time in 2019. Riot Games will launch a global beta across all regions simultaneously to test Clash before its official launch in 2020. Through the year, Riot hosted 22 tournaments across 11 servers worldwide. Clash passed the test and Riot has deemed the tournament service as stable. …
EUW server hits new milestone in LoL ranked server populations
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
League of Legends is the most popular PC game in the world with around eight million concurrent players. Most of that playerbase comes from China, followed by Europe, Korea, and North America. Over 29 servers set in China through different internet service providers are home to over 120 million League accounts, and while it’s unclear how many of those accounts are ranked, it’s safe to say that Chinese servers are …
Riot shows True Damage Qiyana Prestige Edition by Luis Vuitton
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
Earlier this year Riot Games announced a partnership with Luis Vuitton for the 2019 League of Legends World Championship. One of the products of this partnership is True Damage Qiyana Prestige Edition, a new skin for the assassin. Qiyana’s prestige skin was designed by Louis Vuitton’s artistic director of women’s collections, Nicolas Ghesquière, who dressed her up in a classy outfit one would expect from such a prestigous brand. It’s …
League of Legends players can now play the classic URF mode
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
The long awaited,ultra rapid fire game mode, known as URF, is live in League of Legends for a limited time. League players were excited when Riot Games developers announced URF was coming back to the game. The limited game mode had been introduced during the 2014 April Fools event, but had since been altered to ARUF, a version that instead of letting players pick the champion they want would assign …
New LoL support champion Senna’s abilities revealed
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
League of Legends players have been excited about Senna’s release for the past few weeks. From accidental leaks and teases to an animated trailer, Senna’s hinted at in-game abilities are now clear to see. Senna is the first support marksman in League. After her soul was trapped in the Thresh’s lantern for years, Lucian finally found a way to save her, and she used the power of the Black Mist …
Riot reverses some jungle changes planned for new preseason
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games is preparing to tweak some additional aspects of the jungle once the new preseason period begins. League of Legends Season 9 is reaching its conclusion and that means big changes are on their way during the launch of the upcoming preseason. One meta feature that the balance teams are looking to change up is the current state of the jungle. “The balance between ganking and farming has been …
K/DA successor True Damage revealed, will perform at LoL Worlds 2019
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
After weeks of rumors, Riot Games has officially revealed its new League of Legends-themed virtual band, True Damage. The group is in the same vein as K/DA, the group comprised of champions Evelyn, Akali, Kai’sa, and Ahri. K/DA became an overnight sensation in 2018 with the song “POP/STARS.” Though Akali’s singer, Soyeon from (G)I-DLE, returns for True Damage, the rest of the lineup is new. “A collective of artists with …
How to play Garen and Yuumi in solo queue just like at Worlds
William Davis
League of Legends
Garen and Yuumi are an unexpected bottom lane duo that has recently taken over the competitive League of Legends scene. It was first played by Fnatic in the LEC Summer split and it quickly spread through the rest of the world’s regions. Similar to Sona and Taric, this new duo is hard to kill, which leads to a lot of frustration for the enemy team. Casual players would look at …
Details on Wukong’s new gameplay rework for Season 10
William Davis
League of Legends
The Monkey King Wukong will be receiving a much-needed update to his gameplay kit during the 2019 preseason. Wukong was released in July 2011 and his kit has remained largely unchanged outside of minor stat tweaks and bugfixes. The champion was a strong top laner during early seasons in both ranked and competitive play. But Wukong slowly became a less viable pick as League of Legends continued to evolve. Today …
Less than 0.001% players have chance for perfect Worlds Pick’em
Syed Mujtaba Naqvi
League of Legends
With the 2019 League of Legends World Championship quarterfinals finished, the semifinals stage is set for the four remaining teams. Fans have been trying their luck with Pick’ems, but very few still have a chance to get all possible points. Over 4.5 million League players and fans made their Worlds Pick’em predictions. From the play-ins to the semifinals, 24 teams participated in the tournament, and a large number of matches …
League of Legends
is among the most popular widely-played video games in the world. It has been a consistent trendsetter in the gaming industry, whether as a model for other free-to-play titles looking to monetize their players or as a guiding light for how professional esports can be both successful and sustainable.
It hasn’t always been so though. League of Legends was released in 2009 as an uncertain new project, a game with large aspirations but little proven. In the years since, it has developed into the dominant title that it is today, and one of the biggest games on the planet.
League of Legends drives success of MOBA genre
League of Legends stands out in part because it may arguably be the very first original game released to truly fit into what we now understand to be the increasingly
popular MOBA genre. Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas are a very particular type of game genre that carry out competition between two opposing teams of players on a map. These games test a mix of competition, tactics, and quick reactions, a potent combination that has proven equal parts popular and durable over the years.
While League of Legends was certainly among the first full releases to focus on the genre and its new ideas, it wasn’t actually the origin point for any of it. That distinction belongs to
Blizzard release WarCraft 3,
and more specifically a modified game mode titled
Defense of the Ancients.
WarCraft 3 was a real-time strategy game that featured prominent hero units who could gain in power as they accrued experience points to level up their abilities, and gold to purchase powerful items. Defense of the Ancients was a
user-made game mode
which emphasized these heroes by giving each player control over one such character and teaming them up against an opposing squad of players. It was a dynamite success, inspiring myriad clones and, eventually, an entire genre of games.
But while League of Legends wasn’t the first to bring about these concepts, it was certainly
effective in executing on them. Early developers at publisher Riot Games had a clear idea of what they wanted to accomplish with the creation of League of Legends, and it would be hard to argue against their success given the runaway popularity achieved by their iteration on the MOBA formula.
LoL incorporates esports sustainably
Just as impressive as the long-term success of League of Legends as a game is the continued success of the title’s esports scene. While esports has known multiple peaks and valleys over the years, Riot Games has consistently managed to maintain the prominence of LoL esports. This has been accomplished through an emphasis on
regular regional play
and
sustainability.
Most esports and competitive games at the time used a circuits system, scattering major tournaments for the best teams across the year. Instead, Riot divided the world into separate playing regions. Each region has its own
competitive league
in which the best professional teams play weekly. The best teams in each league are then brought together for an
annual World Championship event
at the end of the competitive year. This allowed for domestic fan followings to develop across such regions as
Korea,
China,
Europe, and
North
and
South America. Fans would closely follow the teams in their region, and from that familiarity would feel invested in cheering them on when they clashed with teams from other regions at the game’s biggest international event.
This basic blueprint has continued to prove successful for Riot Games over the years, though it has expanded and been modified with time. In response to the success of the World Championship, Riot introduced a second international tournament in 2015, the prestigious
Mid-Season Invitational. In 2025,
First Stand
was added to bring LoL esports to three international events per year. Once again the scene was enhanced and this indirectly expanded the opportunities for
League of Legends esports betting. In the meantime, the regional leagues have spread out to include
more regions and lower levels, solidifying their identity.
The basic formula remains the same, however.
Encourage fan support on a domestic level, and then carry that support and interest over to
the global stage. It’s a formula that continues to power League of Legends esports, and looks set to enable it for many years yet to come.
At Win.gg, our coverage of LoL esports spans from the broader competitive updates and their impact on the scene to in-depth high-profile match previews with team analysis, head-to-head analysis,
LoL betting odds
sense-makers and predictions. All of these based on the insights of our experienced esports journalists.
