League of Legends
League of Legends
This Neeko rework interaction can kill her instantly
Nicholas James
The new Neeko rework allows her to turn into minions, monsters, wards, traps, and more, and it has some pretty hilarious consequences. The new Neeko rework has hugely reworked her shapeshifting passive. It used to be that Neeko could disguise herself as members of her own team, but it’s become much more complicated than that. With the new rework on PBE, Neeko has become able to transform into allied minions, …
League of Legends
The next TFT set is being teased in-game
Nicholas James
As Teamfight Tactics: Glitched Out is wrapping up, the next TFT set is going to be teased in-game for TFT fans to speculate about. In a developer blog posted earlier today, Riot Games announced the details of this set’s For Fun patch. The For Fun patch is a staple of Teamfight Tactics, adding wacky features to the game before the next set arrives. This has been going on since TFT’s …
League of Legends
Riot Games announces Worlds Pass 2023 full of rewards
Nicholas James
Riot Games has confirmed that a new type of event reward is coming, with a Worlds Pass packed with rewards for fans of League of Legends and its esports scene. Riot Games recently revealed its upcoming plans to support, grow, and monetize the League of Legends esports space after the departure of Counter-Logic Gaming and the rumored closure of TSM’s esports presence. During this, Riot Games announced a brand new …
League of Legends
A full guide for how to play Twitch in Wild Rift
Nicholas James
Everyone’s favorite poisonous rodent Twitch is coming to Wild Rift, here’s a guide on how to play League of Legends’ resident sewer rat to his best. Twitch is a Dragon lane carry, or an AD carry in League of Legends terms, built to carry entire games on his own with levels and items under his belt. Twitch is a low-mobility attack damage carry with tons of damage and useful invisibility. …
League of Legends
Is The Mageseeker a roguelike? The game’s genre explained
William Davis
The Mageseeker: A League of Legends Story is the newest game by Riot Forge in collaboration with Digital Sun. Some fans are wondering, is The Mageseeker a roguelike? We have all the information you need about the game, including its genre. The Mageseeker is the third game released by Riot Games’ publishing label Riot Forge. Like Hextech Mayhem and Ruined King, The Mageseeker was developed by a third-party company instead …
League of Legends
How good is The Mageseeker Steam Deck performance?
Nicholas James
The new Riot Forge game, The Mageseeker, is out on Steam Deck, but how good is the performance? Riot Forge is a publishing effort by League of Legends developer Riot Games to help other studios produce games in the world of League of Legends. The Mageseeker is a 2D action-adventure game that follows the story of Mageseeker-turned-revolutionary Sylas. There are a wide variety of ways to play The Mageseeker, but …
League of Legends
The Neeko rework lets her become jungle monsters
Nicholas James
The midscope update for League of Legends’ resident shapeshifter is getting some wild new abilities. Here’s what’s changing in the Neeko rework. Neeko has long needed a rework in League of Legends, under-filling her fantasy of shapeshifting and ambushing enemies. Riot Games has finally published the new Neeko rework’s abilities on the Public Beta Environment, and it’s as crazy as promised. In previous conversations about Mid-Scope Updates, Riot Games said …
League of Legends
This LoL pro emotes to help win games, here’s how
Nicholas James
League of Legends is a mechanically complex game, but one LoL pro took it to the next level by using emotes to detect if enemies can see him. League of Legends has all sorts of ways to optimize gameplay and find clever strategies to beat your opponents. Most of these are about in-game techniques, but a new way to figure out critical information was revealed by a Chinese pro player. …
C9 Berserker leaks LCS import rule changes
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Cloud9’s LCS AD carry player, Kim “Berserker” Min-Cheol appears to have leaked changes to the LCS import rule that could change the league forever. Currently, the North American professional League of Legends circuit has had a restriction on how many non-resident players were able to play on one roster. Right now, that limit is set to two players from other regions, with some exceptions for players from developing leagues. According …
All the info on the possible Freljord hunter champion
Nicholas James
League of Legends
A new Freljord hunter champion is rumored to be the next playable character released after the current batch that has already been announced. According to content creator Big Bad Bear, the next unannounced champion has been leaked ahead of their arrival to live servers. The next three champions have already been previewed in previously-released Champion Roadmaps. The next champion will be Naafiri, a Darkin assassin, followed by a vampiric jungler …
Bjergsen gave 1-hour notice to 100T, says Nadeshot
Nicholas James
League of Legends
100 Thieves’ LCS roster was recently rocked by the retirement of its midlaner Soren “Bjergsen” Bjerg, who founder Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag says gave the company a mere one hour’s notice ahead of his retirement. In a recent episode of the 100 Thieves Cast, the founder of the esports organization spoke on Bjergsen’s retirement and his disappointment with how it went. According to Nadeshot, he had approximately a one-hour heads-up before …
What the LCS commissioner resigning means for LCS
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Fans of the North American professional League of Legends circuit were surprised to hear of the LCS commissioner resigning, but what does that mean for the LCS? LCS commissioner Jackie Felling has announced her retirement from League of Legends esports in order to prioritize her health. Felling joined as the Head of League of Legends Esports NA & LCS Commissioner in January of 2022 and has served as the leader …
Kog’Maw passive will get its first buff since Season 1
Nicholas James
League of Legends
League of Legends is getting a historical first, as next patch brings the first Kog’Maw passive buff since the champion’s release 13 years ago. Kog’Maw is one of the oldest champions in the game, being released in Season 1 on Patch 1.0.0.94. Since then, he has never once received a buff to his passive. Kog’Maw’s passive allows him to run around after dying before exploding for AoE damage. However, it’s …
C9 Fudge leaks LoL format changes and international events for 2024
William Davis
League of Legends
Cloud9 top laner Ibrahim “Fudge” Allami might have leaked the format changes coming to the LoL competitive scene in 2024. On a recent episode of Hotline League, Fudge started the conversation by asking the host, Travis Gafford, if he heard anything about three international tournaments. Gafford then clarified that he asked Fudge to feed him the line so he could go ahead with the leak. According to Gafford, all leagues …
Popular LoL streamer Thebausffs banned for 1/17 Rammus game
Nicholas James
League of Legends
League of Legends streamer Simon “Thebausffs” Hofverberg was banned after a particularly poor game, here’s how a bad Rammus game got Thebausffs banned. Thebausffs is a streamer known for a high-death playstyle, especially on his signature champion, Sion. However, that playstyle has led to him getting temporarily banned from playing League of Legends several times. Recently, he added yet another notch in the history of unfortunate games leading to Riot …
The LCK may be implementing a salary cap due to financial woes
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
The LCK may be facing enough financial troubles to implement a salary cap, reports say. Korean gaming publication Inven recently reported that South Korea’s League of Legends competition might require that all 10 teams implement a salary cap. The article reads that the LCK teams are allegedly in agreement after a discussion about wage costs pointed to the salaries “soaring exponentially.” The LCK is one of the most competitive esports …
How to fix the critical error in League of Legends
William Davis
League of Legends
If you have played League of Legends for long enough, chances are you have encountered more than one bug or error. A critical error in League of Legends might happen, and here is how you can fix it. The League of Legends client is notorious for the ever-growing list of bugs and errors you can encounter. It can break out of the blue without a reason. The good news is …
Cloud9 is the 2023 LCS Spring split champion
William Davis
League of Legends
Cloud9 is the 2023 LCS Spring split champion. The team defeated Golden Guardians to earn back-to-back titles. Cloud9 remains the undisputed LCS champion and is now heading to the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational as the number-one team in North America. The road to finals was an easy one for Cloud9. The defending champion finished the regular season in the first place, only dropping four matches, one of them against Golden Guardians. …
This LoL bug turns champions tiny
Nicholas James
League of Legends
League of Legends has been home to some pretty goofy bugs, but one that turns champions absolutely tiny is one of the wackiest. Have you ever wanted to know what a certain champion would look like if they were reduced to the size of a mini-Krug? Well luckily you can do just that — it only requires two specific champions to be in the game. Here’s how this LoL bug …
Legendary LCS star Bjergsen retires from esports after 11 years
William Davis
League of Legends
LCS star Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg announced he is retiring from the competitive League of Legends. After 11 years in the competitive scene, Bjergsen is retiring from the esports space. The mid laner announced his retirement through his personal YouTube channel. Bjergsen first joined the scene in 2012 when he played for Western Wolves. In 2013, Bjergsen joined TSM, marking the beginning of a long and successful career in North America. …
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.
