League of Legends
League of Legends
2021 Worlds song released with “Burn It All Down” by PVRIS
Nicholas James
League of Legends’ annual Worlds song has been released, with the 2021 version being entitled “Burn It All Down.” The song features alternative-pop act PVRIS and is accompanied by an animated video featuring some of League of Legends esports’ most legendary players facing off using the abilities of their iconic champions. The greatest League of Legends showdown of their year begins with Play-Ins on October 5. https://youtu.be/1Z6CHioIn3s The stunning animated …
League of Legends
Who was Remilia? Remembering League of Legends’ first female pro
Nicholas James
Maria “Remilia” Creveling was League of Legends’ first female professional player. Remilia played support as a part of Renegades’ LCS roster and later served as a substitute player for FlyQuest. Maria sadly passed away in 2019, but left behind a legacy of breaking boundaries. Remilia made her name in League of Legends playing the support role, and is specifically known for her play on the champion Thresh. It’s pretty clear …
League of Legends
We explain the Neeko “Sho’ma” voice lines
Nicholas James
The term “Shoma” comes up time and time again in Neeko’s voice lines. She’s got plenty of mysterious soundbites, but this one in particular has interested players. What is this strange Sho’ma that Neeko keeps referencing, and why is it so important? In order to explain, we have to dive into Neeko’s lore. Shoma is actually properly spelled as Sho’ma and is intertwined with Neeko’s backstory. Neeko is a part-Vastayan …
League of Legends
Tyler1, Doublelift agree that top lane is LoL’s hardest role
William Davis
Shortly after famous streamer Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp reached Challenger by mainly playing mid lane, the discussion about the hardest role in the game came back to life. This happened after a clip went viral of Tyler1 comparing the mid and top lanes. In this clip, Tyler1 clearly states that he thinks the mid lane is way easier than top lane, which might be why the popular streamer reached challenger in …
League of Legends
Police arrest Challenger player at internet cafe in China
William Davis
A Chinese police officer recently made an unexpected arrest when he went with his friends to play at a local internet cafe. A report by Biajiahao from a week ago shows how policeman Zhang Yihao from Chongqing arrested a suspect at a Chinese internet cafe. The policeman was reportedly at the internet cafe to play some games with his friends before noticing that a wanted suspect was playing in that …
League of Legends
2021 European Masters Summer schedule, groups revealed
Tokoni Uti
Europe’s greatest stage for upcoming talent, the European Masters, is back for the summer split and is set to run from August 16 through September 19. The tournament begins with the play-in group stage from August 16 to 17, which will see 16 teams whittled down to eight. These eight will enter the play-in knockout stage on August 19, which will determine the four teams to play in the main …
League of Legends
The 2021 LCS Summer All-Pro teams have been revealed
William Davis
With the 2021 LCS Summer Split playoffs starting this weekend, the three All-Pro teams have just dropped and include players from a lot of different teams. The LCS has been unbelievably close this whole season, with five teams fighting for first place during the recent summer split. This is reflected in the All-Pro teams, with players from many different teams. included. TSM and 100 Thieves ultimately ended up securing the …
League of Legends
A pro League player was fined his salary for forgetting smite
William Davis
An unusual and unfortunate situation mistake by Victory Five jungler Peng “pzx” Zhan-Xiang in the Chinese LPL resulted in a bad loss in the team’s most recent match against Suning. The young jungler forgot to pick smite in the first match of the series, which ultimately had major consequences on Summoner’s Rift. Without the ability to smite camps, pzx fell behind in the early game and couldn’t help secure the …
These League of Legends champions still have broken hitboxes
William Davis
League of Legends
After 11 years, League of Legends still has a lot of questionable hitboxes on its champions, and some of the worst revolve around hooks and grabs. For years, players from all over the world have struggled with weird hitboxes in League of Legends and it has gotten to a point where it’s looking unlikely that it will ever be fully fixed. While develop Riot Games has worked on improving hitboxes …
Dardoch cut by Dignitas after incident, returns to free agency
William Davis
League of Legends
Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett is no longer a part of Dignitas after a year with the team. In a recent roster update, Dignitas announced that Dardoch is out. The veteran jungler was originally benched from the LCS roster in the middle of the LCS Summer Split’s third week. Dignitas has since used academy jungler Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham, who will also continue as the LCS starting jungler for Dignitas moving forward. Our …
New LoL champion Akshan teased with upcoming Ruination event
William Davis
League of Legends
League of Legends will be full of black mist and dark spirits in July as a brand new event is set to release on July 8. In a recent teaser by Riot Games, a first look at the upcoming Ruination event was provided. The event seems to have the moniker “Rise of the Sentinels,” which will start in July and likely run until the end of the month. From the …
The best and most fun ult combos in Ultimate Spellbook
William Davis
League of Legends
The newest League of Legends game mode, Ultimate Spellbook, is now live for testing on the PBE and players are already starting to find strong and fun new ultimate interactions. As the new game mode provides every player with an extra ultimate chosen from a select pool of champions, the game mode is completely different from the usual Summoner’s Rift experience. Not only is the pace much faster, but all …
Riot planning to release new LoL game mode Ultimate Spellbook
William Davis
League of Legends
A new League of Legends game mode will hit the Public Beta Environment (PBE) soon and it will have a new take on ultimates. The game mode is called Ultimate Spellbook and will take place on Summoner’s Rift, but with a few twists. First and foremost, the map will get a new look which will likely be the Ruination theme that data miners discovered recently on the PBE. On the …
Netflix gives sneak peek at League of Legends animated series Arcane
William Davis
League of Legends
Fans waiting in excitement for the Netflix League of Legends animated series Arcane just got an extended sneak peek to prepare for what is to come. The two-minute-long clip showcased Jinx and Vi, confirming that the two will be the main characters of the series. As two popular champions in the game with a lot of lore, it’s no surprise that the two sisters and their story are getting attention. …
Rift Herald refuse to complete its charge for DWG KIA at MSI 2021
William Davis
League of Legends
A rare Rift Herald bug had the match between DWG KIA and PSG Talon at the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational undergo a Chronobreak during the rumble stage. During the fourth day of the rumble stage at MSI 2021, a fairly rare Rift Herald bug happened after DWG KIA mid laner Heo “ShowMaker” Su tried to spawn it in the mid lane. Usually, the Rift Herald would charge the turret and grant …
League of Legends animated series Arcane coming to Netflix
William Davis
League of Legends
League of Legends fans have waited eagerly for the League of Legends animated series and it’s finally close. The animated series called Arcane will be coming this fall to Netflix. The series will be set in the League of Legends world and likely have a lot of well-known characters from the game in it. In a recent trailer, Netflix Geeked gave a little sneak peek of what’s in store but …
Tyler1 isn’t happy with the Heimerdinger nerfs in patch 11.9
William Davis
League of Legends
The most recent League of Legends patch 11.9 included an unexpected nerf to Heimerdinger, and popular streamer Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp isn’t happy about it. Tyler1 made his name as a Draven player but has picked up several unorthodox champions in recent years. One of them is Heimerdinger, who Tyler1 has been playing both on and off stream, but now a recent nerf might affect Heimerdinger’s viability. In patch 11.9, Riot …
LEC reportedly removing academy team requirement for 2022
William Davis
League of Legends
LEC teams might not be required to have an academy team starting from 2022. According to Dot Esports, LEC teams have voted against the rule of an obligatory academy team. Currently, all 10 LEC teams are required to have an academy team in the European Regional League ladder. According to the report, a total of nine votes were in favor of removing the rule while only one voted against it. …
Tyler1 sets deadlift record during Twitch Rivals powerlifting
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Twitch streamer Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp has proven that height doesn’t matter when it comes to powerlifting. With a mighty scream, Tyler1 lifted 550 pounds during Power Meet, a powerlifting competition organized through Twitch Rivals. This was a new deadlift record for the League of Legends personality, a great accomplishment for the event Tyler1 had organized himself. The chat went crazy after this impressive personal best, including viewers who don’t usually …
All the qualified teams for the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational
William Davis
League of Legends
The best teams from each region will soon compete at the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational in Reykjavík, Iceland. Here are all the qualified teams and the schedule for the tournament. With the spring playoffs being concluded throughout all of the biggest League of Legends regions, teams are starting to qualify for the upcoming MSI. Only the best team from each region will be able to participate, making the race for a …
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.
