League of Legends
League of Legends
T1 vs. KT Rolster: 2022 LCK Spring betting analysis
William Davis
The telecom war is back in the LCK when first-place team T1 takes on KT Rolster during the fifth week of the 2022 LCK Spring Split. It will be an uphill battle when KT faces off against the undefeated T1 for the first time this season. T1 will be entering the best-of-three match with loads of confidence after achieving an 8-0 record so far this split. KT is sitting at …
League of Legends
Teamfight Tactics: Neon Nights finalized, patch notes revealed
Nicholas James
Teamfight Tactics: Neon Nights is now ready for launch. Neon Nights will launch with patch 12.4, the same patch that brings Renata Glasc to League of Legends. A Teamfight Tactics developer revealed the changes that are coming to the PBE in the near future. The final patch includes tweaks to both Neon Nights’ new champions as well as many of the new Hextech Augments. The Hextech Augment system has been …
League of Legends
Riot introduces new buzzing skins on PBE for Ziggs, Nunu, more
William Davis
New buzzing skins for League of Legends have just hit the Public Beta Environment (PBE), as Riot Games is releasing a new batch of popular bee skins. The new round of skins will include four new cosmetics, with Ziggs, Heimerdinger, Nunu, and Orianna taking the spotlight this time around. All four champions have transitioned into their own bee theme and will without a doubt sting their opponents when entering Summoner’s …
League of Legends
Huge Spirit Visage bug prevents tons of healing in LoL
Nicholas James
A fan discovered a massive Spirit Visage bug in League of Legends where the item refuses to amplify healing from Omnivamp. Spirit Visage is a much-coveted magic resistance item that amplifies healing and shielding effects on the user. One of the most popular uses is to play it on life-stealing bruisers to make them into nearly unkillable monsters, but this Spirit Visage bug prevents that. A post on Reddit garnered …
League of Legends
Bjergsen tops Doublelift, hits 2nd in all-time LCS kill count
William Davis
The Danish LCS legend and Team Liquid mid laner Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg surpassed a big milestone after beating FlyQuest in the LCS. Bjergsen and Liquid closed out the second week of the 2022 LCS Spring Split with a convincing win over FlyQuest. This didn’t only put Liquid on a 3-1 record in the standings but also saw Bjergsen reach second place for most all-time kills in the LCS at a …
League of Legends
How does Riot Games release a new LoL champion?
Nicholas James
Creating a champion for League of Legends is incredibly difficult, but how does Riot Games release a new playable character? Recently, Riot Games put out a developer blog detailing exactly what it takes to put together a new champion and introduce them to fans. From reworks to brand new characters, how does Riot Games release a champion? The birth of a champion is an incredibly complex process, involving gameplay, design, …
League of Legends
What does Legends of Runeterra tell us about Udyr’s new rework?
Nicholas James
Fans have gotten their first look at a new version of League of Legends’ spirit walker with a Legends of Runeterra Udyr adaptation being revealed. Udyr is the next champion to be reworked in League of Legends by Riot Games. Keen-eyed fans will notice that the Legends of Runeterra Udyr looks quite different from both the rework previews and his current model. Why does Udyr look so different in Legends …
League of Legends
Smite solo laners expand to Poppy and Bard, and this is why
Nicholas James
Smite solo laners have been taking League of Legends by storm by abusing the new objective bounty system. Originating with Janna top players that took Smite and fully abandoned their top lanes, the strategy has hit pro play and is already showing more options to be viable beyond Janna. Both Bard and Poppy were picked in professional leagues recently, with both picks taking home wins using the top smite strategy.. …
How good are Riot Games employees at LoL and TFT?
Nicholas James
League of Legends
With incredibly complex games being built by the studio, it’s easy to wonder how good Riot Games employees are at League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics? Recently, Teamfight Tactics lead developer Stephen “Mortdog” Mortimer hit the highest possible rank of Challenger. In a developer blog post, he spoke about the expectation for developers to be able to play their games at the top level. Does it matter how good Riot …
Former DRX LCK coach sues organization for improper firing
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Former DRX LCK coach Jeong-soo “Kim” Kim is suing the organization for improper termination. Following a poor start to the split, coach Kim was dismissed from DRX seemingly suddenly. After his dismissal from the organization, contextual clues seemed to point to there being more to the dismissal than internal synergy issues. Coach Kim’s dismissal came after DRX’s disappointing 0-3 start to the 2022 LCK split. Marksman player and bottom lane …
Team Liquid vs. FlyQuest: 2022 LCS Spring betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2022 LCS Spring Split is entering its second week and will bring a matchup between the LCS Lock In champion Team Liquid and league underdog FlyQuest. After being knocked out by Liquid in the LCS Lock In quarterfinals, FlyQuest is back this week to get its revenge. The team had a perfect 2-0 start to the split last week, taking down both Counter Logic Gaming and Golden Guardians. Liquid …
Team Vitality vs. Fnatic: 2022 LEC Spring betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
The fifth week of the 2022 LEC Spring Split will end with a bang as two regional giants Team Vitality and Fnatic will clash on Summoner’s Rift. What better way to finish off the LEC week than with potentially the most anticipated matchup based on the individual players on each team. The two star-packed rosters will face off for the second time this split after Fnatic came out on top …
LoL caster Sjokz returns to LEC after contract dispute
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Eefje “Sjokz” Deeportere will be back on the LEC desk this week, and many fans are happy about it. After a temporary absence due to continuing negotiations with the LEC, Sjokz is slated to once again be hosting the LEC. She was not present during the LEC’s third week of play but seems to have worked out an amicable solution with the European broadcast. Sjokz’s temporary absence appears to have …
How to play Renata Glasc, LoL’s new support champion
Nicholas James
League of Legends
League of Legends’ new support is arriving next patch, here’s how to play Renata. Renata has been making the rounds on the Public Beta Environment as players figure out the best ways to build and pilot the Chem-Baroness herself. From items to runes to abilities, here’s how to play Renata best as a support. Renata is meant to be a support, with several abilities that dramatically increase in value when …
LEC teams returning to Berlin studio for week 5 play
William Davis
League of Legends
The LEC is slowly getting back to normal as LEC teams will return to live play from the studio starting in week five. The news was revealed by the LEC, who stated that the upcoming week 5 of the 2022 spring split will “welcome back teams competing in games 1 and 5 to the LEC main stage.” As with other splits since 2020, the 2022 LEC Spring Split has been …
Jankos celebrates his 500th game in the LEC
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Marcin “Jankos” Jankowski is a veteran of the LEC, and his victory this weekend marked his 500th LEC game. Jankos’ career is the longest career in the LEC today, topping other founding figures like Martin “Rekkles” Larsson. Jankos continues to be one of the best players in his role while outlasting many of his peers. The road to Jankos’ 500th game began with his run on Roccat in the EU …
Evil Geniuses vs. Dignitas: 2022 LCS Spring betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
The second week of the 2022 LCS Spring Split will kick off with a match between undefeated team Dignitas and LCS Lock In finalists Evil Geniuses. After a great start to the spring split last week, Dignitas will look to keep its winning streak alive by taking down one of the best teams in the LCS. The opponent is EG, who recently played in the LCS Lock In final but …
Riot looks to kill support top laners in LoL patch 12.4
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Riot Games is looking to head off the growing trend of support top laners in League of Legends patch 11.24. The strategy of support top laners, which sees them build gold by harassing enemies with Spellthief’s Edge and then abandon their lane, was sure to gain the developer’s attention. Riot is looking to address this abuse of the bounty system in the game’s upcoming patch. Utility and support champions in …
Jatt brings back the JLXP podcast for LCS’ week one
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Joshua “Jatt” Leesman is bringing back the JLXP podcast for the LCS’ first week of play. Jatt’s absence from the LCS broadcast and entertainment space has been marked by fans during his recent time coaching Team Liquid’s LCS roster. His personal content creation venture in the JLXP podcast has made its return with the LCS beginning its spring split. Jatt is easily one of the most well-recognized and well-respected personalities …
What is Trash Talk? Doublelift, Caedrel, and LS start podcast
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Ex-professional League of Legends player Peng “Doublelift” Yilang has started a new podcast with Cloud9 coach Nick “LS” DeCesare and LEC analyst Marc “Caedrel” Lamong called Trash Talk. Doublelift, Caedrel, and LS have all been in the community spotlight in recent months for varyious reasons. All three are now joining together on a podcast that offers years of professional experience inside the scene and potentially valuable insights. The Trash Talk …
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.
