League of Legends
League of Legends
New Wild Rift legendary skins, Sett being released
Nicholas James
The latest Wild Rift skins for three separate champions have been revealed. Support Thresh, baron laner Darius, and mid laner Lux will be the newest champions to get updated cosmetics, with some of the best League of Legends skins for each of them getting imported to Wild Rift. Dunkmaster Darius is one of the community favorite Darius skins, bringing a basketball spin to the brutal Noxian warrior. From flaming basketballs …
League of Legends
Teamfight Tactics patch 12.1 shaking up meta with nerfs to 5-cost champions
Nicholas James
Teamfight Tactics patch 12.1 is here and will look to shake up the meta that has formed over the holidays. Patch 12.1 targets the best 5-cost champions, Socialite, and a bunch of traits for nerfs. Meanwhile Swain, Seraphine, Caitlyn, Imperial, Yordle, and Innovator are all getting buffs next to some underperforming augments. The Teamfight Tactics metagame has become increasingly stale over the balance hiatus during the holidays and patch 12.1 …
League of Legends
Wild Rift leaks say Ornn, Taliyah, Kindred, more coming
Nicholas James
Rumors are circulating about four or five champions who might be arriving in Wild Rift from League of Legends. According to a variety of Wild Rift content creators and community personalities, Taliyah, Ornn, Aatrox, Yuumi, and possibly Kindred could soon be making their way to Wild Rift. These champions would fill out enough of Wild Rift’s release schedule to cover the next several months, should the rumors prove true. The …
League of Legends
Patch 12.1 preview shows Gangplank buffs, teleport changes
Nicholas James
The first League of Legends patch of 2022 is coming down the line, and the patch preview is pointing to Gangplank buffs as one of the key features. Patch 12.1 will arrive later today. Patch 12.1 will also bring changes to the Teleport spell that have been controversial among fans. The new version of Teleport has limited uses before 14 minutes when turret plates fall off. These changes will precede …
League of Legends
Every team’s roster for the upcoming 2022 LPL Spring Split
William Davis
The best League of Legends league in China, the LPL, is revving up for the 2022 Spring Split and it will once again feature 17 stacked rosters. The 2022 LPL Spring Split will feature a slew of roster changes, and also changes to the teams. For 2022, several teams have rebranded and will play under new names. Furthermore, a brand new competitor will be ready to debut with Weibo Gaming …
League of Legends
League of Legends fan makes Teemo-themed boba tea
Nicholas James
Many top lane players have enjoyed getting fed off a Teemo, but a League of Legends fan has given that phrase new meaning with Teemo boba tea.A YouTube video of a fan-made boba tea themed around Teemo, complete with mushroom-shaped bobas, is making the rounds and has people talking. Turning one of the game’s most notorious champions’ abilities into an adorable edible bead went over swimmingly with fans. The YouTube …
League of Legends
Doublelift doubles down on Chemtech Drake criticisms
Nicholas James
Ex-LCS marksman player Peng “Doublelift” Yilang recently explained his thoughts about the latest dragon to sweep down onto Summoner’s Rift, the Chemtech Drake. Doublelift said that the Chemtech Drake’s region of camouflage feels like League of Legends developer Riot Games was more occupied with making a unique feature than a fun or balanced one. Doublelift is the latest of many professional players to criticize Chemtech Drake’s rift effect. On a …
League of Legends
The River may be changing all of your skill shots in LoL
William Davis
Broken hitboxes have been a problem in League of Legends for years and now a new issue has presented itself. In a recent video by YouTuber Vandiril, it’s showcased just how broken hitboxes can be when shooting skill shots from the River. In the video, it’s shown how skill shots such as Jhin’s Deadly Flourish (W) and Nidalee’s Javelin Toss (Q) hits targets in very mysterious ways when being shot …
Riot deletes voice chat tweet after fan backlash
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Riot Games posted a tweet yesterday joking about players not using voice chat during ranked games. The tweet was quickly deleted after fans, former Rioters, and community members took umbrage with the tone of the post. Between toxicity in Valorant voice chat alongside a $100 million settlement for gender discrimination, League of Legends’ decade-long lack of team-wide voice communication, and the difficulty of implementing these systems, there were plenty of …
JD Gaming signs Hope as its new bot laner for 2022 LPL
William Davis
League of Legends
JD Gaming has completed its 2022 LPL roster after signing former EDward Gaming bot laner Wang “Hope” Jie. With the 2022 LPL Spring Split start just around the corner, JDG has completed its star-studded roster with a bit of the wild card for the bot lane. The team’s bot laner will be the 21-year-old player Hope, who joins the team after four years under the EDG banner. Hope has had …
Why is Zven not playing for Cloud9 in the LCS?
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen, the former superstar European AD carry player, is signed to Cloud9 but won’t be playing any games at the LCS or Academy levels. Zven has been officially announced as a part of the Cloud9 Academy team, but is conspicuously missing from the roster that was later shown. Why is Zven going to be playing all of Cloud9 Academy’s scrims, but none of their stage games? The answer …
How to claim the LoL January Prime Gaming rewards
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Prime Gaming’s monthly rewards for League of Legends players have come around yet again, with free skins, Riot Points, and more for those that have an Amazon Prime account. Here’s what January’s Prime Gaming rewards will get you and how to claim them to ring in the new year with some new cosmetics. January’s Prime Gaming rewards include 650 Riot Points, one 1350 Riot Point Skin Permanent, 200 Orange Essence, …
LPL 2022 Spring Split schedule revealed with Uzi’s return date
Nicholas James
League of Legends
China’s LPL has become League of Legends’ best region in recent years, ending Korea’s dominance with victories from Invictus Gaming, FunPlus Phoenix, and EDward Gaming. The LPL will return to play in January, with some absolutely massive changes. Legendary players return, franchise names depart their organizations, and it promises to be as bloody as ever. The LPL will resume play in 2022 beginning on January 10th, as it announced on …
NEACE responds to coaching criticism from G2 Nelson
Nicholas James
League of Legends
League of Legends content creator, Challenger player, and coach NEACE has responded to criticisms of his coaching pricing from professional coaches and community figures. G2 Esports’ LEC strategic Coach Sng “Nelson” Yi-Wei took to Twitter to criticize the pricing of Neace’s coaching rates. While some community members agreed with Nelson, others have come to NEACE’s defense against the accusations of improper pricing. NEACE made a video addressing Nelson and other …
Study shows League, Dota 2 players are smarter than FPS players
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
Skills in certain video game genres can be indicative of intelligence, a proof of concept study suggests. Ethan Mollick, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, recently researched how video game skills in business students align with performance in classes. To test this, he used the game Sid Meier’s Civilization V, a competitive game where players look to conquer the world in one of a variety of different ways. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_4oiDQ5b9Y …
Here are the rosters for the 2022 LCS Spring Split
William Davis
League of Legends
A new season in the LCS is about to unfold, starting with the 2021 LCS Lock-In tournament which kicks off on January 14. In the LCS Lock In, and the two splits following that, the 10 best League of Legends teams from North America will duke it out for glory. Just as any other new season, a lot of changes have been made over the course of the offseason months …
All rosters for the 2022 LEC Spring Split
William Davis
League of Legends
The upcoming 2022 LEC Spring Split is only a few weeks away and a lot of prominent rosters will be hitting the Rift. After a well-deserved break, the best European League of Legends league will return on January 14. The LEC will once again host the 10 best teams that Europe has to offer, this time with new blood in the mix. For the first time, Team BDS will be …
League of Legends fan makes custom Tyler1 Doctor Mundo skin
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp has already been called the face of League of Legends streaming many times before, but a fan’s new Tyler1 Doctor Mundo skin takes that title to a new level. Youtuber “A Wild Udyr” released a video showing Tyler1 as League of Legends’ resident insane self-labeled physician, Doctor Mundo. From his signature tank top to a fanny pack full of Bloodrush, this adaptation of Tyler1 is equal parts …
LCK 2022 spring split schedule, DWG and T1 highlight
Nicholas James
League of Legends
The schedule for the LCK’s 2022 spring split has been released, with a full itinerary of matches already scheduled. The first matches will take place on January 1st, 2022 with both DragonX and T1 playing on that first day. From there, the schedule remains relatively normal throughout 2022 and will be familiar to long-time LCK fans. During regular play the LCK will run from Wednesdays to Sundays of any given …
Former world champion FPX GimGoon retires
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Former Worlds winner Kim “GimGoon” Han-saem has announced his retirement from professional League of Legends. GimGoon was a member of the first LPL team to win Worlds, playing top lane as a South Korean import for the Chinese organization FunPlus Phoenix. GimGoon was known as the “Weak Side King” for his ability to play top lane with nearly no attention from his teammates. GimGoon was sadly unable to find another …
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.
