League of Legends
League of Legends
Dardoch cut by Dignitas after incident, returns to free agency
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
Watch this 1% health Tahm Kench defeat a full health Riven 1v1
William Davis
An epic battle between a Tahm Kench and Riven recently went viral in the League of Legends community, as Tahm Kench managed to come out victorious after starting the fight at extremely low health. The fight started after Tahm Kench exited a separate skirmish where he came out with just a sliver of health remaining after taking down the enemy Talon. As he thought he was safe, the enemy Riven …
League of Legends
G2 Esports vs. Fnatic: 2021 LEC Summer betting analysis
William Davis
A classic banger is about to get underway during the 2021 LEC Summer Split week 3 when G2 Esports clash with Fnatic. After a solid start to the summer split from both teams, it’s time for the two old kings of Europe to face off on Summoner’s Rift. G2 is currently topping the leaderboard with a 4-1 record alongside Misfits Gaming after a recent three-game winning streak. Fnatic has won …
League of Legends
100 Thieves vs. Cloud9: 2021 LCS Summer betting analysis
William Davis
Cloud9 will try to rebound in the 2021 LCS Summer Split after a rough series of losses, and their next opponent will be 100 Thieves. Two teams at the top of the standings will fight to get one step closer at catching up to TSM in first place. Cloud9 will enter the week after three tough losses in a row while 100 Thieves is riding on a wave of momentum …
Reports say Jatt to be removed as Team Liquid head coach
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
The League of Legends community has been buzzing after Cloud9 streamer Christian “IWillDominate” Rivera tweeted that Joshua “Jatt” Leesman has resigned from his position as Team Liquid’s head coach. IWillDominate notes that the decision was “forced,” and not up to the coach. Since I don’t think I made it obvious enough I’ve heard from multiple sources Jatt has resigned from Team Liquid’s head coaching position (presumably forced). — Christian Rivera …
The OP Ryze-Zhonya combo is back in LoL and no one knows why
William Davis
League of Legends
A Ryze combo that was removed back in 2018 has suddenly made its return with League of Legends patch 11.13 and it’s hard to figure out why that is. In a recent video, it was discovered that the infamous Ryze-Zhonya Hourglass combo is back in the game. What doesn’t make sense is how it’s back, as Ryze nor Zhonya’s have seen any changes in the recent patch 11.13. This likely …
Cloud9 bring back Zven to LCS roster for summer split’s week 4
William Davis
League of Legends
Cloud9 will be bringing back bot laner Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen as the starting bot laner for the fourth week of the 2021 LCS Summer Split. After benching Zven shortly after the 2021 Mid-Season Invitational in favor of Academy bot laner Calvin “k1ng” Truong, the Danish star player will now be back on Summoner’s Rift to help Cloud9 turn things around in the LCS. The defending champion owns a 4-5 record …
The LEC Summer Split tournament – All you need to know
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2021 LEC Summer Split will begin on June 11 with 10 teams competing to take home the trophy and punch a ticket to Worlds 2021. The 2021 LEC Spring Split saw MAD Lions come out on top, leaving former champion G2 Esports in the dust. The upcoming event gives the defending champions and other teams a few weeks to prepare, but it’s still a good time to look ahead …
Here are the new Ruined and Sentinel skins for League of Legends
William Davis
League of Legends
League of Legends fans better prepare their wallets because a bunch of new Sentinel skins and a single skin for the Ruined skin line is about to drop. Shortly after the reveal of the upcoming Rise of the Sentinels event, Riot has revealed a total of six new skins that will come along with it. The event is in the Ruination theme and revolves around the dark forces from the …
SK Gaming adds Lilipp as new support, Jesiz returns as coach
William Davis
League of Legends
The start of the 2021 LEC Summer Split has been rough for SK Gaming, but now changes are being made to stabilize the team’s performance. After playing with head coach Jesse “Jesiz” Le as support for the first two weeks of the new split, SK is now promoting Phillip “Lilipp” Englert from SK Gaming Prime as the starting support from week 3. This still leaves Erik “Treatz” Wessén in the …
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 …
These are the best champions for Nexus Blitz in LoL season 11
William Davis
League of Legends
Nexus Blitz has returned to League of Legends during the PROJECT: Bastion event, and some champions are performing better than others in the action-packed game mode. With only a little time left in Nexus Blitz, players have to grind some last games before the game mode will once again retire. While Riot will likely bring Nexus Blitz back at some point, it’s unknown how long it will be until then. …
How to beat Team Rocket leader Arlo in Pokémon GO
William Davis
League of Legends
Some of the toughest battles in Pokémon GO are when trainers are fighting the Team Rocket leaders. These battles will give the best rewards but also the biggest challenge for your Pokémon. To come out victorious, it’s important to keep track of which Pokémon the different leaders are using and learn how to counter them. One of the three Team Rocket leaders is Arlo, who is usually one of the …
Uzi will potentially try out for pro teams going into 2022
William Davis
League of Legends
One of the best players in the history of League of Legends might be making his return in the upcoming season. It’s been more than a year since former RNG bot laner Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao announced his retirement due to health issues. Since then, Uzi has been pursuing streaming and content creation. But the former star bot laner might be missing the competitive side of League of Legends. In a …
T1 Keria picked Lee Sin support for the first time in over 2700 days
William Davis
League of Legends
A very unusual pick occurred in the LCK today after T1 support Ryu “Keria” Min-seok picked Lee Sin against Liiv SANDBOX. Lee Sin as a support is a very rare sight in competitive play. In fact, it has been 2718 days since the last time Lee Sin was picked as support. The last player to do so was the legendary Korean support Cho “Mata” Se-hyeong when he played for Samsung …
Master Yi and Samira have the highest chance of a pentakill in LoL
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot recently gave an interesting look into pentakill statistics in League of Legends but the results aren’t exactly surprising. In the most recent Ask Riot, insights analyst KyrieFH gave information about the champions with the most pentakills on the very recent patch 11.11. The champion with the most pentakills on the patch is Samira, who is known for pulling off incredible combos that can melt a team in seconds. Right …
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.
League of Legends
League of Legends
League of Legends
League of Legends
