League of Legends
League of Legends
Elderwood Ornn makes $7 million for charity, still few Ornn skins
William Davis
The League of Legends 2020 charity skin for Ornn was a big success, raising more than $7 million for charity. Elderwood Ornn was released with the intention of raising as much money for charity as possible. From the end of 2020 to early January, players would be able to purchase Elderwood Ornn and associated purchasable content with all proceeds going to the Riot Games Social Impact Fund. The associated content …
League of Legends
LEC reportedly removing academy team requirement for 2022
William Davis
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. …
League of Legends
Over 30 Chinese LoL pros suspended in match-fixing crackdown
Steven Rondina
A months-long investigation into match-fixing in the Chinese League of Legends scene has come to an end, with heads rolling as a result. Back in February, FunPlus Phoenix stated that Zhou “Bo” Yang-Bo admitted to match-fixing in the 2020 LDL Summer Split. Since then, this case has been under investigation and the issue was apparently much more pervasive than just Bo. Alongside Bo, ThunderTalk support player Wang “Teeen” Yao-Ji was …
League of Legends
Gambit cease all League of Legends operations after 8 years
William Davis
An organization that most old-school League of Legends fans will remember is leaving the scene. Gambit Esports will cease all LoL operations going forward. After over eight years in the LoL scene, Gambit recently announced that it will drop its the League of Legends roster. The roster recently competed in the CIS region’s LCL league. Gambit has been a part of the league since 2016 and competed among the best …
League of Legends
Everything you need to know about TFT Set 5: Reckoning
Steven Rondina
Teamfight Tactics: Reckoning is almost here, and there is a lot for TFT players to look forward to from this new set. TFT: Reckoning is set to feature the usual roundup of changes between sets, with new origins and classes being added and represented by a different lineup of champions. What sets TFT: Reckoning apart from the rest is how much bolder Riot Games is becoming with synergies in the …
League of Legends
Big changes coming to the jungle for League’s 2021 MSI patch
William Davis
League of Legends patch 11.9 is close to hitting the Public Beta Environment (PBE) and players have now gotten the first look at the expected changes. Patch 11.9 will be special because it will be the official 2021 Mid-Season Invitational patch, where the best teams from around the world will compete in the first international tournament of the year. To make the tournament as good as possible, Riot has put …
League of Legends
Tyler1 sets deadlift record during Twitch Rivals powerlifting
Olivia Richman
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 …
League of Legends
Watch Faker wipe out four enemies on Akali with a clutch TP
William Davis
T1 mid laner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok is back at it again with another solo queue outplay broadcast live on stream, this time making use of a perfect teleport play on Akali. The superstar mid laner was playing Akali during a recent solo queue game and saw a perfect opportunity to teleport to his bot turret and interrupt a dive from the enemy team. The dive quickly turned into a bad …
This weird ARAM bug might give your team the same champion twice
William Davis
League of Legends
A new bug in League of Legends ARAM provides a chance of having two similar champions on the same team during a game. This was recently discovered and reported by YouTuber Vandiril, who could show clips from a match where Varus was on the team twice in an ARAM game. Ever since the release of ARAM in 2012, it has not been possible to have the same champions twice in …
100 Thieves signs Abbedagge as new mid laner for 2021 LCS Summer
William Davis
League of Legends
Former Schalke 04 mid laner Felix “Abbedagge” Braun will be moving to North America to play for 100 Thieves in the LCS. The move happens after several rumors surrounding 100 Thieves and its new mid laner. Originally, Fnatic mid laner Yasin “Nisqy” Dinçer was rumored to join the team but, to everyone’s surprise, it will be the German super talent. Abbedagge joins after a solid split with Schalke in the …
Cloud9 Perkz says Kassadin can’t ever be balanced in LoL
William Davis
League of Legends
Cloud9 mid laner Luka “Perkz” Perković recently explained why he doesn’t think Kassadin will ever be balanced in League of Legends. During a recent stream, Perkz addressed the state of Kassadin and why it is hard for Riot Games to balance the champion. The star mid laner explained that Kassadin has been bad in competitive play for many years while being completely the opposite in solo queue, making him an …
Learn all about how to counter Sylas in League of Legends
William Davis
League of Legends
Sylas is starting to pop up in solo queue and professional games more frequently in season 11, both in the mid and the top lane. Sylas’ unique kit can make him intimidating to play against, but there are good ways to counter him and gain an advantage. Since his release in January 2019, Sylas has moved in and out of the meta. The Unshackled has one of the most special …
The best way to build Syndra in League of Legends season 11
William Davis
League of Legends
League of Legends season 11 has shaken up the game’s items completely with a big overhaul. This has affected all champions and forced players to learn new builds for most champions in the game, Syndra being one of them. Syndra is considered one of the go-to mages for the mid lane by many players, and for good reason. Syndra is able to dish out reliable damage and can decide fights …
Reapered joins 100 Thieves as the new head coach, Zikz leaves
William Davis
League of Legends
Former Cloud9 head coach Bok “Reapered” Han-gyu has been announced as the new head coach for 100 Thieves. Starting with the 2021 LCS Summer Split, Reapered will take over the head coach position on 100 Thieves after the team’s stumble in the Mid-Season Showdown. Reapered will replace Anthony “Zikz” Gray, who has been with 100 Thieves since November 2019. Reapered will be back as an active coach after taking a …
LoL gameplay design director pulled, transferred to Riot’s MMO
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games gameplay design director Mark “Scuffy” Yetter has announced a big career move that involves him leaving the League of Legends design team to join a different department in Riot as game director of the upcoming LoL MMO. Personal News:I’ll be joining the MMO team as the Game Director!Excited to go on this next epic adventure with you all. pic.twitter.com/lANaSdQVdU — Mark Yetter (@MarkYetter) April 16, 2021 This marks …
How to counter Renekton in League of Legends
William Davis
League of Legends
Renekton has been one of the most popular top laners for years in League of Legends, and will likely remain a viable pick in both solo queue and professional play. The Butcher of the Sands has a lot of great matchups in the top lane, but oit’s also possible to counter him with the right picks. As of season 11 patch 11.7, Renekton only has a 47.87% win rate in …
How to play League of Legends’ newest champion Gwen
William Davis
League of Legends
Gwen has finally made her entrance in League of Legends as the newest champion and players are hungry to play her on Summoner’s Rift. The Hallowed Seamstress was revealed only a few weeks back and since then, players have had the chance to test her out on the Public Beta Environment (PBE). Now that she has made it to the live servers, players will have to figure out the best …
Tyler1 is hosting a Twitch Rivals powerlifting competition
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
Twitch Rivals isn’t just about video games anymore. Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp is set to host the Tyler1 Power Meet in conjunction with Twitch Rivals, a powerlifting competition involving 10 streamers. The event begins April 19 and will feature a $10,000 prize pool. ????️ 2 Squads???? 10 Creators???? $10,000We’ll see who’s got what it takes to rock a powerlifting competition, the @loltyler1 Power Meet, powered by Twitch Rivals.April 19 at 12pm …
Watch Tyler1 land an insane Sion ult to secure quadrakill
William Davis
League of Legends
Popular League of Legends streamer Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp is back at it again with another major highlight play. In a recent scrim session streamed by Tyler1 on Twitch, the T1 streamer managed to land a game-deciding Sion ultimate after a smooth teleport flank that his opponents didn’t see coming. The play happened 19 minutes into the game as Tyler1’s team engaged in a fight at the enemy Raptors. To join …
Morgana may now have League’s fastest jungle clear after buffs
William Davis
League of Legends
With new adjustments made in patch 11.8, control mage Morgana is now possibly the fastest jungle clearer in the game. In a recent video, a player showcased how Morgana can now fully clear the jungle in just under three minutes at level 1. This sort of clearing speed isn’t usually seen from any jungler, and could potentially make Morgana viable in a completely new role in the patches to come. …
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.
