League of Legends
League of Legends
Learn all about how to counter Sylas in League of Legends
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
The best way to build Syndra in League of Legends season 11
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
Reapered joins 100 Thieves as the new head coach, Zikz leaves
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
LoL gameplay design director pulled, transferred to Riot’s MMO
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
Watch Tyler1 land an insane Sion ult to secure quadrakill
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
Morgana may now have League’s fastest jungle clear after buffs
William Davis
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
League of Legends feed: News, tweets, more from top pro players
William Davis
The #MSI2021 On-Air Talent!More info: https://t.co/YZ658WFYvH pic.twitter.com/5JxlyOsHlK — LoL Esports (@lolesports) May 3, 2021 The world of @LeagueofLegends is coming to Netflix.Arcane drops this Fall. pic.twitter.com/7DJgqHpODM — Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) May 3, 2021 PBE Preview Arcana Edition! ✨Say hello to Arcana Xerath, Lucian, Camille & Tahm Kench! ???? pic.twitter.com/xp2R4oRgY2 — League of Legends // UK, IE & Nordics (@LoLUKN) April 27, 2021 Most popular matches of #EUMasters Spring 2021:#1 – …
League of Legends
LEC viewership sees 35% growth from last year’s spring split
William Davis
With the conclusion of the 2021 LEC Spring Split, the viewership of the league has once again set a completely new standard for European League of Legends. The LEC viewership keeps growing after the 2021 spring split, with an increase of around 35% in the average viewership compared to the 2020 LEC Spring Split. This growth is yet another example of how the popularity around competitive League of Legends isn’t …
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 …
Perkz, Cloud9 top Team Liquid in Mid-Season Showdown finals
William Davis
League of Legends
Cloud9 is the 2021 Mid-Season Showdown champion after taking down Team Liquid in a five-game thriller. After a competitive split in North America, the final was a rematch between the LCS Lock-In winner Team Liquid and first seed from the regular split Cloud9. For Team Liquid, the final was a bit different as jungler Lucas “Santorin” Larsen had to sit out due to health issues. This meant another game for …
MAD Lions wins first LEC title after reverse sweeping Rogue
William Davis
League of Legends
MAD Lions is the 2021 LEC Spring Split champion after taking down Rogue in an exciting final. The LEC has found its new champion. MAD Lions hoisted the trophy over Rogue after a 3-2 victory on Sunday, but both teams still made history. For the furst time ever, both G2 Esports and Fnatic missed out on finals berths. This made room for MAD Lions and Rogue to fight for the …
The best way to play Hecarim in League of Legends season 11
William Davis
League of Legends
Hecarim is stronger than ever in League of Legends season 11 and isn’t looking to slow down any time soon. He has been a prominent champion in both solo queue and professional play for several patches since the start of the season, and here’s how to take advantage of his strength. The Shadow of War has been moving in and out of the meta since his release all the way …
G2 Esport Rekkles awarded with the 2021 LEC Spring MVP
William Davis
League of Legends
G2 Esports bot laner Martin “Rekkles” Larsson is the 2021 LEC Spring MVP after his first split with the legendary organization. After a great split for the Swedish superstar, Rekkles added a trophy to his mantel. He wins the MVP award despite missing out on the LEC Spring Finals after G2 took a rough 3-1 loss to Rogue in the lower bracket final. The loss knocked out G2 and means …
Cloud9 Blaber has been chosen as the 2021 LCS Spring MVP
William Davis
League of Legends
Cloud9’s Robert “Blaber” Huang is the 2021 LCS Spring MVP after a dominant split in the jungle The young North American jungler has been a crucial part of Cloud9’s success this split as the team has already locked in a spot in the Mid-Season Showdown final on Sunday. Blaber and Cloud9 also finished the regular split in the first place and has been the most consistent team in the league …
Watch this Alistar pull off a 1v5 pentakill in One for All
William Davis
League of Legends
Getting a pentakill on Alistar isn’t something most players will ever experience, but this player managed to pull it off and did it without help from anything but his own turret. In a recent highlight that went viral on social media, an Alistar player pulled off an impressive 1v5 pentakill in the featured game mode One for All. The pentakill included several outplays and a few missteps from the enemy …
Doublelift joins with old Cloud9 roster for Tyler1 Money Match
William Davis
League of Legends
Popular streamer Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkamp is back with another money match event that will feature some prominent names in a battle for thousands of dollars. It will likely be a big event when the next Tyler1 Money Match kicks off on April 21 with tons of former LCS stars. One of the teams will consist of none other than former TSM bot laner Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng, who will join up …
Kog’Maw is about to get new visuals as part of a VFX update
William Davis
League of Legends
Kog’Maw fans don’t have to wait much longer for the chamion’s upcoming VFX update, as it will soon hit the Public Beta Environment (PBE). This was recently confirmed by Riot Games visual effects lead Oliver “Beardilocks” McDonald, who says that the update is coming soon with the intention to improve gameplay clarity and missile widths on Kog’Maw. The update will also give Kog’Maw’s Living Artillery ultimate a better edge indicator …
These are the best ways to counter Neeko in League of Legends
William Davis
League of Legends
Season 11 is looking to be a wild one in League of Legends with Riot doing everything in its power to shake up the meta during each patch. This includes some wonky picks in both solo queue and professional play, and Neeko is one of them. The Curious Chameleon is a special champion because she can be played in several different ways. Neeko was originally designed as an ability power …
Here’s how all of the ranks work in Teamfight Tactics
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
Teamfight Tactics is different from many games in that it lets players immediately jump into ranked matchmaking without any kind of hurdle or practice required. Combined with the fact that Teamfight Tactics has its own sizable community separate from the main League of Legends fandom, and many new players are left wondering just how the game’s ranked system works. With that in mind, it’s worth discussing the Teamfight Tactics ranked …
Team Liquid vs. TSM: Mid-Season Showdown betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
Team Liquid and TSM will face off in an LCS derby for the last Mid-Season Showdown finals spot. After Team Liquid knocked down TSM into the lower bracket during the first round of the Mid-Season Showdown, TSM will have a chance at revenge and an opportunity to continue its miracle run. Last split, TSM went all the way through the lower bracket to win the championship, and the chance to …
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.
