League of Legends
League of Legends
DWG KIA dominates the 2021 LCK Spring All-Pro Teams
William Davis
With the teams heading into the last stages of the 2021 LCK Spring Split playoffs, Riot has revealed the three All-Pro teams for this split. As expected, the first All-Pro team is dominated by DWG KIA, a team that has been leading the league throughout the entirety of the spring split. DWG KIA has also looked great in the playoffs so far, taking down Hanwha Life in a clean sweep …
League of Legends
How many League of Legends skins are there in 2021?
William Davis
Riot Games continues pumping out skins for League of Legends fans, and 2021 is looking to be another year in which plenty of new in-game cosmetics are made available. For 2020, Riot committed to increasing the number of new skins and successfully surpassed its goal of 120 new skins. In 2021, Riot continues to push out new skins while also focusing on creating several new thematics. Some of these new …
League of Legends
A first look at the 2020 DAMWON Gaming World Champion skins
William Davis
The DAMWON Gaming 2020 World Championship skins have finally been revealed and they are looking to be a banger. After several months of waiting, fans now have the first look at the DAMWON Gaming skins. The skins are rewarded to DAMWON Gaming for winning the 2020 World Championship. As per tradition, all five winning players get to choose a champion that they want a skin for. This year, the champions …
League of Legends
This is the League of Legends patch schedule for 2021
William Davis
Riot Games continue to make League of Legends a varied experience for players at all levels with frequent patches, and there’s now an official patch schedule to help fans keep track of it all. League of Legends has been around for more than 10 years and is still constantly changing. Riot Games is still doing bi-weekly patches for the most part, so there is a lot to keep tabs on. …
League of Legends
Riot reveals group stage draw for 2021 Mid-Season Invitational
William Davis
The 2021 Mid-Season Invitational is right around the corner and with that, Riot has revealed what the three groups will look like at the event. While no team has officially qualified for the 2021 MSI yet, Riot has already drawn the groups based on regional seeds. With only one team from each region, Riot was able to make the draw ahead of the regions’ playoff results. There will be a …
League of Legends
New Blackfrost, Dragonslayer skins unveiled for 6 champions
William Davis
A total of six new skins are coming to League of Legends, including Space Groove Gwen and new Dragonslayer and Blackfrost skins. It wouldn’t be a new Public Beta Environment patch preview without a bunch of new skins for League of Legends. This time around, Riot gave the first detailed look at Space Groove Gwen, who will join seven other champions in the new skin line. Furthermore, Riot will be …
League of Legends
New LoL champion Gwen’s abilities, release date revealed
William Davis
The debut of Gwen, the Hallowed Seamstress, is right around the corner and Riot has just revealed all of her abilities. Not more than a week ago, Riot Games offered a first look at new top lane AP skirmisher Gwen through a teaser and gameplay trailer. Now that Gwen is about to be made available to League of Legends players in the Public Beta Environment, Riot has given a more detailed …
League of Legends
What role will Gwen be best suited for in League of Legends?
William Davis
Gwen, the Hallowed Seamstress, will be the next champion to enter League of Legends, but in what role will she best be played? It was a big day of LoL news when Riot released the first teaser and a gameplay trailer for Gwen right after each other. The first teaser gave a general look at Gwen and the lore behind her, while the gameplay trailer showed Gwen in action on …
DWG KIA is the clear favorite for the 2021 LCK Spring playoffs
William Davis
League of Legends
The next LCK trophy will soon be handed out, and it’s looking like the defending champions from DWG KIA will be in a good position to take it. After 10 intense weeks of the 2021 LCK Spring Split’s regular season, the six best teams are ready to compete in the playoffs. This year’s first playoff is looking to be very competitive, but with one clear favorite in DWG KIA. The …
Team Liquid vs. Cloud9: Mid-Season Showdown betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
A rematch from the 2021 LCS Lock In final is about to unfold when Team Liquid and Cloud9 clash in the Mid-Season Showdown for a direct spot in the final. The last time Team Liquid and Cloud9 faced off in a best-of-five were at the 2021 LCS Lock In final in January, where Team Liquid prevailed after five intense games. Now the teams will once again meet, and this time …
Teams for the 2021 LPL Spring Split playoffs are locked in
William Davis
League of Legends
The 10 best teams for the 2021 LPL Spring Split playoffs have been locked in and it’s looking like one of the most competitive playoffs in LPL history. After Top Esports and JD Gaming dominated the LPL in 2020, new contestants have come to challenge the throne this year. The teams aren’t exactly new, but instead old kings of China that are looking to ramp up once again. This has …
Cloud9 wins 2021 LCS Spring coaching staff of the split award
William Davis
League of Legends
Cloud9 has won another 2021 LCS Spring Season award with its coaching staff being declared the best of the split. After dominating the LCS All-Pro teams last week, Cloud9’s coaching staff can also continue the Mid-Season Showdown with lots of confidence after being credited as the coaching staff of the split. Previous years have only awarded the coach of the split, but in 2021 the whole coaching staff will be …
The best draft picks for TSM vs. EG in the Mid-Season Showdown
William Davis
League of Legends
Want to get some skin in the game with your favorite esports players? With our partner DraftKings, you can do just that. Click the link here to see their full slate of esports contests! Eligibility restrictions apply. See draftkings.com for details. It’s do or die for TSM and Evil Geniuses in the Mid-Season Showdown, and for one of the teams, it will be the last time they appear this split. After TSM lost to …
Riot reveals the newest LoL champion Gwen, including gameplay
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games is almost ready with the next League of Legends champion, which will be Gwen, the Hallowed Seamstress. Through a champion teaser earlier today, Riot gave the first look at Gwen, who will enter the game as the next champion. The teaser revealed some backstory of Gwen, a doll who was supposedly made by Viego’s wife Isolde. The trailer showed how the doll got possessed by a soul, turning …
These are the teams set for 2021 European Masters Spring
William Davis
League of Legends
The European Masters is back with the first event of 2021 where the best teams from the European Regional Leagues will clash. The regional leagues in Europe have been in full swing for the past few months and it’s now time for everything to culminate at EU Masters. Just as in previous EU Masters tournaments, the level of play is looking to be high with a lot of young and …
The best way to play Tristana in League of Legends season 11
William Davis
League of Legends
Tristana is one of the oldest marksmen in League of Legends, and she can still be a highly prioritized pick even after 11 seasons of play. The Yordle Gunner is a classic example of a marksman in League of Legends, as she relies heavily on auto attacks, increasing range, and attack speed. Tristana has her main strength in scaling, as she is still one of the strongest hyper carries for …
Nemesis says he knew at Worlds that Fnatic would replace him
William Davis
League of Legends
Former Fnatic mid laner Tim “Nemesis” Lipovšek recently revealed that he knew about getting replaced on Fnatic before entering the first game of the 2020 World Championship. Nemesis was replaced by Fnatic after the tournament, where Fnatic was knocked out by Top Esports in the quarterfinals following a close five-game series. Shortly after the World Championship concluded, it was announced that Nemesis wouldn’t continue with Fnatic in 2021. Instead, Fnatic …
C9 Perkz has a strong opinion on the new LCS playoffs schedule
William Davis
League of Legends
Cloud9 and mid laner Luka “Perkz” Perković are only one best-of-five win away from the 2021 Mid-Season Showdown final, but the schedule isn’t ideal according to the star mid laner. With the spring splits coming to an end in the biggest leagues around the world, the North American Mid-Season Showdown has started a bit earlier than most other leagues’ playoffs stages. This means that the tournament will be played on …
Faker says he will “be the best player again,” but is he right?
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
It’s been a very rough 18 months for T1 and its top star player Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, but that hasn’t caused him to alter his goals. The legendary mid laner was the subject of a mini-documentary created as part of YouTube’s Creator Spotlight series. The 12-minute video takes a look at Faker’s career in professional League of Legends with a focus on the years following his third World Championship victory. …
Nerfs to Hecarim, Udyr will shift LoL jungle meta in patch 11.7
William Davis
League of Legends
League of Legends patch 11.7 is looking to be a big one and will potentially change the meta in multiple lanes. In a recent patch preview, gameplay design director Mark “Scuffy” Yetter presented 17 adjustments for champions with the goal being to “shake up” the jungle, bot, and support metagame. In both solo queue and professional play, these roles have benefitted from seriously strong champions. In patch 11.7, players might …
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.
