League of Legends
League of Legends
Nemesis says he knew at Worlds that Fnatic would replace him
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
C9 Perkz has a strong opinion on the new LCS playoffs schedule
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
Faker says he will “be the best player again,” but is he right?
Steven Rondina
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. …
League of Legends
Nerfs to Hecarim, Udyr will shift LoL jungle meta in patch 11.7
William Davis
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 …
These are the best champions for solo queue in LoL patch 11.6
William Davis
League of Legends
The sixth patch of season 11 has hit the League of Legends live servers and some specific champions are dominating the solo queue ladder. Since the new season began, the meta has already developed a lot. Several different champions have been at the top of the priority list but also fell out again because of Riot’s big changes in each patch. The same goes for the new item system, which …
This is how to counter Garen in LoL solo queue games
William Davis
League of Legends
Players are likely to run into Garen at almost any solo queue rank in League of Legends, so it’s important to know the best way to counter him. As a champion that was first released more than 10 years ago, Garen is a classic in LoL and every player likely knows who he is. Garen is one of the most basic champions in the game and one of the first …
LPL and LCK players dominate the latest LoL player rankings
William Davis
News
The second League of Legends player ranking of March has landed and it is without any representation from Western players in the top 10. In just two weeks, a lot has happened in the LoL player rankings. The top two ranked players remain the same, but with DWG KIA mid laner Heo “ShowMaker” Su pulling further ahead of FunPlus Phoenix top laner Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon. The rest of the top …
The top LPL teams are moving up in the world LoL rankings
William Davis
League of Legends
The second League of Legends team ranking of March is now seeing several LPL teams close in on the top spots, as five LPL teams are ranked in the top 10. Another two weeks have gone by since the last LoL team ranking, and it’s still DWG KIA and G2 Esports sitting in the top spots. But as the playoffs are getting near in all major regions, the Chinese LPL …
Draft the best team for TSM vs. Team Liquid in the LCS playoffs
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. The 2021 LCS Mid-Season Showdown starts tomorrow with none other than TSM and Team Liquid clashing in a best-of-five series. TSM vs. Team Liquid is a matchup that always delivers, and …
Watch T1 Faker dominate with Zoe after making his big LCK return
William Davis
League of Legends
T1 mid laner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok has been popping off in the LCK after returning to the starting lineup one week ago. In T1’s most recent game against DRX, Faker was the one to carry his team to victory. The three-time world champion got to play Zoe in both games and there was absolutely nothing DRX could do to control him. Out of several impressive plays, the best from Faker …
Cloud9 and Team Liquid dominate 2021 LCS Spring All-Pro teams
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2021 LCS Spring 1st All-Pro team has been revealed and it’s dominated by Cloud9 and Team Liquid players. With the 2021 LCS Mid-Season Showdown starting this weekend, Riot has revealed the All-Pro teams for the league. The teams are based on regular-split performances, during iwhich fans had the chance to vote for the most notable players in each role. The 1st LCS All-Pro team is dominated by C9 and …
These are the best counters to Teemo in League of Legends
William Davis
League of Legends
Teemo has been a part of League of Legends since 2009 and today remains a champion that is hard to deal with at many solo queue ranks. The Swift Scout has become known as an obnoxious champion that most players hate to play against. This goes for pretty much all lanes in the game, which has resulted in global memes about Teemo being the devil himself. The reason for this …
Riot Games CEO responds to harassment claims, releases files
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Riot Games’ CEO Nicolo Laurent gave an official response to sexual harassment and discrimination allegations on Wednesday. In the response, Laurent denied all of Sharon O’Donnell’s claims and questioned her credibility. Laurent denied that he made inappropriate comments to O’Donnell, the plaintiff. He claimed that he never made any comments about her appearance, discussed his underwear, or yelled at her, all of which has been alleged. Laurent also stated that …
Dignitas’ Neo led the 2021 LCS Spring in total kills with 94
William Davis
League of Legends
Dignitas bot laner Toàn “Neo” Trần is entering the 2021 LCS Spring playoffs with the most total kills among all players in the league. The 2021 LCS Spring Season regular split is over and one specific player can enter the playoffs with a big boost of confidence. It’s Dignitas’ bot laner Neo, who has showcased great skill during his first full complete split as a starting player in the LCS. …
Viego will be disabled throughout the 2021 LEC Spring playoffs
William Davis
League of Legends
Viego will continue to be disabled throughout the 2021 LEC Spring Split playoffs because of bugs that remain unfixed. It has been over two months since Viego first entered League of Legends, and he is yet to make his debut on the competitive scene. Usually, Viego would be enabled in pro play just a couple of weeks after his release, but this hasn’t been the case. Because of several game-breaking …
Riot gives full preview of eight new Space Groove skins for LoL
William Davis
League of Legends
League of Legends is about to get groovy as the new Space Groove skin line will hit Summoner’s Rift quite soon. In a recent Public Beta Environment (PBE) preview, Riot gave a full look at eight new Space Groove skins. The skins will include cosmetics for seven different champions, with a special prestige edition for Lulu. The other champions included in the new skin line are Blitzcrank, Nunu, Nasus, Rumble, …
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
