League of Legends
League of Legends
PowerOfEvil pushes TSM past Team Liquid in LCS Spring Split
William Davis
TSM is ramping up in the 2021 LCS Spring Season after taking down LCS Lock In champions Team Liquid with a decisive win. After a shaky first week of the LCS season, TSM is starting to look like a team to be scared of. Going up against Team Liquid, no one expected the new TSM squad to come out ahead but they did. With an improved early game, TSM managed …
League of Legends
This is how you can lower your ping in League of Legends
William Davis
Playing with a high ping in any online game can be very frustrating, and the same goes for League of Legends. Here’s how you can potentially lower your ping. League of Legends is a game where quick reactions and keeping track of different things are key parts of succeeding. Without being able to make quick movements, cast a quick spell combination, or keep an eye on opponents and teammates, it’s …
League of Legends
TFT patch 11.4 buffs Cultists and Fabled champions, nerfs Divines
Steven Rondina
Teamfight Tactics Fates 2 is set to undergo some very significant changes in patch 11.4. Though the full patch notes have not been released, Riot listed off which champions and synergies will be getting tweaked in patch 11.4. Regardless of how extreme these changes end up being, the game is going to be changed in a big way by the end of next week. Check out the tentative changes coming …
League of Legends
G2 Esports beats Rogue in 50-minute thriller, moves to 1st in LEC
William Davis
G2 Esports is back on top of the LEC leaderboard after taking down the first-place team Rogue to close out week 5, albeit with some company. The match of the week was a battle for first place in the 2021 LEC Spring Split, as G2 Esports took on Rogue, which started the day on top of the standings. After G2 took a few unexpected losses to Fnatic and Schalke 04, …
Job posts show Riot Games might be making a live action film
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Riot Games might be planning a live action film. Riot recently posted a job on their website looking for a Global Head of Live Action Film as well as a Global Head of Live Action TV. According to the job listings, Riot is looking to develop feature films for the League of Legends cinematic universe and other new franchises. The entertainment team at Riot will be developing “custom IP experiences” …
MagiFelix carries Astralis to second LEC win over FC Schalke 04
William Davis
League of Legends
Astralis secured its second win in the 2021 LEC Spring Split after taking down FC Schalke 04, with new mid laner Carl “MagiFelix” Boström showing how well he’s capable of playing. An unexpected win over Schalke 04 didn’t just give Astralis a much-needed win in the LEC, but also strengthened MagiFelix’s presence on the team as he steps in for Erlend “Nukeduck” Holm, who is taking a break due to …
Riot increases LP penalties for AFK losses and leaving games
William Davis
League of Legends
Players will now be punished with greater LP penalties for leaving or AFKing during solo queue games as of patch 11.3. According to gameplay design director Mark “Scuffy” Yetter, additional LP penalties for AFKing and leaving games have been added to the current patch. Engaging in either of these violations repeatedly will ramp up the associated penalty over time. The additional penalties have been added to make potential leavers think …
LS is joining the LEC analyst desk, here’s what to expect
William Davis
League of Legends
The former LCK caster Nick “LS” Cesare will be a guest at the LEC analyst desk for the upcoming week of the 2021 LEC Spring Split. The popular T1 content creator will be joining the analyst desk for the LEC weekend on a remote basis from his home in South Korea. The former caster has been actively viewing the LEC this season and will likely be able to contribute a …
What is crowd control score in League of Legends?
William Davis
League of Legends
Crowd control in League of Legends is vitally important in fights and skirmishes. To track how much crowd control a player does, developer Riot Games has implemented the crowd control score. Most players know about vision score, which totals up the effective vision a player creates around the map. But crowd control score is often an overlooked stat that few players notice. This might be due to the fact that …
The history of Kai’Sa in professional League of Legends play
Nicholas James
League of Legends
Since Kai’Sa’s introduction to the rift in season eight, the champion has been a stable pick across all regions. Thanks to the champion’s diversity in playstyle, and outrageous damage output, most teams will have their bot laner be at least proficient with it. In season 11, Kai’Sa has found her place in the meta. The current worldwide professional strategy revolves around either diving the enemy team or kiting back an …
LCS 2021 Spring Split viewership is down after opening games
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
The LCS’ opening weekend saw a drop in viewership compared to last year. This past weekend, the LCS had an average of 71,419 viewers throughout the 20 hours of pro competition. It’s unclear if this is all platforms combined (YouTube, Twitch, co-streams, etc) or just one platform thus far. Last year’s first weekend had 106,083. This seems like a possibly significant decline, but League of Legends fans shouldn’t worry just yet. …
These are the worst champions for solo queue on LoL patch 11.3
William Davis
League of Legends
League of Legends patch 11.3 has set its stamp on the meta but some champions are lackluster and not great in solo queue. Patch 11.3 is full of viable champions for every position on Summoner’s Rift, but a few champions are seeing some terrible win rates at the other end of the chart. While champions like Seraphine, Udyr, and Renekton are having the times of their lives, other champions are …
Riot bringing nerfs to Kai’Sa and Moonstone Renewer in patch 11.4
William Davis
League of Legends
League of Legends’ soon-to-be-released patch 11.4 is aiming to balance out Kai’Sa and Moonstone Renewer while giving some much-needed buffs to off-meta champions. Season 11 feels more and more balanced for every patch, but there are still things for Riot to work on. In previous weeks, Kai’Sa has seen a lot of popularity in both solo queue and professional play, and Riot is looking to do something about that. Moonstone …
Riot CEO investigated for discrimination and sexual harassment
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
Riot Games’ gender discrimination issues continue to linger. Former Riot Games executive assistant Sharon O’Donnell filed suit against the company in January for medical expenses, lost wages, and general damages related to employment. As a result of the suit, the company is investigating CEO Nicolo Laurent for alleged gender discrimination and sexual harassment, per Daily Esports. Riot issued a statement on the matter, acknowledging the investigation: “Core to giving Rioters …
Vitality adds Crownshot as new starting bot laner, replaces Comp
William Davis
League of Legends
Former SK Gaming bot laner Juš “Crownshot” Marušič will be the new starting bot laner for Vitality in the LEC. After a poor start to the 2021 LEC Spring Split, Vitality has made the decision to make an early-season swap in the bottom lane. As Crownshot didn’t find a suitable team in the LEC or LCS for the 2021 season, the talented bot laner has watched from the sidelines up …
Team Liquid reveals new merch collaboration with Naruto
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Team Liquid announced its latest merch collaboration earlier today. This time, the esports organization is teaming up with Naruto Shippuden to bring anime and esports fans together. The lifestyle apparel collection combines Hidden Leaf ninjas and Team Liquid’s logo to create one-of-a-kind clothing that blends streetwear with high fashion. The denim jacket, parka, joggers, hoodies, and t-shirts in the collection feature Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, and other popular characters from …
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.
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