League of Legends
League of Legends
LS is joining the LEC analyst desk, here’s what to expect
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
What is crowd control score in League of Legends?
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
The history of Kai’Sa in professional League of Legends play
Nicholas James
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 …
League of Legends
LCS 2021 Spring Split viewership is down after opening games
Olivia Richman
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. …
League of Legends
Vitality adds Crownshot as new starting bot laner, replaces Comp
William Davis
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 …
League of Legends
Team Liquid reveals new merch collaboration with Naruto
Olivia Richman
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
Nukeduck takes break from competitive LoL, MagiFelix to replace
William Davis
Astralis’ mid laner Erlend “Nukeduck” Holm is officially taking a break from competitive League of Legends due to personal reasons. The Norwegian veteran will be replaced by former Fnatic Rising mid laner Felix “MagiFelix” Boström for the time being, on a contract that runs until March 31. It’s unknown when Nukeduck will return to the team. For now, MagiFelix will take his place in the upcoming LEC matches starting with …
League of Legends
TSM secures first victory of the LCS, leaves CLG winless
William Davis
After a poor start to the 2021 LCS Spring Season, TSM secured its first win against CLG to close out the first week. After a shaky LCS Lock In tournament, TSM had to prove themselves as a potential top team in the first week of the spring season. With FlyQuest and Cloud9 as opponents in the first two games, TSM had plenty of chances to take down a great team …
This is why Seraphine has the highest win rate in patch 11.3
William Davis
League of Legends
Seraphine is performing very well on Summoner’s Rift during patch 11.3, pulling some insane win rates in the bot lane. Since her release in October of last year, Seraphine has been a coveted pick for Summoner’s Rift. The enchanter mage has taken the game by storm to start season 11 and is currently viable in three different roles. This doesn’t only make Seraphine an unusually strong pick, but also a …
Who is Isolde, the next champion coming out in League of Legends?
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games is following its plan to add at least one champion to each role in 2021. So far, junglers have welcomed a new addition to the rotation in the Ruined King himself, Viego. On January 8, to celebrate the start of Season 11, Riot explained that the next three champions coming out would be related to Viego and the Ruined King storyline. According to Ryan “Reav3” Mirelles, Riot is …
G2 Esports, Rekkles dealt surprise loss from Fnatic in LEC
William Davis
League of Legends
Fnatic took down G2 Esports in unexpected fashion in their first LEC clash of 2021. A lot was on the line for both teams when the G2 and Fnatic rivalry unfolded for the first time in 2021. During the offseason, the rivalry got even more intense as G2 picked up bot laner Martin “Rekkles” Larsson. This put Fnatic in a difficult spot ahead of the 2021 season, but left them …
Bo carries FPX to another victory, dominates Top Esports in LPL
William Davis
League of Legends
FunPlus Phoenix keeps impressing in the Chinese LPL after taking down the defending champions Top Esports. A highly anticipated matchup between the defending LPL champions Top Esports and former world champions FPX unfolded today. On paper, the match seemed extremely close but FPX managed to dominate and show why they are sitting on a big winning streak at the top of the leaderboards. FPX took the win in just two …
Riot bans four people in alleged LoL roster poaching scandal
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
Riot Games has instituted significant sanctions against a team competing in the 2021 NA Amateur circuit. ANEW Esports, an organization that has enjoyed success in LCS Scouting Grounds events since forming in 2019, has seen several individuals slapped with heavy penalties over the signing of jungler William “Trixter” Benoit. Riot claims that the organization was approached by Trixter while he was signed to Wildcard Gaming and “poached” him from the …
Riot is planning jungle nerfs for LoL patch 11.4
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot has given the first sneak peek at the upcoming League of Legends Patch 11.4 and it includes nerfs to the jungle. The jungle position has been very strong so far in Season 11, but Riot is looking to tone down its strength in Patch 11.4. In the recent patches, several jungle champions have been sitting at the top of the win-rate charts and there is a good reason for …
Nuguri takes top spot from ShowMaker in LoL player rankings
William Davis
League of Legends
The League of Legends player rankings are back for the second update of 2021. A lot has changed in just two weeks, so here’s how the best players in the world rank. The first player ranking of the year had DWG KIA mid laner Heo “ShowMaker” Su at the top, but he has since then been dethroned by his former teammate, Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon. Further down the list are some …
DWG KIA defends top spot in LoL team ranking, LPL closes in
William Davis
League of Legends
The second League of Legends team ranking of 2021 is here and a lot has changed in the last two weeks. Defending world champion DWG KIA is still sitting at the top of the ranking, but several teams from the LPL are closing in on them. The same goes for Gen.G who has surpassed Cloud9 and is now placed as the second-best team in the world according to the rankings. …
IWillDominate to co-stream LCS after League Partner ban lifted
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
League of Legends streamer and former pro player Christian “IWillDominate” Rivera is allowed to co-stream the LCS again. “Really thankful that I can resume the co-streams and excited to move forward together with Riot and the LCS into the 2021 season,” IWillDominate tweeted to his excited fans. IWillDominate noted that he will resume co-streaming the LCS on Friday. Happy to announce that I have been given permission by Riot to …
What is the MoonStaff meta and how do you play it?
William Davis
League of Legends
Ahead of Season 11, League of Legends completely changed its item system, introducing a new tier, the mythical items. These are powerful items and players can only pick one per game. The new item system created opportunities for creative build paths, like the strategy known as “MoonStaff.” MoonStaff consists of two items, Moonstone Renewer and the Staff of Flowing Water. Moonstone Renewer is a mythic item that, according to the …
TFT Fates renews pass for PC and Mobile
William Davis
League of Legends
The Festival of Beasts has arrived, bringing new arenas, Little Legends, and so much more. TFT: Fates is on its second half. To celebrate this milestone, the game released the brand new TFT Pass II, which includes Chinese New Year themed rewards. The TFT Pass+ sells for 1295 RP and players will have until the end of TFT: Fates to complete it. Every game grants experience points. These are necessary …
What were the most popular esports games in 2020?
Nina Forneloza
League of Legends
Major esports events have been growing in popularity and, according to newzoo.com, the audience is set to grow more rapidly in the coming years. Here is a look at the most popular esports games that dominated in 2020. There are several factors to consider when talking about the “most popular” esports title. In order to determine the three most popular esports titles in 2020, total player count, tournament prize pools, …
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.
