League of Legends
League of Legends
This crazy Gragas combo means a pentakill in Nexus Blitz
William Davis
Pentakills are always a pleasure to watch in League of Legends, but this Gragas combo takes it to another level in Nexus Blitz. In a recent Nexus Blitz highlight, a Gragas player managed to secure himself a pentakill with just a single spell rotation. The clip instantly went viral, as the Gragas found all five of his opponents clumped up in the mid jungle. The Gragas saw his chance to …
League of Legends
The best junglers to finish your season’s solo queue climb
William Davis
Jungle mains have had a blast in the jungle during recent patches, and there are still a lot of strong junglers to climb with before the year ends. Since the 2021 preseason hit the live servers, junglers have been sitting at the best win rates in the game and gotten a lot of attention from Riot. It started out with a lot of strong tank junglers, but after recent nerfs …
League of Legends
All rosters for the 2020 KeSPA Cup have been announced
William Davis
The 2020 competitive League of Legends season will end with a bang when 10 teams from South Korea will fight at the 2020 KeSPA Cup. The KeSPA Cup is the tournament where smaller organizations can get a chance to play against the biggest names from the LCK, while LCK orgs can test out their new rosters and players for the upcoming season. This year, all 10 LCK organizations will be …
League of Legends
Worlds 2020 substitute Uniboy joins LGD Gaming in the LPL
William Davis
LGD Gaming has found its new mid laner for the 2021 LPL season and it’s none other than Chen “Uniboy” Chang-Chu, who impressed fans at the 2020 World Championship. According to ahq eSports Club, the young mid lane talent has transferred to LGD in the LPL after a mutual agreement was made between the two organizations and Uniboy himself. Uniboy joins the team after an impressive performance at the 2020 …
League of Legends
JD Gaming set to pick up Mystic and Xiye for 2021 LPL season
William Davis
The old Team WE duo of bot laner Jin “Mystic” Seong-jun and mid laner Su “Xiye” Han-Wei will play for JD Gaming in the 2021 LPL season. After one season apart, the legendary Team WE duo is reunited and will be fighting together on JD Gaming in the upcoming season. JD Gaming managed to prove itself as one of the best teams in the world in 2020 and is now …
League of Legends
This is why Riot wants to buff Grievous Wounds in patch 1.11
William Davis
Riot Games is looking to make some significant changes to all Grievous Wounds items in the game for LoL patch 11.1. The first patch of 2021 won’t just include changes to champions, but also a lot of changes to items as well. For this patch, one of the biggest changes being made is to Grievous Wounds, which will get a great boost in duration to fight off the scarier healers …
League of Legends
Riot reveals LoL patch 11.1 to include item adjustments, buffs
William Davis
Even though the first patch of 2021 is still weeks away, Riot is already previewing LoL patch 11.1. According to gameplay design director Mark “Scuffy” Yetter, the first patch of 2021 will focus on some item adjustments and buffs, and small changes to a few champions. This preseason has seen Riot focus on balancing the new item system and that will continue with patch 11.1. Very early Patch Preview for …
League of Legends
Uzi makes Varus look good with crazy 1v2 outplay in solo queue
William Davis
Varus has been in a bad state for several patches. But former RNG bot laner Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao recently made him look strong through a crazy outplay. After his retirement earlier this year, Uzi has been streaming regularly and showing that he still has what it takes to be one of the best in his position. The latest viral outplay was done on Varus, who is currently the worst marksman …
The LEC will start play for the 2021 season on January 22
William Davis
League of Legends
It’s finally official that the 2021 LEC season will start on Friday, January 22. The date has been set by Riot as the official start date shortly after the LCS announced its new league format and start dates. While the LCS is making big changes to the format, the LEC is looking to keep the format from 2020 and continue to build up the European brand on the backs of …
The best way to build new LoL support champion Rell
William Davis
League of Legends
Rell only recently entered League of Legends, and players are slowly starting to figure out how to build her in the most optimal way. The tanky support is already seeing a lot of play in solo queue and even though her win rates are lacking, she does have some strengths that can make or break a game. Rell is the epitome of a tank support, which gives her some pretty …
How to see how many hours you’ve played League of Legends
William Davis
League of Legends
When a player purchases a video game, they know how many hours it could take them to finish it. Online gaming has no end, so players that choose these types of games don’t know for just how long they’ll be in the queue. Some single-player games might seem like bigger investments at first. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt can stretch up to 100 hours long. According to some accounts, the …
How does mobile’s Wild Rift compare to League of Legends on PC?
William Davis
League of Legends
As Wild Rift is opening up its beta in more regions, fans are starting to compare the new mobile game to the original League of Legends PC game. Wild Rift is already seeing a lot of praise for its great animations and smooth interface as players are pointing out features that could be implemented in the League of Legends PC client. Wild Rift is still only in its open beta, …
cvMax disputes five-month suspension as drama continues
William Davis
League of Legends
Former Griffin coach Kim “cvMax” Dae-ho is refusing to accept the suspension imposed by the Korean Esports Fair Commission On December 14, the Fair Commission found cvMax guilty of several charges of abuse and suspended him for five months. This means that cvMax cannot be part of any team or roster competing in a Riot Games-sanctioned event until May 2021. The ruling came after a year of deliberation and investigations. …
LCS reveals new 2021 Lock In event, new format for 2021 season
William Davis
News
The LCS has revealed a new format for 2021 and it comes with some major changes. During the offseason, it was rumored that the LCS would be changing its format in 2021. The decision came after multiple complaints from players and fans alike, who believed the spring split was meaningless. Because the spring split didn’t grant championship points, performing well in this stage meant nothing long term for the teams. …
This is how low HP Yuumi can give Soraka constant movement speed
William Davis
League of Legends
An unintentional interaction between Yuumi and Soraka that gives Soraka permanent movement speed was recently discovered by a League of Legends player. In the video made by the player, it’s clear that Soraka gains a big burst of movement speed every time Yuumi uses You And Me! (W) to attach to Soraka while Yuumi is at low HP. The low HP triggers Soraka’s passive ability, Salvation, which makes her run …
Riot Korea is stepping in to combat solo queue match fixing
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Korea has announced that it has taken action to combat win trading and match-fixing in solo queue games. The issue was brought to light by former Team Liquid support Kim “Olleh” Joo-sung when he proved that illegal Chinese betting sites are making a profit off of professional players’ solo queue matches. T1 mid laner Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok has especially been affected by these betting sites, as players lose on …
Clearlove returns to pro play, joins EDG for 2021 LPL season
William Davis
League of Legends
After a year spent as head coach for EDward Gaming, Ming “Clearlove” Kai is returning to Summoner’s Rift as the team’s starting jungler. With a lot of big names retiring in the ongoing offseason, it’s now time for a player to return to the big stage. The long-time EDG veteran Clearlove will once again be the starting jungler for the team, after some mixed results as the team’s head coach …
DAMWON Gaming’s Flame announces retirement from pro LoL
William Davis
League of Legends
Another legend has announced his retirement before the 2021 season. This time it’s former FlyQuest and DAMWON Gaming top laner Lee “Flame” Ho-jong, who hangs his mouse and keyboard after eight years as a professional player. It was announced by Flame himself on his personal stream recently, where he said that he wouldn’t be playing professionally in 2021. Long time no see. Miss u guys!I will make an important announcement …
sOAZ rumored to coach French LDLC OL for the 2021 season
William Davis
League of Legends
One of the biggest veterans in League of Legends is rumored to return to Europe in 2021, but not as a player. 26-year-old top laner Paul “sOAZ” Boyer is rumored to be coaching the French LFL team LDLC OL in the upcoming season after the team won the European Masters Spring event in the 2020 season. If the rumors are true, this will be the first time that sOAZ is …
Swain and Pantheon among the best picks for LoL patch 10.25
William Davis
League of Legends
Tanks have been stealing all of the headlines so far in the 2021 preseason, but with LoL patch 10.25, that’s finally changing. Riot has gone through many attempts at this point to knock the tanks off the throne of solo queue, and it finally seems to be working. With patch 10.25, new champions are starting to see great win rates while several tanks are dropping. The game is still full …
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.
