League of Legends
League of Legends
These are the best champions for LoL’s One for All game mode
William Davis
Temporary game mode One for All is live now as part of the PsyOps 2020 event, and we have assembled the best champions to use in conquering Summoner’s Rift. One for All will be available through October 5. One for All is one of the oldest game modes in League of Legends, as it was first released in 2013. The mechanics of this mode are simple. Players go through a …
League of Legends
Which teams are qualified for the 2020 LoL World Championship?
William Davis
The 2020 World Championship is right around the corner and all teams save for one have been decided. But who will be fighting for the Summoner’s Cup this year? Once again, teams from all around the world will compete to determine the best League of Legends team in the world. Originally, 24 teams were set to compete, but unfortunately Vietman’s VCS teams won’t be able to attend due to travel …
League of Legends
This is why Shen jungle works, as proven by TSM and G2
William Davis
Shen is known as a strong top laner with great early game dueling power and global presence, but the ninja is starting to see play in the jungle as well. But what makes Shen a strong jungler? Shen was picked up by Team SoloMid jungler Mingyi “Spica” Lu in the 2020 LCS Summer Split lower bracket final against Team Liquid. The pick came as a surprise to fans as well …
League of Legends
Team SoloMid wins the 2020 LCS Summer Split by defeating FlyQuest
William Davis
Team SoloMid is the 2020 LCS Summer Split champion after an intense five-game series against FlyQuest. TSM lived up to expectations and earned its first LCS title since 2017. Now, TSM is heading to the 2020 League of Legends World Championship as the LCS’s first seed and it’s guaranteed to avoid Top Esports, DAMWON Gaming, and G2 Esports in the first round. WE ARE THE BEST TEAM IN NORTH AMERICA …
League of Legends
What is CLG’s LoL roster going to look like in 2021?
Nicholas James
Counter Logic Gaming is coming off back-to-back bottom of the table finishes in the 2020 LCS Spring and Summer Splits. The organization has already released its coaches Kim “SSONG” Sang-soo and Weldon “Weldon” Green after the regular season ended, signaling big changes for the organization’s future. But what will those changes be? The team is looking at a potential rebuild across the board at all positions, but is locked into …
League of Legends
Riot Games reveals how new LoL champions are created
William Davis
League of Legends fans recently got an insight into the champion gameplay discovery process, through a dev post by lead gameplay designer Mark “Scuffy” Yetter. The process includes four key questions that have to be checked off when the Riot Games development team works on a new champion for the game. But will this continue to be possible in a game with over 150 champions? Gameplay thoughts for today:-Our “gameplay …
League of Legends
TSM destroys Team Liquid, advances to 2020 LCS Summer Finals
William Davis
Team SoloMid has qualified for the 2020 LCS Summer Split finals after taking down Team Liquid. TSM is one step closer to getting its first LCS title since 2017 and got revenge upon Liquid in the intense five-game semifinal series. With this result, Liquid qualified for Worlds as the LCS’ third seed, but will have to go through the play-in stage. hey @TLCoreJJ enjoy playins — Yiliang Peng (@TSMDoublelift) September 6, …
League of Legends
G2 beats Rogue in five games, secures LEC finals Fnatic rematch
William Davis
G2 Esports beat Rogue in an intense five-game series to secure the last spot in the 2020 LEC Summer Split final. This will be the fourth final in a row for G2, with a chance to win its fourth trophy in a row as well. Rogue places third in the split, which is the organization’s best LEC performance to date. G2 ADVANCE TO THE #LEC FINAL! pic.twitter.com/MubpDFYSA5 — LEC (@LEC) …
Why is Yuumi still hated after being nerfed into bad win rates?
William Davis
League of Legends
Feline enchanter support Yuumi has been thrown out of the meta for over five patches after several previous nerfs. Yuumi received a big nerf in patch 10.13 when Riot increased the mana cost of Zoomies (E), which greatly affected her sustain. Riot tried to balance her out by buffing Bop ‘N’ Block (P) in patch 10.15, but it was not enough to put Yuumi back at a balanced win rate. …
DAMWON Gaming wins 2020 LCK Summer Split, takes spot in Worlds 2020
William Davis
League of Legends
DAMWON Gaming is the 2020 LCK Summer Split champion and secured its pass to the 2020 World Championship. DAMWON took down DragonX with a clean 3-0 sweep and secured top seeding in the LCK. The three-game series was a League of Legends masterclass and DAMWON confirmed itself as the strongest team in South Korea. DAMWON’s top stars are jungler Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu, top laner Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon, and mid laner …
Everything you need to know about TFT Set 4: Fates
William Davis
League of Legends
Teamfight Tactics Set 4: Fates is coming to live servers on September 16 with patch 10.19. Here’s everything you need to know about the new TFT set, which includes game-changing mechanics as well as new Little Legends, arena skins, and much more. A new set adds new mechanics to the game, including Chosen, Cultist, Moonlight, and Warlord. Chosen units appear in the store and are two-star units that sell for …
Team Liquid support CoreJJ is the 2020 LCS Summer Split MVP
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2020 LCS Summer Split Honda MVP award goes to Team Liquid support Jo “Corejj” Yong-in after another impressive split. As we are entering the LCS finals weekend, the final summer split award has been announced. CoreJJ wins the award with 146 points, followed by Team SoloMid mid laner Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg as the runner-up with 111 points. Cloud9 jungler Robert “Blaber” Huang comes in at third with 44 points. …
Riot is looking to improve client performance in champion select
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games announced in a recent dev post that it will be looking to resolve champion select bugs and make the transition to the post-game lobby screen smoother for players. Through different surveys, developers at Riot have collected information to outline which client problems are the most important frustrating, according to players. Riot has previously worked towards improving the client bootstrap time and will now be focusing on the next …
Riot Games debuts trailer for new tabletop game Tellstone
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
“Play the player, dear. Not the game.” Tellstones: King’s Gambit is a tabletop game created by Riot that’s all about bluffing and memorization. The strategy game has had board game enthusiasts curious since Riot got the name trademarked in 2019. Now, the game’s developers have provided a narrative trailer for tabletop fans. The video already has more than 1.5 million views on YouTube. The trailer shows a young Cithria being …
How Riot Games and Tencent bend to the Chinese government’s will
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
Riot Games has for years been a frequent source of controversy, but even in its best moments there’s a cloud hanging over the famed developer and publisher. This comes from the company being a wholly owned subsidiary of Tencent Holdings Ltd., a conglomerate with close ties to the repressive Chinese government. Despite Tencent being the largest video game company in the world, many remain largely in the dark about the …
DAMWON Gaming vs DragonX LCK summer playoffs betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
The time has finally come for the 2020 LCK Summer Split final, as DAMWON Gaming and DRX will meet in what should be an intense best-of-five series. Both teams went through the regular split with very few losses, but DAMWON was superior in the end. DRX had the best start to the split, but DAMWON slowly caught up to them and secured the first-place seed in the final week of …
T1 promises legal action after threats, harassment of LoL team
Steven Rondina
League of Legends
T1 doesn’t have a great relationship with its fans these days, and it doesn’t seem like that’s changing any time soon. The organization stated on Twitter that it is taking legal action against fans that have been harassing members of the team. This continues what has been an ugly second half of the 2020 LCK Summer Split, marred by controversy surrounding the team’s mid lane situation. A Message from @T1 …
G2 Esports vs. Rogue: 2020 LEC Summer Playoffs betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
Rogue will challenge the kings of the LEC when it clashes with G2 Esports in a best-of-five series for the last spot in the 2020 LEC Summer Split Final. The two teams haven’t met each other since week 6 of the split, where G2 ended up running away with the victory. In fact, Rogue has not managed to beat G2 a single time in the organization’s history. While G2 is …
DAMWON Gaming takes four spots on LCK All-Pro team
William Davis
League of Legends
2020 LCK Summer finalist DAMWON Gaming has secured four spots in the LCK All-Pro team for the summer split. Top laner Jang “Nuguri” Ha-gwon, jungler Kim “Canyon” Geon-bu, mid laner Heo “ShowMaker” Su, and support Cho “BeryL” Geon-hee all snatched spots on the LCK All-Pro team. Gen.G bottom laner Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk took the final spot. ShowMaker also received the award for MVP of the season. DAMWON Gaming head coach …
Grammy nominee Logic to perform at 2020 LCS Summer Split final
William Davis
League of Legends
The 2020 LCS Summer Split final will be kicked off with a bang when Grammy-nominated and multi-platinum selling artist Logic will perform at the opening ceremony. Logic is a rapper who recently announced his retirement. He was nominated for two Grammy awards in 2018, including song of the year and best music video. His collaborators include Marshmello, who himself has had some involvement in the gaming world through Fortnite. Logic …
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.
