League of Legends
News
Uzi says he will return to pro League of Legends if health improves
Olivia Richman
Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao may have retired from Royal Never Give Up, but his goal of staying a League of Legends pro are still fresh on his mind. Uzi has long been considered one of the best ADC pros in the world. He was the first player to reach 3,000 kills in their career and he held that kill record for many years. But recently, Uzi has not been seeing much …
League of Legends
How to get the new Thousand-Pierced Volibear skin for free
William Davis
The reworked Volibear has arrived in Summoner’s Rift and developer Riot Games is giving away a free skin to commemorate the launch. In 2019, Riot announced that Fiddlesticks and Volibear would be getting complete overhauls. The new Volibear arrived with patch 10.11 and brings a present with him to players. All players that owned the champion prior to the rework will receive the new Thousand-Pierced Bear skin for free. To …
League of Legends
LoL Wild Rift alpha gameplay details, list of champions revealed
William Davis
Riot Games announced when the League of Legends: Wild Rift Regional Alpha will arrive in Brazil and the Philippines. From June 6 to June 27, the game will be available for all players with Android phones that registered during the 10-year celebration in October. Riot is hoping to test the gameplay, the game system, and the stability of the servers. The announcement included a deeper look into the game’s mechanics. …
League of Legends
100 Thieves re-signs Ssumday through 2022 ahead of LCS Summer Split
Olivia Richman
100 Thieves may have had a rough Spring Split, but they are still confident in Kim “Ssumday” Chan-ho. The LCS team re-signed the top laner for two more years. The announcement on Twitter stated that they had “many great memories” with Ssumday and that there are “so many more to come.” From the very beginning ’til now. So many great memories, and so many more to come.We’re to excited to have …
League of Legends
LoL patch 10.11 buffs all ADCs to bring power back to the bot lane
William Davis
League of Legends patch 10.11 is live, and it brings the new Volibear, a skin line from out of this world, and major changes for the game’s marksmen. On the cosmetic side, patch 10.11 added Astronaut Poppy, Astronaut Gnar, and Astronaut Bard to the shop. Additionally, the update added new chromas for Astronautilus and Astronaut Teemo. The new and improved Volibear is finally available on the game. It includes a …
League of Legends
Huni to sign with Evil Geniuses after being dropped by Dignitas
William Davis
Evil Geniuses has acquired top laner Heo “Huni” Seung-hoon ahead of the 2020 LCS Summer Split, ESPN’s Jacob Wolf reported on Wednesday. The formerly second-highest paid player in the LCS found a new home. After being dropped by Dignitas back on April, Huni will join Evil Geniuses for the next split. The terms and conditions will be different from the $2.3 million contract that Huni previously signed with Dignitas. According …
League of Legends
Spica promoted to starting jungler for TSM as Dignitas adds V1per
William Davis
Team SoloMid has revealed its full roster heading into the 2020 LCS Summer Split. TSM introduced its new roster which includes: Top lane: Sergen “Broken Blade” Çelik Jungle: Mingyi “Spica” Lu Mid lane: Søren “Bjergsen” Bjerg ADC: Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng Support: Vincent “Biofrost” Wang Spica, a former TSM Academy jungler, has been promoted to the main roster starting this season. The move was leaked on May 13 when support Biofrost …
League of Legends
Dardoch joins Dignitas, gets another chance at LCS redemption
William Davis
Former Team SoloMid jungler Joshua “Dardoch” Hartnett has joined Dignitas ahead of the 2020 LCS Summer Split. After weeks of speculation and controversy, Dardoch has found a new home at Dignitas. It’s not the first time that Dignitas picks up a jungler dropped by TSM, as the team previously signed both Jonathan “Grig” Armao and Matthew “Akaadian” Higginbotham. Dardoch joins mid laner Henrik “Froggen” Hansen, ADC Johnson “Johnsun” Nguyen, and …
LEC cancels 2020 Summer playoffs in Sweden, opens Berlin studio
William Davis
League of Legends
The LEC has decided to cancel the 2020 LEC Summer Split finals event in Malmö, Sweden due to the ongoing global health situation. “We’ve made the difficult decision to cancel our plans to host the Summer Finals in Malmö, Sweden. We’re currently exploring other options for the event,” director of esports at Riot Alberto “Tiroless” Guerrero said. This is a last-minute change for the league that as recently as April …
Yuumi is most banned champion in some regions, banned 73% in Europe
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
It’s been just over a year since Yuumi was released in League of Legends. Since May 2019, Yuumi has been a consistent favorite of supports in every region. Just a few months after her debut, League of Legends pros couldn’t stop ranting about Yuumi, with Matthew “Deftly” Chen calling her “fucking OP” and even questioning why Riot created her. Nickolas “Hakuho” Surgent stated that she “never dies” and needs to …
Riot adds in-game sponsor banners to LoL’s Summoner’s Rift
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
Riot Games has found a creative new way to show off its sponsors during the upcoming League of Legends Summer Splits in pro play. Called “Summoner’s Rift arena branding,” in-game digital sponsor signs and banners will be placed throughout the popular MOBA’s map. With the upcoming season taking place completely online, there are fewer options for sponsors and brands without the benefit of the LCS Arena. Since most viewers will …
DragonX vs. Invictus Gaming: Mid-Season Cup betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
DragonX and Invictus Gaming will play on day two of the Mid-Season Cup. These teams were once considered the best in the world and are now facing difficulties. It’s hard to believe it considering the good numbers the teams pulled up in spring. Choi “Doran” Hyeon-joon Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon Jeong “Chovy” Ji-hoon Kim “Deft” Hyuk-kyu Ryu “Keria” Min-seok DragonX intended to create a roster Deft so he could comfortably carry …
T1 vs. FunPlus Phoenix: Mid-Season Cup betting analysis
William Davis
League of Legends
LCK’s T1 and LPL’s FunPlus Phoenix are opening the 2020 Mid-Season Cup in a highly anticipated match. Fans around the world wanted these teams to meet in the 2019 World Championship, but fate and G2 Esports, wouldn’t allow it. Now, T1 and FPX are finally playing against each other in the first game of the tournament. Kim “GimGoon” Han-saem, Kim “Khan” Dong-ha Gao “Tian” Tian-Liang Kim “Doinb” Tae-sang Lin “Lwx” …
Riot finally fixes year-old matchmaking problems in EUW server
William Davis
League of Legends
Riot Games is addressing the EUW server’s longstanding matchmaking woes, adding to an ever-growing list of issues that need to be remedied to fix the solo queue experience in League of Legends. Riot changed the matchmaking configuration in the EUW server, prioritizing closer MMR over low queue times. As a result, challenger players are now facing longer queues, theoretically with the tradeoff of better matchmaking. After the change, players in …
LCS adds Friday Night League, hoping to boost viewership numbers
William Davis
League of Legends
Big changes are in store as the LCS has released the schedule for the 2020 LCS Summer Split, set to start on June 12. The news is particularly big because the LCS is making major changes to its schedule. The league has decided to move two LCS matches from Mondays to Fridays for new Friday Night League broadcasts. Starting on June 12, fans can enjoy two LCS matches on Fridays …
Listen to Tarzaned claim he boosted IWillDominate to Challenger
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
On a recent stream, League of Legends streamer Julian “Tarzaned” Farokhian claimed he boosted fellow streamer Christian “IWillDominate” Rivera’s account to Challenger. After an ongoing fued between the two Twitch streamers, Tarzaned decided to up the ante and expose IWillDominate with claims that he boosted the Team Liquid content creator’s account. “You call yourself a Challenger player and you never actually got Challenger on your own. I actually had to …
T1 and FPX set to open the League of Legends Mid-Season Cup
William Davis
League of Legends
The full schedule for days one and two of the Mid-Season Cup has been revealed, and the competition will kick off with a match between FunPlus Phoenix and T1. The LCK spring champion and the currently reigning World Champion are in charge of opening the highly anticipated Mid-Season Cup. On May 28 at 2 AM CST, T1 and FunPlus Phoenix are taking the stage. DAMWON Gaming and Top Esports round …
Perkz opens up on role swap with Caps, says G2 was trolling too much
Olivia Richman
League of Legends
G2 Esports veteran Luka “Perkz” Perkovic recently spoke on his upcoming move back to the bottom lane. Perkz recently opened up to Korizon about the controversial role swap, stating that Rasmus “Caps” Winther didn’t enjoy playing bot lane as much as he did. “The reason he wanted to play bot lane in the first place is because he thought I was unhappy,” Perkz admitted. For that reason, Perkz stated that …
FunPlus Phoenix Tian knows how to quiet his haters in LoL solo queue
William Davis
League of Legends
FunPlus Phoenix jungler Gao “Tian” Tian-Liang had the absolute best comeback when a player tried to flame him in solo queue. Tian is not your regular solo queue jungler, as Tian is a defending world champion and the 2019 World Championship finals MVP. So when a solo queue player attempted to flame him, Tian had the perfect comeback. LPL players often play in the Korean server. Despite having their own …
Viper joins Hanwha Life Esports ahead of the 2020 LCK Summer Split
William Davis
League of Legends
Bottom laner Park “Viper” Do-hyeon has officially joined Hanwha Life Esports ahead of the 2020 LCK Summer Split. Viper is reuniting with former teammate Son “Lehends” Si-woo under a new banner. Viper and Lehends were considered one of the strongest duos in the LCK between 2018 and 2019 while playing with Griffin. Now, the duo is getting ready to thrive with a new organization. 2020 hasn’t been an easy ride …
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.
