News

News What are gaming skills, and why do they matter? By William Davis News Leagues versus streamers: What’s the future for esports By William Davis News Valorant raises $5.5 million for charity with Give Back Bundle By Olivia Richman

News

This Kay/O point B retake setup on Split is super quick and effective Fariha Bhatti First released as an initiator but handled as an aggressive duelist, the 16th agent Kay/O is high-octane in retake situations.  Kay/O is still finding their place in the decorated Valorant roster, where agents often get pulled out of their categories to serve different purposes. For instance, Yoru makes for a great initiator despite his duelist tag. The latest agent, Kay/O, finds themselves in the opposite situation due to a high-tech …

News

Viper can help teach you how to defend yourself against Kay/O Fariha Bhatti Still getting Kay/O fragments thrown at you across every map? There might be a way to get a read on common molotov spots.  The war machine Kay/O is still new to Valorant. While initiator mains are perfecting his lineups, the rest of the players are figuring out how to contest Kay/O’s kit. As it turns out, Viper help teams work around Kay/O’s molotovs.  Duelist-initiator hybrid Kay/O is exceptionally strong due …

Dota 2

The best way to build and level Dragon Knight in Dota 2 Steven Rondina Dragon Knight has become Dota 2’s main character since the reveal of the DOTA: Dragon’s Blood animated series. That’s appropriate, because Davion has long been a solid hero that is friendly for new players while still remaining viable in high-level play. There are a number of different ways to play as Dragon Knight in Dota 2, with a classic mid-lane build that turns him into a formidable core hero or …

Counter-Strike

Can Astralis’ new AWPer Lucky put the Danes back on top? William Davis Fourth place at IEM Cologne would be a standout success for almost any Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team. But Astralis is not just any CSGO team. Astralis has stood at the top of CSGO time and time again but the loss of Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz has left the Danish juggernaut scrambling for a replacement. The squad might have found one in new young AWPer Philip “⁠Lucky⁠” Ewald. Can the young sniper …

Counter-Strike Is there really a crouch-walking accuracy bug in CSGO? By Fariha Bhatti News Chat will control Jerma in his upcoming “doll house” streams By William Davis League of Legends Jhin scaling and MF’s ult make huge combos in Ultimate Spellbook By William Davis

League of Legends

T1 vs. Gen.G: 2021 LCK Summer betting analysis William Davis The second to last week of the regular season in the 2021 LCK Summer Split is right around the corner and one of the key matchups will be between T1 and Gen.G, both of whom are fighting for the best seed possible moving into the playoffs.  With only two weeks left, Gen.G has locked in a playoff spot with its current 10-4 record. T1 has yet to lock in a …

Dota 2

mason banned for 5th time from Twitch, unbanned 4 hours later Steven Rondina Update- August 3, 9:50 p.m. ET Mason’s ban from Twitch was overturned just a few hours after being put in place. The unban was quickly announces by Streamer Bans on Twitter, then corroborated by mason: and I am unbanned. Will stream tomorrow probably. Let’s all be the best we can be in-game and out of game :) — mason (@masondota) August 3, 2021 –End of update– One of Dota 2’s …

Dota 2

Team Aster vs. Royal Never Give Up: Dota PIT S5 China betting analysis William Davis OGA Dota PIT Season 5: China will start with a hotly contested match between Royal Never Give Up and Team Aster. This matchup will pit the reigning i-League champion against the most exciting team in China. While Aster is heavily favored at first glance, RNG’s meta-breaking strategies could lead to a lucrative upset. OGA Dota PIT Season 5 China will split a $150,000 prize pool between eight of the best …

Dota 2

PSG.LGD vs. Vici Gaming: Dota PIT S5 China betting analysis William Davis OGA Dota PIT Season 5: China isn’t saving the heavyweight matchups for last. PSG.LGD versus Vici Gaming will cap off the first day of games. The rivalry between Vici Gaming and PSG.LGD has persisted beyond complete roster changes. It dominated the online era before and after the fall shuffle. The two teams finished within one game of each other in both seasons of the China Dota Pro Circuit upper division. …

Dota 2 player count up 4 months in a row, 1st time since 2016 Steven Rondina Dota 2 Dota 2 is enjoying sustained growth in its player count for the first time in years. According to Steam Charts, Dota 2’s average player count rose 0.39% in July relative to June. While that’s a minor improvement on its own, it marks four consecutive months of player count growth for Dota 2, something that hasn’t been true since the game’s prime.  The last time Dota 2 enjoyed four straight months …

This new Overpass heaven smoke is safer than most lineups Fariha Bhatti Counter-Strike This new Overpass heaven smoke is safer than the one you use. Smoking heaven on Overpass’ B site doesn’t have to be a life-threatening task. There’s an easier way to block off the high angle over the site that AWPers have exploited on the map. The trouble is that most of the known lineups for smokes to block off heaven have put players into dangerous positions. Dying while lining up a …

Blizzard president J. Allen Brack leaves amid sexism allegations Olivia Richman News As employees continue to come out with more stories of abuse, harassment, sexism, and discrimination, Blizzard president J. Allen Brack is stepping down from the game development company.  Blizzard announced that Brack was leaving today. His spot will be taken over by Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra, who are going to co-lead the company for the time being. Oneal became Blizzard’s executive vice president of development in January 2021, leading …

EDward Gaming vs. LNG Esports: 2021 LPL Summer betting analysis William Davis League of Legends The LPL teams have entered the last week of the 2021 LPL Summer regular split and many teams are still fighting for the best seeding possible going into the playoffs.  Two of those teams are EDward Gaming and LNG Esports, who have both secured spots in the playoffs but have yet to lock in their final seeds. This means a very important match between the two skilled squads, with EDG …

Apex Legends will have all three maps in rotation for first time Fariha Bhatti Apex Legends Apex Legends is about to get more competitive with advanced map rotation that will include all three maps.  Top-notch gunplay coupled with hardheaded legends has made Apex Legends one of the fan-favorite battle royales. But while the game is cut-throat and challenging, it can be a tad bit boring due to subpar map rotation. Players could only play two maps per season. But this will now change, a developer has …

These are the best items and moves for Zeraora in Pokemon Unite William Davis News One of the most popular Pokemon so far in Pokemon Unite has been Zeraora, who can be unlocked for free when signing up for the game. This has given plenty of players the chance to try out the speedy jungler and get to feel how well it can carry when getting a lead.  Zeraora is a physical melee attacker in Pokemon Unite, falling under the speedster role. This basically means …

Fnatic signs former Cloud9 duo ALEX and mezii to CSGO roster Fariha Bhatti Counter-Strike Former Cloud9 duo Alex “ALEX” McMeekin and William “mezii” Merriman have marked their return to top-tier Counter-Strike: Global Offensive by joining Fnatic.  The Swedish team’s director and head coach, Andreas “⁠Samuelsson⁠” Samuelsson, earlier expressed a wish to go International and it seems that the organization has made the big move by signing the British duo.  The start of something new.Welcome, @kingmezii & @CSGOALEX to the Black and Orange. pic.twitter.com/SYpU8YNAGV — …

Cinderace and Gengar nerfed on first Pokemon Unite balance update William Davis News As with any other MOBA, Pokemon Unite will be updated regularly with balance changes to Pokemon and items. For the first balance update, Pokemon Unite will bring out some nerfs to some of the current dominators in Cinderace and Gengar.  This update is set to launch on Wednesday, August 4 and will deliver changes to a total of 14 Pokemon. Some of these changes will be regular bug fixes while …

The Scope.gg map performance tool is a new way to improve in CSGO Steven Rondina Counter-Strike Be honest with yourself: Are you actually good at sniping from heaven on Mirage? How good are you at holding down long doors on Dust 2? Are you more successful pushing towards the A site or B site on Ancient? Players have to make some tricky choices when it comes to how and where they play on maps in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and without precise statistics, it’s tough to know …

Valorant players can hide your utility on this secret spot on Breeze Fariha Bhatti News Breeze is the latest addition to Valorant’s map pool and players still haven’t unleashed all the secret spots.  The sixth location, Breeze, introduced plenty of fresh features to the dull Valorant map pool. With its beachy scenery, palm trees, and vast, open area, Breeze has everything that other maps lacked. It turns out it also has a secret spot that can hide tossable utility.  Agents like Killjoy and Viper have …

Pokemon GO players call for boycott after safety benefits end Olivia Richman News The Pokemon GO community has been in an uproar over Niantic’s decision to remove lockdown-era benefits last week.  Despite major backlash from players, Niantic went ahead with the decision to remove a lot of the benefits the developer added to the mobile game in 2020 to keep players engaged while they were less able to safely travel. Since many trainers were not leaving their homes a lot last year, Niantic …

EHOME shutters Dota 2 division until 2022 DPC season, xNova out William Davis Dota 2 The EHOME Dota 2 team will be temporarily shut down until the 2022 Dota Pro Circuit season. The announcement comes three weeks after a loss in the grand finals of China’s regional qualifier for The International 2021. In addition to a temporary shuttering, the team is also releasing Malaysian hard support Jian Wei “xNova” Yap due to the expiration of his contract. The EHOME Dota 2 team still plans to …

WIN.gg gathers news and guides from around the world covering every point of the modern gaming industry in all of its many forms.