#were added to the list of champions to summon in league when they first came into their

[sentiniel]

so i know the lore around summoners (the player self insert/character stand-ins you have for the game) probably isn't based around summoning a replica or a representation of these characters taken from a real universe any more. but. wouldn't it be fucking funny if it was, especially in lieu of arcane's events.

imagine getting to register vi to the summoner's league right after she became an enforcer, or maybe even during some time between arcane act 1 and 2. and then using the label of 'piltover's finest!' just to sell her champion prowess. cut to a day or two later in piltover and maybe she's quit to become a pit fighter, but damn doesn't she still look good as a summon.

same???? goes for jinx???? memorializing how she shot the councilmen into debris with the summoners designing her champion ult???? do you think they have sensitivity checks in the summoner's league or do you think they just rolled with whatever was funny or made the most sense, even if it could possibly offend someone that she DID in fact kill politicians that day and bring instability to the cities.

[infinite-xerath]

Runeterra Retcons 9: Shaco

The time has come to discuss League’s resident killer clown… Or killer jester, I suppose. There is a difference, not that it really matters because even the lore doesn’t ACTUALLY know what Shaco is. To be frank, Shaco is a weird character because he’s NEVER had a proper place in the story, even from his conception.

Shaco’s original lore paints him as a complete and utter mystery. Nobody knows who or what he is, where he came from, or what he really wants. All anyone has ever known is that Shaco loves killing people because he thinks it’s funny. He could be a demon, a rogue weapon, or just a homicidal madman who’s really good at what he loves. That’s where his character begins and ends, so there’s really not much to actually analyze here. Shaco’s second lore attempts to give us a little more detail but all it really does is say the exact same thing with more words added in.

Of course, Shaco’s first two lores were written at a time with the Institute of War and Summoners were still canon, so after the retcon back in 2015 Riot opted to give him a new backstory to make him fit in with the new world of Runeterra. That backstory, as we can see, is ultimately little more than a placeholder. I mean, his extended bio doesn’t even match the blurb on his Champion page!

In summation: Shaco is a haunted doll who belonged to an unknown prince of an unknown kingdom and was transformed by unknown magics for unknown reasons. This backstory now feels especially redundant with the introduction of Gwen into the game, a living doll with a similar backstory albeit far less evil. To be frank: there’d be room to have some interest thematic parallels between Gwen and Shaco if Riot had written these two in such a way that they were creations of the same person or belonged to the same kid but wound up becoming wholly opposite of one-another.

For example: perhaps in an alternate version of the lore, Gwen comes to embody the childlike innocence and hope of her maker/owner and seeks to spread joy and cheer while Shaco is a corrupt and perverted manifestation of those desires who seeks only to amuse himself in the suffering of others. This, I think, would have been a fantastic way to go about it, but given that Gwen is already so heavily tied to the Shadow Isles plotline and Viego is set up to be her primary enemy, I feel like it would be kind of difficult to work Shaco into that dynamic at this point.

Besides, it’s clear that Riot DOES have plans for Shaco: namely, that they aim to retcon him into being a demon. This is somewhat evident by his champion title, the Demon Jester, as well as his relationships are listed as being Nocturne and Fiddlesticks, the demons of nightmares and fear, respectively. There’s also that branch on the demon family tree labeled “Delirium” which would fit a murderous jokester pretty well.

To be honest, I was initially hesitant to even bother doing an episode for Shaco given that Riot clearly has at least some vague idea of what to do with him, but since reworks are coming out a lot slower now and Shaco’s not even on Riot’s priority list as far as we’re aware, it’ll probably be a WHILE before we actually see them do anything with this particular concept.

So, given what we know about Riot’s current plans, the general direction of this rewrite is simple: make Shaco a demon. Admittedly, though, that’s a little easier said than done. Demons in League are creatures who feed on mortal pain and suffering, but each of them has a different way of going about it. Fiddlesticks mainly uses paranoia and trauma to drive his victims mad while Nocturne takes a more Freddy Krueger approach of just invading dreams and turning them into nightmares. Tahm Kench likes to make Faustian Bargains by giving you everything you want and then tearing it all away from you, while Evelynn lures you in with seduction and then proceeds to tear you apart piece by piece.

Every demon takes a different form and has different ways of going about things, but all of them share a core concept: they feed on suffering and misery, be it physical or emotional. That said, there’s a bit more to demons in Runeterra than just that. See, back when Fiddlesticks was released, Riot went and released what the community has dubbed the “Demon Family Tree,” which appears to be a chart displaying the hierarchy of demons and different emotions that different kinds of demons can prey on.

Now, admittedly, there’s a LOT about this chart that we don’t currently understand, and frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if Riot doesn’t either. There’s a key that resembles the one around Zoe’s neck in the top-left, a bunch of circles in the top right we don’t know the meaning of, and a whole bunch of text written in what I think is supposed to be Old Noxian that we can’t currently decipher. There have been theories and discussions about this already, so I’m not going to get too deep into it, but the main takeaway, I think, would be the words on the chart that we CAN read: Fear, Delirium, Nightmares, Secrets, Bliss, Frenzy, and Obsession. There’s also the term “Azakana” at the bottom, though we know thanks to Yone that this basically just refers to a demon that hasn’t fully matured yet.

Tying the chart back to the demonic Champions in the game, it’s easy to piece together the connections that they each have: Fiddlesticks is fear, Nocturne is Nightmares, Raum (the demon bound to Swain) is Secrets, Evelynn is commonly believed to be Bliss, and Tahm Kench is most likely Obsession. That leaves Delirium and Frenzy untouched, which leaves us with two spots to fit Shaco into.

Now comes the hard part: the decision. Delirium refers to a state of mind in which one’s awareness of their actions or environment is significantly reduced, whereas frenzy is a sudden burst of frantic, uncontrolled emotion, typically rage or aggression. Either one of these could work well for a killer jester, but I personally think that delirium would suit Shaco better in terms of how his personality is portrayed in game. So, with that said, let’s dive deep into the realm of demonic and see what can be done to turn this cursed puppet into a proper Demon of Delirium.

It is often said that misery and comedy are but two sides of the same coin. Laughter often comes at the expense of others, and one person’s despair may be another’s delight. Most entertainers would tell you that walking the line between humor and malice is key, but to Shaco, such distinctions are a joke for which he himself is the final punchline.

The demon known as Shaco has stalked Runeterra for ages, spreading his twisted influence far and wide. There’s nothing Shaco loves more than to bring joy to those who need it most, often appearing to mortals who have experienced great loss or tragedy. Those coping with grief or misfortune may find themselves unexpectedly visited by a grinning jester, who assures that his only desire is to take away their pain with the power of laughter.

At first, Shaco’s antics are innocent enough. Some cheesy jokes to lighten the mood, some harmless pranks to lift the spirits of the downtrodden, all with an unyielding smile that one cannot help but start to imitate. Soon, those enthralled with Shaco’s antics are invited to play games with the jester to help distract from their worldly worries. Those who accept are whisked away to partake in a day of fun and merriment, playing all manner of pranks on friends, family, and even innocent bystanders.

When the games end, Shaco leaves his playmates cackling insanely in the aftermath, often surrounded by bodies and covered in blood. None laugh louder than Shaco, however, who delights in watching his playmates slowly regain their sanity and come to realize all the atrocities committed at his side. Some cry out in despair, while others break down laughing or crying harder than before. Some go mad, others are executed for their crimes, and some even opt to take their own lives. All outcomes are equally hilarious to Shaco, who soon sets out in pursuit of his next playmate.

Stories of the Mad Trickster exist all across Runeterra, often told as children’s tales to teach valuable lessons: don’t trust strangers, never give in to sadness or despair, and always be mindful to never take a joke too far. Few truly believe in Shaco’s existence, but those who fail to heed such warnings may find themselves to be his next playmate, as well as the butt of his joke…

So, this one was a bit shorter than normal, but I think it serves to get the point across. As the embodiment of delirium, I wanted to give Shaco a set-up sort of similar to Tahm Kench: he appears to offer help to those in need, only to end up ruining their lives in the long run. The difference, of course, is that Shaco lures people in to help them forget their troubles with fun and games, only to escalate to full-blown murder and mayhem.

In essence, Shaco drives others to delirium, making them believe the carnage is all just fun and games until his spell is broken and reality sets in. I’d like to think he particularly likes preying on the downtrodden because those who are suffering mental anguish already are easier for him to cast his spell on.

This is just my take on Shaco, though. Who can really say what Riot will do with him in the future? Who knows, his rework might end up even better than what I have here, but of course, anything is bound to be better than his current, non-existent lore.

[grabthelantern]

Top 5 Thursday: Degenerate Off-Builds

By Helmight

Remember the days of yore, when League was new and every champion had weird scalings for absolutely no reason? I remember those days. They were kinda fun, right up until people realized that they could build a champion in a completely weird way that was simultaneously broken and nigh-uncounterable.

Today, we honor those strange off-builds. May they never come again.

#5: DFGaren

Honestly this one is just silly. Garen’s ult literally only scales with the enemy champion’s missing health, but through the magic of Deathfire Grasp, he could cheese out a ton of additional damage. It wasn’t exactly a viable build, but certainly worth mentioning on this list.

#4: AD Malzahar

Malzahar’s voidlings used to have some pretty crazy AD scalings, and since his AP ratios were already good enough, he could get away with building straight attack damage. This caused his voidlings to become absolute nightmares to play against, and actually opened up Malzahar to a viable jungle build.

It wasn’t entirely degenerate - honestly it felt pretty fair to play against - but the playstyle essentially reduced all of Malzahar’s other abilities into spammable button presses to summon more voidlings. Not exactly what Riot intended.

#3: AP Rengar

When Rengar first came out, he was pretty busted and received a few nerfs almost immediately. However, this had the unfortunate side effect of causing players to look at the AP ratio on his Battle Roar and say “huh.”

AP Rengar jumped on you and pressed W for basically all of your health from stealth, which was just amazing fun for everyone. Thankfully Riot heavily nerfed Rengar’s scalings soon afterwards, but for its time the build was terrible to play against.

#2: AP Tryndamere

I played against a Trynd using this build only once, but it was literally hell on Earth. Forget dealing damage to Tryndamere - one press of his Q and he could heal upwards of half his health back, while doing a sizeable amount of damage thanks to Spinning Slash. AP Trynd didn’t deal a significant amount of damage, but it was basically impossible to ever kill that man. And you thought current Tryndamere was bad.

#1: AP Master Yi

The reason AP Yi gets the top spot is because it was actually competitively viable - and complete bullshit. At least Tryndamere had to autoattack you for damage. AP Master Yi would literally press Q and kill you and your entire team - and if that wasn’t enough, if he got kill his Q would immediately reset. Get him low, ever? Meditate had a 300% AP scaling, allowing Yi to tank through your whole team’s damage while waiting for Alpha Strike to come off cooldown.

It was cheesy, it was stupid, and it was degenerate enough to make this list. If all of the other builds came back, it’d be okay - just so long as we never have to deal with AP Yi ever again.

Let me know your favorite degenerate off builds in the comments, and be sure to like and reblog this article if you enjoyed it!

[torentialtribute]

MARTIN SAMUEL: England’s World Cup stars should be on sun-loungers not at Lord’s  

Jonny Bairstow started to talk about his father and shed tears. Then he called Adil Rashid and did the same.

Even the memory of fish and french fries as a young cricket player made him foggy. He looked emotionally tense. This was the morning after the last Cricket World Cup, perhaps the most stressful day in Bairstow's professional life.

Or Monday last week, if you want to put a pin in it. So it's a mystery how Bairstow, or another member of that World Cup team, walked back to Lord & # 39; s on Wednesday morning. Somewhere between Him Alli unable to get up without a sunbed in Mykonos, and Bairstow, Jason Roy, Joe Root, Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali are in the field crashing and burning, initially against Ireland, there is a middle ground.

England & # 39; s World Cup heroes, including Jonny Bairstow, should have had free time after

England's cricketers should have been near a competition this week, perhaps not even a formal training session. No one could have foreseen the precise circumstances of the World Cup victory; exactly how much that group would get through the wringer, but will win in the big tournament without blood, sweat and tears.

England were the pre-championship favorites, the final appearance on July 14 may & # 39; I came as a surprise. Yet a clear spark still thought in another test match 10 days later – with a training camp in St. George's Park

Even Graham Thorpe, the batting coach of England, seemed the wisdom of the schedule to question. & # 39; There aren't many sports where you win the World Cup and play a week later, & # 39; he said. "Some boys have played red ball cricket, others have not.

" For those who did not, it was a challenging mental test that came from the World Cup. are located in different main rooms of the others. That is natural. But they were all asked if they wanted to play. & # 39;

Yes, and they are professional athletes, who in some cases fight for a place on an Ashes Test team, so they responded affirmatively. That's what good players do. Frank Lampard, whose appearance record was unrivaled at its peak, said that when Chelsea played their best under Jose Mourinho, they never felt tired.

England & # 39; s World Cup heroes had played the role of the Lord in the Test against Ireland

Some days, he recalled, they would win the kickoff in the early afternoon and if someone told them to go again later that day, they would have been ready. And that is undoubtedly true, but it would not have been good or healthy. What a player feels externally and the reality of his physical or mental state can be very different.

What difference does it make even for those who are now doing a good overall performance against Ireland? Can one really say that the following week improved its chances compared to Australia?

True, there is a difference between red ball and white ball cricket, but did Root really need a game against Ireland to remind him? Would it have come back to him while he was thinking about the World Cup somewhere on a beach?

In 2010, Fabio Capello England lost the World Cup before the tournament even started. Because he had never experienced one as an international manager, he thought the preparation should reflect a pre-season club – physically rigorous and demanding.

The players of England, however, had just finished an exhausting competitive club season. The last thing they needed was a boot camp. Maybe Capello didn't trust his players on the line in the Mediterranean. Most likely he just did it wrong. Anyway, England's preparation for that tournament and their isolation, once in South Africa, were completely counterproductive.

Senior figures at the ECB now admit that the road from England to the Cricket World Cup was also wrong. They should not have played five one-day internationals, plus the T20 against Pakistan. The intention was to get the team tuned in to the white ball, 50-over game.

If the ECB had hoped for a gentle warm-up match against Ireland, it was terribly misjudged

The reality was 17 games between May 5 and July 14, many with intense mental pressure. It was too much and although the end justifies the means, the ECB does not think so. They believe that England won the World Cup despite their elongated build-up, rather than for it.

The same can be said of the Test against Ireland regarding the outcome of the Ashes. If the idea was a gentle warm-up, it would have been terribly badly assessed. When the wickets started to fall, England was under heavy pressure. That Ireland only offered a four-day test was only added. The world champions had everything to lose and little to gain.

Professional sport looks nice and it usually is. Yet the pressure around the elite end and elite athletes continues to grow. The costs of a losing Ashes tour no longer stop at the results, there is also a psychological toll.

Jonathan Trott was signed by the 2013-14 back-to-back Ashes series and returned home after the first Test. The intensity was too much. What has changed? Well, that was the tour when England arrived with a 82-page booklet with 194 recipes and catering requirements.

A heart surgeon can cut a cheese sandwich and have lunch if he wants to, but the cricketers of England must have lamb and pea kofabak with avocado, raw lettuce and butter beans. The message is that this is the most important work in the world. So essential that the normal life lived by the rest of the planet is not suitable.

No wonder, when the shape of a batsman begins to fail, it feels like the world is collapsing; as if his shortcomings are everything someone is talking about; that this is a shame, humiliation.

Jason Roy stepped into the new fold of playing of a key role in the World Cup success

That series was that which Alastair Cook described as a war. During breakfast in the press room, on the day of the World Cup semi-final in Edgbaston, Cook was determined that he would rather not be there. He said he knows that he has made the right decision to retire: that he has not sent the English players their quest for world champions. He was ready. He had had enough.

And so the players of England appeared the morning after their best match. Not just bleeding or hanging. Shattered. Spent. They looked like the best preparation on Thursday against Australia would be two weeks off. Next, place the promotion at Lord & # 39; s this week next to Jofra Archer's photo & # 39; s in Barbados.

He was partying at an event called the Jouvert Morning Jump-Up. Archer was dancing and covered in paint – just like his – while his girlfriend worked for him.

It doesn't matter, but it is a shame that he has an injury. Almost only among the English World Cup winners, he seems to have found the perfect way to prepare for the Ashes.

Frank's Jorginho Challenge

As expected, finding the best position because N & Golo Kante would never be the biggest problem for Frank Lampard at Chelsea. Everyone, bar Maurizio Sarri, already knew. Jorginho is a different matter.

Lampard wants him to play a more offensive role, but it remains to be seen whether he can do that in the Premier League. Last season, Jorginho often looked gloomy as a maker, moving the ball too slowly, too deep and easily eliminated.

What worked in the Serie A was quickly revealed at the fast pace of the Premier League. That approach can prove to be much more difficult than bringing Kante back to his service as a defense screen.

There is certainly a player in Jorginho, but can he be in the middle of the crowd? Sarri couldn't do it.

Frank Lampard must be the best this summer find a solution to get the best out of Jorginho

Being backed up doesn't mean you have to take it

Time was the fourth, sometimes fifth-choice A football club attacker was a hopeless dead end.

Staying in Liverpool last season, Divock Origi signed vital goals in the Premier League against Everton and Newcastle, two goals in an epic Champions League semi-final with Barcelona and another in the Champions League final.

For modern top clubs, the requirements of the match list have changed the concept of the reserve footballer. Just as modern rugby has its finishers – who don't start the game but play a crucial role until late – so modern football has men like Origi, who can be summoned in moderation but can have a huge impact on the season.

Why do FINA cheats protect?

It says everything about FINA, the governing body of swimming, that they were forced to hastily draft a new code of conduct in the middle of the World Swimming Water Championships to prevent athletes exposing drug debt

If FINA did their job well, athletes would not have to take the initiative. If FINA had their priorities right, the only cause for concern would be that of the Chinese swimmer Sun Yang.

Sun visited by dope testers, refused to provide a urine sample, and then struck bottles of his own blood with a hammer and the help of the team doctor from China. FINA was soft on the sentence, so now the case goes to the Court of Arbitration in September

If he is found guilty, he will be banned from life after he has already been banned from using trimetazidine. However, here in South Korea, he is winning gold and brutally his rivals & # 39; losers & # 39; mentioned because he dared to speak out.

Sun Yang ( right) is confronted with a life ban if he is found guilty of doping at the Court of Arbitration

And FINA's reaction is to punish the demonstrators. Mack Horton, the Australian who led the way by refusing to shake Sun's hand or join him on the podium, after finishing second in the 400m freestyle, FINA would appear on an & # 39; unacceptable & # 39; behave in this way.

Their latest edict demands that swimmers strictly avoid any offensive or inappropriate behavior toward officials, other participants, team members or spectators during the competition & # 39 ;. What FINA is really against is athletes who embarrass them by suing cheats who win on their watches.

Adam Peaty immediately rejected the code of conduct and promised to continue speaking. & # 39; If we discover that something is wrong and cheating, why should we not have a voice? & # 39; he said. It would be extremely ironic if clean athletes were disciplined while Sun continued to thrive. It would also be very FINE.

Gareth Bale scored and it made no difference. Marco Asensio sustained a long-term injury and it made no difference.

When asked about Bale's situation, Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane was adamant. & # 39; Nothing has changed, & # 39; he said. He is determined to exclude Bale, regardless of the circumstances.

Bale & # 39; s advisers may think they will play this game, but if Zidane does not play him and Bale does not leave, the stand-off can only be won by scrapping what remains of their career. client. And that is not a victory.

Gareth Bale & # 39; s goal against Arsenal in the United States United States has made no difference to its future

Liverpool has the right to be angry with FIFA about their commitment to the Club World Cup in Qatar.

No dates have been announced for the competition yet, although it is assumed that the final will take place in Doha on Sunday, December 22. Liverpool is scheduled for West Ham on December 21 and also has games on December 14 and 26.

To treat European champions and their national competition with such disdain, shows why the elite clubs of Europe are skeptical about every race car rying FIFA & # 39; s self-important brand

Ban costs Sakho more than money

Does Mamadou Sakho have a £ 13 million case against the World Anti-Doping Agency? He definitely has a case against someone.

After testing positive for the fat-burning drug in 2016, Sakho missed the Europa League final from Liverpool against Seville and was refused a place in the French team for their home European championship. It turned out that higenamine was not banned anyway.

Sakho did not regain his place in Liverpool and was given on loan to Crystal Palace. Would this sudden decline have happened without the confusion about his failed test? We can't know – but it certainly didn't help.

Sakho stood still, it seems unnecessary now, during what would have been the first time of his career. European semi-final, the European club final, the run-up to the final of an international tournament at home. Whatever he reimburses, he can never get those moments back.

UEFA has lifted responsibility for the confusion about hygiene at WADA and it seems as if the Sakho legal team has done the same. The fight against doping in sport can badly afford to lose £ 13 million from the funding pool, but Sakho was equally poorly served. A simple apology can never pay back what has been lost if there is anything.

Mamadou Sakho lost moments in the prime of his career about confusion about higenamine

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[lolsmurfaccounts]

How Many People Play League of Legends in 2018

Lots of people love League of Legends. That much is clear. But just what is the League of Legends player count 2018? This is a harder number to pin down than you might think. It is in Riot’s best interest to list the number of registered players rather than the League of Legends active players. But in order to get a count that is accurate, we’ll look at both of those numbers as well as some stats on League of Legends concurrent players.

This will give us a fairly accurate representation of how the game is doing right now, and how far it has progressed since the beginnings in 2009. We’ll take a look at each year of growth, as well as the reasons behind that growth (or in some cases the reasons why it should have been even bigger) and determine exactly what the numbers are when it comes to the player base. This is not only to satisfy curiosity, but it is also a smart idea to see how long the game might actually be around, and what needs to happen to make it last for another decade or two.

Starting League of Legends Player Count in 2009

League of Legends was released to the public on October 27th, 2009, published by Riot Games. Riot is one of the game companies that handles both the game design and publishing of their games, as well as all of the other aspects. They have distribution deals all over the world, including North America, Asia and Europe. The initial release was only in a limited number of regions, but it would grow to nearly the entire planet by 2013. In October of 2009, the European distributer GOA, and Riot themselves, announced that they would begin opening up the player base to Europe. However, this partnership did not last very long.

The game was initially announced in 2008, almost a year to the date before the release date. However, the game was available in Beta from April of 2009 to October of 2009 when it was officially released. The development took more than four years, and the game itself was inspired by World of Warcraft, not only the gameplay and look of the game, but also the success of WoW. In 2009, when the game first released, there were definitely a bunch of players. Unfortunately, we were unable to find real numbers to determine how the game grew that year.

Another thing that you should note for 2009 was the birth of one of the most well-known characters of the game. Teemo wasn’t actually introduced into the game like most of the champions. He was included with the alpha of the game and was changed quite a bit before the official release date. His passive was first called Eagle Eye and gave him a longer vision range. The second iteration was called Trailblazer and it had him leaving a trail behind him that increased vision of any allies that crossed the path. Finally, Trailblazer became essentially the ability known today called Camouflage. Of course, the name changed in patch 6.22, and is now called Guerrilla Warfare, but it is essentially the same ability.

The Growth of LOL Players in 2010

By 2010, the success of the game had definitely started to spread. While there are not player numbers published for League of Legends in 2011, you can get a sense of how the game was doing by then if you look at the data from the World Championships. That’s because 2010 was the first season of this eSports competition, and it grew exponentially ever since then. In 2010, Season One saw the first Major at WGC, with a prize pool of $10,000. The winner was CLG.

There are a couple of other things to be aware of in 2010 when it comes to game history. First, LOL won the Golden Joystiick Awards Online Game of the Year Award as well as several awards at the 1st Game Developers Online Choice Awards including Best Online Tech, Best New Online Game and the Audience Award.

League of Legends Player Base in 2011

2011 is when we first come across some actual numbers for how many people were playing League of Legends that year. We will also get into the release of a couple of champions, awards and the second season of the World Championships. In November of 2011, Riot published a press release that stated that there were 32.5 million players in total, with 11.5 active players who played the game at least once per month, and 4.2 million dedicated players which played the game every single day.

As for champions Volibear was released on November 29th, 2011 in patch 1.0.0.130. He was added to the game along with Imperial Lux, Akali and Silverfang. Of course, he was very different when he first came out. He was revealed via a board posting, which was not a great way to promote a new champion. However, people were excited about the concept of playing a lightning bear in armor. Also on August 9th, 2011, Skarner was released to Summoner’s Rift. Others releases included Bloodstone Taric, Rugged Garen and Obsidian Malphite.

The first season of the World Championships had an in-person audience of 200, and at their peak, the viewing audience reached nearly 200,000. The prize pool for season one was $99,500 and the winner that year was Fnatic. It was a really good year for League of Legends with a lot going on, but it was nothing compared to what was coming. One more thing of note: League of Legends was nominated for the best Free-to-Play Game of 2011 at the Golden Joystick Awards and won.

League of Legends Makes History in 2012

League of Legends had a major jump in the numbers in 2012, as well as making history in several ways. By March, it had been discovered that LOL was the number one game being played in Korean PC cafes. The game would continue to hold this distinction in Korea until 2016 when Overwatch beat it out for the number one spot. In July of 2012, it was announced in a report by Xfire that LOL was the most played PC game in both North America and Europe.

The actual numbers by one sourcewere reported to be 27 million players that played daily and 67 million that played at least once a month. However, more research reveals the actual numbers, as a press release from Riot reports them to be 12 million daily and 27 million monthly. As for the World Championships, that was another historic moment, as the second season saw an in-person audience of 7000 and more than a million viewers. The prize pool jumped up drastically that year as well, totaling over $2 million. The winners were the Taipei Assassins.

League of Legends in 2013

In 2013, there were 12 million active players that played daily and 32 million players that played monthly. In 2013, League of Legends also became the most popular game to be played in the Philippines, especially in internet cafes around the country. There was a lot going on in eSports at the time as well. The prize pool was just over $2,000,000 for the World Championships once again, and it was won by SK Telecom T1.

The previous year, LCS was announced and on February 7th, 2013, the first League Championship Series game was played. Two days later, the first EU LCS game was played as well. In addition, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services finally recognized League of Legends players as professional athletes. Unfortunately, League of Legends would not be up for any more gaming awards until the year 2015.

League of Legends in 2014

Now, we move onto 2014, where League of Legends was still leadings as one of the world’s most popular game. However, there was a lot of competition at this point, and people were starting to create new games that could potentially rival League of Legends. 2014 was a good year for gaming in general as well.

The number of active daily players had risen to 27 million by January 2014, and the game had more than 7.5 million players all playing at the same time during peak gaming sessions. That number would grow quite a bit over the coming months as the year progressed. The total number of players that played at least once per month was 67 million at this point. As for the World Gaming Championship, the prize pool was $2,130,000 and it was won by Samsung White. Season four of the WGC saw the audience rise to 11,000 people and more than five million concurrent viewers.

There wasn’t a whole lot else to report in 2014, although the media was pretty astounded by the sheer numbers reported by Riot and there were a bunch of news stories about the game and why it had become so popular that were published that year. The game had long since passed World of Warcraft as the most popular game in the world, and it continued to hold that title all of the way through 2014 as well. Forbes attributed the success of League of Legends to the thousands of Twitch streams carrying the game that had popped up, as well as Riot’s free-to-play and micro-transaction business model as well as the pretty incredible community that had popped up and grown around the game since it began.

League of Legends in 2015

2015 saw just a single nomination when it came to gaming awards. This was from the Game Awards and in the category of eSports Game of the Year. Unfortunately, League of Legends was nominated that year but did not win. At that point, there were simply too many games being developed that modeled their game after LOL and tried to improve on the things that players had a problem with.

As for the World Championships, the prize pool for the 2015 season was exactly the same as it was the previous year: $2,130,000. The winning team for the 2015 season was SK Telecom T1 with their second win since the tournament began. It is important to note that if you were to look up the prize pool numbers from different tournaments, you will notice that LOL is lower than most of them. That’s due to the provision of player salaries rather than creating a huge prize pool such as with DOTA 2.

When it comes to the viewership numbers for the World Championships, it was calculated that there was a total of 36 million unique viewers for the 2015 championships and peak times saw concurrent viewers rise to 14 million from the 11.2 million from the previous year. There was one addition event of note: the MSI event was first held that year with a prize pool of $200,000. It ran from May 7th to the 10th in 2015 and the winner ended up being Edward Gaming.

Legend of Legends in 2016

The following year was very exciting when it came to the World Championships. The 2016 saw the prize pool more than double for the event, which ran from September to October of 2016, to more than $5 million. The event was once again won by SK Telecom T1, which was their third win overall and second in a row. The World Championships attracted more than 43 million unique viewers and there were 14.7 million viewers all watching at the same time during the highest peak in viewership.

This was also a big year for lots of other reasons. Because LOL had boasted so openly about player counts in previous years, but had stayed silent on them in 2015 and even years prior, the general consensus was that the game had gone into decline and that Riot did not want to advertise that fact. However, Riot confirmed to the press that LOL had reached more than 100 million monthly viewers, a number that shocked everyone who had assumed that LOL was on its way out. The game was still the most popular game in the world and there didn’t seem to be any stopping it.

The announcement came in the way of an interview from top game officials with Forbes magazine. After three years of silence on player counts, the magazine assumed that the numbers were being misreported accidentally – an accounting error so to speak. However, the company confirmed the numbers and also released the number of players that were playing each at every day – a staggering 27 million players.

League of Legends in 2017

When 2017 rolled around, suddenly gaming awards were interested in League of Legends once again. Although LOL did not win any awards in 2017, there were plenty of nominations. The Teen Choice Award nominated LOL as Choice Game of 2017, The Golden Joystick Awards nominated League of Legends as eSports Game of the Year. They were also nominated for Best eSports Game by The Game Awards 2017 as well.

As far as World Championships, the purse was more than 4.5 million and there were 24 teams. The winner this year was Samsung Galaxy, previously called Samsung White. This was their second win, but only their first after taking on the new name. The runners-up were SK Telecom T1. The 2017 championships saw a total of 57.6 unique viewers. The total prize purses for LOL game championships combined was more than $12 million, which was the third highest combined prize purse that could be attributed to a single game.

2017 was also notable for being the first time that the player count has gone down. However, it didn’t go down that much, and it is pretty amazing that a game that came out nearly 10 years ago since is able to pull in as many players as it does. The figures for 2017 were 81 million unique players that played at least once per month. Even with the drop in numbers, League of Legends is still the most popular game in the world. Previously, the number of players that played daily on a consistent basis was announced to be 27 million. That number has also probably gone down, although it is speculation because there is no official count from Riot. We estimate the number of dedicated daily players to be around 22 million.

How Many People Play League of Legends in 2018?

At the time of this article, 2018 is just beginning. The numbers that were pulled from 2017 were pretty close to the end of the year, so it is safe to assume that they are still pretty accurate. The real question is, will the numbers go up or go down during the next few months. It is impossible to predict, but near-pure speculation and data from other games leads us to conclude that this is probably a stabilization period rather than a real reduction in players, meaning that the numbers will be about the same – 80 million or so monthly.