
The Unkillable Demon King - caublestone
http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/13035450
======
zubspace
Very interesting article. I must admit, that I never played League of Legends.
So could please someone explain, how is it possible to reach top position
simply by using this strategy in this game:

    
    
      "My strength is in understanding the flow
       of the game, when to fight and when not to
       fight," he explains.
      "Regardless of which champion I play, that
       strength is there."
    

Either he's very humble or does not tell the whole story.

Additionally, I only get news from League of Legends by stuff posted on
reddit. Which happens very often. Obviously there's a large fanbase. But the
stuff posted there looks very alien to me. Moreover it often looks more like a
spamfest than anything else. I'm used to First-Person-Shooters and there's a
clear line from Starter to Pro. But how do you define skill in this game?

Example:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/37d6kw/fiz...](https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/37d6kw/fizz_ladies_and_gentlemen/)

For me this looks more like someone running around aimlessly, bashing some
spells and getting lucky. Please explain.

~~~
pdpi
He's not quite telling the whole story, but in a way that's not that different
from what you'd expect. The starting point is that you expect a baseline of
performance for any professional player: they know what all the characters do,
the layout of the map, etc etc.

From that point, some players are particularly well known for certain skills
(much as in any other sport): Some guys are known for being preternaturally
good at hitting tricky skills. Others are known for being really good at
studying their opponents' style and routines, and capitalising on that
knowledge.

When Faker says he's good at reading the flow of the game, he's saying he's
good at answering questions like the following:

    
    
      - If my opponents are in the fog of war, where are they likely to be?
      - What should I do in response to that?
    
      - Are my allies in a position to help me if I engage this opponent?
      - Are _his_ allies in a position to help him?
    
      - If I do engage and kill the opponent, will I have to return to base to heal, or  will I make it relatively unhurt?
     - Are there any important map objectives that I will not be able to help with if I am sent back to lick my wounds?
    
     - If I split off from the rest of the team to go chase some map objective, what happens?
     - Can I gain that objective uncontested?
     - Will my opponents capitalise on the 4v5 and defeat my allies while I possibly gain the objective?
     - Will some of their guys try to prevent me from gaining that objective?
     - If they do, will I be able to escape?
     - Will my team be able to capitalise on the enemy's attempt to stop me and defeat the remaining opponents?

~~~
zubspace
Interesting! What this basically boils down to is 'handling instinctively the
right way'. It's hard to grasp for me, because there are so many factors in
play and by watching LoL recordings it's sometimes impossible to tell what
makes someone gaining an upper hand. Is it communication with the team, doing
the right skill at the right moment, being at the right place or just pure
luck?

Probably all of this together, which makes this even more intriguing. But I
guess this comes natural after playing hundreds of hours?

------
simonebrunozzi
I play Dota 2 every once in a while. Fun game. I never played League of
Legends (LoL), which seems to be more popular, just because I've read that
they look very much alike, and I can't really afford, time-wise, to learn
another game at all.

Interesting to see if someone plays both and has any comment on how they
differ.

~~~
kzvezdarov
I played League for a very brief period, before I got my Dota 2 beta invite,
so some of these might not be valid any longer. Also note that those are
differences in game design, one is not necessarily better than the other:

\- DotA 2 metagame undergoes major changes every patch, whereas League
metagame is mostly guided by Riot towards a certain playstyle. E.g. in DotA 2
lane assignments are extremely flexible, under certain conditions you can see
any hero in any lane, whereas in League champions are mostly only viable in
certain lanes.

\- Mechanics wise, DotA 2 is more punishing. If you die, you are dead for much
longer, you lose a significant portion of aquired gold. Laning wise, you can
deny your own creeps in order to prevent the enemy from gaining gold and
experience, and you can modify where the opposing creep waves meet in lane via
pulling from the jungle camps. You cannot do that in League. Teamfights in
DotA 2 are usually very fast and deadly, due to the presence of strong
disables/burst (which is something League shies away from), strong initiators,
and the fact that heroes are very asymmetrically balanced.

\- The map in DotA 2 is bigger which puts a great emphasis on mobility and
positioning on the strategic level - The International 3's Grand finals were a
great example of that.

\- DotA 2 comes with a lot of complexity. There are a huge amount of
synergies, item/spell interactions, and generally mechanical knowledge that a
player needs to absorb before they can play semi-efficiently (not that the
process is not fun; it just takes a considerable amount of time in
comparison).

\- On the technical side, DotA 2 has a better client by an order of magnitude.
Also, it has a Linux-native version which runs perfectly.

------
hias
Am I the only one who can not understand the hype about esports? I like
playing myself and find watching others boring. It's cool if you like it, but
I don't watch soccer either.

~~~
746F7475
I just don't get why people who watch normal sports get all up in arms about
"nerds playing video games". Why can't we all just like what we like and leave
it at that?

As for me I used to be into League of Legends tournaments, but every match I
watch just feel the same. For me esport of choice is CS:GO, while the maps are
the same the spots differ quite a lot and there is a lot more action since the
rounds are so much shorter. I still do play both of the games, but I prefer to
watch CS over LoL

~~~
k__
For me, gaming was about variety. I always hated games like CS, which all my
friends played when I was young, because they always played the same maps.
Same with StarCraft and later with DOTA or LoL. Which ended up being about
skills and not about variety anymore.

------
Blackthorn
It's tough to overemphasize just how _good_ Faker is/was. When he first
appeared on the scene there had been other players before that had been
considered to revolutionize their role. People like Diamondprox (for jungle)
and Reapered (for top). But Faker was just something else completely.

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jmcgough
For anyone interested in seeing Faker's first game, and the series of events
that they describe where he kills his lane opponent:
[http://www.twitch.tv/ongamenet/b/387298731?t=24m28s](http://www.twitch.tv/ongamenet/b/387298731?t=24m28s)

Was a pretty one-sided game, but it was as much due to SKT as a team as it was
to Faker. I'm not sure where they got that MonteCristo quote from, I don't
recall him saying it.

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malkia
Worked in game industry for more than 15 years, but never played any
multiplayer games (except at work locally), and hot-seat (Heroes of Might and
Magic). I always felt strange about such tournaments, but now I'm reading
Ender's game and that feeling is even more stranger :)

Oh, I forgot... I've played for 30 minutes minecraft with my son last week
first time for me and him on a server. It was fun!

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savanaly
Not sure if they provided a link anywhere but anyone who's curious about the
game or wants to see him play, this is a recent VOD of him playing casually.
(gameplay starts around 14 minutes in).

[http://www.azubu.tv/faker#!/play/35259/skt-faker-
june-01st--...](http://www.azubu.tv/faker#!/play/35259/skt-faker-june-01st--
2015)

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giltleaf
What does faker play? Jungle, top, etc.? Or was the article saying he plays
everything?

I've been out of league for a few years now and never got into e sports
besides solomid for context.

~~~
jmcgough
He plays mid, but he's renowned for having a huge champion pool - I wouldn't
be shocked if he could play any role, though he shines when he's roaming to
create map pressure.

------
Eynix
FAKER

