Fantasy League of Legends: The Ultimate Guide
When it comes to esports, League of Legends has reigned supreme in terms of popularity for a great many years. As the game has grown, so has the interest in fantasy League of Legends. By now, seeing fantasy league LoL included in the offerings of major fantasy sports providers like DraftKings has become common.
In this article, we will guide you through the LoL fantasy league, explain how it works and what to look for when drafting a team. So, let’s begin.
CONTENTS
- Fantasy League of Legends 2024
- What Is Fantasy LoL?
- Get Started with Fantasy League of Legends
- Play Fantasy League of Legends With Draftkings
- What to Expect From Draftkings LoL Fantasy League in 2024
- How to Make a Perfect LCS Fantasy League Draft
- Fantasy League of Legends 2024: Verdict
FANTASY LEAGUE OF LEGENDS 2024
Fantasy League of Legends is a true battle of skill. Much like traditional fantasy sports, fantasy LoL requires research and knowledge, both in terms of game mechanics and individual players. Since players are pitted against one another in large contests, only the best few can hope to earn the prize.
LoL, and other esports, has largely been considered a niche market for a long time. However, in the past couple of years, esports as a whole have slowly begun seeping into the mainstream. In 2021, esports seems to be at an all-time high in popularity. An increased interest in fantasy League of Legends means that the competition has never been stiffer.
WHAT IS FANTASY LOL?
If you haven’t had much experience with fantasy League of Legends and fantasy sports in general, the entire concept may seem foreign at first. This is especially true if your only background is sports betting.
For starters, in fantasy sports, you aren’t playing against the bookmaker. Instead, you take part in competitions against other players. In order to compete, you will need to pay a fee, which goes towards a common prize pool.
Another major difference between traditional sports betting and LoL esports fantasy is in the very process of placing bets. In sports betting, you most commonly place a wager based on whether a team or an individual will win a single match or a tournament. However, the fantasy League of Legends matches have an entirely different approach.
Here, you draft your team of players from a particular LoL fantasy league. Then, your team members collect points based on their performance during the league or the next few games. For example, in LoL fantasy LCS, players will get points based on the number of kills, deaths, assists, first blood, turrets, barons, etc.
Once the competition is over, the scores are tallied and players with the biggest number of points collect a portion of the prize pool. Because of this, you can probably already see just how much strategizing goes into fantasy League of Legends. But there’s more!
SALARY CAPS AND TEAM ROLES
At DraftKings, you will see that fantasy League of Legends contests come with salary caps. This means you will have a fictional budget (usually $50,000) to spend on your roster. As you might be guessing, star players will be more expensive than the more average ones.
This, while being a great mechanic to level the playing field, introduces budget management as an additional layer. When making your picks, make sure to be paying attention to team roles.
Now, anyone who has ever watched LoL esports live or played the game knows that LoL lineups consist of different roles. In particular, these are junglers, top laners, mid laners, bot laners, and supports. Your fantasy rosters should reflect this structure.
Apart from these five roles, there are two additional spots in every fantasy League of Legends roster - Captain and Team. Drafting a Captain will take a larger chunk of your salary. However, Captains also get 50% more points for each action, compared to the rest of the team.
Your final fantasy League of Legends selection will be a Team as a whole. Teams collect points based on the objectives they achieve (First Blood, dragons, turrets, and Barons) and win and loss records.
GET STARTED WITH FANTASY LEAGUE OF LEGENDS
Hopefully, you now have a basic understanding of how fantasy League of Legends works. If you feel encouraged to try your hand at a contest, we recommend you do it at a trusted fantasy sports provider.
DraftKings is known as one of the most popular and most reliable fantasy sports providers in the US. It offers daily and season-long competitions both in League of Legends and other esports and traditional sports.
If you register at DraftKings, you will also be eligible for a welcome bonus. The operator offers its users a free $3 ticket for any $3 game, once you make a deposit of at least $5. This practically means that you get to play your first contest, without risking your own cash.
Additionally, in your first 50 contests at DraftKings, you will be competing only against other rookies. So, you will get a chance to gradually hone your skills.
PLAY FANTASY LEAGUE OF LEGENDS WITH DRAFTKINGS
If you decide to play at DraftKings, get a $500 deposit match bonus when you sign up for a new account today (T&Cs apply).
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM DRAFTKINGS LOL FANTASY LEAGUE IN 2024
Once you decide to register at DraftKings and play fantasy League of Legends, the signup process itself is simple. When you get to the operator’s website, you can either choose to register through Facebook or sign up manually. The latter involves filling out the signup form with your email, username, password, country of origin, and birth date.
All that’s left to do now is log in, make a deposit, and start playing.
DraftKings covers all the major LoL leagues. The LoL fantasy LCS, LCK, LEC, LoL Worlds, League of Legends finals, and Rift Rivals contests are particularly popular. On the other hand, you won’t find many of the smaller events.
This, however, doesn’t mean we can’t expect them in the future. As we’ve said, esports is on an upswing in popularity, so it’s reasonable to expect that providers will be looking to expand their selection.
As far as contests are concerned, you will have the opportunity to take part in freerolls, satellites, Double-Ups, Sit N’ Gos and multi-entry tournaments, to list only a few. Each of the competitions comes with its own rules and payout schemes, so make sure you get acquainted with them before participating. The rules of each contest type are always easily available.
Another interesting feature at DraftKings is the fact that you can set up your own fantasy League of Legends contest. Think of this as a sandbox, where you can, for example, organize a private LoL LCS esports contest for your friends with your own set of rules.
Creating custom fantasy contests can be a very useful way of getting acquainted with the ins and outs of fantasy esports. You can create and participate in custom events free of charge.
HOW TO MAKE A PERFECT LCS FANTASY LEAGUE DRAFT
As we have already emphasized, there is a lot of strategizing that goes into making a viable LoL fantasy LCS draft. We cannot offer you a silver bullet, by any means. What we can do is let you in on some general tips and strategies which can help you step up your game and put you in a much better position to win.
1. DO PROPER RESEARCH
Information is the most important element of every fantasy sport. First and foremost, you need to be well-acquainted with the game itself. Playing the LCS fantasy League of Legends won’t make much sense if you don’t have at least a basic idea about the rules and in-game terms.
Furthermore, in order to be successful, you need to be up to date with the performance of individual players and teams in the LCS League of Legends league. Knowing which players are performing well in the current season and which aren’t is essential for making a successful roster.
Luckily, there is a wealth of information available online, where you can learn all about the current LoL esports standings and exchange information and strategies with other players. League of Legends LCS Reddit, for example, is definitely worth checking out.
The subreddit is packed with useful information that can immensely improve your draft planning. You can also check out the official League of Legends subreddit. Some of the other places you can find useful information and analyses include websites like Blitz Esports, Dotesports, and ESPN.
Since most of the League of Legends tournaments are broadcast live to platforms like Twitch, tuning in can give you a lot of insight into game strategies and player performance. In fact, many professional LoL players stream on Twitch in their off time. Most of them are very forthcoming about their plays and willing to interact with the audience and offer explanations and advice.
2. PAY ATTENTION TO NUMBERS
While planning your drafts, never lose sight of the fact that points are what counts when it comes to fantasy League of Legends. Remember, what determines the number of points is players’ stats, which is different from their in-game performance.
For example, any player death will detract points from your total score. However, good tank players might often die, because their main role is to absorb damage for other team players.
So how do you get past this? Well, DraftKings makes your job a whole lot easier. On the website itself, you will be able to find the stats about the number of points a player averages per game. Some players might have a high number of points only because they haven’t played against top-tier opponents. However, the first rule still applies, which means you should also check the player’s past matchups.
DraftKings also offers an opponent ranking metric, which shows how your players compare against other opponents. Apart from this, you can also find detailed stats regarding every other relevant stat in the game, such as kill participation, KDA and more.
3. PRIORITIZE YOUR DRAFTS
While spending your fantasy League of Legends draft budget, you should be aware that not all roles earn the same number of points. In particular, carries (i.e. bot and mid-laners) will usually rack in more points compared to supports and junglers. Hence, you should be looking to spend more on the roles which earn more points and give you the highest return on investment.
Another stat that should influence your draft is team wins. Average players will bring you more points if they are on a winning team. So don’t go after superstar players before you analyze their team’s performance.
Ultimately, you should be prepared to experiment with your fantasy League of Legends drafts and take calculated risks from time to time. They won’t always be rewarding, but when they are, the rewards will be worth the trouble.
FANTASY LEAGUE OF LEGENDS 2024: VERDICT
If there is one takeaway from everything we have said, it’s that fantasy League of Legends has a lot of depth. There is seemingly no end to the amount of planning and strategizing which can go into perfecting a draft.
So, does this mean that you can’t just jump in after learning the basics? Of course not. There are plenty of resources that can ease you into fantasy League of Legends. Fantasy sports providers are, generally, new user friendly as they allow you to compete with other beginners until you become more confident to move on to bigger leagues.
However, like with any other game of skill, it takes time and dedication to learn the craft and get better. So, be patient, take note of our advice and you will be on your way towards becoming a winning fantasy esports player.
