League of Legends – Season 2

Written by Aman Parmar

League of Legends has had a lot of success and with Season 2 getting more crowded with competition, things are only getting better. Riot recently announced the biggest League of Legends tournament to date – The World Championship - by the end of which, Riot will have given away $5 million combined prize pool.

All the aspiring teams are already preparing for the regional finals and the top teams from each region will secure their spot at the World Championship to be held in Los Angeles. The thrilling conclusion of this $5 million season will pit the best players from North America, Europe, China, Korea and other parts of Asia against each other. The winner will take home the bragging rights apart from a whopping amount of $3 million which beats Valve’s prize pool for The International ($1.6 million) to become the biggest prize money ever paid in eSports history!

Last year's championship had close to 1.7 million viewers, with the final match between FnaticMSI and Against All Authority (AAA) keeping 210,000 unique viewers glued to their screens. The teams have been competing in the Challenger Circuit events since Nov 2011 to qualify for the regional championships, which will kick off in July. Here’s how the regional championship Finals will unfold with an action packed August and September:

• Mainland China: July 26 - Shanghai, China at China Joy (Top 2 teams)

• Europe: August 16 - Cologne, Germany at Gamescom (Top 3 teams)

• North America: August 31 - Seattle, United States at PAX Prime (Top 3 teams)

• Korea: September 21 - Seoul, Korea at the OGN eSports Stadium (Top 2 teams)

• Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau: September 22 - Taipei, Taiwan at G1 (Top team)

• Southeast Asia: September - Singapore at Garena Carnival (Top team)

The top teams each from the aforementioned six regions will then compete at the University of South California's arena on October 13, bringing the total number of teams to 12 depending on the teams per region.

"We've already awarded more than $1,000,000 in prize money to the incredible competitors of League of Legends this season," said Riot co-founder and CEO Brandon Beck. "It's been humbling to watch the level of competition and the enthusiasm of the live audiences – it's something you really have to see in person."

More than two million live viewers watch each circuit event, which is "a bigger audience than a Major League Baseball game on ESPN. It's incredible to think about. I can’t wait to see how many fans tune in online for the final matches of Season 2 – we’re halfway through the season and we’ve already seen more than two million live viewers for a single circuit event,” said Marc Merrill, co-founder and president of Riot Games.

As the teams prepare for their regional face-off, here’s a round-up of some of the most popular champions which you might wish to look out for during the games:

1. Riven the Exile - Riven's Broken Blade iconic sword lashes out on enemies in a series of powerful slashes, damaging any opponents in range. The ability can be activated again after four seconds. She is also hard to gank and features an incredible interrupt stun.
2. Nocturne the Eternal Nightmare - This sinister competitor uses his Duskbringer Blade ability to deal physical damage to all enemies it passes through. This leaves a Dusk Trail on its path, causing champions who are hit to also leave a Dusk Trail when they move, lasting for five seconds.
3. Fizz the Tidal Trickster - Fizz is a dexterous character with the ability to perpetually ignore unit collision and take reduced physical damage from auto attacks. His Urchin Strike ability features a range of 550, and other abilities include the Seastone Trident and the Trickster.
4. Kassadin the Void Walker -This fierce fighter uses his Null Sphere ability to fire an ethereal bolt of void energy to a single target, dealing magic damage and silencing the target for a few seconds.
5. Sona Buvelle, the Maven of the Strings - Sona is known for her stance mechanic, with her basic abilities featuring a persistent aura effect. This remains until she activates another ability. This songstress uses the Hymn of Valor ability to give any nearby allied champion bonus attack damage and ability power until she changes stance.

In the North American circuit, Team Solo Mid is currently on top and has already clinched a spot in the North American Regional Finals with Counter Logic Gaming on a close second along with Team Dignitas on the 3^rd spot followed by Epik and Curse Gaming on 4^th and 5^th spot respectively. Meanwhile, on the European circuit, Moscow 5 seems to be sitting on quite a comfortable lead in terms of circuit points followed by SK Gaming and FnaticRC on 2^nd and 3^rd spot respectively. The French team of Against All Authority is at 4^th place with Sypher at 5^th spot.

The newly introduced spectator mode will most probably get hammered in each regional final in Season 2 by the shoutcasters as well as the players who would want to study their favorite team’s play style. Riot recently announced the full release of the spectator mode for the players to take advantage of features like Directed Camera and Timeshift controls. The complete Spectator mode FAQ can be found at http://na.leagueoflegends.com/spectator-faq along with a spectator mode key-mapping schematic.

All in all, 2012 is going to be a crazy year for League of Legends as the situation builds up until October 13 when the two top contenders will face off at USC’s 250,000 sq. foot arena to take home the $3 million prize pool.