Those who think esports occupy a small, forgettable faction of the entertainment industry are unequivocally and undeniably wrong. Esports may seem small due to a lack of mainstream coverage, but the budding industry is a global phenomenon with a fanbase in the hundreds of millions. Still, esports continues to be difficult to wa

But it’s mostly a farce. Those who play the most popular games at the highest level get all the limelight and all the cash. For everyone else, streaming—where personality trumps skill—is the only way to make money from gaming. If the community stays as segmented and hastily constructed as it is, it’s tough to imagine esports becoming anything better than what it already is. If you’re happy with the current state of esports, good for you. But for someone who wants a more entertaining and structured esports community, something has to cha

This comes with the obvious caveat, so you need to keep up with your experience gathering, but that hardly needs to be said. Most Champions feel less impactful when they begin to fall behind the opposing side, and Kennen is no differ

As with all Champions, situational awareness is key. Placing Keenen in the top lane – or mid lane in some cases – is the best choice. The main reason for placing him in the top lane is that Kennen can easily harass bruisers from a distance and kite with his E ability, Lightning Rush, which is an active ability that turns him into a ball of lightning for up to two seconds. This damages enemies he passes through, and most importantly, doubles his base Move Speed (

There aren’t currently any massive changes announced for Kennen. On June 27, he did receive a small patch that fixed some bugs, so Lightning Rush now has proper ranges in place. Before this, the range was longer than inten

With success comes imitation. Many game developers saw the incredible financial success of both LoL and Dota2 and thought they could change the classic MOBA Guides formula just enough to stand out. Titan Forge Games released Smite , a mythologically-themed third-person battle arena, in March of 2014. Although certainly popular by most standards and also featuring a world championship with a $1 million top prize, Smite never quite gained the rampant popularity of either LoL or Dot

Coverage is bad because esports are hard to watch, not the other way around. It all stems from an inability to produce universal coverage. Too much diversity or segmented viewership may not seem like an issue on the surface, but it is. Maybe you’re simply saying “well, no one is asking you to watch every esport,” and that’s fair. Maybe communities are fine existing in their own worlds—far out of the reach of other gaming communities. But it does create a barrier for the industry to break into mainstream entertainm

As for team fights, Slicing Maelstrom can be helpful. Kennen summons a magical storm around himself for 3 seconds, gaining bonus armor and magic resistance, and dealing 40/75/110 +20$ AP magic damage to all enemies within range every half second. This also allows you to stack up to three Marks of the St

Part of the problem with esports is that there are simply too many games. There are hundreds of titles with professional leagues that award prize money, host tournaments, and stream competitions online. Each of these games and leagues has their own fans and their own way of doing thi

It’s unclear whether universal control over games that operate under the catch-all domain of esports will ever exist. Escalating conflict between streaming platforms that compete for viewer attention certainly isn’t helping the case for unified growth. It’s also worth questioning whether universal control is even needed. Larger titles seem to be doing just fine supporting their own leagues. A 16-year-old just took home $3 million at the first-ever _ Fortnite _ World Cup, after

Which is kinda what happened to MOBAs. A few years ago, it seemed like Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas were taking over the world, with a new MOBA being announced almost every month. Now, most of those games have failed and only a few MOBAs live on to fulfill that ni

But what about when you’re in the wrong position? That’s when you need an ability that can move you to safer ground. Plenty of these moves incorporate dashing to move from point A to point B, but not all of them make sense – even less so when you consider that most can move you through solid wa

Still, esports is often treated like one entity. In reality, individual games play out more like anthologies—unconnected by the umbrella term that defines them. Like a thin layer of algae on the surface of an abandoned pool, esports as a title masks the diverse ecosystem that exists beneath the surface, suffocating its variety and preventing outsiders from getting in the water. Even if you are a huge fan of one title, other games remain largely uninteresting and impossible to watch. As a result, can anyone really call themselves a fan of espo