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League of Legends Worlds 2020 is the biggest esports tournament of the year. Here's a guide on how to watch it, what to know and who to cheer for.

League of Legends Worlds 2020 is the biggest esports tournament of the year. Here's a guide on how to watch it, what to know and who to cheer for.

League of Legends is the biggest esport in the world and its seasonal tournament, Worlds 2020, is live now. For a casual fan, the sheer size and complexity of the tournament and the game itself can be a bit overwhelming, so here’s a quick guide to help you out.

The 2020 League of Legend World Championship is the grand culmination of the 2020 League Championship Series, the regular season of professional play in the game. 24 teams from all over the world will compete in Shanghai starting from the Play-In stage on Sept. 25 and ending with the Main Event on Oct. 10, in which one team will be crowned World Champion.

Riot Games, the developer and publisher behind League, released some helpful content to get you started. The first is a quick video on what League is, starring the protagonist of the promotional “Take Over” video.

There’s also a video on the basic mechanics of League and the objectives.

To add further context, the five players on a League team have specialized roles during fights.

These functions are quite fluid and grey but, generally speaking, they can be described as tanks (beefy characters who start engagements, soak damage and debilitate the enemy team), the marksman (formerly called the ADC, or Attack Damage Carry, this character is typically the team’s ace who deals massive damage and secures kills) and the support (the backbone of the team who heals teammates, buffs their abilities and creates openings).

If you’re interested in learning more about the teams, ESPN published this great piece on the various regional teams, their playstyles, their storylines going into Worlds and who to look out for.

The name you should know above all names is Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok, who is far and away considered the greatest player in League history. His list of professional achievements would require an entirely separate article, but he’s accrued colorful nicknames such as “The Unkillable Demon King” (a reference to the final bosses in many video games) and is so influential that Riot has sometimes patched the game around Faker’s plays when the Korean pro-gamer demonstrated how strong certain characters could be in the hands of a prodigy.

The full schedule of Worlds 2020 can be found here and you can view, track and review all the matches for the whole tournament here.

Keep in mind that the event is happening live in Shanghai so you may have to work around time zones.

Tune into Riot’s Twitch or YouTube channel to view the live games at 10:00 p.m. ET from Sept. 25-28. After that, match times will change, so tune in for more updates.

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If you enjoyed this story, check out In The Know’s piece on Riot announcing Valorant’s first major tournament, First Strike.

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