Getting the Basics of League of Legends DFS

Crazy, I started writing this article in June 2019 for League of Legends but with everything else going on I put it on the back burner. Desperate times have brought a huge influx of players to League of Legends (LoL) DFS and I love the attention it’s getting since it is my favorite, and most successful DFS sport. Maybe those two are related!

I hope this article helps break down the barriers for those that have only played traditional sports in DFS. This game can be entertaining to watch and profitable to play if you know the basics. Once you play a few slates you realize it’s like any other DFS sport. Elements of other games you’ve played are all used to build sound lineups, based on simple game theory and a little math. I always take the same approach to any DFS Sport. I use math. Not everyone leans on data as much as I do but no matter your approach, being consistent can bring you a profit especially as the space grows.

This article goes hand in hand with the Esports Playbook. By the end you should be able to quickly digest the notes, ratings and pricing for each slate.

GAME OVERVIEW

League of Legends is a game where two teams of 5 professional gamers control Champions and fight it out on the Rift to destroy the opponent’s Nexus. It is super hero capture the flag.

At the start of each match both teams take turns drafting Champions (characters) for each player.

After drafting they enter the Rift (map/in game arena) where each player takes their position. The 5 positions are ADC (Attack Damage Carry), Support, Top Lane, Mid Lane, and Jungler.

The goal of the game is to use your abilities to get stronger, take objectives such as towers, and dragons and ultimately destroy the base of your opponent. There are fights along the way where players try to kill the opposing team for control over the map and the objectives. For fantasy kills and objectives are how you get points, more on that later.

There are 4 major leagues across the globe

LCS

The North American league, which is played as single game matches played on Saturdays and Sundays NA time, and is typically more volatile in scoring.

LEC

The European league, this is a top heavy league with G2 and Fnatic dominating, it is also single game and played on Fridays and Saturdays NA time. This is another volatile league but usually faster paced than LCS.

LPL

the Chinese league, they have won back to back world championships and are known for being faster paced and having a lot more high kill games. These are best of 3 matches and played almost daily. The scores are usually much higher and slightly less volatile since they are guaranteed 2 games minimum.

LCK

The Korean league, the league that used to dominate international competition, they are also best of 3 matches however their style is less bloody on average. The games are more methodical and objective focused. They also play almost daily.

Knowing the differences in the leagues can help strategize for DFS. Bo1 allow easier upsets whereas Best of 3 mean scores for winners can vary even more.

The 5 player positions

THE FIVE POSITIONS and TEAM SLOT

There are five positions that players fill, and that we can roster in DFS. It is important to understand what these do in general when building lineups.

TOP LANE – Top Laners start in the top lane of the map. They control the lane alone and go against another enemy top laner. Teams vary but in general these players are supposed to be strong individually and able to bully the opponent with less help that other players. Because of this they have a lower floor than other positions. The edge here is when you know the team uses this player to roam around and help other positions, or they give him champions that are used to fight a lot late in the game. Because they are solo they gain experience and gold fast and are strong sooner.

JUNGLER – There is no lane for a jungler. They move through the space between the lanes, aka the Jungle, and gain experience by killing monsters in the jungle. Their role is to help the laners stay safe, gain kills and secure objectives for the team. Junglers also play an important role in fighting since they usually play aggressive champions that can set up fights for teammates. Because objectives like Dragons are their responsibility they are usually very actively roaming ahead of time to set things up. They can be one of the highest scoring players on their team. Some are more supportive to laners and get lots of assists, others like to assassinate the damage dealers on the enemy team and get lots of kills. They still are usually behind Mid and ADC but not by much.

MID LANE – Mid Laners are extremely important especially now. They typically play a character that needs to fight well and do damage. Because the mid lane is the shortest path to the enemy base, and in the middle of the map they get a lot of attention from junglers, a lot of resources and have key roles in securing objectives for their team. These are one of the top scoring positions on most teams. They get a good amount of kills, solo gold and heavily influence the team’s success in a game.

ADC – This stands for Attack Damage Carry. Like the name Damage is their role. They stay in the bottom lane with the support and play champions who are made to take away health bars as fast as possible. They usually don’t add much for their teammates but play an important role in fights and applying pressure around objectives. Because their champions are often easy to kill they get a lot of protection from the support and positioning in team fights is a big skill. Traditionally this is the top scoring position in DFS. Mids have closed the gap to where it is about even but ADC is absolutely a priority.

SUPPORT – This role is pretty simple. Support their teammates. They start out by joining the same lane with the ADC to protect him and get him a lead. Also roaming around eventually to help other lanes get kills and will work with the jungler to set up vision and control of objectives. Not typically getting a lot of kills but a good Support will rack up assists as they help secure kills for teammates. This position is usually low scoring but their can be a huge difference between the best and worst supports.

TEAM – In DFS we also roster a TEAM slot. A very volatile score but an important one for roster construction. Teams represent the overall performance of the players. They need objectives like towers, dragons, and wins to score well. Game script plays a huge role in how these score but the best teams have high player scores and high team scores. Understanding which games allow one team to dominate objectives is key to rostering this spot.

HOW DFS POINTS ARE SCORED

DraftKings and FanDuel use the same scoring metrics for League of Legends as of 3/25/20

Player Scoring:

Kills – 3 pts

Assists – 2 pts

Deaths – minus 1 pt

Creep Score – .02 per creep.

10 Kills + Assist bonus: 2pts

Games not Played: 20 pts

Creep score is the one that usually needs the most explanation. There are minions for each team that spawn from the base and march down each lane, as well as the monsters in the jungle. Every time a player kills one of these they get 1 CS (creep score) which is added to their score. This is how they earn gold in game, along with kills.

Games not played only applies to Bo3 series. If a team sweeps 2-0 each player is given a 20 pt bonus to make up for not playing the 3rd game. This can help or hurt depending on how high their individual game scores are.

Note: The 10 K+A bonus is within a single game. So in best of 3 you can get up to 3 bonuses but you do not get it for total across the series.

Team Scoring:

First Blood (First Kill) – 2 pts

Turrets – 1 pt

Dragons – 2 pts

Barons – 3 pts

Win – 2 pts

Win Under 30 Mins – 2 pts

Games not Played – 15 pts

All of these are pretty self explanatory but I will stress that in Bo3 the 15 pt bonus can be huge. A difference between a takedown or not. Losing teams score really low. So 15 pts is almost a half win on top of 2 wins worth of fpts.

ROSTER CONSTRUCTION and PRICING

Pricing in League of Legends DFS is a different animal than most sports. Because Winners and Losers score so much differently teams that are favorites are priced much higher than underdogs. Unlike NBA where a player on team that loses can still be the highest performer on the slate, that is almost never the case in esports.

My general view of pricing is this: Pricing in League of Legends DFS is a cap, not a floor. The quality of the build means more than the salary used.

Basically, if you build your roster correctly, and you still have money left over, DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT. Salaries are just there to make it hard to stack the best players on heavy favorites. If you are playing an underdog stack and have $3k left over in the build BUT you love the construction then leave it.

ROSTER GENERAL GUIDELINES

I’m putting this together with new League of Legends DFS players in mind. Once you get the basics you can get a little creative but in general this is the way to build strong lineups that should consistently cash:

STACKING IS KING

Correlation between teammates is everything. If your ADC is going nuts, chances are his support is getting a lot of assists. If the whole team gets a lot of kills that means more assists for everyone and more fpts for everyone.

MOST CONSISTENT LINEUP STRUCTURE IS TO STACK 2 TEAMS ONLY No one offs, no 3rd team at Team. For cash and even gpp stacking 2 teams that are going to win will payoff consistently. It could be 3 players from team A 3 players from team B and either at team, or 4 A 2 B and team B. but having winners, and stacking will get you in the green more than not.

Pricing will determine what teams fit and who can be set at captain but play around and see how you can make it work. Don’t settle for a punt. It’s a solvable puzzle.

WINS MATTER A LOT

In Best of 3 formats we sometimes see losing players perform well but it is never something to chase and is too hard to peg for a consistent strategy. You want winners. So do not play players against each other, and make sure you can see all the players on your team having the “Winner” label at the end of the day.

WHO TO PUT AT CAPTAIN

Pricing is one of the most determining factors in this but the priority is MID or ADC first, Jungler next, then Top then Support. You can play support before top if it is an elite support or a crappy top laner. Top still will have a higher ceiling and floor in general but some supports are just so good they always score high in wins.

STACK TYPES AND WHEN TO USE THEM

There are no hard fast rules but if you are stacking 4 from a team that typically means you are very confident in their scores and means you want 4 players, not the team slot.

4A/2B + Team B

Pricing is always the constraint but in both cash and gpps if there is one team you see having a much better chance at scoring well then try to get as many players from that team as possible including captain. So if possible a 4 A players 2 B players with B at team is preferred. This means you soak up all the fpts from the team that should do the best.

3A/3B + A or B team

If you are stacking two favorites it may not be possible to stack 4 players from one team. This usually means you are using TOP or Support at captain and you just need to see what fits. Usually its 3 A 3 B with either one at Team. These are also good cash builds because your correlation is spread across both teams equally and no matter which one scores highest you will increase your floor. The upside however is usually capped because if one scores way higher than the other you may lose out on some of the correlation.

3A/3B or 4A/2B + Team C

This is one of the easiest ways to get away from chalk on smaller slates and although riskier can be the key to fitting a better captain. On FD you have to have 3 teams so I always look for which favorite has the lowest priced team, but on DK you can do the same and use that to help make your favorite plays fit and hopefully get Mid/ADC at Captain.

I hope this all helps you build stronger lineups, with a more clear understanding of what the goals are. It is a DFS sport where there is a big edge left in all contest types. If you haven’t make sure to check out a game to truly get a feel for what all this means. League of Legends is a simple DFS sport to get started and to cash consistently. See you at the top!