What is League of Legends DFS
There are a lot of sports (and esports) to pick from on DFS sites these days, but most people only focus on the main traditional sports. Namely the majority of players are only playing NFL, NBA, and MLB. However, there are a lot of gems in the more niche categories including League of Legends. If you don't know what League of Legends is, it is a competitive MOBA with international reach. It is one of the most popular competitive games in the world only behind it's predecessor DOTA2 and the first person shooter CSGO. Indeed, if you haven't heard of the game, you are missing out on a global phenomenon.
Here is an image from esportsinsider on a recent article on viewership:
So what is League of Legends DFS? Well, it is a daily fantasy where you fill out the salary cap of your team by rostering the (hopefully) best performing players for that slate. It is what we call a “correlative” sport, where as the players scores are highly connected and dependent upon one another. In correlative sports, stacking is a vitally important concept, but we will talk about that later. the other important point is that League of Legends DFS is played in a “captain style” format. This means that one of the players you choose to roster will be the captain of your team, which makes their salary and outcomes 1.5 more than normal.
League of Legends DFS pros and cons
Unfortunately, since League of Legends DFS is a niche offering, the prize pools can be lacking. However, that very downside enables dedicated players the benefit of less serious competition and greater edge. Likewise, when other sports are in the offseason, those prize pools grow. Meanwhile, niche grinders can reap the rewards of having honed their skill.
In conclusion, League of Legends DFS is a fantastic product and something any DFS players should try. When you consider the correlative nature and significant edge to be had, you would be crazy not to. So how do you find succes? Let's go over a couple basics and tips and tricks.
Roster construction
Let's take a look at how you will be building your lineups:
As you can see above, you'll have to fill out a roster of seven players. You'll need to pick a TOP, JNG, MID, ADC, SUP and TEAM player as well as a captain. The captain can be any player in any position except for TEAM. It should be noted that whatever position you choose for captain you will have two of, as you'll choose another player at that position to fill out that specific spot. finally, it's important to know who is starting for teams so you don't accidentally roster a substitute. there will be a resource for this later in the article.
League of Legends DFS basics, tips, and tricks
Here is a short list of basic concepts you need to know for League of Legends DFS:
- You're almost always going to stack two teams together, which means that you will have four players from one team and three from another .
- If you are going to one off, you should one off either the TEAM or the SUP positions (We have done a bunch of testing on this).
- Captain priority should go to the team that you believe has the most upside (this is accounted for in projections) however you can lower your dupes by going with a captain from a lower upside team.
- Likewise, Captain priority based on position goes ADC -> MID -> JNG (gap) -> TOP and you should never SUP captain in GPPs. As noted in the roster construction portion, you will have two of this position, so you need to focus on upside.
- The models are built to account for wins and losses, but it's worth nothing that League of Legends DFS is a binary outcome DFS sport and is close to zero-sum. This means that players on losing teams will almost never be useful in GPPs. This is similar to MMA DFS.
- The objective here is to stack the two teams that score the most points when they win through high kill games, so consider it a two game parlay with player props included.
DFS Trends and nuance
Granted, there is a lot more nuance to consider as well. As you play more, you'll notice patterns to learn from in how the field acts. An example is how ownership changes based on sportsbook info. For example, people will typically focus heavily on favorites due to the nature of near zero-sum outcomes. This allows for leverage to be easily gained by mixing favorites with underdogs. Likewise, going with “double dogs” is a noted sharp strategy employed by many strong DFS players. You will always want to be reviewing and studying what it takes to consistently finish well.
What are other strong players doing? Well, they are subscribed to Paydirt (do that here), where you'll find exceptionally strong projections models.
Utilizing Paydirt models
You won't find stronger or more in depth projections for esports outside of Paydirt. Here is a look at just one piece of the League of Legends models:
The League of Legends models here at Paydirt offer you a multitude of options to make the best decisions possible for your contests. You'll find macro statistics like stack rankings and metrics that measure a teams efficiency and upside, as well as player level projections and stats based on proven methodology. But that's not all! You'll also have access to a range of outcomes model, showing how often players find their upside and what to expect from them.
Once you use the Stacks page to pick the teams you want to stack, you'll look to the projections and range of outcomes tabs to pick the players with the upside to carry you to the top of the GPP. It's a macro-micro process that is repeatable and powerful. In sum, there's a reason some of the best esports DFS players subscribe here!
Other resources
- League of Legends lineup confirmations: https://www.rotowire.com/daily/esports/lol-lineups.php
- Player stats and data: https://oracleselixir.com/
- League of Legends competitive esports news: https://dotesports.com/league-of-legends
- Draftkings League of Legends DFS contests: https://www.draftkings.com/lobby#/LOL
- League of Legends competitive league info: https://lol.fandom.com/wiki/League_of_Legends_Esports_Wiki