Top 20 highest earning League of Legends pros after Worlds 2021

Ross Deason
2021 World Championship

In terms of esports, League of Legends is one of the biggest and most-viewed games ever. But just how much prize money have the top players managed to rake in since it was released?

League of Legends is different from other esports when it comes to earnings. With developers Riot controlling the domestic and international events, there’s not much opportunity for players to earn prize money.

The majority of League pro players’ income comes from salaries behind closed doors. However, these earnings are a bit hard to calculate. While we know some of the world’s best, like Faker, have been offered “blank cheques” in the past, there’s nothing like Dota’s TI or a CS:GO Major to fight over.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t impressive prize pools in League though. Some regional leagues, like Korea’s LCK, offer nearly $100,000 to the winners of each split. MSI has hundreds of thousands up for grabs, while Worlds every year is in the millions.

Faker with SKT at Worlds 2017
Faker and many of his former teammates are among the highest earners.

Taking the crown

With this in mind, it will come as no surprise that the most successful player of all-time internationally, Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok, is the game’s highest earner.

In fact, across thousands of pros, Faker was the first player to crack $1 million in prize money earned,  and now has nearly $1.5 million to his name.

Many of his ex-teammates rest alongside him at the top. Duke, Bang, Wolf, and Bengi — the next four players on the list — have all played alongside Faker at Worlds.

The remainder of the top 20 is dominated by Korean and Chinese talent, which makes sense given their success at the international level. However, there are two European names amongst them- Vitality’s Luka ‘Perkz’ Perković and G2 Esports’s Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther. The pair moved into the top 20 this year, with Caps becoming the most internationally successful European player of all time after appearing in both the 2018 and 2019 World Championship Finals.

Perkz is currently the highest-earning Western player in the world.

The best of the West

Paul ‘sOAZ’ Boyer was previously the highest earner in the Western world of League, pocketing $446,848.

However, after hanging up his mouse and keyboard, he has been overtaken by Perkz ($583,204), who now sits at number 19.

Caps ($562,862) and Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson ($475,412) have also crept into the top 30, at 20th and 30th respectively.

Top Esports JackeyLove
JackeyLove is the highest earning Chinese player.

Top 20 highest earning League of Legends pros

The full top 20 list, according to liquipedia.net, can be found below.

This will be updated after the conclusion of each major League of Legends competition. The most recent event was the 2021 World Championship.

Position Name Nationality Earnings
1st Faker South Korea $1,498,711
2nd Duke South Korea $1,151,427
3rd Bang South Korea $1,057,318
4th Wolf South Korea $1,053,271
5th Bengi South Korea $926,920
6th JackeyLove China $841,011
7th Rookie South Korea $735,323
8th CoreJJ South Korea $716,738
9th Ning China $696,766
10th Baolan China $684,271
11th TheShy South Korea $682,222
12th Xiaohu China $680,083
13th Ruler South Korea $664,007
14th Blank South Korea $655,613
15th Karsa Taiwan $624,814
16th Ambition South Korea $596,773
17th Uzi China $595,528
18th Mata South Korea $585,456
19th Perkz Croatia $583,204
20th Caps Denmark $562,862

Check out our other top 20 highest earning pros lists in various esports:

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About The Author

Ross is a former Dexerto writer and editor. Ross joined Dexerto in 2017 as a CSGO and Call of Duty writer after completing his History degree. He later became the Acting Head of Editorial at Dexerto but failed in his mission to become a Counter-Strike pro. Maybe it's time to retire and give Valorant a try.