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.
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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.
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 is the only player to crack $1 million in prize money earned, with nearly $1.3 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.
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- Read More: League of Legends pro play records
The remainder of the top 20 is dominated by Korean and Chinese talent, which makes sense given their success at the international level.
The best of the West
Paul ‘sOAZ’ Boyer was previously the highest earner in the Western world of League, pocketing $422,314.79.
However, after hanging up his mouse and keyboard, he has been overtaken by Luka ‘Perkz’ Perković ($491,280), who now sits at number 20.
Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther ($465,399) and Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson ($445,970) have also crept into the top 30, at 26 and 27th respectively.
Top 20 highest earning League of Legends pros
The full top 20 list, according to esportsearnings.com, can be found below.
This will be updated after the conclusion of each major League of Legends competition. The most recent event was MSI 2021.
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| Position | Name | Nationality | Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Faker | South Korea | $1,259,840.87 |
| 2nd | Duke | South Korea | $954,620.62 |
| 3rd | Bang | South Korea | $915,911.99 |
| 4th | Wolf | South Korea | $913,084.70 |
| 5th | Bengi | South Korea | $810,683.00 |
| 6th | JackeyLove | China | $682,248.64 |
| 7th | Rookie | South Korea | $610,445.70 |
| 8th | CoreJJ | South Korea | $589,421.17 |
| 9th | Ning | China | $566,607.87 |
| 10th | Blank | South Korea | $559,518.75 |
| 11th | Ambition | South Korea | $553,234.20 |
| 12th | Baolan | China | $548,235.82 |
| 13th | Uzi | China | $545,447.56 |
| 14th | Ruler | South Korea | $539.671.93 |
| 15th | Karsa | Taiwan | $538,926.12 |
| 16th | TheShy | South Korea | $538,444.86 |
| 17th | Mata | South Korea | $533,979.52 |
| 18th | Impact | South Korea | $515,306.14 |
| 19th | xiaohu | China | $507,800.58 |
| 20th | PerkZ | Croatia | $491,280.47 |
Check out our other top 20 highest earning pros lists in various esports:
