For a player who has spent his entire career wearing the SKT T1/T1 colors and competing in League of Legends like Faker, every accolade praising him is simply superfluous. His talent, character, and influence are no longer unfamiliar to fans. Over time, these factors have not faded but instead have earned even more admiration for the “Demon King” due to his remarkable resilience. It may be a long time before another player comes along that everyone in the LoL community must mention, and even rivals with deep-seated grudges must respect.
The greatness of Faker in Esports is beyond debate, yet the community often debates the reasons that have allowed him to dominate at the top for so long. Recently, Riot themselves created a video analyzing Faker’s mindset as a way to emphasize the perseverance, experience, and talent of the mid-laner from T1.
According to Riot’s video, every situation Faker engages in is designed to maximize advantages for both himself and his teammates. When Faker pushes minions close to the opponent’s turret, he doesn’t waste a minute to roam or simply place wards for map control. He even calculates the movements of his opponents (in this case, Chovy) and the elements on the map with precision like a machine. The moment the Healing Orb appears, Faker charges in to trade health for an advantage and to set up a roam. In fact, a seemingly random Teleport play by Faker has helped his teammates create a significant lane advantage (in the match against Liiv SANDBOX). Subsequently, T1 took down Clozer, secured Baron, and set the stage for closing out the game.
These are skills that almost any professional player needs to master, but for Faker, he executes his maneuvers accurately following specific processes and orders. Moreover, Faker’s macro skills even assist his teammates, boosting their confidence in decision-making while giving them space to shine. It is these invisible influences from Faker that have helped him and T1 achieve impressive results.
However, many fans believe that Riot’s analysis video is only technical and not comprehensive enough. Faker’s perseverance is also reflected in his professional attitude, and this is the decisive factor that makes him a great player. The T1 mid-laner has always been wholeheartedly dedicated to Riot’s game throughout his career. Notably, Faker is perhaps one of the few individuals who meticulously reads every patch note and understands the strengths and weaknesses of any champion match-up he uses or faces.
The greatness of Faker is the result of many factors, and more importantly, he has maintained all of these factors over a long period. This is the essence of Faker’s greatness and adds to the concerns of the League of Legends community about what might happen if one day they can no longer witness Faker’s dominance in the competitive League of Legends scene.