The Croatian Luka “Perkz” Perković (26) was the dominant player in League of Legends in Europe from 2015 to 2020. He amassed championship titles in LoL and personal awards like no one else. In 2020, he solidified his achievement with a million-dollar transfer to the USA. But today, there is nothing left of the fame.
This was Perkz’s career: From 2015 to 2020, Perkz’s career reads like that of a global superstar. He was the Rookie of the Split in 2016, then selected 8 times for the various All-Pro teams in Europe. He won the league 8 times and even won the international tournament MSI in 2019. That year, he also reached the finals of Worlds.
In November 2020, Perkz said goodbye to G2 and transferred for allegedly 5 million US dollars to the USA, where he also impressed at Cloud9 and became a champion.
Starting in 2022, he was supposed to build his own super team in France with Team Vitality and lead Europe to the top of the world. But that never materialized. Team after team that he led failed and fell far below expectations. His career took a deep dive, leading him to the regional league now.
It can be assumed that he earned extremely well from LoL during his time. Rumor has it that during his time at Cloud9, he earned 2.7 million US dollars a year (via reddit). At Vitality, it likely wasn’t much less.
World star plays together with his jungler in the regional league
This is now his plan: Perkz has now transitioned from midlane to top lane. The now 26-year-old has joined the current hype around streamers who broadcast their games with the team “The Ruddy Sack”. There he plays with his old jungler Jankos. The two had been a great team in midlane and jungle for years.
Nominatively, Perkz and Jankos, as former world-class players, are among the biggest names and best players in the regional league, which is considered not particularly strong and falls behind leagues in France and Spain.
Perkz is 26 years old – even for LoL standards, he should be delivering performance at this age. Faker is 28 years old.
Actually, as Perkz surely planned, he should have played a good role in the league with his roster, strengthened his Twitch stream, and made a sort of victory round while smashing lower-ranked players.
But: the league, which proves to be a stroke of luck for other streamers in Perkz’s situation, becomes a disaster for Perkz.
Team swaps Perkz for Wunder and wins decisively
This is now the embarrassment: During the regular season, The Ruddy Sack was doing well, sitting at 3-1 in second place, though in the clearly weaker group.
In the playoffs, they unexpectedly lost the first match 1-2 against Bulldog Esports, a team without big names.
For The Ruddy Sack, the match against Lundqvist Lightside was now all or nothing: here they made a stunt and put Perkz on the bench while bringing back their former top laner Wunder for exactly this one series.
With Wunder and without Perkz, The Ruddy Sack won the series 3-1 and earned a second chance against Bulldog Esports, against whom they had lost the first series.
But Perkz proved to be a weakness and looked poor against the Polish Mietek on the top lane. The match was lost 2-3. In the last match alone, Perkz died 8 times on Camille.
Perkz is mocked for his performance
This is now the situation: The former superstar Perkz is currently being showered with mockery and scorn.
In English, former elite players who are no longer performing are called “washed” – washed out. This comes from the idea of a piece of clothing that has been washed so often that it has lost its color.
Especially with the team name “The Ruddy Sack,” Perkz now has to hear some jabs (via reddit):
“My girlfriend asked me if I was ready for sex. I said ‘Ruddy’ and she knew I had washed my sack.”
“Today is the day when Perkz has no more hate watchers because it’s no fun watching an old man get beaten and ridiculed. You feel more sympathy for those kinds of people.”
“People forget that Perkz is only 26 and he was already washed up 2 years ago. Even by League standards, 26 isn’t old.”
Midlaner LIDER is also facing some criticism. Jankos remains spared from the fans’ mockery. For ADC Humzh, there is even some sympathy. It must feel like “ELO Hell” to play in this team.
Bulldog sends them to the nursing home
That was the end. The casters shout: Bulldog sends Ruddy to the nursing home:
The inexplicable case of a great and super-professional player
What lies behind this: For over 5 years, Perkz was the best player in the best team in Europe. His coach Grabbz confirmed that G2 “was Perkz’s team” and the Croatian, with his intense nature, set standards for professional behavior.
When Perkz left G2, the team was never able to replace him and his influence even remotely. Perkz was evidently the engine that drove G2 to peak performance.
Even in the USA, he still performed well in 2021 and took the team relatively far in Worlds.
But since 2022, he seems to be under a curse and remains far below expectations with his teams, no matter how strong his squads look on paper. Even with great teammates like the Germans Upset and Kaiser, his teams continue to fall short of expectations.
For Perkz, what worried the former German pros NoWay and Broeki when they decided to play competitively again has come true. They feared ruining their reputations by being seen as “weak links” in their teams. Perkz has been damaging his reputation for years and has now morphed from “the best player in Europe” to “the old man that you somehow pity” – all at 26. Only he himself probably knows what’s really going on inside him: LoL: “I don’t enjoy it anymore” – pro player Perkz is benched, now throwing in the towel
