The LoL player Joshua “Dardoch” Hartner (23) was considered a great young talent in League of Legends two years ago, a huge talent that just needed a chance. He received that chance multiple times, but he did not take advantage of it. Now he has been released by the next professional team, Dignitas.
This is the situation:
- The jungler Dardoch was already considered the most promising jungle talent in US LoL at 17. His gameplay mechanics are impeccable and admired online. However, for a long time, no one wanted to give Dardoch a professional contract because he allegedly had a terrible attitude.
- In 2019, Dardoch was 21. At that time, the best team in the USA, Team SoloMid, gave him a chance: He was to become the new starting jungler. But Dardoch only lasted half a year at TSM.
- Now he is out of the next professional team: Dignitas has released him. Once again, his attitude was his downfall.
Mechanically strong, but attitude is a problem
What is the problem with Dardoch? In 2019, fans of almost every US team in LoL wanted their management to pick up the then 21-year-old Dardoch. He was considered an aggressive jungler with insane potential since his time as a 17-year-old at Team Liquid, potential that had yet to be fully realized.
There was consensus: This rough diamond just needed to be with the right team to become the best jungler in the USA in LoL.
Dardoch is considered incredibly talented, but also unruly and difficult. Rumors circulated that Dardoch had a poor attitude, could not fit in with a team, and would drag everyone down. Not even in the Academy League could he impress: There, it was said that his teammates were too bad for him to shine.
Mechanically, Dardoch was a huge LoL player, everyone thought, but the teams that picked him up suddenly played worse with him.
TSM recruited problematic prodigy to “straighten” him out
This was his big chance: In 2019, the probably best team in the USA, Team SoloMid, signed him. They believed that the experienced leadership players of the team and the coaching staff were good enough to get even a difficult player like Dardoch “in line”.
But TSM could not impress with Dardoch: TSM finished 5th in the LCS with a 9-9 record. Again, it was observed that TSM had somehow become a worse team since Dardoch started playing jungle.
Just half a year later, in May 2020, it became clear that Dardoch had to go, when ADC star Doublelift was streaming.
In the background, you could hear his girlfriend, a manager at TSM. She said: No other team wanted Dardoch.
Because this went live on Twitch, it caused a moderate frown: You could not treat players like that. This scene ruined any market value Dardoch had, judged LoL expert Thorin.
Dignitas fires Dardoch: “Unacceptable behavior”
This is how it went recently: Dardoch found a new team for 2020/2021. Ultimately, he landed at Dignitas, a mid-level team in the LCS. There, the now 23-year-old Dardoch was regarded as one of the most important players.
But now he has been released from this team as well. In a statement from Dignitas, it was mentioned: While they knew that players could be frustrated, everyone gets frustrated at times. But Dardoch’s behavior was simply something they could not work with.
It is not entirely clear what exactly Dardoch did to justify his dismissal. It is suspected on Twitter that Dardoch was fired because he flamed his teammate Neo too harshly after a team fight against the Golden Guardians. However, it could also be that he criticized a management decision of the team to bench midlaner Soligo.
In any case, it seems that Dardoch’s temper has once again been his undoing. His attitude towards LoL and his teammates remain Dardoch’s problem. No matter how mechanically good he is.
On Twitter, Dardoch does not elaborate on the incident but merely states: He is very confident in his abilities and is now looking for a new team. He is flexible regarding the region. Perhaps we will see him soon in one of the smaller leagues.
Dardoch is suffering from a new trend in the US LoL league. Recently, several strong players have been sidelined by their teams for speaking negatively about teammates. However, not every team can afford to lose their star:
LoL: Banned star demolishes the amateur league – professional team only loses without him
