In the League of Legends, a Chinese LoL pro was harshly punished by his team. The jungler Yan “Wei” Yang-Weit (17) had forgotten to select the summoner spell Smite before the match. His team punished him by withholding a month’s salary.
This was the mistake: The jungler forgot to select the summoner spell “Smite” before the match and instead started with “Ignite.”
The summoner spell “Smite” is what actually makes a normal LoL champ a jungler:
- Only those with Smite can purchase crucial “Jungle Items” that are essential for effectively killing the PvE opponents in the jungle while regenerating health points
- With Smite, you can also take down PvE opponents
- Without Smite, effective jungling is nearly impossible, especially not in low-level play
This is how the match went: It was a league match between eStar (currently ranked 12th in the LPL) and Bilibili Gaming (ranked 14th), it was a duel in the lower half of the league, where 17 teams compete against each other.
When Wei’s team noticed the mistake, they tried to convince the referee to call off the match and order a rematch where the jungler would then choose Smite. However, the referee refused.
The team resolved to play particularly well now, to act as a team, seek out team fights, and make up for the jungler’s mistake. They reassured themselves that it was not such a big deal.
In a Twitter clip with English subtitles, you can read and see how eStar’s team dealt with the situation and tried to motivate themselves.
But even though the team performed quite well, the disadvantage from the jungler was too great. They lost the first match in 33 minutes.
Their own jungler Wei had a score of 2/6/12 and was two levels behind the opposing jungler. The jungler without Smite was clearly a vulnerability.
In the second game of the “Best of Three” series, Wei as a jungler (with Smite) turned it around, was able to dominate the match, and won for his team. Wei also played well in match 3, but eStar lost the match and the series despite his good performance.
Team withholds one month’s salary
This is the punishment: Although jungler Wei apologized to his teammates and coaches, he was harshly punished.
The team announced that they would deduct his salary for one month and express criticism to avoid such mistakes in the future.
In China, life as a LoL pro is tough, as a report from CNN in January 2020 reveals about the dark side of eSports. Performance is absolutely in focus, competition for the few pro spots is fierce, and careers are short.
Players often make mistakes in MOBAs, but for someone to make such a blunder before the match starts like Wei is rare. Even worse, a DOTA 2 pro severely failed at character selection on the biggest stage, the tournament “The International,” much to the delight of the opponents and his own dismay:
Dota 2: 59-second Twitch clip shows reaction to a terrible mistake
