Top esports games

Esports is organized competitive, multiplayer video or computer gaming. Players compete in different esports games like League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive for huge prize pools. The esports matches are watched and followed by hundreds of millions of fans globally. Streams of esports matches can be watched either online or in sold-out super stadiums in capital cities all over the world. Streaming services like Twitch allow viewers to watch esports streams and online bookmaker services like Cbet.gg allows punters to bet on their favorite teams and players.

Different types of esports games

In esports, you’ll encounter a lot of different terms such as FPS, RTS, MOBA and MMORPG. These are abbreviations of esports games categories. CSGO, for instance, is an FPS game. League of Legends is a MOBA game, and Starcraft 2 is an RTS.

First-person Shooter

First-person Shooter is commonly abbreviated as FPS. Popular FPS esports includes games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Call of Duty, Rainbow Six Siege and Overwatch.

Multiple Online Battle Arena

Massive Online Battle Arena is commonly abbreviated as MOBA includes the esports games League of Legends, Dota 2, Vainglory and Heroes of the Storm.

Real-time Strategy

Real-Time Strategy is commonly abbreviated as RTS includes games like Starcraft Broodwar, Starcraft 2, Warcraft 2 and Warcraft 3.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game

MMORPG esports games are not very common to find in sportsbooks but are sometimes offered. MMORPG is an abbreviation of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. Games include World of Warcraft, Guild Wars and Blade & soul.

Below we will detail some of the top esports games from the genres above.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

CSGO is one of the most successful multiplayer FPS computer games in the world. It’s also one of the top esports games for more than eight years. Major CSGO tournaments sell out entire stadiums in capital cities anywhere in the world, with prize pools exceeding $1,000,000.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is part of a storied gaming franchise that dates back to the end of the 90s. Competitive tournaments have been held for over 20 years. But it’s only through CSGO that Valve established Counter-Strike as a major esport. Not long after the game was released in 2012, a new esports circuit was created. The success of CSGO is due to the highly competitive gameplay design.

CSGO gameplay

In this esports game, two teams of five players compete against each other. During the match, either team plays as Terrorists (T) trying to blow up targets, while the other team plays as Counter-Terrorists (CT) and tries to stop the Terrorist. There are different maps, or levels, to play. One map consists of a minimum of 30 rounds where the team first to win 16 rounds wins the map. One team starts as T and the other as CT, half-way through the rounds, after 15 rounds, the teams switch. So the team starting as T switch to CT and vice versa. A round can be won by either one team killing the other team, or by a bomb detonating or a bomb being defused. Each round has a timer; once the timer runs out of time, the round is over. If the timer expires and no bomb was detonated, and at least one terrorist is still alive, the CTs will win the round. The gameplay is highly strategical, and aiming and shooting efficiently requires a lot of practice and skill.

Dota 2

Dota 2 is one of the most popular game titles through all time. It has the most lucrative professional scene and the most prestigious tournaments in the esports industry. The next world championship tournament, Dota 2 the International, will have a prize pool worth over $40,000,000.

Dota 2 is the first MOBA on this list. The MOBA genre is characterized by a combination of characters controlled by players, real-time strategy and tower defence. The gameplay of Dota 2 features two teams of five players each who are competing to destroy the core of the other team’s base. Each player controls a hero who has it’s own unique skills and abilities. The heroes evolve during the course of the gameplay through acquiring gold and experience. Gold is used to purchase gear and equipment. Experience is used to evolve the hero who becomes stronger throughout the game. There are over 100 heroes in the hero library of Dota 2. Two or more players can use no hero at the same time. Through a combination of unique heroes, unique builds in terms of equipment and abilities and the style of play from the player and the strategy of the teams, each match in Dota 2 is unique.

Dota 2 gameplay

The battleground in Dota 2 features two home bases, the Ancient, in each corner of the terrain. Respective teams defend their home base while simultaneously trying to destroy the other team’s base. In the area of the home base and throughout the battleground there are Towers with canons belonging to each team, these Towers help defend the teams home base. Close to the base, there are two towers, and in each lane, there are three towers. Also, inside each base, there are barracks that spawn Creeps. Creeps are AI-controlled units that will attack the opponent’s heroes, opponent’s Creeps and buildings. During the game each team tries to push down the lanes, destroying the Towers and later the Barracks and finally the other team’s home base. The team that destroys the other team’s base first, win the game. Dota 2 is a highly tactical game; it takes years to become a Tier 1 pro, and teams need to practice a lot together to be competitive. Watching Dota 2 as an esport requires some knowledge to understand what is happening throughout the game. Reading this short guide helps but to become good at Dota 2 esports betting we suggest that you not only read but start watching a lot of Dota 2 matches.

League of Legends

League of Legends (LoL), just like any other MOBA game, have player-controlled characters, in this case, champions, that are used for battle. Each player controls their champion, and each champion has unique attributes and powers. In League of Legends, there are over 150 champions to choose. In an esports match, two teams battle each other. Each team consists of five players, each playing their champion and working together to win. No two champions are the same, only one of each can be present per game. During the game, the champions will earn gold, with the gold they’ll upgrade their champion, acquiring gears and equipment. Also, a champion will get experience during the game and get stronger and evolve new abilities and skills.

League of Legends gameplay

From a spectator perspective, League of Legends as an esport game is difficult to watch unless you have played the game or read about it. To summarize it for you. Five players on each team join the battle arena as different champions. The teams spawn in opposite corners of the arena. The home base contains a large base structure called the Nexus. This structure has two large canon turrets protecting it. Each time a champion dies during the game, they respawn next to the Nexus. The Nexus also spawns minions that help the team. Outside of the home base, the arena has three lanes. Where the base meets these lanes, there are another three cannon turrets in total, and those three turrets protect three Inhibitors. The minions that are spawned by the Nexus travel down each lane and try to destroy everything from the opposite team, including their champions, their turrets, their inhibitors and their Nexus base. If one team manage to destroy an Inhibitor of the other team, they’ll get rewarded. The lane where the inhibitor was built will produce Super Minions for five minutes which deals more damage than regular minions. The goal of the game is to destroy the other team’s Nexus. As soon as a Nexus is destroyed, the teams destroying it wins. In the lanes of the arena, there are additional cannon turrets for each team. During the game, each team tries to push down these lanes, destroy towers, inhibitors and finally the Nexus home base.

By explaining all this, we only scratched the surface of the game. This game takes a long time to master. As an esports, players need lots of skill, strategy and teamwork. The biggest esports tournament in League of Legends is Worlds, the world championships of LoL. This tournament is held every year and features a prize pool of over $2,000,000.

Call of Duty

Call of Duty (CoD) is arguably the most successful video game franchise of all time. It’s an FPS type game that has come out on many different versions since 2003. The current iteration of CoD is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, this is the game version that is currently played in esports. The next version of CoD is right around the corner, only weeks away, it’s called Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. It’s set for release in November 2020.

Call of Duty esports betting in 2021 will likely see an increase in interest. In part due to a new game version but also because of the new official Call of Duty League that the game developer, Activision launched in 2020. The Call of Duty league is an international CoD league; it consists of 12 professional esports teams across 11 markets in North America and Europe. The teams are city-based. One team from Canada will be present, Toronto Ultra. They’ll be competing for a piece of the $6,000,000 prize pool.

CoD gameplay

In Call of Duty esports, two teams consisting of four players compete against each other. Usually, a match consists of multiple series of maps and modes where the winner of the match is the team who earned the most points. Most CoD esports matches are played in a best of two or best of five series format. In the new Call of Duty League, the matches will be played in a best of five formats, where each series consists of three matches. Each match in one of the different formats: Hardpoint, Search and Destroy and Domination.

Hardpoint

In Hardpoint, different areas can be captured and controlled. As a team captures and controls and area, they’ll earn points. Each area has an allotted amount of time. When the timer for an area expires, another will randomly appear in another place.

Search and Destroy

The gameplay of Search and Destroy mode is similar to Counter-Strike, where one team attacks and the other defends. Both teams take one turn each to attack and then defend. The attacking team must plant and detonate a bomb. In contrast, the defending team must prevent the planing of a bomb or defusing an active bomb.

Domination

Domination is a classic CoD mode where each team need to capture and defend objectives.

Rainbow Six Siege

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six is another hugely popular and storied FPS video game franchise. The game is developed and published by Ubisoft. The first Rainbow Six instalment was released in 1998, and the currently active version is Rainbow Six Siege. Another version is planned for 2021, named Rainbow Six Quarantine. A fitting game title considering the current events in the real world right now. Rainbow Six Siege has proved to be a very popular esport. The first tournament featured a prize pool of $100,000. Fast-forward to 2020 and the prize pool of Rainbow Six Siege Invitational had a prize pool of $3,000,000. Impressive growth in four years. Rainbow Six Quarantine is expected to tale Rainbow Six esports to new heights.

Rainbow Six Siege gameplay

In Rainbow Six Siege esports, two teams consisting of five players each compete against each other in different maps and game modes. A notable difference between other FPS esports like CSGO and Call of Duty is that the terrain in Rainbow Six can be destroyed. This allows players to alter the terrain of the map to devise new ways to enter buildings and get strategical edges over the other team. The different game modes in Rainbow Six Siege are Bomb Defusal, Hostage Rescue and Secure Area.

Bomb Defuse

One attacking team, the counter-terrorists, carries a bomb refusal kit where they need to defuse a bomb that has been planed by the terrorists. Once the bomb defuse is in progress, the team much defend it. The defending team, the terrorists, tries to fortify the bomb, kill the counter-terrorists or neutralise the person carrying the defuse kit.

Hostage Rescue

The attacking team, the counter-terrorists, need to enter an area to secure a hostage. This hostage must be escorted safely to an extraction point. The defenders, the terrorists, need to prevent the rescue without killing the hostage. If the hostage dies, the side responsible for the death loses.

Secure Area

The attacking team needs to locate and defend a specific room for a fixed amount of time. The defending team needs to obstruct the attacking team of doing so by fortifying the area or killing the attackers.

Rocket League

Soccer mixed with rocket-powered vehicles accurately describes Rocket League. Players in two different teams compete against each other. They battle for control of the ball and then try to advance the ball down the playing field to score goals. Rocket League is a game that requires high dexterity and tactical teamwork to execute on plays that results in goals. Rocket League esports takes place in the Rocket League Championship Series X and The Grid. In RLCS X, the best teams from North America, South America, Europe and Oceania compete for a prize pool worth over $1,000,000.

Rocket League gameplay

Each team starts on the opposite side of the playing field, the same as with soccer. One team then takes control of the ball, and there’s a constant battle for control, attacking to score and defending the goal to prohibit the other team from scoring. Same as with soccer, when either team scores a goal, the game is stopped, and players return to their starting position, and the ball is then again dropped. Each round has a timer, and when the timer runs out, the round is over. The team that scored the most goals wins. In the case of a time, the match goes to overtime until a winner can be declared.

Starcraft 2

Starcraft II is a real-time strategy game where two players in a one-versus-one format compete against each other. Each player chose a faction of play for that has unique buildings, units and characteristics. The gameplay of Starcraft 2 is incredibly complex. The top esports professionals in Starcraft have superhuman like skills. Every minute, a player makes hundreds of decisions, a lot of these are semi-automated through keyboard and mouse shortcuts. It’s not uncommon for Starcraft 2 professionals to make between 400-500 actions per minute on average, during peak moments of gameplay, this number can exceed 800 actions in one minute. As such, a lot of things is happening all the time, making it difficult for non-Starcraft players to follow what’s going on in the game. Even though this esport is highly complex, Starcraft 2 has a large and loyal following. The esports scene was SC2 has waned in recent years, but the prize pools in tournaments are still relatively large. Intel Extreme Masters in Katowice during 2019, one of many tournaments that year, featured a prize pool for $400,000.

Starcraft 2 gameplay

Each player spawns at a random location on the map. For starters, there’s a home base and worker units. Through the game, each player acquires resources which are used to build production facilities. Production facilities, in turn, produce combat units or enhance the skills and abilities of combat units. Each player expands their territory and builds armies which are used to attack the other player’s units, resources or production facilities and ultimately their home base. The first players to destroy the other player wins.

Summary

Esports spans many different games; on this page, we collected some of the most popular esports to bet at. If you wish to learn more about each, we suggest that you visit the dedicated pages we have for these esports games. For betting purposes, we recommend that you visit our esports betting guide. This guide will help you get better at betting on the esports games on this page.