inSec: Master of the Dragon's Rage

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That One Game Everyone Knows From Arcane

League of Legends is a popular MOBA (Massively Online Battle Arena) that was originally released back in 2009. The game originally featured 40 playable characters, or champions, and has massively expanded to a roster of 159 champions as of this post. The main objective of the game requires two teams of 5 players each to try to destroy each other’s Nexus. The Nexus is a large central structure located within each team’s base. Throughout the year, League of Legends hosts various tournaments. For example, there are the LCK (League Championship Korea), LEC (League European Championship), World Championship Series, and All-stars events. It was in the 2013 All-stars events that the South Korean player Choi In-seok known as “inSec” forever changed the Lee Sin meta. 

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inSec in a nutShell

The creative I will be discussing is Choi “inSec” In-seok. Choi In-seok is a now-retired professional esports League of Legends player. He played professionally from 2012 to 2019 on various teams for various events. He is known for his Lee Sin gameplay and the legendary combo of the same name, “the inSec.” To properly understand the genius behind this maneuver, we will have to briefly go over Lee Sin’s move set

 

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Lee Sin in a Nut Shell

Lee Sin is a very high-skill champion that requires days and even weeks to master. While most champions have 4 abilities (Q, W, E, R), Lee Sin essentially has 7. As opposed to naming the abilities, I will simply refer to them by the key they are bound to. His Q, Sonic Wave, shoots a ball of sound in a line, damaging and marking the first enemy hit. Reactivating it will cause Lee Sin to dash to the marked target. His W, Safeguard, dashes towards an ally and shields both of them if the ally is a Champion. Reactivating it will cause Lee Sin to gain Life Steal and Spell Vamp for a few seconds. His E, Tempest, will smash the ground and deal damage to enemies around him, and mark them. Reactivating it will cause Lee Sin to apply a slow to all marked targets. Finally, Lee Sin’s R, Dragon’s Rage will briefly stun an enemy before kicking them in the opposite direction of Lee Sin. Any enemies that come into contact with the enemy as they are kicked will become knocked up for the duration. 

 

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Wards reimagined

The last piece of information before we discuss the play that is the “inSec” is the ward. Wards are small trinkets that can be placed down to give vision in an area for a few minutes. Their primary purpose is to act as a camera with little use outside of that. Wards, typically used for vision, were reimagined when inSec used them as a unit to jump to.

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The Kick That Was Heard Around the World

This video is the inSec that Choi In-seok became famous for. This video is an isolated version of what an inSec is. First, you hit the enemy with your Q. While they are marked, you reactivate your Q to dash towards them. While in mid-air, before you reach your target, place a ward behind the enemy opposite of the direction you want to kick them. After placing the ward, while still in mid-air, activate W to dash to the ward you just placed. After dashing to the ward, immediately activate R on the target, kicking them in the desired direction. If you think this is easy and you haven’t clicked on the linked videos, I highly recommend you do to appreciate how fast this combo is. It requires speed and precision. The combo itself is executed in a fraction of a second. Choi In-seok achieved this in a live game against the best of the best at the time.

 

Creativity

While Choi In-seok was not the first person to find this combo, he was the first to execute it and perfect it on a public stage to a degree that shaped how the character Lee Sin is played today. Choi In-seok used a little bit of collecting and conceptual change to create the product of the legendary combo named after him. Choi In-seok drew from other League of Legends Esports players like Lantyr and Diamondprox were able to do the combo at the time, but not to the level Choi In-seok perfected it. Choi In-seok also started to view wards as a tool for more than just their primary purpose of vision. He uses them as a unit to instantly dash to, as opposed to simply a camera or sentry. 

Perfecting this combo comes with both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. He is intrinsically motivated because he loves the champion Lee Sin and wants to test the limits of the character. He is also extrinsically motivated because he needed to perfect this high-skill high-impact play that would win him and his team games.

Lee Sin players today

You cannot play Lee Sin well without mastering the inSec combo. After his play in 2013, the combo became synonymous with his name. Before games even start, if you pick Lee Sin, there is the expectation of you to know how to inSec properly. The effect Choi “inSec” In-seok had on the game cannot be stated enough. He truly is a Master of the Dragon’s Rage.