Duke (Lee Ho-seong)

Duke
Retired as Player
Duke
Background Information
Name	Lee Ho-seong (이호성)
Country of Birth	; South Korea
Birthday	December 19, 1994 (age 29)
Residency	KRKorea
Competitive
Role	; Coach
Favorite Champs	; ; ;
Competitive IDs	Leopard
Soloqueue IDs	KR: 2021310
Social Media & Links

Overview

Tournament Results

Stats

Match History

Lee "Duke" Ho-seong (Hangul: 이호성) is a League of Legends esports player, previously head coach for Ninjas in Pyjamas. He was previously known as Leopard.

There is a disambiguation page associated with the name Duke. Two other players share this ID.

Team History

Combine Role Swaps:No|Yes

Dates:Approx|Exact

	Team	Start	End
KR	⁠⁠KT Rolster Bullets	Oct 20132013-10-29^[2]	May 20142014-05-16^[1]	6mo 18d ejel
KR	⁠⁠NaJin Black Sword	May 20142014-05-16^[4]	Dec 20142014-12-02^[3]	6mo 17d ejel
KR	⁠⁠NaJin e-mFire	Dec 20142014-12-02^[6]	Dec 20152015-12-01^[5]	1yr 30d ejel
KR	⁠⁠SK Telecom T1	Dec 20152015-12-07^[8]	Nov 20162016-11-28^[7]	11mo 21d ejel
CN	⁠⁠Invictus Gaming	Dec 20162016-12-18^[10]	Jan 20202020-01-06^[9]	3yr 19d ejel
CN	⁠⁠Ninjas in Pyjamas	Jan 20232023-01-10^[12]	May 20232023-05-23^[11]	4mo 13d ejel

	Team	Start	End
KR	⁠⁠KT Rolster Bullets	Oct 20132013-10-29^[2]	May 20142014-05-16^[1]	6mo 18d ejel
KR	⁠⁠NaJin Black Sword	May 20142014-05-16^[4]	Dec 20142014-12-02^[3]	6mo 17d ejel
KR	⁠⁠NaJin e-mFire	Dec 20142014-12-02^[6]	Dec 20152015-12-01^[5]	1yr 30d ejel
KR	⁠⁠SK Telecom T1	Dec 20152015-12-07^[8]	Nov 20162016-11-28^[7]	11mo 21d ejel
CN	⁠⁠Invictus Gaming	Dec 20162016-12-18^[10]	Jan 20182018-01-20	1yr 1mo ejel
CN	⁠⁠Invictus Gaming	Jan 20182018-01-20	Apr 20182018-04-03	2mo 14d ejel
CN	⁠⁠Invictus Gaming	Apr 20182018-04-03	Jan 20202020-01-06^[9]	1yr 9mo ejel
CN	⁠⁠Ninjas in Pyjamas	Jan 20232023-01-10^[12]	May 20232023-05-23^[11]	4mo 13d ejel

News

2013
2014
2015
2016
2018
2019
2020
2023

KR

⁠

⁠KT.B

October 29,
Leopard joins.^[2]

e

KR	⁠⁠KT.B	May 16, Leopard leaves.^[1] e
KR	⁠⁠NJBS	May 16, Leopard, Lee, kurO, and Ohq join. Limit, Helios, Nagne, PraY, and Sim Sung-soo (Coach) leave.^[4] e
KR	⁠⁠NJBS	May 30, Leopard renames to Duke. e
KR	⁠⁠NJBS	December 2, Team disbands. Duke, Ohq, Cain, Reach (Head Coach), MOKUZA (Coach), and SSONG (Coach) leave.^[3] e
KR	⁠⁠NJF	December 2, Team is reformed as a single team. Duke, watch, Ggoong, Ohq, Zefa, Cain, Pure, Reach (Head Coach), MOKUZA (Coach), SSONG (Coach), and viNylCat (Coach) join.^[6] e

KR	⁠⁠NJF	December 1, Duke, Peanut, MOKUZA (Coach), and viNylCat (Coach) leave.^[5] e
KR	⁠⁠SKT	December 7, Duke joins.^[8] e

KR	⁠⁠SKT	November 28, Duke, Bengi, and PoohManDu (Coach) leave.^[7] e
CN	⁠⁠iG	December 18, Duke joins.^[10] e

CN	⁠⁠iG	January 20, Duke moves to substitute. e
CN	⁠⁠iG	April 3, Duke moves to starting roster. TheShy becomes inactive. e
CN	⁠⁠iG	November 19, Duke, Ning, and Rookie's contracts expire but departure is not confirmed. Baolan's contract expires but departure is not confirmed.^[13] e
CN	⁠⁠iG	December 21, Duke, TheShy, Rookie, and JackeyLove's contracts are extended.^[14] Duke's contract is updated in the GCD, expiring on 19 November 2019. TheShy, Rookie, JackeyLove, and Baolan's contracts are updated in the GCD, expiring on 16 November 2021.^[15] e

CN

⁠

⁠iG

November 7,
Duke is set to leave.^[16]

e

CN	⁠⁠iG	January 6, Duke is removed from the GCD.^[9] e
CN	⁠⁠iG	January 9, Duke's departure is confirmed.^[17] e

CN	⁠⁠NIP	January 10, Duke (Head Coach) joins. Rich joins as substitute. Invincible and Dream join from academy roster. XLB, Photic, Zhuo, Zero (Coach), Cluo (Analyst), and Aning (Manager) will remain with the team for 2023.^[12] e
CN	⁠⁠NIP	May 23, Duke (Head Coach) and Zero (Coach) leave.^[11] e

Biography[]

2014 Season[]

Lee "Duke" Ho-Seong joined the KT Rolster Bullets sometime in Season 3 under the name "Leopard" but didn't play with them until the IEM Season VIII World Championship, when he became the starting top laner. The Bullets swept the whole tournament and beat Fnatic 3-0 in the final. They came back to Korea to participate in HOT6iX Champions Spring 2014 where they made it to the quarterfinals but lost 3-2 to NaJin White Shield. Shortly after, Leopard changed his name to Duke and joined NaJin Black Sword as their new top laner. He played his first tournament with the team at HOT6iX Champions Summer 2014. Sword made it to the quarterfinals but lost 3-2 to SK Telecom T1 S.

2015 Season[]

Due to the changes to the OGN rules, Sword and Shield were forced to merge, forming NaJin e-mFire. Shield's top laner, Save, departed from the organization, giving Duke sole possession of the starting position. The team was invited to SBENU Champions Spring 2015 where they placed 6th in the regular season and missed the playoffs. Despite his team's mediocre performance, Duke earned the MVP award for the season. NaJin placed fifth in the regular season of SBENU Champions Summer 2015 and qualified for the playoffs but they lost in the first round 2-1 to the KOO Tigers. They earned enough circuit points to make it to the 2015 Season Korea Regional Finals but lost 3-0 in the first round to the Jin Air Green Wings.

2016 Season[]

NaJin played in the 2015 LoL KeSPA Cup where they lost 2-1 to Rebels Anarchy in the first round. Duke left NaJin in December and joined SK Telecom. In March, SK Telecom attended IEM Katowice despite being only the sixth-place LCK team at the time. They brought substitute jungler Blank in place of bengi and swept through the tournament, winning the title after only seven games. After their international success, they returned to Korea and placed third in the regular season, earning themselves a spot in the playoffs. SKT won the playoffs, winning their third championship in a row and for the first time a seed to the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational.

Their first place finish in the spring season earned them a spot in the 2016 Mid-Season Invitational. Notably, SK Telecom T1 were the only team to return to 2016 MSI from 2015 MSI. As the reigning domestic champions of Korea, SK Telecom T1 came into the tournament as massive favorites to win. However, their group stage performances were very lackluster as they dropped games to China's Royal Never Give Up, NA's Counter Logic Gaming, and two games to the LMS Flash Wolves. They ended their group stage with a 6-4 record, seeding them into the bracket stage at fourth place. Matched up against Royal Never Give Up in the semifinals, SK Telecom started to regain their form, beating them 3-1. They then proceeded to beat Counter Logic Gaming 3-0 to win the event and give them the trophy that barely escaped them last year.

During the 2016 LCK Summer Split, SK Telecom started the season strong with a 5-0 score in series and 10-0 game score. However, they started dropping sets to lower ranked teams, notably the Afreeca Freecs, who they failed to win even a single game against the entire season. With a 13-5 scoreline in series, SKT placed second in the round robin, beating KT Rolster via game score tiebreaker. However, during the 2016 LCK Summer Playoffs, they met KT Rolster in the semifinals, where they were reverse swept 3-2 after going up 2-0 in the first two games. This gave them third place for the summer split. Combined with their first place spring finish, as well as the victory of the ROX Tigers over KT Rolster, SKT qualified to the 2016 Season World Championship on points as Korea's second seed.

At the 2016 Season World Championship, SK Telecom T1 were placed into Group B, along with LMS's Flash Wolves, NA's Cloud 9, and China's I May. The team finished 1st in their grouped and won the tournament with a 3-2 victory over Samsung Galaxy in the finals. Duke left SKT after Worlds and joined Invictus Gaming in December of 2016.

2017 Season[]

Invictus Gaming finished 3rd in Group A of the 2017 LPL Spring Season with an 8-8 record. They would then drop out in the first round of the playoffs with a 1-3 loss to Newbee. IG participated in the 2017 Demacia Cup and finished 3rd after a 1-3 loss to I May in the semifinals. Their summer season was similar to their spring season and they finished 3rd with a 10-6 record. Duke would split play time with TheShy throughout the summer. IG did much better in the playoffs and finished 3rd with a victory over Team WE in the third place match. IG then participated in the 2017 Season China Regional Finals but failed to make it to Worlds after Team WE got their revenge against them and beat them 3-2.

2018 Season[]

Duke and iG kick-started their season with a 3rd place finish in the Demacia Championship, losing 2-1 to Snake Esports in the loser's semifinal. Just two weeks later saw the start of the LPL Spring Season. Despite a regular season series record of 18-1, with their only loss being against Royal Never Give Up, this did not translate into success in the Spring Playoffs. Invictus Gaming were defeated 3-2 by RNG in the semifinals, this being followed by a 3-1 loss at the hands of Rogue Warriors in the third-place match. Although their performance could be considered a disappointment, their placement secured them a spot at Rift Rivals 2018.

A 3rd place finish in the Demacia Cup, this time losing to Bilibili Gaming in the loser's semifinal, was followed by a successful showing at Rift Rivals. Duke and the team won both of their group stage games, helping the LPL to an eventual triumph over the LCK in the final. Invictus Gaming once again achieved an 18-1 regular season record in the LPL Summer Season, their sole loss again to RNG. Despite the similarity of the year's regular season performances, a successful showing in the Summer Playoffs, finishing runner-up to Royal Never Give Up after a tight 3-2 series, resulted in the team's qualification to the 2018 Season World Championship on points.

Invictus Gaming was placed in Group D for Worlds 2018, alongside Fnatic, 100 Thieves, and G-Rex. The group stage round robin concluded with iG and Fnatic tied for 1st place at 5-1. The tiebreaker went in the favor of Fnatic, resulting in Duke and the team being drawn against KT Rolster in the quarterfinals. A tense affair saw iG emerge victorious 3-2 and progress to the semifinals where they met G2 Esports. A more straightforward 3-0 series secured them a place in the finals. Awaiting their challenge were Group D counterparts, Fnatic. Invictus Gaming's convincing performance in the finals resulted in a 3-0 victory, and made them the first Chinese team to win a World Championship.

Trivia[]

Regular Season MVP of SBENU Champions Spring 2015 with 1000 MVP points.
First player to win the World Championship with two different organizations, in Korea with SK Telecom T1 in 2016 and in China with Invictus Gaming in 2018, the only other being BeryL.

Tournament Results[]

This table shows up to the 10 most recent results. For complete results, click here.

Duke (Lee Ho-seong) Tournament Results
Date	Pl	Event	Last Result	Team	Roster
2023-03-26	13	LPL 2023 Spring	5 - 11⁠⁠RR	⁠⁠NIP	Invincible, Rich, XLB, Shad0w, Dream, Pout, Photic, Zhuo, Duke, Zero, Cluo
2020-06-12	2	Brion Blade vs NaJin Legends Showmatch	1 : 2⁠⁠BRB	⁠⁠NaJin	MakNooN, MOKUZA, Duke, Hiro, Ohq, Reach
2019-08-23	7 - 8	LPL 2019 Summer Playoffs	0 : 3⁠⁠LNG	⁠⁠iG	Duke, TheShy, Ning, Leyan, Rookie, JackeyLove, Baolan, Karam
2019-07-07	2	Rift Rivals 2019 LCK-LPL-LMS-VCS	1 : 3⁠⁠LCK	⁠⁠iG	Duke, TheShy, Ning, Rookie, JackeyLove, Baolan, Karam
2019-03-31	2	LPL 2019 Spring	11 - 4⁠⁠RR	⁠⁠iG	Duke, TheShy, Ning, Rookie, JackeyLove, West, Baolan, Mafa, Karam
2018-12-23	1	Demacia Cup 2018 Winter	3 : 1⁠⁠TOP	⁠⁠iG	Duke, Ning, Rookie, JackeyLove, West, Baolan, Mafa
2018-11-03	1	Worlds 2018	3 : 0⁠⁠FNC	⁠⁠iG	Duke, TheShy, Ning, Rookie, JackeyLove, Baolan, Kim
2018-09-14	2	LPL 2018 Summer Playoffs	2 : 3⁠⁠RNG	⁠⁠iG	Duke, TheShy, Ning, Rookie, JackeyLove, Baolan, Kim Jeong-soo
2018-09-02	1	LPL 2018 Summer - East	18 - 1⁠⁠RR	⁠⁠iG	Duke, TheShy, Ning, Rookie, JackeyLove, West, WXZ, Baolan, Kim Jeong-soo
2018-07-08	1	Rift Rivals 2018 LCK-LPL-LMS	3 : 2⁠⁠LCK	⁠⁠iG	TheShy, Duke, Ning, Rookie, JackeyLove, Baolan, Kim Jeong-soo