U.GG has always been on my second monitor since I began playing League of Legends. This easy to use tool shows players the best runes, counters and combos for each champion to help you climb out the hell that we call “Iron”. I interviewed Eric “1m1s” Huang, VP of Marketing at U.GG who was kind enough to give me an exclusive interview!
What is U.GG and how does it all work?
At a really top level, the site tells you what to objectively do using data. We aggregate solo queue game data with the Riot API and package it into simple, data-driven actionable for the user. We try to do everything the way Riot uses on the data and balance side – from the D2+ filter that they use for certain balance changes, to an elo classification system for matches that Riot agrees with.
Tierlist 
Runes 
Counters & Items
Who’s running the show?
The two people who started it all: Alan, our CTO, and Shinggo, the CEO. They built out the early successful parts of the site (our builds and tier list) with some really important design philosophies centred around ease of use that has since become standard among other third party League sites and were able to get funding so the company could grow.
Where did the idea come from?
Mainly around just doing better. Alan and Shinggo saw the sites that were out there at the time had really core, unacceptable issues – things like being two patches back on data, confusing UI, etc. They’d always wanted to do something in esports and just decided to bet on themselves and create something all their own.
Who creates the U.GG champion combos?
We had two main people working together on combos: Eric (“1m1s”), our marketing guy, who at one point was not terrible at League, and Galen “Moon” Holgate, who’s a high elo jungler and current head coach for CLG Academy. We set a goal to get all the champions done in about 2-3 months, with 6 combos ranging from bread and butter trade combos, unique interactions, and flashier mechanics that we thought were useful.
How does U.GG adapt to shifts in the meta?
We’re fortunately fairly future-proofed for meta shifts. Our recommendation algorithm for each champion, which guides which build for which role as the default, combines both popularity of role and efficacy of build. So when Syndra Bot began to see more play than Syndra Mid, our pages automatically reflected what was popular in the current meta.
Most important question of them all… Who’s winning Worlds?
Heart says SUNING, but brain says DAMWON Gaming.
Although now Worlds 2020 is over and done with, these answers were sent before. Perhaps DAMWON was using U.GG to their advantage? I’d like to thank Eric for taking the time to answer all these questions. If you haven’t already make sure to head over to U.GG. What makes this site stand out from other site is “Boost” which gives you other amazing features!
- Customised Profiles – Unlock champion backgrounds for your profile, plus track achievements.
- Live Game – Gameplan for each match with stats on all players.
- Year in Review – Generated at the end of the season and it’s yours forever.
- Ad-Free Experience – Experience faster load times and cleaner UI.
- Combos For All Levels of Play – From basic trading to highlight reel mechanics, there are combos for every situation!
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