Getting into eSports can be a big undertaking but one that’s always worth it. These kinds of games offer so many depths to the gameplay that you can sink over 1000 hours into them and still be learning new strategies and tactics. As well as that you can engage with the community, make new friends, and get hyped for the big eSports tournaments such as….
With the amount of time it takes to break into the competitive eSports scene, we’re left wondering; are current gaming laptops suited to playing these kinds of games on the go? Most eSports have been around for many years and are more than enough for the current generation of gaming laptops to handle. Whether you want to practice over a friend’s house or hop onto a quick match during school/work breaks: we’ve put together a list of some of the biggest eSports games that are perfectly suited to gaming laptops.
For the best experience, you’ll want to run these games at medium to high settings and ensure you don’t get any frame drops during gameplay. Check out these purpose built gaming laptops for the smoothest experience when playing esports on the go.
Fortnite
The behemoth of battle royale games is still going strong today. It’s on every major console and has tons of merchandise on every high street. Most people on earth have at least heard of Fortnite. Part of it’s big appeal is that it combines the third person shooter last man standing gameplay with elements of crafting (similar to Minecraft) to defend yourself in battle. The game has three modes but the Battle Royale mode is where everyone flocks to.
The game is perfectly suited to a laptop setup as it’s best played with a keyboard and mouse. The mouse movements make for smoother aiming and the keyboard shortcuts for crafting are much faster than those on a controller. Fortnite’s cartoonish graphics don’t take too much processing power either, with at least 8GB you’ll be 60fps and above. The game’s recommended GPUs are the GTX 660/Radeon HD 7870 which date back to 2012 so any current gaming laptop will be able to handle the game at medium to high settings.
The game is already a cultural phenomenon and it’s free to play so there’s no excuse for not giving it a go. Unfortunately there is no official Fortnite World Cup tournament this year but with the game’s mammoth success it’s sure to return.
League of Legends
It’s been over a decade since League of Legends (LoL) first launched and it’s still one of the biggest eSports out there with a massive community. This free-to-play Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) has you controlling fantasy characters, each with unique abilities, in a team of five trying to take down the enemy’s base. It’s isometric viewpoint and control has been familiar to PC gamers since Warcraft III and feels right at home on a gaming laptop.
Because of the game’s longevity and worldwide popularity, it isn’t hard getting a laptop to run it with a consistent framerate. The recommended specs for the game suggest 2006-era GPUs and only 4GB of RAM so you should have no problem with performance. That being said, it’s always good to be running on a current gen GPU and CPU with over 8GB of RAM as the game is constantly updated and optimised for modern machines.
There’s no shortage of professional live streaming on Twitch and YouTube to start getting involved in the community. Plus, this year’s LoL World Championship final is set to take place in Shenzhen, China on November 6th so now’s a great time to jump into the game to gear up for the event!
Overwatch
With a sequel coming up in 2022, the Overwatch community is full of excitement. The FPS gameplay is reminiscent of Team Fortress 2 in that you play a variety of team based matches (and characters each with unique abilities). Unlike a lot of the eSports on this list, it isn’t free to play but offers a huge amount of quality content for hours of fun with your mates.
The game has an awesome visual style that combines Pixar-esque characters with high fidelity environments. Thankfully the game is well optimised for gaming laptops so you don’t have to set the graphics down too low. The recommended specs are similar to Fortnite and recommends an i5 CPU but most modern gaming laptops should come with an i7 or even higher to boost performance.
The official Overwatch League has been going strong with 20 international teams competing for a prize pool of up to $4,200,000 per season. Get started on ranked matches and get to grips with your favourite characters so you’re ready not only for the tournaments but for the sequel next year.
Dota 2
Although League of Legends may be the most played MOBA in eSports. Dota is where it all started for the genre and has one of the most passionate communities. It shares the same team-based gameplay as LoL but has its own unique artstyle and over 100 characters to find a play style that suits you. There’s even a new tutorial mode pushed in a recent update to help guide you through this intimidating game.
A lot like some of the other games on this list, Dota 2 has been around for awhile and has had years of updates for graphics compatibility. Gaming laptops with at least an i5 5th gen CPU, a GTX 660 and upwards of 8GB of RAM should be getting you consistent frame rates and high fidelity graphics. The video settings in-game are also easy to navigate and user-friendly for adjusting the game to your specs.
Dota 2 also boasts maybe the biggest official eSports event in The International. This year the event will be hosted in Romania with a huge prize pool of $40,018,195. After the event was cancelled last year, there’s sure to be a ton of hype surrounding it this year so get involved!
Apex Legends
One of the more recently released games on this list, Apex Legends is a FPS that combines the hero shooter aspects of Overwatch with the insanely popular battle royale mode made popular by Fortnite and PUBG. The game pits up to 20 three-person (or 30 two-person) teams against each other on a huge map where the last team standing wins. The twist being you can choose up to 17 characters each with their own unique abilities to take advantage of.
As it’s a more recent game, its minimum specs aren’t quite as low as some of the games on this list. Even then, minimum specs are usually what is needed to barely run the game on a PC let alone a gaming laptop. Around 16GB of RAM is really what you want with a GTX 1660 that can get you 80-120 FPS consistently.
The official Apex Legends Global Series Championship hosted its finals in 2021 with a pretty hefty prize pool of $1,000,000 going to the team Kungera from North America. With regular updates, new game modes and a lot of live stream coverage; Apex Legends is rising as an eSport and you owe it to yourself to get training for the next big tournament!
eSports training anytime and anywhere
Whether you’re training for tournaments, playing with your friends or watching your favourite players/teams on Twitch, a gaming laptop is a great way to stay connected with your eSport everywhere you go. There are a couple of games like Rocket League and Call of Duty that are big too but some would say they are best played with a controller which can be annoying to bring around with you as well as a laptop. That being said, a lot of the biggest eSports are free to play so you have no reason to not give them all a try
Author Bio: James Sayers has a passion for writing on media such as music, film and video games. He works at Tillison Consulting as an SEO Campaign Manager working on blog content and SEO improvements for clients.
