• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 08:05
CET 14:05
KST 22:05
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT28Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book19Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview13Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info8
Community News
Weekly Cups (Feb 16-22): MaxPax doubles0Weekly Cups (Feb 9-15): herO doubles up2ACS replaced by "ASL Season Open" - Starts 21/0257LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals (Feb 10-16)46Weekly Cups (Feb 2-8): Classic, Solar, MaxPax win2
StarCraft 2
General
How do you think the 5.0.15 balance patch (Oct 2025) for StarCraft II has affected the game? Terran AddOns placement Nexon's StarCraft game could be FPS, led by UMS maker ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT Oliveira Would Have Returned If EWC Continued
Tourneys
PIG STY FESTIVAL 7.0! (19 Feb - 1 Mar) SEL Doubles (SC Evo Bimonthly) WardiTV Team League Season 10 RSL Season 4 announced for March-April The Dave Testa Open #11
Strategy
Custom Maps
Publishing has been re-enabled! [Feb 24th 2026] Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 514 Ulnar New Year The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 513 Attrition Warfare Mutation # 512 Overclocked
Brood War
General
ACS replaced by "ASL Season Open" - Starts 21/02 Soma Explains: JD's Unrelenting Aggro vs FlaSh BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ TvZ is the most complete match up BW General Discussion
Tourneys
[LIVE] [S:21] ASL Season Open Day 1 ASL Season 21 Qualifiers March 7-8 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues Small VOD Thread 2.0
Strategy
Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2 Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Zealot bombing is no longer popular?
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread Path of Exile Beyond All Reason New broswer game : STG-World
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine UK Politics Mega-thread YouTube Thread Mexico's Drug War
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TL MMA Pick'em Pool 2013
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Laptop capable of using Photoshop Lightroom?
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
YOUTUBE VIDEO
XenOsky
Unintentional protectionism…
Uldridge
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Inside the Communication of …
TrAiDoS
My 2025 Magic: The Gathering…
DARKING
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 2284 users

One Trick or Flex Pick?

Blogs > TrAiDoS
Post a Reply
TrAiDoS
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
Germany211 Posts
April 17 2025 17:44 GMT
#1
Hey there,

"Can you play anything else?"—a classic starter to the discussion about who gets to play which role in League of Legends. Specializing or flex picking are two extremes that impact your gaming performance. Here is what professional players do.

[DISCLAIMER]: The article is written for my weekly newsletter, and published on my website. A new episode comes out every Sunday (directly into your inbox and on my website).

See ya soon,
Christian

🎮 Gaming & Esports Performance Researcher | ✖️ https://x.com/TrAiDoS | 🌍 https://www.christian-staedter.com/ | 🕹️ Esports Freelancer - Admin 👨‍🏫 University Lecturer
Yurie
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
12041 Posts
Last Edited: 2025-04-17 20:44:25
April 17 2025 20:42 GMT
#2
Specializing is generally the best thing. It isn't something unique to e-sports. How often do you see the goalie being the best penalty taker in football? There is only so much practice time you can perform. Being 0.5% better at your task over the entire team multiplies compared to flexing which is only valuable when you don't have a stable roster.

It is why role picking is popular in games with random match making. But I guess you could see it as a skill total. With some roles having more value than others. You just want to maximize that equation in every team.
DarkPlasmaBall
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
United States45315 Posts
April 19 2025 00:01 GMT
#3
Being able to decently flex-pick in games is nice and fun in casual and group settings, so that people can rotate and try out different options. At the highest level of competition, however, it's unreasonable to expect most people to be perfect at multiple roles, since one needs to dedicate so much time and effort for each one.
"There is nothing more satisfying than looking at a crowd of people and helping them get what I love." ~Day[9] Daily #100
LUCKY_NOOB
Profile Blog Joined June 2013
Bulgaria1519 Posts
April 20 2025 11:14 GMT
#4
On April 18 2025 05:42 Yurie wrote:
Specializing is generally the best thing. It isn't something unique to e-sports. How often do you see the goalie being the best penalty taker in football? There is only so much practice time you can perform. Being 0.5% better at your task over the entire team multiplies compared to flexing which is only valuable when you don't have a stable roster.

It is why role picking is popular in games with random match making. But I guess you could see it as a skill total. With some roles having more value than others. You just want to maximize that equation in every team.


I'll give u it's not common but there are plenty of examples of goalkeepers being great at scoring as well.
I think it also has to do with the mentality and instincts of it all.

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/goalkeepers-who-took-penalties
ko-fi.com/luckynoob
josh Williams
Profile Joined April 2025
1 Post
Last Edited: 2025-04-27 09:59:57
April 27 2025 09:59 GMT
#5
Bot edit.

User was banned for this post.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
OSC
11:00
King of the Hill #239
Belair 17
iHatsuTV 17
Liquipedia
CranKy Ducklings
10:00
Sea Duckling Open #142
CranKy Ducklings67
LiquipediaDiscussion
PiG Sty Festival
09:00
PiGFest 7 Playoffs Day 2
Reynor vs ShoWTimELIVE!
PiGStarcraft1793
ComeBackTV 1064
IndyStarCraft 207
Rex173
3DClanTV 100
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
PiGStarcraft1793
IndyStarCraft 207
Rex 173
ProTech12
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 35879
Sea 3776
Rain 2368
Jaedong 828
Stork 325
Bisu 234
BeSt 198
EffOrt 167
Last 151
ggaemo 100
[ Show more ]
Aegong 92
Dewaltoss 83
Snow 82
Pusan 78
Leta 77
Mind 76
Hyun 54
JYJ 37
[sc1f]eonzerg 37
yabsab 22
ToSsGirL 21
Movie 15
IntoTheRainbow 15
Terrorterran 13
Dota 2
Fuzer 195
qojqva2
Counter-Strike
oskar86
kRYSTAL_53
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor283
Other Games
singsing3600
B2W.Neo1100
Lowko251
mouzStarbuck97
White-Ra53
Mew2King33
Happy31
Organizations
Counter-Strike
PGL438
Other Games
BasetradeTV59
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 13 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota273
League of Legends
• Jankos3019
• Stunt667
Upcoming Events
SC Evo Complete
25m
DaveTesta Events
5h 10m
AI Arena Tournament
6h 55m
Replay Cast
10h 55m
PiG Sty Festival
19h 55m
Maru vs TBD
Sparkling Tuna Cup
20h 55m
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
1d 1h
Replay Cast
1d 19h
Wardi Open
1d 22h
Monday Night Weeklies
2 days
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
The PondCast
4 days
KCM Race Survival
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
CranKy Ducklings
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-02-26
LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Acropolis #4 - TS5
Jeongseon Sooper Cup
Spring Cup 2026
[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 2nd Round
[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 2nd Round Qualifier
WardiTV Winter 2026
PiG Sty Festival 7.0
Nations Cup 2026
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
eXTREMESLAND 2025

Upcoming

ASL Season 21: Qualifier #1
ASL Season 21: Qualifier #2
ASL Season 21
Acropolis #4 - TS6
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
CSLAN 4
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
RSL Revival: Season 4
NationLESS Cup
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
FISSURE Playground #3
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.