The Dominance of Kwangdong Freecs’ Top Laner in the LCK Summer Split
The LCK 2023 Summer Split began on June 7, and after the first week of play, there is one top laner who stands out among the rest. Kwangdong Freecs’ top laner, Lee “DuDu” Dong-ju, has been dominating the competition in nearly all metrics.
DuDu had an incredible start to the split, boasting a 35.0 KDA in four games, according to stats site Games of Legends. He achieved 15 kills and 20 assists, with only one death against DRX on K’Sante.
But his dominance doesn’t stop there. DuDu also has the highest gold and CS differential at 15 minutes, the second-highest damage share among top laners at 29.5 percent, and the highest CS-per-minute.
To put it into perspective, most top laners usually average less than 8.5 CS-per-minute, with a damage share below 25 percent. Only two other players, NS RedForce’s DnDn and OKSavingsBank BRION’s Morgan, are above that threshold. The player with the second-highest KDA among top laners is Dplus KIA’s Canna, with a KDA of 6.9.
Dudu and the entire Kwangdong Freecs lineup delivered promising performances in the first week, convincingly sweeping DRX and BRO. While these may not be considered strong lineups, Kwangdong Freecs looked much improved from the previous split and showed potential to be a playoff-caliber team.
In a recent interview with Korizon Esports, head coach Kim “cvMax” Dae-ho confirmed that their goal is to finish in the top six. The team has been working on their base mechanics and now has the tools to play the macro game. However, their highest priority is to improve their fighting skills.
With eight weeks still remaining, DuDu and Kwangdong Freecs have time to prove themselves against the top teams. Their true test will come in Week 2 when they face off against Gen.G Esports on June 14. If they can defeat Gen.G, Kwangdong Freecs might just be the dark horse of the LCK Summer Split.
LCK Summer Split, Kwangdong Freecs, DuDu, top laner, dominance, stats, KDA, CS-per-minute, damage share, playoffs, top teams.