The Recall: What we learned from LCK Week 8

T1 took revenge on Hanwha Life Esports and Kwangdong Freecs found some unexpected success — here's what we learned from the eighth week of the 2023 League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) Spring Split.

T1 was one of four teams to secure a 2-0 Week 8, the others being KDF, Dplus KIA and kt Rolster. T1 has more wins and less losses (31-8) than any other team, and they had a strong focus on basic objectives this week, taking 100% of first towers and first three towers (to add to a 92% total on the split) as well as a league-leading 5.5 average turret plates per game. T1's average gold lead at 15 minutes this week also led all teams at 3,121.

Fellow 2-0 team DK led this week in kills (81 in five games), kill-death ratio (2.38) and gold spent difference (13.9%). The team's support Kim "Kellin" Hyeong-gyu leads all players in total KDA (25/47/340, 7.8) and Week 8 KDA (2/3/59, 20.3), and led in both assists and deaths last week, tying in the latter category with Gen.G mid laner Jeong "Chovy" Ji-hoon. Not to be completely outdone, DK bot laner Kim "Deft" Hyuk-kyu has the least deaths of any player who's played all of his team's games and the second best KDA on the split with a 158/45/163 score and 7.1 ratio.

GEN suffered a surprising loss to KDF on March 12, but their players are still statistically strong. The squad's bot laner Kim "Peyz" Su-hwan leads all players in kills with 185 in 39 games, and his Week 8 kill total (27 in five games) was the second highest and led in kills per game. Peyz's support Yoo "Delight" Hwan-joong leads all players in total assists with 381, and jungler Han "Peanut" Wang-ho's jungle CS percentage of 55.6% also leads the league.

Other notable stats

• KT's 30 deaths in five games were the fewest deaths of any team in Week 8.
• KDF bot laner Kim "Taeyoon" Tae-yoon led all players in kills in Week 8 with 28 in six games.
• Sejuani's 99 games played are the most of any champion, followed by Zeri with 97.
• The best KDA of any champ in Week 8 belonged to Renata Glasc with an 0/0/28 score -- and a ratio of 28 -- in two games.
• Ashe remains the champion with the highest pick-ban rate at 96.9%.

Strafe LCK Player of the Week: T1 Faker (12/10/43 in five games)

T1's legendary mid laner Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok led all players in Week 8 in gold difference at 10 minutes (502) and damage per minute (808), and placed second in XP difference at 10 minutes with 433. Honorable mention to T1 support Ryu "Keria" Min-seok, whose 3/5/58 score (and 12.2 ratio) ranked third, and whose 58 assists in five games ranked second.

All stats from Leaguepedia and Oracle's Elixir. Featured photos courtesy of the LCK/Riot Games.