League of Legends star Uzi retires

Lo L Uzi 1 — Image credit: LoL Esports via Flickr

League of Legends takes a huge hit as the professional player for Royal Never Give Up, Jian "Uzi" Zi-Hao officially retires.Jian "Uzi" Zi-Hao's retirement was made official a few hours ago by RNG's official Twitter account and fans are paying respects to his incredible 8-year professional career.

As of today, LPL0006 @UziRNG will officially retire. Uzi was not only the heart and soul of RNG, but also an icon in the esports world as a whole. From a teenager onwards he never gave up and worked as hard as he could to be the best he could in his role, he inspired many. pic.twitter.com/wsqqOnqE4o
— Royal Never Give Up (@RNGRoyal) June 3, 2020

Uzi never gave up

Lo L Uzi winning — Image credit: LoL Esports via Flickr

Uzi began his professional career in 2012 when he joined Royal Club, becoming well known as an incredible mechanical player, and continued being an incredible player for the next 8 years.

ESPN's "The Esports Writer" Perfectly summarised just how big Uzi is in a Tweet:

Jian "Uzi" Zi-Hao has officially retired from League of Legends.During his 8-year professional career, he made two world championship finals, won a Mid-Season Invitational and captured two, back-to-back domestic Chinese trophiesHe will go down as one of the best to ever play pic.twitter.com/DZQ0Xdxz20
— The Esports Writer (@FionnOnFire) June 3, 2020

Intense injuries

Lo L Uzi smiling — (Image credit: LoL Esports Photos via Flickr)

Over the last 8 years of professional play, Uzi sustained multiple injuries due to his high-intensity gaming. Citing multiple wrist injuries, and shoulder injuries over his career, Uzi was advised to rest during the LPL Spring Split 2020, with the decision being made after the spring split to retire.

Due to injuries accumulated over 8 years of high intensity training, at the suggestion of medical professionals, Uzi was advised to rest during the 2020 LPL spring split. After spring a decision was made and we understood and respected his wishes, and will continue to assist him.
— Royal Never Give Up (@RNGRoyal) June 3, 2020

Uzi Trivia

It's undeniable that Uzi will go down as one of the best League of Legends players of all time. Over his 8 year career, he's gained a few interesting statistics, so we'd like to share just a few from his Leaguepedia page.

Uzi is the only player who had over 2000 kills in all leagues by 2018.
Uzi was the player with most kills in the 2014 World Championship and 2017 World Championship.
Uzi scored 3 Penta kills with Vayne in competitive games, one of which in 2014 against Invictus Gaming making him famous worldwide.
Uzi was the first player who claimed 500/1000/1500/2000/2500 kills in LPL.
Uzi has maintained the highest CS/M in every single season of LPL he participated since 2015.
Uzi has a very unique champion pool, even breaking the meta during professional appearances, throwing teams off guard.

Teams from all over League of Legends are paying their respects to Uzi and naturally so. League of Legends itself is 10 years old, and Uzi has been a part of LoL for nearly its entire lifetime, which is incredible.

We at EarlyGame thank Uzi for his incredible career in League of Legends and look forward to seeing what he'll get up to next. For the time being, get some rest Uzi, you've earned it.