Hanwha Life Esports was rumored to be making a lot of moves behind the scenes, having parted ways with its 2022 roster yesterday. Aside from top laner Lee “DuDu” Dong-ju, everyone else on the team left the team.
While there were rumors regarding who potentially would come in for the 2023 season, Hanwha Life teased fans with a YouTube announcement video today, confirming the rumors that were spreading around.
Former EDward Gaming and 2021 world champion bot laner Park “Viper” Do-hyeon will make his return to the LCK after spending two years in the Chinese league. His last international result was a quarterfinal finish at the League of Legends 2022 World Championship when he and EDG were reverse swept by DRX.
“We are happy to announce that ‘Viper’ has joined HLE once again. We warmly welcome bot laner ‘Viper’, who has won the world championship and has excellent aggression. Please look forward to the new story of HLE that will unfold together with HLE ‘Viper’ in the following season,” the org said on social media today.
Considered one of the best marksmen in the world, Viper has been a highly-contested player in the offseason. He was rumored to initially stay in EDG but his signing means Hanwha Life managed to also get its hands on a super roster. Together with him, former EDward Gaming mid laner Lee “Scout” Ye-chan. There haven’t been confirmations regarding the rest of the team.
That being said, Viper’s return to the LCK is set to elevate the Korean competition to another level. With teams still looking to finalize their rosters and DRX’s Worlds players being free agents, this is going to be the spiciest LCK offseason in recent history.
