Hanwha Life Esports officially announced their first player for next season: Park “
Viper” Do-hyeon. Not surprising news, given the player's caliber and HLE's ambitions. We can therefore expect further announcements from the LCK champions in the coming days.
Viper will thus begin his third consecutive year with
Hanwha Life Esports in 2025, having joined the team before the start of the 2023 season. At the time, he was returning to Korea after spending two years in China with
EDward Gaming, with whom he secured a world championship title in 2021. The 2023 season was rather average for Viper and HLE, twice finishing fourth in the LCK and missing the year's two international competitions.
Things got even better in 2024, with HLE taking the Spring Split podium (3rd) before winning the Summer Split by knocking off T1 and Gen.G to everyone's surprise. A historic title, as it was the first for the Korean organization. Unfortunately, the 2024 Worlds didn't go so well, as HLE was eliminated by BLG in the quarter-finals.
By re-signing with HLE, Viper hopes to do at least as well as last year, but this will also depend on who joins him in the roster. It's worth noting that Kim “
Zeka” Geon-woo's, Han "
Peanut" Wang-ho's and Yoo "
Delight" Hwan-joong's contracts doesn't expire until November 2025, so we could see them back on the team next year.
