Stend retires from League of Legends competition after turbulent year
The French support player cited a changed relationship with the game following a challenging season across multiple teams.
French support player Paul ‘Stend’ Lardin has announced his retirement from competing in League of Legends esports.
"My relationship with the game has changed," Stend said in a statement posted online, following what he described as a rollercoaster year.
The announcement comes just a week after he posted that he was looking for offers following his participation with Shifters in the LEC Summer Split.
His retirement ends a seven-year career that included stints on Team Heretics, Vitality.Bee, and Giants.
Stend's 2026 season began in the LEC with Team Heretics, which the organization claimed was building a long-term project around him and jungler Théo ‘Sheo’ Borile.
The duo were the only two players who stayed with the organization from 2025 into 2026, yet both were gone after four months.
Sheo stepped down from Heretics’ LEC roster during the Spring Split after the team lost five consecutive series.
Despite reaching the LEC Playoffs, Stend was then dropped after LEC Versus in favor of Korean support Han ‘Way’ Gil.
He was traded to Turkish organization Misa Esports and made a deep run into EMEA Masters, finishing third.
However, Misa Esports disbanded just over a month after Stend joined the team.
Stend was also surprisingly left off France’s Esports Nations Cup roster in favor of LFL support Théo ‘Zoelys’ Le Scornec.
He briefly filled in for ZYB Esport in the LFL Playoffs before returning to the LEC with Shifters.
Shifters finished dead last in the Summer regular season, winning just one of their nine series.
Following that tough Summer Split, Stend's Shifters teammate Ilias ‘nuc’ Bizriken also announced he is taking a break from competitive play.
A lot of LoL players had difficult seasons, but Stend’s appeared to be particularly challenging, according to the reporting notes.
