Niship “Dhokla” Doshi was the top laner for 100Thieves in Summer 2025, and he became a fan favorite by making lighthearted vlogs at the 2025 World Championship. Since then, 100T disbanded, and Dhokla is now teamless in the offseason.
From beating Bilibili Gaming at Worlds to perhaps having to retire, here’s the story of “Big Dhokes” and the surprises of the 2025 LCS offseason.
After a few years in lower tiers, Dhokla first joined the NA LCS in 2018 as OpTic Gaming’s top laner. One and a half year later, he was back to academy rosters, until CLG promoted him in Summer 2022.
In Summer 2023, Dhokla transferred to NRG, where he had his most successful split. NRG won the LCS 2023 Championship, and reached the quarterfinals of Worlds.
Despite this relative success, Dhokla went through the offseason without offers, and continued with NRG for the next year. However, Riot removed NRG’s spot in the league for 2025, to make way for LYON and Disguised in the LTA.
Dhokla was once again left without a starting position and went to 100Thieves as a coach. In July, 100T announced that they would disband at the end of the year. Shortly after, the team benched their top laner Sniper to change things up, and Dhokla took his spot. This was Dhokla’s third chance to prove himself in the LCS.
As Dhokla stepped in, 100Thieves went from being a winless team to pulling off the miracle run. 3-1 against LYON, 3-0 against Team Liquid, 3-2 against Cloud9, 3-0 against Shopify Rebellion, 100 had one chance and they did not waste it.
The Thieves qualified for the LTA Regional Championship, where they beat paiN Gaming and RED Canids to secure a spot at the 2025 World Championship. Since Dhokla joined the starting roster, 100 had won 6 out of 8 Best of 5s, up from being 0-3.
Dhokla (right) and his teammate Eyla pose together for Worlds 2025 Features Day in Beijing. Image Source: Aiksoon Lee / Riot Games
100Thieves entered Worlds as one of the weakest teams. The Thieves’ last result was a stark loss to the South American team Vivo Keyd Stars, also predicted to be among the weakest at Worlds. No expectations were placed on them.
However, 100 opened Worlds by beating the Chinese first seed Bilibili Gaming. Retrospectively, BLG wasn’t as strong as they should have been, and this ended up being 100’s only win. What really shone was the way they acted.
The Thieves faced the strongest opposition at Worlds. Bilibili, Top Esports, Hanwha Life Esports, T1. Yet they laughed at their fate. The Thieves were in their final tournament, and they took to heart to leave without regrets.
At Worlds, Dhokla started making “out of bed” vlogs. One minute of shirtless Big Dhokes sharing his thoughts, telling the jokes he’s come up with at plans. The Thieves were drastic underdogs in every match-up, and they intended to make light of it.
| Vlog timing | Vlog link | Game of the round |
|---|---|---|
| Before round 1 against BLG | YouTube | |
| Before round 2 against TES | YouTube | |
| After round 2 against TES | ||
| Before round 3 against HLE | YouTube | |
| Before round 3 against HLE (2) | ||
| 100T’s reaction to drawing T1 | ||
| After the T1 draw | ||
| Before round 4 against T1 (D-3) | Game 1: YouTube | |
| Before round 4 against T1 (D-1) | Game 2: YouTube | |
| Before round 4 against T1 (pre-match) |
Seeing Dhokla joke about the situation caused lots of people to find interest in the games, to want to watch them. To go alongside it, while 100T made fun about their standing, they were playing their hearts out. Never did they go out without fighting, and so the games were worth watching.
It all culminated as their fourth opponent was drawn. After the LPL’s first and second seed and the LCK’s second seed, 100T drew T1 in their elimination match. The Thieves then shared a video of their reaction to the draw, and it’s worth watching. Each one of them was hoping to face T1. Either they go out with honor and with their heads up, or they pull off the biggest upset in Worlds history – and in either case, they’re excited to get to play against these legends.
Expectedly, 100T lost, but not without some great outplays – and once again, while fighting.
Dhokla gets ready to play at LoL Worlds 2025. Image Source: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games
With 100 Thieves disbanding, it was known that the players would have to find new teams. Quid replaced APA on Team Liquid and FBI took Tomo’s spot on Dignitas. The other three, though, didn’t find a new roster.
Dhokla shared that he reached out to every team. Some of them made him offers, but none that he felt could run for the LCS title. Which sparked long discussions online: would a player like him, that proved himself at Worlds, truly not be an improvement over at least one of the starting top laners? Aside from the teams that he turned down, that is.
Many of the people who cry foul over him (or others such as Eyla, Yuuji, or River) not being picked up also can’t answer the question of where they should go. The conclusion seems to be that it’s wild for a Worlds player to end up teamless, but that it’s also the reality of the market.
Dhokla of 100 Thieves is seen onstage at League of Legends Worlds 2025 Swiss Stage in Beijing. Image Source: Yicun Liu / Riot Games
In an interview with DonJake, Dhokla elaborated on the situation of free agency in the West.
“Most of the rosters are typically decided before Worlds ends, or the process of that is already moving on. For us, we were given permission to talk to teams before Worlds, but not during Worlds. And then after Worlds, obviously, we were able to talk to teams. By that point, for me, I didn’t have any offers to join a team that I thought could contend. And I reached out to all the teams. Makes sense, teamwise, they feel like they have strong rosters and want to keep what they have or they’re building. But typically, the offseason is already decided by the time Worlds ends, or the free agency window opens.”
When 100T ended their Worlds run, the community widely expressed their positive opinion of him. Dhokla’s arrival turned 100T from a last place team, to a runner-up, and they performed above expectations at Worlds. Big Dhokes was also the reason 100T got the attention it did.
A player like that, ending up teamless for 2026 (and possibly retiring as a result), is one of the biggest surprises of the 2025 offseason.
Featured image source: Colin Young-Wolff / Riot Games
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