10 best female players in esports

Esports in 2024 is a big deal, especially for female gamers as female esports, while growing at a very fast pace, wasn’t that popular earlier. There were many disparities and few competitions and chances to prove themselves.

Besides this, several female pros have dominated the space in what was labelled as a ‘male-dominated industry’ and proved they can achieve the same success as the male esports scene.

Here are 10 female pros who have made their name in the esports community through their skills:

10. Ant1ka

Anna “Ant1ka” Ananikova is a Counter-Strike pro who has played with pegs like Team Secret and Lazarus Esports. Much of her success came from the earlier days of Global Offensive, where she won several minor tournaments. Her participation was much lower than other pros, but she had the biggest impact on these games and earned the respect of many.

9. Mystik

Katherine Gunn aka Mystik was one of the most talented female esports pros before she retired from the competitive scene. She was known for her strides across multiple games like Halo, Dead or Alive, and Counter-Strike. Mystik was also added to the eSports Hall of Fame in 2020.

8. Vilga

One of the highest earners in female esports, Ksenia ‘Vilga’ Klyuenkova is a CS pro who started her journey way back in 2008 at a very young age and is still one of the best in high-tier tournaments. Some of her biggest tournament wins include multiple Intel Challenge Katowice and ESL Impact League.

7. Juliano

Julia ‘Juliano’ Kiran has a very long list of achievements, especially in Counter-Strike. She started her journey in 2010 and won her first major tournament in 2013. Juliano retired from the CS scene to join her friends in Valorant and went on to multiple VCT game changers along with the 2022 Championship. In 2023, she announced her retirement from Valorant to join the Counter-Strike scene.

 6. zAAz

Zainab “zAAz” Turkie is a big name in the tactical FPS community, especially in Counter-Strike and Valorant. She has been one of the most consistent top-tier players in CS who also took her skills to Valorant where she saw the same amount of success.

5. meL

The growth of competitive females undoubtedly skyrocketed with Valorant. Melanie ‘meL’ Capone also got her breakthrough Valorant and soon enough, she became one of the most sought-after players. During her career, she has won multiple high-profile tournaments with teams like Cloud9 and Shopify Rebellion. She also won the VCT Game Changers Championship 2023.

4. Liooon

Xiaomeng ‘Liooon’ Li is one of the best-known Hearthstone pros from China. She rose to fame in 2019 after winning the Hearthstone Grandmasters Global Finals and securing $200,000 despite being one of the new faces in the community. Currently, she is one of the most consistent pros in Hearthstone.

3. Mimi

Michaela “mimi” Lintrup is a relatively new face in the female Vlorant scene, however, she hails from a CS background and has played for teams like Team Secret, Assassins and XSET. After entering the pro Valorant scene in 2020, she quickly made a name for herself and was picked up by G2 esports and is the in-game leader for the team.

 2. Petra

Another former decorated Counter-Strike pro, Petra “Petra” Stoker, was a big name in the CS scene. After five years of her run, she joined the pro Valorant alongside her former teammate mimi. She is also the first female pro to win a world championship in both CS and Valorant.

1. Scarlett

Possibly one of the biggest StarCraft II players, Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn is a Canadian pro and a popular name in the StarCraft community. She is currently in the top three players on the All-Kill leaderboard. Apart from her achievements, she is also the highest-earning female pro in esports.