OVERVIEW

League of Legends (or LoL) belongs to a genre of video games known as multiplayer online battle arena (often referred to as MOBA). The game’s publisher and developer—Riot Games—drew inspiration from Defence of the Ancients, a popular mod for Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. As of August 2018, it was estimated that LoL has over 111 million active players all over the globe. Competitive League of Legends streams on Twitch and YouTube often stand among the most-watched broadcasts in esports. On top of that, the game has an avid fan base that’s willing to attend real-life events and purchase clothing and figures based on their favourite characters from the League of Legends universe. The imagery of the game shows a number of influences, ranging from class...

IMMERSE YOURSELF IN THE LOL UNIVERSE A standard game of League of Legends is viewed from the top-down perspective. Each player assumes control of a single champion—a playable character with unique traits, skills, and abilities. These champions can gain experience, collect gold, level up their spells, and craft powerful items to help them gain the upper hand on their opponents. And it’s the players that push their champions to the absolute limit that usually come out on top. Regardless of the phase of the game, the main goal remains the same: destroy the core structure of the enemy base—their Nexus. Each Nexus is protected by defensive structures (towers and inhibitors), so it can take players anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour to take the W. The setting for the game is the mythi...

Marksmen (otherwise known as AD carries) are late game specialists. These champions can demolish towers, tear through tanks, and take over entire teamfights thanks to the ridiculous amounts of physical damage they deal with their basic attacks. The downside is that AD carries tend to be quite squishy, so other classes can easily remove them from the fight. Moreover, marksmen need items before they can influence the map, so they’re often a non-factor in the early stages of the game. Examples of this champion class are Ashe, Caitlyn, Jinx.

Mages (otherwise known as AP carries) are the jacks-off-all-trades. Just as their class name implies, mages control the battlefield through potent spells and game-changing abilities. AP carries can overwhelm their opponents with magic damage from the other side of the fight, but they usually find themselves at a loss when their enemies close the distance. Much like AD carries, they can make great use of offensive items, but they also get a lot of power from levels and experience. Examples of this champion class are Lux, Syndra, Vel’Koz.

Assassins thrive on chaos and skirmishes. They exist for the sole purpose of killing one enemy champion from the fight as fast as humanly possible. With that, assassins often come with insane burst potential, but their damage falls off in prolonged fights. They’re also the definition of glass cannons, but most assassins can mitigate this weakness with mobility spells and high movement speed. Examples of this champion class are Zed, Akali, Rengar.

Tanks are the frontline of the team. Most tanks have high damage resistances and massive health pools, making them nigh impossible to kill in a timely fashion. However, don’t take that as a cue to ignore them. Tanks often have powerful crowd control spells at their disposal, and they won’t hesitate to lock you down if you walk too close to them. On top of that, some tanks can dish out a surprising amount of damage, and while they won’t finish their target off on their own, they can definitely weaken it for their teammates. Examples of this champion class are Zac, Sejuani, Malphite.

Bruisers are something of a mix between tanks and assassins. They’re durable enough to survive in a fierce skirmish, and they’re strong enough to become a significant threat to the enemy team. Unfortunately, they’re limited by their range. Most fighters are melee combatants, and even though they have some ways to close the distance on their opponents, they can become sitting ducks if they fail to use them. Examples of this champion class are Darius, Pantheon, Renekton.

Supports are the backbone of the team. Traditional supports are defined by their ability to protect their allies and hinder their enemies. This means that supports will create powerful defensive shields and cast game-changing crowd control abilities to influence the battlefield. Some supports, however, bring a fair share of damage to the table. Perhaps the best way to define supports is that they don’t need as much gold and as many items to play their role on Summoner’s Rift. Examples of this champion class are Thresh, Janna, Rakan.

One of the core aspects of LoL gameplay is resource management. Most champions are limited by mana costs and cooldown timers that determine how often they can cast their spells. The best players constantly track their mana pools and ability cooldowns as well as the mana pools and ability cooldowns of their opponents to pinpoint the exact moment when they can go in for the kill. Not every champion is like that, though. Some characters only have cooldown timers to worry about, while others come with never-ending energy pools for their spells, so resource management can get tricky when they jump into the fray.All champions begin the game of LoL at level one, and each match is its own battle that’s completely separated from previous matches. Players get experience and level up their champions...

This is the most popular map among casual and competitive LoL players alike. On Summoner’s Rift, two teams of five battle each other with the goal of destroying the enemy Nexus. There are three paths (or lanes) to this objective, and each of them is guarded by enemy turrets, inhibitors, and AI-controlled minions. Between these paths, there’s a vast jungle that’s home to plants and neutral monsters. Players can interact with the jungle to gain extra resources and capture important secondary objectives like Elemental Dragons and Baron Nashor to pave the road to victory.