League of Legends consists of several categories of playable champions each of which has its own unique abilities. Every champion either has a single-target ability or an AoE ability. The name single-target is self-explanatory, but what kind of ability is an AoE ability?
What is an AoE Ability?
AoE refers to Area of Effect. AoE abilities are abilities that affect a certain area instead of a singular target.
They are especially common in MOBA Games. As every single champion in LoL has some type of AoE ability except for Vayne who is the single champion that only deals single-target damage using all of its abilities.
Read also: Top burn items in LoL
What are The Best AoE Abilities in League?
The top seven best AoE abilities in League of Legends are Death Ray, Unstoppable Force, Bullet Time, The Equilizer, Fate Sealed, Pyroclasm, and Final Spark.
1. Upgraded Death Ray (Viktor E)
Viktor fires an energy beam along the target path that deals magic damage to enemies hit and briefly grants sight of the area. The path explodes along the beam’s wake after 1 second, dealing additional magic damage to enemies hit.
This ability has great scaling with both base damage and total ability power. It is capable of killing the caster minions in one single beam and the melee minions in two beams, making it one of the most powerful wave-clear abilities.
2. Unstoppable Force (Malphite R)
Malphite dashes with Unstoppable displacement immunity to the target location. Upon arrival, he deals magic damage to nearby enemies and Airborne knocks them up for 1.5 seconds.
Malphite mainly uses this ability for the knock-up rather than the damage but if he builds ability power then it will deal a lot of damage in the area it affects.
3. Bullet Time (Miss Fortune R)
Miss Fortune channels for up to 3 seconds, firing several waves of bullets in a spread of 6 projectiles per wave in the target direction, with each wave dealing physical damage to enemies hit.
Miss Fortune is one of the trademark ADCs and one of the first characters you can unlock in the game. Her ultimate is one of the best AoE abilities in all of League of Legends because of how much damage it deals in a large width to any target she is facing towards. It is a great team-fight ability that can also zone the enemies.
4. The Equilizer (Rumble R)
Rumble deploys a barrage of rockets along the target path that land in a line over 0.75 seconds, creating a field of fire for 4.5 seconds after the last rocket lands. Enemies struck by the impact or within the field are marked as Burning for 1 second, which deals magic damage every 0.5 seconds, Slow slows by 35%, and refreshes continuously while in the area.
5. Fate Sealed (Yone R)
Yone prepares a strike over the cast time, then marks all enemies within a line in the target direction, knocking them down and stunning them for 1 second. He blinks 200 units beyond the center of the last enemy champion struck, else to maximum range instead. After 0.3 seconds, a gust rushes along the same line that deals equal parts physical and magic damage to marked enemies within the area and pulls them towards the location Yone blinked to, then knocks them up for 0.75 seconds.
6. Pyroclasm (Brand R)
Brand launches a fireball at the target enemy that bounces between nearby enemies and Brand up to four times, dealing magic damage to enemies each time. If the target is ablaze, it is slowed for 0.25s.
What makes this one of the strongest AoE abilities is the amount of damage that it provides in a fight. This ability scales very well with ability power and allows Brand to mainly build AP items.
7. Final Spark (Lux R)
Lux fires a massive laser in a line in the target direction that deals magic damage to enemies hit and reveals them for 1.5 seconds, as well as granting sight of the surrounding area.
This ability is strong not due to the amount of damage it does but because of how short the cooldown is. It can be cast at least every minute at level 1 and twice at levels 2 and 3. It can be used in combination with Lux’s Light Binding which roots the enemies for 2 seconds, giving you enough time to land Final Spark on the rooted target.
Final Thoughts
AoE abilities are great because you can cast them once for them to apply to more than a singular enemy target. Some scenarios would make you wish your ability only hit a singular target (such as Mordekaiser’s Obliterate (Q) as it deals increased damage if it hits an isolated target), but AoE abilities are widely loved and very beneficial for things such as team fights and wave-clearing.
Do you have a favorite AoE ability out of these? Do you agree with our list? What are your thoughts on the newest patch? We love hearing your feedback, so hit us with it in the comment section below!