What is DPS in League of Legends?

As you play League of Legends, you’ll hear various terms like AP Damage, Attack Damage, Burst Damage, DPS, etc. It is enough to leave any new player wondering and questioning – Just what the hell does all of this mean? Well, as always, we’ve got you covered. 

In this article, our focus is on DPS. But don’t worry, we’ll cover the other ones eventually. 

DPS stands for Damage per second. This is a term used to describe how much Damage a Champion deals over a period of time. DPS is usually used in relation to a longer duration rather than a short and quick one. 

This means that low DPS Champions are those that have long delays between their damage outputs. For example, a Champion like Lux can deal massive Damage with her infamous spells, especially her Ultimate. But, when these are exhausted, Lux must retreat from the frontline to wait for her cooldowns to expire. This creates a gap in her Damage per second, meaning that she’ll deal less than high DPS Champions over a longer period. 

But what is high DPS? Well, let’s take Jinx, for example. Jinx is an ADC, meaning she hits hard and she hits fast. Jinx also has good buffs in her kit that give her good attack speed boosts, allowing her to dish out Damage even faster. In the same duration as Lux, Jinx will just keep hammering the enemy. She deals continuous and large Damage during a longer period, i.e., she deals higher Damage per second. 

So, to put it into perspective: A low DPS Champion has to wait a significant amount of time to deal Damage, while a high DPS Champion uses continuous attacks and Damage to stay on top during the entire fight. 

Hopefully, this helped you understand what DPS is exactly and how it works as one of League’s core aspects. Let us know if it did. Also, please tell us what your favorite high and low DPS Champions to play with are. We always love to hear from you, so don’t miss out.