With a roster of 160 unique champions, each with their own sets of stats and abilities, the amount of information you need to keep in mind to perform well in League can be very daunting, especially for newer players.
Thankfully, the classification of these champions into different classes and roles can help you quickly understand what different types of champions do. Each of these roles has a specific playstyle and offers value to the team in a different way.
The most popular role in League of Legends is that of a midlaner, with high-damage champions and a central position on the map that allows you to carry your team on your back. However, all other roles also serve their own purpose to ensure a well-rounded team that can take you to victory.
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Common Roles: the Lanes and the Jungle
Broadly speaking, there are 5 roles in League of Legends:
- Top Laners
- Junglers
- Mid Laners
- Attack Damage Carries (ADCs)
- Supports
The top and mid laners go in their respective lanes on Summoner’s Rift (the map) while the ADC and support both play around the bot lane. The jungle and its objectives are mainly played around by the jungler.
Also read: Exhaust vs Barrier
What Role Should You Play?
Players who prefer champion playstyles of a specific role, or simply perform better consistently in one of these roles, tend to ‘main’ that role. Maining in this context simply means having a preference for that role and practising champions that work well in that role.
For reasons ranging from game impact to difficulty, some roles have higher playrates than others. Continue reading to find out which roles are preferred more by most players and why that is the case. You can then decide on a role to main accordingly. Once you are adept at playing any one or two of these roles, you will climb up the ranked ladder in no time!
The Midlaner
The most popular role in League of Legends is that of a midlaner. Host to a range of assassins and mages that can burst any champion from 100-0 in no time, people prefer playing midlane to have the biggest impact on the team.
If you want to enjoy frequent high-damage fights, this is the role you should be looking into. Unsurprisingly, the world’s best League player, Faker, is a midlane main.
There are different champions that you can pick to play in this action-packed role, and they are divided into the following classes:
Mages
Mages are champions who rely on their abilities and spells for damage output. Midlane mages include both control mages and roaming champions. Control mages like Viktor offer lots of crowd control to lock targets down and roaming mages like Twisted Fate can quickly shove their wave in to go and kill champions in other lanes.
Assassins
Assassins build Attack Damage and deal lots of damage through their auto-attacks. Assassins like Zed are what you really want to pick if you really want to make their carries cry.
Also read: Most Broken Supports
The Jungler
The second most popular role in League is that of a jungler. Since you are not confined to just one lane as a jungler, you naturally have the power to impact the whole map and help your teammates effectively. Objectives like Dragons and the baron are also a jungler’s responsibility.
If you do not want to spend your early levels last-hitting minions and fight whenever you want while still helping your team, heading to the jungle is your best bet. Just make sure you don’t miss Smite because junglers tend to get all the blame for a loss.
The different classes of junglers you can explore are:
Ganking Junglers
If you want to fight champions rather than farm jungle camps, this is the right type for you. These champions, like Kha’Zix, excel at ganking their lanes and getting early kills to set the pace for the game.
Farming Junglers
Want to go from camp to camp with the mental peace of knowing you will still have lots of impact later on? Pick a hyperscaling farming champ like Karthus to carry your team without exhaustingly looking for kills.
The Attack Damage Carry (ADC)
The third most popular role in League is that of an ADC. Everyone knows you always need to protect the ADC at all costs, no matter what happens. Although they are generally weak in the early game, these champions can tip the scales very easily in their own team’s favour by dishing out consistent damage from a safe distance because of their high DPS and long-range.
If you want to have high carry potential and reliable damage output at the cost of having to position yourself well in fights through advanced mechanics like attack-move and kiting, and are okay with being actively hunted throughout the game, pick up a Marksman and head out to the bot lane.
Almost every ADC is a ranged champion that performs well in the mid to late game, and the general classes of ADCs are:
The Lane Bully
If you pick a lane bully like Caitlyn or Lucian, you are expected to get on your opponent’s nerves and use your high range or base AD to create leads right from the start of the game.
The Scaling ADC
Hyper carries like Kog’Maw and Vayne require you to just farm it out in the bot lane so you can get your items and hit your powerspikes, after which no other champion can wish to fight you in the late game.
The Utility ADC
Champs like Jhin, Varus, and Ashe are ADCs that offer decent crowd control to their team and have amazing follow-ups to all fights in the lane. If you have another friend supporting you in the lane, pick one of these to really hit it off.
Also read: Most Broken ADCs
The Toplaner
The next most popular role is the toplaner. Commonly known as an isolated island within the map, the toplane is farthest away from most of the action and tends to be a lane that receives the least attention from the junglers because most junglers play around the drake pit near the bot lane.
Needless to say that you will enjoy the top lane if you want comparatively fewer interruptions from other champions on the map. You may pick this role if you like 1v1ing your lane opponent as well.
The toplane is host to various kinds of champions as well, usually divided into these classes:
The Fighter
The fighters, also known as bruisers, are champions that are a good mix of damage and tankiness. You can take Illaoi, for example, with her decent sustain and alarming amounts of damage output.
The Tank
As the name suggests, these champions are there to take all the hits for their team, protecting the carries from incoming damaging spells and abilities. These tanks, like Ornn and Sion, also offer a lot of crowd control to the team. These champions can be so strong that it is not hard to see why we call it the League of Tanks sometimes.
The Support
The role that receives the least amount of love, reflected by its status as the least popular role, is the support. It is a comparatively easier role, as you earn less gold while supporting your ADC, but not one without responsibility as your misplays can get your ADC killed.
If you don’t want to put in too much effort in the game, or simply feel good about helping others, consider picking up this underrated role. A good support always makes one hell of a difference, offering big heals, shields, and other forms of crowd control to the team.
As with all other roles, supports have different classes of champions as well. These are:
The Enchanters
These champions are like mages but are more suited to the support role in terms of what their abilities do. So a champion like Soraka or Nami is going to rely on her abilities, but their abilities offer healing and shields instead of lots of damage.
The Engage Support
These tanky supports excel at starting fights and then locking the targets in place through their crowd control heavy kits, allowing the ADC to kill them easily. Pick someone like Alistar up to really see how strong these engage supports can be.
Also read: What’s The Best Role To Get Out Of Bronze in LoL?
Conclusion
Each role in League of Legends is unique in the function it serves and the value it offers, but picking the one you like can ensure that you always have the best shot at winning. Please comment below to let us know which role you like the most and why you think it is the best fit for you!
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