League of Legends is extremely difficult to get into, let alone master. That said, once you’ve got the fundamentals straight and how the metagame works, the experience can be truly rewarding.
In a way, there’s a charm in mastering something so deep, convoluted and multidimensional. But before we get there let’s start with one of the most basic fundamentals of LOL—the roles—and how to do well with them and their influence throughout a match.
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And without further ado, let us get into the fray!
The Support Role: The Babysitter
Usually seen as the sacrificial lamb of the team but without them, your entire early game will be a struggle and you’ll lose or even fail to gain any real tempo towards the mid to late-game.
As a support, you will be commonly paired with your Attack Damage Carry (ADC), and you will need to ensure that his farm is safe. So how do you do this efficiently?
Laning Stage (Early-Game)
First, you need to understand the art of trading damage. If your Champion is capable of dishing out high damage early on like Seraphine or Xerath, you should always look to take up an offensive position where you can poke and deal damage as well as opportunities to set up a potential kill for your ADC.
However, if your ADC in lane is specifically vulnerable during the early game, it would be wise to ensure his survival rather than going for the kill because ADCs have the highest survival priority and as a support, you need to do everything you can to make sure they can get through the early stages of the game.
Mid-Game
After the laning stage, supports will need to look for good areas to plant wards and help your team gain vision which is super important for ganking or to ensure that your side of the map isn’t being invaded by the enemy.
If you have the advantage, place aggressive wards that you can always use to press your advantage by setting up ganks inside the enemy’s jungle.
On the other hand, if your early game had a rough patch, you might want to set up defensive wards instead. The most common ward spot for this would be the tri-bush area so you can spot enemies approaching your jungle.
Late-Game
This is the time where you have to be really careful as a Support—especially if you are playing a squishy Champion. At the time when cores are at their peak, Supports will need to position themselves properly to dish out their crowd-controlling and damaging spells from a safe distance.
So make sure to position yourself behind the lines and let your farmed ADC deal damage as you apply disables and controls.
Of course, if you are playing as a tanky Support, you have more leeway when it comes to positioning, but we would still recommend positioning yourself optimally as a fully farmed ADC can take out any Champions within a short amount of time.
Recommended Support Champions for starters: Nautilus, Janna and Soraka.
The Mid Role: The Space and Tempo Setter
This is the one role that everyone wants to play as they can have the lane all to themselves. However, with great power, comes great responsibilities because if you lose the lane, you might see your whole team struggling into the late-game.
No worries though, if you understand your match-up and have your lane mechanics down, you will do decent in this one-on-one lane.
Laning Stage (Early-Game)
Like Supports, Midlaners will also need to learn how to efficiently trade hits with their mid counterparts. This is why it is highly recommended that you pick a ranged Champion so you can safely deal damage to harass your opponent.
And once you feel like you have the initiative, level advantage or that you are crushing the lane, press your advantage by pushing the wave so that the opponent has to hug their turret, making it super difficult for them to last hit and for them to be under constant pressure.
Mid-Game
Usually, during this stage of the game, you will need to be super active around the map—either setting up ganks or going for solo kill attempts. The best time to do so is when the creep wave is being pushed to your enemy turret and with that, you can proceed to move towards the top or bottom lane for a potential gank.
Besides being active, a good midlaner will also need to be reactive, whenever you notice other lanes in danger, be sure to teleport to that lane to help your teammates out as a midlane Champion can change the tide of most skirmishes.
Late-Game
Do not fall into the trap of thinking that the late game is all about the ADC, if you play decently up to this stage of the game, you will have—sometimes even higher—impact in most big team fights.
At this stage, you will need to be the centre of how the team fights go, if you are playing a Champion that has huge burst damage, position yourself to safely dish out the damage, making sure that it lands.
If you are more of the control/disable type Champion, you might want to start the team fight by first disabling your opponents—again positioning is also key here—so that your main damage dealers can safely churn out their damage output.
Recommended Mid Champions for starters: Veigar, Vex and Twisted Fate.
The Carry (ADC) Role: The Ace to Victory
Similar to the Mid role, the ADC role is sought after by many as it is the ‘hero’ of the team and it is the one that will ‘carry’ the team to victory.
However, it is not as easy as just ‘farm and win’. A good carry player will need to be completely aware of the map movements—both their teammates and enemies—so that they can coordinate attacks and know where to safely farm.
Here’s generally what you should do as an ADC during each stage of the game.
Laning Stage (Early-Game)
Most ADC Champions are very frail and weak during the early stages. Therefore, expect to take a lot of damage harassment as you attempt to last hit. Make sure that you have packed enough regeneration items so you can sustain in the lane and be sure to always communicate with your Support so that you can coordinate with each other’s movements—be it to retreat or to attempt a kill.
Mid-Game
This is the part where you need to make a decision—are you strong enough to fight or should you farm more? The answer is usually dependent on how your team is doing.
If your team is out there making space by creating skirmishes, you should make use of the space they are giving you by farming the map, do this efficiently and you’ll see your level and items accelerating way faster than your opponent ADC.
Also, remember to always look at the map. Be wary of potential ganks and ambush, if you notice that a lot of enemies are not seen on the map, they are most likely setting up a gank and it would be wise to play it safe.
Late-Game
This is where ADCs are at their strongest. Stacked with items, ADCs can deal huge chunks of damage. During late-game team fights, try to aim for the squishy Champions before they can have any impact. If farmed enough, you can take out a Champion in a relatively short amount of time.
Be sure not to go all-in for the kills as your main objective is to take down buildings like turrets, so having an objective-based mindset is a good mantra to have as an ADC player.
Recommended ADC Champions for starters: Caitlyn, Varus and Ashe.
The Top Role: The Deserted One
The top role is arguably the most difficult lane to play as you would be left alone with the enemy’s ADC and Support.
Once you’ve become a good top laner, your opponent team’s ADC progress will be slowed down tremendously which will be hugely beneficial to your team.
Laning Stage (Early Game)
Try to focus on farming during this part of the game and gain your core items as soon as possible. This is because you are getting solo experience and your Champion level will be the highest during the early parts of the game. You need to put this to your advantage by going for kills at the weaker enemy Champions.
Mid-Game
Your mid-game plan will more or less align with your midlaner. Usually, both of the roles will gang up and disrupt other lanes—typically the ADC lane—so that the enemy’s ADC feels pressurised all the time.
Late-Game
As most top laner Champions are more durable, they are the ones that can soak up damage and withstand disables. Sometimes, you might even need to be the one that starts a fight if your ADC or Mid is of the fragile kind.
You would need to trust that your Support will have your back and your ADC and Mid can deal significant damage while you take the brunt of the enemies’ damage.
Recommended Top Role Champions for starters: Malphite, Garen and Darius.
The Jungle Role: The PVE Player
The Jungler of the team is usually the most passive of the bunch as they will sit behind and farm jungle camps most of the time.
However, a good Jungler will know when to move around the map and is also consistently aware of how the game is progressing so that they can make correct plays across the map.
Laning Stage (Early-Game)
The laning stage for Junglers is pretty simple, you basically need to farm jungle camps efficiently and look for potential ganks. Remember to also put decent wards around the jungle as enemies might come unexpectedly from behind while you are low on health from farming jungle creeps.
Mid-Game
Your mid-game is pretty similar to the laning stage. Farm as much as possible from the jungle camps while constantly looking for gank opportunities. Usually, if you are active for ganks, your team will have the opportunity to snowball out of control, giving your team a devastating lead.
Late-Game
During the final stages of the game, the Jungle role is dissolved into any other roles, depending on your Champion. If you are a crowd-controlling Champion, position yourself optimally for you to cast your spells.
Damage-dealing Jungle Champions can also serve as a semi-carry role where they can be the second source of damage output besides the ADC which you will then convert into a more aggressive playstyle.
Recommended Jungle Roles for starters: Volibear, Warwick and Fiddlesticks.
Conclusion
There we have it! We’ve finally covered all the conventional roles in League of Legends and our final advice to all readers is that experience triumphs over most guides. You’ll learn more as you play more!
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