Team Composition For Beginnersby JayPeeThroughout this guide we're going to explore an important aspect of the teamplay in League of Legends : team composition. The following guide is bound for league of Legends freshmans. When I first started playing the game, I realized that there was alot to learn, whilst learning some of the basics right off the bat can make you a better player in no time. So my main intention here is to describe the six champion categories to help you figure out what role your champion plays in a team and what kind of champion blend a good team has.
Disclaimer : Those categories weren't determined by the game's creators, therefore they are arbitrary. This typology is the result of individual experience. Hopefully this brings you a better understanding of the current metagame.
Table Of Contents- Tank
- Offtank
- Support
- AD Carry
- AP Carry
- Anti-Carry
- Jungler : A Sub-Role
- Ending Notes And Credits
TankTanks are often the unsung heroes in League of Legends. They are champions with above average toughness that have the ability to initiate fights and survive through alot of pain, naturally. As a tank, you should be getting tanky items, notably stuff that give armor, magic resist and life. You won't be racking up too many kills, but if you play the right way, you will be a great asset for your team. You are meant to jump first in a team fight and protect your carries. Whenever you initiate fights, make sure to not die in vain - this will require team coordination.
There are multiple tanks to choose from. Off the top of my head, exemplary ones would be :
Amumu,
Shen,
Malphite,
Alistar and
Rammus. Each of those are well suited to initiate or survive through alot of damage. You could think of Amumu's bandage toss, despair and ultimate; Shen's vorpal blade, feint and dash; Malphite's unstoppable force; Alistar's pulverize, heal and ultimate; Rammus' taunt and defensive ball curl, and so forth... These tanks can be used as some sort of bait. If the opposing team targets you, your carries will have time to hunt down theirs.
OfftankOfftanks are pretty versatile champions. They're inbetween a tank and a carry. They are especially strong late game when they can have a good balance between damage and toughness. In the current metagame, players are often using a 1-1-2 placement, which means that a champion has to solo the top lane, sometimes facing two champions on his own. This gives the opportunity to get a better farm, gain more experience and gold, while having a jungler - a roaming champion who will kill neutral mobs and gank. After the laning phase, you should be able to initiate fights along with your tank and inflict some serious wounds to the opposing carries. Some exemplary offtanks would be :
Jarvan IV,
Mordekaiser,
Blitzcrank,
Trundle,
Irelia,
Mundo, etc - although
Trundle might arguably be better as a jungler. There are other ones, but I'm just mentioning a few that can be effective.
SupportSupporter is a complementary role in a team. Once your team has 2 carries, a tank and an offtank, you should decide whether you should pick a supporter or an anti-carry - which we will discuss later on. As a support champion, you can't really expect to steamroll the entire opposing team. You're mostly going to make sure that your team's core survives, as much as possible. Great supporting skills include - but are not limited to - shields, heals and warding abilities. A support shouldn't be item dependant, therefore you can save money to buy wards and safen dangerous areas of the map. You are some sort of babysitter for your carries. Some common and effective supporters would be :
Janna,
Sona,
Soraka and
Taric.
AD CarryAD carry stands for attack damage based carry. These champions are well-suited to solo lane and get a good farm early on. Late game, they have the capacity to ''carry'' their team in fights, hence the name. Usually ad carries solo mid, or even duo lane at bottom, along with a support. Ranged damage dealers are preferable for this position, as carries are very likely to be targeted first in team fights. You can think of :
Ashe,
Corki,
Tristana,
Miss Fortune,
Vayne or
Caitlyn. Obviously there are more of them, but those would be good picks. If you play a carry, keep in mind that if you fail, it will be difficult for your team to win. You should normally be able to rack up a decent amount of kills and destroy/damage towers. A good ad carry should have crowd control skills such as slows, stuns and such (refered to as CC). AoE skills should also not be overlooked. Some melee champions such as
Tryndamere or
Xin Zhao can also carry.
AP CarryAn AP carry is the previous one's homologous. It stands for an ability power based carry that plays a similar role, although its skills scale on ability power. In the best case scenario you should have a carry of both types so it's harder for the opposing team to build up both armor and magic resist. Good ap carries usually have high damage bursts, stuns, snares or even suppression skills. There are plenty of them, including
Malzahar,
Anivia,
Annie,
Ryze,
Brand,
Swain,
Vladimir and the likes.
Anti-CarryAnti-Carry is somewhat a complementary role. It can be used rather than a support in some situations, mainly if you think that your team lacks some damage output. They are well-suited to jump in and take down the opposing carries. Their skill set makes them nighmarish for squishies. You could think of
Leblanc,
Poppy and
Nocturne which are pretty good duelists.
Jungler : A Sub-RoleIn riot's original typology you'll notice that some champions are classified as ''junglers''. However, jungler isn't an actual role; it defines a champion that is well-suited to level up from neutral minions. This being said, a jungler is a roaming champion that should also play one of the roles explained above, first and foremost. You could think of
Amumu which is a tank;
Trundle,
Warwick,
Udyr and
Olaf which are offtanks; or even
Nocturne, an Anti-Carry - just to name a few.
Ending Notes And CreditsWell, that pretty much sums it all up. I wanted to make it concise and comprehensive. There are other more specific categories, such as pushers, bruisers and soaks, but they all fall under more generic ones, so hopefully it gives a better understanding of that aspect of the game to new players, which was the main goal of it. If you have any questions at all, feel free to post here or PM me.
I'd also like to thank
Aaron for proofreading.
...and unfortunately I'm too poor to bold.
