A Newb-Friendly guide to League of Legends - Part 3: Archetypes

Happy Halloween, Summoners! It is I again, Matthew "KyuubiCalvary" Weatherholt. In this final "newb-friendly guide", we'll look at the different types of the champions in League of Legends. Let's just jump right in, shall we?

 

First, I'd like to talk about assassins. Assassins are highly mobile, highly damaging champions in the League. Their primary role is to get into a fight, kill their target, then get out before dying themselves. An assassin's skills typically have a low cooldown and focus on dodging abilities as much as they do on doing damage. A great example of this is Talon, one of the most popular assassins in League of Legends.

Talon, the Blade's Shadow, is one of the most powerful Assassins on the Rift.

Next, let's look at fighters (Bruisers). Fighters are heavy damage dealers who also take massive amounts of damage. These guys typically go in the top lane to duke it out with other fighters. A fighter's job is to do one of two things: protect the marksman or kill the enemy's carries. We'll get to what a marksman is in a few minutes. A great example of a fighter is Garen. His huge amount of base damage and natural tankiness allows him to either protect his team or dive straight into the enemy team.

Garen, The Might of Demacia.

Mages (Ability Power Carries - AP Carry) are powerful spellcasters who excel at destroying their enemies with impunity using arcane might. Mages typically head in the mid lane to fight other mages, but this is falling out of favor in the current meta. Mages are typically long ranged with highly damaging skills, making them perfect artillery in prolonged fights. Their main weakness is the fact that mages don't train their bodies, making them extremely prone to being focused in a fight. A personal favorite mage of mine is Lux, the Lady of Luminosity. Her skills allow her to sit in the back, shield her teammates, AND destroy people from far away.

Lux, the Desu Beam Champion.

Marksmen (Attack Damage Carry) are carries that head into the bottom lane. Depending on one's point of view, marskmen can be the best carries on a team. While they don't deal the highest damage, they deal the most consistent damage. A marksman heads into the bottom lane with a support that keeps them alive until the endgame, where they can be the most powerful beings on the Rift. A marksman's job (typically) is to sit in the back of the team with the mage and destroy the front line of the enemy team. This of course means that marksmen don't normally fight each other in the very beginning of teamfights. A great marksman is Vayne, the Night Hunter.

Vayne, the Night Hunter, is one of the most popular marksmen in the Rift.

Supports are the most underestimated roles in the game. Their job (in a typical game) is to ward the map, protect the marksman, keep track of where the enemy's wards are, and destroy the enemy's wards. Supports can come in two varieties: healers that keep the marksman alive, and strong initiators that start fights to deal a lot of damage. A rare example of someone who can do both is Nami, the Tidecaller. She's played fairly often in the competitive stage.

Nami, the Tidecaller, can initiate AND heal her allies for a lot.

Finally, we come to tanks. Tanks have an odd job. They typically don't deal a huge amount of damage, but they have enough Crowd Control to where they can't really be ignored in fights. Tanks soak up massive amounts of damage, making them the perfect front line for fights. A tank's job is to disrupt the enemy team's marksman and mage to make it hard for them to do anything before they're killed. Zac is a great tank with a lot of crowd control to hurt an entire enemy team and even has a second life, provided he isn't killed in his blob form!

Zac, the Secret Weapon

And so ends my newb-friendly guides. I need to start writing about more complicated stuff to help more people in the League community. I appreciate everyone's time coming to my blog to read my little tidbits of information.

See you all on the Fields of Justice!