League of Legends (LoL), also known as League, has been one of the top multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video games in the world for over a decade.
American game developer Riot Games launched the free-to-play game for Windows in 2009 and made it available on the macOS platform in 2013. In October 2020, League of Legends: Wild Rift - a mobile version - was released for iOS and Android devices.
League of Legends has won several accolades, including the Best Esports Game at The Game Awards multiple times. LoL also boasts a bustling professional competitive scene and an immense fan following. More than 100 million people tuned in for the LoL world championship in 2019, as per reports.
After being a demonstration sport at the Asian Games in 2018, League of Legends became a medal event at the Asian Games 2023, held in Hangzhou, the People's Republic of China. Esports will make its full-fledged debut at the quadrennial showpiece, which will be held in Hangzhou, the People's Republic of China, this year.
How to play League of Legends? Let’s get acquainted with the nitty-gritties of the game.
What is League of Legends
League of Legends is a 5v5 multiplayer online arena game, where two teams of five players each battle it out on a quadrangular map. The main objective of the game is to destroy the opponent team’s main structure, also called the Nexus, located at the other end of the battlefield. Whichever team destroys the opposition’s Nexus first wins.
How to play League of Legends
Like all MOBA games, the map and its elements play an integral part in the gameplay of League of Legends.
Though there are multiple maps in the League of Legends, the one called Summoner’s Rift is generally used for competitive tournaments.
Summoner’s Rift League of Legends map
The Summoner’s Rift map is quadrangular in shape. The two furthest corners of the map serve as bases for each team. The Nexus of each team is also located inside their respective bases.
The Nexus also spawns small foot soldiers called minions at regular intervals, who advance along the three pathways until killed.
The three pathways – called the top lane, mid lane and bottom or bot lane – connect the two bases. Each pathway is protected by three turrets or towers per team. There are two additional turrets protecting each team’s Nexus. So, each team has 11 turrets protecting their half of the map.
Additionally, each base also consists of three crystals, one for each lane, called inhibitors.
The fountains at the furthest tips of each base are where the players spawn and respawn after death. Players can also use the fountain to replenish their health.
Players can also access the in-game shop at their respective bases to buy upgrades and items in lieu of gold earned during the game.
The rest of the map is a jungle, which consists of various neutral monsters, both small and large.
League of Legends gameplay
Each of the 10 players in the game controls a character, known as a ‘champion’. Currently, League of Legends offers more than 160 champions, each with a unique set of abilities.
The champions earn gold and XP (experience points) by killing enemies, including opposition minions, champions and defensive structures. While XP can be gained by hitting or destroying any enemy asset, gold is only earned by delivering the killing blow.
The XP points help each champion level up and gain more skills while gold can be used at shops to buy items and upgrades to make them stronger. Players usually dedicate the early parts of the game to accumulating gold and XP, which is popularly known as farming.
Each match starts afresh, meaning levels or items cannot get carried over from one game to the other.
Farming for XP and gold plays a vital part in League of Legends games.
The main objective of the League of Legends is to advance on the opposition base to destroy their Nexus and to do that, destroying the opponent team’s turrets becomes essential. Turrets can both deal damage to opposition players and limit vision once active.
A team needs to destroy at least one of the inhibitor crystals to start attacking the final two turrets protecting the Nexus. Once the final two turrets are destroyed, a team can attack the opposition Nexus to destroy it.
Once a team destroys an opposition inhibitor, the minions which spawn for them in that corresponding lane become super minions, which are stronger than the usual minions. This helps the team push towards the opposition base.
LoL champions
Players choose their champions before the match starts. The role of each player and their chosen champion varies depending on the team’s strategy.
However, there are five types of roles players typically execute - top laner, mid laner, bot laner or AD carry, jungler and support.
As the names suggest the top, mid and bot laners are players who try to keep control of the three lanes on the map. Usually, top laners are played by players using champions with the capacity to take heavy damage. They are often called the tanks of the team.
Bot laners or AD carry players usually utilise champions with powerful ranged attacks but low health. However, once they level up they become the focal point of a team due to their ability to deal constant damage to opponents.
Mid laners are often the ones who can deal heavy damage in the early stages and have a good game sense. The mid lane is the shortest lane and is vital during the early stages.
There are five players in each League of Legends team.
Support champions, the team’s guardians, help keep team-mates alive through healing and focus on setting up kills with abilities like stun.
Junglers, on the other hand, roam the jungle areas of the map to hunt monsters and quickly accumulate gold and XP to level up. Junglers usually roam around the map constantly and help out the other members of the team when not farming.
Miss Fortune, Lux, Darius, Ahri, Master Yi, Garen, Sona, Tristana, Brand and Ekko are some of the popular champions in League of Legends.
Monsters spawn at regular intervals in the jungles. Some of the larger ones like the Baron Nashor and Drakes (Dragons) require multiple players to defeat. Leaving core roles to hunt down the larger monsters is risky but the rewards are well worth it as killing them grants a team some important buffs in both defensive and attacking abilities.
Players can also steal the opposition’s gold or XP if they can land the final hit on either monsters or minions. This is called ganking.
Now that we know how League of Legends is played, let’s also look at some common terminologies used within the game.
Popular League of Legends terms
- Auto attack: Basic attack or AA that a champion can repeat without repeated clicks.
- ACE: Earned when the last living champion of the enemy is eliminated.
- Assassin: A champion who can incur burst damage and is adept at getting in and out of fights quickly.
- Backline: The furthest combat distance from enemy champions.
- Crowd control: Also known as CC, it limits the opponent’s movement.
- Crit: Short for a critical strike, an attack incurring twice the damage.
- Death timer: Time needed for a champion to respawn after being slain.
- Elder Dragon: The final dragon in the game.
- Gank: To ambush the enemy.
- Recall: Ability that allows all champions to teleport back to the team’s base. It usually requires eight seconds.
- Super Minion: Upgraded minions that spawn after the enemy inhibitor has been destroyed.
League of Legends at Asian Games 2023
For the first time at the Asian Games, esports was played as a medal event at Hangzhou 2023. League of Legends was one of seven games in this competition.
The Asian Games 2023 featured 19 of the best League of Legends teams from the continent. Until the finals, the matches were played in the best-of-three format. The gold and bronze medal matches were best-of-five affairs.
