‘League of Legends’, also known as LoL) is a multiplayer arena battle video game developed and published by Riot Games in 2009. Since then, LoL has been growing in popularity, gaining a player and fan base of more than considerable.
Just three years later, it was already the most played PC game in the United States and Europe, and in January 2016 the number of people who played it each month exceeded 100 million worldwide.
The popularity that ‘League of Legends’ has managed to achieve has led it to expand as a whole franchise that includes toys, accessories, clothing, web series or books.
League of Legends: what is this video game about
As we have said before, ‘League of Legends’ is a video game in which several players compete in the same battle arena . Setting is a fantasy context that combines elements of steampunk aesthetics and Lovecraft-inspired horror, in which each player takes control of a ‘champion’ who has unique abilities and who fights against a team made up of other players.
The general objective of the game is to destroy the ‘Nexus’ of the opposing team. The ‘Nexus’ is a kind of structure that is located in the center of a base protected by all kinds of structures that defend it from attackers. However, there are several different game modes where this can change.
Each and every one of the games of ‘League of Legends’ is individual and the ‘champions’ start with a very low level of skills and strength ; To increase it, players must accumulate experience and elements that the video game itself will give them throughout the game.
How to play
But ‘League of Legends’ is much more than just a battle game. Currently the game consists of three different modes : ‘Summoner’s Rift’, ‘Twisted Treeline’ and ‘Howling Abyss’.
In the different game modes, players work as a team to destroy the opposing team’s base.and the ‘Nexus’ that is within it, but not before having to traverse the different maps and overcome the defensive structures that surround each team’s base.
To achieve all this, the participants compete in games with an average duration of between 20 and 60 minutes.
Although each game mode has its particularities, in all of them the players must control their own ‘champion’, chosen in each of the games and with special abilities that differentiate them from each other.
In each game of ‘League of Legends’ the champions start with fairly low levels of strength and abilitiesor basic, which go up throughout the game. In addition, when the ‘champions’ manage to reach the different levels within the game, other special abilities are unlocked.
If a ‘champion’ loses all of his strength he may be defeated, but he automatically revives after some time, reappearing at his own base.
In addition to abilities and strength, or health, players also start the game with a certain amount of gold in their possession. The amount of gold each ‘champion’ has can be increased through different actions such as killing enemy players, destroying the other team’s structures, or through interactions with items or other players.
The function of gold during the game is to be able to buy items that further increase the abilities of each champion.
Both experience, strength, skills and gold are exclusive to each game and cannot be carried over to the next game. In this way, all participants start each on equal terms.
However, in all matches players get ‘rewards’ that are applied to their account and have nothing to do with what level their character is at.
There are six types of ‘champions’ in ‘League of Legends’ each with specific abilities. | League of Legends
Types of champions
Currently there are 144 different types of championsin ‘League of Legends’ grouped into 6 main types. The main difference between each of them is the type of damage each ‘champion’ can deal.
Each champion can deal physical damage, magic damage or a combination of both, being able to choose which type to use depending on the opponent you face. On the other hand, there are also some less common abilities that deal true damage. That is, a damage that the other ‘champion’ has no way of mitigating.
Next we present the six types of champions that we can choose when playing ‘League of Legends’.
1. Assassins
Assassins are ‘champions’ that have the ability to move quicklyand deal a lot of damage to individual targets. They are best for jumping and killing high value targets.
2. Fighters
Fighters are characters capable of inflicting considerable damage and are perfect for long battles. They are able to wade into battle and use balance in their stats to reduce the damage others deal to them.
3. Wizards or sorcerers
The wizards of ‘League of Legends’ are exceptional ‘champions’ for ranged combat and have attack skills capable of damaging multiple enemies at the same time. However, you need to keep your opponents at bay in order to survive.
4. Shooters
Like mages, marksmen can deal damage from a distance; Only this case is about bodily harm. If well protected, Marksmen can cause a lot of pain to individual enemies , but they are also very vulnerable to attack.
5. Tanks
The ‘champions’ known as tanks can absorb large amounts of damage , as well as deal damage to large numbers of enemies at once. Generally, these champions are not used to finish off other enemies, but instead help to control the battlefield so that other ‘champions’ can fight.
6. Support or support
‘champions’ Support ‘champions’ can’t do much on their own, but ifthey can amplify the abilities of their teammates. Some of these characters can deal large amounts of damage to the enemy in order to help other champions control the battlefield.
The maps of ‘League of Legends’
In ‘League of Legends’ we can find three different types of maps or modes known as ‘Fields of Justice’. In each of them the players will find different terrains, objectives, enemies and objects. In addition, there is a fourth type of map called ‘Crystal Scar’, used in a discontinued game mode.
1. Summoner
‘s Rift ‘Summoner’s Rift’ is the favorite map for playersof ‘League of Legends’, as it is the place where the two teams of five players compete directly to destroy the enemy’s ‘Nexus’.
Players will find a ‘Nexus’ in each of the enemy bases, each located on opposite sides of the map. In these structures are also the ‘minions’, some characters that appear in waves and that, although they are not very strong, the players will have to face them if they want to destroy the rival team’s base.
Throughout the map there are neutral areas known as ‘jungle’ , which are arranged in four quadrants. In addition, a shallow river divides the map between the two teams, but each of the ‘champions’ can cross it without problems.
Each of the maps or modes of ‘League of Legends’ has its own characteristics and difficulties. | League of Legends
2. Twisted Treeline
On the ‘League of Legends’ map known as ‘Twisted Treeline’,two teams of three players compete to destroy the opposing team’s ‘Nexus’ .
The concept of this map is very similar to ‘Summoner’s Rift’ but with a smaller size. Another difference with the previous map is that in the ‘Twisted Forest’ there are two ‘Altars’ whose control gives the team a whole series of advantages.
3. Howling
Abyss ‘Howling Abyss’ is used for a game type known as ‘ARAM’ or ‘All Random All Mid’. In it, the ten players also divided into teams of five against five face each other in a great team fight located in a single central territory.
Also, ‘champions’ cannot return to their base to recover strength or buy items, unless they have been killed.
4. Crystal
Scar ‘Crystal Scar’ was a game map that was released for the ‘Dominion’ mode in 2011 and even though it was removed five years later it can still be used for other rotating formats , such as ‘Ascension’.
In it, a team of five players compete to capture control points and hold them for as long a period of time as possible.
This map consists of a circle with five control points and in which each team controls a base known as ‘Source’. Each team gets points for capturing and owning more objectives than the other team.
international competitions
Thanks to the good reception that the public has given to this video game, Riot Games decided to organize international leagues of ‘League of Legends’ . Known as the ‘League Championship Series’ (LCS), they are held in Los Angeles and Berlin and consist of 10 professional teams on each continent (USA and Europe).
In addition, similar regional competitions exist in China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.
All these competitions culminate in a world championship that is held annually that manages to gather millions of spectators and in which the winners can get a prize of up to 4 million dollars .
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