Champion Select
Champion Select (in League of Legends) – In the beginning of the champions select stage each team is composed of 5 players and every player selects one champion.[1] The champion must be picked within 30 seconds. Before a game starts, there is the champions select stage, where each player can select a champion from over 160 available champions in the gallery.[2] However, there are also champions who can be selected for free without being in one’s gallery. These particular champions change every week. Each player from each team pre-selects the lane they want to play in. The lanes are divided into 4 classes: the bottom lane, the mid lane, the top lane and the jungle. In the bottom lane usually go the Marksman (Ad Carry) and the Support, in the mid lane a Mage (Ap Carry) or Assassin, in the top lane a Fighter or a Tank and in the jungle a fighter. The above champion categories will be explained below.
Champion categories
The champions one can choose from in the stage of the champion select are divided into 6 categories: Assassins, Marksmen, Fighters, Mages, Tanks and Supports.
Assassins are damage-focused champions that look to swiftly take down their enemies.
Marksmen are the best champions in dealing damage at range and are usually targeted by the opposing team. Fighters deal damage in close-range and they usually have a highest HP/ health and armor making difficult to be eliminated by their opponents. Mages are long-range champions who use their spells and spell combinations to trap and eliminate their opponents. They also try to protect themselves staying behind the tanks and using their abilities. Tanks are tough champions. Their role is also very important, most of the time they start the team fight to absorb the most damage so their allies can eliminate the opposing team. The role of support in the early game is to assist the Marksman, adding life in their health or protecting them from elimination. In the late-game, support, champions extend their role by supporting the whole team.[3]
Ban in ranked-ranked flex games and in draft pick games
In the beginning of the champion select stage in ranked-ranked flex or draft pick games, each player can ban a champion. The ban-and-pick system allows players to choose champions before a match, which can greatly impact the outcome, especially in professional leagues.[4] Each team bans five champions, meaning that ten champions are banned in total between the two teams. These champions will not be able to be selected by either team. The selection of the champions to be banned is made in order between the two teams.
Strategies employed when banning champions:
- Ban champions that a player from the opposing team is very skilled at
- Ban champions that are very strong within the current update
- Ban champions that counter your own team composition.
Strategies
Choosing every single champion is very important because some of them make crucial combinations using each spell or supporting each other with a way that can lead one to victory. At the same time, there are also champions one should avoid to pick because are weaker against others. For these strategies there are some websites that can help players in the champion select stage, as they show which players are stronger or weaker against others. But since the time for selecting a champion is limited, this research must be done quickly. When the champion select stage is over, the game begins.
According to a research conducted by Do, Wang, Yu, McMillian, and McMahan (2021) players’ skill levels vary widely depending on which champion, or hero, they choose to play as. [5] Their research found that individual champion skill plays a significant role in the outcome of a match, regardless of team composition, even after the skill-based matchmaking, there is still a wide variance in team skill before gameplay begins. And finally, that players should only play champions that they have mastered, if they want to win games.
[1] C S Lee and I Ramler, ‘Investigating the Impact of Game Features on Champion Usage in League of Legends‘ (2015) International Conference on Foundations of Digital Games.
[2] K W Błaszczyk and D Szajerman, ‘Champion recommendation in league of legends using machine learning’ (2023) In International Conference on Computational Science (pp. 155-170). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
3 See for example https://www.leagueoflegends.com/en-sg/champions
4 See for example: https://u.gg/
[5] T D Do, S I Wang, D S Yu, M G McMillian, and R P McMahan, ‘Using machine learning to predict game outcomes based on player-champion experience in League of Legends’ (2021) In Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games 1-5.
