Roles - What is best for you?

Roles

AD Carry (Ranged)

AD Carries are generally refering to your Ranged unit that will stay in the back lines and decimate the front lines. They're typically sent to a duo lane and given exclusive farming rights just because they scale much better with gear than they do with levels.

Some strong traits of Ranged AD carries include;

* Range, sounds simple but it allows them to build as the true glass cannons with absolutely no defensive items.

* Ability to survive, while they have no defensive items they're punished for going into the front lines and rewarded for sneaking around or staying in the back lines.

* They're typically refered to as the "Clean Up" since they come in lane to an initiation they can chase down and finish off most enemies.

* It's the safest, and otherwise the best starter role for any beginner player. You learn the importance of placement and get to build right-click-to-win.

* Attack Speed champions, so the use of their skills is more important since they don't have the mana to support spamming.

What you'll need in order to successfully play this role;

* A decent amount of map awareness, while it doesn't require as much map awareness as the other roles in the game, you'll need to know when and where to be somewhere.

* The ability to last hit. This is important because if you push your lane, you're extremely squishy and can be ganked easily.

* A working right mouse button.

Items that an AD carry will typically purchase include, but are not limited to, in this rough order;

- Early Game: Doran's Blade, Berserker's Greaves, Wriggle's Lantern (early game item, not late game).

- Mid Game: Infinity Edge, Phantom Dancer.

- Late Game: Last Whisper, Quicksilver Sash, Bloodthirster.

- General final game build is: Infinity Edge, Phantom Dancer, Last Whisper, Bloodthirster, Phantom Dancer, Quicksilver Sash.

Sub-optimal items include, but are not limited to:

* Frozen Mallet, better on Bruisers since you shouldn't be hit.

* The Black Cleaver, for punishing enemies that build no armor.

* Youmuu's Ghostblade, it works well with TBC but not Last Whisper, high attack speed proc as well as CDR and flat Armor Penetration.

* Trinity Force, it provides a lot of supporting stats and improves their damage output with perfectly timed attacks as well as a decent slow effect. Generally only the wasted stat is Ability Power and it costs a lot of gold.

Optimal Summoner Spells include:
- Cleanse, this is generally taken as early game lane dominance, since it'll clear the Damage DoT on Ignite and any Stuns or Slows on your character to help ensure that you get out of lane alive and don't have to prioritize your QSS above your Last Whisper.

- Heal, after it's recent buff, it's better taken on the carry than the support. It heals a large amount of health (if not ignited) and doesn't lose effectiveness into late game like Cleanse can. Take either Cleanse or Heal, not both.

- Flash, this should be taken as your second summoner spell. Only take this if your character doesn't have a gap closer that can clear walls, if they do you can ignore this spell and take Exhaust or Ignite, but it's not advised. This is essentially the strongest summoner spell in the metagame because proper use will ensure or escape kills and leave you vulnerable to ganks without flash.

- Exhaust and Ignite, this is if you're feeling ballsy. You can take both or one or the other, but it's not suggested for Ranged ADs to take either. Ignite is more of a mage addition because they can burst and stack it on top. Exhaust is taken to catch fleeing foes or duel, but because of the predominance of Cleanse on AD carries both spells lose effectiveness outside of solo top or solo mid.

Countered by:
- There's no real Roshambo for Ranged AD, they get shut down by any burst champions that can CC and Close Gaps. One such example of extremely bursty counter to AD carries is Wukong, he can destroy Armor, gains AR/MR through his passive, can close gaps and increase his attack speed as well as deal damage each second and knock you up. Another such example would be Annie, which is why QSS and Cleanse are so common on AD carries.

AD Carry (Glass Cannons)

This is a sub category that shouldn't exist. This is the type of melee unit that stacks AD and AS instead of building to the standard defense mark of 150/150 like the bruisers do. These guys tend to have a lot more damage output than bruisers, but have very little survivability. They excel greatly as the general Assassin role, who have large damage spikes and typically sacrifice themselves to take one other threat out of the squabble.

One such champion that fit this role is Tryndamere, whose damage output is very insignificant without a large amount of Attack Speed and Attack Damage. The only benefit to Tryndamere is that he has a get out of jail free card with 5 seconds of immunity to death and a displacement skill. He typically doesn't ever build into AR or MR or even HP for that matter, which makes him a glass cannon.

Other champions that fit this role include, but are not limited to; Master Yi, Xin Zhao and Talon. They tend to build with focus on AD or AS since they're of very little threat if they gear as a bruiser.

Typical Items that a Melee AD carry will use are very similar to the ranged AD role, but sometimes they'll prioritize a Wriggles and Bloodthirster instead of Infinity Edge then Phantom Dancer.

Countered by: Burst, just like Ranged AD carries. The same type of champions completely counter them as well as any champion that can kite. These champions usually lose duels.

Bruisers

This general role is what the "off-tank" role used to be known as, but focuses higher on damage output instead of tankability. The standard for Bruisers typically revolve around the very potent combination Atmogs. Varying items beyond that change from champion to champion.

Strong Traits

* Bulky while still having decent damage output.

* Built to initiate in mid game and go straight for big threats.

* Often determine when your team does the first dragon kill.

* Tend to be the winners of late game.

* Can destroy most mages if they can survive their burst.

* Counter Jungles the enemy jungler very effectively.

What you'll need to play this role

* Mild map awareness depending on lane, if solo top very low ranging from very high to just adequate enough to react in middle or bottom.

* Enough knowledge of opposing champions to know when you're in danger or safe.

* Ability to heartlessly farm while your allies get themselves killed, you need the farm even more than ranged ADs do to be effective.

Items that a Bruiser will typically purchase include:

- Early Game: Wriggle's Lantern, Phage.

- Mid Game: Atma's Impaler, Warmogs, Frozen Mallet.

- Late Game: Wit's End, Bloodthirster.

- General final build: Mercury Treads, Frozen Mallet, Atma's Impaler, Warmogs, Wit's End, Bloodthirster.

Champion dependant items include: Manamune, Force of Nature, Hexdrinker, Chalice, Executioner's Calling, Thornmail.

Sub-Optimal items include : Shurelya's Reverie (most junglers and supports will builds this), Randuin's Omen (it's very bulky when atma's usually does the job), Quicksilver Sash (some champions do well with it, but either go for Wit's End if you benefit greatly from auto attacks or Force of Nature for more damage reduction and hp5 based on max health), Rylai's Crystal Sceptre and Rod of Ages (these are more for AP Tanks than bruisers, even though there's not a distinction in the champion list of this guide, they'll be very apparent).

Optimal Summoner Spells include : Teleport is almost always a must for a solo top, which is cleverly refered to as the bruiser lane. If you're not solo top as a bruiser, consider Flash or Heal in place of Teleport. After that, I prefer Exhaust > Ignite > Ghost, depending on the champion. Ignite can help healing champions or enemies that might take heal, exhaust is a way to catch an enemy and finish them and ghost is a way to tower dive successfully earlier on.

Countered by:

- Unlike Ranged AD, there is a delicate rock-paper-scissors game involved with the Bruisers. For the most part, some bruisers counter the others and some get countered completely by other roles while some will counter those other roles. Essentially it boils down to Sustain beats CC beats Burst beast Sustain. Harass is the weaker spectrum of Burst, which typically loses to Sustain. But let's also remember that not any one champion is specific to only one category, as one such example;

Irelia > Rumble > Teemo > Irelia.

The reasons why Irelia beats Rumble is that she has True Damage with high sustain and CC.

The reason Rumble beats Teemo is that Teemo is squishy and easy to invade his zone with.

The reason Teemo beats Irelia is that he can Harass her from a distance and every time she comes in for CS, with Blinding Dart giving him enough CC to protect himself to escape.

And as such, the delicate rock paper scissors isn't an exact science and it tends to boil down to A champion beating B champion beating C champion which is rolled by A champion, where the variables represent specific champions and not broad spectrums.

AP Tanks

These are generally AP based Bruisers, for all intents and purposes. While Bruisers rely on powerful HP Stacking combinations, AP Tanks tend to build into AP/Defensive items to have high damage output as well as survivability, using powerful item combinations such as Zhonya's and Rylai's.

Strong Traits:

* Generally based around either strong Burst or strong Harass.

* Very bulky without sacrificing a large amount of damage output.

* Variants to a lot of straight tank builds such as with use of Leona, Malphite, Rammus, Amumu and Shen.

Items that an AP Tank will commonly pick up:

- Early Game: Rod of Ages or Rylais.

- Mid Game: Abyssal Scepter, Zhonya's.

- Late Game: Rabadons, Lichbane.

- General Late Game Build: Force of Nature, Zhonya's, Lichbane, Rabadons, Rylais, Rod of Ages or Warmogs.

Specific situation items include: Abyssal Scepter, Rylais, Frozen Mallet.

Optimal Summoner Spells include : Heal and Ignite or Exhaust, the lack of an offensive spell in early lane can mean the difference between snowballing and allowing your opponent to snowball. Heal is duel bait which will almost always ensure a kill if your enemy isn't using Ignite.

Countered by: Tanky items for the most part. They tend to lane through harassment and then spiked bursts and can be completely shut down in early game by defensive items since they build into their AP slowly and most of the time avoid until their final purchase.

Tanks
These guys focus on use of hard defensive stats with very low to no priority on offensive stats. They're often loaded with large amounts of CC, so their primary role is to Initiate and Aggrivate in late game.

Positive Pros:
* Very bulky, benefit well from stacking hard health items.

* Very defensive, benefit greatly from going above 150 AR/MR.

* Full of CC, which means they can build with more defense in mind and still remain a threat.

* Not focused in team fights a lot.

* Almost always the last man standing.

* Spends most of their time annoying targets out of a fight or trapping them.

Considerable Cons:

* Very low damage output.

* Without effective communication of CC rotations, effectiveness dwindles.

* Not many tanks have a powerful laning phase, so if they can't jungle effectively or gank, they tend to be useless in late game and require budget items.

* Effectiveness dwindles with team mates that don't pay attention. It's your job to initiate, take tower shots and keep targets nearby. If allies don't pay attention to the sound or visual of Shurelya's activation and or respond to the same with Randuin's, it's not likely that you'll win team fights.

* And to say everything again in one line - very reliant on your team, you'll never carry.

Items that a Tank will commonly pick up :

- Early Game: Philosopher Stone, Heart of Gold, Boots.

- Mid Game: Warden's Mail, Negatron Cloak, Giant's Belt, Ruby Crystal.

- Late Game: Randuin's Omen, Force of Nature, Warmog's Armor.

- General Late Game Build: Randuin's Omen, Force of Nature, Warmog's, Mercury Treads, Atma's Impaler, Shurelya's Reverie.

Champion specific items include : Rylai's Sceptre, Frozen Heart, Rod of Ages, Spirit Visage, Zhonya's Hourglass, Zeke's Herald.

Sub-Optimal items include: Lichbane, Infinity Edge, Rabadon's Deathcap.

Optimal Summoner Spells:

* Smite, because a lot of pure tanks are better off in the jungle. See: Rammus for the purest example.

* Flash, it's a standard spell on most champions.

* Exhaust is good for ganks, the slow only lasts for 2.5 seconds and it can also save your life in a duel. This is typically reserved for Junglers or kill lanes.

Sub-Optimal Summoner Spells include:

* Heal, the reduced healing cut debuff applied through use of this makes it a very poor summoner spell to carry since you'll be a lot bulkier and focused less often. You tend to gimp others that carry heal or yourself if somebody pops heal in the area first.

* Ignite, possible spell in a kill lane but you want to feed your carry the kills so this is less effective than flash/exhaust.

* Teleport, if you're solo top as a pure tank (Shen or Volibear for example) this becomes an optimal spell, otherwise it's more of a surprise spell.

* Ghost, Shurelya's is a common buy on tanks because an early Philosopher Stone is very helpful to their gold income, which is a speed boost for your entire team once per minute that can be used right before you initiate. Very poor summoner spell choice on most champions (Singed is the only exception).

Countered by : Nothing, for the most part. You wont generally bring more than one devoted tank along, but their biggest downfall is that they deal little to no damage and provide support through the ability to initiate and disrupt key threats. They build into defensive stats for such specific reasons.

Mages

These are the casters, generally they all have high burst potential or sustained harass. They come squishy and more dependant on their resource bar than others. They're a different type of glass cannons than Ranged AD carries because they typically build into hybrid defensive/offensive items in late game, but not generally sooner.

Items that a mage might purchase include:
- Early Game: 2 or 3 Doran's Rings, Needlessly large rod, Sorceror's shoes.

- Mid Game: Rabadon's, Void Staff.

- Late Game: Zhonya's Hourglass, Mercury Treads.

- General final game build: Rod of Ages, Rabadons, Void Staff, Mercury Treads, Zhonya's Hourglass, Will of the Ancients.

Champion Specific Items include: Rod of Ages and Rylais are the biggest variable champion picks, some champions don't have single target spells to make use of Rylai's and some champions don't need Mana.
Potentially powerful item combinations include: Deathfire Grasp, Mejai's Soulstealer.

Optimal Summoner Spells include : Flash and Ignite is pretty standard. Most mages are extremely squishy so they need the flash to escape from potential ganks. Ignite is just great general damage.

Countered by: Crowd Control. Since most Mages have high range burst potential, most can be completely shut down at the start and bursted down themselves. This is essentially why most Mages build into either Rylai's (if they have a single target spell or no other slow) or Rod of Ages (if they have severe mana constraints). Some champions such as Cassiopeia who have low to no mana constraints can opt to build into a Warmogs just the same.

Supports

Strong Traits include:

* Zone Control, the most important factor to any support pick. If you control your lane you can starve your enemy's carry.

* Martyrdom, your life is less important than others. Get over it.

* Pacifism, you don't get kills. Well, you do, but you don't want to, because of the above trait. You just want to harass the foes, not kill them, unless you tower dive to get a kill to give an assist to your carry that is being a pansy.

* Aura support, since most of your gold income comes from assists and GP10 items, you buy low cost items such as Aegis of the Legion which provide high stat per point values. Other aura items include Zeke's Herald, Will of the Ancients and Soul Shroud.

* Very Aggressive Playstyle. Most people have the common misconception that playing a support means playing passively, which is absolutely wrong. If you're not beyond your enemy's minion wave keeping them out of EXP range, you're not playing support properly. There are obvious exceptions, but you want to be overextended with a frozen minion wave either at middle of river or your turret.

* Map Vision control, you're the primary warder on your team. Every time you go back to base, you pick up wards. If your team is doing well, you roam with an oracle's elixir.

Items that a support might purchase include:
- Early Game: Faerie Charm, Health Potions, Sight Wards, Vision Wards.

- Mid Game: Philosopher's Stone, Heart of Gold, Mercury Treads or Ionian Boots, Aegis of the Legion.

- Late Game: Oracle's Elixir, Shurelya's Reverie, Moar Wards.

- General Final game build: Shurelya's Reverie, Mercury Treads, Aegis of the Legion, Sight Wards, Vision Wards, Randuin's Omen.

Situation specific items include:

* Will of the Ancients, if you're trading with one AP carry and you don't have anybody else to give him the extra 20 Spell Vamp.

* Zeke's herald, if you're AD heavy.

* Soul Shroud, if some champions just can't pick up any more CDR on their items.

* Frozen Heart, if enemy team is AD heavy and you're fed and need the -20% Attack Speed aura.

Optimal Summoner Spells include:

* Clairvoyance, huge fan of this spell. Every minute you can clear the fog of war from a certain part of the map. Best placed between jungle camps to keep an eye on enemy Buffs and jungler locations and map objectives. useful through all parts of the game.

* Flash, to help escape situations that your carry has already escaped from.

* Exhaust, it helps your carry to get kills but many feel it's a wasted slot.

Spells you shouldn't take include:

* Heal, it loses too much power if you take it instead of your carry. If your carry is using Cleanse/Flash, it's acceptable to take this spell but sub optimal. You either lose out on Clairvoyance or Flash. Some obvious exceptions are Soraka, with a spell heal, ultimate heal and summoner heal she can top off any nigh dead champion.

* Clarity, again a very sub optimal choice, slot MP5 and tell your Carry to use their skills more efficiently.

* Ignite, it's powerful for a 5 second 50% healing cut, but it's used primarily after bursts to ensure kills.

Countered by : Nothing, really. They're not a force to be reckoned with as such you don't pick counters to them. With some certain examples being counter picking Sona with Soraka with stronger harass and Zone Control in mid game, as well as countering Soraka with Janna for stronger carry support and pressure in mid to late game.

Kill Lane Pseudo Support

Strong Traits

* High damage potential.

* Great CC that is effective in early game as well as late.

Items a kill lane support might take

- Early Game: Philosopher Stone, Heart of Gold and possibly Kage's Lucky Pick.

- Mid Game: Aegis of the Legion, Shurelya's Reverie.

- Late Game: Warmogs, Frozen Mallet, Atma's, Randuin's.

Optimal Summoner Spells to take : Ignite/Flash is a good combination for kill lane supports such as Blitzcrank and Leona who have huge mobility. It also provides the one required of each spell for late game phases which give your allies better spells to focus on.

Countered by : Sustained harass and/or sustained Sustain. If they get harassed out of lane, they typically lose it. If they get out sustained, they can't get kills and snowball.