League Of Legends: Every Role Explained (2024)

League of Legends is one of the most successful games in the world, but the complexity of the MOBA genre means that the experience can be quite daunting for new players. Some of the first things that beginner players should aim to understand are the five roles, how they work, and what is expected from them within a game.

The five roles in League of Legends are Top Lane, Jungle, Mid Lane, Bot Lane, and Support and at the start of the game, they populate the three lanes and the jungle, with the Support and Bot Laner forming a duo in bot.

Updated July 2, 2024 by Joe Grantham:As with anything in League of Legends, the different roles can be difficult to understand for new players. Thus, this list has been updated to include clear and concise information on the objectives of each role, the common champion types that can be found in these roles, as well as examples of beginner-friendly champions that are perfect for players trying out a new lane. Thankfully, while League is constantly evolving and updated with regular patches, the overall function of each role tends to stay the same.

1 Top Lane

Top Laners Try To Gain An Individual Advantage In The Top Lane

The top lane is one of the two solo lanes in League of Legends and is perfect for players who enjoy a good old one-versus-one brawl. Because of its isolated nature, Top Laners generally want to go down two paths. The first is to try and generate massive leads with fighters and the second is to sit tight and then show up big on tanks in teamfights where they can soak damage and provide plenty of Crowd Control.

Top Laners will often take the Teleport summoner spell, which enables them to teleport across the map. This means that they can split push in a side lane on the opposite side of the map to where the next objective will be contested, and then TP at the right time, or find flanks. These beginner tips for Top Lane are perfect for new players to the role.

Top Lane Objectives

• Farming: Top Laners farm normally to gain XP and gold, making them durable and a threat.
• Tanking Damage: Tanky Top Laners are expected to help their team by standing in front of their carries to block damage.
• Carrying With Damage: Some Top Laners need to get ahead and carry by dealing lots of damage.
• Flanking: Top Laners can flank to surprise and trap enemies. They are safe to do this due to tankiness or mobility.
• Split Pushing: In the late game, Top Laners can split push in Top or Bot to take Towers and draw the enemy away from other objectives.

2 Jungle

Junglers Farm Jungle Monsters, Gank Lanes, And Take Neutral Objectives

Jungle is arguably the most unique role in League of Legends as instead of heading to one of the three lanes, the Jungler clears neutral monsters in the jungle and looks to influence different areas of the map. One of the things that Junglers can do is gank lanes, or in other words, try and surprise an enemy laner and kill them with a numbers advantage.

The summoner spell Smite is absolutely essential for Junglers as it allows them to buy a jungle item and execute normal monsters as well as larger objectives such as Void Grubs, Rift Herald, Dragon, and Baron. Having Smite available for these objectives is vital for Junglers and is just one of many beginner tips for Jungle in League of Legends.

Jungle Objectives:

• Farming: Junglers farm monsters in the jungle to gain XP and gold, making them strong. Smite helps with this.
• Ganking: Junglers should surprise enemy laners by turning up to kill them and help their allies.
• Protection: Junglers can take on supportive roles and protect their allies with CC or by tanking damage.
• Carrying With Damage: Some Junglers are primary carries and need to farm more or get more kills to scale and deal lots of damage.
• Smiting Objectives: Neutral objectives like Dragon, Rift Herald, and Baron are best secured by Junglers with Smite.
• Vision Control: Junglers should sweep for enemy wards before ganking and help set up vision for objectives.

3 Mid Lane

Mid Laners Can Focus On Scaling To Carry, Or Impact The Whole Map From Their Central Position

Mid Lane has always played a crucial role in League of Legends, as from its central position Mid Laners can influence the entire map if they want, or simply scale and be a major carry later on. With utility champions or assassins, players can look to farm their minions as quickly as possible and then rotate top or bot. As the shortest lane, mid is also safer for immobile mages who want to scale with both gold and solo experience. One of the goals in mid lane is to hold onto the tower for as long as possible because fallen mid lane towers open up the map for the enemy.

The mid lane does have one vital weakness though, as unlike top and bot, it has two open sides from which the enemy can gank. With this in mind, one of the many beginner tips for Mid Lane in League is to ward one side and then gravitate towards that side while laning.

Mid Lane Objectives

• Farming: Mid Laners farm normally to gain gold and XP so that they can scale and carry, as they need items and levels.
• Carrying With Damage: Mid Laners are often primary carries, so they should stay alive to be able to deal damage.
• Roaming: From the middle of the map, Mid Laners can influence the entire game by roaming up or down or into the jungle.
• Protecting Their Tower: The first Mid Lane Tower is the most important, as when it falls, the map opens up for the enemy. Naturally, taking the enemy Tower is even better.

4 Bot Lane (ADC)

Bot Laners Are Often ADCs And Have The Most Late Game Damage Potential

League of Legends' bot lane is home to a duo made up of the Bot Lane Carry and a Support, and while mages and other champions can be played, the Bot Laner is usually an Attack Damage Carry, more commonly known as an ADC. These marksmen often scale extremely well into the game when they have bought enough items, but they are often weak early and are vulnerable to assassination and burst at all stages of the game.

The main aim of a bot laner is to get as much farm as possible in lane, and ideally enter the mid and late game stronger than their counterpart. In teamfights, ADCs should prioritize staying alive so that they can slowly whittle down the enemy's frontline or any bigger threats who are in range. ADCs are also crucial for taking down large objectives like Towers, Dragons, and Baron as they will usually have the most DPS. New players looking to learn more about this role can check out these beginner tips for Bot Lane in League of Legends​​​.

Bot Lane Objectives

• Farming: Bot Laners and especially scaling ADCs need lots of gold to become strong with items. Farming safely is thus a priority early.
• Carrying With Damage: ADCs often have the highest damage potential, so they should prioritize staying alive to dish out damage.
• DPS On Objectives: ADCs usually have high DPS which is needed to kill Towers and large objectives such as Baron.

5 Support

Supports Don't Farm And They Help The Team By Protecting And Making Plays

In the laning phase, the Support accompanies a carry in bot lane and helps them farm, stay safe and ideally get some kills too. Supports do not take farm for themselves and thus have a limited income, which their support item helps with. Support champions come in a variety of forms from enchanters who excel at healing, shielding, and otherwise keeping allies alive, to engage tanks who want to set up plays and everything in between.

Contrary to the belief of some Bot Lane Carries though, Supports do not exist primarily for them, but for the entire team. This means that Supports can look to roam during the laning phase, and if other allies are in better positions to carry, then helping them do so will be more beneficial. Additionally, even though every team member has a responsibility to contribute towards vision, Supports have more access to wards from their support item and thus have the greatest responsibility for placing and destroying wards. These beginner Support tips for League of Legends should help out players who are new to the role.

Support Objectives

• Protecting: Supports need to protect their carries by any means; shielding, healing, CC, and blocking.
• Engaging: Some supports are required to start fights with their Crowd Control abilities.
• Roaming: Supports can roam to other lanes to help or generate leads. Pairing up with the Jungler is often a good idea.
• Vision Control: Supports have access to the most wards and can risk clearing enemy vision for better control. They should buy more Control Wards to enhance their vision control.

League of Legends

Platform(s)

PC , macOS

Released

October 27, 2009

Developer(s)

Riot Games

Genre(s)

MOBA