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LoL Team Comp Guide - Learn to Play as a Team!
Lol team comp guide
League of Legends is a team game. This simple fact often infuriates many hard-stuck players, trying to do everything by themselves. If you're playing solo queue, getting a strong LOL team comp will often be impossible. You can't control your teammates' picks, but understanding all of the aspects of a well-rounded composition can help you with understanding your team's strengths and playing towards them.
Furthermore, if you're playing flex queue, Clash, or some local tournaments with your friends, this guide will be even more helpful. In situations when you're all playing and drafting as a team, you have plenty of options to create a perfect formation, while also having some room to counter your opponents.
Table of contents
How important is a good team comp?
What do you need in a strong team comp?
Playing towards your team comp
How important is a good team comp?
While LoL team compositions are extremely important, you shouldn't value them over everything else. Picking a champion that you actually can play, will almost always be better than first-timing characters because they fit the comp or they're strong in current meta. That's why it's often best to master a few different champions that can fulfill different roles in a team. Even if you're always going to play as a damage dealer, you can at least learn some AD and some AP characters on a similar level.
High proficiency in multiple champions with entirely different playstyles may often be a significant advantage for your team. Don't go too wide though, getting really good at a single champ will require a lot of practice, so don't spread this time too thin. Of course, you can also play as a one-trick and succeed thanks to knowing all the limits of your champion, matchups, trading patterns, and using this information to outplay your opponents. It is perfectly fine, but in that case, this guide will have limited value to you. There are many ideas and views on how to play the perfect League of Legends game, but being on the same page with the rest of your team is important to all of them.
What do you need in a strong team comp?
There are several things that you can look for in a well-designed League of Legends team composition. You're not likely to get them all in a single team, but you may include a few of them. It's essential to understand your comp and play towards its strengths. Attack where your team is strong and play defensive where you're at a disadvantage. The game receives significant changes every season, but certain concepts remain true over multiple years.
Lane priority
It is something that all junglers love to see in their teams. Lane priority pretty much means having control over the lane state. It doesn't have to come from kill pressure (but it, of course, helps), all that's needed is superior wave clear, advantageous trades, and the possibility to roam first.
It's especially crucial in the mid lane because this lane is most likely to get involved in counter-jungling and fights over Scuttle Crabs in the river. That's a huge part of the "jungle-mid synergy" that is often brought up in broadcasts from professional games.
If your mid laner exerts pressure over his counterpart, your jungler won't have to worry about getting collapsed on. It allows safe duels against enemy jungler and long trips into another side of the map in order to place deep vision or steal some camps.
Having priority doesn't necessarily mean pushing all the time. You can freeze under your tower, deny farm from your enemy and still have the possibility to join nearby fights if necessary. Getting an advantageous lane matchup is always valuable – no matter how you use it.
That being said, you have to remember that champion pick is only the first step. Player skill and mastery over their champion will also play a huge role. You will often see players winning lanes that they theoretically should lose and vice versa.
Mixed Damage profile
This one is straightforward. This concept is usually one of the first things that people understand about team comps. You don't want to have a composition that's predominantly focused on a single type of damage. Full AD comps let your opponents spend their gold extremely efficiently by stacking armor (especially if they have some tanks). Full AP team compositions are rarely seen, but they are hard countered by stacking Magic Resist. Usually, teams without mixed damage threats have to win the game in early and mid game, because they get outscaled by defensive itemization in a later phase of the match.
Getting a lot of mixed damage makes it harder for the enemy team to itemize against you. If your team is almost full AD, adding a single Gragas jungle, Rumble top, or any other AP threat can go a long way in making your enemies' lives harder. There's also true damage that can kind of cheat this aspect. That being said, true damage is only a relatively small portion of damage profile, even for champions like Vayne. Almost every team has an AD Carry in the bot lane, so all you need to do is get a single mage or another AP threat in one of the three remaining carry roles.
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Durability
Survivability, durability, tankiness – call it whatever you want. Getting at least one large bulky champion will often be extremely valuable for your team. They can be useful in multiple scenarios. The main one is acting as frontline during teamfights. Moreover, if you need to find out whether the enemy team is starting a Baron or Dragon, you want to have a possibility to face-check without getting insta-killed.
You can get that by playing a top lane tank like Maokai or Sion. Another option is cheating your way through it with a Gargoyle Stoneplate – it usually prevents getting one shot, and you can build on many junglers.
Engage
A lot of champions from this point will overlap with the previous one. That being said, you don't necessarily need tanks to start a fight (but most of them have great tools to do so). A strong engage is necessary to force fights with your opponents. You don't want to let them get away scot-free when you catch them in the jungle. The same goes for endless turtling under turrets.
As we said, the most obvious forms of engaging come from tanks. Malphite or Sion can start fights really well with their ultimate abilities that provide hard CC. The non-tanks that can force fights are usually more situational, with Rakan being the perfect example. You can get creative with almost anything, but it's best to bring some crowd control (AoE CC is even better). Some tried and true examples are Fiddlesticks ult over the wall or a Protobelt Kennen (this one will often also need a Flash though).
Disengage
Sometimes you'll need to force a teamfight, and sometimes you're going to want to prevent one from happening. Of course, not every enemy can be stopped (there's a reason why Malphite's ultimate is called Unstoppable Force), but you might be able to push away or block at least some of the opponents with certain defensive spells. They can keep your main carries the alive and separate enemy team, making the fight easier.
Some examples of the best disengage tools are Janna's ultimate, Poppy's W, and R as well as defensive Gragas ult. Shielding, healing, and targetable CC can also work well (ask a few assassin players if they like playing against Lulu). Some champions can create terrain that can help with separating enemies – Anivia's wall and Trundle's pillar are excellent as that.
Siege
Destroying enemy turrets rewards you with gold and lets you establish better map control. A strong sieging formation can chip away at towers, even if the opposing team is theoretically in the right position to defend. The most important part of doing it safely is having some strong ranged auto-attackers. Long-range AD Carries like Caitlyn or late game, high-level Tristana are some of the best ones that you can get.
Other useful qualities include zone control, strong poke, and CC. You want to force the enemy away from their turret, by continually threatening them and dealing some damage, without committing to a full-on fight. Champions like Ziggs, Jayce, or Nidalee, excel at poking the enemy under turret. Long-range CC of Janna and Morgana makes them great supports for this strategy.
Just remember, if you're going to continuously siege, the enemy will eventually engage on you. That's pretty much their only way out, so you need the vision on your flanks. Having at least a few disengage options also helps out a lot. Also, there is no point in sieging if enemies have a lot of waves clear. Orianna or Azir mid with Sivir as an ADC can clear the whole waves of creeps in a fraction of seconds.
Reliable Damage Sources
You're not going to have to worry about this one too often. Generally, a lot of players enjoy playing high damage champions and builds. Almost all solo queue team comps are packed with damage dealers. You're much more likely to lack tanks or crowd control.
That being said, it's good to have some reliable source of DPS, especially in the late game. All champions have some base damages, but if you're not going for a scaling build, they will start falling off in the mid-game. First of all, it will let you punch through enemy tanks and bruisers - if they have any. Secondly, this is also the best way of securing objectives. Assassins can one-shot an enemy carry, but they're not that great at killing Baron Nashor.
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The most traditional DPS role is the AD Carry, with most marksmen excelling in long, drawn-out fights, where they're allowed to free hit for a long time. Every damage character that's not too dependent on a long-cooldown burst rotation will be decent here. Access to true damage, or dealing percentage of target's max HP as the damage is also great.
There are plenty of champions who can fill that role, and we're not going to list them all here. Besides scaling ADCs, you can also use some mages or even melee damage dealers. Strong burst is great to quickly eliminate squishy targets, but a lack of consistent DPS makes objective control much more difficult.
Side Lane Pressure
It is one of the more advanced aspects. It's going to be challenging to make it work in the solo queue because it will often require a lot of coordination with your team. That being said, having access to the strongest 1v1 character in your current game can present some advantages.
If you can easily duel any of your enemies, you'll always have the first access to minions in a side lane. Moreover, a champion that can clear them fast will be able to pressure turrets - especially if your character can destroy them quickly. You will absorb a lot of side-lane farms (champions that sit in the mid lane often have to share), so you should choose a champion that scales well with both gold and experience.
It's hard to win games by split pushing, but you can definitely take some turrets and maybe even inhibitors. That being said, the split push is not a single-player effort. You will need a vision setup to track enemies that could be collapsing. The rest of the team also has to be able to get something, if multiple enemies show up in your lane. They need to hold their own in 4v4 and then quickly threaten Baron or some towers when opponents are chasing the split pusher.
Uncoordinated attempts in solo queue, often end up with the overextended split pusher dying, while the rest of their team can't capitalize in any meaningful way. Pressuring a side lane provides access to a constant flow of enemy minions, providing the player with even more gold and experience. That makes the split pusher even more powerful and makes your team get overall more resources.
Most of the champions that are best suited for this role are usually solo laners (especially top laners). Some prime examples are Tryndamere, Fiora, Nasus, and Jax. They need to be strong in 1v1 and maybe even 1v2. It's also good if they can kill turrets really fast (Trinity Force or Lich Bane users are great at splitting). Finally, there will be situations where you have to run away quickly - mobility is really valuable in these situations.
A quick tip: don't go for a split pusher, if your team lacks disengage, while the enemy team has a hard engage team comp. Enemies will always dive in head-first as soon as they see you splitting.
Globals and semi-globals
The ability to travel the whole map in just a few seconds is a great thing to have in League of Legends. It allows you to pick up the farm while also having the possibility of joining fights. Champions with abilities like that can also quickly build early game advantages, by forcing plays where they outnumber the opponents.
These skills can be used for ganks, counter-ganks, or even securing objectives! The global mobility can, of course, be accessed through the summoner spell – Teleport. However, some champions have this kind of abilities built in their kit – usually as ultimates. Some examples are Pantheon, Shen, Nocturne, Ryze, and Twisted Fate, but you could easily find more.
While mastering the usage of globals can be difficult, and it might require some coordination with your team, you can easily get some base value from those abilities. It's much easier to react to enemy plays if you're able to arrive quicker. It's especially useful for players who enjoy roaming around the map, instead of staying in the lane all the time.
Creating a team comp
This section is mostly designed for players who draft together as a team. It might be less useful for warriors, as your control over the draft as a single player will be minimal (banning Yasuo from your top laner who hovers it is a kind of "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation). However, you can still find some valuable knowledge here – even a solo player can use it to a certain extent.
As we already mentioned, you're not likely to get all the qualities that we described in a single composition. Moreover, you won't need each one of them to have a strong team. The most important thing is to understand win conditions and build a game plan around them.
Teamfight composition
You can build a teamfight comp with some strong DPS and plenty of engaging. You might get a bit weaker lane matchups, but it's not that important. Your team will excel in 5v5, as long as you're able to consistently force fights (that's when the engage comes into play). It is the most straightforward way of playing League of Legends. Go for every neutral objective, and if the enemy team challenges you, engage onto them, and win the fight. Traditional teamfight comps often excel in so called "front to back" combat, with the tanks buying time in the frontline, for the carries in the backline to deal as much damage as possible.
You should have a superior teamfight comp. It means that as long as you're not too far behind – you should be able to win every fight. With durable tanks and engage options, you will be able to dive under turrets easily and secure the objective after you get a few kills. For a decent team fighting composition, you need champions that excel in 5 v 5, mostly due to their AoE abilities. The undisputed kings of team fighting are, for example, Brand, Rumble, Vladimir, and Kennen. Their skills can easily hit all five enemies if they are grouped up.
Now, let's think about building a comp like this. Keep in mind that these are just a few examples; there are plenty of other characters that can work here. Some champions that can do fine in teamfight compositions like that are:
Top lane: Sion, Malphite, Ornn (for CC and tankiness), Vladimir - if you already have good engage, but need some strong team fighting.
Jungle: Jarvan IV, Sejuani, Zac - they can be pretty tanky and offer additional engage options.
Mid lane: Cassiopeia, Orianna, Vel'Koz - strong backline damage, with some extra CC.
AD Carry: Xayah, Jinx, Twitch, Kog'Maw, Kai'Sa, Ashe - a high damage output is the main priority, but additional safety or CC is also nice to have.
Support: Alistar, Nautilus, Rakan, Leona (additional engage), Taric – for a stronger teamfight.
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Split push composition
While the previous strategy revolved around being able to force fights, this one is focused on preventing them. Split pushing is about creating pressure points on the map and forcing your opponents to answer. If you're only able to generate pressure in a single lane, your efforts will be basically useless.
The whole idea is to have a stronger 1v1 in a side lane, which forces multiple enemies to come to deal with the split pusher. However, you also need to be able to stand your ground 5v4 long enough for the split pusher to create pressure. The group of four has to be able to push forward in the lane and maybe even threaten turrets or neutral objectives. But most importantly, they have to stay alive while doing so. Getting a solo kill against enemy top laner won't net you much if the rest of your team just got wiped. That's why good disengage options are crucial for comps like this.
Keep in mind that the top laner doesn't have to be split pushing. There are plenty of mid laners that can also fulfill this role. Moreover, you can play 1-3-1 with pressure on both side lanes, but this is even more difficult. Some examples of champions for split pushing strategy are:
Top lane: Fiora, Tryndamere, Jax, Nasus - they, of course, have better and worse matchups, but in general, all these champions are powerful in a side lane.
Jungle: Gragas, Lee Sin, Poppy – they all provide some disengage options and are difficult to dive.
Mid lane: Ziggs, Anivia, Viktor - for a very strong waveclear that lets you keep the pressure up. Kassadin or Ekko are strong, relatively safe split pushers (they can have some bad 1v1 matchups though).
AD Carry: Ezreal, Xayah, Tristana, Sivir – a mixture of safety and waveclear is what we're after.
Support: Janna, Lulu, Alistar, Morgana – they all provide some reliable defensive tools that can make the enemy engage less effective.
Wombo Combo team comp
It is one of the most satisfying things in League of Legends when your team coordinates ultimates to one-shot not only the enemy carry but their whole team. Wombo-combo is a combination of AoE crowd control with AoE damage. For AoE crowd control we recommend:
- Wukong,
- Amumu,
- Zac,
- Alistar,
- Leona,
- Malphite,
- Ornn
- Zyra
The CC part is essential because the damaging abilities often require enemies to stand in one place without an ability to escape. These damaging abilities would be coming from:
- Brand,
- Karthus,
- Lux,
- Miss Fortune,
- Orianna,
- Rumble,
- Vel'Koz,
- Ziggs.
Locking down multiple enemies for them to eat the whole Miss Fortune ult damage followed by Karthus ult is hard, but extremely rewarding. Squishy enemies will probably die in the process, and even the beefy ones will be whittled down enough to let go of some key objectives. It also forces your enemies into suboptimal scenarios. For example - they can't really group as 5, but splitting up puts them at risk of getting caught.
Playing towards your team comp
As we said, picking the right champions is only the beginning. We're not even going to talk about not-dying in the lane, getting good farm numbers, or tracking the minimap – these skills can only be developed as you play League of Legends. Unfortunately, reading a guide won't be enough to improve in all of those aspects.
However, we can give you some valuable tips about playing towards your strengths and making sure that your strategy comes online.
Focus on your most important players! If you want to play for teamfights, your jungler should probably spend as much time as possible near bot lane. Engage, and crowd control can always be used, no matter how much gold these champions have, but the damage advantage on ADC can be the difference-maker.
At the same time, if you're trying to get a strong split pusher, make sure to set them up for success. It's not only the jungler's job, though. Mid laners and supports can roam. Good vision coverage can also do much good. If your lane is already winning – all you need to do is making sure that it won't get upset by a gank or roam.
Moreover, attacking the enemy middle lane is always beneficial. Getting an advantage there enables the mid laner to roam more, and the jungler has the freedom to invade and challenge for more camps. They can team up for more coordinated plays, like four-man dives bot, et cetera.
When you manage to get a strong carry, just keep playing around them. An advantage in the bottom lane gives your team easy access to Dragon. A top laner that ahead makes it easier to get the Rift Herald. Always be aware of who's the strongest on your team and don't go for fights, when they're not with the team.
Avoid "no CC comps." How will you stop a fed Master Yi, Nasus, or Tryndamere without a reliable crowd control? CC wins games. It creates a pick potential even if your team is far behind. Keep that in mind when your team picked Vlad top, Zed mid, and Sivir with Yuumi bot lane. As a jungler, you should fill the team comp with a CC. Otherwise, you will never stop the fed enemy. You shouldn't all play the 1v9 carry champions - someone has to take one for the team and bring some more utility with their character.
At the same time, a strong and versatile team comp won't guarantee your success. You and your teammates have to know how to execute it. In order to get there, you will have to play some games and practice a bit.
Moreover, remember to stay positive and never give up! Nothing ruins your team's morale, like a person that says "GG go next" after a single death. Try to keep your hopes up until the last hit on your Nexus - there's a chance that the enemy team will throw the game much more often than you think!
Summary
If you follow these guidelines, you might be able to get more success and fun in your League of Legends team play. Of course, there's much more to work on. If you're picking entirely for your comp, some lanes can end up with unfavorable matchups. Learning to survive them is extremely important. Once again, you need to learn to play your champion both in and out of lane before you start picking them. Drafting well is a great thing, but playing well is even more impactful.
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League of Legends is an extremely successful MOBA that has been developed and published by Riot Games Inc. In its main game mode - Summoner's Rift - two teams of five players each face each other in mechanical, but also tactical combat. In order to claim victory, you have to break into the enemy base and destroy their Nexus. On your way there, you'll have to become stronger by farming minions and jungle monsters, taking kills, destroying turrets and securing neutral objectives. There are over 140 unique champions in the game and countless possible team compositions. The roles in the league of legends are top, jungle, mid, ADC and support. League of Legends spawned a huge community of players and created a developed and competitive esports scene.
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FAQ
What is engaged in League of Legends?
Engage is a way to start a fight in an advantageous way. It often uses some form of crowd control in order to create space for your team to deal with damage and land skill shots.
How to split push in LoL?
In order to split push effectively, you need to play a strong 1v1 champion that can win duels against the members of enemy team. This allows you to pressure turrets and gain advantages. At the same time, you have to keep track of your opponents and make sure that they're not collapsing on you. In general, dying is always a bad thing, no matter how many enemy players showed up to kill you. However, you might want to sometimes sacrifice yourself if it means taking an inhibitor, Nexus turret, Baron Nashor or Elder Dragon.
What is the strongest LoL Team Comp?
There's no single right answer. It's important for all your champions (and players) to be on the same page. Different compositions will excel in different aspects of the game, like sieging turrets, teamfighting, securing objectives or pressuring the map via split push.
