League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena game produced by Riot Games where players use Champions to destroy their opponents and their base. The game was originally released in 2009 and remains popular today for both casual players and esports professionals across several continents.
LoL has several game modes including 5v5, ARAM, and One for All. In 5v5, each player chooses a different Champion where they fight for control of the arena to push the other team back and destroy their Nexus located at their base.
ARAM allows players to choose a different Champion, but the arena is much smaller forcing all players to fight together. Currently, One for All is available where each team votes to play a single Champion and then proceed to the 5v5 arena.
Minions spawn during the match to aid players in attacking the enemy’s defences whole players can also slay monsters around the map to get group buffs and advantages. Armoured towers defend each team’s bases and require destroying before pushing further to the Nexus.
LoL Story and Purpose
The story of LoL focuses on the world of Runeterra with its large city-state Valoran and the Champions who inhabit or come to it. Runeterra is filled with magical artefacts called Runes with which power can be harnessed.
Before the League of Legends formed, several factions of Valoran conducted the Rune Wars that caused massive destruction across the world. This conflict caused the birth of the League of Legends where nations and people could regulate further conflicts without destroying Runeterra.
In the original lore, summoners were involved with the League of Legends where players were considered the summoners. Summoners would take control of the Champions helping them fight in the arena, but Riot Games decided to remove this from the official lore as they felt it was limiting the Champions’ potential.
The Champions entering the League of Legends do so of their own volition or for their people. Stories of the Champions through their struggles and place in Runeterra is how the overall story is progressed.
New lore is constantly being added to the League of Legends through short stories, videos, novellas, television shows, and comics.
The lore for the game was continued in the Netflix show Arcane which follows several of the Champions and their stories in the two cities of Zaun and Piltover. A second season coming soon will further expand on the stories told in Arcane.
What are Champions in LoL?
Champions are the playable characters in LoL. At the game’s release, there were only 17 original characters but as the game remains popular new Champion additions have brought the total number of Champions up to 159.
Each Champion has a unique back story and different abilities making the game diverse and open to multiple playstyles. These Champions come from all over Runeterra while others range from space, the Void, or different planets.
Champions can be unlocked using Blue Essence which can be purchased, levelling up your account, or from Hextech Chests. Blue Essence can also be used to buy skins, Rune Pages, Emporium exclusives, and more.
A few of the most popular Champions are as follows:
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Lux- Lux grew up in Demacia where magical abilities are frowned upon. Since she had the ability to bend light, she grew up with her powers a secret to protect her family’s noble status.
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Jinx- One of the main characters in Arcane, Jinx is a crazed trickster who has a knack for engineering explosive devices and is a deadeye with a gun.
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Ezreal- Gifted in the magical arts, Ezreal is an adventurer who searches ancient catacombs to find magical artefacts. He wears a mystical Shuriman gauntlet that can unleash arcane blasts.
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Master Yi- A vicious swordsman who is great for controlling the jungle portion of the arena. Master Yi is one of the beginning Champions that players have access to at the beginning of the game.
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Lee Sin- Lee Sin is one of the most played characters in LoL. Lee Sin is a blind monk who is a master of ancient martial arts who channels the essence of the dragon spirit.
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Vi- Another main character from Arcane, Vi is a fierce fighter wearing Hextech gauntlets. She was a criminal of Zaun but now works with the Wardens of Piltover.
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Annie- This misfortunate little firestarter was dealt a tough hand and now wanders the world alone with her teddy bear that she can transform into a real bear protector.
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Thresh- Thresh is a malicious spirit from the Shadow Isles who imprisons helpless souls in his unholy lantern.
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Yasuo- A fierce swordsman who can wield the elemental power of the wind. Yasuo was accused of murdering his master and ended up slaying his brother in self-defence.
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Darius- Leader of the nation Noxus, Darius fights with his mighty axe for his just cause.
League of Legends Servers
Since LoL is popular across multiple countries, Riot Games has different servers available for regional areas. However, the servers for South-East Asia are run by Garena and the Chinese servers are run by Tencent.
Players can check whether their servers are operating with the Riot Games server status. The servers receive patches roughly every two weeks and are almost always performed on a Tuesday. The downtime for servers during patches is usually three hours.
