Ultimate Beginner's Handbook

Welcome to the Monolith!

I will be your guide for your very first steps. This handbook aims at providing all necessary information to newcomers and returning players alike. It will cover most topics, from the absolute basics to more advanced concepts.

I plan to regularly update it with screenshots and even video clips as time goes by and the game evolves.
This handbook as already been published on the Reddit, and I now have the joy of bringing it to Steam on the long awaited EA release!

Keep in mind that Predecessor will be in EA for several months. Features will be lacking and gameplay/balance will evolve over time, though the basics concepts are unlikely to change much.

A few words on Predecessor's EA

As Omeda Studios has stated :
- The game will be Free to Play on Launch, but for now it's a paid Early Access to support the development process

- There will be more shop content as the game gets closer to full release.

- There will be one new Champion every month, current pace is one every 6 weeks, including original Champions that weren't in OG Paragon.

- There will be ranked mode at some point. You can track your stats and ELO on Omeda City for now.

For a complete statement over the development of Predecessor by the Studio, please check the Predecessor Discord, you'll find "EA-FAQ" under the "Information" Tab.

Guide versions updates

V1.0
Full text content uploaded

V1.1
Added some Screenshots

V1.2
Added EA Season 1 and Countess to the guide

V1.3
Added Revenant

V1.4
Added Shinbi
Modified Fangtooth section to reflect changes to Primal Fang
Modified every Champions' usual roles to better reflect the meta I've witnessed since EA launch.

V1.5 Added Kira

V1.6 Added Phase. Updated EA Season 2.

V1.7 Added Morigesh and Greystone. Sorry I'm late!

V1.8 Added TwinBlast, Zarus and Serath. Updated EA season 3

V1.9 Added Iggy, Wraith and Kwang.

V1.91 Added Argus, courtesy of Flamepojken's assistance.

V1.92 Added Post-Season 3, GRIMM, Aurora and Brawl Mode

V1.93 Added Terra, Zinx and Skylar. Sorry for the wait !

Coming soon :

Videos integration is post-poned. I'm currently too busy with work and Internal Testing and it won't get any better during 2024. In the meantime, I will keep the guide updated on champions.

Some players have been asking me to integrate an itemization guide. I will not do so until the end of EA, as Omeda has been regularly making drastic changes to items. Many items have been entirely reworked with different names/functions, making it pointless to do an itemization guide so early in the process.

EA Season 1

This the RoadMap for the first season of EA! I'll add every new Champion to the guide when they're released.

EA Season 2 : Road to Ascension

EA Season 3 : Harness the Storm

Post-Season 3

Although there's no Season 4 in the sense that we are not getting seasonal reward, the coming months will bring another set of Paragon OG Champions (two of which are GRIMM and Aurora) and one Omeda original. Look forward to see who's back !

Brawl Mode

The newest addition to the game, Brawl is a mode than emphasizes non-stop action and shorter matches. Great for unwinding, warming up, trying out new champions, whacky builds or simply having fun with friends !

Rules :
- Kill minions and champions to remove tickets from the enemy team's pool
- Killing a champion remove points
- When five champions have been killed, spawn a Fangtooth. Bringing the fangtooth to the enemy's portal remove more points !
- Orb Prime will spawn later in the match
- Average match length : 10 to 15 minutes, usually.
- Faster gold and experience gain
- Currently less Amber/Affinity reward than the Monolith Mode.

Scoring :
- killing an enemy minion : -1
- Killing an enemy champion : -5
- Bringing an allied minion to the Portal : -1
- Bringing the Fang to the portal : -15
- Securing Orb Prime : -50
- Killing a Fang or a buff : currently doesn't remove points

Around the map, you will find three creatures on each side :
- Orange Buff brings increased on-hit damage to AA and jump height
- Purple Buff brings increased size, tenacity and durability
- The River Bug is still the River Bug. Use it for handy buffs or regenerate mana
- Each side has an healing pool that refills health and mana in a burst when you stand on it.

Additional details :
Brawl has its own balance changes.
Notably : Blink is 120s CD ; Sevarog and Crests generate stacks passively ; -20% Ultimate CD on all champions.

Table of Content

• Predecessor 101

• Glossary for new MOBA players
  
• Rules
  
• Map
  
• Minions & Buffs
  
• Structures
  
• Objectives
  
• The Five Roles
  
• Itemization basics & stats
  
  

• Laning 101

• Lane Phases
  
• Wave control basics
  
• Trading
  
• Melee vs Ranged
  
• Vision
  
• Understanding Priority
  
  

• Jungling 101

• Jungle Layout & Buffs
  
• Jungle basics
  
• Cycling
  
• Ganking
  
  

• Advanced Jungling

• Tower dives
  
• Counter-jungling & invades
  
• Crossplaying
  
• Objectives & Prio
  
• Kill Conversion
  
• Common Mistakes
  
  

• Full Champions overview

• Recommendation for beginners
  
• Understanding subroles
  
• Every EA Champion reviewed
  

Glossary for new MOBA players

For new MOBA players, here's a glossary with a fair chunk of the lingo commonly used by players


AFK
• Away from keyboard
• Doing something without paying attention or without thinking if it’s the right move
• “Kallari, stop AFK split! We need you with the team!”


• All-in
• To commit all your resources (like abilities, cooldowns) to kill an enemy.


APC
• An abbreviation for ability power carry.


Area of Effect (AoE)
• An ability or effect that can hit multiple targets at once.


Autofill
• When you queue and are assigned a role you don’t play or volunteer to pick your role last so the others can play the role of their choice


B (back)
• Meaning to “retreat”


BRB : Be right back, used when you are recalling to base.


Buff
1. An ability that empowers you or your ally, usually through increasing stats.
2. A balance change that makes a champion stronger during a patch.


Burst
• To deal a large amount of damage instantly with an attack or an ability.


Camp
1. A spawn location of a jungle monster or monsters.
2. To repeatedly gank the same lane (Bro, the Khaimera is camping my lane, do something about it!)


Cooldown (CD)
• Represents the downtime after the activation of an ability during which an ability cannot be casted.


Crowd control
• Also known as “CC”.
• Effects that hinder a champion’s ability to move or act, such as stuns, slows, and knockups


Counter pick
• A champion pick that is chosen to create a favorable matchup against an already picked enemy champion (example: picking Belica when your opponent has picked Gadget)
Creep Score (CS)
• A score representing how much entities (minions, monsters…) you have killed. This is on the scoreboard and is a good indicator of how strong you currently are (except for Support, of course)


Dive
• To look to kill an opponent while they are in range of their turret.
• Also, to hard engage into the enemy backline during a teamfight, with abilities that allows you to maneuver around their frontline (ex: Steel’s ultimate)


Damage over time (DoT)
• An ability, attack, or effect which deals damage over time.


Damage per second (DPS)
• Damage per second.


Double buff
• When a player simultaneously has blue buff and red buff.

ELO
• Represent the ranking system of a player. Not yet in the game for Predecessor


Farm
• The act of last-hitting a minion or jungle monster to collect gold and experience.


Facecheck
• To go through a Fog Veil or a visionless area without checking what’s behind first.
• “Bro, you can’t just facecheck Fangtooth’s pit when they have a Riktor!”


Fed
• When a champion is ahead in gold, levels, and/or kills so that they are much stronger than the enemy team.


Focus
• To prioritize damage onto a specific target.
• “Their Sparrow is gigafed, Feng, you need to focus her!”


Gank
• To ambush a lane (usually with greater numbers) with the intention of landing a kill or burning a blink


Glass cannon
• A champion or build that yields high damage output in exchange for being easy to kill.
• Ex: Sparrow


GG
1. Traditionally an abbreviation for “good game”
2. Can sometimes be used ironically to mean “it’s over” when things are going poorly.
3. You’ll also see GGWP for “good game well played”.


Int
• Dying intentionally (or playing so badly it looks like you’re dying intentionally)
• “Gideon has been inting mid since the start”


Last-hit
• To get the killing blow on a minion or monster.


Kite
• To attack while gradually retreating, keeping an opponent out of harm’s reach by using either mobility or CC. "Bro, I can't get close to their Murdock, he's kiting me so hard!"


KS
• Kill steal
• Taking a kill from someone when you haven’t actively contributed to it


Main
• Refers to a player’s primary role or primary champion that they play or climb with.


Marksman
• A ranged AD carry (ADC) champion that deals attack damage.


Meta
• The perceived “best” in relation to how the game is played and the state of game balance.
• Often refers to champion choices, item and build choices, and team compositions.


OOM
• Acronym for out of mana.


OP
• Overpowered.
• “Broken” is often used as a synonym.
• Can also refer to the Neutral Objective “Orb Prime”


Pathing
• The route a player takes across the map. It usually refers to a Jungler’s movement while clearing camps


• Peel
• To position and use abilities in order to protect an ally from enemies.
• “Steel, you need to peel for Murdock!”


• Permastun
• To use crowd control to the point that it feels like a champion cannot move or act for a long time.
• “I got permastun by that Riktor”


Pick
• When multiple members for one team kill a lone member of the enemy team.


Ping
• To signal using the ping system.


Poke
• To deal damage from afar. Can be with an auto-attack or targeted ability, but typically with a skillshot


Powerspike
• When a champion hits a point in the game where they are at their most powerful, whether its due to scaling with items or experience.


Priority (prio)
• Having a minion wave being pushed toward the enemy base rather than being even or towards your own base.
• Means you are free to roam/rotate temporarily


Proc
• To trigger or activate a condition or effect
• “You need to proc Crunch’s passive for full effectiveness!”


Scaling
• Scaling refers to a champion becoming gradually stronger throughout a match.
• Some champions scale with items and some scale with experience due to their kits.
• Scaling is different for every champion and naturally, some champions scale better than others
• “Don’t worry, our Sparrow will outscale them!”


Skill-shot
An ability that requires you to aim and is not guaranteed like a point-and-click ability.


Skill matchup
• Some champion vs champion matchups have inherent advantages and disadvantages for each champion
• A skill matchup refers to a champion vs champion matchup where neither champion has a clear advantage and it relies on the individual skill levels of the players to be the deciding factor.
• “Belica vs Gideon is a skill match-up!”


Smurf
• A secondary account for a player to play at a lower rank than their main account.
• Often used as a compliment when someone is playing well, “Wow our Crunch is smurfing on them!”


Split-push
• Simultaneously pushing multiple lanes.


• Squishy
• A champion that is easy to kill due to a lack of total HP or defenses.
• “Kallari, Gadget are squishies”


Sustain
• The tendency to stay healthy through regen, healing, or shielding, whether it be through items or abilities.
• Rampage has a lot of sustain


Sweep
• To clear an area of vision using a Sentry



Teamfight
• A large scale fight that consists of 3 or more members from each team, such as 3v3, 4v4, 5v5.
Trade
• During laning phase, a trade refers to when opposing champions exchange damage between CS’ing.
• A trade can also refer to objectives. For example, Trading Fangtooth for Prime


True damage
• A type of damage that ignores magic resist, armor, and damage reduction effects

• Wombo combo
• When multiple team members layer powerful abilities (often ultimates) for devastating impact.
• The most famous wombo is a Fey/Steel/Gadget wombo combo


Zone
• To use a champion’s abilities or presence to control an area and prevent or discourage an opponent from entering.
• “Why didn’t you join the fight?! – I was zoned out by their Howitzer!”

Predecessor 101 : Understanding the game

Predecessor is a 5v5 Third Person Action MOBA, successor of Epic Games’ Paragon whose development stopped years ago.

The rules are simple :

- 3 lanes + the Jungle (Duolane, Midlane, Offlane + Jungle)

- Push the lanes, destroy the towers, destroy the inhibitors, destroy the Core

- There are two paths to victory : either destroy the Core or break your opponents’ will and have them surrender


Welcome to Agora!

Understanding the map

• The map, often referred to as The Monolith, has two sides (Dusk/Dawn or Red/Blue)
  
  
• The three lanes are the Duo Lane (Carry/Support), MidLane, Solo/Offlane
  
  
• Quick tip for map orientation : Duo Lane is on the side of Gold Buff (find the Yellow Dot on the side of the map) and Offlane has the Green Buff (find the Green Dot on the side)
  
  
• Each lane has 2 towers (called T1 and T2) and one Inhibitor
  
  
• Prime Pit is on the Offlane side, Fangtooth is on Duo side
  
  
• Between the lanes is the Jungle, the frontier between Dusk and Dawn is called the River
  
  
• Taking a few minutes to practice offline on your own and walking around the map to understand the layout before your first match is paramount. It takes 5 minutes but ensure that your first games are not complete trainwrecks
  
  
• There will be a tutorial someday, for now, practicing offline and reading/watching beginners guides will help you

Understanding Minions

• Four types of lane Minions : Ranged/Melee/Siege/Super
  
  
• Minions provide experience divided between every Champion in range of a dying Minion
  
  
• Minions provide Gold to the Champion that last hit
  
  
• Whenever a Minion’s HP bar goes red, this means your next Basic will destroy it
  
  
• The first waves are 3 Melee/2 Ranged. Every third wave has a Siege as well
  
  
• Melee are more durable, but do less damage and are worth more resources
  
  
• Ranged are fragile but deal more damage, worth less resources
  
  
• Siege are durable and deal more damage, and are worth a lot of resources. The first Siege spawns on wave 3
  
  
• SuperMinions spawn when an inhibitor is destroyed. They are tanky and deal a lot of damage. The wave will automatically push if there’s a Super.
  
  
• Minions will target Champions if a Champion damages another Champion near them. This is called ‘Minion aggro’. If you are taking Minions aggro, their eyes light up and they look toward you.
  
  
• Minions deal a lot of damage early game, beware of trading inside a wave

Understanding Structures (Towers, Inhibitors and the Core)

• Towers prevent the lane from pushing by destroying Minions automatically
  
  
• Towers are armored. Their resistances are lowered whenever a Minion wave enter their radius
  
  
• Tower will deal physical damage to any Champion that enters its range without a wave, or will switch aggro to defend their own Champions if attacked. This is called tower aggro
  
  
• Physical Armor heavily reduces tower damage, but towers will obliterate Champions early on
  
  
• Towers will not regenerate when destroyed and will not repair themselves if damaged
  
  
  
• Inhibitors will emit a pulse that acts as Area Damage when attacked. Bring down an inhibitor will spawn SuperMinions for the attacker on this lane.
  
  
• Inhibitor will respawn and heal after some time if left unattended.
  
  
• Respawned Inhibitors are "deactivated" and lose all defensive capabilities
  
  
• The Core is your main objective : Core destroyed = Defeat
  
  
• The Core can only be damaged if at least one Inhibitor is down
  
  
• The Core will radiate a pulse that damages everything around it. Damage is divided amongst all hostiles : the more Minions and Champions around, the less damage will be suffered.
  
  
• The Core can be slightly damaged without a Minion Wave, this is often called backdooring. However, this will only finish a very damaged Core

Understanding lane buffs

• Duo Lane has the Gold Buff : it provides Gold and Experience
  
  
• OffLane has the Green Buff : it provides a burst of Health and Mana resources
  
  
• Midlane has access to two River Bugs. River Bugs provide mana regeneration and a random buff (invisibility/speed/ability power/Damage over time…)
  
  
• Buffs and Bugs cannot be damaged from afar unless they reset : at least one Champion has to stand in their vicinity to bring down their defenses
  
  
• Buffs are Health Points based : they will die faster the stronger you become
  
  
• The Jungle has the Blue and Red Buff. Blue provide Mana Regen and CD reduction, Red provides damage over time and slow on hits

Understanding Neutral Objectives

• There are three Neutral Objectives : MiniPrime, Orb Prime(Prime Guardian) and Fangtooth
  
  
• MiniPrime spawn Offside, it grants a temporary buff to Champion and an empowering aura that buffs nearby Minions
  
  
• MiniPrime only affects the one giving the killing blow. Its main use is to bring down the first few towers thanks to its buff.
  
  
• I consider MiniPrime like a map opener. If no structures have already fallen, you can claim MiniPrime to force a tower push and open that lane. Preferably Mid, but you won't always have the choice
  
  
  
  
• Orb Prime spawn later during the game and is much harder to defeat. It provides a stronger buff than the Mini and is usually essential in closing a game.
  
  
• Both Mini and Orb Prime deal damage divided between hostiles and apply Blight. This is to prevent soloing. I consider that Mini requires an early presence of at least 2 Champions and can be soloed later on. I wouldn't call for an Orb Prime claim with less than 3 members of the team and only at level 15+, because Orb Prime is currently very hard to defeat.
  
  
• The main use of OP is to push inhibitors or the Core. Outside of the increased stats and minions buff, OP gives you a very strong out of combat regen buff that allows you to consistently pressure the enemy structures in preparation for the final push.

The Prime Pit

• Fangtooth spawns Duo side. It provides a permanent, cumulative buff depending on how many Fangtooth you claimed.
  
  
• Fangtooth doesn’t do much damage and can be easily soloed, including very early, although he's fairly durable and can take a lot of time to kill on your own.

Those are the current Fangtooth stacking effects :

• 1st - Jungle Buff Duration | +50% (capped at 30 seconds)
  
• 2nd - Out of Combat Movement Speed | +8%.
  
• 3rd - Increase Physical Power, Magical Power, Physical Armor, Magical Armor | +8%.
  [
  
• After 3 Fangteeth have been defeated, the Primal Fangtooth spawns. Primal grants a strong temporary team-wide buff :
  
  
• ◆ Primordial Blaze
  
• ➢ Damage dealt to Enemy Targets will set them aflame, dealing true Damage Over Time.
  
• ➢ This damage is increased by 50% against Enemy Heroes below 25% maximum health.
  
• ◆ Buff Duration:
  
• ➢ 2 minutes (120s), which always leads to 2 and a half minutes (150s) due to first Fangtooth buff granting +30s.

Overall, Fangtooth is currently extremely important for how easy it is to kill. A full team can burn Fang in a matter of seconds, so be very wary of letting your enemies stack that objective freely, as it can come back to bite you in the late game.

Understanding the 5 roles : Carries

• There are 5 roles to pick from : Carry, Support, Midlaner, Offlaner, Jungler
  
  
• In this part, we’ll have a short look at every role. You will find Champions recommendations for each role and especially for beginners in the Roster Overview part.
  
  
  
• The Carry is the team main physical damage dealer. Carries are often very weak early but grow stronger over the duration of the match, outscaling most other Champions.
  
  
• The Carry is a ravenous role that consumes most of the resources on the map, but prioritizing gold. In exchange for that, Carries have the potential to devastate the entire enemy team late game.
  
  
• ADC are Basic Attack Damage based (physical damage dealer) and often ranged Champions, although melee Carries exist (Serath, Yin, WuKong notably)
  
  
• Caster carries are ability based Champions that function the same as ADC, but not physical damage dealer. Most Casters make decent Carries (Howitzer, Bellica, Fey…) although very few players specialize in this playstyle, since it only fits very specific compositions (for example, when you have physical melee Fighters in Jungle, Mid and Offlane, you may want to switch your Marksman Carry for a Caster)
  
  
• Carries, especially Marskman ADC (Sparrow, TB, Murdock…) are squishy and often have little self-peel. They depend on their support to survive the early game and on their team to protect them during mid and late game
  
  
• Carries have to play very selfishly and prioritize their own survival above all. Any second not spent farming is wasted. Since they are so powerful however, they are also the most important target for the enemy team
  
  
• Carries are a feast/famine role since they barely have any CC available to be relevant without resources. A Carry playing from ahead will devastate entire teams, a Carry playing from behind is little more than a walking Gold sack.
  
  
• Since they do so much physical damage, ADC are essential in destroying Structures and Neutral Objectives. Caster Carries are however more responsible for winning teamfights
  
  
• Playing Carries is about :Surviving, efficient farming, taking objectives and structures, dealing damage during teamfights
  

Supports

• The Support starts the game on the Duo Lane alongside their carry.
  
  
• Support are Champions with a lot of crowd control or utility, that excels in protecting friendlies, locking down hostiles or initiating fights
  
  
• Because of the nature of their Crests, Supports are responsible for controlling and denying Vision on the map. Early on, protect your carry by warding defensively. Mid and Late game, control Vision around Neutral Objectives and chokepoints
  
  
• Supports should avoid draining resources from the Carry. Last hitting and taking Gold for yourself will actively play against your Carry. Remember that your Crest will both actively and passively generate Gold.
  
  
• A Support responsibilities are : Protect your Carry, Control Vision, Assist your Team, engage or disengage teamfights, setup objectives through Vision and space control.
  
  
• During the early game, when your Carry isn’t self sufficient, stay with them as much as possible
  
  
• During Mid game, rotate around the map and assist other lanes
  
  
• During late game, stay with the team and be ready to fight. Only stray to setup Vision and Neutral Objectives
  
  
• Support is a selfless and often thankless role, but Supports have the most responsibilities, on par with the Jungler. A Support needs above average Macro and situational awareness to perform.
  
  
• The single most important I can give to a new Support player is this : always stand almost on the same line as your Carry. If you are too far behind them, you cannot retaliate when they are hit. If you are in front of them, you'll get poked and they won't be able to ripost for you.
  
• If you are almost on the same line, you can both focus fire on a target that makes a mistake
  
  
• Ranged Support usually stands one step back from the Carry to have them in their Field Of Vision for easy use of spells/shields. Melee Supports usually are one step in front to be able to quickly engage or bodyblock if need be

Midlaners

• The Midlaner plays on the Middle Lane in a 1v1 initial situation. Midlaner are most often Casters Champions, but some Fighters, Assassins or even Marksmen make decent Midlaners as well.
  
  
• Midlaners have strong agency, behind the Support and Jungler. They need to win their lane to get Prio in order to assist others lanes or support the Jungler when going for Objectives or Invasions
  
  
• Midlane is a short, very exposed lane with a lot of jungle and lane interference (Midlane can be ganked by the Jungler or rotated to by Off/Duo laners)
  
  
• In exchange for that vulnerability, Mid’s central position allows quick access to other lanes and enemy’s jungle.
  
  
• Mid is a good role for players who enjoy Casters Champions or being at the core of the action.
  
  
• Mid’s responsibilities : win lane/get prio/rotate to assist lanes or Jungler. During fights : initiate, poke and deal AoE damage

Offlaners

• Offlaners play in a 1v1 situation on the Solo Lane.
  
  
• Offlane is a long, isolated lane with little interference that favors Fighters and Tanks, although some Casters and Marksmen are sometimes played there as well.
  
  
• Offlaners need to be experienced in dealing with 1v1 and 1v2 situations and rely on themselves first and foremost.
  
  
• Offlaners are often relied on to provide the main frontline or physical damage during late game teamfights, providing engage and cover for backliners

Junglers

• The Junger has the most responsibilities in the team, and the only role that is not forced into a lane confrontation.
  
  
• Because of the nature of the Hunt, Junglers receive reduced Exp & Gold from lane Minions.
  
  
• Junglers balance their time clearing the Jungle, ganking and playing around Structures and Neutral Objectives.
  
  
• Jungle has a diverse roster that includes Fighters, Assassins, Tanks and even Casters.
  
  
• Junglers act as a team-wide support that is expected to assist lanes, control Vision and Objectives as well as restrict the actions of the opposing Jungler.
  
  
• All information you need about playing this very specific, lane-less role are in the dedicated Jungle 101 and Advanced Jungling parts

Itemization basics : Understanding Crests

• Understanding the Crest system
  
  
• Regardless of which role you play, you will always start with a Crest and a collection of potions/wards.
  
  
• -Crests are starter items that will grow into a complete item over the course of the game through a condition. For example, the Titan Crest, used by Tanks, grows through receiving damage.
  
  
• Whenever a Crest is fully evolved, it will give you the choice between various final forms. Each form will provide specifics stats and a unique passive/active.
  
  
• Crests are not tied to a specific Champion, but to a specific archetype. For example, the Titan Crest is favored by Tanks, the Rogue Crest by Assassins, the Warlock Crest by hybrid Casters.

Understanding Stats

• A simple, quick overview of what stats means in this game
  
• 
  
• HP = your health
  
• 
  
• HP regen = HP recovered per second
  
• 
  
• Mana = resource used by casting skills/spells
  
• 
  
• Mana regen = Mana recovered per second
  
• 
  
• Physical/Ability Armor = reduces Physical/Ability damage
  
• 
  
• Physical/Ability damage = increases Phys/Ability damage
  
• 
  
• Attack Speed = increase Basic Attack frequency
  
• 
  
• Crit Chance = % of scoring a critical hit (x1.5 damage)
  
• 
  
• Crit damage = increase the damage dealt by critical hits
  
• 
  
• Phys/Ability Pen = reduces the effectiveness of Armor
  
• 
  
• Ability Haste = reduce your abilities cooldown
  
• 
  
• Lifesteal = absorb part of the damage dealt by your Basic Attacks back as HP
  
• 
  
• OmniVamp = absorb part of every type of damage dealth back as HP
  
• 
  
• Movement speed
  
• 
  
• Tenacity : Crowd Control reduction. The higher your Tenacity %, the faster you recover from crowd control like Stuns, Roots etc...

What to look for when Building?

• For beginners, here are a few rules of thumb to start building efficiently:
  
• 
  
• 
  
• ADC : Phys damage/Crit Chance/Crit Damage/Attack Speed/Lifesteal/Armor Pen
  
• 
  
• Fighters : Phys damage/Attack speed/OmniVamp/Armor/Ability Haste
  
• 
  
• Assassins : Phys Damage/Attack Speed/Ability Haste/Phys Pen
  
• 
  
• Casters : Ability damage/Mana/Mana Regen/Ability Pen/Ability Haste/OmniVamp
  
• 
  
• Tanks & Guardians : Armor/HP/Ability Haste/Mana/HP Regen
  
• 
  
• Enchanters : Mana/Mana Regen/ Ability Haste

Basics of Laning : Understanding Lane Phase - Early, Mid, Late

• Early laning describe your starting situation, in the 2v2 or 1v1 lanes, or in the Jungle. Early laning usually last until the first T1 tower is destroyed.
  
  
• Mid game is after the first structure falls. One laner in the team now have much less incentive to stay in lane and will mostly roam the map to impact other lanes by ganking or destroying remaining T1s. Small scale teamfights are more common, the first objectives are fought over
  
  
• Late game : most structures have been destroyed and large scale teamfights are occurring around objectives. Teams are contesting the Prime Guardian in order to destroy inhibitors and make a push to the Core.

Wave control Basics

• Basic Wave control skills
  
  
• There are four basic wave controls you will need to understand to be able to lane efficiently and consistently. Fast push, Crash, Slow push, Freezing
  
  
• Fast push is the easiest: you consistently attack the wave with basic attacks and spells to have your own wave push farther.
  
  
• Fast pushing is used to siege a tower, gain an early level advantage or gain priority to roam/rotate
  
  
  
  
• Crashing is a variant of the push where you use the entirety of your available firepower to push the wave as fast as possible. Some Champions like Gadget or Sparrow may even use their ultimate to crash a lane.
  
  
• A Crash is often used to punish a roaming opponent, to create a roam tempo or before recalling
  
  
• Crashing is seldom used when your opponent is able to contest, since it leaves you temporarily defenseless. Crash when your opponent isn’t in lane or is too weak/wounded to retaliate.
  
  
  
• Slow pushing is achieved by only last hitting Minions. Since your own Minions will die faster than the opponent’s, your own wave will receive reinforcements faster, building a big wave
  
  
• Slow pushing is used to do a long siege, to create a longer roam timer, to prevent your opponent from fighting you or to dive an opponent
  
  
• In the current version, Minions waves are extremely strong and can easily take down structures on their own if left unattended. Before going for an objective, you can setup a snowballing slow push from your side of the map by only killing the ranged Minions of a wave and letting the melee undamaged. If the wave is left unattended, this wave will slowly grow bigger until there are a dozen minions inside.
  
  If no one catches that wave, it will grow big enough to take down towers or inhibitors on its own. It's a great way to be able to rotate to an objective by forcing someone on the enemy team to catch that wave or risk losing a structure.
  
  
• As a rule of thumb, keep in mind that Ranged minions are the one who decide where the wave will push. If your own wave has 2 Ranged and the enemy has 4, then the wave will push toward your own Core.
  
  If an inhibitor is down though, the wave will always push. This is what players call "Winions" : when a SuperMinions wave is left unattended and the Minions are taking the Core down by themselves.
  
  
• Freezing is achieved by preserving your opponent’s minion advantage. For example, if your own wave has 3 minions, you will want the enemy wave to have 4 or 5 minions to ensure the wave won’t push.
  
  
• You can also stand in front the wave to choose the location where the wave will meet. Beware that this will take a significant chunk of your health early on. This is called dragging the wave
  
  
• Freezing is used whenever you have achieved a significant advantage over your opponent (match-up favorable, health/mana advantage, item advantage…). Freezing will prevent your opponent from getting close enough to last-hit, lest they risk being killed.

Trading

• Trading is the essential skill of laning and the most complex.
  
  
• Easiest way to understand trading is to think of laning as a turn-based RPG game
  
  
• Whenever a Champion gets close enough to use an ability, they use up a turn : they will not be able to fully retaliate since one or more of their abilities in on CD
  
  
• The two most common trading opportunities are thus : 1/When your opponent has used an ability on you or the wave and 2/When your opponent gets closer in order to Last Hit a Minion
  
  
• Basic rule of efficient trading is : “Make your opponent fight for every Last Hit”. If the match-up or situation is favorable to you and you do not punish your opponent every time they try to grab Gold or Exp, you are making a mistake and may lose a lane that you were supposed to win.
  
  
• Second rule is : “never trade in the wave”. This is a common beginner mistake. Between level 1 to 4, Minions hurt. A lot. Attacking your opponent when they have Minion advantage will ensure you lose the trade or get killed.
  
  
• Knowing level break point is paramount. The Champion that first reaches level2/3 and 6 are at a huge advantage and will almost always go for a kill/trade at that breakpoint.
  
  
• For the first few minutes of the game, you should always keep count of how much Minions you and your opponent have killed so that you know when they are about to level up. During your first match, keep track of how many minions it takes for you to level up to 2 and 3, and keep that number in mind for the next thousands matchs!
  
  
• If you recognize you will level up later than your opponent, immediately back off the wave and do not contest the wave until your levels have been equalized. Ignoring level breakpoints is the most common cause of First Blood I usually witness.

Poke, Burst Trades, All-In

• Those are the most common type of trading
  
  
• Poke : ranged damage, usually low but easy to inflict and adds-up (The Fey, Gadget, Sparrow…)
  
  
• Pokers are often lane bullies that constantly harass their opponents but are weak and fragile once you manage to bring the fight into melee range
  
  
• Burst Trades : sudden, brutal damage that is harder to inflict but deal significant damage.
  
  
• Once depleted, a Champion that achieved a Burst Trade is usually no longer a threat .
  
  
• Burst traders are usually non-committal Champions : they engage, exhaust their burst, then back off immediately to avoid retaliation and recharge, unless their opponent is below their kill threshold and they can finish them off (Belica, TwinBlast, Gideon, Countess…)
  
  
• All-in : Throw in everything you have in a kill or be killed situation. All-in are very risky and you need to have a proper understanding of All-Ins opportunities.
  
  
• All-ins are usually available whenever your opponent has wasted resources or abilities or your win condition has been achieved. For example, if you manage to bait out Gideon's teleport, you have a dozen seconds to kill him before he's able to brush off assaults again
  
  
• Some Champions favors All-ins, those are mobile Fighters with a gap close or the ability to lock down a foe, or Champions that grow stronger the longer the fight goes on (Feng, Khaimera, Drongo, Riktor, Rampage…)

A word on Melee vs Ranged match-up:

• This is a common question for beginners : how do you win lane when your opponent has a range advantage and you get poked for every step you take and every Last Hit you try to perform?
  
  
• A few guidelines :
  
  
• If your opponent is freezing you off the wave at early levels, do not contest the freeze. You’ll get poked
  
  
• If you have kill threat, preserve your resources and sacrifice Last Hits to stay heathy, then go for an All-In assault or a burst trade when you reach level 2 or 3. This is common for strong early melee that can dive their opponent ( Feng Mao, Riktor, Khaimera…)
  
  
• If you do not have kill threat, sacrifice some resources to grab as much Last Hit as you can. This is common for weak early melee that don't have a reliable kill threat until level 6 (Kallari, Steel, Sevarog…)

Priority and turns

• You have priority whenever you are able to freely move around the map for some time
  
  
• Priority is acquired whenever you do not have a wave to collect and/or your opponent is out of lane
  
  
• Think of priority as getting a turn in a role playing card game: whenever you have Prio, this is your turn and you may play one card
  
  
• This card can be “rotate to another lane for a gank” or “invade their Jungle with my Jungler”, “Enter their Jungle to put down a deep ward”, “go into the River to put down a shallow ward”, “Group up with the team to claim an objective” etc…
  
  
• If you are pushed under tower, your opponent has Prio : you cannot leave your own tower without sacrificing all your Minions, meaning you will be economically set back a lot.
  
  
• For example, If a fight breaks out between two Junglers in the River, the Midlaner who has Prio can rotate, the one without cannot or will rotate late. This is how Junglers and laners decide if a play is possible or not. Ignore this rule at your own peril
  
  
• Gaining Prio should be one of your main objectives as a Laner, since this is how you will be able to rotate and control the map
  
  
• However, be aware than some match-ups are low Prio: this is often the case when one Champion is significantly stronger early than its foe, or when you are playing a short range Champion into a long range one. For example, a Steel/Drongo duo should not have early Priority against a Fey/Sparrow since they both outrange them and have more firepower to push the lane.

Vision : what it is, how it works - Wards, Sentries and SolStones

• Vision is Predecessor’s intelligence warfare. Vision describes how much control a team has over information on the map. Vision is set up through wards and denied through Sentries
  
  
• Everyone is responsible for Vision, but the Support and Jungler are especially tasked with it. The Jungler because he has the freedom to move around the map and use his Sentry to remove wards, and the Support through the SolStone that gives access to multiple wards when your Support Crests are evolved.
  
  
• Fog Veil are those fixed mist walls between a lane and the River. They effectively blur Line of Sight : vision is diminished beyond Fog Veils
  
  
• Common warding spots are usually choke point s and high-traffic areas. Warding objectives is also necessary to prevent “sneaking” objectives.
  
  
• Remember that Fog Veil will block wards Line of Sight
  
  
• Use sentries to detect and destroy wards
  
  
• Champions that have accesses to cloak (Kallari, Wraith…) can be temporarily revealed through wards

Basics of Jungling : Jungle layout

• Jungle layout
  
  
• - The jungle is composed of 4 quadrants, 2 for each side : one Blue, One Red quadrant each.
  
  
• - Each quadrant is composed of one Jungle Buff (Red or Blue) and two Jungle Minions camps.
  
  
• - Both Jungle sides are oppositely mirrored : your Blue quadrant borders their Red quadrant, and your Red quadrant borders their Blue quadrant.
  
  
• - Clearing a buff from level 1 will give you level 2
  
  
• - Fully clearing one quadrant from level 1 will bring you to level 3
  
  
• Your own Jungle side is separated from your opponent’s by the River.

Jungle buffs - Of Red, Blue, and Bugs

• Red Buff provides slow on hit + Damage over time on hit.
  
  
• Blue provides CD reduction and mana regen
  
  
• River Bugs provides a temporary burst of mana regen and a random effect (speed boost, ability damage, cloak...)

Understanding the Hunt

• - The Hunt is a mandatory item for Junglers. It is automatically given to anyone locking in as the Jungler
  
  
• - The Hunt will provide additional effects against monsters.
  
  
• - After its threshold is passed, The Hunt will evolve
  
  
• - Activating the Hunt deals an instant 500/1000 dmg to Monsters depending on Hunt evolution. This is how you secure neutral Objectives.
  
  
• Beware that your opponent can do the same: keep the enemy Jungler away from Objectives unless you want to coinflip a Hunt duel.
  
  
• - The Hunt passively reduces the resources you receive from Lane Minions. This is to prevent Junglers from excessively and selfishly improving their economy at the detriment of their allies

Jungle essentials - 10 seconds to understand your job

• Clear the Jungle to grow your economy (Exp & Gold)
  
  
• Gank to impact the lanes and get your allies ahead
  
  
• Push waves to fix lanes when needed
  
  
• Set up objectives by clearing enemy Vision and coordinate with your laners (especially support) to put down your own wards.
  
  
• Contest and claim neutral objectives

How to cycle properly

• Proper pathing is key to becoming an efficient Jungler
  
  
• If you play Team Death Match and spend all your time ganking without farming, you'll eventually grow weaker and your opponent will take everything from you.
  
  
• Wasteful movement will be punished by a better opponent
  
  
• As a rule of thumb, it’s good practice to always clear the closest quadrant before going for a gank
  
  
• Balancing ganking and clearing is paramount
  
  
• Know your champion : some Junglers are farmers, some are Gankers. Gankers will be active sooner and impact the map earlier. Farmers are often weaker early but scales harder. Most of them are dependent on getting their level 6 because their ultimate significantly improves their ganks.
  
  
• Some common Gankers : Khaimera, Rampage, Grux, Feng
  
  
• Some common Farmers : Serath, Aurora, Sevarog, Riktor, Crunch
  
  
• You cannot be there for every play. Learn to self discipline : if a play happens on the map, ask yourself : “Can I change the outcome? Can I make an equal/opposite play on the other side?”
  
  
• If the response is twice “no”, then keep clearing. Your teammates will yell at you. Let them.

Ganking 101

• Ganking is the act of impacting a lane through Jungler interference
  
  
• Ganking is a high-risk manoeuver and should be planned and coordinated with your laners
  
  
• When ganking, the Jungler and the laners are forcing a fight. Laners could die, and so could you. If you die during a gank, the opposing Jungler can take an objective or freely invade.
  
  
• Thus why it is so important to clear the closest quadrant before committing to a gank. Even if it fails, you’ll have obtained some economic gains and prevented your foe from taking them.
  
  
  

• A few tips to improve your ganks:

  
  
• Walk into the gank. Unless absolutely essential, you should not use your movement ability or Blink to engage, since the enemy will use theirs and you’ll then have nothing to catch up
  
  
• CC should be properly layered : the hardest CC should come after the easiest to land CC (example : you’re Sevarog and ganking for a Fey. Wait for Fey to slow the target with Bramblepatch before using your Subjugate to root them)
  
  
• Ganking when your laners are low on resources (mana/HP) or when they are at a significant disadvantage (unspent gold, item disadvantage…) will most always end in a disaster and may kill your allies lane entirely.
  
  
• If the gank is successful, fix the lane before leaving : this usually implies to crash the wave under tower so your laner can recall without losing Gold, while their opponent will lose the wave.
  
  
• Always clear vision when ambushing. If you stand unknowingly on a ward, your opponents will have plenty of time to prepare a trap
  
  
• If your laners are telling you off the gank, listen to them. Even if you have wasted your time, it’s better than to commit alone and die a forlorn death.
  
  
• Do not overtax. The Hunt will restrict how much Gold you get anyway, so taking last hits from your allies will set them back and get them mad at you. Push the wave, soak the Exp, but leave the Last Hits for your allies

[/list]

Advanced Jungling concepts : Tower diving

• Tower diving is the most difficult maneuver to pull off for a Jungler but also the most impactful.
  
  
• Tower diving : Denies a lot of Minions to the dove Champion, allow significant damage to the tower, can crush a lane
  
  
• But also : can go horribly wrong if you mess up the coordination or get outplayed by the Laner or counter-dived by the Jungler.
  
  
• Parameters that allow a dive : significant advantage to your laner (HP, items…), wave about to crash
  
  
• Setting up the dive : 1/Laner builds a big wave (slow push into crash in the best) 2/Wave goes under tower 3/Usually, the tankiest Champion hits first to take Tower aggro, and keep aggro as long as they can while the Champion with the most damage finish off the target
  
  
• Some Junglers are better at dives than others, mostly because they can get in and out of tower fast, can push the target out of the tower or have a way to evade/reset tower aggro. Example : Aurora, Serath, Sevarog, Rampage, Feng, Crunch are excellent tower divers.
  
  
• If your kit doesn't allow for easy dives (Khaimera, Narb, Casters...) a good tip is simply to walk into the tower until you're in lethal range (the Minions will tank the tower for as long as you don't hit the enemy), kill your target, then blink out before the Tower disintegrates you

Counter Jungling and Jungle invasion

• Counter jungling means taking your opponent’s camps when they are busy with another play or unable to contest the invasion.
  
  
• This is how you gain an economic lead over them
  
  
• You can control their pathing through counter jungling : if they show up and their entire Red quadrant has been stolen, their most obvious options are to: go for a gank around Red quadrant immediately or go to Blue Quadrant to farm. If you know that, you can track them with higher accuracy
  
  
• Basic conditions for Counter jungling : have priority in nearby lanes OR know where the enemy jungler is OR be stronger that your opponent at this stage of the game
  
  
• You can abuse weaker Champions or weaker Junglers like this: if they cannot fight you, they'll either leave, call back-up, or try to fight you despite the odds and die. Simply have an escape route in case one of their laner decides to rotate, unless you can 2v1

Crossplaying

• Crossplaying defines the act of balancing your opponent’s play by your own. Example: they tower dive your duo, you gank their offlaner. They take Fangtooth, you take MiniPrime
  
  
• Crossplaying is how you maintain map balance when your opponent is making a move
  
  
• Crossplaying is the basic of Jungling at higher levels, but it’s not automatic : sometimes there are no equivalent play you can make, thus you need to keep farming. This is how you know the enemy is gaining tempo over you.

Playing around objectives & understanding Prio as a Jungler

• To claim an objective, you can either sneak them, teamfight them, or use priority
  
  
  
• Sneaking means taking them on your own, without anyone knowing
  
  
• I usually advise against sneaking objectives unless you have strong vision control or are immensely stronger than your opponent
  
  
• Sneaking can be predictable : you either step unknowingly on a ward or the enemy is suspicious because you haven’t shown up on the map for a while
  
  
• You are likely to get chunked by the Monster and if you are detected, the enemy can kill you and steal the objective, and you would have lost a lot of time. This can be a game breaking failure
  
  
  
  
• Teamfighting around objectives need you to have an advantage over the other team (numbers and/or power)
  
  
• Position advantage (being first inside the pit is best, since the enemy will have to go through chokepoints)
  
  
• Vision advantage (inside/outside the pit and particularly around chokepoints)
  
  
• Beware of team composition : a team of Kallari/Khaimera/Feng Mao/Murdock/Belica will be at a significant teamfighting disadvantage compared to a team of Gadget/The Fey/Sparrow/Sevarog/Grux
  
  
  
  
  
• Using priority is often the safest, most efficient way to take an objective
  
  
• Priority is gained when your allies have control over the lane : their opponents are dead, recalling, pushed under tower, weaker or low on resources
  
  
• Your allies are thus free to rotate and help you take the objective
  
  
• One prio is minimum, two prio is best : if you want MiniPrime but only your Offlaner has prio, you risk running into a 2v2 (you and your offlaner vs their jungler and their midlaner)
  
  
• If both surrounding lanes have prio, this is optimal: for example, you can claim Fangtooth as 4 (your ADC, support, your mid and yourself)

Example of a good use of Prio by the enemy Jungler. Me, Murdock and Feng are at our towers collecting waves. Howie is just coming back from base. The enemy have Prio in every lane and used it to take Fangtooth without interference.

Kill Conversion

• This is the defining trait of higher level Junglers and how they take over a game
  
  
• Kill conversion describes how a kill gained in a lane is translated into an advantage in the map
  
  
• This can happen in many ways :
  
  
• Kill a laner > damage their tower
  
• Kill a laner > Invade their jungler with your own laner
  
• Kill the Jungler > take his quadrant
  
• Counter gank > Kill laner and jungler > take an objective
  
• Their Jungler fails a tower dive > take their Minions, their Buffs, their dignity and their hope of winning the game
  
  
• Knowing when a kill is convertible or when it is too risky to convert is one of the most important decision-making skill for a Jungler

Common Jungling Mistakes

• As a Jungler, you are basically the team’s nanny. Every laner wants your attention and they will blame you for everything that happens to them. Keep your cool and do not waste time arguing. Any second spent arguing in chat is a second not spent farming camps or killing Champions
  
  
• If possible, always leave the lane in a favorable position for your laner after a gank. Do not ever grief your laners by leaving the lane is a dangerous spot for them. If your midlaner is playing Fey into Feng Mao, and you leave the lane near Feng’s tower, you basically made the game unplayable for your Fey unless she is significantly stronger.
  
  
• Do not ever take your laner’s Siege Minion. This will infuriate them and they WILL retaliate either verbally, through stealing your camps or straight up abandoning the game (yes, this is from experience)
  
  
• If you are a Carry Jungler (Crunch, Serath, Sevarog, Feng…) take the kills if possible during a gank. If you are an enabler or low economy Jungler (Rampage, Riktor, Narbash, Steel…) it can be best to leave the kill for your laner instead. Do not kill-steal if you haven't contributed significantly to the play, this will infuriate your laner and they will play against you.
  
  
• It is common courtesy, during mid/late game to leave your Red Buff to your ADC and your blue to your Caster if they are good. If they aren’t, keep them to yourself.
  
  
• If your laner has priority and is low on mana, do not take the River Bug. They will run out of mana and you will be responsible for forcing them to Recall.
  
  
• Getting into a fight in the River if your laners have no priority means you will die 3v1 or 2v1 and it will be your mistake and your mistake alone
  
  
• Invading if you have no priority and no idea where their Jungler is means you will die a lonely death
  
  
• Do not force a gank when your laner is pushed under tower with a big wave to collect (they will lose a lot of economy if they help you, or they will not help you and you will die alone)
  
  
• Do not force a gank when your laner is low on Mana/HP or when they are significantly weaker than their opponent : their foe will turn on you and you will gift them a double kill
  
  
• Do not try to salvage a crushed lane. If your Sevarog is 0-1 or 0-2 at three minutes, this is doable and you can help balance things. However, if they are 0-4 at minute 5 versus a Khaimera, they are doomed and there is nothing you can do for them. Mute them if needed, just protect the tower and collect the waves.
  
  
• Do not try to steal or contest an objective if you are at a significant disadvantage. If you are 2 v 4 at Fangtooth and you force a contest, you are just giving an extra two kills to your opponent. Instead, recall or try to make an equivalent play elsewhere on the map.
  
  
• Do not overstay on the map. You're playing Khaimera versus blind people, and just scored 3 kills in 3 ganks in the first 3 minutes? Congrats, now recall. Gold is worthless unless spent. If you don't recall and spend it, you're essentially a Khaimera running around with no items. Your enemy Jungler will have recalled and spend, they will kill you through item advantage, get your shutdown, take all your camps and you're now behind despite being 3-1

Roster Overview - How to pick your Champions

• They are currently 20 Champions in the game. I’ll give you a quick run down of every Champions in this fashion :
  
  
• -Type (Rangers/Support/Melee Fighters/Casters)
  
• -Subroles
  
• -Usually played in (lane)
  
• -Short summary of the Champion playstyle
  
• -Strength and weaknesses
  
  Keep in mind that this represents my own knowledge and experience, so better players will have a different understanding. Those are pointers, not rules. If you want to become a Muriel Jungle main, be true to yourself!
  
  
• Before we move on to the entire cast, I’ll give beginners a few recommendations of what I consider to be beginner-friendly Champions.
  
  
• It is important for new players to spend a few hours playing a single role before moving on to at least another role so they have a backup and better understanding of the game.
  
  
• I recommend having a pool of around 3 Champions that fits your main role, and 2 for your secondary role.
  
  
• That way you have the possibility to fits most team composition while still having decent knowledge of your Champions. It is important to favor Champions that you enjoy (esthetics, gameplay…) as you will spend many hours with them.
  
  
• They also need to fit the role you want to play, although Predecessor allows a lot of flexibility in this regard, as many Champions can perform in various roles depending on itemization.

Champions I'd recommend to beginners

Those recommendations are only for absolute new players that do not know the cast and are looking for an easy entry point into the game. If you have a few hours under your belt, then go play whatever you want! Make your own style!

- ADC : Murdock is a solid all rounder with decent tolerance for mistakes. His ultimate is also immensely fun to use. Drongo is an option although more complex to play. I advise beginners against Sparrow. Her kit may look easy on paper, but she has zero tolerance for mistakes and is a nightmare to play for new players as you are likely to be killed over and over again, as Sparrow as no self-defense abilities and no self peel.


- Support: Narbash and Muriel have straightforward kits with decent tolerance for mistakes. They can be useful regardless of your skills, even if you struggle, a shield or buff is always appreciated. Unless you really like them, stay away from Riktor or Dekker during your first hours, as they are entirely reliant on skillshots to be useful and Riktor has little tolerance for mistakes. Caster supports like Fey, Gadget or Belica are also too complex in this role for beginners in my opinion.


- Casters: Gideon and Gadget are the obvious choices for beginners as they are relatively easy and safe to play. They also have strong teamfighting ultimates that will make sure you can make big plays even as a new player. I’d stay away from Fey and Belica as they are immobile and complex to play with little tolerance for mistakes


- Junglers: Khaimera and Grux are the obvious choices. They are easy to play, strong early game Champions that do not require fancy mechanics or flawless macro to perform. Rampage is another option although harder to play. I’d stay away from Sevarog, Crunch and Riktor as they are mechanically complex and favors advanced tactics like counterjungling and dives.


Although Kallari is usually a complex Champion, you will be paired against other new players that can’t find their ward in their inventory, so you can still get some results with her


- Offlaners: Steel and Grux are straightforward to play and decent duelists that will always be useful during teamfights. Feng Mao and Rampage are a possibility if you want something spicier. Stay away from Sevarog or Kallari as they are very easily abused in early offlane unless you play them pristinely.

Understanding subroles/Champions archetypes

• Subroles are one way to define a Champion’s traditional utility in a team composition. They were many subroles and traits in Paragon’s day, but for this Predecessor EA guide, I’ll reduce them to a few.
  
  
• Keep in mind that subroles are simply guidelines and many Champions can be built and played very differently (a good example is Feng Mao who is both a great assassin and a great bruiser)
  
  
• Marksman : A ranged Champion whose main source of damage are Basic Attacks
  
• Caster Marksman : a variant of Marksman with a stronger focus on ability use and utility
  
• Melee Carry: a variant of Attack Damage Carry that isn’t ranged like a Marksman. There none in the game at that time, but some will come soon (Serath, Yin, Wukong are usually categorized as such)
  
• Hybrid Caster : a mix of mage and ranger with a damage profile that blends ability and physical, as well as Basic Attacks and spells
  
  
• Enchanter : a support Champion with a strong focus on enabling teammates through defensives abilities and buffs
  
• Guardian : a melee support that acts as your allies’ shield
  
• Catcher : a support Champion with powerful crowd control and a strong focus on locking down enemies
  
  
• Assassin : a melee Champion with a strong focus on elusiveness and burst damage, able to go in and out of fights to take down high value targets
  
• Bruiser : a melee Champion with a good balance of damage, durability and mobility. Bruiser are usually great duelists
  
• Tank : a melee Champion with a strong focus on durability and crowd control. Tanks can take a lot of punishment
  
  
• Artillery Mage : an ability Caster with a strong focus on long range damage and poke
  
• Zoner : an ability Caster with a strong focus on area denial, area damage or Crowd Control
  
  
• Specialist : a Champion with a very distinct style that does not particularly fits other subroles

Rangers : Murdock

· Murdock :
· Marsman

• Usually played in duo as a damage carry. Can be seen in off-lane or even mid-lane as a specialized pick.
  
  
• A long time fan favorite, Murdock has higher range than most ADC and a global skillshot that is immensely satisfying to land. With his traps, push, global ultimate and passive, Murdock has a very versatile, easy to use kit and is a great starter for aspiring ADC.
  
  
• His passive allows him to double his range to land some poke, his trap and push add some great self peel against ganks, and his Long Arm of the Law can secure kills or instantly turn around a fight anywhere on the map. However, he doesn’t have any mobility and struggle to close gap.
  
  
• Pros :
  
  
• Great range
  
• Defensive options with trap and knockback
  
• Very oppressive global ultimate
  
  
• Cons :
  
  
• Weaker against tanks than most carries
  
• Lower damage and dueling potential than most ADC

Sparrow

· Marksman
· Usually played in duo lane as an attack carry.

Deceptively simple, Sparrow makes up for a very bare-bone kit with a lot of firepower. She scales the hardest and melt tanks and squishies alike, but is made of paper and lacks any kind of mobility or self-defense capacity. Sparrow is your quintessential glass cannon.

She has an AoE damage over time spell, a chargeable, precision long range skillshot, an attack buff and her ultimate is basically an attack steroid.

She’s simple to understand and looks beginner-friendly, but beware that she has no bailout if you make a mistake.


Pros : Raw firepower able to be spread over large area during teamfights
Easy to understand.
1v5 the enemy team if she’s fed.


Cons : Will die if anyone looks at her the wrong way.
Walking moneybag once she’s behind.
Weak in 1v1
Assassins will make you cry.

Drongo

· Caster Marksman
· Usually played in duo or mid lane as an attack carry.

A more utility-oriented ADC, Drongo trades in a weaker firepower in exchange for having more utility and self-defense than his peers.

Drongo has an attack stim that provides a stackable damage buff when hitting the same target, a boomerang that can slow, a gas grenade which provide and AoE silence. His ultimate can repel melee fighters as well as shred armor from tanks.

Pick Drongo if you’re not all about the damage and want a bit more cards up your sleeves.

Pros :
Versatile
Decent utility and survivability
Anti-tank ultimate
Excels at long trades and decent all-ins


Cons :
Weaker damage than the others carries
Mana hungry
Rad rounds encourages him to focus a single target during teamfights

Revenant

Marskman specialist
Usually played in : Duo lane as ADC or midlane as an Hybrid AD/Caster marksman.

Revenant is a Marksman/Specialist carry whose entire identity revolves on his very strong single target damage and snowball ability. Contrary to most other ADC, Revenant doesn't have any form of utility or peel, instead relying on his abilities to nuke isolated targets.
Revenant's kit features a randomized burst whose damage skyrockets when focusing a target, a debuff mark that slow and increases damage against marked Champions, and two passives that increase his gold income and critical damage.
Reckoning allows him to remove a target from a fight and force a 1V1. This can be used to remove a key target from a fight or save yourself by forcing a duel with their weakest Champion.


Pros : Highest single target damage amongst ADC

A mix of %hp damage and magical damage on his abilities allow him to better deal with armored targets

Passive income linked to his passive and Reckoning allow him to snowball harder than other ADC.

Excellent burst trades in early laning thanks to his 4th shot and Obliterate


Cons : "Selfish" specialist ADC that has a weaker presence in teamfights, both because of his single target focus and Reckoning

No mobility, CC, utility or peeling to speak of

Feast or famine Champion. As a single target duelist, his general presence and his Reckoning are much weaker if he cannot win 1v1 against other Champions.

Low rate of fire and ammo count means you have to land your shots reliably to play this Champion

Overall one of the hardest Marksman to play since missing a single shot can cost you a fight

Lower anti-turret/wave clearing damage than most ADCs.

Kira

Marskman duelist
Usually played in : Duo lane as ADC or offlane.

The first Omeda's original Champion, Kira is a short-ranged marksman with a strong focus on damage. What she lacks in utility, she makes up for in her ability to deal extreme damage to a single target, behaving much in the way of a ranged assassin.

Her Vengeance passive coupled with her Dusk ability allow her to quickly deal significant damage to a lone target, while her Shadow Glide allow her to move in for the kill or retreat to safety. Her ultimate has strong teamfight potential especially in crowded Pits, but leaves her very vulnerable.

Kira fits well in teams that provide high utility and crowd control, as she herself can only provide pure damage.


Pros : Single target damage is on par with Revenant's, but more reliable.

Oppressive early game : the combo of her Vengeance/Dusk/Mercy allows her to punish very hard any mistake during the lane.

A rare Champion that excels at both long trades (Vengeance+Dusk ramping up damage) and burst trade (AA-Mercy-AA-Dusk)

Ultimate can wipe out an entire team during objective fights

For a Marksman, she has a stronger presence at early/mid game than late game, something few others marksmen provide.


Cons :
No utility to speak off, pure damage dealer

Very vulnerable with little self peel. Once Shadow Glide is down, she has no means of defense.

Short range, single target damage dealer that has weak teamfight presence outside of her ultimate. In teamfight, she'll focus on assassinating targets or waiting for an opportunity to jump in and use her AoE ultimate to clean up.

Get outscaled by stronger teamfighters/siegers like Sparrow or Murdock.

Doesn't pair well with enchanters and performs better with Disablers supports which can lock targets in place so she can burst them.

TwinBlast

Role : ADC
Archetype : Ranged Marskman
Usually played in Duo Lane as a carry
Seldom seen in midlane and offlane as a niche pick

TB is a mid-range marskman who strikes a decent balance between damage, range, clear speed, mobility and duel abilities.
He has decent harass in lane through his grenade and burst shot, as well as the ability to aggressively exploit any openings with his slow and dash.
His power curve is fairly streamlined and he is decently strong at all stages of the game, though he starts off weaker than more aggressive ADC like Drongo or Murdock.

+
Overall a very balanced carry that doesn't have glaring weaknesses
Good at all range
Decent duelist
Great clear late game
Decent early game, engage and poke in the laning phase

-
Weak ultimate
Weaker teamfighting that most other ADC, as he doesn't have any kind of real AoE damage/utility

Wraith

Wraith

Usually played in the midlane or duo lane as an ADC

Wraith is a specialist marksman with a strong focus on picking off targets.
His kit feature an AoE projectile, a cloak, a long range skillshot and a forced lock-on rewind.

With longer range than most ADC, Wraith favors a backliner playstyle, where his range, sensors, self peel and camouflage can keep him safe. Unlike duelist carry like Kira or TB, Wraith quickly folds when jumped on and needs to stay far away from the fight.

Although he can be played as an ADC in the duo lane, Wraith players often favor the midlane where his range and self peel allow him to farm safely near his tower. As a mana hungry champion, having access to the River Bug's mana regen is also important.

Pros :
- pick specialist than can take down targets from afar or isolate them from their team
- Long range and high single target damage
- Strong self peel for a marksman
- Safe pick that can keep farming even when behind
- Fast and elusive
- Gives PTSD to Iggy players
- Decent pushing power in the early game makes him able to keep a neutral lane against most casters in the midlane

Cons :
- weaker teamfighting than other ADC
- overall weaker damage output than other marksmen
- Really strong against squishies, weaker than most against tanks.
- Mana hungry early game
- Cannot play the game against Champions that can ignore his rewind and stick to him like Khaimera or Serath, or burst assassins like Kallari who can ambush and burst him before he has time to escape.

GRIMM.exe

GRIMM.exe

Usually played in Duo lane as an APC or in midlane as a counter to some casters; Niche counter to some melee offlaners

Currently the only magical damage marskman in the game, GRIMM brings a lot of firepower to the team but suffer from the lowest survivability fo all ADC.
His kit feature a displacement skillshot, a slowing on-hit effect, an ability shield and a long-range finisher ultimate.

GRIMM is a versatile champ that can play in all three lanes. Athough his absence of mobility and big hitbox make him very vulnerable, he makes up for it with superior firepower and an ability to stick to target and run them down. By combining his displacement and slow, he can either bring targets into his kill range and keep them here or deny the enemy's threat range.
His spellshield give him the ability to counter some casters that heavily depends on one damage source, such as Howitzer.


Pros :
- Flex pick that opens a lot of possible team composition thanks to his ability to bring magical damage to duo, mid or offlane
- Pairing speed-generating items with his slow allows him to run down targets that step into his range or keep melee opponent at bay
- Spellshield can decide a duel
- Extremely long range finisher that goes through wall
- can self-generate his mana and run infinitely, whereas most ADC run out of juice in seconds
- Versatile build paths

Cons :
- Big hitbox, no mobility makes him depend on his shield and slow for self peel
- Very awkward in CQC as his model and ability don't work when the enemy is sticking to you
- Easy to gank in mid and offlane, demand pristine map reading and positioning to perform.

Casters: Gideon

· Artillery Caster
Usual Role : Midlaner

Gideon is fairly easy to pick up and quite forgiving thanks to his mobility that allows to engage/disengage.

Gideon has an AoE skillshot with high damage, a slow, a teleport and an AoE CC ultimate.

Basically, he throws rocks at bad people and run away fast when they don’t like it.

Late game, he mostly pokes foes until he finds a suitable opportunity to jump in, Black Hole and hope that his team will follow up properly.


Pros : Very safe to play, especially early
Easy to pick-up
Elusive, great mobility
Great rotations
Safe wave clear early


Cons : Very vulnerable to CC
Very vulnerable when using Black Hole.
Mana hungry

Gadget

· Gadget :

· Zoner
Usual role : Mid laner, support

Gadget specializes in AoE ability damage, with most of her abilities being long range. Her bread&butter is Sticky Mine, which is a great source of poke early game and can turn half your opponent’s health bar into dust late game.

She’s quite mana hungry early game but if you’re good at hitting Sticky Mine, she can bully her opponent out of lane.

Like most zoner mages, she is very vulnerable if her opponent gets into melee range, but can use Tesla Dome for forcing fighters and tanks to disengage.

Her rotation are overall weaker than most midlaners, but her late game teamfighting potential is huge. She’s great at sieging and contesting objectives. Overall, the quintessential zoner mage.


Pros :
Easy to use
High damage and scaling
Best AoE damage dealer in the game
Great late game with excellent wave clear and teamfighting

Cons :
Mana hungry
Weak rotations
Very vulnerable to ganks
Belica can vaporize you through Neural Pistol.

Belica

· Specialist Caster

Usual role : Midlaner, Support

Belica’s quite unique in the mage roster as she’s a dedicated anti-mage, antipersonnel hero while most mages are team-oriented heroes. Although her range is limited compared to most mages, her Seismic Assault/Void Bomb combo is extremely punishing.

She excels at winning the attrition war of the early / mid game levels, and can duel most hero by combining her combo with the drain/anti ability damage of her drone. She’s one of the few mages that can reliably survive or even win close combat engagements.

Her early game is mostly about punishing mistakes and starving her opponent so she can rotate once they’re out of lane.

Her late game is less team-oriented than most mages, she focuses on shutting down individual target like assassins, ADC or mages and getting picks during sieges.


Pros :
Can punish mistakes hard
Excels against mana hungry heroes
Can bully most midlaners out of lane
Great rotations
Excellent wave clear late game

Cons : Unlike most mages, her ultimate has no teamfighting potential
No mobility
Single target focus. Really good at dueling, but is vulnerable to 2v1 ganks.
Weak against tanks and bruisers she can’t fight off in one spell combo

The Fey

Zoner
Usual Role : midlaner, support

The Fey is a poke/zoner mage that favors raw firepower and utility at the expense of survivability. She’s immensely powerful in teamfights but is extremely vulnerable on her own. She has a long range poke skillshot that grows in power with consecutive hits, an AoE damage spell, a persistent skillshot slow and an AoE pull ultimate.

In lane, she focus on wearing down her opponent. During teamfights, she looks for an opportunity to decimate the enemy team with her combos.


Pros :
Excellent teamfighting
Strong poke.
The only mage than combines control, zoning and reliable burst damage
Huge team combo potential with her Fly Trap ultimate.
Passive can wreak havoc during teamfights
Very mana efficient early game, as long as you can hit your Nettles.
Good wave clear

Cons :
No mobility
High-risk rotations : if the jungler spots you, you’re dead.
Very vulnerable to dive and ganks
Can’t be played from behind: if your opponent takes over, you’ll feed all game long.
Walking cash dispenser for assassins.
Hard to play, requires impeccable mechanics and positioning

Howitzer

Artillery Caster, Hybrid Caster
Usual Role : Midlaner, Offlaner, niche picked as a support or Hybrid Caster/Marskman on duo lane.

Howie is a versatile mage that excels at all range and has capabilities in all areas, having both high ranged damage, crowd control and area denial, though he’s still better at single targeting.

He can poke safely from afar as long as you can hit your rockets, and if he get ganked, he can use land mine to repulse his opponent and propels himself to safety.

Once he gets his ultimate, he can fly away from danger. Landmine can also be use to displace your opponent into a vulnerable position. Howie’s laning phase can be summed up as : push as hard as you can before rotating to another lane and get that landmine into gank combo, eventually finishing off people with a well placed rocket.

Howie is a jack-of-all trade, self-sufficient mage that has decent utility, damage and survivability

Pros : Very safe early
High outplay potential
High damage long range poke
Good CC that goes both into peeling and displacing targets
Good self-defense at close range
Hybrid caster than can also build sustained basic attack damage like an ADC

Cons :

Mana hungry early game
Big, juicy, squishy target
Require good mechanics

Countess

Assassin Caster
Usually played in : Midlane, Offlane, Jungle

Countess is close range, high burst Caster with a focus on damage and lifesteal.
Her kit has a strong focus on using damage as a source of sustain. She's deceptively resilient as she can instantly heal most of her wounds as long she deals sufficient damage to a target.
Her Shadow Walk makes her able to engage and disengage with ease, as well as deceive her opponents, while her ultimate can instantly finish off wounded foes.
With a weak early game but strong snowball potential thanks to her passive, she can quickly take over a game if left unchecked.

As a Jungler, Countess trades a weaker early game for strong ganks, fast clearing and a rare focus on ability damage that few Junglers possess.


Pros : High sustain, high damage champion that is surprisingly durable for an assassin
Versatile build paths : can be build as an assassin, durable bruiser or even as an off-tank
Safe engage and disengage during laning
Hard snowballing and can be absolutely oppressive in lane against casters as she can heal instantly most damage dealt to her

Cons : Snowball champion that is weaker than most casters if behind
Weak CC, short range and single target focus make her much weaker in teamfight that traditional casters
Highly lifesteal dependent, crippled by Blight and neutered by Silence

Shinbi

Archetype : Assassin Caster
Usually played in : offlane, jungle, midlane

An ability damage assassin with decent mobility and range, Shinbi specializes in lane attrition. She excels at poking at target and weaving in and out of a trade until her kill threshold is achieved, either through wolves stack or by getting her opponent low enough for a killing blow.
Her kit features a long range, low CD poking skillshot, a close-range AoE aura, a recastable dash and an ultimate that can deal extreme damage if stacked to full.

She is a versatile caster that can be played efficiently in many roles and through many builds, although her low durability and lack of sustain allows little room for mistakes.

Pros : Excellent lane attrition and range for an assassin
Great lane bully in off-lane
Huge damage potential on her ultimate
Versatile build paths and flexible roles
Doesn't fall off late game as hard as most assassins thanks to her great sieiging potential : she can relentlessly poke opponents under inhibitor or around objectives pits.


Cons : For an assassin, her burst damage is overall low since most of her damage is tied to her fully stacking her ultimate, which limits her roaming/ganking potential compared to instant damage assassins like Kallari or Countess.

No built-in sustain, flimsy shield and low durability allow little room for mistakes. No cleanse available since Casters items rarely provide cleanse.

Damage is highly tied to her ultimate and her kill potential is significantly diminished without it

Morigesh

Morigesh

Archetype : specialist caster
Usually played in : mid lane

Morigesh 101 :
a single target caster with medium range, Morigesh specializes in high single target damage at the expanse of survivability and CC, much like Shinbi. Although weaker in the early game and more unforgiving than most casters, Morigesh scales extremely hard and has a very strong first item spike in Megacosm.
Her playstyle revolves in slowly poking down her laner under her kill threshold then finish them off in a final rush. As soon as she's strong enough, she switches playstyle to become a very oppressive laner, as her slow combined with her speed boost give her a lot of sticking power.
Unlike artillery mages or control mages, Morigesh lacks range and CC, making her much weaker late game than those types. Instead, she aims at snowballing the early game into a strong mid game spike where she can crush her lane then rotate to other lanes.

Morigesh's kit feature a ranged slowing DOT projectile, a speed boost with regen, a short range autolock single target damage and an executing ultimate.

Pros : high single target damage
- A champion with no mechanical requirement. Extremely easy to execute
- very oppressive champion if ahead, both in lane and on the map
- the nature of her damage makes her able to deal with both squishies and tanks

Cons : no CC
- Low survivability and sustain
- weaker teamfight presence than almost all other casters
- nature of her ultimate gives plenty of counter play tools
- low range
- usually bullied in most matchup without strong jungle assistance

Iggy

Iggy & Scorch

Usually played in the midlane ; Niche offlaner

Iggy is a specialist caster and an expert at sieging and area denial. His kit features turrets, a slowing auto-attack, an AoE long range projectile, a soft CC skill shot and a knock-back ultimate.

Iggy has arguably the strongest pushing power in the game at all levels, being matched only by The Fey. As most immobile casters, he's very vulnerable on his own but excels at teamfighting and objectives control.
Although he has a rather short range for a caster, he can deal constant damage to his environment and his damage output scales immensely in his area of control, where he can combo his abilities to melt any targets.

With weak roams and a rather uninteractive early game, Iggy wants to quickly scale into the mid/late game where his ability to control areas is invaluable around pit fights and sieges.

Pros :
- Very strong pushing power at all stages of the game
- Very high damage late game
- Strong sieges and teamfights. Excels around objectives
- Hard counter short range melee champions that lack any diving abilities
- Strong poke with surprising range
- Very good against early roamers that he can outpushes and take hostage in the lane

Cons :
- Very weak against divers who can burst him
- Hard countered by long range casters who can destroy his turrets and poke him outside his range like Wraith or Howie
- Weak roams
- No escape, set-up times and low durability make him very weak when moving on his own
- Although he has a great damage output, his short range and lack of burst give him a weak killing power in lane. He's great at poking his opponent out of lane, but will rely on his Jungler to set up actual kills.

Argus

Argus
Artillery Caster, currently a flexible pick having success in Midlane, Support or Offlane.

Argus’ kit is one of the most versatile amongst casters, striking a rare balance between the crowd control and area denial ability of a Control Mage and the long range, high damage of an Artillery Caster.

Argus’kit features a skilshot, lobbed projectile stun, a continuous DPS stream, an AOE pull with an extra mobility feature for allies, and a long-range finisher ultimate.
Argus’s versatility allows him to be currently flexed into the three lanes.

Athough he lacks durability, his crowd control and self mobility makes him fairly survivable for a Caster. His combo is heavily punishing in a teamfight or duel situation and he wins any trade in lane as long as he lands his stun.

His long CD and mana consumption are his only weaknesses and he’s difficult to punish in lane.

Pros :
- Excellent crowd control and DPS
- Excels at both short and long trades
- Ultimate is a long range execute that goes through walls
- Very punishing in lane
- Highly flexible pick
- His AOE pull can also be used as a mobility tool

Cons :
- His abilities are both his damage and peels, he’s very vulnerable to a counter when he goes for the offensive
- His long CD are easy to punish if he misses, although his skillshots are easy to land
- Very mana hungry in the early game and doesn’t really come online as fast as some others champions in support/off/mid.

Shoutout to GM Flamepojken for his insights on this new champion !

Offlaners & Junglers : Crunch

Specialist Bruiser

Usual roles : Jungler, Offlaner

Description: Crunch is high damage, high mobility Bruiser/Diver that favors aggression over resilience.

Crunch’s kit is pretty complex and allows for a variety of combo, offering tools for nearly every job, from ganking to tower diving to engage/disengage. A spectacular duelist, Crunch is weaker in teamfights where single target focus and relatively low durability are an issue.


Pros: Complex playstyle with great versatility and various combos
High damage and damage hybridization through combos (part of his skills deal ability damage, empowered Left Crunch deals true damage) making him effective against all types of armors

Highest aggression range and 2D mobility amongst melee Fighters
Excellent duelist

Cons: Not beginner friendly – one of the most complex Champion to play in terms of mechanics, since you have to track your ability usage to use the Empowered Crunch at the right timing.

No 3D mobility
Compared to most other Bruisers, little built-in sustain
Vulnerable to poke in lane
Weaker teamfighter than most Bruisers

Sevarog

Tank

Usual Roles : Jungler, offlane

Description : A scaling juggernaut, Sevarog starts off weak but grows into a late game monster. With a versatile kit that has a ghosting dash, an AoE root, a short range damage burst and a displacement ultimate, Sevarog is an elusive, tough and surprisingly damaging tank that is great at setting up plays for his team. Abuse him when he’s weak or suffer the consequences.

Pros : High CC
Great survivability.
Almost unkillable if played well.
Good damage late game.
Excellent ganks.
Great at tower dives

Cons : Weak and fragile early
Useless if you can’t hit your skillshots
Can be choked by the enemy jungler or offlaner. If he doesn’t get stacks, he’s useless. A true feast or famine Champion

Feng Mao

· Bruiser, Assassin
Usual Roles : Jungler, offlaner, niche midlaner.

Description : A versatile close combat specialist, Feng Mao hits hard and fast, favoring surprise hit&run attacks, though he can be built to be surprisingly durable in melee.

With a shield, an AoE melee slow, a short range teleport and an executing, resetting ultimate, Feng Mao is an elusive melee threat that excels at assassinating key targets or finishing off stragglers.

Pros :
Fast and brutal
Excels at finishing off multiple low health targets: Clean-up specialist

Cons :
More fragile than most Bruisers, especially if built like a pure Assassin
Vulnerable if locked-down before he can use his shield or teleport
Duelist specialist that isn't good at teamfighting.
Very weak start.

Khaimera

· Khaimera
· Bruiser, Assassin

Usual Roles : Jungler

Description : With a very beginner friendly kit, Khaimera is straightforward : he jumps at people and whacks them until one of them doesn’t walk out of the fight.

With great health regeneration, CC cleanse, a pounce and a stun, Khai is easy to pick up and reliable. Though he’s fairly one dimensional and is vulnerable to elusive targets, superior duelist and anti-healing


Pros :
Super straightforward. Can be played by a goldfish
Strong early game and extremely snowbally
Good ganks

Cons :
One dimensional and predictable
No outplay potential in his kit
No way out. If he goes in, someone is not walking out of the fight : either him or his foe.
Highly dependent on his sustain and will be crippled by Blight

Kallari

Kallari
· Assassin

Usual Roles : Jungler, offlaner

Description : the quintessential cloak&dagger Champion, Kallari is a squishy, bursty melee assassin with high damage that can quickly decimate vulnerable targets.

She excels at finishing off the wounded, isolated players or executing squishy targets like ADC, mages or supports.

She has a cloak, a ranged slow skillshot, a double jump and a burst dash ultimate. Kallari favors a hit&run style and doesn’t like prolonged fight. She likes to patrol the map, killing unsuspecting targets before vanishing.


Pros :

Very high damage
Incredibly oppressive if fed
Elusive
The bane of every ADC


Cons : Weak against tanks
Will pop like a balloon if CCed.
Get wards, ruin her life
Doesn't like prolonged fighting
Weak teamfight presence

Grux

Grux
· Bruiser

Usual Roles : jungler, offlaner, niche support.

Description : a reliable jack-of-all-trades, Grux has a dash, a pull, some burst damage and an attack steroids. Easy to play and understand, Grux is a beginner friendly jungler like Khaimera, this time with a way out of a fight. He's also a reliable offlaner if you're in need of some physical damage in your composition.


Pros : High damage with decent toughness
Easy to pick-up
Good ganks
Can be built to shred tanks
Like prolonged fighting
Disgusting amount of CC and interrupts for a fighter.

Cons : Predictable fighting style
Lifesteal dependent and is crippled by Blight
Low mobility and weaker gap close makes him fairly jukable.

Rampage

Rampage
· Tank, Bruiser

Usual Roles : Jungler, niche offlaner.

Description : a lean, mean, green, assertive machine, Rampage is a juggernaut who likes to get into the fray and become the center of attention. With his iconic Boulder Throw, he can lock-down target from afar or jump in the face of squishies.

Extremely tanky with good damage, Rampage is surprisingly mobile and has deceptive range.


Pros :Very versatile, excels at both short and mid-range.
Can perform well as a frontline or jump onto key targets
Very resilient
Rock throwing is a legendary Paragon Hobby
Absurd regeneration
Can become an immortal Raid Boss if built with Leviathan and fed


Cons : If The Boulder does not favor you, you’ll suck at Rampage
Big target than will draw fire
Heavily crippled by Blight
Lower damage than most Junglers

Greystone

Greystone
Archetype : duelist bruiser
Usually played in : offlane, niche jungler

Greystone has two defining traits in lane : his damage ramps up quickly but also plateaus quickly. In this regard, his approach to laning is a middle ground between Crunch (medium full kit trades) and Grux (very long full kit trades with strong ramping up).
Greystone's identity is to provide a high damage frontliner with an ability to easily get in the face of a target with his jump and stick to them while also having enough damage to be a threat to squishies.
His ultimate combined with Phoenix give him a very strong teamfight durability without having to build as a tank.

Greystone's kit is fairly basic and provides an AoE damage auro, a melee amp with a slow, a jump and a second-chance channeled ultimate with a strong slow and regen. Passive is a deflect with a damage ramp up

Pros : - basic kit with no mechanic requirements makes him a good entry hero for beginners
- damage ramp up quickly through the combination of passive/AoE/amp
- very threatening in medium trades where he can peaks
- tanky with high damage against squishies
- very hard to kill despite not being a tank
- long teamfight uptime

Cons : No CC
- Long downtime on his AoE and amp. Completely disabled by elusive offlaners who can deny trades and escape his ultimate, like Sevarog, Feng, Crunch or Steel
- Also destroyed by champions with a stronger ramp up than him like Grux or Khaimera
- few good matchup in the current EA roster
- basic kit is easy to execute but also easy to play around, with little room for outplays
- in the jungle, decent clear speed but no regen makes him go low on first clears. Kit lacking CC needs him to fit in a comp with allies than can provide CC/lockup for him

Zarus

Duelist Bruiser, anti-carry
Mostly played in Offlane or Jungle

A duelist champion with a well rounded kit featuring passive healing, a damage reduction/stun, a dash, a ranged skillshot and a fence, Zarus has more options in his kit than most offlaners but doesn't excel in any areas. Less durable than a Steel, less damage than a Grux, less aggressive than a Crunch, Zarus is a jack-of-all trade champion than can function either as a frontliner or an assassin.
His Coliseum is a very oppressive ability than can define teamfight, as well as allowing him to lock-down key targets. He's particularly good against ranged carries or magus.

His power curve is fairly streamlined and he isn't particularly strong or weak at any stage of the game, though he enjoys the midgame the most as small skirmishes are his specialty.

+
Diverse kit with a lot of option
Fairly good duelist as long as he plays properly with his shield
Ultimate is very oppressive
Decent aggression range

-
Fairly mechanical and requires good understanding of his kit and range to perform
Not particularly good in any areas like defense or damage unlike some more specialized champions
Coliseum can backfire greatly
Can be abused early by stronger champions
Weaker early clear in the jungle than most champions

Serath

Archetype : assassin, duelist
Usually played in Jungle or Offlane

Extremely nimble champion with 3D mobility and two gap-closers, Serath has extreme sticking power and aggression, but struggle to stay online in a fight as she is very squishy.
Her kit feature a 3D vertical dive, a lock-on latch with an I-frame, a melee slow and her ultimate is a self-amp. Her passive allows her to keep her ultimate online everytime she gets a kill.

Although she will struggle in the early game, she can quickly snowball out of control if she gets kills or is left to farm freely.
She excels at deleting isolated targets and cleaning up teamfights, but has weak engage and depends on her team to create openings.

+
Very high damage mid to late game
Extreme mobility and sticking power
Excellent duelist
Can snowball very fast
Great at cleaning up teamfights
Heaven's Fury can decide a fight if you dodge important abilities

-
Weak early in both Jungle and Offlane
Easily abused early
Heaven's Fury is a commitment. Can follow through a blink but also backfire heavily
Very squishy

Kwang

Kwang

Usually played in Offlane or Jungle ; Niche support
Built as a tank, a magical bruiser or an assassin caster

Kwang is a versatile melee champion that can fill many roles in the team as well as fit various playstyles, making him of the most flexible champion in the roster. Kwang's kit features a skill shot AoE root, a dash, an AoE melee damage and a burst teleporting ultimate.

Although Kwang feature an impressive amount of damage, control and durability, his entire identity revolves around his thrown sword.
His ability to deal damage, create space or disable targets thus depends on your accuracy and creativity.

Pick Kwang if you need a solid source of magic damage in the Jungle or Offlane, when you need a strong engage champion or when you want to blind pick a champion that can fit many lanes and adapt to many threats.


Pros :
- Flex pick and versatile build paths
- High damage or durability depending on build path
- High outplay potential
- Great burst trades, many favorable matchups in the offlane
- High threat range for a melee champion
- Great diver
- Durability, elusiveness and the ability to lock down threats make him a very survivable Champion that isn't easy to gank.

Cons :
- If building damage, can burst targets but quickly explodes when diving
- Entirely dependant on your ability to land your sword
- Not as durable as a full tank, not as dangerous as a true damage dealer
- Dives are usually a one way ticket to do or die, as he doesn't have an escape once he dashs/teleports in
- Great burst/short trades but very weak once expanded. Long "reload" time early game.

Aurora

Aurora

Usually played in Offlane or Jungle ; Niche support
Built as a tank, a magical bruiser or an on-hit magical specialist

Aurora is an extremely elusive champion who boasts the highest mobility in the game.
Her kit feature a 3D dash that can create terrain, a close range damaging slow, a 360° root, a decoy and a massive AoE CC ultimate.

Aurora extremely high 3D mobility paired with high CC (one stun, one root, two slows) make her veryhard to pin down and destroy, especially since she tends to build fairly tanky.
What she lacks in damage, she make up for an excellent kit with high mobility, CC and excellent teamfight impact.
In lane, her glacial ring + boreal sweep make for great short trade potential, but if the matchup allows it she can also stick to her target and use her snowstorm passive for long trades.
If the matchup is unfavorable, her decoy and high mobility allows her to deny dangerous engage.

In the jungle, her fast clear and creative pathing give her the ability to gank from a wider variety of angles. Her ability to create terrain paired with her wide AoE can turn the tide in the jungle during pit fights.




Pros :
- Flex pick and versatile build paths : tank, magical bruiser or on-hit magical melee duelist
- High damage or durability depending on build path
- Good duelist and great teamfighter
- Decent at both short trade and long trade
- Unique ability to create terrain and excellent 3D mobility
- Durability, elusiveness and the ability and high CC make her a very survivable Champion that isn't easy to gank.
- fast jungle and wave clears

Cons :
- Very long cooldown in lane in the early game. Can be first blooded extremely easily if you mess up.
- Low damage when building tank, can explode when diving if building damage
- Glacial Ring can be played around and isn't reliable
- Ice Wall can backfire heavily
- Crippled by cleanse items
- set-up champion that depends on her team to follow up on her engage

Supports : Muriel

Muriel :

· Enchanter
· Usual Roles : Support, niche offlaner.

·

Description : your literal guardian angel, Muriel is a defense specialist who excels at shielding allies and keeping them alive. With access to a speed buff, an AoE shield and a slow, she’s your go-to support to keep your ADC alive. Her iconic ultimate, Reversal Of Fortune, allows her to quickly traverse the map to any ally in danger and provide them support.


Pros : - Easy to use and pick-up
- Defense oriented support that can protect mages or rangers but also excels at supporting melee fighters going into the fray
Global presence through her ultimate makes her very oppressive and can turn around entire fights
Versatile build paths with lots of options

Cons : Very weak on her own
Vulnerable to being pounced on when she has used her kit to protect her allies
If you mistime your Reversal of Fortune, you’ll follow after your dead friend soon after.
Favors melee-heavy comp and often struggles in squishy ranged composition
Often has to sacrifice herself to save allies

Riktor

Riktor
· Tank, Catcher

Usual Roles : Support, Offlaner, Jungler

Description : With a CC-heavy kit featuring a pull, a silence, an AoE melee stun, and an AoE damage, Riktor focuses on locking-down and disabling targets. Riktor takes to heart this old wisdom : “keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer”

If Riktor catches you, chances are you’ll not get out, no matter which champion you play. Hard to play and with little tolerance to mistakes, his gameplay relies heavily on landing his Riplash hook.


Pros : Second highest lock-down potential in the game after Dekker
Great at making picks or counter-engaging
The bane of assassins and tanks alike
Provides excellent ganks and rotations, both as a Jungler or Support
Surprisingly fast with brutal all-ins

Cons : Hard to play. If you can’t land your Riplash, you’ll be useless
Easily punished, both Riplash and Skewer leaving him very vulnerable
No built-in sustain or resilience outside of his Passive
Much like Sevarog, has a weak early game in the Jungle and can be bullied by early Junglers
Mana-sink early game.

Steel

Steel
Tank

Usual Roles : support, offlaner, jungler

Description : Steel is a versatile hero that, much like Muriel, is able to both defend and attack efficiently. With a shield, a ram, a melee stun and an AoE stun ultimate, Steel always looks to defend key targets while waiting for an opportunity to retaliate.
He’s also surprisingly mobile and elusive for such a tough target, being one of the hardest Champion to kill in the game along Sevarog and Gideon.


Pros : Very tough and elusive, with strong self-defense abilities
Great engage and peel
Decent range for a melee fighter
Excellent locking-down potential
Counters most ADC
Excellent diver

Cons : No sustain, vulnerable to poke
Overall low damage unless willing to trade off some durability
Has to heavily commit to engage and can be punished for mistakes

Narbash

Narbash
Enchanter

Usual roles : support

Description: Narbash is a melee enchanter with a strong focus on enabling allies through speed boost, heals and CC. Narb excels at countering poke lanes through sustain and strong all-in potential.
Mid game, Narb enables quick rotation for his laners, giving him the potential to snowball the game through the infamous “Narbash raids”

Pros : Counter poke lanes
Strong all-ins
Strong rotations
High snowball potential
Versatile builds
A true Bro amongst Bros

Cons : Ultimate has a channeling and can be easily countered through CC
Mana sink early
Big cooldown on his Thunk makes him very vulnerable after use.

Dekker

Dekker
Catcher

Usual roles : Support

Description: A ranged support with a strong focus on crowd control and locking down targets, Dekker is a ranged, less resilient but more reliable variant of Riktor.
Her high CC paired with her Gravity Boots make her an elusive support that is hard to pin-down.
With a cage, a long range stun, long range slow and ranged AoE stun, escaping from Dekker is nearly impossible if she sets her sights on you.

Pros:

Highest ranged CC in the game
High aggression range
Elusive with strong self defense for a support
Decent damage

Cons: Entire kit relies on your ability to hit skillshots
Vulnerable to assassins
Blows-up if you manage to get the jump on her
No sustain and no team buff

Phase

Phase
Enchanter support

Usually played in : Duo lane as a dedicated support

Description :
Phase is a unique type of parasitic enchanter. Unlike other supports she cannot really make big plays or create openings, but she specializes in enhancing one ally to vastly improve their performance.
Her entire kit is tied to her psychic link : through her link, she can transfer her flashbang to her ally, improve their stats or bail them out of a tough spot.
Fairly passive during the laning phase, she mostly harasses opponents with her psychic lance and pull her ADC to safety.
Although she start in the duo lane, the nature of her kit makes her usually far better at sustaining melee fighters during squirmishes and teamfights.

Pros :
- Can vastly improve melee fighters performance
- A parasitic-type support that will link to the best performing player in your team to allow them to carry
- Depending on her build, can have surprisingly large damage mid to late game
- Very safe laning phase

Cons :
- Low damage early game
- Very passive laning phase
- Weak CC and her blind requires melee contact.
- Psychic lance being a strong self-slow is a bait for enemy CC
- Can't really make plays and is entirely dependent on her team to have at least one person worth linking to.
- Link bail out can be hard to coordinate in soloQ and you may sometimes end up pulling your ally from a winning play or into their death.

Finals words

I hope all this will help you enjoy your new start on the Monolith!

Keep in mind that the game is in very early EA and changes will happen.
Predecessor and MOBAs in general are very complex games and since there is no ranked mode for now, matchmaking experience will vary quite a lot. Don't get discouraged, keep practicing and try out new stuff!
Finding your own favorite role, Champions and style is how you'll improve and enjoy the game. Don't try to copy/paste anyone's playstyle if it doesn't fit you.

Focus on the basics of laning first, then move to more advanced concepts.
A good MOBA player is first and foremost someone who is reliable in their role for their team.


This is an alt account I made specifically for this guide, but you can still leave a comment down if you enjoyed the guide and if it helped you! I will check them from time to time and it will make me happy to know its been useful, as well as encourage me to improve the guide over time.

Enjoy EA and see you on Agora!

Terra

Terra
Usually played in Offlane or Jungle as a bruiser


A decent duelist specializing in countering CC and sticking to targets, Terra's kit features a melee burst, a channeled dash & stun, a short range throw with soft CC. Her ultimate provides a rare CC immunity.

In lane, Terra relies on her shield to perform short trades and punish mistakes. Once ahead, she can easily force engages thanks to her speed, root and charge. She deals decently against both short traders and long traders.

Although her kit has more utility than most bruisers, she's still fairly squishy and shouldn't be mistaken as a tank.

In lane, remember that her R resets passive. Do not engage with R, but instead use her empowered ability to engage then use her ultimate to gain another immediate empowered passive.
When in the jungle, try to plan your gank ahead to use the right ability at the right time. For example, if you're ganking a champion with a dash, it's better to start your gank at 3 charges, use shield to engage, then use your empowered throw to root them after their dash.

In lane, you'll usually want to start trade with your shield, use your burst then disengage. Terra trades in a fashion quite similar to Steel where she wants to trade during her shield window to slowly whittle down foes.

Pros :
- A rare CC immunity that can hardcounter champions or comp that heavily relies on CC
- a balanced offlaner that is a decent blindpick
- Decent against both short and long traders.
- Oppressive when ahead
- hard to pin down, has tool to disengage and farm from range if behind in lane
- CC immunity makes her better at coinflipping than other junglers

Cons :
- Has to plan her gank ahead to go in using the correct amount of passive stacks
- Kit is an hybrid of damage and tank utility, but excels in neither.
- Can lose hard against long traders that ramp up overtime like Grux or Greystone.
- Overall much harder to play than a lot of champions.

Zinx

ZInx
Usually played in Duo Lane as a support enchanter.
Niche midlaner.

Zinx's kit features a ricocheting stun, a long-range ground based AoE slow, an AA amp paired with a heal and a single target revival ultimate. Her stacking passive allows for a significant speed and healing spike once fully stacked.

Like most enchanters, Zinx focuses heavily on getting her ADC ahead during the laning phase then switches to protecting her carry in mid and late game (remember than your carry isn't always your ADC. Sticking late game to your 0-7 Sparrow is pointless if you have a 5-0 200CS Khaimera on hand).

Unlike scaling Enchanters like Phase or Narbash who mostly survive the early game to dominate late, ZInx is usally a lane bully. Her slow, double stun and heal makes for good engage and trading tools.
If possible, remember to use your heal once your passive is stacked, has its output will be much higher. As Zinx's late game is less than stellar, you usually want to play aggressively early and mid game to snowball before her strength peaks.

Pros :
- Revival is a powerful stalling tool if used properly
- Lane bully with fairly strong early game, as long as you don't waste mana to patch up slight wounds.
- Multitarget stuns can have powerful results in duo lane, sieges and pit fights.
- Fairly strong single target heal when built properly
- Decent damage for an enchanter.
- Fairly strong against melee support that like to sit in the waves

Cons :
- Weak, situational peeling outside of her ultimate
- weak late game
- Mana hungry early
- Very vulnerable to divers.
- Like Phase, is a single target enchanter that doesn't do well in teamfights compared to Narbash or Muriel.

Skylar

Skylar
Marskman, usally played in Duo Lane as ADC. Niche midlaner.

Omeda's latest original champion, Skylar is the only ADC with access to 3D mobility. Her kit features a bouncing slowing shillshot, a high jump/float movement ability, an AA amp and a long-range skillshot ultimate.

Although her kit feature two long range skills, most of her damage comes from her short range AA-amp and passive missiles, meaning she usually has to play fight from much closer than the rest of her peers, instead relying on her 3D window to survive. As such, Skylar is a high risk, high reward ADC that is decent at all stages of the game, being less vulnerable than most ADC during the laning phase and late game, in exchange for weak trading power and low teamfighting ability.

Skylar usally play just behind the frontline, looking for a pick to focus on and relying on using terrain and 3D to survive until someone peels for her;
The nature of her AA amp makes her a strong tankbuster that struggles against squishier, more agile targets.

Although she's a decent blind pick, her core ability means she can negate most ground based champions, making her a prime counterpick against champions that have no access to 3D mobility and rely on ground targeting like Sevarog, GreyStone or Kwang.

Pros :
- Only ADC with 3D access
- Can negate ground based champions
- Strong single target damage
- Reliable pick during laning phase, able to deter most ganks and farm from a distance if needed.
- Weak early trades compared to the likes of Kira or Murdock
- No blindspot in her range, she can melt targets at short range, poke in mid and execute at long range through her ultimate.
- Good pick if you need a tank buster but can't play Sparrow because of divers.

Cons :
- Weaker damage, trade and scaling than most ADCs
- Struggle against small, mobile targets than can get in CQC range or deny her 3D evasion like Serath or Kallari.
- Really bad in 1v1 against other ADC with more agility and damage than her like TB or Kira, usually can't be left on her own.

[Praetorian]

@CheeseheadTroy
There's no PDF available, but it's perfectly fine to copy/paste all this into a word editor, convert it to PDF and send it all to your friends.

[CheeseheadTroy]

is there anywhere we can download a pdf of this guide have some friends who are gonna play on console and want to send this to them

[Praetorian]

@warcrab
Good call, I thought tenacity was already in. I'll add in under the stats chapter.
Tenacity is CC reduction. The higher your Tenacity %, the faster you recover from a stun, root etc...

[warcrab]

I'm sorry if i'm missing this or if it's been asked already . Is it possible to get into the definitions of things like tenacity and damage mitigation. I haven't been able to find that info anywhere

[Staszek]

This is really well put together, thanks a ton

[Getter]

Even as a veteran MOBA player and experienced player, it's always good to sharpen the basics. Very well done

[Ardy]

this rocks, looking forward to updates :D

[Cosmonautilus]

In terms of lingo, for me, its essentially all of it. I have no idea what "river", "freeze", "gold lane" etc. are and I'd rather people just speak plainly instead of inventing a gamer language that kinda gatekeeps normies from understanding the advice you're trying to convey. You do explain a chunk of it, but I found that I frequently had to scroll back up to where you had the term defined, then scrolling back down to find where I left off. It feels like I'm trying to both learn a game and a second language at the same time, lol. I applaud your effort and I'll probably be referencing your guide repeatedly in the future :)

[Praetorian]

@Cosmonautilus Thanks for the feedback. This is the plan ultimately, but for a few days I'd like to just play, learn and enjoy the game as well. I'll get back to the guide in a couple of days to add some images and videos that I've gathered while playing.

It would be useful for me if you could point me to the MOBA lingo that got you lost. We've grown used to the vocabulary so the input of a complete newcomer would be very useful for me to understand what needs further explanation. Thanks!

[Cosmonautilus]

I hope you can add images to this guide at some point, as well as more in-depth descriptions for various places and things. This guide uses a TON of moba lingo that I just can't keep track of and frequently got lost as to what you were trying to convey. It's a solid guide, but I think it can be greatly improved by dumbing it down just a bit more for normies like me that don't play mobas. Its still a great guide regardless for someone like me that used to play Paragon on PS4 and has forgotten almost everything since then.