League of Legends Roles Explained for New Players

League of Legends has five roles: Top, Jungle, Mid, ADC (also called Bot) and Support. Each role starts in its own part of the map, earns gold in its own way and has its own job in a fight, and a team needs all five. Here are the League of Legends roles explained one by one, with easy champions to try and an honest answer on where a new player should start.

The map first: three lanes and a jungle

A standard game is played on Summoner's Rift by two teams of five. Three roads, called lanes, connect the two bases: top, middle and bottom. Waves of small soldiers called minions walk down each lane and meet in the middle. The space between the lanes is the jungle, home to neutral monsters.

The goal is to destroy the enemy Nexus, the building at the heart of their base. On the way you collect gold and experience, mostly by landing the killing hit on minions, which players call last hitting or CS, and you spend the gold on items. The five roles share this work: one player top, one mid, two bottom and one in the jungle.

The five League of Legends roles explained

Top

The top laner plays alone in the top lane, far from most of the action. It is a long duel, one against one, usually between tough fighters and tanks. Later the top laner stands at the front of team fights, or pushes a side lane alone to pull enemies away.

Easy to start with: Garen and Malphite. Both are hard to kill and have simple abilities. The hard part of top is that a small early mistake keeps growing, because help is far away.

Jungle

The jungler has no lane. They kill monster camps for gold and experience, and they carry Smite, the spell that finishes monsters off. Between camps they visit a lane to attack an enemy from the side, which is called a gank, and they lead the team to the big neutral objectives such as dragons and Baron Nashor.

Easy to start with: Warwick and Amumu. The hard part is that the jungler must watch the whole map and decide where to be, and that needs game knowledge a new player does not have yet.

Mid

The mid laner plays alone in the shortest lane, in the center of the map. Mid champions are usually mages and assassins, who deal a lot of damage in a short time. Because the lane is central, the mid laner can walk up or down to help another lane, which is called roaming.

Easy to start with: Annie and Lux. The hard part is that enemies can arrive from both sides, so you must keep checking the minimap.

ADC (Bot)

ADC stands for Attack Damage Carry. This is the marksman in the bottom lane: a ranged champion who deals steady damage with basic attacks. An ADC is weak early and very strong with items, so the first part of the game is all about collecting gold safely. In late team fights the ADC is often the team's main source of damage, and the enemy's first target.

Easy to start with: Ashe and Miss Fortune. The hard part is staying alive. Where you stand in a fight matters more than anything else.

Support

The support shares the bottom lane with the ADC and leaves the minion gold to them. Supports buy an item that earns gold in other ways. Their job is to keep the ADC alive, to start fights or stop them, and to place wards, small items that reveal part of the map so the team sees enemies coming.

There are two main kinds: enchanters who heal and shield, such as Soraka and Janna, and tanks who jump in and hold enemies in place, such as Leona and Nautilus. Start with Soraka or Leona. The hard part is that good vision and a well-timed ability win games without showing on the scoreboard.

What is the best role for beginners in LoL?

There is no single right answer, but for most people jungle is the wrong first choice, for the reason given above. For your first weeks, pick a lane:

• Top if you like to learn at your own speed. Tough champions forgive mistakes, and the lane teaches you last hitting and trading hits.
• Support if you play with a friend who already knows the game. You have less pressure to last hit and more time to watch how fights and the map work.
• Mid or ADC if you have played similar games or you want to be the damage dealer. Expect to die a lot at first.

Whatever you choose, stay with it. Two roles, with two or three champions each, are enough for your first months. You learn the game faster when the champion is no longer the difficult part.

In every role, kills feel good, but towers and objectives win the game. After a won fight, take something on the map before you go back to base.

Frequent questions about LoL roles

Which League of Legends role is the hardest?

Most players say jungle, because it depends on map knowledge and decisions more than on any single skill. ADC is the most demanding on your hands in long fights, and top is the loneliest.

How do I pick my role before a match?

In draft and ranked queues you choose two preferred roles before you search for a game, or Fill, which means any role. The system tries to give you your first choice, but it sometimes places you elsewhere to keep waiting times short. Players call that being autofilled.

Can any champion play any role?

The game does not stop you, but each champion is designed for one or two roles. In champion select you can filter the list by position to see who fits yours.

RP codes for Türkiye server accounts

Once you have found your role and a champion you enjoy, you may want a skin for it. Skins are bought with RP, the game's paid currency, and they change looks only. Mas4Games sells League of Legends RP codes for accounts on the Türkiye server. The code is shown on the order's page in your account and sent by e-mail.

Before your next match, also set the game up with our League of Legends settings for new players.