League of Legends uses five positions, but a useful composition is more than one champion per role. This guide explains the shared fight plan, the capabilities that make it work and the limits to consider before locking a pick.
Use an empty, partial or complete team. Team Identity describes how the composition wants to create or answer fights. Power Curve describes when you want its strength to matter. Recommended Role controls which position individual suggestions target.
Create a clear opening, layer area control and let multiple teammates contribute to the same fight.
Example: Kennen (Top), Wukong (Jungle), Orianna (Mid), Miss Fortune (ADC), Rell (Support)
Win Condition: Start on one timing, layer control, then keep carries safe through the return damage.
Breaks When: The opener lands beyond allied reach or every defensive tool is spent going forward.
Control space with repeated long-range pressure before the opponent can start a full fight.
Example: Jayce (Top), Maokai (Jungle), Hwei (Mid), Ezreal (ADC), Braum (Support)
Win Condition: Lower enemy health from outside engage range, then take the structure or objective safely.
Breaks When: The formation loses vision, arrives late or cannot retreat after the enemy crosses the range line.
Create a numbers advantage by controlling vision, catching one target and applying damage immediately.
Example: Renekton (Top), Vi (Jungle), Ahri (Mid), Jhin (ADC), Nautilus (Support)
Win Condition: Own a dark vision pocket, isolate one target and convert the catch before help arrives.
Breaks When: Opponents group tightly, the vision pocket is exposed or follow-up arrives too late.
Use a Top or Mid side-lane threat while the other four players hold space without taking a losing fight.
Example: Jax (Top), Jarvan IV (Jungle), Ryze (Mid), Ashe (ADC), Taric (Support)
Win Condition: Force two answers to the side lane while the four-player group trades for map control.
Breaks When: The four-player group accepts a hard engage or the side-laner pushes without matching vision.
Hold a stable front line while safe, sustained damage works through the nearest reachable threat.
Example: Ornn (Top), Sejuani (Jungle), Azir (Mid), Aphelios (ADC), Thresh (Support)
Win Condition: Keep a controllable front line between enemy threats and the sustained-damage carries.
Breaks When: The front line outruns its damage or divers reach the back line without a peel answer.
Give a meaningful Bot or Mid carry enough time and space to deliver repeated damage.
Example: Shen (Top), Skarner (Jungle), Viktor (Mid), Jinx (ADC), Milio (Support)
Win Condition: Layer peel around the main carry until their sustained damage decides the fight.
Breaks When: The carry is isolated, protection overlaps too early or the team cannot contest space.
Reach priority targets quickly and bring enough follow-up to finish the play before the formation resets.
Example: Kled (Top), Lee Sin (Jungle), Akali (Mid), Kai'Sa (ADC), Rakan (Support)
Win Condition: Engage and follow-up arrive together on the enemy carry before the formation can reset.
Breaks When: The first diver enters alone or the back line cannot survive the enemy counterattack.
Absorb or interrupt the enemy’s first commitment, then return damage while their formation and cooldowns are exposed.
Example: Poppy (Top), Gragas (Jungle), Taliyah (Mid), Xayah (ADC), Renata Glasc (Support)
Win Condition: Hold key control until the enemy crosses your zone, then turn together on the entry.
Breaks When: The team gives away useful ground or spends defensive control before the commitment.
A second credible damage type makes it harder for opponents to gain maximum value from one defensive profile. The goal is not a perfect percentage split; it is to avoid making the enemy’s defensive choices too simple. Count meaningful threats, not incidental damage. Small magic damage from a tank does not necessarily balance several physical carries.
Repeated damage remains relevant after the opening abilities. It is especially important in longer front-to-back fights and against durable targets or major objectives. Burst can decide a pick quickly, while sustained damage answers the question: what happens if the first rotation does not end the fight?
A frontliner survives contact and gives opponents a reason to respect the space between teams through control, threat or disruption. Being durable is not enough if enemies can simply walk past. Frontline and peel can come from the same champion, but they describe different jobs.
Engage creates a deliberate beginning to a fight by closing distance, controlling a target or forcing the opponent to respond. Reliability, range and allied follow-up matter. An engage used beyond the reach of allied damage is usually an isolated entry.
Crowd control restricts movement, attacks or ability use. It can start a fight, extend an ally’s engage, stop a diver or hold a zone. Total quantity is less informative than reliability and timing. Several difficult skill shots may still leave a team without a dependable first control effect.
Peel uses control, displacement, slows, shields, healing or threat to keep immediate danger away from a carry. The purpose separates peel from engage. The same ability can be used aggressively in one fight and saved to protect a carry in another.
Disengage helps multiple allies create distance or interrupt momentum after the opposing team commits. It gives poke and scaling teams another cycle of time. It can also prevent a bad fight, but too much reactive utility may leave a team short of initiative.
Waveclear removes minion waves efficiently, protecting structures and creating time to reset, establish vision or arrive at an objective. Safety and range matter. A champion may clear quickly in theory but be unable to approach a wave against strong catch or engage.
A credible side-lane threat forces an answer away from the main group and can create space around objectives or structures. The remaining four players must be able to hold safely. Side-lane pressure is a team map state, not just one champion farming alone.
Do not force the draft toward one stage. Use it when champion comfort and overall fit matter more than a specific timing window.
Prioritize meaningful early agency rather than treating early strength as a small bonus. The team should be able to use that pressure before scaling opponents stabilize.
Favor champions that come online around coordinated rotations, smaller fights and objective contests after the first major purchases.
Favor late-game value, sustained damage and tools that help the composition survive until those strengths become relevant.
Read Weak, Developing and Strong as composition signals rather than win predictions. Confirm the team plan, identify the critical gap, check which open role can reasonably cover it and compare the trade-off before choosing.