How counters work in League of Legends

League of Legends is one of the most strategic games out there, with the draft playing a major role in the outcome. Here is how you can take advantage of counters in LoL and make the most out of any situation.

What are counters in League of Legends?

Counter picks are usually specific champions that have an inherent advantage over one or more enemy champions. They are mostly picked to get a big advantage over the laner you’re matching up against, increasing the chances of your snowball and thus, increasing the chances of victory as well.

That being said, with so many unique champions in League of Legends, as well as all the different interactions characters have one with another, finding the counters can be a time-consuming and troublesome process.

Nowadays, luckily, there are many websites and apps that indicate which counter picks usually fare well against determined champions. By using loads of statistics and data, they are quite reliable when it comes to pinpointing the right champions that fit the situation. That being said, they usually have one big downside: they don’t tell you why it’s strong or how you should be playing a matchup to get the most out of the counter pick.

This can lead to many weird moments where you were expecting to win a matchup but end up dying instead. And while there might be mechanical mistakes, not knowing exactly what you should be doing can be highly impactful to the outcome. Today, we’re going to dive deeper into the latter and teach you, based on a few guidelines, how to play the counters properly in League of Legends.

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How classes counter one another – the myth

Just like in most strategic role-playing games, each role has distinctive characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses. League of Legends is no different, although this differentiation is no longer that stratified. This is because, with the release of new champions and innovative kits, some characters have gained or lost characteristics that might be traditional to certain classes.

For example, Kai’Sa is considered an ADC champion, who typically has high DPS and low mobility. The Void marksman, however, excels more in burst damage and has relatively good mobility thanks to her E and ultimate. Does this make Kai’Sa stronger than all other ADC? Not necessarily, but she can be super strong against team compositions where her mobility actually allows her to shine more than any other marksman.

The same can be said for almost all picks in the game and every time new champions are added or updates are made, those interactions will change. There are some common patterns, though, which can be helpful and usually stay the same over time. To make an example, you would expect a bruiser to beat a marksman in 1v1 situations, and a duelist to beat a non-duelist bruiser. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at the more common patterns that you would see between counter picks.

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Melee vs Ranged matchup

This is probably one of the most common counters you will probably see in most games. It’s fairly common in the top lane and it affects the mid laners as well. Typically, the ranged champion is able to abuse the enemy laner during the laning phase thanks to the higher auto attack range, giving no chance for the melee champion to fight back. By consistently harassing the enemy, the ranged champion will be able to build a health lead and (potentially CS lead), not to mention that it will have more say on the minion waves, choosing how he wants to play it out.

Is it that troublesome for the melee champion? It depends. You want to avoid walking up too often in those matchups but at the same time you want to make sure you can farm as much as possible. It’s a matter of how well the enemy plays and how you can give out the small advantage possible. Typical ranged vs melee matchup: Quinn against Renekton in the top lane.  

Long-range vs short-range

This is a typical pattern you would usually see in the bottom lane with the ADCs. Some marksmen have a basic attack range higher than others, allowing them to get free auto attacks before the enemy can do anything. Just like in the melee vs ranged matchup, it gives the champion with the higher attack range an advantage. Caitlyn against Vayne is a perfect example, as the latter will basically have no chance to win the matchup since Caitlyn can abuse her with the higher range.

The same can be said with the abilities: if you have long-range abilities, you can cast them from a safer distance without having to walk up close to the enemy. Champions like Lux or Xerath, for example, can freely poke enemies like Viktor or Anivia that don’t have that much range on their abilities.

Hard-engage beats low-mobility

There are many champions that excel at hard engaging in League of Legends, and they are typically great counter picks to champions that are highly immobile. It will be relatively easy to jump on immobile enemies and shut them down. Champions like Jarvan IV can trap champions like ADCs and support that have no dashes and take them down in the Cataclysm.

Disengage beats hard-engage

If you’re wondering what are the best counters to hard-engage, the answer is simple: disengaging picks. Champions like Janna are exceptional at displacing enemies and preventing them from reaching your allies. As long as you’re able to use your abilities in the right way, the opponents will have a tough time dealing with you.

Point-and-click crowd controls stop mobility

Mobility has become more and more powerful over the past few years in League of Legends, with most champions at least getting one or multiple ways to quickly dash or reposition themselves. One of the best ways to counter them is by getting champions with point-and-click crowd controls like Lissandra or Malzahar. Whenever they walk into the abilities range, they will have nowhere to go.

These are just some of the most common answers to determined champion characteristics. That being said, League of Legends is a highly dynamic environment where things can vary quickly depending on which champions are involved and with what role.

Luckily for you, we have created various lists of counters to specific League of Legends champions, showing and explaining to you why those picks are effective. While it’s mainly focused on the laning phase, knowing how matchups function will always be good information that will help you master the game, especially macro-wise.

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Team composition counters in League of Legends

Aside from the lane counters, there are also team compositions that counter one another. While it’s usually not a “black and white” situation where a certain type of team composition will always counter another type, there are also some common patterns here as well. Below are some of the most common team compositions and their counters:

Teamfight comp – as the name suggests, it excels at fighting thanks to good scaling and strong AoE abilities. It usually includes some hard engage to make sure you can initiate fights whenever needed.

Counters: 1-3-1, 4-1, early-game pick comps

Protect ADC – usually played with hyper-scaling ADCs. The gameplay is revolved around protecting the damage dealer with shields and heals while also tanking the damage in fights.

Counter: early-game comps, 1-3-1, comps with high pick potential

Pick comps – they typically have abilities to pick out enemies when out of position. Requires to play with the vision control to get advantages.

Counters: suffers against Teamfight comps if not snowballing correctly. Poke and sieging comps and be troublesome when behind.

Poke/Siege comps – using long range abilities to take down objectives and push enemies off them. You don’t want to engage in fights but rather harass them from afar.

Counters: pick comps, engage and teamfights comps when behind.

4-1 comp – four members of the team apply pressure on one side of the map, with the remaining member pressuring another side of the map (usually far away). It’s usually played when the single member is a strong duelist that can win 1v1 situations and force the enemies to answer with more members.

Counters: Pick comps, AOE/Teamfights, hard-engage comps

1-3-1 is an alternative to the 4-1 comp: instead of one member, you have two members splitting at the same time. This can be done if the three members have some form of disengage tools. That said, the counters are similar to the 4-1 comp.

Early Game comps – you want to snowball lanes very quickly, building a big enough gold and experience gap. You want strong skirmishing champions that can win early on.

Counters: hard loses if not being able to create a big gap in the early game. Typically struggles more against disengaging team comps.

Kiting Comps/Disengage: Usually very mobile/ablities that snare or slow. idea is in a fight is to keep moving back while doing damage, not letting the enemy be able to touch you.

Counters: AOE/Teamfight, Poke/Seige, Pick

Other elements to consider when evaluating counters in League of Legends

Synergy between champions

Even though a particular champion might struggle against a counter in a vacuum, having synergizing partners can make up for that disadvantage. It’s a common thing that happens in the bottom lane since you’re usually evaluating both ADC and support together rather than just looking at the single champions. If you’re wondering which support champions work best for each marksman, you can check out our lists of the best choices to pair up with.

Read also: Best bot lane duos in LoL (updated each patch)

Kill Pressure: The Threat of Violence

Kill pressure is another important element that can swing the matchup in one or the other’s favor. This is because getting kills would either nullify or amplify the advantage relative to the enemy counter.

For example, a champion like Zed might fall behind in farm early on due to his melee nature but he has great all-in potential at level six which allows him to pick up kills and close the gap and perhaps, get a snowball as well. The inverse can happen as well so understanding the matchup and finding the key moments that can shake up the momentum are crucial to mastering the counter picks.