The ten champion types and what they do.

To help people figure out Riot's arcane, and often inconsistent/wrong, champion sorting rules, here's a small guide. There are ten major types of champions, two for each of the five main classes.

The five main classes are: Slayer, Fighter, Mage, Marksman, and Tank.

Slayers all share one very specific trait. Sheer mobility. You can't catch them, but they can easily catch you.

The first Slayer type is the Skirmisher. These guys bring enough raw dps to shred your back line into itty bitty pieces. They jump in when the moment is ripe and they don't stop until their target is dead. In exchange, they're often quite frail if they mess up their defensive timing. Yi, Nocturne, Fiora, Yasou, and Shaco.

The second type is the Assassin. Their flit about the edges of a team fight until a gap in the defenses is exposed. Then they'll jump in, unload, and escape before the other team can retaliate. They often have high burst but lack the dps of the Skirmisher. Candidates of this slippery playstyle include the likes of Fizz, LeBlanc, Ahri, Talon, and Zed.

In comparison, Fighters are beefy melee ranged camps that favor raw AD and make up for lack of mobility by kicking your teeth in if they catch you. They are divided into Divers and Juggernauts.

Divers (Which is a stupid thing to call them, Duelist would have been much more accurate) focus heavily on 1v1 combat. Almost all of their damage is single target and they are very difficult to take down if not focused. Notable "Divers" include the likes of Olaf, Jax, Udyr, Irelia, and Trundle.

Juggernauts trade single target DPS for AoE and speed for even more bulk. This makes them great for wading into the middle of a fight and murdering a whole team. Examples include Darius, Garen, Volibear, and Mordekaiser.

Mages snap their fingers and make your head explode or heal your wounds. They favor AP and nuking your whole team from orbit, or possibly providing a shield to survive said nuke.

One one side of the coin we have, for lack of a better term, Burst Mages. Everything about their kit screams raw killing power. From Brand, to Annie, to Vel'Koz. Every button they press brings pain. Technically there are three varieties, but they really all do the exact same thing. Kill the enemy team. Some just do it from a slightly longer range than others.

On the other side we have Support Mages. These champions sacrifice raw damage for utility. Shields, healing, speed control. They are the likes of Orianna, Morgana, Sona, Karma, and Soraka. They are the person you turn to when you're at 5% HP and Karthus slams his R key so hard that it breaks.

Next up are the Marskmen. Riot doesn't have specific terms for them so I'll be making up my own to best describe the two play styles.

First up, you've got the Artillery. These guys tend to lack the raw over time dsp of their counter parts, but they make up for it with powerful abilities that have long ranges. Corki, Ezreal, Varus, Caitlyn, and Kog'Maw.

In contrast we have the Machine Gunners. Their kits often come with raw stat boosts and abilities that reward consist attacking. Jinx, Ashe, Vayne, Sivir.

Last, but certainly not least, we have Tanks. What they lack in killing power they make up for with survivability and more CC than you can shake a stick at!

Leading the charge is the Vanguard. These champions favor AoE that makes them shine in team fights. Basically Juggernauts with more CC in exchange for less raw dps. Galio, Amumu, Sejuani, and Malphite.

In the back lines are the Wardens. The defenders of the meek and frail. What they lack in Vanguard's AoE they make up for in unparalleled peeling power and utility. You can always count on Thresh, Alistair, or Braum to deal with the incoming Rengar and buy your Jinx time to do what she does best. Blowing stuff up.