What makes a good team comp (w/examples)?

DarkSentinel275·3/2/2015, 4:38:52 AM·1 votes·22,730 views

Right now, I'm just randomly picking characters that seem right for the team. For example, if we lack a tank and I'm support, I'll probably choose Leona or Thresh. But sometimes, I get that moment where I fill the right role, but it doesn't really..."sync" with the composition.

So, what makes a good team comp and why? Examples preferred w/explanations.
What are some tips I could use to make a good comp, while exploiting the character choices my enemies make in queue?
- What questions should I be asking myself before I pick my champion?
Any other aspects that could help me that I haven't mentioned?

9 Comments

DMouseslayer3/2/2015, 5:03:34 AM4 votes

Team comps can revolve around anything and everything.

Such as

Wombo Combos Malphite JarvanIV Yasuo MissFortune Leona Yasuo Orianna Twitch Leona

Basically Knock up into Yasuo ult into leona ult into MF ult and Invisible ball delivery into ori ult into twitch ult into yasuo ult into leona ult into malphite ult

These work great because if you can get a 4 or 5 man Yasuo ult, into a lot of AOE damage with MF or Twitch ults, you basically either wipe entire team or get them so low they cant win the follow up

Siege and poke Chogath Nidalee Xerath Caitlyn Sona

Basically poke a lot and keep minions cleared so cait can take towers + stay healed up with sona. If enemy team gets poked too much they have to go back and heal and there are no minions near by Cho'Gath can tank tower.

These work because you can keep minions from your towers and push your minions into theirs and take down towers quickly

Pick comp Darius Rengar Ahri Draven Blitzcrank

Basically ward everything and pick people off when they are out of position

These work because you can really make people mad at each other when they get caught out, + with Darius and Blitz pulls you can pull someone into the middle of your team and kill them easy turning a 5v5 into 4v5

And then there are just lanes and champions that go well together such as Graves Leona WHich is a lot of early game damage Malphite / Chogath / JarvanIV and Yasuo Which is pretty obvious Gnar and Anivia Basically Gnar can ult into Jarvan and Anivia walls Jinx Morgana Lots of CC early making kills very likely

All of these are hard to pull off in soloque and normals just because you can't tell your team when you're doing stuff though.

Every team should have a few certain things. Mainly Damage, CC, and Tank. If you don't have all 3 or enough of two to counteract the last one, you probably wont win. Like if you have LOTS of damage and tons of CC, you don't really need a tank. If you have a lot of Tanks and lots of CC, you don't really need tons of damage just because once the other team uses up their cooldowns and all of you are still alive you can win. If you have lots of tanks and lots of damage you don't need CC either just because once they blow the cooldowns on tanks the damage can win the fight.

If you're last pick, try and fill whatever you can that the team is lacking. A Varus ADC might be a good idea if you have no CC and a Leona could be great if no tank and a Xerath might be great if you have no wave clear. Just try and fill holes if you're last pick.

Skia Asteri3/2/2015, 6:34:33 PM2 votes

It comes down to the fact that with only five champions, there is usually something a team lacks, or at least does not no have enough of to be effective if your team comp doubles up on the ability to punish whatever is lacking. The goal is to be able to exploit the weaknesses of the other team effectively without them being able to exploit your weaknesses. So you chose champions that are good at the same thing to create an overwelming strength or ones that cover weaknesses that the other team's strengths can be used to exploit.

Basically it is "what is our plan to beat the other team" and "what can we do to keep the other team from beating us".

An incomplete list of things to look for in how to beat the other team and things to keep them from winning:

The most basic potential weakness is only having one damage type (either physical or magical). Then the enemy tanks can itemize super efficiently and become brick walls, and their damage dealers can easily purchase some defense and do more damage than going glass cannon because they live longer. Of course, this only matters if the game lasts long enough for defense to be itemized.

Scaling. Cassiopeia KogMaw You need to know when your team is stronger, and your goal is to reach that point quickly and then close the game out. If your team is out scaled, you need to get ahead and win before it matters. If you out scale the other team, you must not allow them to close quickly and reach your late game power. Even if your team scales harder, you still want to close quickly as a single mistake could cost you the game once death timers get too long.

The ability to clear minion waves from a safe distance is important if you fall behind. Xerath If you lack it, turrets will get worn down in sieges. It allows you to stall until the other team's advantage becomes less relevant. Of course, dragging the game out is very risky as eventually the death timers will get so long the first team to lose a member will lose the game. As such this should only be considered a option if your team has at least a 50% chance of being the one to come out ahead at that point with everyone at full build.

Engage. Malphite The ability to force a fight when you want one. This is for when your team has the advantage and you are sure you can come out on top in a fight to the death at the moment. Requires CC lock down Amumu and the ability to close the distance quickly Sivir so the other team cannot back away... preferably without getting killed before your team can follow up. Ultimately you force the fight by making them choose to fight back or abandon some teammates to a sure death.

Disengage. Janna The ability to run away after a fight starts if you do not like it. AoE CC can be used for this, but knock backs are often best. Azir Gragas

Counter-engage. Nunu Galio Basically the same as engage, but usually with no reliable way to use it unless the other team is already fighting you. Kind of risky if you are behind.

Poke. Xerath Lux Caitlyn Nidalee Ezreal Corki Jayce The goal is to hit people with long range attacks without them being able to hit you back. And continue until one or more enemies need to fall back and then take an objective.

Picks. Blitzcrank Thresh Morgana Leblanc You want to catch someone in a bad position / by surprise and kill them quickly without any chance of escape. (death bush / baron bait) Requires CC lock down and high burst damage. Then take towers / dragon / baron.

BluePolarizer3/2/2015, 6:07:56 AM2 votes

There's pretty much 4 types of comps that counter each other: AOE Hard Engage, Pick/Splitpush, Siege/Poke and Protect the Carry

AOE Hard Engage: get a bunch of crazy AOE ults together, end laning phase group as soon as possible and roll to objectives as 5. The weakness is that they are usually bad duelists and with bad-average laning phases.

example: Malphite Amumu Yasuo Ezreal Nami

Pick/Splitpush: usually here you have lane bullies, highly mobile champs and high single target damage. They will never win a 5v5 teamfight against an AOE hard engage comp if they are even or only slightly ahead in gold, but the objective is to never teamfight without a numbers advantage from picking someone off or being able to defend while someone else is splitpushing.

example: Riven LeeSin Ahri Lucian Blitzcrank

Siege/Poke: usually long range, high waveclear and peel is the name of the game. Push minions to enemy turret, don't let enemies push to your turret, force them away from the turret, then take it.

example: Lissandra Nidalee Xerath Tristana Janna

Protect the carry: you have a late game hypercarry that can 1v5 if they get their damage off. Thus, all you need to do is peel for them and keep them alive, and they'll melt the whole enemy team. This is basically you have 4 supports + 1 carry, except that some supports get farm and others don't.

example: Maokai Kayle Orianna KogMaw Thresh

DarkSentinel2753/10/2015, 7:17:28 AM1 votes

Thank you for all the posts! I'm trying my best to read all of them. However, I've been incredibly busy with work recently. These responses are really helpful, and I'm bumping this so people who are learning can benefit as well!

Azukus3/2/2015, 5:05:10 AM1 votes

I'll summarize what the other guy said. CC. Poke. Champs that pick people off. Synergy.

freeformline3/2/2015, 9:23:26 PM1 votes

Unless you are building for a specific team strategy like those other posters have detailed, there are three basic things you will always want to have: An AD carry, AP carry, and a front line that can peel for the damage dealers. The ADC/marksman is, of course, there to deal high sustained damage to any enemy he can safely reach and to quickly destroy objectives. The APC serves to do high multi-target damage in fights and create a magic damage threat to make defensive itemization difficult. Your front line will generally be about two bruisers or tanks who have enough crowd control in their kits to lock down priority targets for the AP or any assassins and to prevent enemies from doing the same to your damage dealers. It is often preferable to have at least one strong engage champion to force favorable fights and a decent disengage champion to escape unfavorable ones. These capabilities could also be on the last champion or two that sits outside the above listed roles, usually a support or utility jungler.

A couple examples of teams in this format are: Sejuani Taric Cassiopeia Fiora Vayne and Anivia Ashe Soraka Nautilus Renekton . Neither of these is an ideal team (and is thus something you may encounter in solo queue), but both have enough damage, durability, and crowd control that they can succeed against most other teams as long as the game is played well. Both teams have at least one sustained physical damage source ( Vayne Ashe ), a strong magic damage source capable of damaging multiple opponents at once ( Cassiopeia Anivia ), and a durable front line capable of peeling, engaging, and counter-engaging as necessary ( Sejuani Taric Renekton ). I gave the first team an additional fighter Fiora to be Sejuani's dive buddy and the second team a squishy support Soraka to compliment Nautilus's lockdown and increase the team's DPS with an item 3504 , but both teams would still be workable regardless of what their fifth champion was.

You'll note that I have not mentioned assassins so far. That is mostly because I don't like having them on my team, but it is also because they are not a strong choice to bring into every team. Assassins have high burst damage, usually to a single target, making them very useful in pick comps or for snowballing lanes, but a coordinated team can keep them from causing trouble in large fights. I do not play or particularly like assassins, so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I do not find them to be reliable enough to recommend them in the general case. Assassins, while flashy, fun to play, and often effective at deleting squishy targets, are best reserved for specific team compositions and as targeted counter-picks. Unless your team has a clear plan or need for an assassin, a bruiser, tank, or AOE mage will generally be a more reliable choice.

admiralcourvoisi3/3/2015, 3:26:00 AM1 votes

In soloqueue, it's hard to say what your comp will end up looking like. In general, pick your champion to synergize with the champ you'll be interacting with the most. Full team comps are hard to get unless it's a premade.

Thus: Top Lane: Pick a (usually tanky/bruisery) champion who synergizes well with your jungler. Gnar / JarvanIV is a good example of this kind of pick, and a setup which has been utterly oppressive in LCS this year. Gnar packs either immense CC or powerful ranged damage, both of which work well with Jarvan's engage-oriented kit.

Jungle: This is one of the trickiest picks, since you'll have to work with every single lane. Typically, I try to pick someone who counterpoints the midlaner's pick. For example, if it's a CC-heavy mage like Orianna , I might go for an engage-type assassin like MasterYi . However, if my mid picks Zed , I'd choose a more CC/support-oriented jungler like Chogath or Sejuani to fill in that gap. Again, jungle is one of the trickiest picks to make. Try to base your choice off of your team's strengths and weaknesses.

Mid Lane: As the midlaner, you have a bit more freedom of choice, since many common mid picks are multifunctional, such as Ahri (either a slippery uncatchable mage or a lethal pick-off champ), Syndra (massive burst capability and two AoE CC tools), or Zed (ranged harass combined with immense all-in potential). As such, your choice can be based off of your preferred playstyle. Remember to consider the rest of your team when making your choice, though. If your team lacks CC, don't pick Talon , pick Orianna .

ADC/Support: Playing in the bot lane is a bit like playing your own little minigame in League. You should see some jungle presence from both sides, but don't be surprised if you don't see your jungler more than twice, and midlane roams will be rare. As such, your pick should be focused on synergizing with your lane partner. Good examples of this include Graves / Leona , Lucian / Thresh , Draven / Blitzcrank , and Vayne / Braum . Your two picks may not synergize with the rest of your team as well as they could, but since a good lane combo will generally get really strong anyways, it shouldn't matter. Again, do try to pick into your team's voids. No assassin? Don't pick KogMaw , pick Vayne . Have tons of single-target damage, but lacking in AoE sledgehammer? Graves will outperform Quinn . Need CC? Get Janna instead of Soraka .

TL;DR In the top lane, pick a tank who works well with your jungler. In the jungle, pick someone who covers your mid's weaknesses. In mid, pick someone who fills in your top's missing pieces. Support/ADC should primarily focus on intralane synergy, but don't forget the rest of your team.

Still TL? Pick to cover your team's weaknesses. Get CC if there is none, burst if it's needed, tankiness if your team is full of squishies. Just don't leave any gaping weaknesses to be exploited.

Divewing3/3/2015, 5:10:31 AM1 votes

I feel the most important thing to keep in mind is the teams win conditions, both yours and theirs, each teams win conditions are equally important. For example, if the enemy has a huge wombo team (like some of the teams mentioned in other comments), then you will probably lose a 5 versus 5 teamfight, so you will have to think of something else (split pushing works very well). In this circumstance, your win conditions are to not engage in a full on 5v5, either utilising split pushing to divide their team, or forcing fights around key cooldowns (stuff like amumus ultimate), whereas the enmy team will be looking for a big fight around key objectives such as dragon, baron, and towers so they can either ace and take drag/baron, or ace and push to take towers of their own. I stress importance on this myself because i see alot of people trapped in a "we MUST win a 5v5 to win the game" mindset, when it's near impossible to actually pull off. Katarina cant 1v1 Diana, but she will clean up a teamfight, so if Diana split pushes, they cant send Kat cos she'll die, they wont send the adc (same reason), support wont be able to clear the waves or kill diana, so either top or jungle has to go there, chances are thats a key cooldown/cc that kat really wanted to make a teamfight easier, a 4v4 is potentially winnable now.

Leti the Yeti3/2/2015, 5:30:20 AM1 votes

Xerath Caitlyn Janna Nidalee Udyr the split push comp

Xerath Cait and Nid can bunker down behind a turret, wipe out minions to ensure the other team cant push they also have great poke so eventually they will wear out the other team Janna exist to disengage incase the other team does try to dive

Meanwhile Udyr goes around the sides and takes your nexus ;O