What is the League of Legends World Championships?

League of Legends is a 5 vs. 5 MOBA game developed by Riot Games, an American video games publisher, and released in 2009. League is Riot’s only game, and it is inspired by DOTA (we covered DOTA 2’s The International). It is free-to-play and has a massive following -- in 2014, Riot estimated 27 million people play the game daily.

League also has an established professional scene, with regional leagues set up around the globe and multiple annual international tournaments. Playing the game well requires high levels of mental agility, mechanical skill and teamwork, and the top players can make a healthy living doing it.

Each professional game is played on the same map.

The map has three “lanes,” with areas between each known as the jungle. Computer-controlled “minions” for each team walk down the lanes, and human players earn gold (which can be used to buy items) and experience for killing minions (or other players, or buildings, etc.).

The members of each team go to different parts of this map depending on their position. In general, there will be one person in the top lane, one person in the middle (or “mid”) lane, two people in the bottom (or “bot”) lane and one person roaming the jungle. Two go in the bottom lane for better control of the dragon early on.

The goal of the game is to destroy the other team’s base, the “Nexus.” The Nexus and the lanes are protected by towers, strong buildings that do a lot of damage and are difficult to take down, especially early on.

The third tower in each lane protects an inhibitor. If you destroy an inhibitor, your team gets stronger minions in that lane. You cannot attack a building (tower or inhibitor) unless you’ve destroyed the buildings in front of it first.

Neutral monsters reside in the jungle and it’s generally the jungler’s job to clear those. There are two large neutral monsters -- dragon and baron -- that provide global bonuses for your whole team. Team fights often occur around these objectives, because they are so important to winning the game. Baron does not appear until 20 minutes into the game, while dragons usually start getting contested around 7-10 minutes in.

There are over 120 champions (playable characters) and nearly 200 items, each with unique skills and abilities. Riot consistently tweaks the game to try and make sure it is balanced, so most champions are at least somewhat viable, depending on the situation. Coming up with successful team compositions and buying the right items for in-game situations are vital to a team’s success.

Before each game is the pick-and-ban phase, where teams choose three champions to ban from the game, and then alternate in snake draft format picking champions. Teams usually have a team composition in mind coming into the match, but have to be fluid depending on the opposition’s picks and bans.

In-game, teams communicate via headset to coordinate movements and strategies. Korean and Chinese teams are known for playing very aggressively, while North American teams have been criticized for their more conservative approaches.

AD carry: One of two players in the bottom lane. The AD stands for “attack damage,” while carry is meant to imply the position’s ability to “carry” the team with late-game damage.

CC: Stands for “crowd control,” and refers to abilities that stun or slow enemy champions.

Dive: A strategic (and often risky!) decision to attempt to kill an enemy champion positioned under a tower, usually requiring great team coordination.

Gank: A term for when a champion (or group of champions) picks off a vulnerable champion and kills them. This is usually done by the jungler.

Jungler: A team’s jungler kills the neutral monsters between the lanes and attempts to help gain an early advantage by ganking in advantageous situations.

Mid laner: The champion in the mid lane, usually responsible for contributing high amounts of magic damage.

Tank: A champion with high defensive statistics and abilities.

Top laner: The champion in the top lane, and probably the most flexible in terms of champion diversity. Tanks, high damage-dealers and even some support champions can be picked here.

Siege: A team making a strong effort to destroy a tower and move towards the Nexus.

Support: Joining the AD carry in the bottom lane, a support’s role is primarily in helping the other champions on the team rather than doing high levels of damage.

Ultimate: A champion’s best ability, usually on a longer cooldown.

Wards: Provide vision around the map.

The League of Legends World Championship is played every year in October, crowning the top team in the sport. It’s been going on since 2011, and has been previously hosted in Europe, North America and Korea. This time, it’s back in Europe.

On the line are bragging rights and this 70-pound trophy, called the Summoner’s Cup.

Image via the LoL Wikia

Oh yeah, and there’s the $2 million prize pool, broken down thusly:

The players are already salaried, but there’s a significant financial reward for doing well at the tournament.

There are 16 teams at Worlds, all of which qualified through performances in domestic leagues.

Group A:

Counter Logic Gaming (North America)

Flash Wolves (Taiwan)

KOO Tigers (Korea)

paIN Gaming (Brazil)

Group B:

ahq e-Sports Club (Taiwan)

Cloud9 (North America)

Fnatic (Europe)

Invictus Gaming (China)

Group C:

Edward Gaming (China)

SKTelecom T1 (Korea)

H2K (Europe)

Bangkok Titans (Thailand)

Group D:

LGD Gaming (China)

KT Rolster (Korea)

Team SoloMid (North America)

Origen (Europe)

The tournament starts with a double Round Robin group stage before the top two teams from each group move on to the knockout stages. The full schedule is here.

Group Stage
Dates: October 1-4 and 8-11
Location: Paris, France

Quarterfinals
Date: October 15-18
Location: London, England

Semifinals
Date: October 24-25
Location: Brussels, Belgium Brussels

Finals
Date: October 31
Location: Berlin, Germany

SK Telecom T1, Korean champions and arguably the best team in the world. SKT won this event in 2013 and is led by mid laner Faker, who many consider to be the best player in the history of the game.

Think Jordan or Messi.

There’s also Fnatic, European champions and winners of the first Worlds back in 2011. No Western team has won since.

This year’s Fnatic lineup seems to have as good a chance as any to challenge that streak. The team went an undefeated 18-0 in the summer split and won the European playoffs. They’re strong at each position, but 17-year-old top-laner Huni is ... well, he’s terrific.

Then there’s Edward Gaming, which beat SK Telecom in the Mid-Season Invitational finals and now gets to face them in the group stage. EDG won the summer split in China, but was swept by LGD in its only playoff series. After looking strong earlier in the year, their play recently has been underwhelming. Nobody’s really sure which EDG will show up to worlds.

Root for EDG if: you enjoy an unpredictable team with a legitimate shot at winning. Oh, and possibly the best jungler in the world in Clearlove.

After sweeping EDG, LGD has emerged as one of the favorites for the title. The Summer Chinese champions brought star Korean AD carry imp into the roster before the year, helping bolster a very strong group.

Root for LGD if: you’re fine with rooting for one of the favorites, but you just want a new team to win it

Taiwanese champions AHQ E-Sports Club could be a sleeper after a strong MSI performance and a 11-0-3 regular season.

Root for AHQ if: you want an outside-the-box contender to win

As for the North American teams, there’s Counter Logic Gaming, fresh off a North American finals victory over fierce rivals Team SoloMid. After an initial visa issue, starting jungler Xmithie will be able to play, preventing CLG from having to use its backup mid laner in the position.

Root for CLG if: you want North America to do well

Team SoloMid is historically the most successful team in North America, and has the largest fan base in the region. The team is led by mid laner Bjergsen, perhaps the best player in the region and one of the best statistical mid laners in the world. TSM had some regular season issues but came on strong late, and is looking to finish higher than eighth for the first time since 2011.

Root for TSM if: you want to watch the most technically gifted player in North America

Finally, there’s Cloud9, a team that was definitely not expected to be here. After finishing 7th in the regular season, C9 recovered from 0-2 deficits in back-to-back five-game series to reach the Regional Qualifier Finals. Once there, Cloud9 upset regular season champion Team Liquid to gain the final spot.

Root for C9 if: you REALLY believe in underdogs