Team compositions and win conditions are the very essence of what decides a game of League of Legends. This example is a teamfight composition, a team focused on winning the game through 5v5s around major objectives. Here’s a detailed breakdown of what makes teamfight compositions so successful in solo queue and competitive play.

To many players, the pick and ban phase is just a culmination of begging for a different role, insta-locking Yasuo, and flaming their Teemo support while the timer counts down to zero. But, if you want to improve your solo queue rank, its important to recognise the strengths and weaknesses of your team composition and picking your champion accordingly.

Of course, there are examples of one-tricks climbing to the peak of the ladder, while obviously paying no attention to the state of their team comp in the draft phase. However, if you want to maximise your chances of success, picking for your team rather than for yourself will certainly increase the likelihood of achieving a victory.

Teamfight compositions are the simplest type of strategy to both draft and execute due to the fact that the win condition is extremely clear. To win, you merely have to create a line-up of five champions that excel in teamfights, reach the later stages of the game without inting, and fight. It may sound too easy, but in essence, these are the basics of a successful teamfight composition.

You may also hear teamfight compositions referred to as “heavy engage”, “5v5”, “wombo-combo”, or in some cases “bounce house” comps. The building blocks of these strategies involve champions that can start a fight, maintain the fight, and lockdown enemy carries. In order to start a fight, you need a champion that has an engage tool, each of which can be broken down into “primary” and “secondary” forms of engage.

Imagine you’re a vulnerable AD Carry, what are you most afraid of? It’s the Warwick leaping at you, Malphite ulting you, and Zac bouncing you around – these are primary sources of engage, tools that start the fight and can be used at a moment’s notice. What really gets you killed? The champions that are now in range to apply a second form of crowd control (CC), like Alistar’s E-Q Headbutt-Pulverize, Rek’Sai’s W – Unburrow, or Orianna’s R – Shockwave. It is a combination of these tools that leads to dead enemy carries, and a successful teamfight.

In order to grasp the more specific intricacies of a strong 5v5-based comp, the game should be broken down into two phases – the draft and the execution. The draft phase focusing purely on champion select, whether it be ranked or tournament style (for Clash coming soon™), and the execution phase revolving around everything that should happen in-game. Here’s the breakdown of the dos and don’ts for a teamfight composition.