Summoner’s Rift is an iconic map in esports. Mmany gamers, even outside of League of Legends can name the map, despite not playing the game. Here is the iconic LoL map explained for players not familiar with it.
To briefly dab into the League of Legends lore for a second, Summoner’s Rift is a magical battlefield set in the lands between Freljord and the Ironspike Mountains, and was used by the Institute of War and the League of Legends. The battlefield would see a war rage between two competing empires.
To League of Legends players, it is home.
It hosts one of the most popular esports titles in the world. Two teams of five compete to destroy each other’s Nexus. This article will break down the components of Summoner’s Rift, making it easier for new players to adjust to their new environment.
When starting League of Legends for the first time, you must decide what role you want to play. League of Legends has five positions you can choose from: Top Lane, Jungle, Middle Lane, Bottom Lane (Carry and Support). These five roles are spread out across three lanes on which players will battle.
There is also the Jungle, but we will get onto that position later.
As mentioned, this particular MOBA has three lanes. Top Lane is usually home to bruisers and tanks. Mid Laners most often play mages and assassins. Bot Lane is a duo-lane, that sees ADCs play ranged Marksmen champions, and Support players play enchanters and engage tanks.
In the lanes, players will go against players of the same role as the map is mirrored.
During the laning phase, players will kill minions to earn gold, while trying to destroy the defending turrets and whittle down their opponents to gain the advantage and destroy their Nexus.
In League of Legends, each lane will have three turrets: the tier one turret, the tier two turret, and the inhibitor turret. For a quick description of inhibitors, they are structures in the base that block the construction of Super Minions being spawned in each lane.
The inhibitor has 4000 health and regenerates health if not completely destroyed.
Back to turrets, also known as towers. They are defensive structures located in the three lanes. They deal damage to enemy champions and are fortifications for your base. Minions must be within the turret’s damage range to siege a turret. If there are no minions, the turret will start attacking you, dealing more damage with each consecutive hit. On top of that, if you damage an enemy champion while in the turret range, the enemy turret will start attacking you even if there are minions nearby.
Finally, the last two sets of towers are the Nexus towers. These work the same as other towers in League of Legends but are placed just in front of the Nexus for both teams.
A Junglers role in League of Legends works differently than the Laners. A Jungler will level up by killing jungle monsters, also known as Jungle camps. This is how they will earn their gold and buy their items. On top of that, Junglers will look to help Laners, and disrupt the game through ganking. A gank is a LoL term used when Jungler ambushes a player, typically in the lane, to help the teammate gain an advantage over the enemy.
The other primary role of the Jungler is to help the team secure neutral objectives like killing Rift Herald, Baron, Dragons, and destroying enemy’s turrets (giving out global buffs and gold to all teammates when killed).
Jungle camps – Red buff, Baron, Infernal Drake
These giant monsters spawn at specific times on either side of the river. For dragons, these are called Elemental Drakes.
These creatures provide different buffs while also altering Summoner’s Rift’s map layout, depending on which soul it is. Once a team has earned four dragons, they get the Elemental Dragon’s Soul.
Summoner’s Rift is the primary battlefield in League of Legends. This is the classic LoL map and is the home to practically all competitive events, from climbing the LoL ranks to esports matches.
Read next: League of Legends Arena Map Explained – Everything You Need To Know
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