Team composition

Team composition
As a team you need to have a balance between Offensive and Defensive capabilities. Take all of the stats and abilities of your team as a whole and add them together and you will find your Team Capability.

The standard team setup (Tank/Off-Tank/Carry/Mage/Support) gives you one dedicated Defense (Tank), two dedicated Offense (Carry/Mage), one combination (Off-Tank) and a miscellanious character who should balance out what is left (if you have defensive Carries and Mages, offensive support... if you have a more aggressive type of tank, defensive support).

Another factor to consider is how many 'utilities' your team has as a whole. Keep in mind the following for a balanced team:
- one champion should be a jungler
- one Carry/Support should work at melee range and the other two at a long range
- one or more, preferably two or more, should have either a Stun or Snare effect
- one or more, preferably two or more, should have area damage/crowd control
- one or more should have a slow or positioning skill

Difference between Burst and Endurance champions
A Burst champion is very capable for a short period of time and then has a long refresh before being able to contribute again.

An Endurance champion, however, is able to keep going for long periods of time with moderate capabilities. Endurance champions have two subcategories, which are Machines that are able to keep going due to low cooldown abilities and Temporaries which are able to keep going due to high duration, high cooldown abilities. Functionally Machines and Temporaries are different but they are similar enough to be considered interchangeable.

As a general rule, Offensive Burst Champions and Endurance Champions should stick together, as either a Burst Team or an Endurance Team. The Tanks, however, should be built according to the enemy team... if the enemy team is Burst then both the Tank and Off-Tank should have Burst Protection and vice versa.

For example, Anivia, Master Yi and Janna are all Endurance champions. If they are found on one team, the enemy team should react by taking Endurance Tanks like Gragas and Dr. Mundo.
If the team were to take, say, Katarina, Miss Fortune and Morgana, who are all Burst Champions, then they should take Burst Tanks like Alistar and Malphite.


Advanced team composition
There are basically 5 factors which, if dominated, will win you the game.
1) Destroying Towers. This is the most important factor but not necessarily the most important to emphasize. In the end, every team will need to do this.
2) Team Fights. This means being able to work well together as a team and having a team composition with abilities that compliment each other in a 5v5 battle.
3) Farming. This means getting much more Gold and Experience than your enemy team, usually by killing enemy champions and jungling, especially controlling the Dragon.
4) Map Control. This means reaching a state where more of the map is considered a 'safe zone' for your champions and a 'danger zone' for the enemy.
5) Manoeverability. This includes being able to chase and outrun your opponents, being able to take advantage of the Element of Surprise, being able to move the whole team to where they are needed quickly, etc.

All of these are of course interconnected, but which one is emphasized makes a specialist team. If your team is manoeverable, you'll be better able to Control the map. If you Control the map, you'll be able to Farm more easily. If your team is better Farmed you will be able to dominate Team Fights and if you dominate Team Fights then you can walk right through the Towers.

For these five factors there are five 'most popular' team types. These are not all of the types of Specialized Teams out there but it should give you a good start when planning your own: Tough, Crowd Control, Assassin, Heal and Pushing.

Tough: This team is composed of one Main Tank, two Magical Off-Tanks and two Physical Off-Tanks. The benefits of this team are two-fold. The first is that the enemy will not have any real valid targets to choose from, making it difficult to coordinate. The second is that you will be able to dive towers very easily and take them down almost without flinching.
Example: Rammus, Swain, Vlad, Xin, Nasus

In this kind of team everyone should have a flexible build. The Main Tank should remain purely defensive while the other four should start going Offensive immediately. Whichever one starts to get targetted should start investing in defensive items until the enemy team changes their first target. In this way you keep the enemy disoriented.

A Tough Team should also play extremely aggressively, pushing down one tower at a time then going back to refuel, keeping the enemy defensive and terrified of your steamroller tactics.

The only thing you can do against a Tough Team is coordinate well. Pay attention to who the current Squishiest Target is and make sure your whole team knows to target him. Furthermore, one should make sure NEVER to die... with their survivability the chances of you getting a kill are slim, even if it looks promising. Don't ever chase or over-extend... know that it will be a low-kill game and keep it that way. Also, plan to be in it for the long haul. A Tough Team has the biggest advantage in the mid-game. If you survive into the late game (~level 15+) then your carries should be strong enough to take down their squishiest members quickly enough.

Crowd Control: This team is relatively standard but with a special emphasis on stuns, slows and Area Effect spells. Their main focus is on the Team Fight and with their ability to disable and control the battlefield they do so extremely well. More often than not you will find this to be a Burst team but it is also possible to build an Endurance Crowd Control team.
Example: Malphite, Anivia, Morgana, Amumu, Gangplank

The team setup is pretty standard, with a Tank, Off-Tank, Carry, Mage and Support but sometimes replacing the Support with another Mage. The Carry and Mage will usually both be Ranged and possibly the Off-Tank as well. The Support will usually be Offensive. Every single one of the champions will have an emphasis on Crowd Control.

When facing this kind of team you will have to resort to sideways thinking. They'll be able to beat you in a straight fight, even at your own tower they'll be able to force you to flee with their area damage spells. Investing in Mercury Treads is vital and a Quicksilver Sash would probably be a good idea. Trying to catch them by surprise in a gank will help tremendously. Finding ways to get them to split up is really effective as they rely on their whole team being together in order to be effective. If you can catch them in a simultaneous 3v3 and 2v2 then you may have the advantage because they will be able to focus their CC less and give you a chance. Also, trying to achieve better Map Control and Farming will give you a much needed advantage in the Team Fights.

Assassin: This team is based on killing enemy champions, farming, jungling and overall dominating the experience train. The team will spend all of its time, from the very start, harassing and ganking, trying to take and keep the kill advantage. Only once they have achieved enough dominance will they start to push the lanes and actively take towers. A few may fall in the interim but those are inconsequential to the main mission.
Example: Twich, Eve, Akali, Olaf, Panteon

This team will be heavy on Stealth, Scout and Speed characters. This is also the only team setup that can work without a Tank. This team will also not have a support character but will have another DPSer instead. So the team may be: Off-Tank, Carry, Carry, Mage, Mage.

When going against this type of team it is important to stick together as a team and play defensively, especially in the Laning Phase as an early-game dominance will basically throw the game to the Assassins' Team. Wards and Oracle Elixirs are vital. Don't try to play their game... force them to play yours. They rely on Stealth and Ganking. If you play the game straight and force them to defend their towers then you will know exactly where they are and where they will be and force them into a direct confrontation - which will break them. Be careful though because this type of team likes to defend from behind, popping out of the jungle and taking down your Carries before you even knew they were there.

Heal: A Heal Team is a specialized Endurance Team. They are specially designed to have maximum staying power so they can harass towers and maintain map control. A Heal Team will rarely if ever need to return to base and they can keep up a harass for as long as they want to. They will force the other team to play defensively, affording the team total domination of the map, the jungle and everything else.
Example: Taric, Alistar, Soraka, Nidalee, Dr. Mundo

This team setup will be Support Heavy and all or most champions will have some kind of heal ability. Soraka is an absolute must in this type of team.

A Heal Team will play extremely aggressively and try to keep all the lanes pressed up against the enemy towers. One or two champions will always be at the enemy tower, keeping the enemy at bay, while the other members clear the jungle, backdoor another tower, go home for a quick shop or anything else. If any of the enemy team decides to stray from a defensive position they will either quickly hunt them down, or knock down the towers.

The best thing to do against a Heal Team is jump them all at once. They have staying power but not so much Team Fighting potential so if you get your whole team together and jump them all at once (from the back if possible) then they can quickly be taken down and you'll have a moment's reprieve to do some damage.

Pushing: This is a specialized Burst team setup based on high manoeverability, extreme aggression, fast creep killing and tower destruction. This type of team will be built to push down a single lane at the speed of walking, roll over a tower and teleport back to town before the enemy knows what hit them. Furthermore they will have one or more Backdoor Capable team members to make sure they can always stay on the offensive. Often many of their champions will have Leaps or Teleports.
Example: Shen, Twisted Fate, Sivir, Janna, Panteon

The team composition will appear fairly standard except that they may replace their Off-Tank with a tough Carry. This is because dealing quick damage is more important than staying power.

A Pushing Team thrives on Waves. They will push down the enemy then retreat, allowing the enemy to push forwards, then destroy the enemy team in a defensive battle before pushing them down again. By pushing down lanes appropriately and keeping the rest of the lanes waving in your favour, a Pushing Team can very easily dominate the map.

When playing against a Pushing Team, Map Control is extremely important. Keep all of the lanes going in their direction and ward all the common gank points. Furthermore, clear your jungles well for the experience. When you see them retreat, don't push back right away because that's what they want... instead, farm the Dragon, Buffs and Baron if possible. Play a little more defensively and you'll find that they will lose their pushing power and thus any possible advantage.

The best defence is the best offence, supporter's are overrated, but a pain in the ass. 'Nough said imo.

True, if you know how to fight supports, they can't do much.
But if you don't focus them, they are really irritating and can change the fight.
But Janna can be really good against some team compositions.