League of Legends: Details 03

Now, I'll cover the basic purpose of Abilities in League of Legends.
There are three ends that an ability can serve:
To deal damage to enemies;
to disable enemies;
and to assist allies.
There are quite a number of ways that all of these ends can be accomplished in each category, and many abilities fall in to more than one, if not all three, categories. I'll begin my dissemination by detailing damage-dealing abilities.

Damage can be dealt in one of two basic ways. Either champions can poke their enemies down slowly but steadily, employing a disable to prevent their escape and finish the kill; or champion nukes can drop every heavy-hitting ability they have at once for a devastating health drop, hoping that it will finish their enemies off in one blow. These two different characteristics correspond to the statistics discussed previously: Attack Damage, Attack Speed, and Ability Power. Nukes and pokers can use either of these statistics to their advantage. Determining which to use is merely a matter of finding out which develops (or 'ramps') your damage output capabilities more effectively. After discovering this, one simply must find what item effects benefit that character's ability set, and they're ready to play well.

Abilities that disable enemies come in quite a few different varieties. Skill shots depend on the aiming capabilities of the player: they fly along a straight path the player chooses. Area of effect disables are much easier to land, but are generally less potent than skill shots. Disables come in quite a good variety themselves. Stuns and slows are the most common, but characters can also knock enemies into the air, bash them into walls, and simply trap them with impassable land. All of these abilities can be used in any fight to drastically reduce the viability of an enemy character, and generally they are focused upon squishy, easy to kill characters to prevent them from dealing damage and remaining present for any extended encounter.

Assist spells are much less prominent. Characters that have assists can boost their allies' movement speeds, heal them, shield them with extra health or protect them from spells, or buff any of their offensive or defensive characteristics. Though these may seem crucial, they are much less prevalent in champion selections, as they tend to lack the potency required during an extended encounter.

Any of these abilities can be thrown together to make a champion whose abilities are different than another's. However, there are some champions who have abilities unique to themselves that allow them to teleport, summon non-player allies, and even duplicate themselves. These unique abilities tend to be devastating when used correctly. Take Kassadin for example. His Riftwalk ultimate allows him to teleport within a short range of himself, dealing damage and setting up subsequent teleports. This allows him to pursue enemies more effectively than most champions, and can deal substantial damage on its own. Lux or Ezreal's ultimate allows them to shoot a powerful, long-range beam down any direction, hitting any enemies it encounters and dealing massive damage. And the grand Tryndamere ultimate allows him to survive after his health falls to zero and continue battling; this often allows him time to escape and heal with his other abilities.

I've scratched the surface of abilities in this blog...next time around, I'll cover map control and team fight dynamics.

Have fun, good gaming, and remember:
don't feed the trolls.
-Toast