There are many different team compositions in League of Legends, and it is important to understand what those team compositions can do. This guide will be going over a basic team composition: the dive comp.
A team composition are the five champions on one’s team, however they can also refer to the different styles that teams play. There can be predetermined team compositions with built in strategies such as dive compositions, poke compositions, teamfight compositions; the list is endless. When all five champions on a team have a similar way, they want to play the game, the game plan and approach to that game becomes much easier. Certain team compositions can counter each other, and certain champions can counter entire team compositions. Learning different team compositions is a great way to expand your game knowledge and further improve your play.
Dive compositions are straightforward and are a great team composition to learn about if you are just starting off. As the name entails, a dive composition's goal is to quickly engage fights at a moment’s notice and be able to gain access to the enemy’s backline. This means that most fights are going to start on your terms, so it is entirely up to your team when you want to fight. The idea of needing to be the initiator for your team can be intimidating at first, but if the rest of your team’s champions are also able to dive then do not hesitate to engage in a fight.
As stated earlier, the goal of a dive composition is to be able to engage at any point of time and quickly gain access to the enemy's backline. Alongside primary engagers, you want champions that can aid the primary engagement through either quick burst or follow up crowd control. An example of someone that can jump forward and provide a quick burst is LeBlanc, since she can close the gap on enemies using her W - Distortion. A champion that can act as a primary engager for your team is Zac since his E - Elastic Slingshot allows him to jump large distances and start fights. Someone who is good at following up engagements is Galio since he can use his R - Heroic Entrance on the primary engagement and knock up enemies while shielding his allies. You also want your champions to be fairly tanky, since when moving forward to engage you can easily tank damage and if you are low when you engage, there is a lower chance of you winning the fight.
Next, we will be looking at an example of a dive composition and discussing the roles of each champion in the composition
Kled, the Cantankerous Cavalier
Kled is fantastic at engaging fights with his R - Chaaaaaaaarge!!! which makes him perfect for a dive composition. Kled’s R allows him to charge forward towards a target location, gaining move speed and a shield over time. A trail is left as Kled charges forward, granting allies who move forward in the zone increased move speed. Since the R has a fairly large range, Kled can start fights from a further distance and bring his team alongside with him. Kled can also live long in fights due to having two lives from his Passive - Skaarl, the Cowardly Lizard, making him fine to be the first person in fights. Kled’s E - Jousting also allows Kled to stick to targets as soon as he jumps on them.
Diana, Scorn of the Moon
Diana works well as a follow up engager since she can quickly jump into fights with her E - Lunar Rush and pull enemies in with her R - Moonfall. Diana serves both roles of quick burst and follow up crowd control, making her quite easy to plug into dive compositions. She is squishy before she gets her Zhonya’s Hourglass, so be wary when jumping into fights if you do not have the item or it is on cooldown.
Lissandra, the Ice Witch
Lissandra can either be a primary engage or follow up engagement through her E - Glacial Path. Lissandra’s kit is filled with area of effect crowd control such as her Q - Ice Shard and W - Ring of Frost, which can easily disrupt the enemy team and make it difficult to fend off your engage. Lissandra’s R - Frozen Tomb can be used on herself when engaging to shield herself from damage while slowing the enemy, or it can be used on a carry to lock them up and make it easier to burst them. Also, Lissandra typically takes Aftershock for her keystone which makes her a bit more tanky compared to other mid lane mages.
Ezreal, the Prodigal Explorer
While not traditional, Ezreal can always jump forward into fights using his E - Arcane Shift. Ezreal is a self-sufficient carry meaning he can function well even if his team is not actively peeling for him. This is especially important for dive compositions since most of the team will be jumping forward, leaving the carries behind if they are unable to close the gap. Ezreal can either jump forward into the fight with his team or stay in the back dealing damage from a safe distance. Ezreal can also serve the role of late game insurance on the team since dive compositions can fall off if they are not snowballing the game.
Support
Alistar, the Minotaur
Alistar plays many roles in a dive composition such as the primary engager, follow up crowd control, and frontline. Alistar’s typical engage combo is through using Flash then his W - Headbutt into Q - Pulverize combo. This can be used to catch out single targets in a fight or to hit big knock ups to start the fight off. Alistar also becomes very tanky when he uses his R - Unbreakable Will, so he is able to create a lot of chaos in teamfights through all his knock ups.
After understanding how a dive composition works, it is also important to know what beats it, so you do not get countered during draft. Since dive compositions always want to move forward, they do not like teams with lots of shields and area of effect crowd control. Anything that slows down the engagement makes it exceedingly difficult for the dive composition to work. Dive compositions also want to push their leads hard, so if the enemy team composition can negate engagements and scale up then the dive composition is in for a rough game.
We will now be looking at an example team composition that counters a dive composition, so you can identify some champions to avoid when looking to play a dive composition.
Ornn, the Fire Below the Mountain
Ornn can physically create terrain with his Q - Volcanic Rupture which can mess up the pathing of champions and slow down engagements. Ornn also has two big area of effect knock ups from his E - Searing Charge and R - Call of the Forge God. Both spells can be used during the fight to deny the enemy access to your backline. Ornn also scales very well through his Passive - Living Forge, so as the game progresses his team will continue to scale up while a dive composition can eventually fall off. Ornn is also a very tanky champion that can take an awfully long time to kill, so he serves as a great wall for his carries.
Gragas, the Rabble Rouser
Gragas’ kit is loaded with crowd control that makes it difficult for dive compositions to engage or continue their fight. The major spell is his R - Explosive Cask which can push enemies away and quickly disengage a fight. Other spells that can make engagements tricky are Gragas’ Q - Barrel Roll and E - Body Slam, which are area of effect crowd control spells that can be easily used to disengage fights. Gragas’ build is also very flexible, being able to go a tanky route or a more damage route. Both can be annoying for a dive composition since a tanky build takes much longer to kill, while a more damage-oriented build can chunk the enemy out as they are engaging.
Karma, the Enlightened One
Karma is a nightmare for dive compositions since her kit is filled with disengage spells. Her E - Inspire can shield and speed allies away from the engagers, and when using E - Defiance she can move her entire team away from the enemy and shield the damage from incoming engagements. Karma’s Q - Inner Flame/Soulflare can slow the enemy down and chunk the enemy as they try to move towards your team. Karma also has extremely low cooldowns, so she will be constantly spamming these abilities to stop the engagement of a dive composition.
Aphelios, the Weapon of the Faithful
This choice may seem confusing at first since Aphelios is an immobile ADC that can struggle in certain spots. However, Aphelios works great into short range champions or when the enemy is running into him. Both conditions apply to many dive compositions, so he can deal quick damage through his Severum, the Scythe Pistol and Crescendum, the Chakram. Aphelios is also able to fend off engagers using crowd control through Gravitum, the Gravity Cannon and area of effect damage with Infernum, the Flamethrower. Aphelios may seem easy to jump onto and burst, but most of his guns are able to counter close range team compositions.
Thresh, the Chain Warden
Thresh has great ways to fend off engagers through area of effect crowd control with his E - Flay and R - The Box. However, the most important part of Thresh’s kit is his W - Dark Passage which can save any ally that may be getting engaged on or stop an engagement before it happens. Thresh can also pick off enemies that are diving forward with his Q - Death Sentence and potentially force them to use movement abilities to dodge away from it.
Dive compositions are a basic team composition with clear goals when going into a game. They try to be diverse with the ways they can engage, so they are able to get at any moment they desire. However, like any team composition they can be easily countered so be wary when planning your team composition. Now it is your turn to dive into a game and start practicing dive compositions!
