You've heard it before, but I'll say it again: League of Legends is a team-based game. If you can't work well with your team, it becomes much more difficult to secure wins. And with such a large roster of playable characters to choose from, it's always nice to pick five that work well together to achieve the goal of winning the game. Today we are looking at the five classic team compositions that are good to run in a Ranked 5's environment (because let's be real, people just play what they want in solo queue).

The Engage Composition

(Sample Engage Composition)

This is the kind of composition you see the most often. Why? Because it's easy to pull off and most champions can fit into it. Engage compositions typically consist of champions who are strong in lane and gain immense power spikes with their ultimate. They want to run right at you and completely obliterate you in a teamfight. As seen in the sample composition above, it usually consists of a Tank, an Assassin, an AoE Mage, a high damage ADC, and a high CC Support. This isn't set in stone and the composition can be very flexible. The game constantly evolves and new ways to play arise, but this is just the skeleton.

Pros

Great laning phase
Heavy snowball
Most champions can fit into it

Cons

Weak when behind

While there's technically only flaw in an Engage composition, it's very easy to exploit and happens more often than not. A jungler abuses the weakness of one lane, usually because these champions tend to shove their lane in, and camps them. Eventually a snowball starts and things start falling apart for the Engage comp. But one good teamfight, and your team is back in the game.

Beats: Poke and Siege, Split Push

Loses to: Disengage

The Disengage Composition

(Sample Disengage Composition)

This is one of the most annoying compositions you can face in League of Legends. Why? Because it consists of champions that have lots of binds, shields, heals, and movement abilities and generally can run away from danger very easily. So just when you think you've secured the kill, a shield or heal comes in and saves them and we all have been tilted from that. These champions are also generally decent in lane, but not great. Where they really falter is a lack of high dependable damage. Yes, Lux and Sivir do a lot of damage, but only two damage sources is not ideal, and if one of them is behind, it's up to one person to dish out the damage.

Pros

Very safe
Good laning
Incredibly irritating to play against (Tilt the enemy!)

Cons

Can't force engages
Two damage composition can be somewhat unreliable

This is one of the harder compositions to pull off on the list, because, once you get behind, your team just melts under the overpowering damage of the opposing side and there's not much you can do. But in tight situations, that's where disengage can help you. Kite, root, shield, heal, run.

Beats: Engage, Pick

Loses to: Split Push, Poke and Siege

The Poke and Siege Composition

(Sample Poke Composition)

This is the most difficult composition to run in a solo queue environment. Why? Because it requires people to not try 1v1ing the enemies, to avoid getting caught, and to not be alone. These are the most common mistakes that solo queue players constantly make. Therefore, the Poke and Siege composition is hard to execute, but if you can do it just right, there's almost nothing you can do to a poke comp. The inherent flaw with a poke comp is that it lacks crowd control and a very strong tank. Even teams in the LCS struggle with pulling off a poke composition, because it's just a hard thing to do.

Pros

Unstoppable once ahead
Can stall out games for a long time
Great objective control

Cons

Lack of hard CC
Unreliable tank
Difficult to execute

I wouldn't recommend attempting a Poke and Siege composition or a Split Push composition on your first few rounds with your team, because they require an expert level of teamwork and communication, so for your first rodeo, I'd pick Engage, Disengage, or Pick.

Beats: Disengage, Pick

Loses to: Engage

The Pick Composition

(Sample Pick Composition)

This is the hands-down easiest composition that you can run. Why? Because it requires almost no effort once you know how to pull it off correctly. Solo queue players are greedy. They are greedy for farm, they are greedy for kills, they are greedy for towers. They just want everything that they see, even if they can't get it. On top of that, warding isn't extensive. This leads to many people wandering into dangerous areas that can be easily abused and lead to kills. Pick compositions consist of champions that excel in single target lock down and have the ability to punish missteps. Walk into the wrong area, and you get hooked, stunned, or something else like that. All you have to do is not die yourself and try not to force 5v5s and you should be good to go.

Pros

Easy
Effective
Works in almost every situation

Cons

No tank
Weak in 5v5s

If you are just getting comfortable with your team, I would suggest either a pick comp or an engage comp due to their simplicity and effectiveness. Abusing common mistakes is one of the best things you can do to start picking up wins.

Beats: Split Push, Engage

Loses to: Disengage, Poke and Siege

Split Push Composition

Split Push should never be your go-to strategy, because in some situations, it just can't work. Like, you just can't do it when the enemy team can quickly move around the map and smother your split pusher. If want to read more about how to pull off a split push composition, you can read my other article with much more detail here. But the general idea is, you want someone who either completely runs down a lane and takes towers and can 1v1 anyone, or you want someone who is going to use Teleport to flank and engage fights, combined with a team that can wave clear and be safe. This allows for constant pressure in multiple lanes, especially if you want to do a 1 3 1 split push, which is one person in each side lane, and three members mid lane. Of course, this requires lots of communication and warding.

Pros

Provides pressure in every lane
A bad team won't know what to do against it
Good laners

Cons

VERY difficult
Risky

I really love playing split push, but it isn't for everybody, so I wouldn't try doing this until you have confidence in your split pusher and you have developed a good teamwork. It's a fun, refreshing way to play the game.

Beats: Poke and Siege, Disengage

Loses to: Pick, Engage

These aren't the only possible compositions you can run, but just some examples of where to start. The game is constantly evolving, and hey, maybe soon there could be a new one that I have no idea about. But until next time, thank you so much for reading.

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