League of Legends is a popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game that has recently exploded into the online gaming scene. The game is published by Riot Games and was first released in 2009 for Mac and PC, the Mac client was later closed down.

The game offers the standard 5v5 game mode available in other MOBA games which pits two teams against each other on a map (called Summoner's Rift) with the main goal being to destroy the enemies base (Nexus).

League of Legends added a 3v3 option to the MOBA genre and introduced the Dominion gameplay mode. In Dominion players are required to capture and hold five objective points to reduce the enemies Nexus health. This game mode is aimed at creating a faster paced gameplay mode.

Influence Points

Influence Points are the main currency in League of Legends which are given to players for playing games. The amount earned varies based on several factors including the game result, summoner level and the number of bots in the game.

Influence Points (also known as IP) are used to purchase in-game items such as champions and runes.

Riot Points

Riot Points are the other currency available and are available via PayPal, credit / debit card or prepaid Riot Point Game Cards.

Riot Points can unlock run pages, champions and various boosts (experience and influence points). However, Riot Points can not be spent on runes. Riot Points can be earned for free through various activities (such as referring friends to League of Legends).

Runes

Runes add a level of customization to League of Legends. Players can increase a variety of stats such as health, damage, mana regeneration, movement speed and many other stats. This allows players to play the same champion but play them in a different way based on rune and mastery choices.

Champions

Players can choose from over 92 playable champions (and this number continues to grow every week).

Champions must be unlocked with Riot Points or Influence Points before they can be played. However, there are a number of free champions available to play each week to give summoners the option to trial champions before purchasing them. There are many champion types available including assassins, bruisers, supports, casters, junglers and tanks.

Ranked Matches

These games are just like standard games except that players are given a ranking based on the result of the game, this is known as the ELO ranking system which is also used in chess. This system has created what is known as 'ELO Hell', a place in the ELO system that is filled with poor players and intentional grievers, this section in the ELO system is hard to escape due to the team nature of the MOBA genre.

Conclusions

The game systems behind League of Legends are the reason for its success among the MOBA game genre. The game continues to take the genre by storm with its 5 million dollar prize pool for the 2012 game circuit. Check out their official website for full details: League of Legends Official Site .