Mages are the most versatile class in League of Legends. They are divided into multiple subclasses that each function differently from the other. Their role in the game varies just as much, but the value that they provide in a teamfight is essential.
Battlemages and Control Mages stand right behind the frontline and constantly spam their spells to deal damage. Burst mages tend to flash onto important targets and dish out their entire combo at once to instantly kill their targets. Artillery mages stay in the backline and hit skillshots from a safe distance.
Mages depend mainly on frequent spell usage to output tons of damage with very few mages benefitting from auto attacks. This tends to make their range, positioning, and target priority very variable. We will take a look at these subclasses and how each of them acts during a teamfight.
Types Of Mages
Mages are a broad class in League of Legends and have been divided into multiple subclasses. These subclasses of mages behave very differently from one another and therefore require different playstyles and positioning.
First, we will take a general look at the different subtypes of mages and how they tend to function in fights. The details of their positioning and target priority will be discussed in later segments.
Burst Mage
As the name implies, Burst Mages have abilities that focus on trying to assassinate someone with a full rotation of spells. These champions specialize in overkilling their opponents with a massive burst and try to kill important targets to carry the teamfights.
Burst mages use their abilities in quick combos to either kill an enemy or put them low enough to force them out of the teamfight. This means they must behave like assassins and be patient for the perfect opportunity since they are not very good at consistent damage.
A great example of Burst Mage is Annie. She can prepare a stun using her passive. Whenever she spots her target, she can flash onto them and use her ultimate, followed by her Q and W to try to one-shot a squishy target. Once her combo is used, she can use her Q and W to charge it up again but can not gain the same burst again until her ultimate is up again.
Control Mage
Control Mages specialize in dealing poke damage and controlling the enemy using the CC in their kit. An ideal example of Control Mages is Orianna. Orianna can check brushes with her ball, which provides vision. If an opponent tries to pass through the area, they risk having their health bar chunked out by her abilities.
This allows Orianna to control choke points and other tight areas by threatening the enemy with her shockwave and poke. This allows her to constantly keep her enemies at bay or reduce their health bars to lethal levels if they decide to walk through her controlled areas.
Artillery Mage
Artillery Mages focus on outranging their opponents and dealing massive amounts of damage from far away. These champions usually rely on skillshots to deal most of their damage and are responsible for destroying the enemy team without putting themselves at risk.
A perfect example would be Xerath. Xerath wants to use all of his abilities as soon as they come off cooldowns and hit all of his skillshots to deal large but consistent bursts of damage. He must remain at the maximum range allowed by his kit because he lacks any escape if he gets collapsed on.
Battlemage
Battle mages can be seen as short-ranged mages that must throw their bodies onto the enemies and deal continuous damage, usually by utilizing AoE spells. They are continuously using their abilities with low cooldowns and benefit from running into the enemies and surviving for as long as possible.
Great examples of Battlemages include the classic Ryze and Cassiopeia. These champions have short range and must spam their abilities off cooldown to deal consistent DPS throughout the fight, all the while being in the middle of the action.
Positioning
How a mage positions mainly depends on how their abilities work. Their playstyles may allow them to stay far away from danger or be right in the middle of it. For battlemages, they must be right behind the frontline, usually in front of the ADC and support. This allows them to be in range to cast their abilities without actually tanking the brunt of the damage.
Artillery mages must remain at the maximum range that their kit allows them to have. This usually means that they will be far back away from any kind of danger. In certain cases, they are behind the ADC as well.
Burst mages and control mages have varying range and must position somewhere between the frontline and the backline. Burst mages must be patient and usually try to gap close using flash and one-shot an important target. Control mages deal continuous poke damage and hold choke points using their damage and CC.
Target Priority
Mages usually lack range when compared to ADCs, this means that they don’t have a choice when it comes to choosing their target. Burst mages tend to prefer flashing on a squishy target and dishing out a huge chunk of damage using their combo. This allows them to play aggressively and therefore increases their “effective range”, allowing them to target important targets more consistently.
Control mages, Battlemages, and Artillery mages don’t really have a preference when it comes to target priority. Of course, while they would rather hit carry champions over tanky frontline, they don’t really mind as long as they are damaging someone. This allows them to spam AoE damage that hits anyone and everyone.
Control mages and Artillery mages must hit anyone that is present within their range. They are not very good at burning through tanks but can prove to be a threat if they are not taken care of.
Play Around Cooldowns
Most of the mages rely heavily on their cooldowns. This is one of the biggest separating factors between them and ADCs. ADCs can continuously auto attack from their maximum range without worrying about resources or cooldowns for the most part. Mages must use their cooldowns optimally in order to maximize their damage output.
Battlemages tend to build a large amount of Ability Haste to minimize their skill cooldowns. This allows them to deal more damage than investing in pure Ability Power as their abilities tend to assist their survival or provide consistent damage that can be spammed.
Burst mages must wait for their burst abilities to be off cooldown for them to be useful in teamfights. Once they have invested their burst combo into a target, they must back off or buy time using Zhonyas Hourglass.
Land Skillshots
As we mentioned before, Mages rely mostly on ability usage and much less on auto attacks. This makes them reliant on skillshots more than most other classes. Hitting your skillshots and dodging the enemy skillshots is an obvious recipe for success, but it matters much more when you are playing mages that can win or lose the game based on these skillshots.
Burst mages usually have short range spells that are easier to hit compared to other classes. Control mages do not require as much accuracy as they can use their spells in an AoE. Artillery Mages rely on skillshots more than any other class. They have the benefit of range and burst built into their kits but can only take advantage of it if they connect their skillshots.
Battlemages usually utilize a balance of skillshots and targeted abilities to deal damage. Most of their damage may be loaded into the skillshot or it may set them up for better DPS output (Ryze Q, Cassiopeia Q, etc).
Conclusion
Mages carry the responsibility of being the secondary carry on their team. They can not burn through tanky targets like ADCs, yet they can output consistent and reliable magic damage. Their positioning and target priority depends on the kind of mage you are piloting. Your aim with mages must always be to stay behind the frontline and land skillshots to chunk the enemy’s health bars.
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