League of Legends is classified as a multiplayer online battle arena, or MOBA, game.
In a MOBA, two teams control individual characters with distinct abilities and fight across a battlefield containing lanes, defensive structures, and a base. Players usually strengthen their characters during a match by gaining experience, earning in-game currency, and purchasing items. League’s playable characters are called champions.
League grew from the custom Defense of the Ancients map for Warcraft III. Riot Games’ founders wanted to turn that style of team-based strategy combat into a standalone game, which launched in October 2009. The term MOBA distinguishes League from related but different genres: it is not a traditional real-time strategy game because players generally control one champion rather than an entire army; it is not a battle royale because matches do not revolve around one survivor; and it is not an MMORPG, despite having persistent online communities and fantasy lore.
League’s best-known competitive map is Summoner’s Rift, where five-player teams contest lanes, jungle objectives, turrets, inhibitors, and the enemy Nexus.