League of Legends Roles Explained: Top, Jungle, Mid, ADC & Support

League of Legends Beginner Guide

Summoner's Rift has five positions, and each one plays a completely different game. This guide explains what Top, Jungle, Mid, ADC, and Support actually do, which champion types fit each, and which role suits a new player. Sourced from Riot's official material.

The Five Positions

Summoner's Rift has three lanes (Top, Mid, and Bottom) plus the jungle between them. The five competitive positions spread across that map as follows (source: League of Legends Wiki):

Top Lane

The isolated solo lane. Riot describes top laners as "the tough solo fighters of the team." Durable bruisers and tanks who win 1v1s and threaten to split-push.

Jungle

No lane. The jungler farms neutral monster camps, ambushes lanes with ganks, and secures the big objectives like Dragon, Rift Herald, and Baron.

Mid Lane

The center of the map. High-burst mages and assassins who control the middle and roam to help other lanes. Riot calls them the champions who "can do it all."

ADC / Bot Carry

The ranged marksman who farms in the bottom lane and scales into the team's primary damage dealer late. Fragile early, devastating once items come online.

Support

Plays bottom lane alongside the ADC. Protects the carry with crowd control, shields or heals, and owns vision control by warding the map. Gives up farm to do it.

The bottom lane is the one that holds two players: the ADC and the Support play it together, while Top and Mid are solo lanes and the Jungler roams (source: League of Legends Wiki).

How Champion Classes Map to Roles

Riot sorts champions into classes, and those classes line up with positions (source: League of Legends Wiki):

Position	Common champion classes
Top	Juggernauts, Divers, Tanks, some Skirmishers
Jungle	Divers, Slayers, Skirmishers, Tanks
Mid	Mages (burst and artillery), Assassins
ADC	Marksmen
Support	Enchanters, Catchers, Wardens, some Mages

A naming note: Riot officially renamed "Assassin" to Slayer and "Support" to Controller as champion classes back in 2016, though the community still uses the older words for the positions (source: League Wiki).

Farming: The Skill That Ties It Together

Most positions live or die by CS, short for creep score, which counts the minions and monsters you kill. Landing the killing blow on a minion (last-hitting) grants its full gold, and the wiki calls it "one of the most fundamental mechanics of the game" (source: League of Legends Wiki). Top, Mid, and ADC farm lane minions; the Jungler farms monster camps instead. The Support is the exception: rather than taking farm, the support uses an economy item and earns gold from assists, leaving the lane minions for the ADC.

Objectives and Why Each Role Matters

The neutral objectives are what turn a lead into a win, and the Jungler is usually the one contesting them with help from the team. Junglers and their teammates fight over Dragons, the Rift Herald, and Baron Nashor, with the Support providing the vision that makes securing them possible (source: Riot Games). Each role contributes a different win condition: Top brings a split-push and a flanking threat, Jungle controls the map and objectives, Mid applies roaming pressure, ADC is the scaling late-game damage, and Support keeps the carry alive and the map lit up.

Which Role Is Best for Beginners?

There is no single right answer, but each role has approachable champions. Commonly recommended starters by position (these are community guidance, not an official Riot ranking):

Top: Garen or Darius, durable and forgiving with simple kits.
Jungle: Master Yi or Warwick, two of the easiest junglers to clear and gank with.
Mid: Annie or Lux, safe ranged mages with clear combos.
ADC: Ashe or Miss Fortune, beginner-friendly marksmen with built-in utility.
Support: Soraka or Sona, straightforward enchanters focused on healing.

New accounts even get a starter marksman choice (Tristana, Caitlyn, or Ezreal) as an early login reward, a nod from Riot that the ADC role is a fine first home (source: Riot Games).

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the five roles in League of Legends?

Top, Jungle, Mid, ADC (also called Bot or Marksman), and Support. Top and Mid are solo lanes, the Jungle roams between lanes, and the ADC and Support share the bottom lane.

What does the jungler do?

The jungler has no lane. They farm neutral monster camps for gold and experience, gank lanes to get teammates ahead, and lead the team in contesting major objectives like Dragon, Rift Herald, and Baron Nashor.

What is the difference between ADC and Support?

The ADC is the bottom-lane carry who farms minions and becomes the team's main ranged damage dealer late game. The Support shares that lane but gives up farm to protect the ADC with crowd control, heals or shields, and to control vision by warding.

Which role should a beginner play?

Any role works, but each has easy champions. Many new players start mid with Annie or Lux, ADC with Ashe, or support with Soraka, because those kits are simple. Top with Garen and jungle with Master Yi are also common starting points.

What is CS in League of Legends?

CS is creep score, the number of minions and monsters you have killed. Last-hitting minions for their gold is a core skill for Top, Mid, Jungle, and ADC. Support is the one role that does not prioritize farm.

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