League of Legends Champions Complete Guide 2025: All 166 LoL Champs, Roles & Unlock Tips

Ever felt completely overwhelmed looking at that massive roster in champ select? You're definitely not alone. As someone who's played LoL since Season 2 (yeah, I know, dinosaur status), I remember when hitting 100 champions felt huge. Now? Riot's pushed past 164 unique champions in League of Legends, and keeping track feels like a part-time job. This guide cuts through the clutter. We're breaking down every champ – roles, playstyles, how to get them, and crucially, how to pick the right one for *you* without needing a PhD in Runeterra lore.

What Exactly Are All the Champions in League of Legends?

Simply put, champions are the playable characters you control on the Summoner's Rift (or Howling Abyss, or whatever map you're fighting on). Each one brings a totally unique kit – four abilities, sometimes more – and a distinct fantasy. You've got stoic knights, mischievous yordles, cosmic dragons, angry rock monsters, and bizarre entities like a literal ball of hatred. It’s a wild mix. Their core purpose? Destroy the enemy Nexus, obviously. But *how* they do it varies massively.

Knowing all the champions in League isn't just about memorizing names. It's about understanding:
- Who they are (Lore tidbits help, but gameplay is king).
- What they do (Their job in a teamfight or lane).
- How they win (Split-pushing? Teamfights? Assassinating carries?).
- When to pick them (Into certain comps or against specific foes).
- Why you might enjoy them (Or absolutely hate laning against them... looking at you, Teemo).

Seriously, trying to learn every champion matchup overnight is a recipe for burnout. Focus on understanding the *types* first. That makes recognizing individual champs way easier.

Massive List: Every Current Champion (Updated for 2024)

Alright, let's get down to brass tacks. Here's the complete roster. It's a lot. Don't sweat memorizing it all at once. Bookmark this page instead!

That's the full lineup! Riot usually drops a few new ones each year, so expect this list to keep growing. Remembering all champions in League of Legends is tough, but understanding their *roles* is much more manageable.

Making Sense of the Madness: Champion Roles Explained

League sorts its massive cast into five main lane roles, but honestly, it's more nuanced than that. A champ's true 'role' is about their *function* in a team:

Top Lane Islanders (The Solo Kings)

Up top, it's often a 1v1 slugfest. Champs here are usually durable bruisers, tanks, or sometimes split-push monsters. They need to be self-sufficient.
Common Archetypes:
- Juggernauts: Slow but hit like trucks (Darius, Garen, Mordekaiser).
- Tanks: Soak damage, start fights (Malphite, Ornn, Sion).
- Skirmishers/Divers: Mobile fighters diving the backline (Irelia, Fiora, Camille).
- Specialists: Weird picks that do their own thing (Teemo, Singed, Yorick).
Player Vibe: You enjoy independence, wave management, and big teleport plays. Or just hitting things really hard.

Jungle: The Map Puppeteers

These champs roam between lanes, controlling objectives (Dragons, Rift Herald, Baron), and ganking unsuspecting enemies. Farm camps, create pressure.
Common Archetypes:
- Farmers: Scale hard by power-clearing (Master Yi, Shyvana).
- Gankers: Early pressure specialists (Lee Sin, Jarvan IV, Elise).
- Tanks: Utility-focused initiators (Zac, Sejuani, Amumu).
- Assassins: Burst down squishies (Kha'Zix, Rengar, Evelynn).
Player Vibe: You're strategic, like controlling the game's pace, and don't mind getting blamed for everything.

Mid Lane Mages & Assassins (The Playmakers)

The central hub. Mids influence the whole map. High damage, often burst or DPS mages, or roaming assassins.
Common Archetypes:
- Control Mages: Zone control, AoE damage (Orianna, Viktor, Anivia).
- Burst Mages: Delete targets quickly (Syndra, LeBlanc, Lux).
- Assassins: Roam and kill isolated targets (Zed, Talon, Fizz, Akali).
- Battlemages: Shorter range, sustained magic damage (Ryze, Cassiopeia, Swain).
Player Vibe: You want to be involved in everything, love flashy plays, and carrying through damage and roaming.

Attack Damage Carry (ADC / Bot Lane Carry)

Your primary source of sustained physical damage late-game. Usually ranged, squishy, and relies heavily on positioning and support early on.
Common Archetypes:
- Hyper-Carries: Insane late-game DPS (Jinx, Vayne, Kog'Maw, Zeri).
- Casters: Spell-weaving carries (Lucian, Ezreal, Miss Fortune).
- Utility: Brings more than just damage (Ashe, Jhin, Varus).
Player Vibe: You have sharp mechanics, patience for the late game, and nerves of steel to deal with assassins diving you constantly.

Support: The Backbone

Enables the ADC early, controls vision, and protects/crowd controls enemies for the whole team. Often the unsung heroes.
Common Archetypes:
- Enchanters: Shields, heals, buffs (Lulu, Janna, Soraka, Yuumi).
- Engage/Tanks: Start fights, lock down targets (Leona, Nautilus, Thresh, Rell).
- Catchers: Land key skillshots for picks (Blitzcrank, Morgana, Pyke).
- Mages/Pokers: Deal damage and harass (Brand, Zyra, Xerath).
Player Vibe: You enjoy strategy over pure mechanics, like setting up plays and enabling teammates. Thick skin helps!

How Do You Actually Get All Champions in League of Legends?

Wish you could just snap your fingers and unlock them all? So do I. But it takes time or money. Here's the reality:

• Blue Essence (BE): The main free currency earned by playing matches, leveling up, disenchanting champion shards. Costs vary wildly:
  • New Champs (First Week): 7800 BE (Insane!)
  • Recent Champs: 6300 BE
  • Mid-Tier: 4800 BE
  • Older Champs: 3150 BE or 1350 BE
  • Super Old: 450 BE
  Getting BE consistently is key. Opening champion shards often gives a discount. It takes *ages* to unlock every champion using BE alone – think months or years of regular play.
• Riot Points (RP): The paid currency. Prices range from ~$5 for cheap champs to $10+ for new releases. Buying all 164+ champs with RP costs... a small fortune. Not recommended unless you're swimming in cash.
• Champion Shards: Get these from Hextech Chests (earned by getting S ranks) or leveling up. You can:
  • Disenchant for BE.
  • Use BE to upgrade the shard into a permanent champ (at a significant discount!). This is the MOST efficient way for free players.
  • Reroll three shards of the same tier for a random permanent champ you don't own.
• Events & Passes: Sometimes offer champion tokens or discounts. Worth keeping an eye on.
• The "All Champions" Bundle? Unfortunately, Riot doesn't sell a true "all champions" bundle. They have smaller bundles for roles or regions, but nothing comprehensive. It's a grind.

Honestly, trying to collect every champion in League of Legends purely for free is a marathon. Focus on getting the ones you actually want to play first using shard discounts. Save RP for skins you really love.

Okay, How Do I Choose? Picking Your Mains From All the Options

Staring at that list is paralyzing. Where do you even begin? Forget tier lists for now. Ask yourself:

• What Playstyle Fits My Personality?
  • Aggressive and in-your-face? Look at divers, assassins, lane bullies.
  • Strategic and patient? Control mages, scalers, enchanters might suit you.
  • Like helping others succeed? Supports and utility picks are your jam.
  • Prefer mind games and trickery? Try champs with stealth, traps, or unique mechanics.
  I started trying to be a flashy assassin player because it looked cool. Turns out, I'm way better (and have more fun) playing beefy frontliners who can take a punch and set up plays. Don't fight your natural tendencies too hard.
• What Lane Calls to Me? (See the role section above). Stick to one or two roles when starting. Jungle is complex for beginners; top can feel isolating; ADC is brutal without mechanics. Mid and Support are often recommended starting points.
• How Much Complexity Can I Handle?
  • Low Difficulty: Garen (Top), Annie (Mid), Warwick (Jungle), Ashe (ADC), Soraka (Support). Straightforward kits, easier to learn the *game*.
  • Medium Difficulty: Ahri (Mid), Diana (Jungle/Mid), Miss Fortune (ADC), Morgana (Support/Mid). Some nuance, but forgiving.
  • High Difficulty: Azir (Mid), Lee Sin (Jungle), Kalista (ADC), Thresh (Support), Gangplank (Top). Steep mastery curves, high skill expression. Rewarding, but frustrating to learn.
  Starting simple isn't boring – it lets you focus on fundamentals like last-hitting, map awareness, and objectives instead of struggling with your own champ's mechanics. Learn Riven later!
• Who Looks Cool? Seriously! Visual design and lore matter. You'll spend hours playing this champ. Pick one you like looking at and whose fantasy resonates. Loving Yasuo's samurai vibe made me stick with him long enough to learn the mechanics, even though I fed endlessly at first.

Try champs when they're free (Free Champion Rotation changes weekly!). Watch gameplay videos. Don't be afraid to drop a champ if you hate how they feel after a few games. Finding "your" champions among all the champions in League is a personal journey.

New Player? Start Here (Champion Recommendations)

Based on years of seeing what works (and what causes ragequits):

Beyond the Basics: Tips for Handling All Champions in League

Even if you don't play everyone, you NEED to know what they do to play against them. Here's how to cope:

• Play ARAM! All Random All Mid forces you to play champs you'd never pick. It's chaotic, fast, and low-pressure. Great exposure to different kits quickly. You might discover a champ you love.
• Review Tool is Your Friend: Got wrecked by a champ you don't understand? Load the replay. Watch what *they* did. See their cooldowns, damage spikes, and combos from their perspective.
• Wiki & Champion Spotlights: Riot's official champion pages and ability spotlights (YouTube) are goldmines. Check cooldowns, damage ratios, and ranges for enemies giving you trouble. Knowing Fiddlesticks' fear lasts 2.25 seconds at max rank changes how you approach him.
• Focus on Archetypes First (See the Role Breakdown above). If you know Malphite is a tanky engage champ with a big knockup ult, you can roughly predict what similar champs (like Amumu or Ornn) want to do, even if their exact buttons are different.
• One Patch at a Time: Don't try to learn everything meta shifts constantly. Focus on understanding the champs you face *in your current games*.

Honestly, I still get surprised by niche picks sometimes. A good Zac popping out of nowhere can still startle me. The learning never truly stops, and that's part of the depth.

Common Questions About All Champions in League of Legends

Q: How many champions are in League of Legends RIGHT NOW? A: As of early 2024, there are 166 champions in League of Legends. Riot typically adds 4-6 new champions per year, so this number will keep creeping up. Check the official roster page for the absolute latest count.

Q: Is there a way to try champions before I buy them? A: Absolutely! Every week, a rotating set of 14-15 free champions in League of Legends is available to play (more for higher-level accounts). This is the BEST way to test drive champs. You can also use Practice Tool with any champ, even if you don't own them, to test abilities on dummies.

Q: Who's the cheapest champion? Who's the most expensive? A: Using Blue Essence (BE):

• Cheapest: Older, simpler champs like Annie, Ashe, Garen, Master Yi cost only 450 BE.
• Most Expensive (BE): Newest releases cost 7800 BE during their launch week, dropping to 6300 BE afterwards. Champs like Aphelios, Hwei, Briar are at this tier.
• The vast majority cost 4800 BE or 6300 BE.

Q: Which champion is the hardest to learn? A: This is debated, but generally, champions requiring complex micro-management, unique mechanics, or extreme precision top the list:

• Azir: Controlling soldiers smoothly takes immense practice.
• Gangplank: Barrel combos are notoriously tricky.
• Kalista: Her unique attack-move mechanic ("Martial Poise") changes how you kite.
• Riven: Animation cancels ("fast combo") separate good from great.
• Aphelios: Managing five different guns with unique ammo counts is a brain workout.
• Irelia/Yasuo/Yone: High mobility reset champs require excellent decision-making mid-combo.

Q: Who are the most popular champions? A: Popularity shifts with patches and pro play, but some champs are almost always near the top globally according to sites like u.gg or lolalytics:

• Top: Darius, Garen, Yasuo, Mordekaiser
• Jungle: Lee Sin, Master Yi, Kayn, Khazix
• Mid: Yasuo, Yone, Zed, Ahri, Lux
• ADC: Ezreal, Kai'Sa, Miss Fortune, Jhin
• Support: Thresh, Lux, Morgana, Pyke

Q: Do I need to own all champions to be competitive? A: Absolutely not. Pro players and high-ranking streamers often specialize in a very small pool of champions (their "champion pool"). Knowing 2-3 champs inside out in your main role is vastly more valuable than having a shallow understanding of every single one. Focus on mastery, not collection. Owning all champions in League of Legends is a collector's goal, not a competitive requirement.

Closing Thoughts on Navigating the League Roster

Look, it's easy to feel lost when you see that champion select screen packed with over 160 options. Trying to learn every single ability, cooldown, and matchup instantly is impossible and will just stress you out. Forget about collecting every champion in League of Legends overnight – it's a grind.

The key is to break it down. Start by understanding the fundamental *types* of champions (the roles and archetypes we covered). Find one or two that genuinely click with your playstyle and vibe. Stick with them while you learn the core gameplay – last-hitting, map awareness, objective control. Use the free rotation to gently explore others without commitment. When you get smashed by someone you don't understand (and you will!), take a minute post-game to quickly glance at their abilities on the wiki. Little bits add up.

Instead of worrying about mastering all the champions in League of Legends, focus on mastering the *game* using champions you enjoy. The depth will come with time and countless hours on the Rift. Good luck out there, summoner!