The League of Legends, guardian of Valoran’s peace and final arbiter among nations, was born of idealism—and desperation. It began as an agreement between the great powers of Valoran, whose reckless use of rune magic had broken the very foundations of their world, to adhere to certain laws of war, principally a prohibition on rune magic, and wherever possible to resolve conflicts through League adjudication, with resort to contests of arms on the Fields of Justice to break political deadlock. The mightiest warriors of Valoran became the Champions who battle on the Fields, while rune mages assumed the purple robes of Summoners of the League, pledged to guide and assist these Champions, and sworn to seek out ways to use their magic to mend the broken world of Runeterra.
The League’s founding mandate was to stand against apocalypse, to be Valoran’s last hope that it would see tomorrow. That hope survived its first great test at Kalamanda, when the League stood between Demacia and Noxus, the superpowers that created it, and these bitter enemies yielded to its plea for peace. As the years passed, and the League proved its independence, the nations of Valoran made more frequent use of it. League adjudications are increasingly employed to resolve not only violent conflicts that threaten global catastrophe, but also trade disputes and other such quarrels among the League’s member-states.
Which brings us to you, Summoner. We request your assistance—generously compensated, of course—on the Fields of Justice, where we seek to settle a troublesome matter between ourselves and…
Factions arcs are centered on the largest disputes that come before the League, during which Summoners and Champions declare for one side and strive for their cause on and off the Fields. Factions Melee runs in parallel with arcs, and represents the many matches conducted on the Fields of Justice that are not associated with any major dispute, but which are still significant enough that Champions take sides. There are no declarations, though Summoners do need to register so that we have a database of names and ranks for scoring purposes. Melee is meant to allow for matches among the full range of playable factions, without compromising the focused nature of arcs. It tends to be more about gameplay and less about story, compared to arcs, though these matches are in-universe events and we do try to incorporate them into the larger ongoing story.
How to Play
Melee matches are run as custom games in Tournament Draft mode, using the Champion rosters below. Since these rosters are already quite limited, no bans are allowed. (Just ban Champions not on either roster.) Match names should have “Factions” in the title, to make them searchable, and should have a password of “factions”.
Matches are usually organized in the #match-creation channel on our Discord server. If you’re looking to get into a match, asking there is the best way to do it.
Champion Rosters
All factions are playable at all times in Melee mode. They use the following rosters of Champions, which may differ somewhat from the lineups used in arcs.
- Melee Rosters (direct link)
For the sake of simplicity, these rosters have been written such that there is no overlap, i.e., such that no Champion is on more than one faction’s list.
“Hey, wait a second…”
You may notice that we have engaged in a bit of lore handwaving in the interests of gameplay and, well, fun. Certainly, one could argue about the placement of any number of Champions. Champions tend to be unpredictable individuals with dark, mysterious pasts, and any given Champion has likely become associated with many factions while wandering Valoran on a quest for vengeance. Canonically, of course, Champions (and Summoners) are honor-bound to fight for any member-state that summons them, at least in “ordinary” disputes, represented by the overwhelming majority of League matches which are not Factions matches. Melee matches are presumed to be sufficiently serious (or divisive) that Champions and Summoners take sides, but not so intense as to require oaths of allegiance for prolonged periods, as is the case with numbered arcs.
Submit Match Results
- Melee match submission form
- View raw submission data (e.g. to check if the match was sent in)
Balance of Power
Matches are scored on an all-factions Balance of Power, which represents how the various factions are doing in their League disputes.
Factions matches generally involve mixed-rank teams. To keep things fair, we adjust the point value of matches based on the nature of the rank matchup. We use empirical data gathered over thousands of Factions matches to compute an estimated winrate for the winning side. If they were favored to win, i.e. if their expected odds of victory based on the rank gap were above 50%, the match will be worth fewer than 10 points. If their expected odds of victory were below 50%, the match will be worth more than 10 points. The logic of the adjustment formula is that, if two factions play one another many times, and their Summoners perform precisely as well as their ranks would predict, the two factions will have a net zero change in their relative scores. In other words, it shouldn’t help or hurt a faction if high- or low-ranked Summoners favor it, and there’s no need for lower-ranked or less-experienced Summoners to worry that they’ll hurt a faction by playing for it. What matters is whether Summoners outperform or underperform their rank, such as by figuring out how to take advantage of their faction’s roster or exploit weaknesses in their adversary’s lineup.
Registration
While it is neither necessary nor possible to declare for a faction in Melee, please do take a moment to register with your name and rank. This makes scoring much easier for staff.
Discussion and Feedback
You can discuss Melee mode and suggest changes on our forum.
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