Legends Of Runeterra, like League Of Legends, has Champions that you can use to strengthen your deck. These Champion cards are the LoL Champions themselves, examples include Lucian, Garen, Darius, etc. These Champions can be levelled up after you fulfil certain conditions. This guide will help you to understand all about the Legends of Runeterra Champions. So let’s get into it without further ado.
Champion mechanics
A player can own duplicates of a champion. However, when the champion is active, their duplicate cards will transform into special spells, similar to the ones existing, with a unique addition action: Shuffle a copy of the champion card into the player deck.
Levelling up Champions in Legends of Runeterra (LoR)
When you fulfil certain conditions that are stated on the Legends of Runeterra Champions card itself, they level up. After levelling up, they grant you a unique mechanic, for example, when you level up Ezreal, you get a Fleeting Mystic Shot in hand after you attack the enemy Nexus. Also, whenever you cast a spell after levelling up Ezreal, you deal two damage to the enemy Nexus. This level up transformation will persist even if the Champion dies, or returns to your hand.
Some useful Keywords
Legends Of Runeterra Champions cards use different keywords. These keywords are listed in this guide as well, so here is a quick round-up of all the existing keywords in the game arranged in a nice alphabetical order:
A
Allegiance: When you summon this, it gets its bonus if the top card of your deck matches its region.
Attune: When Attune cards are summoned, refill 1 spell mana.
B
Barrier: Negates the next damage the unit would take. Lasts one round.
Burst: Burst spells take effect instantly. The enemy can’t act before it finishes.
C
Can’t Block: An effect that prevents a unit from blocking.
Capture: A Captured card is removed from the game. It returns when the Capturing unit leaves play.
Challenger: Can choose which enemy unit blocks.
D
Deep: Deep cards have +3|+3 once your deck has had 15 or fewer cards left.
Double Attack: While attacking, it strikes both before AND at the same time as its blocker.
Drain: Heal our Nexus for the amount of damage dealt
E
Elusive: These units can only be blocked by other Elusive units.
Enlightened: A card is Enlightened when you have 10 max mana.
Ephemeral: An Ephemeral unit dies when it strikes or when the round ends.
F
Fast: Fast spells can be played at any time, but allow the opponent to respond.
Fearsome: Units with Fearsome can only be blocked by enemies with 3 or more Attack Power.
Fleeting: Fleeting cards discard from hand when the round ends.
Frostbite: Sets a unit’s Power to 0 for the ongoing round (it can be changed after).
I
Immobile: A unit with this effect can’t attack or block.
L
Last Breath: These abilities take effect when the unit dies.
Lifesteal: Damage this unit deals heals its Nexus for that amount.
N
Nexus Strike: An effect that occurs when a unit Strikes the enemy Nexus.
O
Obliterate: When a unit is obliterated, it is completely removed from the game. It doesn’t cause Last Breath and can’t be revived.
Overwhelm: Excess damage that this unit deals to its blocker is dealt with the enemy Nexus.
P
Plunder: A card triggers its plunder ability when played if you have already damaged the enemy Nexus this round.
Q
Quick Attack: While attacking, a unit with this effect strikes before its blocker.
R
Rally If the player doesn’t have an attack token, they gain one.
Recall: Returns a unit to hand and removes all effects applied to it.
Regeneration: A unit with this effect heals fully at the start of each round.
S
Scout: The first time only Scout units attack each round, ready your attack.
Slow: Slow spells can only be cast outside of combat and other castings. The enemy can respond to these.
Strike: An effect that occurs when a unit deals damage with their Power. It does not work for units with 0 Power.
Strongest: Units with the highest Attack Power, with ties broken by highest Health, then highest Cost.
Stun: Removes a unit from combat. It can’t attack or block for the rest of the round.
Support: Gives an effect to the unit positioned to the right of the Support unit if the Support unit is attacking.
T
Toss: Obliterates a specific number of non-champion cards from the bottom of your deck.
Tough: Cards with this effect take 1 less damage from all sources.
Trap: Attaches to another card, trapping it. When you or your enemy draw the trap card, it performs the trap’s effect.
V
Vulnerable: The enemy can challenge this unit, forcing it to block. Similar to Challenger, but the enemy unit is forced to block any card, unlike Challenger, where the enemy unit can only be dragged to block Challenger cards by the Challenger card itself.
W
Weakest: Units with the lowest Power, with ties broken by lowest Health then lowest Cost
Regions of Champions and their Level Up Effects
Now that we are done with the keywords, let’s check out the regions and level up effects of all the Champions in Legends of Runeterra.
Freljord
1. Ashe
- She uses the Frostbite mechanic on attacking, which reduces the enemy attacker’s attack power (AP) to 0.
- You can level up Ashe when you have used the Frostbite mechanic on 5+ enemies. There are also other cards that help you Frostbite the enemies, and you can use them.
- After Ashe levels up, she creates a Crystal Arrow on top of your deck. This will help you to Frostbite all enemies with 3 or less health, and you will also draw 1 card.
2. Anivia
- You can play Anivia on turn 7, and protect her on the board till you have 10 mana. When you attack she deals 1 damage to all enemies.
- After you get to 10 mana, Anivia levels up. On attacking now, she deals 2 damage to all enemies. When she dies after levelling up, she transforms into Eggnivia. If you have Eggnivia on the board, at the start of the round, and you also have 10 mana at the start of the same round, she transforms back into Anivia and immediately levels up.
- Hence, we see that Anivia is one of the Champions that can level up more than one time in one match.
3. Braum
- Braum is probably the most complete among all the Champions in Legends of Runeterra. He is a strong card with the Regeneration keyword, where he heals to full health at the start of each round. This makes him the prime target for buffs, and his Challenger mechanic also helps your other allies to attack efficiently.
- Braum levels up when he survives after taking 10 damage. His regeneration helps, and you can buff him to increase his health.
- After he levels up, when he survives the damage, he summons a Mighty Poro. If you get enough of the little ones on board, they can swing the game in your favour.
4. Tryndamere
- Tryndamere is the easiest among all Legends of Runeterra Champions to level up in the game. Whenever he dies, he levels up. So, you have to make sure that he dies.
- His AP and health are increased on levelling up, and with his Overwhelm mechanic, he can do big damage to the enemy Nexus.
5. Sejuani
- On playing her, she can give Frostbite and Vulnerable (The enemy can challenge this unit, forcing it to block), to an enemy.
- She levels up when you damage the enemy Nexus in 5 different rounds in the match. On levelling up, when you damage the enemy Nexus for the first time, she Frostbites all enemies. And like before, she also gives an enemy Vulnerable when you play her.
Demacia
6. Garen
- Garen’s level up condition is also very simple. He levels up when he strikes twice.
- This means you can block with him twice to level him up, or attack with him twice to level him up, or attack and defend once to level him up.
- After levelling up, he enables you to Rally (attack when you don’t have the attack token).
7. Fiora
- She levels up when she kills two enemies.
- After levelling up, if she survives after killing 4 enemies, you win the game! This is, of course, not very easy, but when she pairs up with Unyielding Spirit, it is certainly possible.
8. Quinn
- On summoning her, she summons her trusty sidekick, Valor. Valor, like Quinn herself, is also a Scout (The first time only Scout units attack each round, ready your attack) unit.
- She levels up when she sees you attack enemies four times.
- After levelling up, she summons Valor when attacking, and Valor automatically Challenges the strongest enemy.
9. Lucian
- Lucian does well when you pair him with Senna. Because, when he sees Senna die, he immediately levels up. If Senna is not in your deck, Lucian will level up after he sees 4+ allies die.
- When he levels up, he grants you Rally after an ally dies for the first time each round. He also has Quick Attack, enabling him to attack before his blocker, and survive.
10. Lux
- Lux levels up when you cast 6+ mana worth of spells. She has the Barrier keyword, which negates any damage done to her for the very first time.
- When she levels up, she creates a Fleeting (Discarded from hand at the end of the turn) Final Spark card in hand. This card deals 4 damage to a target.
Noxus
11. Darius
- Darius is a warrior from Noxus. He levels up when he sees the enemy Nexus at half health, that is, at 10 health (Half of 20).
- Because of that condition, it is recommended to play him after the enemy Nexus is at 10 health or less, as he levels up immediately upon playing.
- His attack increases after leveling up, and when he damages an enemy, excess damage is done to the enemy’s Nexus.
12. Draven
- He has Quick Attack at the start. He creates a Spinning Axe in hand when you play him, or when he Strikes (deals damage with his attack power).
- After he strikes with two Spinning Axes, he levels up. Then. when you play him or strike with him, he creates two Spinning Axes in hand.
- He is best suited for Burn Aggro decks, and best played in the late game.
13. Katarina
- Katarina creates a fleeting Blade’s Edge in hand when you play her. She levels up once you’ve damaged an enemy with her attack power.
- On levelling up, she Recalls (Return a unit to hand and remove all effects applied to it) herself to your hand. Then, when you play her, she grants you Rally, and when she strikes an enemy, she, once again, Recalls herself to your hand.
14. Vladimir
- For each attacking ally unit you have, he deals 1 damage to it, and 1 to the enemy Nexus.
- When 6 of your allies have survived damage, he levels up.
- After levelling up, when he attacks, he deals 1 damage to enemy Nexus for each attacking ally. For example, if you have 3 allies attacking along with Vladimir, he will deal 3 damage to the enemy Nexus.
- He is only good in Crimson decks, where his allies are made to survive damage, and is not of much use in any other deck.
15. Grand General Swain
- Swain is a famous LoL Champion and is the Noxian Grand General, hence the powerful name. When he directly strikes the Nexus, he deals 3 extra damage to it.
- When you deal a total of 12 non-combat or non-direct damage (Damage from Spells, skills) to enemies or the enemy Nexus, he levels up.
- Once he levels up – whenever you deal with any non-combat damage to the enemy Nexus, Swain stuns the strongest back-row enemy. Then, when he strikes the Nexus directly, he deals 3 damage to all enemies.
- To level him up, spells like Decimate, Mystic Shot, Get Excited and Noxian Fervor are the best choices.
Piltover and Zaun
16. Teemo
- Teemo may look small compared to other Champions in Legends of Runeterra, but his puffcaps deal a lot of damage when they are shuffled into your deck in a huge amount.
- Every time he attacks your Nexus, he shuffles 5 Poison Puffcaps, which are traps, into your deck. Every time you draw a card with a Puffcap on it, it does 1 damage to your Nexus.
- He levels up when you have 15+ Puffcaps in your deck. After that, when he strikes your Nexus again, he doubles the amount of Puffcaps in your deck. This will enable him to kill you more easily, as you will draw a lot more Puffcaps and do more damage to your Nexus.
- Cards like Chump Whump, Puffcap Peddler, and Clump Of Whumps are the best for such a deck.
17. Ezreal
- Ezreal is one of the most fun to play Champions in Legends Of Runeterra, because of his great interactions with other characters.
- With him, whenever you strike the enemy Nexus, he creates a fleeting Mystic Shot in your hand. When you target enemy units (With Spells, skills, plays) more than 8 times, he levels up.
- Then, whenever you strike the enemy Nexus with him, he creates a fleeting Mystic Shot in your hand, just as before. In addition, whenever you cast a spell, he deals two damage to the enemy Nexus.
18. Heimerdinger
- Heimerdinger is a card that’s often used among all the Champions in Legends Of Runeterra to control decks, and he does well when paired up with Vi, another Champion.
- Like Ezreal, Heimer also has effects when you cast a Spell. He creates Fleeting Turrets in your hand. When you have summoned more than 12 of these Turrets, he levels up.
- After levelling up, whenever you cast a Spell, Heimer creates a Fleeting turret of equal cost in your hand. But, it reduces the cost of the turret to 0, so you can play it on the same turn, and it also buffs the turret for +1/+1 (AP/Health respectively). This makes him a great card for control decks.
19. Jinx
- The decks that she is used in, make good use of Discard mechanics. This is because she levels up when your hand is empty. Once she levels up, and your hand is empty again, she creates an Ephemeral (Lasts only for one turn) Super Mega Death Rocket in hand. It deals 4 damage to the enemy Nexus and 1 to all other enemies. She also draws 1 card at the start of the round.
- The Starter Deck that everyone gets – “Spell and Stealth“, is also a good one to understand how Jinx works.
20. Vi
- Vi is a heavy-hitter. Whenever she is in your hand, she gets +1 Attack power for each card you play.
- When she trikes for 10+ damage, she levels up. She levels up when you play other cards, and Heimerdinger summons cards, so they pair well with each other.
- After levelling up, whenever she strikes a unit when she attacks, she deals 5 damage to the enemy Nexus.
- This makes the HeimerVi, or VieMerdinger, as the deck is called, one of the best control decks in the game.
Ionia
21. Yasuo
- He is known as the hero who feeds enemies the most in League Of Legends, but in Legends Of Runeterra, he is a good Champion.
- His main mechanic is to deal 2 damage to Stunned (Prevents them from attacking or blocking for the rest of the round) and recalled (Returns a unit to hand and removes all effects applied to it) units.
- When you have Stunned or Recalled 5+ enemy units, he levels up.
- Now, when you Stun or Recall a unit, Yasuo damages it with his AP (He strikes the unit).
- He is best played in the Yasuo Elusive deck.
22. Karma
- Karma is a great Champion in LoR because of her effect when she levels up. She is very good to use in decks that are focused on spells, like Karma-Lux and Karma-Ezreal.
- When she is on the board, she creates a random spell in your hand at the end of each round.
- She levels up when you’re Enlightened, that is when you have 10 mana.
- Her level-up effect enables you to cast every spell a second time at the same target. An example would be, if you deal 2 damage to a target using Mystic Shot, with Karma levelled up, you can cast it again, dealing 4 damage to the target in total.
23. Shen
- Shen is a support card in Legends Of Runeterra.
- Support mechanics are – “Gives an effect to the unit positioned to the right of this unit if this unit is attacking”.
- His Support effect is to grant a Barrier to the ally on his right when he attacks. He levels up when you grant Barrier to any allies 4+ times. For this, you can use cards like Spirit Refuge and Riposte.
- When he levels up, in addition to granting a Barrier to his Supported ally, he gives them +3 Attack Power (AP) for the ongoing round.
24. Zed
- Zed is a good card to use in Jinx decks, as he has Quick Attack, just like Jinx.
- On attacking, he creates a Living Shadow that has the same stats as him. This means, if Zed as 4 AP and 3 Health, the Living Shadow will also have 4 AP and 3 Health. It is also Ephemeral, so it will die after attacking, or at the end of the round.
- He levels up when he, along with his Shadows, strikes the enemy Nexus twice. After levelling up, he buffs up, gaining 1 Attack Power and 1 Health Point, and again creates a Living Shadow with his stats. So when you level him up, make sure to buff him more, so he creates more powerful Living Shadows.
25. Lee Sin
- Lee Sin is a unique Champion. When you cast a Spell with him on the board, he gets Challenger. If you cast a second spell, he gets a Barrier.
- Once you cast more than 7 spells in the game, he levels up.
- Then, he retains the Challenge and Barrier effects on your 1st and 2nd spell-cast respectively. In addition to that, he kicks the enemies that he Challenges into the enemy Nexus and strikes both the enemy and the Nexus. That is his skill, known as “Dragon’s Rage“.
Shadow Isles
26. Elise
- Elise is a Champion you get in the Noxus-Shadow Isles Starter Deck.
- She is a part of a great budget deck that can be used by beginners to climb up the ranks. The deck is known as “Endure Spiders“.
- Elise is a Spider and is suited to decks which make use of a lot of Spider allies. She levels up when you have 3 or more Spider allies on the board at Round Start.
- She gives all her Spider allies Fearsome and Challenger on levelling up.
27. Thresh
- Thresh is a scary-looking Champion in Legends Of Runeterra. His interactions with the Champion Teemo are some of the best in the game.
- Thresh relies on units dying – allies and enemies alike. The dude loves sacrifice, and whenever units die, he becomes stronger.
- He also has the Challenger effect. He levels up when 6 or more units have died.
- After leveling up, he summons a Champion from your deck or hand at random, when he attacks for the first time. This means, he only summons one Champion per match. But this is Legends Of Runeterra and a single Champion can make all the difference. That’s why, when you play him, make sure to have good Champions in your deck.
28. Hecarim
- Hecarim uses Ephemeral cards to overwhelm the opponent. When he attacks, he summons two Ephemeral Spectral Riders.
- When you attack with 7 or more Ephemeral allies, Hecarim levels up.
- Then, when he attacks, he again summons 2 Spectral Riders and gives them and other Ephemeral Allies +3 Attack Power.
29. Kalista
- Kalista pairs well with Elise. She has the Fearsome effect.
- When she sees 3 or more allies die, she levels up.
- Once she levels up, the first time she attacks each round, she revives an attacking Ephemeral copy of the strongest allied follower that has already died. She bonds herself with the follower, and that follower takes damage on her behalf.
30. Maokai
- Currently, Maokai is the best to use in only one top tier deck – the Deep deck with Nautilus.
- His Toss mechanic works well with the Deep deck requirements.
- When you play another ally each round with Maokai on the board, he tosses 2 allies and summons a Sapling.
- After your units have died, or your cards have been tossed 25 times, he levels up.
- Upon levelling up, he gets Regeneration, and he Obliterates the entire enemy deck, leaving just 4 non-Champion cards. He also summons a Sapling at the start of each round.
Bilgewater
31. Fizz
- Fizz, along with Teemo, is one of the most adorable Champions in Legends Of Runeterra.
- When you have him on board, and you cast a spell, he becomes Elusive and cancels all enemy spells that are targeting him at the time.
- He levels up when you have cast 6+ spells in the ongoing game. Then, when you cast a spell, he becomes Elusive, just as before, in addition to that, if he strikes the Nexus, he creates a “Chum The Waters” card in your hand.
- Chum The Waters rants an enemy Vulnerable, and summons Longtooth, a shark with 5 AP and Overwhelm.
- In the current meta, he is mostly played in the Fizz-Twisted Fate deck.
32. Twisted Fate
- Twisted Fate’s level up animation is probably the best in Legends Of Runeterra.
- When you play him, he plays any one of his three Destiny Cards: Blue (Refill 1 spell mana, Draw 1 card), Gold (Deal 2 damage to anyone, and Stun the strongest enemy), Red (Deal 1 damage to all enemies and the enemy Nexus).
- When you have drawn more than 8 cards in the match, he levels up. Then, the first three times he sees you play a card each round, he plays any one of his Destiny cards.
33. Miss Fortune
- Miss Fortune deals 1 damage to all battling enemies, and the enemy Nexus when your allies attack.
- After she sees you attack 4 times, she levels up.
- Then, when your allies attack, she deals 1 damage, 3 times, to all battling enemies and the enemy Nexus. This means she deals 3 damage to all battling enemies and the enemy Nexus.
34. Nautilus
- Nautilus, as said before, is the best to use in Deep, sea monster decks in Legends Of Runeterra.
- To level him up, you need to get rid of enough cards to go deep, and this where Maokai comes into play. With him, you Toss more cards, and hence, Nautilus has an easier time going deep.
- When he levels up, his stats increase from 0 AP/ 12 HP to 13 AP/13 HP.
- He also copies tossed allies that cost more than 4 mana, back into the deck, and reduces the cost of Sea monsters by 4.
- You can build an overwhelmingly large board with Nautilus, and once you do, the enemy has no way of stopping you.
35. Gangplank
- The Champion with the best theme in League Of Legends.
- When you summon him, he summons a Powder Keg, which stacks, and increases the damage of your spells and skills by 1.
- Powder Kegs are destroyed when your spells or skills have damaged an enemy.
- Gangplank levels up after we damage the enemy Nexus in 5 different rounds.
- Then, he summons a Powder Keg at the start of each round, and when he attacks, he deals 1 damage to all enemies and the enemy Nexus.
And that does it for the Legends of Runeterra Champions guide. Did you find this article helpful? Which are your favourite among all the Champions in Legends of Runeterra? Let us know in the comment section below!
You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram for the latest updates. If you want to talk and hang out with fellow mobile gamers, you can join our Discord or join our WhatsApp group.
