How to recognise League of Legends champion abilities
In the Ability Challenge you see the icon of an ability or passive with no name and have to say which champion it belongs to. With a simple method you will get far more right than by eye.
What each ability is
- Passive: an ability that works by itself, with no need to cast it. It has no key.
- Q, W and E: the three basic abilities, cast with those keys.
- R: the ultimate ability, normally the most powerful one with the longest cooldown.
In the Ability Challenge all of them have the same probability: each champion contributes five icons (the passive and the four abilities).
A four-step method
- Look at the colours. The dominant tones say a lot: blues and whites often go with ice or water, reds and oranges with fire or blood, purples and greens with poison, shadows or dark magic.
- Identify the object or shape. Weapons, shields, chains, arrows, orbs, wings or animals quickly narrow down the list of champions.
- Think about the champion’s theme. Many champions repeat a theme across their whole kit, so recognising an ability is often recognising that theme.
- If in doubt, rule out before typing. You only get one attempt: pick the champion you are surest about and do not give the square away out of impatience.
Learn from your misses
When you get it right, ChampRival shows you the name of the ability, its letter and the champion it belongs to. Use every hit, and also your rival’s misses, to memorise new icons. With practice you will recognise abilities of champions you almost never play.
You can practise against the AI on Easy level without much time pressure. Full rules in How to play.