When building a deck in Legends of Runeterra, you must choose a faction. You can have up to two factions per deck. You must select cards from within the faction of your choosing. For instance, if you choose Demacia you can only have Demacia cards in your deck.
There are six different factions in this game at launch, though there will be more added at a later date. If you’ve played League of Legends these will sound familiar to you.
Legends of Runeterra Factions
The six current factions are as follows:
- Demacia
- Freljord
- Ionia
- Noxus
- Piltover and Zaun
- Shadow Isles
Each faction has something that makes them unique, and you can generally make any play style work with any faction. Each faction has four champions that represent them.
Legends of Runeterra Demacia Faction
The champions of the Demacia Faction are Garen, Fiora, Lucian, Lux. Demacia has very strong defensive tools, unit buffs, combat tricks, and all around good cost efficiency creatures with solid survivability.
Fiora has a unique ability in that if she can kill four different units with her and survive, you win the game. Pulling this off is no easy feat, but it is definitely possible with some buffs.
Legends of Runeterra Freljord Faction
The champions of Freljord are Anivia, Braum, Ashe, and Tryndamere. Freljord generally has the biggest units and they are the only faction with access to mana generation and mana buffs. Wyrding Stones and Catalyst of Aeons give you more mana gems than your opponents to let you play the bigger more expensive units.
This faction is great in the mid and late game, and can be good at being aggressive. Braum is a great character to build up over the game and carry you to victory if he goes unanswered.
Legends of Runeterra Ionia Faction
The Ionia Faction champions are Karma, Shen, Yasuo, and Zed. Ionia is really about evasive threats, being illusive, and avoiding incoming damage. They are also the onyl faction with counter magic in the form of Deny. They have a lot of combo potential with cards like Dawn and Dusk.
These champions can be annoying to kill and can chip away at their opponents over time and close out games pretty quickly. Champions like Zed are very aggressive as well.
Legends of Runeterra Noxus Faction
The Noxus Faction champions are Darius, Draven, Katarina, and Vladimir. This faction is known for their strong early aggression. Cards like Legion Rearguard and Reckless Trifarian have very high stats. They are the best Faction for being super aggressive early on in the game.
This faction is great for those players who love playing a fast aggressive game and close it out as soon as possible. They may lack some late game cards, but they certainly make up for it in the early game.
Legends of Runeterra Piltover and Zaun Faction
Champions of the Piltover and Zaun Faction include Ezrael, Jinx, Heimerdinger, and Teemo. They are unique in that they are very balanced with no huge emphasis on offense or defense. They have a lot of offensive and defensive spells like Mystic Shot.
They also have access to Puff Caps, which is basically poison mushrooms that can be embedded into enemy cards. When your enemy draws the cards affected by Puff Caps they get damage, so this is a great way to whittle away at some enemy Nexus health points.
Legends of Runeterra Shadow Isles Faction
The Shadow Idles Champions are Hecarim, Elise, Kalista, and Thresh. This faction is all about balancing life and death. This faction is the only one with access to life gain, and they have a bunch of mechanics that rely on sacrificing their creatures.
A lot of cards also utilize the Ephemeral mechanic which is good for aggressive play style. Shark Chariot is a card where whenever you summon an Ephemeral creature he comes back from the dead and attacks. Shadow Isles is very good for aggressive play style and synergizes well as the second faction with almost any deck.
