Legends of Runeterra: A complete guide to Piltover & Zaun champions

This is a Legends of Runeterra guide explaining the mana costs, power, health, spells, and level up conditions of all five Piltover & Zaun champions.

Legends of Runeterra is Riot Games’ digital card game that shares the same universe as League of Legends, which means you’ll see some familiar faces from the seven regions of Runeterra during your LoR journey. This is a breakdown of the basics of the five Piltover & Zaun champions and how they function in game.

Piltover is a city of invention. If you’ve ever seen an advanced Runeterra technology and thought it looks pretty neat, it almost definitely originated in Piltover. The coastal city is home to the most skilled craftsman and most creative innovators across the world. As a result, the ‘City of Progress’ is currently experiencing tremendous growth and economic fortunes that make it one of the most popular regions of Runeterra.

Lying deep below the thriving city in the dark alleys and wretched sewers is Zaun, the darker opposite of Piltover. Where Piltover sticks to the rules and innovates for the advancement of society, Zaun remains unchecked, filling the undercity with toxic smoke and pollution. Despite this, Zaun still matches Piltover in terms of invention and is one of the most advanced regions in Runeterra.

Piltover & Zaun champions utilize basic but thematic mechanics in Legends of Runeterra. Jinx utilizes Quick Attack due to her incredible attack speed, Teemo is Elusive as he’s an expert in Guerrilla Warfare, and Vi has the Challenger mechanic because of her ultimate ability, Assault and Battery.

These are the five Piltover & Zaun champions available in Legends of Runeterra:

Ezreal

Ezreal
Spend 3 mana and receive 1 power, 3 health champion with Elusive. While it may not seem like much, Ezreal is a strong early game unit if your opponent doesn’t have any Elusive units in his hand early on.

Combine this with Ezreal’s ability to create a Mystic Shot if he hits the enemy Nexus and you can deal some pretty significant damage during the opening rounds with this champion.

Level Up
Reaching level 2 is a bit of a task for Ezreal as it requires him to target enemies on 8+ occasions. While not impossible, with such a low power and health pool it could be tricky to consistently level up the Prodigal Explorer.

At level 2, Ezreal gains +1|+1 stats and deals 2 damage to the enemy Nexus whenever you cast a spell. This allows for some excellent synergy with low-cost spell heavy decks.

Ezreal’s Mystic Shot
Ezreal’s champion spell is Mystic Shot, a fast spell that deals 2 damage to anything. This ability could be very beneficial after Ezreal strikes the enemy Nexus in order to finish off low-health enemies.

Heimerdinger

Heimerdinger
In terms of related cards, Heimerdinger undoubtedly possesses the most in Legends of Runeterra. Heimerdinger has 9 total “Turrets” available to him that are created when you cast a spell. These turrets are very powerful and basically a free unit, so this offsets Heimer’s high mana cost and low stats.

Level Up
To reach level 2, Heimerdinger simply has to summon 12 manas worth of Turrets. This increases the champion’s stats by +1|+1 and also gives a +1|+1 stats boost to any turrets created after the level up.

Heimerdinger’s Progress Day!
Heimerdinger’s champion spell is Progress Day! which allows you to draw 3 cards and reduce their costs by 1 mana. While this doesn’t necessarily synergize well with Heimer’s Turret mechanic, it does allow him to fill the board with units quickly due to the lower mana costs.

T-Hex
T-Hex is the strongest Turret available to Heimerdinger and is incredibly easy to summon considering his 8|8 stats. Playing around Heimerdinger’s turrets is one of the toughest things to master in Legends of Runeterra, much like in League of Legends, so be patient and learn the intricacies of the Revered Inventor’s kit.

Jinx

Jinx
Jinx is a strong early game unit that can wipe the board of low health enemy units without receiving any damage in return. At 4|3 with Quick Attack, Jinx has the potential to deal meaningful damage to enemy units and the enemy Nexus throughout the early rounds.

Level Up
To reach level 2, Jinx simply has to see that your hand is empty. To achieve this, ensure you have plenty of Discard options and low mana cost cards in your deck.

Upon hitting level 2, Jinx grabs +1|+1 stats and draws 1 card at the start of every round. On top of that, a Super Mega Death Rocket! will be created in your hand whenever your hand is empty.

Jinx’s Get Excited!
Get Excited! is perfect for Jinx’s empty hand mechanic as it allows you to discard a card and deal 3 damage to anything on the board. Use this to take care of strong early game units while also leveling Jinx up as soon as possible.

Super Mega Death Rocket!
Super Mega Death Rocket! deals 4 damage to the enemy Nexus and 1 to all enemies, perfect for sweeping the board of low health units.

Teemo

Teemo
1 damage. 1 health. 1 mana. It’s as simple as you get with Teemo. A relatively ineffective early game unit that is good at slowly whittling down the enemy Nexus with Poison Puffcaps (deal 1 damage to the enemy Nexus). Stay alive and utilize Teemo’s passive with Elusive, planting as many Poison Puffcaps as possible before your opponent responds.

Level Up
Hit the enemy Nexus enough and Teemo will hit level 2, gaining a +1|+1 stats bonus. At this point, Teemo could be a ticking time bomb as every enemy Nexus strike doubles the number of Poison Puffcaps in the enemy deck. Before long, they’ll have 60 Puffcaps waiting for them, forcing your enemy to make an aggressive move.

Teemo’s Mushroom Cloud
Teemo’s champion spell is Mushroom Cloud and is basically the same as his passive. Use this burst spell to instantly plant 5 Poison Puffcaps in the enemy deck, ideally before level 2 Teemo strikes the Nexus.

Vi

Vi
2 power and 4 health may not seem like much for 5 mana, but this champion has room for expansion. Whenever you play a card, Vi’s power will increase by 1 to a maximum of 10 which makes her incredibly strong in low-cost decks.

Making full use of Challenger and Tough, keep Vi alive by wiping out low health enemies, enabling her to level up quickly and grab an even more powerful passive mechanic.

Level Up
To reach level 2, Vi must Strike for 10+ damage. Due to her passive and inherent stats, this is a relatively simple goal and will give Vi a huge +8|+1 stat boost when achieved. On top of that, Striking a unit with Vi will deal 5 damage to the enemy Nexus. Keeping Vi alive in the mid to late game is vital and could be a win condition if paired with the right champions and spells.

Vi’s Vault Breaker
Vault Breaker is Vi’s champion spell, a burst spell that grants +2|+0 to an ally for this round and creates a Fleeting Vault Breaker in hand. This can be used to great effect if you have the opportunity to blast the enemy Nexus or high health unit with a huge burst of damage, depending on your current mana.

Which of the five Piltover & Zaun champions do you think is strongest? Will you be building a Piltover & Zaun based Legends of Runeterra deck?