In Legends of Runeterra, the Demacia Region contains champions who value justice and honor.
Similar in design structure to the color White in Magic: The Gathering, the Demacia Region wins matches through an emphasis on combat. Rather than relying on spells that target direct damage or card draw for tempo, Demacia has a go-wide aggro theme.
Champions of the Demacia Region
Decks in LoR are constructed around champions and the synergies they provide. A deck can have up to six total champions with a maximum of three copies. One champion is allowed on the battlefield at a time. Additional copies drawn to hand will transform into a champion spell. Once the spell is played, the champion is shuffled back into a player’s deck.
A champion evolves through gameplay, gaining stronger abilities through leveling up. Champions and regions are designed to synergize with one another.
Here are the champions and their abilities in the Demacia Region.
Lucian
Lucian has the cheapest mana cost out of all the champions in the Demacia Region. He isn’t super powerful on his own but synergizes well with Senna, Sentinel of Light and units in the Shadow Isles Region.
To level up Lucian, either ally units or Senna need to die. But don’t rule out trading a Lucian to level up Senna since her level-up ability is more powerful than Lucian’s. There are several mechanics tied to Lucian and his wife, Senna.
- Quick Attack: Lucian deals damage to an opponent’s blocker first, rather than the units dealing damage at the same time. Any blocker with a defense of three or less will die to Lucian while he survives no matter that blocker’s power level.
- Ready your Attack: If an ally dies during the attack stage, you get another attack round. Likewise, when an ally dies during your defensive stage, you earn an attack stage.
- Double Attack: Apply damage twice. The first attack is a Quick Attack and the second is normal.
Lucian’s champion spell is a Fast spell called Lucian’s Relentless Pursuit. This means it can be cast before, during, or after combat. You can cast more than one Fast spell at a time, but an opponent is allowed to respond to it.
Fiora
Fiora is one of the strongest champions in LoR who’s able to end a match without bringing an opponent down to zero life. After killing two opponents, Fiora levels up. With the destruction of two more, you win the match.
The strategy behind Fiora is to use her Challenger ability in conjunction with the common Demacia Region card, Brightsteel Protector, and its barrier ability.
- Challenger: This ability allows a player to force an opponent to block with a specific card.
- Barrier: Provides protection from all damage one time.
Barrier keeps Fiora alive while Challenger lets her kill opponents, allowing her to level up and win you the game.
Her champion spell is Fiora’s Riposte. It’s a Burst spell, meaning it can be used in the middle of combat.
Lux
After the first LoR early access preview, Lux was changed because her original stats made her difficult to play and easy to kill. The goal behind Lux is to level her up and gain access to the spell Final Spark.
Final Spark has Fleeting, meaning if it isn’t played in the turn it’s received, it’ll be removed from the hand. It also used to cost mana to cast but is now at zero once Lux evolves. Running a Barrier theme with Lux is recommended since it helps keep her on the board until using Final Spark as a finisher.
Her champion spell is Lux’s Prismatic Barrier. It’s multifunctional in that it helps keep key cards on the board via Barrier, shuffles a Lux into your deck, and counts a spell cost toward leveling Lux up.
Garen
Garen also went through some changes with the recent LoR patch. He’s a top-level champion who’s great at finishing off an opponent in a variety of archetypes. But he’s ideal for Midrange decks.
Garen uses the mechanic Ready your Attack once he’s leveled up. This provides you with an extra attack stage, changing the tempo of the match in your favor. Garen also comes with Regeneration.
- Regeneration: At the start of each round, the unit is fully healed.
His champion spell is Garen’s Judgement. The spell deals damage to all your opponent’s battling units. It can wipe the board and works well with Garen’s Ready your Attack ability. The spell also shuffles a Garen into your deck.
Region Synergies
Each champion in LoR is designed to synergize with champions from other regions. Demacia can technically be paired with any region, but two are better than the rest.
Demacia and Iona
Fiora is a champion who can end matches quickly without taking an opponent down to zero life. But to do that, she needs protection. When combined with Shen and the Barrier mechanic from the Iona region, Fiora’s chances of killing four enemies and staying alive are greatly increased.
Typical support cards include one-drops like Greenglade Caretaker (Iona) and Fleetfeather Tracker (Demacia). Spells like Ki Guardian and Prismatic Barrier are cheap, providing Barrier at Burst speed. Guardian is better in the early game, providing tempo via card draw as well.
Shen protects units on the battlefield but isn’t an ideal champion who can finish off a match. And if Fiora has been removed, playing Brightsteel Formation (Demacia) on the top end of the spell curve will increase the chance of victory. As a nine-drop, Brightsteel Formation is a 9/9 that provides Barrier to all allies.
Demacia and Freljord
Garen is the best Midrange champion in Demacia, and when paired with Tryndamere from Freljord, the deck levels up to stomp your opponent.
The Freljord region has mana ramp spells like Catalyst of Eons while providing wall units like Wyrding Stones for defense and spell ramp. Typically, Tryndamere is used in Control decks as a finisher, but the champion functions well in Midrange, too.
Early unit drops like Vanguard Defender (Demacia) and Avarosan Marksman (Freljord) control the board during the early game until Garen is played. Cheap spells like Single Combat (Demacia) also remove threats, clearing a path to victory.
The key unit that binds these two regions together, however, is Babbling Bjerg. As a four-drop, he summons a five-plus unit to hand upon being played. Typically, Bjerg will find a Garen or Tryndamere when needed or provide a duplicate if one gets removed.
Key Demacia mechanics and abilities
The strength of a region comes from its mechanics, which are highlighted in the champions. When crafting a deck or playing draft in the Expedition mode, understanding a region’s mechanics is necessary to building a deck that properly uses the synergies.
Tough
Tough is an LoR ability that removes one damage when a unit is either attacking or blocking. By removing one damage received, Tough units are great for early-game defensive and aggressive strategies.
The two best Tough cards in the Demacia region are Vanguard Defender and Radiant Guardian. Vanguard is cheap to cast while Radiant has a defense of five and steals life from an opponent’s unit when summoned with Lifesteal. The only downfall to Radiant Guardian is her Lifesteal and Tough abilities only go into effect if an ally died this round.
Barrier
The ability Barrier provides protection for one hit. It’s similar to hexproof in Magic but goes away once the damage is dealt. Barrier is found in spells and abilities associated with units, so it’s easy to double up on the ability if necessary when protecting an important card like a champion.
There are only two spells with Barrier in the Demacia region, Prismatic Barrier and Riposte. Champions Lux and Fiora also use it and are supported by Brightsteel Protector and Brightsteel Formation.
Challenger and combat tricks
Challenger is a unique ability that allows a player to choose which opponent’s unit will block their attacking unit.
Some cards with Challenger in the Demacia Region are Laurent Protege and Silverwing Vanguard. But Laurent Chevalier is often overlooked. Don’t forget about Fleetfeather Tracker, either, since it’s only a one-drop and is typically paired with a more expensive Challenger unit like Laurent Chevalier or Laurent Protege.
Combat trick spells pair nicely with Challenger, forcing your opponent to block with spells that beef up your attacker to ensure your opponent’s unit dies that turn. Challenger can also remove a large unit from blocking your large attacker, allowing damage to go through to an opponent’s Nexus.
The best combat trick spells in Demacia are Riposte, Back to Back, and For Demecia!
Capture and Purify
Capture is a mechanic that removes a unit from the battlefield via a capture card or spell. The unit that’s removed can’t interact with gameplay. It’s returned to its owner once your ally unit that’s holding it captive is removed.
Detain is the only spell in Demacia that uses Capture. Overall, it’s expensive to build around and only fits in Control decks.
Mageseeker Investigator is the unit that uses Purify (previously Capture). It’s a powerful card to have since it removes all text and keywords from an opponent’s follower when it’s summoned. The spell Purify also does the same and can be cast at any time due to having Burst.
