Talk:Champion classes/@comment-66.177.229.41-20130319235830/@comment-6435632-20130730210816

There are two core distinctions:

1. Mages are the inverse of Carries. Carries do Physical Damage, Mages do Magic Damage. They both serve pure-damage, usually ranged roles, and of the two opposing damage types. This is important for teamcomps much of the time, though not always. Also not every mage bursts. Some are a bit more of sustained damage-dealers, like Fiddlesticks or Karthus. Same as how some Carries are sustained damagers and others bursters.

2. Assassins are not purely burst-attackers, but ambushers. Assassins also have gap closers, stealth, or other tricky movement, sneaking, or disabling abilities, to pull off surprise attacks. Hence: ASSASSIN. Of course they do damage quickly as well, as otherwise they could kill no one, but the key distinction is their ability to move around, sneak, and ambush priority targets. Some mages do this, hence Mage/Assassins.