Mobile Legends: Bang Bang

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, commonly referred to as ML or MLBB, is a mobile multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game developed and published by Moonton, a subsidiary of ByteDance. Released in 2016, the game grew in popularity worldwide, most prominently in Southeast Asia, and has since crossed the 1 billion downloads feat, with peak monthly players of 100 million. In 2021, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang achieved an all-time gross of US$1 billion with 44 percent of its revenue emanating from outside Asia, making it the top mobile game of its genre with the most global appeal.
At its core, the game pits 2 teams of 5 against each other in real time with at least 10-second matchmaking and 10-minute matches. Featuring traditional battle arena gameplay, players must fight over three lanes to take the enemy's tower and defend their own. Like classic MOBAs, there is no hero training to level up or pay to play angle—winners and losers are decided based on skill, ability, and strategy.
Following success, Moonton has tapped into the esports scene with the creation of several regional tournaments dubbed as Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Professional League (MPL) in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Middle East and North Africa regions that serves as a qualifier for the Mobile Legends World Championships where a total of 15 countries, including Japan, Russia, and the United States, have participated so far. It was also among the 6 games chosen for the first medal event of esports competition at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games held in the Philippines.
Originally named Mobile Legends: 5v5 MOBA, the initial release of the game in 2016 was met with criticism citing similarities with another MOBA game, League of Legends. In July 2017, Riot Games filed a lawsuit against Moonton for copyright infringement; however, the case was dismissed by the Central District Court of California in the United States on account of forum non conveniens. Moonton has since then made several remodeling and patch updates for distinction and game improvements.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game designed for mobile phones. The game is free-to-play and is only monetized through in-game purchases like characters and skins. Each player can control a selectable character, called “Hero”, with unique abilities and traits. There are 6 roles that define the main purpose of heroes: “Tank”, “Marksman”, “Assassin”, “Fighter”, “Mage”, and “Support”. These roles determine the responsibilities of players for their respective teams. Players can also set specific builds for heroes which include in-game items and emblems.
Two teams of five players go against each other in real-time. Players will be matched in correspondence with their current ranking. There are seven ranks in the game with “Warrior” being the lowest followed by “Elite”, “Master”, “Grandmaster”, “Epic”, “Legend”, and the highest rank, “Mythic”.[14] A player can only invite and form a team with other players of similar rank or players that are one rank higher or lower.
Taking down the opposing base is the main goal to achieve victory. There are three lanes in the game: The gold lane (top), exp lane (bottom), and the mid lane. Depending on what side of the map (blue or red) a player starts on, the gold and exp lanes will be switching places. Between each lane is the jungle. The jungle can be divided into four parts: two between the enemy's lanes and two between a player's team lanes. The jungle has different creeps and monsters that offer buffs, experience, and gold.

A player can't attack the enemy base directly without taking down opposing turrets in at least one lane first. Each lane has three turrets that shoot at heroes and deal a ton of damage. To attack them without taking damage, a player needs help from their team's “minions”. Minions constantly spawn at the teams’ bases and travel down along each lane. The team to successfully destroy all the turrets in one or all lanes will increase their chances of destroying the opposite team's base.
In classic mode, the gameplay is similar. However, winning or losing a match won't affect a player's ranking. Players can also form a whole team regardless of their rank differences and freely choose any heroes along with weekly free ones and any trial card they possess.