Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) is a mobile multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game developed and published by Chinese developer Moonton, a subsidiary of ByteDance. The game was released in 2016 and grew in popularity, most prominently in Southeast Asia.

At its base gameplay, the game puts 2 teams of 5 against each other in real time with at least 20-60 second matchmaking and 10-30 minute matches. Featuring traditional battle arena gameplay, players must fight over three lanes to take the enemy's tower and defend their own while securing objectives in order to pressure the opposing team. 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) that serves as a qualifier for the Mobile Legends World Championships. It was among the six 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. As a result, Riot Games filed a lawsuit against Moonton for copyright infringement on two separate occasions: in July 2017 and May 2022. In June 2020, the game was banned in India along with 58 other Chinese apps due to security concerns by the government.

Gameplay
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 a Hero, with unique abilities and traits. There are six 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.

Ranked and classic

Overview of the in-game map
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. 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 cannot 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.

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