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[League of Legends] Here comes the Smolder
Ivellius
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
This OP was originally created by one Sterica, who is now being credited for his work before her lawyers find this page.
This OP is shamelessly stolen from Hiryu, so that we may have a new one before it gets locked again. May the op never be made anew!
This Op is stolen from Roz, who I believe in turn stole it from Burnage.
This OP was shamelessly stolen from my good friend Burnage who is a totally awesome dude that doesn't play League anymore. RIP burnage, you will be missed.
This OP was adapted from the source work of PrjctD_Captain, who left just before their promotion to Modern Major General
This OP was taken from Red Raevyn, who I cannot confirm is neither red nor a raven
If you're updating this, look here:
This OP is shamelessly stolen from Hiryu, so that we may have a new one before it gets locked again. May the op never be made anew!
This Op is stolen from Roz, who I believe in turn stole it from Burnage.
This OP was shamelessly stolen from my good friend Burnage who is a totally awesome dude that doesn't play League anymore. RIP burnage, you will be missed.
This OP was adapted from the source work of PrjctD_Captain, who left just before their promotion to Modern Major General
This OP was taken from Red Raevyn, who I cannot confirm is neither red nor a raven
If you're updating this, look here:
One day, TSM will make it back to Worlds.
League of Legends (popularly known as LOL) is a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game created by Riot Games.
You play as a summoner that controls a champion and looks forward to replays for half a decade. During games, your champion will level up, get gold for better equipment and hopefully destroy the enemy nexus. Outside of games, you will wait several months for new champions and your summoner level will rise. This will unlock Champion Shards for the in-game currency as well as the occasional icon, emote, or other thing in a capsule. At level 30, you can compete in ranked matches.
Thread Layout
OP - The Basics - General LoL Tips and Tricks
2nd - PENTAKILL! (and spillover because OP is now op in length)
3rd through page 100 - Nice people talking about a rad game
The Basics
New Player Guide. For those who want some tips to start out.
1. Make an account: NA, EU(West), EU(Nordic & East), Oceania, etc. - wherever you are located in the world!
There is no longer any kind of referral system, so don't worry about getting a link from your besties - just get hyped and fire it up!
2. Download the client: Right here.
There exists a Mac client - we are gaming in the future! Go play!
3. Play the tutorials and read the New User Guide!
The game can be a bit overwhelming, and I highly suggest you play the tutorials OR find someone willing to do a few vs. AI games with you.
4. Post here to find helpful people and people to escape solo queue with!
Put your summoner name and server if you want to make friends here. There are always at least a few of us around who can help you out; you might even be able to join the PA club if you're on NA.
5. Play vs. People
Do it, damn you. The AI is not going to give you the legitimate LoL experience. You don't want to hit your 20s solely from bot matches. If you do use bot games, focus on practicing basic mechanics such as getting the last hit on minions for sweet, sweet gold.
Want some more help? Watch the series of videos below! (some are playlists) And don't be afraid to ask questions in thread! Most of us have been playing for a long time, so we may skim over some stuff we consider basics. This is not to make you feel bad! Its just that we forget what its like to be all new at this game
There is no longer any kind of referral system, so don't worry about getting a link from your besties - just get hyped and fire it up!
2. Download the client: Right here.
There exists a Mac client - we are gaming in the future! Go play!
3. Play the tutorials and read the New User Guide!
The game can be a bit overwhelming, and I highly suggest you play the tutorials OR find someone willing to do a few vs. AI games with you.
4. Post here to find helpful people and people to escape solo queue with!
Put your summoner name and server if you want to make friends here. There are always at least a few of us around who can help you out; you might even be able to join the PA club if you're on NA.
5. Play vs. People
Do it, damn you. The AI is not going to give you the legitimate LoL experience. You don't want to hit your 20s solely from bot matches. If you do use bot games, focus on practicing basic mechanics such as getting the last hit on minions for sweet, sweet gold.
Want some more help? Watch the series of videos below! (some are playlists) And don't be afraid to ask questions in thread! Most of us have been playing for a long time, so we may skim over some stuff we consider basics. This is not to make you feel bad! Its just that we forget what its like to be all new at this game
This is a recent guide for newbies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uyLRPmmYPk
These Team Fight Breakdown videos can give you an idea of positioning in team fights. In them someone who works for Riot goes over teamfights from pro games.
In this playlist are videos of the 2016 World Finals best of 5 matches, with commentators speaking specifically for new viewers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uyLRPmmYPkThese Team Fight Breakdown videos can give you an idea of positioning in team fights. In them someone who works for Riot goes over teamfights from pro games.
In this playlist are videos of the 2016 World Finals best of 5 matches, with commentators speaking specifically for new viewers.
The Do's and Don'ts of LoL
1. Don't buy champions randomly!
LoL has two currencies in the store: Riot Points (RP), which are bought with real money, and Blue Essence (BE), which are earned solely by playing games disenchanting champion shards and winning your first game of the day. Champions can be bought with both, but every week there will be 15 free champions to play with. Play these champs instead. Get a feel for each type of champion and see which you find more fun. It's far better to do this as opposed to buying a champ randomly and ultimately being unhappy with it. You can also get three refund opportunities for both BE and RP purchases.
Also, if you unlock cosmetic content with Hextech Chests you can "disenchant" cosmetics for Orange Essence (OE), which can then upgrade your cosmetic unlocks.
2. Consider your rune pages based on role.
With the move to a combined rune / mastery system, you can fairly easily customize a rune page before games based on a desired capstone / playstyle. Generally, Domination is for burst damage, Precision for sustained damage, Resolve for defensiveness, and Sorcery for ability damage. These roughly correspond to Assassins, Carries, Tanks, and Mages, respectively, but it often just depends on your needs. Inspiration is kind of "weird" and works with more unusual champions. Ask in thread if you are unsure what to choose.
3. Do queue with friends.
Playing with randoms is a crapshoot, and playing with a friend or two can put the odds in your favor. Play complementary champs and request feedback on how you did in each game (even if you won). Likewise, you can offer advice to others you saw having trouble in a polite manner.
4. Do learn the champions.
When a new rotation occurs, it is wise to play a few games with each champ. Knowing what each champ is capable of will be useful even if you hate how they play and never intend on using them. For example, Karthus has a skill that does damage to every enemy champion, regardless of location! If you know this, then you can be a jerk and take Soraka (who has a skill that heals all allied champions).
5. Do read guides.
There are multiple ways to play a champion. This combination of skills, runes, masteries and items is called a "build" and are the general strategies for any champion. The recommended items in the game store are not always ideal, and the order you level skills can have a big impact on how the early stages of the game play out. Sites like lolking and probuilds.net offer builds for just about every champion. It's cookie-cutter, but a great foundation for new players. Once you learn the ins and outs, you can tweak a build to better suit your playstyle or as a reaction to enemy or ally players.
6. Do be polite and do report.
Sometimes people will suck or do shit wrong. It's a game, so try to keep that in mind when things get a little unhinged. If you insult or yell at people, even if they did do something wrong, you're likely going to get that person defensive and things will very quickly begin to break down. Instead of focusing on the game, you focus on hurling insults at each other. Stay calm, and politely offer advice when needed.
Sometimes, even with this in mind, people will still be jerks. It happens! Simply /mute them and quietly report them after the game. Taking their bait is probably what they want you to do. Do not give them the satisfaction! Keep your cool.
7. Buy skins. /s
Having a skin for a character is a great way to say "Hey I'm fucking awesome with this champion so get the fuck out of my way." If your team is using more skins than your enemy team, you basically have already won.
LoL has two currencies in the store: Riot Points (RP), which are bought with real money, and Blue Essence (BE), which are earned solely by playing games disenchanting champion shards and winning your first game of the day. Champions can be bought with both, but every week there will be 15 free champions to play with. Play these champs instead. Get a feel for each type of champion and see which you find more fun. It's far better to do this as opposed to buying a champ randomly and ultimately being unhappy with it. You can also get three refund opportunities for both BE and RP purchases.
Also, if you unlock cosmetic content with Hextech Chests you can "disenchant" cosmetics for Orange Essence (OE), which can then upgrade your cosmetic unlocks.
2. Consider your rune pages based on role.
With the move to a combined rune / mastery system, you can fairly easily customize a rune page before games based on a desired capstone / playstyle. Generally, Domination is for burst damage, Precision for sustained damage, Resolve for defensiveness, and Sorcery for ability damage. These roughly correspond to Assassins, Carries, Tanks, and Mages, respectively, but it often just depends on your needs. Inspiration is kind of "weird" and works with more unusual champions. Ask in thread if you are unsure what to choose.
3. Do queue with friends.
Playing with randoms is a crapshoot, and playing with a friend or two can put the odds in your favor. Play complementary champs and request feedback on how you did in each game (even if you won). Likewise, you can offer advice to others you saw having trouble in a polite manner.
4. Do learn the champions.
When a new rotation occurs, it is wise to play a few games with each champ. Knowing what each champ is capable of will be useful even if you hate how they play and never intend on using them. For example, Karthus has a skill that does damage to every enemy champion, regardless of location! If you know this, then you can be a jerk and take Soraka (who has a skill that heals all allied champions).
5. Do read guides.
There are multiple ways to play a champion. This combination of skills, runes, masteries and items is called a "build" and are the general strategies for any champion. The recommended items in the game store are not always ideal, and the order you level skills can have a big impact on how the early stages of the game play out. Sites like lolking and probuilds.net offer builds for just about every champion. It's cookie-cutter, but a great foundation for new players. Once you learn the ins and outs, you can tweak a build to better suit your playstyle or as a reaction to enemy or ally players.
6. Do be polite and do report.
Sometimes people will suck or do shit wrong. It's a game, so try to keep that in mind when things get a little unhinged. If you insult or yell at people, even if they did do something wrong, you're likely going to get that person defensive and things will very quickly begin to break down. Instead of focusing on the game, you focus on hurling insults at each other. Stay calm, and politely offer advice when needed.
Sometimes, even with this in mind, people will still be jerks. It happens! Simply /mute them and quietly report them after the game. Taking their bait is probably what they want you to do. Do not give them the satisfaction! Keep your cool.
7. Buy skins. /s
Having a skin for a character is a great way to say "Hey I'm fucking awesome with this champion so get the fuck out of my way." If your team is using more skins than your enemy team, you basically have already won.
Game Stuff
1. Do not be aggressive.
There will be a serious urge to want to kill enemy champs. Resist! Death is an all-around loss: your opponents get more cash and experience, you miss out on experience and your lane risks getting pushed. If you set-up a kill and fail, do not continue chasing. In many cases, you will just die to a tower or get ganked. While later on you will learn when to take risks, early in your career it's best to be less aggressive and just let the other guy get away.
2. Do not focus too much on KDA.
Your kill-death-assist ratio is not the end-all of your value. It is possible to lose despite having a serious kill advantage over the enemy team! Certain champions, once getting the right items, can be unstoppable murder machines. Even if you do kill them a lot, if they reach this threshold, it's possible for a dramatic reversal to occur. It is far more important to support your team's objectives: push towers, protect your own towers from being pushed and keep your team informed of enemy activity. It is far better to have a modest KDA and win, than be the team killer and lose.
3. Do watch the minimap and your enemy.
Enemy locations are important! In your low-level games you will likely have two champs tops lane, one mid and two bottom (in later level games, one from top will be off "jungling," so top will have just one champ). If a player in YOUR lane is missing, let the team know. The player might just be heading back to base to buy items, or they could be trying to jump your friend in another lane. And mention when they came back to your lane! But this doesn't mean you should rely wholly on team recon. Watch the minimap yourself for enemy locations in other lanes whenever you can. People aren't perfect, and sometimes that warning comes a bit too late. Another set of eyes is always useful.
4. Do use wards.
Wards are items that grant you vision of an area for a little while. You spawn with a warding totem trinket (default button 4) that lets you place a ward. Back in the good old days when we walked uphill both ways in the snow to get to lane, we had to BUY them. That's right we paid for them, and you young millenials just get em for FREE! They are, without a doubt, one of the best things you can use. You can plop them along the river and have advance warning of ganks. They'll grant you vision of the brush. They'll alert you of enemy attempts on big-reward neutral monsters like the dragon or baron. If you attack them in the middle of something like that, you could mob up their entire team. Or maybe you are aware of a gank attempt on you. You could alert a nearby friend, bait the ganker in and turn the tables. Use wards. USE. WARDS.
5. Do use wards.
Wards are items that grant you vision of an area for a little while. You spawn with a warding totem trinket (default button 4) that lets you place a ward. Back in the good old days when we walked uphill both ways in the snow to get to lane, we had to BUY them. That's right we paid for them, and you young millenials just get em for FREE! They are, without a doubt, one of the best things you can use. You can plop them along the river and have advance warning of ganks. They'll grant you vision of the brush. They'll alert you of enemy attempts on big-reward neutral monsters like the dragon or baron. If you attack them in the middle of something like that, you could mob up their entire team. Or maybe you are aware of a gank attempt on you. You could alert a nearby friend, bait the ganker in and turn the tables. Use wards. USE. WARDS.
And BUY control wards. We had to spend 125 gold on pink wards, and now you can get a control ward for 40% off! Such a good deal!
Hm, did I just have déjà vu for a moment?
6. Do something.
So you just wiped the enemy team out. Hooray! But...what are you doing now? Did you just go back to your respective lanes and farm? Incorrect! You now have precious map control, and should be taking advantage of it. Gather up as a team and take out a tower. Head to the dragon and get a clean kill. Steal enemy creeps (especially their blue and red buffs). You can always check the status of both teams by pressing tab. If multiple enemies are waiting on respawn, then you need to press that advantage.
7. Don't just wait around all day when you're in a position to win.
8. Do use wards.
Seriously, kids. If Hargaad can do it, so can you. I know you have 75 gold just laying around sometimes. Don't feed us with your bullshit of, "But I need to save for x item!" No! If you don't use wards, and you die a lot, nobody on your team is going to be able to save you from a beefed up (whatever) lane. Upgrading your yellow trinket can help too, but there is no substitution for vision. Use and buy wards!
9. Learn to speak ping.
All you really need to communicate effectively in this game is to be able to use the pings it provides.
To use these pings, hold down the Alt, Ctrl, G, or V keys while clicking to show the ping overlay. Then, move your mouse in the direction of the ping you want to issue, and release. You can perform this action either on the terrain or the minimap for precision pinging. You can also hold alt and click virtually anything in the interface to communicate that information quickly to your team - for example you can hold alt and left click your health bar to have the game say "Awesome New Player - Lee Sin - 5% Health" to let your teammates know you're running away because you're low health, not because you're chicken.
It is unacceptable to blame players that aren't typing at all, or players that are not speaking in English.:
There will be a serious urge to want to kill enemy champs. Resist! Death is an all-around loss: your opponents get more cash and experience, you miss out on experience and your lane risks getting pushed. If you set-up a kill and fail, do not continue chasing. In many cases, you will just die to a tower or get ganked. While later on you will learn when to take risks, early in your career it's best to be less aggressive and just let the other guy get away.
2. Do not focus too much on KDA.
Your kill-death-assist ratio is not the end-all of your value. It is possible to lose despite having a serious kill advantage over the enemy team! Certain champions, once getting the right items, can be unstoppable murder machines. Even if you do kill them a lot, if they reach this threshold, it's possible for a dramatic reversal to occur. It is far more important to support your team's objectives: push towers, protect your own towers from being pushed and keep your team informed of enemy activity. It is far better to have a modest KDA and win, than be the team killer and lose.
3. Do watch the minimap and your enemy.
Enemy locations are important! In your low-level games you will likely have two champs tops lane, one mid and two bottom (in later level games, one from top will be off "jungling," so top will have just one champ). If a player in YOUR lane is missing, let the team know. The player might just be heading back to base to buy items, or they could be trying to jump your friend in another lane. And mention when they came back to your lane! But this doesn't mean you should rely wholly on team recon. Watch the minimap yourself for enemy locations in other lanes whenever you can. People aren't perfect, and sometimes that warning comes a bit too late. Another set of eyes is always useful.
4. Do use wards.
Wards are items that grant you vision of an area for a little while. You spawn with a warding totem trinket (default button 4) that lets you place a ward. Back in the good old days when we walked uphill both ways in the snow to get to lane, we had to BUY them. That's right we paid for them, and you young millenials just get em for FREE! They are, without a doubt, one of the best things you can use. You can plop them along the river and have advance warning of ganks. They'll grant you vision of the brush. They'll alert you of enemy attempts on big-reward neutral monsters like the dragon or baron. If you attack them in the middle of something like that, you could mob up their entire team. Or maybe you are aware of a gank attempt on you. You could alert a nearby friend, bait the ganker in and turn the tables. Use wards. USE. WARDS.
5. Do use wards.
Wards are items that grant you vision of an area for a little while. You spawn with a warding totem trinket (default button 4) that lets you place a ward. Back in the good old days when we walked uphill both ways in the snow to get to lane, we had to BUY them. That's right we paid for them, and you young millenials just get em for FREE! They are, without a doubt, one of the best things you can use. You can plop them along the river and have advance warning of ganks. They'll grant you vision of the brush. They'll alert you of enemy attempts on big-reward neutral monsters like the dragon or baron. If you attack them in the middle of something like that, you could mob up their entire team. Or maybe you are aware of a gank attempt on you. You could alert a nearby friend, bait the ganker in and turn the tables. Use wards. USE. WARDS.
And BUY control wards. We had to spend 125 gold on pink wards, and now you can get a control ward for 40% off! Such a good deal!
Hm, did I just have déjà vu for a moment?
6. Do something.
So you just wiped the enemy team out. Hooray! But...what are you doing now? Did you just go back to your respective lanes and farm? Incorrect! You now have precious map control, and should be taking advantage of it. Gather up as a team and take out a tower. Head to the dragon and get a clean kill. Steal enemy creeps (especially their blue and red buffs). You can always check the status of both teams by pressing tab. If multiple enemies are waiting on respawn, then you need to press that advantage.
7. Don't just wait around all day when you're in a position to win.
8. Do use wards.
Seriously, kids. If Hargaad can do it, so can you. I know you have 75 gold just laying around sometimes. Don't feed us with your bullshit of, "But I need to save for x item!" No! If you don't use wards, and you die a lot, nobody on your team is going to be able to save you from a beefed up (whatever) lane. Upgrading your yellow trinket can help too, but there is no substitution for vision. Use and buy wards!
9. Learn to speak ping.
All you really need to communicate effectively in this game is to be able to use the pings it provides.
To use these pings, hold down the Alt, Ctrl, G, or V keys while clicking to show the ping overlay. Then, move your mouse in the direction of the ping you want to issue, and release. You can perform this action either on the terrain or the minimap for precision pinging. You can also hold alt and click virtually anything in the interface to communicate that information quickly to your team - for example you can hold alt and left click your health bar to have the game say "Awesome New Player - Lee Sin - 5% Health" to let your teammates know you're running away because you're low health, not because you're chicken.
It is unacceptable to blame players that aren't typing at all, or players that are not speaking in English.:
Meet the Team
Like any group activity, stuff is usually broken down into roles. It's worth noting that champions don't always fit neatly in categories. A champion's role in the team may depend on what build has been chosen, and sometimes you may fill several roles depending on the group composition. When picking champions, it's a good idea to see what people are doing and fill in any holes.
1. The Marksman:
Examples include Caitlyn, Ezreal, Ashe and Vayne.
If your team is a car, then the marksman is the engine. It's what makes the team function. The marksman, when doing its job, will be able to easily destroy the whole team. But, just like an engine is useless without any other parts of your car, the marksman relies on its team to get the gold necessary to buy the items needed to kill swathes of enemies. Early on, however, marksmen tend to be more vulnerable and weaker than other champs.
2. The Tank:
Examples include Leona, Sejuani, Zac and Nautilus.
Following the car metaphor, the tank is your steering. It'll guide the team into battle, and in many cases will be the one starting the fights. Tanks are there to absorb damage and lock down the most dangerous champions on the enemy team so you can position yourselves to win the fight. Some tanks do this with CC, whereas other tanks have some damage and will soften up the enemy team instead. Tanks still tend to need the rest of their team to back them up.
3. The Support:
Examples include Soraka, Sona, Nami and Janna.
I guess support are your tires or something? Maybe the AC. Either way, supports help the team out with buffs and generally shields or healing. Supports tend to assist the marksman by allowing the marksman to stay in the lane longer. Unlike, well, just about everyone else, supports don't rely so much on gear and thus will purposefully AVOID getting last hits so that their lane partner can farm gold faster. Because of their reduced need of gold, support should also be buying and placing wards when needed. It's worth noting that EVERYONE should generally buy wards, but as a support you can afford to take the financial hit.
4. The Assassin:
Examples include Kha'zix, Talon, Zed and Evelynn.
If we're sticking with the car metaphor, the assassin is like your car having a button you can press which will make that other car's engine implode. Assassins generally specialise in high single-target damage and mobility, allowing them to quickly eliminate enemy marksmen and mages with ease. If you're playing as a squishy and vulnerable target, these guys are going to be your biggest threat - ask your team to try and keep them from harming you. Assassins also generally need to get kills early in order to stay competitive into the later stages of the game.
5. The Mage:
Examples include Brand, Syndra, Lux and Annie.
Mages are a broad category, with their defining feature being that they primarily deal damage at range through their abilities and not auto-attacks. Some, like Lissandra, focus less on dealing damage and more on being able to control the enemy team's movement. Others, like Brand or Ziggs, have relatively less utility and are instead capable of putting out high amounts of damage. Mages benefit strongly from their role's innate flexibility, and can have a huge impact on team fights.
6. The Fighter:
Examples include Garen, Renekton, Trundle and Vi.
Fighters are melee attackers with a mix of offensive and defensive capabilities. They're not as hard to kill as a tank, and not able to throw out as much damage as an assassin, but they can still prove to be fearsome opponents - especially if they stay alive and are allowed to deal their damage over time. Like mages, the fighter role is incredibly versatile, with each fighter having a different mixture of damage and utility.
7. The Jungler:
Examples include Warwick, Udyr, Xin Zhao and Jarvan IV.
Although not a label Riot applies to their champions, the jungler is an important map role. As the name implies, the jungler moves through the jungle (the parts of the map in between lanes) and kills neutral creeps (or "monsters"). This benefits your team by creating a second solo lane (top lane), resulting in more experience and gold for your team as a whole. Once the jungler hits a certain gear/level point, they look for opportunities to gank enemies. This is generally done via strong CC abilities, such as Warwick's ultimate or Nunu's snowball. Skills such as these will enable the jungler's teammate in that lane to easily assist with the kill. When not ganking, the jungler will return to the jungle regularly to keep up in terms of gold and experience. Due to their roaming, the jungler has plenty of opportunities to place wards for its teammates.
This is a very simple guide, and is only a rough outline of the basics! Roles can easily overlap, and a champion can fill more than one role! Ezreal is a marksman/mage, for instance, and Taric is a support/tank.
1. The Marksman:
Examples include Caitlyn, Ezreal, Ashe and Vayne.
If your team is a car, then the marksman is the engine. It's what makes the team function. The marksman, when doing its job, will be able to easily destroy the whole team. But, just like an engine is useless without any other parts of your car, the marksman relies on its team to get the gold necessary to buy the items needed to kill swathes of enemies. Early on, however, marksmen tend to be more vulnerable and weaker than other champs.
2. The Tank:
Examples include Leona, Sejuani, Zac and Nautilus.
Following the car metaphor, the tank is your steering. It'll guide the team into battle, and in many cases will be the one starting the fights. Tanks are there to absorb damage and lock down the most dangerous champions on the enemy team so you can position yourselves to win the fight. Some tanks do this with CC, whereas other tanks have some damage and will soften up the enemy team instead. Tanks still tend to need the rest of their team to back them up.
3. The Support:
Examples include Soraka, Sona, Nami and Janna.
I guess support are your tires or something? Maybe the AC. Either way, supports help the team out with buffs and generally shields or healing. Supports tend to assist the marksman by allowing the marksman to stay in the lane longer. Unlike, well, just about everyone else, supports don't rely so much on gear and thus will purposefully AVOID getting last hits so that their lane partner can farm gold faster. Because of their reduced need of gold, support should also be buying and placing wards when needed. It's worth noting that EVERYONE should generally buy wards, but as a support you can afford to take the financial hit.
4. The Assassin:
Examples include Kha'zix, Talon, Zed and Evelynn.
If we're sticking with the car metaphor, the assassin is like your car having a button you can press which will make that other car's engine implode. Assassins generally specialise in high single-target damage and mobility, allowing them to quickly eliminate enemy marksmen and mages with ease. If you're playing as a squishy and vulnerable target, these guys are going to be your biggest threat - ask your team to try and keep them from harming you. Assassins also generally need to get kills early in order to stay competitive into the later stages of the game.
5. The Mage:
Examples include Brand, Syndra, Lux and Annie.
Mages are a broad category, with their defining feature being that they primarily deal damage at range through their abilities and not auto-attacks. Some, like Lissandra, focus less on dealing damage and more on being able to control the enemy team's movement. Others, like Brand or Ziggs, have relatively less utility and are instead capable of putting out high amounts of damage. Mages benefit strongly from their role's innate flexibility, and can have a huge impact on team fights.
6. The Fighter:
Examples include Garen, Renekton, Trundle and Vi.
Fighters are melee attackers with a mix of offensive and defensive capabilities. They're not as hard to kill as a tank, and not able to throw out as much damage as an assassin, but they can still prove to be fearsome opponents - especially if they stay alive and are allowed to deal their damage over time. Like mages, the fighter role is incredibly versatile, with each fighter having a different mixture of damage and utility.
7. The Jungler:
Examples include Warwick, Udyr, Xin Zhao and Jarvan IV.
Although not a label Riot applies to their champions, the jungler is an important map role. As the name implies, the jungler moves through the jungle (the parts of the map in between lanes) and kills neutral creeps (or "monsters"). This benefits your team by creating a second solo lane (top lane), resulting in more experience and gold for your team as a whole. Once the jungler hits a certain gear/level point, they look for opportunities to gank enemies. This is generally done via strong CC abilities, such as Warwick's ultimate or Nunu's snowball. Skills such as these will enable the jungler's teammate in that lane to easily assist with the kill. When not ganking, the jungler will return to the jungle regularly to keep up in terms of gold and experience. Due to their roaming, the jungler has plenty of opportunities to place wards for its teammates.
This is a very simple guide, and is only a rough outline of the basics! Roles can easily overlap, and a champion can fill more than one role! Ezreal is a marksman/mage, for instance, and Taric is a support/tank.
What's this I hear about different maps?
There are four three two different maps in League of Legends, both of which have a different style of gameplay. In some cases, different items will be available on each of them, and champions might be altered slightly.
1. Summoner's Rift.
This is the most well-known map, and what you'll probably be spending most of your time on. Featuring five players on each team, the goal is to destroy the enemy's team base (known as a Nexus). Waves of friendly NPCs ("minions") will attempt to help you reach your objective, although standing in their way are increasingly strong sets of turrets (alongside the enemy team and their minions). In between the lanes down which your minions will travel are neutral monsters that you can destroy for more gold. As you get more experienced with the game, one player on each team will generally specialize in clearing these monsters, a position known as "jungling." There are also three very large monsters--the dragon, Shelley the Rift Herald, and Baron Nashor--which can require your entire team attacking them to be taken down, but the rewards for doing so are great.
2. The Howling Abyss.
The simplest map, this is essentially a single lane version of Summoner's Rift. Five players on each team control a randomly chosen character, and aim to destroy the enemy team's nexus first. Things are made more complicated by the players being unable to buy items, unless it's the start of the game or they've recently died. This map also has creatures called Poros roaming it. Try feeding them with your Biscuit trinket and see what happens.
3. The Crystal Scar.
This is the only map for the game mode known as "Dominion". Again a 5v5 mode, the novelty here is that the map features control points that players must "capture" and hold onto in order to win. There are five control points, and the team that holds less of them slowly lose health from their nexus - until it reaches zero, and they lose. Dotted around the map are speed boosts and health packs. The basic strategy for Dominion involves sending four players to the top point, and one strong duelist or pusher to the bottom lane of the map. Tip; take Revive.
Dominion was never going to receive a ranked mode. It was also the best. You will be missed.
4. The Twisted Treeline.
The 3v3 gametype known as Twisted Treeline was fully launched in March 2010, but it was relaunched with an entirely new map in October 2012 because of some serious design flaws in the original map that Riot decided were unfixable. While still fundamentally the same gameplay, there are some key differences from Summoner's Rift to keep in mind - the lack of wards and altered objectives being the most important.
After receiving little more attention than the Crystal Scar, Riot finally announced in Season 9 they would kill it at the end of the season. Its ghost lives on in our hearts, or something suitably creepy.
5. Rotating Game Modes
In the old days we prayed to the gods and made many sacrifices, and occasionally they let us play strange new game modes like Doom Bots of Doom or URF for short periods of time. These may return one day? Hard to say.
6. Teamfight Tactics
This isn't League of Legends. Next!
Remember one thing: Yasuo et Yone delenda est.
1. Summoner's Rift.
This is the most well-known map, and what you'll probably be spending most of your time on. Featuring five players on each team, the goal is to destroy the enemy's team base (known as a Nexus). Waves of friendly NPCs ("minions") will attempt to help you reach your objective, although standing in their way are increasingly strong sets of turrets (alongside the enemy team and their minions). In between the lanes down which your minions will travel are neutral monsters that you can destroy for more gold. As you get more experienced with the game, one player on each team will generally specialize in clearing these monsters, a position known as "jungling." There are also three very large monsters--the dragon, Shelley the Rift Herald, and Baron Nashor--which can require your entire team attacking them to be taken down, but the rewards for doing so are great.
2. The Howling Abyss.
The simplest map, this is essentially a single lane version of Summoner's Rift. Five players on each team control a randomly chosen character, and aim to destroy the enemy team's nexus first. Things are made more complicated by the players being unable to buy items, unless it's the start of the game or they've recently died. This map also has creatures called Poros roaming it. Try feeding them with your Biscuit trinket and see what happens.
3. The Crystal Scar.
This is the only map for the game mode known as "Dominion". Again a 5v5 mode, the novelty here is that the map features control points that players must "capture" and hold onto in order to win. There are five control points, and the team that holds less of them slowly lose health from their nexus - until it reaches zero, and they lose. Dotted around the map are speed boosts and health packs. The basic strategy for Dominion involves sending four players to the top point, and one strong duelist or pusher to the bottom lane of the map. Tip; take Revive.
Dominion was never going to receive a ranked mode. It was also the best. You will be missed.
4. The Twisted Treeline.
The 3v3 gametype known as Twisted Treeline was fully launched in March 2010, but it was relaunched with an entirely new map in October 2012 because of some serious design flaws in the original map that Riot decided were unfixable. While still fundamentally the same gameplay, there are some key differences from Summoner's Rift to keep in mind - the lack of wards and altered objectives being the most important.
After receiving little more attention than the Crystal Scar, Riot finally announced in Season 9 they would kill it at the end of the season. Its ghost lives on in our hearts, or something suitably creepy.
5. Rotating Game Modes
In the old days we prayed to the gods and made many sacrifices, and occasionally they let us play strange new game modes like Doom Bots of Doom or URF for short periods of time. These may return one day? Hard to say.
6. Teamfight Tactics
This isn't League of Legends. Next!
Remember one thing: Yasuo et Yone delenda est.
Me elsewhere:
Steam, various fora: Ivellius
League of Legends: Doctor Ivellius
Twitch, probably another place or two I forget: LPIvellius
Steam, various fora: Ivellius
League of Legends: Doctor Ivellius
Twitch, probably another place or two I forget: LPIvellius
Ivellius on
+1
Posts
http://www.lolking.net/ - A site useful for looking at skins, as their splash art can be quite different from their in-game appearance. It's also good for looking up summoners, statistics about the game, and guides for champions.
http://www.leagueoflegends.com - The standard LoL website! Info on the game can be found here.
http://www.probuilds.net/ - Wonder what the Pros build on your favorite champ? Check here! Just remember that these guys are pros and you should always try to find whatever build works best for you!
http://champion.gg/ - Wonder how other top players (Plat and higher in ranked) build their champs? Check here!
http://na.op.gg/ - A site that can help you break down a game by the numbers. Just plug in your summoner name and reap delicious match history.
What's this crafting nonsense I hear about?
Basically, play games, receive loot. Hope its loot that you actually care about. Repeat.
Dunks?
How do you kill Zilean?
Stuff You Should Know
- Yes, a promo skin will unlock that champion for free.
- Some promo codes will work on multiple servers. Some will not. Yes, this is confusing.
- Map vision wins games - USE WARDS.
- It is a team wide effort, everyone uses wards.
- When in doubt, take Ignite/Flash.
For emergency use only: open in case of shipping chat:
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Instructions: replace the "WhiteShark" portion of the url with the name of the intended target.
PENTAKILLS
facetious / Bonhomie
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Impacts singed.
But that will get people to play Singed, and I don't think that's something we want to inflict on the community. :P
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What's wrong with a maniac laughing and poisoning folks?
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Have y'all been following the teasers for the not-next champion? Soundcloud is here, so she's going to have a music skin.
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Twitch, probably another place or two I forget: LPIvellius
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
That was a very good series.
Steam, various fora: Ivellius
League of Legends: Doctor Ivellius
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I'd argue even that much is pretty impactful, though. A good Sona ult just wins a fight.
It is admittedly sometimes hard to notice her contributions, but she basically scales super-well in teamfights with how many good players you have. If other people felt impactful and you were around, rest assured that you aided their contributions.
Steam, various fora: Ivellius
League of Legends: Doctor Ivellius
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I do not get how to play with or as Sona any more, probably for the past year or so. I don't get if she's strong or weak in lane--she used to have a fragile but dangerous presence but now she's maybe more like Yuumi, where she more chills in lane with some poke and then later becomes huge in teamfights and with ult? Idk, when I expect her to be a strong contributor to a 2v2 I am dsiappointed, and I can generally catch and kill her easily--but then again sometimes she does do a lot of damage and it's surprising. My instincts are just way off for her.
actually janna feels good right now. If you shield someone, then slow and hit someone with a tornado your shield is nearly up again!
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I've played a few amazing games alongside janna supports recently, maybe because the only people playing Janna right now are diehard mains/old-school supports; I had a really fun one a few days ago where she just bullied the shit out of Nautilus and I just kinda followed
I'm basically not playing support at all right now, but I did just trade tonight with an autofilled support and we had a great Kalista/Leona lane; my team also had Shen and we just had great teamplays into their more assassin-y bullshit (eve, qiyana). The Kalista had great mechanics though, like I hardly had to be there at all.
zero instant feedback reports.
how can a billion dollar company not figure out at least simple word filters for chat bans or something, it's unbe-fucking-lievable.
Then you scale harder and do more teamfight damage so out of lane you’re really set. I haven’t played mf before much—just got her to mastery 5 last game I think—but she suits my playstyle well so I’m happy with this pick strategy.
Games yave been pretty close too. If you like watching pro play, check it out
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It’s irritating in lane but at my elo it feels like a risky cheese strat that sometimes pays off but sometimes not at all. I think the longer the game goes the less it’s good, and the main advantage is early when the nunu can roll into lane, burst a squishy or force them b/blow some summoners, and then roll into other lanes to gank.
Been skipping the Mouse eSports games then? :bzz:
Seriously though EU Masters has been good as usual, and it's been nice to see my boy LIDER popping off (we don't talk about that last game) and show people that actually he is absolutely LEC calibre.
In LPL news:
And I kind of want to learn her? She's totally the opposite of karthus. Karthus, late game, I can carry a team by just hitting R. Leblanc you need to roam and snowball. ANd late game you fall off where as Karthus just gets strongrer. But she seems so much fun~!
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Depends on match-up and champion. Corrupting works well when you need the mp and are going to get either traded on by your opponent, or want to try to war of attrition with them.
Dorans ring implies that either you're A) going to try to kill them or push them out of lane with the extra AP it provides or need that AP to hit some minion break point to last hit or
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The only person i dont start dorans on is probably gangplank but i havent played top as a main in years, and when i get it now, i just pick karthus. R is my roam, who needs mid?
I like corrupting potion if I'm gonna farm it out or if I think I'm going to have some issues running out of mana/getting poked down. So I build it on Diana cause I need the help with trading/recovering, and I build it sometimes on Orianna and Syndra because I'm not capable of actually killing someone pre-6/pre-buying an item so I know I'll have to shop anyway. Also occasionally I take timewarp tonic and cookies and just sustain really nicely.
I never build it on Lux because as Lux I generally get poke without getting traded on and because I try to get an early kill.
Ive just been thinking the sustain might let me stay in labe longer and always recall on catalyst money.
https://www.surrenderat20.net/2020/08/828-pbe-update-early-1019-content.html
Obligatory
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That was Aphelios! Well, 5.
*looks at kit*
Oh Aspects she can destroy missiles and has Yasuo's E+Q combo
Steam, various fora: Ivellius
League of Legends: Doctor Ivellius
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Huh
She looks visually very similar to Katarina/doesn’t seem to have much of a visual identity.
Guess I’ll see in game if that’s actually the case.