Welcome to Summoner's Rift - Beginner's Guide to League of Legends
Your introduction to the world of League of Legends starts at the very basics.
Welcome one and all to the world of League of Legends, a competitive MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) that’s taken the world by storm. I, Kobi “MGE Kuriboh” Krehmeyer, am here to help guide you through what I consider to be the game with one of the steepest learning curves of any multiplayer game. Today we will go into some of the very basics of League of Legends to help you get your bearings to what everything is because we all gotta start somewhere. League of Legends is a game in which one team of 5 fights another team of 5 to kill enemy champions, take objectives, and push as a team into the enemy base to destroy the Nexus (basically the Enemy HQ).
This sounds pretty simplistic, but as I go into more detail about what the objectives are and what lies in front of you before the nexus, you’ll be able to understand why League of Legends has such a sharp learning curve compared to other games. Over the next few months, I will lead you from learning what a champion is all the way until you understand the current meta picks and what to expect from it.
Game Modes<span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}">
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There are currently 3 main game modes to pick from Summoner's Rift, ARAM, and TFT. But we will be focusing on Summoner's Rift, as it is the go-to game mode and where the majority of games are played. What you will most likely be using Summoner's Rift for right now is for bot games listed as Co-Op Vs. AI (games played against AI opponents to simulate real players and teach the very basics of the game) and Blind/Draft pick. Blind pick is where you and 4 other players pick champions to play as during the game against another team of 5, but you can’t see what your enemy has picked until the loading screen.
Draft, on the other hand, starts off by having all the players ban one champion each. The best choice for new players is to ban a champion you don’t like playing against. After this depending on what side of the map you are on left (Blue side) or right (Red Side) you begin picking your champs. The blue side will get the first pick, then red side picks two champs, then blue picks 2 champs, then it continues until the last person on red side picks a champ at which point you will get a few seconds to fiddle with skins (aesthetic changes for the champions) before the game actually starts. To win the game, you and your team must work to destroy a path to the enemy nexus through a lane breaking Towers and Inhibitors on your way there.<span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}">
ARAM (All Random All Mid) is just what it sounds like. You are given a random champion to play as that you can ‘reroll’ into another champion you own or is in free rotation. Then you and your team fight against another team of 5 in a one-lane map that doesn’t let you return to base to heal or even buy items again until you die.<span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}">
<span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}">I suggest before continuing further you should play the tutorial under the training tab as it teaches you the controls and helps you understand how the game is played out much better than I could explain in words.
Champ Select<span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}">
You can’t quite fight yet, but I do enjoy your enthusiasm. You must fight through a champion of their universe called Runeterra. In the world of League of Legends, you are a summoner who calls forth a champion that fights in your stead. In champ select, you pick the champion that best suits your team composition and play style; but, as you are just starting, you don't need to worry about what works with what. Just pick champions that look interesting like Garen who has a big ol' sword or Ashe who shoots arrows of pure ice.
In champ select, you are also given the option to change your rune page and summoner spells at the bottom of the window. The rune page gives you small buffs and talents that help you fight enemies and your Summoner Spells add two additional spells that can be used by any champion in the game. The rune page should, for the most part, just be left on recommended till you better understand how the champions you like work. The Summoner Spells are yours to mess around with and try out new combinations, although most people always take Flash combined with something else depending on what lane you're in. You can also change how your ward looks and your emotes, but with a new account, you probably don't have any of those currently.
When the timer counts down to 0 you will now be in the loading screen to your first fight
Welcome to Summoners Rift<span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559731":720,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}">
These iconic words are what you will hear every time you enter into the main map of battle known as Summoner's rift. If people were calling ADC, Top, Sup, Jg, or Mid in chat, that's them claiming the lane they want as you can't yet queue up for a lane until you reach a higher account level and own more champions. ADC and Sup (Bottom and Support) is the role the Attack Damage Carry (ADC) and Support champion normal go in and is played in the bottom lane. The ADC usually is a champion that's a marksman and excels in simply attacking enemies for damage. The Support is there to help the ADC win fights with the other ADC, as well as later in the game, helping to support the whole team through healing, shielding, and CC (Crowd Control, which are effects that disable your opponents, like stuns and roots). The next role is Mid (Mid Lane).
Mid usually plays a high damage mage or assassin that is good for bursting people without a lot of resistances. The Top is the person who wants to play Top lane. This lane is also known as the Island as you usually sit up there most of the game with just the enemy top laner trying to get the last hit on minions to get gold to buy items. Usually, you play duelists, juggernaut, bruisers, and tanks top lane as they have a tiny amount of mobility and are easily gank-able. Which brings me to the next role, The Jungle. Jungle (Jg) is played not in a lane but in the wilderness areas between the lanes on your half of the map. There are Jungle camps that give Exp and gold for killing along with occasional buffs that give mana regen (the resource used for most champions to cast abilities) or a burn (small amount of damage over time).
This guy is also in charge of killing objectives like Dragon (gives a buff to the team based on the typing), Rift Herald (a summonable minion that charges at towers doing massive damage), and Baron (a team wide buff that gives quicker recall and buffs minions near you.)
Dragon
Rift Herald
Barron
Jungle also helps the rest of the team by ganking which means they walk into the lane trying to keep outside of the vision of the enemy team so you will have a 3 v 2 instead of a 2 v 2 increasing your odds of winning the fight and helping your laners getting ahead of the enemy in experience and gold. There is only one problem though, to be a Jungle you need to have the smite summoner spell which doesn't unlock till account level 8 as Riot (the creators of League of Legends) is trying to simplify things for you as to not overwhelm you right away.
With these basics in mind, go play some Co-op vs AI games and try out these roles and find what you like to do the most. Remember, most people at your level are just starting as well and no one is expected to be perfect and it takes time to get used to playing the game, but if people aren't being friendly, you can always mute them. My next post will help you find the champion that's right for you, so if you don't know who to play, I gotcha covered. I wish you all good luck and I'll see you, on The Rift.
