Did you start playing League of Legends because your friend asked you to? Perhaps you Watched Arcane and thought it was a pretty cool game to try out. From a first glance, it may seem like everything is so confusing and you have no idea what is going on. But do not worry! This guide will cover everything that a complete beginner needs to know when starting out.

WHAT IS LEAGUE OF LEGENDS?

League of Legends is a 5v5 multiplayer online battle arena game (MOBA). The objective of the game is to destroy the enemy team’s Nexus, which is basically the heart of the base. Summoner’s Rift, which is the main map for League of Legends, is made up of three lanes with a river and sections of jungle in between the lanes; the lanes are named relative to their position on the map, top lane, mid or middle lane, and bottom lane.

When a match starts, you will spawn at an area of your base called the fountain; this is also where the item shop is located and where you will respawn at when you die. Minions will then spawn from each team’s Nexus and proceed down each lane. All lanes have three turrets, an outer turret, inner turret and inhibitor turret. These turrets protect the lane and must be destroyed in order to reach the enemy’s Nexus. Turrets deal damage and must be taken down by sieging them with minion waves. Once you take down the inhibitor turret, a structure called an inhibitor becomes exposed. There are three inhibitors, one for each lane, and destroying an inhibitor will cause “super” minions to spawn for your team in that respective lane for a period of time until the inhibitor respawns. After taking down an inhibitor, two turrets called Nexus turrets become exposed, destroying both turrets will cause the enemy’s Nexus to be exposed.

HOW DOES THE GAME WORK?

CHAMPIONS AND ABILITIES

Before a match starts, everyone picks a champion that they want to play. Generally, champions have a passive ability, three basic abilities and an ultimate ability; all champions can also do a basic attack, known as an auto attack, or auto for short. Abilities are unique to each champion, and most abilities cannot be used to target and damage structures such as turrets and the Nexus. Using champion abilities require resources, most champions have two resource bars, one for health and one for casting spells. A majority of champions use mana as their resource for casting spells, but several champions use other resources such as energy and health; there are even champions with no secondary resource bar, and they cast abilities as often as they want as long as it is not on cooldown.

SUMMONER SPELLS

Besides their champion’s unique abilities, every player also has access to summoner spells. Summoner spells are not unique to champions, and players must choose two summoner spells to bring into a game. They act as extra abilities and have a much longer cooldown than champion abilities. The summoner spell that you pick is dependent on your role and playstyle.

HEAL

Heal instantly restores some health (based on your level) to you and another ally while granting both of you a small movement speed boost for one second. Usually the ADC will carry Heal because of its ability to heal two players, but sometimes the Support or other roles will also take Heal depending on their game plan (see section about roles for explanation).

GHOST

Ghost gives you a boost in movement speed (based on your level) for 10 seconds and allows you to ignore unit collision, which means you can run through champions and minions. Ghost is great for chasing down opponents, and it is most commonly used by bruisers in the top lane who do not have dashes or jumps.

BARRIER

Barrier instantly gives you a shield (based on your level); this makes it almost like a heal but for solo laners, and mid laners commonly take it. Sometimes the ADC will run with Barrier and the Support will take Heal for extra survivability.

EXHAUST

Exhaust weakens the selected enemy champion by slowing them by 30% and reducing their damage output by 40% for three seconds. It is best used against champions such as assassins who aim to burst down their targets or high damage opponents. But it can also be to slow down enemies that you are chasing.

FLASH

Flash lets you instantly blink a short distance in the direction that your cursor is pointing in. It is the most popular summoner spell, and most of the time, every player in the match will be running Flash as one of their summoner spells. It is an extremely versatile summoner spell and can be used defensively to run away, or offensively to close the gap.

TELEPORT

Teleport allows you to target ally turrets and teleport to them after a four second channel. At the 14-minute mark, Teleport changes into Unleashed Teleport, which allows you to target ally turrets, minions and wards. The channel can be interrupted by crowd control (such as stuns), so it is important to make sure you are in a safe position before using it.

SMITE

Smite instantly deals true damage to the selected non-champion unit. Smite is necessary for the Jungle role because it allows them to buy jungle items and secure objectives. Smiting medium and large monsters also heals you for a portion of your total health.

CLEANSE

Cleanse instantly removes all forms of disables and crowd control except airborne, nearsight and suppression; it also grants 65% tenacity for three seconds. It is best used against teams with lots of crowd control abilities and allows you to get out of bad situations.

IGNITE

Ignite sets the target enemy champion on fire for five seconds and gives vision of them. It deals true damage (based on level) that ticks over time and reduces the healing that the targeted champion can receive by 60%. It is great for securing kills and countering healing, which makes it a counter to the Heal summoner spell if you put ignite on a champion before they receive the heal.

STATS

Stats dictate a lot about champions and are responsible for many aspects of a champion’s ability; this ranges from how much damage they do all the way to how fast they move. Stats are mainly gained from items, runes and levelling up; but stats can also be boosted by certain champion abilities (see sections below for more information about runes and items). There are many different stats, but this guide will only cover the basic and essential ones to avoid confusion.

ATTACK DAMAGE/PHYSICAL DAMAGE (AD)

Attack damage, or AD for short, determines the amount of damage dealt by basic attacks. The damage of certain champion abilities, items and runes are also influenced by the amount of AD you have.

ABILITY POWER/MAGIC DAMAGE (AP)

Ability power, or AP for short, mainly affects the amount of damage that certain champion abilities do, but it can also strengthen some items and runes. AP and AD are the main stats that determine how much damage a champion can output, and the damage from most champion abilities, items and runes scale with either AP or AD.

ARMOR

Armor is a stat that reduces the amount of physical damage that you take; it is a counter to AD.

MAGIC RESIST/MAGIC RESISTANCE (MR)

Magic resist, or MR for short, is the counterpart of armor; it reduces the amount of magic damage that you take.

ATTACK SPEED (AS)

Attack speed, or AS for short, determines how fast your champion can basic attack, but some champion abilities also scale with attack speed.

ABILITY HASTE/COOLDOWN REDUCTION (AH)

Ability haste, or AH for short, reduces the cooldown for champion abilities and allows you to cast abilities more often. Champion abilities have a cooldown period that represents how long you must wait before you can cast the ability again.

CRITICAL STRIKE CHANCE (CRIT)

Critical strike chance, commonly known as crit/crit chance, increases your odds of landing a critical strike/crit. For example, if you have 20% crit chance, your basic attacks will have a 20% chance of critting every time you attack. Critical strikes cause your attack to do 175% of its normal damage by default. Critical strikes can happen on some abilities, but it is mostly related to basic attacks; basic attacks cannot crit on structures.

MOVEMENT SPEED (MS)

Movement speed, or MS for short, determines how fast your champion moves.

RUNES

Runes can be looked at as a sort of enhancement or buff. There are five paths/trees of runes that each have their own theme. The Precision path focuses on empowering basic attacks; usually champions that rely on basic attacks and attack speed rely on this rune path. The Domination path focuses on burst damage; usually champions that rely on combos and quick damage like assassins and mages take this rune path. The Sorcery path focuses on empowering abilities; usually mages and supportive champions rely on this rune path. The Resolve path focuses on tankiness and protection; tanks rely on this rune path. The Inspiration path is a little different from the other paths, it is all about breaking rules with creative tools; this rune path can be taken by many different types of champions depending on the playstyle and strategy of the player.

Every player goes into a match with a rune page; a rune page uses two rune paths, one as the primary path and the other as the secondary path. The primary path lets you choose from the most powerful options from that rune path, known as a keystone. You can then select six lesser runes, three from the primary path and three from the secondary path; lesser runes give you a small buff of your choice from the selected rune path. Lastly, you get to choose three rune shards, which are just normal stats that range from AD to Ability Haste.

Picking runes can be a very complicated concept, especially for beginners. The concept mentioned previously where certain rune paths are for certain champions is the standard rule that most players follow. But some players come up with unorthodox runes pages that still work due to their unique playstyle, such as taking Precision runes and building AD on mages that traditionally build AP and take Domination/Sorcery runes.

WHAT EACH ROLE DOES

Each player on a team will be assigned one of five roles, Top, Mid, Jungle, Support and ADC/Attack Damage Carry; which role a player plays will determine which part of the map they go to. Every role has its own learning curves and benefits, so there is no right or wrong role to choose when starting out. You can even play multiple roles if you want to, but most people tend to stick to one role after they find out what they like to play.

TOP

Top lane is often described as an “island” lane due to prevalence of isolated 1v1 situations; this is thanks to the combination of top lane being a solo lane and a side lane at the same time. The types of champions usually played in Top can be classified into tanks, fighters and ranged champions. Tanks are tasked with protecting their team by soaking up damage for them, they are also usually responsible for starting team fights as most tanks have abilities such as stuns that allow them to catch opponents out. Fighters excel in 1v1 situations and extended fights due to their ability to deal decent amounts of damage while being able to survive some incoming damage at the same time. Ranged top laners are usually known as “lane bullies” due to their range advantage; they harass melee top laners and usually have control of the lane, but they are extremely vulnerable and can be killed easily if caught.

Top lane can be both a very passive or unforgiving lane; sometimes both top laners do not fight each other and just kill minions for the first 15 or so minutes, while other times there is constant fighting and action in the lane. Understanding how to manipulate minion waves is extremely important for a top laner, and small mistakes can easily cause you to lose the lane.

MID

Mid lane is another solo lane, but unlike top, mid lane is the shortest lane and has lots of influence due to its position on the map. Controlling mid lane allows a team to control the flow of the game because they can rotate to other parts of the map much quicker. Assassin and mages are the types of champions that are usually played in mid. Assassins have high mobility and the ability to burst down champions that are not tanky. Mages have low mobility, but their abilities allow them to control space and zone enemies out of an area.

Mid is an extremely versatile role, you can play as an assassin and roam around the map to help your teammates to score kills. You can also play as a mage to control areas and zone enemies out of an objective.

JUNGLE

The Jungler is the most unique role in the game because it is the only role that does not play in a lane. As a Jungler, you play in the jungle and your job is to help teammates and secure objectives. Junglers can usually be split into carry junglers or tank/facilitating j

Junglers. Many different types of champions are played in the jungle, ranging from assassins to tanks. Carry junglers are usually assassins or fighters that want to gain as many resources as possible so that they can take over the game. Facilitating Junglers are usually tanky champions that want to support their team rather than hoard resources for themselves.

Good map awareness is essential because Junglers need to be able to read the current state of the game and act accordingly. Junglers are also responsible for securing objectives such as Baron and Dragon, which will be talked about further down in the article.

SUPPORT

Support is the easiest role to get started with, but mastering the role is just as difficult as mastering the other roles. Supports are paired with the ADC in bot lane, and they have the least amount of gold in the team because the ADC kills minions and not the Support. The main job of the Support is to assist the team and provide vision around the map. The Support is similar to the Jungler, both of their jobs are to assist the team, but the Support does not take any resources. Supports are usually divided into enchanters, tanks and mages. Enchanters buff and shield their teammates; they are not tanky and need to be careful not to step forward too much. Tanks are tasked with protecting teammates and initiating on the opponents. Mages can also be played in the Support role; instead of healing or initiating, Support mages aim to help the team by becoming another carry and dealing damage.

ADC

The ADC is paired with the Support in the bot lane, they are usually champions that are very vulnerable and can be killed easily, which is why they are paired with the Support. ADCs are usually the most consistent form of damage in a team, and it is common for them to be the main damage dealer in the team. ADCs are usually champions that are ranged and rely on basic attacks to do damage, but sometimes mages are also played in the role.

As the ADC, getting as many resources as possible is extremely important because you need items in order to be effective. It can be one of the most passive roles in the game because your objective in the early game most of the time will be to just look for minions to kill. But once you get items and become strong, it is extremely important to be safe and not die because you account for a sizable portion of your team’s damage.

FOG OF WAR, VISION AND WARDS

League of Legends is a game where decision making is incredibly important. Having enough information is key to making the right decisions, this is where the concept of vision comes into play. Vision is what is visible to you and your team, everything else is hidden by the “fog of war”, which is represented by shadows/dark areas on the map and minimap. Friendly units such as minions, champions and structures all provide vision; each unit provides vision in varied radiuses. In addition to the fog of war, there are bushes all around the map that players can hide in; bushes are basically patches of fog of war that cannot be revealed unless a friendly unit steps into the bush.

WARDS

Wards are items with the sole purpose of providing vision. Placing wards in bushes or any part of the map will reveal and provide vision of that area for a period of time before it expires. At the start of the game, every player starts with a Stealth Ward by default if they do not pick an item for their “trinket” slot. Stealth Wards are the most common type of ward, and they become invisible shortly after being placed down. Players also have the option to pick up an Oracle Lens, which reveals invisible units such as Stealth Wards in an area around the player, allowing the player to destroy the ward and deny vision. At level nine, players have the option to pick a second type of ward, called Farsight Alteration. This ward has a much longer range than the normal Stealth ward; it also shortly reveals the area where it is placed, but it has a much smaller radius of vision and is not invisible like the Stealth Ward. The last kind of ward players can use is the Control Ward, which unlike the other wards and the Oracle Lens, it is not a trinket item; instead, it takes up an item slot. Control Wards are not free, they cost 75 gold to purchase. They are not invisible, but in addition to providing vision, they also reveal and disable all invisible units such as wards and traps; Control Wards also reveal invisible enemies. They remain until destroyed by an enemy, or replaced by you.

ITEMS, EARNING GOLD AND BUYING ITEMS

Items are one of the most important tools that are available to players, buying more items gives more stats, which obviously makes your champion stronger. But in order to buy items, you need gold. Gold is earned through killing basically anything in the game; killing units such as enemy champions, minions, jungle monsters and structures gives gold. In order to spend your gold, you need to go back to your fountain, which is where the item shop is located. The type of item you buy depends on the champion and role you are playing. There are several “cookie cutter” item builds that you can find online or in-game which gives you a good idea of what items certain champions build. But champions are not just limited to certain items, depending on your strategy and playstyle, you could build items in unique and unusual ways and still win.

THE JUNGLE EXPLAINED

BUFFS AND CAMPS

In the jungle, there are several “monster camps” that contain various monsters, some of which give buffs to your champion when slain. Jungle monsters are unique because they are neutral, which means players from both teams can kill any jungle monster. The jungle camps vary a lot, some are easy to kill, while others are a little tougher. Jungle camps also grant varying amounts of experience and gold. The two jungle camps that give buffs are the Blue Sentinel and the Red Brambleback. Killing the Blue Sentinel will give you the Crest of Insight buff (commonly known as “blue buff”), which increases your mana regeneration and ability haste. Killing the Red Brambleback will give you the Crest of Cinder buff (commonly known as “red buff”), which increases your health regeneration and also causes your basic attacks to slow and do additional damage.

PLANTS

The jungle also has several plants that have various types of usage. The Blast Cone is a red plant that causes any champion in a certain radius to fly and land at a certain distance after being hit; it is commonly used to jump over walls or to close/open the gap between an opponent. Scryer’s Bloom creates a cone of vision in a desired direction after getting hit; it is used to scout and reveal areas. Honeyfruit plants drop fruits after being hit, those fruits replenish health and mana when walked over; the fruits also slow champions when walked over, so it also be used to slow down enemies chasing you.

OBJECTIVES

Besides jungle camps, there are also several objectives in the jungle that are highly prized by teams.

THE SCUTTLE CRAB

The first objective is the Scuttle Crab, which spawns in the river. The Scuttle Crab does not fight back, but it is incredibly valuable because it provides vision for a period of time in front of the Dragon and Baron Pit when killed.

DRAGONS

Dragons spawn in the Dragon Pit, which is located in the lower half of the river. There are five types of dragons, each granting a different team-wide buff when killed. Every time a dragon is killed, a different one will spawn, but the same dragon type will spawn continuously starting from the third dragon; along with the third dragon, the terrain of the map will also change depending on the type of dragon. Killing the same type of dragon multiple times will amplify its buff. Killing four dragons will grant a team a powerful buff known as the Dragon Soul.

Cloud Dragon – Grants slow resistance and out-of-combat movement speed when killed. Its soul causes players to have increased movement speed after casting their ultimate ability. Its terrain spawns zones in the jungle that increase movement speed.

Infernal Dragon – Grants AD and AP when killed. Its soul causes the attacks of players to trigger an explosion which damages the target and surrounding units. Its terrain causes some jungle walls to fall, which opens up more space in the jungle.

Ocean Dragon – Killing it grants players the ability to restore a certain amount of missing health every five seconds. Its soul causes players to gain health and mana back after damaging enemies. Its terrain creates more brushes in the jungle.

Mountain Dragon – Killing it grants armor and MR. Its soul grants players a shield. Its terrain creates more walls and terrain in the jungle, making it more claustrophobic.

Hextech Dragon – Killing it grants ability haste and attack speed. Its soul causes the attacks of players to produce electricity which also chains to nearby enemies, dealing additional damage and slowing the affected units. Its terrain creates “Hex-gates” that allow players to quickly traverse around the map.

Once a Dragon Soul is claimed, every subsequent dragon will be an Elder Dragon. Killing the Elder Dragon will grant a team the Aspect of the Dragon buff, which causes the attacks of players to burn enemies. Damaging an enemy below 20% health will also cause them to be executed.

THE RIFT HERALD

The Rift Herald spawns in the Baron Pit on the top side of the river. Killing it will drop the Eye of the Herald. When used, it spawns the Rift Herald for a team; the Rift Herald will then go down one lane. When near a turret, the Rift Herald will charge up and deal immense amounts of damage to the turret. It is incredibly useful for pushing lanes, and defending teams should look to kill it before it charges at their turret.

BARON NASHOR

Baron Nashor, or Baron for short, is the most powerful monster in the game; a team will usually need multiple members in order to kill it. Killing Baron gives a team the Hand of Baron buff, which grants a team empowered Recalls, increased AP and AD, and also empowers nearby minions. Empowered Recalls allow players to recall faster than usual, and empowered minions become resistant to damage, bigger and deal more damage. It is incredibly useful for pushing lanes and ending games.

CONCLUSION

That sums up just about everything you need to know in order to start playing League of Legends. It is a lot of information to take in, but do not worry! All these will become second nature once you play for a decent amount of time. Meanwhile, enjoy the game and welcome to Summoner’s Rift!