First and foremost, in order to understand this guide we must understand that there are all different types of timers. There are the obvious jungle timers that appear at the top of your screen when you press tab. These timers give a time of respawn only when you see the complete clear of a camp. Without vision the timer will not reset. Second there are predicted timers. These timers are one that are typed out usually around the time of a jungle clear that you predict they will be completed. More often than not these are used on dragon or baron. The final timer is summoner spell timers. These are obviously the timers of the other teams summoner spells. Each of these timers have their own unique use that allows for advantages as the game goes on.

Jungle Timers

Jungle timers are extremely crucial to understand. These timers are given at the top of your scoreboard when you press tab. It is important to note that these timers are only given when you have vision of the camp being completely cleared. So what do jungle timers mean? These timers are more often than not a direct correlation as to where the jungler will be. If the enemies blue buff says that it will spawn in 2 minutes, you can guess that in two minutes the jungler will be around the blue buff. If he shows somewhere else on the map, say topside, right at the time of spawn you know that you are clear to walk into their jungle and take the buff (also resetting the timer) without chance of running into them. Now just because you have this buff timer does not mean it has to be used. If you are behind, simply knowing the jungler’s whereabouts is an advantage on its own. However that does not mean you shouldn’t use it. You can, if you feel confident enough, coordinate an invade on the buff with your team in order to steal it from your opposing jungler. This will catch them off guard and possibly end in the buff being stolen, a few kills, or sometimes both.

The other two jungle timers given are the dragon and baron buffs. These two timers are incredibly crucial to the flow of the game. Dragon timer can be argued to be the most important in the game, as it is more repeated and usually results in team fights that can decided the game. Dragon buffs stack on top of each other with the last buff being the strongest buff in the game giving a multiplier for all other previous buffs earned and a bonus true damage burn. It is important that if you are ahead you stay on top of each of the dragon buffs as reaching the fifth one will make winning that much easier. Similarly it is important that if behind you use the timer to your advantage. By having the timer you often can tell when not only their jungler will be around but their whole team as well. You can take advantage of this by setting up vision coverage around the dragon pit before the spawn, allowing your team to be in the best position if a fight were to break out. It also allows you to possibly sneak a dragon right on spawn if the other team has a lapse in their vision and falls asleep on the timer.

Predictive Timers

Some buffs are uncontestable no matter what. However this does not mean you should stop with the timers. It is important that if you do not have vision on an important buff, such as dragon, that you make a predictive timer. Predictive timers are ones that you make in chat. In order to do this you first must turn on time stamps in the games interface. This allows you to type out when you think they got dragon or any other buff and then make a predictive timer by adding the correct spawn time to the time in the chat log. I like to do things like type “d” when I see the opposing team walking away from dragon. I then simply add 6 minutes to the timestamp and type the new time out in order to get my timer. By doing this you keep yourself out of harm’s way trying to get vision on the buff and prevent yourself from falling further behind by dying to gain that vision. It is important however that you use the timer to your advantage. Just taking it does not do anything if you do not act on it. Remembering when it is and using the time before its respawn to set up your vision and make sure your team is close by is crucial to the use of this timer.

Summoner Spell Timers

Summoner spell timers are crucial to decision making in league of legends. It is first important that we know the timers of each summoner spell and what them being down means. First and typically the most popular of summoner spells is flash. Flash normally has a five minute cool down unless speced into the utility tree. So what does it mean if this spell is up vs if it is down? Flash is an instant blink ability that allows for really reliable escapes. Naturally when this ability is down it makes that champion more vulnerable to being killed. This is where taking the timer is very important. By knowing its cool down and taking note of its use, you have a very definite window of opportunity that you can abuse over and over again. A jinx with no flash is a sitting duck to a gank from Rek Sai. The next two summoner spells that can be taken advantage of is ignite/exhaust (three and a half minute cool down). Abuse of these spells is usually only done by laners rather than junglers.

These summoners are typically known as combat summoners because they are used in skirmishes to help you win the fight. So how does having knowing the skirmishing spell cool down benefit you? It either gives you an advantage or evens the playing field. If you both have spells like ignite for example, knowing the other persons is down while yours is up gives you a distinct advantage as you now have another damaging ability over them. Similarly if you have something like teleport while your lane opponent has ignite, knowing whether it is up or down is crucial to taking trades or all ins. Other notable cool downs are heal (4 minute cool down) and teleport (5 minute/4 minute if used on a tower). Heal can be abused in the same way exhaust and ignite are. Teleport is a hard summoner spell to take advantage of in solo queue, however it should always be noted and considered when deciding to go for an objective or not.

A quick tip for taking timers is one that I myself took from and “All Chat” of SK Gaming. Simply type the first letter of the summoner spell used or objective taken into chat, and then later when you have down time in the game, type out the entire time and name so you can quickly look back and check for more specifics when needed. I hope these time tips prove helpful and in time help you to gain ELO.