League of Legends is a relatively old title that came out way back in 2009. By today’s standards, the graphics are woefully outdated and the gameplay mechanics seem common to RPGs. However, it remains to be arguably one of the most influential titles ever to be created and, together with DOTA, the best MOBA ever. In fact, more than a decade after it was released, it continues to be a favorite of RPG players, and a mainstay of e-sports.
Getting into League of Legends is rather difficult. Although you control only one unit, known as a champion, it takes time to get acquainted with the basic mechanics. Mastering the game is even harder, taking months and years to do so.
In this ultimate guide, we discuss the game basics and everything else that will help you get started.
LoL Basics
In League of Legends, two teams of 5 players are pitted against each other. They play on a map that is always the same, called Summoner’s Rift. To win the game, you have to reach the other end of the map and destroy the enemies’ main structure, called the Nexus. But in order to do so, you need to pass through several layers of defenses.
Summoner’s Rift is split into three lanes known as top, middle, and bottom, and a vast forest area is known as jungle. Every 30 seconds, a set of minor opponents, known as minions, are released and attack your base. By killing them, you gain gold and experience. XP helps you level up abilities, while gold is used to purchase items from the shop.
Along every lane, there are three sets of static defenses known as turrets. At the third turret, there are structures called inhibitors. By destroying them, you make your own minions much stronger, allowing them to last longer as you push farther into enemy territory.
In the jungle portion of the map, there are static units known as monsters. Like minions, they can provide extra gold and experience, but also some powerful buffs. The strongest of them all is Baron Nashor, who gives your team a powerful buff and makes it much easier to defeat enemies.
Champions
Each player controls a unit called a champion. These are powerful characters wielding magical weapons and having incredible abilities. Every champion has a passive ability, three basic abilities, and an ultimate.
- Passive ability – available from the get-go, and in most cases, it affects everything that a champion does.
- Basic skills – provide something different, and there are usually optimal builds to go with.
- Ultimate ability – exceptionally strong, but have a long cooldown.
There are a total of 159 champions. Mastering each one of them is nearly impossible, so players usually focus on a small group of characters. Generally speaking, each one of them excels at a specific thing. So, if a character has strong disable abilities, it might have correspondingly low health or damage bar.
Each champion also scales differently. Some of them will be very powerful at early levels, while others become more potent as the game goes on. Based on that, you can create balanced teams.
Champions have 6 slots for items. These items can compensate for some of the weaknesses, or level up the character’s strong traits. They can boost your physical and magical damage, reduce cooldowns, provide regeneration, or boost lifesteal, armor, and magic resistance, among others.
Player and team roles
As mentioned, each champion can be placed in a certain class. We have controllers, fighters, mages, slayers, marksmen, tanks, and specialists. Ideally, you should have each one of them for the most balanced team. As for the roles, we can differentiate carries, supports, top, mid, and jungle.
As the name implies, the top goes in the top lane. These are usually tanky characters that later on serve as initiators for the team. Mid-lane is reserved for mages and slayers, both of which have high damage output. Between the lanes, you have junglers who can attack monsters and look for an opportune moment to strike enemies in the lanes, to provide an advantage to teammates.
Lastly, we have carries and supports. These two are commonly paired together. Support is meant to help the carry by healing and shielding him. If necessary, support should sacrifice its life to save the carry player. This is the least important and least desirable position on the team.
Carry is the most important cog in the team. This character is very weak at the beginning but gets extremely strong as the match progresses. So, it is imperative to keep him safe and get as many items as possible.
Teamfights and objectives
Obviously, the point of the game is to penetrate the enemy base and eliminate their main structure. But to get to that point, you need to perform a plethora of small actions leading to that moment.
The initial 10 to 15 minutes are known as the laning phase. During this time, champions are trying to get as many last hits on minions and takedowns of champions as possible. Any small advantage you get in the laning phase can snowball as you proceed to the mid-game.
During the mid-game, champions will start leaving their lanes and focus on 5v5 team engagements. Winning one engagement can completely turn the tide of a match. Even if you suffer a disadvantage during the early phase, you could easily get back into the match by having good team synergy with other Champions in your team.
Depending on your team composition and ability to work together, you will have more or less success during these fights. Once you win a fight, you can proceed, uncontested, towards enemy turrets and inhibitors. Alternatively, if the game is at a stalemate, you can try to kill Baron Nashor, thus getting a decisive advantage.
Taking down the Baron can dramatically alter the outcome of the game.
Conclusion
Although inspired by DOTA, League of Legends can absolutely stand on its own and remains one of the most influential games ever made. It is also one of the most complex ones. No matter how much time you dedicate to it, you can never fully master everything. This makes it really challenging and addictive, more than a decade after its release.
