Welcome to your ultimate beginner guide to League of Legends! If you’re new to the game, don’t worry; we’ve got you covered. This comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you need to know, from understanding the basics of gameplay to the roles and strategies that will help you succeed on Summoner’s Rift.

Key Takeaways

• League of Legends is a MOBA that features over 160 champions.
• Understanding the different roles (top, mid, bot, and jungle) is crucial for gameplay.
• Each champion has unique abilities and summoner spells that define their playstyle.
• Gold and experience are vital resources to progress and strengthen your champion.
• Utilizing the mini-map and communication with teammates can significantly improve your gameplay.

Introduction

Welcome to the exciting and complex world of League of Legends! If you’re just starting out, it can seem overwhelming. With over 160 champions, each with unique abilities and playstyles, and a meta that shifts faster than you can say “nerf,” it’s no wonder many new players feel lost. But don’t worry—you’re not alone!

What is League?

League of Legends, often referred to as LoL, is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game developed by Riot Games. In this game, two teams of five players compete against each other on a map known as Summoner’s Rift. The primary objective? Destroy the opposing team’s Nexus, the core structure located in their base. To achieve this goal, players must work together, strategize, and master their chosen champions.

Each match begins with players selecting their champions, which have distinct abilities that influence gameplay. The game is known for its competitive nature, with a vibrant esports scene that showcases some of the best players in the world.

The Basics

Before diving into the gameplay, it’s essential to familiarize yourself with the basic mechanics. Each champion has four abilities mapped to the keys Q, W, E, and R, along with a passive ability that enhances their overall playstyle. In addition, players can select two summoner spells, such as Flash or Ignite, which provide strategic advantages during matches.

The game revolves around earning gold and experience by last-hitting minions, defeating enemy champions, and taking objectives. Gold is used to purchase items that enhance your champion’s power, while experience is crucial for leveling up and unlocking your abilities.

Roles

Understanding the different roles in League of Legends is vital for success. Here’s a quick overview of each role:

• Top Lane: Typically occupied by fighters and tanks, this role focuses on sustaining in one-on-one matchups and controlling the top side of the map.
• Mid Lane: The most popular role, often filled by mages and assassins. Mid-laners have the ability to influence all parts of the map due to their central position.
• Bot Lane: Consists of two players: an ADC (Attack Damage Carry) and a support. The ADC deals damage while the support assists by protecting and enabling their partner.
• Jungle: A unique role that allows players to roam the map, slaying neutral monsters and ganking lanes to help teammates secure kills.

Each role has its responsibilities, and mastering them is key to climbing the ranks in League of Legends.

Map & Objectives

While the tutorial helps you learn the basics of controlling your champion, it does miss something that’s really, really important here: understanding the map and all of its objectives. Objectives come in many shapes and many forms, from purple three-headed worms to magical elemental dragons to just, well, plain old turrets.

Each objective plays a crucial role in helping you win the game. Starting off with the most numerous of the objectives, let’s talk about turrets. Each team has eleven of these. And while technically you can win a game by destroying as few as just five of these in order to reveal your opponent’s Nexus, most games are gonna require you to take more. There are three turrets in each lane and two in base protecting the Nexus, categorized as the outer turret, inner turret, inhibitor turrets, and then nexus turrets.

Turrets play a very important role. They’re the defensive structures that exist to provide a form of protection for both teams, preventing stronger enemy champions from just walking up and killing you whenever they so choose. To progress the game and advance down your opponent’s lane, you’re going to have to take down each turret one by one, gaining bonus gold whenever you do.

Turret Mechanics

• Targeting: Turrets attack one unit at a time. Whatever unit walks in range first is gonna be the primary target until that target dies or walks out of range.
• Protecting the Laner: If you do damage to a champion while in range of their turret, the turret will prioritize attacking you.
• Plating: In the early game, turrets have what’s known as plating, making them harder to destroy. Each of the five plates you destroy grants bonus gold.

The Jungle and Buffs

We touched on this slightly when discussing roles, but the jungle is divided into four quadrants separated by the river, with each team having their own side of the jungle. Each half of the jungle has six unique monsters: Gromp, Wolves, Blue Buff, Raptors, Red Buff, and Krugs. Then in each river, both at the top and bottom side, there’s a Scuttle Crab.

The red and blue buffs are particularly important. Red grants health regeneration and causes your attacks to slow your target’s movement, while blue provides mana or energy regeneration and lowers the cooldown of your abilities.

Neutral Objectives

Something you may have noticed by looking at the map is the colored markers that indicate neutral objectives. These are epic monsters that require the help of multiple players to secure game-changing buffs. In the south, we have the Dragon’s Pit. At the five-minute mark, a special dragon appears for both teams to fight over. It can be one of six different types of dragons, each providing unique team-wide buffs that last for the entirety of the game.

Once you’ve reached four dragons in total, your team will be rewarded with the dragon soul, providing a greatly enhanced version of that buff. For instance, the infernal soul will cause your attacks and abilities to explode around the target.

Baron and Rift Herald

On the top side of the map, we have the Baron Pit. Here, three different neutral objectives spawn throughout the game. The first is the Void Grub, providing a buff that does additional burn damage to structures when attacking them. This spawns at six minutes into the game and can spawn again four minutes later depending on when the first was taken.

At sixteen minutes, Void Grubs are replaced with Rift Herald, which drops an item you can summon to direct it straight into a turret, dealing bonus damage. Baron Nashor spawns much later at the twenty-five-minute mark and grants your whole team gold and a temporary buff that increases your damage and speed of recall.

Laning

Now that we’ve covered the map and its objectives, let’s get back to something that you’re going to be spending most of your time doing, and that is laning. Laning is simply the term to describe playing against your opponent in one of the three lanes. How you play the lane phase broadly depends on your chosen champion and the champion you’re playing against on the other team.

Your main goal in every lane is to get stronger than your opponent. You do this by getting more gold and more experience than them. The first step to understanding the basics of laning is to get to know your opponents—no, not the other champions, but the minions!

Understanding Minions

• Minion Waves: Minions start marching down your lane at a minute and five seconds in, and every thirty seconds after that. Each wave consists of three melee minions and three caster minions, with every fourth wave having a siege minion.
• Types of Minions: Melee minions are tanky and deal the least damage, while caster minions are easier to kill but attack from range and deal higher damage. Siege minions do the most damage and have the most health.
• Super Minions: These powerhouses spawn in a lane once the enemy’s inhibitor has been taken.

Last Hitting and Trading

Minions are your main source of both experience and gold throughout the game. Killing an enemy champion gives you three hundred gold, while last hitting a minion gives you around twenty gold. Killing just fifteen minions, which is a bit over three waves, is equivalent to scoring a kill.

Besides killing minions, you can also get ahead in the lane by fighting your opponent, which is called trading. A trade is defined as an attempt to hurt the other champion without the intent to kill them. Winning these small fights or trades can force your opponent to return to base and heal, which makes them miss minions.

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Vision

Summoner’s Rift is clouded in what’s known as Fog of War. You can only see what’s happening in areas where you or your team currently have vision. This shared vision comes from several different sources: allied champions, friendly minions, towers, and wards.

Throughout Summoner’s Rift, you’ll find bushes of all shapes and sizes. Even if you have vision of the area around a bush, you still can’t see inside the bush unless you have direct vision inside it, which you can get from allied champions or wards placed in the bush.

Wards and Vision Control

• Stealth Wards: Invisible wards that everyone starts with. They turn invisible after a short delay and stay hidden from enemies unless they use special tools to detect them.
• Control Wards: Can be purchased for seventy-five gold and reveal and disable enemy stealth wards in that area. They last indefinitely but are visible to enemies.
• Trinkets: At any time during the game, you can visit the shop and trade your ward trinket for the Farsight or Oracle Lens, which helps you gain vision from afar or reveal hidden enemy wards, respectively.

Items

Items are what you use your gold for, and when you first open the shop, it can be incredibly overwhelming. Riot does an amazing job at making purchasing player base builds based on your champion, giving you real-time info on the most popular builds.

They even suggest items to counter the specific champions you are up against, making the process easier. While there might be slight optimizations you could make as a beginner, you can’t go wrong with the suggested builds. If you’re struggling to survive, choose items that say they increase survivability.

One key takeaway is that you don’t need to save up for complete items. You can buy components of items progressively as you earn gold, allowing you to strengthen your champion throughout the game rather than waiting to complete a full item.

Best Champion Picks

Choosing the right champion in League of Legends can greatly influence your gaming experience. Here, we highlight some of the best champion picks for each role that are perfect for beginners while still being effective in higher tiers of play.

Mid Lane

• Annie: Annie is a straightforward champion who excels in dealing damage and securing kills. Her Q ability allows for mana refund and cooldown reduction, making last-hitting minions easy. Once you reach level six, her ultimate, Tibbers, can turn the tide of fights effortlessly.
• Lux: Lux is another excellent mid-lane pick. She requires skill in aiming her abilities, but her game plan is simple. Catching enemies with her root and following up with her damage spells makes her a formidable opponent from a safe distance.

Top Lane

• Cho’Gath: Cho’Gath is a tanky champion who benefits from last-hitting minions due to his passive, which restores health and mana. He has strong crowd control and grows stronger with each minion or champion he consumes.
• Darius: Darius is the quintessential lane bully. He excels in one-on-one matchups, using his E to pull enemies in and his W to slow them down. His ultimate allows him to execute opponents, making him a powerful choice.

ADC

• Ashe: Ashe is perfect for beginners as her passive slows enemies, helping you learn critical ADC skills like attack moving. Her ultimate, Crystal Arrow, can stun enemies from across the map, making her a valuable asset in team fights.
• Miss Fortune: Miss Fortune combines spellcasting with auto-attacks. Her passive helps with last-hitting, and her ultimate can decimate enemy teams in fights, making her effective even for new players.

Support

• Leona: If you enjoy making plays, Leona is a tanky support who excels at locking down enemies. Her abilities can stun and hold enemies in place, allowing her to set up kills for her team.
• Janna: For those who prefer a protective role, Janna is excellent at shielding allies and disrupting enemies. Her abilities make her a formidable opponent in fights, especially when peeling for her ADC.

Jungle

• Warwick: Warwick is beginner-friendly with his unique blood trail that reveals low-health enemies. His passive healing helps him sustain in the jungle, making him a solid pick for new junglers.
• Amumu: Amumu is a tank jungler who excels at ganking. His Q is both a gap closer and a stun, while his ultimate is a powerful area-of-effect ability that can turn team fights in your favor.

Beginner’s Settings

As a new player, adjusting your settings can enhance your gameplay experience. Here are some essential settings you should consider changing from day one.

Quick Casting

Quick casting is a must-have setting for efficient gameplay. By enabling this feature, your abilities will cast instantly when you press the corresponding key, eliminating the need for extra clicks. You can activate quick cast by navigating to hotkeys and selecting the quick cast option.

Champion Names Above Health Bars

To avoid confusion with champion skins, enable the option to show champion names above health bars. This will help you quickly identify who you’re facing in-game, allowing you to make better strategic decisions.

Show Spell Cost

Enabling the “show spell cost” option will display the mana cost for each ability on its icon. This makes it easier to manage your resources during fights and ensures you have enough mana for your combos.

Champion Highlight on Camera Center

Team fights can get chaotic. To help you stay oriented, enable the “champion highlight on camera center” setting. This will highlight your champion and center the camera on them whenever you hit the space bar, making it easier to track your position in fights.

Conclusion

Embarking on your journey in League of Legends is an exciting adventure filled with challenges and opportunities for growth. Throughout this guide, we’ve covered a multitude of essential aspects you’ll need to grasp as a newcomer to the game. From understanding the basic mechanics, roles, and map objectives to getting familiar with champion picks and settings, each element plays a vital role in your development as a player.

As you dive into the world of the Rift, remember that every player starts as a beginner. It’s perfectly normal to feel overwhelmed at first, but with practice and perseverance, you will improve. Take the time to familiarize yourself with the champions and their abilities, as doing so will significantly enhance your gameplay experience. Additionally, don’t shy away from experimenting with different roles and champions to find what resonates with you the most; this exploration can be one of the most rewarding aspects of the game.

Communication and teamwork are crucial in League of Legends. As you progress, always strive to maintain a positive attitude, whether you win or lose. Cultivating a supportive environment not only benefits you but also has a ripple effect on your teammates. Remember, every match is an opportunity to learn—embrace both your victories and defeats as stepping stones on your path to mastery.

Lastly, keep in mind that the League of Legends community is vast and filled with resources. Don’t hesitate to reach out for help, watch tutorials, or engage in discussions about strategies and champion builds. The journey may be long, but with dedication and the right mindset, you’ll find yourself climbing the ranks and becoming a valuable asset to your team.

So gear up, summon your champions, and get ready to make your mark on the Rift. Good luck on your journey, and may your victories be many!

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