Learn the League

Learn the League 13th Edition Patrick ‘Ciderhelm’ O’Callahan

Learn the League is copyright Patrick O’Callahan 2012-2014. Images from League of Legends are copyright Riot Games Inc., and are used in accordance with U.S. Fair Use Law. This guide is intended for personal use and may not be shared without written permission.

Table of Contents Preface & Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................... 14 Additional Content ................................................................................................................................................................ 14 League is Alive ......................................................................................................................................................................... 15 An Unofficial Guide ................................................................................................................................................................ 16 New Players............................................................................................................................................................................... 17 Sections Overview ............................................................................................................................................................. 17 Getting Started in League of Legends ............................................................................................................................ 18 What is League of Legends ............................................................................................................................................ 18 Setting Up an Account & Installing the Game ......................................................................................................... 18 Name Your Summoner .................................................................................................................................................... 19 Choose an Expertise Level .............................................................................................................................................. 19 The Tutorial Game ............................................................................................................................................................. 19 Battle Training ..................................................................................................................................................................... 19 What Now? ........................................................................................................................................................................... 20 Runes & Masteries .............................................................................................................................................................. 22 An Introduction to Runes & Rune Pages............................................................................................................... 22 Masteries .......................................................................................................................................................................... 24 Basic Game Information .................................................................................................................................................. 26 Matchmaking Rating (Previously Known As Elo) ............................................................................................... 26 First Win of the Day Bonus......................................................................................................................................... 26 Advice for New Players ......................................................................................................................................................... 27 General Advice .................................................................................................................................................................... 27 Four Beginner Item Tips ............................................................................................................................................. 27 Are You Colorblind? ..................................................................................................................................................... 29 Prefer Your Mini-Map on the Left? .......................................................................................................................... 29 Skip Tier 2 Runes ........................................................................................................................................................... 30 When & Why to Purchase Riot Points .................................................................................................................... 30 Get Cheap Champions ................................................................................................................................................ 31 Playing One Champion vs. Playing Many ............................................................................................................. 31 Snowballing Champions & Items ............................................................................................................................ 32 Dive In & Don't Panic ................................................................................................................................................... 33

1 | Learn the League

Tips for Learning Champions......................................................................................................................................... 34 Muscle Memory ............................................................................................................................................................. 34 Ability Combos & Rotations ...................................................................................................................................... 35 Crowd Controls .............................................................................................................................................................. 36 Skillshots .......................................................................................................................................................................... 36 Speed, Dashes & Blinks ............................................................................................................................................... 37 Steroids ............................................................................................................................................................................. 37 Champion Ability & Attack Range ........................................................................................................................... 38 Attack Animation & Projectile Speed ..................................................................................................................... 38 Beating the Smurfs ............................................................................................................................................................ 40 Leavers & AFKers ........................................................................................................................................................... 40 Bot Games (Cooperative vs. AI) ................................................................................................................................ 41 Play With a Patient, Experienced Friend ............................................................................................................... 41 Turn Off “All Chat” ......................................................................................................................................................... 42 Try Howling Abyss, 3v3 Twisted Treeline, and Dominion .............................................................................. 42 Ignore & Report Jerks................................................................................................................................................... 43 Quick Cast (Formerly Smart Cast) ..................................................................................................................................... 44 Quick Cast Setup ................................................................................................................................................................ 45 Quick Cast Range Indicators .......................................................................................................................................... 46 Quick & Self Cast (Key Bindings) ................................................................................................................................... 47 Champion Roles & Recommendations ........................................................................................................................... 48 Marksman ............................................................................................................................................................................. 50 Jinx ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 51 Miss Fortune.................................................................................................................................................................... 52 Sivir ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 53 Ezreal ................................................................................................................................................................................. 54 Urgot.................................................................................................................................................................................. 55 Mage ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 56 Lux ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 57 Ahri ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 58 Cassiopeia ........................................................................................................................................................................ 59 Assassin ................................................................................................................................................................................. 60


Kassadin ............................................................................................................................................................................ 61 Fizz ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 62 Nocturne .......................................................................................................................................................................... 63 Fighter .................................................................................................................................................................................... 64 Jax ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 65 Jayce .................................................................................................................................................................................. 66 Olaf ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 67 Support .................................................................................................................................................................................. 68 Sona ................................................................................................................................................................................... 70 Thresh................................................................................................................................................................................ 71 Janna ................................................................................................................................................................................. 72 Tank ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 73 Amumu ............................................................................................................................................................................. 74 Leona ................................................................................................................................................................................. 75 Cho’gath ........................................................................................................................................................................... 76 Secondary Roles ................................................................................................................................................................. 77 Carry ................................................................................................................................................................................... 77 Pusher ............................................................................................................................................................................... 77 Poke ................................................................................................................................................................................... 78 Initiator ............................................................................................................................................................................. 78 Counter-Initiator............................................................................................................................................................ 78 Disengagement ............................................................................................................................................................. 78 Chase ................................................................................................................................................................................. 79 Disruption ........................................................................................................................................................................ 79 Jungler .............................................................................................................................................................................. 79 Stealth ............................................................................................................................................................................... 80 Mobile ............................................................................................................................................................................... 80 Zoning ............................................................................................................................................................................... 80 Anti-Carry ......................................................................................................................................................................... 81 Where You Belong – The Meta .......................................................................................................................................... 82 Fighter - Solo Top............................................................................................................................................................... 82 Mages - Solo Mid ................................................................................................................................................................ 82


Marksman & Support/Tank - Duo Bot......................................................................................................................... 82 Jungler ................................................................................................................................................................................... 83 Why Not Send Two Top? ................................................................................................................................................. 83 Can You Switch This Up? ................................................................................................................................................. 83 Introduction to Ranked Matches & Draft Pick .............................................................................................................. 85 Ranked Matches and the League System ................................................................................................................. 85 Tiers & Divisions ............................................................................................................................................................. 85 Placement & Promotion ............................................................................................................................................. 86 Understanding the League Listing ......................................................................................................................... 87 Matchmaking Rating (ELO) vs. League Points .................................................................................................... 87 The Truth of Elo Hell ..................................................................................................................................................... 88 Does Elo Hell Really Exist? .......................................................................................................................................... 88 Rank is not a Measurement of Skill ......................................................................................................................... 89 Ranked Tips & Strategy .................................................................................................................................................... 90 Draft Pick Overview ...................................................................................................................................................... 90 Solo Queue vs. Duo Queue ........................................................................................................................................ 91 Banning ............................................................................................................................................................................ 91 First Pick & Early Pick Strategy .................................................................................................................................. 92 Champion & Role Flexibility ...................................................................................................................................... 93 Communication ............................................................................................................................................................. 93 Pick Order & Toxic Players .......................................................................................................................................... 94 Checklist for Ranked Games........................................................................................................................................... 95 Advanced ................................................................................................................................................................................... 96 Sections Overview ............................................................................................................................................................. 96 Introduction to Advanced League ................................................................................................................................... 98 The Six Masteries ................................................................................................................................................................ 98 Map Control .......................................................................................................................................................................101 Champion Theory ............................................................................................................................................................104 Champions Are Not Balanced.................................................................................................................................104 Mobile beats Range, Target beats Mobile, Range beats Target .................................................................106 Health beats Burst, Burst beats Sustain, Sustain beats Health ...................................................................110 Tactics .......................................................................................................................................................................................112


Understanding Diagrams..............................................................................................................................................113 Range ...................................................................................................................................................................................114 Ideal Range ....................................................................................................................................................................114 Minion Exchanges .......................................................................................................................................................116 Relationship between Range & Vision.................................................................................................................117 Flanking ..........................................................................................................................................................................118 Tower Circling ..............................................................................................................................................................120 Movement ..........................................................................................................................................................................122 Staying Ahead of Your Opponent.........................................................................................................................122 Kiting – The Parthian Shot .......................................................................................................................................123 Shoot & Scoot ...............................................................................................................................................................124 Harassment ...................................................................................................................................................................125 Body Blocking ...............................................................................................................................................................126 Moving in Range of Allied Abilities.......................................................................................................................126 Terrain ..................................................................................................................................................................................127 Escape .............................................................................................................................................................................127 Shield ...............................................................................................................................................................................128 Pokes & Hooks ..............................................................................................................................................................129 Chokepoints ..................................................................................................................................................................130 Mental ..................................................................................................................................................................................131 Pressure ..........................................................................................................................................................................132 Zoning .............................................................................................................................................................................133 Skillshot Juking ............................................................................................................................................................134 Brush & Jungle Juking ...............................................................................................................................................138 Maneuvering through Concealment ...................................................................................................................139 Feints ...............................................................................................................................................................................141 Strategy ....................................................................................................................................................................................143 Skirmishes ...........................................................................................................................................................................143 Ambush ..........................................................................................................................................................................144 Line of Retreat & Envelopment ..............................................................................................................................145 Lane Movement Feint ...............................................................................................................................................147 Pressure & Ambush ....................................................................................................................................................149


Side Lane Flanking & Denying Minion Reinforcement..................................................................................150 Scatter Retreat ..............................................................................................................................................................151 Teamfights..........................................................................................................................................................................152 Basic Team Positioning .............................................................................................................................................152 Roles.................................................................................................................................................................................153 Initiation vs. Peeling ...................................................................................................................................................156 Targeting Priority ........................................................................................................................................................158 Protect the Carry .........................................................................................................................................................160 Divide & Conquer ........................................................................................................................................................161 Pincer Assault ...............................................................................................................................................................162 Team Envelopment – Escape Denial ....................................................................................................................163 Disengage ......................................................................................................................................................................164 Objectives ...........................................................................................................................................................................165 Objective Pressure ......................................................................................................................................................166 Multi-Point Assault .....................................................................................................................................................167 Distraction .....................................................................................................................................................................168 Encirclement .................................................................................................................................................................169 Interdiction ....................................................................................................................................................................170 Defense in Depth ........................................................................................................................................................172 Turtling ...........................................................................................................................................................................173 Forks.................................................................................................................................................................................174 Grand Strategy & Team Compositions..........................................................................................................................175 Team Compositions ........................................................................................................................................................176 Compositions in Context – Teamfight vs. Avoidance ....................................................................................176 Assault .............................................................................................................................................................................177 Mobility ...........................................................................................................................................................................181 Disengage & Split Push .............................................................................................................................................185 Pursuit .............................................................................................................................................................................188 Defeat in Detail ............................................................................................................................................................191 Punch-Through ............................................................................................................................................................195 Pressure ..........................................................................................................................................................................198 Creating Effective Teams...............................................................................................................................................201


Team & Strategy Synergy .........................................................................................................................................202 Early Game Objectives Strategy.............................................................................................................................204 Solo Play & Small Groups .........................................................................................................................................206 Organized Teams ........................................................................................................................................................208 Analyzing Tournaments ................................................................................................................................................210 The Impossible Decision ....................................................................................................................................................213 Strategic Split Pushing ...................................................................................................................................................213 The Split Push & Disengage Fork...........................................................................................................................214 Early Game Jungle Invade ........................................................................................................................................216 Executing & Countering Forks.....................................................................................................................................217 Super Minion Waves ..................................................................................................................................................217 Teleport ..........................................................................................................................................................................219 Champion & Item Picks .............................................................................................................................................219 Countering Split Push Forks ....................................................................................................................................221 The Vision Decision .........................................................................................................................................................223 Practical Tips & Advice ........................................................................................................................................................225 Personal Skills ....................................................................................................................................................................225 Potions & Elixirs............................................................................................................................................................225 Tab, Evaluate, & Invest Wisely.................................................................................................................................225 Situational & Map Awareness (Wards!) ...............................................................................................................226 Observe Your Opponents ........................................................................................................................................227 Think About Your Opponent's Cooldowns........................................................................................................227 Track Timers ..................................................................................................................................................................228 Gold Matters .................................................................................................................................................................228 Avoid Unfavorable Fights ........................................................................................................................................229 That Awkward Moment When... ............................................................................................................................230 You Have Been Slain ..................................................................................................................................................231 Calling MIA ....................................................................................................................................................................231 Direct Your Team ........................................................................................................................................................231 Seconds Matter ............................................................................................................................................................232 Are You A Threat? .......................................................................................................................................................232 Don’t Ask Why ..............................................................................................................................................................232


Don't Give Up ...............................................................................................................................................................233 Teams & Objectives .........................................................................................................................................................234 Early Lane Swapping..................................................................................................................................................234 Defend ............................................................................................................................................................................234 Push Together, Recall Together .............................................................................................................................235 Sometimes It's Better To Wait .................................................................................................................................236 Control Your Lane Extension ..................................................................................................................................238 Between Minion Waves ............................................................................................................................................240 Press the Advantage ..................................................................................................................................................241 React To Enemies Who Aren't There ....................................................................................................................241 If They’re Going For Blue, They’re Coming For You ........................................................................................242 Dragon & Baron Nashor ............................................................................................................................................242 Force Favorable Teamfights ....................................................................................................................................243 Inhibitors Matter, But So Does Their Nexus .......................................................................................................245 Pushing & Split Pushing ............................................................................................................................................245 Backdooring ..................................................................................................................................................................246 Closing a Game by Staggering Deaths................................................................................................................246 Fight Fire with Fire ......................................................................................................................................................246 Double Explosion ........................................................................................................................................................247 Mental Preparedness & Teamwork ................................................................................................................................248 What is Fun? .......................................................................................................................................................................248 Understanding Yourself ................................................................................................................................................249 Mechanical vs. Strategic Players ............................................................................................................................249 More Mechanical Skill ................................................................................................................................................251 Extroverts and Introverts ..........................................................................................................................................252 Tying It All Together...................................................................................................................................................253 Mental Traps ......................................................................................................................................................................255 Trap #1: Believing You’re Blameless .....................................................................................................................255 Trap #2: Assuming You Can’t Get Out .................................................................................................................256 Trap #3: Playing on Tilt ..............................................................................................................................................257 Trap #4: Understanding the Long Game ............................................................................................................257 Trap #5: Unwillingness to Fail .................................................................................................................................258


Trap #6: Focusing on Mistakes ...............................................................................................................................259 Trap #7: Trusting the Familiar .................................................................................................................................259 Trap #8: Leaving Beliefs Unchallenged ...............................................................................................................261 Maintaining Focus ...........................................................................................................................................................263 Stage 1 – Do Something ...........................................................................................................................................263 Stage 2 – Situational Awareness............................................................................................................................263 Stage 3 – Rapid Assessment....................................................................................................................................266 Overwhelm your Opponents ..................................................................................................................................268 Working with Teams .......................................................................................................................................................269 Self Improvement ............................................................................................................................................................270 Map Vision ...............................................................................................................................................................................271 Ward & Trinket Strategy.................................................................................................................................................271 Trinkets ...........................................................................................................................................................................273 Combat Vision & Quickcasting ...............................................................................................................................279 Counterwarding ..........................................................................................................................................................279 Other Vision Sources.......................................................................................................................................................280 Towers .............................................................................................................................................................................280 Reveal Abilities .............................................................................................................................................................280 Who is Responsible .........................................................................................................................................................281 Warding With Teammates ............................................................................................................................................281 Protecting & Replacing Wards.....................................................................................................................................282 Warding Locations...........................................................................................................................................................283 Perimeter Warding .....................................................................................................................................................283 Bottom & Top Lane Ward Locations.....................................................................................................................289 Mid Lane .........................................................................................................................................................................293 Offensive & Defensive Jungle Warding ...............................................................................................................297 Taking & Contesting Dragon & Baron Nashor ..................................................................................................300 Bases ................................................................................................................................................................................302 Clairvoyance ......................................................................................................................................................................304 The First Cast.................................................................................................................................................................304 Chase the Jungler (Early Timers)............................................................................................................................304 Against Baiting .............................................................................................................................................................307


Against Juking ..............................................................................................................................................................307 Clairvoyance as Protection ......................................................................................................................................307 Requests .........................................................................................................................................................................307 Jungling, Counterjungling, and Ganking.....................................................................................................................308 Jungling ...............................................................................................................................................................................308 What is a Jungler's Job? ............................................................................................................................................308 Why Have a Jungler? ..................................................................................................................................................308 What is Counterjungling? ........................................................................................................................................309 Picking a Jungler .........................................................................................................................................................309 Runes & Masteries .......................................................................................................................................................311 Smite & What? Summoner Spells ..........................................................................................................................312 Champion Specifics: Stonewall008's YouTube Videos ..................................................................................313 Coordinated Play vs. Solo Play (Also, Communication) ................................................................................313 Balancing Experience & Ganks ...............................................................................................................................314 Triage – Winning the Game by Letting Your Teammates Lose ..................................................................316 Understanding & Minimizing Risks .......................................................................................................................317 The Moment to Gank .................................................................................................................................................319 Covering a Lane ...........................................................................................................................................................319 Visibly Camping Lane ................................................................................................................................................319 Brush May Not Hide Your Presence ......................................................................................................................320 Blue Golem Buff to Mid? ...........................................................................................................................................320 The Pull / Leash ............................................................................................................................................................321 The Value of Custom Games ...................................................................................................................................322 Handling a Level 1 Invasion ....................................................................................................................................322 Preventing Yourself from Attacking Monsters - The '~' Key ........................................................................322 Don't Be Nervous ........................................................................................................................................................323 Counterjungling ...............................................................................................................................................................323 Ideal Counterjungle Champions ...........................................................................................................................323 Mid Laning - Champions & Responsibility .........................................................................................................323 The Level 1 Invasion ...................................................................................................................................................324 See their Jungler? Punish them! ............................................................................................................................325 Track Timers & Invade Accordingly ......................................................................................................................325


Leave Someone to Tell the Story ...........................................................................................................................325 Protecting Your Jungle from Invasion......................................................................................................................326 Defending Blue Golem as a Team .........................................................................................................................327 Defending Red Lizard as a Team ...........................................................................................................................329 Prioritizing After Your First Pass.............................................................................................................................330 Counterjungling & Ganking Routes ..........................................................................................................................331 A Note on Counterganking .....................................................................................................................................331 Level 1 Blue Invasion .................................................................................................................................................332 Forcing a Smite at Blue .............................................................................................................................................333 Level 1 Red Invasion...................................................................................................................................................334 Ganking Entrances in the Jungle ...........................................................................................................................335 Ganking Mid Lane .......................................................................................................................................................336 Ganking Over-Extended Side Lanes .....................................................................................................................337 Ganking Pushed Side Lanes ....................................................................................................................................338 Flanking Behind Side Lane Towers .......................................................................................................................339 Game Mechanics ...................................................................................................................................................................340 Sections Overview ...........................................................................................................................................................340 Summoner's Rift Guidebook.............................................................................................................................................341 Game Objectives ..............................................................................................................................................................341 Map Layout ........................................................................................................................................................................342 Who is Blue Team and who is Purple Team? .....................................................................................................343 Fog of War .....................................................................................................................................................................344 Brush (Bushes) ..............................................................................................................................................................345 Impassable Terrain .....................................................................................................................................................346 Gold & Experience for Champion Kills .................................................................................................................346 Structures............................................................................................................................................................................348 Towers (Turrets) ...........................................................................................................................................................348 Inhibitors & Nexus .......................................................................................................................................................350 Summoner Platform, Shop & Obelisk ..................................................................................................................351 Team Minions ....................................................................................................................................................................352 Minion Waves ...............................................................................................................................................................353 Melee & Caster Minions ............................................................................................................................................353


Siege & Super Minions ..............................................................................................................................................353 Neutral Monsters..............................................................................................................................................................355 Jungle Monster Scaling .............................................................................................................................................355 Baron Nashor ................................................................................................................................................................355 Dragon ............................................................................................................................................................................357 Blue Golem (Ancient Golem) ..................................................................................................................................358 Red Lizard (Lizard Elder) ...........................................................................................................................................359 Minor Camps (Wight, Double Golems, Three Wolves, Four Wraiths) .......................................................360 Summoner Spells ..................................................................................................................................................................361 Recall ....................................................................................................................................................................................361 Exhaust ................................................................................................................................................................................361 Ghost ....................................................................................................................................................................................362 Heal .......................................................................................................................................................................................362 Revive ...................................................................................................................................................................................363 Smite.....................................................................................................................................................................................363 Teleport ...............................................................................................................................................................................364 Cleanse (Summoner Level 2) .......................................................................................................................................364 Barrier (Summoner Level 6)..........................................................................................................................................365 Clarity (Summoner Level 6) ..........................................................................................................................................365 Ignite (Summoner Level 7) ...........................................................................................................................................366 Clairvoyance (Summoner Level 10)...........................................................................................................................366 Flash (Summoner Level 12) ..........................................................................................................................................367 Stats ...........................................................................................................................................................................................368 Baseline Stats vs. Multiplier Stats ...............................................................................................................................368 Normal Attacks .................................................................................................................................................................369 Attack Damage (Baseline) ........................................................................................................................................369 Armor Penetration & Armor Reduction (Multiplier) .......................................................................................369 Attack Speed (Multiplier)..........................................................................................................................................369 Critical Strike Chance (Multiplier) ..........................................................................................................................370 Critical Strike Damage (Multiplier) ........................................................................................................................370 Lifesteal ...........................................................................................................................................................................370 Range...............................................................................................................................................................................370


Abilities ................................................................................................................................................................................370 Ability Power (Baseline) ............................................................................................................................................370 Cooldown Reduction (Multiplier)..........................................................................................................................371 Magic Penetration & Magic Resistance Reduction (Multiplier) ..................................................................371 Mana & Resources .......................................................................................................................................................371 Mana & Resource Regeneration.............................................................................................................................371 Spell Vamp .....................................................................................................................................................................372 Defensive ............................................................................................................................................................................372 Health (Baseline), Effective Health & Shields .....................................................................................................372 Armor (Multiplier) .......................................................................................................................................................373 Magic Resistance (Multiplier) ..................................................................................................................................373 Health Regeneration ..................................................................................................................................................373 Tenacity ..........................................................................................................................................................................374 Utility ....................................................................................................................................................................................374 Movement Speed........................................................................................................................................................374 Passive Gold Gain (Gold per 10) .............................................................................................................................374 A Little More Regarding Defensive Stats .................................................................................................................376 Glossary of Terms..................................................................................................................................................................377 Timers Reference ..................................................................................................................................................................392


Preface & Introduction Welcome to Learn the League! You’ve now joined a community of thousands of players who’ve sought to improve their play and find greater enjoyment out of League of Legends. I sincerely hope you have a good experience with this product. Learn the League is divided into three main categories. The first category is for new players; these sections cover core gameplay concepts and systems, as well as how to deal with some of the worse parts of the community. If you’re new to League of Legends, start from the beginning. The second category includes advanced sections that cover specific tactics and strategies that allow for awesome plays in League of Legends. These tactics and strategies are the same things that the best players in the world are using, and you should dive into these as soon as you’re comfortable with the concepts that are covered. The third category includes game mechanics – the things that make the game work and how you can take advantage of them. This is important information, but it’s not exciting for everyone, so it’s at the end of the e-book. That said, take some time to look through the highlights for the cool stuff you may not know about that can help you succeed. Since I first wrote the e-book, the tournament scene has become a larger and larger reason for new players to join. On top of this, my own role as an analyst on the pro scene has offered me deeper insights. Because of these factors, I’ve started to write with an eye towards helping players understand the pro scene (what team compositions work, what strategies are being employed), and I’ve included specific examples from the pro scene in newer video content. Whatever your reason is for picking up the e-book, I truly believe that if you study this e-book you’ll find information here that will help you in your journey.

Additional Content When I first wrote Learn the League in early 2012 I planned on creating a purely-written product, larger in scope but similar in concept to my old tanking e-book for MMORPGs, or to the massive Warrior guides I used to publish for World of Warcraft. Since then, I’ve expanded the product significantly. From the Members section of the site, you can now access the following (in addition to this e-book): • •

Game system tutorial movies for new players; Advanced movies, including strategic concepts illustrated by looking at plays from some of the best teams in the world; 14 | Learn the League

• •

A large directory of links to resources around the web that may be helpful in your quest to learn more and connect with the broader League of Legends community; …and more!

For long-time e-book owners, you may notice the e-book has been a little lighter since the 12th edition. This is because I’ve removed the “Don’t Feed” champion guide transcripts from the main file and now offer it as a standalone download.

League is Alive League of Legends is an evolving game, with constant updates and changes designed to improve the experience for players. There are two methods by which I make sure this e-book remains relevant: 1. Strategy, tactics, and advice are “timeless,” in that they are very likely to remain accurate unless a huge change occurs in the game. 2. Each new edition attempts to update details that may have been changed, such as items, map mechanics, or stat changes. In some cases I’ve referred to strategies and plays used in previous seasons, often with specific examples. Rest assured, if they remain in new editions of the e-book, it’s because I am still seeing these same strategies and plays being used. For example, I have discussed a Season 1 and Season 2 strategy I refer to as “Punch-Through,” but this same strategy is still used successfully today. If these same strategies are still in this e-book when a new edition releases for Season 6, it’s because they’ll still be relevant. Small details may occasionally become outdated between new editions, especially as it relates to items and map mechanics. Releasing a new edition of the e-book is a large project and as a result it cannot be done at the same pace as Riot’s regular content updates. I strive for accuracy. That said, please feel free to contact me if you notice any outdated information, especially if a detail remains outdated after a new edition is released.


An Unofficial Guide Riot Games Inc. has not endorsed or authorized this guide in any way. In very limited cases throughout this book I use images and text that are copyright Riot Games Inc. I have done so after studying Fair Use cases and settlements. Since this is a commercial product, the bar for Fair Use is higher, but I believe this book meets and exceeds the requirements of Fair Use: • • •

•

This work will in no way detract from the commercial gains of Riot Games Inc. This work is complementary to League of Legends and is not in competition with it. This work only uses content from League of Legends where it directly aids and benefits the user's understanding of the game. Images are used so players can more quickly identify important objects in the game client. The amount of copyrighted material used is insignificant, both in relation to their work and to this work.

As Judge Posner said in Ty Inc. v. Publications Int'l Ltd.: "... in fair-use case law, we may say that copying that is complementary to the copyrighted work (in the sense that nails are complements of hammers) is fair use, but copying that is a substitute for the copyrighted work (in the sense that nails are substitutes for pegs or screws) ... is not fair use." This work is not a substitute for League of Legends, but is complementary to it. That said, if Riot Games Inc. requests that I remove the limited copyrighted material from this guide, I may comply by removing these images. This would not be an ideal situation as I believe the images I use are important referential markers and are completely protected under Fair Use, but I would prefer to keep working on new guides for my fans than get into a legal battle.


New Players If you’re brand new or you’ve got some games under your belt but are still unfamiliar with some core game systems, read over these sections. When possible, you’ll also want to download the relevant “Game Systems” movies available in your Members area.

Sections Overview Getting Started - A guide through your very first steps, from setting up an account and downloading the game to understanding runes, masteries, and the matchmaking system. Advice for New Players - This section is filled with practical information, such as strategies for using Riot Points, basic concepts behind champions, developing solid muscle memory and understanding game mechanics, and dealing with “smurf” players and other players who aim to make your League experience worse. Quickcasting - While not every player is ready to start quickcasting, this section will give you the knowledge of where and how it’s useful, as well as how to get started once you’re ready. Champion Roles & Recommendations – This section is an introduction to each of the primary roles, as well as many secondary roles. As we look at each role, I also recommend several champions and offer my personal thoughts on why they’re unique and enjoyable. Where You Belong (The Meta) - This section covers what is expected from many players in the early levels, including what types of champions are played in which areas of the map, as well as the reasoning for this. Ultimately, Learn the League should bring you to a level where you can make smart decisions regardless of the strict social rules of the meta, but this is a good resource for when you’re getting started out. Ranked Matches & Draft Pick - This section covers the metagame strategy behind ranked matches and draft pick, and also offers an in-depth look at how Matchmaking Rating (formerly Elo) interacts with Tiers, Divisions, and League Points.


Getting Started in League of Legends Are you completely new to League of Legends? If you’ve just downloaded the game – or if you haven’t even gotten that far – this is where you’ll want to start.

What is League of Legends League of Legends is a game based on Defense of the Ancients (DOTA), a custom game developed by Warcraft III players. It shares a genre with DOTA, DOTA 2, Heroes of Newerth, and several smaller games. League of Legends has four primary multiplayer game modes. The first, and by far the most popular, is Summoner's Rift. This game places up to five players against a group of human or AI opponents with the goal of overrunning the opposing team's base. Twisted Treeline is a smaller game mode with similar concepts and a maximum of three players on a team. In late 2011 a new game mode called Dominion was introduced. This is a 5v5 capture-and-hold game type, and usually involves much quicker matches. Though less popular than Summoner's Rift, Riot has put significant development work into making sure it is polished and ready for players who are interested in playing it. In 2013, a popular custom game type called “All Random All Mid” was turned into an official map known as Howling Abyss. At this time, this guide focuses primarily on the Summoner's Rift game mode, though nearly all concepts translate to Twisted Treeline and Howling Abyss.

Setting Up an Account & Installing the Game The first thing you'll need to do is create an account. To get started, go to this URL: http://signup.leagueoflegends.com/en/signup/index Once you've created an account you'll be able to download the game client, after which you can log in for your first time.


Name Your Summoner Choose a name for your Summoner. This can be different from your account name, and you can change it later if you choose to. Once you're done, choose an icon to represent your Summoner.

Choose an Expertise Level You'll be asked to choose between four different levels of expertise. Be honest about these choices, as it will directly impact the experience of the human opponents you're matched against.

The Tutorial Game Play it. The tutorial is a fantastic way of learning the most basic concepts in the game.

Battle Training Play it. The Battle Training against bots is another fantastic way of learning the basics of the game. This is set on the popular Summoner's Rift map (which most of this guide focuses on), and the tips and messages throughout the game are genuinely worthwhile to read and remember. You won't necessarily remember everything from Battle Training after you're done, but it is still worth the experience.


What Now? After playing through the Basic Tutorial and Battle Training missions you have two choices. You can explore the game client, check out the news items, use the Riot Store, or poke around the champion pages. If you need help with some of the basic functions of the game, the '?' in the upper right hand of your client may be of assistance.

Of course, the more fun choice is just to dive right in and play another match. Click the red 'Play' button at the top of your screen, and then jump into a new match.

I recommend the "Co-op vs. AI" to get started, as this will ally you against computer opponents who can be a little more enjoyable to learn the basics of your champions against. Either now, or after your first few games, I strongly recommend reading the "Advice for New Players" section of this guide. At the very least it will give you some things to think about. Once you've played a dozen or so matches start really digging into the rest of "Learn the League." There are very advanced concepts throughout the guide that will help you out immensely if you learn them sooner rather than later. As always, last hit, last hit, last hit!


(If you didn't catch the mention during Battle Training, last hitting enemy minions and monsters is a big part of how you earn gold. It's one of the hardest and most important skills to master. Practice early, practice often!)


Runes & Masteries In the upper-right of your game client you should see several buttons you can click on:

The first button (orange) is the Riot Store -- click this if you want to purchase new champions, skins, or a wide variety of other perks for your account. Next to this is your profile button. Once you click this you'll see several tabs. After clicking the profile button you’ll be redirected to this page:

Browse the profile page at your leisure. When you’re ready, the two places we want to look at next are the Runes & Masteries tabs.

An Introduction to Runes & Rune Pages Runes are items purchased from the Riot Store interface that have the following characteristics: • • • •

Stat bonus; Tier rating; Slot defined by color and name (ex. Red Mark); Primary or Secondary status based on slot.


Let's look at the Greater Mark of Strength. In order, here are its attributes: •

•

• •

"Strength" runes indicate a physical Attack Damage bonus, meaning a player with this rune will deal more damage on normal melee or ranged attacks and abilities that benefit from physical damage; Since this is a "Greater" Mark, it is Tier 3 item. It is available to players who are level 20 or higher. Second tier runes (available at level 10) have no prefix, and first tier runes (available immediately) are labeled "Lesser." "Mark" indicates it is a red rune. Yellow runes are Seals, blue runes are Glyphs, and the large slots are Quintessences. Red Mark runes can only be placed in red slots on a rune page. Greater Mark of Strength is considered a Primary rune, meaning it grants a strong bonus to its stat (physical Attack Damage).

Runes can only be purchased with Influence Points (IP). This is a fairly important point because it means your selection of runes is limited primarily by your games played, as well as your success within these games. Before we go further, let me outline what determines whether a rune is Primary or Secondary: • • •

Red Marks: Offensive runes are generally Primary; Yellow Seals: Defensive runes are generally Primary; Glyphs: Magical runes are generally Primary.

Quintessences provide their full stat bonus regardless of type (in other words, there are no Primary or Secondary Quintessences). For whatever reason, Riot does not currently tell you whether a rune is Primary or Secondary when purchasing from the Riot Store. This is frustrating, and I recommend taking the time to check particular runes before making a big investment.

Not All Secondary Runes Are Created Equal Let's say you want to stack Flat Armor in your Marks, Seals, and Glyphs. To do this, you would buy Seals, Marks, and Glyphs of Resilience. You'd probably notice something when you were purchasing or putting these into your rune page: Even though both the Mark of Resilience and Glyph of Resilience are 'Secondary,' the Mark of Resilience provides more Flat Armor. It's ok to use Secondary runes in a lot of cases, but it's usually not a good idea if it's a third tier Secondary rune, meaning it provides a significantly lower return than other Secondary runes.


Not All Bonuses are Equally Good It's worth saying that some bonuses just aren't very good. Not all bonus stats you receive from runes will help you on every champion. In some cases, such as with Endurance runes (which provide a percentage bonus to your health), they'll rarely ever be a top pick for any champion.

Not Always the Most Fun, But Always Reliable I'll cover this in the Champion Roles & Recommendations guide, but it's worth saying here that there are some runes that are universally good, and will work fine on the vast majority of champions in the League: • • • •

Red Marks: Armor Penetration (Desolation) or Magic Penetration (Insight), depending on your primary damage type. Yellow Seals: Flat Armor (Resilience). Blue Glyphs: Flat Magic Resist (Warding). Quintessences: Flat Health (Fortitude).

These are staples. Most of the time there may be a bit better way to build your champion, but this will be good enough. This is an especially helpful set of runes to have if you want to try out a lot of new champions or test the champions that are free in a given week. This is also a good idea if you really don't want to get a lot of rune pages.

Rune Pages Runes are placed onto a Rune Page. Rune pages unlock new slots based on your level, with all slots unlocked once you're level 30. You will gain Quintessence slots every 10 levels. These are pretty straightforward, but there're a couple things you want to know: • •

You can always take runes back out of a page (you never permanently lose runes by placing them in a page); You can use the same runes in multiple rune pages.

In other words, you're never going to be penalized for using your runes

Masteries If you've used talent or perk trees from nearly any other game, especially modern MMORPGs or RPGs, this is the same concept. You'll get new points to spend every level and you can place them into any of


the available perks. Once you've spent enough points in a tree, a new set of perks in that tree will become available to you. You can have up to 20 Mastery pages (add more by clicking the '+' button). Unlike Rune Pages, these don't cost you anything. Also, if you know you need to make a change to your runes while you're in a game lobby, you can quickly edit and save them before a game starts.


Basic Game Information Let me jump into a couple concepts related to the matches you play, but not part of the actual in-game match-up.

Matchmaking Rating (Previously Known As Elo) League of Legends using a rating system called Matchmaking Rating, or MMR. The effect a single match has on your MMR is determined by two factors: • •

Whether you won or lost the match; Who you won or lost the match against.

This is a relative ranking system, meaning the system attempts to place you at a rank in relation to your peers. Only games against human players are rated. When matching you against new opponents, the system will first try to match you against opponents of similar MMR and party size. If this fails, it will continue expanding its parameters until it finds the most suitable opponents for you. For this reason, matches that take an unusually long time before they're found have a higher likelihood of being imbalanced either for or against you, as this can mean that the parameters for acceptable opponents have been significantly broadened. Players are assigned different MMR ratings for each different type of queue. For example, ranked 5v5 matches are separate from normal 5v5 matches, and solo queue ranked matches are different from arranged team ranked matches. MMR is hidden. In normal games there is very little you can do to determine your actual standing, though there are some websites that attempt to approximate this number. Taken a step further, opposing players can only see the number of normal games you’ve won, not the number you’ve lost. This anonymity is designed so you can make mistakes and do badly without worrying about being embarassed or harassed by other players (don’t worry, everyone plays badly at points). In ranked matches, MMR helps determine your standing on the ladder, though the specific MMR is still not shown publicly.

First Win of the Day Bonus The first win of the day bonus grants you Influence Points (IP) for winning your first match in a day. A lot of players (including many of my friends) will log on to aim for this bonus, even if they’re otherwise busy on something else.


Advice for New Players In this section I'm going to cover a wide variety of topics regarding the new player experience. League of Legends, like other competitive multiplayer games, can be an extraordinarily frustrating game to play if you wind up with the wrong teammates or opponents. I want to help mitigate that by giving you a heads up on some things to expect and how to deal with them.

General Advice Before getting into the game itself, let’s start with some basic knowledge you’ll want to absorb.

Four Beginner Item Tips First, don’t worry about item appearance or the logic of the item. Worry about the stats. It is ok for Ashe, an archer, to buy an Infinity Edge sword (in fact, it’s one of her very best items). It’s ok for Cassiopeia, a half-snake, to buy a pair of boots.

Second, you can purchase any items from the shop by clicking the “All Items” button at the top. This will open up a browsable shop interface that isn’t limited to the recommended items. That said, the recommended items are great guidelines and you are rarely going to have a tough time by following them. But knowing how to get to the rest of the item shop is important as you learn new items and when you want to try out things you’ve read or seen other players do.


Third, items that share a “Unique Passive” with the same name do not stack with each other. In other words, you will only gain that particular passive bonus from one of the items. The other bonuses from the items still work fine. Fourth and finally, at some point every player will buy an item and immediately regret their decision. If you’re quick, there’s a solution:

Before you leave the summoner platform, you can click the “Undo” button at the bottom of the shop to sell your item back at full price.


Are You Colorblind? When inside a game, open up your options menu (normally defaulted to “ESC”) and click “Video” on the left column. Here’s what you’ll see:

Enable colorblind mode by clicking the checkbox. This changes the color scheme on the mini-map and on health bars. Many players who aren’t colorblind (including myself) often prefer this color scheme as well, so feel free to try it out just to see if you like it.

Prefer Your Mini-Map on the Left? Many players who’ve come from the Starcraft 2 or Real Time Strategy scene or who are left-eye dominant prefer to have the mini-map on the left side of the map. This is done through the “Interface” tab on the left column of your options menu (the option is more than halfway down so you’ll likely need to scroll):

The trick I’ve heard to finding out whether you’re left or right-eye dominant is to point to an object in the distance, then cover one eye. If you’re still pointing to the same place, the eye that is currently open is your dominant eye.


Skip Tier 2 Runes Runes cost Influence Points (IP), and this is a relatively scarce resource given the number of runes you may want to purchase. For this reason, I recommend you wait until you're level 20 before you purchase expensive runes. This is when all of the best runes become available to you, and any runes you've previously purchased are likely to be a wasted investment. That said, Tier 1 runes are very, very cheap. If you really want runes, you won’t be set back too badly by picking some of these up.

When & Why to Purchase Riot Points League of Legends is a free-to-play game, and many of those who play League of Legends never purchase anything with real money. It is certainly possible to play and enjoy the game without spending any money. That said, Riot Games has a very successful business model, and there are real incentives to purchasing Riot Points (RP). If you're willing to invest some money into the game, I strongly suggest doing so. The fact that you're reading this guide means you want to get involved with the game on a deeper level, and having RP is a big help towards that. Here's how: 1. Influence Points (IP) can be used to purchase champions. However, it is also the only way to purchase Runes, which have a big impact on your in-game performance. With limited runes, you will not be able to play the game as effectively or with the same flexibility you could, so consider purchasing any champions with RP to put your IP towards runes; 2. Because IP is so important to filling out rune pages, consider purchasing IP boosts under the Boosts tab in the Riot Store. The per-win boosts do stack with the time-based boosts (ex. 10 Wins boost stacks with 14 Days boost), so you may wish to do this. 3. Reaching level 30 -- again, on the assumption that you also care about being a good player -makes the XP boosts valuable as well. Like IP boosts, win-based and time-based boosts stack. 4. Runes are placed into rune pages, and while a wide selection of runes gives you more flexibility, having more rune pages is necessary to give you more options when a game is starting. Keep an eye on sales and price reductions. Over time, Riot tends to reduce the price on champions to provide more incentive to purchase them.

Boosting Tip I mentioned using Experience and Influence Point (IP) boosts. It's definitely worth noting that per-win bonuses will be maximized if you're playing on Summoner's Rift against human opponents. This is because Summoner's Rift against human opponents grants the most Experience and IP per game.


Skins I also like to buy skins from time to time, particularly for champions I play a lot. These are often advertised around their store and interface, and can be fully searched under the Skins tab in the Riot Store. If you're a big fan of buying champion skins, it's worth remembering that new champion skin bundles with two bonus skins cost the same RP as buying just the two skins by themselves. Practically speaking, this means that purchasing a champion with IP, then buying the two skins, doesn't save you any money (but does cost you a good chunk of IP). Champion skin bundles with one bonus skin, however, do not have the same benefit. If you have excess IP and want to limit the real money spent on RP, it will be more effective to purchase the champion with IP then purchase the skin separately with RP. You may see some skins that cost 1820 RP or even more. These are legendary and ultimate skins and nearly all of them have significant overhauls and pretty cool voicework. Brolaf (an Olaf legendary) is one of my personal favorites for Legendary skins, and Pulsefire Ezreal and Spirit Guard Udyr are both incredible ultimate skins.

Get Cheap Champions There are three main ways to acquire a small collection of champions on a budget. The first is through champion bundles, which can be purchased through the Riot Store with Riot Points. These offer 20 introductory champions, as well as some other bonuses, at a hugely discounted price. The second is by purchasing the cheap 450 and 1350 Influence Points (IP) champions. While I recommend limiting the amount of champions you purchase with IP while leveling, it's worth purchasing these if you really want to play a champion without investing cash money into them. I recommend purchasing any bundle you may want prior to purchasing specific champions. A lot of the basic champions come with these bundles. Finally, check out the sales! Riot frequently offers discounts on older champions, allowing you to pick them up at a great rate. You won’t always get the champions you want now, but if you’re enjoying the game, chances are you’ll find a time to play these champions later on.

Playing One Champion vs. Playing Many Do you best learn the game by playing one champion or by playing many different champions?


In my opinion, knowing one champion inside and out is a great benefit while learning a game like League of Legends. The reason for this is that there is still a vast array of information you need to learn about the game, such as items, mechanics, map awareness, objectives, and strategy. If you're good with a champion, you can spend more of your time in game learning these other concepts. But you should also take time to play at least one champion of each different primary role. If you’ve only ever played support, for example, won’t give you much of an idea how the other champions in the League play. And if you’ve never experienced other roles, chances are you won’t perform as well in your own role as someone who has. You don't have to play much of the other roles early on, but you should commit to at least trying them. I've played more than three thousand League matches, but I still have not played every champion in the game (some day I’ll try Poppy and Karma… some day). In fact, I am still learning new things all the time. You'll have time to do this. Play what looks interesting. Play until you find a champion you love. And if you want to experiment, do so! But never feel guilty for playing a champion you love over and over again -- you'll still be able to learn the game.

Snowballing Champions & Items Snowballing refers to taking the advantage, then compounding it to get an even stronger advantage. While snowballing is very common and smart in team play, doing so with specific champions or items (I'll cover them in a moment) will not always teach you to be better at the game. New players tend to make a lot of mistakes, including over-extending into dangerous areas of the map, getting caught alone and without teammates, and not knowing their limitations. They also won't usually make effective use of crowd controls and won't know the abilities of their opponents. All of these factors make champions like Master Yi and Tryndamere, who can normally be shut down with good use of crowd controls, very good at completely destroying these players. With each kill and each new item, they become even more capable of killing their opponents. Some items are meant for snowballing as well. Mejai's Soulstealer, an item that stacks ability power on kills and assists (but loses stacks if you die), really lends itself well to overpowering opponents who simply don't know how to respond to you. Sword of the Occult acts similarly, but provides attack damage instead of ability power. Winning is fun. Steamrolling your opponents is fun. If you want to take this route, go for it! My main caution is that it doesn't hold up forever, and as you come across better and more knowledgeable opponents, you'll need to know how to deal with them without relying on snowballing (specifically the kind that relies on specific champions or stacking items).


The other side of the coin is that you'll probably have to deal with people who are snowballing, and in many cases you'll come across players who are significantly ahead of you by no fault of your own. Sometimes you can punish greed by crowd controlling your opponent under one of your towers as they try to dive you. Other times you won't be able to do anything at all, or your options may not be obvious while you're learning the game. Don't sweat it -- just focus on learning the game for yourself.

Dive In & Don't Panic If you've been playing against bots, don't get nervous about playing matches against real players. Just jump into it and accept that you're not always going to do well against real opponents. Once you've gotten over that hump, you'll be able to really enjoy the competitive matches, especially the close ones where your actions made all the difference. Once you're actually playing, don't panic if you're being harassed or getting hit with abilities you didn't know about. It happens. It'll happen for a very long time. And not too long into playing, you'll likely be using abilities that newer opponents don't know about. Just keep in mind that League of Legends has a fairly big learning curve, and this experience is part of learning it.


Tips for Learning Champions Throughout this guide you're going to see all sorts of information about champions, roles, and gameplay tips. However, I'd like to add a few things for you to begin looking at and thinking about as soon as you can.

Muscle Memory Muscle memory is one of the most often overlooked essentials in gaming. When playing a game, your brain will automatically learn patterns, and you will be able to more quickly bring knowledge to the front of your mind when you need it. For example, once you've used the summoner spell 'Flash' for several games, you will become far quicker to react and use it in tight situations. The same goes for using 'Cleanse' more quickly against opponents. Muscle memory isn't just the concept of quickly remembering things, though. It is your physical response time to your mouse and keyboard when assessing a situation. Your brain will develop it quickly for using champion abilities or summoner spells, provided you practice. You've developed muscle memory when actions become second nature for you. I will tend to spend at least my first game fumbling with complex champions before really getting an idea how they play. I might use an ability combo well, but it will be deliberative and thought out, not second nature. This is true even when I know the basic concepts behind a champion already. I won't perform my best with a champion until I've had a full night's rest after I've learned them. I bring this up for two reasons: • •

To reassure you that yes, you're going to make mistakes while learning, and yes, this is completely normal; To encourage you to take time to practice with champions and summoner spells, even if they are frustrating at first, if there's any chance you're going to enjoy them.

Some champions will give you new insight into the game as you play them, particularly when those champions have abilities that force you to think differently. For example, Tristana and other champions can frequently make use of jumping over walls both to escape and initiate, and as you play them you'll get a feel for when to do that. A limited number of champions can utilize placeable units like wards, or to allied units, such as Lee Sin, and this also forces you to rethink how you look at the map. Once you've played champions like this and developed muscle memory for them, you'll be better at playing against those champions, as you'll be able to think like them.


High Skill Cap Champions Some champions are considered higher skill cap than others. Skill cap refers to how much there is to learn about that champion, along with the associated muscle memory, before you are playing at the champion's potential. Lee Sin is a good example of this. He has three basic abilities, which can all be activated a second time for a different effect. His abilities are all dependent on the position of other units, and using all of them effectively takes an extraordinary amount of practice. Because of the large number of combos he can pull off with his abilities, only a handful of the top players in League of Legends have mastered this champion. High skill cap does not mean that a champion is difficult to pick up and contribute to a team (though in some cases they can be). It also does not make these champions inherently better than other champions, though in some cases it will give them an edge in the hands of a very good player.

If you're interested in really getting a challenge in League of Legends, consider trying to learn one of the higher skill-cap champions. You can get a fairly accurate idea of which champions these are by looking through the champion information pages in your League of Legends client and looking at the Difficulty slider.

Ability Combos & Rotations Some champions, such as Ashe, have a set of abilities that each work independently and really don’t need to be used together. However, other champions rely on using their abilities in specific sequences, or at the same time, to maximize their strengths. Malzahar is a good example of one of these champions. Whenever possible, a Malzahar player wants to land all three of his normal abilities on opponents, then immediately cast his ultimate. Malzahar’s first ability silences opponents, his second ability creates a zone of damage beneath the opponent that deals damage every second, and his third ability deals magic damage to his target every second. However, while casting his ultimate, both he and his target are temporarily unable to take any actions. By landing


all of his abilities before using his ultimate, he doesn’t lose out on any damage because he’s not able to cast, and his opponent can’t do anything to heal or escape from the damage they’re taking. A lot of ability combos will come naturally to you as you play a champion, but it’s always a good idea to see what other players are doing. Reading champion guides either from my own “Don’t Feed” series or on other areas of the web is a good idea when trying to learn these combos.

Crowd Controls Abilities that prevent enemies from performing certain actions are crowd controls. For example, stuns and fears can totally prevent players from controlling their character. Slows prevent players from moving at full speed, roots prevent them from moving at all (but they can often still cast abilities and attack), and silences prevent spells from being cast. There are many other types of crowd controls in the League and they’re all very good at their job. When you see your allies using crowd controls or when you’ve just used one of your own, try to wait before using another crowd control. If three people stun a player for 2 seconds at the same time, that player is still only stunned for 2 seconds. But if the three players stagger these casts, one after another, they can potentially get a full 6 seconds of stuns, making the target much easier to kill.

Skillshots Skillshots (skill shots) are abilities that are not targeted, but are instead aimed in a direction or on a location. These abilities are not guaranteed to hit your intended target, and due to travel time, opponents may be able to avoid these abilities by responding quickly. While the number and types of skillshots are too diverse to cover here, here are some basic tips to help you out as you're learning to use them: • • • •

Lead your target based on where you believe they'll be when the projectile hits them, not where they currently are, unless they're standing still; If your target is trying to dodge a skillshot you're about to use, wait until they've stopped before you fire it; If you or an ally have a reliable crowd control, wait for that before using your skillshot against them; If you're using a location-targeted skillshot that goes over units, such as Kog'maw’s Living Artillery, try firing it right behind where your opponent is standing -- aim it so they'll get hit if they stand still and they'll get hit if they run backwards. Many players, especially early on, instinctively move backwards when a skillshot is being fired towards them (even if the skillshot is also aimed behind them).


Speed, Dashes & Blinks A lot of champions have dashes or blinks that can move you towards a location quickly, or abilities that dramatically increase your movement speed. Some of these are targeted on enemies and require you move towards that target. However, others do not require this. Here’s a quick look at the differences between each type of movement: • • •

Movement speed lets you cover large distances but won’t get you over walls and isn’t as good as dashes or blinks when avoiding skillshots Dashes and jumps move you from one point to another, though you may be hit by abilities in between each point Blinks instantly move you from one point to another without being affected by abilities in between each point

When learning a new champion you may be tempted to use these abilities to jump into fights -- and in some cases, you'll be right to do so! However, try to think about whether you'll need to use these abilities to escape an upcoming fight if things start looking bad. Abilities that require you target enemies can sometimes be used to escape, too, if there are minions or flanking opponents moving in. By saving your movement abilities to escape, you will be able to recover from mistakes or bad calls while you're learning. You might miss out on a kill here or there, but it often pays to be a little cautious until you're confident in your play and your knowledge of your opponents. Keep this in mind when using the Flash summoner spell as well.

Steroids When playing a new champion, look through your abilities for any that provide you a significant increase to a stat, such as Attack Speed or Physical Attack Damage. These are called 'steroids.' If these are on a short cooldown or, better, are passive and will always be applied to you, you should consider making item choices based on them. For example, Fiora gains a massive bonus to Attack Speed with one of her abilities, making it less important to build items that increase her Attack Speed. There's a lot of theory involved here and you won't necessarily want to stray too far from basic role items (covered in the 'Champion Roles & Recommendations' section of this guide). However, evaluating steriod abilities will help you improve your overall understanding of the game.


Champion Ability & Attack Range Many match-ups in League of Legends are determined by the range of your attacks and abilities. After all, longer range means you can stay at a safer distance, and potentially get more damage or crowd control out before an enemy champion is able to do anything to you.

While in game, you can mouse over your abilities, both passive and active, to see how much range they have even if you’re not activating them. Additionally, you can hover over your attack damage (in the lower left by default) to see exactly how far your normal attacks can travel.

Attack Animation & Projectile Speed I'm going to get into a fairly technical concept here but it will help you as you're learning to last hit to gain gold in the early and mid game. Note that I also have a video on YouTube on this same subject called Stutter Step, Attack Move, and Awesome Keybinding Trick (if you can’t click a link from this file, you can also find it linked in the Members section). Attack Animation is the speed at which a champion will complete a normal attack once an attack is ready. Projectile Speed is the speed at which normal ranged attacks will travel towards their target. These are not explicitly listed stats (as such I don't list them in the 'Stats' section of this guide). Attack Animation & Projectile Speed have an enormous impact on attempting to farm and last-hit minions that are receiving damage from other sources. Some champions, such as Nautilus, have very slow swing animations that prevent them from immediately hitting a target when the player orders an attack. Other champions, such as Corki, have extremely fast Attack Animations and Projectile Speeds that allow them to very easily farm minions within range of them. Attack Animation also plays a role in chasing and kiting enemy champions, as movement must be interrupted while the animation reaches the point where the attack occurs. Once a projectile is in the air, a player can immediately move again until their next attack is ready, and players should get in the habit of moving between attacks. Being able to do this will dramatically increase your ability to chase


and kite, as well as reposition or dodge enemy skillshots while farming. Particularly fast champions can even stay ahead of slow opponents who are attempting to flee while still getting normal attacks off. Finally, I'll leave you with a tip. When I'm playing champions who have slower projectiles, such as Sivir and Kog'maw, I'll tend to move closer to minions I'm trying to last hit (provided it's safe to do so). Getting as close as you safely can to a minion greatly reduces the travel time of the projectile, allowing you to more easily land that killing blow.


Beating the Smurfs 'Smurfs' is a community-created term that refers to players who have significant League of Legends experience but have started a new account and are playing with low-level players. In some cases, this is harmless, and is just used to get a new character up to level 30, perhaps to attempt to start fresh on the ranked ladder. In other cases, players are trying to get referral rewards. And in other cases, players may be starting a new account after playing DOTA, Heroes of Newerth, or DOTA2, and may play at a very high level just based on experience in other games (these are not technically smurfs). But in a lot of cases, players start smurf accounts because they're not enjoying playing against experienced players as much as they enjoy slaughtering new players who don't know how to play the game. And even in the cases of players with a more legitimate reason to be on a new account, a lot of them will also bring a poor attitude towards the legtimately new players in their games. Experience doesn't speak to skill, but it does speak to experience. Smurfs may or may not have much player skill, especially against more experienced players, but they do have experience. They're going to know more about champions, abilities, and basic strategies than their opponents. They're going to have some of the basic concepts of the game down that new players haven't learned yet. What makes many smurfs bad? 1. They will berate and insult you; 2. They will attempt to kill you over and over; 3. They will avoid objectives and prolong the game so they can continue killing you. Worst of all, you will not learn anything about how the game is played at any competitive level by playing against smurfs. It's sad that I have to write such a significant section of this guide for such an obnoxious group of gamers, but hey, it's the internet. A lot of people are jerks. Read the following sections to learn ways to deal with them and make your way through the leveling process.

Leavers & AFKers Leavers & AFKers are players who stop contributing to a match in progress. They're not smurfs, but they're just as likely to ruin an otherwise good match. While leavers and AFKers will happen at every level of the game, there is an astronomically high chance you'll come across them in the lower levels. This is because this is the level range where people are: • •

Getting frustrated due to other factors (such as smurfs) and quitting the game; Not at the point where they realize that leaving or AFKing in a match is hurting their teammates and wasting their time;


•

Not aware of other problems that may conflict with League of Legends, such as internet connectivity or slower computers.

The reasoning doesn't really matter. And, in all honesty, there'll probably be some point where you need to leave or AFK in a match yourself; given enough games (I've left a game five times in a few thousand matches). If your team has more leavers and AFKers than the opposing team, chances are higher that you'll lose the match. What do you do about it? Tough it out, accept the loss, and move on. I know that's not a great response, but it's the only one I can give. The problem drastically diminishes as you get to higher levels and wind up against better opponents.

Bot Games (Cooperative vs. AI) Bot games (Cooperative vs. AI) place you on a team with other human allies. You'll be playing against fairly well scripted computer AI opponents. So, I'll start with the big thing. Bot games were really bad when I first started playing League of Legends. The AI wasn't very good and there was a very limited number of champions that bots could control. Both the AI and champion selection has improved since then. That said, you're still not playing against human opponents, and you're not going to learn too much in the way of advanced tactics until you do. But bot games are fantastic for learning all of the basics in a friendlier environment. There are still going to be occasional jerks in these games, but you can ignore them. Your Goal: Reach at least level 10 in bot games unless you're playing with friends. Most of the smurfs stay in the level 1-10 range (many of them dropping off because the referral bonuses only require level 10).

Play With a Patient, Experienced Friend My wife and I played through the game and had a great deal of fun doing so. You probably have a friend or significant other who plays League of Legends. Whether they're pro players or not, they're probably going to be miles better than you if they're level 30 and you're brand new. They'll be able to give you advice, especially on champions they've played, and they'll be able to help deal with smurfs. By virtue of them being in a game with you, the average level of opponents you face will be a bit higher, but this can work in your favor if it brings you out of the smurfs bracket. In the same vein, try to make friends who play League of Legends. The game is just a lot more enjoyable with friends. Having at least one other player with you will make all the difference.


Turn Off “All Chat” In your options menu, under the “Interface” menu in the left column, scroll down until you see this option:

Cross-team chat serves virtually no purpose and it’s frequently used to harass and egg people on. While not everyone will want to turn this off, I’ve personally found it dramatically increases my own enjoyment of the game, and it may help you as well.

Try Howling Abyss, 3v3 Twisted Treeline, and Dominion These game modes are a less popular than the 5v5 Summoner's Rift map. This works to your advantage in having to deal a little less with smurfs. Dominion matches are usually much shorter. While they won't teach you much about the main map mechanics, they can be a good way to practice with a champion's abilities, and their length makes them ideally suited to when you can't invest much time into the game. The best part of the short length is that you won't have to put up with much from jerks. Howling Abyss is a little newer on the scene. Before a new map was set aside for this, it was originally known as “All Random, All Mid,” or ARAM, and you may still see it referred to by this name. The concept is that you are randomly given a champion (out of the champions you own), and your team must play with the champions given. There are a few extra caveats, such as the ability to earn tokens that allow you to redraw different random champions if you really want to do something different. The game itself grants faster experience and gold, along with constant combat and some item differences. Personally, I find Howling Abyss to be a very enjoyable game mode. Unlike Dominion, it’s still essentially a fast game of Summoner’s Rift, and it’s very enjoyable when you have some friends and want to kill some time. It’s also a good way to force yourself to try new champions.


Ignore & Report Jerks You will likely come across jerks as long as you play this game. It happens, and it's not just a low level thing. Even at the highest levels of play you'll still occasionally run across them.

If you would like to ignore a player, open up the scoreboard (default is holding down 'Tab') and click the chat icon on the far right side of the tab menu. After the game, report players who are being jerks -they're sent to the Tribunal, a player-run justice system, and may be warned or even banned.


Quick Cast (Formerly Smart Cast) When you cast many spells in League of Legends, you will first be asked to verify the direction or the target of your spell. Then, when you press the key again, the spell will fire. Quickcasting is a game option that causes most of your spells to automatically fire without first verifying a direction or a target. Instead, abilities that are quickcast will be targeted on the enemy or location where the mouse cursor currently is. Most, but not all, top players use quickcasting. This is because it takes tangibly less time to cast spells. This is especially important on champions with short cooldowns or champions who benefit from casting multiple spells rapidly to create devastating combos. By definition, quickcasting lets you cast faster, react more quickly, and have your spells off cooldown sooner. What are the drawbacks to quickcasting? • •

•

You will need to develop muscle memory to avoid accidentally firing spells. This will take a little while. You will no longer be able to see the range or path of spells before you fire. This is difficult to deal with when you don't know the champion you're playing too well. (We'll discuss this a little later) You will find it next to impossible to stop quickcasting once you start.

I'm a huge advocate of quickcasting, but it can be daunting to start using it, and you don't need to start doing it right away. Let's discuss how to set up quickcasting and then talk about some of the options available.


Quick Cast Setup By default, most users will have quickcast keys bound to 'SHIFT + Ability.' In other words, if you hold down the SHIFT key and press your ability key (usually Q, W, E, and R), you will quickcast that ability. However, you can change this:

By clicking this button at the top of the Hotkeys menu you will turn quickcasting on for all items and abilities. You can also disable this later by clicking the button to the left.

You can also enable and disable inidividual abilities and items by clicking the toggle button beneath them. Dark backgrounds mean quickcasting is disabled; highlighted backgrounds mean quickcasting is enabled. This can be helpful if you prefer to aim some critical abilities but still want rapid responses on others.


Quick Cast Range Indicators

At the very bottom of the hotkeys menu is an option to display range indicators when quickcasting. With Quick Cast Range Indicators active, holding down the key for a quickcast ability will show its range. This primarily helps for skillshots, and is ideal if you still aren't familiar with the range of a champion's spells. Additionally, you can cancel spells before they’re cast by clicking on the ground. A lot of pro players use this setting, but there is one downside. Normal quickcasting causes an ability to fire when a button is pressed down on your keyboard. Quickcasting with Quick Cast Range Indicators causes skillshots to fire when a button is released. The difference is extraordinarily small, but if you're all about performance and you know the range of your abilities, you're fine to avoid this setting.


Quick & Self Cast (Key Bindings) Some abilities can be cast either on yourself or other targets. To cast these abilities on yourself you would normally hold down ALT + Ability (or whatever you bind it to in the menu); or, with Quick Cast enabled, you could also hover over yourself or your interface icon to cast the ability. But here’s another option:

Quick & Self Casting combines self casting with quickcasting. If you're not mousing over a valid target for a spell, you will automatically cast it on yourself instead. I personally recommend not using this setting, as it forces you to move your mouse cursor to choose between quickcasting and self casting, and it can be trickier (i.e. more prone to mistakes on some champions, especially support champions). Given that you have to move your mouse cursor more to use this setting, you can actually wind up putting more into using this setting than you’re gaining from it.


Champion Roles & Recommendations Every champion in League of Legends is unique. Even when they share similar abilities with other champions, their specific collection of abilities and stats bring a different flavor to the game. However, it's also true that we can broadly classify champions into several categories, and this can help you more quickly pick up and play champions you're not familiar with. Here are the categories I'll be covering: Primary Roles • • • • • •

Fighter Marksman (Formerly Ranged Attack Damage Carry) Mage (Formerly Ability Power Caster) Assassin Support Tank

Primary roles are generally exclusive, meaning a marksman will not also be a mage in a single game, nor will a support also be a fighter. Assassins are an exception to the exclusivity rule, as they may build and potentially play very similarly to mages or marksmen. Drawing a hard line between an assassin and a mage, for instance, can sometimes be difficult; For example, Katarina is listed as an assassin, even though her single target damage is fairly low compared to other assassins. On the other hand, Ahri is considered a mage, even though she plays very similar to other assassins. Both of these champions could be correctly qualified as both mages and assassins.

By the way, you can view which champions are categorized under which primary role by using the dropdown menu in the champion listing on your profile. Some champions are designed so that players can choose to play them as different primary roles, sometimes even at different points in the same game. For example, Morgana has strong support abilities such as a shield, two disables, and an area magic resist reduction on enemies. She also can dish


out significant damage. For this reason, Morgana can be played as a support or a mage, though to be most effective in either she will want to commit her runes, masteries, summoner skills, and early items towards one role. Let’s look at the secondary roles: Secondary Roles • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Carry Pusher Poke Initiator Counter-Initiator Disengagement Chase Disruption Jungler Stealth Mobile Zoning Anti-Carry

Unlike primary roles, secondary roles are not mutually exclusive. Even though some primary roles naturally lend themselves to certain secondary roles (marksmen, for example, are generally carries, and tanks are generally initiators and disruptors), the line is not absolute. Sivir, a marksman, is a good example of a champion who can fulfill several secondary roles at once. She is able to be a strong carry and pusher, while having a moderate poke. Nearly all champions have some crossover in what they can provide to a team. I will talk more about each of the secondary roles after covering the primary roles.


Marksman Marksmen are ranged champions who deal a significant portion of their damage through normal ranged attacks and deal primarily physical damage. Marksmen tend to become strongest by bringing in a lot of gold, usually from consistent minion farming in the lane, and tend to be less dependent on their level to be effective than mages. By the late game, a well-geared marksman may be the highest damage output champions in the match. Good examples of marksmen are Miss Fortune, Sivir, Ezreal, and Ashe. Generally speaking, marksmen champions have a long attack range, allowing them to stay at a distance from their opponents. Though some marksman champions are stronger in the early and mid-game, they are all very capable at later stages of the game, provided they have strong item builds and are playing smart. The most important advanced skill to learn for the marksman role is positioning. Being in the middle of a fight unnecessarily exposes yourself to AOE damage and directly targeted spells that you may otherwise be able to avoid. A well-positioned marksman will have at least two escape paths available regardless of where they are, and will be near their teammates without being too exposed to the enemy team. For marksmen, it's generally true that many fights come down to a decision on whether to focus a specific enemy dealing a lot of damage to your team, or focus down the front line of enemies so you can more safely break down the damage dealers in the rear. Evaluating when you prefer front-line targets of opportunity or when to take the more risky approach of moving into their front line to hit opponents in the rear, is important for any team. Effective marksman players will be very good at last-hitting minions to earn additional gold. This skill is critically important and should be practiced in every match.


Jinx

Why This Champion Stands Out Jinx has a strong mix of abilities that give her the potential to shine in skill match-ups. However, her ability to switch weapons to gain a much longer attack range is what makes her a fantastic addition to most team line-ups.

My Thoughts Relatively few marksmen have a long enough range and a diverse enough ability kit that they will do well in nearly any team composition. Jinx offers strong long range poke and chasing potential with her Zap skillshot. Her Flame Chompers allow her to root her pursuers in place, giving her an advantage that few other low-mobility marksmen have. And her Super Mega Death Rocket gives her the ability to make awesome cross-map snipes similar to Ashe, Ezreal, and Draven. But it’s her Switcheroo that makes her a champion worthy of most teams. When activated, she is able to bring great damage from a much safer distance, especially when taking down towers. Combined with her ability to slow and root approaching opponents, she synergizes perfectly with other tower-pushing champions. I strongly recommend learning Jinx if only for her range. However, other champions that do well in this role are Tristana, Caitlyn, and Kog’maw, each of whom bring their own strengths.


Miss Fortune

Why This Champion Stands Out Miss Fortune deals very strong single-target damage, can apply a healing reduction debuff, and can drop great damage on an entire team with her ultimate.

My Thoughts Miss Fortune is a very simple champion. She isn't the best and she can get focused down later in the game without much effort. That said, she has extremely high early game damage thanks to her Impure Shots and Double Up, which can allow you to dominate lanes. She has a healing reduction that allows you to win lanes that have a healer like Soraka. She is also a very fast champion (provided she hasn't taken damage). Impure shots makes early game farming easier since the bonus magic damage can help immensely in last hitting. Her early game farming and champion killing potential can help get her to a point where she has a clear advantage in the late game.


Sivir

Why This Champion Stands Out Sivir has extremely strong multi-target damage in teamfights and can push lanes and towers very quickly.

My Thoughts I have more consistently won games with Sivir than any other ranged marksman. Her early game isn't the best, she has a short normal attack range, and she doesn't become an amazing farmer until a little later in the game. Why is she great? Let's start with her on-demand spell shield. Many champions telegraph when they're about to cast a spell, and getting really good with Sivir's spell shield will save you time and time again from all sorts of things. It also returns mana, which either regenerates your mana or strongly discourages your opponents from harassing you with spells. With an opponent crowd controlled near her, she can easily land both strikes from Boomerang Blade. Along with a normal attack and a normal attack reset with her Ricochet, she has incredible burst potential in the early game. Later in the game, combining this damage with an AOE crowd control such as Leona's Solar Flare or Amumu's Curse of the Sad Mummy, especially in a tight area such as the jungle, combined with her ultimate bonus on your team, Sivir can easily be damage needed to turn the fight totally in your teams favor. Team fights in the jungle are where I've picked up the most multi-kills with her. Her ultimate is also great when you’re not able to easily communicate with your team. Since it's a highly visible teamwide aura, it is often enough to tell your teammates to either engage an enemy team or to run away. It's pretty easy to understand.


Ezreal

Why This Champion Stands Out Sivir has extremely strong multi-target damage in teamfights and can push lanes and towers very quickly.

My Thoughts A little before Pulsefire Ezreal released, I started to really take the time to learn Ezreal. He's a really fun champion both as Ability Power or as a Ranged Attack Damage carry. His primary weakness is a very short normal attack range, making him vulnerable when he moves in close to deal with opponents. He's all skillshots. You simply can't play him effectively unless you're willing to accept this and learn to play. You'll also want to enable quickcasting to really get the most out of his combos. He is one of only a few highly mobile marksmen (along with Corki and Tristana). His Arcane Shift blink allows him to quickly get in or out of a fight.


Urgot

Why This Champion Stands Out One of the more interesting champions, he is a marksman that plays very similar to mages and often builds similar to fighters. Though he has a very short normal attack range, he can land targeted damage at an extremely long range.

My Thoughts Urgot is an odd champion and one that doesn’t often get much play (though he did have a solid streak of popularity in Season 2 and early Season 3). He belongs to a small class of physical damage dealers that rely on their abilities, meaning most of his damage and utility comes from his spells rather than normal attacks. Even though he is a ranged champion, he has a very short attack range by comparison to other ranged champions, making him unfit to be played as a marksman. All that said, most of the fun in Urgot comes from successfully landing his acid canister on an opponent who tries to move near him. If he does this, his acid hunter (Q) shots will all guide themselves directly to the target, ignoring minions or other objects in the way. The cool thing? These missiles can be fired across an extremely long range, and can even follow targets in bushes if you correctly guess where they are. Landing a canister on an enemy carry during a team fight can allow you to devastate them from a range. Add in a strong slow, a decent shield, and an extremely strong utility ultimate that allows him to initiate for his team and you have the great champion known as Urgot. If you're playing Urgot, consider cooldown reduction items such as Brutalizer and Frozen Heart. Why? With enough cooldown reduction, you can fire one additional missile while the canister debuff is still on the target. I remember dozens of kills I've gotten due to getting that one extra shot in.


Mage These are the mages, wizards, or sorcerer archetypes from other gaming and fiction. Mages are champions who generally rely on spells to deal damage, and will become stronger throughout the game through a combination of Ability Power and levels. Mages are the most diverse group of champions, encompassing a wide variety of playstyles. Good examples of mages are Veigar, Brand, Cassiopeia, and Ahri. Mages often have ability combinations that significantly improve their performance and chances of success. For example, Ahri's Foxfire and Orb of Deception are both strong damage abilities, but they can be avoided by smart opponents. However, a successful Charm after dashing towards an opponent with her Spirit Rush ultimate, guarantees she can easily land her Foxfire and Orb of Deception, thus maximizing her damage output. As always, positioning is critical, and it is dependent on the particular toolkit your champion has. For example, champions such as Xerath and Lux benefit from being further away in a fight, but champions such as Morgana, Karthus, and Fiddlesticks must stay in the middle of a fight to be most effective with their abilities. If you're at the rear, keep an eye on your flanks in case an enemy champion attempts to approach you from this direction. Mages tend to benefit more from levels than from gold, though gold is certainly very important in reaching their potential. Some mages such as Morgana, Mordekaiser, and Vladimir are able to easily clear waves of minions and collect the gold from them, but good players on any mage champion should know how to best approach farming gold from minions.


Lux

Why This Champion Stands Out Lux has extremely strong long-range abilities that allow her to zone and pressure opponents from a safe distance. Her ultimate allows her to snipe opponents from a long range for very satisfying kills.

My Thoughts Lux plays well as a support, but I find she really shines when played as a Mage. She’s an extraordinarily safe champion due to her long range and she brings a lot of utility to her team. But nothing is quite as satisfying as her ability to dish out extreme-range damage with her laser ultimate, giving her the opportunity to attempt steals on Baron and Dragon from a long range and snipe out low health players. The trait I’ve found so appealing about Lux is her consistent snares and her slowing field. In teamfights, and especially in chases (or escapes), she can control entire zones extremely effectively. If her team is being sieged at their towers, she can easily wave clear full waves with her ultimate, and both slow and clear the alternating waves with her slowing field and snare. And if her opponents try to dive, a wellplaced binding can turn the fight entirely around. Very few champions directly counter her at all stages of the game, so she’s generally a safe early pick for a mage.


Ahri

Why This Champion Stands Out Ahri rides the line between assassin and mage with the mobility to quickly close on targets and the sustained damage to stay near teamfights.

My Thoughts Even after several rounds of nerfs, Ahri is a truly enjoyable champion for me. Here's what makes her good: Her ultimate allows her to teleport to a nearby location three times in rapid succession. This is very strong for escaping and for getting in range of an opponent, but even better for landing her other abilities. Because of her strong damage output and mobility, Ahri can not only avoid incoming skillshots with ease, she can also bring down many opponents with a full ability combo. All of her abilities are skillshots, so you have to be comfortable with this, and I recommend turning on quickcasting to play her effectively. In tournament play, Ahri with Teleport and Flash has been popular and effective, in large part due to her ability to effectively split push (as she can clear waves quickly and can dash away with her ultimate when caught).


Cassiopeia

Why This Champion Stands Out Though she lacks mobility and long range, Cassiopeia’s short range power is devastating.

My Thoughts Cassiopeia was my second highest played champion in Season 3, and here’s why: Where Kassadin forces you to learn to be aggressive, Cassiopeia forces you to learn to stand your ground and not run away from fights. With mana and well-placed poisons, she has among the highest sustained damage outputs in the game – she can go toe-to-toe with virtually anyway who stays within range. But when I say that she teaches you not to run away from fights, I don’t mean you shouldn’t be moving. If she lands her poisons she will move dramatically faster and her opponents will be slowed significantly (especially with a Rylai’s Crystal Scepter purchase), allowing her to kite away from opponents while maintaining damage on them, as well as chase even very fast champions. Cassiopeia has only a single targeted ability, Twin Fangs, but one cast of this isn’t very strong. However, if her opponents are poisoned, this ability has an incredibly short cooldown, allowing her to act like a machine gun towards her opponents. Because both of her poisons are skillshots, and because timing is critical, this means that she is also great for learning to land skillshots and getting used to quickcasting mechanics. Her weakness is her lack of mobility and her somewhat short range, particularly on her Twin Fangs and her ultimate. Like a snake, though, getting close to her can result in a devastatingly quick death. Cassiopeia is normally played at mid lane, but I’ve played her very successfully at top lane and bot lane (and somewhat successfully in the jungle). At bot lane she can do absurdly well when paired with Soraka due to the mana returns (which in turn allow her to cast spells quickly, which in turn allows her passive to stack, making her spells cheaper, etc.).


Assassin Assassins strike quickly, often from darkness, killing their opponents. Often best when waiting in the flanks, they excel at ambushes and hit-and-run tactics. They are likely to build items similar to either mages or marksmen though they tend to excel at close-range combat. Good examples of assassins are Akali, Fizz, Kassadin, Kha’zix, Rengar, Talon and Zed. Assassins are designed to quickly kill engage and kill enemies that lack survivability. In other words, targets with low health and low armor or magic resist may be ideal targets. All assassins have dash, blink, or gap-closing mechanics that allow them to quickly get in range, and may also have a crowd control to keep their opponent from immediately reacting. Nearly all assassins have tools that allow them to reliably escape. For example, Talon’s ability combo often ends with his ultimate, which grants him temporary stealth and allows him to run away from a fight. As of Season 4, the only champion listed as a primary assassin without a strong escape tool was Nocturne, who also happens to be the only assassin that easily builds to safely stay in the front line rather. Like carries, assassins can come from different primary roles, particularly mages and fighters. Unless assassins have an extraordinary gold lead (either from champion or minion kills), they may transition to another role or be very careful about how, where, and when they enter skirmishes and team fights (usually to burst down a carry in the rear). Assassins are uniquely vulnerable to being targeted and burst down by enemy teams. Because they tend to perform best by focusing heavily on damage items, and because their damage requires them to move close to their targets, they walk a fine line between wrecking their opponents and being wrecked themselves. I’ll illustrate this with a personal anecdote. Early in Season 3 I was enjoying Kha’zix and decided to play him heavily in ranked. Though I did objectively well in most of my matches, I went on a losing streak that dropped me from the top of Gold 3 back down to Gold 5. When I studied exactly what was causing me to lose games, I found that I was often misjudging a single late-game fight or ambush, either by going in too early or not backing off when I should have. Because our opponents knew the highest damage player was down, they either won the game or made critical objective plays such as Baron while I was down. Because of this, I believe that the key factor in winning games as assassins is learning when to stay out of a fight and for how long.


Kassadin

Why This Champion Stands Out Kassadin can move rapidly across the map with his riftwalk, able to close in and kill nearly any vulnerable target.

My Thoughts Almost completely opposite of Lux is Kassadin, a heavy mage who relies on getting in close and bursting opponents down before getting back out. I don’t have as much play time with Kassadin as any of the other champions on this list but I’ve really enjoyed playing him due to his extreme mobility and ability to easily push most mages out of mid lane. Kassadin is extraordinarily safe against all but a handful of champions who can lock him down (such as Pantheon). If you want to force yourself to be aggressive, Kassadin is your pick. If you want to learn the roam around the map to pick up kills, Kassadin is also a great way to start. If you want to be able to see teamfights from a whole different perspective – one where you can dance around the perimeter, get burst damage out on the ideal target, and often back out and wait to do it again – Kassadin is also awesome for this. Kassadin’s primary weakness is physical damage assassins, as well as marksmen who can survive his burst and can lifesteal between his volleys. If you’re a marksman going against Kassadin, consider continuing normal attacks on him when he engages rather than running away (which allows him to wait out his cooldowns and burst you again). While you won’t necessarily win if you’re not doing well on items, you’ll almost certainly lose if you attempt to flee but can’t get to safety quickly.


Fizz

Why This Champion Stands Out Fizz is the definition of slippery. He is able to stay near teamfights and frequently engage in them, using his abilities to get out of even some of the worst situations.

My Thoughts Fizz is one of the most mobile champions in League, and he packs an enormous amount of damage. On top of this, he can jump onto his trident to avoid nearly every ability in the game, he can run directly through minions without needing to path around them, and he has a longer-than-normal attack range for a melee champion. In the early game, Fizz can struggle to farm minions if he’s harassed by his opponents. But with a little bit of ability power, he can engage softer opponents the moment he hits level 3, bullying them out of the lane or even killing them. Later in the game, building a Lich Bane and some ability power allows him to assassinate soft targets with ease, and his mobility allows him to get back out of a teamfight once he’s done. From here, he can wait in the perimeter to engage once his cooldowns are available. Fizz is among the highest damage champions in League, but he does have a higher skill and game knowledge requirement than many other champions (such as knowing when to use his pole jump to dodge abilities).


Nocturne

Why This Champion Stands Out Nocturne can travel across a large area of the map to hit a vulnerable target with his ultimate. Unlike most assassins, he can be comfortably built and played to stay in the front line and initiate for his team.

My Thoughts Nocturne is one of my recommended junglers. His passive and Q give him great jungling speed, allowing him to quickly clear and move on to ganking. He is generally very survivable, and if he’s ambushed, he has a chance to escape thanks to his spell shield. But the main thing is his ganking potential. Because his ultimate allows him to travel to a target from a significant distance away from them, he can move into a fight from locations that are less likely to be warded. Even if the location is warded and his opponents see him, he can often still cast his ultimate and engage them anyway. He's great for picking off low health players, and he's generally strong for ganks -on top of everything else -- because of his targeted fear.


Fighter These are stronger and often more defensive champions. They tend to be melee-range or short-range champions who deal most of their damage when they are standing next to a target. Good examples of fighter champions are Irelia, Garen, Riven, and Darius. Like mages, fighters encompass a wide variety of champions in League of Legends. Some deal primarily single-target damage, such as Warwick, while others deal more multi-target damage. Some bring very strong crowd controls, such as Riven, Nasus, and Tryndamere, while others bring no crowd control at all, such as Master Yi and Fiora. Not all of them are purely melee-range, as is the case of Urgot, who plays similar to other fighters such as Yorick, but is technically a ranged champion. In the current environment, the majority of fighters build significant survivability at the expense of damage. Melee fighters are often in the most dangerous position in skirmishes and team fights. If an enemy team has "snowballed," or gained a significant advantage your team, the fighter is often penalized first as they must be a part of fights but may be at extreme risk of dying. For this reason, the best fighters will be those who will do everything they can to stay on top of their gold income by effectively last hitting minions, and will make item decisions that allow them to survive the enemy team. Only a minority may build purely offensive, and these tend to be assassins or champions with their own mechanics that help them survive or escape (examples are Fiora, Master Yi, Shaco, Talon and Tryndamere). This does not mean they should always build purely offensively, and the point is here more to illustrate how few melee champions can get away with heavily offensive builds. (If you’re playing one of these champions, you may find more useful builds under the marksman section) Melee fighters tend to be the front line in engagements, and their goal is often to break up enemy fighters to reach and disrupt or kill carries. That said, melee fighters with crowd controls should learn to effectively peel opponents off their own carries as well, as this often leads to better results than simply going after an enemy carry.


Jax

Why This Champion Stands Out Among the simplest champions to play, Jax’s close range power and mobility makes him one of the most devastating champions in the game.

My Thoughts Jax is often described as a “stat stick,” and for good reason. He requires little finesse or player skill to play well, instead gaining his power almost exclusively through farming and item purchases. Within the first few levels of the game he can bully most opponents out of lane and, once he acquires his ultimate, he immediately becomes one of the strongest one-vs.-one duelists in the League. The difference between Jax and many similar duelists is his extreme mobility. Like Katarina, he can jump to any valid target within his range, including allies. Coupled with a well-timed stun, he can usually get on his opponents and lock them down or force them to burn important cooldowns. This mobility allows him to be at home in the most mobile team compositions just as easily as pure teamfighting compositions. Jax excels at bullying his lane. If he’s allowed to do this unchecked, he can become an unstoppable split pusher.


Jayce

Why This Champion Stands Out Extreme versatility allows him to apply long range pressure, move to mid-range and use his cannon form, and once he’s ahead, move directly into melee range to finish off opponents.

My Thoughts I've fallen in love with Jayce. He is incredibly versatile in that he can be effective as a jungler, as a solo top, and even as a marksman in some circumstances. He is also effective against many mid champions. What makes him great? He is extraordinarily fast at moving across the map, he has low mana costs, and most of all he has incredible combo potential. He is a very high skillcap champion. This guy is the definition of the phrase 'easy to learn, hard to master.' All of this said, his weakness is also very clear. He cannot avoid being close to enemy teams during team fights, even if he is in his ranged form, if he wants to get most of his damage out. All but one of his abilities (he has nine) have a shorter range than the base attack range of most marksmen. This means he can be harassed in the early game by some champions, and if he can't survive some damage, can be shut out in late game team fights more than many other champions. Even with that weakness I have had immense fun playing him.


Olaf

Why This Champion Stands Out See target, kill target, and if you’re about to die, kill everyone else too.

My Thoughts Let me start by saying that Olaf is a great solo lane champion as well as he can go against a lot of champions well. However, I personally enjoy him most in the jungle. His ultimate allows him to ignore crowd controls for several seconds while becoming much more survivable. For this brief time, he can simply run straight through an enemy team to quickly lock down or kill an enemy carry. He is the definition of an anti-carry. This ultimate also lets him get away with all sorts of antics, such as running into the middle of enemy teams to attempt to steal Baron Nashor or Dragon, or running through their jungle to try to steal buffs without fear of being unable to escape. To be amazing with Olaf you'll need to become good at using his Undertow. This is his axe throw ability that deals high damage, has a strong slow component, and can be picked up to dramatically reduce the cooldown. Beyond this, he is very survivable at low health due to his passive attack speed and his lifesteal and spell vamp ability. Additionally, he has an extremely strong single-target ability that deals true damage (cannot be mitigated by armor or magic resist), making him exceptionally good at dueling.


Support These are champions who primarily contribute to their team by supporting the actions of their teammates, either with healing, shielding, vision, or crowd controls. These champions tend to be less gold and gear dependent and may benefit from items that provide bonus gold, so they work well with marksmen as it allows the marksman champion to generate gold safely without competition. Good examples of support are Soraka, Janna, Sona, and Lulu. Support players assist their teammates in achieving victory. In the early game, they often stay with at least one other player, providing them with survivability in the form of healing, shields, buffs or auras. They may also have crowd controls, debuffs, or some damage that they can use against enemy targets. There's a term, "zero CS support," which refers to support who do not normally last-hit minions for CS (creep score), instead leaving the gold to their ally in the lane. This is a very common playstyle, but the best support players do not treat this as a passive playstyle. Instead, they may attempt to: 1. Harass opposing players with spell usage and disables; 2. Actively and inconspicuously ward and counterward when their lane partner is safe; 3. Deal damage to certain higher-health minions to allow their lane partner to more easily last hit them for gold; 4. Deal damage to higher-health minions when it may prevent minions from reaching a tower, again assisting their lane partner in more easily last hitting them for gold; 5. Heal or buff allied minions (if possible) at key moments to deny the opposing team easy last hits; 6. Last hit and kill minions themselves when their lane partner will not lose gold or experience as a result. On the final point, knowing when you can safely get farm as a support involves understanding the lane and map mechanics. Simply because the lane partner is out of lane (at base, dead, or otherwise) does not mean that the lane is safe to be farmed and pushed, as doing so may deny that player opportunities when they return. If I sound draconian on this, I certainly don't mean to. This is how "zero CS support" tends to play out, but it doesn't mean it's the only way to play a support champion, and it doesn't mean it will always stay this way. In most situations, especially in solo queue, a support player may be best suited to placing most or all of the wards on the map (even if this is not always ideal, there are a lot of players who simply don't or won't place wards). The best support players will be effective not just at warding great positions frequently, thereby getting vision on critical areas of the map, but also countering enemy vision by purchasing vision wards and potentially using red lens trinkets. The main goals of vision are: 1. Prevent ganks on allies and unexpected team fights and skirmishes; 2. Allow for ganks and ambushes on opponents;


3. General map awareness of where opponents are, allowing for the team to take objectives the opponents cannot easily respond to. Support should be positioned away from the front lines of fights. There are limited exceptions, such as Alistar, Janna, Morgana, and Taric, each of whom have abilities that may strongly encourage being closer to the fight, if only briefly.


Sona

Why This Champion Stands Out With auras, healing, and initiation, Sona is the definition of a classical support healer.

My Thoughts Sona was the first champion I ‘mained’ in League of Legends, and she’s seen a few changes (and nerfs) since she was first introduced. She is the epitome of a support, with healing, auras, and debuffs she can apply to her opponents. Sona is the definition of an easy-to-learn, difficult-to-master champion. At a basic level, her abilities are all straightforward, and they’re easy to use effectively. But to maximize her potential, managing her auras and using the best Power Chords for each situation is necessary. Her ultimate is a frontal AOE stun that can totally change the dynamic of a teamfight. Because of this, along with all of her other strengths, she is one of the more popular support picks in tournament play. I’d definitely recommend Sona as a starter support for nearly anyone.


Thresh

Why This Champion Stands Out A variety of strong crowd controls and a good normal attack range would earn him a spot as a good support. Add his hook and his lantern and he becomes a fantastic support choice for nearly any team.

My Thoughts Thresh is the one champion on this list I haven’t played all that much, in large part because he’s very frequently banned in ranked play. But he’s a tournament favorite, and there are a few reasons for this. First, he has a hook similar to Blitzcrank, except that he’s also able to pull himself to his target. This gives him quite a bit more versatility in his positioning and offers him some escape mechanisms. Second, and probably more importantly, he can drop a lantern that allows teammates to pull themselves to his location. This is totally unique in League and it allows less-mobile champions to reach locations quickly (such as entering the Baron or Dragon pits from over the wall or getting out of a bad teamfight in a pinch). Finally, he has three separate crowd control abilities, and all of them can be used either offensively or defensively. This is especially true of his ultimate, which massively slows any enemies who cross over its walls. Separate of these core reasons, he has a mid range normal attack that allows him to harass effectively in lane. If you main support and want to make incredible plays, learn Thresh.


Janna

Why This Champion Stands Out Janna excels at preventing damage, disengaging from enemy teams, and enabling strong pushes. Because of this, she is a favorite among teams that focus on objectives.

My Thoughts While Sona and Soraka may focus on healing and auras, and Thresh excels at locking opponents down, Janna excels at preventing damage altogether. She achieves this by using her Howling Gale tornado to prevent pursuers from reaching her or her allies, slowing opponents who try to dive, shielding her allies, and using her ultimate to knock opponents away. Additionally, she allows nearby allies to move significantly faster. These bonuses make her a perfect fit for teams that want to focus on taking down objectives. If her team wants to push together, her shield can keep critical allies alive and her ultimate and tornado can peel opponents off of them. If her team wants to split push, she can use her abilities to help her team entirely disengage from an enemy team while the split pusher continues in another lane. When necessary, she can initiate some fights, particularly against single opponents. Her bonus movement speed can allow her to catch up to an opponent, and can then be traded for a strong slow against that opponent as her allies catch up. For what it’s worth, her Monsoon ultimate is actually somewhat dangerous to use when your allies rely on skillshots to net kills. Knocking an opponent out of the path of a critical ability can cost kills that might have otherwise been secured.


Tank Tanks contribute to their team by controlling the chaos of teamfights, often through crowd controls and aggressive positioning. These champions can either be the core to a front line or they can stay back to help peel enemies off their vulnerable allies. Good examples of tanks or initiators are Alistar, Leona, Nautilus, and Blitzcrank. Tanks are champions who control skirmishes and team fights. The tanking role is a lot less dependent on raw survivability than it may seem at first, and a lot more dependent on the ability to control chaos by initiating and disrupting opponents. Simply being able to survive damage does not make a tank good if your opponents realize they can ignore you and go directly for higher priority targets. That said, survivability is necessary to being the most effective tank. Tanks are similar to supports in that they may also lane with another player in the early game, and may be best suited for ward and vision coverage if their allies are not helping with this. However, many tanks can jungle effectively (such as Amumu, Maokai, and Rammus), and many can play a solo lane effectively (such as Cho'gath, Galio, and Singed). Tanks are not absolutely necessary in a team composition, particularly with the effectiveness of survivable melee fighter builds. However, they are still frequently used and can still be major assets to the team they're on. Because tanks must focus so heavily on balancing defensive stats, I strongly recommend reading the Stats section of this guide before tanking.


Amumu

Why This Champion Stands Out Great survivability, extreme multi-target damage, and a large instant AOE crowd control make Amumu a force to be reckoned with. He may be older, but he is consistent.

My Thoughts Though I’ve played him since he was released, and though he’s always been a strong champion, Amumu is a newer addition to this list. As I’ve spent more time playing Ranked matches, I’ve realized how incredibly strong he can be against most team comps. League of Legends has a lot of area-effect crowd controls, but Amumu’s ultimate covers a massive area. On top of this, the lack of casting time or delay means the effect is applied instantly, unlike other area effects (such as Leona’s Solar Flare). For a tank, his damage output is phenomenal, to the point that he can often go head to head with all but the most mobile or fed enemy champions. I find myself frequently zoning out enemy marksmen and often even killing them before they can ever enter a teamfight.


Leona

Why This Champion Stands Out While none of Leona’s abilities are the strongest in their class, her mobility and her frequently-available crowd controls create a very enjoyable experience and a top-tier tank.

My Thoughts Leona is one of the few tanks that excels in a duo lane with a marksman (or as part of a kill lane with another damage dealer). She has an immense amount of crowd control, including a snare, stun, and ranged AOE stun/slow ultimate. On top of this, she is extraordinarily survivable with her Eclipse even before she picks up many items (which helps if you’re not picking up many minion kills in a duo lane). Leona is designed to work with other champions, as she applies debuffs to her opponents that her allies can explode for bonus damage. She works best with aggressive allies, and does great when bursting down opponents who rely on long-term health regeneration (heals, etc.) rather than high health or bulkiness. She has trouble, though, if her lane pushes up to an enemy tower, making it much harder for her to safely initiate a fight. Later in the game, cooldown reduction allows her to chain together crowd controls, helping to lock down enemies throughout long teamfights. If your team lacks a front line or tanky champion elsewhere, Leona is a great pick.


Cho’gath

Why This Champion Stands Out Cho’Gath has two big things going for him: He’s able to survive just about anyone, and he’s able to kill just about anyone.

My Thoughts Like other tanks, Cho’Gath has some fairly strong crowd control that he can use to peel opponents off his allies. Unlike other tanks, Cho’Gath’s Feast ultimate is capable of instantly killing injured opponents regardless of how much armor or magic resist they’ve built. Because of this, he poses an unusually large threat to anyone who needs to move near him. Beyond this, he has fantastic crowd controls. Slower or less reactive champions will be unable to avoid his Rupture, while champions that rely on their spells can be devastated by the long silence from his Feral Scream. His weakness is that both of these are skillshots and he has relatively few ways to reliably lock down very mobile champions. Other than dealing a large burst of damage, Cho’Gath’s Feast ultimate also grants him a stacking health buff. The downside to this is that his survivability partly relies on these stacks, and any time he is successfully taken down he loses half of them; He may need time to recover them between teamfights or risk being more vulnerable in the next fight. The upside, though, is that this bonus health gives him the flexibility to build other items – he can either build armor and magic resist to amplify how tanky he is, or he can build bulky caster items like Rod of Ages to amplify his damage.


Secondary Roles As said earlier, secondary roles are not mutually exclusive. In this section, I'm going to expand on exactly what each of these secondary roles does. It will help not only understand the game and the options within the game, but the terminology that players use.

Carry A carry is a champion who can wipe out an enemy team with extraordinary effectiveness. In most cases, a carry has made damage items a primary investment and lacks the survivability of more durable allies as a result. Carries are often high priority targets in team fights, both in defending them if they're allies and killing or forcing them out if they're enemies. As a rule, marksmen and mages can -- and often should -- be built as carries. However, champions from other primary roles can fulfill the role of carry if they're doing extraordinarily well in a match.

Pusher Pushers are champions who excel at rapidly clearing minions in lanes and, in many cases, at taking down structures quickly. Champions with naturally strong AOE such as Vladimir, Mordekaiser, and Morgana are good at pushing minion waves towards enemy structures quickly. Champions with abilities that temporarily increase their damage output or reset their attack swing timers are often very strong at pushing structures. Some of the best pushers, such as Sivir, are capable of achieving both quick minion clears and high structure damage. Strategically, pushing does more than take down towers and minion waves quickly. Champions who are strong pushers can force opponents to make a decision between staying and defending their structures or leaving for another objective. In the mid and especially late game, strong pushing can lock down an enemy team and force them away from objectives, including Dragon, Baron Nashor, and other structures. Two or more champions pushing separate lanes at one time is referred to as "split pushing." This can be very difficult for an enemy team to counter, as they may be unable to group together without losing structures as a result. Teleport is generally a very strong summoner spell for pushing, either for getting into a lane or quickly getting out of one.


Poke Long range abilities, particularly those that can pass through minions, are poke. Champions with these abilities can slowly saturate and damage opponents, softening them up for a team fight or harassing them to where they can be killed (or, at the very least, to where they may avoid trying to kill you). Poke abilities are spread out across a wide variety of champions. Examples are Janna's Howling Gale tornado and Kog'maw's ultimate, Living Artillery.

Initiator Champions with abilities or enough survivability that allows them to get a team fight started in a favorable way are initiators. As a rule, all effective tanks should be capable initiators, and most champions who have been designed as tanks have specific tools to initiate. For example, Amumu's Bandage Toss can pull him to enemy champions, and his Curse of the Sad Mummy ultimate can immobilize everyone around him, allowing his team to jump in. Tanks are not the only initiators, though. Many champions, particularly those with crowd controls, can be strong initiators even if they can't take much damage. For example, Ashe's ultimate, Enchanted Crystal Arrow, can stun and slow opponents at a range, allowing her team to quickly follow it up. A Morgana with a Zhonya's Hourglass can Flash into the middle of a group of enemy champions, activate her Soul Shackles ultimate, and immediately make herself invulnerable to guarantee the cast completes.

Counter-Initiator Imagine that amazing initiate listed above. Now imagine it didn't work because the initiator was instantly crowd controlled (knocked up, knocked back, silenced) and their combo was broken. Not all initiates can be effectively countered, particularly those that come in from a range (Ashe's ultimate).

Disengagement Similar to counter-initiation, champions that can disengage help them and their team back out of a fight even when they’re initiated on. Examples are Janna, who can use both her ultimate and her tornado to prevent opponents from sticking to her teammates, and Zyra, who can use her ultimate and her binding roots to the same effect. Disengagement champions work very well with pusher champions on the same team, as this allows for more effective split pushing (covered in “The Impossible Decision” later in this ebook).


Chase Champions with strong chase can stick to fleeing opponents, either with extreme movement speed or extreme mobility. Kassadin, Hecarim, and Master Yi are examples of strong chasers. These champions are sometimes able to close out fights against hyper-mobility team compositions, which are covered in the “Team Compositions” section.

Disruption A disruptor is a champion that can prevent other opponents from functioning at their potential in skirmishes and team fights. At the most basic level, any crowd control can function as disruption, though some champions are better at the role than others. For example, Leona has an immobilize, stun, and AOE stun/slow that she can use in skirmishes, giving her repeated opportunities to prevent enemies from moving, casting, or attacking. Nautilus has a slow, an immobilize, and a knockup. Many tanks are able to frequently disrupt opponents in fights. However, other champions have very strong disruption abilities that can turn team fights in their favor. For example, Wukong's ultimate, Cyclone, can knock enemy champions up in the air, preventing them from moving, casting, or attacking.

Jungler Junglers are champions who gain levels, gold, and experience from killing monsters in the jungle. Ideally, these players are also helping to gank and kill opponents in the main lanes, and are potentially harassing enemy champions in the opposing jungle. Any champion can jungle, though some champions do this more effectively than others. Also, jungling is dramatically improved with full or near-full runes and masteries, meaning it is generally best achieved by players with high summoner levels (though this is less true after the season 2 rework of the jungle). Junglers are important because of their flexibility and their impact on the game. With a jungler, an opposing team must be concerned about unexpected ganks and often must invest gold in wards for additional vision around their lanes. If they don't, they will pay for it if the jungler successfully ganks them. By having a jungler, a team also has another lane with only a single player in it. This dramatically increases the experience the solo player receives (and, if played well, the gold available to them from minions). Jungling is a significantly different playstyle than laning, and I strongly recommend taking the time to research effective jungle routes for your particular champion. On YouTube, search for "Stonewall008" and look for a jungling movie related to your champion. While this won't teach you jungling inside and out, it will give you an idea how to get started.


Smite is generally necessary for the most effective jungling. Because of its ability to turn games in the team's favor by securing kills on Dragon and Baron Nashor, it is better than having an ability that helps more with securing early kills.

Stealth A small handful of champions have a stealth ability that allows them to go invisible to enemy champions. Stealth has two primary benefits: First, it makes the champion much more difficult to hit with most abilities, and impossible to hit with targeted abilities or attacks if the enemy does not have vision on them. Second, it allows for unexpected or sometimes unavoidable attacks, especially when combined with a movement mechanic such as Vayne's Tumble with her Night Hunter ultimate active, or Shaco's Deceive. Stealth can be countered with Vision Wards (the more expensive version of Sight Wards) and the Red Lens trinket, as well as certain champion abilities (such as Lee Sin's Tempest). However, even though there are ways to stop stealthers, a vigilant team with stealth champions may destroy vision wards and prioritize or avoid champions with unused Red Lens trinkets. Stealthed units are not targetable without vision, but most AOE attacks and skillshots will still hit the target if you can accurately guess where they are.

Mobile Mobile champions are those with abilites that dramatically increase their mobility in fights. This comes in all forms, including movement speed increases (ex: Udyr, Skarner), dash abilities (ex: Irelia, Tristana), or blink/flash abilities (ex: Kassadin, Ahri). In a class of their own are the champions with global movement ultimates -- Twisted Fate, Nocturne, and Pantheon -- who can move across huge areas of the map quickly. Mobility is strong in chasing and escaping. It is generally best at closing the gap between a champion and a high-priority target such as a carry. Mobility and positioning has a big impact on the outcome of skirmishes and team fights, and a team with a very large mobility advantage usually has an advantage in team fights since they may be more capable of pursuing fleeing opponents and escaping unfavorable fights.

Zoning Preventing or strongly discouraging opponents from entering an area, or keeping them in a favorable area, is zoning. Though important throughout the game, this often has its largest potential impact in the early game when initial gold and experience can be denied. Zoning usually occurs in one of two ways. 80 | Learn the League

The first way is through champion abilities. Persistent AOE spells such as Morgana's Tormented Soil and Anivia's Glacial Storm are very dangerous to opponents and deter enemies from standing in them unless absolutely necessary.Delayed effects such as Lux' Lucent Singularity and Gragas' Barrel Roll can prevent players from moving around them until the effect has expired. In the case of Ziggs, both Hexplosive Minefield and Satchel Charge act as strong zoning tools and can block map chokepoints. The second means of zoning is fairly simple, and can be achieved with any champion in the right circumstance: The risk of death. If an opponent has been harassed down far enough, or if their lane mate has been killed and they're facing two opponents, they may believe they are at a significant risk of being killed if they stay too close. Zoning occurs if the champions with the favorable situation position themselves very aggressively, often behind the enemy's minions, so the enemy champion cannot safely approach to earn gold or even experience. Some champions are naturally good zoners. Pantheon's Spear Shot and Gangplank's Parrrley both offer short-cooldown harassment to their opponents, potentially bringing their opponents low enough after several uses that they can no longer safely move in range. Olaf's Reckless Swing is a strong deterrant to enemies who must use melee-range attacks on enemies near him to earn gold. Player terrain abilities such as Anivia's Crystallize and Jarvan's Cataclysm prevent players from easily moving in a direction. While these don't fall into the traditional meaning of zoning (as zoning usually implies active, but not forced, pressure on opponents), they're still important to keep in mind.

Anti-Carry The anti-carry is a very specialized role and is usually limited to a small number of champions. Carries are often ranged champions with enough range that they can position themselves behind the front lines of fights; they're also often champions who've invested more into damage than survivability. Anti-carries are champions who have both the damage to burst these opponents down and the ability to reach them in skirmishes and team fights. Most assassins can be played as anti-carries in most match-ups as the game progresses. However, other champions are particularly well suited to the role. For example, Olaf can be built very survivable while still providing very strong damage, and his Ragnarok ultimate allows him to ignore all crowd control, letting him run directly through an enemy line to burst down a carry. If Urgot lands his Noxian Corrosive Charge on an enemy carry, his powerful Acid Hunter attack can wreck that carry at an extreme range.


Where You Belong – The Meta Where people go in Summoner’s Rift, as well as what roles they fill, are all part of what many in the community refer to as 'the meta,' or metagame. Understanding these concepts will help you determine which lane to enter at the beginning of a match. Before going further, let me throw in a caveat. The meta is accepted strategy among many players in League of Legends, but it’s not always the best way to play, and it’s not always what you see from organized teams at tournaments. My sincere hope is that, once you’ve soaked in everything this e-book has to offer, you will be able to break out of the meta in smart ways, both by yourself and as part of a team. These particular recommendations have remained fairly consistent since the end of Season 1. You’ll likely want to spend about 15-20 minutes in these lanes unless your team has started grouping up before then.

Fighter - Solo Top At least one player in a team should be playing a fighter. One fighter should usually go alone to top lane, and may also carry Teleport to get down to the bottom half of the map quickly, particularly when taking Dragon in the early and mid-game. This player normally focuses on maximizing their gold by last hitting minions in the lane. Since they'll be solo, their ability to more reliably survive gank attempts makes them better suited to this lane. A mage with strong escape mechanisms can also fill this role.

Mages - Solo Mid At least one player in a team should be playing a mage in the role of a carry. This player should usually go to mid lane. Mages tend to gain more from levels and higher ranks in abilities than other champions. By going solo mid, they can maintain a level advantage while they're in a relatively safe lane. Alternatively, some assassins (such as Talon or Zed) and some anti-carries or long-range poke champions (such as Urgot) can be good to send to this lane, as they can counter the enemy mage.

Marksman & Support/Tank - Duo Bot A team should have one marksman in the role of a carry. This player should usually go bot lane with a partner. Marksmen tend to benefit more from gold income and items than other champions. For this 82 | Learn the League

reason, they are well suited to playing in a lane with another player who is protecting them and allowing them to farm more effectively. The second player in this lane is usually a support, though a team may choose to put an initiator/disruptor such as Leona into the lane instead. This player is usually responsible for keeping the marksman safe and opening up opportunities to harass opponents. Alternatively, some teams use a 'kill lane' setup that is designed to prevent an enemy marksman from being able to effectively farm. This is usually a pairing of champions that can quickly burst down an enemy, even if they have a support player. This is higher risk. When playing with a partner at bottom lane (or any lane), keep in mind that your personal play is usually not as important as how well you two work together.

Jungler One jungler on a team is usually ideal. This player should be playing a role that is complementary to the team, such as a fighter or tank. The importance of having a jungler is that it allows another lane to run solo (usually top lane), allowing more overall experience and gold potential for the team. It also prevents the opposing jungler from gaining additional gold, experience, and buffs for their team by invading frequently.

Why Not Send Two Top? The most common question is why there are always two bot. After all, why not send two top instead In terms of the meta, the answer is Dragon. By having the majority of your players near Dragon, you can more readily move to take the kill early in the game. If your opponents are taking Dragon, you have more people ready to react. This is also why having a ward at Dragon (covered in the Map Dominance section) and having a player in top lane carry Teleport (to get them to that ward) is important. While Baron Nashor (on the top half of the map) is important, he doesn't become available until later in the match when your team may already be moving as a group. Getting ahead in the early game is important in your lane, but huge gains are made by securing early Dragon kills.

Can You Switch This Up? Absolutely, and people do it all the time. The above lane designations work better than others, on average, but are not always the best. They're stronger if you're in draft mode and picking counters to enemy champions; however, in blind pick, there are advantages to being more flexible.


After all, if you send a mage to mid lane and they are guaranteed to lose the lane to an opponent that can destroy them, how does that benefit your team? Experimenting as a team is fine. Switching lanes (even during the match) to a more favorable match-up is always a good idea if it can recover a bad situation. And sending hard counters to lanes specifically to lock your enemies down early is smart play. Anecdotally, my second most played champion in Season 3 ranked matches was Cassiopeia, a mage. But I rarely ever played her at mid lane – I mostly countered the meta by using her at bottom lane and occasionally at top lane. I consistently remained at a higher-than-50% win rate with her, despite a lot of failed experiments with champion pairs (my results: Cassiopeia/Teemo sounds a lot better than it is; Cassiopeia/Soraka is a lot better than it sounds). As I said, the purpose of this book is not to tell you how your team must play in every circumstance. I want to arm you with the knowledge to make smart decisions. I felt it was important to include this section so you know what other players often expect, not because it is always necessarily the right way to play.


Introduction to Ranked Matches & Draft Pick The following is written primarily for solo queue and duo queue ranked matches, though most concepts apply directly to team ranked matches as well. I’ve included this section as the last part of the “New Players” sections. This is because this section largely covers functionality, whereas the advanced sections are designed to talk about tactics and strategy. Please understand that I do not recommend doing ranked until you’ve studied and practiced the advanced sections of this e-book.

Ranked Matches and the League System The League system was introduced with the goal of offering more achievable and understandable goals than the previous Elo system could. Instead of an insurmountable mountain where being a top player meant achieving an incredibly high rating, there are now more established milestones you can achieve along the way.

Tiers & Divisions The system is divided into multiple Tiers. The five tiers are: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Challenger. A large majority of ranked players are in Bronze and Silver league, with fewer and fewer players populating higher tiers.

Once you reach a tier you will be temporarily shielded from dropping out of that tier. In other words, if you move from Bronze to Silver, you won’t immediately fall back to Bronze. However, if you stop playing ranked for an extended period of time (28 days) or if you lose so many games that the system considers you a full tier below where you’re placed, you may fall back to Bronze. The only exception to these rules is Challenger, where the very best players in the region compete for one of the coveted slots, and players who don’t stay ahead will fall back to Diamond.


Each of the Tiers is split up into five Divisions. These are in reverse order, meaning Silver V is entry-level, whereas Silver I is the highest possible Silver division. Again, Challenger is an exception to the rule, with no separate divisions.

Placement & Promotion When you first get into ranked games, you will play 10 placement matches that determine where you are initially placed. Your performance in these games (most importantly, how many you win) determines what tier and division you’ll start at. These 10 games have a disproportionate impact so do anything you can to win them. Each game you play after this will award or remove a certain number of League Points (LP) in your division. League Points are, very simply, a measurement of your progress within the division, and the amount you gain or lose is dependent on Matchmaking Rating (we’ll discuss that in a moment). If you lose enough matches while at the bottom of a division, you will be moved down a division. However, if you reach 100 League Points in your division, you will be put into a Promotion Series. To move up to the next division, you must win two out of the three Promotion Series games. Once you reach the final division inside of a tier – for instance, Silver I – reaching 100 League Points will place you into a special Promotion Series that will require three out of five wins to move to the next tier. While all of your games are important to your rating, you should always do everything you can to win Promotion Series games. One tip that you should keep in mind: Consider taking a break if you’re on a losing streak, as the stress of a losing streak can lead to worse judgment in follow-up games.


Understanding the League Listing The League listing on a player’s profile page gives a lot of information about players and how they’re doing within the tier. Let’s look at this example of the top players in Gold V:

At the top you’ll see there are a number of players up for promotion to the next division. Note that some of these players have green checks or red x markers, indicating how they’re doing in their promotion series to get into Gold IV. Below the promotion listing are other players who are working their way towards promotion. This list is ordered from the highest League Points all the way down to the lowest. If you want to keep track of some of the best players and teams in the world, you can use the dropdown menu at the upper right to look at Challenger Tier.

Matchmaking Rating (ELO) vs. League Points Behind the league system there’s another rating system that isn’t normally visible to the player. This is Matchmaking Rating (previously referred to as ELO), and here’s how it affects you:


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If your Matchmaking Rating is above players near you in your League, you will gain League Points more quickly on a win and lose fewer League Points on a loss, allowing you to more quickly advance. If your Matchmaking Rating is below players near you in your League, you will lose more League points on a loss and gain fewer League Points on a win. Matchmaking Rating, not League Points, determines who you play with and against.

Put another way, Matchmaking Rating is your actual rating, and it influences – but is not directly tied to – your League placement. You can be rated higher than your League and playing against opponents beyond your League, and this will help you move out of your League faster. And, of course, the opposite is true. In each match, League of Legends decides which team is favored to win based on Matchmaking Rating. If you win a match where the opposing team was favored, your Matchmaking Rating (and potentially League Points) will see a larger increase benefit.

The Truth of Elo Hell Since the beginning of ranked play, there has been a concept of Elo Hell. This is the idea that some or many players may, through bad luck, be unable to get out of a hopelessly bad rating. For example, let’s say that in the first ten placement matches, a player winds up having someone AFK or leave their team in five of the games, and then loses two more matches, causing them to be placed in Bronze with a low Matchmaking Rating. By virtue of being placed here, this player then gets teammates who are very poorly skilled, or leave, or are otherwise not capable of pushing a team to win. The idea of Elo Hell is that players who belong much higher in the Leagues can wind up in a bracket well below where they belong, and it can be incredibly difficult to break out of this due to the quality of players that are on their team.

Does Elo Hell Really Exist? Poorly-rated players will tell you Elo Hell exists (and they’re stuck in it). Well-rated players, and much of the league community, tend to say Elo Hell doesn’t exist. These are both fundamentally wrong ways to approach it. It all comes down to how many games you play. Statistically, Matchmaking Rating and the League system are fairly good measurements of the community. But on an individual basis, players can get hurt pretty badly in rating by factors outside of their control. There’s always the potential for unexpected disconnections, feeders, or otherwise poor


teammates. Some of the very best players in League of Legends have gone into low-Elo matches and been unable to win some games due to their teammates. If you only play 20 games, a little bit of bad luck can easily place you way below where you actually belong. On the other hand, if you were to play 200 games, chances are your performance – on average – would be enough to pull you towards where you belong, despite the low performance of teammates. And it’s worth pointing out that the bad luck you’ve experienced will, given enough games, probably average out to the same amount of bad luck the enemy team experiences, and this is where your skill and understanding of the game starts to determine your overall rate of success. If you’re deciding whether to jump into the ring with ranked play or not, consider whether or not you can commit enough games to make up for any bad luck in the early matches. Usually the answer is yes, even if you can only play a few games a week, but it’s certainly up to you.

Rank is not a Measurement of Skill I’m pulling this concept from Day9, a Starcraft personality: Your Matchmaking Rating and League is not a measurement of your skill, it’s a measure of your progress in the ranking system. Let’s say two players are just starting to play their placement matches; one is brand new to League of Legends, while the other has thousands of normal matches played already. Chances are the second player is more skilled and more prepared for his opponents. Just because these two players are placed Silver does not mean they’re both equally skilled. There are a lot of very skilled players who aren’t where they belong, and there’re a number of lessskilled players who are much further up than where they belong. This is especially true in the Bronze and Silver divisions, where having some good or bad luck in placement matches can easily place you in the wrong division for your actual skill. The only time rank is a measurement of skill is when a player has reached a nearly even Win/Loss rate across hundreds of matches and is no longer working to improve themselves as a player.


Ranked Tips & Strategy Let’s lay out a few specific ways to increase your chances of winning in Ranked games. Though this entire e-book is dedicated to this subject, there are a few specific things when it comes to Draft Pick that are worth mentioning.

Draft Pick Overview Before getting into the strategy I’ll explain what Draft Pick actually is. Though you can optionally use Draft Pick for normal matches, all Ranked Games are Draft Pick. Very simply, this game mode means each team can ban several champions from being picked for the match, and then each team takes turns selecting champions. The chosen champions are completely visible to opponents at the time they are selected. Players on each team are sorted in order of their hidden Matchmaking Rating. This means the highest rated player on a team will be the first to pick. Also, this player will be the only player allowed to choose bans for their team. One team is chosen as first to ban. The top player from that team gets to ban one champion within a moderate time window. Note that the list for bans is restricted to champions that are free or that the enemy team owns, meaning you can’t waste a ban on a champion that no one on the opposing team actually owns. If a champion is not banned before the time window expires, no champion is banned for that turn. Note that the team with the first ban is blue team and will start the game on the lower-left side of the map. This may have an impact on how you handle top and bottom lane, as well as the jungle. After the first team picks a ban, the other team does the same thing. This occurs six times in total, meaning six champions can be locked out from the game. Once bans are complete, the top player on the team that had first ban also gets to pick their champion first. Once this is complete, the top two players on the other team get to pick champions. This alternates, with each side getting to pick two champions until all champions have been chosen. After all players have chosen their champions, there is a moderate window of time where players on the same team can swap champions with other players, provided the player they’re trading with also owns the champion.


Solo Queue vs. Duo Queue When queuing for ranked matches you can choose to either join by yourself or to join with a friend. If you queue with a friend, you are usually matched with other allies that have an average rating between each of yours, and you’re usually matched against similarly rated opponents. If you have a friend who is genuinely good at League of Legends, consider inviting them for duo queue. Keep in mind – as I emphasize throughout this e-book – that the measure of skill is not someone who happens to do well farming new players on Master Yi (no offense to Master Yi). You want someone who knows the importance of strategy and objectives, and who will work with you for a better chance to win. If you can use real-time voice chat such as Skype, Mumble, Ventrilo, or Teamspeak, this is even better. Here’s one big advantage to duo queue: If there’s a Matchmaking Rating disparity between you and your partner you usually get to be first and last pick in your match, as other players are at the average rating between you two. This is huge as it allows you to more easily control which roles you’re playing in the match. For example, if you want to play marksman and support together in bottom lane, you can easily call it and first pick a good support (then swap for the marksman) or vice versa. Others in the match tend to be ok with duo picks choosing complementary champions as well.

Banning If you are the top player on either team you wind up with a lot of control over the outcome of a match. By banning champions that are very likely to cause a problem for your team, you will help give your team a better chance. Unless you’re in very high level play where you know your opponents and their champion preferences, it can be a good idea to go into a match with a general idea of who good bans are for your team. In many cases, banning strong initiators such as Amumu and Blitzcrank is a very good idea. Some of my common bans are Amumu, Blitzcrank, Hecarim, Malphite, and Jarvan IV. These are fairly popular bans, and I choose them specifically because they are great teamfight initiators. Many of the champions I play have short cooldowns, so the longer a teamfight goes on, the more damage I will get out; I don’t want a teamfight decided in the first few seconds by one of these initiators. But there are plenty of other great picks. If a champion is known to be strong due to patches, or if people haven’t gotten used to countering a new champion, they may be ideal bans. Champions like Akali, Twisted Fate, and Shen can be good picks, as can many others. The only thing I’d caution is banning out your own lane to make it easier for your pick. For example, banning out Teemo, Yorick, and Jayce if you’re playing Darius is probably not the best use of bans if it will cause big problems elsewhere.


Helpful hint: If you’re banning and you know specific champions you want to ban, use the search bar on the upper right of the champion list! This is a fantastic way of sorting through a large list of champions and quickly figuring out if your opponents do not own the champion. This can also be a great way of finding your own champion in a large list.

First Pick & Early Pick Strategy The first pick player – again, the player who also gets to choose the first ban – brings one special advantage for their team. This player can grab a high-priority champion for their team, either to play for themselves, or to swap to a teammate. For example, if neither team banned Amumu, the first pick for the first team would then have an opportunity to take Amumu without the other team having a chance to contest that. There are two things to consider if you’re one of the early picks for either team: 1. Some champions are more desirable than others and may be worth picking up early, especially if a player is already familiar with them; 2. All champions have counters, and even picking a desirable champion quickly can lead to the other team being able to counter that pick more easily. I’ll expand on the second point with a basic rule: Solo lanes (usually top and mid) are by far the most susceptible roles to counterpicking. In other words, be careful about picking a top or mid lane first during a match, and assume that picking either of these will lead to the enemy team picking at least one direct counter to your champion. For instance, I’d rarely recommend picking Katarina early on. This is because a broad type of champion will help counter her throughout the game (anyone with easy-to-land crowd controls). An early pick means every remaining player on the other team could decide on a champion that can interrupt her ultimate. But a champion like Lux, on the other hand, has fewer direct counters due to her ability to stay at range. She’s a fairly safe champion even against champions who directly counter her; she also has the advantage of being both a mage and support pick, meaning the other team may not immediately know which role she is filling.


The Katarina and Lux examples are not set in stone, though. A great Katarina player can still do fine in lane, and may still find opportunities to pull off great damage even if the opposing team picks counters. Strong assassins and mobile champions with good positioning can still knock out Lux and shut her down.

Champion & Role Flexibility Before getting into communication and picking, there’re two huge tips that will help you out: 1. Play one champion, or a small set of champions, exceptionally well; 2. Be capable of playing as many roles as possible, both with that champion and with other champions. Many of the best-rated players in the world main just one or two champions and play those champions exceptionally well. For example, Cruzerthebruzer has been well known for his amazing Lee Sin play, and also does well with Irelia. Of course, this player can play several other champions at a very high level. Players like this can play hundreds or even thousands of games with these main champions, dwarfing the amount of games they play on other champions. What’s the advantage of this? Having a deep muscle memory with a champion and completely knowing their counters, strengths, and weaknesses, will lead to better performance even in very unfavorable matchups. Knowing exactly what you can get away with is huge. That said, even the best players don’t always get to play the lanes or champions they want. That’s why I also recommend having enough working knowledge to go into other lanes and roles – ideally all of them – are a good idea. If you’re not there yet, that’s fine, but it’s something to keep in mind. As I’ll say a little later on: Never play ranked matches with a champion or role you’re unfamiliar with. While you should strive to learn more champions, it is absolutely not a good idea to try to familiarize yourself with a new champion in a rated match, either for yourself or for your teammates.

Communication Earlier we established that it’s sometimes better to hold off on some champion picks, especially at top lane and mid lane where counterpicks are more dangerous. Along with this, we also want to establish who is playing what role during a match. Good communication goes a long way towards getting this set up. Establishing who you’d like to play early and asking if anyone owns the champion and would like to swap with you is helpful. Along with this, establishing which lane you’d like to play, but being willing to adjust if another role you’re comfortable with is available is ideal.


Don’t be a jerk. That’s the golden rule of getting the game started out right, and as silly as it sounds, Riot frequently cites statistics that good communication directly influences the outcome of matches. That said, avoid giving up your best champion unless there’s no other way your team will make it work.

Pick Order & Toxic Players There are a lot of toxic players playing ranked, and often their attitude is even worse than what you find in normal matches. Communication isn’t always going to be possible. Once you join a match, let people know where you’d like to go or what role you’re playing (i.e. “Mid” or “Jungler”). Keep in mind that pick order is determined by Matchmaking Rating, meaning that players who pick earlier are rated higher than players who pick later. As a rule, the priority for any lane usually goes by the earliest pick. This is because this is based on an actual rating, not on who can more quickly copy+paste a line of text into their client. That said, some players will go out of their way to get their preferred spot: • • •

If they are the first pick and someone calls the lane or role before them in chat, this player will still take their role since they are higher in pick order (this is fine); If someone else is ahead of them for picking, this player will argue that they called it first, so they deserve it over the higher pick; If someone takes their role ahead of them anyway, this player may say “mid or feed” or simply take the role after the other player already has, then troll the game.

It sounds silly but it happens very frequently in all levels of ranked play (even pro players have been temporarily banned in the past for doing this). Before going further, let me emphasize again that your goal is to win the match. For ranked play, that means you want to avoid further egging these players on, even when they are clearly wrong. I’d also make the distinction that players with bad attitudes can still be good players, and you will win more games by avoiding unnecessary arguments. That said, don’t let yourself be bullied into a role you’re not comfortable playing, especially if you’re the first pick for that role. Adjust as best you can for the situation your teammate has put you in. For instance, if you’re a good marksman but not a good fighter at top, take a safe marksman and go play top lane. The bottom line is that you should always play champions you’re comfortable with, even in suboptimal positions, instead of trying to learn both a new champion and a new lane. All of this said, a player isn’t necessarily trolling your game if they believe that call order is the correct way of picking a lane. A lot of people have seen this used often enough by other players that they believe it’s the correct way of choosing a lane.


Checklist for Ranked Games Here’s a quick checklist for succeeding in ranked games. 1. Play one or two champions exceptionally well, but be prepared to play other champions and other roles. 2. If you’re first pick, ban champions for your team, not just for your lane. 3. Communicate with your teammates at champion select. 4. Avoid arguing with toxic players. Keep in mind your goal is to win, and these players are still necessary to make that happen. 5. Don’t play when you’re upset or distracted. 6. If you’re on a losing streak, take a break. And finally… know the rest of this e-book inside and out, and research everything you can about everything in this game in your spare time.


Advanced The following sections are designed for more advanced players, specifically in that they aim to teach strategies and tactics that will improve your play dramatically and allow you to win more games. You can go ahead and jump into these whenever you want to! Like the New Players section, there are several paired movie downloads available in the Members section that you should grab when you can.

Sections Overview Introduction to Advanced League – Before we get into the various tips, tricks, and strategies that allow you to excel, there are core concepts that can help shape our understanding of the game. We’ll look at core concepts of map control, game balance, and champion traits and see how they all fit together. Tactics – The Tactics section offers a look at personal positioning and movement. We’ll look at how short and long range champions work against each other, how to use effective feints and other mind games, how to effectively juke your opponents, and smart ways of using terrain to your advantage. Strategy – In this section we look at the anatomy of skirmishes and teamfights and the different roles each champion will play. Beyond this, we will look at teamfight positioning, how to set up powerful ambushes, and how to use objectives to your advantage. Grand Strategy & Team Compositions – What are the overarching decisions that determine how a game is played and what the outcome may be? Starting with champion select, teams can often be categorized by specific game strategies. This section details how these strategies work, what they’re best at accomplishing, and how you can build teams to make the most of them. At the end, we take a look at how to analyze these strategies in tournaments. The Impossible Decision - Advanced map control strategies are discussed in this section, with clear examples to illustrate how you can implement these strategies and how they’ve been used effectively. Whether you want to play better or you want to understand tournaments better, this is one of the most important sections of the e-book. Make sure to download the companion video! Practical Tips & Advice – As the name implies, this section offers tips and advice for all stages of the game. This covers decision-making, objectives, lane extension, and virtually every major bit of information about how and why certain plays should be made.


Mental Preparedness – What kind of player are you? How can you use your personality to improve your play? What common traps are you falling for that are holding you back from being a better gamer? How can you better work with your teammates? This section offers a very personal look at how to play smarter and have more fun. Map Vision - You may already know wards and trinkets are important and map vision is a huge part of winning games, but this section is designed to lay out exactly where and how to make the best use of vision tools. While ideal for support players, this is important knowledge for anyone who wishes to get ahead in the League. Jungling & Ganking - As one of the most unique roles in League of Legends, I’ve dedicated a large section just to jungling and counter-jungling. Alongside this is a subject important to understand for all players — ganking. These subjects are accompanied by three companion movies.


Introduction to Advanced League In this section we’re going to cover a few critical concepts that will apply to everything else you learn about League of Legends. We’ll start with a look at the core masteries (which will act as an introduction to other sections in the e-book), then we’ll look at some game theory that’s important but falls outside the scope of other sections in the e-book.

The Six Masteries In League, there are six pillars that determine how well you will do in games and ultimately the rank you’ll be able to achieve. These are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Champion Knowledge & Basic Decision Making Map Vision Strategy Mechanics Advanced Game Knowledge Mental Engagement

Let’s break these down a little further. Champion, Item & Role Knowledge – Learning champions, items, and roles is the key to early success in League of Legends. This is true not just for learning your own champion, but also as you begin to learn how others work in League. This knowledge allows you to better estimate when you can be successful in an engagement and when it may be a good idea to back off instead. This is the easiest of the six pillars to benefit from as it comes primarily through game experience rather than player skill or decision making. In other words, you should learn it passively even if you don’t go out of your way to research specific champions. However, while this is the easiest to learn, it’s also one of the most time consuming to learn due to the depth of information you’ll need to take in. Learning each of the roles will tend to come first (though you’ll need to take the time to learn their positioning, strengths, and weaknesses); learning champion strengths and weaknesses, as well as important items comes next; having a complete, in-depth knowledge of each individual champion is the final step. For what it’s worth, I am still learning new things about many champions myself, so this isn’t something you should necessarily expect to do quickly. You can dramatically accelerate how well you learn y trying other champions, items, and roles on a regular basis. If you’re a newer player, though, you may find it easier to focus on one champion while improving in the other pillars first (again, you’ll still pick up knowledge passively).


Map Vision – Map vision involves gaining vision over critical areas (and knowing which areas are critical) and being aware of what’s going on inside that vision. This is covered in more depth in the map vision section. Like champion knowledge, knowledge and experience will help improve this. Unlike champion knowledge, you need to be an active participant in gaining map vision to really learn to master it. Strategy – League has an incredibly complex strategy potential that begins as early as the champion selection screen. Knowing which champions work well with others, how the roles work together, and basic objective control is just the starting point. As you improve and get an idea of advanced map maneuvers, particularly the more effective forms of split pushing, map pressure, and map rotations, you can begin to control games with this alone. Most players will not learn advanced strategy passively. Instead, they will need to actively step back and evaluate the game, and they’ll need to inform themselves through outside knowledge (this is one of the main things I will try to cover in the advanced sections of this e-book). Watching tournaments and really figuring out why players are moving around the map and engaging in teamfights at certain times, especially from top teams around the world, can be very helpful for identifying new trends. Mechanics – Mechanics and micromanaging your abilities, cooldowns, and items are the key to mastering your champion and winning engagements that many players would lose. When we refer to good mechanics, we’re often referring to player reaction time, decision making, positioning, and ability usage, and often in the context of split-second plays. Improving mechanics is done through practice and repetition, but it should also be informed with knowledge. After all, players who don’t realize the importance of flawless last hitting or effective kiting may never try to push themselves in these areas, even if they’re the kind of player that wants to improve. Advanced Game Knowledge – There are a lot of little bits of knowledge that can have a big impact on how successful you can be in a given match. These are things like knowing you can use blink abilities and wards over walls larger than the normal range of these abilities, or knowing that Baron Nashor always prioritizes his main attacks on the player nearest to his center, or knowing the ways you can find out if brush is warded. These tricks will almost never be learned in game unless you’re actively testing it. Reading through the tips in this e-book (many are highlighted in the Summoner’s Rift Guidebook) as well as watching videos and reading champion guides written by players who’ve mastered those champions can help you discover these. Mental Engagement – You need to get your head in the game. I cover this in the Mental Preparedness section of the e-book, but it basically means adjusting to your situation, knowing your weaknesses, seeking improvement, and understanding yourself as a player.


Success Begins With One You don’t need to master all of these at once. With the exception of Advanced Game Knowledge, mastering any one of these can carry you out of bronze. I frequently see players who have big weaknesses in one or two of these areas still reach diamond. The very best approach for new players, in my opinion, is to focus on either mechanics or strategy as you start out. I talk about this more in Mental Preparedness, so read there to learn more about which you’d prefer. While you’re working on these, consume the information in this e-book, as well as live streams from pro players. Tournaments are also fantastic for picking up neat information. As I mention, you’ll tend to learn champions, roles, and items passively, though certainly checking out champion guides can help. It depends on how you spend your time, too. Learning mechanics is something that is really best done inside the game itself, and you may find you have less time to play but plenty of time to read and research outside the game. Let this help your decision. Don’t overload yourself. It’s a big game with a learning cliff that scares off a lot of people. Take this one step at a time and try to get a feel for each of these masteries, but really try to focus on one at a time when you’re getting started.


Map Control

Imagine the map in three general sections, including the blue side, the purple side, and the neutral river. We generally consider that each team is relatively safe on their half of the map, especially early on. After all, even if the enemy team invades the jungle, allies can often still get in the jungle to help, and there’s a pretty good chance of falling back to the tower in a pinch. But why, exactly, do we consider this whole area safe? It’s entirely because of the influence of towers:

Notice how each of the three towers has arrows pointing to common jungle entrances. These jungle entrances, as well as the lanes themselves, are the primary way that the enemy team can access this half of the map. As long as the tower is active near these jungle access points, and a player is accompanying the tower, then we have an influence of control over the entire jungle.


There’s an important mental aspect to this. As players, we are often willing to take larger risks when we feel we can fall back to safety or when we feel that nearby allies can come to help us. We’re more willing to engage our opponents and we’re more willing to enter the fog of war in the jungle even when we think our opponents might be there. We’re more likely to place defensive wards because we feel we can place them without dying. In other words, even though our jungle doesn’t actually have towers in it, we feel much safer knowing we’re near them. But what happens when a tower goes down?

In this example, the blue team has destroyed the purple tower at top lane. Notice how the entire jungle between mid lane and top lane has now become vulnerable. This is because the jungle entrance near top lane is no longer as safe to control, and opponents who enter the jungle from there can go anywhere else in the jungle with impunity. Of course, things like wards or aggressive play can diminish this effect. If you can also knock down one of their towers, you’ll go a long way to mitigating and balancing the effect. It’s not an automatic defeat for purple team. But you’re very likely to see games where a single tower being destroyed has led to a loss of control for a large area of the jungle, especially since the players involved in the tower takedown may be able to roam more freely. And once the jungle is no longer safe for one team, the nearby river is effectively lost for that team as well. All of this from a single side lane tower takedown. What happens for the mid lane?


An early mid game tower is one of the most devastating losses in terms of map control. For the same reasons that losing a side lane tower loses that half of the jungle, losing the first mid lane tower can give you a disadvantage across the entire jungle.

In other words, now minions can be pushed up to the second tower and blue team will be able to move in from either the river or the mid lane to invade the jungle and even flank the side lanes. This is a fairly simplified look at the effects of towers on map control, and we’ll cover objectives and map control in more depth in the following sections. My main goal here is to give you a way of looking at the map in large “zones” of control, as doing so can give you a more strategic look at your actions. On a side note, it’s worth mentioning that the secondary towers in each lane aren’t nearly as impactful on the map, and are intentionally positioned against hard walls rather than accessible jungle routes. These serve more as buffers to defend the base than strategic control points. 103 | Learn the League

Champion Theory Let’s dig into some of the fundamental design decisions that shape champions in League of Legends. This really doesn’t belong anywhere else in the e-book, but the information here can be critical to helping make decisions both in game and out of game.

Champions Are Not Balanced As players, we like to believe that game designers are seeking the best balance possible. We don’t like to see some champions or items seem overpowered and watch as they completely dominate the games they’re in. And to a degree, Riot Games does try to clean up abuse cases where champions are doing disproportionately well against a wide range of opponents. But champions are not intended to be perfectly balanced. In fact, the whole basis of the genre is dependent on champions being distinctly imbalanced from each other. On a broad level, there are several “rock, paper, scissors,” dynamics where champion A counters champion B which counters champion C which in turn counters champion A. We’ll look at this in the next couple subsections. Beyond this, there are cases where champions appear to belong to the same niche, and perceived imbalances here lead to endless debates in the community. For example, there was a popular thread on reddit that attempted to compare Riven and Talon, with the ultimate conclusion being that Riven had the mobility and the stats advantage over Talon, and therefore was a flatly superior champion. In this case and at this time, Riven may have been a stronger champion in many situations. But Talon happens to bring some tools that Riven does not have, these being an instant blink-silence to his target and stealth on his ultimate that prevents him from being hit with targeted spells (provided the opponent doesn’t have stealth detection). Now, against most champions, Riven may still be stronger. But what about a mobile spell caster that relies on being able to see their target, such as Kassadin? Kassadin is not particularly threatened by Riven, but Talon’s ability to engage and silence him before he can react is devastating. This is League of Legends champion balance in a nutshell. Some champions may be stronger than others overall, but so long as champions serve unique purposes and are still brought into matches, this is ok. Because of this, it’s dangerous to get wrapped up in a single champion. A popular line of thinking is that a player who knows their champion inside and out can often beat a player who picked a champion they’re uncomfortable with just to try to counter them. And this is even truer when a player is using a fairly strong champion, such as Riven. But what happens when you have two equally skilled players with one of them playing a hard counter to the other? To avoid this, many of the best players tend to have a pool of at least two or three very solid champions they can alternate between depending on the situation.


As far as overall balance, keep in mind that champion win rates that you see cited occasionally don’t always mean that much. They may reflect the champion being very strong, but they may also reflect other factors, such as being champions that appeal to a small niche of dedicated players who aim to master them. Extremely low rates, on the other hand, are more likely to be an indicator of a problem, as it means even very skilled players may be struggling to win with them. Even this can also be misleading if there’s a big influx of new players trying out the champion, which happens with new champion and skin releases.


Mobile beats Range, Target beats Mobile, Range beats Target As I mentioned, there are several “rock, paper, scissors” dynamics at play within League of Legends. Probably the most overlooked is the relationship between ranged skillshots, dashes and blinks, and targeted abilities. Here’s the basic idea: • • •

Long range champions that rely on skillshots can be closed on and have their abilities dodged by highly mobile champions; Highly mobile champions need to move in close, and are always vulnerable to targeted crowd controls, abilities and attacks that have shorter range; Champions with mostly targeted abilities almost always have shorter range, leaving them vulnerable to long range champions.

While this is a very simple dynamic, it has huge effects on how the game is played at every level. Let’s break this down a little bit more by looking at the characteristics of these types of champions.

Long Range Champions When we think of long range champions we tend to think of champions like Lux and Xerath, but it’s actually quite a bit broader than that. To understand this, we need to look at how skillshots are designed. As a rule, skillshots are not intended to be directly stronger than targeted abilities in most situations. Instead, they tend to have separate advantages, and one of the most common advantages is range. Players are given the choice to play champions with targeted abilities that have shorter ranges, or the choice to go for long range damage with the possibility of missing it. Though there are exceptions, such as Caitlyn and Karthus ultimates, they are very uncommon. Lux and Xerath are certainly good examples, but there are plenty of champions we often look at as being shorter range, such as Cassiopeia, who actually have longer range than you’ll normally find on targeted abilities and normal attacks.

Mobile Champions When I refer to mobility I generally mean dashes and blinks, but very high movement speed works in some cases as well. As a rule, mobile champions are given mobility because they need to be able to close in on their opponents to deal damage. These champions are ideal for closing in on opponents and destroying them. Now, combine this with the fact that long range champions tend to rely on skillshots, and often very good players are able to use their mobility not just to stay in range of their opponent, but also to dodge their skillshots as well.


In addition to their abilities, the most mobile champions are also given a wide range of positioning choices to make during combat. Because of this extra set of options, these are usually the most mechanically complex champions in League of Legends. Some of the most mechanically skilled players in the world have mastered extremely mobile champions like Lee Sin, Riven, and Vayne. There’s one other huge thing to understand about mobile champions. While powerful, they are not always the best champions for late game teamfights if their opponents are on equal ground. This is because almost no mobile champions brings strong shields or heals to their allies (the exceptions being Thresh and single-ally support from Lee Sin’s shield and Nidalee’s heal). By the way, before players understand that mobile champions are supposed to be able to win against skillshot champions, or at least dodge their abilities effectively, League can be a very frustrating game. If you’re just not landing your skillshots against an opponent that’s mobile, don’t feel too bad!

Targeted Ability Champions Champions that rely on targeted abilities and normal attacks tend to have shorter ranges when compared to long range skillshot champions. As mentioned earlier, though, these abilities are often not weaker than their skillshot counterparts. They are reliable at the expense of offering utility or range. These champions, who include Master Yi, Teemo, Kayle, and Ryze, are unquestionably powerful at a close range. Some champions that rely on targeted abilities have abilities that offer increased movement speed. This, too, is relatively easy to counter with some skillshots such as Lux’s Light Binding, as dodging these can often cut out so much chasing time that they can no longer catch up with the longer range champion. Champions that deal most of their damage through targeted abilities or attacks are the simplest to play and be effective with. In other words, they’re much friendlier to newer players or players who aren’t as mechanically skilled.

Skill Gap Closed, Sort Of When talking about champions, note the sections I highlighted. This is to point out a very cool dynamic in League of Legends – the simplest champions are designed in part to counter the most complex champions, which give less mechanically skilled players a fighting chance against more skilled veterans. It’s not enough to cover a huge skill difference, but it’s enough to help within normal matchmaking between players of a roughly similar level. But there is a caveat to this which shows itself in world tournaments. High mobility teams have a very strong record of winning tournaments, especially when played by people who have invested time into mastering these champions. Though we’ve occasionally seen these mobile team comps beat, particularly


by heavy “Protect the Kog’maw” team lineups, it’s rare even with good lineups (there’s a dedicated team composition section that explains this later in this e-book). Why is this? The most mobile champions are often very safe to take risks with, especially in the early game. Even if they go in against short range opponents with targeted abilities, if they’re smart about the risk, they’re still going to come out alive. After all, mobile champions aren’t required to move in close to dangerous opponents, they’re simply very capable of doing so when they choose to. So the worst case for them is that they don’t gain an advantage over their opponents by harassing them, but they usually won’t get themselves killed trying. Their best counters, the shorter range champions, are also the most vulnerable champions in the early game. In addition, maintaining map vision over mobile champions that can get over walls is very difficult to do due to the extra routes they can get into your jungle and gank routes (over dragon/baron pit, etc.). These lead to a situation where the shorter range champions must play more cautiously against the mobile champions, which in turn can snowball a game in favor of the mobile champions to a point where the advantage is lost.

Not So Simple! I don’t want to give the impression that these three attributes – mobility, long range, and targeted abilities – are mutually exclusive. They’re not. In general, there are two things going on: • • •

Champions are either very mobile or they’re not; Champions either have mostly long range or mostly short range; Champions either have mostly targeted abilities or skillshots.

There are only two hard rules that are almost always true, which we’ve already discussed: mobile champions tend to be closer range champions and long range champions tend to use skillshots. We can go a little further and say that short range mobile champions may or may not use skillshots. For example, Lee Sin relies heavily on skillshots and positioning, where Akali and Jax rely exclusively on targeted abilities. It’s rare for champions with short range and low mobility to use skillshots, though some will use close range multi-target or area effect abilities, which are technically skillshots but are much easier to land. Nasus, Udyr, and other fighters often fall in this category (with one notable exception being Rumble, who has both a line skillshot and vector ultimate). Marksmen fall somewhat outside the scope of this discussion. They can all deal very strong targeted damage, but even some champions who can land very long range skillshots for harassment (such as Caitlyn and Ezreal) may also have some mobility. Though this mobility can certainly be used offensively, marksmen tend to have these in their kits to help them deal with other mobile champions who would otherwise quickly burst them down.


Initiation vs. Poking Let’s talk about teamfights in the context of long range and mobile champions. As mentioned, mobile champions tend to be able to close in and initiate against long ranged champions. Longer range champions tend to be able to land strong poke damage or consistent pressure to their opponents. Poke and initiation both counter each other. If a team can very effectively poke another team, initiating a fight becomes increasingly less desirable as the fight is more likely to lose. However, if a team can very effectively initiate an enemy team that is trying to poke, the entire advantage of poking is removed. There’s a lot more strategy to this point that we’ll talk about later, particularly when we discuss Pursuit teams in the Grand Strategy & Team Compositions section. But a general rule of thumb is to initiate fights more quickly when up against teams that rely on poke – look for flanks or players out of position and dive onto them when the opportunity arises. This is usually a better alternative than taking tons of damage and losing the game by inches.


Health beats Burst, Burst beats Sustain, Sustain beats Health When determining how champions work against each other, there’s another simple trio of attributes that you should keep in mind. These are: •

• •

Effective Health: Effective Health refers to your total survivability in a given situation, factoring both health and damage reduction. Champions with high effective health will tend to be survivable fighters (bruisers) and tanks. Burst: Burst refers to your ability to output a lot of damage at once. Champions with high burst tend to be assassin fighters or mages. Sustain: Sustain refers to an ability to stay alive over a long duration. Champions with sustain tend to be marksmen or support.

This is a much more straightforward discussion than the mobility and range subject because these are hard counters that always work against each other. Here’s how: Effective Health beats Burst – Champions that can survive a lot of damage thrown at them at once will not be immediately killed by champions that rely on burst damage for kills. For example, it’s extremely difficult for any assassin to reliably kill a Nasus or Renekton with an available ultimate, as they will simply eat the damage. Tanks and champions who’ve built heavily for survivability are ideal for soaking up burst damage and crowd controls, especially at the beginning of a teamfight, and can help their teams by locking the burst champions down with crowd controls or even killing them. Burst beats Sustain – Champions with high burst are very effective counters to champions that are relying on healing and regeneration to maintain their presence. An extreme example would be Talon jumping onto a support champion like Sona and dropping them before they are able to heal a second time. Other common examples include focusing damage on a marksman or mage with high lifesteal or spell vamp. In these cases, it’s important to finish the job as quickly as possible to make sure they do not recover, especially if teammates may try to heal or shield these players. Sustain beats Effective Health – Champions who can sustain themselves over a long period of time while harassing their more-survivable opponents will eventually win. For example, if Caitlyn has lifesteal in the early game and she’s able to consistently land attacks on the enemy Lulu, she will eventually be able to either kill Lulu or push her out of lane despite Lulu’s ability to shield herself. A better example would be Vladimir shoving Nasus or Shen out of lane during a match, particularly once he’s picked up spell vamp with his items. Understanding these relationships can help you make better decisions in your matchups. When I was learning Teemo and went up against a Vladimir in lane, I found I was not able to effectively last hit through his harassment, and he eventually gained a lead on me and pushed me out of lane. When I came back, I took an educated risk and burned everything I could chasing him through top lane, eventually killing him before he was able to reach the safety of his second tower. If I had not made the decision to attempt to burst him down, I would have certainly lost my lane and possibly have cost us the game as a result.


Many champions do not fall strictly into one role, and will have at least some strength in one or both other roles. Beyond this, it’s very important to use items to help cover weaknesses when you’re being hard countered. For example, if you know you can be burst down by an enemy assassin before you can react, it may be a very smart idea to start building towards a Guardian Angel (your supports will thank you). One more thing: when given a choice on whom to harass, particularly before a big teamfight in the mid or late game, always try to harass the targets that don’t have sustain. If you lob a bunch of damage at someone who can lifesteal back up quickly, that may wind up being a big waste of your time. If instead you’re able to land this on a mage who can’t recover their health and is forced to recall, it can be the difference between taking an objective and idling in a stalemate.


Tactics In this section, as well as the follow-up strategy section, we’re going to take a look at positioning, movement, and maneuvering to gain an advantage over your opponents. Tactics are actions intended to achieve specific purposes. They are the building blocks of broader strategies, and they must be understood and mastered by anyone who wishes to excel in League of Legends. Generally speaking, tactics are things you will learn naturally as you play against opponents, though this section should help put them in a different perspective where you can more easily identify which champions benefit from them and when. Tactics are a form of mastery. They incorporate mechanical skill, game knowledge, and decision making. My goal is not just that you’ll recognize and employ them yourself, but also that you’ll be informed enough to see when your opponents are using these tactics and be able to more effectively counter them as a result. Most of what’s in this section assumes your opponents can’t outright kill you. If you fall far enough behind there’s very little you’ll be able to do to overcome the disadvantage, no matter how good your positioning is. However, make sure to read up in the Strategy and Grand Strategy sections for a better understanding of which strategies work when you can’t take a team on directly.


Understanding Diagrams

Because of the nature of this subject I’ve invested a lot of time in putting together diagrams to explain each subject. Here’s a basic key to these: • •

• •

Position: Where a champion is. Movement: Where a champion is moving to, or where they’re moving from. Occasionally I use a dotted line to show where a champion looks like they’re moving to, particularly for feints, and I’ll explain these later. Pressure: I use this either to show where champions or teams are exerting pressure (lines that opponents do not want to cross) or physical blocks (lines that opponents cannot cross). Ability or Attack: Any time attacks or abilities should be used, either from a champion position or along a movement path. These are usually meant for emphasis, not as strict guidelines. Multiple attack lines are for additional emphasis and mean unloading more damage or attacks than usual.

There are a couple other special illustrations, such as white lines (particular targets or decisions) or scattered dots (minions). In context these should all make sense, and I’ll explain any time they might not. Most of the locations I’ve picked as backdrops for diagrams are replaceable, which is to say, you can use most of these tactics anywhere on the map that fits the same conditions. I did try to pick some good example locations where applicable, and there are a handful of places where the locations are actually specific.


Range The first big subject we’re going to cover is range. We’re going to look at some basic principles, then we’ll move on to understanding how long and short ranged champions work against each other.

Ideal Range

How much distance should you keep between you and your opponent? Your ideal range is the range at which the balance of power between you and your opponent falls most heavily in your favor. This considers things like normal attack distance and maximum ability distance, but also your opponent’s range. Learning to determine where this is, and then staying at this range, is the first core of positioning. I like using Lux as an example for this because her abilities are exclusively long range, but her passive allows her shorter range normal attacks to deal bonus damage. Because of this, a core part of playing Lux is knowing when to stay in range of an opponent for normal attacks or whether to keep your distance. Against a shorter range champion like Cassiopeia, Lux’s ideal range is (somewhat counter-intuitively) her maximum ability distance. This is because Cassiopeia cannot land any damage on Lux from this range. If Lux were to move into her normal attack range, Cassiopeia could unload most of her damage; Even though she could increase her damage by moving closer, she maintains the strongest advantage over her opponent from maximum distance. What about against a champion that will have no problem staying in range of Lux during a skirmish? This may mean longer range champions such as Xerath, or it may mean very mobile champions such as Ahri. In both cases, if Lux is willing to get into a fight, she’ll do better staying in normal attack range for the 114 | Learn the League

bonus damage from her passive. At about this range she may also have an easier time landing her skillshots on her opponent since there will be less travel time for an opponent to react to. If Lux wants to go in for a kill and make absolutely sure a low health opponent doesn’t escape, she may go a step further and either run in or flash towards her opponent to allow her to stay in normal attack range for longer (and possibly drop another spell or ignite more easily). In these examples, Lux’s ideal range could be anywhere from melee range to her maximum ability range. And this dynamic will be true for most champions, including many melee-range champions. Jayce is another champion that really exemplifies this dynamic. In his cannon form, he has a very long range ability that deals considerable damage, as well as relatively strong normal attacks at a much closer range. But by switching to his hammer form, he becomes a melee range champion that excels at close-in killing. The best Jayce players understand this balance and wait for the balance of power to move more strongly in his favor before engaging at shorter ranges. While ideal range for melee champions is a bit more simplified as it’s much less likely to come across opponents with a sweet spot you can abuse, it can be very important to understand for laning against a single opponent and for concepts like zoning, which we’ll cover a bit later. For teamfights, ideal range is important to all champions, regardless of range. This is because you must balance your range against several opponents, and even short range champions must watch for vulnerable opponents that can be attacked while maintaining a safe distance from other key players on an enemy team.


Minion Exchanges

You may already be familiar with the importance of harassing your opponent when they’re moving in to last hit minions. When a player is investing an attack or an ability on a minion, that investment cannot also be used against you (unless they’re using an ability that can hit you as well, in which case you should try to avoid that positioning anyway). Using that same time to damage them gives you a natural advantage in the exchange. I’m including these exchanges to introduce a concept that we’ll look at later for objectives. Minions are a condensing mechanism. Most champions, especially in the early levels, will want to move into normal attack range of minions to finish them off. This gives an opportunity for short range champions to successfully engage longer range champions. Let’s use Lux and Swain as examples. Swain can easily unload some damage on Lux any time she moves in to last hit minions. Lux has two ways to clear minions: She can either use a normal attack or she can invest mana into a long range spell to finish them off. But if she must continually invest mana, she winds up hurting herself in two other ways: • •

She naturally keeps the lane pushed out to the same unsafe distance (or further) by using abilities; She is investing mana, which lowers her kill potential over time.

Short of a gank from an ally, or Lux getting a power spike that allows her to directly engage Swain and knock him out of lane, Swain will be able to keep gaining a lane advantage despite being a considerably shorter range champion. In later levels this particular advantage may go away, but it may help him gain other advantages through the methods we’re going to talk about next.


Relationship between Range & Vision Short ranged champions are generally compensated in some way over longer range champions, whether this is through damage, survivability, or utility. By design, shorter range champions must be capable of fighting or escaping; It’s rare that a long range champion will want to be near a short range champion, because there’s usually a very strong disadvantage to doing so that goes beyond maintaining ideal range.

Fog of war and concealment are the primary tools that short range champions can use to get in range of longer range champions. For example, a short range champion (blue) lying in wait of a long range champion as they return to lane may find they’re able to unload all of their damage on an opponent who would otherwise try to keep their distance. While map vision is always important to a team on a strategic level, maintaining vision tends to be more tactically important to long range champions than shorter range champions. With vision, long range champions are able to use their attacks and abilities on opponents from a greater distance, and are less vulnerable to being ambushed flanked. Practically speaking, here’s what this means before you factor in wards and abilities: • •

Long range champions are more vulnerable in the jungle; Short range champions are more vulnerable in open lanes and the river.

For teams, this is why it’s important for front line players to move in the front when entering the jungle or other concealed areas. Long range champions should also be aware of flash and other forms of mobility, especially when coming from low vision areas, as these are core tools to closing the gap. As a short range player, hiding along an enemy’s likely path is a fantastic way to get a kill. For example, if your opponent has just picked up blue golem and is likely returning to lane, positioning in the brush between the lane and the golem may be a smart idea. 117 | Learn the League

Flanking

Flanking, put simply, is getting behind an opponent. In League of Legends, champions are usually not limited by the direction they’re facing (after all, they can just turn around immediately), so behind means something a little different. When we flank in League, we are looking to get ourselves in what they consider a safe zone for retreat or movement. The ideal flank puts us in a position where an opponent must either fight us, retreat through our current position, or retreat through an equally undesirable route such as near a tower, into the fog of war in the jungle, etc. Flanking offers another tool for short range champions, especially those who lack strong mobility (or don’t want to use it immediately), to put themselves in an advantageous position over longer range opponents. That said, any champion that has a combat advantage over their opponent can utilize this regardless of the range difference. There’s one small thing you can keep in mind for flanking and other positioning tactics: On a computer screen, the screen orientation is wider than it is tall. Coming from above or beneath a target can give your opponents less warning, especially if they’re not paying attention to the mini-map. Though flanks can be used anywhere, let’s look at a couple specific locations that offer strong flank opportunities, especially during the early game.


Mid Lane Flank

At the mid lane, each team has a couple paths where either the mid lane champion or an ally (such as a jungler or roamer) can come in behind an opponent who’s extended into the lane. However, not all paths are equal. The two marked above are ideal for a couple reasons: • •

They are completely out of tower vision range, giving the least warning on a flanking player, and allowing the flanking player to wait a moment before engaging; They are part of other normal routes players may take for invading the jungle or moving through the enemy jungle to flank one of the side lanes.

Note the white lines I’ve drawn here as well. The lanterns at the corner (along with the full path behind) offer a complete vision block that prevents minions or players beyond this from seeing behind them. For this reason, you may be able to get pretty close to the corner itself before being seen. These locations may also be good for simply coming into a fight quickly from out of vision, even if you’re not specifically flanking an opponent.


Side Lane Flank

Each of the side lanes has a strong flanking point right next to the tri-brush. Players who are extended into the lane and either aren’t paying attention to the tri-brush or don’t have vision there are particularly vulnerable to these flanks.

Tower Circling

Beyond being defensive platforms and map objectives, towers act as hard terrain blocks. Melee range champions are usually at a huge disadvantage when initiating fights under enemy towers. This is partly because towers tend to have more attack time on champions who must fully commit underneath a


tower, as very few champions have the mobility to immediately escape a tower before taking at least one extra shot that a longer range champion wouldn’t have taken. But players can also prolong the time spent under a tower by hugging the edge of the tower and circling around it to stay at the opposite side of their opponent. Without a hard crowd control, the defender is certain to be able to buy a little extra time.


Movement Let’s look over some of the core movement tactics. While basic, understanding these will help in all areas of gameplay, from fighting a single opponent to being engaged in a full ten-player teamfight. Before going further, there’s a very important concept I’ve already brought up a couple times in the book, and this is “animation canceling,” or “stutter stepping.” You can read more about this in “Attack Animation & Projectile Speed” as well as in Stutter Step, Attack Move, and Awesome Keybinding Trick on YouTube. While the concept isn’t a tactic in itself, it’s important to all movement, and thus has a big impact on how effective you’ll be with the following tactics. Beyond what you’ll see below, most pro players are in the habit of constantly moving. Some players can issue over a hundred movement commands per minute, often moving back and forth in a small area. This keeps them on their toes, prevents their opponents from landing easy skillshots, and allows them to position better towards their next targets (or away from potential threats) while not sacrificing their damage output.

Staying Ahead of Your Opponent

When your opponent absolutely must move to a new position, such as to retreat back to the safety of their tower, staying directly in front of them can slow them down and allow you to unload additional attacks. Unlike chasing behind the player, solid execution of this maneuver guarantees your normal attacks will land as quickly as they are available. This is an aggressive maneuver. While important for ranged champions to understand, it is most critical for many melee range champions to continue to stick to their target. Pulling this off usually requires


muscle memory with the champion you’re playing, as this allows the necessary animation canceling to stay ahead.

Kiting – The Parthian Shot

The ancient Parthians were archers known for being able to turn around while riding horseback and unleashing arrows at their pursuers. With the development of cannon and turrets, militaries have implemented this technique into a regular part of warfare. In gaming, we call this technique kiting. Put simply, kiting is the use of normal attacks or abilities on pursuers while you are moving away from them. An ideal kite minimizes or removes attacks from your opponent, and tends to be stronger if your attacks or abilities also apply some form of crowd control, such as Ashe’s slowing shots. Marksmen and many mages can excel at kiting. For marksmen, the damage tends to come primarily through normal attacks, with abilities being used to help position. Mastering animation canceling is necessary for marksmen to succeed at this. Mages are quite varied: Cassiopeia relies on a variety of skillshot poisons which increase her speed and slow her opponents; whereas Ziggs will use slowing mines and a displacement bomb to reposition; Lux can snare up to two chasing opponents, slow in an area, and land normal attacks for bonus damage. Items that increase speed or slow opponents are all ideal both in improving the effectiveness of kiting, as well as countering it. This is a high skill maneuver that tends to be used defensively. It is most primarily used by ranged champions, and it is ideal against shorter range champions.


Shoot & Scoot

Regularly between normal attacks and abilities will dramatically increase your ability to control your range and positioning in relationship to your opponents. Mastering this skill is especially important when dealing with high mobility champions or champions that rely on skillshots, as this allows you to more effectively avoid them. Champions with high mobility are ideal for this. For example, Vayne using tumble to frequently reposition can be a nightmare to deal with even when she’s close to her opponents. But regularly repositioning should be an aim for all players, as it improves effectiveness in all areas of combat. This is a critical skill for teamfighting.


Harassment

Move towards your opponent, land an ability or attack at maximum range, and immediately back off. If you outrange your opponent and they can’t penalize you, do this as frequently as possible, provided it isn’t hindering your own ability to last hit minions or costing you too much killing potential in the form of mana loss or ability cooldowns. If you don’t outrange your opponent, use this for exchanging shots with them when they’re last hitting minions. This is much safer when you can start and end the harassment in fog of war, such as brush in the lane. Harassment tends to win lanes and teamfight exchanges over time, but some champions are considerably less vulnerable to it than others. For example, Nasus and Vladimir are both very capable of recovering health from basic harassment once they have a couple items. As a rule, harassment is one of the most effective ways for a longer range champion to bully an opponent out of lane. For example, this technique is part of what gives Caitlyn such an enormous edge over Vayne through the early game.


Body Blocking

If you are better suited to taking damage or abilities than an ally, such as when your ally is at critically low health, then physically standing between them and an opponent can be situationally useful. Body blocking allows you to stop many skillshots from being able to reach their target, and depending on your own abilities, it may allow you to more easily interrupt or disrupt your opponent.

Moving in Range of Allied Abilities There are a variety of abilities that your allies will want to be able to cast on or near you throughout the game. Among these are dashes or blinks that require a target, such as those that Lee Sin, Katarina, and Jax have – moving near them at the right time may help them out of a tight spot. There are plenty of other examples. Thresh may want to drop his lantern, Soraka may want to heal you, or another ally may want to buff you. Most of this comes down to your knowledge on how other champions function rather than your ability to execute any particularly complex maneuvers.


Terrain Though it’s not something we normally think about, the physical terrain across the map should not be taken for granted. There are a number of tactical purposes it serves.

Escape

One of the quickest ways to lose a game you should have won is to be caught out alone in the late game with no way to escape. With flash or any form of over-the-wall mobility and an eye towards nearby terrain, you can avoid these situations and usually escape in a pinch. The more distance your opponents must path around to reach you, the more likely your escape will be successful. Always think about your escape options. Try to consider two alternate paths you can take at any given time.


Side Lane Escape

Each of the side lanes has a fairly strong escape route that mobile champions may be able to use. By falling into the river, past the lane brush, these champions can jump to a very safe area in their own jungle.

Shield

Using local terrain as a physical shield – at the very least – can increase the travel time opponents must use to reach you, provided they don’t have mobility cooldowns available. Think of this a bit like a tower defense game. I’ve only seen this used a few times at high level play because of how situational it is, and it only works with longer range champions like Caitlyn, but it’s certainly something to consider.


Pokes & Hooks

Poking your opponents with abilities and landing Blitzcrank or Thresh hooks on players from outside their vision is one of the most reliable ways to catch them. Pictured above is one popular mid-lane location for doing this due to the likelihood of defending players being on the other side, but nearly anywhere that opponents are in reach can be effective.


Chokepoints

Areas where the terrain narrows into smaller gaps are called chokepoints. Examples of this can be found throughout the map, and are extremely common in the jungle. Chokepoints give an advantage to champions and teams that: • • •

Rely on area effect and multi-target abilities; Benefit from being able to more easily aim and land skillshots (such as a Lux binding); Have the mobility to bypass or circumvent the restrictive terrain.

These are also ideal spots to drop more persistent crowd controls such as Ziggs’s minefield or Lux’s singularity, as well as hard terrain block such as Anivia’s crystallize ice wall and Jarvan IV’s cataclysm ultimate.


Mental Up until this point we’ve covered subjects with clear definitions. An effective flank or ambush will always put a short ranged player in range of a longer range opponent, body blocking will always be good in stopping many skillshots from hitting an ally, and chokepoints will always be more dangerous when you’re up against area effect champions. But these are not, in and of themselves, what defines good gameplay. If there was a perfect response and solution to every action, the game would simply come down to game knowledge and reaction time, and tactical and strategic depth would be unimportant past the champion selection screen. I mentioned this in the “Mental Preparedness” section, but the best example of this type of gameplay is Tic Tac Toe, a game which offers zero fulfillment once players learn the tricks. All great competitive games have an additional level of mental play. As players learn more about the game and advance in their own knowledge, they also learn to better anticipate what their opponent’s goals and thoughts are, which in turn allows them to react to those goals and thoughts. Of course, as they face better opponents, their opponents will also be anticipating and reacting to their own decisions. The following tactics won’t necessarily result in flashy kills or immediate results, but they can encourage players to make mistakes or fall behind.


Pressure

Applying pressure occurs when you present yourself as a force that an opponent must either back away from or engage with at significant risk. This tactic only works when your opponent perceives an imbalance between you and them. One of the best ways to build credibility as a serious threat to your opponent is to bully and harass them early on during the match. Unless your opponent really understands the match-up between your champion and their own, or clearly sees your power falling off (such as easily getting destroyed in teamfights), they are likely to use this early harassment as a guide to their future engagements even if the imbalance no longer exists between you. Pressure can be used for a variety of purposes, including pushing towers, forcing an ally to ask for assistance (thereby preventing the ally from being elsewhere on the map), and pushing opponents towards areas where your own allies can more easily set up a gank. If a player doesn’t react to pressure, or if they’re aggressive towards you despite being at a disadvantage, this may be a good indicator that an ally of theirs is nearby and they’re attempting to initiate a gank.


Zoning

Zoning is a stronger form of pressure where you stay between an opponent and minions or other high value targets. Zoning tends to be a tool used by long range champions against shorter range champions, as well as by champions with sustainable harassment (such as Pantheon’s spear shot or Teemo’s toxic shot). Zoning is much higher risk as it may leave you extended and vulnerable to flanks and gap closers from your opponent’s allies. It’s also considerably more likely that one of their allies will decide to camp the lane to help them get back in the game; this is usually fine, provided you play it safe, and it may allow an effective countergank from one of your own allies. That said, if you wish to maintain the ability to zone an opponent, maintaining map vision is strongly recommended. With minions, the goal of zoning is to prevent the player from earning gold income through last hitting. Very aggressive zoning may also force an opponent far enough away from the minions that they are also unable to gain experience (experience range is much longer than most ability or attack ranges). The hallmark of effective zoning is controlling the extension of the minion waves, ideally by keeping enemy minions closer to your towers than their own, and ideally by freezing the location of minion waves in a single area to prevent them from rapidly moving towards or away from towers.


Skillshot Juking Skillshot juking is when you move in a way that disorients or misdirects your opponents, ideally getting them to cast an ability that you can more easily dodge. An example of this is running in a straight line to encourage a Blitzcrank to use his rocket grab on you, but instantly changing directions once the animation begins, thereby sidestepping (juking) the ability.

In this example, the blue player is moving away from an opposing champion with a skillshot. The blue player is intentionally running in a straight line, and all indications are that they will continue running along this path.

The moment the skillshot is fired, the blue player sidesteps, totally avoiding the ability.


This is just one example, but for completeness there are two more concepts for avoiding skillshots that I want to bring up.

Running roughly perpendicular to where a player may try to land a skillshot is one of the best methods to make it easier to dodge the skillshot. As always, the player firing the skillshot usually needs to predict where you’ll be by the time the skillshot actually collides and lead the shot accordingly:

The value to running perpendicular is that, once the shot is fired, it’s further ahead in your path, and often allows you more reaction time and more leeway to instantly turn around to avoid it. Of course, the drawback here is that pulling off this positioning is not always realistic, and it’s usually something you want to do only when you are ready to engage your opponent directly right afterward (as opposed to using it for an escape, where you’re prolonging the time you’re in their range).


One more thing worth illustrating – Getting up close and personal with your opponent, rapidly walking around them in melee range, is another fantastic way to fluster an opponent if they rely on hitting a line skillshot. The idea here is that you’re able to change your position in relation to your opponent so quickly that it’s very difficult to reliably lead the shot. Additionally, the player may panic and fire the ability too quickly, especially if you’re an immediate threat (Note: if you’re the player firing the skillshot, do not panic here! Wait for a clear shot unless you are certainly going to die if you delay!). It’s worth noting that some abilities have a wider impact area where they’re fired. For example, landing an Ashe ultimate on a target hugging you in melee range is fairly easy, whereas landing a Lux binding is trickier. There are a variety of methods of skillshot juking, including weaving and zigzagging through a path to make aiming the skillshot difficult. Each method has strengths and weaknesses: Running in a straight path, then dodging, lets you more quickly reach a further-back location, is more likely to encourage an opponent to try firing an ‘easier’ skillshot, and is easier to execute the final dodge since you only need to focus on a single sidestep; Zigzagging and weaving slow your overall movement in favor of stronger disorientation for your opponent, but dodging an actual ability requires better timing and reaction as you are less sure of where they’ll fire the skillshot. Juking is a core skill for escaping tight situations or for navigating through damage and crowd controls to reach your target. Even if your opponent believes they’re getting juked, it’s often a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” scenario where they must fire the shot to even have a chance of securing a kill. Missing these shots can be demoralizing, which is also why I emphasize that skillshot-based champions are not expected to win against more mobile champions, as you don’t need to get too worked up over missing shots that were going to be next to impossible to land anyway. Against newer or less skilled players, juking is fairly easy to pull off, but there’s an intermediate skill level where you aren’t sure if your opponents are trying to juke you or just running in a really easy-to-hit path. 136 | Learn the League

At higher levels of play, jukes are assumed, and players will start to get invested in the mental game. For example, when I’m playing Cassiopeia, I know I can usually land poisons by aiming the poison a little behind the target – most players react to area shots by immediately turning around and falling back, and wind up walking further into the poison as a result. But some players will recognize I’m doing this and instead move immediately towards me, avoiding my poison, and initiating a fight that may go in their favor since Cassiopeia relies on landing poisons to deal her twin fang damage. I mentioned this in “Mental Preparedness,” but some players actually go a step further in the pro scene and study the habits of their opponents. One famous example I’ve mentioned is the Madlife hook, found in this video (search “Madlife Thresh Hook” on YouTube if you can’t use this inside the e-book).


Brush & Jungle Juking Using fog of war and brush concealment allows for much more advanced forms of juking that allow us to not only avoid skillshots and other abilities, but to sometimes throw off our attackers entirely. Let’s look at a basic (but common) example of brush juking:

The blue player is outgunned and has every reason to retreat to his tower; the purple player knows this. In addition, the blue player has entered the brush from an angle that gives away this direction.

However, as the purple player moves to cut the blue player off, the blue player has actually shifted to the far end of the brush and will retreat out in another direction. Only as the blue player is in a better route does the purple player realize he’s not coming out where they expected.


Just like skillshot juking, this is powerful because purple player often must take the risk of continuing to lead the blue player, even if he knows it may be a juke. If the purple player had stopped leading ahead of the potential path, the blue player would easily escape to the tower if they weren’t actually juking. It’s another case of “damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” While this juke greatly increases the odds for the blue player, it doesn’t put them any closer to their own immediate safety. On the other hand, it’s a fantastic way to waste time, preventing the purple player from doing anything else but continuing the pursuit. If the blue player has allies coming to lane, it may buy just enough time to get to safety. If the blue player is certain to die by moving towards safety, they may instead dive past the enemy tower and waste even more time of the pursuers by attempting to enter the enemy jungle from an unusual angle. This type of juking is directly countered by map vision. It is also harder to pull off for champions that lack mobility, especially if they’re pitted against more mobile champions. This is also one of the most ridiculously fun jukes if you can pull it off successfully. There are plenty of awesome examples of juking. One example that illustrates both skillshot and vision juking, as well as utilizing terrain and kiting, is Xpeke’s Nidalee escape in a match between Fnatic and CLG (If you can’t use the link here, search “Sick escape by xPeke” on YouTube).

Maneuvering through Concealment

Let’s talk about another subject similar to juking but with a twist. When you’re dealing with champions who must maintain vision on you for a moment to finish you off, the best escape is not always the most direct. This is true when your opponent must keep you in vision to use normal attacks or finish activating an ability (a fantastic example of this is Caitlyn’s headshot which will cancel if her opponent moves out of vision quickly enough).


Taking the tightest turns possible in the jungle, as well as aiming for brush even when it’s not directly in your path, may slow your overall escape but it may actually buy you enough time that your opponent can’t land damage or crowd controls that you’ll be able to escape. The advantage to focusing on breaking vision rather than taking the most direct path is that you may frequently be able to juke your opponent without them knowing which path you’ll take next. Changing your maneuver and direction every few seconds can more quickly throw your opponents off. As with juking, this strongly favors more mobile champions, but every champion can and should make use of this when necessary.


Feints Once you understand the tactics that you’ll be using, the use of deception is the final key to tactical mastery. When I introduced mental tactics, I mentioned that a key element to this was the ability to anticipate what players are thinking and react to this information in meaningful ways. A feint is a deception, an action that appears to have one purpose but conceals another. The ultimate goal of a feint is to get your opponent to believe they want to perform an action that is not in their best interest. And though I’m including this in the tactics section, it is an enormous part of broader strategic gameplay as well.

One example of a feint is falling back towards your tower as if to retreat. If you’re injured and the player normally has kept an advantage over you, this may look entirely natural. As the moment they’re in tower range attempting to finish you off, dropping crowd controls and burst on them, alongside tower shots, can give you a devastating edge. The same goes for holding onto abilities like heals and shields until a player has engaged you at low health under a tower, using that to buy enough time to kill them. As you can guess, when you’re being pressured or zoned in a lane, suddenly moving aggressively against an opponent can be a dead giveaway that you have an ally waiting to enter the lane for a gank. But sometimes simply being unexpectedly aggressive against an opponent who doesn’t have wards may have the same benefit – they can’t take the risk of you having an ally coming in and they don’t know any better given their lack of vision. When you want to help allies enter a lane to gank, directly engaging an opponent may draw them into a fight and keep their focus on you, especially if they feel they have the upper hand. This is a fantastic way to distract them and cut down their map awareness, and works effectively even against very skilled opponents who let their map awareness drop just a little.


One of my favorite feints to watch is pretending you’re a bad player or you’re having connection issues. As absurd as this seems, this can cause your opponents to drop their guard, and it really does lead to some good kills. Check out this Blitzcrank video for a fantastic set of examples (search “Best Trollcrank # 3” on YouTube if you can’t use the link here). All feints rely on maintaining a knowledge advantage over your opponents. Often this is done through map vision or map awareness, such as pulling a player out of position so an ally can gank, and vision is critically important for countering them. Other times, thse feints can stem from a precise understanding of the match-up between champions, such as knowing exactly when you’re capable of killing an opponent, but only if you can pull them towards a more desirable location (such as Vayne getting an opponent in a position where they can be condemned to a wall).


Strategy Where tactics are specific actions with short-term benefits, strategies are larger actions with major goals and lasting consequences. In League of Legends, there is no hard line where tactics end and strategy begins. After all, setting up an ambush with one person waiting in the brush is not much different than setting up an ambush with three, even though the three person ambush is flashier. For the purposes of deciding how to divide this guide, I will define strategy as actions that require coordination from two or more players. In doing so, we will look at skirmishes, teamfights, and how teams can use map objectives to their advantage.

Skirmishes Skirmishes are smaller engagements where most or all of a team does not need to be present. We’ll look at a few common strategies that work well for small groups, but keep in mind that you can also pull any of these off as part of teamfights or other full team engagements. One thing you should keep in mind about skirmishing is that nearly all of the tactics are situational and reflexive. There will be situations where you can utilize these strictly by noticing where your allies are on the map, and as you rise up in ranks, there will be situations where you can reasonably expect your allies to respond to you to set them up. Smart pings work well in quickly coordinating these maneuvers.


Ambush

Let’s start with the simplest trick: The ambush. If you’ve lost a lot of health or your opponent otherwise considers you an easy kill, leading them into allies waiting in the fog of war can allow you to quickly turn it around on them. This tends to be harder to pull off against seasoned players.


Line of Retreat & Envelopment

As the name suggests, envelopment is when you seal an opponent inside your team, much like an envelope. While sometimes this will be very easy to achieve when your teammates are nearby, one key to making it work more consistently is to give your opponents a false choice by giving them an escape route. If you’re the aggressor, try moving ahead of your opponent in their path. You’re aiming to block off their easiest escape route – the direct path back to their tower, and any cornering you can do beforehand will help in this. While some champions will still gun it for their tower, especially if you lack crowd controls or aren’t particularly threatening, others may feel they can use the river as an escape. This is especially true if they have the mobility to jump the nearby river wall and fall to the safety of their jungle. Here’s what you don’t do:


If you have an ally waiting in the nearby brush and they go in too early, you’re guaranteed to lose any advantage from rerouting the player. Sometimes you’ll need to do this if the opponent is realistically going to run past you anyway. One other thing: If both of you jump too far in the escape path of the opposing player, you’re giving them more time to juke and either fall back towards your own tower or potentially even take the river out. Let’s look at what happens if the second player doesn’t immediately show themselves and the retreating player decides to use the river:

As the player enters the river, they are surrounded on at least two sides by their opponents. Where the tower would have been the best decision, they have voluntarily put themselves in a worse position because they weren’t aware of the additional opponents. They’ve taken what they believed was an easier route out only to find themselves in a much worse matchup. I’ve added another person covering the tower route only as an illustration of a one way to approach envelopment when you’re against a slippery opponent and you have three players to work with. But when you’re dealing with someone who you need more firepower for, bring as much of that firepower to bear as possible, and don’t worry about the less likely escape routes. One tip: When you’re the wingman on these envelopments, think about where your opponent might go to evade your ally. What would you do in your opponent’s shoes?


Lane Movement Feint

When an ally in a neighboring lane is engaging against one or more opponents, heading in their direction is a way to move around the map without raising any red flags. When your lane opponent sees you leaving they can reasonably assume you’re going to help out the other lane. There’s also a decent chance that your lane opponent will want to move to help their lane out as well. This allows for an easy feint. Stop somewhere out of vision along the path, such as in brush, and wait for your opponent:

This can give you the jump on your opponent as they move to support. If your lane opponent truly doesn’t suspect an ambush, they may be looking at the conflicted area on the map, or even have the shop interface up (I say this from personal experience as I’ve had a few embarrassing deaths to this). As we talked about in Tactics, this kind of ambush really benefits shorter range champions. 147 | Learn the League

What if your lane opponent doesn’t move towards you? If they’re wise and they suspect that the route isn’t safe – even without knowing for sure – they have a couple other options: 1. They can still approach the lane, but from a route that is either more risky (river or enemy jungle), or a route that takes much longer (through the inner jungle or lanes); 2. They can push the lane hard to take advantage of the situation, which may leave them vulnerable to a quick flank if you’re still nearby; 3. They can go to another lane to try to set up a gank elsewhere. You’ve blocked your lane opponent from supporting their allies and you’ve potentially helped your ally simply because your opponents think you might be nearby. Even if you don’t gain a kill you may have gained a tangible advantage and you can then decide whether to return to your lane or continue towards the other lane. This maneuver is more likely to result in a kill when you’re up against champions who actively want to roam, particularly assassins that may be vulnerable if you can get the jump on them (though being a bulkier champion yourself may be a good idea if you’re going to go toe-to-toe with an assassin). It’s perfectly fine to repeat this frequently during the laning phase, provided you’re able to clear your minion waves quickly. The more frequently you leave vision towards another lane, the more on-edge your opponents may become.


Pressure & Ambush

When you’ve got allies pressuring either side lane, particularly at the second tower, this may cause mid lane opponents to respond and join their allies. However, due to the shape of the jungle there is only one quick route through the jungle for reaching the side lanes, and there is brush along the chokepoints:

I’ve highlighted two sets of brush (one at half visibility) where you can stand to ambush the mid lane player as they pass by. This is one of the more reliable ambushes. That’s my last big positioning tip on ambushing your opponents, but for what it’s worth, you’ll get a really good idea where you can ambush your opponents as you gain experience in the game. You should be able to develop a gut instinct to where players may go, and what you need to do to catch and kill them unexpectedly. If you happen to enjoy assassins, this is a core skill to develop.


Side Lane Flanking & Denying Minion Reinforcement

Another strategy specific to the side lanes is moving one player in between the inner and outer tower while at least one other ally applies pressure to the tower. This serves two purposes. First, it can enable a tower dive that an opponent realistically cannot escape from without allied support or extreme mobility/survivability. Second, you’ll be able to prevent any minions from reaching the tower, which allows future minion waves from your team to hit (and tank) the tower uncontested. This is extremely risky. The player between the towers is vulnerable to ganks from other enemies, which means either map vision or the ability to reliably escape (i.e. mobility or speed) is a really good idea. Beyond this, the team should be ready to either apply long range harassment or immediately tower dive if they’re going to attempt to capitalize on this positioning.


Scatter Retreat

One last skirmish strategy: If you need to fall back and you’re actually in full blown retreat (i.e. you’ll be immediately killed by turning around), try to go in separate directions. Going in separate directions doesn’t require a whole lot of coordination from your team, but it requires a lot of coordination from the enemy team if they want to try chasing down more than one of you. If there’s any confusion from your enemies on who to chase and kill, this separation may allow everyone to avoid getting caught. When you’re retreating, don’t stop to help an ally escape unless you’re fairly sure they’ll get away as a result and you’re fairly sure you won’t get caught while you’re helping. It can be tempting to help people escape but having two players die rather than one is the kind of thing that costs games. On the other hand, it’s always possible you’ll turn it into a completely epic play, so feel free to ignore this advice if you really want to.


Teamfights Where skirmishes only require a few players, teamfights are full blown engagements between two teams, usually involving most or all of the players in the match. Don’t be thrown off by the illustrations: They are going to be idealized team setups and they’re not what you’ll actually see in most of your teamfights. What I’m going to present is more relative than absolute; for example, a long range carry should probably be behind a melee range fighter, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they would stand along a perfect line with their teammates as in the illustrations.

Basic Team Positioning

As we look at a teamfight we will usually see a few layers of positioning. For the most part, the front line, mid line, and back line are self-explanatory (longer range champions will tend to want to be more towards the rear, melee range champions towards the front, etc.). The front line should always pay attention to how far they are ahead of their allies and whether that distance is going to create a problem for the team. If you’ve ever seen a short range champion asking “why weren’t you attacking my target,” it’s usually a case of not respecting how far ahead they are, or how deep into the enemy team they are. The flanks are the home of assassins and other “boom and zoom” champions, which we’ll discuss in a moment. They’re also the home of shorter range champions who want to quickly close on their opponents during a teamfight without giving them enough time to fall back to their ideal range. The best flanking positions are concealed within the fog of war, ideally in or near brush. When possible, allies that are not in the flanks should try to soften opponents and pull them to where the flankers can move in quickest and with the least warning.


Roles While teamfight positioning is important to know, I don’t think it’s the best way to discuss the roles. Front line champions, for instance, do not all function the same way (Fizz and Jarvan are totally different playstyles). To illustrate the primary roles in teamfights, let me use some World War II air combat terms.

Dogfighters & Ramp-Up

Dogfighters are champions that are designed to stay in combat with other champions and are able to regularly unload abilities, attacks, or utility. This includes nearly all fighters, but it also includes many marksmen and mages. Ramp up champions are a small subset of dogfighters that actually become stronger by staying engaged in combat. This includes champions like Graves (who becomes more survivable over time), Syndra (who can place more orbs and deliver a greater punch), and Vladimir (who gains a stacking buff that allows him to deal increasingly more damage). These champions are likely to be engaged at the heart of any teamfight, as this is where they belong and where they have the largest impact.


Cyclical

Cyclical champions are champions who have mid-length ability cooldowns that discourage staying constantly in combat. Instead, these champions will ideally want to drop their abilities on a target, then back out of the fight a ways while their cooldowns are resetting, then re-enter the fight again. Many mages fall into this category, particularly the longer range mages. Fizz also offers a fantastic example of a cyclical champion, as his abilities enable him to engage and disengage at will, allowing him to enter and leave fights as his cooldowns line up. As a general rule, cyclical champions benefit from longer teamfights. They tend to do very well in teams that can briefly disengage from opposing dogfighters and then re-engage to unload more burst damage. In other words, by preventing the dogfighters from constantly putting out damage, while not losing any of their own burst damage, cyclical champions tends to come out much stronger. Unloading burst damage from out of range of their opponents, or from fog of war, is a core skill for this playstyle. Additionally, shoot and scoot tactics to reposition may be important.


Boom and Zoom

Boom and zoom champions are ideal at quickly entering a fight, unloading extremely high damage, and rapidly disengaging from the fight. Most assassins and high damage, low survivability fighters fall into this category because they: • • •

Have extreme damage that can rapidly be dropped on an opponent; Don’t have the survivability to stay in or near a teamfight; Have mobility to both engage and disengage.

Talon is a fantastic example of a boom and zoom champion, as he enters a fight by disabling his opponent, can rapidly unload all of his damage, then can use stealth (as part of his damage combo) to fall back out of vision. Boom and zoom champions often start from the flanks of a fight, ideally out of vision, and may wait in the wings until a target is ready to be taken down or until crowd controls that might be saved for them have already been used on other players. If you’ve watched an assassin and been frustrated because they aren’t entering teamfights, they may actually be waiting for a good moment or position to strike, understanding they won’t survive if they enter at the wrong time. The basic concept behind cyclical champions and boom and zoom champions – they get in, unload damage, and back off – is similar, but their limitations and impacts are much different. Boom and zoom champions relish fights that can be won quickly, as this allows them to either stay in the fight after engaging or re-enter it much more quickly. Where cyclical champions tend to be able to wear down opponents over time, most boom and zoom champions will frontload their damage and need to wait for the fight to move heavily in their team’s favor before moving back in. Because of this, bulkier champions and teams that have a lot of shielding and survivability auras may actually recover from the entirety of the boom and zoom champion’s damage if they weren’t killed in the initial pass. 155 | Learn the League

Initiation vs. Peeling

A teamfight begins when one or both teams initiate the fight. This initiation may come from champions using crowd controls to lock their opponents down or it may come from players colliding with each other. Any fight initiation that relies on abilities has a real cost. For example, if Amumu uses his ultimate to start a fight, he cannot turn around and use that ultimate a second time to peel opponents off his carries. Broadly speaking, most of the strongest initiation abilities also double as counter-initiation abilities that can be used to strongly deter or turn the outcome of a teamfight when used defensively (though I’d clarify that there’s also a handful of abilities which are great at counter-initiation but rarely as useful at initiating, such as Janna’s ultimate). You will win more teamfights when you accurately judge whether to initiate or peel. Before teamfights, think about each team and what you’re up against while considering the following factors: Does either team have one or more high-burst champions, particularly assassins? Assassins do best when they can dive and quickly kill an important target, which often means squishier carries behind the front lines. If your opponents have assassins, consider saving your abilities to peel (i.e. an Amumu or Malphite saving their ultimate for when Kha’zix dives onto the allied Ashe). If your team has assassins, consider initiating and locking down the critical target so your assassins can quickly kill them. Does either team have strong pressure in the form of poke or other ranged harassment? Pressure teams like to soften their opponents before engaging. If your opponents have pressure, initiate sooner rather than later and force them to fight before your team has been weakened. If your own team has pressure, hold off until the enemy team has been sufficiently softened, or simply save your abilities to peel. As long as you hold onto your crowd controls, you give your opponents reason to doubt whether they can successfully initiate on your own team.


Does your team need to engage in a teamfight to easily take down an objective? Along the same lines, is your team at an advantage in a teamfight due to some opponents being dead or in another area of the map? There are situations where aggressive initiation is a good idea for any team. Any time you’re going to initiate onto an enemy team rather than peel for your allies, consider whether that initiation is going to put you beyond the reach of your own damage dealers. Will your opponents use Flash or other crowd controls to prevent follow-through, wasting the entire initiation cost? Don’t follow through with a long-range initiation unless you’re confident that you will be able to knock out a critical opponent without the assistance of your further-back allies. When you really need to peel instead of initiate with your critical crowd controls, you have a couple solid options: 1. Present a clear threat to your opponents, particularly by threatening objectives, requiring them to initiate on you or give up the objectives; 2. Ambush your opponents in areas with limited vision, such as jungle brush, causing the teamfight to occur at a close range that doesn’t necessitate initiation.


Targeting Priority

Who do you personally target in a teamfight? Who should your team target? Like initiation and peeling, making a smart decision on targeting will dramatically increase your teamfight success rate. Like other decisions, there’s a balancing act between three competing goals: • • •

Who solves the most immediate problem? Who most immediately solves a problem? Who can be killed with the least risk?

To be a little clearer, you want to consider targets that are the biggest threats, but you also want to consider targets that are the quickest to kill. And you need to be realistic about who you can kill rather than diving after the furthest opponent. Here are some qualities of a target you should consider focusing down as a team when given the opportunity: • • •

•

Is the target squishy and in range to be bursted down? Is the target body blocking, crowd controlling, or directly engaging your vulnerable allies, especially carries? If the target isn’t killed immediately, will they rejoin the fight later with a stronger presence? For example, an injured marksman who is able to recover with lifesteal or a Fizz who backs out of the fight and waits on his cooldowns. If you lose the fight, will the target be important to taking out your objectives afterwards? For example, marksmen and other pushers are more likely to take towers after a teamfight than supports and tanks.

When there’s not much communication between you and your teammates, there’s one other thing to consider: Who are you teammates actually attacking? Even if they’re attacking a less-than-ideal target, joining them may still give you a better shot at coming out of the teamfight successful.


Let me offer a quick example of how you might make the decision on who to target. Let’s say you have a Sona who flashes ahead of her team to land her ultimate on her opponents and initiate a teamfight. At this point, the Sona probably isn’t the biggest threat on her team, especially since she’s no longer sitting on her ultimate. The bulky Cho’gath right behind to her could very well be a much larger threat. In this case, it’s a safe bet to burst down the Sona if she will only take a few seconds worth of damage. She may not be the biggest threat but she’s squishy and she’s out of position, which may lead to a very quick kill. But what if it was a fed Kassadin behind Sona instead? If he’s built any health he may be quite a bit more survivable than the Sona, but as an assassin, he’s also an immediate danger to squishy allies. In this case, if the opportunity arises to focus and burst down Kassadin, and he can be killed before he riftwalks out, the team should probably focus on this kill instead. On principle I’m not a big fan of the advice to always target the closest player. This works, especially with certain team compositions that have extreme damage (to the point that they can knock out the tankiest opponents extremely quickly), but denies your team the possibility of taking out vulnerable targets. These ‘targets of opportunity’ may be marksmen who have come too close to the front line, assassins who come in range of crowd controls before they unload their burst, or supports moving in to use their ultimates. As I’ve said earlier, if you are relatively certain that you can knock out a critical opponent, it can be a good idea to take that risk even if it separates you from your team or who your team is attacking. In an absolute sense, squishy carries such as marksmen will virtually always be the highest priority target, especially in the late game. This is a great illustration of why positioning for these champions is so critical – if the team has no real risk in attacking a high threat carry, they’re probably going to do it. When teams get really focused on killing a single player without regard to positioning, they may hold back on critical abilities and allow them to take a lot of excess damage trying to dive onto that player. If you’re in these brackets and you’ve become a critical target, consider using this as a baiting tactic by waiting entirely in the rear of your team, even if you’re a short range champion. This is even better if you’re playing a champion with a channeled ability (such as Katarina), as opponents may be extra careful to hold onto crowd controls for you, possibly taking losses as a result. And though I’ve said it a few times already, this is a good illustration of why it’s important not to move too far ahead of your own carries without a good reason. You cannot expect marksmen to be able to hit back line targets on opponents and stay safely in their own back line. It can be frustrating both to be the player diving and to be the carry holding back, but ultimately it comes down to keeping the team together and having peels prepared if you expect the carry to move in closer. Enough teamfight theory, let’s get into some actual teamfight strategies.


Protect the Carry

The “Protect the Carry” strategy is common in Punch-Through teams, but is situationally useful for any team during a teamfight. In this first illustration, note how the entire team is physically standing between the carry (white x) and the opponents. This body blocking prevents skillshots and deters diving. Creating a line is a well-known component of Royal Club’s “Raise the Puppy” strategy, a variation of the Punch-Through strategy we’ll cover later. The line (as opposed to a circle) is useful when applying direct pressure to enemy structures while an enemy team is defending those structures.

When surrounded by opponents, this strategy can be adapted to create a circle shell around the carry. The more circular strategy has a little more synergy with short-range AOE ultimates (such as Orianna’s ultimate), but is also more vulnerable to getting hit by AOE from opponents.


Divide & Conquer

Divide & Conquer is straightforward: Keep the enemy team split apart from each other then use overwhelming force on one group before cleaning up the others. Ideally the number of players required to divide the team is less than the number of opponents being split off, or at the very least, the bulk of the team’s overall power is able to be brought down on one of the groups. Divide & Conquer works well against teams where some members are more mobile than others, especially when the more mobile teams prefer to dive against their opponents (assassins, long range initiators, etc.). The champions best suited to dividing an enemy team tend to be champions with strong sustained crowd controls (Nunu’s ultimate, Karthus’ wall, etc.). For example, if one opponent is eager to jump over Nunu’s ultimate but other opponents don’t have abilities that let them do it, they may be so heavily slowed that they cannot quickly join their allies no matter how much they want to. When I write about these strategies I often have clear tournament examples in my mind, and I hope I don’t come across as giving you clichéd strategies that aren’t commonly used. Dividing a team this way was actually done in one of the most well-known team plays in the All Star matches of 2013, which I start covering about a minute into this video (if you can’t click the link, search “Doublelift’s Pentakill Pro Playbacks” on YouTube). Zac and Jarvan IV put themselves in the bad end of a meat grinder in this play.


Pincer Assault

We talked earlier about the question of whether to initiate or peel. The Pincer Assault is an option that often becomes available when a team invests too much into initiation. When a team’s front line is ahead of the rest of their team there are a set of conditions that allow opponents to ignore them and dive onto their more vulnerable carries: • •

Important crowd controls are either single-target or already spent on initiation Your team can body block, kite, or disengage from the enemy front line while other players dive onto an opposing carry

Vi is a champion I like to talk about because she’s a very pure example of a crowd controller that can lock down an opponent for assassins. However, the Pincer Assault is a good illustration of where she has a serious shortcoming. Realistically, Vi cannot be expected to handle a whole team. Though her ultimate is genuinely powerful, it’s only reliable on a single target. In a lot of teamfights she might also be able to briefly knock up another opponent. If she’s locked down one target and two more try to slip by her on either side (per the illustration above), she simply has no way of stopping both even in a best case scenario. Compare this to a Leona or Nautilus, both of whom have more frequent crowd controls and the ability to slow targets that they can’t directly incapacitate. The illustration above is idealized, but the most common way you’ll pull this off is by having players come in from the flanks once the initiation cost has been spent by your opponents.


Team Envelopment – Escape Denial

When you need to prevent players from escaping, envelop their team towards the beginning of an engagement can be ideal. While this won’t work against the most slippery champions, it can work very well against less mobile champions who are relying on clear escape paths. There’s a broad sweet spot where envelopment is especially effective. New players often take on losing teamfights they can’t escape from because they don’t know any better. Great players often take on losing teamfights when they realize they can’t escape, and any chance of recovering or saving allies may be based on fully engaging their opponents. But there are a lot of players who know enough to realize it’s a losing teamfight, but respond to the shock of the engagement by trying to retreat even when they can’t successfully do so. By doing this, they’re losing damage on abilities and normal attacks that could have made a serious difference or given a surprise comeback. That said, a really good envelopment where everyone realizes they can’t escape has one big caveat: Players who can’t escape will often fight more aggressively, like backing a tiger into a corner. If you misjudged how much of an advantage your team had and lost the teamfight decisively as a result, this can be the turning point that gives your opponents a winning mindset. Envelopment is fairly easy to pull off in the jungle, especially if your team is mobile enough to maneuver around the jungle walls quickly. But one of my favorite examples is from Gambit Gaming, who managed to pull this off in an open lane (if you can’t follow this link, search “Body Blocks & Flanks Pro Playbacks” on YouTube).


Disengage

When your team needs to back off from a fight while preventing opponents from chasing, such as when you’re outnumbered, there are some very strong disengage champions that can make this possible even in open lanes or the river (Zyra, Janna, etc.). I’ll cover this a little more in the Grand Strategy & Team Compositions section.

In the smaller corridors of the jungle, a larger class of zone control champions is also very good at disengaging. Champions like Lux, Ziggs, Karthus, and Anivia can lay down area crowd controls that make falling back much easier. In a worst case scenario, you can sacrifice one heavy crowd control champion to allow the rest of the team to escape. For example, sending Amumu to a sad and certain death with his ultimate.


Objectives With each section of the e-book I try to approach the subject of objectives from a different perspective. While Baron Nashor and Dragon are part of the larger discussion, I want to drive one key point home in regards to team structures such as towers and inhibitors: Structures are a condensing mechanism. Even teams with extremely long range abilities must move in close to deal damage to them with normal attacks. This leads to the following dynamic: • •

When one team is committed to taking a structure they are vulnerable to both short and long range opponents; When one team is committed to defending a structure, they are vulnerable to both short and long range opponents.

If Lux needs to land normal attacks on a tower to finish it off, a nearby Ryze has a rare opportunity to close in on her and land his full combo. The closer range required for normal attacks is another huge balancing mechanism that allows short range champions an opportunity to engage against champions designed to keep their distance. On the other hand, if Ryze must stay close enough to defend the tower but Lux doesn’t need to immediately land normal attacks on the tower she can still harass Ryze from her maximum range. The shorter range defender could potentially stay further back and wait for their opponents to actually move in attack range, but this creates a situation where players can dart in, land normal attacks on the tower, and immediately fall back. Unless the shorter range champion is already at the forefront, the tower is likely going to continue taking damage. Teams attacking towers are virtually always in range of initiators. Provided a team is not hopelessly behind or otherwise crippled, initiating a teamfight on a long range team as they’re attacking a tower offers one of the best opportunities to turn a losing game around. In frustrating matches where we’ve lost one or two lanes very early, I often find that turning the game around occurs in an early game tower fight. Your team composition is one of the most important factors in how you handle objectives. After reading through this, make sure you move on to the Grand Strategy & Team Compositions section.


Objective Pressure

If your lane opponent leaves the lane, moving up and attacking the tower forces them to make a decision: Either they come back to defend the tower, or they take tower damage and continue moving elsewhere on the map (for a gank, etc.). Unlike zoning and other forms of mental pressure, damaging a tower is a totally real and unrecoverable cost. Any time you move up to apply direct pressure to an objective, you are putting yourself at risk from a flank from your opponents. Map vision and map awareness are both very important to do this successfully. That, or play a strong duelist or very mobile champion that can realistically survive the flank.


Multi-Point Assault

When you’re dismantling an enemy team through split pushing several objectives there are a few good tactics to make it go easier. Shoving one of the side lanes so that your minions will reach the tower, then immediately move back towards your teammates in a neighboring lane. If an opponent moves to clear the minions from the side lane, this may give you a numbers advantage to dive opponents or push the middle lane hard. Use your highest mobility and disengage champions to hit hardest and force your opponents to react. Wait for them to send an uneven number, such as two champions to stop your one Fizz, and hit them in another lane when they do. Like all split pushing, attacking multiple points successfully relies on having one or two very strong champions. Traditional split pushers work for this, but so do exceptionally fed players who can duel any single opposing champion (such as a fed Jax who has dominated top lane continuing to push top while his team pushes bottom lane). Having these champions allows you to break up teams that are turtling as a group and force them to separate.


Distraction

This is as simple as the title suggests – create a distraction by pushing a vulnerable area of the map, wait for their team to respond to it, then take an objective elsewhere on the map. If the players attacking the distant objective have strong map mobility or teleport, they can also choose to rejoin their allies. In the illustration I’ve used Baron because it’s one of the objectives distraction is strongest for taking. Consider it any time you have two or three champions who are doing well enough that they can kill Baron on their own.


Encirclement

When taking objectives, it may be a good idea to have allies zone and bully opponents who may try to approach the rest of the team. This is especially true when you’ve just crippled your opponents by knocking out one or two key players, allowing you to successfully zone them with fewer allies. It’s also a good idea when you have fed duelists who can go toe-to-toe with any opponent who comes in range.


Interdiction

In the above illustration, a member of blue team is within ward vision of purple team, possibly signaling that his team is near Baron Nashor. The purple team begins moving to handle a possible Baron attempt.

As purple team moves, two members in the rear are ambushed and killed by the rest of the blue team, while the blue team member near Baron rejoins his allies. This is interdiction. When you ambush and kill players as they’re attempting to join their allies at an important objective, you’re taking relatively little risk and gaining a huge advantage. This is brutal for supports or marksmen who can be extremely vulnerable to being locked down without their teams. This is ideal when you have solid map vision or you have a strong gut sense of where your opponents are on the map (such as defending side lane towers). Unlike chasing your opponents around the map, you


end the fight closer to the objective you were threatening, gives you the possibility of hitting their teammates if they attempt to assist, and it prevents your opponents from easily hitting somewhere else on the map to reduce their losses (in other words, split pushing a lane on the far side of the map, since they’re already close to the objective your team is near).

This is another variation on the same thing, using the principle of Divide & Conquer. If you have one or two players who can stop a greater number of opponents from reaching their allies (without necessarily killing them), you can initiate the same kind of fight closer to the objective. Technically this isn’t interdiction since you’re not killing the players en route, but practically, the result may be identical. Interdiction is much easier to accomplish when you have map pressure in several areas of the map at once. In other words, if your opponents have a good reason to be spread around the map, and then they have a good reason to group back together to defend a key objective, the strategy is likely going to work. Interdiction is a form of “Defeat in Detail,” a strategy that relies on knocking out one or two key opponents and using that advantage to win fights you might not otherwise win. We’ll talk more about this in the Grand Strategy & Team Compositions section.


Defense in Depth

Let your opponents push, but slow them down. When they’re slowly pushing, have one or two strong split pushers quickly rush down structures in another lane. This is Defense in Depth. Your goal is to create more resistance for the enemy team than your own pushers will have, and this will cause your opponents to either break off to try to stop the split push or keep pushing while losing more of their base. This is a core strategy for Disengage & Split Push teams and also synergizes well with Pressure teams (both of which we’ll cover in the upcoming Grand Strategy & Team Compositions section). If the grouped team waffles and decides to try to chase down the split pushers, this will almost certainly end with them gaining nothing. This kind of chasing can kill the chances of victory quickly, and in normal matches with low communication, it frequently does. On the other hand, if the split pushing team waffles and the split pushers rejoin their team instead of pushing hard, they can also cost the entire advantage of the team. This is especially true if the split pushers don’t have teleport or another way of quickly rejoining their allies, meaning a whole lot of time is wasted on the recall and the run, during which the pushing team can keep pushing. If the opposing team is trying to back off to chase down the split pushers or defend their base do everything you can to disrupt this, especially if they’re trying to cast recall. Unless your opponents are pulling off a feint to lure you away from your own towers, their falling back means they’ve totally lost the engagement; they aren’t gaining more objectives and they didn’t stop the split pushers. Backdooring naked inhibitors offers a huge opportunity to successfully pull off Defense in Depth and potentially lure opponents away from your base.


Turtling

Turtling is when you pull back to your towers or your base and set up defensively to prevent your opponents from pushing. Before going further, a word of caution: League of Legends is not designed to allow teams that turtle indefinitely to win. When towers take damage, they don’t regenerate. You lose gold from the jungle and may not be able to contest objectives like Baron Nashor and Dragon. Recovering lost map vision is much riskier than refreshing map vision. By design, late game damage dealers can outscale any amount of defensiveness. Though turtling is often a losing strategy, it loses less quickly than getting your whole team aced because you were overwhelmed outside the base. There can be good reasons to briefly withdraw into your base: • • • •

A critical player has just been killed or has gone AFK and you want to lose as little as possible while waiting for them Your opponents have been backdooring naked inhibitors as they respawn and you know they’ll do it again soon Your opponents have a Baron buff that you really can’t survive in the open as a team You’re very close to potentially game-changing items and you want a small bit of safe farm to pick them up before a teamfight

Turtling doesn’t require much communication, but getting people to stop turtling can. Try to avoid the temptation to turtle when other good options are open to you. If you’re up against a team that’s turtling, the ball is entirely in your court. The whole map is yours to farm, and you will certainly gain a gold advantage by taking advantage of it. However, since turtling is often a response to being significantly behind, a head-on engagement may allow you to close the game.


Forks In Chess, forking is a maneuver where a piece is moved in such a way that it threatens two enemy pieces. This concept is absolutely critical to objective strategy (and all League strategy). Because of this, I’ve got a separate section completely dedicated to it – check out “The Impossible Decision.”


Grand Strategy & Team Compositions We’ve looked at tactics, strategies, and a variety of other related subjects. But none of these create a unified picture of League of Legends, an overarching look at how teams play against each other from the time champion selection begins to the time the game ends. Few people, including top tournament analysts, actually talk about these grand strategies. For what it’s worth, distilling League of Legends into core strategies has been one of the most difficult challenges I’ve been faced with. I could not have written this section when I wrote the first edition of the e-book. I have tried unsuccessfully to write similar sections in the past, especially with the older Team Compositions section. It took a lot of experience and tournament analysis for these ideas to crystallize into the form you’re seeing here. What turns a strategy into a grand strategy? In the case of “Defeat in Detail,” I was on the fence before deciding it qualified as a grand strategy rather than simply a good strategy, and the decision was based on the fact that tournament teams can and do make champion selections to accommodate the strategy. In other words, the entire match may be built around this approach. I’ve used this as the benchmark for defining what belongs here instead of strictly in the previous strategy section. I readily acknowledge that there may be more grand strategies than those listed below, and I will endeavor to identify them and include them in future editions. Please feel free to contact me if you feel I’ve missed any that are important.


Team Compositions In the following subsections I will be discussing the grand strategies in an order designed to allow me to relate each strategy to previously discussed strategies. I’ll also look at a few specific examples of team compositions within several strategies and look at the specific ways to play and counter them. As you read this, you may find places where you feel two strategies are not mutually exclusive. This is absolutely true! After we look at these strategies, I’ll talk about how to categorize and pick champions to create effective teams that utilize several strategies at once.

Compositions in Context – Teamfight vs. Avoidance Though we often think of League of Legends as a game about epic fights, there’s a fairly hard line that separates teams that want to engage in teamfights and teams that want to avoid them. As you read through these strategies, notice how many of them are intended to keep their distance from opponents or avoid them entirely, at least until they have an overwhelming advantage. For what it’s worth, I find that the teams that avoid teamfights are more interesting on a strategic level. Those are the games that really inspire me. But teams that actively engage in teamfights are way more exciting for me to watch at tournaments, and I think that’s where some of the coolest individual plays are made. There’s no right or wrong way to play. Every strategy in here has been used successfully in major tournaments and they all have their place in normal and solo queue matches. Sometimes you’ll wind up with an odd composition for no particular reason other than your teammates wanting to play the champions they love. The cool thing about understanding these strategies is you can usually work with these odd picks to develop a working strategy, even if it’s not the one you were planning to play.


Assault

• • • • •

Strengths Great against Punch-Through teams during early and mid game Best all-around team, works effectively against many teams Fantastic for teamfighting One or two strong teamfights allows a fairly easy snowball to victory Low communication requirement, the default mode for many players, and great at all levels of play

• • •

Weaknesses Vulnerable against Mobility and Disengage & Split Push teams Most effective when grouped, but can fall behind when denied teamfights Crippling disadvantage if they fall behind any other team composition; in other words, if they can’t reliably win a teamfight, they lose their biggest perk

Champion Examples Nasus, Malphite, Syndra, Swain, Graves, Ryze, Vayne, Varus, Annie, Sona, Leona

Engage in teamfight. Win teamfight. Take objectives. Assault teams are designed primarily for teamfight mastery. As the name implies, the goal with these teams is to force favorable fights and capitalize on the outcome to win the game. These teams are designed to be strong throughout the game and they encourage teamfights early and often. They are fantastic for bullying around objectives like Dragon and Baron Nashor. Usually these teams have a good mix of champions, including initiators, peeling, support, damage, and crowd controls. These are the teams where powerhouse short-range killers like Vayne excel because, with proper execution from allies, they’ll be able to stay near ideal targets.


This is the most common strategy in League of Legends, even among organized teams. Teamfighting is what a lot of people join League of Legends for, and it’s what they really enjoy. Assault teams are also the easiest to coordinate, as many players – especially as they improve their game knowledge – will learn teamfighting skills before learning broader strategy. Assault teams can win games fairly quickly if they latch onto a few favorable teamfights. If they can successfully engage teamfights early on, they’re likely to snowball a lead to victory except in extreme circumstances. Assault teams tend to be functional against most team types. However, you should usually seek to avoid picking an Assault team against a Mobility or Disengage & Split Push team. If picking against Defeat in Detail or Pursuit teams, group together sooner rather than later. Both teams can cripple by catching players by themselves.


Basic Assault Composition Before jumping into some variations, I want to touch base on how you actually pick champions for an Assault team. As mentioned earlier, there are a few key attributes: • • • • • • •

Sustained Damage Burst Damage Mixed Damage Types Support (Shields, Healing, Auras, etc.) Initiation Crowd Controls & Peeling Mobility

You want a good balance of these. In other words, you want a standard meta-friendly team composition and you hope that your allies are picking champions that fit well in this. There are very few champions that won’t work in some way in an Assault team comp, so long as your allies are covering the other attributes. A quick example of this, for the sake of completeness, might be a team composition that includes Renekton, Vayne, Sona, Orianna, and Jarvan IV. This team has a good mix of everything and should have a fighting chance at many head-on teamfights. I think of Assault as a default. With the exception of Mobility and Disengage & Split Push, which I’ll cover soon, the other major strategies and team compositions are more or less based on this general team comp make-up, but they trade some attributes out to become much stronger in others.

Assault – Area of Effect When a team has at least one very strong AOE disabler, such as Galio, Amumu, or Morgana, they can line up devastating combos for additional AOE damage from other teammates. Watch out for a team that contains one of these disables, along with any other damaging ultimate (such as Miss Fortune's Bullet Time), as they can very quickly knock out an enemy team even if they're behind. AOE teams only work if a team is grouped up tightly enough that multiple important targets can be hit at once. To counter these teams, make every effort to keep your most important teammates away from each other and from other teammates, but close enough that they can immediately engage after the AOE team has initiated a fight. The jungle is a death trap when going against AOE teams, as the tighter corridors can sometimes make it virtually impossible to avoid a strong ability combo. If you have teammates who can survive an initial round of burst from the AOE champions, having them stay near each other can draw attention to them, allowing for effective counterplay once the initial volley of abilities have been used. Another good counter is the use of champions such as Janna, Alistar, and other disablers to lock down these champions as they try to initiate fights.


Finally, using split pushing (covered in “The Impossible Decision”) and other multi-faceted approaches that require their team to split apart to deal with your team can very effectively counter teams that require their ability combo to win fights. Keep cooldowns in mind! Many of the more powerful ultimates have very long cooldowns, and it can buy you at least a couple minutes to engage without fear of them. If you see an ultimate misused, or if you recover from a bad fight quickly enough, take advantage of it by taking an objective or forcing them into an unfavorable fight.

Assault – Early Victory Some teams have a disproportionately high number of assassins or bulky fighters, and this often points to a strategy of winning the game early on. These champions excel in the early game, potentially netting several early kills in each lane and gaining early towers. In Season 3, bruiser/assassin teams showed themselves to be very strong at early tower dives, allowing virtually unavoidable ganks in each lane unless the lane has considerable advance warning. Powerful gap closers are ideal champion traits. For example, a Renekton, Elise, or Jarvan IV that are able to roam fairly early on and quickly dive onto opponents can help develop a very early power advantage. While gap closers are fantastic, you don’t necessarily need champions with escapes, which means you’ll be able to pick from a variety of tankier fighters as well (or actual tanks and supports). Other traits that help in winning the game early are strong crowd controls and an abundance of heals or shields. Early on, both of these can discourage teams from initiating, especially when opponents are champions that don’t scale to their potential until later stages of the game. This is a strategy that relies on snowballing an unusually strong advantage over the other team early, ideally leading to a team that will either surrender or lose motivation. Countering these teams relies on playing it unusually safe and farming gold. You want a strong marksman and/or mage coming out of the early and mid game -- damage in League of Legends is designed so that it will always outpace survivability, given time and smart gold investments. Non-carry champions should focus on surviving the initial burst from these champions to protect the carries. Team compositions with strong carries and crowd controls will usually win over heavy assassin or bruiser teams once the match reaches the later phases.


Mobility

• • • • • •

Strengths Great against Assault teams at all stages of the game Can often gain an early game advantage against any team type which can allow them to win even in unfavorable matchups Demoralizing to opponents when they can’t be locked down Chance for a comeback: Can fall back and look for targets of opportunity when behind Consistently performs well in tournaments Allows players with high mechanical skill to shine

•

• • •

Weaknesses Vulnerable against late game Pressure & Punch-Through teams. May be vulnerable against Disengage & Split Push teams if they cannot lock down the split pusher(s) Weak at defending objectives or engaging teamfights without building a strong advantage over opponents first Strong targeted crowd controls can lock down even the most mobile champions Very high skill and communication requirement especially for top level play

Champion Examples Thresh, Lee Sin, Jax, Aatrox, Jarvan IV, Fizz, Nidalee, Gragas, Zed, Corki, Ezreal, Caitlyn

Avoid direct confrontation. Dismantle opponents through small attacks they can’t respond to. Mobility teams are the epitome of guerrilla warfare. If you try to hit them as a team, they may fall back in five different directions and then hit your other objectives elsewhere on the map. They are one of the few team types designed to avoid unfavorable teamfights, and as a rule, Mobility teams tend to be the best at achieving this. Mobility teams should be completely familiar with forking, which I cover in “The Impossible Decision.”


Before we go further, let me clarify what I mean by mobility. Mobility, as opposed to movement speed, is the use of dashes, blinks, or specialized movement to move from one place to another. Mobile champions include champions such as Lee Sin, Jax, and Nidalee. The most mobile champions tend to have the ability not just to engage where they choose but often to disengage just as effectively. Let’s talk about an ancient Roman dictator named Fabius. When Hannibal crossed the Alps, Fabius was tasked with defeating him. The Carthaginians under Hannibal’s command had already proven they could defeat the Romans, and more victories against the Romans would strengthen their standing as an invading army and maintain their pool of mercenaries. Fabius took a creative approach in dealing with Hannibal – he would avoid direct confrontation, instead focusing his efforts on keeping villagers out of Hannibal’s reach, harassing foraging parties, and ultimately damaging the morale of the Carthaginian force. This is the Fabian strategy. It is extraordinarily powerful and extraordinarily frustrating to deal with. It’s also been fairly unpopular historically, as it often seemed to be an admission that you were unable to fight “fair” against your opponents. But it defeated Hannibal, Napolean, and King George. If you want to see the frustration visualized, check out this video of hydrophobic water (if you can’t click links from here, search “Superhydrophobic Water – Part II” on YouTube). In League of Legends, newer players will tend to be frustrated by mobile champions and mobile teams. They’re waiting around for a teamfight but their enemies never seem to want to fight. A lot of players assume this is what bad players do to win, but in truth it’s what many of the best players are doing to win. Let me tie this to tournament play: The Season 3 World Championship was very disappointing to many people who watched it. In the matches between Royal Club and Fnatic, there were plenty of interesting teamfights and a lot of action. But in the final matches between Royal Club and SKT1, nothing seemed to be happening. There were few big teamfights, and Royal Club just seemed unable to handle SKT1. A lot of people misread this as the Koreans being so much better than the Chinese, but it wasn’t really about that. If I haven’t said it upfront and totally crystal clear yet, here it is: Mobility teams hard-counter Assault teams. I’ll leave that in a nice bold print to drive the message home. The one consistent truth in League of Legends is that a highly skilled, highly mobile team will usually destroy a similarly skilled team that relies on teamfighting. These cards are in their favor: • • • • •

They can choose to avoid unfavorable teamfights; They can choose to engage in favorable teamfights; They’re more likely to escape a good initiation from the other team; They’re better able to explore and move around the map without teammates; They can take bigger risks with their escape options.


On top of this, teamfighting comps may have less gold available to them when they move around as a group (thereby leaving some farm untaken around the map), and they won’t be able to rely on teamfights and kills to recoup this. Mobility teams win games by inches, compiling a lot of small advantages throughout each stage of the game, while denying their opponents the benefits of confrontation. In the world championship, SKT1 had a mobility team comp. It’s very popular in the Korean scene, and we tend to see them more frequently in international tournaments. The problem was that Royal Club doubled down on their teamfighting comps, allowing SKT1 a fantastically easy time in winning the game while avoiding most of the teamfights Royal Club tried to initiate. I’ll talk more about this in the “Analyzing Tournaments” subsection a little later on, but for the purposes of this discussion, I wanted to make it clear that these strategy decisions have everything to do with why there wasn’t a lot of visual excitement in the final matches. Mobility strategies aren’t always exciting unless you watch out for the broader map strategies and small plays being made. Let’s bring this back away from the tournament discussion. As a general rule, you want to look at this like the difference between combat drones and battleships. Combat drones are small and agile but don’t pack an enormous punch. Their virtue is in how completely they can avoid risks. Battleships, on the other hand, were built with enormous cannon and heavy armor, and were designed for head-on conflicts. The drone could never play on the same terms as the battleship – in other words, it can’t try to go toe-to-toe in a stationary shooting battle with it – but instead must use it’s maneuverability to avoid taking the shots. Without an overwhelming advantage, Mobility compositions should avoid direct teamfights. Adding one more note specific to League of Legends, mobile champions are explicitly not designed as teamfighters. While there are many highly mobile champions, only a very small handful have anything that would be considered a traditional (non-crowd control) support ability. This is part of why Lee Sin can be such a valuable pick, as he can shield an ally. This also means Thresh, who can pull himself over walls, bring an ally over walls (thus giving them mobility), and shield allies, is arguably the strongest support champion for any Mobility team. Less-than-ideal picks are champions whose mobility relies on long cooldown ultimates, such as Malphite, even though these may be better traditional teamfighters. I’m a particular fan of mobility that explicitly allows easily jumping over walls, ideally without needing an enemy champion on the other side. These champions are very effective at surprise engagements and escapes. Of note, these teams are capable of entering both the Dragon and Baron pits without being seen in the river. In two Season 3 tournament games, teams with this make-up have been able to unexpectedly take Baron Nashor without the enemy team even knowing they were present (despite having the nearby river warded). Mobility teams are devastating to most team compositions in part because their early game is very strong. The champions that are good at disengaging tend to also be able to take more risks in harassing their opponents and are more likely to be able to escape from even the most coordinated ganks. PunchThrough is the only team comp that directly hard-counters Mobility comps in the mid and late game, 183 | Learn the League

but this only works when the Punch-Through team can get past the early game advantages of the mobility team. Pursuit teams may or may not counter Mobility teams, though this largely depends on the specific champions involved. Disengage teams that focus on split pushing but have strong teamfighting elements may win against Mobility teams, but again, this depends on the champions. Mobility teams have another advantage: They still have a fighting chance to win the game if they’ve fallen behind their opponents. They’re overall safe picks, and you still have things you can try (such as split pushing, stealing objectives, etc.) when you have no other choices. The barrier to entry for Mobility teams is that they require very high individual skill as well as very good team coordination and communication.


Disengage & Split Push

• • • • • •

• •

Strengths Great against Assault teams, may be strong against Mobility teams Shares many perks of Mobility teams but focuses more heavily on objectives May be good at defending objectives and delaying takedowns Can prevent or deter many forms of initiation, may be strong against Area of Effect teams Demoralizing to opponents when they can’t be locked down Chance for a comeback: May be able to successfully turtle to buy time for split pushing, utilizing “Defense in Depth” strategy Consistently performs well in tournaments Rewards strategic players

• • • • • •

Weaknesses Vulnerable against Pursuit and Defeat in Detail teams Heavily vision dependent Disengagement may require ultimates, opponents can use that downtime to their advantage If the split pusher(s) can be locked down and killed by an equal number of opponents, much of advantage is lost Limited pool of ideal champions Requires excellent coordination

Champion Examples Janna, Zyra, Nami, Kassadin, Ahri, Gragas, Fizz, Shen, Ezreal, Quinn, Jinx

Attack objectives, withdraw from players. Disengage & Split Push teams are very similar in role and function to Mobility teams, but they are designed more around objective control. To achieve this, these teams will pick up champions that have


stronger teamfighting synergy, wave clearing, and pressure. This makes them less capable of avoiding as many teamfights as Mobility teams, but they are more flexible in picking supports such as Zyra, Janna, and Nami, who can use their abilities to help their whole team fall back from imminent teamfights. As far as split pushing, the champions that are ideal for this are covered pretty extensively in “The Impossible Decision,” which is a must-read for this strategy anyway. I strongly recommend the split pusher have Teleport available if at all possible, as this allows for easier forking. Teleport is especially important if the enemy team is able to push towers more quickly than the split pushers (i.e. when the “Defense in Depth” strategy fails). To the extent that a Disengage & Split Push team is less mobile than a Mobility team, the Disengage & Split Push team must necessarily take fewer risks. Hyper-mobile champions like Lee Sin (especially paired with Thresh) may be able to jump over a wall into the fog of war and still escape when caught, but less mobile champions don’t always have that luxury. For this reason, map vision is critically important to maintain as often as possible for a Disengage & Split Push team. Disengage & Split Push balances against Pursuit teams in an interesting way. Technically, disengagement is how you counter most forms of initiation. A very quick Janna ultimate, for example, can knock a Galio or Kennen right back out of the team when they move in to initiate, and a Zyra ultimate can buy enough time to allow her team to continue falling back even if an enemy Malphite has successfully knocked the team up. But Pursuit teams that can maintain a chase through these abilities, or even bypass these abilities with their own mobility, can still initiate a fight. Since the strategy largely revolves around split pushing, it’s often the case that this becomes a 4 vs. 5 (or similarly imbalanced) teamfight, and the Pursuit team can likely win with a strong enough margin that they can push objectives. Because of this, I tend to consider Pursuit teams as a hard-counter to Disengage & Split Push teams, but only insofar as the Pursuit team has the right champions to make it happen.


Disengage Champion Breakdown Janna is arguably the strongest disengage champion in the League due to her ultimate. When timed well, she can knock opponents completely out of a fight while causing them to waste their initiation abilities. On top of this, her entire kit is fairly strong for a poke team, so she’s an ideal all-around pick. Zyra is another strong disengage champion, again largely due to her ultimate (though, like Janna, she has a line-skillshot crowd control that also helps). When your team is falling back, dropping this ultimate can prevent opponents from being able to travel over a very large area without being delayed by the knockup. As far as top tier disengagement, Gragas and Nami also fall into this category for their own ultimates. Other champions do well in this role, though they tend to be less capable of stopping full team pushes. Jayce can double as strong poke and decent disengage with his knockback and his acceleration gate. Leona, Ashe, and Varus can potentially stop incoming players. There’s also a large group of champions with very strong slows or area crowd controls (Karthus, Anivia, etc.) that can control fights as a team falls back. How do you counter disengagement? There are a few specific options that work well: • •

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Against Janna or other displacement champions, Zed offers a very strong counter due to his ultimate placing a shadow clone he can port right back to after the disengage occurs. Against strong slows, Evelynn’s high speed and her ability to remove slows allows her to get back onto a target quickly. Both Master Yi and Olaf fall in this category as well, though the lack of stealth makes it a little easier to quickly land hard crowd controls. Against high movement speed and mobility (and most of the other disengage options), Nocturne’s ultimate and spell shield allow him to quickly get onto a target. This can be coupled with Shen’s ultimate allowing for a follow-up taunt, which can allow slower team members time to move in and engage as well. Morgana’s Black Shield allows at least one player to remain unaffected by crowd controls. She’s a situational champion but it’s definitely worth keeping in the back of your head.

Items such as Banshee’s Veil and Quicksilver Sash (as well as similar crowd control removal options) work, but they are situational to the match you’re in.


Pursuit

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Strengths Specialized against Pressure, Mobility and Disengage & Split Push teams Strong against any team that isn’t grouped up, particularly prior to mid game grouping Many of the best pursuit champions are extraordinarily influential right when they gain their ultimate Chance for a comeback: Many pursuit champions are capable of split pushing

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Weaknesses May be weaker at teamfighting than Assault teams Limited champion pool if you need to counter “Over the Wall” mobility No particular strengths at defending objectives Vulnerable to chasing too far and running into ambushes While many pursuit champions are solid on their own, what you give up for strong pursuit bonuses may put you at a disadvantage against grouped teams that want to fight you

Champion Examples Volibear, Udyr, Trundle, Nocturne, Pantheon, Kassadin, Lissandra, Twisted Fate, Quinn

See. Chase. Kill. Pursuit teams are very similar to Assault teams, but they are shifted much more heavily towards chasing down slippery opponents and locking them down. There are three main types of champions that can belong on pursuit teams: 1. Champions with long range mobility ultimates such as Nocturne, Twisted Fate, and Pantheon; 2. Champions with sustained or exceptional mobility such as Kassadin or Ahri;


3. Champions with extremely high speed such as Hecarim, Rammus, Singed, and Volibear. I tend to value champions with hard crowd controls over champions without when it comes to this particular team composition, which means I’d consider a champion like Master Yi to fall more under a split pushing role than a pursuit role in terms of the teams he belongs on. However, a champion like Master Yi could fit nicely as a final addition to round out this type of team. Let’s briefly talk about game theory. Initiation tends to beat poke and other long range harassment, but only when the initiation happens immediately. In other words, if poke is allowed to go on for a while, a team that could have initiated and won a teamfight may find itself too weak and too low on resources to successfully do so later. But ranged harassment tends to require that long whittling down period, and if they are immediately locked in a teamfight, their main strategy for victory can be put in peril, even when they’re significantly ahead. Against Pressure teams, this poke vs. initiation dynamic means a teamfight that is initiated immediately will cause the balance of power to fall heavily towards the Pursuit team. For Mobility and Disengage & Split Push teams, this is a little less of a hard counter, and it often requires the Pursuit team have better chasers than their opponents have escapers. This is where the different types of pursuers come into play. Champions that rely largely on movement speed, as opposed to dashes or blinks, are generally able to gain much more distance from a single ability than their more mobile counterparts. But this comes at the cost of being susceptible to many common disengage abilities, particularly the use of line skillshot crowd controls from champions like Janna (Tornado), Lux (Binding), and Zyra (Roots). The jungle is much more difficult for these champions due to the tighter corridors that leave less room to dodge these skillshots and the potential for enemies to utilize walls to put major distance between you and them. Additionally, in several tournaments games have hinged on a pursuing team chasing so aggressively into the enemy jungle that they walk right into a coordinated trap; this is especially devastating against AOE teams that have a short initiation range. So while these champions are still fantastic pursuers, keeping chases near lanes or the river can be a good idea. Movement speed pursuers have the advantage of bringing a little bit more synergy to many teams than pure mobility champions, and there are two good ways to help them around their weakness. First, consider adding an extremely mobile champion like Kassadin to the team, as they can pull ahead and help lock down an opponent while the others catch up. Second, champions that can grant bonus movement speed – such as Orianna – are great at offering a needed boost. Ultimately, Pursuit teams should be considered when teamfighting is your strength but your opponents are playing a team composition that is intended to avoid direct teamfights.


Pursuit – Global & Long Range Map Mobility Abilities that allow a champion to travel across the map (Shen) or large areas of the map (Twisted Fate, Nocturne, Pantheon) have a very real impact on how each lane must play. Other champions with strong map mobility (ex. Kassadin) or extreme-range dashes (ex. Zac, Lissandra) can also fall into this category without very strong ward vision and map awareness. The idea of global presence is that you can react quickly to teamfights, initiate unexpectedly, push nearby lanes while still being ready to help teammates, and in some cases, escape otherwiseunavoidable deaths. Aside from playing safely and making sure you don’t overextend unless you can handle a full teamfight, there are three more direct ways to handle this kind of mobility: 1. Focus early and mid game pressure on the champions with the long range mobility. Shen may be able to move across the entire map to add himself to any teamfight, but it doesn’t do him any good if he’s the one being ganked. 2. Stay grouped as a team and force objectives to prevent split pushing. This is best done if you have a strong pushing team. 3. Global ultimates have fairly long cooldowns. As soon as one has been used, immediately apply pressure where they aren’t (ex. pushing mid tower after Twisted Fate has just used his ultimate to gank bottom). There’s another great way to counter global ultimates – picking a champion that hard counters them and taking the Teleport summoner spell. Either kill them in lane or in the jungle, or follow them to whatever fight they go to with Teleport. Here are some quick examples, though it’s certainly not an exhaustive list: • • • •

Twisted Fate is countered by Fizz, Diana, and Ahri. Because Fizz can become untargetable and completely avoid a gold card, he is one of the strongest counters. Nocturne is countered in the jungle by strong duelists such as Olaf, Udyr, and Shyvana, or in lane by beefy champions such as Nasus. Shen is countered by generally strong solo laners such as Jayce, Teemo, Kayle, and Elise. In addition to this, high sustain champions such as Yorick, Warwick, and Vladimir also do well. Pantheon is weak to very bulky champions, particularly those with sustain, innate damage reduction or survivability, or easy interrupts. Yorick, Udyr, Malphite, Cho’gath, and coincidentally, Shen, all work for this.

One more thing to keep in mind: Shen is particularly vulnerable to being interrupted while channeling his ultimate. Several tournament teamfights have turned because Shen was interrupted, preventing him from joining his team when his allies were relying on him. A near-instant crowd control that can be used from a range, such as Malphite’s ultimate, works for this.


Defeat in Detail

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Strengths Generally acceptable against most teams, particularly those with softer targets that can be killed quickly Big chance for a comeback: One lucky hook or one opponent out of position can win the game Champions that synergize with this strategy (assassins and hooks) tend to have strong killing potential throughout the game Fits well as an after-thought to most other team compositions Adds considerable threat when opponents are attacking structures While used at all levels of play, can be devastating in the lower experience brackets

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Weaknesses Don’t bother picking this against teams that will stay tightly grouped and have support synergy, especially PunchThrough teams Struggles against any team with strong map vision By the mid game, the composition may suffer from overall synergy and can require knocking out at least one player to have a shot Snowballing is often necessary close out a game if your opponents are paying attention to positioning

Champion Examples Blitzcrank, Thresh, Kha’zix, Rengar, Talon, Akali, Katarina, Fizz, Malzahar, Veigar, Vi, Skarner

Knock out one key player. Capitalize. Defeat in Detail is a specific strategy that involves killing one or two opponents before the rest of their team can react. Oftentimes this may be a support or another vulnerable player, but in many cases,


knocking off any single opponent can give your team an edge that allows you to take objectives or continue to keep your opponents out of the fight. To be clear, the strategy of isolating players or hitting players who are out of position is a tool that any team should take advantage of. The reason I’ve included it as a distinct team in this section is because team compositions can be specifically picked to enable this. There are three types of champions that common on these teams: 1. Assassins, as they can quickly burst down single targets. 2. Champions with hooks (Blitzcrank, Thresh, Nautilus) as they can isolate opponents from their teams. Blitzcrank tends to be the strongest due to how easily he can pull an opponent over a wall. 3. Single-target crowd controllers such as Vi who can lock an opponent down for long enough to ensure a kill. Vision fights, especially around objectives, tend to work well as a means of baiting out opponents. Other strategies such as interdiction are also helpful. Like Mobility teams, these teams require quick reactions from teammates. Catching an opponent without the team responding quickly may allow opponents to escape. Defeat in Detail teams usually have a shot at winning games even when they’re behind. Their opponents only need to make one critical mistake, or get hit by that one lucky Blitzcrank grab.


Defeat in Detail – Double Assassins Double assassin teams pose a unique threat due to their ability to snowball through a teamfight, especially when at least one of them can reset some or all of their abilities with a kill or assast (Katarina, Kha’zix, Akali). For what it’s worth, this also goes for Master Yi and Tristana if they’re doing extremely well. Double Assassin comps rely entirely on singling out a single vulnerable player and destroying them, then either falling back or moving on to the next target. This is especially brutal against teams who have multiple squishy champions, and is capable of turning around games even when the other team is doing fantastically well. If you’re playing a double assassin team, it’s worth bringing in players with strong long-range harassment (poke) to get people low enough to be easily burst down by the assassins. On top of this, at least one hard crowd control is helpful for easily knocking out the first victim. How do you counter this? At champion select, picking champions who are very bulky or who can survive through death (Anivia, Zac, Zilean, etc.) work provided they mesh with your team comp. In game, vulnerable members should absolutely strive to build a Guardian Angel as their fourth item. Nothing kills an assassin’s ability to teamfight like having to wait in the middle of a team for a core target to revive. And if they’re relying on ability resets, they won’t get them until the target is actually dead, not simply put into a state of revival. Beyond this, you need to worry about the individual survivability of your team. If you’re playing as a team, your goal should be to build enough effective health to survive the burst long enough for crowd controls or disengage to come into effect. When you’re playing without a full team, it may not be possible to convince players that they need more survivability. That’s where group survivability items such as Aegis of the Legion and Locket of the Iron Solari come in. And when all else fails, do everything you can to keep more vulnerable players out of the fight until the assassins have already engaged.

Defeat in Detail – Double Hooks Like double assassin teams, double hook teams are rare and specialized at control and initiates. Specifically, double hook teams contain at least two of the three champions that can hook onto a player and pull them towards their team, meaning Blitzcrank, Nautilus, or Thresh. I’m not including Darius or Diana as their pull-in abilities are not limited to a single target (counter this by keeping your distance, as they have short ranges). These teams are very strong at pulling an opponent out and locking them down (often with a follow-up hook), but they are fairly easily stopped in teamfights by using bulky champions (such as Amumu, Sejuani, or Alistar) as a front line. Having a survivable champion physically block the path of possible


incoming hooks can sometimes not only cause them to hook a player who can survive their burst, but can also allow the hooked champion to open up with their own crowd controls more easily. Of course, you aren’t limited to blocking with tanks. Simply picking champions who excel at a close range, such as Karthus and Diana, limits the good options for who they can pull in during a teamfight. Highly mobile champions such as Ezreal also tend to be fine around hook teams as they can more easily dodge the hooks and, even if they’re caught, they may have a great chance of still slipping back out. Still, these are strong team comps when you’re able to catch people out, and there’s a good deal of strategy to flanking out of vision for clean shots.


Punch-Through

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Strengths Ticking time bomb: Hit late game, win game. Strongest late game counter to Mobility, Disengage & Split Push, Pursuit, and Defeat in Detail teams Does not require a focus on either initiation or mobility, allowing a stronger focus on team synergy than any other team composition Once this team reaches critical mass they can often push down a single lane and win the game outright Despite a relatively weak early game compared to other teams, many champions that fit this composition are also good at defending objectives and delaying takedowns

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Weaknesses Very dependent on a ranged damage dealer building several core items. Can be crippled in the early and mid game by Mobility and Pursuit teams Due to tighter grouping in teamfights, may be vulnerable to unexpected area effect crowd controls Works by creating a team-wide protective shell but also requires a lot of team farm to reach critical mass; staying spread out in the early and mid game adds a lot of vulnerability Potential doesn’t always pan out and the team can sometimes fall too far behind Has been hit-or-miss in tournaments, with big victories as well as big losses

Champion Examples Tristana, Caitlyn, Kog’maw, Jinx, Orianna, Lux, Morgana, Kayle, Jarvan IV, Shen

See objective. Take objective. Punch-Through teams are built to focus on objectives, particularly towers. The goal for these teams is to feed at least one very strong carry through the early and mid game, then build a turtle-like shell around that carry and demolish structures (and any champions who try to stop them).


The strategy has gone through a few different names in the community, including “Protect the Kog’maw.” The idea behind these teams is that one or two players will become powerhouse pushers throughout the game, able to rapidly take down either towers or players. The other players on the team focus on keeping those pushers alive through support abilities and crowd controls. The pusher needs to gain power, though, and needs to find and take any opportunities to gain gold and items. When it comes to teamfighting, Punch-Through teams with fed damage dealers tend to excel at destroying any target, which means taking an approach like “kill the closest target no matter what” actually works out well. Ideally, every member of a Punch-Through team brings something towards tower takedowns, whether this is strong wave clear, long range normal attacks, or zone control to deny enemies from defending. The fed damage dealer tends to be the biggest central point of damage against towers, and marksmen with consistent long attack ranges (Caitlyn, Tristana, Kog’maw, and Jinx) are usually ideal. When possible, the other champions should bring utility in addition to their main role – Orianna is a fantastic example because all of her abilities can be fully effective while serving the purpose of keeping the main damage dealer alive. Shields, auras, utility, crowd controls, and anything that serves the purpose of making the whole greater than the sum of its parts are good. Like chess, it can be just as important where you don’t move as where you do move. Avoid using PunchThrough to chase opponents, especially into less open terrain such as the jungle, as it can negate many of the advantages of your range. These teams do well pushing open lanes. You don’t have to respond to everything. If your forward momentum is stronger than theirs, just continue what you’re doing instead of reacting. If they’re split up and can’t defend their towers, that’s an important advantage for you. If you do get pulled into a teamfight, don’t get sucked into a war of attrition when you can avoid it. Don’t chase ghosts, you won’t win the match by defeating your enemies in a teamfight (I mean, you could, but it’s not your only method). If you can regroup and focus on an objective, do that quickly. I consider Punch-Through teams to be the ticking time bomb in League of Legends. They’re extraordinarily vulnerable when they’re split up trying to get farm, and both Mobility and Pursuit teams are capable of setting them so far back in the early and mid game that they can’t recover. But in those instances where the Punch-Through team plays its cards right and gets to the late game they tend to steamroll over anything they come across. They’re one of my personal favorites to watch because they can look like they’re losing until they reach a moment of critical mass, at which point they completely overcome anything thrown at them. Ultimately the winning strategy for these teams is outlast and outfarm. But before totally selling you on this team comp, let me reiterate that it’s easier said than done. These teams tend to lose games earlier because their power level didn’t quite spike to where it needed to be quickly enough.


Punch-Through Teamfight Variation As a standalone strategy I tend to emphasize the importance of tower takedowns, but this strategy has been effectively used to build team compositions around shorter range carries such as Vayne. Along with this, teams like Royal Club have put less of an emphasis on support synergy and more of an emphasis on body blocking opponents, creating a physical wall of protection. All of the same principles apply for this team composition, but this shifts the emphasis off of steamrolling towers later in the game and puts it on steamrolling enemy teams (often with the end result of taking out a nearby objective). And in a lot of circumstances, weaving in and out to put damage on towers with a shorter range champion is still effective for sieging, provided your team has gained sufficient advantage over your opponents.


Pressure

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Strengths Safe against most teams that lack initiation If this team has a lead, it tends to maintain and build that lead Many champions in this composition are also strong at defending objectives and delaying takedowns Chance for a comeback: Landing enough harassment on one critical player that forces them to fall back or recall can allow openings for objectives and direct teamfights Safe during most stages of the game Can build an illusion of superiority

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Weaknesses Vulnerable against Pursuit and Assault teams with strong initiation. A quick early initiation from opponents, especially using flanks, can be devastating Once opponents initiate and win a teamfight, they tend to realize they can win by doing this relentlessly Benefit of localized pressure can be nullified by enemy split pushing Momentum can be killed off when opponents can sustain their health through the harassment Requires patience, jumping the gun and initiating a teamfight too early or too close to an enemy tower can be costly

Champion Examples Lux, Orianna, Xerath, Jayce, Mundo, Ashe, Caitlyn, Jinx, Ezreal, Kog’maw, Janna, Blitzcrank

Harass. Keep distance. Avoid unfavorable teamfights. Pressure teams win games by wearing down their opponents from a distance, then moving in to take objectives of initiate fights once their opponents are at a disadvantage. This can be achieved either through area control abilities such as Lux’s Lucent Singularity or Ziggs’ Hexplosive Minefield or through active poke abilities such as Xerath’s Arcanopulse. 198 | Learn the League

The ideal goal for pressure teams is to knock opponents down to low health from a distance and force them to either recall or fall back. Like Defeat in Detail, keeping one or two players out of the mix at a time can create a power imbalance that falls in favor of the Pressure team. For this harassment to be successful, shorter range champions on the team need to have the discipline to hold back and wait rather than immediately diving into the enemy team. Taking the time to soften up opponents is a great lead-in to a favorable teamfight. And before going further, let me add that there’s a really good value to having short range threats on this team, in that this can discourage opponents from diving onto you to initiate a fight. When in the lead, pressure teams are one of the better team compositions for taking down enemy towers. This can be achieved in a couple different ways: 1. Create openings for a ranged champion to quickly run in, land a normal attack on the tower, then immediately fall back; or 2. Aggressively poke opponents down to where core players need to fall back, then attack the tower as a team. The first option is much safer, especially when you’re up against a full team that is staying to defend their tower. It’s also ideal for champions who can zone areas with persistent effects (Lux, Ziggs, etc.), as the duration of these can allow some extra tower damage from your team. The second option tends to be better with strong poke champions like Nidalee, as they may be able to knock an opponent back to the platform. By doing this, they can take the risk of aggressively taking the tower. So long as they feel a teamfight will fall in their favor this kind of push can: • • • •

Allow you to potentially knock other players back to the platform, staggering their team and preventing them from stopping the tower takedown; Potentially bait an uneven teamfight in defense of their tower, again allowing you to stagger their team; Get in a position to force enemies who can clear minion waves further back, keeping your minion waves alive and letting them tank the tower; Bring down the tower much more quickly.

For the same reason that Pressure teams can be good at taking down enemy towers, they can also be obnoxiously good at defending their own. Unless their opponents have an overwhelming advantage, they tend to be fairly capable of turtling to wait out buffs and wait for opponents to make a mistake. While applied force – actually knocking players out of the area – is ideal, Pressure teams also benefit from the mental game as well. When a player believes a risk is attached to coming within range of several longer range opponents, they will tend to play more cautiously. This is why I included Blitzcrank as an example, as hook champions add to the perceived risk of being in range of opponents. This is made worse when players don’t distinguish between damage over time and burst damage. Most forms of pressure require time to be effective – for instance, Lux, unless extremely fed, can’t burst many 199 | Learn the League

champions down from full health to zero health in one combo. But if she’s landed a few singularities on an opponent, that opponent may look at their reduced health as a sign that Lux is significantly more powerful than them. In reality, if both players engaged in a quick head-on engagement, Lux may very well lose that fight. (Or not, but only because Lux is awesome) When players believe they can’t approach a Pressure team, whether or not it’s true, then the Pressure team has successfully achieved “force projection.” This is a vicious cycle – the more their opponents stay at range, the more of an advantage the Pressure team gains through towers, aggressive poking, and map control. Initiation is the counter to poke. The best way to stop a Pressure team is to fight back hard the moment the harassment begins, without letting up, and without giving room to back off. Pursuit teams are fantastic at doing this. And while Pressure teams tend to have a champion pool that allows for disables, more mobile initiators can usually get past these. My personal experience has been that many players, especially newer players, won’t take the risk of initiating when they’re being harassed. They don’t realize the logical end to that decision is that they will take more damage and be even less able to do anything if they don’t engage quickly. There usually aren’t a lot of options. But when our team actually does initiate a teamfight against them and wins, the illusion of superiority is immediately shattered. At that point, it’s just a matter of time before we win the match as we continue to force teamfights and take objectives.


Creating Effective Teams At this point we’ve covered some of the important strategies that shape League of Legends, but now I want us to pull that discussion back a little and emphasize this point: Champions are not simply a part of a strategy, and strategies are not the only factor in victory. At a superficial level it’s easy to say that player skill and player knowledge are just as important as strategy and, while this is true, it’s not terribly helpful. Instead, let me list a few tangible things that can have a big impact on victory: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Does the team have sufficient crowd control? Does the team have a good mix of damage? Does the team have a strong enough early game to last until they peak in power? Does the team have the tools to either initiate teamfights or deal long range damage? Does the team have synergy in map positioning? In other words, if some champions are good at staying apart from the team, are the other champions able to function well as a smaller group? If an enemy team is mobile, does the team have at least some non-skillshot damage and crowd controls? If an enemy team is skillshot dependent, does the team have mobility? If an enemy team has high burst, can the team survive it? Can the team clear minion waves quickly from a range? Is the team capable of defending their jungle?

In the Second World War, no matter how good the strategy may have been, the Allies probably would not have won had they still only flown biplanes. Exactly the same thing is true in League of Legends, which is why it’s a good idea to consider balanced team compositions with most strategies, particularly in regards to champions. This is why the meta is important to understand. Even though I believe there are very good reasons to break from the meta at times, the principles of having a good mix of different champion types works well towards balancing a team. The reason I didn’t include one-off strategies like “Five Marksman” or “Five Pushers” gimmicks is because, by and large, they don’t work outside of novelty (though they may still be tons of fun to play occasionally).


Team & Strategy Synergy Let’s jump back to strategy. There are a couple really important points as we look into how to choose champions for teams: • •

A team can have elements from multiple strategies. They are not mutually exclusive. Unless otherwise noted, most of the strategies are soft counters to each other. Gaining a gold and item lead through any means can still win many games that seem unfavorable.

You may have noticed in the champion examples that I offered in each strategy that there was a lot of crossover. Where there’s a strong crossover it can be very easy to combine strategies and playstyles into a coherent, effective team. Let’s take a look at some of these: Assault, Pursuit, and Defeat in Detail share similar champions. Vi is a very good example of a champion who can unify these strategies – she is excellent at chasing and locking down a single champion (Pursuit), offers enough crowd control for a team to kill the target (Defeat in Detail), and fits nicely as part of a strong teamfighting composition. While this does create a strategic weakness for an Assault team – the Pincer Assault teamfight strategy is designed to bypass champions that can only lock down a single target – this weakness can be overcome with other champion picks. If you wanted a high priority champion pick that either gives you the flexibility to choose between these strategies or allows you to not give away your strategy, consider strong overall champions like Blitzcrank, Vi, Jax, or Kha’zix. Mobility and Defeat in Detail share similar champions. Many highly mobile champions are either assassins or duelists and are fantastic at catching opponents on their own. The split pusher on a Disengage & Split Push team may also come from this category. Flexible early picks for these strategies would include champions like Kassadin, Fizz, and Thresh. I generally don’t consider Thresh a top tier support choice for disengage teams as his own escape is situational, but he is still a very strong asset to any team that I’d be comfortable taking early. Pressure works well with either Punch-Through or Disengage & Split Push. Consider Orianna or Lux, both of whom are able to shield allies and deliver long range harassment and can crowd control opponents. Champions like Janna, Zyra, and Nami work well in any of these team compositions as well. For clarification on my ‘either/or’ statement, marksmen are usually better with a team than attempting to split push on their own. Since Punch-Through relies on the key champion being a marksman and Disengage & Split Push relies on the key champion being a split pusher, you usually don’t want to try to bring the two teams together (though you could probably get away with it if your split pusher was Shen, who could return to a teamfight and bolster the marksman’s defenses at the same time).


For these teams, examples of flexible picks would include Orianna, Janna, and Lux. Though I haven’t mentioned them up to this point, I’d also be comfortable with picks like Syndra and Cassiopeia, both of whom have fairly long range consistent harassment, are extremely threatening to opponents who may want to initiate, and can easily clear minion waves later in the game. Also, these three teams can still have ‘normal’ champions, so picking an early champion outside of these is perfectly fine. One more thing: I mentioned earlier that Defeat in Detail teams work well as an addition to other teams, and one place they work – particularly with assassins – is with Pressure teams. This is because assassins are often better off waiting in the flanks for targets to become soft enough for a kill, and this works very well with the harassment from Pressure teams. A limited number of assassins like Kassadin are also quite capable of split pushing, which means this dynamic can work with some Disengage & Split Push teams as well. Up to this point, I’ve illustrated a number of similarities between team compositions and hopefully given you an idea how to create a team that shares several attributes. But it’s a good idea to have a single strategy as your ‘raison d'être,’ the strategy that is the primary reason for your existence. Defeat in Detail is a good example of this. If you take a double assassin composition, you are defined by being a double assassin composition, and both you and your opponents will understand what that entails. You may also be decent at teamfighting, or applying pressure, or any number of things, but above everything else you will be playing like a double assassin team.


Early Game Objectives Strategy I mentioned earlier that there are a number of factors beyond strategy that are important when deciding which champions make up your team. I want to take a moment to discuss a strategy for building your team that revolves around taking down objectives quickly and using that to snowball. This can be adapted to several team compositions and it isn’t a full strategy in itself, so I haven’t really had an ideal place to bring it up yet. The most common playstyle in solo and duo queue involves running a heavy fighter at top lane, a mage at mid lane, and a support and marksman at bottom lane. As you know, the idea behind this meta is it gives teams more dragon control while giving the mage a safety and power advantage. However, in tournaments and other coordinated games this is becoming rarer to see, because this is not always the best way to take early objectives. I’ll talk about this more in the Practical Tips & Advice section, so you may want to jump there to read more on this. One thing to keep in mind is how well your lanes will allow you to control your own jungle buffs and help deny your opponents. There are two attributes to this: 1. Can your champion physically block the enemy mid lane from using the most direct path to defend their own jungler? (This implies positioning strength as well as the ability to bully them off the path) 2. Can your champion provide a major benefit to quickly invading a major buff in the enemy jungle? A champion like Blitzcrank fits both of these roles fairly well, and works well as a duo lane partner. But plenty of other champions performing other roles may work well for this as well. Dragon control is critical. Even at the pro tournament level, pushing an early top tower can backfire if the enemy team immediately uses your positioning to take out Dragon. Usually taking a tower out soon enough, and while the enemy team is still attempting to defend it, can negate this risk. Map mobility in the form of teleport and champion abilities may also be helpful for this. Another thing to keep in mind is that a 2v1 top lane may necessitate the jungler camping the lane for the team with only one defender, which can actually help control the flow of engagements throughout the map. In most situations, a tower takedown in your lane offers a good opportunity to fall back, recall, and purchase new items. From there, you can go to wherever you’re pushing or defending next. However, consider whether it may be a good idea to simply run across the map to quickly get to another objective and help take it. In the second week of Season 3 Summer Split, Counter Logic Gaming managed to break Cloud 9’s unbroken winning streak in part by taking Dragon early on; this maneuver happened when Cloud 9 had just taken top tower and began recalling to base, while Janna and Elise instead moved across the map for Dragon.


Some very survivable champions, such as Singed, Shen, Renekton, and Nasus, are able to do well in a 2v1 lane by playing defensively at their tower. A jungler can help stop aggression by visibly camping in the lane similar to an additional laner. If you simply need to buy time while your duo pair takes another tower, this can be an effective way to tipping that balance towards your team. Speaking of champions who can survive solo lanes, another team composition designed around flexible laning includes multiple support champions (such as Janna and Sona). The idea behind these picks is not so much that they can hold the tower (though ideally they can delay a takedown), but that they can support other players on the team who enter the lane to help quickly push objectives. This setup allows and requires strong damage dealers to move fluidly around the map, and allows for some interesting team comps (such as jungle Ezreal). It’s by no means necessary that you adapt this strategy to your strategy or team composition. However, you should at least be prepared to identify when it’s happening and play to the strengths of at least one of your lanes (heavy ganks and pressure, for example) to help have an advantage somewhere as you come into the mid game.


Solo Play & Small Groups My assumption is that many of you, like me, don’t always find yourself in organized teams where it’s easy to plan out an entire team composition. This doesn’t necessarily spell doom for the possibility of using these strategies to win more matches, but it does help to be flexible. In the roles you play do you know champions that fit each of these strategies? To simplify this a bit, you’ll want at least one champion for each of these traits: 1. Crowd Controls (Safe for Assault, Pursuit, Defeat in Detail) 2. Mobility (Safe for Mobility, Disengage & Split Push) 3. Range (Safe for Pressure, Punch-Through, Disengage & Split Push) While it’s not always going to be an exact fit, this allows you to have a few comfort picks. If you enjoy mages, for instance, you might choose Veigar (Crowd Controls), Lissandra (Mobility) and Lux (Range). Playing champions you know is almost always better than playing champions strictly to fit a team composition. But on the other hand, having a small pool of champions you enjoy that happen to fit well into a lot of strategies is better. And there are a few generalist champions that happen to work well with nearly any team composition (Thresh, Shen, Kassadin, Ahri, and Jarvan IV are good examples of this). One or two champions that don’t fit perfectly in a team composition are still ok. I’ve seen Ryze, one of the least mobile champions in the game, added to an otherwise pure Mobility team. They still came out victorious, although this is also a testament to the power of Thresh on these teams in being able to give Ryze a lantern for mobility. So, which champions do you actually pick at champion selection? For early picks when you aren’t able to communicate with your teammates, I tend to believe it’s a good idea to pick a generalist champion that can fall into any strategy. My own comfort picks have been Lux and Amumu, and I’ll take either of them with any team even when they’re not a perfect fit. While assassins are fantastic, I don’t like making these early picks. They are fairly easy for opponents to hard counter in draft mode, and enough players really love assassins that I’ve often found a second or third assassin being picked on a team even when it’s a really bad idea against the enemy team. As a related note, multiple assassins on a team without much crowd control are a recipe for mid and especially late game disaster. For later picks, you get a lot more flexibility. You get to see what champions your team prefers and get an idea what playstyles they may enjoy. You have a Twisted Fate on your team? Great, that means you can take mobile champions and go dangerously deep into the enemy jungle, or you can take Pantheon or Shen to enable incredible map control, or you can take pressure champions to allow Twisted Fate to do some split pushing.


Being a later pick lets you have some control over the strategy your team pursues. It lets you amplify the strengths your team already has, such as being very mobile, or having great synergy for teamfights. And it lets you cover core weaknesses, such as lacking crowd controls or initiation or team survivability. Playing without a group is often going to be a sausage factory. Communication can sometimes help build a coherent strategy and composition before the game starts, but not always. Do what you can to make the most of it and you’ll likely win more games.


Organized Teams As an organized team you will be able to bring to bear all of the information we’ve looked at in the Grand Strategy section. Assuming you have a group of players who have their own champions and preferences, make a list of which champions each of you know and figure out which strategies would work well using only champions from this list. This will be your guideline on which strategies you should practice, and may also be helpful in identifying key shortcomings from your champion pool. Remember the keys that are separate of your overall strategy. How are you going to handle the jungle? How are you going to handle the early game and the laning phase? What specific weaknesses are you going to have to deal with and what do you need to watch out for from your opponents? What actual synergy do your champion choices have, such as targeted crowd controls for assassins or peeling for vulnerable carries? With these questions in mind, your goal should be to either cover the weaknesses in your team composition, augment the strengths of it, or both. Let me use the example of a Mobility team. If you’re looking for the most mobility, a champion like Ezreal seems like an obvious choice – after all, he is one of the most mobile champions in the game, and he fills the role of a marksman. But the weakness for many Mobility teams is handling structures, both in defending and destroying them. A much stronger choice may be a champion like Tristana, who has excellent long-range tower takedown potential with the perk of also having some mobility with her jump. As you develop your strategies, keep these tips in mind: Practice teamfights. While not all strategies are designed to teamfight, the time will likely come where your team is forced into a teamfight regardless. Some of the best teams in the world, such as Fnatic, will play brilliantly in teamfights even though their strategies aren’t always meant for picking fights. Practice positioning and strategy in addition to reaction time. Have at least two comfort strategies. Just as players should have several champions they excel at, teams should be capable of executing more than one strategy. You don’t have to know and execute all of them, but you should be able to adjust, particularly when core champions have been target banned by your opponents. When you’re in champion selection, be careful about indulging an ‘arms race’ mentality where you counterpick each individual champion from the other team. You want to stick to a strategy even if that means you aren’t perfectly countering each champion. That said, direct hard counters can work to your advantage, especially when you’re knocking out a critical player in the process. Scarra’s surprise Evelynn pick against Karthus in Season 3 was a good example of this.


As quickly as possible, try to identify what your opponents are trying to do with their team composition. While it might not change your strategy, it may allow you to pick better champions against them and potentially deny them high value champions. The same concepts apply in terms of pick order. You want to start with high priority picks, particularly those that are most beneficial to the strategies you may choose to pursue, but that don’t lock you into a particular route and don’t give away your specific plan. More specialized and less strategy-flexible picks should be saved for later. Before closing, here are some pitfalls I’d encourage you to watch out for: Don’t compromise your strategy. If your strategy is Disengage & Split Push, go all the way with it. If your strategy is Mobility, go all the way with it. If your strategy serves the purpose of avoiding teamfights, trying to make the team better at teamfighting is going to cost you if your opponents are equally skilled and better suited for teamfights. Don’t double down on a losing strategy. If your opponents are going to do a fantastic job avoiding teamfights, don’t focus on a better teamfighting composition. We’ll talk more about each of these in the next section.


Analyzing Tournaments By now you should be developing a holistic view on strategy in League of Legends, and this in turn means you’re going to be able to understand tournaments on a much deeper level. If you’re like me, you won’t be quite as bored watching teams that never seem to get into teamfights, because you’ll be seeing the gears in action and you’ll be better aware of the player motivations. At the point in the lifecycle of League of Legends that I’m writing this particular section (Season 4), the game has been released for years and the e-sports scene is booming. International and regional tournaments are happening frequently and some incredibly skilled teams have been climbing around the world. So it may come as a surprise that some of the best teams fall into very basic strategy traps that we can easily identify. As you’ve no doubt gathered by this point, I love harping on the Season 3 World Championship. There were so many good strategy lessons put in plain view, and we’re going to look at a couple of them here as an example of how to analyze tournaments. Remember the first pitfall I said to watch out for? Don’t compromise your strategy. In the semi-final matches where Fnatic went up against Royal Club, this lesson could have saved Fnatic some heartbreak. During their matches, Shen was picked or target banned by Royal Club, knocking out one of their key champions for their Disengage & Split strategy. But beyond this, they also gave up Teleport, presumably in favor of summoner spells that would help if a teamfight broke out. The lack of Teleport cost them any chance of recovery when Royal Club successfully forked them with Shen, a situation where Fizz did not have Teleport. I cover this moment in this video (if you can’t use the link, search “The Impossible Decision” on YouTube). I correctly predicted the outcome of these games based on the champions and summoner spells they chose at the champion selection screen. It wasn’t because I had a magic 8-ball and it wasn’t because I thought Fnatic was a bad team or was rooting for Royal Club. Instead, I argued that their core strategy that they had been successful with throughout the season was being compromised (in part by the Shen denial and in part by the lack of Teleport).


Now let’s talk about the second pitfall: Don’t double down on a losing strategy. This is exactly what Royal Club did when they played the final matches against SKT1.

Royal Club ran Sona, Malphite, Elise, Orianna, and Vayne. This is a pure Assault composition. SKT1, on the other hand, ran Corki, Gragas, Jarvan, Jax, and Thresh, which is a pure Mobility composition. Here’s what I wrote prior to the first match-up: China [Royal Club] has a full teamfight build, Korea [SKT1] has a super-mobility comp. These are both extreme strengths, and Korea has repeatedly proven their strengths w/ this. Look for Korea to do just about anything they want, so long as their reaction times are fast enough to avoid getting caught out. … China is a battleship. Korea is drone warfare. Korea picks and chooses its battles but may have problems with teamfights if they're not super-surgical. On paper, Royal Club could go toe-to-toe with SKT1. After all, in a teamfight, they had a Sona, Malphite, and Orianna ultimate combination, and Vayne’s close range damage coupled with Elise’s ability to break towards critical targets, meant a head-on fight would likely break in their favor (at least so long as the teams were roughly equal in gear and gold). In practice, SKT1 never needed to engage in a fight they didn’t want to. Time after time, Royal Club’s attempts to initiate fights on their terms was completely shut down as SKT1 simply backed away (sometimes in epic fashion, such as with Gragas’ multiple escapes). Earlier in this section, I mentioned one awesome little trick for Mobility teams: secret Baron and Dragon takedowns. This was added to the e-book back in early Season 3, and it was on show once again at the world finals, as they took a completely uncontested Baron. Let’s break this down: Royal Club decided to run a hard Assault team against them, which was baffling, as Royal Club is also outstanding with Punch-Through teams. This was a team that could play a mean Caitlyn, totally protect that Caitlyn, and push objectives – one of the best ways to counter a Mobility


team – but they didn’t. They picked a better teamfighting comp and, as a result of not having much tower pressure, SKT1 had an even easier time ignoring them. You have likely picked this up from what I’ve written so far, but I believe that most strategies are soft counters to each other. Except for Mobility, which hard counters Assault. Predicting a three-match loss for Royal Club was not difficult. To their credit, in a later match they picked Kassadin and were successfully able to pursue and kill some of SKT1’s members as they attempted to fall back (at which point SKT1 took their ball and avoided them for the next five minutes or so).

When it comes to analyzing tournaments, my approach is to wait for champion selection and see which champions and summoner spells are being chosen. This clues me into which strategy they’re intending to work towards, and also lets me know things like how strong the early game may be or how the laning phase may play out. If you read my commentary when tournament matches start (Twitter or Facebook, but usually only for bigger matches), I tend not to make a simple prediction on who will win, but instead lay out a few scenarios and the relative strengths and weaknesses of each team. It’s honestly not possible to know if there will be a big early play that results in a snowball or if one team will slip up and make an enormous error (flashing with Sona then missing the ultimate entirely, etc.). But that uncertainty is what makes it so entertaining. That said, gaining a broader look at the strategic picture allows these educated guesses to give you a pretty good insight to how games are likely to play out. I find that being able to watch tournaments this way is considerably more fulfilling than just listening to the casters, who are often stressed for time and can only give shallow or quick commentary (by no fault of their own).


The Impossible Decision If you've played chess, you may have heard of something called a "fork." This is a maneuver where a piece is moved in such a way that it threatens two enemy pieces. A well-executed Fork creates an impossible decision. No matter what your opponent decides to do, their best result is losing a piece. It's a no-win situation. This impossible decision is the most centrally important strategic concept in League of Legends. Beyond playing well, executing solid teamfights, and understanding match-ups, this is the concept that the very best teams in the world use to control their opponents. By learning this, you will understand the tournament scene better and you will become more capable of executing strategic, map-wide plays. As a side note, this section was originally intended to be a movie, but I realized I could write much more freely in this format. Because there are some awesome video examples, please make sure to download the companion video and watch through it once you’ve read this. It should crystalize just how huge a concept this is.

Strategic Split Pushing Before jumping into this, let me define how I’m using the phrase “Split Pushing” in this section. I am referring to a team being split apart with at least one player pushing a lane while their team focuses on another objective (another lane, Baron, Dragon, or jungle monsters). In the traditional sense, split pushing usually only involves lanes, but other map objectives function identically. Unless you’re brand new, you’ve certainly been exposed to split pushing, where your opponents wind up taking down towers before anyone on your team responds. If they’re smart, they may have even waited for a teamfight to break out elsewhere so they can push further without people realizing its happening. We’ve covered this elsewhere, but let’s run down the hallmarks of a good split pushing scenario: •

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• •

The player(s) split pushing a lane or objective require a greater force from their opponents to stop them. For example, a fed Tryndamere who can only be stopped if a team sends at least two players to stop him, or a tanky Malphite who can only be stopped if the strongest carry is sent after them. If the player(s) split pushing have a reasonable chance to escape even if they’re attacked, this dramatically increases their effectiveness. For example, Kassadin’s extreme mobility, Twisted Fate’s escape with his ultimate, or Teemo’s fast movement speed. The most frustrating split pushers are the ones who are too slippery to lock down. The player(s) split pushing have enough map vision to give them a big safety net. The player(s) not pushing a lane have strong teamfight disengage mechanics, or be strong enough that they can overwhelm their opponents even if they’re short-handed.


Split pushing tends to be a great tactical maneuver by smart players, but most split pushes don’t fall into the category of the impossible decision. These pushes tend to rely on our opponents to tunnel vision elsewhere on the map, or simply be out of position, or be far enough behind that they can’t stop you anyway. However, they’re not strategic plays that can be used against skilled opponents who can match your team head-on. To create a strategic fork, we need to force our opponents to choose between two actions, neither of which is favorable.

The Split Push & Disengage Fork To explain this better, it’s best to start by giving a clear example of an impossible decision. For this fictional engagement, blue team will have a bit of mobility (ex. Ezreal, Kassadin) and some form of team disengagement (ex. Janna, Zyra).

Four members of blue team are grouped near Baron, with all of purple team nearby realizing they may need to contest Baron. Meanwhile, blue team’s Shen has shown up at bottom lane and is positioning himself to push the second purple tower. He’s got a Sunfire to help push the waves and he’s tanky enough that he can’t quickly be killed by any single player on purple team.


The obvious answer here – and the one I’ve even recommended in other parts of this e-book – is that purple team needs to immediately engage in a 5v4 teamfight against blue team. The problem is, with a bit of teamfight disengagement and mobility, blue team is going to be able to fall back. In the best case scenario, purple team is stuck in a long chase before eventually catching up to them, but this leaves Shen to split push (and in a pinch, use his ultimate to arrive in a teamfight, likely in a tight corridor in the jungle where he’s more likely to grab a few people with his taunt). And even if blue team gets caught in a teamfight, people often underestimate how long teamfights actually take. Outside of just dancing around a fight at Baron, the actual fight could take a solid 30 seconds or longer, not including anyone on blue team who is left alive and able to harass enough to prevent immediate recalls to base. It’s entirely possible that Shen could clear through the inhibitor in this time. Next time you look over the team compositions section of the e-book, understand that both disengagement and high mobility comps go hand-in-hand for making this work. They can work independently, of course, but combined they allow for extreme frustration.

What if purple team sends one or two players bottom to handle Shen and save the tower? This isn’t necessarily a bad idea, and it’s what you’re most likely to see in solo queue and non-team games (or you’ll see four or five people chase the split pusher from across the map, which is usually a disastrously bad decision). The problem here is two-fold: Baron is being left open, and a teamfight may be left open as well. If blue team has the vision to know that someone from purple team is missing, they may decide to immediately engage in a 4v4 – especially if the person who is gone is a critical damage dealer (which is often the person who leaves as they may be the only player that can actually punish and kill a split pusher instead of watching them escape). And of course, with a Shen, that 4v4 can immediately turn into a 5v4, and the members of purple team who travelled to the bottom of the map are no longer with their team. In this situation, blue team has successfully forked purple team. There is no good choice. This is an impossible decision.


Early Game Jungle Invade Counterjungling is a critical skill for junglers to know and understand, but the most effective counterjungling involve other members of the team helping to create a fork.

The concept here is pretty straightforward. The mid laner, ideally a strong pusher, forces the minions towards the enemy tower. Then, they enter the enemy jungle with their own jungler. The fork for the opposing mid laner: Do I give up experience and gold from these minions (and potentially some damage on the tower depending on the wave) or do I stay here and let my team’s jungle be taken over? Like other forks, this invasion is especially brutal if the blue team’s invaders are either strong duelists or exceptionally mobile. If purple team is forced to respond to them or lose their jungle, but responding to them won’t actually result in a kill, they could be caught in a vicious cycle. This fork is a big part of how Diamondprox became well known as a jungler while in Moscow 5 (now disbanded). Well-played jungle invades don’t have to rely on being able to duel the opposing jungler in a 1v1, but can instead function off controlling the engagement so that any risk is limited.


Executing & Countering Forks We’ve looked at an example of an effective fork, but there’s a whole lot more to it than simply picking Shen or another split pusher. Understanding forks is important and it makes enjoying tournaments and top level play a lot more interesting. When it comes to your own solo queue and non-team games, let me give a piece of advice: It is much easier to fork opponents than it is to get your average player to respond well to forks. It’s been my experience that the most likely event if your team is forked (using the Shen & Baron example from earlier) is that your teammates will make different decisions. One of your players may immediately engage the enemy team while one or two players may not be in position because they’re starting to move away to handle that Shen that’s split pushing. What you wind up with is different individual decisions being made that snowball into your team getting aced and thumped pretty hard, and possibly a bit of the blame game on top of this. The problem is that a lot of players think they know the sure-fire solution, but a well-executed fork often shouldn’t have a good solution. Let’s start by looking at how we set up good forks.

Super Minion Waves Unless you’re looking at the first towers in each lane or you’re doing some awkward fork between Baron Nashor and Dragon (I’ve never actually seen this done nor do I recommend it), you’re going to want to control the strength of your minion waves. Imagine two armored ships going into battle against each other. Both ships are damaged; one ship has several mid-sized cannon still operational while the other has only one large cannon operational. The ship with the mid-sized cannons can fire a volley faster, but all of the shots bounce off the armor of the other ship, leaving it dented but not broken. Meanwhile, the ship with the large cannon has taken longer to fire its shot, but punched directly through the hull, delivering the final blow. Small minion waves are easy for a tower to handle but they buy you very little time on a tower once you reach it. If you push through quickly to an enemy tower with only six or seven minions, you’re likely not going to destroy it before the enemy tower and minions repel you. Your opponents may have more time to react and you’re less sure of an easy takedown. Before going further, let me also say that this doesn’t mean you should never rush turrets down with small minion waves. Some champions, particularly many carries who are a bit fed, can take these down quickly. And if an opponent is going to show up that can just as easily clear twenty minions as six (Lux combo, etc.), it’s not a huge issue. It can be enormously helpful for split pushing to create masses of minions, or super waves, especially if it can be done on both sides of the map simultaneously. To do this, your goal is not to blow up the whole


first wave for a bunch of free farm when you get to the lane, but instead to create a moderate imbalance between your minions and your opponent’s minions. In other words, you want your minion waves to be winning the fight, but not winning it quite fast enough that other waves of your minions won’t reach the fight in time. And this is fairly easy to do with these methods: 1. Last hitting minions that are grouped on your side of the map tends to create a slight imbalance, provided you have at least as many of your minions in the wave as your opponents do. Freezing a lane long enough while your opponents are missing tends to create wave imbalances over time. 2. Letting a wave of minions hit your own tower can also create a large wave of minions. This is why lanes that are left unattended for a long time will start alternating giant minion waves between both sides (especially after about 30 minutes). This is a little unreliable as it means you are at risk of taking tower damage yourself, and your opponents are exerting map pressure with this. 3. Sniping out one or two minions and leaving their wave at a deficit works well, too, and leaves you free to move back around the map quickly. The downside of creating a super wave is that you’re delaying the pressure on your opponents. This means your opponents can move freely around the map in the time that their own structures are not threatened. The upside is that these giant waves can push towers by themselves, even if an allied champion doesn’t show up. At the very least, they force the attention of the enemy team and, with enough power, will require at least one opponent to move to stop them. This is when power plays can be made. Super waves allow champions and teams to create forks even if their team composition isn’t ideal for it. Any player can do this in a match so long as their teammates don’t sabotage it by wave clearing before a wave has had itme to grow. And if you throw a player (or team) with a super wave, the minions allow for objectives to be taken even faster while offering a shield against many types of skillshots.

Inhibitors Understanding some Summoner’s Rift mechanics helps a lot with super waves. When you knock out an enemy inhibitor, new minions in the lane gain a small stat bonus. Because of this, knocking out an inhibitor has a good chance of creating a natural split push opportunity for your team later on, especially when that inhibitor is about to respawn.


Ezreal Ezreal gets a special mention in this section because of his ultimate. Good Ezreal players will often pop off their ultimate at minion waves in the side lanes when their team is somewhere else on the map. Though this may collect some gold, this generally is done because it imbalances the minions there and starts the chain reaction that leads to super waves. Of course, Ezreal is also a strong addition to a split pushing team because he has strong mobility and can back off of unfavorable fights.

Teleport In the Shen example, he was able to assist in a teamfight by showing up from across the map, making any attempt to lock him down in his lane potentially useless (provided he used his ultimate soon enough if he needed). Teleport allows any champion to do this (and it’s even better on champions who already have exceptional mobility or a global positioning ultimate). Beyond this, Teleport is awesome in conjunction with super waves. When your minions will punch through to the enemy structures, a Teleport can allow you to quickly take down the tower and immediately force your opponents to react. I’ve watched (and played) many games where the outcome was determined solely on a player using Teleport to show up at an enemy nexus even when their team had just lost a teamfight elsewhere on the map (usually near Baron at that stage of the game). Teleport also synergizes well with vision control, which will cover a little later in this section, as more wards allow more targets for the summoner spell.

Champion & Item Picks The champions you play can help a lot with setting up effective forks. Here are some of my personal recommendations, but it’s not a complete list: • • • •

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Shen. Easily one of the strongest split pushers in the game, take Teleport and grab Sunfire on him for even more map pressure. Twisted Fate. Vulnerable, relies heavily on having his ultimate available, but ultimately a good split pusher. Having both a Shen and Twisted Fate offers amazing synergy. Ezreal. Great utility and disengage if others are split pushing, can help create super waves, can harass people out of recalling to stop super waves. Kassadin (Teleport). Extreme mobility, can escape nearly anything, and can come out of Teleport with an immediate riftwalk blink. His only drawback is he’s fairly weak at actually clearing waves until he’s stacked some items. Ahri (Teleport). Extreme mobility, pushes very well, and can come out of Teleport with an immediate Spirit Rush dash.


• • •

Malphite (Teleport). Like Shen, can push waves decently well, especially with Sunfire. Teleport allows him to arrive to a teamfight and immediately use Unstoppable Force. Tryndamere, Master Yi, Rengar, Jax, etc. (Teleport Optional). Most duelists that snowball can wreck towers and require the attention of multiple opponents before they can be stopped. Teemo, Singed. Very fast champions that rely on their movement speed to be obnoxious. When farmed, tend to be very difficult to deal with. Teemo in particular tends to work best focusing on one lane at a time due to mushroom coverage.

Other champions can do this, but some that seem like good choices wind up being more situational. For example, Tristana can push waves and towers down very quickly, and has a little bit of mobility with her jump. But a coordinated team can usually catch her unless she has a decent amount of advance warning on their approach with wards. With Tristana and many other Marksman champions, strong split pushing relies much more heavily on being way ahead of your opponents to where you can reliably kill them without serious risk to yourself (which isn’t necessarily different than duelists like Tryndamere, the difference being that duelists are designed to be able to do this with less of an itemization lead). Aside from this, there’s fairly little synergy with split pushing and Marksmen. As a general (but not absolute) rule, if a Marksman is at the point where they can split push effectively, they’re likely even stronger being with the bulk of their team and letting another player split push. Finally, there are a limited number of items that are helpful for pushing. The three major items I recommend considering – depending on your role – are Sunfire Cape (tanks), Statikk Shiv (damage dealers that primarily use normal attacks), and Ravenous Hydra (melee range damage dealers). If Lich Bane works well as part of your core Mage build, it can also be a great investment.


Countering Split Push Forks There’s a gambit that can sometimes pay off when being forked. Let’s go back to our original example:

What if purple team had ignored blue team entirely and gone straight for their middle towers? Shen can continue pushing bot lane, but the other four members of blue team are forced into a decision. They can either initiate a teamfight themselves – not necessarily ideal if they’re a mobility/disengage team going against a “Protect the Kog’maw” composition or a strong teamfighting composition. Or they can attempt to do Baron, meaning they may lose towers of their own while taking towers and Baron, but with the risk of being flanked while debuffed and damaged at Baron. This is a gambit. This is not a sure solution, but it’s a way to absolutely force blue team to make a tough decision of their own. When you’re faced with no good options, making a risky and unexpected move can sometimes be your only good decision. In general, you want to do this only if you can push down towers fairly quickly. There was another option, too:

Realizing they had no way to contest Baron, Purple team falls back to defend their bot lane and their base. Perhaps they farm a couple monster camps on the way, and perhaps they pick up elixirs to help against their soon-buffed opponents.


This is a turtle strategy, which is to say, a strategy where the team withdraws into its shell and essentially tries to wait out the Baron buff. They won’t lose as much in the short term, but without a miracle play of their own, or a serious misplay from blue team, they will lack any kind of map control. This isn’t an assured defeat for them, but there’s one thing to consider: A team that effectively forked them into totally giving up Baron without a fight is likely able to pull off effective split pushing while Baron buffed. It’s not necessarily the wrong decision, but it’s still very difficult to come back from.

Aside from this, the same attributes that create strong split pushing potential for a team are also good ways to counter split pushing. • • •

Teleport is the strongest counter to split pushing, and it’s your only option in blind pick when you don’t know what you’ll be up against. Hard counters, especially those with Teleport. Fizz with Teleport to counter Twisted Fate, for example. Items like Statikk Shiv and champions capable of very strong wave clear, especially from a range (Lux, etc.).

I know this is a bit repetitive from the team compositions section, but it certainly bears repeating when discussing forks.


The Vision Decision Though not technically a fork, map vision is the other major way to create impossible decisions for your opponents. Teams that gain a vision foothold on the map, where they have ward coverage over critical areas while the other team does not, can use this advantage to prevent the opposing team from ever gaining vision. Check out this example, where blue team is desperately trying to get vision over Baron:

When blue team’s Janna first attempts to ward near Baron, her ward is instantly killed and she’s harassed out. Knowing that blue team needs vision on Baron, Leona waits in the brush, once again catching Janna. This time Janna’s team is there to help her, but Leona’s team is already aware of this due to a purple team ward in their mid lane. Leona is able to initiate a full teamfight that results in blue team being aced. Purple team is too low to do Baron at this point, but it’s put them in an even better position. On the third attempt, Cassiopeia is waiting for Janna to enter the jungle. Janna is easily killed and purple team’s vision control allows them to easily take an uncontested Baron, letting them finish out the game with a victory. Janna’s choice in this game was to give up ward vision anywhere near Baron, or to keep attempting to ward. In the second shot, she even had her team w/ her, knowing purple team might be around, but ultimately it wasn’t enough. And while Janna’s teammates may have been upset that she kept dying in the same area, she didn’t have any good choice:


• •

If blue team turtles in base and lets purple team take Baron, they will very likely lose the game given that purple team is already ahead; If blue team tries to get vision over Baron to contest or disrupt any attempts, they will very likely lose at least one player (Janna) and won’t wind up gaining vision anyway.

With this impossible decision, Janna’s conclusion was this: The risk of warding and attempting to regain some map vision is greater than the risk of turtling in base waiting for purple team to show up and probably finish us off with Baron buff. Was that the right or wrong conclusion? In hindsight, it’s easy to say “no, she was just feeding kills to purple team,” but then it’s important to remember that purple team totally cleaned up the game with Baron buff. To her credit, Janna was at least making plays that had a chance to pay off (if purple team had gone to Baron and she moved in then, or if they made a mistake w/ positioning, etc.). Getting map vision control and relentlessly holding onto it as a team gives the enemy team an impossible decision. There’s no simple solution to this – you can’t simply buy wards and regain vision against an aggressive team that is capitalizing on their advantage. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, of course, especially if you’re against opponents who are likely to slip up! As a side note, watching vision wars in tournament play is pretty exciting when you know this. It’s incredibly rare for teams to come back when they’ve lost a teamfight and lost vision control. From there it may be a slow death, but it’s usually certain. This is why good supports are so extremely effective in solo queue, and why a heavy emphasis on warding even from level one is huge in tournament play.


Practical Tips & Advice In this section, I'm going to give you quick but very pointed tips on improving your gameplay. Read through these carefully and evaluate where your weaknesses are as a player.

Personal Skills While each tip in this section will help a whole team, especially if everyone practices them, they are things you are personally responsible for.

Potions & Elixirs Remember to use your consumables, especially right after you've engaged in combat. Health potions that are running throughout an exchange or team fight can surprise you, especially in the early game where they have a disproportionate effect on your survivability. Beyond health and mana potions, always keep elixirs in mind. Stat elixirs are situational and should be purchased when they could significantly impact the outcome of the game. Good times to use elixirs are: 1. Immediately after the other team has completed Baron Nashor to help stand against them while they have the Baron buff; 2. Prior to a significant skirmish or team fight, such as one at or immediately prior to Baron Nashor; 3. In the early game, particularly prior to ganks that are very likely to be successful with an elixir; 4. Any time you don't have inventory room for new items (you don't need inventory space to purchase these; as long as you're alive, they will apply the buff directly to you). The Elixir of Fortitude is a particularly helpful elixir. Not only does it provide you with more health and survivability, but it recovers health (equal to the amount of bonus health gained), and it is not affected by healing reductions. This means Elixir of Fortitude can be used as an emergency heal.

Tab, Evaluate, & Invest Wisely When you press the 'Tab' key during a match, a screen pops up detailing both your team and your opponents. On this screen you can see kills on champions and creeps, giving you a ballpark measurement of how well they're doing, as well as items they're building and which summoner spells they have. This will only update based on when the opponent was last visible to your team. Tab is also a quick way of seeing who is missing. Enemies who are greyed out are not currently visible to your teammates, so a quick Tab press can tell you who you need to watch out for.


When you have this menu open, look at the summoner spells your opponents have, with a special eye towards Exhaust, Flash, Ghost, and Heal. All three of these must be accounted for if you want to be aggressive. Never dive a tower or overextend attempting to kill a player who has any of these spells currently available unless you're absolutely sure you can compensate for it, as well as any other abilities they may have. Take a second to really look at their items. You can do this by targeting them as well. Do they have wards? If so, that may suggest they've been warding around your lane, or they're about to. Do they have an empty spot between two other items? In the early game, this may also suggest they've placed a ward. Are they building defensively, such as an early purchase of Null-Magic Mantle (magic resist) or Cloth Armor (armor)? Don't overestimate the damage you'll do to them if they are. Do they have a Doran's item as their first pick? This can be used to your advantage in many matchups, because it means they won't have boots and may have very limited sustain, allowing you to both close distance and escape with them in trades, and potentially allowing you to push them back to their base if you can get them low. When you're building boots, open up your Tab menu and run down the list of enemy champions. Don't buy damage-related boots if everything in your brain says you should buy Mercury Treads. In rarer cases, Ninja Tabi is a good investment. Not sure whether a Void Staff or Last Whisper are good bets? They usually are, but it's always worth checking out whether your opponents are building any magic resist or armor before putting down a chunk of money on them. The point I'm getting at is that you need to really look at your opponents. Don't just try to snowball into an amazing damage-dealing powerhouse -- thinking about your purchases and how they relate to your enemy really will have a big impact on your performance. You’ll want to develop the ability to do all of this quickly. Gaining as much information as possible as quickly as possible is an important skill. However, this will come naturally as a part of developing muscle memory. As a related note (in terms of using the interface to your advantage), you can see which of your allies have their ultimate abilities available by looking at the green or black dot on the upper right-hand of their portrait on the left-hand side of your screen. Green means they have their ultimate and can use it.

Situational & Map Awareness (Wards!) In most cases, being situationally aware largely involves being map aware. The mini-map in the bottom right of your screen is important. Look at it. All the time. Along with the 'Tab' menu, it is a great way of


seeing who is missing at any given time, as well as a great way of knowing when you can take risks because everyone is accounted for. Aside from this, being situationally aware also helps you more quickly capitalize on times when there are nearby teammates, either by helping them out while they're being attacks, or by getting in position to gank with them. Wards have a very large impact on the success of games, provided that you and your teammates will capitalize on the vision granted. Denying map awareness to your opponents through the use of Vision Wards and Red Lens trinkets, as well as general sneakiness, is also critical. Some players, such as those playing support champions, may choose to ward more frequently than others. However, every player on a team should be willing to buy wards, especially to protect entrances to the lane they're in. Read the “Map Vision” section of this guide for more detail on this subject.

Observe Your Opponents While you can calculate the relative power of an opponent by checking out their items and stats, you will often learn the most about how strong or weak they are by watching them. Take time to occasionally glance at other lanes, especially after dying, and run through a mental checklist: • • • • •

Does your opponent look like they're farming well? Are they being overly aggressive? Are they not taking advantage of an opportunity in front of them? Are they being too cautious, or are they being smart? Are they responding quickly to their teammates needs? Are they avoiding ganks in a smart way, and do they seem to be reacting to your allies (i.e. are they reacting based on ward vision)?

You'll learn a lot about their team by doing this. While these snap judgments won't always be correct, they can give you a good idea how things are going, especially in conjunction with a glance at their items. Just knowing when an opponent is not doing particularly well, especially if they're a counter to your own champion, can help you make decisions later on in the match.

Think About Your Opponent's Cooldowns As you develop a stronger understanding of the champions you're playing against you may also get an idea of how long their cooldowns are. For example, Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab is a devastating ability, but it also has a very long cooldown. Darius' Apprehend pull ability is also devastating, but missing it completely shuts down a major part of his kit for a very long time. 227 | Learn the League

Watching your opponents cooldowns and having an idea how long these are is helpful as it lets you know when you have a window to be very aggressive against them. This is especially true if you're playing champions with ranged normal attacks or abilities, as you can more quickly move in on an opponent and stay in range for longer before you need to back off.

Track Timers Track the timers of objectives like Dragon and Baron Nashor, and major jungle buffs such as the golem and lizard camp if you know exactly when they were last killed. Here are the timers you need to know: • • •

Baron Nashor spawns 15 minutes into the game. He has a 7 minute respawn timer once he's been killed. Dragon spawns at the 2:30 minute marker. He has a 6 minute respawn timer once he's been killed. Ancient Golem (blue buff) and Lizard Elder (red buff) spawn at the 1:55 minute marker. They have a 5 minute respawn timer once they've been killed.

Knowing these timers lets you move into position to take down these objectives even before they've spawned. If the other team is not tracking the timers as well, it usually means your team can take out the objective before the other team is even aware it was available again. You should also track nearby wards that you've seen the enemy place. These all last for 3 minutes. This knowledge can be helpful for your jungler or other gankers to know as they can move in immediately once a ward expires, allowing for an unexpected gank (sometimes while they're already out of positioning placing a new ward). You can also use this knowledge to decide whether it's worth counterwarding them or just waiting it out. You can check the remaining duration on allied wards by clicking on them. Flash has a cooldown of 4:10 with masteries, which can be useful to track if you want to ensure a kill. Personally, when I'm tracking any of these timers, I'll do a quick calculation in my head and type it something similar to this in team chat: "ward bot tri-bush at 14:23," with the time corresponding to when the ward expires. Having it in chat makes it easy to reference later.

Gold Matters Gold has a significant impact on the game. Between equally skilled players, the team with a significant gold lead -- provided they aren't taking stupid risks -- is favored to win. Last hit! The biggest single improvement most players can make to their gameplay is learning to effectively last hit minions, ensuring they get the bonus gold. Some champions are much easier to


achieve this with (Morgana, Mordekaiser, and Vladimir being among the easiest), while others must pay far more attention to do it effectively (most marksmen in the early game). The only exception to this are champions who intentionally forgo last hitting in order to let other players get more gold (the "zero CS support" dynamic described in the Champion Roles & Recommendations section). Passive gold gain items work great on champions who have a natural reason to build them. For instance, Philosopher's Stone can be good on support and some tank champions, but not usually a good idea on mages or marksmen. Towers, Dragon, Baron Nashor, and jungle monsters all offer opportunities for additional gold gain. It's a good idea to pursue these as often as possible. If you kill an enemy champion more than once, and they haven't killed anyone on your team, they are worth less and less gold. While you are denying them from being able to impact the game while dead, there comes a point where you're sacrificing more to kill them than you could be gaining by just last hitting minions or taking objectives. In some cases, it's still a good idea to go out of your way to kill an opponent, especially if they can potentially snowball into a powerhouse (such as Tryndamere). You're denying them experience and gold by doing so. Be smart about it. Finally, let your teammates get assists on champions you're fighting. You don't get any extra gold for killing a champion by yourself, whereas your team gets a very significant chunk of extra gold if at least one of your allies helps out. This bonus is not increased if more than one player helps out, so your main goal is to have at least one other player involved as often as possible. By the same token, don't be a nice guy and let a nearby teammate get a kill if no one will get an assist. Do everything you can to get in, even if you are going to take the kill as a result.

Avoid Unfavorable Fights It should go without saying that you don't want to get into fights you have a decent chance of losing. If you've already been killed more than once in the early game, but don't have the kills or assists to back it up, that's usually a sign that you need to focus on playing defensively. Pay attention to how you're getting killed (such as a jungler or a particularly brutal combo from your laning opponents. If your opponents are killing you, you're even less likely to be successful your next time around, as they may be gaining a level and gold advantage. Sometimes your teammates will get caught in obviously unfavorable fights. Discretion matters, but you should never do something which is likely to result in your death with little or no gain to your team. In other words, don't help when it doesn't make sense for you to help. By the same token, don't be the


player who is in that unfavorable position, not only for yourself, but because your teammates may be drawn into a fight that is just as bad for them. Don't get baited into fights when you're not aware of what you're running into or where your opponents are. Some bait is more obvious than others, such as Shaco frequently running out of a bush and back towards it to draw you towards a trap. But any time a kill seems to easy, you should think it through. Avoiding unfavorable fights is a common theme and nearly everything else in this section offers you something that is technically related to this concept. All of this said, it's ok to take risks. As long as they're educated and you believe there's a reasonable chance you'll come out on top. Without taking risks you won't learn all of the things you can get away with (and the boundaries of your potential).

That Awkward Moment When... ...you know you're going to die, but you still have a few seconds left. One moment you're on top of the world, the next you realize you have absolutely no possible escape unless your opponents are dumber than bricks. What do you do with your final moments? If you see their ally coming to attack you, try really hard to let your opponent kill you before their ally gets in range. Stand still or get a tower to help your opponent out. It's much better to die to a single opponent than to two or more, as it denies their team assist money. If you haven't actually been attacked by an enemy champion, but you're surrounded with no escape (such as trying to take a monster in their jungle, or being flanked in your lane), you can run straight for their tower or for a monster that can quickly kill you (such as Baron Nashor). If you're killed without being attacked by an enemy champion, you are considered "executed," and the enemy team gains nothing. Keep in mind that towers that are further in towards an enemy base deal more damage and can kill you more quickly. If you're not the only team member person trying to flee, don't move towards allied champions. Instead, actively move away from them so the enemy players are less likely to kill them as well. Or get suicidal and take out the enemies who you're most likely to be able to kill or seriously harm before dying. In most cases, you want to waste as much time of theirs as you can without sacrificing anything important. This is especially true if it distracts them from taking out your structures after a major teamfight. When you realize you're going to die, try to do something cool with it. And sometimes you'll actually live as a result.


You Have Been Slain Once you die, take a moment to check out the Death Recap (an option to do this appears near the top of your screen). This will break down the sources of damage that killed you, as well as their damage type. Taken together with what you observed from the battle that killed you, this can help you make more effective purchasing decisions for defensive items.

Calling MIA Letting your team know that an enemy is missing from your lane is often a good idea. For experienced players, using the “Missing” smart ping will make that clear. With newer players, doing this and then using chat to give some sort of indication that your lane is missing is a good ideaIf an opponent is constantly staying out of vision between minion waves, consider saying something to that extend in chat. While map awareness is a personal responsibility, and some people are better at it than others, your goal is to win the game. You're more likely to win the game if you help your teammates out by letting them know about missing opponents. From a very practical standpoint, you should be calling MIA for your own benefit, even if you feel your teammates should be paying better attention to the map.

Direct Your Team Good communication on a team can significantly increase your chances of winning matchups, even when those matchups are in the other team's favor. Obviously you shouldn't berate and insult your teammates, but you can take this a step further: • • • • • • • •

Get your team's attention regarding objectives like Dragon and Baron Nashor. Do everything you can to organize people quickly to take these before the enemy team can stop you; Sometimes just attacking these objectives with teammates nearby will get their attention and get them to join in; Ask the team to group up and push an objective such as a tower, or have them group to help force a fight against the enemy team; Say when you're going to initiate a team fight, especially on champions like Amumu, so your teammates are prepared; Sometimes you can use obvious abilities, such as Sivir's On the Hunt aura, to indicate to your team that they should initiate or back off; Use the "Fall Back" ping if you think your teammates are in a bad position (but don't spam pings); If split pushing looks like a good idea, communicate to your team who should go where; Direct people to crowd control certain targets in fights (instead of placing blame for how the previous fight went); 231 | Learn the League

•

Let your teammates know about enemy wards, as well as potential gank opportunities.

Not everyone is going to respond positively to this. Be tactful, not demanding, and you're more likely to get a good reaction.

Seconds Matter Players often don’t realize how many places they could shave a few seconds off their actions. Here are three examples: • • •

When you’re reasonably safe from opponents, immediately recalling to base rather than running all the way back to your towers; When minions are going to finish off a tower, immediately moving away from lane or starting a recall rather than landing more normal attacks; When recalling, picking the items you intend to buy so you can more quickly leave the summoner platform.

If you’ve ever returned to lane just moments too late to get the gold from a siege minion you realize how important a few seconds can matter. These little bits of extra time can turn into big efficiency gains for you and your team over the course of the game, and can allow you to get to teamfights and objectives a little more quickly.

Are You A Threat? Do your opponents have any reason to fear you? If not, is it because you’re low on health or mana? A lot of times when we’re not a threat to our opponents but we feel safe farming we may be tempted to stay in the lane. But when your opponents aren’t scared of you it’s not possible to control your lane and it may be deterring allies from executing strong ganks (while encouraging opponents to do the same). Unless you’re specifically trying to bait a fight by looking vulnerable, try to find the next decent opportunity to recall and recover your health and mana before coming back to lane.

Don’t Ask Why Whether you’re genuinely curious or you’re bothered by a certain action your ally took that got them killed or put the team in a worse position, never ask why they performed the action. I wouldn’t have thought to include this in the e-book, but there was a fantastic set of discussions on reddit that reminded me how I’ve personally felt about this in the past. Here’s why: •

You don’t really need to know why a play happened;


•

The player is put on the defensive, making it less likely they’ll be effective as part of the team.

Short of someone being upset or purposely feeding, chances are the player didn’t make a play with the intention of dying. And chances are they realize the mistake and will learn from it. Nearly every player you come across, even diamond players, lacks knowledge in some areas of League of Legends; mistakes will happen. If your goal is to win, offer tactful suggestions on improvement rather than being confrontational. Of course, I like to imagine most of you reading this e-book already have that attitude! 

Don't Give Up Nothing is better than that come-from-behind victory. It will happen more often than you think if you really pay attention to all of your opportunities in a game. There's a difference between playing well and doing well. Players can be doing well if they're racking up a lot of kills in the early game and causing a major headache to your team. In these situations they may have a lot of gold and be in a great position to snowball. But playing well is a whole different story. Is the player racking up all those kills a melee champion investing in pure damage items, making them extremely vulnerable to being bursted down later in the game? Are they actively farming to gain more gold, or are they simply roaming to pick up kills on opponents who aren't necessarily worth much anymore? Are they going for ideal targets in team fights and playing safe or are they getting cocky? Keep in mind that some champions, such as Shaco, will often have stronger early games than late game. Also, keep in mind that some champions, such as marksmen, can become extremely strong powerhouses later in the game, and simply holding the game longer can turn it in your favor. Finally, winning a single team fight in the late game, particularly one the enemy team didn't expect (such as having your entire team hidden in brush), can turn a game completely around. By the same token, focusing on objectives like Dragon and Baron Nashor, or even stealing a Baron Nashor kill while your opponents are doing them, can also turn games around. Don't get discouraged. Stay calm and collected. You will play better. Don't surrender a game unless your opponents are doing well and playing well. If they're not playing as smart as your team, getting better map awareness (through wards) to deny them opportunities, in addition to toughing it out until your team can outpace theirs, is enough.


Teams & Objectives Slaughtering enemy champions is not your goal. Your goal is to destroy their nexus. This is achieved by destroying their inhibitors, which is achieved by destroying their towers. Don't lose sight of this.

Early Lane Swapping Sometimes – but not always – it can be a good idea to swap your marksman and support to top lane instead of keeping them at bottom lane. This is for two reasons: 1. This kind of lane swap can shut down an opposing solo laner, particularly if they are melee range champions who can be bullied even when attempting to last hit at their tower; 2. The double golem camp can be valuable to take for a support and marksman, but this is not available to Purple team’s bot lane. To successfully lane swap, you need to know that you’ll be able to shut down the opposing solo lane and ideally push the tower as well. When deciding if you can successfully lane swap, consider the following criteria: • •

• •

Can you definitely shut down top lane even if the jungler camps the lane? Is your ally at bottom lane going to be able to farm well? Or, at the very least, will they not lose the tower quickly? (Consider both which champion they’re playing as well as how much harassment the two opposing champions in their lane will bring) Would your ally otherwise be likely to succeed in top lane? In other words, are they playing a champion that normally counters the enemy top laner? Will any of your allies be able to keep an eye on Dragon consistently, and will you be able to contest it quickly enough?

Lane swapping is high risk but it’s worth at least considering, especially in coordinated teams. I cover this more in the Team Composition section below.

Defend Defend your own objectives. Never give your opponents an opportunity to take an objective without losing something in return. Make them pay for it. • •

Don't go back to purchase items just because you have the money to do so, particularly if it may give your opponents an opportunity to push the tower you're defending. Don't leave your lane while it is being pushed, or for long enough that you can reasonably expect it to be pushed.


That said, there are two reasons to stop defending a tower. First, if your opponents are likely to win a fight against you and the tower is at low health, it is usually good to give up the tower and get to a safe position. Second, in rare circumstances it can be worthwhile to give up a tower in favor of locking down another objective or securing multiple kills in a teamfight or skirmish (so long as that leads to working on another objective). Be able to reasonably justify letting an opponent push your tower if you leave it for any reason. It's ok to lose first line towers if it's for a better cause, but never lose it because you're not paying attention or you want to shop.

Push Together, Recall Together If you’re in a duo lane (ex. marksman and support at bot lane) and you successfully force your opponents out of lane, it’s often best to push minions towards their tower as quickly as possible, then immediately recall together to purchase items and recover health and mana. This is because there is a window of time where your opponents are coming back to the lane and will not be able to quickly push minions to your tower before you return. By taking this time to recover, you don’t lose much potential gold or experience, likely don’t take tower damage, and come back to the lane completely ready for another fight. What if one player has just returned to lane and has no reason to return to base? In this case it’s fine to press the advantage and pick up a little extra gold and experience, so long as you feel it’s unlikely that you’ll be ganked while pushed up. But short of being extraordinarily fed, opponents who realize you’re alone in lane when they return can easily harass and zone you, so be careful not to throw away the small advantage gained.


Sometimes It's Better To Wait While objectives are very important, there are often situations where you don't want to take down a tower in your lane. This is because minion waves will tend to gravitate to the mid-way point between the current towers on either side -- and if your opponent is missing a tower while yours remains, minions will spend more time on your opponents' half of the map. Here are the basic reasons not to push: • • • • • •

If you are farming very well and have been relatively safe in doing so; If you need to continue to farm but can't risk going past the river due to potential ganks; If you are effectively zoning your opponents and preventing them from farming; If your team doesn't need you immediately or if you'll be more of a benefit to your team by farming further; If allowing your opponents to recommit to another lane could cause a problem; If you don't have a place to go after you've pushed the tower.

The last point is the most important, because it relates to when you should take a tower. The worst thing you can do is take a tower early, then not be able to either secure kills or objectives elsewhere on the map, leaving you either falling behind or leeching on another lane and causing them to fall behind.

Before going further, let me emphasize that taking out the middle tower is nearly always a good idea. It has too much of an impact on the map to justify waiting longer than necessary, unless you simply cannot go anywhere else with your champion and reliably pick up kills or experience. Make sure that if you take a tower, you have a short-term plan to contribute to your team (take Dragon, gank and push mid-lane, recall and gank top, etc.). That said, don't leave yourself unable to defend your lane if your opponents push! You should also take towers if you're not getting much out of your lane in the first place. If you're constantly being harassed, or your opponents are not doing a very good job farming but are making it very difficult for you (such as a kill lane with champions dedicated to taking you out rather than


effectively farming), taking their tower the moment you have an opportunity can allow you to move somewhere more favorable while denying them easy shots at you. As a rule of thumb, 20 minutes is about where you should be considering taking a tower regardless of other factors, as you'll need to transition to mid and late game dynamics with your team. This isn't a hard rule, but it works. If you lose your first tower, there is a silver lining in that you can more safely farm and your jungler or other lanes may potentially have an easier gank on your lane opponents if they stick around. You can also move more freely around the map immediately afterward, which helps if your team has seriously hurt one or both other lanes and easy ganks can be set up. It's not ideal and you shouldn't intentionally throw a tower for this reason (since it does give easier Dragon or Baron access, among other things), but it will occasionally turn games around.


Control Your Lane Extension Don't blindly auto-attack enemy minions! There's an art to controlling how far you're extended in the early game, especially in the side lanes. Here are some tips.

Gain a level before your opponents by pushing hard for the first minions, especially if you know where the jungler is or you don't believe that their jungler will pose an early threat. You'll want to do this if you can follow up a brief level advantage with very strong harassment, or if losing that level advantage may make you particularly vulnerable. This is usually good to keep in mind for an early level 2, level 3, or level 6 advantage, but don't push too hard at all times for the sake of leveling. Keep in mind that minions don't spawn any more quickly, so pushing too hard won't gain anything but a very small, temporary experience advantage (unless you kill your opponents or force them to back off).

You want to avoid minions reaching your tower whenever possible, not just because of the damage to the tower, but because it makes last hitting those minions far more difficult. Beyond this, if a tower helps clear minions, it can give your own minions an advantage and push the lane significantly further out as a result. Push back when your opponents are pushing so you can keep the minions off the tower, and consider items like Chalice or Catalyst if you’re a caster and need to use your mana pool to push minions off the tower frequently.


One way to freeze enemy minions at a particular point is to simply stand in their path and force them to attack you until your minions reach you. You’ll take some damage in the process, and it’s more suited to certain champions and item builds than others, but it’s a reliable way of keeping the minion fight near your tower without actually reaching your tower. In rare circumstances you may be able to juke into brush and drop minion aggro once or twice as they lose vision, then come out and regain it, as a means of delaying them without taking as much damage. By keeping minions closer to your tower without letting them get pushed back out by the tower, you put yourself in a naturally safe position near your tower. This helps a lot in avoiding early ganks from the enemy, while making ganks from your teammates a lot more likely to be successful.

Sometimes you'll need to fight under your tower. This can happen if the opponents are doing a good job pushing, or if they're doing a good job harassing you (therefore making the only safe spot under your tower), or both. On many champions, you can gain higher minion kills by keeping these rules in mind: •

•

Use one normal attack on a full health ranged caster minion before the tower hits it and it should be low enough to last hit after the tower hits it (unless your attack damage is very high, in which case you should wait until the tower hits it once); Wait for the tower to hit a melee minion twice from full health, then kill it with a normal attack.

Those rules help a lot, but the situation is usually very dynamic, and minions won't always be coming under a tower at full health. You'll want to get used to ways of dealing with this on the various champions you may play. You want your minions to get to their tower, especially if the opponent is back at base. This makes it much harder for them to last hit minions for gold, and if they're back at base, loses them all of the potential gold and experience from that wave. This is a huge hit, especially when two solo laners are against each other and one is losing waves. You may even want to farm their minions behind their tower. This is extremely risky and should only be done if you’re in a seriously good position, and/or you’re aware of where their jungler and other lanes currently are. While the damage from the enemy tower is critical for pushing your minions back towards your side of the map, this only occurs if the enemy minions reaching the lane; by holding and killing minions before they ever reach the tower, the enemy tower can kill an extra wave (or even several) of your minions, which in turn makes it much more difficult for your opponents to gain gold and experience. On top of all of this, it allows you to fairly quickly take down the tower.


Keep bushes in mind. If you've got a jungler or another player looking for an opportunity to gank in a side lane, it can be to your benefit to push the minions in a lane far enough that the player can walk into one of the bushes on the side of the map without being seen. This can give them an opportunity to get close to opponents without being noticed, provided there is no enemy ward vision in the bush or the approach.

Between Minion Waves As you get more comfortable with the lane dynamics, you'll start to recognize times when a wave of your minions won't kill a single enemy minion in the next wave (either because an opponent is killing them or a tower will take out all of your minions first). In some situations, this will be a back and forth that occurs on nearly every wave, especially if both you and your opponent can clear full minion waves quickly. At these times, it's usually a good idea to leave vision range of your opponent during the wave, either by going into a bush or backing off. You won't be losing gold or experience, so this is perfectly fine, and the threat of you showing up elsewhere threatens each of the other lanes. If you do this often enough, your opponent may not be able to recognize the difference between you standing back for the next wave or actually being missing. This will allow you to more effectively accomplish warding or ganking with less warning, or to simply back off to another bush where you can watch for opponents coming into your lane. One common example of how a good mid lane can use breaks in minion waves: • • • •

You push to minions to the enemy tower, perhaps after you've killed them or after they've gone back, or perhaps because you're just a very strong pushing champion; Between waves, you back off and place a ward in the top river; You arrive back in lane to push the next minion wave again; Between waves, you back off and place a second ward in bottom river.

That setup lets you place wards without losing experience or gold. If your minions are pushed to their tower, you can see a defending player if they're attempting to react to you. Alternatively, you could use


either of those opportunities to head up or down river or through the jungle and attempt to gank an opponent. Killing jungle monsters between waves can be effective, too. Both purple team's top lane and blue team's bottom lane have relatively easy access to double golems, though you'll need to make sure you can get back quickly. Mid lane has easy access to both friendly and hostile territory wraiths. This is best done while you have minion control and your opponents do not.

Press the Advantage One of the worst habits that League of Legends players fall into is seeing kills in a teamfight as the end of an event, after which they go back to base, recover health, and purchase new items. In most cases, this is the completely wrong thing to do. If you've just killed your opponents, push. It doesn't matter how much gold you just earned or how low you are on health, if you can reasonably push anywhere safely, do it. The only exceptions to this rule are in the early game where you may intentionally avoid pushing first lane towers. It sounds simple, but knowing and acting on this will put you head and shoulders above a huge portion of the League of Legends community.

React To Enemies Who Aren't There Just as important as reacting to nearby champions is knowing how to react when you know some enemy champions aren't near you at all. This is part of pressing the advantage. If your team is near Dragon or Baron Nashor and one or more members of the opposite team are on the opposite side of the map with no way to respond (no teleport, etc.), that is a great time to either force a fight or take these objectives. By the same token, don't show yourself in bottom lane later in the game when your opponents may be ready to take Baron, as that's a clear indication to your opponents that you will not be able to immediately assist your team. If you can account for their jungler ganking another lane and believe part of their jungle is available (particularly blue or red buff), invade the jungle and take it! This is risky, but often pays off as long as you can continue to account for them. If you can account for all five members of the opposing team on the map and believe you have an advantage in your lane, push to take out a tower. This is especially true at the second towers and base towers and inhibitors, where a teamfight on the other side of the map may leave these vulnerable while your opponents are distracted.


If They’re Going For Blue, They’re Coming For You There are some indicators that an enemy is going towards their blue golem (or yours, for that matter). If your own golem has recently spawned, theirs may have, too, depending on how diligent each team has been. Alternatively, if you’ve gained vision, either through scouting or through wards, you will know when their golem has gone up. In games where the mid laners are picking up the blue golem, you should always keep in mind that they are halfway between the mid lane and either top or bottom lane, depending on which side of the map they’re on. Until you have vision on them you must assume they’re a potential threat to the side lanes. You can take advantage of this by either moving to intercept them, pushing mid lane, or moving to the opposite lane where both the mid lane and jungler may not be able to respond (though this depends on whether the mid lane is capable of clearing blue golem easily without help, such as a Cassiopeia).

Dragon & Baron Nashor While I emphasize the importance of team objectives -- specifically, structures -- and want to discourage you from looking at killing enemy champions as the goal of the game, gold does matter. Repeatedly killing Dragon during the early mid-game, along with securing Baron Nashor, will give you a massive gold lead over your opponents (not to mention Baron's buff). Being able to take these objectives before they can respond can keep you ahead of your opponents, allowing you to stay in a game you’d otherwise be losing. If you're going to contest Dragon or Baron Nashor, there's a very common trap you want to avoid. Both Dragon and Baron Nashor have an outer wall around them, with their only real entrance being in the river. Less experienced players on the purple team (top half of the map) will tend to congregate around the outer wall (inside their jungle) when an enemy team is attempting Baron Nashor. This only makes sense for a small number of champions with reliable blink or dash abilities, who can potentially move in and attempt to steal dragon or otherwise engage in a team fight. Alternatively, champions with skillshots that may hit Baron can attempt to steal the buff from here. Outside of these champions, players grouping outside the pit walls prevent your team from organizing and contesting the other team in a normal team fight, unless each player without blinks or dashes burns Flash. It also isn't a good position to come in from anyway: Baron Nashor attacks the closest valid target while he's engaged, and entering a fight that close to him means his damage may be redirected to you. As a rule, a team should usually move in from the river if they're going to engage the enemy team. The main exception to this rule is high-mobility team compositions. For Dragon, it's important to remember that he can be moved, and moving him outside his river entrance puts him out of range of most skill-shots that can be fired from the outer wall. Like Baron, this should usually be contested from the river (though players who can dash or blink over the outer wall can


do so more safely here, especially if a team fight is occurring there or only a small group of enemies is working on Dragon).

Note on Baron Nashor The more I’ve covered the pro scene, the more I’ve noticed just how many important games are lost because of misguided Baron attempts. Baron is an enormous trap, and players at all levels of play get sucked into it. Here’s my advice: •

•

• •

Don’t do Baron if you’re significantly ahead, unless you can account for every threat on their team. After all, if you’re ahead because you’re winning teamfights or doing a better job securing objectives, chances are you don’t need Baron to continue this. Consider whether your opponents have global map mobility (Twisted Fate, Nocturne, etc.) or the summoner spell Teleport. If they do, realize they may still be able to get to you if they’re far away. One pro team, Dignitas, has lost key matches they should have won simply due to not accounting for global map mobility. Don’t do Baron without warding and counterwarding first. If you suspect a teamfight could break out near Baron, don’t engage Baron. On top of damage he also applies a damage debuff which can help lose a fight.

Baron is worth risking if you’re already losing the game. If played well, it can turn a close game in your favor, or cement a commanding lead and allow you to close out the game, but be careful about when you decide to attempt it.

Force Favorable Teamfights There are four places teamfights should occur: 1. In a lane, with the goal of defending or taking a structure, or preventing opponents from farming the minions in the lane; 2. In or around Dragon or Baron Nashor, with the goal of killing them for your team; 3. In the jungle, specifically to counter-jungle (killing their jungler or taking their important buffs) or in response to counter-jungling (protecting your jungler or your important buffs); 4. In between any of these (such as moving to the enemy team's base after successfully killing Baron Nashor). The first thing that needs to be said is that if you're engaging in team fights elsewhere, either your team or the enemy team is doing something that may eventually help them win the game, but rarely is an ideal approach to doing so. If their team is ahead and trying to engage in fights unrelated to any of the above, you're probably better off ignoring them as a team, and instead focusing on other objetives. 243 | Learn the League

Forcing favorable teamfights is an important concept for a team. To do this, you need to make it clear you're attempting to achieve one of the first three goals above, and you need to be ready to respond in a way that will likely result in victory for your team. The best example is forcing a Baron Nashor fight. If the enemy team has it warded, or you clearly show yourself headed to Baron Nashor, then they'll know you're there and ready to take the buff. Your team having the Baron Nashor buff, in addition to all of the bonus gold, is a huge risk to nearly any team, and they will be forced to choose whether to respond to you or whether to let you have the buff. In some cases they won't respond to you if they know it's an unwinnable fight, and they feel they are more likely to come out on top fighting under towers (if it's your team, keep in mind that you don't need to respond to fights like this). In many cases, they'll wait until you're doing Baron Nashor and attempt to fight you during the encounter while you're already taking damage from Baron. This is usually favorable to for them unless you have lategame items that really mitigate Baron's damage output. And in other cases, they'll wait until you're doing Baron Nashor and attempt to steal the gold and buff by a well-timed Smite or other damage. Even if they lose one or two players doing this, successfully stealing the buff can turn the game around for their team. In this circumstance, forcing a favorable teamfight usually means not actually engaging Baron Nashor. Instead, you want to make it clear that -- if they don't respond -- you will kill Baron Nashor. If you can take the damage, you may even want to start attacking Baron briefly if they have vision on you, such as with a Clairvoyance (with the intent of quickly resetting the encounter) to make sure they get in to try and stop you. If the enemy responds and comes near Baron, engage in a teamfight. If you're correct that it is a favorable teamfight (after all, forcing unfavorable teamfights is usually bad unless it's a last-ditch effort), you should come out on top. And if you come out with enough health and damage, you can take Baron Nashor. The advantage to a forced fight like this is not just that you've locked down the enemy team and successfully taken Baron Nashor as a result. It also means the enemy team is crippled, likely with players still dead if it's later in the game, and this gives you an opening to make significant dents to their architecture (i.e. destroy their structures). In some cases, you can take a victory here straight to their base, saving Baron Nashor for after you've done your damage to their defenses. Baron is a well-known example, but you can force favorable teamfights anywhere, especially at towers and inhibitors that your opponents must defend. This is an especially good tactic if you're already ahead in the game, as it removes options for your opponents and gives you more dominance over the match. But be careful not to overestimate your power or overstay your welcome when you're low on health.


Inhibitors Matter, But So Does Their Nexus This is straightforward. If you're pushing into their base but feel you cannot take out their nexus (in other words, pushing to win), knock out as many inhibitors as you can. Two inhibitors down, especially on opposite sides of the base, makes it very difficult for a team to leave their base without risking their nexus (either to super minions or an easy path in for your allies). If they're resurrecting with two inhibitors down, that can be a good time to take out objectives like Dragon and Baron Nashor, as it will be very difficult for them to respond (and very obvious if they do if your minions are giving vision inside their base). The nexus and its protective towers are actually pretty easy to take down if you have minions and a good deal of damage output. This is true even with one or two of their players coming back life, provided you still have an overwhelming presence. It takes a bit before you can judge whether you can push to win, but you should get in the habit of making a real effort on it whenever its reasonably safe (instead of killing more inhibitors). Victory is achieved by killing the nexus. Don't get distracted by opponents who may be very easy kills. Stay focused on bringing down the towers and the nexus itself unless you absolutely must respond to opponents. Not pushing a nexus when you had an opportunity to will come back to bite you at least a few times, given enough games.

Pushing & Split Pushing Pushing is when you actively put pressure on a lane, usually with the goal of taking out structures. Split pushing is when a team is actively pushing more than one lane at a time. Split pushing tactic should be used when an enemy team is dead or crippled after a skirmish or team fight and there are multiple easy objectives to take. However, it can also be a great way of safely winning a game when all of your enemies are alive. Pushing and split pushing is distracting. If your opponents work best as a cohesive group of four or five players, split pushing forces them to split up to effectively respond. If they're currently attacking your tower, or getting ready to, pushing or split pushing other lanes can get the pressure off of you. Sometimes pushing and split pushing isn't distracting, especially when you're already in combat. I can't recall the number of times I've been so engaged in a team fight we were winning that I didn't realize one of my enemies was pushing down a base tower. This is a pyrrhic victory -- in other words, we won a team fight, but usually lost as much as we gained. I've learned that it's often a good idea to purposely engage in teamfights, even unfavorable ones, in order to let someone push directly to their base. Consider pushing and split pushing when you cannot effectively respond to an enemy team doing Baron Nashor or even attacking your own structures. This is risky to do, but it can pay off in the long run, especially if you can knock out an inhibitor (or worse).


I recommend looking for any opportunities to split push when a game is clearly not in your favor and you've been losing team fights. It can pull out unexpected victories. Note: If you want to learn a little more about effective split pushing, check out “The Impossible Decision” in the e-book.

Backdooring Backdooring occurs when a team attacks enemy structures while their allied minions are not present. With towers, this is more difficult to do because the tower gains additional stats when minions are not present, but it can be done at points in the mid and late game. You will usually want to do this when there is an undefended target of opportunity (such as while an enemy team is dead).

Closing a Game by Staggering Deaths In the late game, one of the most consistent ways to win in a roughly balanced match is to find and kill a single opponent, leaving the enemy team at a single person disadvantage. This can mean unloading burst onto the first person to engage on you, then disengaging before a teamfight, or it can mean catching a support or another player alone and taking them out. Obviously the 5v4 advantage alone is good, but when death timers are long, it can be helpful to make big plays to knock out a second enemy, putting them on a death cooldown. An example of a good time to do this is after taking a turret or inhibitor; even if you’d like to follow this up with Baron, it can make sense instead to invest that time into killing another player. It seems like an overall loss if you need to give up Baron or another objective, but it’s completely crippling to the other team to have their death timers staggered so they can never fully recover.

Fight Fire with Fire Unless your team is running with late game threats such as Ryze, Twitch, and Tristana, there is rarely ever a virtue in playing passively while your opponents are playing aggressively. Aggression is countered with aggression. In any losing game, there will come a time where you cannot realistically recover the match short of your opponent’s making a critical mistake. While I think games are not lost nearly as quickly as many others do, there is still a breaking point. If you’re losing, getting your team to roll the hard six and make a high risk play as a team is far more likely to recover a game than waiting for your opponents to take Baron and hoping you can defend your inner towers just a little longer. This doesn’t necessarily mean you get into a teamfight. If you can’t win a teamfight, maybe it means split pushing. Maybe it means waiting in brush as a group until a single one of your opponents walk


through it. Maybe it means having one player bait their team to the bottom half of the map while the rest of the team rushes Baron.

Double Explosion If you're losing, try to have a successful Surrender vote as your nexus is being attacked. If you time it right, you get two explosions. Two explosions.


Mental Preparedness & Teamwork In this section we’re going to take a look at mental preparedness and how it can affect your success rate in games. Because these subjects are often not directly related to League of Legends itself, but rather towards attitudes and habits, I avoided writing about them for nearly two years after the original release of Learn the League. Take everything here how you want to, and leave whatever you disagree with behind. While I’d like to say a good attitude is the key to victory, the truth is there are a lot of players with less-than-desirable attitudes who do exceptionally well just on game knowledge and player skill. But by and large, understanding these subjects and implementing them into your own approach can help you do better than equally skilled players who ignore them.

What is Fun? I’m a big fan of “The Art of Game Design,” a book written by Jesse Schell. Before reading this book I couldn’t easily break down why I enjoyed certain games or genres, and I also couldn’t understand why others didn’t have similar tastes. Ultimately, this book led me to believe that the common element in nearly all enjoyable games is surprise. And watching my son grow up has reinforced this belief: Before he was a year old, games like peek-a-boo would make him laugh because he was surprised to see my face pop out from behind my hands. As he’s grown a little older he loves to be surprised by being picked up and thrown up in the air. Surprise is part of every game we play, and just as my son gets bored if we repeat the same thing for too long, games quickly lose their enjoyment when they cease to be surprising. At the most basic level, this is why a game like Tic Tac Toe immediately ceases to be fun when you learn the gimmick, and at best becomes enjoyable solely for beating other people who don’t know the strategy. Tangentially, this is why smurfs in League of Legends are often (but not always) undesirable players to play with, as they’re more likely to be the type of player that enjoys winning because players are inexperienced rather than winning due to player skill. This is also why extremely strong champions need to be brought back in line quickly, as the dynamic between two players quickly loses the skill component when one player has an “I Win” button. Beyond surprise, really engaging games also have challenge and accomplishment. Games which allow us to become better in various ways and improve upon ourselves, and reward us for doing so, are more likely to be played over the long term. But why did I enjoy large group raids in World of Warcraft and other MMORPGs while friends of mine enjoyed Battlefield, Starcraft, or completely different genres? Even in the same genre, people disagree on what they enjoy due to settings, storylines, gameplay, or other factors.


The answer to this is simple: We each have different personalities. While some personality traits are more common than others, and some games are more popular than others, it’s broadly true that people look for different things in games. League of Legends is one of many games that have successfully brought all of these elements together. With trillions of different game possibilities due to different champions, roles, and items, there are almost always surprises. The game is easy to get into but extremely hard to master, offering us challenge. We find accomplishment in pulling off good plays, winning duels, teamfights, and games, and achieving higher ranks. And the large variety of champions and designs lets us find the playstyles and themes that best fit our personality.

Understanding Yourself This e-book is meant to give you the best advice and information for getting you to where you want to be. But where is this? For some of you, that means getting to Gold. For others, you want to see just how far you can go, all the way to Challenger. And for others, it may be about starting a ranked team. Outside of competitive play, I’ve talked with people who’ve picked up the e-book who just want to be able to play with their friends or family members. They purchased the membership for themselves or for someone they know, and they look at the game as a great way to continue socializing with these people. And yet other players like to know the game well enough that they can understand tournaments better. I suspect you already have a good idea why you’re playing the game, though I bring this up because I occasionally fall into a trap where I take the game more seriously than I actually want to. This tends to lead to burnout and less enjoyment, which in turn winds up leading to worse in-game performance. To reach your goals and to get the most enjoyment out of your experience as possible, it’s important to understand what type of player you are. There are a few things that go into this.

Mechanical vs. Strategic Players Mechanically skilled players are players who excel at rapidly executing complex actions. A Riven player who has watched Teemo’s summoner spell cooldowns, then perfectly executes a movement and ability combo on Teemo to kill him, is an example of someone who gains a game advantage through mechanics. Strategies, on the other hand, are big picture decisions that have broader consequences. The Udyr who decides to camp Riven’s lane to help Teemo out is a player who is gaining a game advantage through strategy. While not always true, players tend to learn more towards either being mechanically skilled or strategically skilled. And before going further, I should mention that there’s a third category of action 249 | Learn the League

that we refer to as tactics. Tactics are actions you take that achieve a specific end, and they’re often employed as part of pulling off a strategy. How and when Udyr enters the lane, as well as the route he takes, would be a tactic. Tactics are skills that every player should learn, regardless of whether they tend to be a strategic or a mechanical player. The best mechanical players are often able to pull off complex plays with their champion with splitsecond reactions and decision-making. These players can be excellent micromanagers and, given the right champions, can be devastating to play against. The very best of these players tend to excel in solo queue ranked matches. Mechanical players tend to succeed most when given extremely versatile or mobile champions, such as Riven, Vayne, Lee Sin, Nidalee and Thresh. These players tend to be more capable with summoner spells and items that require very specific timing, such as Cleanse and Quicksilver Sash. Strategic players, on the other hand, look at the bigger picture and tend to have a better understanding on what the team can accomplish. These are the players who know when it’s safe to take objectives, even at low health, and have a very solid understanding of what’s going on around the map, even in the fog of war. Knowledgable strategic players tend to excel at split pushing and other strategies that avoid direct teamfighting. Strategic players tend to do very well with mechanically simpler champions who can exert map control, such as Teemo, Udyr, Kassadin, Tryndamere and Shen. Safer champions such as Lux are also very good fits. These players tend to be more capable with summoner spells that do not require exact timing, such as Barrier and Teleport, and also tend to do well with items that have strong passive effects, such as Frozen Heart. Now, up to this point you may be wondering, why can’t players be both? They can be, and some players are fairly balanced in this regard. But players who are exceptionally good at executing complex plays with their champions tend to be able to pull themselves way ahead of where they belong in terms of their knowledge of strategy. And players who really understand map strategy tend to pull themselves ahead of where they belong in terms of mechanics and micromanagement. What you wind up with are players with very different skillsets often playing in the same games. The best mechanical players will tend to have also acquired an understanding of game strategy, and vice versa. But even at the tournament scene, these differences are played out as teams face off against each other. Cloud 9, for instance, demonstrated incredible mechanical skills and teamfighting during Season 3, completely dominating the North American scene throughout the season. But when faced with Europe’s Fnatic, who had the mechanical skills but also had a much stronger grasp on map strategy, Cloud 9 was demolished. Let’s scale this back a little, because I’m assuming that you’re not currently a Diamond or Challenger player if you’re reading this. Players who are climbing ranks tend to be exceptionally good at one or the other, and the difference is usually pretty visible.


Mechanical players tend to be frustrated when their allies don’t play well, especially if this costs them teamfights or advantages they’ve worked for. These are the players who believe that the laning phase snowballs into game victories, because for them, it often does. A great mechanical player may not make the best map decisions, but they often destroy anyone they come across, and this helps them win regardless. When you’re dealing with toxic mechanical players, these are the players who are most likely to give up early in the game if their teammates start falling behind or if they’re losing their own lane. Strategic players, on the other hand, are frustrated when their allies don’t understand the map objectives or don’t understand when to engage or disengage. The problem with strategic players is that, when they move higher in ranks and face more mechanically skilled players in lane, they are more likely to lose lane (which is why it tends to be helpful to play simpler champions). But strategic players also tend to be more capable of winning games even when they’ve fallen behind in the early game. Teams are best with a mix of both types of players. The only real problem between the two types of play occurs when players don’t realize that the difference between them exists. There should be some sort of giant disclaimer on all of this. There are a lot of both types of players who are bad at what they do. Mechanical players who constantly put themselves out of position in teamfights, for example, still have a long way to go to improving, just as strategic players who make poor map decisions or don’t really have the game knowledge do. Consider which type of player you are and then play to its strengths. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t invest yourself in both camps! Even as a strategic player, my mechanical skills are fairly well developed (though not perfect by any means), and having a solid understanding of both should be your goal. But knowing what type of player you are will help you with your champion selection, along with your willingness to micromanage certain summoner spells and items.

More Mechanical Skill When I talk about mechanical skill and micromanagement I’m referring to reaction times both in ability and item usage as well as positioning. It’s not the same thing as game knowledge. In neuroscience there’s a concept known as brain plasticity, which covers how well our brain can mold itself to learn and adapt throughout our lives. While we are capable of learning throughout our lives, our brains become less able to quickly tackle new concepts as we grow older, particularly around the age of 25. For most players, the upper limits of the human brain have little practical impact on performance. I have friends in their 30s who are top diamond players, so unless a player is much older, this is something that should rarely be looked at as an excuse for when doing poorly. But in highly competitive matches, such as in the Korean tournament scene (both in League of Legends and Starcraft), we can actually see these limits in action. As players grow older, it’s simply accepted that someone younger and better will come to replace them. It doesn’t mean the older players are suddenly bad players by any means, but it may 251 | Learn the League

mean that they’re a tenth of a second slower than the up-and-coming player, or they can’t quite handle as many different events as they used to be able to. The second thing that affects mechanical skill is muscle memory. This is such a critical concept that I’ve talked about it in the new players section, and if you haven’t read it I’d suggest doing so (it’s in “Advice for New Players”). As you practice with something your brain begins to make connections and develop that skill as second nature. Sleeping well is enormously helpful to cementing this as it’s one of the best times for your brain to develop based on what you’ve been learning. In terms of mechanical skill, practice makes perfect. Depending on your age and your familiarity with the game, or with gaming in general, it can take longer to become a master. But I firmly believe that almost anyone can become a very good player. When you’re playing, what are you practicing? Are you focusing on learning a new champion’s ability combos, or getting better with positioning, or getting better at moving quickly between normal attacks? If you’re not trying something new you’re probably not learning to be a better mechanical player. It’s fairly easy to find players with hundreds or even thousands of games who are still not terribly good mechanical players because they’ve spent very little time trying to improve. But if I stand back and am honest about it, this is perfectly ok. There are plenty of times when I log in and the only thing I want to do is play a champion I enjoy with no desire to improve my performance. I’m still going to passively pick up game knowledge due to the different matchups, but I might not improve at last hitting, for example. It’s up to you and what your goals are in the game. By the way, there are a couple things you can do to dramatically increase your mechanics potential. The first one is to get used to quickcasting (covered in its own section earlier in the new players section). The second is to bind a key to Attack Click, which can dramatically help you with rapidly alternating normal attacks and movement comments (which helps with kiting opponents). This is explained a bit in the glossary, and it’s covered in a video of mine called Stutter Step, Attack Move, and Awesome Keybinding Trick. I strongly recommend doing these no matter who you are, as they increase your actual game potential. Beyond this, playing other games can also help you with these and many other skills. I’ve enjoyed Lumosity, though there are a lot of other games that can challenge your brain in various areas.

Extroverts and Introverts Do you prefer to work closely with other players or do you prefer to focus more on yourself? An extrovert is someone who tends to desire socialization, recharging and relaxing by being with other people. Introverts, on the other hand, are people who are more self-focused and can best unwind by working alone. Everyone falls somewhere along the line of extroversion and introversion.


Traditionally, society has valued extroverts while looking down on introverts. When I was growing up, schools and universities encouraged teamwork and team building almost exclusively, while discouraging people who worked alone. Popular media tends to show off the outgoing personalities as something to admire while poking fun at people they consider loners. When many people think of introverts, they mistakenly believe it is synonymous with shyness. But this perception is changing as more studies have come out to show the strengths and weaknesses of each camp. Introverts such like Bill Gates (Microsoft), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Steve Jobs (Apple), and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), have shaped the information age. People who work alone and love doing it are often the inventors and thinkers that shape our world. Historically, figures like Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, and Charles Darwin were introverts. Beyond this, we’re discovering more and more that introverts are some of the strongest leaders in business and all aspects of life. Introverts are more likely to challenge the status quo. I sing these praises not because I believe introverts are better than extroverts, but rather because many introverts don’t actually realize how valuable they are to society. You may not be part of what society views as the alpha male (or female), but don’t worry, they’re pretty overrated. I’ve only touched on the subject here, but I’d recommend reading a book called “Quiet Influence” by Jennifer Kahnweiler In League of Legends, some players prefer to communicate less than others. You may be one of those players, and this is perfectly ok.

Tying It All Together After looking at each of the three previous sections there are three basic questions: 1. Are you primarily a strategic player or a mechanical player? 2. How much time do you want to invest in mastering your mechanics? 3. Are you an extrovert or an introvert? You don’t have to answer these questions a particular way. There are playstyles in League of Legends that will work well for almost any type of player. I’ll show you how this worked out for me:

Improving Myself Personally, I’m a strategic player. I enjoy games almost entirely because of the broader strategies, and this has been true throughout my time as a gamer. It’s the reason why I was a main tank and raid leader in MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, and it’s the reason why so much of my League of Legends content focuses on strategy. I’m capable of investing time into mastering mechanics, and have done so in the past with high skillcap champions like Jayce, Lee Sin and Vayne. However, I’ve found that I enjoy flexibility more, and prefer to


have a broader pool of champions that I’m pretty good with rather than having a couple champions I’m extremely good with. By any definition, I’m an introvert. In fact, I’ve probably lost more games from not communicating with my allies than from any other reason. In many of my games I found that, if there was a big strategic opportunity for our team but I couldn’t communicate it with pings or with my champion, I simply wouldn’t bring it up. All of these things clicked for me one day when I looked at Teemo’s win rate in ranked solo queue. If you haven’t played him, Teemo is an incredibly simple champion to play, and mechanical mastery tends to come down to learning to kite and stutter step rather than learning complex ability combos. Because he can place traps around the map, his control over a lane benefits primarily from longer-term strategies rather than micromanagement in combat. Now, I’ve always kept up with the League of Legends scene, so maybe this shouldn’t have been such a shock to me. But Teemo doesn’t see a lot of tournament play, nor does he get a lot of flashy videos made about him. I realized that, like a lot of players, I got caught up in the awesome plays made by Lee Sin, Vayne, and Riven players. Even though I knew these champions also had their own weaknesses, I had subconsciously defined game-winning plays and good champions primarily by their difficulty, not their actual strengths. Now, combine this with the fact that I don’t particularly like talking to people, and combine this with a fairly good understanding of league strategy. I realized I needed to main jungle. Instead of filling slots or playing side lanes, which I had been doing, my success in the game was largely determined by controlling the fights our team was involved in. As a jungler, I could do this even in the early game, because I could be anywhere I needed to be. I had a good understanding of gameflow and what our opponents were likely to do, which meant I could help make smart plays just by being in the right places at the right times. I also realized that I wanted to play a simpler champion. I started playing Amumu, a champion I had really only played when I started playing League several years ago. Amumu is fantastic because he’s a fairly simple champion, his damage is often underrated, and he has a large, instant area effect ultimate, making it pretty hard for me to screw up even if I wasn’t paying attention. When playing Amumu, I could focus on bigger strategic decisions, like whether to stay back and save my ultimate to protect my carry from assassins, or whether to chase and zone out the enemy carry from the fight. With these two changes, I went from winning about 50% of my matches over the season to winning over 80% of my matches. I moved from Gold 3 to Platinum in less than one week.

Decisions You Can Make I’ve given you examples that may help you define your playstyle, but you’ll need to find something that also fits your themes and what you want out of the game. 254 | Learn the League

If you’re an introvert, there are a couple things you can do that really work well with the team. Playing champions with strong initiation tools, such as Malphite or Vi, or champions with strong disengage tools, such as Zyra and Janna, can allow you to direct your team simply by making plays. Sivir is also an interesting example of a champion that communicates with abilities, as activating her ultimate provides both an obvious aura and clear sound that communicates to your team that they need to either engage or back off from a fight depending on the situation. Smart pings are important to use as well. If you’re a mechanical introvert, assassins and mobile damage dealers are excellent champion choices, as these champions tend to be less dependent on their team even during teamfights. If you’re willing to invest the time and practice to gain mechanical mastery over a few champions, you might want to choose between Vayne, Lee Sin, and Riven. If you want simpler champions that also do fantastically well, duelists like Jax can be excellent choices. If you’re a strategic introvert, consider champions who excel at helping the team when they’re split off from the team. For example, split pushers like Teemo and Singed make excellent solo laners who can help win games even if they’re rarely with the team. A lot of tankier champions work well here, too, as they can usually survive long enough that split-second reaction times aren’t as critical, and they have the advantage of helping to initiate and control teamfights. These are only suggestions. My goal is to give you things to contemplate, not tell you how to play or suggest what you’ll find most fun and enjoyable. That’s entirely personal. But you may find you can adjust and improve your performance by understanding yourself better.

Mental Traps There are a number of mental traps that humans have a tendency to fall into. I recognize these in large part because I’ve experienced these same emotions myself, and because I see them so frequently in others. Some of these I still struggle with.

Trap #1: Believing You’re Blameless How often have you heard one of the following: • • • •

“My team [or teammate] is feeding.” “The jungler never ganked for us.” “I’m getting camped and my team isn’t helping.” “No one is warding.”

How often have you said or thought one of these things? How often have you felt that a game was lost because your teammates were feeding? These are just some common examples of probably a million


similar phrases that have been said throughout League of Legends, and they’re no less common in anything else in the world. Humans are pre-programmed to shift blame onto other parties. It’s much easier and much more satisfying to place the blame on others than it is to accept your own weakness. But to improve, you must embrace your weakness. Obviously there are games where you’re doing well and you’re not actually responsible for the outcome. It happens all the time. But once you start assigning blame, you stop worrying about how you can improve yourself, and how your own performance could have changed the outcome. Placing blame on other players is one of the most poisonous activities you can engage in. And I’m not talking about how you’re being a jerk to other players; I’m talking about how it holds you back, because nothing is stopping you from continuing to make the same mistakes. There’s no quicker way to stop improving than to stop seeing your own faults. We often allow ourselves to make little mistakes. They’re just mistakes, after all. So how silly is it that we’re quick to judge other players who make small mistakes that set us back? Get in the habit of fixing your own mistakes and improving your own performance and you’re virtually guaranteed to improve. One last thing: If you’re playing with friends or you’re in duo queue, try to avoid an “us and them” mentality. It’s extraordinarily easy to get caught up to such a degree that legitimate failures on our part are always scapegoated onto the players who aren’t in our clique. That doesn’t necessarily mean you should destroy a friendship by telling your friend they’re a jerk, but it does mean you should be consciously aware of when it’s happening so you don’t stop trying to improve yourself.

Trap #2: Assuming You Can’t Get Out This is very similar to the first trap. Once you start assigning blame, you start to fall into the trap of thinking that external factors have far more to do with how you’re doing in League of Legends than your own performance. And from there, you start believing you can’t get out of where you’re at. This attitude is extremely common in the Bronze and Silver ranked brackets. It ties into the attitude of Elo Hell, which I cover in the Ranked section of the e-book. Top players consistently push themselves through lower ranks and quickly level out near their appropriate rank. Some players hold multiple independent accounts at the top of diamond and challenger, showing that they can consistently achieve the same rank. Now, these aren’t always the best examples, because it can get much slower to get ahead as you get closer to where you actually belong, and if you’re a gold player it may take longer to get from high silver to gold.


But I firmly believe that players float towards where they belong. And if you’re not headed that direction, it may be because you have some fundamental player weaknesses that you need to overcome (either strategically or mechanically).

Trap #3: Playing on Tilt When players lose a number of games in a row, or do exceptionally poorly in a game, there is a tendency to start making worse decision in the following games. This isn’t always as obvious as simply giving up or intentionally playing worse, but it can be subtle decisions, gambles, and mistakes that lead to worse outcomes. And with each poor performance, the next game can be even worse. This is “playing on tilt.” This also works in reverse. If you’ve done exceptionally well or you’ve won a number of games in a row, it can be easy to let your guard down and do significantly worse against a tough opponent. You start making decisions that simply won’t pay off because you’re underestimating your opponents. Now, strictly speaking, it’s not just previous games that can lead to these kinds of mistakes. If you’ve had a very stressful day and you’re playing League to blow off steam you could wind up making some of these mistakes, which ultimately may add even more stress. When it comes to ranked play, I strongly recommend avoiding new ranked games if you’re on a losing streak. Take a break, play Howling Abyss or a normal match, or even wait a day before playing again if that helps. Do whatever helps you reduce stress.

Trap #4: Understanding the Long Game This is not a negative personality trait so much as it’s a lack of knowledge. Many players don’t understand that improvements and working strategies don’t always work in the short term, and the only way to really judge your performance is by looking over a long period of time or a large set of matches. Don’t get frustrated when you play a new champion or role and you don’t immediately do well. Part of this is muscle memory – your brain simply will not handle new champions perfectly without time and practice – and part of this is overall familiarity with the matchups and the dynamics of the lane. When something looks appealing to you, be willing to play it longer than just a few matches. This works both ways. There’ve been a few times where I went on a brief winning streak with a new champion I’ve been playing, then assumed I had really figured out how that champion worked. In these cases, I’ve often been jolted back to reality as I immediately go on a really awful losing streak with the same champion, and I’m forced to realize I wasn’t actually as practiced as I assumed. In ranked matches, you only need to win more than 50% of your matches, on average, to climb ranks. You might go on a six game losing streak one day, but that doesn’t automatically mean you’re an awful player or you’re doing something wrong (though it may mean you should take a break for a bit so you


don’t go on tilt). You could go on a six game winning streak the next day, but that doesn’t automatically mean you’re playing the game in the most optimal way. Remember where I said that some diamond and challenger players are able to climb ranks on several different accounts? It’s also worth saying that even they have lower elo games that they simply cannot carry on their own, and wind up losing. Don’t let the short term get you down. You don’t need to win every game. You don’t even need to win most of your games during a given week. Look to the future.

Trap #5: Unwillingness to Fail This trap ties directly into the previous trap: When we focus on the short term, we often don’t take the time to try totally new things and invest in new approaches that will help us a lot more down the road. Many players get into a mindset where they feel that getting ahead means they must avoid any kind of failure. When this helps improve mechanical mastery, such as improving last hits, this can be a health habit. But when it’s taken to the point that players are unwilling to try things they will likely fail at, it can be enormously detrimental. If you refuse to take risks and fail you cannot innovate. If you always play safe you will never know your limits. One of the hallmarks of higher ranked play is that good players get where they are because they’ve pushed the limits. They’ve picked champions, lost with them a whole bunch, made incredibly stupid decisions, and because of this they’ve attained true mastery. Practically speaking, a lot of players won’t do this. They don’t want to lose a bunch of games and lose rank. They get annoyed when they’ve seen other players making high risk plays and losing games as a result, so they look at this mentality as being destructive. But once a player has pushed the limits of their champion and role, they often find they’re able to achieve a much higher rank than they could before. I’m not arguing that you should take stupid risks. Your experience and game knowledge should be taken into account. Instead, you want to take risks where you don’t know the outcome. This may mean diving onto champions you don’t know much about, it may mean staying to fight a battle that looks like it’s losing, and it may mean aggressively invading the enemy jungle. Over time, your rank will always adjust to your skill. Taking losses that improve your skill pay off in the long game.


Trap #6: Focusing on Mistakes There’s a very common narrative in the League of Legends community in which games and teamfights are viewed only for the mistakes made in them. For example, if a team gets killed at Baron Nashor, it was because that team made mistakes, not because the other team made a good play. If a player gets killed in the jungle, it’s because they were caught out, not because the other team positioned well to catch them. When you die because you were caught unexpectedly by another player, if you only look at your mistake, the only thing you’ll learn is how to avoid what you’ve done. But if you look at it as a good play on the part of your opponents – especially at higher levels of play – then you can learn how to emulate that same tactic against your opponents. If you enjoy watching the tournament scene, watch for the big plays and strategies teams are employing. Why is a team positioned in a particular way? Why are certain players being targeted? They’re a whole lot more interesting than simply viewing every event as someone’s mistake. On the same subject, be willing to admit there are good players. Respecting your opponents helps you feel better when you lose to them, and allows you to learn from them more effectively.

Trap #7: Trusting the Familiar Though you shouldn’t focus heavily on mistakes, it’s certainly true to say that people make mistakes. In fact, they happen at all levels of play, even from the best teams in world tournaments. We do ourselves a big disservice when we treat pro players as godlike players that never slip up, because this simply isn’t the case. Though the Koreans are coming close, but that’s another subject altogether. My point is that we have a tendency to emulate and trust what we find familiar. We trust people who have biases and who make mistakes. Once again, let’s look back at the Season 3. Crumbzz, a professional North American player who happens to be very smart, famously challenged the European scene by arguing that teleport on mid laners was a sign of weakness. Realistically, this statement was likely made based on three points: 1. Teleport hadn’t been used very effectively in North America; 2. Successful teams appeared to snowball to victory off early game advantages, and combat summoner spells like barrier and ignite help achieve this more often than teleport; 3. Europe had lost to North America at the All Star event earlier in the season. Now, this is not terrible reasoning, and I don’t mean to present it as such. But the conclusion turned out to be incorrect, and an objective review of how and why teleport was being used in the European scene may have come to a much better conclusion. Had North America respected this more, they may have done a better job practicing for it, and may not have lost so quickly at the world championships.


This kind of thing happens all the time. Ezreal is a fantastic example of this, as he was largely considered an underpowered champion in the English-speaking community. Riot Games dropped messages a few times during complaints about his lack of power, mentioning that he was a staple in the Chinese scene. As people started giving him a shot, especially near the launch of Pulsefire Ezreal, he suddenly came to be considered a top pick that may have actually been too strong all along. Another example is support Annie. The idea of considering her a support had not even crossed most people’s minds for years. It wasn’t until Royal Club’s Tabe started pulling out amazing plays with her that people suddenly realized she had nearly all of the flexibility of some tanks and heavy supports, such as Leona, with quicker crowd control and more safety due to her range. I firmly believe there are a lot of cool things that people quickly dismiss because they aren’t familiar, not realizing that they may stand well on their own. Finding these things is a big part of the reason why I’m usually eager to try odd lane combinations such as Cassiopeia and Soraka (which is totally fantastic, by the way). Outside of champion and spell picks, there’s also the matter of how we think about tournaments and bigger events. In the championships at the end of Season 3, the English analyst desk near-universally predicted Fnatic to beat Royal Club. This happened for two reasons: • •

Every member of the analyst desk was more familiar with Fnatic than with China’s Royal Club; Every member of the analyst desk was also familiar with Cloud 9, who Fnatic had just defeated. This elevated their view of Fnatic’s standing.

But Royal Club defeated Fnatic. And if the predictions had been made off real data, such as the champions each team picked and banned, they might have been considerably more accurate. How does this affect you? If you’re new to the game, you may be looking at friends playing who seem to be incredibly good. After all, when they queue with you, they’re stomping everyone they play with. But keep in mind that this may be more due to an experience gap than a skill gap, and some of the things they’re doing may not work as well against tougher opponents. If you watch streams from pro players or tournaments, understand that strategies and tactics that work well in challenger and tournament games don’t always work so well in teams with less experienced players. Pulling off an advanced teleport split pushing strategy won’t work if your team doesn’t understand that they should disengage from fights when you’re gone. Newer players will also sometimes surprise you because they don’t do what they’re supposed to do; they aren’t where they’re supposed to be. And these kinds of surprises can get you killed. Conversely, there are strategies that work fantastically well at lower ranks that almost never work at high ranks, including abusing lack of vision control and general lack of map awareness from most lower ranked players. If you’re still new to the game, think about your bad habits that you’re working on, then think about bad habits you see teammates making… then apply that to your opponents. 260 | Learn the League

As you learn more about the game and you really start to dig into how it’s played, start to have confidence in your own knowledge, wisdom, and instinct. Though you should never assume you’ve attained all knowledge, you should also never assume everyone has better knowledge than you.

Trap #8: Leaving Beliefs Unchallenged People have a tendency to use limited events to inform their judgment, especially when we lack more comprehensive information. We quickly form biases and we use these biases to help direct our actions. This is entirely natural and usually very helpful to us. Our experiences should inform our judgment, but this isn’t always enough to really know if what we’re doing is right or wrong. There was an event in 2005 that I credit for being the primary reason for my success. When I had written my first long guide and released it on the early World of Warcraft forums, another player ripped apart huge chunks of what I wrote because I wasn’t putting enough value in the armor stat. Though I didn’t show this, I took this very personally, as it was an attack on something I had worked on for a very long time. It didn’t feel good. I thought of ways to rebut this person by discrediting them. The guy was a total jerk. And though they were in a decent guild, they certainly weren’t in the #1 guild in the world. Other players who agreed with me were in better guilds than him! But there was one problem. I didn’t know he was wrong. I could have stood my ground and insulted this player. And I probably would have convinced a lot of people my information was correct. But this would have been petty, it would have been dishonest, and I never would have become a better author. I learned more math that week than I learned in high school. I learned to test game mechanics and the methods for finding data and backing it up with evidence. And when I was done, I learned to admit I was wrong. Admitting failure had seemed shameful, but once I went through this process it was enlightening. I’ve mentioned this in my self-employment video on YouTube, but it should be brought up again. People can be jerks and they can still be right. People can be incredibly nice and they can still be wrong. And when we give advice to people, we have to be self-conscious because we may be wrong. Let’s bring this around to something you’ll certainly be using in your time in League of Legends – champion guides and written analyses from experienced players. Before I go any further, I’ll tell you that I use champion guides written by pro players all the time when I’m trying something new, and I definitely think it’s a good idea to do.


A lot of the pro players who write guides are on contract to do so, especially when it involves players from well-known teams. These players, while mechanically skilled and often very smart, are often not the deepest thinkers when it comes to the math and theory behind the game. If you’re like me, you don’t have a lot of time to sort through everything and understand every issue in its entirety. You have to pick people to trust, not because they’re necessarily always right, but because they’re more likely to be right than others. Even if their information isn’t perfect, there’s a much better chance that it’ll work well for you than the chance of finding a better guide from someone else. But, like trusting the familiar, you must be willing to challenge what you know. If something contradicts your perception, don’t immediately assume it’s wrong. If something feels off, try to think about how you can improve it. If someone presents new information to you, or you see champions played in different ways in tournaments, ask yourself why they’re doing that and how it could benefit you to try it out. Beyond this, just go and check guide sites or Google for more information that could help you, especially for the champions you really love to play. The support Annie picks don’t come into play until people think to try them. Innovation as a whole won’t happen unless people challenge themselves to do more than accept what’s around them as it is.


Maintaining Focus One of the primary skills that determine the outcome of matches in League of Legends is your ability to focus on everything happening. Though certainly important, I should make it clear that I’m not referring to who you and your teammates are targeting, which is also called focusing. While we’ll look at overall game focus, I also want to add an emphasis to teamfights. It is extraordinarily easy to become overwhelmed in teamfights. There’s a whole lot going on, and sometimes this won’t all be happening within your direct field of vision. Don’t feel bad about this – in my time analyzing tournament matches, I’ve found that very few teams are experts at handling complex teamfights. I’ll go one step further and say that the very best teams are where they are not because they individually outskill their opponents (though this can be important), but because they are able to better focus and respond to complex real-time events. There are three major stages players should go through to improve in this regard.

Stage 1 – Do Something At the earliest stage of learning you will be likely be overwhelmed in any kind of teamfight. This is especially true for players who are brand new to the game. By far the most common mistake from players at this level is that they don’t use their abilities or attacks at all, instead trying to assess when they should use them or figure out what’s going on. Do something. If you’re not sure what to do, unload all of your offensive abilities and make sure that you’ve targeted someone with normal attacks. Don’t worry about who you should be targeting or where you need to be positioned. Whether you succeed or fail, you will learn, and you’ll be developing muscle memory to react quicker in future situations. Of course, there’s one small caveat to this. Some champions have abilities that move knock opponents to new locations, such as Janna with her ultimate. When you’re not comfortable with these abilities it can be a better idea to do something so long as it’s not using those abilities.

Stage 2 – Situational Awareness Your brain will naturally begin to see patterns as you continue to play, and you’ll be able to recognize what’s happening in teamfights at a much broader level. For instance, you’ll start to notice when Galio or Morgana is trying to move into the middle of several of your teammates to land an ultimate, and you’ll be able to respond more effectively by spreading out or using crowd controls. This is the concept of “information at a glance,” and it’s very similar to muscle memory. You’ll develop this skill naturally as you play the game. But there are at least two areas you can and should improve through practice. 263 | Learn the League

Player Screen When you press the 'Tab' key during a match, a screen pops up detailing both your team and your opponents. On this screen you can see kills on champions and creeps, giving you a ballpark measurement of how well they're doing, as well as items they're building and which summoner spells they have. This will only update based on when the opponent was last visible to your team. Tab is also a quick way of seeing who is missing. Enemies who are greyed out are not currently visible to your teammates, so a quick Tab press can tell you who you need to watch out for. When you have this menu open, look at the summoner spells your opponents have, with a special eye towards Exhaust, Flash, Ghost, Barrier, and Heal. These must be accounted for if you want to be aggressive. Never dive a tower or overextend attempting to kill a player who has any of these spells currently available unless you're absolutely sure you can compensate for it, as well as any other abilities they may have. Take a second to really look at their items. You can do this by targeting them as well. Do they have wards? If so, that may suggest they've been warding around your lane, or they're about to. Do they have an empty spot between two other items? In the early game, this may also suggest they've placed a ward. Are they building defensively, such as an early purchase of Null-Magic Mantle (magic resist) or Cloth Armor (armor)? Don't overestimate the damage you'll do to them if they are. When you're building boots, open up your Tab menu and run down the list of enemy champions. Don't buy damage-related boots if everything in your brain says you should buy Mercury Treads. In rarer cases, Ninja Tabi is a good investment. Not sure whether a Void Staff or Last Whisper are good bets? They usually are, but it's always worth checking out whether your opponents are building any magic resist or armor before putting down a chunk of money on them. The point I'm getting at is that you need to really look at your opponents. Don't just try to snowball into an amazing damage-dealing powerhouse -- thinking about your purchases and how they relate to your enemy really will have a big impact on your performance. As a related note (in terms of using the interface to your advantage), you can see which of your allies have their ultimate abilities available by looking at the green or black dot on the upper right-hand of their portrait on the left-hand side of your screen. Green means they have their ultimate and can use it. By looking at the player screen frequently, you will eventually be able to gain the information you need in only one or two seconds.


Minimap & Map Awareness Scan your minimap every few seconds. At a basic level, this will improve your awareness of incoming ganks as well as develop a very healthy game habit. But over time, your brain will be able to identify not just whether players are near you, but also which opponents and allies are where on the map, and who is unaccounted for. Frequently watching your minimap is one of the best ways to develop a strong gut instinct, because you’ll be tying events that occur – such as ganks from particular junglers – to information about where they were (or weren’t) right before it happened. General map awareness should be achieved not just with your minimap, but also with the player screen. Again, this helps you see who is missing. With these two combined, you have a great way of seeing who is missing at any given time, as well as a great way of knowing when you can take risks because everyone is accounted for. Being map aware also helps you more quickly capitalize on times when there are nearby teammates, either by helping them out while they're being attacks, or by getting in position to gank with them. Though not directly related to mental preparedness, I strongly recommend learning to effectively ward, as it ties directly into your potential map awareness. Learn more in the dedicated vision section of the ebook.

Know Your Enemy While you can calculate the relative power of an opponent by checking out their items and stats, you will often learn the most about how strong or weak they are by watching them. Take time to occasionally glance at other lanes, especially after dying, and run through a mental checklist: • • • • •

Does your opponent look like they're farming well? Are they being overly aggressive? Are they not taking advantage of an opportunity in front of them? Are they being too cautious, or are they being smart? Are they responding quickly to their teammates needs? Are they avoiding ganks in a smart way, and do they seem to be reacting to your allies (i.e. are they reacting based on ward vision)?

You'll learn a lot about their team by doing this. While these snap judgments won't always be correct, they can give you a good idea how things are going, especially in conjunction with a glance at their items. Just knowing when an opponent is not doing particularly well, especially if they're a counter to your own champion, can help you make decisions later on in the match.


Stage 3 – Rapid Assessment Mastery of League of Legends requires going beyond situational awareness and advancing to real-time decision making. Top play certainly requires awareness and an understanding of tactics and strategy in League of Legends but more importantly it is able to adapt these to fit the given situation.

Critical Targets One of the traps players fall into at all levels of play is assuming that carries (such as marksmen, mages, or assassins) are the ideal targets to focus on once a teamfight starts. In reality, unless players are significantly out of position and can be easily killed, this mentality is rarely a good one to have or encourage. As players improve, we tend to see basic strategy and tactics come into play. Marksmen and mages may focus on the targets closest to them rather than trying to move into the back line, and tanks and fighters may be deciding between diving onto enemy carries and peeling for their own. At a very advanced level, players need to be making decisions on a number of additional factors. Let’s use an example with a Vayne player entering a teamfight where she must choose between attacking a Renekton, a Sona, and an Elise. A very good player will be keeping track of: • • •

Can Renekton dash to me? Has he used his stun? Can he zone me out of the fight? Has Sona used her ultimate? Is her flash down? Has Elise used her rappel? Has she used her skillshot stun?

In this example, Sona is presumably an extremely easy target to kill if she’s used her ultimate, where Elise may be easy but only if her rappel isn’t available, and Renekton is certainly going to take some time to kill. Vayne must also consider the timing and direction of her next tumble dash to position herself for continued engagement, and this is going to be based on what abilities are still available from Elise and Renekton. Where is each target in relation to their allies, and who are their allies attacking? If Vayne is able to enter the fight from brush, benefiting from stealth on her tumble, she may very well have an opportunity to blow up Sona before anyone reacts. But it depends on her positioning and her own cooldowns. Teamfights are some of the most dynamic events in League of Legends. Every situation is different, and the best target for players to attack, crowd control, disrupt, or position for is often not going to be the most obvious targets or the closest targets. Players who are able to watch teamfights and make judgment calls based on several things at once are often able to be great “shotcallers.” These are the players on pro teams who call out targets to focus down and what needs to be done at any given time. A player who has mastered the skill of tracking a lot of data at once and has simultaneously mastered a high mobility champion like Lee Sin, Vayne, Riven, or Zed can be a sight to behold. Put together, these 266 | Learn the League

players can weave in and out of very dangerous positions and maximize their potential. One fantastic example of this was when a Korean player named Faker went against another Zed; despite being at low health, his complete understanding of what the other player was capable of doing and keeping track of it allowed him to pull out an unbelievable kill. Here’s a video link (search “Faker Zed vs Ryu Zed” on YouTube if you can’t use this inside the e-book).

Practice Against Your Enemy (Scrimmaging, Tournaments, and Analysis) The very best players actively practice against their opponents. Doing this allows them to improve not just when facing those opponents, but also when facing similarly skilled opponents. This is important for full teams, but it also does tie into individual practice. Teams within a region will tend to scrimmage, or “scrim,” against each other. These are competitive matches between two teams that are not part of a tournament. These scrims and the information collected in them tend to remain private between the teams. Beyond this, some teams may generate a reputation for not trying real strategies or not trying their hardest during scrims, which allows them to gain information about their opponents while not showing their own strategies; the teams that don’t seem to respect the matches they’re in tend to have more difficulty finding good scrim opponents. In the Asian scene, and to a lesser degree elsewhere, it’s more common for an organization to have both an A and a B team, allowing them to take advantage of in-house scrimmages to try out new strategies and counters. If you happened to have read Dune, you may be familiar with the Sardaukar soldiers. These were soldiers forced to survive on an extreme prison planet, and as a result, the weak were quickly killed off while only the strongest and most ruthless survived. How does this tie into League? In Season 3, a new team called Cloud 9 began doing phenomenally well. They completely dominated the regional LCS scene, beating out each of the veteran teams with relative ease. At this level, the Sardaukar analogy can be made because the Cloud 9 players had all done very well in ranked solo queue – considerably better than the combined players on any other team – so they were more proficient and more focused in gameplay. Cloud 9 was also notable in being one of the few North American teams that could effectively focus during teamfights, often turning roughly even matches around the moment the first teamfight broke out. But the analogy works at another level as well. Cloud 9 did not have any strong competitors in the scene, and they were rolled over when they faced Europe’s Fnatic (forgive me for using this example in yet another context). Cloud 9 was left fumbling on all corners. The difference between these two teams is Fnatic was there because they had faced and competed against extremely good teams, such as Gambit Gaming, to get where they were. It’s not that Cloud 9 were necessarily worse or less capable players, it’s that they never needed to push themselves to go that extra mile to succeed.


So how does this tie into practicing against your enemy? In Season 3, teams had relatively few opportunities to test themselves against international opponents, so it’s fair to say that Cloud 9 didn’t have many opportunities to directly play against their future opponents. But quality scrimmaging and competitive play against opponents that were actually trying had been cut way down, as top teams at the time, such as Team Solomid and Curse, weren’t putting much effort into the matches. During the season, these teams did not appear to take scrimmaging nearly as seriously as teams in other regions. And as a result, even teams with serious potential – such as Cloud 9 – simply didn’t have an environment that gave them a strong chance outside North America. Beyond scrimmaging there’s also scouting and watching tournament replays. This works against veteran teams with a lot of tournaments and public matches on record, but it can be more difficult against upand-coming teams with little record. This is no substitute for good practice but it can give you an idea when going up against teams you’re not familiar with. This can be taken a step further as players actively scout their opponents in the pro scene. Madlife, a Korean player who consistently performs at an extremely high level, is known for studying the habits of his opponents. In one famous clip, he begins throwing out a Thresh hook on an Ezreal before Ezreal arcane shifts away, and the hook lands on exactly where Ezreal shifts to. Here’s a video link (search “Madlife Thresh Hook” on YouTube if you can’t use this inside the e-book).

Overwhelm your Opponents Every player has a limit on how much they can focus on at a given time. For newer players, this is a much harsher limit, which means it’s very easy to take advantage of them through fairly simple strategies. As players improve, it may be harder to take advantage of a lack of situational awareness, but they are likely still vulnerable to smart maneuvers in teamfights. Overwhelming your opponent’s ability to focus by providing a number of different factors at once can be the difference between success and failure. It can allow for really sloppy plays to provide fantastic results. For example, a tower dive where a jungler comes in from behind the enemy tower can throw your opponents off guard for long enough that you can net a kill even if the wrong people start taking tower shots or positioning is sloppy. While your opponent may have a perfect play and may have an easy way to avoid being killed or even come out with kills, they may not be as quick to realize this as you might think. This is a large part of why team compositions that rely on area effect ultimates from champions like Morgana, Amumu and Miss Fortune can be extremely effective. At lower ranks, these take advantage of players not catching their positioning quickly enough and getting caught in crowd controls as a group. At higher ranks, these champions allow teams to win some teamfights even if the players aren’t amazingly skilled at focusing on many different things going on in the fight.


Working with Teams So far we’ve looked at understanding ourselves and improving ourselves, but the subtext has been how we work with and understand other players. I won’t go on too long, but there are a few key things that should be brought up. Just as you may have your own playstyles and your own flaws, so do your teammates. Some of your teammates may be playing on tilt, and some of them may have entirely different skills in terms of strategy and tactics. Some people take criticism well and some people don’t take it well at all. These are the players you have. They may or may not be the players you want. To succeed, you must to play to their strengths, and you must cover their weaknesses. When discussing junglers, we sometimes say that we want to gank to help snowball the Riven at top lane, because that’s the player who will carry the game. This is certainly true: a mechanically skilled Riven who is extremely good a micromanaging is a force to be reckoned with. But so is that strategic Teemo player at top lane, and helping him snowball could allow him to win a lane he might otherwise lose. Be willing to lose your lane. If you’re already losing your lane, it can be more reliable for your teammates to help snowball another lane rather than trying to fix yours. While it can be frustrating to be ignored when you’re already struggling, understand that it may be your team’s best chance of victory. If your teammates do poorly in the early game, that does not default to them doing poorly later in the game. It could, of course, if things go badly enough. But one or two early deaths are no reason to assume a game is lost. You may be a god at your champion, and you may understand strategy perfectly. If you set up an amazing gank that requires your teammate to engage or show up at exactly the right time, and they don’t follow up, it’s not always their fault the play failed. Don’t set up the perfect plays, set up the plays your teammates can actually do. This is especially important for players at lower ranks. Never ask your allies, “Why?” Why did they die? Why didn’t they ward? Why aren’t they pushing? “Why” is a confrontational word, and most players will take it that way. It implies blame, and it causes many players to react defensively and play worse. Make suggestions, pay compliments, and thank them. When someone’s upset, work with them. When someone’s a jerk, let it slide, and mute them if you need to. Arguing never helps. Humans are different. Accept this. Work with them.


Self Improvement To improve your own performance, here are a few out-of-game suggestions. First, create a spreadsheet or notepad file and document your biggest mistakes after every single game you play. Make notes of things you learn as well. I’ve seen a half dozen people do this to reach the top of Diamond. Use this list to help identify your most common mistakes. Never stop doing this. Second, look at your statistics. For ranked games, load your profile or look at popular websites that track these things (some are included in the links list in the members section). Use this to get an idea of which champions you perform best with, and where you could use improvement. Third, watch your replays. Record your games and look through them. You don’t need to do this for every game you play, but you should take time to look over your games every so often. You’ll be surprised how many mistakes you didn’t realize you were making. Fourth, make mistakes. Take risks. If you don’t know the outcome of a fight, get into the fight. If you win, you’re awesome. If you fail, you’ve learned. Outside of tournament play there’s virtually no reason to stop testing the boundaries, because it always pays off in the long run. Above all, learn to learn. Find out how you learn best, whether this is through videos, streams, playing the game, or reading guides. People learn in a variety of different ways and you want to make sure you’re totally engaged in the format you’re using. If you don’t know other champion roles, play them. If you think a champion is extremely difficult to play against, play them and find out what their weaknesses are and what their cooldowns feel like. No matter what you do, you will need to practice in game to develop muscle memory. Don’t forget the earlier suggestions. Learning to quickcast (with range indicators if you prefer) and learning to use “Attack Click” will allow you to act and react more quickly. You might take a bit to get used to these but they will help you play better. Play other games to give you new insights on how to play League and to develop your mind.


Map Vision Knowing what’s going on throughout the battlefield provides a massive advantage to your team, so long as your team will make use of this knowledge. It allows you to push, engage in team fights, and take objectives based on real information. And by the same token, preventing your opponents from seeing and tracking your team will deny them from being able to act on real information. In this section we’re going to cover the different vision items available to a team, as well as when and how to use them.

Ward & Trinket Strategy With the exception of certain champion abilities, map vision is controlled through the use of several core items. Before we get into the strategy, let’s first take a look at the tools you’ll have available:

Stealth Wards Stealth wards offer normal vision in an area around where they’re placed. These wards are not normally visible to opponents, though they can be seen by towers and other items that grant stealth detection. Opponents who gain vision on these wards can destroy them with three normal attacks. Each player may have up to three stealth wards on the map at any given time; placing a fourth ward immediately removes the oldest ward. When purchased individually, stealth wards cost 75 gold and have a three minute duration. You can only have three stealth wards in your inventory.

Sightstones (Stealth Wards) Sightstones are more expensive items that grant a stash of stealth wards that automatically refill every time you return to base. If you are playing a support or a champion that can use wards as targets to dash or blink to (such as Lee Sin, Katarina, and Jax), sightstones can be worthwhile investments to make early in the game so you don’t spend as much on individual wards. Each stealth ward placed with this item has a three minute duration.


Vision Wards Vision wards grant vision in an area around where they’re placed, and can also see invisible units such as stealthed champions or stealth wards. Unlike stealth wards, these wards can be seen by nearby enemy players. They are also sturdier, requiring five normal attacks before being destroyed. Each player may only have one active vision ward on the map at a time, and placing a new vision ward immediately removes the older one. When purchased individually, vision wards cost 100 gold and will remain on the map until they’re killed. Because vision wards are visible, are more survivable, and are a clear threat to the opposing team, these can be fantastic to place when you want to set up ganks or force teamfights in favorable positions for your team. If you’re playing a ranged champion and you need to counter a vision ward inside brush without moving too close, consider dropping a stealth ward from a range instead of walking inside the brush. This is sometimes helpful for high-risk areas such as the enemy tri-brush in the early game, as it reduces the potential power of an ambush.

Teleport & Champion Abilities Allied wards are considered valid units for the Teleport summoner spell. Using Teleport clearly gives away the location of the ward to any opponents who are paying attention to the area, but also makes the ward invulnerable during casting. This can be used to your advantage in securing kills on Dragon and Baron Nashor, particularly if a player on the other side of the map has Teleport available and can turn the tides of a fight in your favor. In some circumstances, it can be a good method of getting a player near the enemy base quickly to take down a structure before the team can react. There are also a few champions, such as Lee Sin, Katarina, and Jax, who can use abilities to dash or blink to wards. If you're playing these champions it's often a good idea to carry at least one ward with you for this purpose. If you're playing on the same team as them, keep it in mind if you need to help them escape in a pinch. And if you're playing against them, you'll want to be more vigilant about destroying enemy wards when possible.


Trinkets Trinkets are items that occupy a special item slot. Basic trinkets are free and can be found under the “All Items” tab in the “Vision & Trinkets” section of the shop. Trinkets give a basic bonus at level 1, but upgrade automatically to improved versions at level 9. Level 9 is usually when you’ll be maxing your first core ability, so this timing can offer a brief power spike over your opponents. Once you’ve got the improved version, you can then choose whether you want to pay 475 gold for an upgrade to the trinket the next time you’re at the shop. Free trinkets can be given back to the shop and the upgrades can be sold back. This allows you to swap to a different type of trinket at any point in the game, but there is a three minute delay before you can use any trinket again. Let’s take a look at each of the trinkets and when you should consider purchasing them.


Yellow Totems The yellow totems allow you to place free wards every time their cooldown is complete. The first version of this will let you place a stealth ward that lasts one minute, and the cooldown for this is two minutes. The level 9 version doubles the duration to two minutes. There are two upgrade paths for this trinket: 1. The Greater Stealth Totem offers you a three minute duration stealth ward, again with a two minute cooldown. 2. The Greater Vision Totem offers a three minute duration vision ward with a three minute cooldown. There are three good reasons to choose this trinket: 1. One of the other trinkets doesn’t specifically counter your opponents. 2. You are playing a champion that can dash or blink to wards (such as Lee Sin, Katarina, and Jax). 3. You are not sure which trinket to go with during a match. Wards are always good to have on hand, so you’ll really never go too wrong with picking this trinket up. Even though the basic version of this only allows you to keep a ward down for one out of every two minutes, alternating this with a duo laner or extending the duration of vision after other wards expire is helpful. For the final upgrades, here’s what you ought to consider: The Greater Stealth Totem allows you to have two wards on the map at once from the same item (place a ward for 3 minutes, place another after 2 minutes). There’s only a 60 second crossover, but if you’re not otherwise placing many wards, this can actually be pretty beneficial to your team. Purchase this upgrade if you’re not spending money on sightstones or wards but want to improve your team’s vision. In other words, most players will probably want this. The Greater Vision Totem, on the other hand, is particularly useful for champions who are already using sightstones. This is because it acts similar to a Sighstone in that it allows you a vision ward you can use on cooldown. Purchase this upgrade if you have a Sighstone or you otherwise need to be able to place more vision wards, particularly if yours are being contested quickly or you’re contesting different areas of the map frequently. Beyond this, there are rare situations where you may want to use the vision totem even over a red lens (covered next) when dealing with stealth champions. If teamfights are fairly static in terms of positioning and you’re a squishier target that’s likely to be burst down, this trinket may have more actual impact on dealing with stealth during a teamfight than the upgraded lens.


Red Lenses The red lens items are designed to give you ways of dealing with stealth. These items let you create a temporary field within a fairly short range that reveals and disables invisible traps (such as Teemo and Shaco traps) and stealth wards. There are some caveats to this. The item does not actually grant normal vision, meaning you can’t use it to see inside the fog of war. Additionally, it does not disable vision wards (meaning stealth champions cannot use this to disable any form of stealth detection). Finally, it doesn’t disable visible traps such as Caitlyn or Nidalee’s traps, even if they’re concealed in brush. The level 9 upgrade increases the size of the revealed area, reduces the cooldown, and increases the duration of the effect. The purchased upgrade also grants a 10 second Oracle effect to the user. This grants stealth detections in a radius around you, not where you cast the item, and follows you as you move. While this effect does not grant vision on invisible units in the fog of war, the bonus to this is that you’ll be able to see stealthed champion. To be clear, this Oracle effect is entirely in addition to the stealth detection field, though they’re both activated at the same time. Let’s take a look at a special tactic you can use with the red lens. Normally the basic red lens cannot be cast from beyond the range of a ward, meaning that approaching a ward gives away your location before you disable it. But some common ward locations, such as tri-brush, have terrain that you can use to stay out of vision as you approach:

By approaching the tri brush from behind a wall, then using the red lens to disable the ward, you can quickly run past the ward before the enemy knows who is entering the lane. For most champions, having boots or improved boots is ideal to move out of vision faster than the ward recovers. If you’re lucky, they may not even notice the reduced fog of war on their minimap, and your approach will be a surprise to them. In the early game, if your opponent has a red lens and you want to preserve a ward in a critical location, consider first dropping a ward they can see. If they’re baited into using their lens to destroy the ward, you can safely place your ward in your desired location. This is situational since you could simply drop a


ward, they could clear it, and you could drop it again in the same location – but it’s ideal for ganking brush when your opponents may clear your ward then bully you to prevent you from moving back in to re-ward. Before level 9, purchase this item if removing enemy vision is more important to you than having vision of your own. Since this is very effective at finding, disabling, bypassing and destroying enemy stealth wards, this item is effective for denying enemy vision. This is great for allowing a jungler or other teammate to have a clear path to enter the lane, and is especially good if those players have high kill potential but low speed and mobility (for example, Amumu). You should also purchase this item if you’re jungling against Shaco, as disabling his traps at a key moment can be the difference between winning or losing a fight. For Teemo, it’s a bit more optional, as his speed may prevent you from keeping a fight near disabled mushrooms (and he probably has a nice farm going around the rest of his home). At level 9 and with an upgrade, this becomes the core item for dealing with stealthed champions. The Oracle effect is extremely good when dealing with some champions (such as Akali and Vayne) who would otherwise drop into stealth during engagements. While vision wards can achieve the same effect, the yellow lens with vision wards has twice the cooldown and will remove another vision ward if it’s already been placed. Make sure you carefully check for enemy wards as you pass through a bush while you have the Oracle effect active. If you're moving quickly and are watching other events, you can miss wards that will only pop up for a half second or so. Be deliberative when moving between bushes to make sure you're not missing anything – this is easier to do with Attack Move commands, which will cause your champion to automatically begin attacking wards that come into vision (provided another hostile enemy is not closer).


Blue Orbs The blue orb trinkets can be activated to grant vision on a nearby area, including enemies inside brush. This vision lasts for one second, meaning it only allows a brief glimpse of the area. Each upgrade to this trinket dramatically increases the range it can be cast from, and the final upgrade also reduces the cooldown to 90 seconds. The effects of the orb are very simple, and they are best when paired with a strong understanding of League of Legends and a gut sense of the match you’re in. For example, as you understand the different ganking paths that players will use, or get an idea when players are leaving other lanes to potentially come near your own, or know when opponents may be doing Baron Nashor or Dragon, this item becomes significantly more effective at finding them at the right moments. If your lane opponent suddenly gets aggressive and you suspect it’s because their jungler is there to gank, this will allow you to quickly check. But you only get one shot, and it’s only for one second. Here’s when you may wish to purchase this item: • •

•

You or an ally will want to enter the fog of war and you’re not aware of whether your opponents are waiting in brush to ambush. This is especially important against assassins. You or an ally needs to be able to click and target enemies who may juke into brush to activate certain abilities (ex. Taric stun or Maokai root). Special consideration should be taken for champions, especially junglers, who can use this vision to target and dash to monster camps, as this can help with escapes. You are being pushed to your tower in a side lane and you need to be able to either get wards safely into river brush or check the brush ahead of you before you can move in (ex. Against a Blitzcrank or when you suspect a jungler is hiding in the lane brush).

There’s one more thing. This item is your only sure-fire tool against teams that are aggressively countering your map vision. Teams can disable and destroy wards, especially use the red lenses, but they cannot deny vision from this trinket. Since this offers a very long range, particularly with upgrades, this can be important at key moments. This is a very powerful trinket but it’s also a very limited trinket. I’d caution against using this item before you feel comfortable with the flow of the game, unless you’ve got a specific combat reason you may need it (such as those above).


Duo Lane Trinket Strategy If you’re in a lane with another player, there are two fairly good trinket combinations you may decide to pick up. The first is taking double yellow totems, as this allows near-constant ward coverage from the 60 second wards (since they’re on a 2 minute cooldown one person can only gain 50% ward uptime at best). The second pair is taking both a blue orb and a red lens. The blue orb lets you quickly look ahead to make sure it’s safe for your ally to move in, while the red lens lets the ally destroy an enemy ward. This offers an effective counterwarding combo, and is ideal if at least one player is investing in wards or sightstones separate of the trinket.

Trinket Selling Strategy As mentioned earlier, trinkets can be returned to the shop and replaced. Doing so places a very significant cooldown on their use, but it does offer you the opportunity to swap them out mid match, and the gold lost from selling and repurchasing an upgraded trinket is minimal. Keeping in mind that trinkets can’t be upgraded until level 9, there are times when it’s simply a better idea to swap trinkets than it is to use one the whole game. Let’s start with a stealth-related example. With the exception of Evelynn, stealth champions are generally visible at some point before they enter your lane. These champions also tend to be higher damage assassins or marksmen. This means that the yellow totem is actually a much better bet to have in the early game for three reasons. First off, the red lens offers nothing against stealthed champions before it has been fully upgraded and you gain the Oracle effect. Second, aggressively denying your opponents vision and killing their wards may be putting you out of position and in danger of being ganked by these assassins. Third, the safety offered from the yellow totem ward is possibly going to give you warning on an incoming gank. Now, against strong stealth champions, at level 9 you’re probably going to want the upgraded red lens. This is a great opportunity to go back and sell the yellow totem to pick up the lens. The same logic we used here can be used to apply to other early game situations. For example, a support champion may want to pick up the red lens to help counterward for their lane and allow the jungler to move in to gank. But later in the game, the value of the yellow totem in offering a free vision ward may be preferred. My main message is this: Be willing to sell the trinkets you start with later on and swap to better trinkets for your situation. It’s usually better to do this early and avoid doing it often due to the cooldown after swapping.


Combat Vision & Quickcasting One of the most critical skills for supports (and other players) to learn is how to apply vision during combat. When an opponent is about to break vision, such as entering brush or going stealth, immediately dropping a ward or using a blue trinket allows your team to continue using attacks and targeted abilities without interruption. I recommend enabling quickcasting on at least one item slot where you will hold onto wards, as well as your trinket slot, to allow you to do this more quickly.

Counterwarding Warding is the process of increasing your own map vision and map awareness through the use of wards. Counterwarding is the process of removing your opponents map vision and map awareness by getting rid of their wards. Counterwarding is important so long as it offers a tangible advantage to your team. If your team will not or cannot realistically use it to their advantage, getting rid of a ward is a risky investment, as you may be putting yourself out of position to do this. What amounts to a tangible advantage? In the early game it can mean being able to push and zone your opponents more effectively because they're afraid of being ganked. Being able to engage Dragon and Baron Nashor before your opponents are aware, or in such a way where they cannot guess how much health these monsters have while you're fighting, is an advantage. With objectives such as Dragon and Baron, but also for jungle buffs if you choose to invade the enemy jungle, I recommend warding and counterwarding before they become available in the mid and late game, as it will give you warning if a team is aware of the timer and is preparing to fight them the moment they respawn. In the early game, counterwarding tends to be specific, and is usually ideal for enabling ganks from your teammates. Vision wards can help with this, though the red lens is even better suited to the task. This remains true in the late game, especially as the red lens is upgraded to provide the Oracle effect, allowing you to deny more vision across the map. Counterwarding is virtually always good in a game, but is often not necessary for every single ward. Don't put yourself in a position where you're being baited into bad situations by counterwarding wards you didn't need to take out. Both warding and counterwarding are mind games, and the better you shut down your opponent's vision while increasing your own, the more your team can engage based on reality while your opponents must engage based on perception.


Other Vision Sources Not all map vision is controlled exclusively through wards and trinkets. Minions, towers, and certain champion abilities such as Ashe’s Hawkshot can also provide vision.

Towers Towers are naturally defensible, providing strong area vision and high damage output. In balanced fights, towers are safe havens and fallback points that allow for extension in the area around them. Losing or destroying a tower can completely shift the balance in a match in terms of vision and map awareness. Not only do you lose the vision of the tower, but you also lose the easy fallback position that makes nearby warding much safer for your team. If you lose a tower, take extra steps to ensure you have vision in the area. You cannot safely extend until you do. On the flip side, if you take a tower, take extra steps to destroy any wards they may try to place, as this turns a large area on their side of the map into hostile territory for them. This prevents them from easily farming, can offer you more gank opportunities, and can allow your team to more easily push the next tower in their lane.

Reveal Abilities Some champions, such as Nidalee and Caitlyn, have abilities that temporarily reveal their opponents through the fog of war. This grants vision on the opponent, but it does so in a mechanically interesting way -- you can see your opponent's wards if the affected player moves in range of them. This doesn't work for all abilities that make an opponent visible, and it doesn't work 100% of the time even for abilities that do, but keep an eye out when you reveal a player with traps or other abilities.


Who is Responsible With the introduction of trinkets in Season 4, every player on a team is at least partly responsible for map vision at all stages of the game. Though some players may still choose to specialize in this, such as supports or junglers picking up sightstones and actively clearing opposing wards, these are skills every good League of Legends player must learn. When it comes to placing wards beyond what your trinkets afford you, keep this rule in mind: If you don't die because you placed a ward, that ward paid for itself several times over. While you may feel it is ideal to use your gold elsewhere, you should invest in wards whenever necessary.

Warding With Teammates Depending on the situation in the current match-up, you may need the assistance of teammates to effectively ward and counterward around the map. The first factor is whether the opposing team has a vision advantage of their own and whether they're quickly acting on that vision. It can be very difficult to win the vision game once your opponents already control most of the map, though trinkets such as the blue orb can help you recover. The second factor is how reckless your opponents are. Most advanced players will not put themselves at risk by moving blindly into the fog of war while several opponents are not accounted for. The fear of being caught out of position and being ganked is a very real thing, and it's one of the biggest advantages of denying an opponent their map vision. By mid-game, a player wishing to place wards can usually do so alone if they have already denied the enemy vision, or have a blue orb, and will have some advance warning from their own vision on approaching enemies. It's also a good rule of thumb to immediately take opportunities to ward and counterward when you can see the threats on your opponent's team somewhere else on the map. This is the safest time to move around solo. However, less experienced opponents are less likely to have picked up the habit of being careful about overextending and avoiding potential traps. This will actually make it harder to safely place wards alone if you're playing a less survivable champion. On the flip side, roaming with your team is more likely to net kills on opponents who are out of position. The bottom line is that warding without teammates is safest when you already have a vision advantage over your opponent. By warding and counterwarding early and often, you can more safely maintain this advantage without needing your team to break off every time you need to refresh vision. This is talked about a little bit more in “The Impossible Decision” section of this e-book.


Protecting & Replacing Wards Once wards are out, they should usually be treated as secondary objectives. If you can defend a ward before it is counterwarded, do so. Keep an eye on wards that are protecting your lane and quickly respond if you reasonably can. It can be frustrating when an enemy counterwards you, especially in the early game. However, if the ward was necessary to your survival, or acted as a deterrant, it can be to your advantage to immediately replace the ward even if there's a very high chance they'll kill it again. For example, if a player placed a vision ward in the river bush and killed your ward, placing a stealth ward may result in them countering you again while their vision ward is still active (provided you can’t easily reach the vision ward to kill it, such as when their team is nearby). Immediately placing a new ward can lead to two potential benefits. First, it can waste the time of a jungler or another player who is counterwarding if they choose to go back and take out the new ward; at the same time, you're aware of exactly where they are and they can't threaten another lane. Second, it can be used to bait opponents out once you're ready to defend your ward and potentially kill them.


Warding Locations What are the best and most effective warding locations on the map? While this changes given on the situation, let’s take a look at a variety of effective locations and how they can help achieve total map awareness. We’ll start by looking at team perimeter warding, then look at more specific examples such as objective control and specialized wards. In the following sections I’ll be looking at this as though we’re blue team. Most of the map is directly mirrored, so you’d take a similar approach to warding top lane for purple side that you’d take bottom lane for blue side (with one small caveat being the side lane brush at top is distinct from the side lane brush at bottom).

Perimeter Warding Effective warding is usually not about placing that one perfect ward. Instead, it’s about identifying where your team can most benefit from map vision. Perimeter warding is exactly what it sounds like – it’s the idea that you create a perimeter of vision that your enemies cannot easily cross. For perimeter warding in the early game, you generally need a team that both has access to wards and understands the ideal placement of these wards. With newer or less skills players this may be difficult, but understanding this concept can still be helpful in many situations, as it’s possible to create some perimeters around objectives with just one or two players.

My goal with this image is not to be confusing, but instead to show you how quickly the gank routes and options expand if an opponent enters your jungle. This is especially true if the mid lane tower is gone, as opportunities to quickly cross over become available as well.


With the exception of more mobile champions (which we’ll get into shortly), there are only four exits from the jungle and four entrance into your jungle. Two of these are situated near mid lane. It follows, then, that failing to properly ward around the mid lane can have the greatest negative impact on the game, regardless of the impact it has on the mid lane itself. It opens up map-wide counterjungling and alternative gank routes that are harder to respond to. Having a second player assisting with wards around mid lane can be extremely helpful.

Before towers have started falling, controlling vision in either the four exits or the four entrances will offer your team a secure perimeter that enemies cannot cross without destroying or disabling wards. In this example, I’ve offered some basic ward locations you can use against lower mobility champions that can’t easily get over wall (a little later in this section I’ll show screenshots of specific locations, just keep the ballpark locations in mind for now).


If you’re doing well, you can be more aggressive about ward placement. Each of the wards shown here are considerably further in, which means they’re harder to place and defend, but they offer a much bigger warning on approaching enemies.


Mobile Champions Many junglers and roamers also have the ability to get over wall and other terrain with basic abilities. These mobile champions (such as Vi, Jarvan IV, and Zac) can bypass the standard four entrances and exits:

Here’s a look at what many of these champions are able to do: 1. They can cross over the Baron Nashor and Dragon pit walls. 2. They can enter side brush at mid lane from over the wall, bypassing normal river wards. 3. They can jump into the gank brush at the side lanes (in this example it’s the arrow on the bottom right), bypassing river wards and landing directly inside the brush. Creating an effective perimeter against these champions, ward vision requires a bit more effort, which we’ll look at next.


For a basic perimeter, we need to get a ward near the Baron Nashor and Dragon pits. Additionally, the ward at bottom lane should be placed inside the gank brush rather than in the river, as this allows coverage of someone moving specifically into that brush. Mid lane may find it ideal to place wards directly in the side brush (which can be done from the other side of the wall, making it relatively safe unless your opponent is already waiting to jump on you from there).

If you’re gaining an advantage, a more advanced perimeter still requires more wards, but this time it allows more control over the enemy red and blue buffs. If you can knock out the enemy mid tower, you should ward in lane as well (or even ward your own mid lane if your tower was taken out).


And of course, if you’re falling behind, you can also choose to ward from completely safe positions. In this image, top lane and blue golem is still vulnerable to some gank routes, so you must decide how important or cost effective it is to drop a ward at the blue ramp or buff.

Perimeter Theory My goal with these examples wasn’t to tell you how to ward every game. It’s totally situation, and you may ward the area between top and mid lane differently than the area between mid and bottom lane. What’s important is that you understand the entrances and how effective it can be to catch them earlier in a route rather than later. If wards are so close to you that you don’t have either a path or the time necessary to react when you see them, chances are you needed to expand your perimeter. And this isn’t just an early game thing. For example, if you want to do Baron but need to know they’re approaching from a good distance out, ward some of the entrances towards Baron if you can safely do so. You don’t need to ward the whole map, either, but think about the routes they’ll realistically take. Even if you don’t remember all the ward locations that follow, here’s what you need to remember: Creating a perimeter that lets you know when enemies are approaching is important. Place wards that help achieve this, even if they’re not in perfect locations.


Bottom & Top Lane Ward Locations Let’s look at a few standard ward locations for bottom and top lane. I’ll be showing bottom lane for mots of these, but keep in mind these are exactly mirrored for top lane (with the sole exception being the side brush, which we’ll look at).

Blue Team River Tri Brush Ward (Defensive) – If you’re pushed up to your tower and you can’t safely move out at all, drop a Tri Brush Ward. Also important if your mid lane jungle entrance isn’t being warded. This location is the least likely to be counterwarded by the enemy team as it can move them heavily out of position. River Ward – This is a great all-around ward, and it can’t be disabled with an early red lens due to its distance from any vision-blocking terrain. If you can safely move up, place this ward in front of dragon instead. Gank Brush Ward –If you’re against a champion that can jump into that side lane brush (bypassing a river ward), drop your ward here. Note that the ward is further back in the brush – this keeps it out of range of being disabled by a red lens from the other side of the wall (i.e. before a mobile champion dashes over). This ward location is also at an ideal location for allied champions with Teleport as it can allow a quick and relatively assured flank on your opponents. Though you may want to place the Tri Brush Ward in addition to either of the other wards, there’s usually no point in having both a River Ward and a Gank Brush Ward. Take your pick depending on the situation.


Purple Team River Tri Brush Ward (Aggressive) – If you’re doing well, maintaining vision over the tri brush can be exceptionally valuable as it gives plenty of warning on ganks and can be used to deny your opponents vision. Note that the enemy jungler may have easy access to bypass this ward with a red lens, and it can be approached as part of a normal jungle route. River Ward – This is a strong ward location for purple team that gives vision on two approaches, and tends to be safer when dealing with red lens disables as enemies can’t get in range to disable it before being seen. Also, if you only have one ward, this is usually your best bet on where to place it, as it gives both warning from both the tri-brush and the river. Gank Brush Ward (Defensive) –If you’re being pushed up to your tower and you need basic river vision, the gank brush is the safest spot. This is also the hardest location for opponents to counterward.

In the above example, I’ve placed the ward from over the wall. From where I’m standing, the ward will go fully over the wall (beyond normal range) as long as you target it most of the way through. This is tricky here because aiming it wrong can land it in a little crack where it’s not inside the brush (though for blue team at top lane it’s very easy to aim it correctly).


Dragon Pit (Mirrored for Baron Pit)

There are three good ward locations near Dragon, and these are often critical for also providing advantages to the side lanes. Let’s look at the advantages of each: 1. Vision over the ramp and blue golem lets you see if opponents are taking the blue golem camp. This is rarely useful for purple team but frequently useful for blue team, especially if you have another ward covering the second river entrance further towards mid lane. 2. A ward near the ramp still gives vision as opponents come down the ramp, but also grants vision on the edge of Dragon itself. This allows you to see when an enemy team is approaching and when they’ve engaged Dragon. This is an ideal location when the other river entrance near mid isn’t warded. 3. The ward placed next to the Dragon pit offers the advantage of seeing the full pit, which is helpful for catching when your opponents are placing wards into the dragon pit from over the jungle wall. This is also a good spot to drop a vision ward if you need to clear out enemy wards (though you may want to do this even further inside the pit to make sure you catch any possible wards). Purple team is less likely to make use of the first ward location as they’ll be less likely to need to watch their own blue buff (though this is situational).


Bottom & Top Side Brush In one of the rare circumstances where the map isn’t perfectly symmetrical, bot lane and top lane have unique side brush layouts. Warding side brush is good if your lane is being pushed regularly past the mid-point of the lane, towards your towers, as it makes you aware of players who may be attempting to capitalize on your lack of vision by sneaking into the side brush to gank. Typically the side brush, particularly further away from your own tower, tend to be good locations for wards that allied champions can teleport to, as their location can prevent your opponents from falling directly back to their tower.

The bottom lane side brush consists of two very large patches of brush. It’s a good idea to ward in here if your opponents would otherwise bully and zone you by using brush (particularly if you’re dealing with champions like Blitzcrank or Thresh, where seeing them makes a world of difference on how you can position).

The top lane consists of three separate patches of brush. Warding here is less effective as a deterrant from using brush, but it’s still very good for gaining vision beyond your normal lane extension. If you feel you need to ward this side brush, aim to drop your ward in the furthest of the three patches that you can get away with, as it will give you the most warning on an incoming gank.


Mid Lane As mentioned earlier, mid lane is the center of the map, and usually the most critical to keep warded effectively. Failing to ward around mid lane can be devastating to both side lanes.

Safe Drops As a rule, mid lane tends to be the safest lane in the game. Part of the reason for this is that the lane has three very easy ward drops that can be placed from over the wall. The first two are here:

Ramp Ward – This ward gives you vision of players entering the river from the opposite side, as well as an indication of which direction they’re headed. This is a pretty good ward for when you’re worried about roaming, especially if your opponents may be invading your jungle. Side Brush Ward – This is the easiest ward to safely place, and it’s excellent when dealing with mobile junglers who can bypass a ramp ward and jump directly into the side brush ward from the opposite wall. The other advantage to this ward is that you can see what an opponent does when they enter the brush (some junglers like to move into unwarded brush then immediately recall and move elsewhere, leaving you to guess if they’re still camping your lane). When in doubt, place this ward.


The side brush on the other side is also fantastic. You can also place the ward in the river or in the small river brush a little ways down, but this ward location works well against mobile junglers. Again, when in doubt, place this ward.


Red Ramp Wards There’s a set of three excellent warding locations near the red lizard ramp. When possible, either the mid laner or another nearby player (such as a jungler) should try to ward one of these locations.

Jungle Ward – This ward gives you solid vision around the area, as well as anyone approaching the ramp. It also gives vision into the brush and the jungle behind it, allowing you to track some opponents heading to the opposing tri brush at top. When in doubt, place this ward. Wraith Ward – Placed a little differently, this ward gives you clear vision on when the Wraith jungle camp is being cleared, and usually who is clearing it (a mid laner, jungler, or other player). Since clearing the jungle camp takes a little bit of time, having this information gives you awareness on who is not going to immediately respond if you make a move. Mobility Ward – This should rarely ever be placed when either of the other two locations is possible to safely get to. The advantage to this location is clear vision over the path towards the opposing tower, and this allows you to watch champions using mobility to move from this path, or even from wraiths, into your side brush.


Tower Replacement Ward Once you’ve destroyed the mid lane tower, I strongly recommend placing and maintaining ward vision near where the tower was destroyed:

Where the enemy team recently had vision and safety provided from their tower, your wards will now grant you that same vision and safety. This area tends to be high traffic later in the game, meaning you’ll be able to track players moving from one side of the map to the other, which in turn can lead to gamewinning plays. Conversely, if you lose your own tower, warding near it or further towards the center of the map to maintain some vision can be a good idea.


Offensive & Defensive Jungle Warding To secure the enemy jungle and prevent them from controlling it, or to defend your own, there are a set of key ward locations you’ll need to know. Here we’ll be looking at offensive blue team wards, but these can just as easily be used as defensive purple team wards, and of course, this is all mirrored.

Red Jungle Wards To completely control the critical areas in the red half of the jungle, as well as to create a vision perimeter for jungle invades and for Baron Nashor and Dragon takedowns (depending on which team you are), consider these ward locations:

Red Lizard Ward – By placing a ward right at the edge of this brush you can gain full vision on the red lizard camp, allowing you to track players clearing, approaching, or moving past the camp. If your team can safely ward this and can contest the objective, I strongly recommend this ward. If you want a safer way to contest red lizard, simply place a ward from over the wall behind the camp. Four Path Ward & Side Entrance Ward – With these two wards the enemy cannot move around their jungle without being tracked. These are extremely aggressive wards and should usually be used to facilitate victory later in the game, either through catching people alone or through using it to starve the enemy team out from their jungle camps. These wards are also fantastic for split pushers who need to see the best escape routes from opposing champions when they’re overextended.


Blue Jungle Wards Controlling and denying blue buff throughout the game can give your team an enormous advantage both in gold income and in champion effectiveness. These locations also give huge warning on enemy players leaving or using their jungle to gank your team:

Four Path Ward & Five Path Ward – These wards give a huge area of vision on all of the primary jungle paths. The Four Path Ward is strongly recommended if someone is able to move in and place this. If the Four Path Ward is placed and the river is warded, mid laners usually won’t need to also ward the side brush on that side. The Five Path Ward is very strong as well, but you may want to move it lower, or even into the golem brush (sacrificing some vision) in place of the next ward. Blue Golem Ward – This is a fairly safe ward to place, though it won’t give you vision if the golem is moved into the neighboring brush. This is usually good for champions with abilities that can secure kills from a distance, such as Nidalee with her spear or Lux with her laser.


Aggressive Tri Brush Ward – The tri brush near the blue golem on each half of the map grants vision in an area that many mobile champions may use when ganking. This is an ideal spot for them as they can go from this area into the gank brush or into a fight near the tower. Additionally, this is a solid spot for Nocturne, whose first tier ultimate can reach the lane from here. You can go the long way to place the ward, or you can place it over the wall when you’re engaged on the enemy tower. If you’re going to ward here you do not need the earlier gank brush ward (provided further up river is also warded).


Taking & Contesting Dragon & Baron Nashor Though we looked at the river ward locations that can be used near Baron Nashor and Dragon, let’s take a closer look at two scenarios we’ll come across when we’re actually engaging these objectives.

Taking Objectives

Vision Ward – Dropping a vision ward within the pit itself allows you to clear out enemy wards currently placed within the pit, as well as any new wards placed by the enemy team during the engagement. This is often superior to using a red lens due to the permanent nature of the stealth reveal. Jungle Ward – If at all possible, having a ward here is ideal for keeping track of enemies from a distance. This location offers maximum visibility. (If you happen to be worried about access from the side lanes you can also ward the tri brush, and this can be done from over the wall). Over Wall Ward – This is your fallback ward. If enemies are on the other side of the wall and have cleared your Jungle Ward, or you simply weren’t able to place the Jungle Ward, you’ll want to start dropping these wards from over the wall. This is usually a very high risk maneuver, but alas, you’re already committed to a very high risk situation by continuing an objective fight right next to them.


Contesting Objectives

This is the same concept as taking the objective, but in reverse. To continue to gain vision on an objective you’re preparing to contest, drop wards over the wall. If you can and need to drop several wards, it can prevent the enemy from safely removing all of them due to the time they take to kill. One caveat: As mentioned in “Practical Tips & Advice,” this is not a great place to be if you absolutely must teamfight to contest the objective and you’re not playing a naturally mobile champion. If you wind up needing to burn flash to get in, or worse, don’t have that available, you can cost your team the fight by being here when a fight breaks out in the river. The patch of river brush near objectives can also be a helpful place to place a ward when contesting objectives, as this will give you a better idea of what’s going on as you approach. Preventing your opponents from having vision over you is also very helpful. Though you don’t necessarily need to do this with a vision ward, it may help to place one in the nearby brush to take down enemy wards as well.


Bases Warding around bases can be important any time the game has shifted into endgame and structures are falling.

If you are on the offense and taking out an enemy base, consider placing wards over the wall at points between their towers. This will help your team land skillshots and poke abilities, avoid the same, and let you know how they're shifting as a team, allowing you to more effectively choose which objectives to move to. Simply being this far up to their base and wanting to maintain a perimeter of vision around it means you’ve got a lot of good locations outside their walls you may want to ward as well. These are situational depending on what your team has already destroyed.


When you're on the defense then place wards over your wall at the same points, again to keep an eye on how they’re shifting as a team and where you (or they) may be able to land skillshots or other abilities.


Clairvoyance Clairvoyance is a summoner spell that grants vision for a brief time at any location on the map, regardless of your own distance from that location. This spell does not reveal stealth, but it does reveal inside bushes even when it is not cast within those bushes. Clairvoyance markers can be seen by the opposing team, even in the fog of war, so using Clairvoyance can give away an area of the map you're interested in. If you suspect an opponent is waiting in a nearby bush, such as a jungler waiting for a gank, using Clairvoyance on them may discourage them from sticking around.

The First Cast At about 8-10 seconds into the match-up you will want to cast Clairvoyance near the enemy summoner platform. This can give you an idea what starting items your opponents are choosing and may give an indication which lanes your opponents are headed to. If your opponents are moving together down one lane that may indicate that they're going to protect their jungle or invade your own.

Chase the Jungler (Early Timers) Clairvoyance is often best in the early game when you can accurately determine where a jungler or roamer is. This is especially true against junglers with very strong early ganks. Champions have different starting preferences, including killing the red lizard or blue golem very quickly in a match. Many champions can choose either, while some champions are more limited to killing the blue golem early due to mana constraints in their jungling route. For example, an Amumu will tend to start at blue golem due to the mana regeneration buff, whereas a Lee Sin is more flexible and may start near red or blue. Because jungling is different for every champion, and because many champions have options, there's no hard rule to tell you the best places to clairvoyance at any time. However, here are some quick notes:

Buff Check & Early Clairvoyance Strategy Depending on the jungler, choose between checking the opposing blue buff or red buff between 1:45 and 1:55. If you've used Clairvoyance on the blue buff and your team has vision around your blue buff, the enemy is most likely doing a route that starts near red.


Junglers who pick up an early red buff are more likely to also go for an early gank. This is because champions who can easily start on red and continue without the blue golem buff tend to be champions with stronger low level abilities (such as Lee Sin). Additionally, junglers who pick up the buff nearest to the bottom half of the map are more likely to gank top lane early. This is because they are either going to do a full clear and wind up near top lane, or because they’ve rushed from the blue buff to the red buff, are near top lane, and have a level and buff advantage that allows them to gank. The opposite is true, too, with junglers who start on the top half of the map being more likely to gank bottom lane quickly. Ward accordingly. Consider using your following Clairvoyances at the lanes you feel are in the most danger. This is even truer if the lane you feel is in the most danger is also not warding to protect themselves (such as a solo top lane). Even though it can be frustrating to use the ability to defend players who won't ward, your goal is ultimately to win the match, and it can be worth it to compensate for them by doing this. (In particularly rough match-ups, a solo player may not even be able to move near a place where they can ward, so Clairvoyance will help them protect themselves while placing their own ward). If a jungler goes for blue golem first, watch out for a potential early gank at middle. Also, an early blue means you should use Clairvoyance again around 7:10 (shortly after it respawns) to check on their blue buff again, as they may either not have gotten to it quickly enough, or they may be taking it then.

Develop & Trust Your Gut There are no hard and fast rules to Clairvoyance, and a completely defined list of timers is as varied as the champions and situations you come across. However, get a feel for the champions you're against and when they may be moving to key locations. It may even help to play some junglers yourself to get a feel for them. Using Clairvoyance defensively is great, but it's always worth keeping in mind that the best players will often use it offensively as a means of giving their teams opportunities.


Positioning If you're checking the jungle with your Clairvoyance you have two choices. Normally you should try to check two creep camps by placing the Clairvoyance between them.

For red consider the double golems and red lizard.

For blue get the wolves and blue golem. These positions maximize your chance of catching the jungler. Your other choice is to use the Clairvoyance more directly on a major buff to get vision on any opponents that may be there. This is usually not ideal, especially since it can indicate you're looking to invade. At Dragon and Baron Nashor, use Clairvoyance in the river in such a way that you can see them and whether they're engaged, but may also see nearby opponents. If you're taking these objectives with 306 | Learn the League

your team, consider using Clairvoyance to check beyond the outer wall for anyone either waiting to move in to steal the kill or attempting to snipe it with long range abilities.

Against Baiting If it looks like an opponent may be intentionally baiting your teammates towards a location, quickly use Clairvoyance to see the most likely area where opponents may be hiding, particularly in bushes along the path.

Against Juking Clairvoyance is fantastic in its ability to see in bushes. Keep this in mind when an opponent is attempting to flee or juke through bushes: if your team loses vision, they cannot use normal attacks or most targeted spells. Even the briefest interruption can fully break a spell combo or prevent a killing blow. Like combat warding, get in the habit of using Clairvoyance before an enemy reaches a bush to prevent them from breaking vision while your team continues to focus them.

Clairvoyance as Protection A well-placed Clairvoyance ahead of your path can give you an idea of when you can't be stopped. In other words, when enemies are not in the paths ahead of you, you can reasonably assume that you can safely move in. This is fantastic for positioning your team, but also for placing wards and counterwarding. In this role, Clairvoyance can be used to help recover safe territory for your team when you're otherwise shut down.

Requests If someone on your team is running Clairvoyance, it's often a good idea to request they use it at a location if you suspect opponents are there. This will depend on the player and whether they catch your request quickly and feel it's a good idea, but in many cases they will oblige. The spell is frequently used on educated guesses rather than hard knowledge, so occasionally directing it somewhere you strongly feel opponents are (or want to make sure they aren't, such as at a jungle buff you're about to take) may put it to better use.


Jungling, Counterjungling, and Ganking In this section we're going to cover the jungle, river, and other areas of the map that aren't part of the lanes. More specifically, we're going to start by covering 'jungling,' which is the act of leveling by fighting neutral monsters in the jungle. Then, we'll cover 'counterjungling,' which is the act of hindering opponents who are jungling. Finally, we're going to cover jungling and ganking routes. The 'jungling' subsection is not necessary to read until you actively want to jungle, though of course you will be a more knowledgeable player if you choose to read it. The 'counterjungling' subsection is more important to read even if you're not jungling, as counterjungling is best done as a team effort. The final subsection on ganking is critical to understand no matter who you are, as it will affect every lane.

Jungling A player who chooses to jungle will usually not enter a lane until they're ganking. Instead, they will gain their early experience mostly or entirely through neutral monster camps in the jungle.

What is a Jungler's Job? A jungler's job is to facilitate victory. With very rare exception, this means applying pressure to lanes and ganking opponents, as well as disrupting the enemy jungler. This is achieved by using the opponent's lack of map vision on the jungler as a tool against them. By extension, this means controlling and knowing the enemy's current map vision through effective warding and counterwarding is integral to success, though this responsibility is teamwide. Killing jungle monsters is secondary to the role of being a jungler. However, it is important to understand the routes and importance of the monster camps as it is the primary early-game method of leveling and acquiring gold. The jungler will be less effective if the team does not understand how to facilitate them.

Why Have a Jungler? Jungling allows one player to be taken off the lanes to gain experience and gold on their own. By extension, this means a second lane (usually top) becomes a solo lane, meaning one ally will be able to gain the entire gold and experience from minions in that lane. Overall, this means more gold and experience for a team.


Beyond this, having one player who is not apparent on the mini-map at all times puts all enemy lanes at risk. Either they must play defensively or they risk being ganked if they overextend. Without a jungler, an enemy team doesn't even need to spend money on wards, much less worry about being overly aggressive, as they will always be aware of where there opponents are. Finally, without a jungler, an enemy team who does have a jungler has access to much more gold and experience and can easily provide buffs from both jungles to their team. In most situations, it is better to have someone jungling even if the top lane is really struggling to hold their lane. However, if the player in top lane simply cannot hold their lane and did not pick accordingly, the jungler may need to cover the lane. Please note: In some cases, players on a team may be 'roaming' even if they aren't regularly jungling. This is especially true for fast champions with exceptionally strong ganking abilities. Roamers provide the same benefits of junglers in terms of making the map less safe for opponents, but may return to lanes for farm and experience.

What is Counterjungling? Counterjungling is the act of disrupting an enemy jungler and preventing an enemy team from regularly accessing parts of their own jungle. Going into an enemy jungle is often referred to as 'invading.' Counterjungling is not exclusively the job of a jungler. While the jungler is often the most available player for counterjungling, the most effective teams have many or all of their players responsible for invading the enemy jungle regularly. The approach of using a whole team to counterjungle has been shown to be tournament-winning for pro players. I will discuss counterjungling in more depth a little later in this section.

Picking a Jungler All champions are capable of jungling. However, some champions are very inefficient at jungling, and attempting to use them to jungle will be a slow and frustrating experience. So, what makes a champion good at jungling? Here are some things to look at: •

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Damage output, particularly multi-target damage. Champions who can deal significant damage will usually clear through the jungle more quickly than champions who won't, allowing them to level and gank sooner. Many multi-target spells deal reduced damage to neutral monsters, but are still helpful for jungling. Examples of champions with good jungle damage are Diana, Nocturne, and Skarner. Armor, shields or health sustain. Champions who can reduce or heal the damage they take on a regular basis will tend to be stronger in the jungle. Unlike being in a lane, you will not be able to 309 | Learn the League

•

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avoid most attacks from monsters. Neutral monsters deal physical damage with their attacks, so Armor is helpful (whereas Magic Resist is not). Examples of survivable jungling champions are Lee Sin, Warwick, and Nunu. Lane ganking potential, especially prior to level 6. Champions with abilities that allow them to quickly enter a lane and unload on an opponent will tend to be strong. Champions with crowd controls that will help their allies also get damage on a target in a lane are very strong, especially if they can also move in quickly. Examples of champions with great ganking potential are Maokai, Rammus, Hecarim, and Jayce. Lower reliance on mana. While junglers do have access to the blue golem buff, champions that have an unusually difficult time jungling without the blue golem buff tend to be more dangerous to play. This is because reliance on mana leaves you vulnerable if an enemy team takes your blue golem buff, and it leaves you less flexible in letting other players on your team benefit from the blue golem buff. Amumu and Fiddlesticks are both strong junglers who are vulnerable without the blue golem buff. Lee Sin is an example of a champion who is not reliant on blue buff at all (due to not using mana), though be aware that the blue buff provides increased energy regeneration and cooldown reduction.

These core attributes define how strong a jungler is within the context of jungling. Let me emphasize the importance of the lane ganking potential. If no one on your team has crowd strong crowd controls, picking a jungler without a strong crowd control is going to mean you can't gank effectively. Jungling should not be seen as a 'safe' lane, but as an opportunity to gank and otherwise affect the game in your favor as frequently as possible. As a rule, I prefer junglers who can get into a fight very quickly and also have at least one very strong crowd control, such as a knockback or fear. Jayce and Nocturne both fit this role, as do Maokai, Rammus, and many other junglers. To be clear, you also want to pick a champion who fits with your team in the mid and late game. Taking Shaco may be wonderful for jungling and counterjungling, but may fall flat in the late game when your team is sorely lacking a tank/initiator like Amumu. The same goes for a champion like Kha’zix – he’s one of the strongest jungling threats, but on a team that already has two assassins without crowd controls, you may find the late game challenging if your opponents are running a jungle Nautilus. Anyway, not all good jungling champions have all of these attributes. We resolve this by minimizing our weaknesses and maximizing our strengths, which I'll cover soon when discussing Runes, Masteries, and Summoner Spells.

Not level 30 but still want to Jungle? Without full runes and masteries, jungling can be difficult and near impossible on some champions without help from teammates or starting in a lane. However, some champions can jungle even with this


deficiency. I'd recommend Warwick for brand new players and Nunu for players who want to do some counterjungling. Udyr, Amumu and Cho'gath are tankier picks that can jungle pre-30 as well, though I'd make sure to at least have some runes and masteries set up for them.

Runes & Masteries It's worth noting that jungling is the role that is most dramatically improved by your Summoner level. This is because, when you're facing human opponents about your level, they will have about the same potential runes and masteries (i.e. same damage and damage reduction) as you. However, the jungle does not scale down based on your summoner level, meaning you're going to fight monsters designed for higher level players. That said, the jungle difficulty was reduced in League of Legends Season 2, and you can still do it below level 30. Runes and masteries tend to be very specific to a champion. However, there are a few set guidelines that are important. Nearly every jungler will want Flat Armor 'Resilience' slotted for their yellow Seals. Jungling is hardest in the early levels, and the monsters deal physical damage with their attacks, so Resilience seals are absolutely ideal for improving your jungling play. Magic Resistance, either flat or per level, is usually safe for your blue Glyphs. If you're ganking, you're likely going to have to deal with damage from all of your opponents, including magic damage champions. Generally speaking, your red Marks and your Quintessences are going to be champion specific. You may choose Attack Speed if your champion already has a lot of base damage on normal attacks, perhaps due to a passive or an ability, or Attack Damage if your champion has an ability that grants attack speed. Ability Power and Magic Penetration may be ideal for champions who scale primarily with Ability Power and deal Magic Damage, such as Fiddlesticks. (Don't worry if this isn't too specific, I'm going to bring up a YouTube resource that gets super specific a little later) As far as masteries, this again will depend on your champion. However, if you're not absolutely sure another option is better for your champion, you should always at consider these points at the start of the Defensive tree:


This will require at least a 5 point investment in the tree (choose either health regeneration or bonus health). If you’re willing to go deeper into defensive, make sure you pick up bonus armor in the second tier, as this will also dramatically increase your effectiveness in the jungle. This offers Armor and reduced damage from monsters. Additionally, the return damage on monsters will slightly improve your clearing time on many junglers.

Smite & What? Summoner Spells One last thing you'll want to do at champion selection is decide which summoner spells you're going to bring with you. Here are your options: Smite - Smite is absolutely not optional when you're jungling. This is true even if you're playing Nunu or Cho'gath, who each have very powerful Smite-like abilities. As a jungler, your late game role is going to be to determine exactly how much damage your Smite deals (hover over the icon in game), and then cast the spell on Baron Nashor or Dragon the moment they come below that amount of health. When it comes to Baron, games can easily be turned around because an enemy jungler managed to Smite him and steal the kill and buff for their team. It happens all the time even in the pro scene. If you're playing Nunu or Cho'gath or anyone else with a very strong nuke ability, timing it to hit the same moment as Smite makes it even safer. Smite is also fantastic for quickly clearing through the jungle. Even though many champions can jungle without the ability, the enemy jungler can level faster and gank sooner. Again, this is true for any champion, because Smite is always good in addition to everything else. Note: While Smite is a good spell, the reason it's so important is that it can secure kills. This is important even on your jungle buffs, such as blue golem and red lizard, as a ward or even a lucky guess allows many champions to kill them over the wall, even while you're doing them. As a rule, always save your Smite until the moment Smite is guaranteed to kill the monster unless you see all of your enemies on the mini-map. Flash - Now that I'm done evangelizing Smite, let's get into your second spell. Flash is a very good idea on champions with strong initiation abilities such as Skarner, Maokai, and Amumu. The ability to instantly, unexpectedly, and reliably crowd control someone greatly improves the likelihood of success.


Ghost - Ghost is exceptional if you're a champion that relies on continued normal attacks. It's also good if you're an already fast champion -- even though there are some diminishing returns at play in movement speed, going even faster and moving through units is genuinely better in many situations. For champions like Olaf or Hecarim I recommend Ghost. Even on champions where Ghost is generally better, sometimes Flash still wins out. This is true if you're going against extremely mobile champions such as LeBlanc, where Ghost won't help you at all around walls, or when you're facing off against champions with skillshots that can completely stop your initiation (such as going against Lux or Morgana, who both have bindings, while playing Rammus). It's up to you whether you still take Ghost in these situations. Exhaust - Exhaust is your third really good option, but it does depend on you already being either very fast or very mobile. Exhaust brings a soft crowd control to your team and can allow you to gank much more effectively against fast champions or while your teammates don't have many crowd controls of their own. Exhaust is particularly effective if your opponent does not have blinks or dashes to easily get away, and even moreso if you've gotten them to burn Flash earlier.

Champion Specifics: Stonewall008's YouTube Videos At this point I've given you guidelines but they don't easily describe how Nocturne is going to jungle differently from, say, Olaf. They also don’t tell you exactly which items are ideal for which champions. Rather than duplicate an enormous body of work, I'm going to direct you to do a YouTube search for: Stonewall008 [insert champion name] For example, a search for Stonewall008 Jayce will pull up several Jayce videos. Choose the most recent one by date. In his movie description, he usually puts both the runes and masteries he uses, and the video will usually cover the fastest route for the first few levels of the champion. Now, a bit of caution. As he will point out, he shows the fastest route, but this may not always be the best route if you're worried about counterjungling or if you want to do an early gank on a specific lane.

Coordinated Play vs. Solo Play (Also, Communication) Jungling with a coordinated team and jungling with people who either aren't paying attention or don't know how to assist the jungler are two very different experiences and require two very different approaches. To be clear, I am not referring strictly to playing with a team vs. solo queuing, as many teams are still uncoordinated and many higher ranked solo queue groups will coordinate very well. Coordinated teams will tend to be mindful of a jungler, especially in terms of lane extension. In other words, coordinated teams will understand that having opponents near the safety of their towers makes it incredibly difficult to last hit.


Coordinated teams may also understand the importance of warding and counterwarding -- and, if they're particularly good, will drop timestamps to let you know exactly what was warded and when. Additionally, they will understand the times to let themselves get pushed back by opponents, and when to push enemy minions really hard to allow the jungler to enter a side bush without being seen, or to get to a tower so you can more safely move in from behind the tower. Finally, coordinated teams will respond quickly as you enter a lane. Uncoordinated teams are a totally different beast. These are the players who will constantly be pushed to the tower, fail to ward -- or, if they ward, they will not pay attention to where enemy wards are placed or when. They will have no idea where or how far they should be pushed in order to facilitate a gank from their jungler. And if you do engage on their opponents successfully, sometimes even with a very strong crowd control, they simply won't respond. In fairness to laners, don't confuse this with not responding because they're low on health and feel they will be killed -- if the jungler has less knowledge on their opponents than the laners, the jungler may be entirely in the wrong for engaging at a particular time. Now, a lack of coordination can be fixed in a lot of games simply by communicating what you're trying to do. Let people know you need them not to push so far up, or that you want to enter a side bush, and they may help you achieve this. After all, a successful gank in their lane is likely to directly benefit them. But there are still plenty of games where you'll find teammates who simply will not facilitate ganks. And worse, these are invariably the same types of players who will complain about the jungler not ganking. In these cases, help the lanes you can, and focus on leveling and, if possible, counterjungling, warding, and pushing objectives when possible. Even if you're dealing with a frustrating teammate who's always overextended and isn't warding, you're more likely to win the game if you ward their lane for them. All of this said, if you're rarely performing your role of applying pressure and ganking lanes when your team has them set up favorably, you are in the wrong. It's fine to miss out on a good gank at top lane because you were helping out bottom lane, but it's usually not fine to miss out on good gank in either bottom or top lane because you're doing a full jungle route instead.

Balancing Experience & Ganks As a general rule of thumb, a jungler may be a little behind the experience and level of their allies in solo lanes (often top and mid lane), but should be a little ahead allies who are sharing a lane (often the bottom lane). The factors that increase the rate of experience gain: • • •

Quickly clearing jungle camps; Counterjungling by clearing the large monsters in enemy jungle camps*; Successfully ganking opponents*;


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Covering lanes (I'll talk about this shortly).

The factors that decrease the rate of experience gain: • • • • •

Idling in bushes waiting to gank; Failing a gank*; Being killed*; Traveling between lanes; Having large monsters in your jungle camps killed by other players.*

*At the risk of beating a dead horse, let me emphasize the importance of warding and counterwarding again. Items marked with * are hugely affected by having good map vision and denying map vision to opponents. Try to keep a balance between the things that give you experience and the things that cost you experience to prevent yourself from falling behind. When possible, clear jungle camps while traveling between lanes, even if it means you're a little slower on ganking for your teammates. Don't forget about your jungle! If you have wards over enemy camps (particularly their four wraith camp), consider running in and quickly stealing their large wraith with Smite before ganking mid lane. When a nearby lane could be covered, consider going there quickly for the large experience gain it can net you.

Aggressive vs. Efficient While you should always strive for experience and gold efficiency by farming camps while moving between ganks, there’s a broader strategic choice you have when jungling: • •

Aggressively gank and camp lanes to benefit your laners; Efficently clear your jungle, only ganking when success is very likely (either in pressuring opponents or securing kills).

This is primarily a matter of your style and your preference. Both methods have shown themselves to be very effective in top tournament play, and the best junglers are able to switch between them based on their opponents. Personally, I’ve found efficient jungling to work very well with the tanky champions I prefer playing (such as Amumu). By focusing on reaching level 6 and getting enough gold for core survivability items, my level 6 ganks often wind up being a lot more potent. I will still gank if I’m nearby and an opportunity arises, but I often won’t spend any time I don’t absolutely need to waiting for a kill.


Triage – Winning the Game by Letting Your Teammates Lose Your top lane Teemo has already died twice to the enemy Jax. He is begging for help. He is constantly pinging for assistance and has begun insulting the jungler because he ‘clearly doesn’t know how to jungle.’ This is one of the most common – and frustrating – scenarios that junglers must deal with at all levels of play. And while each game is different, the fact is, many players have no real idea how to look beyond themselves for the good of the team. As a jungler, that’s your job. Let’s pretend I’m a level 5 Amumu in the same game as Teemo. I happen to be near top lane and could head over for a gank if I wanted to. Here are the potential consequences: • • •

I could be baiting Teemo into a fight he’s very likely to die in given the imbalance that already exists between them; Jax could also wind up killing me or damaging me enough that I need to return to the pool; The enemy jungler will have vision on me and be able to immediately capitalize on this, either by getting more aggressive in their lanes, or invading my jungle, or moving to dragon, or some combination of these.

The chances of killing Jax are pretty darn slim, given his mobility and that our only strong crowd control is my bandage toss. But even if a kill on him were likely, at best I would be bringing top lane more towards even ground while giving the opposing jungler the same opportunity to create an imbalance in another lane. And if the early game kills on Teemo were the result of Teemo being reckless or not understanding the match-up, helping even the lane out may simply be temporary as he starts feeding again. All the while, I’d be missing out on the reliable experience and gold in the jungle that would have allowed me to reach level 6 and have much stronger ganks. If Teemo died or needed to recall and Jax was killed, I’d be able to farm top lane for great experience and gold, but even that comes with the cost of being visible on the map and allowing enemies in other lanes to get more aggressive. Of course, there’s always the possibility that we kill Jax, Teemo can stay in lane, and I’ve balanced out the top lane problem. And depending on how you feel about the likelihood of a successful gank (particularly as it relates to your crowd controls against their escape tools), it may very well be a fantastic idea to go up for that gank. But let me offer an alternative: Take that same investment into ganking for a losing lane and put it into ganking for a lane that’s close to snowballing in your team’s favor, and here’s what you get: • •

Potentially taking a better player (as measured by not losing their lane 6 minutes into the game) and helping to snowball them to being even stronger; More likelihood of a successful gank as they’ll likely be able to contribute more to the kill.


Unless you’re playing with friends or family, you aren’t going to know everyone you play with. By making judgment calls on which players are playing better on your team, then focusing your efforts on them, you will often improve your team’s chances of success more than you would by trying to recover a losing lane. As far as the insults and everything else that junglers have to deal with - I’ve found I win far more games where I mute annoying players and trust my own instincts. It’s simply too easy to fall behind as a jungler trying to help lanes that are unlikely to result in favorable exchanges or turnarounds.

Understanding & Minimizing Risks Let's cover some of the negatives in our previous checklist. First, a bad habit a lot of junglers get into is idling in bushes waiting for an ideal gank. This is especially bad if your opponents had a ward that allowed them to see you enter the bush (or even see you in the bush). There are circumstances where idling can be ok, especially if a successful gank is more likely to occur by waiting for them to move, or if your teammates are not going to respond to you if you go in too quickly. As a rule, idling is usually more acceptable at mid lane than other lanes since it's a very safe lane for the opponent and it's also wide enough that you may simply be unable to engage until they move. However, even at mid lane, you shouldn't wait more than 10 seconds for something to occur. In many situations, your default action going into a lane should be to directly and quickly engage them once you're in the area. This is even better when you're playing a fast champion, where opponents who see you and react reasonably quickly may still not be able to get away from your initiation. The bottom line: Don't move into a lane for a gank, then stop, unless you have a coherent reason to.

The next negative is failing a gank. When I refer to failing a gank, I am referring to walking away from a gank without a kill or assist. Why is this important to clarify? Ganking or applying pressure to a lane can often provide huge benefits to your team even if you don't kill the opponent. Burning a Flash or other summoner cooldown may, at the very least, turn the lane in your ally's favor. If their Flash is on cooldown, it also means you can attempt a gank again in the future. Deciding whether it's ok to go in a lane just to burn Flash or other cooldowns depends both on their champion, the match-up in lane between the two teams, and your own abilities. For instance, let's say Maokai enters a lane and roots an opponent; after the root, they Flash away and escape. In this situation, Maokai has only spent mana on an ability with a short cooldown, but the other player spent a critical summoner spell that won't be available for a very long time.


However, let's say Skarner enters the lane and can only get damage by using his ultimate to pull them back towards teammates. Unless this is very likely to kill the opponent, it's not always good to use this simply to burn a Flash and watch them walk away, as it directly limits Skarner's ability to get ganks on other lanes until the cooldown is available again. On top of all of this, applying pressure or burning summoner cooldowns without getting a kill or assist always costs you experience. You must consider the opportunity cost -- the experience you're not gaining -- by applying pressure to the lane.

Being killed is often worse than either of the first two, but it depends on whether you gained kills or assists on opponents during the fight that killed you. Being killed in lane or in the jungle are often very different, so let's discuss them separately. First, getting ganked in a lane usually occurs because you've attempted to gank and either the enemy team did a fantastic job overpowering you (i.e. you dived their tower while they had crowd controls available), or because the enemy team's jungler (or another player) was also there and your team didn't have vision on them until it was too late. Remember, the point of a gank is overpowering your opponents to the point that they will have a difficult time reacting. Getting ganked in the jungle is usually the result of counterjungling, and almost always directly related to the opponent's map vision on your location, and your lack of map vision on them. In some cases, the jungler may try to take you on alone, especially if they see that you're at low health. In other cases, especially against coordinated teams, several players may quickly enter the jungle to shut you down when they see an opportunity. We'll discuss this a bit more in the counterjungling section. Here are a couple tips, though, for dealing with potential jungle invasions: First, pull the blue golem and red lizard into the brush nearby when attacking them. You want to be concealed, but ideally the monster will also be concealed. This does two things: It reduces the chances of them sniping the last hit on these monsters, as they must have a ward in the brush or use Clarivoyance or another ability to see; More importantly, it lets you see enemies approaching or currently inside the brush. Without this vision it is very easy to be flanked by an opponent while doing either of these camps. Second, stay on your toes! You want to be active and ready to fight or escape if necessary. If you're low, you must keep an eye on your escape routes and be aware of how you'll get out of a fight safely. This is especially true if you don't see multiple opponents who were nearby on the minimap.


The Moment to Gank While I discouraged idling a moment ago, there is one ideal moment to initiate a gank. This is right as the enemy team engages your laning allies. During this initial moment of combat, they will tend to be more focused on throwing their abilities out correctly, and at least one of them may not respond quickly as you enter the lane even if they have mini-map vision on you. This is most effective against very aggressive players, such as bottom lane carries who are regularly exchanging harassment.

Covering a Lane Occasionally your teammates will be unable to stay in their lane, either due to low health, low mana, or because they feel they need to purchase items. Alternatively, you may have just gone in and ganked an opponent in the lane, but your ally may have died or gone to critically low health during this. In some cases, you'll want to volunteer to hold a lane for low health allies that you feel are at a serious risk (even if they don't realize it). When covering the lane there are two things you should consider. First, you can stay in and last hit enemy minions that are low. However, keep in mind the principles of controlling your lane (discussed in 'Practical Tips & Advice') and try to keep your minions pushed just beyond the reach of your allied tower, while avoiding pushing them deep into the lane. Doing this allows your ally to return to a lane that is extended safely and doesn't put them in harms way. The second option is to quickly push the minions in your lane right up to the enemy tower. This is ideal after you've killed the enemy who was holding the lane, and is even better if you have recently seen the enemy jungler (or other roamers) on the map and know you're safe to extend this far. The point of doing this is to deny as many of your minions as possible (since the tower will kill them) and use the pushing power of the tower to push the minions back towards your own base while your ally is returning.

Visibly Camping Lane Though infrequent in solo queue matches, you will likely come across situations where either your team or the opposing has swapped laned their lanes and sent two people against your solo laner. In these situations it may be a good idea to not only protect that lane, but also to stay visible to your opponents while doing so. This can deter harassment off your solo laner and present a threat that they need to respond to, either by swapping lanes again or bringing their jungler up. And of course, depending on who you’re playing, you may be on a champion that actually needs to be in the lane already to help your ally if a fight breaks out (for example, Nautilus can’t quickly come over a wall, so hiding behind one may be detrimental if aggression is imminent). Practically speaking your real goal here is to avoid having your tower taken and your solo laner camped and killed repeatedly. The show of force is purely psychological and it relies on getting players to back


off or not dive your ally; however, if you’re pretty sure the two of you can come out on top if your enemies dive, and it looks like they’re going to, not giving your presence away is still preferred.

Brush May Not Hide Your Presence Occasionally it can be a good idea to camp a lane for an extended period of time in order to set up a gank. If you enter brush that your opponent doesn’t have vision on, even if they see you entering, they will not necessarily know whether you’re still camping there or whether you’ve recalled (or backed off if their ward has expired). But be careful when enemy minions are being killed near you. Because minion experience splits, your ally leveling slower than your enemy in an otherwise even lane can be a strong giveaway that you’re still waiting for an ambush. This is a pretty minor risk for most matches but at the professional level players do keep an eye on these details.

Blue Golem Buff to Mid? A very common tactic for teams is to let the mid laner, usually an Ability Power mage, pick up the blue golem buff early in the game. This is done due to the heavy mana regeneration and cooldown reduction offered by the buff. Depending on the jungler, this usually won't be the first buff, and may not be the second blue buff, but may be any subsequent spawns. There's no set-in-stone requirement that the jungler gives the blue buff to mid lane, and frequently it's a better idea not to. For example: • • • • •

If killing the blue golem will cause you to reach level 6 and allow you to immediately gank with a powerful ultimate (very common for the second blue golem kill); If the mid lane has been dying frequently; If the mid lane is against a hard counter and will not be more effective with the blue buff; If the mid lane does not have a mana resource or has very little mana problems; If the jungler has severe mana problems and does not yet have items to cover this (Amumu, Diana).

In many games it's usually better to give the blue golem buff to the mid lane, though this will often be best started after the jungler has benefited from the first two buffs. It can also be a good idea at team selection to have either the jungler play a champion that doesn't use mana, such as Lee Sin, or to have the mid lane play one, such as Mordekaiser, Vladimir, or Katarina. Keep in that the cooldown reduction from the buff means it's still valuable to champions who don't use mana, though.


Most mid lane champions are not going to clear the blue golem camp exceptionally fast. Because of this, the jungler should usually help them by pulling and tanking the camp while dealing damage to bring the golem low. Let mid lane know to come and get the golem -- if they are too distracted or not responding, don't feel bashful about simply taking the golem yourself and moving on. Tanking and killing the blue golem for another player falls squarely into the category of an opportunity cost, as you're not gaining experience elsewhere, and you can wind up falling behind if you're standing around waiting on a mid lane player. Finally, pay attention to the blue golem timers! The blue golem will respawn 5 minutes after the camp is last cleared, and being nearby and ready for that respawn dramatically increases the likelihood of securing it against an enemy team. One of the major goals for counterjungling is to knock out an opponent's blue golem buff, so you should always be nervous about this being stolen if an enemy sees an easy opportunity for it (i.e. they see you on the other side of the map and know they can walk in and grab it safely).

The Pull / Leash On the subject of mid lanes working together with their jungler... While many junglers will have no problem killing the blue golem or red lizard camp their own, most junglers will come out of a full clear faster, with more health, and with a better gank capability if someone has 'pulled' their first major camp for them. Most often the mid lane will be best suited to this due to their close proximity to the buffs, but there are situations -- particularly when the mid laner is a melee champion such as Fizz -- where another player should pull instead. There are two main types of pulls. The first is a simple spell or normal ranged attack thrown to the golem, followed by the attacker immediately leaving for their lane (it's important not to stand and keep attacking as this can lead to a hard reset of the monster where it regenerates health). The second is a strong pull, where at least one player -- but usually several -- deal substantial damage to the target before leaving. This is especially good for weaker junglers or for teams who want their jungler to immediately move to lane for an early gank. When pulling like this, players should back off immediately once a lot of damage is dealt to make sure that the jungler does not split the experience of the camp to other players (when experience on a major camp is split, the jungler can sometimes be severely set back as they won't level and have a second ability immediately available).


The Value of Custom Games Any time I try a new champion or want to test a jungler before going into a game, I will first create a custom game on Summoner's Rift and run through the route on my own. The advantage of this is it helps to give you an idea of a 'worst-case' scenario -- in other words, a scenario in which you receive no assistance from teammates in pulling major buffs. This is helpful to know if, for example, your own blue golem buff is stolen by the enemy team and you need to start on the enemy team's blue golem -- but your teammates won't assist you because of the distance this is from their lanes.

Handling a Level 1 Invasion Right as you start the game your jungle may be invaded by the enemy team. If you see Clairvoyance over your location and you don't see enemies elsewhere on the map you should assume they're going to attempt to gank you. Coordinated teams will cover the two jungle entrances on the half of the jungle where the jungler is starting to make sure no one enters unexpectedly; however, a lot of players you'll run across in solo play may completely ignore this. If an enemy team invades your jungle and your team didn't successfully engage them (either having been killed or having backed away), you need to answer three quick questions: • • •

Have they taken my buff? Do I have enough health to take theirs without assistance from my team? Did I see enough of them to know their jungle is likely available?

If you know they're all actively killing your blue buff and you have enough health, cutting across the map (not directly, so you're not immediately seen) and going directly to their blue buff often works just fine. You're out a little time but you still have the buff and early experience. The first time you're near the camp that the enemy team invaded, check to see if they left any lesser minions alive and clear them out.

Preventing Yourself from Attacking Monsters - The '~' Key To the left of your '1' key on your keyboard, you may notice a key that you've never, ever used before. For many standard keyboards, holding this down will allow you issue movement commands without targeting and attacking enemies. This allows you to move on top of tightly grouped monsters before attacking them or while currently engaged with them. This is important for a champion like Olaf, who may need to move to pick up his axe on the ground if he's thrown it too far. It's also useful if you're being attacked and want to get closer to a wall to flash over it.


Don't Be Nervous Every jungler will, at some point, occasionally make big mistakes while jungling. This is especially true when you're new to the role. Additionally, it can be very frustrating to be counter-jungled by an enemy team that is focused on locking you down, especially if your own team doesn't help you out. It's totally ok. Obviously you don't want to feed, and obviously you should do everything you can to improve your performance even under these circumstances, but it's just part of the game. Don't give up on jungling because of a few bad experiences.

Counterjungling In this section I'm going to cover the concepts behind counterjungling. Counterjungling is the act of denying your opponents safety and experience in their jungle. This is knowledge that should be taken in addition to the jungling information covered earlier, and you should also be aware of other junglers attempting this against you or your team.

Ideal Counterjungle Champions The number of champions that can effectively and safely counterjungle is much smaller than those who can jungle. These champions will have these three attributes: • • •

The ability to rapidly clear monsters, including their own; The ability to go toe-to-toe with enemy champions they encounter; High speed, high mobility (dashes, blinks, etc.), or both.

Shyvana fits solidly in this category, and was famously played by Moscow Five at the Kiev Intel Extreme Masters tournament specifcally for her strength at counterjungling. Lee Sin, Udyr, and Kha’zix also fall into this category, as do several other champions. You can still counterjungle with other champions, particularly those who are very fast or have strong escape options such as Nunu.

Mid Laning - Champions & Responsibility The mid lane has a strong impact on the effectiveness of counterjungling as they can be directly involved in it on three levels. These three levels are: •

Stealing the enemy's four wraith camp; 323 | Learn the League

• •

Immediately assisting the jungler if they are engaged with the enemy jungler; Warding one or both ramps into the enemy jungle at mid lane.

If you're choosing a mid lane champion there are a couple considerations that may help: •

•

Champions with skillshot nukes that can quickly clear the wraith camp are good as they are significantly less risky (since they can kill the camp over the wall instead of pathing around the wall first); Very strong pushers who can clear a lane in moments are also very good at quickly leaving the lane before opponents realize they're gone. This makes it easier to move in on an enemy jungler or others in the jungle.

The key to aggressive counterjungling is not just organizing times to go into an enemy's jungle, but also immediately responding the moment a fight breaks out. Pay attention to your minimap and respond accordingly.

The Level 1 Invasion Right as the game starts it can be a good idea to immediately invade the enemy jungle, especially if you know an enemy champion is dependent on the blue golem buff and will likely be starting there (examples are Amumu, Fiddlesticks, and Diana). The goal of this invasion is to quickly and unexpectedly kill the jungler (or, more often, the first players you run into), and ideally to also steal the blue golem or other camp you're invading. Alternatively, the goal may be to steal the camp they’re not defending and deny them the experience without a fight. What makes an invasion a good idea? Here are some factors you'll want to consider: • • • • •

You are relatively confident an enemy will be where you're invading (Clairvoyance helps!); Your team has more crowd controls at level 1 than theirs; Your team has Blitzcrank; You have already seen an enemy on the map and know their position; They have not already seen you at the time you invade.

Killing opponents in their own jungle is difficult unless you fully flank them. That's why crowd controls are so important -- you can usually burst someone down who has been crowd controlled already. Good examples of champions with strong early crowd controls are Taric, Leona, Morgana, and Lux (note that if you're dedicated to an invasion you'll want to take points in these as you commit to a fight, even if they're not ideal starting abilities for laning). I mention Blitzcrank for a specific reason -- he has the ability to immediately pull the blue golem over the wall and into a much safer spot near the river exit. If he does this right as it spawns (1:55) the enemy jungler may not have any time to react, particularly if Blitzcrank's team is there with him. A small number of other champions, such as Darius, can also move the golem over the wall. 324 | Learn the League

If you do invade successfully and their jungler got away without a hitch, consider immediately securing (or at least warding) your own camp to prevent them from taking your own camp. Another option is leaving your jungler behind to take their own buff and giving the major buff to another player on the team, which may allow for a much more aggressive early game from that player.

See their Jungler? Punish them! As stated several times, jungling is effective in large part because it leaves one player out of vision of the enemy team. This means that unless you're playing a very strong duelist such as Shyvana, you may run into a fight you don't want to when invading. In these circumstances, watch out for any time the jungler appears in a lane on the other side of the map (or any time you have good ward vision of their location and activity). At this point, either gank or invade their jungle and clear out at least one major monster.

Track Timers & Invade Accordingly The best teams track the timers of major jungle monsters in both jungles. This is actually fairly simple when it comes to red and blue buff, as they both respawn exactly 5 minutes after they were last killed. In the early game, this usually means whichever major buff was killed when it spawned (red lizard or blue golem) will be coming up at or shortly after the 7 minute mark. You will want to invade their buffs immediately once they spawn -- and ideally as a team. This is especially true if either their jungler or their solo lane rely on blue buff to be effective. If you've been successful at least once before, assume that they will be frustrated enough to get their allies in on a fight. In these cases, the jungler or another player may engage the buff while others wait in the bush to surprise enemies coming in.

Leave Someone to Tell the Story Leaving at least one lesser minion alive in enemy camps you clear is good practice, as it prevents the camp from respawning until the enemy actively goes and kills the remaining minions. This can seriously hinder experience gain over the course of a game. That said, you may also consider fully clearing a camp (such as the blue golem buff) if you're going to track the respawn timer. If you know exactly when it's coming back up and will invade and secure the buff, this is a net positive for your team while still continuing to deny their team the buff.


Protecting Your Jungle from Invasion Let me show you a few locations that your team should consider either protecting at the start of the game or, at the very least, dropping wards. These are critical for avoiding nasty surprises from jungle invasions. As of the 11th edition of this e-book, I am no longer covering jungle routes in this section. This is because the jungle was dramatically streamlined and simplified, and I now cover your route options in the companion jungling video that you can download from the members section.


Defending Blue Golem as a Team If your jungler is going for an early blue golem kill, you will want to defend the entrances to that half of the jungle. At least one player, usually mid lane, should keep an eye out at the river bend:

It's important to stay near the edge of the bend for wider vision when possible. However, stay on your toes and put yourself slightly off position if you're against opponents like Blitzcrank who can land devastating skillshots on you to initiate an early gank. Alternatively, you can also stand in the long brush near mid lane:

The advantage to this location is that you have a bit of a safer escape if they do invade, either by flashing over the wall towards your tower or running away from their approach. You can still see them approaching, but the only huge thing to watch out for will be a Blitzcrank hook.


Another nearby player should keep an eye on the blue river ramp:

Alternatively, this player can stay in the bush near blue golem, though this doesn't give vision over the ramp and allows enemies to move much closer before there's warning. That said, this is not a popular route to invade from because of the relatively easy escapes the defending team has from here.


Defending Red Lizard as a Team If your jungler is going for an early red lizard kill, you'll want to defend that half of the jungle in two key spots. The first is the tri-bush, a very solid location for vision and escapes if necessary:

This is a less common invasion route, but it still happens frequently enough that you should cover it if your jungler is starting in that half of the jungle. The second is the river ramp near red:

This is not a safe location except for mobile or very fast champions, so you may want to go a little further back:


Prioritizing After Your First Pass As we talked about earlier, you need to balance experience and ganking. After your first pass, you will no longer have a set route to follow, so you'll want to kill monsters in your path. However, here's a quick set of tips: • •

• •

Blue Golem and Red Lizard are your biggest priorities in the jungle. Keep their timers in mind and get them fast when possible. The wraith camp is usually the most accessible. While it's not the best camp, it's one you should rarely pass up. Keep in mind the enemy team may have this warded and may attempt to counterjungle at this location. The three wolves camp offers access to mid lane and is near enough to the path to the side lane that you should pick it up when you're in the area. The double golem camp is the least accessible, offering access to only a single lane; if your opponents have warded the tri-bush, this access is severely limited (unless you can get in through the side brush at the map edges). This is a good camp but if you have other options it can be better to follow up on them instead.


Counterjungling & Ganking Routes Let's get into counterjungling and ganking routes. I'll start by covering a primary jungle invasion route, then cover the main entrances and routes you'll be taking when ganking. Ganking routes that take you through the jungle are the same as counterjungling routes (instead of ganking, or before ganking, clear enemy monsters!). Make sure you download the movie on ganking included in this guide as it explains important concepts in more depth.

A Note on Counterganking Before looking at ganking, let’s talk briefly about counterganking, as the same route knowledge will help you be successful here: Kha’zix has just come out of his jungle to gank bottom lane. He activates his ultimate to sneak into lane while his ally, Taric, casts his stun on the enemy Miss Fortune. But the moment he initiates, Amumu pulls himself into the fight from nearby brush, locking down Kha’zix and Taric with his ultimate and allowing Miss Fortune to pick up a double kill. This is an example of counterganking. Put simply, counterganking is the act of waiting out of vision for an enemy to initiate a fight, then immediately countering their initiation by coming in to turn the fight around. Because the opponents may be investing their resources into initiating the fight – potentially with dash or blink abilities, long crowd control cooldowns, or even flash – they may be unprepared to handle a new party entering the fight. Counterganking is a critical skill if you want to become an amazing player. While a lot of it comes down to instinct, there are two things to think about that will help you improve at guessing where opponents will gank: 1. If you were the enemy jungler, which of your lanes look easiest to gank? In other words, which of your lanes are vulnerable because they lack mobility, are pushed up really far, and/or lack ward vision? 2. Where is the enemy jungler? Do you know their likely route (i.e. did they start at the bottom half of the map, and then move towards top, making a gank at top more likely)? Wards and map vision makes this far easier to keep track of. Successfully counterganking opponents can cause them to change to a more defensive playstyle and allowing your laners to play more aggressively.


Level 1 Blue Invasion When invading the blue golem, members of the team who are ganking should go immediately down the mid lane and get into the river side brush:

You'll want to purchase items and do this as soon as the game starts to avoid potentially running past an opponent. If you've used Clairvoyance on the area around blue golem and no one is watching the next bush, go ahead and move to the next step. Otherwise, wait here until right before 1:55 to avoid running into their mid lane (or a few seconds earlier if the jungler can destroy blue golem before you can flank them, such as a champion like Nunu). Next, fully flank around through their jungle:

Feel free to engage and kill the first person you come across if it's favorable and you feel you'll get a solid kill. There's usually no guarantee you'll successfully steal the blue golem or kill the jungler, particularly if someone sees you moving in, so don't run past easy targets.


Forcing a Smite at Blue Many junglers who start their route at the blue golem buff will attempt to clear it without using smite, particularly when their teammates can help them bring the large golem low. Short of invading the blue golem, side laners can sometimes set junglers behind by forcing them to smite to secure the blue golem:

Like a jungler visibly camping a lane, the idea here is to make your presence known while staying far enough back that you can reasonably escape if your opponents pursue you. This really only works for champions that could reasonably attempt to steal the blue golem if ignored (such as with a ranged normal attack or ability). In this situation, the only sure way for the jungler to secure the buff is using their smite, which can allow your own jungler an easier time stealing their red lizard from them immediately after this, and will otherwise set them back a bit in terms of health and clear time. This tends to work best when a jungler has received help taking down the buff and their allies have already left for their lanes. Any time they invest coming back and chasing you down is time not spent gaining experience and gold in lane. Note: If you’re playing a champion that has a strong chance of taking down a buff with a ranged skillshot (such as a Nidalee spear), it’s usually better to just stay hidden and attempt to steal it from over the wall. Visible pressuring is used to create a psychological advantage when you’re less likely to be able to steal it, or alternatively, when you need to have vision to attempt to steal the buff.


Level 1 Red Invasion If you've caught an opponent with Clairvoyance or you believe they're very likely to attempt their red lizard buff first -- or if you simply want to steal it before they get to it on their route -- you have two options for getting in. The red lizard buff is much easier for a team to keep vision on the entrances while still being in position for the start of the game, so getting into their jungle immediately after the game starts tends to be the best shot you'll have. That said, a team vs. team fight early in the game at red lizard can put the defending team at a disadvantage since players getting vision on entrances may be more spread apart than they would be at blue. Here's the first option:

This is also a standard route for counterjungling the red lizard throughout the game, and can be good for flanking the top or bottom lane for a good gank. The second option for getting in is longer:

If the enemy team is likely to have two players at bottom, the purple team is slightly disadvantaged with this route as they're more likely to run into at least two players in the tri-bush. This route is also more difficult for a whole team to use as it puts at least one player fully on the other side of the map from their starting lane.


Ganking Entrances in the Jungle Each half of a team's jungle has two main entrances. A third common entrance that is accessible by many champions with dash or blink abilities is over the Baron or Dragon pit walls (though depending on the champion you may want to avoid using these to enter the jungle as it may be better to save the ability cooldowns for escaping instead). These entrances are the start of almost any flank you'll use when attempting to gank, and they're fairly interchangeable. In other words, you can do the same flank on an opponent regardless of which entrance you use, which means you should choose an entrance based on how well your opponents have been warding their lanes and how much time you’re willing to invest.


Ganking Mid Lane The mid lane is the safest lane for players and can be exceptionally difficult to move in on. While the side brush on each side can work for a gank, there's one particular route you should consider when the opportunity presents itself:

Note the dotted lines. In game it isn’t clear whether the edges of the ramp from river block vision, but rest assured, they are a complete vision block. Stopping behind the edges a moment to time the gank will work fine (provided minions or champions aren’t far enough back that they have direct line of sight on you anyway). If you’re willing to tower dive, you can also enter behind the mid lane tower from either of the rear jungle entrances. Note that it’s virtually impossible to avoid being in tower range for a gank here (unlike the side lanes where there’s a lot of distance between the towers).


Ganking Over-Extended Side Lanes If your opponents are over-extended in their side lanes, there are a few fairly easy routes you can use to punish them:

These entrances are very likely to be warded if your opponents are warding at all, so you may consider taking a longer path to enter them with less vision (i.e. from further back in their jungle rather than by walking through the river). These are also the locations where it’s almost always best to run in immediately rather than waiting for a better opportunity unless you’re absolutely sure they don’t have vision. Moving in immediately avoids wasting your time if they already saw you and doesn’t allow an opposing ganker any additional time to get in position for a countergank.


Ganking Pushed Side Lanes If your opponents are getting pushed up against their tower, or if there's room for some back and forth in your own lane, a great ganking location is the the side brush:

Note that the above diagram is bot-lane specific; for top lane (which has three brush locations) you’ll want opponents to be two brush lengths out instead. The concept here is simple: While your opponents lack vision at the entrance of one stretch of side brush, you move into that brush. Once they're pushed even further back, you move into the second set of brush. From there, you either gank or wait for them to extend, then surprise them with a very quick entrance. This is especially effective on champions with strong close range initiation such as Warwick and Skarner. The sight lines begin at the break in the brush. You don't want to be seen moving into the next brush, but it can be hard to judge exactly what they have vision on. Here's a rule of thumb: Enemy champions and minions should at or further away from the end of the brush you're moving into. If they're past that point, they may see you. Have allies push the lane accordingly when you need to move in. This is one of the best places to situate yourself when counterganking, as it can allow you the closest access to an initiation that breaks out, and opponents who are chasing your allies may actually move past the brush you’re in, letting you easily flank.


Flanking Behind Side Lane Towers A particularly brutal gank involves leaving your opponents no room for escape. This is especially strong against opponents who are pushed up to their towers, and performed better with junglers who have high Armor and/or Health to reduce incoming tower damage (or with another player who will intentionally start taking tower attacks when a gank begins):

Enter from anywhere in the enemy jungle, then stop before going past the gap (indicated by dotted lines). Right as you cross the enemy double golems, enemy minions who happen to be passing by have enough vision range that they will see you. To avoid alerting your enemies to your presence, wait for the minions to pass. You can judge when minions pass by watching your own minions on the other side of the map, which will be at a symmetrically identical location.

Near the blue golem there’s a lot less risk of being seen once you’re in the jungle. The tri-brush here is ideal for starting a gank. When ganking under the tower, it's ideal if your minions are already tanking the enemy tower so the tower doesn't attack you until you deal damage. With these routes, your goal is to totally cut them out of an escape, so be prepared for any crowd controls or escapes they may have and act accordingly (i.e. go further back in their lane if they may blink so they can't blink past you once you move in, etc.).


Game Mechanics These sections are designed to give you a greater understanding of exactly how the game world functions. Though it’s not tactical or strategic advice, learning the little tips and tricks throughout these sections will improve the plays you can pull off against your opponents. At the very least, make sure you read through the Summoner’s Rift Guidebook!

Sections Overview Summoner’s Rift Guidebook - The Summoner’s Rift guidebook goes into detail on how every maprelated system functions, from jungle monsters to structures to the fog of war, with an emphasis on cool mechanics you may not know about. You’d be surprised just how much is involved in a Baron Nashor fight! Summoner Spells - This section covers all of the summoner spells in detail, allowing you to make smart decisions on when to use them and when to avoid them. Stats - This listing of champion stats covers functional details (ex.: the order that armor and magic reduction/penetration is applied), as well as the relationships stats have with each other. Glossary of Terms – Terms and phrases that are commonly used in the League of Legends community. Timer Reference – Brief overview of important game timers.


Summoner's Rift Guidebook Summoner's Rift is the large 5v5 game map where the vast majority of matches are played. The design is based heavily on the Defense of the Ancients (DOTA) game map, the predecessor to League of Legends. In this section, I'm going to outline the core mechanics of Summoner's Rift, including terrain, structures, and minions and monsters. Advanced players: There are several finer mechanics in League of Legends that you may not be aware of even if you've played the game extensively. I will highlight these in light orange so you can more easily find them.

Game Objectives Summoner's Rift ends in victory when a team destroys the opposing team's nexus or when a team surrenders. To attack and destroy the nexus, both towers defending the nexus must be destroyed and at least one inhibitor must also be currently destroyed. To destroy an inhibitor, all towers in that inhibitor's lane must be destroyed. Towers cannot be damaged if there is another tower further in the lane that has not been destroyed. Put more simply, a team must destroy three towers, followed by an inhibitor, followed by the two nexus towers, before they can destroy the nexus. All of these structures are referred to as objectives, because they must be taken out or the game cannot end without surrender. Baron Nashor and Dragon, two neutral monsters I will cover later, are also considered important objectives as they have a disproportionately large impact on the game. However, killing minions and monsters (or, for that matter, other players) is not technically necessary to destroy the nexus and win the game.


Map Layout Summoner's Rift has two symmetrical halves, divided diagonally by a passable river. The team on the top right is designated as the Purple team, where the team on the bottom left is designated as the Blue team.

Each side has a team base in their corner, along with three main paths extending outwards. These paths are referred to as lanes. Players refer to these by their location: •

'Mid lane' is the path going directly towards the enemy base. This is a short lane with the best access to other areas of the map. Notably, the distance between turrets is much shorter in this


• •

lane, and their attack ranges overlap, making it impossible to avoid turret attacks without special abilities; 'Bot lane' is the path that ends at the bottom right corner of the map. This lane has good access to the neutral Dragon monster; 'Top lane' is the path that ends at the upper left corner of the map. This lane has good access to the neutral Baron Nashor monster.

While the map is symmetrical, it is not mirrored in the sense that both teams have the same jungle paths and monsters near each of their lanes. For example, Blue team has access to three monster camps near their bottom lane, while Purple team has access to only two near their bottom lane. Each team has an inhibitor at the start of each lane, followed by three towers extending out towards the opposite side of the map. Behind this are the nexus and two turrets defending the nexus. Each team also has a summoner pool where players start, recall to, and purchase items from. Between these lanes and the river are areas referred to as jungle. There are a variety of different paths here, as well as neutral monsters that can be killed for gold, experience, and temporary buffs.

Who is Blue Team and who is Purple Team? Before the match starts loading you can determine who will be on which side of the map.

Note the very faint blue glow around “Your Team” at the top left corner of this screen. This means you will be blue team on the bottom left. If this shows purple, you will be purple team. For Draft Pick matches, the team with first ban and first pick will always be blue team.


Fog of War In Summoner's Rift, persistent map vision is provided by the following sources: • • •

Structures; Champions & Minions; Wards, Trinkets, and Player Abilities.

At the start of the match, towers provide vision over most of the team's lanes, allowing players to safely extend to their outermost towers. Everything shrouded in darkness if part of the Fog of War and most events that occur here will not be visible.

However, some abilities are visible even through the Fog of War. For example, Flash and Teleporthave animations that show clearly even if they're used in an area where opponents don't have vision. Player abilities such as Shaco's Deceive are also clearly visible when used inside the Fog of War. Normally you cannot keep track of enemy items or minion kills while they're in the Fog of War. However, if you kill an enemy and their corpse is in vision, you will be able to watch what items they're purchasing while they're dead.


Brush (Bushes) Small patches of high grass are littered throughout Summoner's Rift. These patches of brush (commonly referred to as bushes) block vision to enemies who don’t have another source of vision inside them.

In other words, entering a bush will immediately hide a unit, provided an enemy does not have ward, clairvoyance, or another source of vision on them. Units within the same bush can see each other. Even though bushes move around when you’re inside them, other players without vision won’t see this animation. Using normal attacks and targeted abilities from within a bush will nearly always provide brief vision on the attacker. However, leaving the bush and using a normal attack or targeted ability, then immediately going back in the bush will instantly block vision again. Using many untargeted abilities such as skillshots will not provide vision on the attacker. This is not always true, such as with Morgana's persistent AOE effect, Tormented Soil. Abilities that are visible in the Fog of War are also visible in bushes.

Determining If Opponents Can See In Your Bush There are three ways to immediately know whether an enemy has vision in the bush you're currently in: • • • •

If they use a targeted ability on you; If either they or their minions use normal attacks on you; If your champion attacks them or their minions without being explicitly commanded to (this will not occur if you use a 'stop' command while in the bush). If an enemy who is not previously targeting you, as indicated by an orange outline covering their unit, targets you and gains the orange outline. The orange outline is semi-sticky, meaning they'll keep it even if they can no longer see you (such as when you run into a bush), so this only works if they have no outline and gain the outline while you're in the bush.


While in a bush, champions naturally stop their attacks to preserve stealth. Though somewhat illogical, your champion is aware of when an enemy has vision on them even if you -- the player -- aren't. This is why it can be helpful to idle in a bush you suspect your opponents have vision in and see if your champion starts using normal attacks on nearby enemy units.

Impassable Terrain Throughout the map there is impassable terrain that cannot be walked over. Some abilities interact with this terrain, such as Vayne's Condemn, which knocks players backwards and will stun them if they collide with impassable terrain. Some blink and dash abilities, such as Flash, and placeable objects, such as wards, can be used over impassable terrain. In many of these cases, they only need to be targeted -- and have a maximum range -- that reaches beyond the halfway point of the impassable terrain. Provided these conditions are met, the player or object can make it to the other side of the wall. Player created terrain such as Anivia's Crystallize and Jarvan IV's Cataclysm will block movement, but generally won't interact with player abilities the way impassable terrain does. For instance, Vayne's Condemn will knock a player out of Jarvan IV's Cataclysm without stunning them on the edges of it.

Gold & Experience for Champion Kills The first kill in a match is called First Blood and the killing player receives 400 gold. A champion with zero kills and zero deaths has a bounty of 300 gold when killed. As that champion kills opposing champions without dying themselves, they gain additional bounty (up to 500 gold with 4 kills). If that champion is killed while they have bonus bounty, their bounty is immediately reset. If they die repeatedly, their bounty will be lowered dramatically, making it much less valuable to kill them.This bounty reduction lasts until they successfully kill an enemy champion, at which point it is reset to normal. Gaining an assist (covered next) or earning 1,000 gold from minions and monsters will also offset the bounty reduction by one death. When a player kills an enemy champion by themselves, they earn the full bounty for that champion. If a second player assists in the kill, they earn bonus bounty that does not reduce the amount of gold earned by the player who nets the killing blow. In other words, an asssist is always a net positive for the team. For the first 20 minutes of a match, assists grant 50% of the normal kill bounty. This increases to 80% by the 35 minute mark. This assist bounty is divided equally among all teammates who assisted.


Players earn more gold from assists if they have at least 2 more assists than kills during the match. The extra gold gained starts at 30 bonus gold but can increase to a cap of 60 gold with additional assists. However, the gold earned from an assist can never be greater than the gold earned from the kill. Until two minutes into the game, kills are worth only 60% of their normal gold. This increases to 100% at the 4 minute mark. Players also earn experience for killing enemy champions. If two or more players are responsible for killing a champion, the total experience earned is significantly larger than if only one champion had participated. Experience gained for killing enemy champions is increased if the enemy champions are higher level than the killing player, and reduced if the enemy champions are lower level than the killing player.


Structures Structures are objectives that must be destroyed in order to win the game, provided the other team does not surrender. Structures grant vision in an area around them. All structures have a health pool; like other units, when structures reach zero health they are destroyed. The damage dealt to structures with normal attacks is calculated separately from damage dealt to other units. If 30% of a champion's ability power is higher than their bonus physical attack damage, they will deal 30% of their ability power in bonus damage instead. In either case, base (non-bonus) attack damage is still dealt to the structure. Since structures are immune to nearly all spells, this allows mages to contribute significantly more damage than they otherwise could. On a related note, Armor Penetration does not affect damage dealt to structures. With the exception of the outermost tower in each lane, all structures require at least one previous structure to have been destroyed before they will take damage. Beware that structures count as impassable terrain for the purposes of player abilities. Even if a structure is destroyed, the ruins of that structure are still impassable terrain.

Towers (Turrets)

Unlike other structures, towers have significant base armor and magic resistance. However, towers have lower health pools than other structures, partly counterbalancing this. Towers also have attack damage. The outermost towers have the lowest armor, magic resistance, and attack damage. Deeper towers have successively more armor, magic resistance, and attack damage. Towers gain a small amount of attack damage every minute, beginning at different times in the game depending on which tier of tower they are. This attack damage bonus caps after a relatively small gain.


Towers gain a massive amount of armor and magic resistance while enemy minions are not present. This balances the game against champions who could otherwise easily 'backdoor' a tower (the process of attacking structures while minions are not present). As of late Season 3, towers now also gain significant bonus armor for the first four minutes of the game. This armor bonus then decays to the normal amount for the following four more minutes. This change was intended to reduce the super-early tower takedown strategies frequently seen in the tournament scene. Towers always prefer to target the closest champion pets and minions before they will target champions. However, if an enemy champion in attack range of the tower deals any amount of damage to an allied champion, even with a pet, the tower will change targets and attack the enemy champion. Towers will not change targets unless the target is killed or moves out of range, or unless a nearby allied champion is attacked by an opponent in who is in range of the tower. Towers will not attack targets who are are untargetable, such as Fizz while using Playful Trickster; however, towers can target and successfully hit players who are able to dodge other normal attacks, such as Jax with his Counter Strike active. It's worth noting that an allied champion that is not near the tower can be attacked by enemy champions who are near the tower without the tower changing target. In other words, the allied player must be in range of the tower for the tower to defend them. Towers deal physical damage to their target, which means armor is effective when taking tower hits. With each consecutive attack against a champion, towers deal 25% more damage, up to a maximum of 75% bonus damage. If the tower continues to attack a single champion, they will continue to gain damage, up to a maximum of 50% (combined for a bonus 125%). In other words, swapping the players taking tower attacks allows you to partly – but not fully – reduce incoming damage from the tower. Both the inhibitor towers and the two towers protecting the nexus regenerate health if they are damaged. However, towers further out never regenerate health, meaning all damage to these towers is permanent. Outer towers grant 100 gold to everyone on the team when they are destroyed, in addition to 150 gold that is split equally among nearby allies who participated in the takedown. Inner towers grant 125 gold to everyone on the team when they are destroyed, in addition to 100 gold that is split equally among nearby allies who participated in the takedown. Inhibitor towers grant 175 gold and a small experience bonus to everyone on the team. Towers have a large vision area and can detect stealthed units.


Tip For Last Hitting In The Early Game When minions reach your tower, there are two basic rules to remember that will help you last hit minions for gold: • •

Let melee minions take two full tower hits, and then time your normal attack to occur immediately after the second tower attack. Attack caster minions once before a tower hits, then again immediately after the tower hits them.

This works with minions that are at full health and are not taking significant damage from other sources (such as other minions). If you get enough physical attack damage you'll need to stop attacking caster minions before the tower has hit them.

Inhibitors & Nexus The inhibitors and the nexus are similar structures, in that they have no armor or magic resistance and no means to defend themselves. However, they regenerate health over time if they are damaged, meaning it can be better to ensure they are focused and destroyed rather than leaving and trying to finish them later.

When an inhibitor is destroyed, the opposing team spawns super minions instead of their normal siege minions. Destroying all three inhibitors will cause two super minions to spawn in each lane, for a total of six. Additionally, opposing minions that spawn in the same lane as destroyed inhibitors have significantly increased health and damage. Inhibitors respawn after four minutes. This is announced to both sides 15 seconds before it occurs.


A player who last-hits the nexus is given 50 gold.

Summoner Platform, Shop & Obelisk The summoner platform is the area where players spawn, recall to, and shop. The obelisk protecting this area deals extreme, sustained true damage to enemies entering the summoner platform.

Despite the symmetry of the map, both team's shops are closer to the top lane. The range of the shop extends in a radius outward from the shop itself, not the platform, meaning that players headed to or from top lane have a significantly larger area where they can purchase items from (that extends well beyond the platform).


Team Minions

Minions are units that are allied with either the purple or blue team. They move in a predictable path down their lanes, towards the enemy base. Minions deal bonus damage to towers, which can make it ideal to clear out enemy minions they are targeting before attacking the tower directly. Minions deal reduced damage to champions. When choosing targets to attack, minions prioritize the closest enemy minions, followed by towers, followed by the closest champion. In other words, they will not normally attack champions unless there are no other available targets. However, if an enemy champion deals damage with a normal attack to an allied champion, minions will change targets and attack the aggressor. Most abilities do not cause nearby minions to attack. However, some abilities that act like normal attacks and apply on-hit effects, such as Gangplank's Parrrlay, will cause minions to attack. Most minions increase in attack damage, health, armor, and magic resistance over the course of the game. Additionally, minions offer more gold based on the game time. This is determined for each minion based on when they spawn, not when they're killed. Minions grant vision to their team. They have only slightly lower vision range than champions, meaning that teams can most likely see an enemy champion if that champion can see their minions. Since the map is symmetrical and minions spawn at the same time, it can be helpful to keep in mind that minions on opposite sides of the map are in an identical place. This is especially true for junglers at an enemy team's double golem camp. Note that minions will not engage enemy targets at their maximum vision range. All minions move at 325 movement speed, giving them roughly the same movement speed as many champions who haven’t purchased boots.


Minion Waves Three groups, or waves, of minions spawn next to the Nexus beginning at the 1:30 time marker, then every 30 seconds afterwards until the game is over. Each group corresponds to one of the lanes on the map. A minion wave normally consists of 3 melee minions and 3 caster minions. Every third wave, each lane also has a siege minion. After 35 minutes, a siege minion spawns every second wave instead. If an enemy inhibitor in the same lane is destroyed, super minions spawn every wave, but siege minions do not spawn. If all three enemy inhibitors are destroyed, two super minions spawn in every wave for every lane.

Melee & Caster Minions Melee minions move into melee range of their targets to use attacks that deal physical damage. Melee minions are initially worth 20 gold in lane. Caster minions are similar to melee minions, though their normal attacks are ranged. Like other minions, these attacks are physical damage. Caster minions have higher magic resistance and lower health and armor than melee minions. Caster minions are worth the least gold in a lane, starting at just 15 gold.

Siege & Super Minions Siege minions have significantly more health than other minions, as well as a buff that causes them to take 50% reduced damage from towers. This makes them very effective at tanking towers while allied units deal damage. Siege minions are worth the most gold, starting at 40 gold. Like siege minions, super minions take 50% reduced damage from towers. These attack more slowly than siege minions but deal far more damage per hit, making them much stronger at pushing towers and even pushing back enemy champions than their smaller counterparts. Super minions have more armor than siege minions, but can have negative magic resistance, meaning they take significantly more damage from magic damage attacks than physical attacks. This being said, their health makes them more durable than siege minions regardless of damage type.


Unlike other minions, super minions do not gain additional health or damage, and are typically worth less gold than other minions.


Neutral Monsters Neutral monsters are not aligned with either team. They will not attack unless they are first attacked. All monsters rapidly regenerate health when they are not in combat. Additionally, all monsters have a leash range at which they will disengage from combat and return to their starting location. Monsters attack their closest opponent. If they move beyond their leash range while moving to that player, they will begin walking back to their starting location, and will pick a target again only if attacked. If another player moves in closer to the center of the monster, they will change targets. This target change can occur up to ten times before causing the monster to avoid engaging again until it has fully reset.

Jungle Monster Scaling Monsters in the jungle (specifically not including Baron Nashor and Dragon) are given levels when they spawn. This level determines health and damage, as well as the experience and gold reward for killing them. These levels are based on the average level of all players currently in the match, rounded up. Jungle monsters will not become stronger until they’ve been cleared and spawn again. If the monster is a higher level than the player who kills it, that player is granted significant bonus experience.

Baron Nashor

Baron Nashor is the single most difficult unit to kill in Summoner's Rift. He is an immobile worm that can be found in the river alcove on the upper-left side of the map. He has very high health and becomes stronger over time throughout the game. Additionally, he has substantial armor and magic resistance. His armor and magic resistance cannot be reduced through player abilities or items. He cannot be disabled in any way. Baron Nashor deals high physical and magic damage with a mix of abilities. These are:


•

• • •

Wrath of the Ancients, a green spit column that hits random targets, dealing magic damage and applies a stacking debuff that increases incoming magic damage (cannot be blocked by spell shields); Voracious Corrosion, which deals physical damage and applies a debuff that causes players to deal significantly reduced damage to Baron Nashor; A knockback that kicks nearby units away from him; A delayed knockup on a random target indicated by green bubbles beneath his target (move out of this).

Baron prioritizes his primary attacks on the players closest to his center. This makes it very easy to select which player will take the bulk of damage. If other melee players are low on health, they will need to watch out for when Baron knocks tankier players away from him. Baron does not prioritize his attacks on the team that engaged him. If an enemy player is closer to his center, they will take damage instead. This can be helpful to remember when team fights occur at Baron, as quick repositioning can move his damage onto opponents. Baron Nashor first spawns on the map at the 15:00 minute marker and respawns 7 minutes after he has last been slain. When killed, Baron Nashor grants 300 bonus gold to all teammates, as well as bonus experience. The player who deals the killing blow to Dragon gains an additional 25 gold. Also, all teammates who are currently alive are granted a significant ability power, attack damage, and health and mana regeneration buff for several minutes. Baron can be reset by moving out of range of his attacks or stopping attacks on him for several seconds.


Dragon

Dragon is a significant monster who can be found in the river alcove on the lower-right side of the map. He has low armor and magic resistance, but high health. His health increases based on the level of the highest champion currently in the match. His armor and magic resistance cannot be reduced through player abilities or items. He cannot be disabled in any way. Dragon uses ranged attacks. When attacking, he applies a damage-over-time effect to his target called 'Dragon Burning.' This also reduces the attack speed of the target. Dragon has a minim level of 6 and a maximum level of 15. This level increases to match the average level of the players in the match, rounded up. When killed, Dragon grants global gold ranging from 125 to 260 based on his level. Additionally, bonus experience is divided among nearby allies, and the total experience granted is based on Dragon’s level. This experience is increased if the team that kills Dragon is behind the enemy team in levels, with players further behind gaining significantly more bonus experience.


Blue Golem (Ancient Golem)

The blue golems are located near the river, directly across from Baron Nashor and Dragon. These camps consist of one large golem and two trivial companions. The blue golems spawn at 1:55 and respawn 5:00 after they have been killed. When killed, the Ancient Golem grants gold to the killer, as well as a buff that increases mana regeneration, energy regeneration, and cooldown reduction for several minutes. If the player with this buff is killed by another player, the buff is transferred to them with a fresh cooldown. Because of this transfer mechanic, multiple buffs from the same Ancient Golem camp can exist on different champions simultaneously.


Red Lizard (Lizard Elder)

The red lizards are located in the jungle behind Baron Nashor and Dragon. These camps consist of one large lizard and two trivial companions. The red lizards spawn at 1:55 and respawn 5:00 after they have been killed. When killed, the Lizard Elder grants gold to the killer, as well as a buff that causes the player's normal attacks to deal bonus true damage over time and slow their opponents. If the player with this buff is killed by another player, the buff is transferred to them with a fresh cooldown. Because of this transfer mechanic, multiple buffs from the same Lizard Elder camp can exist on different champions simultaneously.


Minor Camps (Wight, Double Golems, Three Wolves, Four Wraiths) Four minor camps exist on Summoner's Rift, each spawning the 1:55 minute marker. These are: • • • •

Wight – Large monster near blue golem. Easiest to kill with high single target damage. Double Golems – Pair of monsters near red lizard. Somewhat easier to kill with high single target damage than with multi-target damage. Three Wolves – Pack of wolves near blue golem. Easier to kill with multi-target damage. Four Wraiths – Pack of wraiths between red lizard and mid lane. Very easy to kill with multitarget damage.

The camps containing multiple monsters all contain at least one large minion. Each camp respawns one minute after it’s been cleared.


Summoner Spells In the following, I will outline each of the summoner spells you'll gain access to while playing League of Legends. These are sorted by the level they're achieved. Very strong spells are highlighted in green, though some champions can make more effective use of other spells.

Recall This spell is available immediately and does not take one of your two optional spell slots. When cast, you will begin channeling for several seconds. If you successfully finish channeling the spell, you are immediately teleported to your summoner platform, where you can shop, regenerate health and mana, and move to a new location. Recall is broken with incoming damage or crowd controls. However, in the last half second of channeling, damage will no longer prevent Recall from being successful. If you are attacked but do not take damage, such as when a shield is actively protecting you, Recall will not be interrupted. On Summoner's Rift it generally will not save time to recall to your summoner platform while you are still inside your base. However, once you are beyond your first towers it will usually save you time to cast recall. The exact distance where it is more effective changes with very fast or mobile champions.

Exhaust This skill effectively shuts down an enemy champion for 2.5 seconds, slowing them, reducing their Attack Speed, and moderately reducing their damage output from any source. Because this reduces Attack Speed, this has a bigger effect on physical-damage champions who rely on normal attacks, such as marksman carries or melee fighters who would otherwise easily kill you. At least one Exhaust on a team is strongly encouraged, especially if your team lacks many hard crowd controls. It can help shut down champions who become unusually strong, such as a farmed Tryndamere, buying enough time to kill them. It's worth noting that Exhaust has a short-to-medium range and is not always easy to apply if you're a long range champion. Verdict: Great spell, best at countering physical damage AD champions but still works against other champions. Good for ensuring successful ganks.


Ghost Ghost dramatically increases movement speed for 10 seconds and allows you to pass freely through units that you would normally need to move around. Movement speed allows for more frequent attacks on targets that are fleeing. This ability belongs on a small subset of champions who rely on auto-attacks and are pursuing opponents who cannot easily crowd control them. Some highly ranked players use Ghost on a variety of champions, including some mages, as it can help with kiting or securing kills. Outside these champions, Ghost is generally not strong enough to stay a priority pick due to the strength of other summoner spells. Verdict: Situationally good, but there are often better options. A first tier ability on specific champions such as Olaf.

Heal This ability heals you for a significant amount, based on your level, and heals nearby allies for half of that amount. For several seconds after being affected by Heal, any follow-up Heals will only be half as effective on that player (in other words, if a second player on your team casts it). This is a strong enough skill that you will see it even in high-level play, depending on the champions and the match-up. Heal is generally seen as a spell that support players pick up, though this is not always the case, nor is it always the best way to play. Since Heal only heals half the amount to nearby allies, support players may instead opt to pick up an offensive spell such as Exhaust, while having an ally in the same lane pick up Heal. Heal can be effective at baiting enemy players, especially in the early game, since it allows you to keep your health lower while still having the spell ready to fire. If opponents close in for the kill and dive a tower, the heal may completely turn the fight around. Verdict: This is a better spell than it used to be, but it is still situational. Use it only if you're sure it's a better pick than Ignite or Exhaust (or any other alternatives), or if your laning partner already has Ignite or Exhaust and you feel you won't need them.


Revive Use this to instantly resurrect and gain a brief movement speed bonus. In theory, it can be used to bring you back to stop an important push from your enemies after your team was wiped out. In practice, other summoner spells could have allowed you to live, and all of them bring more utility to the table beyond just this worst-case scenario. Verdict: Don't use it unless you have an extremely good reason to.

Smite Smite deals true damage, based on your level that ignores Armor and Magic Resist to a target minion, monster, or pet. It is typically taken by players who spend their early levels in the jungle as it greatly increases the speed and effectiveness while clearing monsters in the jungle. It is also strong for securing major objectives such as Baron Nashor or Dragon. In most cases, Smite is best used to finish off a monster. In other words, waiting until the monster is just low enough in health that the Smite will kill it. To achieve this, hover over Smite on your interface to see how much damage it deals at your level, then select your target and watch its health bar. The reason for doing this is that it prevents the monster from being stolen by another player. It is very common for enemies to place vision wards on important monsters, allowing them to respond to you when you're killing them, and potentially allowing them to steal the buff. For even more security, time your Smite to land at the exact moment as another strong damage ability, giving you an even bigger health window to work with. In cases where you see all of your enemies on the map and they won't have time to respond, you're usually safe to go ahead and use Smite right away. This gets the ability on cooldown, meaning it will become available again sooner. Consider saving Smite and not using it on jungle monsters when you know your team may do Dragon or Baron Nashor soon. It has its biggest impact on the outcome of games when used to secure these larger objectives. An argument commonly crops up that you don't need Smite to jungle. It's technically true that you don't need Smite to jungle on certain champions, but it also prevents you from using Smite to secure buffs (such as using Smite on Baron Nashor, Dragon, or the large golem or lizards in the jungle). If you don't have it, an opposing player with Smite can frequently secure these buffs even if you or your team are currently doing them. Many of the highest level tournament games have been decided on a team stealing a Baron Nashor kill with a well-timed Smite. Verdict: Necessary for competitive jungling. Don't use it if you're not jungling or roaming unless you have a very specific reason to. 363 | Learn the League

Teleport After briefly channeling, Teleport will move you to a target tower (but not other structures), allied minion, or placeable object such as wards. Teleport can be canceled during channeling by activating the ability again; this will still place the ability on cooldown, but for a shorter cooldown than if it had completed. Teleport is situational, and you won't always know if it will be useful in a game before you go in. That said, it can change games, and there are some times where you should certainly consider picking it up. First, if you're in a solo lane on either the top or bottom of Summoner's Rift, it can be good to have. In the first few levels, it gives you an opportunity to head back to your base and safely get back to your lane, preventing an enemy from pushing the tower in your absence or preventing you from losing too much experience or gold. It also allows you to teleport to Dragon (or later, Baron Nashor) to immediately assist your team if a conflict starts. Second, some champions, especially pushers, can use this to get in a group of minions who have pushed into enemy territory, allowing for a very quick structure takedown before the team can respond. Alternatively, it can be kept on hand while pushing, allowing for a very quick escape when enemies respond, or to teleport to the opposite lane on the map and push once enemies have responded. It can also be used to teleport to a ward near an unprotected inhibitor, allowing for quick pushing to bring the inhibitor down. Finally, Teleport offers a quick option to get back to your base if an enemy is unexpectedly pushing structures and your team cannot otherwise respond. Teleport can be used as an escape tool. The channeling effect is not canceled if you simply take damage, meaning if opponents cannot use crowd controls such as Taunts, Stuns, Knockups/Knockbacks, Supresses, or Silences, you can teleport away from them even if they're focusing damage on you. Verdict: Situational, but definitely worth considering depending on your champion and lane. I recommend reading “The Impossible Decision” in this e-book to learn a little more on how it can be used effectively.

Cleanse (Summoner Level 2) This spell removes crowd controls and summoner spell debuffs (such as Ignite or Exhaust) from your champion and dramatically reduces the duration of new crowd controls for 3 seconds. This is a strong ability to use on champions that will be focused for crowd controls and potentially locked out of contributing to their team as a result. This tends to occur more frequently on melee champions who must get in range of champions with potential crowd control to be effective. For example, 364 | Learn the League

Tryndamere and Master Yi are easily countered by crowd controls, and Cleanse offers a way to ignore them briefly. Cleanse also allows you to escape ganks and deaths that you shouldn't get out of, especially combined with a spell such as Flash or Ghost. Verdict: This is one of the harder spells to use effectively due to the reaction time and judgment required, but it is definitely one of the strongest summoner spells for champions who must deal with crowd controls. Strongly recommended, though Exhaust and Ignite may be better in some match-ups.

Barrier (Summoner Level 6) This spell grants your champion a very strong shield for two seconds. This spell has no other effects and does not benefit nearby allies. How does this measure up with Heal? It is superior to Heal in that it potentially reduces more damage on your champion and it has a lower cooldown. It is worse than Heal in that it cannot benefit teammates and the effect is temporary. In other words, if you don’t time Barrier to block enough damage, Heal would have been superior. In most situations Heal is an unquestionably superior spell. However, there are two important exceptions. The first exception is in situations where you may consider double Heal. Because Heal debuffs all players who receive the benefit, Barrier is usually going to be stronger in a high damage situation than two Heals overlapping. The second situation is dealing with Ignite or other healing reduction effects. Because the effect of Heal is cut in half with these effects, Barrier will be more effective against incoming burst damage while they are applied. Verdict: Barrier is a niche spell that is best picked for duo lanes where Heal is already present, or picked against any type of burst damage that may rely on healing reduction to net a kill. This is a good spell but not one you should pick without a reason.

Clarity (Summoner Level 6) Clarity restores an amount of mana equal to 40% of your maximum mana. In other words, the potential effect is just as strong regardless of your current mana. All nearby allies also gain mana equal to 40% of their mana.


Clarity helps out in the low levels of the game, allowing you to stay in lane much longer, especially if at least one of your abilities heals you. It can also allow for more constant harassment on your opponents. Clarity is strong before you or your allies get used to the flow of a game and pacing ability use. However, the ability has no staying power, and rarely assists in the powerful plays that shape games, such as an early gank with coordinated summoner spells. Verdict: If you're relying on this spell for your early game, you or your allies may need to reconsider your playstyle, or your runes and masteries. While it's not a terrible spell, it prevents you from using spells that are more likely to contribute to team victories.

Ignite (Summoner Level 7) Ignite deals a moderate amount of true damage over 5 seconds to a target enemy. This damage ignores Armor and Magic Resist. While active, all healing effects on the enemy are reduced by 50%. Ignite can be cast on jungle monsters. However, it cannot be cast on minions in lane. This helps prevent misclicking on minions when you intend to cast it on an opponent. Like Exhaust, Ignite counters a wide number of champions, and is a staple spell that should be available to most teams. The damage is nice for early kills, but the true value of this spell in the mid and late game is often the healing reduction effect. This completely counters all forms of health gain, including healing, health regeneration, lifesteal and spell vamp. Champions who rely on these mechanics (or champions who rely on healing from a support player) are temporarily shut down by Ignite, allowing them to far more easily be focused down and killed. Verdict: Great spell that is useful for securing kills in early engagement and ensuring a kill on a player who would otherwise be benefiting from large health gains. This should be on at least one player on a team in most match-ups.

Clairvoyance (Summoner Level 10) This spell reveals a moderate area anywhere on the map for 5 seconds, including bushes in its vision area. Clairvoyance does not reveal stealth. A clearly visible eye animation and sound occurs on the area of the map where vision is granted, and this can be seen by the opposing team. Well-timed, well-placed Clairvoyance casts can be a huge benefit to your team. The spell allows you to more easily track junglers or roamers who are not constantly in vision if you can make an educated guess as to where they might be. It can also be used to check on objectives such as Baron or Dragon to


check on whether they've been defeated by the opposing team or whether the opposing team is fighting them or getting ready to. If you have Clairvoyance, consider using it in the first few seconds of a match to see their summoner pool where they start. This allows you to see which items they're purchasing and potentially get an idea of which lanes they're going to (though you shouldn't rely on the direction they're moving as a sure-fire indicator on which lane they're headed to). Beyond this, consider using your next Clairvoyance at their blue buff (or red buff) in the jungle, depending on which the enemy jungler is most likely to start (if you don't know, blue is the safer bet). For blue, you want to clairvoyance a location that covers the nearby wolves as well. If you don't see the enemy team in their jungle, they may be attempting to invade your jungle. Clairvoyance is a knowledge-dependent skill, and you'll get better as it as you learn the rhythm of the game and the champions you're playing against. You can always safely use the spell to check areas near your lane (such as the river entrance or bushes that enemies may have gone in. Verdict: This is a fantastic summoner spell. It tends to be difficult to have on damage-dealing champions who see a huge benefit from other summoner spells. For this reason, Clairvoyance tends to be picked up by support players.

Flash (Summoner Level 12) Flash instantly teleports you a small distance in the direction of your mouse cursor. This ability can cross over walls and small barriers. It does not stop any targeted attacks or abilities currently in flight towards you, though. If this ability is targeted and has range beyond the halfway point of a wall, it is possible to blink over the wall. In other words, it can travel up to twice the normal range when passing through walls. (Note that this is also true for many champion abilities and placeable objects such as wards) Flash is an amazing tool. It can be used to escape, initiate, secure a kill, show up unexpectedly to contest an objective like Dragon or Baron Nashor, and get in range for targeted spells or skillshots. When using Flash as an escape, look for nearby walls that will act as a barrier if you Flash over them. This can put you in a position that is difficult or impossible to follow. There is rarely a good reason not to use this ability. Even champions who have built-in blink or dash abilities can benefit from Flash for all of the reasons listed above. Verdict: Flash is a must-have. The decision between which summoner spells you use usually involves Flash and something else, not Flash or something else. There are some limited exceptions to this rule.


Stats There are a lot of stats and attributes to keep in mind while you're playing League of Legends. In this section, I'm going to cover all of the major stats you'll have to deal with, as well as their quirks and benefits. Most stats stack additively, not multiplicatively. In other words, if you have two items that grant 20% critical strike chance, you will have a 40% critical strike chance from these items. There are limited exceptions, such as percentage-based armor and magic penetration, which stack multiplicatively (thereby being less effective than they would be with additive scaling). Items with bonuses listed as "Unique Passive" always mean that building two of the same item will not contribute more of that bonus. League of Legends will calculate most stats to several decimal places, meaning having partial stats (such as 1.9% Attack Speed) will still contribute meaningfully to your damage. Some stats are only visible by pressing 'C' while in-game. Note: For readability, I've capitalized stats in their sections, but tend to avoid capitalizing them outside their sections.

Baseline Stats vs. Multiplier Stats In League of Legends, there are three main baseline stats: attack damage, ability power, and health. There are rare exceptions, such as Ryze, who uses mana in functionally the same way most casters use ability power. To be clear, I am not using the term baseline to refer to them being more or less important than other stats. These stats are considered baseline because they are increased in flat value increments. Multiplier stats increase the effectiveness of their associated baseline stats. For example, attack speed increases the rate at which you attack, which means you'll increase your damage output from attack damage in direct proportion to how much faster you're attacking. By finding an appropriate balance between Baseline Stats and Multipliers, you'll usually get more damage output than you would by just stacking one or the other. This is especially true on physical damage champions.


Normal Attacks Attack Damage (Baseline) Attack Damage increases the physical damage your normal melee attacks do. Additionally, it increases the damage of some champion abilities. Abilities that scale with Attack Damage will do so according to a ratio. For example, a damaging ability with a 0.5 ratio will deal bonus damage equal to 50% of your Attack Damage. Tip: Some abilities scale with 'bonus Attack Damage.' This refers to Attack Damage that is beyond your champion's innate Attack Damage. When you see this, it's usually an indication that the developer intends for you to use Attack Damage items (instead of, say, survivability items) to make the most use of the ability.

Armor Penetration & Armor Reduction (Multiplier) Armor Penetration causes your normal attacks and physical damage abilities to ignore a certain amount of your opponent’s armor. Armor Reduction reduces the opponent's Armor, causing all incoming incoming normal attacks and physical damage abilities to deal more damage (including those from allies). Armor Penetration cannot bring an enemy's armor below zero. However, Armor Reduction can. Armor Reduction is applied first. Since Season 3, Flat Armor Penetration is calculated after Percentage Armor Penetration. Because of this, both Flat Armor Penetration (ex. Brutalizer) and Percentage Armor Penetration (ex. Last Whisper) coexist nicely. Tip: Check out whether or not your opponents are building armor. If so, I strongly recommend looking at Last Whisper or Black Cleaver about midway through your item build, as this is often the most effective damage multiplier against opponents who stacks armor. Flat Armor Penetration/Reduction is more effective against champions with low armor, whereas percentage-based Armor Penetration/Reduction is more effective against champions with higher armor.

Attack Speed (Multiplier) Attack Speed determines how quickly your character uses normal attacks. You can have a maximum of 2.5 attack speed, literally meaning 2.5 attacks every second. Due to how the stat is calculated, Attack Speed is more effective on champions who already have a high base Attack Speed.


Critical Strike Chance (Multiplier) Critical Strike Chance determines the likelihood that your next normal attack will be a critical strike. A small number of abilities, such as Garen's Judgment, also benefit from Critical Strike.

Critical Strike Damage (Multiplier) Critical Strike Damage determines how much damage your critical strikes deal, based on a percentage of your attack damage. Critical strikes normally deal 200% damage, though this number can be raised with runes (Furor), masteries (Lethality), and items (Infinity Edge).

Lifesteal Lifesteal restores health based on a percentage of damage done with normal attacks and abilities that proc on-hit effects. Lifesteal is reduced by healing reduction effects.

Range Range is the distance you can use normal attacks from. Most melee champions have an attack range of 125, while a small number (such as Nautilus and Fizz) have an attack range of 175-200. Marksmen, as well as most other ranged champions generally fall between 500 and 650 range (Jinx, Kog'maw, Tristana and Twitch can go higher). Tip: Range often has a big impact on how a game plays out, especially when two opponents are laning against each other. When picking a physical damage champion to counter another champion, always consider the range difference between them.

Abilities Ability Power (Baseline) Ability Power increases the damage or effects of many champion spells. Abilities that scale with Ability Power will do so according to a ratio. For example, a damaging ability with a 0.5 ratio will deal bonus damage equal to 50% of your Ability Power.


Cooldown Reduction (Multiplier) Cooldown Reduction reduces the cooldown on most active champion abilities by a percentage. Cooldown Reduction caps at 40%, meaning a player can only reduce the abilities down to 60% of their original cooldown. Tip: Cooldown Reduction tends to be more effective on champions who already have short cooldowns. This is because having more Cooldown Reduction is more likely to allow for more spell casts in actual skirmishes and teamfights with these champions.

Magic Penetration & Magic Resistance Reduction (Multiplier) Magic Penetration causes your magic damage to ignore a certain amount of your opponents magic resistance. Magic Resistance Reduction reduces the opponent's magic resistance, causing all incoming magic damage to deal more damage (including those from allies). Magic Penetration cannot bring an enemy's magic resistance below zero. However, Magic Resistance Reduction can. Magic Resistance Reduction is applied first. Tip: Magic Penetration is a very strong stat to have, especially if your opponents are stacking magic resistance. Consider a Void Staff if your damage output comes primarily from magic damage. Flat Magic Penetration/Magic Resistance Reduction is more effective against champions with low magic resistance, whereas percentage-based Magic Penetration/Magic Resistance Reduction is more effective against champions with higher magic resistance.

Mana & Resources Most champions use Mana as a primary resource for using abilities. However, some champions use energy, health, champion-specific resources, or no resource at all.

Mana & Resource Regeneration This is the rate at which you regenerate your resource while you are not capped. Tip: If you're very dependent on a Mana or Energy, consider getting the blue golem buff on Summoner's Rift, as this will significantly increase your regeneration.


Spell Vamp Spell Vamp restores health based on a percentage of damage done with abilities. This does not work on most abilities that proc on-hit effects. To be clear, this applies to abilities that deal all types of damage, including physical damage and true damage, not just magic damage. Spell Vamp is only 33.3% effective on multi-target spells. Spell Vamp is reduced by healing reduction effects.

Defensive Health (Baseline), Effective Health & Shields Health is your primary resource. Once this reaches zero, you will die (with limited exceptions for some champion abilities and the Guardian Angel item proc). The efficiency and effectiveness of Health is based on the type of damage you're receiving, as well as sources of damage reduction you have to counter them. Put more simply, Health becomes better and better as you acquire more sources of damage reduction such as armor and magic resistance. This is the concept of Effective Health (EH). In most cases, health shields operate exactly like Health, and will also be more effective with armor and magic resistance. True damage, or damage sources that ignore all magic resist and armor, will always deal damage directly to your Health pool. Tip: Think about Effective Health when building items. A player with 5,000 health isn't necessarily more survivable than a player with 3,000,if the player with 3,000 has significantly more damage reduction from armor or magic resistance. Simply stacking Health is not an effective strategy for survival except in rare circumstances. With high armor or magic resistance, champions with shield abilities can be unusually well suited to taking damage, especially if the shield can be re-applied fairly often. This is not just because it acts as a substitute for health, but also because you don't lose health while it's active. The practical effect of this is that shields have an extremely good multiplicative effect on your longer-term survivability and sustainability.


By the same token, healing is more effective on you if you're taking less incoming damage. Keep this in mind if you have a healing heavy team and you're deciding whether to build Health or damage reduction. Finally, it's worth saying that -- in the early game -- it is virtually always better to build Health early on than it is to build damage reduction, unless you have very reliable sources of healing and won't be dealing with much burst damage. This is just due to a stat imbalance on most characters in the early game.

Armor (Multiplier) Armor reduces incoming physical damage from all sources. Due to the damage reduction calculation, Armor will always provide the same bonus to your Effective Health, regardless of how much Armor you currently have. Tip: Even though Armor always provides the same bonus to Effective Health, that doesn't mean that it will always be the best option for increasing your Effective Health, even against physical damage opponents. Increasing your base health may have a substantially larger or smaller impact on your survivability depending on what your Armor is currently at.

Magic Resistance (Multiplier) Magic Resistance reduces incoming magical damage from all sources. Due to the damage reduction calculation, Magic Resistance will always provide the same bonus to your Effective Health, regardless of how much Magic Resistance you currently have. Tip: Even though Magic Resistance always provides the same bonus to Effective Health, that doesn't mean that it will always be the best option for increasing your Effective Health, even against magical damage opponents. Increasing your base health may have a substantially larger or smaller impact on your survivability depending on what your Magic Resistance is currently at.

Health Regeneration This is the rate at which you regenerate health while you are not at full health. Health Regeneration is reduced by healing reduction effects. Tip: Health Regeneration tends to be more important in the early game than the late game. While regeneration is nice, keep in mind that itemizing for this stat will not help much against heavy burst damage (with exceptions for champions who can gain extremely high regeneration).


Health regeneration and other sources of healing are much more effective if you have high damage reduction (such as armor or magic resistance).

Tenacity Tenacity reduces the duration of Slows, Snares, Blinds, Silences, Stuns, Taunts and Fears by a percentage. The only type of crowd controls not affected are Knockups, Knockbacks and Suppression. Tenacity items do not stack with each other to provide greater reduction. However, they do stack multiplicatively with champion crowd control reductions, such as those found on Irelia, Trundle, and Mundo. Tip: You'll usually want to evaluate the types of crowd controls your opponents have available. Mercury Treads are usually a good choice for boots, but you'll occasionally come into matches where there are only a few crowd controls that will be affected.

Utility Movement Speed Movement Speed determines how quickly your champion travels over terrain. Boots contribute to your base movement speed, while percentage multipliers (such as those from Zeal, Phantom Dancer, Lich Bane, and Force of Nature) will multiply the combined effect of your base movement speed and your movement speed from boots. Tip: Movement Speed is one of the most overlooked and most important stats, especially for physical damage champions. This is because you will tend to need to catch back up to a moving opponent after your champion briefly stops due to their swing animation. With these stuttered attacks, your Attack Speed stat is generally a lot less effective, and the best way to speed your attacks up is to more quickly get back in range of the opponent. Being able to move more quickly may allow you to get kills before opponents can reach the safety of teammates or tower, or before they can simply get (and stay) out of your range.

Passive Gold Gain (Gold per 10) Passive gold is gold that is earned for the player over time with no additional actions required. Runes (Avarice), masteries (Greed), and items (Avarice Blade, Philosopher's Stone, and Kage's Lucky Pick) all grant bonus passive gold.


Tip: Even though each of the passive gold gain items says 'Unique Passive,' they do still stack with each other. The only thing you can't do is stack the same item multiple times for more gold gain.


A Little More Regarding Defensive Stats Defense is not intended to be more powerful than offense in League of Legends. One team has to lose, and the only way that happens is if players have superior methods of breaking through defensive items and champions. It's important to know how to do this, and to that end, here are some guidelines.

Low Health, Armor, and/or Magic Resist Burst damage exists to punish players with low health. Use it when the opportunity presents itself.

High Health High health is best countered with attacks that deal a percentage of health as damage, such as Kog'maw's Bio-Arcane Barrage or Vayne's Silver Bolts. Blade of the Ruined King (designed for marksmen) is also helpful for this. In cases where an enemy has high health but low armor and magic resistance, their Effective Health won't be too high and it may be much easier to kill them with normal attacks than other players who have a more effective balance of stats.

High Armor or High Magic Resist Percentage-based penetration stats (Armor Penetration/Reduction and Magic Penetration/Reduction) have a dramatic impact on enemies who are stacking armor or magic resist. Additionally, any source of true damage, such as Olaf's Reckless Swing or Cho'gath's Feast, will be effective against these players.

High Health, Armor, and Magic Resist Ignore these players until everyone else has been killed unless absolutely necessary. If a champion is too bulky, it usually means they've invested an extraordinary amount into defensiveness but haven't picked up items that would make them threatening to an enemy team.

High Health Regeneration or Healing Ignite or any source of healing reduction. In a pinch, pick up Executioner's Calling, an item that grants critical strike chance and lifesteal and can be activated to reduce your opponent's healing.


Glossary of Terms Here’s a look at the phrases you may come across while playing League of Legends: AA – Auto Attack. See Normal Attack. AD – Attack Damage. May also refer to marksmen, particularly when used in Champion Selection prior to a game starting. AD Carry – Marksmen. See “Champion Roles & Recommendations.” AFK – Away from Keyboard. Aggro – Causing a monster to attack you. Some players may use this to refer to drawing attention from any opponent, including other players. Ali – Alistar (champion). Animation Canceling – Moving or performing another action after a melee normal attack has dealt damage or a ranged normal attack has fired the projectile, but before the rest of the animation has finished. Covered in “Attack Animation & Projectile Speed” as well as in Stutter Step, Attack Move, and Awesome Keybinding Trick on YouTube. AOE – Area of Effect. Items and abilities that hit all valid targets in an area when activated are considered AOE. See also, multi-target. AP – Ability Power. May also refer to mages. May also refer to mages, particularly when used in Champion Selection prior to a game starting. AP Caster – Mages. See “Champion Roles & Recommendations.” APC – Mages. See “Champion Roles & Recommendations.” Apen – Armor penetration. See “Stats.” ARAM – Usually refers to the Howling Abyss game map, which was developed from the popular “All Random, All Mid” custom game mode. Assassin – Champions that are designed to quickly kill their opponents. See “Champion Roles & Recommendations.” Aura – A persistent area effect, usually around a champion. For example, Sona can maintain an aura that increases the damage of her nearby allies, whereas a champion with a Frozen Heart will reduce the attack speed of nearby enemies. Auto Attack – See Normal Attack.


B – Recall or fall back. For example, if a player says “I need to b” or “go b” they are usually referring to returning to base. Backdoor – Attacking structures in a lane when allied minions have not yet reached those structures. Baron – Major neutral monster on Summoner’s Rift. See “Summoner’s Rift Guidebook.” Base – The walled areas of the map that house the core structures for each team. Basic Attack – See Normal Attack. BC – The Black Cleaver (item). Blind – Standard game mode for normal (non-ranked) matches where each player picks champions without knowing what champions will be picked by the opposing team. Blink – Abilities such as Flash and Ezreal’s Arcane Shift that move a champion from one location to another without traveling in between. Blitz – Blitzcrank (champion). Blue & Blue Buff – Blue golem pack or the regeneration buff gained from killing blue golem. For example, “defend blue” implies preventing the enemy team from clearing the jungle camp, whereas “may I have blue” is a request to deal the killing blow to the large golem to gain the buff. See “Summoner’s Rift Guidebook.” Blue Elixir & Blue Pot – Elixir of Brilliance (item). Bo3 & Bo5 – Best of Three and Best of Five. This refers to the number of matches teams will play against each other in tournaments. Bot – Most likely refers to the bottom lane, but may refer to AI-controlled opponents in cooperative and custom matches. See “Summoner’s Rift Guidebook.” Bruiser – See fighters. Brush – Areas of tall grass that conceal vision. This is used interchangeably with “bush.” See “Summoner’s Rift Guidebook.” BT – Bloodthirster (item). Buff – Either a developer-created improvement to a specific element in the game (such as a champion or item) or a temporary bonus gained for a champion. For example, if a patch were released that increased the damage of Infinity Edge, that would be an item buff. Alternatively, if a champion killed the Blue Golem, they would gain a temporary regeneration and cooldown reduction buff. Burst – How much damage a champion can deliver in a short period of time (as opposed to sustained damage). Assassins tend to be high burst champions. 378 | Learn the League

Bush – See Brush. BV – Banshee’s Veil (item). Camps – Areas in the jungle where groups of neutral monsters reside. See “Summoner’s Rift Guidebook.” Cap – A maximum value. For example, players are capped at six items and a trinket, meaning they can never have more than this number of items in their inventory. Care – Be careful. Carry – Champions who deal disproportionate amounts of their team’s sustained damage are often referred to as carries. Carries are often mages and marksmen, and may be weaker relative to other players earlier in the game than they are later on. See “Champion Roles & Recommendations.” Cass – Cassiopeia (champion). CC – See Crowd Control. CD – Cooldowns. For example, “on cd” means an ability or item is on cooldown. CDR – Cooldown reduction. See “Stats.” Champion Select – The game lobby immediately prior to a new match loading in. Channel & Channeling – Certain abilities and actions require a champion to stay focused on the action for their duration. Some channels, such as recalling, can be interrupted with damage. Other channels, such as Katarina’s ultimate, can only be broken by opponents with crowd controls. Cho – Cho’gath (champion). Client – Usually refers to the out-of-game portion of the user interface (where you shop, look at profiles, etc.). Combat Warding – Placing wards mid-combat in such a way that it gives immediate tactical vision. For example, if an opponent is running into brush and a ward is placed in the brush as they enter to prevent juking and allow allied normal attacks and targeted abilities to continue uninterrupted. Another example would be dropping a stealth-detecting ward in Akali’s shroud as she places it, removing her combat advantage. Combo – Combination. An ability combo is used to denote a set of abilities that work together towards a single goal, such as bursting an opponent down. Counter – A champion, item, strategy, stat, or game mechanic that works well against an opposing attribute. For example, armor is a counter to physical damage. A “soft counter” is a counter that isn’t absolute or overwhelming; for example, Karthus’ map-wide damage may be soft countered by Soraka’s


map-wide heal. A “hard counter” is an absolute counter with an overwhelming advantage; for example, Diana’s entire ability kit is perfectly suited to shutting down Katarina. For example, Diana is considered a strong counter to Katarina Cow – Alistar (champion). Crowd Control – Ability that disrupts a champion. This term can include “hard” crowd controls that completely prevent a character from taking most actions (knockups, knockbacks, stuns, suppression, fears, etc.) and “soft” crowd controls that partly prevent a character from action (slows, immobilize, silence, etc.). CS – Refers to the number of minions killed. Derived from an older term, “creep score.” Dash – Abilities that quickly move champions from one location to another. Unlike blinks, these have travel time, and many can be stopped mid-way through their path by enemy abilities. In terms of how the game works, dashes such as Vi’s Vault Breaker and leaps such as Tristana’s Rocket Jump often operate similarly. Default Attack – See Normal Attack. Disengage – Champions and abilities that either push opponents away or help players fall back from a fight. For example, Janna is a champion with strong disengage thanks to her Howling Gale knockup, Zephyr slow, and Monsoon knockback. Disruption – Refers to crowd controls and teamfight control or specifically to abilities that can interrupt channeled abilities such as Katarina’s Death Lotus. See crowd control. Dive – See tower dive. Dog – Nasus (champion). Dom – Dominion game mode. DOT – Damage Over Time. Usually refers to specific abilities that debuff the target and cause periodic damage (such as once per second). DOT abilities can interrupt and delay actions such as recalls. DOTA – “Defense of the Ancients,” a very popular Warcraft III custom game that laid the groundwork for League of Legends and other successful games. Some players refer to League of Legends as being part of the DOTA genre. See MOBA. DPS – Damage Per Second. Originally popular in MMORPGs where players could track their exact damage output over a given period of time. Without these stats, League players from an MMORPG background tend to use the term to generically refer champions that deal high consistent damage. Draft – Draft pick mode where teams alternate banning champions, then players alternate picking champions. This can be used for normal games but is always used for ranked matches.


Dragon – Major neutral monster on Summoner’s Rift. See “Summoner’s Rift Guidebook.” Duo Lane – When two players, often a support and marksman combination, play together in a lane. Duo Queue – Refers to entering ranked non-team matches with a partner. Effective Health – How much raw damage you can take from a source of damage, taking into account both health and armor or magic resist. See “Stats.” Elo – See MMR. Elo Hell – See “Introduction to Ranked Matches.” Facecheck – Walking into brush without prior vision on the area. Generally considered a very risky move. Farm – Refers either to killing minions or to where a champion is in terms of items. For example, “I need to farm” means a champion needs to focus on killing minions in lane, whereas “that Tryndamere is really farmed” means the champion has disproportionately strong items when compared to other players in the match. FB – First Blood. Refers to the first death as the result of the enemy team during a match. Fed – When a player is has acquired enough kills that they’ve become a disproportionately strong threat when compared to others in the match. Feed – Dying to an enemy player or team. Depending on context, this may imply dying repeatedly, or it may imply dying because of poor decision making. In some cases, particularly when said by toxic players, this may refer to any allied death. Feeder – Used to insult a player who feeds. FF – Forfeit (surrender) a match. Typing “/ff” in chat will bring up the surrender vote or vote yes if the surrender vote is already active. FH – Frozen Heart (item). Flask – Crystalline Flask (item). Occasionally used to refer to elixirs. Focus – Used to designate a specific player or objective to target as a group. Fog of War – The shrouded areas of the map where enemy actions generally cannot be seen. See “Summoner’s Rift Guidebook.” Freeze – Freezing a minion wave in place by preventing it from moving forwards towards your structures but also preventing the lane from quickly pushing back towards the enemy base. See “Practical Tips & Advice.”


Fighter – Bulkier champions who are designed to deal damage and stay near the front line. See “Champion Roles & Recommendations.” Fish – Nami (champion) or Fizz (champion). GA – Guardian Angel (item). Gank – Moving in for a kill on an opponent with overwhelming force. For example, in the early game a jungler coming to attack a lane a 2v2 lane, thus making it a 3v2 lane, is attempting to gank the lane. GG – Good game. Polite phrase used towards opponents at the end of a match. May also be phrased “gg wp” meaning “good game, well played.” Globals – Effects & abilities that are map-wide or have an extremely long range. For example, killing a tower awards global gold and Shen has a global ultimate that allows him to move to an allied player anywhere on the map. Shorter-range ultimate such as Ziggs, Nocturne, and Pantheon are often considered global as well because they can have the same practical effect on matches. GP – Gangplank (champion). GP10 – Gold per 10 seconds. Refers to gold over time items such as Philosopher’s Stone. Harass – Lightly damaging or crowd controlling your opponents in an effort to eventually force them out of lane. Hard CC – See Crowd Control. Hard Counter – See Counter. Hotfix – Developer-created game fix that usually does not require players download an updated version of the game. Hypercarry – Refers to extremely strong late game carries that, when farmed, may be able to go toe-totoe with anyone on an enemy team, and can clean up teamfights even without the help of other damage-dealers. Champions such as Kog’maw, Vayne, Tryndamere, and Tristana are some examples of potential hyper carries. These champions can become wrecking balls if a game goes on too long. IE – Infinity Edge (item). Inhib & Inhibitor – Inhibitors are structures found at the end of each lane, within the walls of each team’s base. See “Summoner’s Rift Guidebook.” Invade – Refers to invading the enemy jungle. When used in champion selection or at the beginning of a match, usually refers to immediately invading the enemy jungle as a team to set their jungler behind, pick up kills, and/or place wards. IP – Influence Points.


J4 – Jarvan IV (champion). Juking – Movement intended to disorient your opponents and fake them out. For example, intentionally running in a straight line until they’ve aimed and fired a skillshot, then immediately moving a different direction to dodge it. Alternatively, moving in and out of vision (such as between two sets of nearby brush) to prevent them from easily targeting you. Kass – Kassadin (champion). Kat – Katarina (champion). KDA – Kill/Death/Assist ratio. A higher number is better, as it implies gaining more kills and assists than deaths. Usually measured across one match, across a tournament, or across a season. Kill Lane – When two players enter a lane with the goal of harassing and ideally killing their opponents, thereby shutting them out of lane. This may include a marksman and tank (ex. as Leona and Tristana) or it may include other combinations of champions, such as two fighters (ex. Darius and Volibear), two mages (ex. Veigar and LeBlanc), or other combinations (ex. Cassiopeia and Soraka). Kite – Maintaining distance on a target while staying engaged in combat with them. For example, Ashe firing slowing arrows at a Nasus and moving away from him between attacks, allowing her to gain more attacks before Nasus reaches her (and potentially allowing her to survive the entire exchange). Kog – Kog’maw (champion). KS – Kill Steal. This is a term some players use when they feel someone has landed a killing blow and taken credit for a kill they didn’t earn. ‘Tis a silly term. Often rebutted by saying “Kill Steal? Kill Secured.” KZ – Kha’zix (champion). Lane – One of the three main paths extending from from the blue base to the purple base. Each lane contains three towers and an inhibitor, and team minions travel along these paths. See “Summoner’s Rift Guidebook.” LB – LeBlanc (champion). LCS – League Championship Series, the official Riot Games tournaments covering North America and Europe. League of Legends – Among the most popular games ever made, League of Legends is a fast-paced multiplayer arena that pulls elements from the Roleplaying and Real-Time Strategy genres. Leash – Pulling a monster to beyond its maximum range, causing it to begin moving back to its spawn point. Leaver – Someone who leaves a game. May be used as an insult when a player appears to quit out of rage or frustration.


Leech – Refers to staying in range of monsters or minions that allies are killing in order to gain experience from the kill. Despite the name, this is generally not considered a negative term. Liss – Lissandra (champion). LP – League Points. See “Introduction to Ranked Matches & Draft Pick.” LW – Last Whisper (item). Mage – One of the core champion roles in League of Legends, mages are champions who rely on abilities and deal mostly magic damage. See “Champion Roles & Recommendations.” Marksman – One of the core champion roles in League of Legends, marksmen are champions who rely heavily on ranged normal attacks and deal mostly physical damage. See “Champion Roles & Recommendations.” Mechanics – Can refer to player skill or game functionality. For example, if someone says “that player has really good mechanics,” it implies they are able to pull off intricate actions with ease (such as moving well between attacks, positioning well, etc.). On the other hand, “Fizz’s Urchin Strike will allow him to dash over walls if his target is on the other side of the wall, but will stop at the wall if his opponent is on the same side of the wall as him,” is an example of a champion mechanic. Meta – The meta, or metagame, is community-accepted strategy and knowledge that is gained outside the game and is used to determine how the game is played. While the word is used in a huge number of ways, one of the more common is when referring to which lanes are expected to be filled by which players on Summoner’s Rift. See “Where you Belong – The Meta.” Mercs – Mercury Treads (item). MF – Miss Fortune (champion). MIA – Missing in Action. This has largely been replaced with the Smart Ping functionality. Mid – Mid lane. See “Summoner’s Rift Guidebook.” MMR – Matchmaking Rating. This is the hidden number that partly determines who you play against and how many League Points you win or lose in ranked matches. Both normal and ranked queues have a hidden MMR. See “Introduction to Ranked Matches & Draft Pick.” MOBA – “Multiplayer Online Battle Arena,” a term meant to encompass League of Legends and the broader genre of similar games. See DOTA. Mobility – Refers to how much maneuverability a champion has through dash and blink abilities. Sometimes used in reference to champions with high movement speed as well. Mord – Mordekaiser (champion).


Morg – Morgana (champion). MP5 – Mana per 5 seconds, often used as shorthand for mana regeneration gained from items. See “Stats.” Mpen – Magic Penetration. See “Stats.” MS – Movement Speed. Multi-target – Abilities which can affect more than one target are considered multi-target. This is a broad term that includes AOE abilities, but also includes other abilities such as Sona’s Hymn of Valor (which damages the two closest targets in range, prioritizing champions). Mummy – Amumu (champion). Naked Inhibitor – An inhibitor that has no tower protection due to the tower being destroyed. Naut – Nautilus (champion). Nerf – A developer-created reduction in strength on a game element such as a champion or item. For example, if Ahri’s damage output was reduced in a patch, this would be a nerf. Nexus – The large protected structure inside each team’s base. Without a surrender, destroying the nexus is the only way to win the game. See “Summoner’s Rift Guidebook.” Nid – Nidalee (champion). Normal Attack – The default attack used by your champion when targeting an enemy. For example, when Ashe fires an arrow at her enemy without using any of her abilities, this is a normal attack. Normals – Generally used to refer to unranked games on Summoner’s Rift, though may be used for Twisted Treeline as well. Nuke – An ability or ability combo that deals high burst damage. OGN – OnGameNet, major South Korean television company and tournament organizer. OMW – On my way. On Tilt – Playing poorly as a result of performance in previous matches. Playing on tilt is a mental trap that is more likely to occur when continuing to play while on a losing streak. See “Mental Preparedness.” OOM – Out of mana. OP – Overpowered. Orbwalk – See animation canceling. Ori – Orianna (champion). 385 | Learn the League

Overextend – Moving past where you’re safe in your lane, adding significant risk of being caught and killed by opponents. Passive – A champion’s passive ability. Often used for strong passives, such as determining whether Zac or Anivia have had their passive put on cooldown, removing their ability to revive from death. Patch – Developer-created update that must be downloaded and upgrades the game to a newer version. Pathing – How champions and other units move around the map, particularly in regards to moving around terrain and other units. Pathing tends to be discussed when something unnatural or unexpected happens (such as a minion going somewhere it shouldn’t or a champion being unable to get past a group of minions to secure a kill). Peel – Removing or disrupting an enemy currently attacking an ally, usually through crowd control, similar in concept to peeling an orange. Philo – Philosopher’s Stone (item). Pink – Pink vision ward, especially used to identify locations that may have another ward or are vulnerable to stealth champions. Plays – Refers to game events that showcase solid player skill. For example, if a Nidalee escapes from an enemy team through their own jungle, a caster may exclaim “the plays!” May be used sarcastically. Poke – Long range damage, usually on a short or moderate cooldown that allows it to be used somewhat frequently. For example, Nidalee’s Javelin Toss is an example of poke, whereas Ziggs’ Mega Inferno Bomb ultimate has too long of a cooldown to be considered poke. Pool – Usually refers to the summoner platform, may refer to Vladimir’s Sanguine Pool. Positioning – Refers to where a champion is during engagements. May also be used positively or negatively to imply good or bad play. See “Positioning.” Pressure – Creating an area that opposing players must choose to defend, either through pushing or grouping in that area. Creating an imbalance of power somewhere on the map. Proc – When passive abilities or items cause an effect this is referred to as a proc. Originally the word was used to refer to “programmed random occurrence” and applied specifically to random events. In this context, Quinn’s Harrier passive would be considered a proc when it randomly applies to a target. However, the word is also commonly used to refer to non-random effects. For example, a player may say they used an ability to proc their Lich Bane, even though the Lich Bane is guaranteed to activate. Pub & Pug – Refers to members of a team that are not part of an organized party. For example, if three players queue together to join a 5v5 match, those three members may refer to the other two players on their team as either of these terms. ‘Pub’ literally refers to public, and was frequently used in custom matches on Battle.net servers, including the original DOTA. ‘Pug’ literally refers to ‘Pick Up Group,’ a


term used to refer to a party - or members of a party - joining to complete dungeons in MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft. Both terms are totally interchangeable in League of Legends. Pubstomp – Insult that implies playing against a team and easily killing them due to their lack of skill and coordination. Derives from the word “pub.” Push & Pushing – Moving minions in a lane towards the next objective in that lane. Alternatively, this can be used as a term for damaging a tower when minions are already present. See “Practical Tips & Advice” and “The Impossible Decision.” Quickcast – Ability toggle in the hotkey options which enables instant casting of abilities. See “Quick Cast (Formerly Smart Cast).” Ranged AD Carry – See Marksman. Ranked – Generally used to refer to Ranked games on Summoner’s Rift, though may be used for Twisted Treeline as well. Red & Red Buff – Red Lizard pack or the damage& slowing buff gained from killing red lizard. For example, “defend red” implies preventing the enemy team from clearing the jungle camp, whereas “may I have red” is a request to deal the killing blow to the large lizard to gain the buff. See “Summoner’s Rift Guidebook.” Red Elixir & Red Pot – Elixir of Fortitude (item). Report – Submitting a complaint about a player to the Tribunal through the post-match reporting system. Often used as a threat. Resources – Mana, energy, or specialized stats that are required for champion abilities. Riot Games – Riot Games Inc. is the company that develops League of Legends. RNG – Random Number Generator. Often used in the context of bad luck, particularly in regards to abilities that appear to rely on random chance. For example, if Brand’s ultimate bounces to several full health targets but never hits the player with a sliver of health remaining, a player may complain about “bad RNG.” Root – A specific type of crowd control that locks your character in place but doesn’t stun you. See Crowd Control. RP – Riot Points. Scaling – The rate at which champions, items, or abilities increase in strength. For example, Lux’s abilities scale with their rank and her ability power. Scrim & Scrimmage – Matches where professional teams play against each other in an unranked, nontournament setting for the purpose of practicing and improving.


Sej – Sejuani (champion). Shop – The area near the summoner’s platform where players can purchase, refund, and sell items. See “Summoner’s Rift Guidebook.” Shotcaller – A shotcaller makes critical decisions and communicates them to their team in real time. In the tournament scene, almost all teams will have a shotcaller. Among other things, this player may tell the team who to focus down in a teamfight, or decide when to initiate or fall back from fights during a tense standoff. Siege – Applying pressure to an enemy structure while enemies are nearby with the end goal of destroying the structure. Skillshot – Abilities that are not targeted on a unit or do not automatically acquire a target are skillshots. These come in many forms, including line skillshots such as Lux’s Light Binding, area effects such as Leona’s Solar Flare, and movement abilities such as Gragas’ Body Slam. While skillshots encompass a huge number of abilities in League of Legends, players will tend to use it to refer to damaging and avoidable abilities. Smartcast – See quickcast. Smurf – Secondary accounts for players with a fairly large amount of game experience. See “Beating the Smurfs.” Snare – May refer either to a crowd control that slows a champion or a root that prevents movement. See Root, Crowd Control. Snowball – When a player or team gains progressively more power by capitalizing on their previous gains. For example, if a Tryndamere picks up a kill in lane, then returns with items he was able to afford due to the kill, he may find it even easier to get the next kill; soon, he may “snowball” out of control. Soft CC – See Crowd Control. Soft Counter – See Counter. Solo Queue – Refers to ranked non-team matches on Summoner’s Rift. Split Push – When a team divides into smaller groups to push more than one lane. See “Practical Tips & Advice” and “The Impossible Decision.” SR – Summoner’s Rift game map. SS – See MIA. Steroid – Abilities or passives that provide significant increases to certain stats such as attack speed or attack damage.


Stutter Step – See animation canceling. Summoners – When used in game or in the pre-game champion selection, usually refers to summoner spells. Summoner’s Platform – The location where players begin each match and where they will return if they recall. See “Summoner’s Rift Guidebook.” Support – One of the core champion roles in League of Legends, support are champions who may bring utility in the form of heals, shields, crowd controls, auras, buffs, or debuffs. These champions excel at enhancing their team through means other than raw damage. See “Champion Roles & Recommendations.” Suppress – Particularly strong form of crowd control that locks both the aggressor and the target down. Most supressions are targeted, have a decent duration, and cannot be removed without a Quicksilver Sash or Mercurial Scimitar. Sustain – Stats and abilities that allow players to regenerate health and/or resources over time. For example, purchasing lifesteal items such as Vampiric Scepter and Bloodthirster allow a marksman or fighter to sustain their health over time. A duo lane that has a Sona is an example of a lane that has sustain. SV – Spirit Visage (item). Tank – One of the core champion roles in League of Legends, tanks are suited to control the chaos of teamfights by disrupting and crowd controlling their opponents. Tanks are often able to soak up large amounts of incoming damage, making them ideal for being in the front line. See “Champion Roles & Recommendations.” Tencent – Tencent Holdings Limited is a Chinese company that acquired Riot Games Inc. in 2011. TF – Twisted Fate (champion) or Trinity Force (item). Tilt – See On Tilt. Top – Top lane. See “Summoner’s Rift Guidebook.” Tower – Though officially referred to as turrets, the defensive structures in each lane and defending the nexus are most popularly referred to as towers. See “Summoner’s Rift Guidebook.” Tower Dive – Ganking or attacking players under their own towers, usually for an extended duration that requires taking multiple tower shots. Tower Hug – Staying close to an allied tower for protection. Toxic – Refers either to players or champion mechanics. Players who bring down the enjoyment level for others in the game they take part in (ex. insulting, trolling, leaving early) are considered toxic. On the


other hand, game developers have occasionally referred to some champions as having a toxic impact on the game, thus requiring design changes; in these situations, these champions were considered to make gameplay considerably less enjoyable for their opponents, and in some cases, for their allies as well. TP – Teleport (summoner spell). Trade – Players engaging each other in a brief skirmish that does not result in a kill. A favorable trade is one in which your champion comes out ahead of your opponent. Tri – Trinity Force (item). Tribunal – Player-run justice system that evaluates reports and decides whether to punish or pardon players based on their actions. Troll – A player who intentionally disrupts play, insults players, or otherwise negatively influences a match. Tryhard – An insult meant to make fun of someone for “trying hard” to win a game. When a player uses this phrase, it’s usually a sign that they have absolutely nothing worthwhile to contribute. TT – Twisted Treeline 3v3 game mode. Turret – See Tower. Ult – Ultimate ability. Most champions have a powerful ultimate ability which cannot be unlocked until several levels into the game. UP – Underpowered. Urf – Urf was a manatee character introduced for April Fools in 2009. He is occasionally referenced in other trivia and champion skins. Urfwick – Urfwick is a skin for Warwick released for April Fools of 2010. Warwick ate Urf. Vision – See Fog of War. Wave Clear – How quickly a champion or team can clear minion waves. This is an important factor in how easy it is to take down enemy structures and how necessary it may be to tower dive an enemy team. Wombo Combo – A combination of abilities that completely obliterates a player or team, especially when orchestrated with abilities from multiple players. Zhonya’s – Zhonya’s Hourglass (item). Because the activated portion of this item allows for brief invulnerability, this may be used in order to determine whether the item is available. Zone – Refers to the act of preventing players from gaining experience and gold by actively blocking them. This may be accomplished through the threat of force rather than the application (ex. Teemo can 390 | Learn the League

no longer safely farm because Pantheon is blocking his path, and a spear from Pantheon will kill or critically wound him). Can also refer to areas of the map and the jungle, specifically in regards to zone control.


Timers Reference Here's a reference page for important timers. If you want to get an edge in a game, keep track of when these timers are going to come up to very quickly capitalize on them. To help your team, drop the time stamp in chat when you’re in public games.

Jungle Timers Baron Nashor - 7:00 Respawn First spawns at 15:00 Dragon - 6:00 Respawn First spawns at 2:30 Blue/Red Buff - 5:00 Respawn First spawn at 1:55, respawn around 7:05 if camp was killed quickly after initial spawn Wight / Double Golems / Three Wolves / Four Wraiths - 0:50 Respawn First spawn at 1:55

Other Timers Inhibitors - 5:00 Respawn, 15 second respawn from warning message Wards - 3:00 Expiration Flash - 4:10 Cooldown with Masteries


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