League of Legends

[Skye1013]

I fully plan to try them out whenever they're free, but figured I'd get people's opinions of them. I like how they look, which is about the only thing weighing on my decisions right now.

Ryze is about the only guy I have any experience with atm (read: ~4 games.) I tried one of the other mages yesterday (has the slow/MR redux wall for W, name starts with a K I think?) He didn't really agree with me, but that could just be not really knowing how to play him. Was looking through some of the current freebies, Gargas looks interesting as does the gun chick (kinda steampunk looking one.)

For Ryze it might be more like Boots + pots

The basic boots that just give +1 move? And I'm assuming you mean health pots? How does one use those (is there a shortcut command, or do I have to click it?)

Also, what are some summoner powers to avoid? I've read Smite is bad if you aren't jungling, but are there any others that are pretty situational?

[Dragondin]

I think you mean Karthus. In my opinion he needs a bit training to play him well. Especially good placement of his Wall can secure kills and is a requirement for playing him well.

Yes he means the +1 basic boots. Usually its a good idea to start with basic boots and 3 health pots, except supports, they often start with faerie charm, wards and a health pot. you can klick at the health pots to use them or use the shortcut keys 1 - 6, depending on the slot you place the health pots. with this shortcuts you can also place wards or use itme with active effects.

Its always a good idea to take flash as one of your summoners. There are some champions there you flash isnt needed, then you take ghost, but usually you take flash. if you dont have flash yet, i would say take ghost. the second summoner depends on your role. as ap mid you can take ignite, or sometimes teleport to help other lanes. dont take clarity. smite is for jungler. ad carries take heal, exhaust, ignite or sometimes cleanse and the support exhaust if the carrie dont have it, clairvoyance or heal. top can take teleport if they want to help other lanes or ignite. sometimes they take also exhaust, but if havent seen it often.
Revive, surge, promote and clarity are summoners you should avoid. the simple arent as good as the other.

[Skye1013]

This might be a somewhat odd question, but do you ever start the game from the other side? Or is it always viewed based on starting from the bottom left? I mean, if it's the latter, then wouldn't top/mid/bot be relative?

[Dragondin]

if you play against KI you always start at the blue (bottom left) side. in PvP matches one team starts at the blue and the other at the purple side. nevertheless mid/top/bot are always the same lane. if you look at the map it doenst matter from which side you start.

[Skye1013]

So.... I picked up Amumu since he's 50% off this week and I had 400 RP to blow...



Gotta say... I'm enjoying him (this was my ~3rd game with him on 5v5 all bots but me.) Best game I've played so far, even if it was a loss. Even had a 9 kill streak.

[Donut]

double post

[Donut]

I'm noticing people giving much more specific advice than is neccesary. If you're just starting out then all you have to worry about is trying new heroes and getting good at two things: last hitting and positioning. Everything else you will learn as you progress into pvp games. That being said...

At lvl 5 you don't even have flash, which is the most important summoner spell, so just experiment with the rest. Probably avoid clarity, surge, promote, and revive, they dont see much play in Summoner's Rift. Once you hit 12 and get flash though, I would stick that in a slot and really get good with it because 97% of all champs carry it pretty much (with the exception of a few highly mobile jungles who need exhaust for gank pressure - getting ahead of myself here.)

They updated the recommended items a while back and now the suggestions are really good, so stick with them until you become familiar with the items and want to try out your own builds. There isn't really a downside to buying parts if you happen to be back at fountain so definately do that. The only major difference, as people have mentioned, is that the typical start is boots and 3 health potions into 1-2 of the appropriate doran's items, but after that the recommended items are pretty spot on.

What you might want to do before you play a champion, is to youtube "'champion name' spotlight", over half of them have official riot spotlights which will give you give you a decent idea as to the basics of their abilities and roles. The ones that don't typically have a spotlight from a number of other youtubers that make similar videos (including Ciderhelm from tankspot I believe).

There is a cool chrome extention that tracks live streams including tournaments. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/edidfaijmhpefkbnobdcepampbncgejp
MLG summer arena is going on Aug 3-5 <- worth watching imo.

Oh, and Zilean is free this week and one of my favorite mids.

[Skye1013]

I <3 Caitlyn



Played one PvP game as Amumu. Started out pretty good (first blood/double kill), but we were all just too noobish to successfully Team Fight (even at 5v4 in our favor.)

Still working on leveling, at 8 currently, so 4 more til Flash.

[Skye1013]

I'm noticing people giving much more specific advice than is neccesary. If you're just starting out then all you have to worry about is trying new heroes and getting good at two things: last hitting and positioning. Everything else you will learn as you progress into pvp games. That being said...

I don't mind the specific advice, as it will come into play eventually, and if I learn to do things "correctly" from the get go, I won't have to break bad habits down the line.

That being said, is mobafire a good site for their guides? I've used it for both Amumu and Caitlyn, with decent results (Amumu would probably be better if I knew how to properly Jungle) but wondered if there are better ones out there.

[bldavis]

http://www.lolpro.com/ is the one i use (well used)

[Aubade]

So coming from someone who's been playing for 3 years(1500+ games played), and has taught quite a few of my friends how to play.

there are just a few simple things you need to know.

1. Learn to last-hit well. It is the most game-changing thing you can learn, and the earlier the better.

2. Always watch your mini-map and be aware of the whole game. (Try to keep tabs on enemy players, your players, fights happening, etc.)

3. WARD WARD WARD WARD WARD WARD WARD WARD. Use wards all the time, no matter your role. when farming for items, shoot for 200 over what you actually need, so you can buy some wards! (Don't over-extend your welcome just to farm. If you need to go back, go back.)

4. Don't spend your IP on runes until you're level 20+, it's just not worth it.

5. Don't jungle in PvP until you have T3 runes.

6. Learn a few champions of every role. (Bruiser, Jungler, Tank, AP carry, AD carry, Support.) Be versatile in all roles, and master 1 role.

7. Suggested item builds are actually pretty good, and they're a good starting point. But there's not a single build that is perfect, everything is situational to your team and the enemy team. That being said, every champion has a few CORE items, and learning them is important.

8. Try to PvP as much as possible (This is personal preference). Co-Op vs. AI is always going to be very stagnant. Once you hit level 10+ you should never ever lose an AI game, and there's no challenge in it. It's good for learning new roles, and trying new builds/Characters. But you stop learning anything productive from it as a player pretty early on, so you should try to switch to PvP as soon as possible. The leveling system keeps it pretty well balanced (Until you factor in smurfs/people playing with high level friends).

9. Have fun.




My Summoner name is Aubade on NA, I'd be more than glad to play with you, or any other MTAdin for that matter. I'm not on much at the moment though since I don't have a computer at home that can run LoL, but I try to get on often after hours at work.

[Skye1013]

When farming, do you normally attack ALL THE THINGS!!! Or just wait to get last hits on stuff, letting your creep do most of the damage?

[Levantine]

Unless you're trying to push the lane for a specific reason, last hit only... Unless you're like, Morgana or a champ like her.

[Skye1013]

Haven't played Morgana... what makes her special?

[Levantine]

Beastly farm with Tormented Soil.

Also, holy fuck Diana is awesome. I haven't clicked with a champion like this since Ahri. Apparently I'm not too shabby with the mobile AP Assassin type champs.

[Aubade]

What Lev said. Her W ability drops a pool of darkness on the ground that ticks an AoE DoT as long as someone's standing in it. It's strong enough to kill entire creep waves by itself at high levels, and does a pretty substantial chunk at low levels. Amazing for farming. Drop W -> start moving to next lane. Drop W -> Move back to orginial lane. Etc etc. Can farm for dayssss

[Skye1013]

Why do all the Champions I like the looks of cost 6300? -.-

[Levantine]

Stupid Morgana making me rage with her stupid binding soil ult Zhonya shenaniganry. Especially since every time I see one in my team they feed instead of be awesome. Makes me le sad and I prefer top to mid, but at the same time I can't seem to trust any randoms to contain her early.

Also fuck kayle.

Also fuck teemo.

WHY ARE ALL THESE CHAMPIONS BEASTLY WHEN IM FIGHTING THEM BUT FEEDERS WHEN THEY'RE ON MY TEAM?!?!

Seriously, I die on the inside every time I see a whiffed kayle ultimate. Like, why u ult the kennen who was obviously about to pop his zhonyas?

[Skye1013]

I'd offer to play with ya Lev, but then you'd have a focus for your rage, and I'm not sure I want to be that focus

[Levantine]

I have a smurf I'd be happy to play with you on since apparently retards get more and more common the higher my level gets. Newbs I can handle, especially ones that are happy to learn like you tend to be. Also we have access to vent so queuing with you would be easy victories.

[bldavis]

id offer to play with as well, but i would just take the rage focus off skye >.>

[Levantine]

Well with the champions I've been playing of late if I have a lane mate that isn't mind bogglingly retarded I can snowball hard and carry the newbie teams. Ap carries are funsies.

[Donut]

I'd play but I'm only able to for a few games a day, I need to hit plat before the end of the month as I am taking a trip. Also the price points were originally a way to distinguish complexity of a champ (i.e 450 are simple to play 6300 require decent game knowledge) that was like 3 years ago though. Now they supposedly they have a system in place where they'll be systematically reducing the prices of older champs because all of the new champs they release are 6300 to combat ip inflation.

Just out of curiosity what elos are you guys playing at? some duo partners would be nice.

[bldavis]

um...i think i am summoner level 10 or 11, so w/e that means to you

[Levantine]

It means you don't have an elo.