How am I supposed to play with unlocked camera?

Zacsper·Mar 13, 2017·2 votes·16,352 views

I've been playing with locked camera ever since I've started league, and decided that I should try and learn how to play with unlocked, since that's apparently the better way to play. However, everything just feels so weird. I've played unlocked screen for 20 games straight now, and I still don't feel like I have the handle on it, nor that I'm good with it. Ill either fuck up with moving the camera fast enough to catch up with who I'm playing, or I'll lose track of my character or health bar sometimes as well. That, or I can end up accidentally clicking on the mini-map and screwing up where I'm trying to move to, which has happened multiple times now. I've tried adjusting the camera move speed, I've tried using the mouse click drag thing, I've tried just moving my mouse on the borders of the screen, I've tried holding down space-bar when I go in on enemies (that one seems to work the best, but it feels like its just locked camera, so whats the point of doing that?) and I just don't really know what to do with it. I'd expect to see at least some improvement with it by now, but I've seen nothing. Just me getting annoyed by it and really wondering if it's worth it to try and learn it if I'm so bad with it.

19 Comments

P0IS0N IVYMar 13, 20173 votes

I have a button for locking and unlocking the camera. I actually played locked the majority of the time. When I want to look around, I press the hotkey to unlock it and then lock it again to make it snap back to my champion.

ZacsperMar 13, 20171 votes

So you only unlock it to look around and lock back to your character when in lane, preparing to fight, going onto people, etc? Should I be doing that instead of keeping it unlocked and only "locking" the camera back onto myself when I go in on enemies so I can better keep track of my champion?

P0IS0N IVYMar 16, 20171 votes

Whichever comes most naturally to you. I cannot ever fight if I'm not locked on my champ. I miss a bunch of skillshots and lose track of them. Note that if you're playing mobile champions, it is easier to keep your camera unlocked.

CrettMar 13, 20171 votes

hold space to center back to your character

Reaper SorakaMar 13, 20171 votes

you can press f1-5 to center your camera on your team, F1 being yourself.

Personally, I set my self-camera lock to ~ so I can turn it on and off as desired.

ZacsperMar 13, 20171 votes

Yeah, I've been using that. When you set your self-camera lock to ~ do you mean you lock your camera on yourself when fighting and then unlock it when not, or what do you do with that? A lot of my problem comes from me not wanting to end up only just holding down spacebar (the button that makes the camera snap to your character) because I heard thats a bad habit to get into when trying to learn unlocked screen. Should I only hold that down when, for example, I rush onto someone as katarina, or a lot of the time when preparing to get into fights? What do you suggest, basically.

BLACK REALM GODMar 13, 20171 votes

i wish i could press a button to make my champion basic attack a specific enemy when they're all standing on top of eachother with 10 hp each instead of guess clicking.

ExHentaiMar 13, 20171 votes

Try out semi-locked camera mode to get used to the camera panning without flying too far away from your character.

ZacsperMar 13, 20172 votes

I tried that, the thing is there's nothing to center it back on to your own champion. I also dont think it lets you check on other lanes. Id have to recheck.

ExHentaiMar 13, 20171 votes

Just like with the advice other people are giving, you need to be using some key to occasionally recenter/lock your camera. Semi-locked camera mode allows you to offset where the camera will snap to when locked. For the most part it will act like fixed or per-side offset modes but you get the added benefit of extending your field of vision. Sadly there isn't some way to recenter that offset to put your champion back in the center.

How were you checking other lanes with locked camera? With semi-locked, the methods would be the same (unlock camera then pan away, click+hold a location on the minimap, or hold f2-f5 to center on teammates).

RandomoniumMar 13, 20171 votes

The longer you've played with locked camera the longer it will take for you to get used to unlocked camera. If you're losing your character a lot hitting space centers the camera on your character. You can also hold space to basically keep your camera locked when you need to. I also turned on the option that makes my character's health bar yellow to differentiate me from everyone else (I think it's color blind mode but I may be wrong.) Just keep practicing with it you'll get used to it eventually.

ZacsperMar 13, 20171 votes

Thanks, man. Do you have any tips on when and how long I should be using spacebar for? I heard that there are people who use unlocked screen but just hold down spacebar all the time, which apparently isn't good. Right now I hold down spacebar only when (this is an example with katarina) I dash onto someone and want to try and keep track of my character, or when Im being chased and trying to escape and I dont want to deal with moving the camera while moving.

RandomoniumMar 13, 20171 votes

I came from a Starcraft 2 background so I pretty much never use locked camera. However, most people I've talked to who utilize space bar typically hold it down as they initiate into a team fight or as they are trying to micro their character (i.e. dodging skill shots while retreating.) Typically you keep the camera unlocked when you're laning and position the camera so your champion is near one edge of the screen.

Keeping the camera unlocked is more important for long range champions. With melee champions you can keep the camera locked much more often.

Surr20plzMar 13, 20171 votes

I use the press down mouse wheel button to pop and lock as needed.

BLACK REALM GODMar 13, 20171 votes

i play with locked camera and click drag my screen on the minimap. i have a shorcut for just about every command on my keyboard and i have everything set to instant cast so i can usually negate any negative side effects of having a locked screen - which arent really that many.

if you're completely adamant about wanting to play unlocked then you should start off by turning the move cursor to edge auto scroll feature off and just use the directional pad or drag scroll. space bar and Y are the shortcuts for unlocking/locking and auto centering.

Balderdash1000Mar 13, 20171 votes

As a general rule I'll lock the camera when I'm traveling somewhere and unlock it when I'm going to be in one place for a bit. In my experience having the camera unlocked gives you more accuracy when doing stuff since you don't have to compensate for a moving screen while you're aiming. At the same time, I don't have the fastest hands in the world, so when I'm moving around the time I save by not having to manually move the screen to cover what's going on can be a life saver.

Honestly, it's all a mater of what works for you. Instead of just listening to people saying something is always better without any reason, think about what you want to gain from switching things up and what gives you the best value.

CalabokMar 13, 20171 votes

just play unlocked for another 100 games and you will get it

FrightningMar 13, 20171 votes

If you've played RTS games much, than unlocked camera should feel pretty familiar, if not, then I can see where you're struggling to get used to it. That said, I highly recommend learning to use it. It will help you immensely later on with becoming good with skillshots. Not to mention the usefulness of being able to 'screen-check' important things happening elsewhere on the map. As for the issue of losing track of your champion, use Spacebar to recenter onto your champ. This can also help you keep an enemy you are chasing within your viewing area so you don't lose track of them. (I've actually rebound spacebar and don't use this feature, but I'm very experienced with the unlocked camera and usually don't have issues with keeping the screen where I want it in fights; i.e. keeping everything important in view).

ZacsperMar 13, 20171 votes

Thanks for your help and suggestions. What I've got from this is that I think what I'm going to do is just rebind lock/unlock to space-bar, because holding it down is honestly a little annoying, and whenever I'm running somewhere/escaping, fighting, (with close range gap-closing/dashing champions, with ranged which I'll test on Xerath I'll probably keep it unlocked more) going in on teamfights after looking at them (once again, following the same champ criteria earlier) and when I'm not checking on other lanes. It's kind-of the same as what I've been doing, except I've got more of an Idea when I lock my camera and not. I might also try semi-locked simply so that's I can still look around further when locking in the camera.