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My little brother is struggling with this game

Quadle·12/15/2017, 7:09:39 PM·1 votes·517 views

I have been playing this game for 4 years now and have climbed to a skill level I find acceptable. My little brother who I am very close with always found it fascinating that I get so much entertainment out of one game. So my brother eventually wanted to try it so he made an account and started to play. He has the drive to want to get better. But his efforts aren't being compensated that well. I do not remember struggling to get to level 30 back in season 4 at all. Every game felt fair and winnable even if the enemy had a massive lead. These days I find it's so much harder to throw such lead which leaves new players in the dirt a lot. The two main problems that I find are affecting my brothers experience are very poor matchmaking and lack of knowledge. I really thought the new runes would make it much easier to get to 30. But in all honesty not much is different. I am so surprised just how much information Riot doesn't give to new players. One day after getting a high enough level to get smite my brother asked me. "How do I jungle?" Hmm... Well don't you think that's a problem. That one of the 5 major roles in this game does not have any tutorial. I mean if you break it down jungle is like the most complex role in the game. You can't just unlock smite and say "Hey you can jungle now" This role is also forced upon you once you unlock it. Blind pick being blind pick. If you are stuck jungle you better do it or you are getting flamed and reported for going duo top. Which leads to another problem low levels have which is toxicity. This low key is of course because some new players are actually toxic people who got their accounts perma banned. Also can we talk about smurfs for a second. I always thought that new players get matched with new players. And Smurfs get matched with smurfs. This is only the case half the time. Meaning both teams are comprised of half new players and half smurfs. Which leads to my brothers main frustration. His powerlessness and anguish of trying to do his best in a smurfs world. The mute button is something Riot should emphasize more than just appearing as a tool tip the off chance. I have witnessed my brother being severely cyber-bullied recently all because he can't play the game as well as these toxic veterans. He is harassed for actually being new to the game which is fucked. I'm trying to teach my brother all I can to get better but there is so much he doesn't know. What to build/How to lane/Jungling/ect/. I'm trying to tell him the importance of ganking, roaming, warding. Riot does not even touch about how essential warding is. League has a lot to it. Riot tells you what these things do. But not how to use them. So I am really hoping my brother can reach the peak of level 30 and start maybe having a good time with chill memers in normals like I do. And not have to suffer through toxic assholes who are still salty for getting perma banned. It took me a while to learn the game too. My experience was just a lot more pleasant and less degrading

6 Comments

Alex h872112/15/2017, 7:18:22 PM1 votes

Ive noticed some of these "smurfs" (probably silver/gold 5's who couldn't climb above the 5's and didnt want to get demoted) will actually purposely lose games so their mmr goes down so they can stomp. Its obnoxious and sad for genuine new players like your brother, but it seems like riot doesn't care enough to rework their poor "smurf detection" system because new account numbers are "good for them" even if there aren't actually more new players joining league.

LF Annie12/15/2017, 7:22:13 PM1 votes

i've been telling riot for years the chat system is unneccecary cancer for any indicidual match.

Rayjay Redfang12/15/2017, 7:22:37 PM1 votes

When I first started, I played bots quite a lot until I got the hang of farming and champion mechanics. Also arams and twisted treeline maps are a lot friendlier to newer players

Nalisai12/15/2017, 7:32:42 PM1 votes

Like Rayjay I suggest going into ARAMs over anything else. This will help you learn the mechanics of your champion pool better then any other map. Also, since you also play, you could make a custom game and 1 v 1 him on Howling Abyss or SR to teach him mechanics without him getting flamed, and at a pace he can handle so he's not pressured to know everything all at once.

Other great resources are Youtube and Mobafire (among other discussion boards and social media sites like Twitch, etc.). Search for video tutorials and read posts from upper level players on how they play. Watch games that have been recorded from the POV of your roles and try to figure out (if they don't come out and say it) why they just did what they did. It helped me a lot, but there's always more to learn. Or you could always ask questions here and despite the trolls, more often than not you'll get 1 or 2 decent answers.

GLHF and feel free to add me: Nalisai (NA) on either or both accounts. I love to teach so I'd have no problem running through jungle mechanics or whichever role. (I get the mechanics, but yes, I am Bronze because a) I play like 20 ranked games a year/season, and b) I'm 38 with some limiting physical circumstances.)

DemainaNyx12/15/2017, 9:59:04 PM1 votes

I completely agree. Every time I come across someone new to the game I try my best to explain everything to them but there's just so much that it's difficult.

Leagues tutorials are horrible. I made a new account just to see what the leveling system was like and it's so horrible. You don't get to pick your runes until level 15, nothing explains why certain champions might want said runes over others, and even the intro games explain nothing about how to play. You basically get yelled at for going too close to the enemy tower constantly until the lady reminds you that you have a lot of gold and should back and buy stuff while your Soraka AI starts attacking the enemy AI under their tower. They mention last hitting, but don't express it like, "THIS IS HOW YOU GET GOLD, DO THIS OR YOU'LL LOSE" like the reality actually is.

Coop vs AI is good for learning champion abilities and such. Plus it's a good way to learn CSing and trading in lane, kiting, rotating, etc in a decent atmosphere. Most of the time you'll have a veteran in the game who can 1v9 if your teammates don't know how to play, so the chance of losing it low so people tend to be less toxic. Obviously you can develop bad habits by playing against bots, but they help with the basics.

ARAM are how I learned, since most people understand that you may have rolled a champion that you've never played before, so they aren't so quick to flame you for first timing said champ. Most people also understand that ARAM are sorta luck based, so sometimes there's no way you can win simply due to the enemy getting too many OP picks.

As Nalisai suggested, Youtube video and Twitch streams can help him learn faster so long as you find people explaining why they are making the decisions they are. I personally watch Foxdrop (Diamond Jungle main), Phylol (Diamond ADC main), Prismal_lol (Challenger ADC main), Anklespankin (Diamond ADC main, but plays other roles), and SoloRenektonOnly (Diamond Top main). Most of them do live commentary, so you hear why they are building the items they are building or why they went for a trade there instead of just CSing and other stuff. Prismal is higher level, so his commentary can be overwhelming to a newer person cause their's just so much to absorb when he's talking, but they are chalk full of good information even though he's newer to youtube/twitch.

You can add me if you'd like. I'm not amazing at this game but I can try to help teach the stuff I do know. I'm mostly an ADC/Support player, but I some base level knowledge on the other roles as well.

Dope Solo12/15/2017, 10:47:59 PM1 votes
  1. I've found learning a champ is an extremely painful trial and error process. Focus on bots for 2-3 months, then go normal blind, normal draft. Dedicating yourself to learning one champ to mastery level 6 or 7 before moving to another champ is probably the best route.