Improving your gameplay through Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War': 1. Laying Plans
Over the next following days I intend to attempt to improve both my own and others understanding of good decision making and observation in League of Legends by going over the 13 sections of Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War' and applying what he wrote to LoL.
If you are unaware of what 'The Art of War' is, it is one of the oldest texts on military tactics ostensibly written (There is some debate on this) by Sun Tzu, an ancient Chinese general.
http://cdn.history.com/sites/2/2013/12/Sun-Tzu-hero-AB.jpeg
It is very simple and practical in how it is written and what it teaches, which makes it very useful for getting a basic grasp on how war is fought as well as making it easy to apply it to LoL.
If you wish to see the entirety of the text then follow this link.
http://classics.mit.edu/Tzu/artwar.html
While I may be the one starting this, it does not mean I am doing this from the position of being a highly skilled player. If I were to judge myself, I would say that I am just above average in comparison to the rest of the League community and have achieved Diamond 5 only once and am currently middling around Plat 2 and 1. This is as much for my own use as I hope it will be for yours and if you have your own insights into how we can apply Sun Tzu's text to the game we all play then feel free to post it in the comments. If it's a particularly good analysis then I'll add it to this opening post. But without ado, let's look at Sun Tzu's, 'The Art of War'.
I. Laying Plans
Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State.
It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.
The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one's deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field.
These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; (5) Method and discipline.
5,6. The Moral Law causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.
From this I believe the important thing to derive is that you should always be a civil and pleasant person in your games. You do not need to be someone that's just endlessly nice, in fact, such an attitude could be misconstrued as being facetious or sarcastic. No, what it means is that you should always be a good example as someone that is level headed in their words and judgement and civil with your teammates.
There was a Hecarim in one of my games the other day that stayed calm and collected throughout our game, even when mid lane fed in the early game and myself and the others got snippy with each other, he stayed calm and didn't fall into the same pitfall and because of that we never ended up raging at each other, things didn't escalate to the point that everything broke down.
If you want to be the shot caller for your team then you need to be a good example not just in play but in character.
- Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons.
Understanding the circumstances of everyone, the players, whether you are in the early, mid or late game, when to take Baron, when to pressure lanes, when to farm up and recover, all of these are important factors that change all the time. Think about how your teammate feels after getting killed twice by the enemy jungler camping them. Yes it is important to advise them to be careful from here on, but you must also word it in a way that does not make it sound like a canned line and you must word it in a way that appeals to the kind of person they are.
While you might not know what kind of person they are, you can at least tell how they like to play based on their champion. A Maokai would likely be more easily persuaded to remain safe and get tanky so he can get some teleports in or at least wait for mid game. A Fiora on the other hand might need more careful handling of their pride since they want to carry, so if you're Mid or Jung then you could tell them you'll gank their lane.
You must also understand the powerspikes of different champions, when they're the most strong, who you should be careful with because they can snowball and who you need to pressure hard so that you can delay their late game.
Knowing when to take what objective is also important, if you just won a teamfight and there's no one left on the enemy team but none of the lanes have minions in position to take turrets then it might be wise to take Dragon or Baron, if the opposite is true then even though those buffs may be very tempting, you should hold off and take turrets to gain more map control.
- Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death.
Know how long it will take to get somewhere. If you're a mid laner then think about how long it would take you to go gank a side lane, would you be able to get there fast enough for the enemy to not notice you're mia? As the jungler, think about how much time it takes for you to run around the map, while it would sometimes seem good to just gank nonstop, it takes a long time to get someplace and so you could fall behind in levels by a large amount and just die quickly when you gank somewhere, so be sure to take jungle camps in between and pace yourself.
Always be aware of where your team will be able to fight best. Do you have a lot of champs with zone control like Ziggs or Jhin? Then catching the enemy in the narrow paths of the jungle would be to your benefit. On the other hand if you're a fast team with champs like Sivir and Hecarim then you'd likely want a lot of open space so you can run the enemy down. It is always important to assess where the best place to fight is for your champion and your team.
- The Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage and strictness.
If you want to take charge of your team and be a shot caller then you can't be talking down to them all the time, you need to not just make good calls but be able to persuade them to follow your calls and inspire them to keep fighting even when things look dire for your team. Don't hold back from telling someone where they went wrong but do not berate them about it but instead encourage them on how to do better in a rational and calm way.
By method and discipline are to be understood the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure.
These five heads should be familiar to every general: he who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them not will fail.
Therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking to determine the military conditions, let them be made the basis of a comparison, in this wise:--
(1) Which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral law? (2) Which of the two generals has most ability? (3) With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth? (4) On which side is discipline most rigorously enforced? (5) Which army is stronger? (6) On which side are officers and men more highly trained? (7) In which army is there the greater constancy both in reward and punishment?
(1) Which team has the morale advantage? Are they speaking confidently in all chat? Then you must be sure to take advantage of them resting on their laurels and try to improve your own team's morale. (2) Which team has the best hot caller? Does the enemy team have someone carrying them hard? Focus that person, adjust your build to deal with them. Do you have someone carrying your team? Then be sure to focus on protecting them. (3) Who has the advantage at Dragon pit? Who does better when sieging? (4) Which team is working together better? If the enemy team is then you must find a way to rally your team to fight in the most optimal way. (5) Who has the gold and level advantage? If the enemy team is far ahead in gold or levels then it is probably best to have your team farm up if they can and try to stall so you can catch up. (7) Who is getting more out of the fights that happen? If the enemy is consistently beating you then you must rethink your strategy and play differently, maye you should split push, maybe your should avoid fighting the enemy for Dragon and wait for them to try coming for you under your turrets.
By means of these seven considerations I can forecast victory or defeat.
The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer: let such a one be retained in command! The general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it, will suffer defeat:--let such a one be dismissed!
While heading the profit of my counsel, avail yourself also of any helpful circumstances over and beyond the ordinary rules.
According as circumstances are favorable, one should modify one's plans.
All warfare is based on deception.
Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him.
If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.
If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them.
Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.
I don't think I need to extrapolate on these points, they speak for themselves in relation to the game. I will say though that if your jungler is ganking for you then do not act differently before he gets in position, you can easily tip the enemy off that they need to retreat. Instead you should always be moving as if to go in on your enemy before backing off during laning phase so that when you do go in on them, they won't be expecting your jungler.
- Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose.
That's all for this week, I hope this was useful for everyone to reconsider how they play the game and become better players, not just mechanically but socially as well. See you next week.
