I mean I have always seen pro players and a lot of players play with them dragging their mouse towards a direction and their screen moves rather than locking it on their champion, how do you play like that? I find that impossible to manage screen adjusting so I just press "Y" to lock the screen on my champion, but I feel i miss out on a lot of map awareness and other things. Is there a specific way to do it?
The Queen Viper4 votesYou should try playing RTS games.
Nameless Voice2 votesI think a lot League of Legends players came from real-time strategy games like Starcraft, where you are managing multiple units and have to manage to camera position yourself (since locking to one unit would make no sense.)
As such, they were already used to controlling the camera this way when they started.
If you've never done anything like that before, then I'd imagine it's just a matter of practice, learning to push off the edge of the screen in the direction that you want to see.
I actually don't understand how anyone can play with locked camera, since it vastly restricts your view (e.g. if you are the bottom of the map on the left side, you are "wasting" camera space below and to the left of your champion, instead of a more valuable view up and right.)
LegitBacon661 votesYeah I feel I waste a lot of view space. I play with a locked screen all the time, but if I don't manage to control the camera is so difficult for me to get the exact position I want.
wRZcGiWq622 votesI don't see how people play with the screen locked, if I need to focus on my champion I'll tap the space bar or hold it as long as I need but I really feel like you miss out on a lot. However if you don't have your screen locked and you choose to roam from mid to bot persay, and you aren't paying attention to your character while watching bot get wrecked-- you have the potential of getting jumped along the way and not noticing it.
I guess whatever makes you play better, but I can't stay locked it really messed me up. Especially if i'm trying to prep for some sort of flash + ability. I like to be able to see all possibilities of what is coming at me or what could happen.
LegitBacon661 votesWait you can use space bar? WHAT?
Gym Leader Yaki2 votesIt takes time to get used to, but you'll get the hang of it. I still remember me going into bot games and tell myself I'd keep the screen unlocked. There are moments where you don't need to continuously keep moving the screen around (like when ur CSing), so holding spacebar will lock the screen on you (until spacebar is released).
It will help you to have a bigger view of the map that you WANT to see, and not the view that the screen is telling you to see.
RPGZexion2 votesI only recently started unlocking my map. I kind of wish that riot wouldn't lock it by default because it totally becomes a crutch. I felt exactly the same way you do and I started trying to unlock the camera whenever i could. E.g. in the laning phase, while moving back to lane, etc. Eventually it became second nature. I did have to adjust mouse speed and camera speed to get used to it though, so try that.
LegitBacon661 votesWill do Thanks!
Wickedfates2 votesi suggest using a combination of locked / unlocked most especially if you are not used to the unlocked aspect yet.... wish there was a great tutorial also that went with this game, but thats a side tangent...
as mentioned, "y" locks/unlocks the camera.... hitting or holding space is a lock for the camera onto your target.... i would suggest also making your mini map as large as you can on your monitor/resolution.... camera lock is an amazing tool along with the mini map for awareness....
how to best use it i think will come from your personal play style and experience as you progress
LegitBacon661 votesSo spacebar is essentially what I should be using?
DrCyanide2 votesBingo. You could also try semi locked camera to transition to a middle ground first.
The5lacker1 votesI play locked but you can left-click and drag on the minimap to force over to that area to quickly check on things.
I've also mapped my lock-unlock key to spacebar to allow me to quickly zip around while keeping an eye on myself. It helps.
Old Man Teeto1 votesGrew up playing RTS's.
Command and Conquer Starcraft Warcraft Civilization
My best advice, don't lock your camera, suck it up and suffer as you learn instead of hampering your true potential. Same goes with smart cast for 99% of the abilities.
KidSpectre1 votesI only played locked screen for a long time. I couldn't get used to playing with it unlocked. Finally I legit forced myself to learn how to play with unlocked screen by playing DotA 2 (it's similar enough to LoL). Since I didn't have the option to play locked screen on what is essentially the same type of game, my experience doing that transferred over to LoL. I think I've become a better player for it.