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You CAN learn from bots...

Top River King·10/20/2015, 4:34:20 AM·36 votes·3,597 views

... and I'm tired of people insulting and laughing at me for suggesting such a thing. It's just a matter of keeping things in perspective.

For example, my skillshots used to be so poor that I'd avoid skillshot-reliant champs entirely. Anytime I would play Blitzcrank, I practically triggered PTSD-style flashbacks for my friends. Wanting desperately to improve, I started spamming Blitzcrank in bot matches.

But bots are easy to hook, I can hear you saying. Precisely, which is why they were such a natural starting place. If I can't hook bots, then what chance do I have against an actual opponent? Baby steps, people. Moreover, their predictability also allowed me, in a way, to practice the important part I was forgetting, that skillshots are just as much about prediction as they are about aim. Again, it was all about baby steps. With both bots and humans, you need to read their tendencies and exploit them. Against bots, I laid the foundation, learning the concept, then in normals I built upon it.

Ever since then, I've noticed my skillshots as a whole have improved since bots ingrained in me the basic principle that governs someone's ability to land them. Now all I have left to suss out regarding skillshots is their timing and hitboxes. This isn't to say I land every skillshot, but that I have confidence now in my ability to land skillshots when I need to, so long as I know those two things about the skillshot in particular.

In short, though you'll always learn more from facing real people, bots can be great for laying valuable groundwork if you go at them the right way. You can work on CSing, test out jungle paths/clears, get a basic feel for matchups, try out new things, practice combos, learn the ins and outs of a champion (their power spikes, limitations, etc.), etc. For me, this makes things a heck of a lot easier once I finally make the leap to normals or ranked because everything's easier once the basics are second nature.

56 Comments

HayRoss10/20/2015, 1:17:40 PM20 votes

Want to really practice skillshots? Try it on scuttlecrab. That thing is better at dodging than %90 of people in this game

SpartenA799110/20/2015, 4:46:00 AM6 votes

Bots help team you the basics and for practice. Since I started league, I only played bots and bots exclusivly. I knew I had to keep practicing against them if I wanted to get to the big boy level. Never played pvp until i got to level 30.

Trylobyte10/20/2015, 5:50:13 PM6 votes

I play bots almost exclusively simply because I'm one of those people who endures toxicity very poorly and bots are as nontoxic as League gets. But in the few times I do get dragged into PvP I've been able to use that basic foundation of skill to have some serious fun at the other team's expense. There are some good concepts you can learn from them, if you look.

  • Bots are hyper-aggressive in lane. Playing against them is a fair way to learn why this is a bad thing for you to do and how to punish people who do it. I've fought gold-ranked Riven mains to a standstill in lane simply because I'm so used to bots being lane bullies and I know how to capitalize on it.

  • Intermediate bots dodge most skillshots like they were Plat-Diamond tier. If you can reliably land Thresh hooks on the bots at range you're amazing, because they can and will dodge a pixel out of its hitbox at a 90-degree angle every time. This makes bots great for practicing skillshots against.

  • Bots also aim their own skillshots very well and are actually pretty good at predicting your movement. One of my biggest laughs was in a custom game with a few friends testing builds, watching Ashe Bot become a reliable source of kill assistance due to her uncanny ability to land her Crystal Arrow across enormous distances on enemies, including players, I just knew would get away. And Lux Bot will quite happily snipe you at max range with her laser if she has line of sight.

  • Bots chain CC and execute wombo combos with inhuman speed and precision. You can very quickly learn how to abuse timing gaps and avoid the wombo when you're fighting them, especially when the bot mid is someone like Annie, Veigar, or Brand. This makes player wombos and CC chains easier to get out of.

Sure there's a lot you don't learn (there's no need to ward, bot aggression makes learning to CS difficult, there's never an enemy jungler, etc) but it's not a worthless game mode like some people think.

Singing Lark10/20/2015, 2:26:16 PM2 votes

I played exclusively bots till around level 12.

As a new player, I knew it made no sense to jump into PvP when I was struggling even to do well against intermediate bots. Even though there probably would be people who were just as bad as I was, I don't think I'd be improving upon anything playing vs people who were just as bad as I was.

Plus, you can't get flamed for feeding in bots because everyone knows that bots can't pressure an advantage and eventually lose out regardless.

Blue Moon Wolf10/20/2015, 4:05:37 PM2 votes

actually, bots can dodge skill shots pretty well. Sure the don't flash out of the way, but bots tend to be able to read when you attempt a skillshot faster than a human and without the miscalculation that most human players suffer from when dodging. So bots are a great place to practice skillshots outside of PvP.

TheHobbits10/20/2015, 5:23:48 AM2 votes

Yes you CAN learn from bots. You CAN learn a champions kit. You CAN learn how their abilities work.

I learnt how how get a Quadra kill as adc soraka... how well does that translate over to real life matches?

LankPants10/20/2015, 10:45:06 AM2 votes

There are things you'll never learn in AI. For example no matter how many bot games you play you're probably never going to learn to roam or ward properly.

That's not to say there's nothing to learn, bots are great for practising basic mechanics against. Them not punishing fuckups becomes an advantage since you'll still know you messed up (IE Blitz hook missed) but you'll also be able to try again without too much risk.

I'd say I learnt my skillshots mostly from AI, dodging mostly from ARAM and awareness mostly from SR.

Celeste Benal10/20/2015, 7:28:36 PM2 votes

Bots are NOT easy to land skillshots upon. They literally have a dodge script built in. Don't believe it? Try. If you can land a skillshot on a bot, you are literally LCS material.

TurquoiseYoshi10/20/2015, 8:26:12 PM2 votes

I like doing it so that there aren't those "First time X champion" moments in PVP. I just like figuring out what the abilities are and generally how to use them.

King Trixo III 10/21/2015, 12:03:40 AM2 votes

Well, I definitely think people underrate bots as a learning tool.

Had a friend who exclusively played bot games leveling up, he finally hits level 30 and in his first season obtained Diamond.

CrisisEchoes10/21/2015, 12:06:22 AM2 votes

honestly i think people should be sure they can get 200 cs by 20 in botmode before they even consider ranked. bronze would become a very empty tier...

FakeGravity10/21/2015, 1:56:26 AM2 votes

Not to mention the perfect mechanics and use of cc and reactions bots have 0.1 seconds after you hit them from a bush you are stun and hit by them

Earl Eulrich10/20/2015, 3:27:45 PM2 votes

yea, lots of people have been crying for a sandbox-mode to practice - but botgames already do a really good job with that. I always test out new champs in custom-botgames before taking them to the rift to adjust to their mechanics without pressure. and if you want "real" practice - 1v5ing intermediate bots is still a difficult Challenge on most Champions...

T RexHasTinyArms10/20/2015, 2:54:34 PM1 votes

I think two things are true about learning from bots but are generally disregarded for very specific reasons:

  1. While normal bots are pretty much below anything you can possibly think of, the intermediate bots are probably about the same difficulty as low bronze PVP. However, no one tends to call that learning bc being able to mechanically beat bronze IV isn't nearly as difficult as being able to deal w/ the lack of team work and high amount of rage that exists in such low elo (plus bronze is the bottom 30% of the server, so intermediate bots preps you MAYBE to beat the bottom 10% (low bronze) of the server in terms of difficulty)

  2. Intermediate bots isn't a place to practice something you can play, but it's a great place to practice something you have no idea how to play. If I buy a new champ I usually play a game of intermediate bots before I go pvp so I'm not looking at my skills to figure out if CD goes down for each one when I rank it up, or what each one does for scaling etc. Yeah I could do that same thing by reading the wiki or something, but I wouldn't get a feel for the hit box of skills or range of the skill (I play on smart cast so getting a feel for the range is important). I have the bad habit of only playing ranked for the most part, so bots are an important mode bc I can learn a hit box or range for a new champ picking up first win of the day when I don't have time for a real game and then I will at least know a little before I play the champ in ranked.

Basically you can learn stuff, but the things you learn are so basic they are what you would use sandbox mode for. You don't learn anything in terms of strategy/game knowledge, but you can learn mechanics stuff just fine. The issue is that everything you can learn in bots could probably be learned in sand box mode more easily (IE no cd on blitz pull and 3-5 champions just set to walk around in lane and not fight would teach you those same basics but faster bc that's all you focus on and there's no cd), so bots isn't a place to learn so much as it is the only option currently. If you bring out sand box mode there will be a better place to learn then bots and bots goes back to just being for fun when you want an easy 150 IP and to play ADC Annie.

Pykel10/21/2015, 5:25:00 AM1 votes

have you ever faced brand bot? that dudes broken :) never misses skillshots Brand

ThatHaleState10/20/2015, 2:10:58 PM1 votes

Actually, if you are trying to practice skill shots you should DEF try intemediate bots. Its almost half impossible due to the fact that as you press the button their code makes them immediately attempt to dodge with the fastest reaction they can. If you can consistently hit intermediate bots then you could probably hit anything on anyone. you might even over predict and have to dial back lol

Clint Orris10/20/2015, 5:20:51 AM1 votes

The thing is that people don't behave anything like bots. Trust me, there are too many times where I overestimate my opponents mechanics which fuck me over in the long run. Just need to be comfortable with adapting to your opponent's movements and skill level.

FDru10/21/2015, 2:48:53 PM1 votes

It's not that you can't learn anything in bot matches, it's that you can't get better at PvP in bot matches, so they aren't a good place to "practice". For purely learning basic things like ability cooldowns, ranges, autattack timing, jungle clear speeds and builds, etc they are great. And they are great for learning the mechanics of champs you haven't played before.