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How can I teach my friend how to actually play the game?

Ivoron Ranger·8/4/2015, 4:24:29 AM·1 votes·985 views

So I got one of my friends in to LoL, but she's not very good at all. I tried to teach her the basics in a custom, and that was the only thing that worked. She likes to play Ashe, mainly because she likes how she looks, so I try to play a support bottom with her. When we go in to vs AI, I try my best to teach her and let her get some kills, but she never knows when to attack/fall back. I see her trying to attack an enemy w/ full health while she's at 40. We end up with one lane fed the hell out of, and a smurf or two completely carrying. I haven't said anything on builds/last hitting or jungling. I want her to get the basics of the game, stuff like when you should dive (as she does a lot, without me even mentioning it once, even though she knows perfectly well about turret agrro.) and when you should just fall back and recall. I really need some info on how to teach someone to play this game, as I just self taught myself.

7 Comments

imamonster138/4/2015, 4:32:01 AM2 votes

I also recently introduced a few of my friends in to the game. A couple picked it up fairly quickly while one of my other friends has not done so well. But I think it mostly just takes time on her end, and patience on your end. Whenever possible I try to explain what my friend did that he could have done better, or not done at all. But my friends and I play PvP which I think has also helped him get the hang of it better. basically I told him to focus on farm for the most part (he still has problems last hitting). And to only attack the enemy when they are out of position. I explained the basic of harass/poke and he's starting to get better at kiting enemies as well. I also learned on my own, and I find it difficult to actually explain what my friend could have done better at times. Maybe give her a little more play time and experience, I think she could pick it up at some point.

Gordo San8/4/2015, 4:36:01 AM1 votes

Just play with them, but don't tell them what to do.

It'll be tough, and they'll make a lot of mistakes that make you cringe. But they will learn and understand the game a lot quicker and easier.

Blue Socialist8/4/2015, 4:30:53 AM1 votes

Well, we all start somewhere, some feeding more than others (lol don't get me started on how bad I was to begin with).

Yeah, builds and jungling can wait, although last hitting is something you might as well teach her early on since she likes Ashe (after all, that's pretty much the role of adc...to farm as much gold as possible). If you're looking to speed up the process of making her good, what I find to be useful for improvement is to see how the pros play. What you might consider doing is pulling up some of the more exciting games (plenty to go around between NA LCS and EU LCS this split) and try to emphasize how there's a mix of patience and calculated play in the whole thing. Sure, she won't necessarily become pro material immediately from watching alone, but it can give a better idea of where to go and where to improve.

After watching some LCS games myself, I'd like to think some of my jungling gameplay and strategy has improved.

C9 Squeeky 8/4/2015, 6:22:23 PM1 votes

If she can die in 1-2 attacks/abilities, recall. Missing a few CS and some exp is better than giving the enemy even more gold/exp by getting a kill. Have her focus on last-hitting and to only trade when there are no low health creeps. She also needs to realize that you should poke (teach her what poke is) the enemy down before going all-in. A lot of new players just want to jump into the fight and get kills and often times get killed themselves. Teach her to run away from enemies that run toward her (to always keep a gap when the enemy is being aggressive). Communicate well. If you plan on attacking the enemy, make sure she's on the same page as you (who to attack, when to). And make sure she is parallel side by side in the lane with you. What I mean is, teach her not to be too far forward or too far behind you as it will result in a 1v2 all-in. And to dodge skillshots by walking up (never backwards, she will find out the hard way about Nidalee spears). Some champions' skillshots don't go through minions so staying behind minions is often a good idea. Once she learns the various champions' abilities then she will know what to watch out for.

Most importantly, be patient with her and don't have any expectations. Learning takes time and practice. The more practice, the better she'll become and will gain knowledge and understanding. Tell her WHY to do the things she should do, communicate what you are doing and why you are so she can understand your role as support/champion as well. Don't get frustrated and don't give up too easily. And don't criticize for anything. Sure you may want to give a few tips & pointers, but you should test her learning by asking what she could've/should've done differently in a given scenario. Don't tell her "You should've done this this and that". Let her figure it out if she can. If not, then politely kindly tell her. Make sure she knows there are strength in numbers; to never go in when they have either health or numbers advantage (gank/grouped) unless you are hilariously fed. Instead of explaining what to do, it's better to explain WHY something should be done in a way that makes sense to her. And in game even call out your own mistakes so she doesn't feel like she's the only one making mistakes.

Sorry for the wall of text!

Valderis Vandala8/4/2015, 9:37:23 PM1 votes

Learning takes time, or a really good teacher. You are only level 15 yourself so you probably still suck as well so I doubt you'll be of much use to her, no offense.

Also why are you not telling her anything about last hitting, that is the most basic thing for the role she is playing?

Noobies will make noobie mistakes, it takes a while before they start to understand what they are doing wrong. If they just keep dieing they'll eventually get the message that they are doing something wrong and will play more carefully.

A lot of mistakes simply come from inexperience, there are a lot of champions and every champion has 4 to 6 abilities plus a passive, people need to get a feel not just for the controls, not just for their own champion, but also for every champion they are fighting against. It simply takes a lot of time.

One thing you can do is play custom games against champions you specifically select to teach them something or give them the upper hand.

Another way to help is to simply support her with heals as soraka while not doing much else. This allows her to stay in lane longer and thus play more. If you keep yourself out of harms way and simply let her die when she does something stupid then she should get the message pretty quickly that just diving into enemies or not running away is a bad idea.

Also, teaching people isn't about letting them get some kills, this is utterly useless and won't really teach them anything, kills happen organicaly once you start to understand the game, the champions, and the AI. When you should dive is also not a basic skill, its a bad habbit for noobies that needs to be unlearned/punished.

TouchpadExpert8/5/2015, 3:52:37 AM1 votes

Tell her to never attack a minion unless it gets her gold. Each time you attack you root yourself which makes you an easy target to get skill shotted so always move and be patient with your auto attacks.

You don't have to kill them to win lane.

If you attack an enemy and there are enemy minions nearby they will stop attacking your minions and will start attacking you. Don't underestimate minion damage.

tonzillacrayon8/4/2015, 4:40:55 AM1 votes

have him play easy champions find one he likes and stick to few champions and he will get better have him focus on farming and how to lane ect. just the basics same as any low elo player