Boards›Tips & Tricks

Tips for a new player by a new player.

PandahZero·11/18/2014, 7:04:38 PM·9 votes·2,450 views

I recently stared playing league (lvl 8 currently) and it's been really fun so far. Started off with playing bots, but have recently started playing against other "summoners". When I'm playing I tend to make a few mistakes and am able to make somewhat decent corrections to fix those mistakes. Other players also tend to make some mistakes since we're new, but some may continue to make those mistakes repeatedly. I'm not free from this either, I still tend to make these mistakes myself. These little mistakes could eventually turn into bad habits, so I wanted to create this small guide to help new players like myself. (Not sure if I could say it's small, this is sort of a big wall of text)

1). Know your champion. What I mean by this is to understand what your champions "kit"/ abilities are. There have been a few games so far where it would be the first time someone had played a champion before. There's nothing wrong with that, but if you don't have at least a good understanding of them it could be a potential problem. Here are a few things you should consider when picking a champion to play as. -- What role do they tend to play (Tank or Damage and what lane). -- Do you know their strengths and weaknesses? -- Do you know their abilities? (I've had one or two players ask me about their champions qwer)

2). Knowing when to fight. +turrets Knowing when to fight or back off is very important. You don't want to try and fight a 2v5 (Seen it happen several times) or 1v1 when they out level you and have more health. These are a few things you should consider if you're tempted to fight. -- Compare your level and items to what the opponent has. -- Are you outnumbered or do you outnumber them? -- If you decide to trade with an opponent, are you sure you can win? -- Are any of your allies nearby? Vice Versa with opponents. -- Know who to target. Damage Champ>Tank -- Try your best to avoid fighting them under their turret. I've seen this mistake more than any other, when a member of my team or the other team tries to fight someone under their own turret and it never ends well for the person who's diving them. I see this happen quite a bit when the match just started and under level 6.

3). Minions =D These little guys are one of the most important things in this game. They can easily change the tide in your favor. -- Getting CS (Creep score). Making sure to get the last hit on these minions. Champions may net more gold when you kill them, but these guys will build up gold for you very quickly ( I myself still need lots of practice to make sure I get as much cs as possible). -- Winions. Some times these minions will become winions by completely winning the match for you. If they manage to build up in large groups, they'll be able to take towers and even the enemy nexus. So, make sure to give them a ty if they come through for you.

4). Communication is key Make sure to always communicate with your team. This is probably the most important "concept" to playing your best. -- Champion select. Make sure to always talk to your team on what you're planning on doing. Tell them which lane you're going to to avoid confusion. In every game I've played, there is always one person who doesn't say a word during champion selection. We aren't able to predict which lane you might go to. -- Pings. Make sure to pay attention to these pings. If someone pings a warning, then you should most likely back off. If you don't see your lane opponent, ping they're missing or just say it in the chat. These very simple things that can greatly increase the advantage your team has if the other team doesn't have good communication. Also, don't spam pings, 1-2 is fine and anymore might get on your teams nerves.

These are just some things that I think could help new players get a better start in league. If there's anything wrong in this guide feel free to correct me, always great to have feedback. Tell me if this little guide is good or bad.

P.S. Excuse my bad grammar, I'm not the best at writing stuff ;w;

Also, is there a section in the boards for new players? Can't seem to find any.

22 Comments

ValyrianBlade11/18/2014, 7:22:16 PM8 votes

Also:

Try to play unlocked camera as soon as possible. You'll get used to it within a few games and it helps a lot. You may as well do it when you're still learning so you don't feel a huge set back later on.

Don't buy any runes until level 20. Seriously, Tier 1 and Tier 2 runes are a waste of ip. Save up ip to get your 2 rune pages off to a solid start at 20 and you'll be much better off long term.

Finally, ward. No matter how much you're warding, it's not enough. Your trinket should almost never be off cooldown, it's free vision, free map advantage. You should be buying wards too (especially pinks for in bush) although it's understandably tough to get used to buying wards. At least use your trinket a lot though!

Drunk Rummate11/18/2014, 8:23:10 PM8 votes

i almost forgot that locked screen exists lol. it's a terrible crutch, you guys should really just force yourselves to stop using it. seriously, you might play like complete garbage for a week or so and then you'll get used to it.

Carry Me Teemo11/19/2014, 2:45:30 AM2 votes

Thanks for putting us on to the free skins. I've put in about 700 matches between ranked and normal games and I didn't have a clue these were available. Something like that should be on the Launcher front page. Maybe I'm blind.

Rainlein11/18/2014, 9:55:02 PM2 votes

Turret diving is actually ok, you just need to know how much damage you can tank before you have to back out. Calculated turret dives are great, but obviously don't do it if the other team can lock you within turret range (root, stun, knockup, etc) before you can kill them. Alternatively, work with your support. If you have tanky support (e.g. leona), let your support tank turret aggro for you while you do damage, so you can get out safely and nobody has to die. Remember turret does not change target to a different champion unless its current target champion is either no longer within range or is dead.

GeoPeter11/18/2014, 11:08:53 PM1 votes

To go with "know your champion" I recommend watching youtube to see how the champ plays and handles. Tons of people have "how to [champion]" guides, and just watching videos in general will help acclimate you to champion play styles, certain lanes, situational plays, etc. It's how I learned to jungle, among other things.

littleblupenguin11/18/2014, 9:41:10 PM1 votes

**2). Knowing when to fight.

My last game, I was Graves with Lulu support, enemy was Tristana with Leona support. Early on, I was 3/0/0 with 80 cs(figures may not be exact), and Trist was 0/2/0 with 45 cs... yet each time they came back to lane, Trist/Leona kept going all-in against us, even when they were half health and we were full.

I didn't complain, I was enjoying my meal, but they were just setting themselves further and further behind.

It's tough being a new player, there's so much to learn. Not only your kit, but the kit of EVERY OTHER CHAMPION so you know what to expect and how to react. One thing I've been doing for a while is pulling up my lane opponent and refreshing myself on what their abilities are.

jimmylism11/19/2014, 12:05:21 PM1 votes

Also keep in mind that kills are often overrated. In more cases than not, 15 cs can pretty much grant you the gold worth from a kill.

TransGirlSoraka11/19/2014, 5:01:10 PM1 votes

You forgot 1 thing: Use the trinkets, they're free vision item 3340 item 3341 item 3342

FebruAhri11/19/2014, 8:29:35 PM1 votes

this could be cut out and copied right into a "how to get out of bronze guide"

OwlMechanic11/20/2014, 1:44:47 AM1 votes

Another extremely important one for laning: Auto attacking the enemy champion will make enemy minions attack you. Skills will not.

The single biggest mistake I see in low level play is total ignorance to minion damage, which is why so often what should be successful aggression winds up with the aggressor getting killed off and not understanding why or peeling back at no health. It also takes your trading game to a new level (coaxing the enemy to attack you when you have a massive wave/a siege minion at your back).

TL:DR - Minions. Do. Damage.