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The Fundamental Steps to Playing League

Vore Monster·11/12/2014, 5:19:19 PM·11 votes·1,398 views

As we all (I assume) have played League of Legends; I believe that we should all understand the fundamental steps taken during each and every game that are taken by each and every player. But with this discussion, I am going to list them and explain them in depth for all to read and enjoy. The steps are as follows:

  • Champion
  • Composition
  • Strategy
  • Counter-Strategy
  • Execution
  • Revision

Champion: Like it or not, we all start a game with one or two champions in mind. Everyone hopes to pick their role along with their champion in the selection screen. If we do not get the champion and role that we want; we usually revise to the next favorite role or put the intended champion elsewhere. This step is one that can cause toxicity in players due to some players only wanting to stick to their designated role and champion before they had their allies. This process occurs before and during your selection.

Composition: This is the part of the game that occurs as your players are selecting their champions. Players will analyze and think about the ally choices and how they will fit with both your desired pick and the other champion picks by other allies. These compositions are not normally created for synergy through team interaction. Each team created, by both allies and enemies, consist of a unique composition whether players realize this or not.

**Strategy: ** One of the more subconscious steps during the game that starts as champion selection has completed by both allies and the enemy. This step consists of trying to figure out what to do during the game. "My support is Sona, so I should play passively." or "My enemy is Veigar, so I should harass him early as much as possible." Strategies used are not thought of in-depth and usually revolve around your laning partner, jungler, and enemy in the lane.

Counter-Strategy: This step is less subconscious than the Strategy step, and consists of "What if...?" situations. "What if my Sona is aggressive? I will be ready to follow up." or "What if the enemy jungler camps Veigar's lane? I will be cautious and ward as much as I can." These "What if...?" situations are created when the game is loading and after it has started, but before action has been taken. The counter-strategies are not thought of as the game goes on and are never changed. These help the player prepare for the worst of what they can think of to keep them ahead of the curve.

Execution: This part of the stage are when the Strategy and Counter-strategy steps come into play. If something happens that you have never strategized; such as the enemy jungler camping bottom lane while in mid lane, ally Leona not being able to land her root, or the enemy Fiora is playing overly-passive, your strategies become null and the player usually becomes confused for a moment of time. Raging or blaming other players usually comes from this step in the game. The blame comes from players who did not prepare for the others to perform how they are doing (Such as Leona being raged at by the ADC by not landing her roots). What players do not usually realize is that there are multiple factors for these things happening. If Leona isn't landing her roots, the enemy might have strategized them to this point and were capable of dodging. If Fiora is playing passively; she might have suspected your jungler to camp the lane or thinks their jungler might not help at all. If the enemy jungler is camping bottom, they probably strategized that their allies in bottom lane would need more attention.

Revision: This is the final step that creates the rest of the game. If both strategy and counter-strategies have been taken into account successfully; the player will continue with these expectations and proceed to play. If things did not go well for the player, they will begin to revise their strategies and create a "If _____ does ______ again; I will _____." This is where players will understand repetitive strategies of successful players and work around them. This is where toxicity also can occur such as AFK, refusing to aid an ally or allies, and negative attitude or verbal harassment. This toxicity occurs because they did not first expect the enemy to counter-strategize a situation like avoiding hooks, expecting certain combos and taking advantage, or getting camped by a lane. Aside from toxicity; successful players will end up having to revise when unsuccessful players finally understand what to do and execute their revised strategy successfully. This cycle will continue until the end of the game.

I would love feedback and opinions on these steps and want to hear how they relate to them in personal experiences.

3 Comments

Spacesuit Spiff11/12/2014, 9:34:58 PM6 votes

You forgot what most of the game is in soloq: trying to put a damper on the stupidity of your teammates. When you have an idea for this game, keep in mind that no matter how awesome it is, if you need 4 or even 1 stranger(s) to contribute to it, it's probably not a good way to climb.

Probably the best example was when I was sitting in a bush charging the Nunu ult so that our Ziggs, who was being chased by 4 people, could bait them in. He randomly turned and ran in a different direction, so they didn't chase into my ult, just because he didn't know what Nunu does.

Probably the biggest thing to learn if you don't already know is how Pressure works. One guy goes off and splitpushes, he's applying pressure, but the enemy team has 5 people worth of pressure and can gank and kill him. You need all 5 teammates pressuring at the same time (actively taking objectives, not farming the jungle) to get anything done, so if you get that one guy that just will not stop splitpushing without wards, make sure your team is constantly at a different tower whenever he's alive.

Also get a feel for how much pressure a specific champion has; Trynd can eat a turret if you leave him alone, a fed Riven can take 3 people do deal with, but if something like Ryze or Teemo is splitpushing you can usually just ignore them and dive 5v4.

5xk8bWHDJL11/13/2014, 12:03:57 AM6 votes

I wish half of those were possible in Silver

ChimeiTekinaNasu11/15/2014, 5:20:32 AM1 votes

As we all (I assume) have played League of Legends; I believe that we should all understand the fundamental steps taken during each and every game that are taken by each and every player. But with this discussion, I am going to list them and explain them in depth for all to read and enjoy. The steps are as follows:

  • Champion
  • Composition
  • Strategy
  • Counter-Strategy
  • Execution
  • Revision

Composition: This is the part of the game that occurs as your players are selecting their champions. Players will analyze and think about the ally choices and how they will fit with both your desired pick and the other champion picks by other allies. These compositions are not normally created for synergy through team interaction. Each team created, by both allies and enemies, consist of a unique composition whether players realize this or not.

I swear. This is the sole main reason why I think half, or most, people are stuck in Silver. You ever look at your team and then look at the enemy team and it seems like they have a better team comp?? Yeah. That's probably why some are stuck in Silver. Especially if your team is vs a team fighting team like a Malphite/Maokai/Brand/Annie/Twitch.