Uninstall Pls – A Beginner’s Guide To League of Legends: Part 2 “Vital Mechanics”
So last week we discussed the basic concept of League of Legends and what positions there are for players. This week we’ll be taking on the early mechanics you have to get behind and practice so you have a good grasp as you start playing, and for improving your play. I’ll be going over what you should be doing in lane, how to make it easier for you with proper minion killing, how to deal with those nasty turrets, and warding to keep yourself safe. If you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about still, refer back to the first article and you can get up to speed in five minutes. Alright, let’s head to The Rift.
The Laning Phase
So let’s assume that you’ve jumped into your first game of League of Legends. You’ve picked up the recommended items and you’re heading to your lane, be it top, middle, or bottom lane. The basic rules will apply to all of them equally. You will not be alone in lane, as your team’s minions, or creeps as they are sometimes known, will trundle their way up to your lane with you after one minute and thirty seconds into the game. They spawn every 30 seconds thereafter. Minions are your buffer for progressing up to your enemies turret. They are expendable conscripts that you and your opponent will see as both meat shields and bags full of precious gold.
At the start of the lane you’re going to see who you’re matched up against, and initially you’re going to have to fight the urge to throw some punches too early in the game. Getting a kill is unlikely and can cost you a lot of time and health. If you have to recall to base more more than once in the first five minutes you’re in trouble. What you want to focus on is getting more gold than your opponent. Lanes are won by having more gold, and better items than your opponent. Think of champion kills as a bonus cheque. Nice, but not what you’re after.
Last Hits
The only way to make killing minions worth gold, is to land the killing blow on them. Last hitting minions is easily the most under estimated skill for new players. The best way to practice this skill is to jump into an game against an AI team and focus on landing as many last hits as possible. AD Carry champions are the best to practice with for this as they have to biggest window for landing the last hit and can do it from range. Don’t continously attack the minions but wait and try and land only the last hit possible. This means that your lane will puch with large groups of minions as it takes time for opponents minions to go down. The aim for a good level player is to be hitting at least 80 minions per 10 minutes of the game, e.g. 160 CS by 20 minutes. At the beginning, you’ll wanna be hitting about 60, but always strive for the 80 if you can. Mastering minion kills will make you a better player faster than racking up champion kills without a doubt.
Dealing with Turrets
Eventually, you’ll kill enough of your opponents minions, force your opponent back and be able to push with your minions up to your opponent’s turret. Turrets will always focus on minions in range first over a champion, unless you attack a champion while in range of the turret and draw it’s attention. Turrets will do silly amounts of damage to low level champions and it increases with each consecutive hit, so don’t be a tough guy and take the damage as it’s almost never worth it. Taking a turret will take time and multiple minions waves so don’t try and over do it. Over compensating and staying too long under the enemy turret could cause you to get caught out by enemy champions and if they kill you, they’re allowed free reign of the lane whilst you’re respawning, which you do not want to let happen. Whilst under a turret, don’t focus too hard on hitting minions unless there’s a chance of a last hit. Killing enemy minions under the turret means your minions aren’t pushed back and a returning opponent is safe to take them without any fear of decent harassment from you.
Warding
Up there with last hitting on the list of under appreciated skills in League of Legends is warding. Wards are items purchased from the shop that will grant vision over a certain area for the length of time they are active. Wards come in two types; Sight Wards (Green) and Vision Wards (Pink). Sight wards will provide basic vision over the area revealing champions, whereas Vision Wards will allow you to spot other wards and invisible stealth champions. These wards will allow you a heads up if any enemy champion is trying any sneaky moves or ‘ganks’ to come in from behind to attack you and take the lane advantage. There is a myth, especially at lower levels of the game, that warding is entirely the job of the support champion and in the early stages of the game, especially in bottom lane, this may be true. But a good player will never leave the base without buying at least one ward if at all possible. Knowing where an enemy champion is will save your life better than any item in the game. The best places for wards are the brush area because any champion in there is invisible to an opponent, so by placing a ward in a brush, you’re severely reducing the rick of being sneak attacked.
Glossary
Each week we’ll end up with more and more jargon, so I’ll put a little explanation of each term into a little section at the end of every article.
Creeps – Just another name used for minions
CS – ’CS’ just stands for ‘creep score’ and it’s the total number of minions you have killed
Recall – A 6 second channeled spell that teleports you back to your base. Every champion has it hotkeyed to ‘b’.
Gank – An action whereby a champion not based in that lane, usually the jungler, travels into a lane and help to try and secure a kill.
Brush – Areas of long grass that a champion cannot see into. They are positioned all over the map in the jungle, river and lanes.
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