League Analysis — The path from beginner to pro — Part 1
By: League Analyst
Tags: Beginners Guide, League of Legends, Guides And Tutorials, Moba, Gaming

21 NOVEMBER 2020 — by League Analyst

This will be a beginner friendly guide for any new player looking to get into League of Legends. In this first part we’ll cover the basics required to play the game and in the future we will dive into more advanced strategies. You don’t need any prior experience for this guide. Now, let’s begin!

The basics

League is primarily played on the map “summoner’s rift” which is recognised by its three lane layout. The goal of the game is simply put to reach the enemy base and destroy the “nexus”. Both teams will have 5 players each, who at the start of the game spawn in their team’s respective “fountain” and 15 seconds into the game get released onto the rift. A minute later, minions spawn for both teams and move into the three lanes, and the game starts to move.

Summoner’s rift

In order to reach the enemy nexus you and your team will have to get past some other objectives along the way, namely: towers and inhibitors.

Towers (Turrets):

Towers are the main defensive structures in League and will attack enemy units if the get to close. They also provide vision for their team, giving valuable map control for the team.

Each lane has 3 towers each; the outer-, inner- and the inhibitor tower. In order to get into the enemy base these 3 towers has to be destroyed in order in at least one of the three lanes.

Turrets attack the first target that comes into their range, when that target is defeated it will switch to another target based on a certain priority list:

1. The closest targetable trap

2. The closest enemy pet

3. The closest enemy siege- or super minion

4. Yorick’s Maiden of the Mist

5. The closest enemy melee minion.

6. The closest enemy caster minion.

7. The closest enemy champion.

When teaching the game, my first recomendation is always to be very careful around enemy towers, they can be very dangerous and will kill you if you get to close. You will get more used to playing around them, but they can be really scary in the beginning.

Inhibitors:

Each team has 3 inhibitors on the rift, located behind the inhibitor towers. Once the inhibitors protecting tower is destroyed it can be attacked by players. Once an enemy’s inhibitor is destoyed, your team’s siege minions will be replaced by the much stronger super minions in the lane where the inhibitor was destroyed.

Minions:

Minions are AI-controlled units that fight for their respective teams. They spawn in waves every 30 seconds and advance along a lane towards the enemy nexus. There are currently 4 types of minions

Melee Minions

The melee minions unsurprisingly do melee attacks. Three of them spawn per lane in each wave. They deal less damage then ranged minions but have more health.

The melee minions unsurprisingly do melee attacks. Three of them spawn per lane in each wave. They deal less damage then ranged minions but have more health. Caster Minions (Ranged Minions)

Caster minions have ranged attacks. Three of them spawn per lane in each wave. They do more damage than melee minions but have less health.

Caster minions have ranged attacks. Three of them spawn per lane in each wave. They do more damage than melee minions but have less health. Siege Minions (Canon Minions)

Siege minions are the strongest of the 3 normal minions. They have ranged attacks but deal more damage and have more hit points than regular minions.

Siege minions are the strongest of the 3 normal minions. They have ranged attacks but deal more damage and have more hit points than regular minions. Super Minions

When an inhibitor is destroyed, siege minions in that lane will be replaced by super minions. The super minion is the strongest of all minion by far and has a melee attack. Super minions will stop spawning when the inhibitor respawns.

Champions:

In league, players play as a so called “champion”. As of writing there are 152 unique champions, all with different abilities and attributes.

Abilities:

Most champions have 5 abilities in total, one innate (passive), three basic and one ultimate. Abilities are unique actions performed by champions and make up their “kits”. At the start of the game most champions can unlock one of the basic abilities and the rest get unlocked and leveled up (upgraded) as the champion’s level rises during the game. To cast abilities most champions use a resorce called mana which is indicated by a bar under the hp bar. There are some exceptions with champs that use other resources like energy, hp, rage, courage or fury. All of these resorces works differently so we will do a quick summary:

Mana: Most common, regenerates over time and can be increased by items.

Energy: Regenerates quicker then mana but can’t be increased by items.

Health: You spend your own hp to cast the ability.

Fury, rage, and courage: These are dependent on their champions. Be sure to check them out in their respective champions description.

Summoner spells and runes:

Before entering the game each player can select two summoner spells. These are basically two extra abilities that your champion can use. They offer flexibility and allows you to play towards your preferred playstyle.

All the summoner spells (unlocks as you level up your account)

You also have to select a rune page, which enhances abilities and statistics. These can be a bit confusing as there are quite a lot to pick from, but there are pre made rune pages which can help in the beginning. Both runes and summoner spells are ways to customize your champion depending on your play style. In the beginning I would recommend testing your way forward. Read the runes and summoner spells carefully and pick something that suits your style.

The 5 rune paths

Attributes:

Champions are categorized into different classes representing a defined set of patterns in player’s behavior. In short, these classes are groups of champions with similar playstyles in-game. Not every champion directly fits into one of the classes, but they are a solid starting ground when trying to figure out how a certain champion is supposed to be played. The most basic classes are:

Tanks

Tanks are usually recognised by their impressive defensive capabilities. They are masters of distrupting enemies and shrugging of incoming damage.

Markmen

Marksmen are ranged carries who excel at dealing sustained damage through basic attacks whilst skirting the edge of danger. Although being able to pump out tons of damage, marksmen are very fragile and commonly rely on a controller to keep them safe.

Mages

Mages are capable casters who rely on their abilities to deal massive damage to opponents. Mages can be used either to singe out vu;nerable targets from range or to dive into the enemies, dealing huge aoe damage, depending on the champions abilities.

Controllers

Controllers are defensive casters who focus on defending and opening up opportunities for their allies. They specialice on amplifying the effect of their allies, either through healing and shielding, or by locking down enemies, allowing teammates to unleash their full power.

Assassins

Assassins are just that, quick and mobile killers who unleashes huge amounts of damage in quick burst. They specialice in infiltrating the enemy team and taking out enemy threats.

Fighters

Figthers are melee carries who can relent on any champion that gets to close. They are less durable than their tank counterparts but bring enough damage to be a real terror if left unchecked.

When looking at Summoner’s rift there are no rules for where you should bring these classes but some are more common in one lane then another. Usually we find some type of tank or fighter in the top lane, a mage or assassin in the mid lane and a marksman accompanied by a controller in the bot lane.

Jungle

The last and final player is free to roam the jungle, located in between the three lanes. The jungler relies on killing neutral monsters in order to gain resources. The main reason to having a jungler is to maximize recourse allocation, one of the most important aspects of League of Legends. Killing a monster gives gold and exp, Red Brambleback (red buff) also grants hp regen and causes your basic attacks to slow the enemy and whilst also dealing true damage over time. The Blue Sentinel (blue buff) grants increased mana (or energy)regeneration as well as cooldown reduction.

There are also 3 important neutral monsters located in the river in the middle of the map:

Rift Herald

The rift herald can be found in the same pit as Baron Nashor and is a powerful monster that spawn up to two times per game. Slaying the herald drops the “eye of the herald”, which can be picked up by one champion. The eye grants empowered recall and the ability to summon the herald to push a lane.

Baron Nashor

Baron is the strongest monster on the rift and replaces the rift herald 20 minutes into the game. Killing the baron grants all teammates bonus attack damage, bonus ability power, empowered recalls and an aura that greatly increaces the power of nearby minions.

Dragons

In the dragon pit, one of five dragons can spawn, the cloud, infernal, mountain, ocean or elder dragon. One of the elemental dragons (not elder) spawns 5 minutes into the game. If slain it gives your team a buff depending on its element and an elemental drake of another type spawns after 5 minutes.

Ocean Dragon: Restores percentage missing health every five seconds

Mountain Dragon: Grants armor and magic resistance

Infernal Dragon: Grants attack damage and ability power

Cloud Dragon: Grants ultimate cooldown reduction

Elder Dragon: Grants a true damage burn and executes champs under 20% hp

The five dragons

After the second dragon has been slain, one of the two remaining elements will alter the layout of the rift and the elemental drake of that type will be the only type to spawn after that point. Once a team has killed four elemental dragons they recive a dragon soul, a strong buff that differs depening on its element. The much more powerfull elder dragon spawns 6 minutes after that point.

More about the jungler

One thing to note is that the jungler generally uses the summoner spell ”smite”, which deals damage to monsters and upgrades the items Emberknife and Hailblade.

Jungle champions are usually recognized by their roaming nature, allowing them to move freely through the fog of war. The fog of war refers to areas on the map where a team doesn’t have vision. This allows for unexpected positioning and surprise attacks, commonly referred to as “ganks”, where the junglers assist their teammates by attacking the enemy laners.

All the monsters that can be found on the rift

So what should I play?

This is a very common question for new players! To be honest, it doesn’t really matter which role you play or what champion you pick when learning the basics. Personally, I picked the champ that looked the coolest and tried it in a random lane. If you play with a friend, I would recommend playing bot lane. There you can work together as it usually is the only lane with two players.

It will most likely be confusing and hard in the beginning, but it also is one of the most enjoyable parts of the game, as there is so much to learn and improve on. Improvement will become natural the more you play. Eventually you will learn the patterns of the game and recognise all the champions and their abilities. Now let’s continue!

Gold and experience

Gold and exp are the two main resources in League of Legends. XP allows champions to level up after reaching a certain amount, unlocking and ranking up their abilities. Leveling up also increases base stats and in some items and runes. XP can be gained in multiple ways but most commonly by killing monsters or by being within range of enemy minions or enemy champions dying.

Gold on the other hand can be used to by items that gives bonus stats and in some cases abilities. All players passively generate gold but the main income comes from “last hitting” (dealing the killing blow) to minions or monsters. Gold can also be gained by killing/assisting in a kill or by destroying objectives such as turrets and inhibitors.

Items

Every champion can carry six items and one trinket to improve their stats and abilities. Items can be bought in the shop located in each team’s fountain. Items are sorted into different classes: starter, basic, epic, legendary and mythic. The only rule for these items are that a champion only can carry one mythic item at one time. Besides these items you can buy wards, potions, consumables and boots in the shop.

Basic Wards:

Stealth ward: removes fog of war, granting vision for a certain amount of time Invisible but can be found e.g.,control wards or sweepers (trinket).

Control ward: removes fog of war, reveals and disables enemy wards, reveals camoflaged champions and has to be destroyed to dissapear.

Types of stats:

Defensive

Armor: reduces physical damage taken.

Magic resistance: reduces magic damage taken.

Health: increases your champions hit points.

Attack

Attack damage: Increases physical damage dealt by basic attacks and ad scaling abilities. Total attack damage is calculated as base ad + bonus ad.

Attack speed: increases the frequency of a unit’s basic attacks.

Critical strike chance: increases the chance of an auto attack or ability to critically strike, dealing extra damage.

Magic

Ability power: Increases damage dealt by ap scaling abilities. Every champion starts with 0 ap, and level-ups do not grant additional ap.

Mana: Increases mana, a resource required for most champs to cast abilities.

Ability haste: Reduces the cooldow of champion abilities.

Utility

Life steal: Restores health based of a portion of damage dealt by basic attacks.

Spell vamp: Restores health based of a portion of damage dealt by abilities.

Omni vamp: Life steal and spell vamp combined.

Movement speed: Increases a champion’s movement speed.

When starting of, items can be very confusing and there are a lot of items to choose from in the shop. As a beginner I would recommend to follow the recommended build which can be found in the shop. You can then start to experiment more as you grow familiar with how the items work and what suits your style.

Play, play and play!

That’s all the basic information required to understand the fundamentals of League of Legends! But to become good you need to practice, a lot! Start of with the tutorial and move on from there. In the next part of the guide we will talk about more advanced concepts that we can use to become even better. Until then, play, play and play!