League of Legends

Also:

• No champion is bad. None. If you think a champion is underpowered or weak, I guarantee you, there is someone, somewhere, who can kick your ass with him. It's all about the way the champ is played.
• Kills may be cool, but turrets and assists win games. It is far better to have a win than a high kill count.
• Related to the above, champions who excel at getting kills are fun to play, but support characters and tanks are vital to every team. Remember, kills are less important than wins.
• The minimap is like a two year old. It must be monitored at all times.
• If enemy champions disappear, or leave, and you notice, you must alert your team. A common (as in, used every game, multiple times) tactic is to ambush, or "gank", enemy champions by switching lanes. Let your team know, so they are aware.
• Don't get close to turrets, unless you have minions, or a tank. And the tank is only okay late game. Turrets hit like a bitch.
• The only way to get better is to play. A lot. Practice makes... almost perfect. But still, outside of games, scout champions. Look for ones you might like to play, read up on ones that were good last game, etc. Memorize champions and their abilities, it will save your life!
• And don't die (without good reason).

Yep, I think I more or less agree.

I highly suggest this website for when you are ever wondering about stuff in the game.

Definitely take some time and realize time will need to be taken when it comes to playing this game. There's a lot to take in if you've never played anything like it. However, if you stick with it, its depth and teamplay can be highly rewarding to experience.

The game is won when the Nexus is destroyed, I know it seems basic but so many players forget it, destroying a tower is worth far more in the scheme of things than getting a champion kill.

Watch out for people who backdoor (insert anal sex joke here), they will attack an unguarded lane when everyone else is busy and they can do some serious damage in the process, watch your minimap for icons in otherwise empty lanes, and count the numbers in team fights. That said…

Backdoor like a motherfucker. I can’t count how many games I’ve won by ignoring the teamfight and attacking the base alone, even if you don’t do too much damage you can draw attention away from the teamfight, which can give your team the edge.

Tips:

• COMMUNICATE! Poor Communication Kills! Is there a possibility that the guy you were laning against is going around for a kill? If so, it doesn't hurt to say "ss [X]" or "[X] mia" and ping the path the missing guy is going to take.

• Do not push lanes hap-hazardly unless you are sure you will get the tower down and you know where all the enemies are so as to not get ganked.

• If your lane seems quite safe and the enemy is overextending to your territory, PUNISH! Ganks are great opportunities to get an advantage over your opponent.

• Be humble. If you are having issues with your lane, you may just have a bad champion match-up. Don't be afraid to say you have problems laning against an opponent and request a lane switch, preferably early in the match. The shame of needing to switch lanes is nothing compared to the shame of having your tower destroyed during laning phase.

• If you do manage to die (but as others have said don't*
  ^{even though you will}
  ) reflect and ask yourself, "What did I do wrong?". Do not blame others. Every death you take is partly your fault. If your friends didn't save you, it was partly your fault for putting too much trust in them. Every death you make is because of a mistake you made and the sooner you identify the mistake, the better.

• If you team with baddies/AFKers, chill. It happens. Remember that the opposing team has the same chance of getting bad players as you. If you're pitted against people out of your league, put some faith into the matchmaking system and tell yourself that you must be doing something right to be pitted against better players.

• Be paranoid. If you don't see someone, assume that that person is hiding in the brush you want to hide in. Believe in Murphy's Law.

• Don't face check brushes. If you have a skill shot it doesn't hurt to shoot a brush. If you don't have a skill shot, buy a ward.

• Learn to last-hit. Last hitting means only having your champion deal the finishing blow on the minions. You only get gold for dealing the fatal blow to an minion. Last hitting also makes your lane push slower, pulling the enemy into your territory and opening up gank opportunities. Try to keep the fights in your territory as much as possible without having the enemy being close enough to attack you tower.

• Learn when NOT to last-hit. If you cleared your lane and its safe to push the tower for some damage, try to last hit but don't stop auto-attacking. Same for when your opponent is too close to your tower and can deal tower damage. If they're that close, then you should definitely play more aggressively. They're in your territory and engaging you normally will doom them.

• If your team can kill dragon, kill dragon. Always. Same for Baron Nashor.

• If you ace the opponent, go full out aggressive. In this case, there is literally nothing stopping you from getting at least one inhibitor down. Even if you have 1 health left, just hide behind your minions/teammates and push. Versus no opponents, you are just as much of a threat at one health as you are at full.

• Tribunal is up, so report any douche-bags that try to mess up your game. It'll actually work.

• If you're really new to the game, try out the Co-op vs. AI a bit to get used to the champions you will be working with. It is looked down upon to start a serious match with a champion you never tried before.

• If you think a champion is too strong, play that champion (preferably on a free week). I guarantee you that you will learn a lot more about that champion's strengths and weakness this way. No champion is over-powered if you can play them just as well.

• Have fun. If you're getting burnt out from a really humiliating defeat or something (like me at the moment) then give the game a bit of a rest. It's not going to go anywhere. When you come back you'll feel refreshed and ready to make your comeback.

• If you are the only one buying wards, do not be discouraged and keep buying wards. You are making a difference. If you aren't, then you're just playing with terrible people that you will never play with ever again because you are a badass and they are weak. Building good habits never hurts.

EDIT: If you're serious about the game, then be sure to check out competitive streams. This applies to all competitive games. The professional players didn't just get born into their position.

edited 30th May '11 11:26:26 PM by NiftyLostKite

I've been wondering about this game....

• how addictive is it? Can it be played by someone who only plays 1-2 hours per day?

• what's the system requirements? I'm bad at figuring out all the technical words, but compared to Warcraft 3, is this game more demanding or less demanding of a good computer? War3 is pretty much the extent this computer can play smoothly. Maybe a bit more, but probably not much more.

• also, are there summoning heroes?

edited 2nd Jun '11 3:36:45 PM by Signed

On its addictiveness... its really freaking addictive. When you start, its pretty hard to stop. I'd advise you to give it a few games to try to work its magic on you, but be careful you don't get sucked into it too much. 1-2 hours per day is fine, that's about two games. Keeping to that time period should allow you to keep a life, but if you start going past that amount... watch out.

As for system requirements, I'm not too sure, but you should be okay. There is no Mac version(dammit) however. In any case, just putting the graphics all the way down should do it.

What do you mean by "summoning champions"?

If that's what is meant, then, yes, there are a few. Annie(mentioned by stevebat) can summon a demon bear, and Malzahar can summon a voidling, but that's about it. Mord also gets a weaker replica of an enemy champion if one is killed with his ultimate active on it.

edited 2nd Jun '11 5:54:03 PM by rabbitRider

Very few Annie can summon a bear but thats about the only one I know of that summons more mobs.

Also don't read the comments on the wiki. They are what happens if all the "Stop Having Fun" Guys and Scrubs had access to youtube commenting.

edited 2nd Jun '11 6:02:14 PM by stevebat

Mordekaiser can make ghosts out of champions he kills with his ultimate, Shaco can summon a clone of himself that explodes when it dies, Malhazar summons a little void minion whenever he casts a spell and there are probably a few others I don't know about.

edited 3rd Jun '11 12:30:55 PM by Clarste

Heimerdinger can also summon two turrets. In fact, that's his primary gameplay mechanic.

The new champion Orianna doesn't summon anything but she always has a ball by her side. It can't be attacked though so I'm not sure if it would count.

When I say summon, I mean the heroes with summoning abilities in Warcraft3, like the Farseer summoning 2 wolves to take hits and deal damage, or Archmage who summons a ridiculously tough water elemental to soak up all the damage, that gay centaur who quickly summons an army of trees, or Cryptlord summoning 5 permanent beetles*

edited 3rd Jun '11 1:13:25 AM by Signed

None of the champions are dedicated summoners then. Summoning is more of a perk in this game than an actual champion mechanic.

EDIT: Exception being Heimerdinger, and even then they're stationary. The one that best suits that role would be Annie I think.

edited 3rd Jun '11 2:05:50 AM by NiftyLostKite

So I just bought Orianna. I normally have a rule about testing champs before I buy them (the only other one I've broken this rule for was Sona), but I just love her conceptually, and after seeing her in action a few times, I just couldn't help myself.

Okay low level tiers are populated by Griefers and GIFT I think there is a failure in the matchmaking department.

Oddly enough, I don't think I've ever seen any griefers in my games. Certainly a lot of GIFT though, especially on the losing team. I've always found it kind of funny how when you're winning your team will encourage you when you do well and forgive your mistakes, but as soon as you start losing they start throwing around insults and racial slurs.

I ran into my first GIFT players yesterday, the matchmaking system doesn't work too well with massively mixed levels in a team, (21, 14 me and a 2 just made his account and played some AI)

Isn't GIFT supposed to be Heroes Of Newerth's thing?

It's worse there, much worse, and the lower levels tend to be much nicer in Lo L

Downloading the game at the moment. Never liked DOTA, always played Aeon of Strife or Tides of Blood back in the day, much, much, MUCH less foul-tempered assholes.

Is this as Serious Business as DOTA was? Is there any point to finishing this download and playing it or am I going to have ultra-elite secretly-Supreme Champion tournament players on newbie accounts shrieking every second that "YOU PICKED THE WRONG HERO YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" upon entering the game?

I liked Dota back when it was in Reign Of Chaos.......back when the concept of custom skills was still new and cool.

But after a while, there were more and more pricks who boot you off if you need to dl the game, so in the end, I just gave up on the game. Too many dicks playing.

This seems to be the friendliest of the Dota's although that isn't really saying much. There are still assholes, but some things are much more lenient. For instance, champion composition is quite a bit harder to nail down due to the sheer number of champions, so team composition only really comes into play at higher ranked games, or at least until you've understood it well enough. They've also introduced tribunal recently, with the intent on cutting down on the assholes. It's still too early to judge the effectiveness of the system, but it's something at least.

How exactly does this game operate money-wise? It's free to play with a limited selection, I can see that. After the tutorials I can buy a new character. Can I feasibly buy all the characters in a fairly reasonable time? Are they hoping to nickle and dime me for $5 a pop for new characters? Can I pay $50 and get everything, aside from DLC-like stuff like skins?

There are two types of currency: IP (only gained through playing matches and, recently, through contributing to tribunal) and RP (real money). There are always 10 champions free each week which changes through rotation. If you want a specific champion to be available to you at all times, you must purchase them either through IP or RP.

The money they make is entirely through RP. RP can be used to purchase IP boosts/multipliers, champions, and champion skins. Although you can theoretically purchase all the champions with IP, the time you need to purchase all the champions would amount to years of non-stop playing. That's not including the fact that they add new champions almost bi-weekly, further increasing the total number of IP necessary.

There's also the way your account is leveled and the fact that you can boost EXP gains to increase your level and power.

Gameplay is fun, if damn unforgiving. If you screw up in any way, you've probably screwed your team over. Especially if somebody leaves. Didn't DOTA allow you to share control of a hero if their player left?

I really dislike their financial scheme. Roughly $5 a pop per hero and there are like 80 of them? Then you have to buy the runes. Skins are optional but pretty expensive as well. Conversely, you very slowly grind to get stuff. I don't know.

I've seen far worse though. I played Combat Arms for a bit, that game was a ton of fun but had one of those awful "rental" features. At least if I blow $5 on this game I ALWAYS have that character rather then the privileged of playing them for a week. I stopped when they finally allowed you to change your primary weapon for the low, low price of $30. Really? The fair price of a low-budget game to own a SINGLE gun and play the rental nonsense with everything else?

It's not that unforgiving. I've seen quite a number of games where the losing team comes back from behind, usually by working on their general strategy (start sticking together, backdoor attacks, etc). There are also a number of systems in place designed to mitigate the Unstable Equilibrium, such as stronger turrets closer to your base, gold bonuses for ending killing sprees, diminishing returns for killing the same champion over and over again, etc.

edited 12th Jun '11 1:34:36 PM by Clarste