Speed up your progress in the game with this League of Legend guide. This article highlights many aspects that League of Legends doesn’t tell beginners.
It would be unfair to say that League of Legends is a difficult game. It is rather deep and with many layers. Each of your steps into League of Legends mastery can be exciting and satisfying. Your progress in the game can be quick, and the tips from this guide will help with this. The article is for beginners who wish take their first steps in League of Legends.
Enjoy the game and be reasonable with learning
These two tips may seem very general, but they are immensely important.
- Enjoy the game
League of Legends is a competitive game. People play it to win, and that doesn’t happen every time. It can easily be stressful for you. The tension of high expectations, understanding of your skill limitations, some guilt about letting your team down, etc. Just throw that out of your mind!
Enjoy the game even if it goes wrong and you're locked in it for the next 20 to 30 minutes. You need to focus on the positive side of things. Otherwise, digging through layers of League of Legends will be difficult. Find your emotionally comfortable attitude and keep it active.
- Be reasonable
The depth of League of Legends can be overwhelming. You open a guide somewhere and your brain starts melting from the amount of tricky terms and small details. Yes, you need to know what ganking is and how the damage numbers affect your matchups during the laning phase. But if you try to consume everything simultaneously, it will be too much.
Be reasonable in the amount of stuff you try to learn about the game and practice in it. One step at a time. Otherwise, it may get difficult to even enjoy League of Legends as a beginner.
Choosing the role and the Champions
Among five team roles, League of Legends beginners should follow the following sequence.
- Top > Mid > Support > Jungle > Bot
It is certainly better to gain your first experience in the top lane, as you have a chance to practice mob farming and direct interactions with your opponent. At the same time, it is not necessary to wait to reach the level of Zeus from T1 to try and experiment with other roles. Feel free to move further into the role sequence to discover what you can do there.
LoL Champions: Tips for beginners
As for the characters, there are pretty clear recommendations in our list of the best League of Legends Champions for beginners, and it is better to follow them. These Champions do not require being mechanically skillful, and their abilities are often passive. You need to be consistent and play some games with one Champion to figure them out properly. But don’t stick to your early decisions for too long.
Imagine that after watching Arcane, you decide to play one of the beginner-friendly League of Legends Champions from Arcane. You take Vi, you play her, but then you realize you don’t like the close-range combat and you miss the healing abilities of other champions. Or you decide to play Jinx, but the early stage is rather difficult for her, and you don’t like to be that helpless at the start of every game. Change your decisions and pick up someone else from the League of Legends extended roster.
The point with the roles and the Champions for League of Legends beginners is to find something suitable for you. We are all different and unique. Try to find a way to express yourself in the game, even if it takes a lot of time. It’s the best way to enjoy the process and reach good results.
- Start playing from the top lane and stick to this role with a few Champions.
- Experiment with other roles when you feel ready.
- Select your initial Champions from the beginner-friendly lists. Anyone you like for no specific reason will do.
- Switch between Champions and roles to find your personal perfect style in League of Legends.
How to unlock LoL Champions: Guide
There is no need to pay real-world money for starter bundles or separate Champions. Play League of Legends, complete in-game missions, earn Blue Essence, and unlock new Champions with this currency.
- Look at the bottom right corner of the game window. There is a scroll icon that leads to the list of active missions. The icon often has numeral notifications. Check out what you need to do to earn Blue Essence. It may be placing wards or taking down Baron. Mind that while playing League of Legends.
- Unlock cheap Champions for beginners first unless you have something specific in mind. The process of earning Blue Essence is not too quick, and you need a variety of characters to play.
- Do not recklessly buy the Champions you saw at League of Legends esports events. They may be tricky to play for League of Legends beginners. For example, you saw Faker on Sylas and then discovered his ability to steal ultimates, which requires deep knowledge on lots of Champions and their abilities.
Practice in LoL Co-op vs AI: Tips for beginners
League of Legends is about multiplayer matches for sure. But League of Legends beginners should practice in the Co-op vs AI mode. Don’t underestimate the power of this chill-out experience, where it is difficult to lose.
- Practice new Champions here. You need to develop muscle memory for abilities and auto-attack before facing real people on a lane. Train your combos before bringing them to the intense PvP battles.
- Practice new roles here. Only junglers and bot carries cannot unleash their true power in Co-op vs AI, as the matches are too short. Otherwise, it’s a great playground.
- Earn your Blue Essence reward from the daily Win You First Match mission here. The win is rather guaranteed.
- Don’t play the Intro section, as players tend to leave it, making the experience awful. The Beginners matches give more space for experimenting, as in the Intermediate ones people rush to destroy the Nexus super quickly.
Runes, spells, and items: LoL for beginners
League of Legends does a great job introducing these aspects. The trick for beginners is not to ignore runes, spells, and items totally and not to overthink them.
Runes
- You need to select recommended Rune builds after picking a Champion for a match. Just read the title to know what these builds do and choose something you like more. If you need to change the Champion's role, click the icons in the bottom right corner, so the Recommended Runes will change accordingly.
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Spells
- Summoner spells come with the rune builds, but you sure can change them. Flash is generally good and very popular among League of Legends players, including beginners. Ignite helps with an offensive playing style. Shield may be helpful in different situations, like protecting ranged Champions when opponents come too close. Heal may be good for Champions with no healing abilities. Ghost will help you escape danger. Teleport is great but tricky for beginners in League of Legends as you may not know when to use it and where to teleport. You must choose Smite if you plan to play as a Jungler.
Items
- Do not accumulate too much gold. Spend it regularly on items. Head to the Recommended section, read the general descriptions, and choose whatever you like more.
- A general trick for beginners in League of Legends is to be attentive to the names of items you buy, their icons, and their effects. This amount of information may make little sense for you now, but you should train yourself to understand the items better and get prepared for custom builds.
League of Legends beginners can ignore various websites with Champion builds. First, use runes, spells, and items the game recommends. When you generally start understanding what you want from your Champions, take a look at those builds to get some new ideas and experiment with different options.
Game phases
League of Legends games start with a laning phase. Most players stick to their lanes, farm mobs, and harass opponents. Only junglers roam around. This continues up to 14 minutes.
In the mid-game period, players should group to participate in team fights and secure big objectives, like internal turrets, late Dragons, and Baron. Earning kills is also important.
Closer to the end, focusing on the base of your opponents is the main thing. Sure, there still are huge objectives, like Elder Dragons, but their purpose is to get that meaningful advantage and finally destroy the Nexus.
- Don’t rush under a turret of your opponents too early. It may be better to farm minions first in the middle between turrets, harm your direct opponent, and force them to retreat. It is a good moment to visit the shop, buy items, and get prepared for quick and less risky turret destruction. At the same time, taking down turret plates is also important in the early game, and you shouldn’t miss this opportunity.
- You need to feel the moments to retreat to your base and buy items. You can’t just leave your lane. And you can’t sit on over 1,000 gold without powering up your Champion. Look at what your opponent does: damage them, kill them if possible, and use their absence to visit the shop. Help from your jungler may give you a break for this.
- Don’t let mobs damage you. Use your minion waves to get opponent mobs distracted. Aim for delivering last hits to kill mobs and earn gold: watch who among them is already damage and right-click them.
Control
When you play beginner-friendly Champions and practice them in the Co-op vs AI mode first, you will have no issues with the control scheme. Only a couple of League of Legends tips for beginners may boost your game results.
- Use keys for spells and consumable items instead of mouse clicks. Yes, you can activate Flash or take a potion by clicking icons in the lower menu. Yes, it could be difficult in the beginning to find F or 3 with your finger, especially in the middle of a tense battle. But it is better to train your fingers first and then don’t lose precious moments moving the mouse over the menu and distracting yourself from the main action.
- Combos for your Champions are essential for big damage. They depend on who you play. An example is to sun with one ability to deliver big damage with another, massive but slow ability (ultimate). Experiment with combos and use them in 1v1 and team fights.
Communication in LoL for beginners
There are a few important pings in League of Legends, and the game doesn’t really tell beginners about them. Use them mindfully, as it’s a basis for team communication in online matchmaking.
- First, learn to react to the pings of other players. Say, you are on top, and your jungler pings Assist Me around Voidgrubs. It is essentially your duty to join them. The pings are pretty straightforward, and they come with clear notifications. Look at the chat and the mini-map to know what’s going on and what you can do about it.
- Then start using the pings yourself. Do not spam them! Assume that people see your requests and repeat them if it’s really necessary.
- Press Alt + Left Click for the Generic Ping and Ctrl + Left Click for the Caution Ping. The effect depends on where you use them. In general, the Generic Ping is about targeting or defending something, and the Caution Ping is about retreating from danger.
- Press G and hold Left Click to summon the Tactical Wheel with a variety of smart pings. Those you use often should be bound to some keys for quick access. Do this in the game settings menu: Hotkeys -> Communication.
Communication is especially meaningful in mid and late games when teams need to coordinate their actions.
The emotes are less important practically, but they sure help players support the team spirit. Press T to activate the emote wheel and share your emotions with teammates. You can set emotes for this wheel in your Collection > Emotes menu.
Information is a key
League of Legends allows players to get lots of info about the game’s state. You absolutely need to use this!
- Place wards across the map to see your opponents. Buy and place control wards to see and destroy wards of your opponents. Having vision is a crucial factor.
- Follow the icons on the mini-map. You need to know what your teammates and opponents do. This should affect your decisions.
- Check what happens on other lanes or around your teammates and wards. Left-click on the mini-map to open different areas quickly. Make sure your Champion is safe during these periods. For example, when they are running across your base after purchasing items in the shop.
- If turrets fall or champions die, you need to check what and where has happened. Don’t ignore those notifications. They may let you know where you have a gap in the opponents’ defense or where you should cover yours.
- Press the Tab to see stats of other players. Make it your regular habit, even if the numbers look weird in the beginning. You’ll get used to them and soon they will make more sense for you — again, to help you make the best situational decisions. In general, you should check if your team is ahead or behind, which affects the team tactics, and how your teammates are doing compared to their direct opponents.
The post-match information is as important as the rotation of your opponents on the map. You need to analyze those numbers and icons to make adjustments in your actions and become a better player. As a League of Legends beginner, start with checking the post-match screen carefully instead of closing that window immediately. You may notice that your damage is too small, so you may want to focus on offense. Compare your Kill/Death ratio to other players to know how you really do in the game. The more you play, the better you understand this data. Just start to do this.
Personal and team goals
The team goal in League of Legends is to destroy the Nexus and win the game. Intermediate goals reflect the game phases: initial farming, taking smaller objectives, grouping for bigger buffs, etc. While you can’t ignore these goals since League of Legends is a team-based game, you should distinguish your personal goals as a beginner and accomplish them in each match.
This tip is tightly connected to being reasonable in learning. Take one aspect you want to improve and try to focus on it.
- If you die too much, focus on safer offense approaches for a few matches — even if this means ignoring team fights.
- When you need to practice a specific spell, just do it, despite being not the best team player in these moments. For example, you want to make Teleport one of your skills, but at the beginning of your practice, those almost random teleports don’t help with your team goals.
- Playing new roles and Champions also may affect your effectiveness as a team player, but it's a must-take step to explore the game. Here, your personal goal to find your style in League of Legends is above the team goal of quick Nexus destruction.
As a game in League of Legends has phases, your growth in League of Legends also has cycles. In the beginning, prioritizing your personal goals is a good idea — while still making your contribution into the team play. However, if you plan to experiment with totally new stuff, start with the Co-op vs AI mode. Being a good team player is a basis for other people to enjoy League of Legends, too.
The final League of Legends tip for beginners is an encouragement to watch matches on streams and esports competitions. Following full matches by streamers may teach you a lot about game phases, matchups, team fights, etc. Pro events are a super effective way to absorb tricks, even if you currently can’t do the same things in your game. For more League of Legends guides and helpful articles, stick around on esports.gg!
