How to Play League of Legends

[RazerZ]

This guide will provide a basic understanding of the game and is geared towards new players.

What is League of Legends?
League of Legends is a free-to-play MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) in which two teams fight against each other across a variety of maps and game modes. Chances are you've heard of it since it is one of the most played online PC games in the world.

System Requirements:

Minimum:

Processor: 2Ghz processor
Memory: 1 GB RAM (Windows Vista and 7 users will want 2 GB of RAM or more)
Hard Drive: 8GB available space
Graphics: Shader version 2.0 capable video card with support for DirectX v9.0c and higher
Operating System:Windows XP (Service Pack 2 or 3 ONLY), Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8/8.1

Recommended:

Processor: 3 GHz processor
Memory:2 GB RAM (Windows Vista and 7 users should use 4 GB of RAM or more.)
Hard Drive: 12GB available space
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 8800/AMD Radeon HD 5670 or equivalent video card (Dedicated GPU with 512MB+ Video Memory(VRAM) with support for DirectX v9.0c and higher)
Operating System: Windows XP with the latest service pack installed, Windows Vista with the latest service pack installed, Windows 7 with the latest service pack installed, or Windows 8/8.1
Additional Software: The latest version of Microsoft's .NET Framework and Adobe Air.

Download the game here: https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/en/signup/redownload

Store lobby/Interface:




Game Modes/Maps (flow chart or split up?):
o Tutorial
o Custom
o Co-op vs Al
o Classic
- Summoner's Rift
- The Twisted Treeline
- Howling Abyss
o Dominion
- The Crystal Scar
o Team Builder
o Featured Game Modes
- Ascension
- Doom Bots
- Nemesis Draft
- One for All
- Snowdown Showdown
- URF (Ultra Rapid Fire)

Monsters: These are found in the jungle area of the map. Slaying a monster gives gold and xp. Certain monsters such as the Wraith, Large Golem, Gromp, and Large Wolf will give a buff open being smited.

Champions:
o ADC (Attack Damage Carry): They are the champions responsible for carrying the game. They are capable of dealing high amounts of attack damage in the form of ranged combat. These champions have low life and are known as "squishies". As such they need to plan their attacks accordingly.They play in bot lane.


o Support: They support the ADC in bot lane. They tend to have abilities which have synergy with the ADC. These include but are not limited to stuns, slows, heals, pulls, shields, attack/health boosts, and increased XP rate. They are geared towards having high health/armor and are also known as "tanks". The support's role is to aid and protect the ADC early game, and protect the rest of their team late game.

o Top: These champions play solo in the top lane. They often are tanky and are capable of dealing high damage late game.

o Mid: These champions play solo in the mid lane. They are mostly mages capable of dealing high AP damage but in return have low life (APC, AP Carries).

o Jungle: Champions which roam in the jungle farming the monsters, effectively gaining XP and gold for your team, and also ganking each of the three lanes. Along with the support they tend to be the most tanky champions in the game.

Leveling up, IP, XP, RP:
Each game you play, asides from a custom game, will give you a certain amount of IP and EXP. The amount receive depends on the game length and how well you did in the game. Access to new masteries, rune slots, spells, game modes, etc. will be available with each increase in your summoner level. At level 30 all benefits will be unlocked, and with 16 champions you will have access to the ranked queues. RP can be won through contests, or be purchased with real money. It can be used to unlock IP/XP boosts, champions, skins for champions, rune pages, ward skins, and summoner icons in the store.

Items:
o Defense
o Attack
o Magic
o Misc.
o Map

Shop:

Ranked:

Refer a Friend: Each time you share your referral code and the new account created reaches level 10, you will be rewarded. For each friend referred this way you will receive 1000 IP. 3 friends unlocks the Grey Warwick skin, and once you reach the maximum of five friends you unlock the Medieval Twitch skin. http://rewards.na.leagueoflegends.com/

Vocabulary:

Spoiler

mid- Middle lane
bot- Bottom lane
top- Top lane
jng- Jungle
gg- Good ame
blue [buff]- Formerly known as Crest of Insight. Buff which grants increased mana and energy production and decreases ability cooldown time. It is obtained from slaying the Ancient Golem. The buff is identified by a spinning blue circle.
red [buff]- Formerly known as Crest of Cinders. Buff which grants increased health regeneration, deals a low amount of true damage to target opponent or creature, and decreases their movement speed. The buff is identified by a spinning red circle.
wp- Well played
leash- Aiding the jungler to help defeat a buff holding monster at the start of the game.
b- Retreating back to base.
MIA- Enemy champion Missing in Action
Bork- Blade of the Ruined King
IE- Infinity Edge
BT- Blood Thirster
ROA- Rod Of Ages
AOE- Area of Effect damage
CC- Crowd Control
MR- Magic Resist
AD- Attack Damage
AP- Ability Power
OP- Over powered
AFK- Away From Keyboard
DC'D- Disconnected
BRB- Be Right Back
tank- High health/armored champion
squishy- Low health champion
farm- Acquiring gold by killing minions
feeder- A player that is dying frequently, on purpose, or for no good reason. They "feed" the enemy team, providing gold and XP upon each death.
nerfed- Champion which was weakened
buffed- Champion which was improved

How to be successful in the game

[ banner
1. Champion Knowledge/Strategy
2. Communication
3. Positive Attitude (don't be a toxic player)
4. Map awareness
]



Playing the game:

Start a game by clicking the play button on the home screen and choosing a game mode. You have four options: PVP, Co-op vs. Al, Custom, and Tutorials. Classic, dominion, and ARAM. Note how some of the game modes have a lock icon next to them. As you level up you will gain access to new queues. As a level one summoner you only have access to Co-Op vs Al, classic mode, in Summoner's Rift. As a beginner it is recommended to choose the Intro difficulty. Once you have selected your path from the given options, you will have the choice to play solo, or invite friends and play in a party. In the classic mode there are three lanes, top, middle, and bot. As soon as the game accepts you will have to type the role you want. First come first serve, so make sure you are a fast typer! There is also an area known as the jungle between the lanes in which the jungler resides in. Pictured below is what a typical lobby would look like. You have a choice of champions to choose from,runes and masteries, and spells.

Now before you actually start a game it's a good idea to know the champions, as well as have a plan in mind. What many new players struggle with is knowing what skills to level up on the champion first, as well as which items would work best. This can easily be found by looking at popular builds guides from websites such as those from mobafire, lolking, probuilds, solomid, etc. A standard core build will be common in the guides, however they should also include situational items to account for the combination of champions and builds the enemy team has. The build guide should also include the order to level up your champion's skills, as well as the masteries and runes to use with them. If the guide is particularly good it should have a detailed description of the champion's strengths and weaknesses along with tips and tricks which could come in handy. As a new player you will start of with 0 IP or RP and will have to use the ten free champions that Riot provides for all modes other than ranked queue. They rotate out weekly.

Once you have a build guide picked out, make an item set for it. This will save you precious time in game. To create an Item set, navigate to your summoner profile, and click the "Item Sets" tab. Then click the plus button found on the left hand side of the page. To add an item, search for it in the search bar and drag the item to the box. If you need multiples of the same item, simply drag the item onto the item in the block. It will stack. You can add different blocks to match the what the build guide describes. Typically you will have a separate block for starting items, core build, and situational. In the Maps and Champions tab, you will be able to choose the map(s) and champion(s) to which the Item set applies to. Once you are finished creating the item set, click the save icon indicated by the floppydisk with the down arrow.

The next step is creating a mastery page. These are free to create, however are limited to 20 pages. Worry not, as you will find that one mastery set can apply to a range of champions. To create a mastery page navigate to the masteries tab and click the plus icon. Left click on a square to add one point to that mastery. To remove a point, right click, use the scroll button. To reset all changes to the page click the revert button. As your summoner level increases, you gain access to a greater amount of masteries. Your summoner level is the same as the number of mastery points you have at disposal. At level 30 you will have 30 mastery points. Once you are finished selecting your masteries click the save masteries button.

I would personally recommend to create rune pages once your summoner level is at least 20. This will grant you access to the highest tier runes (Tier I), and no IP will be wasted on lower tier runes which are not as effective. By default you start with two rune pages, and also have a limit of 20 pages. However unlike mastery pages, they are quite expensive coming in at 6300 IP a page or 590 RP. If buying in bulk, 7 rune pages can be had for 2600 RP.


Controls: By default Q,W,E, and R are the keys used to activate your champion's ability. Spells are assigned to the D and F key. To recall to base use the B key. The Y key allows to switch between the free and locked camera modes. To move use the right mouse button. You can right click on the minimap to make your champion move as well. To taunt, laugh, dance, or joke type: /taunt /laugh, /dance, /joke respectively in the chat box, or use the assigned hotkey. To change the hotkeys press the ESC button and navigate to the hotkeys tab. From there you can click the box and change the controls. You can also change the graphic, sound, and game interface settings in the options menu.

Controlling your lane: Always make sure to have sufficient vision of your lane. This can be achieved by buying wards. Farming minions is key to leveling up. Minions each grant a certain amount of gold and xp. To get the gold, last hitting minions is important. If an allied minion last hits the enemy minion and it dies, you will not receive any gold. Never be afraid to ask for help from a nearby lane or jungler. Communication is key to winning the game. Once you have pushed your lane far enough by destroying turrets, go and assist your team. Be careful not to have "tunnel vision" as it is likely the enemy team will gank you and you will be too far in to run to safety. In the event that you are losing your lane badly and your team mates are not there or too far away, your best bet would be to stay within your turrets range and farm from there.


Gameplay as Ashe in Summoner's Rift farming minions. In the top right hand corner you can see the score, kills/deaths/assist/minion farm, and time. Below it is your FPS and ping. On the bottom right is the minimap with buttons for ping alerts, champion info, camera mode, and options. In the bottom-center of your screen is where your abilities, health, and mana/energy/rage bar are shown. In the bottom left you will find your champion picture, level, attack damage, ability power, attack speed, movement speed, armor, and magic resistance. It also displays your items with their hotkeys and gold count.

Game objective: The first team to destroy the enemy nexus wins. Clear a path to the nexus by destroying turrets. Doing side objectives such as slaying the dragon, Baron, and taking enemy inhibitors will give your team xp, gold, and valuable buffs. The rewards the Dragon gives depends on the amount of times you have slain it. The buffs stack and are permanent, however the fifth stack lasts for 180 seconds before it expires. The Hand of Baron Buff will grant increased attack and ability power, increased minion damage and health, as well as significantly faster recall time. Destroying an enemy inhibitor spawns super minions, minions which have greatly increased health and damage. Other buffs are also available on maps other than Summoner's Rift.

(this is a work in progress)