League of Legends (LoL) is a highly technical but also rewarding game. Being a Massive Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game, it challenges players to match up in teams of five to fight against each other on Summoner’s Rift.
Before loading into a game, every gamer selects one of over 150 Champions to take control and each comes with different abilities.
Once in-game, you need to work as a team to take down the opponent’s tower, which protects their Nexus (the game-winning objective). By killing minions and your opponent’s Champions and securing neutral objectives, you and your team get gold and experience that enable you to gain strength in the game.
If you are a LoL beginner and would like to get a few general tips that will help you kick off your game, earn your first wins, and have more fun, you are in the right place. Let’s dive in.
1. Try different roles and Champions
When you first load the game, you will notice that there are three lanes: top, middle, and bottom. You then need to take your selected Champion into the lane that you choose or that the game chooses for you.
Apart from three lanes and the jungle, there are also five roles:
- Top Lane,
- Mid Lane,
- Attack Damage Carry (ADC),
- Jungler,
- Support.
Each role provides a different way to experience the game. Therefore, you need to try out each one to get a feel for how they impact the game and decide what you want to do long-term.
If you like 1v1, you will mostly like being in the Top, or Mid Lane role. On the other hand, if you enjoy a good PvE experience, the Jungler role may be more suitable for you. Nevertheless, to make the final choice, it is best to try out different options, which you can do using LoL smurfs.
These are secondary accounts, separate from your main one, that you can use to improve your playstyle and test different strategies, roles, and Champions. If you want to find out more about smurfing, read also: Why should you create smurf accounts in League of Legends.
2. Use the muting tool
Another useful tip is to mute unruly chatter. It is fairly easy to engage in petty squabbling with opponent players or even ones on your team, which usually results in scuffed gameplay and a negative gaming experience.
Luckily, the League of Legends community is mostly filled with positive players, so this is not always the case. Nevertheless, if you feel that the game is going in a toxic direction, you should use the muting tool (“mute all” command) to have a quieter experience that enables you to fully focus on the game.
3. Learn the lingo
League of Legends has a robust ping system allowing you to convey the actions you take or want your team to follow up on and you most likely bump into all kinds of jargon in chat.
One of the most commonly used types is acronyms, like QSS for Quicksilver Sash, RFC for Rapidfire Cannon, or CC for crowd control. Apart from this, there are also quirks in LoL, such as calling dragons “drakes”, or Baron Nashor “Baron”, or “Nash”.
It is worthwhile, then, to learn the LoL lingo to understand what other players and your teammates talk about and not be left behind.
All in all, League of Legends is not a simple, but definitely rewarding, game with exciting matches and interesting items. When you start, remember to give yourself time to test different Champions and roles using LoL smurfs, use the muting tool to stay focused, and learn the lingo to be able to speak the language of other players.