This year’s League of Legends Worlds event was one of the best of all time, with amazing storylines, record-breaking viewership, and incredibly close matches.
If you’re thinking about jumping in as a new player, now is a great time as the game is about to enter its Preseason which lasts until Season 13 begins in January.
In this guide, we’ll tell you everything you need to know as an absolute beginner if you want to get better at League.
Before we dive in, we’re going to assume that you’ve tried League and know its basic goals for how to win and the parts of the map. This article will focus more on how to improve as a player rather than teaching you how the game works.
Understand the Five Roles
Similar to positions in traditional sports like basketball, such as the Point Guard and Center, the five players of a League of Legends team have specific roles with their own unique responsibilities.
The five roles of League of Legends are the Top laner, Jungler, Mid laner, Bot laner, and the Support.
The Top laner is the lone wolf of the team, starting in the most isolated position at the top of the map. Compared to the other roles, this one has the most 1v1 combat.
For the Jungler, playing League is a game of chess. They are able to play all parts of the map and go where they are needed most, often leading the way to contest important objectives like Dragon and Baron.
At the center of the map is the Mid laner, who combines the 1v1 nature of Top lane with the ability to roam to different parts like the Jungler.
The Bot laner and Support are actually a duo package, creating a 2v2 dynamic. Typically, the Support is in charge of controlling vision with wards around the map and protecting the Bot laner.
Also known as the “ADC”, the Bot laner typically has the role to farm as best they can in the early game to carry later in the game with their damage output.
As a new player, we recommend trying out each one over time so you can eventually settle on one as your “main role” that you specialize in.
By understanding your role, you’ll be able to understand how to best help your team win the match and improve your overall impact.
Know How to Learn a Champion
Learning how to play a champion is one of the most fun parts of League! Each champion has its own unique feel, strengths, and weaknesses, so playing one can feel like an entirely different game compared to another.
When you first start learning characters, we recommend trying out the ones in the free rotation. This will allow you to save up your currency for the champs you want most.
Once you decide on which champion you want to play, jump into the Practice Tool to give you a relaxed place to try out their abilities and get a feel for how they work.
While you’re there, make sure to find the champion’s best builds from a site like Mobalytics, and familiarize yourself with its build order before replicating it in a game.
You’ll want to hover over each rune and item to understand how to fit together well. For example, a champion like Amumu wants to engage onto the other team, so he takes the Resolve rune tree to make himself more tanky along with items like Thornmail which causes enemies to hurt themselves when they attack him.
Later down the road, when you’re a veteran, you’ll be able to create your own builds based on your needs, but as a beginner, it’s best to stick with these stat-backed recommendations.
These steps will put you ahead of a lot of new players who just jump into a game and struggle because it’s hard to learn a champion while on the fly. By just spending a bit of time going through the flow of your champ, it’ll make your improvement much smoother.
Play Games and Track Your Progress
Once you have the basics down for a champion, the next thing is to just play games! We recommend doing so in Normal Draft if you’re learning a new character.
Although every champ varies in difficulty, you’re bound to make a lot of mechanical mistakes as a beginner, especially throughout the first 10-20 games.
During this time, remember that you want to focus on getting better regardless of if you win or lose. Since League is a team game, there may games where you play insanely well but still lose and games where you make every mistake possible but still win because you get carried.
Instead of being win/loss oriented, emphasize being consistent with your fundamentals like farming, positioning well to survive, and keeping an eye on the minimap. By improving these fundamentals, winning will become a byproduct that happens more consistently over time as a byproduct.
While playing, you should routinely check out your Profile and Match History and understand the trends of your play. If you’re used to interpreting stats, you can definitely do it yourself but you can also use tools like the Mobalytics GPI which will automatically crunch your in-game data into summarized breakdowns.
As you learn more about your main role and champion, you’ll start to understand which fundamental stats to focus on the most.
For example, if you’re a carry, you should keep an eye on your farming and number of deaths. This is because the more items you have, the more damage you’ll deal, and the more time you spend alive, the better your damage output will be.
In comparison, if you’re a Jungler or Support, you may want to keep a close eye on your contributions related to objectives and vision control.
What’s Next?
Once you’re comfortable enough with your champion that you feel you have the hang of them, we recommend learning a second champion with your role in case your main is banned, and then another champion for a secondary role in case you’re filled while queueing.
After becoming proficient with these three champions (main, alternative within your main role, and an off-role), your champion pool is ready for ranked!
Good luck, and by following the steps within our guide, we guarantee you’ll continue to keep getting better at League of Legends.
