League of Legends can be an incredibly daunting game for beginners. With over 160 champions, five unique roles, and an ever-changing meta, it often feels like everyone else has years of experience on you. However, by following key strategies, you can fast-track your improvement and start climbing the ranks quickly.
Understanding the Basics: Champion Roles and Jungle Pathing
To start, it’s crucial to understand the roles in League of Legends: Top, Jungle, Mid, AD Carry, and Support. Each role has a specific function within a team, and understanding these roles will help you better grasp the overall game strategy. For instance, the Jungler’s starting location is essential to predict their movements and gank timings. Knowing where the enemy Jungler starts allows you to anticipate their pathing and avoid early ganks.
Tip 1: Identifying Jungler Start Locations
At the beginning of each match, observe which lane is last to arrive. This often indicates where the Jungler started. If the enemy bot lane arrives late, their Jungler likely started on the bot side, meaning they’ll path towards the top. By placing a ward at 2:45, you can catch early ganks and adjust your gameplay accordingly.
Tip 2: Understanding Level Two Power Spikes
A common way to win or lose your lane is by hitting level two before your opponent. For solo lanes, this happens on the second wave after killing the first melee minion. For bot lane, you need to kill three melee minions. Position yourself aggressively before hitting level two, so you can immediately punish the enemy.
Tip 3: The Importance of Lane Matchups
In ranged versus melee matchups, melee champions should avoid contesting the push for level two, as they’ll often lose more health than it’s worth. Instead, conserve health and wait until you hit level three with all your abilities to start trading effectively.
Tip 4: Mastering Wave Management with Rebounds
Wave management is critical, especially the concept of “rebounds.” When you push a wave into the enemy tower, the wave will typically push back towards you. Understanding this mechanic allows you to time your roams, recalls, and engages more effectively.
Tip 5: Effective Use of Freezing
Freezing is a powerful technique that forces your opponent to overextend, making them vulnerable to ganks or trades. To maintain a freeze, keep around four to five more enemy minions in your wave. Remember, freezing is most effective when you have a lead, as it puts your opponent in a dangerous position.
Tip 6: Optimize Dead Time
“Dead time” refers to periods when there are no jungle camps or minions to farm. Use this time to ward, pressure objectives, or set up ganks. Efficient use of dead time is essential for maintaining control over the game.
Tip 7: Spend Your Gold Wisely
Sitting on unspent gold is a common mistake. Always recall and buy items once you accumulate around 1,000 gold. This keeps you ahead in stats and ensures you’re not caught in fights without a power spike.
Tip 8: Don’t Overstay for Turret Plates
While turret plates offer a tempting 125 gold, overstaying for them, especially after a kill, can put you at risk of a bad trade or gank. Early game death timers are short, so don’t overcommit to taking a plate if it jeopardizes your position.
Tip 9: Speed is Key
Being faster in decision-making and execution can give you a substantial edge. Whether it’s clearing jungle camps efficiently or making quick map rotations, speed allows you to stay ahead of your opponents and capitalize on their mistakes.
Tip 10: Master the Basics of Mechanics
Mechanics such as movement commands, attack move, and quick casting are foundational to good gameplay. For instance, clicking closer to your champion reduces the distance your mouse needs to travel, making dodging skill shots easier. Similarly, using attack move prevents misclicks that could lead to fatal mistakes.
Mid to Late Game Mastery: Pressure, Vision, and Baron Control
As you transition to the mid and late game, the focus shifts to broader strategies such as maintaining pressure, securing vision, and controlling Baron. Understanding these elements will significantly enhance your ability to close out games effectively.
Tip 11: The Pressure Rule
Always match your team’s pressure. If your team is applying pressure on the map, you should too. This could mean grouping for a tower push or taking objectives like Dragon or Baron. The key is to coordinate your efforts to overwhelm the enemy team.
Tip 12: The Empty Lane Rule
Before engaging in fights or objectives, push out empty lanes. This forces the enemy to respond, creating opportunities for you to secure other objectives or pick off isolated enemies.
Tip 13: Secure Baron Before Inhibitors
In low ELO, many players mistakenly attempt to take inhibitors before securing Baron. However, Baron buff is designed to make sieging easier, empowering your minions to take down inhibitors and end the game. Always prioritize Baron to avoid unnecessary risks.
Tip 14: Set Realistic Expectations
Climbing the ranks in League of Legends is a gradual process. It’s important to maintain a long-term perspective and not get discouraged by short-term setbacks. A 55% win rate is sufficient to climb steadily, so focus on consistent improvement rather than immediate results.
