Welcome to LP's League of Legends Risky Settlers: Knights and Allies of the Lords of the dominion of earth (Pandemic Edition) guide. In this guide I will be teaching you how to be a league of legends master.
puts on serious face
The first thing about league of legends is what is called "meta". This is the most important part of the game for new players to learn. Let me explain why it is the most important thing for you to learn. This guide was made for players who aren't old at the game. Because of this, I will generalize and exclude some facts that are easy to learn on your own without effecting how good you play the game.
Why Meta Exist
When the game first came out and people started playing it, there was no meta. There was nothing holding players back from abusing the engine. League had an update that would fix players from these exploits that began slowly changing the way the game mechanics work so you couldn't use the same strategy anymore. The purpose for this is because it really was an exploit to some degree. Champions use to be able to get a cool down time of 100% and spam their ultimate skill as a cheap character like Karthus, without ever having to leave spawn.
Then... some players legit started playing with their own style of play. Because of this, other players didn't like that someone who played a certain way could beat them, because they have to change their own strategy in order to win and refused to do so. An example of this happening would be in a game called Loadout where players create one hit kill rockets that are extremely easy to counter if you aren't a bad player, yet, people still complain instead of improving. Some of these tactics even work "against" the players using them, yet, people don't counter them so much that they end up going to the forum and complaining.
Eventually after many complaints, riot updates the game so that players can no longer play that way anymore. Such a cheap strategy to use against players who only have to use crowd control attacks on you once to completely screw up a character that buys more then one of the same item(stacking).
This still makes some sense because buying more then one of the same item can sometimes be "a little bit overpowered" when its efficient, but, it's still stoppable and genius sometimes. These people who keep complaining about how the game should be are made of "try hards". These try hards end up putting out more energy then they need to do something in the game because they aren't efficient in real life nor in the game. What they end up doing eventually is just trying to copy and paste what the most highest ranked players do. Because of this, the most highest ranked players end up making the way other players will play.
This is where meta begins to form. If someones high ranked hero wins a game playing a certain way, everyone's going to do that exact thing because thinking for yourself takes too much energy. If someone comes up with a way to counter the strategy used by the highest ranked player, everyone will complain on the forum and it will get "Nerfed", meaning made weaker, so that everyone can enjoy playing like that high ranked player.
So there you go, this is why meta exist and how meta is refined.
What is the current Meta
The current meta in league of legends is like so. A fighter goes top lane, a jungler goes to the jungle, a magic damage ranged user goes middle lane, a physical damage ranged user goes bottom lane, and a support champion with a skill that compliments the physical ranged champion will go bottom lane also.
A fighter is a role that can fight most champions one versus one and win at the beginning of the game. These characters start strong and sometimes stay strong the entire game, but, will not become as strong as the physical damage ranger in the bottom lane. Because they can hold their own, they go to the top alone and take with them some kind of high defense items normally, but, I'll explain more on that later.
The jungler is a character that normally has a way to give itself health from monsters or from itself. Junglers gain exp alone in the jungle, so that the top lane character can level up and the jungler can support "the entire team". The junglers job is to set up wards in the jungle so their friends know if an enemy is in the jungle doing something they shouldn't be. The other thing a jungler does because they have to walk around most of the game in the jungle to kill mobs, is gank enemies in random lanes. They randomly appear at the worst time possible to kill an enemy in any lane they want. The next role of the jungler is to check the dragon early game and the baron and dragon late game. Warding the dragon and baron in the river that splits the map is very important because every time the dragon or baron dies, the entire team gets money which can be all the difference between winning and losing. Dragons also give permanent team boost for the rest of the game. Being a jungler is for the most skilled players and should be done by the most responsible member of the team.
The magic ranged user, or the magic ranger, will go mid lane. They don't have to be ranged, but, should be. Most ranged characters can snowball. Snowball means they gain stats exponentially as they level, getting better really fast, but, starting off weaker then a fighter. A magic fighter can go mid lane, but, this should only be done if the player knows what they are doing. The reason why mages go middle lane is because they have the most arcane skills that can change the game and can make a huge different overall, thus, getting put in the shortest lane leading to the enemy base. Mages can also hold their own sometimes, but, not all.
The physical ranger on the bottom MUST do physical damage. If the ranger bottom lane invest in magic instead of physical and not a single player on the team has physical damage, the enemy only needs to invest in magic defense and you'll get screwed the entire game. The physical ranger but be a snowball and should have ranged attack. The reason ranged attack is so important has to do with the fact that support will keep the enemy from hurting you so a fighter would not be able to approach you unless they are really good and know what they are doing while the stars align.
The final is the support. The support is the most important to the entire team, but, only has three jobs. The first job of the support is to support the DPS(damage per second) physical ranger either with a skill or by tanking damage for them and using CC(Crowd Control) to stop the enemy from advancing. The second job of the support is to ward the bush on bottom lane in the water. Ward the bush because it is the difference between the jungler knowing your lane is safe to gank, helping you, and winning the game, or not. The final job of the support is after you and your dps get their ultimate skills, decide how to support the entire team. This normally involves going where you are needed no matter who the team member is. You don't have to support your dps as much because they can support themselves.
Meta Items
The meta items can sometimes actually be garbage. Most players think that you have to play by the meta to play the best, but, this not only isn't true, them believing it and complaining in the forums about how it isn't true is the only thing that makes it closer to being true. Everyone wants to be like the best player in the game.
Fighter meta normally involves starting with a high defense starter shield, a ward, and some health potions. Each champions overall build is going to be unique so I'm only telling you what to start with. Communicate with the jungler so you know if they will gank when they have a chance. Before you begin to set up a gank, this is when you finally should use the ward. You should as a fighter be able to escape ganks if you took the flash skill, but, skills you choose might not work as well for each champion. Most players take flash and ignite when going top. This is the most meta of selections. Get ganked, run and flash to evade.
The magician should take some kind of sustainability with them. They really don't need as much defense as they do the ability to keep attacking monsters. Magicians should not have to run back to their base until a certain time limit has been met. If you still can't hold yourself middle lane, then you might want to go offensive and return home then back to mid. I'd advise as a middle lane, taking the teleport and ignore skill. You don't need flash if you are mid unless you are pushing too hard, in which case you deserve the gank you are going to get.
As a jungler, there are jungler weapons for you to pick. Take a single starter jungler item and invest in whatever you need to sustain yourself. The best jungler I play with is Nunu. He is extremely overpowered in the jungle which is probably why he has been nerfed. He can eat monsters and gain his health back, while being able to use the skill against without mana if he does 4 regular attacks after. Also take wards or a ward and place it where you know if the jungle gets invaded. The enemy will try to take your blue or red rune monsters. Don't let them do this because it will set you back. Early game set backs as a jungler will mean you will be useless the entire game. Skills to pick should be teleport/ghost and smite. You don't really need flash because teleport in on a ward an ally sets up or use ghost can make as much of a hurry for the enemy if used correctly.
Meta for the ranger bottom lane is normally an offensive starter item. Starter items are cheap, give good stats, and don't evolve into another type of item. This is how you will know what item to pick. Get health potions with the rest of the money. Flash and ignite unless your support isn't going to support much, in which case take flash and shield.
Support gets the starting support item and tries to get the eyeball with wards, which is another support item. The support late game will be with the jungler warding late game and support really doesn't use many items anyway, so they have the cheapest build end game normally. Taking flash and a support skill of health or mana restore is the meta here. You can also take shield if you have skill and know what you are doing.
Game Phases
The game phases consist of three phases. Early game, mid game, and late game. Each phase is very simple to understand.
Early game, you have to use the meta. Meta as hard as you can here because the meta here actually matters just a little bit unless you are experienced at the game a bit. This phase ends when everyone starts getting their ultimate skills.
Mid game is the ultimate skills spam phase and the phase where the entire team will begin breaking up and blaming each other for mistakes. This is the phase where random members of the enemy team will suddenly all vanish for a second and all five will appear mid lane and push as fast and hard as they can to attempt and win the game, while sending their fastest champion to back door the other two lanes as a distraction. This is a nasty phase and the best thing you can do in this phase is always stay beside someone else or under a tower.
Late game doesn't always happen. If you get hit too hard mid game, the game will end there. Late game is important because if you got beat mid and early game, it will no longer matter here. Late game is when the enemy failed to beat you mid game, but, still did a good job pushing you back. If you survive to the 40 minute marker and ace the enemy team(kill all the members in short time intervals), you essentially win the game because you can push to their crystal without anyone stopping you. Any ace after 40 minutes is normally victory unless your team is really bad. If you are mid game and losing, the best strategy is to just wait to the 40 minute marker.
Meta Builds
Meta builds normally consist of these things. Boots, physical damage resistence, magic damage resistence, damage increase, damage increase, damage increase.
The damage increase weapons can come in many forms and there are a lot of them. Depending on the skills of the character you picked, you will want to pick these seperate in order to improve the way that character plays. The most meta of damage items is one the mages use called the hourglass. It can make you temperarily invincible for a split second, making it possible to avoid ultimate attacks and other undesirable things like Karthus Ultimate Skill.
The resistence items are pretty self explaining. One physical and one magic is important if the enemy team is meta. If they are not meta and all went physical or magic, just buy a single resistence for that and substitute the other with another damage boost item, preferably penatration.
Boots are very important because being able to move around faster can make a huge difference when you will be moving the entire time during the game. Top lane normally gets CC resistence or slow resistence boots. Mid gets magic pen boots. Jungle gets the fastest boots they can get. Support and physical ranger normally gets some kind of resist boot.
To add to the boots is the boots final form which you can get late game if you want unless you know it will benefit you. One form is the boots that make you faster after you leave spawn. If you put this with a teleport spell, you can quickly teleport and move super fast for an insta gank.
Breaking the Meta
If you break the meta, make sure you know what the hell you are doing or else you will literally be reported for trolling, even though you weren't trolling. The player base of league of legends are really close to being like the Nazis and are trying to get rid of the things they don't like, if you haven't figured that out with the why meta exist tutorial I gave you.
Breaking the meta shouldn't deviate too far from the meta because the game has been changed just so people who play meta can be happy, thus, making meta more powerful then all other methods. Here are some tips for breaking the meta.
If you go any lane as a champion without the required skills, they should be substituted with an item. Some skills are support skills or appropriate skills, but, don't appear to be on the surface. Mordekaiser has a support skill and can create a shield around himself in lane, making him very powerful in the game as a support, but, unpopular because people believe that support shouldn't have anything. If the ranger is doing bad, the ranger according to the philosophy, isn't fit to exist, thus, making kill stealing from him completely fair game. If they report you for carrying the game as support because they are really bad at the game, it isn't your problem and they are a Hippocrat.
Nautalis is also a support and a fighter. If you choose to play naut support, you better have some skill son. Blitz is also a support because his cc, shield, and grab can all be used to defend the ranger.
Top meta breaking is the most hated by everyone. People who break meta top normally end up being really hard to stop because they have high defense. Because of this, the hippocratic nazis normally really get mad and complain, but, nothing can be done about it because if something was done about it, it would still break the meta and render the champion useless.
Singed proxy is a meta strategy that is the perfect example of this. A proxy singed can completely ruin someones day because singed is one of the only champions that can single handedly kill an entire minion wave alone at the beginning of the match. Nasus can Q spam and farm both at the beginning and mid game, making him so powerful late game that he will be able to kill many champions late game in one hit no matter what defense they have.
Final Note
At the beginning of the game, mute your entire team except the jungler. If you don't do this, you will be harassed constantly. If the jungler ignores you after your first hi jungler, ignore him too because he is going to do the same. This is literally how the community of league of legends is.
