Learn The League

Learn the League
13th Edition

Patrick Ciderhelm OCallahan

Learn the League is copyright Patrick OCallahan 2012-2014. Images from League of Legends are
copyright Riot Games Inc., and are used in accordance with U.S. Fair Use Law. This guide is intended
for personal use and may not be shared without written permission.

Table of Contents
Preface & Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................... 14
Additional Content ................................................................................................................................................................ 14
League is Alive ......................................................................................................................................................................... 15
An Unofficial Guide ................................................................................................................................................................ 16
New Players ............................................................................................................................................................................... 17
Sections Overview ............................................................................................................................................................. 17
Getting Started in League of Legends ............................................................................................................................ 18
What is League of Legends ............................................................................................................................................ 18
Setting Up an Account & Installing the Game ......................................................................................................... 18
Name Your Summoner .................................................................................................................................................... 19
Choose an Expertise Level .............................................................................................................................................. 19
The Tutorial Game ............................................................................................................................................................. 19
Battle Training ..................................................................................................................................................................... 19
What Now? ........................................................................................................................................................................... 20
Runes & Masteries .............................................................................................................................................................. 22
An Introduction to Runes & Rune Pages ............................................................................................................... 22
Masteries .......................................................................................................................................................................... 24
Basic Game Information .................................................................................................................................................. 26
Matchmaking Rating (Previously Known As Elo) ............................................................................................... 26
First Win of the Day Bonus ......................................................................................................................................... 26
Advice for New Players ......................................................................................................................................................... 27
General Advice .................................................................................................................................................................... 27
Four Beginner Item Tips ............................................................................................................................................. 27
Are You Colorblind? ..................................................................................................................................................... 29
Prefer Your Mini-Map on the Left? .......................................................................................................................... 29
Skip Tier 2 Runes ........................................................................................................................................................... 30
When & Why to Purchase Riot Points .................................................................................................................... 30
Get Cheap Champions ................................................................................................................................................ 31
Playing One Champion vs. Playing Many ............................................................................................................. 31
Snowballing Champions & Items ............................................................................................................................ 32
Dive In & Don't Panic ................................................................................................................................................... 33
1 | Learn the League

Tips for Learning Champions ......................................................................................................................................... 34
Muscle Memory ............................................................................................................................................................. 34
Ability Combos & Rotations ...................................................................................................................................... 35
Crowd Controls .............................................................................................................................................................. 36
Skillshots .......................................................................................................................................................................... 36
Speed, Dashes & Blinks ............................................................................................................................................... 37
Steroids ............................................................................................................................................................................. 37
Champion Ability & Attack Range ........................................................................................................................... 38
Attack Animation & Projectile Speed ..................................................................................................................... 38
Beating the Smurfs ............................................................................................................................................................ 40
Leavers & AFKers ........................................................................................................................................................... 40
Bot Games (Cooperative vs. AI) ................................................................................................................................ 41
Play With a Patient, Experienced Friend ............................................................................................................... 41
Turn Off All Chat ......................................................................................................................................................... 42
Try Howling Abyss, 3v3 Twisted Treeline, and Dominion .............................................................................. 42
Ignore & Report Jerks ................................................................................................................................................... 43
Quick Cast (Formerly Smart Cast) ..................................................................................................................................... 44
Quick Cast Setup ................................................................................................................................................................ 45
Quick Cast Range Indicators .......................................................................................................................................... 46
Quick & Self Cast (Key Bindings) ................................................................................................................................... 47
Champion Roles & Recommendations ........................................................................................................................... 48
Marksman ............................................................................................................................................................................. 50
Jinx ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 51
Miss Fortune.................................................................................................................................................................... 52
Sivir ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 53
Ezreal ................................................................................................................................................................................. 54
Urgot .................................................................................................................................................................................. 55
Mage ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 56
Lux ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 57
Ahri ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 58
Cassiopeia ........................................................................................................................................................................ 59
Assassin ................................................................................................................................................................................. 60

Kassadin ............................................................................................................................................................................ 61
Fizz ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 62
Nocturne .......................................................................................................................................................................... 63
Fighter .................................................................................................................................................................................... 64
Jax ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 65
Jayce .................................................................................................................................................................................. 66
Olaf ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 67
Support .................................................................................................................................................................................. 68
Sona ................................................................................................................................................................................... 70
Thresh ................................................................................................................................................................................ 71
Janna ................................................................................................................................................................................. 72
Tank ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 73
Amumu ............................................................................................................................................................................. 74
Leona ................................................................................................................................................................................. 75
Chogath ........................................................................................................................................................................... 76
Secondary Roles ................................................................................................................................................................. 77
Carry ................................................................................................................................................................................... 77
Pusher ............................................................................................................................................................................... 77
Poke ................................................................................................................................................................................... 78
Initiator ............................................................................................................................................................................. 78
Counter-Initiator ............................................................................................................................................................ 78
Disengagement ............................................................................................................................................................. 78
Chase ................................................................................................................................................................................. 79
Disruption ........................................................................................................................................................................ 79
Jungler .............................................................................................................................................................................. 79
Stealth ............................................................................................................................................................................... 80
Mobile ............................................................................................................................................................................... 80
Zoning ............................................................................................................................................................................... 80
Anti-Carry ......................................................................................................................................................................... 81
Where You Belong The Meta .......................................................................................................................................... 82
Fighter - Solo Top............................................................................................................................................................... 82
Mages - Solo Mid ................................................................................................................................................................ 82

Marksman & Support/Tank - Duo Bot ......................................................................................................................... 82
Jungler ................................................................................................................................................................................... 83
Why Not Send Two Top? ................................................................................................................................................. 83
Can You Switch This Up? ................................................................................................................................................. 83
Introduction to Ranked Matches & Draft Pick .............................................................................................................. 85
Ranked Matches and the League System ................................................................................................................. 85
Tiers & Divisions ............................................................................................................................................................. 85
Placement & Promotion ............................................................................................................................................. 86
Understanding the League Listing ......................................................................................................................... 87
Matchmaking Rating (ELO) vs. League Points .................................................................................................... 87
The Truth of Elo Hell ..................................................................................................................................................... 88
Does Elo Hell Really Exist? .......................................................................................................................................... 88
Rank is not a Measurement of Skill ......................................................................................................................... 89
Ranked Tips & Strategy .................................................................................................................................................... 90
Draft Pick Overview ...................................................................................................................................................... 90
Solo Queue vs. Duo Queue ........................................................................................................................................ 91
Banning ............................................................................................................................................................................ 91
First Pick & Early Pick Strategy .................................................................................................................................. 92
Champion & Role Flexibility ...................................................................................................................................... 93
Communication ............................................................................................................................................................. 93
Pick Order & Toxic Players .......................................................................................................................................... 94
Checklist for Ranked Games ........................................................................................................................................... 95
Advanced ................................................................................................................................................................................... 96
Sections Overview ............................................................................................................................................................. 96
Introduction to Advanced League ................................................................................................................................... 98
The Six Masteries ................................................................................................................................................................ 98
Map Control ....................................................................................................................................................................... 101
Champion Theory ............................................................................................................................................................ 104
Champions Are Not Balanced................................................................................................................................. 104
Mobile beats Range, Target beats Mobile, Range beats Target ................................................................. 106
Health beats Burst, Burst beats Sustain, Sustain beats Health ................................................................... 110
Tactics ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 112

Understanding Diagrams .............................................................................................................................................. 113
Range ................................................................................................................................................................................... 114
Ideal Range .................................................................................................................................................................... 114
Minion Exchanges ....................................................................................................................................................... 116
Relationship between Range & Vision ................................................................................................................. 117
Flanking .......................................................................................................................................................................... 118
Tower Circling .............................................................................................................................................................. 120
Movement .......................................................................................................................................................................... 122
Staying Ahead of Your Opponent ......................................................................................................................... 122
Kiting The Parthian Shot ....................................................................................................................................... 123
Shoot & Scoot ............................................................................................................................................................... 124
Harassment ................................................................................................................................................................... 125
Body Blocking ............................................................................................................................................................... 126
Moving in Range of Allied Abilities ....................................................................................................................... 126
Terrain .................................................................................................................................................................................. 127
Escape ............................................................................................................................................................................. 127
Shield ............................................................................................................................................................................... 128
Pokes & Hooks .............................................................................................................................................................. 129
Chokepoints .................................................................................................................................................................. 130
Mental .................................................................................................................................................................................. 131
Pressure .......................................................................................................................................................................... 132
Zoning ............................................................................................................................................................................. 133
Skillshot Juking ............................................................................................................................................................ 134
Brush & Jungle Juking ............................................................................................................................................... 138
Maneuvering through Concealment ................................................................................................................... 139
Feints ............................................................................................................................................................................... 141
Strategy .................................................................................................................................................................................... 143
Skirmishes ........................................................................................................................................................................... 143
Ambush .......................................................................................................................................................................... 144
Line of Retreat & Envelopment .............................................................................................................................. 145
Lane Movement Feint ............................................................................................................................................... 147
Pressure & Ambush .................................................................................................................................................... 149

Side Lane Flanking & Denying Minion Reinforcement .................................................................................. 150
Scatter Retreat .............................................................................................................................................................. 151
Teamfights .......................................................................................................................................................................... 152
Basic Team Positioning ............................................................................................................................................. 152
Roles ................................................................................................................................................................................. 153
Initiation vs. Peeling ................................................................................................................................................... 156
Targeting Priority ........................................................................................................................................................ 158
Protect the Carry ......................................................................................................................................................... 160
Divide & Conquer ........................................................................................................................................................ 161
Pincer Assault ............................................................................................................................................................... 162
Team Envelopment Escape Denial .................................................................................................................... 163
Disengage ...................................................................................................................................................................... 164
Objectives ........................................................................................................................................................................... 165
Objective Pressure ...................................................................................................................................................... 166
Multi-Point Assault ..................................................................................................................................................... 167
Distraction ..................................................................................................................................................................... 168
Encirclement ................................................................................................................................................................. 169
Interdiction .................................................................................................................................................................... 170
Defense in Depth ........................................................................................................................................................ 172
Turtling ........................................................................................................................................................................... 173
Forks ................................................................................................................................................................................. 174
Grand Strategy & Team Compositions .......................................................................................................................... 175
Team Compositions ........................................................................................................................................................ 176
Compositions in Context Teamfight vs. Avoidance .................................................................................... 176
Assault ............................................................................................................................................................................. 177
Mobility ........................................................................................................................................................................... 181
Disengage & Split Push ............................................................................................................................................. 185
Pursuit ............................................................................................................................................................................. 188
Defeat in Detail ............................................................................................................................................................ 191
Punch-Through ............................................................................................................................................................ 195
Pressure .......................................................................................................................................................................... 198
Creating Effective Teams ............................................................................................................................................... 201

Team & Strategy Synergy ......................................................................................................................................... 202
Early Game Objectives Strategy ............................................................................................................................. 204
Solo Play & Small Groups ......................................................................................................................................... 206
Organized Teams ........................................................................................................................................................ 208
Analyzing Tournaments ................................................................................................................................................ 210
The Impossible Decision .................................................................................................................................................... 213
Strategic Split Pushing ................................................................................................................................................... 213
The Split Push & Disengage Fork ........................................................................................................................... 214
Early Game Jungle Invade ........................................................................................................................................ 216
Executing & Countering Forks ..................................................................................................................................... 217
Super Minion Waves .................................................................................................................................................. 217
Teleport .......................................................................................................................................................................... 219
Champion & Item Picks ............................................................................................................................................. 219
Countering Split Push Forks .................................................................................................................................... 221
The Vision Decision ......................................................................................................................................................... 223
Practical Tips & Advice ........................................................................................................................................................ 225
Personal Skills .................................................................................................................................................................... 225
Potions & Elixirs ............................................................................................................................................................ 225
Tab, Evaluate, & Invest Wisely ................................................................................................................................. 225
Situational & Map Awareness (Wards!) ............................................................................................................... 226
Observe Your Opponents ........................................................................................................................................ 227
Think About Your Opponent's Cooldowns ........................................................................................................ 227
Track Timers .................................................................................................................................................................. 228
Gold Matters ................................................................................................................................................................. 228
Avoid Unfavorable Fights ........................................................................................................................................ 229
That Awkward Moment When... ............................................................................................................................ 230
You Have Been Slain .................................................................................................................................................. 231
Calling MIA .................................................................................................................................................................... 231
Direct Your Team ........................................................................................................................................................ 231
Seconds Matter ............................................................................................................................................................ 232
Are You A Threat? ....................................................................................................................................................... 232
Dont Ask Why .............................................................................................................................................................. 232

Don't Give Up ............................................................................................................................................................... 233
Teams & Objectives ......................................................................................................................................................... 234
Early Lane Swapping .................................................................................................................................................. 234
Defend ............................................................................................................................................................................ 234
Push Together, Recall Together ............................................................................................................................. 235
Sometimes It's Better To Wait ................................................................................................................................. 236
Control Your Lane Extension .................................................................................................................................. 238
Between Minion Waves ............................................................................................................................................ 240
Press the Advantage .................................................................................................................................................. 241
React To Enemies Who Aren't There .................................................................................................................... 241
If Theyre Going For Blue, Theyre Coming For You ........................................................................................ 242
Dragon & Baron Nashor ............................................................................................................................................ 242
Force Favorable Teamfights .................................................................................................................................... 243
Inhibitors Matter, But So Does Their Nexus ....................................................................................................... 245
Pushing & Split Pushing ............................................................................................................................................ 245
Backdooring .................................................................................................................................................................. 246
Closing a Game by Staggering Deaths ................................................................................................................ 246
Fight Fire with Fire ...................................................................................................................................................... 246
Double Explosion ........................................................................................................................................................ 247
Mental Preparedness & Teamwork ................................................................................................................................ 248
What is Fun? ....................................................................................................................................................................... 248
Understanding Yourself ................................................................................................................................................ 249
Mechanical vs. Strategic Players ............................................................................................................................ 249
More Mechanical Skill ................................................................................................................................................ 251
Extroverts and Introverts .......................................................................................................................................... 252
Tying It All Together ................................................................................................................................................... 253
Mental Traps ...................................................................................................................................................................... 255
Trap #1: Believing Youre Blameless ..................................................................................................................... 255
Trap #2: Assuming You Cant Get Out ................................................................................................................. 256
Trap #3: Playing on Tilt .............................................................................................................................................. 257
Trap #4: Understanding the Long Game ............................................................................................................ 257
Trap #5: Unwillingness to Fail ................................................................................................................................. 258

Trap #6: Focusing on Mistakes ............................................................................................................................... 259
Trap #7: Trusting the Familiar ................................................................................................................................. 259
Trap #8: Leaving Beliefs Unchallenged ............................................................................................................... 261
Maintaining Focus ........................................................................................................................................................... 263
Stage 1 Do Something ........................................................................................................................................... 263
Stage 2 Situational Awareness ............................................................................................................................ 263
Stage 3 Rapid Assessment .................................................................................................................................... 266
Overwhelm your Opponents .................................................................................................................................. 268
Working with Teams ....................................................................................................................................................... 269
Self Improvement ............................................................................................................................................................ 270
Map Vision ............................................................................................................................................................................... 271
Ward & Trinket Strategy................................................................................................................................................. 271
Trinkets ........................................................................................................................................................................... 273
Combat Vision & Quickcasting ............................................................................................................................... 279
Counterwarding .......................................................................................................................................................... 279
Other Vision Sources ....................................................................................................................................................... 280
Towers ............................................................................................................................................................................. 280
Reveal Abilities ............................................................................................................................................................. 280
Who is Responsible ......................................................................................................................................................... 281
Warding With Teammates ............................................................................................................................................ 281
Protecting & Replacing Wards ..................................................................................................................................... 282
Warding Locations........................................................................................................................................................... 283
Perimeter Warding ..................................................................................................................................................... 283
Bottom & Top Lane Ward Locations ..................................................................................................................... 289
Mid Lane ......................................................................................................................................................................... 293
Offensive & Defensive Jungle Warding ............................................................................................................... 297
Taking & Contesting Dragon & Baron Nashor .................................................................................................. 300
Bases ................................................................................................................................................................................ 302
Clairvoyance ...................................................................................................................................................................... 304
The First Cast ................................................................................................................................................................. 304
Chase the Jungler (Early Timers) ............................................................................................................................ 304
Against Baiting ............................................................................................................................................................. 307

Against Juking .............................................................................................................................................................. 307
Clairvoyance as Protection ...................................................................................................................................... 307
Requests ......................................................................................................................................................................... 307
Jungling, Counterjungling, and Ganking ..................................................................................................................... 308
Jungling ............................................................................................................................................................................... 308
What is a Jungler's Job? ............................................................................................................................................ 308
Why Have a Jungler? .................................................................................................................................................. 308
What is Counterjungling? ........................................................................................................................................ 309
Picking a Jungler ......................................................................................................................................................... 309
Runes & Masteries ....................................................................................................................................................... 311
Smite & What? Summoner Spells .......................................................................................................................... 312
Champion Specifics: Stonewall008's YouTube Videos .................................................................................. 313
Coordinated Play vs. Solo Play (Also, Communication) ................................................................................ 313
Balancing Experience & Ganks ............................................................................................................................... 314
Triage Winning the Game by Letting Your Teammates Lose .................................................................. 316
Understanding & Minimizing Risks ....................................................................................................................... 317
The Moment to Gank ................................................................................................................................................. 319
Covering a Lane ........................................................................................................................................................... 319
Visibly Camping Lane ................................................................................................................................................ 319
Brush May Not Hide Your Presence ...................................................................................................................... 320
Blue Golem Buff to Mid? ........................................................................................................................................... 320
The Pull / Leash ............................................................................................................................................................ 321
The Value of Custom Games ................................................................................................................................... 322
Handling a Level 1 Invasion .................................................................................................................................... 322
Preventing Yourself from Attacking Monsters - The '~' Key ........................................................................ 322
Don't Be Nervous ........................................................................................................................................................ 323
Counterjungling ............................................................................................................................................................... 323
Ideal Counterjungle Champions ........................................................................................................................... 323
Mid Laning - Champions & Responsibility ......................................................................................................... 323
The Level 1 Invasion ................................................................................................................................................... 324
See their Jungler? Punish them! ............................................................................................................................ 325
Track Timers & Invade Accordingly ...................................................................................................................... 325

Leave Someone to Tell the Story ........................................................................................................................... 325
Protecting Your Jungle from Invasion ...................................................................................................................... 326
Defending Blue Golem as a Team ......................................................................................................................... 327
Defending Red Lizard as a Team ........................................................................................................................... 329
Prioritizing After Your First Pass ............................................................................................................................. 330
Counterjungling & Ganking Routes .......................................................................................................................... 331
A Note on Counterganking ..................................................................................................................................... 331
Level 1 Blue Invasion ................................................................................................................................................. 332
Forcing a Smite at Blue ............................................................................................................................................. 333
Level 1 Red Invasion ................................................................................................................................................... 334
Ganking Entrances in the Jungle ........................................................................................................................... 335
Ganking Mid Lane ....................................................................................................................................................... 336
Ganking Over-Extended Side Lanes ..................................................................................................................... 337
Ganking Pushed Side Lanes .................................................................................................................................... 338
Flanking Behind Side Lane Towers ....................................................................................................................... 339
Game Mechanics ................................................................................................................................................................... 340
Sections Overview ........................................................................................................................................................... 340
Summoner's Rift Guidebook ............................................................................................................................................. 341
Game Objectives .............................................................................................................................................................. 341
Map Layout ........................................................................................................................................................................ 342
Who is Blue Team and who is Purple Team? ..................................................................................................... 343
Fog of War ..................................................................................................................................................................... 344
Brush (Bushes) .............................................................................................................................................................. 345
Impassable Terrain ..................................................................................................................................................... 346
Gold & Experience for Champion Kills ................................................................................................................. 346
Structures ............................................................................................................................................................................ 348
Towers (Turrets) ........................................................................................................................................................... 348
Inhibitors & Nexus ....................................................................................................................................................... 350
Summoner Platform, Shop & Obelisk .................................................................................................................. 351
Team Minions .................................................................................................................................................................... 352
Minion Waves ............................................................................................................................................................... 353
Melee & Caster Minions ............................................................................................................................................ 353

Siege & Super Minions .............................................................................................................................................. 353
Neutral Monsters .............................................................................................................................................................. 355
Jungle Monster Scaling ............................................................................................................................................. 355
Baron Nashor ................................................................................................................................................................ 355
Dragon ............................................................................................................................................................................ 357
Blue Golem (Ancient Golem) .................................................................................................................................. 358
Red Lizard (Lizard Elder) ........................................................................................................................................... 359
Minor Camps (Wight, Double Golems, Three Wolves, Four Wraiths) ....................................................... 360
Summoner Spells .................................................................................................................................................................. 361
Recall .................................................................................................................................................................................... 361
Exhaust ................................................................................................................................................................................ 361
Ghost .................................................................................................................................................................................... 362
Heal ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 362
Revive ................................................................................................................................................................................... 363
Smite ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 363
Teleport ............................................................................................................................................................................... 364
Cleanse (Summoner Level 2) ....................................................................................................................................... 364
Barrier (Summoner Level 6) .......................................................................................................................................... 365
Clarity (Summoner Level 6) .......................................................................................................................................... 365
Ignite (Summoner Level 7) ........................................................................................................................................... 366
Clairvoyance (Summoner Level 10) ........................................................................................................................... 366
Flash (Summoner Level 12) .......................................................................................................................................... 367
Stats ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 368
Baseline Stats vs. Multiplier Stats ............................................................................................................................... 368
Normal Attacks ................................................................................................................................................................. 369
Attack Damage (Baseline) ........................................................................................................................................ 369
Armor Penetration & Armor Reduction (Multiplier) ....................................................................................... 369
Attack Speed (Multiplier).......................................................................................................................................... 369
Critical Strike Chance (Multiplier) .......................................................................................................................... 370
Critical Strike Damage (Multiplier) ........................................................................................................................ 370
Lifesteal ........................................................................................................................................................................... 370
Range ............................................................................................................................................................................... 370

Abilities ................................................................................................................................................................................ 370
Ability Power (Baseline) ............................................................................................................................................ 370
Cooldown Reduction (Multiplier) .......................................................................................................................... 371
Magic Penetration & Magic Resistance Reduction (Multiplier) .................................................................. 371
Mana & Resources ....................................................................................................................................................... 371
Mana & Resource Regeneration ............................................................................................................................. 371
Spell Vamp ..................................................................................................................................................................... 372
Defensive ............................................................................................................................................................................ 372
Health (Baseline), Effective Health & Shields ..................................................................................................... 372
Armor (Multiplier) ....................................................................................................................................................... 373
Magic Resistance (Multiplier) .................................................................................................................................. 373
Health Regeneration .................................................................................................................................................. 373
Tenacity .......................................................................................................................................................................... 374
Utility .................................................................................................................................................................................... 374
Movement Speed ........................................................................................................................................................ 374
Passive Gold Gain (Gold per 10) ............................................................................................................................. 374
A Little More Regarding Defensive Stats ................................................................................................................. 376
Glossary of Terms .................................................................................................................................................................. 377
Timers Reference .................................................................................................................................................................. 392


Preface & Introduction
Welcome to Learn the League! Youve now joined a community of thousands of players whove sought
to improve their play and find greater enjoyment out of League of Legends. I sincerely hope you have a
good experience with this product.
Learn the League is divided into three main categories. The first category is for new players; these
sections cover core gameplay concepts and systems, as well as how to deal with some of the worse
parts of the community. If youre new to League of Legends, start from the beginning.
The second category includes advanced sections that cover specific tactics and strategies that allow for
awesome plays in League of Legends. These tactics and strategies are the same things that the best
players in the world are using, and you should dive into these as soon as youre comfortable with the
concepts that are covered.
The third category includes game mechanics the things that make the game work and how you can
take advantage of them. This is important information, but its not exciting for everyone, so its at the
end of the e-book. That said, take some time to look through the highlights for the cool stuff you may
not know about that can help you succeed.
Since I first wrote the e-book, the tournament scene has become a larger and larger reason for new
players to join. On top of this, my own role as an analyst on the pro scene has offered me deeper
insights. Because of these factors, Ive started to write with an eye towards helping players understand
the pro scene (what team compositions work, what strategies are being employed), and Ive included
specific examples from the pro scene in newer video content.
Whatever your reason is for picking up the e-book, I truly believe that if you study this e-book youll find
information here that will help you in your journey.

Additional Content
When I first wrote Learn the League in early 2012 I planned on creating a purely-written product, larger
in scope but similar in concept to my old tanking e-book for MMORPGs, or to the massive Warrior
guides I used to publish for World of Warcraft.
Since then, Ive expanded the product significantly. From the Members section of the site, you can now
access the following (in addition to this e-book):
Game system tutorial movies for new players;
Advanced movies, including strategic concepts illustrated by looking at plays from some of the
best teams in the world;

A large directory of links to resources around the web that may be helpful in your quest to learn
more and connect with the broader League of Legends community;
and more!
For long-time e-book owners, you may notice the e-book has been a little lighter since the 12
th
edition.
This is because Ive removed the Dont Feed champion guide transcripts from the main file and now
offer it as a standalone download.
League is Alive
League of Legends is an evolving game, with constant updates and changes designed to improve the
experience for players. There are two methods by which I make sure this e-book remains relevant:
1. Strategy, tactics, and advice are timeless, in that they are very likely to remain accurate unless
a huge change occurs in the game.
2. Each new edition attempts to update details that may have been changed, such as items, map
mechanics, or stat changes.
In some cases Ive referred to strategies and plays used in previous seasons, often with specific
examples. Rest assured, if they remain in new editions of the e-book, its because I am still seeing these
same strategies and plays being used. For example, I have discussed a Season 1 and Season 2 strategy I
refer to as Punch-Through, but this same strategy is still used successfully today. If these same
strategies are still in this e-book when a new edition releases for Season 6, its because theyll still be
relevant.
Small details may occasionally become outdated between new editions, especially as it relates to items
and map mechanics. Releasing a new edition of the e-book is a large project and as a result it cannot be
done at the same pace as Riots regular content updates.
I strive for accuracy. That said, please feel free to contact me if you notice any outdated information,
especially if a detail remains outdated after a new edition is released.

An Unofficial Guide
Riot Games Inc. has not endorsed or authorized this guide in any way.
In very limited cases throughout this book I use images and text that are copyright Riot Games Inc. I
have done so after studying Fair Use cases and settlements. Since this is a commercial product, the bar
for Fair Use is higher, but I believe this book meets and exceeds the requirements of Fair Use:
This work will in no way detract from the commercial gains of Riot Games Inc.
This work is complementary to League of Legends and is not in competition with it.
This work only uses content from League of Legends where it directly aids and benefits the
user's understanding of the game. Images are used so players can more quickly identify
important objects in the game client.
The amount of copyrighted material used is insignificant, both in relation to their work and to
this work.
As Judge Posner said in Ty Inc. v. Publications Int'l Ltd.:
"... in fair-use case law, we may say that copying that is complementary to the copyrighted work
(in the sense that nails are complements of hammers) is fair use, but copying that is a substitute
for the copyrighted work (in the sense that nails are substitutes for pegs or screws) ... is not fair
use."
This work is not a substitute for League of Legends, but is complementary to it.
That said, if Riot Games Inc. requests that I remove the limited copyrighted material from this guide, I
may comply by removing these images. This would not be an ideal situation as I believe the images I use
are important referential markers and are completely protected under Fair Use, but I would prefer to
keep working on new guides for my fans than get into a legal battle.

If youre brand new or youve got some games under your belt but are still unfamiliar with some core
game systems, read over these sections.
When possible, youll also want to download the relevant Game Systems movies available in your
Members area.

Sections Overview
Getting Started - A guide through your very first steps, from setting up an account and downloading the
game to understanding runes, masteries, and the matchmaking system.
Advice for New Players - This section is filled with practical information, such as strategies for using Riot
Points, basic concepts behind champions, developing solid muscle memory and understanding game
mechanics, and dealing with smurf players and other players who aim to make your League
experience worse.
Quickcasting - While not every player is ready to start quickcasting, this section will give you the
knowledge of where and how its useful, as well as how to get started once youre ready.
Champion Roles & Recommendations This section is an introduction to each of the primary roles, as
well as many secondary roles. As we look at each role, I also recommend several champions and offer
my personal thoughts on why theyre unique and enjoyable.
Where You Belong (The Meta) - This section covers what is expected from many players in the early
levels, including what types of champions are played in which areas of the map, as well as the reasoning
for this. Ultimately, Learn the League should bring you to a level where you can make smart decisions
regardless of the strict social rules of the meta, but this is a good resource for when youre getting
started out.
Ranked Matches & Draft Pick - This section covers the metagame strategy behind ranked matches and
draft pick, and also offers an in-depth look at how Matchmaking Rating (formerly Elo) interacts with
Tiers, Divisions, and League Points.
New Players

Getting Started in League of Legends
Are you completely new to League of Legends? If youve just downloaded the game or if you havent
even gotten that far this is where youll want to start.

What is League of Legends
League of Legends is a game based on Defense of the Ancients (DOTA), a custom game developed by
Warcraft III players. It shares a genre with DOTA, DOTA 2, Heroes of Newerth, and several smaller
games.
League of Legends has four primary multiplayer game modes. The first, and by far the most popular, is
Summoner's Rift. This game places up to five players against a group of human or AI opponents with the
goal of overrunning the opposing team's base. Twisted Treeline is a smaller game mode with similar
concepts and a maximum of three players on a team.
In late 2011 a new game mode called Dominion was introduced. This is a 5v5 capture-and-hold game
type, and usually involves much quicker matches. Though less popular than Summoner's Rift, Riot has
put significant development work into making sure it is polished and ready for players who are
interested in playing it.
In 2013, a popular custom game type called All Random All Mid was turned into an official map known
as Howling Abyss.
At this time, this guide focuses primarily on the Summoner's Rift game mode, though nearly all concepts
translate to Twisted Treeline and Howling Abyss.

Setting Up an Account & Installing the Game
The first thing you'll need to do is create an account. To get started, go to this URL:
http://signup.leagueoflegends.com/en/signup/index
Once you've created an account you'll be able to download the game client, after which you can log in
for your first time.


Name Your Summoner
Choose a name for your Summoner. This can be different from your account name, and you can change
it later if you choose to. Once you're done, choose an icon to represent your Summoner.

Choose an Expertise Level
You'll be asked to choose between four different levels of expertise. Be honest about these choices, as it
will directly impact the experience of the human opponents you're matched against.

The Tutorial Game
Play it. The tutorial is a fantastic way of learning the most basic concepts in the game.

Battle Training
Play it. The Battle Training against bots is another fantastic way of learning the basics of the game. This
is set on the popular Summoner's Rift map (which most of this guide focuses on), and the tips and
messages throughout the game are genuinely worthwhile to read and remember. You won't necessarily
remember everything from Battle Training after you're done, but it is still worth the experience.


What Now?
After playing through the Basic Tutorial and Battle Training missions you have two choices.
You can explore the game client, check out the news items, use the Riot Store, or poke around the
champion pages. If you need help with some of the basic functions of the game, the '?' in the upper right
hand of your client may be of assistance.

Of course, the more fun choice is just to dive right in and play another match. Click the red 'Play' button
at the top of your screen, and then jump into a new match.

I recommend the "Co-op vs. AI" to get started, as this will ally you against computer opponents who can
be a little more enjoyable to learn the basics of your champions against.
Either now, or after your first few games, I strongly recommend reading the "Advice for New Players"
section of this guide. At the very least it will give you some things to think about.
Once you've played a dozen or so matches start really digging into the rest of "Learn the League." There
are very advanced concepts throughout the guide that will help you out immensely if you learn them
sooner rather than later.
As always, last hit, last hit, last hit!

(If you didn't catch the mention during Battle Training, last hitting enemy minions and monsters is a big
part of how you earn gold. It's one of the hardest and most important skills to master. Practice early,
practice often!)

Runes & Masteries
In the upper-right of your game client you should see several buttons you can click on:

The first button (orange) is the Riot Store -- click this if you want to purchase new champions, skins, or a
wide variety of other perks for your account.
Next to this is your profile button. Once you click this you'll see several tabs. After clicking the profile
button youll be redirected to this page:

Browse the profile page at your leisure. When youre ready, the two places we want to look at next are
the Runes & Masteries tabs.

An Introduction to Runes & Rune Pages
Runes are items purchased from the Riot Store interface that have the following characteristics:
Stat bonus;
Tier rating;
Slot defined by color and name (ex. Red Mark);
Primary or Secondary status based on slot.

Let's look at the Greater Mark of Strength. In order, here are its attributes:
"Strength" runes indicate a physical Attack Damage bonus, meaning a player with this rune will
deal more damage on normal melee or ranged attacks and abilities that benefit from physical
damage;
Since this is a "Greater" Mark, it is Tier 3 item. It is available to players who are level 20 or
higher. Second tier runes (available at level 10) have no prefix, and first tier runes (available
immediately) are labeled "Lesser."
"Mark" indicates it is a red rune. Yellow runes are Seals, blue runes are Glyphs, and the large
slots are Quintessences. Red Mark runes can only be placed in red slots on a rune page.
Greater Mark of Strength is considered a Primary rune, meaning it grants a strong bonus to its
stat (physical Attack Damage).
Runes can only be purchased with Influence Points (IP). This is a fairly important point because it means
your selection of runes is limited primarily by your games played, as well as your success within these
games.
Before we go further, let me outline what determines whether a rune is Primary or Secondary:
Red Marks: Offensive runes are generally Primary;
Yellow Seals: Defensive runes are generally Primary;
Glyphs: Magical runes are generally Primary.
Quintessences provide their full stat bonus regardless of type (in other words, there are no Primary or
Secondary Quintessences).
For whatever reason, Riot does not currently tell you whether a rune is Primary or Secondary when
purchasing from the Riot Store. This is frustrating, and I recommend taking the time to check particular
runes before making a big investment.

Not All Secondary Runes Are Created Equal
Let's say you want to stack Flat Armor in your Marks, Seals, and Glyphs. To do this, you would buy Seals,
Marks, and Glyphs of Resilience.
You'd probably notice something when you were purchasing or putting these into your rune page: Even
though both the Mark of Resilience and Glyph of Resilience are 'Secondary,' the Mark of Resilience
provides more Flat Armor.
It's ok to use Secondary runes in a lot of cases, but it's usually not a good idea if it's a third tier
Secondary rune, meaning it provides a significantly lower return than other Secondary runes.


Not All Bonuses are Equally Good
It's worth saying that some bonuses just aren't very good. Not all bonus stats you receive from runes will
help you on every champion.
In some cases, such as with Endurance runes (which provide a percentage bonus to your health), they'll
rarely ever be a top pick for any champion.

Not Always the Most Fun, But Always Reliable
I'll cover this in the Champion Roles & Recommendations guide, but it's worth saying here that there are
some runes that are universally good, and will work fine on the vast majority of champions in the
League:
Red Marks: Armor Penetration (Desolation) or Magic Penetration (Insight), depending on your
primary damage type.
Yellow Seals: Flat Armor (Resilience).
Blue Glyphs: Flat Magic Resist (Warding).
Quintessences: Flat Health (Fortitude).
These are staples. Most of the time there may be a bit better way to build your champion, but this will
be good enough. This is an especially helpful set of runes to have if you want to try out a lot of new
champions or test the champions that are free in a given week. This is also a good idea if you really don't
want to get a lot of rune pages.

Rune Pages
Runes are placed onto a Rune Page. Rune pages unlock new slots based on your level, with all slots
unlocked once you're level 30. You will gain Quintessence slots every 10 levels.
These are pretty straightforward, but there're a couple things you want to know:
You can always take runes back out of a page (you never permanently lose runes by placing
them in a page);
You can use the same runes in multiple rune pages.
In other words, you're never going to be penalized for using your runes

Masteries
If you've used talent or perk trees from nearly any other game, especially modern MMORPGs or RPGs,
this is the same concept. You'll get new points to spend every level and you can place them into any of

the available perks. Once you've spent enough points in a tree, a new set of perks in that tree will
become available to you.
You can have up to 20 Mastery pages (add more by clicking the '+' button). Unlike Rune Pages, these
don't cost you anything. Also, if you know you need to make a change to your runes while you're in a
game lobby, you can quickly edit and save them before a game starts.

Basic Game Information
Let me jump into a couple concepts related to the matches you play, but not part of the actual in-game
match-up.

Matchmaking Rating (Previously Known As Elo)
League of Legends using a rating system called Matchmaking Rating, or MMR. The effect a single match
has on your MMR is determined by two factors:
Whether you won or lost the match;
Who you won or lost the match against.
This is a relative ranking system, meaning the system attempts to place you at a rank in relation to your
peers. Only games against human players are rated.
When matching you against new opponents, the system will first try to match you against opponents of
similar MMR and party size. If this fails, it will continue expanding its parameters until it finds the most
suitable opponents for you. For this reason, matches that take an unusually long time before they're
found have a higher likelihood of being imbalanced either for or against you, as this can mean that the
parameters for acceptable opponents have been significantly broadened.
Players are assigned different MMR ratings for each different type of queue. For example, ranked 5v5
matches are separate from normal 5v5 matches, and solo queue ranked matches are different from
arranged team ranked matches.
MMR is hidden. In normal games there is very little you can do to determine your actual standing,
though there are some websites that attempt to approximate this number. Taken a step further,
opposing players can only see the number of normal games youve won, not the number youve lost.
This anonymity is designed so you can make mistakes and do badly without worrying about being
embarassed or harassed by other players (dont worry, everyone plays badly at points).
In ranked matches, MMR helps determine your standing on the ladder, though the specific MMR is still
not shown publicly.

First Win of the Day Bonus
The first win of the day bonus grants you Influence Points (IP) for winning your first match in a day. A lot
of players (including many of my friends) will log on to aim for this bonus, even if theyre otherwise busy
on something else.

Advice for New Players
In this section I'm going to cover a wide variety of topics regarding the new player experience. League of
Legends, like other competitive multiplayer games, can be an extraordinarily frustrating game to play if
you wind up with the wrong teammates or opponents. I want to help mitigate that by giving you a heads
up on some things to expect and how to deal with them.

General Advice
Before getting into the game itself, lets start with some basic knowledge youll want to absorb.

Four Beginner Item Tips
First, dont worry about item appearance or the logic of the item. Worry about the stats. It is ok for
Ashe, an archer, to buy an Infinity Edge sword (in fact, its one of her very best items). Its ok for
Cassiopeia, a half-snake, to buy a pair of boots.

Second, you can purchase any items from the shop by clicking the All Items button at the top. This will
open up a browsable shop interface that isnt limited to the recommended items.
That said, the recommended items are great guidelines and you are rarely going to have a tough time by
following them. But knowing how to get to the rest of the item shop is important as you learn new items
and when you want to try out things youve read or seen other players do.

Third, items that share a Unique Passive with the same name do not stack with each other. In other
words, you will only gain that particular passive bonus from one of the items. The other bonuses from
the items still work fine.
Fourth and finally, at some point every player will buy an item and immediately regret their decision. If
youre quick, theres a solution:

Before you leave the summoner platform, you can click the Undo button at the bottom of the shop to
sell your item back at full price.


Are You Colorblind?
When inside a game, open up your options menu (normally defaulted to ESC) and click Video on the
left column. Heres what youll see:

Enable colorblind mode by clicking the checkbox. This changes the color scheme on the mini-map and
on health bars. Many players who arent colorblind (including myself) often prefer this color scheme as
well, so feel free to try it out just to see if you like it.

Prefer Your Mini-Map on the Left?
Many players whove come from the Starcraft 2 or Real Time Strategy scene or who are left-eye
dominant prefer to have the mini-map on the left side of the map. This is done through the Interface
tab on the left column of your options menu (the option is more than halfway down so youll likely need
to scroll):

The trick Ive heard to finding out whether youre left or right-eye dominant is to point to an object in
the distance, then cover one eye. If youre still pointing to the same place, the eye that is currently open
is your dominant eye.


Skip Tier 2 Runes
Runes cost Influence Points (IP), and this is a relatively scarce resource given the number of runes you
may want to purchase. For this reason, I recommend you wait until you're level 20 before you purchase
expensive runes. This is when all of the best runes become available to you, and any runes you've
previously purchased are likely to be a wasted investment.
That said, Tier 1 runes are very, very cheap. If you really want runes, you wont be set back too badly by
picking some of these up.

When & Why to Purchase Riot Points
League of Legends is a free-to-play game, and many of those who play League of Legends never
purchase anything with real money. It is certainly possible to play and enjoy the game without spending
any money. That said, Riot Games has a very successful business model, and there are real incentives to
purchasing Riot Points (RP).
If you're willing to invest some money into the game, I strongly suggest doing so. The fact that you're
reading this guide means you want to get involved with the game on a deeper level, and having RP is a
big help towards that. Here's how:
1. Influence Points (IP) can be used to purchase champions. However, it is also the only way to
purchase Runes, which have a big impact on your in-game performance. With limited runes, you
will not be able to play the game as effectively or with the same flexibility you could, so consider
purchasing any champions with RP to put your IP towards runes;
2. Because IP is so important to filling out rune pages, consider purchasing IP boosts under the
Boosts tab in the Riot Store. The per-win boosts do stack with the time-based boosts (ex. 10
Wins boost stacks with 14 Days boost), so you may wish to do this.
3. Reaching level 30 -- again, on the assumption that you also care about being a good player --
makes the XP boosts valuable as well. Like IP boosts, win-based and time-based boosts stack.
4. Runes are placed into rune pages, and while a wide selection of runes gives you more flexibility,
having more rune pages is necessary to give you more options when a game is starting.
Keep an eye on sales and price reductions. Over time, Riot tends to reduce the price on champions to
provide more incentive to purchase them.

Boosting Tip
I mentioned using Experience and Influence Point (IP) boosts. It's definitely worth noting that per-win
bonuses will be maximized if you're playing on Summoner's Rift against human opponents. This is
because Summoner's Rift against human opponents grants the most Experience and IP per game.

Skins
I also like to buy skins from time to time, particularly for champions I play a lot. These are often
advertised around their store and interface, and can be fully searched under the Skins tab in the Riot
Store.
If you're a big fan of buying champion skins, it's worth remembering that new champion skin bundles
with two bonus skins cost the same RP as buying just the two skins by themselves. Practically speaking,
this means that purchasing a champion with IP, then buying the two skins, doesn't save you any money
(but does cost you a good chunk of IP).
Champion skin bundles with one bonus skin, however, do not have the same benefit. If you have excess
IP and want to limit the real money spent on RP, it will be more effective to purchase the champion with
IP then purchase the skin separately with RP.
You may see some skins that cost 1820 RP or even more. These are legendary and ultimate skins and
nearly all of them have significant overhauls and pretty cool voicework. Brolaf (an Olaf legendary) is one
of my personal favorites for Legendary skins, and Pulsefire Ezreal and Spirit Guard Udyr are both
incredible ultimate skins.

Get Cheap Champions
There are three main ways to acquire a small collection of champions on a budget. The first is through
champion bundles, which can be purchased through the Riot Store with Riot Points. These offer 20
introductory champions, as well as some other bonuses, at a hugely discounted price.
The second is by purchasing the cheap 450 and 1350 Influence Points (IP) champions. While I
recommend limiting the amount of champions you purchase with IP while leveling, it's worth purchasing
these if you really want to play a champion without investing cash money into them. I recommend
purchasing any bundle you may want prior to purchasing specific champions. A lot of the basic
champions come with these bundles.
Finally, check out the sales! Riot frequently offers discounts on older champions, allowing you to pick
them up at a great rate. You wont always get the champions you want now, but if youre enjoying the
game, chances are youll find a time to play these champions later on.

Playing One Champion vs. Playing Many
Do you best learn the game by playing one champion or by playing many different champions?

In my opinion, knowing one champion inside and out is a great benefit while learning a game like League
of Legends. The reason for this is that there is still a vast array of information you need to learn about
the game, such as items, mechanics, map awareness, objectives, and strategy. If you're good with a
champion, you can spend more of your time in game learning these other concepts.
But you should also take time to play at least one champion of each different primary role. If youve only
ever played support, for example, wont give you much of an idea how the other champions in the
League play. And if youve never experienced other roles, chances are you wont perform as well in your
own role as someone who has. You don't have to play much of the other roles early on, but you should
commit to at least trying them.
I've played more than three thousand League matches, but I still have not played every champion in the
game (some day Ill try Poppy and Karma some day). In fact, I am still learning new things all the time.
You'll have time to do this.
Play what looks interesting. Play until you find a champion you love. And if you want to experiment, do
so! But never feel guilty for playing a champion you love over and over again -- you'll still be able to
learn the game.

Snowballing Champions & Items
Snowballing refers to taking the advantage, then compounding it to get an even stronger advantage.
While snowballing is very common and smart in team play, doing so with specific champions or items (I'll
cover them in a moment) will not always teach you to be better at the game.
New players tend to make a lot of mistakes, including over-extending into dangerous areas of the map,
getting caught alone and without teammates, and not knowing their limitations. They also won't usually
make effective use of crowd controls and won't know the abilities of their opponents.
All of these factors make champions like Master Yi and Tryndamere, who can normally be shut down
with good use of crowd controls, very good at completely destroying these players. With each kill and
each new item, they become even more capable of killing their opponents.
Some items are meant for snowballing as well. Mejai's Soulstealer, an item that stacks ability power on
kills and assists (but loses stacks if you die), really lends itself well to overpowering opponents who
simply don't know how to respond to you. Sword of the Occult acts similarly, but provides attack
damage instead of ability power.
Winning is fun. Steamrolling your opponents is fun. If you want to take this route, go for it! My main
caution is that it doesn't hold up forever, and as you come across better and more knowledgeable
opponents, you'll need to know how to deal with them without relying on snowballing (specifically the
kind that relies on specific champions or stacking items).

The other side of the coin is that you'll probably have to deal with people who are snowballing, and in
many cases you'll come across players who are significantly ahead of you by no fault of your own.
Sometimes you can punish greed by crowd controlling your opponent under one of your towers as they
try to dive you. Other times you won't be able to do anything at all, or your options may not be obvious
while you're learning the game. Don't sweat it -- just focus on learning the game for yourself.

Dive In & Don't Panic
If you've been playing against bots, don't get nervous about playing matches against real players. Just
jump into it and accept that you're not always going to do well against real opponents. Once you've
gotten over that hump, you'll be able to really enjoy the competitive matches, especially the close ones
where your actions made all the difference.
Once you're actually playing, don't panic if you're being harassed or getting hit with abilities you didn't
know about. It happens. It'll happen for a very long time. And not too long into playing, you'll likely be
using abilities that newer opponents don't know about. Just keep in mind that League of Legends has a
fairly big learning curve, and this experience is part of learning it.


Tips for Learning Champions
Throughout this guide you're going to see all sorts of information about champions, roles, and gameplay
tips. However, I'd like to add a few things for you to begin looking at and thinking about as soon as you
can.

Muscle Memory
Muscle memory is one of the most often overlooked essentials in gaming. When playing a game, your
brain will automatically learn patterns, and you will be able to more quickly bring knowledge to the front
of your mind when you need it. For example, once you've used the summoner spell 'Flash' for several
games, you will become far quicker to react and use it in tight situations. The same goes for using
'Cleanse' more quickly against opponents.
Muscle memory isn't just the concept of quickly remembering things, though. It is your physical
response time to your mouse and keyboard when assessing a situation. Your brain will develop it quickly
for using champion abilities or summoner spells, provided you practice. You've developed muscle
memory when actions become second nature for you.
I will tend to spend at least my first game fumbling with complex champions before really getting an
idea how they play. I might use an ability combo well, but it will be deliberative and thought out, not
second nature. This is true even when I know the basic concepts behind a champion already. I won't
perform my best with a champion until I've had a full night's rest after I've learned them.
I bring this up for two reasons:
To reassure you that yes, you're going to make mistakes while learning, and yes, this is
completely normal;
To encourage you to take time to practice with champions and summoner spells, even if they
are frustrating at first, if there's any chance you're going to enjoy them.
Some champions will give you new insight into the game as you play them, particularly when those
champions have abilities that force you to think differently. For example, Tristana and other champions
can frequently make use of jumping over walls both to escape and initiate, and as you play them you'll
get a feel for when to do that. A limited number of champions can utilize placeable units like wards, or
to allied units, such as Lee Sin, and this also forces you to rethink how you look at the map.
Once you've played champions like this and developed muscle memory for them, you'll be better at
playing against those champions, as you'll be able to think like them.


High Skill Cap Champions
Some champions are considered higher skill cap than others. Skill cap refers to how much there is to
learn about that champion, along with the associated muscle memory, before you are playing at the
champion's potential.
Lee Sin is a good example of this. He has three basic abilities, which can all be activated a second time
for a different effect. His abilities are all dependent on the position of other units, and using all of them
effectively takes an extraordinary amount of practice. Because of the large number of combos he can
pull off with his abilities, only a handful of the top players in League of Legends have mastered this
champion.
High skill cap does not mean that a champion is difficult to pick up and contribute to a team (though in
some cases they can be). It also does not make these champions inherently better than other
champions, though in some cases it will give them an edge in the hands of a very good player.

If you're interested in really getting a challenge in League of Legends, consider trying to learn one of the
higher skill-cap champions. You can get a fairly accurate idea of which champions these are by looking
through the champion information pages in your League of Legends client and looking at the Difficulty
slider.

Ability Combos & Rotations
Some champions, such as Ashe, have a set of abilities that each work independently and really dont
need to be used together. However, other champions rely on using their abilities in specific sequences,
or at the same time, to maximize their strengths.
Malzahar is a good example of one of these champions. Whenever possible, a Malzahar player wants to
land all three of his normal abilities on opponents, then immediately cast his ultimate. Malzahars first
ability silences opponents, his second ability creates a zone of damage beneath the opponent that deals
damage every second, and his third ability deals magic damage to his target every second. However,
while casting his ultimate, both he and his target are temporarily unable to take any actions. By landing

all of his abilities before using his ultimate, he doesnt lose out on any damage because hes not able to
cast, and his opponent cant do anything to heal or escape from the damage theyre taking.
A lot of ability combos will come naturally to you as you play a champion, but its always a good idea to
see what other players are doing. Reading champion guides either from my own Dont Feed series or
on other areas of the web is a good idea when trying to learn these combos.

Crowd Controls
Abilities that prevent enemies from performing certain actions are crowd controls. For example, stuns
and fears can totally prevent players from controlling their character. Slows prevent players from
moving at full speed, roots prevent them from moving at all (but they can often still cast abilities and
attack), and silences prevent spells from being cast. There are many other types of crowd controls in the
League and theyre all very good at their job.
When you see your allies using crowd controls or when youve just used one of your own, try to wait
before using another crowd control. If three people stun a player for 2 seconds at the same time, that
player is still only stunned for 2 seconds. But if the three players stagger these casts, one after another,
they can potentially get a full 6 seconds of stuns, making the target much easier to kill.

Skillshots
Skillshots (skill shots) are abilities that are not targeted, but are instead aimed in a direction or on a
location. These abilities are not guaranteed to hit your intended target, and due to travel time,
opponents may be able to avoid these abilities by responding quickly.
While the number and types of skillshots are too diverse to cover here, here are some basic tips to help
you out as you're learning to use them:
Lead your target based on where you believe they'll be when the projectile hits them, not where
they currently are, unless they're standing still;
If your target is trying to dodge a skillshot you're about to use, wait until they've stopped before
you fire it;
If you or an ally have a reliable crowd control, wait for that before using your skillshot against
them;
If you're using a location-targeted skillshot that goes over units, such as Kog'maws Living
Artillery, try firing it right behind where your opponent is standing -- aim it so they'll get hit if
they stand still and they'll get hit if they run backwards. Many players, especially early on,
instinctively move backwards when a skillshot is being fired towards them (even if the skillshot is
also aimed behind them).

Speed, Dashes & Blinks
A lot of champions have dashes or blinks that can move you towards a location quickly, or abilities that
dramatically increase your movement speed. Some of these are targeted on enemies and require you
move towards that target. However, others do not require this. Heres a quick look at the differences
between each type of movement:
Movement speed lets you cover large distances but wont get you over walls and isnt as good as
dashes or blinks when avoiding skillshots
Dashes and jumps move you from one point to another, though you may be hit by abilities in
between each point
Blinks instantly move you from one point to another without being affected by abilities in
between each point
When learning a new champion you may be tempted to use these abilities to jump into fights -- and in
some cases, you'll be right to do so! However, try to think about whether you'll need to use these
abilities to escape an upcoming fight if things start looking bad. Abilities that require you target enemies
can sometimes be used to escape, too, if there are minions or flanking opponents moving in.
By saving your movement abilities to escape, you will be able to recover from mistakes or bad calls while
you're learning. You might miss out on a kill here or there, but it often pays to be a little cautious until
you're confident in your play and your knowledge of your opponents.
Keep this in mind when using the Flash summoner spell as well.

Steroids
When playing a new champion, look through your abilities for any that provide you a significant increase
to a stat, such as Attack Speed or Physical Attack Damage. These are called 'steroids.' If these are on a
short cooldown or, better, are passive and will always be applied to you, you should consider making
item choices based on them. For example, Fiora gains a massive bonus to Attack Speed with one of her
abilities, making it less important to build items that increase her Attack Speed.
There's a lot of theory involved here and you won't necessarily want to stray too far from basic role
items (covered in the 'Champion Roles & Recommendations' section of this guide). However, evaluating
steriod abilities will help you improve your overall understanding of the game.


Champion Ability & Attack Range
Many match-ups in League of Legends are determined by the range of your attacks and abilities. After
all, longer range means you can stay at a safer distance, and potentially get more damage or crowd
control out before an enemy champion is able to do anything to you.

While in game, you can mouse over your abilities, both passive and active, to see how much range they
have even if youre not activating them. Additionally, you can hover over your attack damage (in the
lower left by default) to see exactly how far your normal attacks can travel.

Attack Animation & Projectile Speed
I'm going to get into a fairly technical concept here but it will help you as you're learning to last hit to
gain gold in the early and mid game. Note that I also have a video on YouTube on this same subject
called Stutter Step, Attack Move, and Awesome Keybinding Trick (if you cant click a link from this file,
you can also find it linked in the Members section).
Attack Animation is the speed at which a champion will complete a normal attack once an attack is
ready. Projectile Speed is the speed at which normal ranged attacks will travel towards their target.
These are not explicitly listed stats (as such I don't list them in the 'Stats' section of this guide).
Attack Animation & Projectile Speed have an enormous impact on attempting to farm and last-hit
minions that are receiving damage from other sources. Some champions, such as Nautilus, have very
slow swing animations that prevent them from immediately hitting a target when the player orders an
attack. Other champions, such as Corki, have extremely fast Attack Animations and Projectile Speeds
that allow them to very easily farm minions within range of them.
Attack Animation also plays a role in chasing and kiting enemy champions, as movement must be
interrupted while the animation reaches the point where the attack occurs. Once a projectile is in the
air, a player can immediately move again until their next attack is ready, and players should get in the
habit of moving between attacks. Being able to do this will dramatically increase your ability to chase

and kite, as well as reposition or dodge enemy skillshots while farming. Particularly fast champions can
even stay ahead of slow opponents who are attempting to flee while still getting normal attacks off.
Finally, I'll leave you with a tip. When I'm playing champions who have slower projectiles, such as Sivir
and Kog'maw, I'll tend to move closer to minions I'm trying to last hit (provided it's safe to do so).
Getting as close as you safely can to a minion greatly reduces the travel time of the projectile, allowing
you to more easily land that killing blow.


Beating the Smurfs
'Smurfs' is a community-created term that refers to players who have significant League of Legends
experience but have started a new account and are playing with low-level players. In some cases, this is
harmless, and is just used to get a new character up to level 30, perhaps to attempt to start fresh on the
ranked ladder. In other cases, players are trying to get referral rewards. And in other cases, players may
be starting a new account after playing DOTA, Heroes of Newerth, or DOTA2, and may play at a very
high level just based on experience in other games (these are not technically smurfs).
But in a lot of cases, players start smurf accounts because they're not enjoying playing against
experienced players as much as they enjoy slaughtering new players who don't know how to play the
game. And even in the cases of players with a more legitimate reason to be on a new account, a lot of
them will also bring a poor attitude towards the legtimately new players in their games.
Experience doesn't speak to skill, but it does speak to experience. Smurfs may or may not have much
player skill, especially against more experienced players, but they do have experience. They're going to
know more about champions, abilities, and basic strategies than their opponents. They're going to have
some of the basic concepts of the game down that new players haven't learned yet.
What makes many smurfs bad?
1. They will berate and insult you;
2. They will attempt to kill you over and over;
3. They will avoid objectives and prolong the game so they can continue killing you.
Worst of all, you will not learn anything about how the game is played at any competitive level by
playing against smurfs.
It's sad that I have to write such a significant section of this guide for such an obnoxious group of
gamers, but hey, it's the internet. A lot of people are jerks. Read the following sections to learn ways to
deal with them and make your way through the leveling process.

Leavers & AFKers
Leavers & AFKers are players who stop contributing to a match in progress. They're not smurfs, but
they're just as likely to ruin an otherwise good match. While leavers and AFKers will happen at every
level of the game, there is an astronomically high chance you'll come across them in the lower levels.
This is because this is the level range where people are:
Getting frustrated due to other factors (such as smurfs) and quitting the game;
Not at the point where they realize that leaving or AFKing in a match is hurting their teammates
and wasting their time;

Not aware of other problems that may conflict with League of Legends, such as internet
connectivity or slower computers.
The reasoning doesn't really matter. And, in all honesty, there'll probably be some point where you need
to leave or AFK in a match yourself; given enough games (I've left a game five times in a few thousand
matches).
If your team has more leavers and AFKers than the opposing team, chances are higher that you'll lose
the match. What do you do about it? Tough it out, accept the loss, and move on. I know that's not a
great response, but it's the only one I can give. The problem drastically diminishes as you get to higher
levels and wind up against better opponents.

Bot Games (Cooperative vs. AI)
Bot games (Cooperative vs. AI) place you on a team with other human allies. You'll be playing against
fairly well scripted computer AI opponents.
So, I'll start with the big thing. Bot games were really bad when I first started playing League of Legends.
The AI wasn't very good and there was a very limited number of champions that bots could control. Both
the AI and champion selection has improved since then. That said, you're still not playing against human
opponents, and you're not going to learn too much in the way of advanced tactics until you do.
But bot games are fantastic for learning all of the basics in a friendlier environment. There are still going
to be occasional jerks in these games, but you can ignore them.
Your Goal: Reach at least level 10 in bot games unless you're playing with friends.
Most of the smurfs stay in the level 1-10 range (many of them dropping off because the referral bonuses
only require level 10).

Play With a Patient, Experienced Friend
My wife and I played through the game and had a great deal of fun doing so. You probably have a friend
or significant other who plays League of Legends. Whether they're pro players or not, they're probably
going to be miles better than you if they're level 30 and you're brand new. They'll be able to give you
advice, especially on champions they've played, and they'll be able to help deal with smurfs.
By virtue of them being in a game with you, the average level of opponents you face will be a bit higher,
but this can work in your favor if it brings you out of the smurfs bracket.
In the same vein, try to make friends who play League of Legends. The game is just a lot more enjoyable
with friends. Having at least one other player with you will make all the difference.

Turn Off All Chat
In your options menu, under the Interface menu in the left column, scroll down until you see this
option:

Cross-team chat serves virtually no purpose and its frequently used to harass and egg people on. While
not everyone will want to turn this off, Ive personally found it dramatically increases my own
enjoyment of the game, and it may help you as well.

Try Howling Abyss, 3v3 Twisted Treeline, and Dominion
These game modes are a less popular than the 5v5 Summoner's Rift map. This works to your advantage
in having to deal a little less with smurfs.
Dominion matches are usually much shorter. While they won't teach you much about the main map
mechanics, they can be a good way to practice with a champion's abilities, and their length makes them
ideally suited to when you can't invest much time into the game. The best part of the short length is that
you won't have to put up with much from jerks.
Howling Abyss is a little newer on the scene. Before a new map was set aside for this, it was originally
known as All Random, All Mid, or ARAM, and you may still see it referred to by this name. The concept
is that you are randomly given a champion (out of the champions you own), and your team must play
with the champions given. There are a few extra caveats, such as the ability to earn tokens that allow
you to redraw different random champions if you really want to do something different. The game itself
grants faster experience and gold, along with constant combat and some item differences.
Personally, I find Howling Abyss to be a very enjoyable game mode. Unlike Dominion, its still essentially
a fast game of Summoners Rift, and its very enjoyable when you have some friends and want to kill
some time. Its also a good way to force yourself to try new champions.


Ignore & Report Jerks
You will likely come across jerks as long as you play this game. It happens, and it's not just a low level
thing. Even at the highest levels of play you'll still occasionally run across them.

If you would like to ignore a player, open up the scoreboard (default is holding down 'Tab') and click the
chat icon on the far right side of the tab menu. After the game, report players who are being jerks --
they're sent to the Tribunal, a player-run justice system, and may be warned or even banned.

Quick Cast (Formerly Smart Cast)
When you cast many spells in League of Legends, you will first be asked to verify the direction or the
target of your spell. Then, when you press the key again, the spell will fire.
Quickcasting is a game option that causes most of your spells to automatically fire without first verifying
a direction or a target. Instead, abilities that are quickcast will be targeted on the enemy or location
where the mouse cursor currently is.
Most, but not all, top players use quickcasting. This is because it takes tangibly less time to cast spells.
This is especially important on champions with short cooldowns or champions who benefit from casting
multiple spells rapidly to create devastating combos.
By definition, quickcasting lets you cast faster, react more quickly, and have your spells off cooldown
sooner.
What are the drawbacks to quickcasting?
You will need to develop muscle memory to avoid accidentally firing spells. This will take a little
while.
You will no longer be able to see the range or path of spells before you fire. This is difficult to
deal with when you don't know the champion you're playing too well. (We'll discuss this a little
later)
You will find it next to impossible to stop quickcasting once you start.
I'm a huge advocate of quickcasting, but it can be daunting to start using it, and you don't need to start
doing it right away. Let's discuss how to set up quickcasting and then talk about some of the options
available.

Quick Cast Setup
By default, most users will have quickcast keys bound to 'SHIFT + Ability.' In other words, if you hold
down the SHIFT key and press your ability key (usually Q, W, E, and R), you will quickcast that ability.
However, you can change this:

By clicking this button at the top of the Hotkeys menu you will turn quickcasting on for all items and
abilities. You can also disable this later by clicking the button to the left.

You can also enable and disable inidividual abilities and items by clicking the toggle button beneath
them. Dark backgrounds mean quickcasting is disabled; highlighted backgrounds mean quickcasting is
enabled. This can be helpful if you prefer to aim some critical abilities but still want rapid responses on
others.


Quick Cast Range Indicators

At the very bottom of the hotkeys menu is an option to display range indicators when quickcasting.
With Quick Cast Range Indicators active, holding down the key for a quickcast ability will show its range.
This primarily helps for skillshots, and is ideal if you still aren't familiar with the range of a champion's
spells. Additionally, you can cancel spells before theyre cast by clicking on the ground.
A lot of pro players use this setting, but there is one downside. Normal quickcasting causes an ability to
fire when a button is pressed down on your keyboard. Quickcasting with Quick Cast Range Indicators
causes skillshots to fire when a button is released. The difference is extraordinarily small, but if you're all
about performance and you know the range of your abilities, you're fine to avoid this setting.

Quick & Self Cast (Key Bindings)
Some abilities can be cast either on yourself or other targets. To cast these abilities on yourself you
would normally hold down ALT + Ability (or whatever you bind it to in the menu); or, with Quick Cast
enabled, you could also hover over yourself or your interface icon to cast the ability. But heres another
option:

Quick & Self Casting combines self casting with quickcasting. If you're not mousing over a valid target for
a spell, you will automatically cast it on yourself instead.
I personally recommend not using this setting, as it forces you to move your mouse cursor to choose
between quickcasting and self casting, and it can be trickier (i.e. more prone to mistakes on some
champions, especially support champions). Given that you have to move your mouse cursor more to use
this setting, you can actually wind up putting more into using this setting than youre gaining from it.


Champion Roles & Recommendations
Every champion in League of Legends is unique. Even when they share similar abilities with other
champions, their specific collection of abilities and stats bring a different flavor to the game.
However, it's also true that we can broadly classify champions into several categories, and this can help
you more quickly pick up and play champions you're not familiar with. Here are the categories I'll be
covering:
Primary Roles
Fighter
Marksman (Formerly Ranged Attack Damage Carry)
Mage (Formerly Ability Power Caster)
Assassin
Support
Tank
Primary roles are generally exclusive, meaning a marksman will not also be a mage in a single game, nor
will a support also be a fighter. Assassins are an exception to the exclusivity rule, as they may build and
potentially play very similarly to mages or marksmen. Drawing a hard line between an assassin and a
mage, for instance, can sometimes be difficult; For example, Katarina is listed as an assassin, even
though her single target damage is fairly low compared to other assassins. On the other hand, Ahri is
considered a mage, even though she plays very similar to other assassins. Both of these champions
could be correctly qualified as both mages and assassins.

By the way, you can view which champions are categorized under which primary role by using the
dropdown menu in the champion listing on your profile.
Some champions are designed so that players can choose to play them as different primary roles,
sometimes even at different points in the same game. For example, Morgana has strong support
abilities such as a shield, two disables, and an area magic resist reduction on enemies. She also can dish

out significant damage. For this reason, Morgana can be played as a support or a mage, though to be
most effective in either she will want to commit her runes, masteries, summoner skills, and early items
towards one role.
Lets look at the secondary roles:
Secondary Roles
Carry
Pusher
Poke
Initiator
Counter-Initiator
Disengagement
Chase
Disruption
Jungler
Stealth
Mobile
Zoning
Anti-Carry
Unlike primary roles, secondary roles are not mutually exclusive. Even though some primary roles
naturally lend themselves to certain secondary roles (marksmen, for example, are generally carries, and
tanks are generally initiators and disruptors), the line is not absolute.
Sivir, a marksman, is a good example of a champion who can fulfill several secondary roles at once. She
is able to be a strong carry and pusher, while having a moderate poke. Nearly all champions have some
crossover in what they can provide to a team.
I will talk more about each of the secondary roles after covering the primary roles.

Marksman
Marksmen are ranged champions who deal a significant portion of their damage through normal ranged
attacks and deal primarily physical damage. Marksmen tend to become strongest by bringing in a lot of
gold, usually from consistent minion farming in the lane, and tend to be less dependent on their level to
be effective than mages. By the late game, a well-geared marksman may be the highest damage output
champions in the match. Good examples of marksmen are Miss Fortune, Sivir, Ezreal, and Ashe.
Generally speaking, marksmen champions have a long attack range, allowing them to stay at a distance
from their opponents. Though some marksman champions are stronger in the early and mid-game, they
are all very capable at later stages of the game, provided they have strong item builds and are playing
smart.
The most important advanced skill to learn for the marksman role is positioning. Being in the middle of
a fight unnecessarily exposes yourself to AOE damage and directly targeted spells that you may
otherwise be able to avoid. A well-positioned marksman will have at least two escape paths available
regardless of where they are, and will be near their teammates without being too exposed to the enemy
team.
For marksmen, it's generally true that many fights come down to a decision on whether to focus a
specific enemy dealing a lot of damage to your team, or focus down the front line of enemies so you can
more safely break down the damage dealers in the rear. Evaluating when you prefer front-line targets of
opportunity or when to take the more risky approach of moving into their front line to hit opponents in
the rear, is important for any team.
Effective marksman players will be very good at last-hitting minions to earn additional gold. This skill is
critically important and should be practiced in every match.


Jinx

Why This Champion Stands Out
Jinx has a strong mix of abilities that give her the potential to shine in skill match-ups. However, her
ability to switch weapons to gain a much longer attack range is what makes her a fantastic addition to
most team line-ups.

My Thoughts
Relatively few marksmen have a long enough range and a diverse enough ability kit that they will do well
in nearly any team composition. Jinx offers strong long range poke and chasing potential with her Zap
skillshot. Her Flame Chompers allow her to root her pursuers in place, giving her an advantage that few
other low-mobility marksmen have. And her Super Mega Death Rocket gives her the ability to make
awesome cross-map snipes similar to Ashe, Ezreal, and Draven.
But its her Switcheroo that makes her a champion worthy of most teams. When activated, she is able to
bring great damage from a much safer distance, especially when taking down towers. Combined with
her ability to slow and root approaching opponents, she synergizes perfectly with other tower-pushing
champions.
I strongly recommend learning Jinx if only for her range. However, other champions that do well in this
role are Tristana, Caitlyn, and Kogmaw, each of whom bring their own strengths.


Miss Fortune

Miss Fortune deals very strong single-target damage, can apply a healing reduction debuff, and can drop
great damage on an entire team with her ultimate.

My Thoughts
Miss Fortune is a very simple champion. She isn't the best and she can get focused down later in the
game without much effort. That said, she has extremely high early game damage thanks to her Impure
Shots and Double Up, which can allow you to dominate lanes. She has a healing reduction that allows
you to win lanes that have a healer like Soraka. She is also a very fast champion (provided she hasn't
taken damage).
Impure shots makes early game farming easier since the bonus magic damage can help immensely in
last hitting. Her early game farming and champion killing potential can help get her to a point where she
has a clear advantage in the late game.


Sivir

Sivir has extremely strong multi-target damage in teamfights and can push lanes and towers very
quickly.

My Thoughts
I have more consistently won games with Sivir than any other ranged marksman. Her early game isn't
the best, she has a short normal attack range, and she doesn't become an amazing farmer until a little
later in the game.
Why is she great? Let's start with her on-demand spell shield. Many champions telegraph when they're
about to cast a spell, and getting really good with Sivir's spell shield will save you time and time again
from all sorts of things. It also returns mana, which either regenerates your mana or strongly
discourages your opponents from harassing you with spells.
With an opponent crowd controlled near her, she can easily land both strikes from Boomerang Blade.
Along with a normal attack and a normal attack reset with her Ricochet, she has incredible burst
potential in the early game.
Later in the game, combining this damage with an AOE crowd control such as Leona's Solar Flare or
Amumu's Curse of the Sad Mummy, especially in a tight area such as the jungle, combined with her
ultimate bonus on your team, Sivir can easily be damage needed to turn the fight totally in your teams
favor. Team fights in the jungle are where I've picked up the most multi-kills with her.
Her ultimate is also great when youre not able to easily communicate with your team. Since it's a highly
visible teamwide aura, it is often enough to tell your teammates to either engage an enemy team or to
run away. It's pretty easy to understand.

Ezreal

Sivir has extremely strong multi-target damage in teamfights and can push lanes and towers very
quickly.

My Thoughts
A little before Pulsefire Ezreal released, I started to really take the time to learn Ezreal. He's a really fun
champion both as Ability Power or as a Ranged Attack Damage carry. His primary weakness is a very
short normal attack range, making him vulnerable when he moves in close to deal with opponents.
He's all skillshots. You simply can't play him effectively unless you're willing to accept this and learn to
play. You'll also want to enable quickcasting to really get the most out of his combos.
He is one of only a few highly mobile marksmen (along with Corki and Tristana). His Arcane Shift blink
allows him to quickly get in or out of a fight.


Urgot

One of the more interesting champions, he is a marksman that plays very similar to mages and often
builds similar to fighters. Though he has a very short normal attack range, he can land targeted damage
at an extremely long range.

My Thoughts
Urgot is an odd champion and one that doesnt often get much play (though he did have a solid streak of
popularity in Season 2 and early Season 3). He belongs to a small class of physical damage dealers that
rely on their abilities, meaning most of his damage and utility comes from his spells rather than normal
attacks. Even though he is a ranged champion, he has a very short attack range by comparison to other
ranged champions, making him unfit to be played as a marksman.
All that said, most of the fun in Urgot comes from successfully landing his acid canister on an opponent
who tries to move near him. If he does this, his acid hunter (Q) shots will all guide themselves directly to
the target, ignoring minions or other objects in the way. The cool thing? These missiles can be fired
across an extremely long range, and can even follow targets in bushes if you correctly guess where they
are. Landing a canister on an enemy carry during a team fight can allow you to devastate them from a
range.
Add in a strong slow, a decent shield, and an extremely strong utility ultimate that allows him to initiate
for his team and you have the great champion known as Urgot.
If you're playing Urgot, consider cooldown reduction items such as Brutalizer and Frozen Heart. Why?
With enough cooldown reduction, you can fire one additional missile while the canister debuff is still on
the target. I remember dozens of kills I've gotten due to getting that one extra shot in.


Mage
These are the mages, wizards, or sorcerer archetypes from other gaming and fiction. Mages are
champions who generally rely on spells to deal damage, and will become stronger throughout the game
through a combination of Ability Power and levels. Mages are the most diverse group of champions,
encompassing a wide variety of playstyles. Good examples of mages are Veigar, Brand, Cassiopeia, and
Ahri.
Mages often have ability combinations that significantly improve their performance and chances of
success. For example, Ahri's Foxfire and Orb of Deception are both strong damage abilities, but they can
be avoided by smart opponents. However, a successful Charm after dashing towards an opponent with
her Spirit Rush ultimate, guarantees she can easily land her Foxfire and Orb of Deception, thus
maximizing her damage output.
As always, positioning is critical, and it is dependent on the particular toolkit your champion has. For
example, champions such as Xerath and Lux benefit from being further away in a fight, but champions
such as Morgana, Karthus, and Fiddlesticks must stay in the middle of a fight to be most effective with
their abilities. If you're at the rear, keep an eye on your flanks in case an enemy champion attempts to
approach you from this direction.
Mages tend to benefit more from levels than from gold, though gold is certainly very important in
reaching their potential. Some mages such as Morgana, Mordekaiser, and Vladimir are able to easily
clear waves of minions and collect the gold from them, but good players on any mage champion should
know how to best approach farming gold from minions.


Lux

Lux has extremely strong long-range abilities that allow her to zone and pressure opponents from a safe
distance. Her ultimate allows her to snipe opponents from a long range for very satisfying kills.

My Thoughts
Lux plays well as a support, but I find she really shines when played as a Mage. Shes an extraordinarily
safe champion due to her long range and she brings a lot of utility to her team. But nothing is quite as
satisfying as her ability to dish out extreme-range damage with her laser ultimate, giving her the
opportunity to attempt steals on Baron and Dragon from a long range and snipe out low health players.
The trait Ive found so appealing about Lux is her consistent snares and her slowing field. In teamfights,
and especially in chases (or escapes), she can control entire zones extremely effectively. If her team is
being sieged at their towers, she can easily wave clear full waves with her ultimate, and both slow and
clear the alternating waves with her slowing field and snare. And if her opponents try to dive, a well-
placed binding can turn the fight entirely around.
Very few champions directly counter her at all stages of the game, so shes generally a safe early pick for
a mage.


Ahri

Ahri rides the line between assassin and mage with the mobility to quickly close on targets and the
sustained damage to stay near teamfights.

My Thoughts
Even after several rounds of nerfs, Ahri is a truly enjoyable champion for me. Here's what makes her
good:
Her ultimate allows her to teleport to a nearby location three times in rapid succession. This is very
strong for escaping and for getting in range of an opponent, but even better for landing her other
abilities.
Because of her strong damage output and mobility, Ahri can not only avoid incoming skillshots with
ease, she can also bring down many opponents with a full ability combo. All of her abilities are skillshots,
so you have to be comfortable with this, and I recommend turning on quickcasting to play her
effectively.
In tournament play, Ahri with Teleport and Flash has been popular and effective, in large part due to her
ability to effectively split push (as she can clear waves quickly and can dash away with her ultimate
when caught).


Cassiopeia

Though she lacks mobility and long range, Cassiopeias short range power is devastating.

My Thoughts
Cassiopeia was my second highest played champion in Season 3, and heres why:
Where Kassadin forces you to learn to be aggressive, Cassiopeia forces you to learn to stand your
ground and not run away from fights. With mana and well-placed poisons, she has among the highest
sustained damage outputs in the game she can go toe-to-toe with virtually anyway who stays within
range.
But when I say that she teaches you not to run away from fights, I dont mean you shouldnt be moving.
If she lands her poisons she will move dramatically faster and her opponents will be slowed significantly
(especially with a Rylais Crystal Scepter purchase), allowing her to kite away from opponents while
maintaining damage on them, as well as chase even very fast champions.
Cassiopeia has only a single targeted ability, Twin Fangs, but one cast of this isnt very strong. However,
if her opponents are poisoned, this ability has an incredibly short cooldown, allowing her to act like a
machine gun towards her opponents. Because both of her poisons are skillshots, and because timing is
critical, this means that she is also great for learning to land skillshots and getting used to quickcasting
mechanics.
Her weakness is her lack of mobility and her somewhat short range, particularly on her Twin Fangs and
her ultimate. Like a snake, though, getting close to her can result in a devastatingly quick death.
Cassiopeia is normally played at mid lane, but Ive played her very successfully at top lane and bot lane
(and somewhat successfully in the jungle). At bot lane she can do absurdly well when paired with Soraka
due to the mana returns (which in turn allow her to cast spells quickly, which in turn allows her passive
to stack, making her spells cheaper, etc.).

Assassin
Assassins strike quickly, often from darkness, killing their opponents. Often best when waiting in the
flanks, they excel at ambushes and hit-and-run tactics. They are likely to build items similar to either
mages or marksmen though they tend to excel at close-range combat. Good examples of assassins are
Akali, Fizz, Kassadin, Khazix, Rengar, Talon and Zed.
Assassins are designed to quickly kill engage and kill enemies that lack survivability. In other words,
targets with low health and low armor or magic resist may be ideal targets. All assassins have dash,
blink, or gap-closing mechanics that allow them to quickly get in range, and may also have a crowd
control to keep their opponent from immediately reacting.
Nearly all assassins have tools that allow them to reliably escape. For example, Talons ability combo
often ends with his ultimate, which grants him temporary stealth and allows him to run away from a
fight. As of Season 4, the only champion listed as a primary assassin without a strong escape tool was
Nocturne, who also happens to be the only assassin that easily builds to safely stay in the front line
rather.
Like carries, assassins can come from different primary roles, particularly mages and fighters. Unless
assassins have an extraordinary gold lead (either from champion or minion kills), they may transition to
another role or be very careful about how, where, and when they enter skirmishes and team fights
(usually to burst down a carry in the rear).
Assassins are uniquely vulnerable to being targeted and burst down by enemy teams. Because they tend
to perform best by focusing heavily on damage items, and because their damage requires them to move
close to their targets, they walk a fine line between wrecking their opponents and being wrecked
themselves.
Ill illustrate this with a personal anecdote. Early in Season 3 I was enjoying Khazix and decided to play
him heavily in ranked. Though I did objectively well in most of my matches, I went on a losing streak that
dropped me from the top of Gold 3 back down to Gold 5. When I studied exactly what was causing me
to lose games, I found that I was often misjudging a single late-game fight or ambush, either by going in
too early or not backing off when I should have. Because our opponents knew the highest damage
player was down, they either won the game or made critical objective plays such as Baron while I was
down.
Because of this, I believe that the key factor in winning games as assassins is learning when to stay out
of a fight and for how long.

Kassadin

Kassadin can move rapidly across the map with his riftwalk, able to close in and kill nearly any vulnerable
target.

My Thoughts
Almost completely opposite of Lux is Kassadin, a heavy mage who relies on getting in close and bursting
opponents down before getting back out. I dont have as much play time with Kassadin as any of the
other champions on this list but Ive really enjoyed playing him due to his extreme mobility and ability to
easily push most mages out of mid lane. Kassadin is extraordinarily safe against all but a handful of
champions who can lock him down (such as Pantheon).
If you want to force yourself to be aggressive, Kassadin is your pick. If you want to learn the roam
around the map to pick up kills, Kassadin is also a great way to start. If you want to be able to see
teamfights from a whole different perspective one where you can dance around the perimeter, get
burst damage out on the ideal target, and often back out and wait to do it again Kassadin is also
awesome for this.
Kassadins primary weakness is physical damage assassins, as well as marksmen who can survive his
burst and can lifesteal between his volleys. If youre a marksman going against Kassadin, consider
continuing normal attacks on him when he engages rather than running away (which allows him to wait
out his cooldowns and burst you again). While you wont necessarily win if youre not doing well on
items, youll almost certainly lose if you attempt to flee but cant get to safety quickly.


Fizz

Fizz is the definition of slippery. He is able to stay near teamfights and frequently engage in them, using
his abilities to get out of even some of the worst situations.

My Thoughts
Fizz is one of the most mobile champions in League, and he packs an enormous amount of damage. On
top of this, he can jump onto his trident to avoid nearly every ability in the game, he can run directly
through minions without needing to path around them, and he has a longer-than-normal attack range
for a melee champion.
In the early game, Fizz can struggle to farm minions if hes harassed by his opponents. But with a little
bit of ability power, he can engage softer opponents the moment he hits level 3, bullying them out of
the lane or even killing them.
Later in the game, building a Lich Bane and some ability power allows him to assassinate soft targets
with ease, and his mobility allows him to get back out of a teamfight once hes done. From here, he can
wait in the perimeter to engage once his cooldowns are available.
Fizz is among the highest damage champions in League, but he does have a higher skill and game
knowledge requirement than many other champions (such as knowing when to use his pole jump to
dodge abilities).

Nocturne

Nocturne can travel across a large area of the map to hit a vulnerable target with his ultimate. Unlike
most assassins, he can be comfortably built and played to stay in the front line and initiate for his team.

My Thoughts
Nocturne is one of my recommended junglers. His passive and Q give him great jungling speed, allowing
him to quickly clear and move on to ganking. He is generally very survivable, and if hes ambushed, he
has a chance to escape thanks to his spell shield.
But the main thing is his ganking potential. Because his ultimate allows him to travel to a target from a
significant distance away from them, he can move into a fight from locations that are less likely to be
warded. Even if the location is warded and his opponents see him, he can often still cast his ultimate and
engage them anyway. He's great for picking off low health players, and he's generally strong for ganks --
on top of everything else -- because of his targeted fear.


Fighter
These are stronger and often more defensive champions. They tend to be melee-range or short-range
champions who deal most of their damage when they are standing next to a target. Good examples of
fighter champions are Irelia, Garen, Riven, and Darius.
Like mages, fighters encompass a wide variety of champions in League of Legends. Some deal primarily
single-target damage, such as Warwick, while others deal more multi-target damage. Some bring very
strong crowd controls, such as Riven, Nasus, and Tryndamere, while others bring no crowd control at all,
such as Master Yi and Fiora. Not all of them are purely melee-range, as is the case of Urgot, who plays
similar to other fighters such as Yorick, but is technically a ranged champion.
In the current environment, the majority of fighters build significant survivability at the expense of
damage. Melee fighters are often in the most dangerous position in skirmishes and team fights. If an
enemy team has "snowballed," or gained a significant advantage your team, the fighter is often
penalized first as they must be a part of fights but may be at extreme risk of dying. For this reason, the
best fighters will be those who will do everything they can to stay on top of their gold income by
effectively last hitting minions, and will make item decisions that allow them to survive the enemy team.
Only a minority may build purely offensive, and these tend to be assassins or champions with their own
mechanics that help them survive or escape (examples are Fiora, Master Yi, Shaco, Talon and
Tryndamere). This does not mean they should always build purely offensively, and the point is here
more to illustrate how few melee champions can get away with heavily offensive builds. (If youre
playing one of these champions, you may find more useful builds under the marksman section)
Melee fighters tend to be the front line in engagements, and their goal is often to break up enemy
fighters to reach and disrupt or kill carries. That said, melee fighters with crowd controls should learn to
effectively peel opponents off their own carries as well, as this often leads to better results than simply
going after an enemy carry.


Jax

Among the simplest champions to play, Jaxs close range power and mobility makes him one of the most
devastating champions in the game.

My Thoughts
Jax is often described as a stat stick, and for good reason. He requires little finesse or player skill to
play well, instead gaining his power almost exclusively through farming and item purchases. Within the
first few levels of the game he can bully most opponents out of lane and, once he acquires his ultimate,
he immediately becomes one of the strongest one-vs.-one duelists in the League.
The difference between Jax and many similar duelists is his extreme mobility. Like Katarina, he can jump
to any valid target within his range, including allies. Coupled with a well-timed stun, he can usually get
on his opponents and lock them down or force them to burn important cooldowns. This mobility allows
him to be at home in the most mobile team compositions just as easily as pure teamfighting
compositions.
Jax excels at bullying his lane. If hes allowed to do this unchecked, he can become an unstoppable split
pusher.

Jayce

Extreme versatility allows him to apply long range pressure, move to mid-range and use his cannon
form, and once hes ahead, move directly into melee range to finish off opponents.

My Thoughts
I've fallen in love with Jayce. He is incredibly versatile in that he can be effective as a jungler, as a solo
top, and even as a marksman in some circumstances. He is also effective against many mid champions.
What makes him great? He is extraordinarily fast at moving across the map, he has low mana costs, and
most of all he has incredible combo potential. He is a very high skillcap champion. This guy is the
definition of the phrase 'easy to learn, hard to master.'
All of this said, his weakness is also very clear. He cannot avoid being close to enemy teams during team
fights, even if he is in his ranged form, if he wants to get most of his damage out. All but one of his
abilities (he has nine) have a shorter range than the base attack range of most marksmen. This means he
can be harassed in the early game by some champions, and if he can't survive some damage, can be shut
out in late game team fights more than many other champions.
Even with that weakness I have had immense fun playing him.

Olaf

See target, kill target, and if youre about to die, kill everyone else too.

My Thoughts
Let me start by saying that Olaf is a great solo lane champion as well as he can go against a lot of
champions well. However, I personally enjoy him most in the jungle.
His ultimate allows him to ignore crowd controls for several seconds while becoming much more
survivable. For this brief time, he can simply run straight through an enemy team to quickly lock down or
kill an enemy carry. He is the definition of an anti-carry. This ultimate also lets him get away with all
sorts of antics, such as running into the middle of enemy teams to attempt to steal Baron Nashor or
Dragon, or running through their jungle to try to steal buffs without fear of being unable to escape.
To be amazing with Olaf you'll need to become good at using his Undertow. This is his axe throw ability
that deals high damage, has a strong slow component, and can be picked up to dramatically reduce the
cooldown.
Beyond this, he is very survivable at low health due to his passive attack speed and his lifesteal and spell
vamp ability. Additionally, he has an extremely strong single-target ability that deals true damage
(cannot be mitigated by armor or magic resist), making him exceptionally good at dueling.


Support
These are champions who primarily contribute to their team by supporting the actions of their
teammates, either with healing, shielding, vision, or crowd controls. These champions tend to be less
gold and gear dependent and may benefit from items that provide bonus gold, so they work well with
marksmen as it allows the marksman champion to generate gold safely without competition. Good
examples of support are Soraka, Janna, Sona, and Lulu.
Support players assist their teammates in achieving victory. In the early game, they often stay with at
least one other player, providing them with survivability in the form of healing, shields, buffs or auras.
They may also have crowd controls, debuffs, or some damage that they can use against enemy targets.
There's a term, "zero CS support," which refers to support who do not normally last-hit minions for CS
(creep score), instead leaving the gold to their ally in the lane. This is a very common playstyle, but the
best support players do not treat this as a passive playstyle. Instead, they may attempt to:
1. Harass opposing players with spell usage and disables;
2. Actively and inconspicuously ward and counterward when their lane partner is safe;
3. Deal damage to certain higher-health minions to allow their lane partner to more easily last hit
them for gold;
4. Deal damage to higher-health minions when it may prevent minions from reaching a tower,
again assisting their lane partner in more easily last hitting them for gold;
5. Heal or buff allied minions (if possible) at key moments to deny the opposing team easy last hits;
6. Last hit and kill minions themselves when their lane partner will not lose gold or experience as a
result.
On the final point, knowing when you can safely get farm as a support involves understanding the lane
and map mechanics. Simply because the lane partner is out of lane (at base, dead, or otherwise) does
not mean that the lane is safe to be farmed and pushed, as doing so may deny that player opportunities
when they return.
If I sound draconian on this, I certainly don't mean to. This is how "zero CS support" tends to play out,
but it doesn't mean it's the only way to play a support champion, and it doesn't mean it will always stay
this way.
In most situations, especially in solo queue, a support player may be best suited to placing most or all of
the wards on the map (even if this is not always ideal, there are a lot of players who simply don't or
won't place wards). The best support players will be effective not just at warding great positions
frequently, thereby getting vision on critical areas of the map, but also countering enemy vision by
purchasing vision wards and potentially using red lens trinkets. The main goals of vision are:
1. Prevent ganks on allies and unexpected team fights and skirmishes;
2. Allow for ganks and ambushes on opponents;

3. General map awareness of where opponents are, allowing for the team to take objectives the
opponents cannot easily respond to.
Support should be positioned away from the front lines of fights. There are limited exceptions, such as
Alistar, Janna, Morgana, and Taric, each of whom have abilities that may strongly encourage being
closer to the fight, if only briefly.


Sona

With auras, healing, and initiation, Sona is the definition of a classical support healer.

My Thoughts
Sona was the first champion I mained in League of Legends, and shes seen a few changes (and nerfs)
since she was first introduced. She is the epitome of a support, with healing, auras, and debuffs she can
apply to her opponents.
Sona is the definition of an easy-to-learn, difficult-to-master champion. At a basic level, her abilities are
all straightforward, and theyre easy to use effectively. But to maximize her potential, managing her
auras and using the best Power Chords for each situation is necessary.
Her ultimate is a frontal AOE stun that can totally change the dynamic of a teamfight. Because of this,
along with all of her other strengths, she is one of the more popular support picks in tournament play.
Id definitely recommend Sona as a starter support for nearly anyone.


Thresh

A variety of strong crowd controls and a good normal attack range would earn him a spot as a good
support. Add his hook and his lantern and he becomes a fantastic support choice for nearly any team.

My Thoughts
Thresh is the one champion on this list I havent played all that much, in large part because hes very
frequently banned in ranked play. But hes a tournament favorite, and there are a few reasons for this.
First, he has a hook similar to Blitzcrank, except that hes also able to pull himself to his target. This gives
him quite a bit more versatility in his positioning and offers him some escape mechanisms.
Second, and probably more importantly, he can drop a lantern that allows teammates to pull
themselves to his location. This is totally unique in League and it allows less-mobile champions to reach
locations quickly (such as entering the Baron or Dragon pits from over the wall or getting out of a bad
teamfight in a pinch).
Finally, he has three separate crowd control abilities, and all of them can be used either offensively or
defensively. This is especially true of his ultimate, which massively slows any enemies who cross over its
walls.
Separate of these core reasons, he has a mid range normal attack that allows him to harass effectively in
lane.
If you main support and want to make incredible plays, learn Thresh.


Janna

Janna excels at preventing damage, disengaging from enemy teams, and enabling strong pushes.
Because of this, she is a favorite among teams that focus on objectives.

My Thoughts
While Sona and Soraka may focus on healing and auras, and Thresh excels at locking opponents down,
Janna excels at preventing damage altogether. She achieves this by using her Howling Gale tornado to
prevent pursuers from reaching her or her allies, slowing opponents who try to dive, shielding her allies,
and using her ultimate to knock opponents away. Additionally, she allows nearby allies to move
significantly faster.
These bonuses make her a perfect fit for teams that want to focus on taking down objectives. If her
team wants to push together, her shield can keep critical allies alive and her ultimate and tornado can
peel opponents off of them. If her team wants to split push, she can use her abilities to help her team
entirely disengage from an enemy team while the split pusher continues in another lane.
When necessary, she can initiate some fights, particularly against single opponents. Her bonus
movement speed can allow her to catch up to an opponent, and can then be traded for a strong slow
against that opponent as her allies catch up.
For what its worth, her Monsoon ultimate is actually somewhat dangerous to use when your allies rely
on skillshots to net kills. Knocking an opponent out of the path of a critical ability can cost kills that
might have otherwise been secured.

Tank
Tanks contribute to their team by controlling the chaos of teamfights, often through crowd controls and
aggressive positioning. These champions can either be the core to a front line or they can stay back to
help peel enemies off their vulnerable allies. Good examples of tanks or initiators are Alistar, Leona,
Nautilus, and Blitzcrank.
Tanks are champions who control skirmishes and team fights. The tanking role is a lot less dependent on
raw survivability than it may seem at first, and a lot more dependent on the ability to control chaos by
initiating and disrupting opponents. Simply being able to survive damage does not make a tank good if
your opponents realize they can ignore you and go directly for higher priority targets. That said,
survivability is necessary to being the most effective tank.
Tanks are similar to supports in that they may also lane with another player in the early game, and may
be best suited for ward and vision coverage if their allies are not helping with this. However, many tanks
can jungle effectively (such as Amumu, Maokai, and Rammus), and many can play a solo lane effectively
(such as Cho'gath, Galio, and Singed).
Tanks are not absolutely necessary in a team composition, particularly with the effectiveness of
survivable melee fighter builds. However, they are still frequently used and can still be major assets to
the team they're on.
Because tanks must focus so heavily on balancing defensive stats, I strongly recommend reading the
Stats section of this guide before tanking.


Amumu

Great survivability, extreme multi-target damage, and a large instant AOE crowd control make Amumu a
force to be reckoned with. He may be older, but he is consistent.

My Thoughts
Though Ive played him since he was released, and though hes always been a strong champion, Amumu
is a newer addition to this list. As Ive spent more time playing Ranked matches, Ive realized how
incredibly strong he can be against most team comps.
League of Legends has a lot of area-effect crowd controls, but Amumus ultimate covers a massive area.
On top of this, the lack of casting time or delay means the effect is applied instantly, unlike other area
effects (such as Leonas Solar Flare).
For a tank, his damage output is phenomenal, to the point that he can often go head to head with all but
the most mobile or fed enemy champions. I find myself frequently zoning out enemy marksmen and
often even killing them before they can ever enter a teamfight.


Leona

While none of Leonas abilities are the strongest in their class, her mobility and her frequently-available
crowd controls create a very enjoyable experience and a top-tier tank.

My Thoughts
Leona is one of the few tanks that excels in a duo lane with a marksman (or as part of a kill lane with
another damage dealer). She has an immense amount of crowd control, including a snare, stun, and
ranged AOE stun/slow ultimate. On top of this, she is extraordinarily survivable with her Eclipse even
before she picks up many items (which helps if youre not picking up many minion kills in a duo lane).
Leona is designed to work with other champions, as she applies debuffs to her opponents that her allies
can explode for bonus damage. She works best with aggressive allies, and does great when bursting
down opponents who rely on long-term health regeneration (heals, etc.) rather than high health or
bulkiness. She has trouble, though, if her lane pushes up to an enemy tower, making it much harder for
her to safely initiate a fight.
Later in the game, cooldown reduction allows her to chain together crowd controls, helping to lock
down enemies throughout long teamfights.
If your team lacks a front line or tanky champion elsewhere, Leona is a great pick.


Chogath

ChoGath has two big things going for him: Hes able to survive just about anyone, and hes able to kill
just about anyone.

My Thoughts
Like other tanks, ChoGath has some fairly strong crowd control that he can use to peel opponents off
his allies. Unlike other tanks, ChoGaths Feast ultimate is capable of instantly killing injured opponents
regardless of how much armor or magic resist theyve built. Because of this, he poses an unusually large
threat to anyone who needs to move near him.
Beyond this, he has fantastic crowd controls. Slower or less reactive champions will be unable to avoid
his Rupture, while champions that rely on their spells can be devastated by the long silence from his
Feral Scream. His weakness is that both of these are skillshots and he has relatively few ways to reliably
lock down very mobile champions.
Other than dealing a large burst of damage, ChoGaths Feast ultimate also grants him a stacking health
buff. The downside to this is that his survivability partly relies on these stacks, and any time he is
successfully taken down he loses half of them; He may need time to recover them between teamfights
or risk being more vulnerable in the next fight. The upside, though, is that this bonus health gives him
the flexibility to build other items he can either build armor and magic resist to amplify how tanky he
is, or he can build bulky caster items like Rod of Ages to amplify his damage.

Secondary Roles
As said earlier, secondary roles are not mutually exclusive. In this section, I'm going to expand on exactly
what each of these secondary roles does. It will help not only understand the game and the options
within the game, but the terminology that players use.

Carry
A carry is a champion who can wipe out an enemy team with extraordinary effectiveness. In most cases,
a carry has made damage items a primary investment and lacks the survivability of more durable allies
as a result. Carries are often high priority targets in team fights, both in defending them if they're allies
and killing or forcing them out if they're enemies.
As a rule, marksmen and mages can -- and often should -- be built as carries. However, champions from
other primary roles can fulfill the role of carry if they're doing extraordinarily well in a match.

Pusher
Pushers are champions who excel at rapidly clearing minions in lanes and, in many cases, at taking down
structures quickly.
Champions with naturally strong AOE such as Vladimir, Mordekaiser, and Morgana are good at pushing
minion waves towards enemy structures quickly. Champions with abilities that temporarily increase
their damage output or reset their attack swing timers are often very strong at pushing structures. Some
of the best pushers, such as Sivir, are capable of achieving both quick minion clears and high structure
damage.
Strategically, pushing does more than take down towers and minion waves quickly. Champions who are
strong pushers can force opponents to make a decision between staying and defending their structures
or leaving for another objective. In the mid and especially late game, strong pushing can lock down an
enemy team and force them away from objectives, including Dragon, Baron Nashor, and other
structures.
Two or more champions pushing separate lanes at one time is referred to as "split pushing." This can be
very difficult for an enemy team to counter, as they may be unable to group together without losing
structures as a result.
Teleport is generally a very strong summoner spell for pushing, either for getting into a lane or
quickly getting out of one.


Poke
Long range abilities, particularly those that can pass through minions, are poke. Champions with these
abilities can slowly saturate and damage opponents, softening them up for a team fight or harassing
them to where they can be killed (or, at the very least, to where they may avoid trying to kill you). Poke
abilities are spread out across a wide variety of champions. Examples are Janna's Howling Gale tornado
and Kog'maw's ultimate, Living Artillery.

Initiator
Champions with abilities or enough survivability that allows them to get a team fight started in a
favorable way are initiators. As a rule, all effective tanks should be capable initiators, and most
champions who have been designed as tanks have specific tools to initiate. For example, Amumu's
Bandage Toss can pull him to enemy champions, and his Curse of the Sad Mummy ultimate can
immobilize everyone around him, allowing his team to jump in.
Tanks are not the only initiators, though. Many champions, particularly those with crowd controls, can
be strong initiators even if they can't take much damage. For example, Ashe's ultimate, Enchanted
Crystal Arrow, can stun and slow opponents at a range, allowing her team to quickly follow it up. A
Morgana with a Zhonya's Hourglass can Flash into the middle of a group of enemy champions, activate
her Soul Shackles ultimate, and immediately make herself invulnerable to guarantee the cast completes.

Counter-Initiator
Imagine that amazing initiate listed above. Now imagine it didn't work because the initiator was
instantly crowd controlled (knocked up, knocked back, silenced) and their combo was broken. Not all
initiates can be effectively countered, particularly those that come in from a range (Ashe's ultimate).

Disengagement
Similar to counter-initiation, champions that can disengage help them and their team back out of a fight
even when theyre initiated on. Examples are Janna, who can use both her ultimate and her tornado to
prevent opponents from sticking to her teammates, and Zyra, who can use her ultimate and her binding
roots to the same effect. Disengagement champions work very well with pusher champions on the same
team, as this allows for more effective split pushing (covered in The Impossible Decision later in this e-
book).


Chase
Champions with strong chase can stick to fleeing opponents, either with extreme movement speed or
extreme mobility. Kassadin, Hecarim, and Master Yi are examples of strong chasers. These champions
are sometimes able to close out fights against hyper-mobility team compositions, which are covered in
the Team Compositions section.

Disruption
A disruptor is a champion that can prevent other opponents from functioning at their potential in
skirmishes and team fights. At the most basic level, any crowd control can function as disruption, though
some champions are better at the role than others. For example, Leona has an immobilize, stun, and
AOE stun/slow that she can use in skirmishes, giving her repeated opportunities to prevent enemies
from moving, casting, or attacking. Nautilus has a slow, an immobilize, and a knockup.
Many tanks are able to frequently disrupt opponents in fights. However, other champions have very
strong disruption abilities that can turn team fights in their favor. For example, Wukong's ultimate,
Cyclone, can knock enemy champions up in the air, preventing them from moving, casting, or attacking.

Jungler
Junglers are champions who gain levels, gold, and experience from killing monsters in the jungle. Ideally,
these players are also helping to gank and kill opponents in the main lanes, and are potentially harassing
enemy champions in the opposing jungle.
Any champion can jungle, though some champions do this more effectively than others. Also, jungling is
dramatically improved with full or near-full runes and masteries, meaning it is generally best achieved
by players with high summoner levels (though this is less true after the season 2 rework of the jungle).
Junglers are important because of their flexibility and their impact on the game. With a jungler, an
opposing team must be concerned about unexpected ganks and often must invest gold in wards for
additional vision around their lanes. If they don't, they will pay for it if the jungler successfully ganks
them.
By having a jungler, a team also has another lane with only a single player in it. This dramatically
increases the experience the solo player receives (and, if played well, the gold available to them from
minions).
Jungling is a significantly different playstyle than laning, and I strongly recommend taking the time to
research effective jungle routes for your particular champion. On YouTube, search for "Stonewall008"
and look for a jungling movie related to your champion. While this won't teach you jungling inside and
out, it will give you an idea how to get started.

Smite is generally necessary for the most effective jungling. Because of its ability to turn games in
the team's favor by securing kills on Dragon and Baron Nashor, it is better than having an ability that
helps more with securing early kills.

Stealth
A small handful of champions have a stealth ability that allows them to go invisible to enemy champions.
Stealth has two primary benefits: First, it makes the champion much more difficult to hit with most
abilities, and impossible to hit with targeted abilities or attacks if the enemy does not have vision on
them. Second, it allows for unexpected or sometimes unavoidable attacks, especially when combined
with a movement mechanic such as Vayne's Tumble with her Night Hunter ultimate active, or Shaco's
Deceive.
Stealth can be countered with Vision Wards (the more expensive version of Sight Wards) and the Red
Lens trinket, as well as certain champion abilities (such as Lee Sin's Tempest). However, even though
there are ways to stop stealthers, a vigilant team with stealth champions may destroy vision wards and
prioritize or avoid champions with unused Red Lens trinkets.
Stealthed units are not targetable without vision, but most AOE attacks and skillshots will still hit the
target if you can accurately guess where they are.

Mobile
Mobile champions are those with abilites that dramatically increase their mobility in fights. This comes
in all forms, including movement speed increases (ex: Udyr, Skarner), dash abilities (ex: Irelia, Tristana),
or blink/flash abilities (ex: Kassadin, Ahri). In a class of their own are the champions with global
movement ultimates -- Twisted Fate, Nocturne, and Pantheon -- who can move across huge areas of the
map quickly.
Mobility is strong in chasing and escaping. It is generally best at closing the gap between a champion
and a high-priority target such as a carry. Mobility and positioning has a big impact on the outcome of
skirmishes and team fights, and a team with a very large mobility advantage usually has an advantage in
team fights since they may be more capable of pursuing fleeing opponents and escaping unfavorable
fights.

Zoning
Preventing or strongly discouraging opponents from entering an area, or keeping them in a favorable
area, is zoning. Though important throughout the game, this often has its largest potential impact in the
early game when initial gold and experience can be denied. Zoning usually occurs in one of two ways.

The first way is through champion abilities. Persistent AOE spells such as Morgana's Tormented Soil and
Anivia's Glacial Storm are very dangerous to opponents and deter enemies from standing in them unless
absolutely necessary.Delayed effects such as Lux' Lucent Singularity and Gragas' Barrel Roll can prevent
players from moving around them until the effect has expired. In the case of Ziggs, both Hexplosive
Minefield and Satchel Charge act as strong zoning tools and can block map chokepoints.
The second means of zoning is fairly simple, and can be achieved with any champion in the right
circumstance: The risk of death. If an opponent has been harassed down far enough, or if their lane
mate has been killed and they're facing two opponents, they may believe they are at a significant risk of
being killed if they stay too close. Zoning occurs if the champions with the favorable situation position
themselves very aggressively, often behind the enemy's minions, so the enemy champion cannot safely
approach to earn gold or even experience.
Some champions are naturally good zoners. Pantheon's Spear Shot and Gangplank's Parrrley both offer
short-cooldown harassment to their opponents, potentially bringing their opponents low enough after
several uses that they can no longer safely move in range. Olaf's Reckless Swing is a strong deterrant to
enemies who must use melee-range attacks on enemies near him to earn gold.
Player terrain abilities such as Anivia's Crystallize and Jarvan's Cataclysm prevent players from easily
moving in a direction. While these don't fall into the traditional meaning of zoning (as zoning usually
implies active, but not forced, pressure on opponents), they're still important to keep in mind.

Anti-Carry
The anti-carry is a very specialized role and is usually limited to a small number of champions. Carries
are often ranged champions with enough range that they can position themselves behind the front lines
of fights; they're also often champions who've invested more into damage than survivability. Anti-carries
are champions who have both the damage to burst these opponents down and the ability to reach them
in skirmishes and team fights.
Most assassins can be played as anti-carries in most match-ups as the game progresses. However, other
champions are particularly well suited to the role. For example, Olaf can be built very survivable while
still providing very strong damage, and his Ragnarok ultimate allows him to ignore all crowd control,
letting him run directly through an enemy line to burst down a carry. If Urgot lands his Noxian Corrosive
Charge on an enemy carry, his powerful Acid Hunter attack can wreck that carry at an extreme range.

Where You Belong The Meta
Where people go in Summoners Rift, as well as what roles they fill, are all part of what many in the
community refer to as 'the meta,' or metagame. Understanding these concepts will help you determine
which lane to enter at the beginning of a match.
Before going further, let me throw in a caveat. The meta is accepted strategy among many players in
League of Legends, but its not always the best way to play, and its not always what you see from
organized teams at tournaments. My sincere hope is that, once youve soaked in everything this e-book
has to offer, you will be able to break out of the meta in smart ways, both by yourself and as part of a
team.
These particular recommendations have remained fairly consistent since the end of Season 1. Youll
likely want to spend about 15-20 minutes in these lanes unless your team has started grouping up
before then.

Fighter - Solo Top
At least one player in a team should be playing a fighter. One fighter should usually go alone to top lane,
and may also carry Teleport to get down to the bottom half of the map quickly, particularly when taking
Dragon in the early and mid-game. This player normally focuses on maximizing their gold by last hitting
minions in the lane. Since they'll be solo, their ability to more reliably survive gank attempts makes them
better suited to this lane.
A mage with strong escape mechanisms can also fill this role.

Mages - Solo Mid
At least one player in a team should be playing a mage in the role of a carry. This player should usually
go to mid lane. Mages tend to gain more from levels and higher ranks in abilities than other champions.
By going solo mid, they can maintain a level advantage while they're in a relatively safe lane.
Alternatively, some assassins (such as Talon or Zed) and some anti-carries or long-range poke champions
(such as Urgot) can be good to send to this lane, as they can counter the enemy mage.

Marksman & Support/Tank - Duo Bot
A team should have one marksman in the role of a carry. This player should usually go bot lane with a
partner. Marksmen tend to benefit more from gold income and items than other champions. For this

reason, they are well suited to playing in a lane with another player who is protecting them and allowing
them to farm more effectively.
The second player in this lane is usually a support, though a team may choose to put an
initiator/disruptor such as Leona into the lane instead. This player is usually responsible for keeping the
marksman safe and opening up opportunities to harass opponents.
Alternatively, some teams use a 'kill lane' setup that is designed to prevent an enemy marksman from
being able to effectively farm. This is usually a pairing of champions that can quickly burst down an
enemy, even if they have a support player. This is higher risk.
When playing with a partner at bottom lane (or any lane), keep in mind that your personal play is usually
not as important as how well you two work together.

Jungler
One jungler on a team is usually ideal. This player should be playing a role that is complementary to the
team, such as a fighter or tank. The importance of having a jungler is that it allows another lane to run
solo (usually top lane), allowing more overall experience and gold potential for the team. It also
prevents the opposing jungler from gaining additional gold, experience, and buffs for their team by
invading frequently.

Why Not Send Two Top?
The most common question is why there are always two bot. After all, why not send two top instead In
terms of the meta, the answer is Dragon. By having the majority of your players near Dragon, you can
more readily move to take the kill early in the game. If your opponents are taking Dragon, you have
more people ready to react. This is also why having a ward at Dragon (covered in the Map Dominance
section) and having a player in top lane carry Teleport (to get them to that ward) is important.
While Baron Nashor (on the top half of the map) is important, he doesn't become available until later in
the match when your team may already be moving as a group. Getting ahead in the early game is
important in your lane, but huge gains are made by securing early Dragon kills.

Can You Switch This Up?
Absolutely, and people do it all the time. The above lane designations work better than others, on
average, but are not always the best. They're stronger if you're in draft mode and picking counters to
enemy champions; however, in blind pick, there are advantages to being more flexible.

After all, if you send a mage to mid lane and they are guaranteed to lose the lane to an opponent that
can destroy them, how does that benefit your team?
Experimenting as a team is fine. Switching lanes (even during the match) to a more favorable match-up
is always a good idea if it can recover a bad situation. And sending hard counters to lanes specifically to
lock your enemies down early is smart play.
Anecdotally, my second most played champion in Season 3 ranked matches was Cassiopeia, a mage. But
I rarely ever played her at mid lane I mostly countered the meta by using her at bottom lane and
occasionally at top lane. I consistently remained at a higher-than-50% win rate with her, despite a lot of
failed experiments with champion pairs (my results: Cassiopeia/Teemo sounds a lot better than it is;
Cassiopeia/Soraka is a lot better than it sounds).
As I said, the purpose of this book is not to tell you how your team must play in every circumstance. I
want to arm you with the knowledge to make smart decisions. I felt it was important to include this
section so you know what other players often expect, not because it is always necessarily the right way
to play.


Introduction to Ranked Matches & Draft Pick
The following is written primarily for solo queue and duo queue ranked matches, though most concepts
apply directly to team ranked matches as well.
Ive included this section as the last part of the New Players sections. This is because this section
largely covers functionality, whereas the advanced sections are designed to talk about tactics and
strategy. Please understand that I do not recommend doing ranked until youve studied and practiced
the advanced sections of this e-book.

Ranked Matches and the League System
The League system was introduced with the goal of offering more achievable and understandable goals
than the previous Elo system could. Instead of an insurmountable mountain where being a top player
meant achieving an incredibly high rating, there are now more established milestones you can achieve
along the way.

Tiers & Divisions
The system is divided into multiple Tiers.
The five tiers are: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Challenger. A large majority of ranked
players are in Bronze and Silver league, with fewer and fewer players populating higher tiers.

Once you reach a tier you will be temporarily shielded from dropping out of that tier. In other words, if
you move from Bronze to Silver, you wont immediately fall back to Bronze. However, if you stop playing
ranked for an extended period of time (28 days) or if you lose so many games that the system considers
you a full tier below where youre placed, you may fall back to Bronze. The only exception to these rules
is Challenger, where the very best players in the region compete for one of the coveted slots, and
players who dont stay ahead will fall back to Diamond.

Each of the Tiers is split up into five Divisions. These are in reverse order, meaning Silver V is entry-level,
whereas Silver I is the highest possible Silver division. Again, Challenger is an exception to the rule, with
no separate divisions.

Placement & Promotion
When you first get into ranked games, you will play 10 placement matches that determine where you
are initially placed. Your performance in these games (most importantly, how many you win) determines
what tier and division youll start at. These 10 games have a disproportionate impact so do anything you
can to win them.
Each game you play after this will award or remove a certain number of League Points (LP) in your
division. League Points are, very simply, a measurement of your progress within the division, and the
amount you gain or lose is dependent on Matchmaking Rating (well discuss that in a moment).
If you lose enough matches while at the bottom of a division, you will be moved down a division.
However, if you reach 100 League Points in your division, you will be put into a Promotion Series. To
move up to the next division, you must win two out of the three Promotion Series games.
Once you reach the final division inside of a tier for instance, Silver I reaching 100 League Points will
place you into a special Promotion Series that will require three out of five wins to move to the next tier.
While all of your games are important to your rating, you should always do everything you can to win
Promotion Series games. One tip that you should keep in mind: Consider taking a break if youre on a
losing streak, as the stress of a losing streak can lead to worse judgment in follow-up games.


Understanding the League Listing
The League listing on a players profile page gives a lot of information about players and how theyre
doing within the tier. Lets look at this example of the top players in Gold V:

At the top youll see there are a number of players up for promotion to the next division. Note that
some of these players have green checks or red x markers, indicating how theyre doing in their
promotion series to get into Gold IV.
Below the promotion listing are other players who are working their way towards promotion. This list is
ordered from the highest League Points all the way down to the lowest.
If you want to keep track of some of the best players and teams in the world, you can use the drop-
down menu at the upper right to look at Challenger Tier.

Matchmaking Rating (ELO) vs. League Points
Behind the league system theres another rating system that isnt normally visible to the player. This is
Matchmaking Rating (previously referred to as ELO), and heres how it affects you:

If your Matchmaking Rating is above players near you in your League, you will gain League
Points more quickly on a win and lose fewer League Points on a loss, allowing you to more
quickly advance.
If your Matchmaking Rating is below players near you in your League, you will lose more League
points on a loss and gain fewer League Points on a win.
Matchmaking Rating, not League Points, determines who you play with and against.
Put another way, Matchmaking Rating is your actual rating, and it influences but is not directly tied to
your League placement. You can be rated higher than your League and playing against opponents
beyond your League, and this will help you move out of your League faster. And, of course, the opposite
is true.
In each match, League of Legends decides which team is favored to win based on Matchmaking Rating.
If you win a match where the opposing team was favored, your Matchmaking Rating (and potentially
League Points) will see a larger increase benefit.

The Truth of Elo Hell
Since the beginning of ranked play, there has been a concept of Elo Hell. This is the idea that some or
many players may, through bad luck, be unable to get out of a hopelessly bad rating.
For example, lets say that in the first ten placement matches, a player winds up having someone AFK or
leave their team in five of the games, and then loses two more matches, causing them to be placed in
Bronze with a low Matchmaking Rating. By virtue of being placed here, this player then gets teammates
who are very poorly skilled, or leave, or are otherwise not capable of pushing a team to win.
The idea of Elo Hell is that players who belong much higher in the Leagues can wind up in a bracket well
below where they belong, and it can be incredibly difficult to break out of this due to the quality of
players that are on their team.

Does Elo Hell Really Exist?
Poorly-rated players will tell you Elo Hell exists (and theyre stuck in it). Well-rated players, and much of
the league community, tend to say Elo Hell doesnt exist. These are both fundamentally wrong ways to
approach it.
It all comes down to how many games you play.
Statistically, Matchmaking Rating and the League system are fairly good measurements of the
community. But on an individual basis, players can get hurt pretty badly in rating by factors outside of
their control. Theres always the potential for unexpected disconnections, feeders, or otherwise poor

teammates. Some of the very best players in League of Legends have gone into low-Elo matches and
been unable to win some games due to their teammates.
If you only play 20 games, a little bit of bad luck can easily place you way below where you actually
belong. On the other hand, if you were to play 200 games, chances are your performance on average
would be enough to pull you towards where you belong, despite the low performance of teammates.
And its worth pointing out that the bad luck youve experienced will, given enough games, probably
average out to the same amount of bad luck the enemy team experiences, and this is where your skill
and understanding of the game starts to determine your overall rate of success.
If youre deciding whether to jump into the ring with ranked play or not, consider whether or not you
can commit enough games to make up for any bad luck in the early matches. Usually the answer is yes,
even if you can only play a few games a week, but its certainly up to you.

Rank is not a Measurement of Skill
Im pulling this concept from Day9, a Starcraft personality: Your Matchmaking Rating and League is not a
measurement of your skill, its a measure of your progress in the ranking system. Lets say two players
are just starting to play their placement matches; one is brand new to League of Legends, while the
other has thousands of normal matches played already. Chances are the second player is more skilled
and more prepared for his opponents. Just because these two players are placed Silver does not mean
theyre both equally skilled.
There are a lot of very skilled players who arent where they belong, and therere a number of less-
skilled players who are much further up than where they belong. This is especially true in the Bronze and
Silver divisions, where having some good or bad luck in placement matches can easily place you in the
wrong division for your actual skill.
The only time rank is a measurement of skill is when a player has reached a nearly even Win/Loss rate
across hundreds of matches and is no longer working to improve themselves as a player.


Ranked Tips & Strategy
Lets lay out a few specific ways to increase your chances of winning in Ranked games. Though this
entire e-book is dedicated to this subject, there are a few specific things when it comes to Draft Pick that
are worth mentioning.

Draft Pick Overview
Before getting into the strategy Ill explain what Draft Pick actually is.
Though you can optionally use Draft Pick for normal matches, all Ranked Games are Draft Pick. Very
simply, this game mode means each team can ban several champions from being picked for the match,
and then each team takes turns selecting champions. The chosen champions are completely visible to
opponents at the time they are selected.
Players on each team are sorted in order of their hidden Matchmaking Rating. This means the highest
rated player on a team will be the first to pick. Also, this player will be the only player allowed to choose
bans for their team.
One team is chosen as first to ban. The top player from that team gets to ban one champion within a
moderate time window. Note that the list for bans is restricted to champions that are free or that the
enemy team owns, meaning you cant waste a ban on a champion that no one on the opposing team
actually owns. If a champion is not banned before the time window expires, no champion is banned for
that turn.
Note that the team with the first ban is blue team and will start the game on the lower-left side of the
map. This may have an impact on how you handle top and bottom lane, as well as the jungle.
After the first team picks a ban, the other team does the same thing. This occurs six times in total,
meaning six champions can be locked out from the game.
Once bans are complete, the top player on the team that had first ban also gets to pick their champion
first. Once this is complete, the top two players on the other team get to pick champions. This
alternates, with each side getting to pick two champions until all champions have been chosen.
After all players have chosen their champions, there is a moderate window of time where players on the
same team can swap champions with other players, provided the player theyre trading with also owns
the champion.


Solo Queue vs. Duo Queue
When queuing for ranked matches you can choose to either join by yourself or to join with a friend. If
you queue with a friend, you are usually matched with other allies that have an average rating between
each of yours, and youre usually matched against similarly rated opponents.
If you have a friend who is genuinely good at League of Legends, consider inviting them for duo queue.
Keep in mind as I emphasize throughout this e-book that the measure of skill is not someone who
happens to do well farming new players on Master Yi (no offense to Master Yi). You want someone who
knows the importance of strategy and objectives, and who will work with you for a better chance to win.
If you can use real-time voice chat such as Skype, Mumble, Ventrilo, or Teamspeak, this is even better.
Heres one big advantage to duo queue: If theres a Matchmaking Rating disparity between you and your
partner you usually get to be first and last pick in your match, as other players are at the average rating
between you two. This is huge as it allows you to more easily control which roles youre playing in the
match. For example, if you want to play marksman and support together in bottom lane, you can easily
call it and first pick a good support (then swap for the marksman) or vice versa. Others in the match
tend to be ok with duo picks choosing complementary champions as well.

Banning
If you are the top player on either team you wind up with a lot of control over the outcome of a match.
By banning champions that are very likely to cause a problem for your team, you will help give your
team a better chance.
Unless youre in very high level play where you know your opponents and their champion preferences, it
can be a good idea to go into a match with a general idea of who good bans are for your team. In many
cases, banning strong initiators such as Amumu and Blitzcrank is a very good idea.
Some of my common bans are Amumu, Blitzcrank, Hecarim, Malphite, and Jarvan IV. These are fairly
popular bans, and I choose them specifically because they are great teamfight initiators. Many of the
champions I play have short cooldowns, so the longer a teamfight goes on, the more damage I will get
out; I dont want a teamfight decided in the first few seconds by one of these initiators.
But there are plenty of other great picks. If a champion is known to be strong due to patches, or if
people havent gotten used to countering a new champion, they may be ideal bans. Champions like
Akali, Twisted Fate, and Shen can be good picks, as can many others.
The only thing Id caution is banning out your own lane to make it easier for your pick. For example,
banning out Teemo, Yorick, and Jayce if youre playing Darius is probably not the best use of bans if it
will cause big problems elsewhere.

Helpful hint: If youre banning and you know specific champions you want to ban, use the search bar on
the upper right of the champion list! This is a fantastic way of sorting through a large list of champions
and quickly figuring out if your opponents do not own the champion. This can also be a great way of
finding your own champion in a large list.

First Pick & Early Pick Strategy
The first pick player again, the player who also gets to choose the first ban brings one special
advantage for their team. This player can grab a high-priority champion for their team, either to play for
themselves, or to swap to a teammate. For example, if neither team banned Amumu, the first pick for
the first team would then have an opportunity to take Amumu without the other team having a chance
to contest that.
There are two things to consider if youre one of the early picks for either team:
1. Some champions are more desirable than others and may be worth picking up early,
especially if a player is already familiar with them;
2. All champions have counters, and even picking a desirable champion quickly can lead to
the other team being able to counter that pick more easily.
Ill expand on the second point with a basic rule: Solo lanes (usually top and mid) are by far the most
susceptible roles to counterpicking. In other words, be careful about picking a top or mid lane first during
a match, and assume that picking either of these will lead to the enemy team picking at least one direct
counter to your champion.
For instance, Id rarely recommend picking Katarina early on. This is because a broad type of champion
will help counter her throughout the game (anyone with easy-to-land crowd controls). An early pick
means every remaining player on the other team could decide on a champion that can interrupt her
ultimate.
But a champion like Lux, on the other hand, has fewer direct counters due to her ability to stay at range.
Shes a fairly safe champion even against champions who directly counter her; she also has the
advantage of being both a mage and support pick, meaning the other team may not immediately know
which role she is filling.

The Katarina and Lux examples are not set in stone, though. A great Katarina player can still do fine in
lane, and may still find opportunities to pull off great damage even if the opposing team picks counters.
Strong assassins and mobile champions with good positioning can still knock out Lux and shut her down.

Champion & Role Flexibility
Before getting into communication and picking, therere two huge tips that will help you out:
1. Play one champion, or a small set of champions, exceptionally well;
2. Be capable of playing as many roles as possible, both with that champion and with other
champions.
Many of the best-rated players in the world main just one or two champions and play those champions
exceptionally well. For example, Cruzerthebruzer has been well known for his amazing Lee Sin play, and
also does well with Irelia. Of course, this player can play several other champions at a very high level.
Players like this can play hundreds or even thousands of games with these main champions, dwarfing
the amount of games they play on other champions.
Whats the advantage of this? Having a deep muscle memory with a champion and completely knowing
their counters, strengths, and weaknesses, will lead to better performance even in very unfavorable
matchups. Knowing exactly what you can get away with is huge.
That said, even the best players dont always get to play the lanes or champions they want. Thats why I
also recommend having enough working knowledge to go into other lanes and roles ideally all of them
are a good idea. If youre not there yet, thats fine, but its something to keep in mind.
As Ill say a little later on: Never play ranked matches with a champion or role youre unfamiliar with.
While you should strive to learn more champions, it is absolutely not a good idea to try to familiarize
yourself with a new champion in a rated match, either for yourself or for your teammates.

Communication
Earlier we established that its sometimes better to hold off on some champion picks, especially at top
lane and mid lane where counterpicks are more dangerous. Along with this, we also want to establish
who is playing what role during a match.
Good communication goes a long way towards getting this set up. Establishing who youd like to play
early and asking if anyone owns the champion and would like to swap with you is helpful. Along with
this, establishing which lane youd like to play, but being willing to adjust if another role youre
comfortable with is available is ideal.

Dont be a jerk. Thats the golden rule of getting the game started out right, and as silly as it sounds, Riot
frequently cites statistics that good communication directly influences the outcome of matches. That
said, avoid giving up your best champion unless theres no other way your team will make it work.

Pick Order & Toxic Players
There are a lot of toxic players playing ranked, and often their attitude is even worse than what you find
in normal matches. Communication isnt always going to be possible.
Once you join a match, let people know where youd like to go or what role youre playing (i.e. Mid or
Jungler). Keep in mind that pick order is determined by Matchmaking Rating, meaning that players
who pick earlier are rated higher than players who pick later. As a rule, the priority for any lane usually
goes by the earliest pick. This is because this is based on an actual rating, not on who can more quickly
copy+paste a line of text into their client.
That said, some players will go out of their way to get their preferred spot:
If they are the first pick and someone calls the lane or role before them in chat, this player will
still take their role since they are higher in pick order (this is fine);
If someone else is ahead of them for picking, this player will argue that they called it first, so
they deserve it over the higher pick;
If someone takes their role ahead of them anyway, this player may say mid or feed or simply
take the role after the other player already has, then troll the game.
It sounds silly but it happens very frequently in all levels of ranked play (even pro players have been
temporarily banned in the past for doing this).
Before going further, let me emphasize again that your goal is to win the match. For ranked play, that
means you want to avoid further egging these players on, even when they are clearly wrong. Id also
make the distinction that players with bad attitudes can still be good players, and you will win more
games by avoiding unnecessary arguments.
That said, dont let yourself be bullied into a role youre not comfortable playing, especially if youre the
first pick for that role. Adjust as best you can for the situation your teammate has put you in. For
instance, if youre a good marksman but not a good fighter at top, take a safe marksman and go play top
lane. The bottom line is that you should always play champions youre comfortable with, even in
suboptimal positions, instead of trying to learn both a new champion and a new lane.
All of this said, a player isnt necessarily trolling your game if they believe that call order is the correct
way of picking a lane. A lot of people have seen this used often enough by other players that they
believe its the correct way of choosing a lane.


Checklist for Ranked Games
Heres a quick checklist for succeeding in ranked games.
1. Play one or two champions exceptionally well, but be prepared to play other champions and
other roles.
2. If youre first pick, ban champions for your team, not just for your lane.
3. Communicate with your teammates at champion select.
4. Avoid arguing with toxic players. Keep in mind your goal is to win, and these players are still
necessary to make that happen.
5. Dont play when youre upset or distracted.
6. If youre on a losing streak, take a break.
And finally know the rest of this e-book inside and out, and research everything you can about
everything in this game in your spare time.


Advanced
The following sections are designed for more advanced players, specifically in that they aim to teach
strategies and tactics that will improve your play dramatically and allow you to win more games. You
can go ahead and jump into these whenever you want to!
Like the New Players section, there are several paired movie downloads available in the Members
section that you should grab when you can.

Sections Overview
Introduction to Advanced League Before we get into the various tips, tricks, and strategies that allow
you to excel, there are core concepts that can help shape our understanding of the game. Well look at
core concepts of map control, game balance, and champion traits and see how they all fit together.
Tactics The Tactics section offers a look at personal positioning and movement. Well look at how
short and long range champions work against each other, how to use effective feints and other mind
games, how to effectively juke your opponents, and smart ways of using terrain to your advantage.
Strategy In this section we look at the anatomy of skirmishes and teamfights and the different roles
each champion will play. Beyond this, we will look at teamfight positioning, how to set up powerful
ambushes, and how to use objectives to your advantage.
Grand Strategy & Team Compositions What are the overarching decisions that determine how a game
is played and what the outcome may be? Starting with champion select, teams can often be categorized
by specific game strategies. This section details how these strategies work, what theyre best at
accomplishing, and how you can build teams to make the most of them. At the end, we take a look at
how to analyze these strategies in tournaments.
The Impossible Decision - Advanced map control strategies are discussed in this section, with clear
examples to illustrate how you can implement these strategies and how theyve been used effectively.
Whether you want to play better or you want to understand tournaments better, this is one of the most
important sections of the e-book. Make sure to download the companion video!
Practical Tips & Advice As the name implies, this section offers tips and advice for all stages of the
game. This covers decision-making, objectives, lane extension, and virtually every major bit of
information about how and why certain plays should be made.

Mental Preparedness What kind of player are you? How can you use your personality to improve your
play? What common traps are you falling for that are holding you back from being a better gamer? How
can you better work with your teammates? This section offers a very personal look at how to play
smarter and have more fun.
Map Vision - You may already know wards and trinkets are important and map vision is a huge part of
winning games, but this section is designed to lay out exactly where and how to make the best use of
vision tools. While ideal for support players, this is important knowledge for anyone who wishes to get
ahead in the League.
Jungling & Ganking - As one of the most unique roles in League of Legends, Ive dedicated a large
section just to jungling and counter-jungling. Alongside this is a subject important to understand for all
players ganking. These subjects are accompanied by three companion movies.


Introduction to Advanced League
In this section were going to cover a few critical concepts that will apply to everything else you learn
about League of Legends. Well start with a look at the core masteries (which will act as an introduction
to other sections in the e-book), then well look at some game theory thats important but falls outside
the scope of other sections in the e-book.

The Six Masteries
In League, there are six pillars that determine how well you will do in games and ultimately the rank
youll be able to achieve. These are:
1. Champion Knowledge & Basic Decision Making
2. Map Vision
3. Strategy
4. Mechanics
5. Advanced Game Knowledge
6. Mental Engagement
Lets break these down a little further.
Champion, Item & Role Knowledge Learning champions, items, and roles is the key to early success in
League of Legends. This is true not just for learning your own champion, but also as you begin to learn
how others work in League. This knowledge allows you to better estimate when you can be successful in
an engagement and when it may be a good idea to back off instead.
This is the easiest of the six pillars to benefit from as it comes primarily through game experience rather
than player skill or decision making. In other words, you should learn it passively even if you dont go out
of your way to research specific champions.
However, while this is the easiest to learn, its also one of the most time consuming to learn due to the
depth of information youll need to take in. Learning each of the roles will tend to come first (though
youll need to take the time to learn their positioning, strengths, and weaknesses); learning champion
strengths and weaknesses, as well as important items comes next; having a complete, in-depth
knowledge of each individual champion is the final step. For what its worth, I am still learning new
things about many champions myself, so this isnt something you should necessarily expect to do
quickly.
You can dramatically accelerate how well you learn y trying other champions, items, and roles on a
regular basis. If youre a newer player, though, you may find it easier to focus on one champion while
improving in the other pillars first (again, youll still pick up knowledge passively).

Map Vision Map vision involves gaining vision over critical areas (and knowing which areas are critical)
and being aware of whats going on inside that vision. This is covered in more depth in the map vision
section.
Like champion knowledge, knowledge and experience will help improve this. Unlike champion
knowledge, you need to be an active participant in gaining map vision to really learn to master it.
Strategy League has an incredibly complex strategy potential that begins as early as the champion
selection screen. Knowing which champions work well with others, how the roles work together, and
basic objective control is just the starting point. As you improve and get an idea of advanced map
maneuvers, particularly the more effective forms of split pushing, map pressure, and map rotations, you
can begin to control games with this alone.
Most players will not learn advanced strategy passively. Instead, they will need to actively step back and
evaluate the game, and theyll need to inform themselves through outside knowledge (this is one of the
main things I will try to cover in the advanced sections of this e-book). Watching tournaments and really
figuring out why players are moving around the map and engaging in teamfights at certain times,
especially from top teams around the world, can be very helpful for identifying new trends.
Mechanics Mechanics and micromanaging your abilities, cooldowns, and items are the key to
mastering your champion and winning engagements that many players would lose. When we refer to
good mechanics, were often referring to player reaction time, decision making, positioning, and ability
usage, and often in the context of split-second plays.
Improving mechanics is done through practice and repetition, but it should also be informed with
knowledge. After all, players who dont realize the importance of flawless last hitting or effective kiting
may never try to push themselves in these areas, even if theyre the kind of player that wants to
improve.
Advanced Game Knowledge There are a lot of little bits of knowledge that can have a big impact on
how successful you can be in a given match. These are things like knowing you can use blink abilities and
wards over walls larger than the normal range of these abilities, or knowing that Baron Nashor always
prioritizes his main attacks on the player nearest to his center, or knowing the ways you can find out if
brush is warded.
These tricks will almost never be learned in game unless youre actively testing it. Reading through the
tips in this e-book (many are highlighted in the Summoners Rift Guidebook) as well as watching videos
and reading champion guides written by players whove mastered those champions can help you
discover these.
Mental Engagement You need to get your head in the game. I cover this in the Mental Preparedness
section of the e-book, but it basically means adjusting to your situation, knowing your weaknesses,
seeking improvement, and understanding yourself as a player.


Success Begins With One
You dont need to master all of these at once. With the exception of Advanced Game Knowledge,
mastering any one of these can carry you out of bronze. I frequently see players who have big
weaknesses in one or two of these areas still reach diamond.
The very best approach for new players, in my opinion, is to focus on either mechanics or strategy as
you start out. I talk about this more in Mental Preparedness, so read there to learn more about which
youd prefer. While youre working on these, consume the information in this e-book, as well as live
streams from pro players. Tournaments are also fantastic for picking up neat information. As I mention,
youll tend to learn champions, roles, and items passively, though certainly checking out champion
guides can help.
It depends on how you spend your time, too. Learning mechanics is something that is really best done
inside the game itself, and you may find you have less time to play but plenty of time to read and
research outside the game. Let this help your decision.
Dont overload yourself. Its a big game with a learning cliff that scares off a lot of people. Take this one
step at a time and try to get a feel for each of these masteries, but really try to focus on one at a time
when youre getting started.


Map Control

Imagine the map in three general sections, including the blue side, the purple side, and the neutral river.
We generally consider that each team is relatively safe on their half of the map, especially early on. After
all, even if the enemy team invades the jungle, allies can often still get in the jungle to help, and theres
a pretty good chance of falling back to the tower in a pinch.
But why, exactly, do we consider this whole area safe? Its entirely because of the influence of towers:

Notice how each of the three towers has arrows pointing to common jungle entrances. These jungle
entrances, as well as the lanes themselves, are the primary way that the enemy team can access this
half of the map. As long as the tower is active near these jungle access points, and a player is
accompanying the tower, then we have an influence of control over the entire jungle.

Theres an important mental aspect to this. As players, we are often willing to take larger risks when we
feel we can fall back to safety or when we feel that nearby allies can come to help us. Were more
willing to engage our opponents and were more willing to enter the fog of war in the jungle even when
we think our opponents might be there. Were more likely to place defensive wards because we feel we
can place them without dying. In other words, even though our jungle doesnt actually have towers in it,
we feel much safer knowing were near them.
But what happens when a tower goes down?

In this example, the blue team has destroyed the purple tower at top lane. Notice how the entire jungle
between mid lane and top lane has now become vulnerable. This is because the jungle entrance near
top lane is no longer as safe to control, and opponents who enter the jungle from there can go
anywhere else in the jungle with impunity.
Of course, things like wards or aggressive play can diminish this effect. If you can also knock down one of
their towers, youll go a long way to mitigating and balancing the effect. Its not an automatic defeat for
purple team.
But youre very likely to see games where a single tower being destroyed has led to a loss of control for
a large area of the jungle, especially since the players involved in the tower takedown may be able to
roam more freely. And once the jungle is no longer safe for one team, the nearby river is effectively lost
for that team as well.
All of this from a single side lane tower takedown. What happens for the mid lane?

An early mid game tower is one of the most devastating losses in terms of map control. For the same
reasons that losing a side lane tower loses that half of the jungle, losing the first mid lane tower can give
you a disadvantage across the entire jungle.

In other words, now minions can be pushed up to the second tower and blue team will be able to move
in from either the river or the mid lane to invade the jungle and even flank the side lanes.
This is a fairly simplified look at the effects of towers on map control, and well cover objectives and map
control in more depth in the following sections. My main goal here is to give you a way of looking at the
map in large zones of control, as doing so can give you a more strategic look at your actions.
On a side note, its worth mentioning that the secondary towers in each lane arent nearly as impactful
on the map, and are intentionally positioned against hard walls rather than accessible jungle routes.
These serve more as buffers to defend the base than strategic control points.

Champion Theory
Lets dig into some of the fundamental design decisions that shape champions in League of Legends.
This really doesnt belong anywhere else in the e-book, but the information here can be critical to
helping make decisions both in game and out of game.

Champions Are Not Balanced
As players, we like to believe that game designers are seeking the best balance possible. We dont like to
see some champions or items seem overpowered and watch as they completely dominate the games
theyre in. And to a degree, Riot Games does try to clean up abuse cases where champions are doing
disproportionately well against a wide range of opponents.
But champions are not intended to be perfectly balanced. In fact, the whole basis of the genre is
dependent on champions being distinctly imbalanced from each other. On a broad level, there are
several rock, paper, scissors, dynamics where champion A counters champion B which counters
champion C which in turn counters champion A. Well look at this in the next couple subsections.
Beyond this, there are cases where champions appear to belong to the same niche, and perceived
imbalances here lead to endless debates in the community. For example, there was a popular thread on
reddit that attempted to compare Riven and Talon, with the ultimate conclusion being that Riven had
the mobility and the stats advantage over Talon, and therefore was a flatly superior champion.
In this case and at this time, Riven may have been a stronger champion in many situations. But Talon
happens to bring some tools that Riven does not have, these being an instant blink-silence to his target
and stealth on his ultimate that prevents him from being hit with targeted spells (provided the opponent
doesnt have stealth detection).
Now, against most champions, Riven may still be stronger. But what about a mobile spell caster that
relies on being able to see their target, such as Kassadin? Kassadin is not particularly threatened by
Riven, but Talons ability to engage and silence him before he can react is devastating.
This is League of Legends champion balance in a nutshell. Some champions may be stronger than others
overall, but so long as champions serve unique purposes and are still brought into matches, this is ok.
Because of this, its dangerous to get wrapped up in a single champion. A popular line of thinking is that
a player who knows their champion inside and out can often beat a player who picked a champion
theyre uncomfortable with just to try to counter them. And this is even truer when a player is using a
fairly strong champion, such as Riven. But what happens when you have two equally skilled players with
one of them playing a hard counter to the other? To avoid this, many of the best players tend to have a
pool of at least two or three very solid champions they can alternate between depending on the
situation.

As far as overall balance, keep in mind that champion win rates that you see cited occasionally dont
always mean that much. They may reflect the champion being very strong, but they may also reflect
other factors, such as being champions that appeal to a small niche of dedicated players who aim to
master them. Extremely low rates, on the other hand, are more likely to be an indicator of a problem, as
it means even very skilled players may be struggling to win with them. Even this can also be misleading if
theres a big influx of new players trying out the champion, which happens with new champion and skin
releases.


Mobile beats Range, Target beats Mobile, Range beats Target
As I mentioned, there are several rock, paper, scissors dynamics at play within League of Legends.
Probably the most overlooked is the relationship between ranged skillshots, dashes and blinks, and
targeted abilities. Heres the basic idea:
Long range champions that rely on skillshots can be closed on and have their abilities dodged by
highly mobile champions;
Highly mobile champions need to move in close, and are always vulnerable to targeted crowd
controls, abilities and attacks that have shorter range;
Champions with mostly targeted abilities almost always have shorter range, leaving them
vulnerable to long range champions.
While this is a very simple dynamic, it has huge effects on how the game is played at every level. Lets
break this down a little bit more by looking at the characteristics of these types of champions.

Long Range Champions
When we think of long range champions we tend to think of champions like Lux and Xerath, but its
actually quite a bit broader than that.
To understand this, we need to look at how skillshots are designed. As a rule, skillshots are not intended
to be directly stronger than targeted abilities in most situations. Instead, they tend to have separate
advantages, and one of the most common advantages is range. Players are given the choice to play
champions with targeted abilities that have shorter ranges, or the choice to go for long range damage
with the possibility of missing it. Though there are exceptions, such as Caitlyn and Karthus ultimates,
they are very uncommon.
Lux and Xerath are certainly good examples, but there are plenty of champions we often look at as being
shorter range, such as Cassiopeia, who actually have longer range than youll normally find on targeted
abilities and normal attacks.

Mobile Champions
When I refer to mobility I generally mean dashes and blinks, but very high movement speed works in
some cases as well.
As a rule, mobile champions are given mobility because they need to be able to close in on their
opponents to deal damage. These champions are ideal for closing in on opponents and destroying them.
Now, combine this with the fact that long range champions tend to rely on skillshots, and often very
good players are able to use their mobility not just to stay in range of their opponent, but also to dodge
their skillshots as well.

In addition to their abilities, the most mobile champions are also given a wide range of positioning
choices to make during combat. Because of this extra set of options, these are usually the most
mechanically complex champions in League of Legends. Some of the most mechanically skilled players in
the world have mastered extremely mobile champions like Lee Sin, Riven, and Vayne.
Theres one other huge thing to understand about mobile champions. While powerful, they are not
always the best champions for late game teamfights if their opponents are on equal ground. This is
because almost no mobile champions brings strong shields or heals to their allies (the exceptions being
Thresh and single-ally support from Lee Sins shield and Nidalees heal).
By the way, before players understand that mobile champions are supposed to be able to win against
skillshot champions, or at least dodge their abilities effectively, League can be a very frustrating game. If
youre just not landing your skillshots against an opponent thats mobile, dont feel too bad!

Targeted Ability Champions
Champions that rely on targeted abilities and normal attacks tend to have shorter ranges when
compared to long range skillshot champions. As mentioned earlier, though, these abilities are often not
weaker than their skillshot counterparts. They are reliable at the expense of offering utility or range.
These champions, who include Master Yi, Teemo, Kayle, and Ryze, are unquestionably powerful at a
close range.
Some champions that rely on targeted abilities have abilities that offer increased movement speed. This,
too, is relatively easy to counter with some skillshots such as Luxs Light Binding, as dodging these can
often cut out so much chasing time that they can no longer catch up with the longer range champion.
Champions that deal most of their damage through targeted abilities or attacks are the simplest to play
and be effective with. In other words, theyre much friendlier to newer players or players who arent as
mechanically skilled.

Skill Gap Closed, Sort Of
When talking about champions, note the sections I highlighted. This is to point out a very cool dynamic
in League of Legends the simplest champions are designed in part to counter the most complex
champions, which give less mechanically skilled players a fighting chance against more skilled veterans.
Its not enough to cover a huge skill difference, but its enough to help within normal matchmaking
between players of a roughly similar level.
But there is a caveat to this which shows itself in world tournaments. High mobility teams have a very
strong record of winning tournaments, especially when played by people who have invested time into
mastering these champions. Though weve occasionally seen these mobile team comps beat, particularly

by heavy Protect the Kogmaw team lineups, its rare even with good lineups (theres a dedicated
team composition section that explains this later in this e-book). Why is this?
The most mobile champions are often very safe to take risks with, especially in the early game. Even if
they go in against short range opponents with targeted abilities, if theyre smart about the risk, theyre
still going to come out alive. After all, mobile champions arent required to move in close to dangerous
opponents, theyre simply very capable of doing so when they choose to. So the worst case for them is
that they dont gain an advantage over their opponents by harassing them, but they usually wont get
themselves killed trying.
Their best counters, the shorter range champions, are also the most vulnerable champions in the early
game. In addition, maintaining map vision over mobile champions that can get over walls is very difficult
to do due to the extra routes they can get into your jungle and gank routes (over dragon/baron pit, etc.).
These lead to a situation where the shorter range champions must play more cautiously against the
mobile champions, which in turn can snowball a game in favor of the mobile champions to a point
where the advantage is lost.

Not So Simple!
I dont want to give the impression that these three attributes mobility, long range, and targeted
abilities are mutually exclusive. Theyre not. In general, there are two things going on:
Champions are either very mobile or theyre not;
Champions either have mostly long range or mostly short range;
Champions either have mostly targeted abilities or skillshots.
There are only two hard rules that are almost always true, which weve already discussed: mobile
champions tend to be closer range champions and long range champions tend to use skillshots.
We can go a little further and say that short range mobile champions may or may not use skillshots. For
example, Lee Sin relies heavily on skillshots and positioning, where Akali and Jax rely exclusively on
targeted abilities.
Its rare for champions with short range and low mobility to use skillshots, though some will use close
range multi-target or area effect abilities, which are technically skillshots but are much easier to land.
Nasus, Udyr, and other fighters often fall in this category (with one notable exception being Rumble,
who has both a line skillshot and vector ultimate).
Marksmen fall somewhat outside the scope of this discussion. They can all deal very strong targeted
damage, but even some champions who can land very long range skillshots for harassment (such as
Caitlyn and Ezreal) may also have some mobility. Though this mobility can certainly be used offensively,
marksmen tend to have these in their kits to help them deal with other mobile champions who would
otherwise quickly burst them down.

Initiation vs. Poking
Lets talk about teamfights in the context of long range and mobile champions. As mentioned, mobile
champions tend to be able to close in and initiate against long ranged champions. Longer range
champions tend to be able to land strong poke damage or consistent pressure to their opponents.
Poke and initiation both counter each other. If a team can very effectively poke another team, initiating
a fight becomes increasingly less desirable as the fight is more likely to lose. However, if a team can very
effectively initiate an enemy team that is trying to poke, the entire advantage of poking is removed.
Theres a lot more strategy to this point that well talk about later, particularly when we discuss Pursuit
teams in the Grand Strategy & Team Compositions section. But a general rule of thumb is to initiate
fights more quickly when up against teams that rely on poke look for flanks or players out of position
and dive onto them when the opportunity arises. This is usually a better alternative than taking tons of
damage and losing the game by inches.

Health beats Burst, Burst beats Sustain, Sustain beats Health
When determining how champions work against each other, theres another simple trio of attributes
that you should keep in mind. These are:
Effective Health: Effective Health refers to your total survivability in a given situation, factoring
both health and damage reduction. Champions with high effective health will tend to be
survivable fighters (bruisers) and tanks.
Burst: Burst refers to your ability to output a lot of damage at once. Champions with high burst
tend to be assassin fighters or mages.
Sustain: Sustain refers to an ability to stay alive over a long duration. Champions with sustain
tend to be marksmen or support.
This is a much more straightforward discussion than the mobility and range subject because these are
hard counters that always work against each other. Heres how:
Effective Health beats Burst Champions that can survive a lot of damage thrown at them at once will
not be immediately killed by champions that rely on burst damage for kills. For example, its extremely
difficult for any assassin to reliably kill a Nasus or Renekton with an available ultimate, as they will
simply eat the damage. Tanks and champions whove built heavily for survivability are ideal for soaking
up burst damage and crowd controls, especially at the beginning of a teamfight, and can help their
teams by locking the burst champions down with crowd controls or even killing them.
Burst beats Sustain Champions with high burst are very effective counters to champions that are
relying on healing and regeneration to maintain their presence. An extreme example would be Talon
jumping onto a support champion like Sona and dropping them before they are able to heal a second
time. Other common examples include focusing damage on a marksman or mage with high lifesteal or
spell vamp. In these cases, its important to finish the job as quickly as possible to make sure they do not
recover, especially if teammates may try to heal or shield these players.
Sustain beats Effective Health Champions who can sustain themselves over a long period of time
while harassing their more-survivable opponents will eventually win. For example, if Caitlyn has lifesteal
in the early game and shes able to consistently land attacks on the enemy Lulu, she will eventually be
able to either kill Lulu or push her out of lane despite Lulus ability to shield herself. A better example
would be Vladimir shoving Nasus or Shen out of lane during a match, particularly once hes picked up
spell vamp with his items.
Understanding these relationships can help you make better decisions in your matchups. When I was
learning Teemo and went up against a Vladimir in lane, I found I was not able to effectively last hit
through his harassment, and he eventually gained a lead on me and pushed me out of lane. When I
came back, I took an educated risk and burned everything I could chasing him through top lane,
eventually killing him before he was able to reach the safety of his second tower. If I had not made the
decision to attempt to burst him down, I would have certainly lost my lane and possibly have cost us the
game as a result.

Many champions do not fall strictly into one role, and will have at least some strength in one or both
other roles. Beyond this, its very important to use items to help cover weaknesses when youre being
hard countered. For example, if you know you can be burst down by an enemy assassin before you can
react, it may be a very smart idea to start building towards a Guardian Angel (your supports will thank
you).
One more thing: when given a choice on whom to harass, particularly before a big teamfight in the mid
or late game, always try to harass the targets that dont have sustain. If you lob a bunch of damage at
someone who can lifesteal back up quickly, that may wind up being a big waste of your time. If instead
youre able to land this on a mage who cant recover their health and is forced to recall, it can be the
difference between taking an objective and idling in a stalemate.


Tactics
In this section, as well as the follow-up strategy section, were going to take a look at positioning,
movement, and maneuvering to gain an advantage over your opponents.
Tactics are actions intended to achieve specific purposes. They are the building blocks of broader
strategies, and they must be understood and mastered by anyone who wishes to excel in League of
Legends. Generally speaking, tactics are things you will learn naturally as you play against opponents,
though this section should help put them in a different perspective where you can more easily identify
which champions benefit from them and when.
Tactics are a form of mastery. They incorporate mechanical skill, game knowledge, and decision making.
My goal is not just that youll recognize and employ them yourself, but also that youll be informed
enough to see when your opponents are using these tactics and be able to more effectively counter
them as a result.
Most of whats in this section assumes your opponents cant outright kill you. If you fall far enough
behind theres very little youll be able to do to overcome the disadvantage, no matter how good your
positioning is. However, make sure to read up in the Strategy and Grand Strategy sections for a better
understanding of which strategies work when you cant take a team on directly.

Understanding Diagrams

Because of the nature of this subject Ive invested a lot of time in putting together diagrams to explain
each subject. Heres a basic key to these:
Position: Where a champion is.
Movement: Where a champion is moving to, or where theyre moving from. Occasionally I use a
dotted line to show where a champion looks like theyre moving to, particularly for feints, and
Ill explain these later.
Pressure: I use this either to show where champions or teams are exerting pressure (lines that
opponents do not want to cross) or physical blocks (lines that opponents cannot cross).
Ability or Attack: Any time attacks or abilities should be used, either from a champion position
or along a movement path. These are usually meant for emphasis, not as strict guidelines.
Multiple attack lines are for additional emphasis and mean unloading more damage or attacks
than usual.
There are a couple other special illustrations, such as white lines (particular targets or decisions) or
scattered dots (minions). In context these should all make sense, and Ill explain any time they might
not.
Most of the locations Ive picked as backdrops for diagrams are replaceable, which is to say, you can use
most of these tactics anywhere on the map that fits the same conditions. I did try to pick some good
example locations where applicable, and there are a handful of places where the locations are actually
specific.


Range
The first big subject were going to cover is range. Were going to look at some basic principles, then
well move on to understanding how long and short ranged champions work against each other.

Ideal Range

How much distance should you keep between you and your opponent?
Your ideal range is the range at which the balance of power between you and your opponent falls most
heavily in your favor. This considers things like normal attack distance and maximum ability distance, but
also your opponents range. Learning to determine where this is, and then staying at this range, is the
first core of positioning.
I like using Lux as an example for this because her abilities are exclusively long range, but her passive
allows her shorter range normal attacks to deal bonus damage. Because of this, a core part of playing
Lux is knowing when to stay in range of an opponent for normal attacks or whether to keep your
distance.
Against a shorter range champion like Cassiopeia, Luxs ideal range is (somewhat counter-intuitively) her
maximum ability distance. This is because Cassiopeia cannot land any damage on Lux from this range. If
Lux were to move into her normal attack range, Cassiopeia could unload most of her damage; Even
though she could increase her damage by moving closer, she maintains the strongest advantage over
her opponent from maximum distance.
What about against a champion that will have no problem staying in range of Lux during a skirmish? This
may mean longer range champions such as Xerath, or it may mean very mobile champions such as Ahri.
In both cases, if Lux is willing to get into a fight, shell do better staying in normal attack range for the

bonus damage from her passive. At about this range she may also have an easier time landing her
skillshots on her opponent since there will be less travel time for an opponent to react to.
If Lux wants to go in for a kill and make absolutely sure a low health opponent doesnt escape, she may
go a step further and either run in or flash towards her opponent to allow her to stay in normal attack
range for longer (and possibly drop another spell or ignite more easily).
In these examples, Luxs ideal range could be anywhere from melee range to her maximum ability range.
And this dynamic will be true for most champions, including many melee-range champions.
Jayce is another champion that really exemplifies this dynamic. In his cannon form, he has a very long
range ability that deals considerable damage, as well as relatively strong normal attacks at a much closer
range. But by switching to his hammer form, he becomes a melee range champion that excels at close-in
killing.
The best Jayce players understand this balance and wait for the balance of power to move more strongly
in his favor before engaging at shorter ranges.
While ideal range for melee champions is a bit more simplified as its much less likely to come across
opponents with a sweet spot you can abuse, it can be very important to understand for laning against a
single opponent and for concepts like zoning, which well cover a bit later.
For teamfights, ideal range is important to all champions, regardless of range. This is because you must
balance your range against several opponents, and even short range champions must watch for
vulnerable opponents that can be attacked while maintaining a safe distance from other key players on
an enemy team.


Minion Exchanges

You may already be familiar with the importance of harassing your opponent when theyre moving in to
last hit minions. When a player is investing an attack or an ability on a minion, that investment cannot
also be used against you (unless theyre using an ability that can hit you as well, in which case you
should try to avoid that positioning anyway). Using that same time to damage them gives you a natural
advantage in the exchange.
Im including these exchanges to introduce a concept that well look at later for objectives. Minions are a
condensing mechanism. Most champions, especially in the early levels, will want to move into normal
attack range of minions to finish them off. This gives an opportunity for short range champions to
successfully engage longer range champions.
Lets use Lux and Swain as examples. Swain can easily unload some damage on Lux any time she moves
in to last hit minions. Lux has two ways to clear minions: She can either use a normal attack or she can
invest mana into a long range spell to finish them off. But if she must continually invest mana, she winds
up hurting herself in two other ways:
She naturally keeps the lane pushed out to the same unsafe distance (or further) by using
abilities;
She is investing mana, which lowers her kill potential over time.
Short of a gank from an ally, or Lux getting a power spike that allows her to directly engage Swain and
knock him out of lane, Swain will be able to keep gaining a lane advantage despite being a considerably
shorter range champion. In later levels this particular advantage may go away, but it may help him gain
other advantages through the methods were going to talk about next.


Relationship between Range & Vision
Short ranged champions are generally compensated in some way over longer range champions, whether
this is through damage, survivability, or utility. By design, shorter range champions must be capable of
fighting or escaping; Its rare that a long range champion will want to be near a short range champion,
because theres usually a very strong disadvantage to doing so that goes beyond maintaining ideal
range.

Fog of war and concealment are the primary tools that short range champions can use to get in range of
longer range champions. For example, a short range champion (blue) lying in wait of a long range
champion as they return to lane may find theyre able to unload all of their damage on an opponent
who would otherwise try to keep their distance.
While map vision is always important to a team on a strategic level, maintaining vision tends to be more
tactically important to long range champions than shorter range champions. With vision, long range
champions are able to use their attacks and abilities on opponents from a greater distance, and are less
vulnerable to being ambushed flanked.
Practically speaking, heres what this means before you factor in wards and abilities:
Long range champions are more vulnerable in the jungle;
Short range champions are more vulnerable in open lanes and the river.
For teams, this is why its important for front line players to move in the front when entering the jungle
or other concealed areas. Long range champions should also be aware of flash and other forms of
mobility, especially when coming from low vision areas, as these are core tools to closing the gap.
As a short range player, hiding along an enemys likely path is a fantastic way to get a kill. For example, if
your opponent has just picked up blue golem and is likely returning to lane, positioning in the brush
between the lane and the golem may be a smart idea.

Flanking

Flanking, put simply, is getting behind an opponent. In League of Legends, champions are usually not
limited by the direction theyre facing (after all, they can just turn around immediately), so behind
means something a little different. When we flank in League, we are looking to get ourselves in what
they consider a safe zone for retreat or movement.
The ideal flank puts us in a position where an opponent must either fight us, retreat through our current
position, or retreat through an equally undesirable route such as near a tower, into the fog of war in the
jungle, etc.
Flanking offers another tool for short range champions, especially those who lack strong mobility (or
dont want to use it immediately), to put themselves in an advantageous position over longer range
opponents. That said, any champion that has a combat advantage over their opponent can utilize this
regardless of the range difference.
Theres one small thing you can keep in mind for flanking and other positioning tactics: On a computer
screen, the screen orientation is wider than it is tall. Coming from above or beneath a target can give
your opponents less warning, especially if theyre not paying attention to the mini-map.
Though flanks can be used anywhere, lets look at a couple specific locations that offer strong flank
opportunities, especially during the early game.


Mid Lane Flank

At the mid lane, each team has a couple paths where either the mid lane champion or an ally (such as a
jungler or roamer) can come in behind an opponent whos extended into the lane.
However, not all paths are equal. The two marked above are ideal for a couple reasons:
They are completely out of tower vision range, giving the least warning on a flanking player, and
allowing the flanking player to wait a moment before engaging;
They are part of other normal routes players may take for invading the jungle or moving through
the enemy jungle to flank one of the side lanes.
Note the white lines Ive drawn here as well. The lanterns at the corner (along with the full path behind)
offer a complete vision block that prevents minions or players beyond this from seeing behind them. For
this reason, you may be able to get pretty close to the corner itself before being seen.
These locations may also be good for simply coming into a fight quickly from out of vision, even if youre
not specifically flanking an opponent.


Side Lane Flank

Each of the side lanes has a strong flanking point right next to the tri-brush. Players who are extended
into the lane and either arent paying attention to the tri-brush or dont have vision there are
particularly vulnerable to these flanks.

Tower Circling

Beyond being defensive platforms and map objectives, towers act as hard terrain blocks. Melee range
champions are usually at a huge disadvantage when initiating fights under enemy towers. This is partly
because towers tend to have more attack time on champions who must fully commit underneath a

tower, as very few champions have the mobility to immediately escape a tower before taking at least
one extra shot that a longer range champion wouldnt have taken.
But players can also prolong the time spent under a tower by hugging the edge of the tower and circling
around it to stay at the opposite side of their opponent. Without a hard crowd control, the defender is
certain to be able to buy a little extra time.


Movement
Lets look over some of the core movement tactics. While basic, understanding these will help in all
areas of gameplay, from fighting a single opponent to being engaged in a full ten-player teamfight.
Before going further, theres a very important concept Ive already brought up a couple times in the
book, and this is animation canceling, or stutter stepping. You can read more about this in Attack
Animation & Projectile Speed as well as in Stutter Step, Attack Move, and Awesome Keybinding Trick
on YouTube. While the concept isnt a tactic in itself, its important to all movement, and thus has a big
impact on how effective youll be with the following tactics.
Beyond what youll see below, most pro players are in the habit of constantly moving. Some players can
issue over a hundred movement commands per minute, often moving back and forth in a small area.
This keeps them on their toes, prevents their opponents from landing easy skillshots, and allows them to
position better towards their next targets (or away from potential threats) while not sacrificing their
damage output.

Staying Ahead of Your Opponent

When your opponent absolutely must move to a new position, such as to retreat back to the safety of
their tower, staying directly in front of them can slow them down and allow you to unload additional
attacks. Unlike chasing behind the player, solid execution of this maneuver guarantees your normal
attacks will land as quickly as they are available.
This is an aggressive maneuver. While important for ranged champions to understand, it is most critical
for many melee range champions to continue to stick to their target. Pulling this off usually requires

muscle memory with the champion youre playing, as this allows the necessary animation canceling to
stay ahead.

Kiting The Parthian Shot

The ancient Parthians were archers known for being able to turn around while riding horseback and
unleashing arrows at their pursuers. With the development of cannon and turrets, militaries have
implemented this technique into a regular part of warfare. In gaming, we call this technique kiting.
Put simply, kiting is the use of normal attacks or abilities on pursuers while you are moving away from
them. An ideal kite minimizes or removes attacks from your opponent, and tends to be stronger if your
attacks or abilities also apply some form of crowd control, such as Ashes slowing shots.
Marksmen and many mages can excel at kiting.
For marksmen, the damage tends to come primarily through normal attacks, with abilities being used to
help position. Mastering animation canceling is necessary for marksmen to succeed at this.
Mages are quite varied: Cassiopeia relies on a variety of skillshot poisons which increase her speed and
slow her opponents; whereas Ziggs will use slowing mines and a displacement bomb to reposition; Lux
can snare up to two chasing opponents, slow in an area, and land normal attacks for bonus damage.
Items that increase speed or slow opponents are all ideal both in improving the effectiveness of kiting,
as well as countering it.
This is a high skill maneuver that tends to be used defensively. It is most primarily used by ranged
champions, and it is ideal against shorter range champions.


Shoot & Scoot

Regularly between normal attacks and abilities will dramatically increase your ability to control your
range and positioning in relationship to your opponents. Mastering this skill is especially important
when dealing with high mobility champions or champions that rely on skillshots, as this allows you to
more effectively avoid them.
Champions with high mobility are ideal for this. For example, Vayne using tumble to frequently
reposition can be a nightmare to deal with even when shes close to her opponents. But regularly
repositioning should be an aim for all players, as it improves effectiveness in all areas of combat. This is
a critical skill for teamfighting.


Harassment

Move towards your opponent, land an ability or attack at maximum range, and immediately back off. If
you outrange your opponent and they cant penalize you, do this as frequently as possible, provided it
isnt hindering your own ability to last hit minions or costing you too much killing potential in the form of
mana loss or ability cooldowns.
If you dont outrange your opponent, use this for exchanging shots with them when theyre last hitting
minions. This is much safer when you can start and end the harassment in fog of war, such as brush in
the lane.
Harassment tends to win lanes and teamfight exchanges over time, but some champions are
considerably less vulnerable to it than others. For example, Nasus and Vladimir are both very capable of
recovering health from basic harassment once they have a couple items.
As a rule, harassment is one of the most effective ways for a longer range champion to bully an
opponent out of lane. For example, this technique is part of what gives Caitlyn such an enormous edge
over Vayne through the early game.


Body Blocking

If you are better suited to taking damage or abilities than an ally, such as when your ally is at critically
low health, then physically standing between them and an opponent can be situationally useful. Body
blocking allows you to stop many skillshots from being able to reach their target, and depending on your
own abilities, it may allow you to more easily interrupt or disrupt your opponent.

Moving in Range of Allied Abilities
There are a variety of abilities that your allies will want to be able to cast on or near you throughout the
game. Among these are dashes or blinks that require a target, such as those that Lee Sin, Katarina, and
Jax have moving near them at the right time may help them out of a tight spot.
There are plenty of other examples. Thresh may want to drop his lantern, Soraka may want to heal you,
or another ally may want to buff you.
Most of this comes down to your knowledge on how other champions function rather than your ability
to execute any particularly complex maneuvers.


Terrain
Though its not something we normally think about, the physical terrain across the map should not be
taken for granted. There are a number of tactical purposes it serves.

Escape

One of the quickest ways to lose a game you should have won is to be caught out alone in the late game
with no way to escape. With flash or any form of over-the-wall mobility and an eye towards nearby
terrain, you can avoid these situations and usually escape in a pinch. The more distance your opponents
must path around to reach you, the more likely your escape will be successful.
Always think about your escape options. Try to consider two alternate paths you can take at any given
time.


Side Lane Escape

Each of the side lanes has a fairly strong escape route that mobile champions may be able to use. By
falling into the river, past the lane brush, these champions can jump to a very safe area in their own
jungle.

Shield

Using local terrain as a physical shield at the very least can increase the travel time opponents must
use to reach you, provided they dont have mobility cooldowns available. Think of this a bit like a tower
defense game. Ive only seen this used a few times at high level play because of how situational it is, and
it only works with longer range champions like Caitlyn, but its certainly something to consider.

Pokes & Hooks

Poking your opponents with abilities and landing Blitzcrank or Thresh hooks on players from outside
their vision is one of the most reliable ways to catch them. Pictured above is one popular mid-lane
location for doing this due to the likelihood of defending players being on the other side, but nearly
anywhere that opponents are in reach can be effective.


Chokepoints

Areas where the terrain narrows into smaller gaps are called chokepoints. Examples of this can be found
throughout the map, and are extremely common in the jungle.
Chokepoints give an advantage to champions and teams that:
Rely on area effect and multi-target abilities;
Benefit from being able to more easily aim and land skillshots (such as a Lux binding);
Have the mobility to bypass or circumvent the restrictive terrain.
These are also ideal spots to drop more persistent crowd controls such as Ziggss minefield or Luxs
singularity, as well as hard terrain block such as Anivias crystallize ice wall and Jarvan IVs cataclysm
ultimate.


Mental
Up until this point weve covered subjects with clear definitions. An effective flank or ambush will always
put a short ranged player in range of a longer range opponent, body blocking will always be good in
stopping many skillshots from hitting an ally, and chokepoints will always be more dangerous when
youre up against area effect champions.
But these are not, in and of themselves, what defines good gameplay. If there was a perfect response
and solution to every action, the game would simply come down to game knowledge and reaction time,
and tactical and strategic depth would be unimportant past the champion selection screen. I mentioned
this in the Mental Preparedness section, but the best example of this type of gameplay is Tic Tac Toe,
a game which offers zero fulfillment once players learn the tricks.
All great competitive games have an additional level of mental play. As players learn more about the
game and advance in their own knowledge, they also learn to better anticipate what their opponents
goals and thoughts are, which in turn allows them to react to those goals and thoughts. Of course, as
they face better opponents, their opponents will also be anticipating and reacting to their own
decisions.
The following tactics wont necessarily result in flashy kills or immediate results, but they can encourage
players to make mistakes or fall behind.


Pressure

Applying pressure occurs when you present yourself as a force that an opponent must either back away
from or engage with at significant risk. This tactic only works when your opponent perceives an
imbalance between you and them.
One of the best ways to build credibility as a serious threat to your opponent is to bully and harass them
early on during the match. Unless your opponent really understands the match-up between your
champion and their own, or clearly sees your power falling off (such as easily getting destroyed in
teamfights), they are likely to use this early harassment as a guide to their future engagements even if
the imbalance no longer exists between you.
Pressure can be used for a variety of purposes, including pushing towers, forcing an ally to ask for
assistance (thereby preventing the ally from being elsewhere on the map), and pushing opponents
towards areas where your own allies can more easily set up a gank.
If a player doesnt react to pressure, or if theyre aggressive towards you despite being at a
disadvantage, this may be a good indicator that an ally of theirs is nearby and theyre attempting to
initiate a gank.


Zoning

Zoning is a stronger form of pressure where you stay between an opponent and minions or other high
value targets. Zoning tends to be a tool used by long range champions against shorter range champions,
as well as by champions with sustainable harassment (such as Pantheons spear shot or Teemos toxic
shot).
Zoning is much higher risk as it may leave you extended and vulnerable to flanks and gap closers from
your opponents allies. Its also considerably more likely that one of their allies will decide to camp the
lane to help them get back in the game; this is usually fine, provided you play it safe, and it may allow an
effective countergank from one of your own allies. That said, if you wish to maintain the ability to zone
an opponent, maintaining map vision is strongly recommended.
With minions, the goal of zoning is to prevent the player from earning gold income through last hitting.
Very aggressive zoning may also force an opponent far enough away from the minions that they are also
unable to gain experience (experience range is much longer than most ability or attack ranges).
The hallmark of effective zoning is controlling the extension of the minion waves, ideally by keeping
enemy minions closer to your towers than their own, and ideally by freezing the location of minion
waves in a single area to prevent them from rapidly moving towards or away from towers.

Skillshot Juking
Skillshot juking is when you move in a way that disorients or misdirects your opponents, ideally getting
them to cast an ability that you can more easily dodge. An example of this is running in a straight line to
encourage a Blitzcrank to use his rocket grab on you, but instantly changing directions once the
animation begins, thereby sidestepping (juking) the ability.

In this example, the blue player is moving away from an opposing champion with a skillshot. The blue
player is intentionally running in a straight line, and all indications are that they will continue running
along this path.

The moment the skillshot is fired, the blue player sidesteps, totally avoiding the ability.

This is just one example, but for completeness there are two more concepts for avoiding skillshots that I
want to bring up.

Running roughly perpendicular to where a player may try to land a skillshot is one of the best methods
to make it easier to dodge the skillshot. As always, the player firing the skillshot usually needs to predict
where youll be by the time the skillshot actually collides and lead the shot accordingly:

The value to running perpendicular is that, once the shot is fired, its further ahead in your path, and
often allows you more reaction time and more leeway to instantly turn around to avoid it. Of course, the
drawback here is that pulling off this positioning is not always realistic, and its usually something you
want to do only when you are ready to engage your opponent directly right afterward (as opposed to
using it for an escape, where youre prolonging the time youre in their range).

One more thing worth illustrating Getting up close and personal with your opponent, rapidly walking
around them in melee range, is another fantastic way to fluster an opponent if they rely on hitting a line
skillshot. The idea here is that youre able to change your position in relation to your opponent so
quickly that its very difficult to reliably lead the shot. Additionally, the player may panic and fire the
ability too quickly, especially if youre an immediate threat (Note: if youre the player firing the skillshot,
do not panic here! Wait for a clear shot unless you are certainly going to die if you delay!).
Its worth noting that some abilities have a wider impact area where theyre fired. For example, landing
an Ashe ultimate on a target hugging you in melee range is fairly easy, whereas landing a Lux binding is
trickier.
There are a variety of methods of skillshot juking, including weaving and zigzagging through a path to
make aiming the skillshot difficult. Each method has strengths and weaknesses: Running in a straight
path, then dodging, lets you more quickly reach a further-back location, is more likely to encourage an
opponent to try firing an easier skillshot, and is easier to execute the final dodge since you only need to
focus on a single sidestep; Zigzagging and weaving slow your overall movement in favor of stronger
disorientation for your opponent, but dodging an actual ability requires better timing and reaction as
you are less sure of where theyll fire the skillshot.
Juking is a core skill for escaping tight situations or for navigating through damage and crowd controls to
reach your target. Even if your opponent believes theyre getting juked, its often a damned if you do,
damned if you dont scenario where they must fire the shot to even have a chance of securing a kill.
Missing these shots can be demoralizing, which is also why I emphasize that skillshot-based champions
are not expected to win against more mobile champions, as you dont need to get too worked up over
missing shots that were going to be next to impossible to land anyway.
Against newer or less skilled players, juking is fairly easy to pull off, but theres an intermediate skill level
where you arent sure if your opponents are trying to juke you or just running in a really easy-to-hit
path.

At higher levels of play, jukes are assumed, and players will start to get invested in the mental game. For
example, when Im playing Cassiopeia, I know I can usually land poisons by aiming the poison a little
behind the target most players react to area shots by immediately turning around and falling back, and
wind up walking further into the poison as a result. But some players will recognize Im doing this and
instead move immediately towards me, avoiding my poison, and initiating a fight that may go in their
favor since Cassiopeia relies on landing poisons to deal her twin fang damage.
I mentioned this in Mental Preparedness, but some players actually go a step further in the pro scene
and study the habits of their opponents. One famous example Ive mentioned is the Madlife hook, found
in this video (search Madlife Thresh Hook on YouTube if you cant use this inside the e-book).


Brush & Jungle Juking
Using fog of war and brush concealment allows for much more advanced forms of juking that allow us to
not only avoid skillshots and other abilities, but to sometimes throw off our attackers entirely. Lets look
at a basic (but common) example of brush juking:

The blue player is outgunned and has every reason to retreat to his tower; the purple player knows this.
In addition, the blue player has entered the brush from an angle that gives away this direction.

However, as the purple player moves to cut the blue player off, the blue player has actually shifted to
the far end of the brush and will retreat out in another direction. Only as the blue player is in a better
route does the purple player realize hes not coming out where they expected.

Just like skillshot juking, this is powerful because purple player often must take the risk of continuing to
lead the blue player, even if he knows it may be a juke. If the purple player had stopped leading ahead
of the potential path, the blue player would easily escape to the tower if they werent actually juking.
Its another case of damned if you do, damned if you dont.
While this juke greatly increases the odds for the blue player, it doesnt put them any closer to their own
immediate safety. On the other hand, its a fantastic way to waste time, preventing the purple player
from doing anything else but continuing the pursuit. If the blue player has allies coming to lane, it may
buy just enough time to get to safety. If the blue player is certain to die by moving towards safety, they
may instead dive past the enemy tower and waste even more time of the pursuers by attempting to
enter the enemy jungle from an unusual angle.
This type of juking is directly countered by map vision. It is also harder to pull off for champions that lack
mobility, especially if theyre pitted against more mobile champions. This is also one of the most
ridiculously fun jukes if you can pull it off successfully.
There are plenty of awesome examples of juking. One example that illustrates both skillshot and vision
juking, as well as utilizing terrain and kiting, is Xpekes Nidalee escape in a match between Fnatic and
CLG (If you cant use the link here, search Sick escape by xPeke on YouTube).

Maneuvering through Concealment

Lets talk about another subject similar to juking but with a twist. When youre dealing with champions
who must maintain vision on you for a moment to finish you off, the best escape is not always the most
direct. This is true when your opponent must keep you in vision to use normal attacks or finish activating
an ability (a fantastic example of this is Caitlyns headshot which will cancel if her opponent moves out
of vision quickly enough).

Taking the tightest turns possible in the jungle, as well as aiming for brush even when its not directly in
your path, may slow your overall escape but it may actually buy you enough time that your opponent
cant land damage or crowd controls that youll be able to escape. The advantage to focusing on
breaking vision rather than taking the most direct path is that you may frequently be able to juke your
opponent without them knowing which path youll take next.
Changing your maneuver and direction every few seconds can more quickly throw your opponents off.
As with juking, this strongly favors more mobile champions, but every champion can and should make
use of this when necessary.


Feints
Once you understand the tactics that youll be using, the use of deception is the final key to tactical
mastery. When I introduced mental tactics, I mentioned that a key element to this was the ability to
anticipate what players are thinking and react to this information in meaningful ways.
A feint is a deception, an action that appears to have one purpose but conceals another. The ultimate
goal of a feint is to get your opponent to believe they want to perform an action that is not in their best
interest. And though Im including this in the tactics section, it is an enormous part of broader strategic
gameplay as well.

One example of a feint is falling back towards your tower as if to retreat. If youre injured and the player
normally has kept an advantage over you, this may look entirely natural. As the moment theyre in
tower range attempting to finish you off, dropping crowd controls and burst on them, alongside tower
shots, can give you a devastating edge. The same goes for holding onto abilities like heals and shields
until a player has engaged you at low health under a tower, using that to buy enough time to kill them.
As you can guess, when youre being pressured or zoned in a lane, suddenly moving aggressively against
an opponent can be a dead giveaway that you have an ally waiting to enter the lane for a gank. But
sometimes simply being unexpectedly aggressive against an opponent who doesnt have wards may
have the same benefit they cant take the risk of you having an ally coming in and they dont know any
better given their lack of vision.
When you want to help allies enter a lane to gank, directly engaging an opponent may draw them into a
fight and keep their focus on you, especially if they feel they have the upper hand. This is a fantastic way
to distract them and cut down their map awareness, and works effectively even against very skilled
opponents who let their map awareness drop just a little.

One of my favorite feints to watch is pretending youre a bad player or youre having connection issues.
As absurd as this seems, this can cause your opponents to drop their guard, and it really does lead to
some good kills. Check out this Blitzcrank video for a fantastic set of examples (search Best Trollcrank #
3 on YouTube if you cant use the link here).
All feints rely on maintaining a knowledge advantage over your opponents. Often this is done through
map vision or map awareness, such as pulling a player out of position so an ally can gank, and vision is
critically important for countering them.
Other times, thse feints can stem from a precise understanding of the match-up between champions,
such as knowing exactly when youre capable of killing an opponent, but only if you can pull them
towards a more desirable location (such as Vayne getting an opponent in a position where they can be
condemned to a wall).

Strategy
Where tactics are specific actions with short-term benefits, strategies are larger actions with major goals
and lasting consequences.
In League of Legends, there is no hard line where tactics end and strategy begins. After all, setting up an
ambush with one person waiting in the brush is not much different than setting up an ambush with
three, even though the three person ambush is flashier.
For the purposes of deciding how to divide this guide, I will define strategy as actions that require
coordination from two or more players. In doing so, we will look at skirmishes, teamfights, and how
teams can use map objectives to their advantage.

Skirmishes
Skirmishes are smaller engagements where most or all of a team does not need to be present. Well look
at a few common strategies that work well for small groups, but keep in mind that you can also pull any
of these off as part of teamfights or other full team engagements.
One thing you should keep in mind about skirmishing is that nearly all of the tactics are situational and
reflexive. There will be situations where you can utilize these strictly by noticing where your allies are on
the map, and as you rise up in ranks, there will be situations where you can reasonably expect your allies
to respond to you to set them up. Smart pings work well in quickly coordinating these maneuvers.


Ambush

Lets start with the simplest trick: The ambush. If youve lost a lot of health or your opponent otherwise
considers you an easy kill, leading them into allies waiting in the fog of war can allow you to quickly turn
it around on them. This tends to be harder to pull off against seasoned players.

Line of Retreat & Envelopment

As the name suggests, envelopment is when you seal an opponent inside your team, much like an
envelope. While sometimes this will be very easy to achieve when your teammates are nearby, one key
to making it work more consistently is to give your opponents a false choice by giving them an escape
route.
If youre the aggressor, try moving ahead of your opponent in their path. Youre aiming to block off their
easiest escape route the direct path back to their tower, and any cornering you can do beforehand will
help in this. While some champions will still gun it for their tower, especially if you lack crowd controls
or arent particularly threatening, others may feel they can use the river as an escape. This is especially
true if they have the mobility to jump the nearby river wall and fall to the safety of their jungle.
Heres what you dont do:


If you have an ally waiting in the nearby brush and they go in too early, youre guaranteed to lose any
advantage from rerouting the player. Sometimes youll need to do this if the opponent is realistically
going to run past you anyway.
One other thing: If both of you jump too far in the escape path of the opposing player, youre giving
them more time to juke and either fall back towards your own tower or potentially even take the river
out.
Lets look at what happens if the second player doesnt immediately show themselves and the retreating
player decides to use the river:

As the player enters the river, they are surrounded on at least two sides by their opponents. Where the
tower would have been the best decision, they have voluntarily put themselves in a worse position
because they werent aware of the additional opponents. Theyve taken what they believed was an
easier route out only to find themselves in a much worse matchup.
Ive added another person covering the tower route only as an illustration of a one way to approach
envelopment when youre against a slippery opponent and you have three players to work with. But
when youre dealing with someone who you need more firepower for, bring as much of that firepower
to bear as possible, and dont worry about the less likely escape routes.
One tip: When youre the wingman on these envelopments, think about where your opponent might go
to evade your ally. What would you do in your opponents shoes?

Lane Movement Feint

When an ally in a neighboring lane is engaging against one or more opponents, heading in their direction
is a way to move around the map without raising any red flags. When your lane opponent sees you
leaving they can reasonably assume youre going to help out the other lane. Theres also a decent
chance that your lane opponent will want to move to help their lane out as well.
This allows for an easy feint. Stop somewhere out of vision along the path, such as in brush, and wait for
your opponent:

This can give you the jump on your opponent as they move to support. If your lane opponent truly
doesnt suspect an ambush, they may be looking at the conflicted area on the map, or even have the
shop interface up (I say this from personal experience as Ive had a few embarrassing deaths to this). As
we talked about in Tactics, this kind of ambush really benefits shorter range champions.

What if your lane opponent doesnt move towards you? If theyre wise and they suspect that the route
isnt safe even without knowing for sure they have a couple other options:
1. They can still approach the lane, but from a route that is either more risky (river or enemy
jungle), or a route that takes much longer (through the inner jungle or lanes);
2. They can push the lane hard to take advantage of the situation, which may leave them
vulnerable to a quick flank if youre still nearby;
3. They can go to another lane to try to set up a gank elsewhere.
Youve blocked your lane opponent from supporting their allies and youve potentially helped your ally
simply because your opponents think you might be nearby. Even if you dont gain a kill you may have
gained a tangible advantage and you can then decide whether to return to your lane or continue
towards the other lane.
This maneuver is more likely to result in a kill when youre up against champions who actively want to
roam, particularly assassins that may be vulnerable if you can get the jump on them (though being a
bulkier champion yourself may be a good idea if youre going to go toe-to-toe with an assassin).
Its perfectly fine to repeat this frequently during the laning phase, provided youre able to clear your
minion waves quickly. The more frequently you leave vision towards another lane, the more on-edge
your opponents may become.

Pressure & Ambush

When youve got allies pressuring either side lane, particularly at the second tower, this may cause mid
lane opponents to respond and join their allies. However, due to the shape of the jungle there is only
one quick route through the jungle for reaching the side lanes, and there is brush along the chokepoints:

Ive highlighted two sets of brush (one at half visibility) where you can stand to ambush the mid lane
player as they pass by. This is one of the more reliable ambushes.
Thats my last big positioning tip on ambushing your opponents, but for what its worth, youll get a
really good idea where you can ambush your opponents as you gain experience in the game. You should
be able to develop a gut instinct to where players may go, and what you need to do to catch and kill
them unexpectedly. If you happen to enjoy assassins, this is a core skill to develop.

Side Lane Flanking & Denying Minion Reinforcement

Another strategy specific to the side lanes is moving one player in between the inner and outer tower
while at least one other ally applies pressure to the tower.
This serves two purposes. First, it can enable a tower dive that an opponent realistically cannot escape
from without allied support or extreme mobility/survivability. Second, youll be able to prevent any
minions from reaching the tower, which allows future minion waves from your team to hit (and tank)
the tower uncontested.
This is extremely risky. The player between the towers is vulnerable to ganks from other enemies, which
means either map vision or the ability to reliably escape (i.e. mobility or speed) is a really good idea.
Beyond this, the team should be ready to either apply long range harassment or immediately tower dive
if theyre going to attempt to capitalize on this positioning.

Scatter Retreat

One last skirmish strategy: If you need to fall back and youre actually in full blown retreat (i.e. youll be
immediately killed by turning around), try to go in separate directions. Going in separate directions
doesnt require a whole lot of coordination from your team, but it requires a lot of coordination from
the enemy team if they want to try chasing down more than one of you. If theres any confusion from
your enemies on who to chase and kill, this separation may allow everyone to avoid getting caught.
When youre retreating, dont stop to help an ally escape unless youre fairly sure theyll get away as a
result and youre fairly sure you wont get caught while youre helping. It can be tempting to help people
escape but having two players die rather than one is the kind of thing that costs games. On the other
hand, its always possible youll turn it into a completely epic play, so feel free to ignore this advice if you
really want to.


Teamfights
Where skirmishes only require a few players, teamfights are full blown engagements between two
teams, usually involving most or all of the players in the match.
Dont be thrown off by the illustrations: They are going to be idealized team setups and theyre not what
youll actually see in most of your teamfights. What Im going to present is more relative than absolute;
for example, a long range carry should probably be behind a melee range fighter, but this doesnt
necessarily mean they would stand along a perfect line with their teammates as in the illustrations.

Basic Team Positioning

As we look at a teamfight we will usually see a few layers of positioning. For the most part, the front
line, mid line, and back line are self-explanatory (longer range champions will tend to want to be more
towards the rear, melee range champions towards the front, etc.).
The front line should always pay attention to how far they are ahead of their allies and whether that
distance is going to create a problem for the team. If youve ever seen a short range champion asking
why werent you attacking my target, its usually a case of not respecting how far ahead they are, or
how deep into the enemy team they are.
The flanks are the home of assassins and other boom and zoom champions, which well discuss in a
moment. Theyre also the home of shorter range champions who want to quickly close on their
opponents during a teamfight without giving them enough time to fall back to their ideal range. The best
flanking positions are concealed within the fog of war, ideally in or near brush. When possible, allies that
are not in the flanks should try to soften opponents and pull them to where the flankers can move in
quickest and with the least warning.

Roles
While teamfight positioning is important to know, I dont think its the best way to discuss the roles.
Front line champions, for instance, do not all function the same way (Fizz and Jarvan are totally different
playstyles). To illustrate the primary roles in teamfights, let me use some World War II air combat terms.

Dogfighters & Ramp-Up

Dogfighters are champions that are designed to stay in combat with other champions and are able to
regularly unload abilities, attacks, or utility. This includes nearly all fighters, but it also includes many
marksmen and mages.
Ramp up champions are a small subset of dogfighters that actually become stronger by staying engaged
in combat. This includes champions like Graves (who becomes more survivable over time), Syndra (who
can place more orbs and deliver a greater punch), and Vladimir (who gains a stacking buff that allows
him to deal increasingly more damage).
These champions are likely to be engaged at the heart of any teamfight, as this is where they belong and
where they have the largest impact.


Cyclical

Cyclical champions are champions who have mid-length ability cooldowns that discourage staying
constantly in combat. Instead, these champions will ideally want to drop their abilities on a target, then
back out of the fight a ways while their cooldowns are resetting, then re-enter the fight again.
Many mages fall into this category, particularly the longer range mages. Fizz also offers a fantastic
example of a cyclical champion, as his abilities enable him to engage and disengage at will, allowing him
to enter and leave fights as his cooldowns line up.
As a general rule, cyclical champions benefit from longer teamfights. They tend to do very well in teams
that can briefly disengage from opposing dogfighters and then re-engage to unload more burst damage.
In other words, by preventing the dogfighters from constantly putting out damage, while not losing any
of their own burst damage, cyclical champions tends to come out much stronger.
Unloading burst damage from out of range of their opponents, or from fog of war, is a core skill for this
playstyle. Additionally, shoot and scoot tactics to reposition may be important.


Boom and Zoom

Boom and zoom champions are ideal at quickly entering a fight, unloading extremely high damage, and
rapidly disengaging from the fight. Most assassins and high damage, low survivability fighters fall into
this category because they:
Have extreme damage that can rapidly be dropped on an opponent;
Dont have the survivability to stay in or near a teamfight;
Have mobility to both engage and disengage.
Talon is a fantastic example of a boom and zoom champion, as he enters a fight by disabling his
opponent, can rapidly unload all of his damage, then can use stealth (as part of his damage combo) to
fall back out of vision.
Boom and zoom champions often start from the flanks of a fight, ideally out of vision, and may wait in
the wings until a target is ready to be taken down or until crowd controls that might be saved for them
have already been used on other players. If youve watched an assassin and been frustrated because
they arent entering teamfights, they may actually be waiting for a good moment or position to strike,
understanding they wont survive if they enter at the wrong time.
The basic concept behind cyclical champions and boom and zoom champions they get in, unload
damage, and back off is similar, but their limitations and impacts are much different. Boom and zoom
champions relish fights that can be won quickly, as this allows them to either stay in the fight after
engaging or re-enter it much more quickly.
Where cyclical champions tend to be able to wear down opponents over time, most boom and zoom
champions will frontload their damage and need to wait for the fight to move heavily in their teams
favor before moving back in. Because of this, bulkier champions and teams that have a lot of shielding
and survivability auras may actually recover from the entirety of the boom and zoom champions
damage if they werent killed in the initial pass.

Initiation vs. Peeling

A teamfight begins when one or both teams initiate the fight. This initiation may come from champions
using crowd controls to lock their opponents down or it may come from players colliding with each
other.
Any fight initiation that relies on abilities has a real cost. For example, if Amumu uses his ultimate to
start a fight, he cannot turn around and use that ultimate a second time to peel opponents off his
carries. Broadly speaking, most of the strongest initiation abilities also double as counter-initiation
abilities that can be used to strongly deter or turn the outcome of a teamfight when used defensively
(though Id clarify that theres also a handful of abilities which are great at counter-initiation but rarely
as useful at initiating, such as Jannas ultimate).
You will win more teamfights when you accurately judge whether to initiate or peel. Before teamfights,
think about each team and what youre up against while considering the following factors:
Does either team have one or more high-burst champions, particularly assassins? Assassins do
best when they can dive and quickly kill an important target, which often means squishier
carries behind the front lines. If your opponents have assassins, consider saving your abilities to
peel (i.e. an Amumu or Malphite saving their ultimate for when Khazix dives onto the allied
Ashe). If your team has assassins, consider initiating and locking down the critical target so your
assassins can quickly kill them.
Does either team have strong pressure in the form of poke or other ranged harassment?
Pressure teams like to soften their opponents before engaging. If your opponents have pressure,
initiate sooner rather than later and force them to fight before your team has been weakened. If
your own team has pressure, hold off until the enemy team has been sufficiently softened, or
simply save your abilities to peel. As long as you hold onto your crowd controls, you give your
opponents reason to doubt whether they can successfully initiate on your own team.

Does your team need to engage in a teamfight to easily take down an objective? Along the same
lines, is your team at an advantage in a teamfight due to some opponents being dead or in
another area of the map? There are situations where aggressive initiation is a good idea for any
team.
Any time youre going to initiate onto an enemy team rather than peel for your allies, consider whether
that initiation is going to put you beyond the reach of your own damage dealers. Will your opponents
use Flash or other crowd controls to prevent follow-through, wasting the entire initiation cost? Dont
follow through with a long-range initiation unless youre confident that you will be able to knock out a
critical opponent without the assistance of your further-back allies.
When you really need to peel instead of initiate with your critical crowd controls, you have a couple
solid options:
1. Present a clear threat to your opponents, particularly by threatening objectives, requiring them
to initiate on you or give up the objectives;
2. Ambush your opponents in areas with limited vision, such as jungle brush, causing the teamfight
to occur at a close range that doesnt necessitate initiation.

Targeting Priority

Who do you personally target in a teamfight? Who should your team target? Like initiation and peeling,
making a smart decision on targeting will dramatically increase your teamfight success rate.
Like other decisions, theres a balancing act between three competing goals:
Who solves the most immediate problem?
Who most immediately solves a problem?
Who can be killed with the least risk?
To be a little clearer, you want to consider targets that are the biggest threats, but you also want to
consider targets that are the quickest to kill. And you need to be realistic about who you can kill rather
than diving after the furthest opponent. Here are some qualities of a target you should consider
focusing down as a team when given the opportunity:
Is the target squishy and in range to be bursted down?
Is the target body blocking, crowd controlling, or directly engaging your vulnerable allies,
especially carries?
If the target isnt killed immediately, will they rejoin the fight later with a stronger presence? For
example, an injured marksman who is able to recover with lifesteal or a Fizz who backs out of
the fight and waits on his cooldowns.
If you lose the fight, will the target be important to taking out your objectives afterwards? For
example, marksmen and other pushers are more likely to take towers after a teamfight than
supports and tanks.
When theres not much communication between you and your teammates, theres one other thing to
consider: Who are you teammates actually attacking? Even if theyre attacking a less-than-ideal target,
joining them may still give you a better shot at coming out of the teamfight successful.

Let me offer a quick example of how you might make the decision on who to target. Lets say you have a
Sona who flashes ahead of her team to land her ultimate on her opponents and initiate a teamfight. At
this point, the Sona probably isnt the biggest threat on her team, especially since shes no longer sitting
on her ultimate. The bulky Chogath right behind to her could very well be a much larger threat.
In this case, its a safe bet to burst down the Sona if she will only take a few seconds worth of damage.
She may not be the biggest threat but shes squishy and shes out of position, which may lead to a very
quick kill.
But what if it was a fed Kassadin behind Sona instead? If hes built any health he may be quite a bit more
survivable than the Sona, but as an assassin, hes also an immediate danger to squishy allies. In this case,
if the opportunity arises to focus and burst down Kassadin, and he can be killed before he riftwalks out,
the team should probably focus on this kill instead.
On principle Im not a big fan of the advice to always target the closest player. This works, especially
with certain team compositions that have extreme damage (to the point that they can knock out the
tankiest opponents extremely quickly), but denies your team the possibility of taking out vulnerable
targets. These targets of opportunity may be marksmen who have come too close to the front line,
assassins who come in range of crowd controls before they unload their burst, or supports moving in to
use their ultimates.
As Ive said earlier, if you are relatively certain that you can knock out a critical opponent, it can be a
good idea to take that risk even if it separates you from your team or who your team is attacking.
In an absolute sense, squishy carries such as marksmen will virtually always be the highest priority
target, especially in the late game. This is a great illustration of why positioning for these champions is
so critical if the team has no real risk in attacking a high threat carry, theyre probably going to do it.
When teams get really focused on killing a single player without regard to positioning, they may hold
back on critical abilities and allow them to take a lot of excess damage trying to dive onto that player. If
youre in these brackets and youve become a critical target, consider using this as a baiting tactic by
waiting entirely in the rear of your team, even if youre a short range champion. This is even better if
youre playing a champion with a channeled ability (such as Katarina), as opponents may be extra careful
to hold onto crowd controls for you, possibly taking losses as a result.
And though Ive said it a few times already, this is a good illustration of why its important not to move
too far ahead of your own carries without a good reason. You cannot expect marksmen to be able to hit
back line targets on opponents and stay safely in their own back line. It can be frustrating both to be the
player diving and to be the carry holding back, but ultimately it comes down to keeping the team
together and having peels prepared if you expect the carry to move in closer.
Enough teamfight theory, lets get into some actual teamfight strategies.


Protect the Carry

The Protect the Carry strategy is common in Punch-Through teams, but is situationally useful for any
team during a teamfight. In this first illustration, note how the entire team is physically standing
between the carry (white x) and the opponents. This body blocking prevents skillshots and deters diving.
Creating a line is a well-known component of Royal Clubs Raise the Puppy strategy, a variation of the
Punch-Through strategy well cover later. The line (as opposed to a circle) is useful when applying direct
pressure to enemy structures while an enemy team is defending those structures.

When surrounded by opponents, this strategy can be adapted to create a circle shell around the carry.
The more circular strategy has a little more synergy with short-range AOE ultimates (such as Oriannas
ultimate), but is also more vulnerable to getting hit by AOE from opponents.

Divide & Conquer

Divide & Conquer is straightforward: Keep the enemy team split apart from each other then use
overwhelming force on one group before cleaning up the others. Ideally the number of players required
to divide the team is less than the number of opponents being split off, or at the very least, the bulk of
the teams overall power is able to be brought down on one of the groups.
Divide & Conquer works well against teams where some members are more mobile than others,
especially when the more mobile teams prefer to dive against their opponents (assassins, long range
initiators, etc.).
The champions best suited to dividing an enemy team tend to be champions with strong sustained
crowd controls (Nunus ultimate, Karthus wall, etc.). For example, if one opponent is eager to jump over
Nunus ultimate but other opponents dont have abilities that let them do it, they may be so heavily
slowed that they cannot quickly join their allies no matter how much they want to.
When I write about these strategies I often have clear tournament examples in my mind, and I hope I
dont come across as giving you clichd strategies that arent commonly used. Dividing a team this way
was actually done in one of the most well-known team plays in the All Star matches of 2013, which I
start covering about a minute into this video (if you cant click the link, search Doublelifts Pentakill Pro
Playbacks on YouTube). Zac and Jarvan IV put themselves in the bad end of a meat grinder in this play.

Pincer Assault

We talked earlier about the question of whether to initiate or peel. The Pincer Assault is an option that
often becomes available when a team invests too much into initiation.
When a teams front line is ahead of the rest of their team there are a set of conditions that allow
opponents to ignore them and dive onto their more vulnerable carries:
Important crowd controls are either single-target or already spent on initiation
Your team can body block, kite, or disengage from the enemy front line while other players dive
onto an opposing carry
Vi is a champion I like to talk about because shes a very pure example of a crowd controller that can
lock down an opponent for assassins. However, the Pincer Assault is a good illustration of where she has
a serious shortcoming.
Realistically, Vi cannot be expected to handle a whole team. Though her ultimate is genuinely powerful,
its only reliable on a single target. In a lot of teamfights she might also be able to briefly knock up
another opponent. If shes locked down one target and two more try to slip by her on either side (per
the illustration above), she simply has no way of stopping both even in a best case scenario. Compare
this to a Leona or Nautilus, both of whom have more frequent crowd controls and the ability to slow
targets that they cant directly incapacitate.
The illustration above is idealized, but the most common way youll pull this off is by having players
come in from the flanks once the initiation cost has been spent by your opponents.


Team Envelopment Escape Denial

When you need to prevent players from escaping, envelop their team towards the beginning of an
engagement can be ideal. While this wont work against the most slippery champions, it can work very
well against less mobile champions who are relying on clear escape paths.
Theres a broad sweet spot where envelopment is especially effective. New players often take on losing
teamfights they cant escape from because they dont know any better. Great players often take on
losing teamfights when they realize they cant escape, and any chance of recovering or saving allies may
be based on fully engaging their opponents. But there are a lot of players who know enough to realize
its a losing teamfight, but respond to the shock of the engagement by trying to retreat even when they
cant successfully do so. By doing this, theyre losing damage on abilities and normal attacks that could
have made a serious difference or given a surprise comeback.
That said, a really good envelopment where everyone realizes they cant escape has one big caveat:
Players who cant escape will often fight more aggressively, like backing a tiger into a corner. If you
misjudged how much of an advantage your team had and lost the teamfight decisively as a result, this
can be the turning point that gives your opponents a winning mindset.
Envelopment is fairly easy to pull off in the jungle, especially if your team is mobile enough to maneuver
around the jungle walls quickly. But one of my favorite examples is from Gambit Gaming, who managed
to pull this off in an open lane (if you cant follow this link, search Body Blocks & Flanks Pro Playbacks
on YouTube).

Disengage

When your team needs to back off from a fight while preventing opponents from chasing, such as when
youre outnumbered, there are some very strong disengage champions that can make this possible even
in open lanes or the river (Zyra, Janna, etc.). Ill cover this a little more in the Grand Strategy & Team
Compositions section.

In the smaller corridors of the jungle, a larger class of zone control champions is also very good at
disengaging. Champions like Lux, Ziggs, Karthus, and Anivia can lay down area crowd controls that make
falling back much easier.
In a worst case scenario, you can sacrifice one heavy crowd control champion to allow the rest of the
team to escape. For example, sending Amumu to a sad and certain death with his ultimate.

Objectives
With each section of the e-book I try to approach the subject of objectives from a different perspective.
While Baron Nashor and Dragon are part of the larger discussion, I want to drive one key point home in
regards to team structures such as towers and inhibitors:
Structures are a condensing mechanism. Even teams with extremely long range abilities must move in
close to deal damage to them with normal attacks. This leads to the following dynamic:
When one team is committed to taking a structure they are vulnerable to both short and long
range opponents;
When one team is committed to defending a structure, they are vulnerable to both short and
long range opponents.
If Lux needs to land normal attacks on a tower to finish it off, a nearby Ryze has a rare opportunity to
close in on her and land his full combo. The closer range required for normal attacks is another huge
balancing mechanism that allows short range champions an opportunity to engage against champions
designed to keep their distance.
On the other hand, if Ryze must stay close enough to defend the tower but Lux doesnt need to
immediately land normal attacks on the tower she can still harass Ryze from her maximum range. The
shorter range defender could potentially stay further back and wait for their opponents to actually move
in attack range, but this creates a situation where players can dart in, land normal attacks on the tower,
and immediately fall back. Unless the shorter range champion is already at the forefront, the tower is
likely going to continue taking damage.
Teams attacking towers are virtually always in range of initiators. Provided a team is not hopelessly
behind or otherwise crippled, initiating a teamfight on a long range team as theyre attacking a tower
offers one of the best opportunities to turn a losing game around. In frustrating matches where weve
lost one or two lanes very early, I often find that turning the game around occurs in an early game tower
fight.
Your team composition is one of the most important factors in how you handle objectives. After reading
through this, make sure you move on to the Grand Strategy & Team Compositions section.

Objective Pressure

If your lane opponent leaves the lane, moving up and attacking the tower forces them to make a
decision: Either they come back to defend the tower, or they take tower damage and continue moving
elsewhere on the map (for a gank, etc.). Unlike zoning and other forms of mental pressure, damaging a
tower is a totally real and unrecoverable cost.
Any time you move up to apply direct pressure to an objective, you are putting yourself at risk from a
flank from your opponents. Map vision and map awareness are both very important to do this
successfully. That, or play a strong duelist or very mobile champion that can realistically survive the
flank.

Multi-Point Assault

When youre dismantling an enemy team through split pushing several objectives there are a few good
tactics to make it go easier.
Shoving one of the side lanes so that your minions will reach the tower, then immediately move back
towards your teammates in a neighboring lane. If an opponent moves to clear the minions from the side
lane, this may give you a numbers advantage to dive opponents or push the middle lane hard.
Use your highest mobility and disengage champions to hit hardest and force your opponents to react.
Wait for them to send an uneven number, such as two champions to stop your one Fizz, and hit them in
another lane when they do.
Like all split pushing, attacking multiple points successfully relies on having one or two very strong
champions. Traditional split pushers work for this, but so do exceptionally fed players who can duel any
single opposing champion (such as a fed Jax who has dominated top lane continuing to push top while
his team pushes bottom lane). Having these champions allows you to break up teams that are turtling as
a group and force them to separate.

Distraction

This is as simple as the title suggests create a distraction by pushing a vulnerable area of the map, wait
for their team to respond to it, then take an objective elsewhere on the map. If the players attacking the
distant objective have strong map mobility or teleport, they can also choose to rejoin their allies.
In the illustration Ive used Baron because its one of the objectives distraction is strongest for taking.
Consider it any time you have two or three champions who are doing well enough that they can kill
Baron on their own.


Encirclement

When taking objectives, it may be a good idea to have allies zone and bully opponents who may try to
approach the rest of the team. This is especially true when youve just crippled your opponents by
knocking out one or two key players, allowing you to successfully zone them with fewer allies. Its also a
good idea when you have fed duelists who can go toe-to-toe with any opponent who comes in range.


Interdiction

In the above illustration, a member of blue team is within ward vision of purple team, possibly signaling
that his team is near Baron Nashor. The purple team begins moving to handle a possible Baron attempt.

As purple team moves, two members in the rear are ambushed and killed by the rest of the blue team,
while the blue team member near Baron rejoins his allies.
This is interdiction. When you ambush and kill players as theyre attempting to join their allies at an
important objective, youre taking relatively little risk and gaining a huge advantage. This is brutal for
supports or marksmen who can be extremely vulnerable to being locked down without their teams.
This is ideal when you have solid map vision or you have a strong gut sense of where your opponents are
on the map (such as defending side lane towers). Unlike chasing your opponents around the map, you

end the fight closer to the objective you were threatening, gives you the possibility of hitting their
teammates if they attempt to assist, and it prevents your opponents from easily hitting somewhere else
on the map to reduce their losses (in other words, split pushing a lane on the far side of the map, since
theyre already close to the objective your team is near).

This is another variation on the same thing, using the principle of Divide & Conquer. If you have one or
two players who can stop a greater number of opponents from reaching their allies (without necessarily
killing them), you can initiate the same kind of fight closer to the objective. Technically this isnt
interdiction since youre not killing the players en route, but practically, the result may be identical.
Interdiction is much easier to accomplish when you have map pressure in several areas of the map at
once. In other words, if your opponents have a good reason to be spread around the map, and then they
have a good reason to group back together to defend a key objective, the strategy is likely going to
work.
Interdiction is a form of Defeat in Detail, a strategy that relies on knocking out one or two key
opponents and using that advantage to win fights you might not otherwise win. Well talk more about
this in the Grand Strategy & Team Compositions section.


Defense in Depth

Let your opponents push, but slow them down. When theyre slowly pushing, have one or two strong
split pushers quickly rush down structures in another lane.
This is Defense in Depth. Your goal is to create more resistance for the enemy team than your own
pushers will have, and this will cause your opponents to either break off to try to stop the split push or
keep pushing while losing more of their base. This is a core strategy for Disengage & Split Push teams
and also synergizes well with Pressure teams (both of which well cover in the upcoming Grand Strategy
& Team Compositions section).
If the grouped team waffles and decides to try to chase down the split pushers, this will almost certainly
end with them gaining nothing. This kind of chasing can kill the chances of victory quickly, and in normal
matches with low communication, it frequently does.
On the other hand, if the split pushing team waffles and the split pushers rejoin their team instead of
pushing hard, they can also cost the entire advantage of the team. This is especially true if the split
pushers dont have teleport or another way of quickly rejoining their allies, meaning a whole lot of time
is wasted on the recall and the run, during which the pushing team can keep pushing.
If the opposing team is trying to back off to chase down the split pushers or defend their base do
everything you can to disrupt this, especially if theyre trying to cast recall. Unless your opponents are
pulling off a feint to lure you away from your own towers, their falling back means theyve totally lost
the engagement; they arent gaining more objectives and they didnt stop the split pushers.
Backdooring naked inhibitors offers a huge opportunity to successfully pull off Defense in Depth and
potentially lure opponents away from your base.


Turtling

Turtling is when you pull back to your towers or your base and set up defensively to prevent your
opponents from pushing.
Before going further, a word of caution: League of Legends is not designed to allow teams that turtle
indefinitely to win. When towers take damage, they dont regenerate. You lose gold from the jungle and
may not be able to contest objectives like Baron Nashor and Dragon. Recovering lost map vision is much
riskier than refreshing map vision. By design, late game damage dealers can outscale any amount of
defensiveness.
Though turtling is often a losing strategy, it loses less quickly than getting your whole team aced because
you were overwhelmed outside the base. There can be good reasons to briefly withdraw into your base:
A critical player has just been killed or has gone AFK and you want to lose as little as possible
while waiting for them
Your opponents have been backdooring naked inhibitors as they respawn and you know theyll
do it again soon
Your opponents have a Baron buff that you really cant survive in the open as a team
Youre very close to potentially game-changing items and you want a small bit of safe farm to
pick them up before a teamfight
Turtling doesnt require much communication, but getting people to stop turtling can. Try to avoid the
temptation to turtle when other good options are open to you.
If youre up against a team thats turtling, the ball is entirely in your court. The whole map is yours to
farm, and you will certainly gain a gold advantage by taking advantage of it. However, since turtling is
often a response to being significantly behind, a head-on engagement may allow you to close the game.

Forks
In Chess, forking is a maneuver where a piece is moved in such a way that it threatens two enemy
pieces. This concept is absolutely critical to objective strategy (and all League strategy). Because of this,
Ive got a separate section completely dedicated to it check out The Impossible Decision.


Grand Strategy & Team Compositions
Weve looked at tactics, strategies, and a variety of other related subjects. But none of these create a
unified picture of League of Legends, an overarching look at how teams play against each other from the
time champion selection begins to the time the game ends. Few people, including top tournament
analysts, actually talk about these grand strategies.
For what its worth, distilling League of Legends into core strategies has been one of the most difficult
challenges Ive been faced with. I could not have written this section when I wrote the first edition of the
e-book. I have tried unsuccessfully to write similar sections in the past, especially with the older Team
Compositions section. It took a lot of experience and tournament analysis for these ideas to crystallize
into the form youre seeing here.
What turns a strategy into a grand strategy? In the case of Defeat in Detail, I was on the fence before
deciding it qualified as a grand strategy rather than simply a good strategy, and the decision was based
on the fact that tournament teams can and do make champion selections to accommodate the strategy.
In other words, the entire match may be built around this approach. Ive used this as the benchmark for
defining what belongs here instead of strictly in the previous strategy section.
I readily acknowledge that there may be more grand strategies than those listed below, and I will
endeavor to identify them and include them in future editions. Please feel free to contact me if you feel
Ive missed any that are important.

Team Compositions
In the following subsections I will be discussing the grand strategies in an order designed to allow me to
relate each strategy to previously discussed strategies. Ill also look at a few specific examples of team
compositions within several strategies and look at the specific ways to play and counter them.
As you read this, you may find places where you feel two strategies are not mutually exclusive. This is
absolutely true! After we look at these strategies, Ill talk about how to categorize and pick champions to
create effective teams that utilize several strategies at once.

Compositions in Context Teamfight vs. Avoidance
Though we often think of League of Legends as a game about epic fights, theres a fairly hard line that
separates teams that want to engage in teamfights and teams that want to avoid them. As you read
through these strategies, notice how many of them are intended to keep their distance from opponents
or avoid them entirely, at least until they have an overwhelming advantage.
For what its worth, I find that the teams that avoid teamfights are more interesting on a strategic level.
Those are the games that really inspire me. But teams that actively engage in teamfights are way more
exciting for me to watch at tournaments, and I think thats where some of the coolest individual plays
are made.
Theres no right or wrong way to play. Every strategy in here has been used successfully in major
tournaments and they all have their place in normal and solo queue matches. Sometimes youll wind up
with an odd composition for no particular reason other than your teammates wanting to play the
champions they love. The cool thing about understanding these strategies is you can usually work with
these odd picks to develop a working strategy, even if its not the one you were planning to play.


Assault

Strengths
Great against Punch-Through teams
during early and mid game
Best all-around team, works effectively
against many teams
Fantastic for teamfighting
One or two strong teamfights allows a
fairly easy snowball to victory
Low communication requirement, the
default mode for many players, and great
at all levels of play
Weaknesses
Vulnerable against Mobility and
Disengage & Split Push teams
Most effective when grouped, but can fall
behind when denied teamfights
Crippling disadvantage if they fall behind
any other team composition; in other
words, if they cant reliably win a
teamfight, they lose their biggest perk

Champion Examples
Nasus, Malphite, Syndra, Swain, Graves, Ryze, Vayne, Varus, Annie, Sona, Leona

Engage in teamfight. Win teamfight. Take objectives.
Assault teams are designed primarily for teamfight mastery. As the name implies, the goal with these
teams is to force favorable fights and capitalize on the outcome to win the game.
These teams are designed to be strong throughout the game and they encourage teamfights early and
often. They are fantastic for bullying around objectives like Dragon and Baron Nashor. Usually these
teams have a good mix of champions, including initiators, peeling, support, damage, and crowd controls.
These are the teams where powerhouse short-range killers like Vayne excel because, with proper
execution from allies, theyll be able to stay near ideal targets.

This is the most common strategy in League of Legends, even among organized teams. Teamfighting is
what a lot of people join League of Legends for, and its what they really enjoy. Assault teams are also
the easiest to coordinate, as many players especially as they improve their game knowledge will
learn teamfighting skills before learning broader strategy.
Assault teams can win games fairly quickly if they latch onto a few favorable teamfights. If they can
successfully engage teamfights early on, theyre likely to snowball a lead to victory except in extreme
circumstances.
Assault teams tend to be functional against most team types. However, you should usually seek to avoid
picking an Assault team against a Mobility or Disengage & Split Push team.
If picking against Defeat in Detail or Pursuit teams, group together sooner rather than later. Both teams
can cripple by catching players by themselves.


Basic Assault Composition
Before jumping into some variations, I want to touch base on how you actually pick champions for an
Assault team. As mentioned earlier, there are a few key attributes:
Sustained Damage
Burst Damage
Mixed Damage Types
Support (Shields, Healing, Auras, etc.)
Initiation
Crowd Controls & Peeling
Mobility
You want a good balance of these. In other words, you want a standard meta-friendly team composition
and you hope that your allies are picking champions that fit well in this. There are very few champions
that wont work in some way in an Assault team comp, so long as your allies are covering the other
attributes.
A quick example of this, for the sake of completeness, might be a team composition that includes
Renekton, Vayne, Sona, Orianna, and Jarvan IV. This team has a good mix of everything and should have
a fighting chance at many head-on teamfights.
I think of Assault as a default. With the exception of Mobility and Disengage & Split Push, which Ill
cover soon, the other major strategies and team compositions are more or less based on this general
team comp make-up, but they trade some attributes out to become much stronger in others.

Assault Area of Effect
When a team has at least one very strong AOE disabler, such as Galio, Amumu, or Morgana, they can
line up devastating combos for additional AOE damage from other teammates. Watch out for a team
that contains one of these disables, along with any other damaging ultimate (such as Miss Fortune's
Bullet Time), as they can very quickly knock out an enemy team even if they're behind.
AOE teams only work if a team is grouped up tightly enough that multiple important targets can be hit at
once. To counter these teams, make every effort to keep your most important teammates away from
each other and from other teammates, but close enough that they can immediately engage after the
AOE team has initiated a fight. The jungle is a death trap when going against AOE teams, as the tighter
corridors can sometimes make it virtually impossible to avoid a strong ability combo.
If you have teammates who can survive an initial round of burst from the AOE champions, having them
stay near each other can draw attention to them, allowing for effective counterplay once the initial
volley of abilities have been used. Another good counter is the use of champions such as Janna, Alistar,
and other disablers to lock down these champions as they try to initiate fights.

Finally, using split pushing (covered in The Impossible Decision) and other multi-faceted approaches
that require their team to split apart to deal with your team can very effectively counter teams that
require their ability combo to win fights.
Keep cooldowns in mind! Many of the more powerful ultimates have very long cooldowns, and it can
buy you at least a couple minutes to engage without fear of them. If you see an ultimate misused, or if
you recover from a bad fight quickly enough, take advantage of it by taking an objective or forcing them
into an unfavorable fight.

Assault Early Victory
Some teams have a disproportionately high number of assassins or bulky fighters, and this often points
to a strategy of winning the game early on. These champions excel in the early game, potentially netting
several early kills in each lane and gaining early towers. In Season 3, bruiser/assassin teams showed
themselves to be very strong at early tower dives, allowing virtually unavoidable ganks in each lane
unless the lane has considerable advance warning.
Powerful gap closers are ideal champion traits. For example, a Renekton, Elise, or Jarvan IV that are able
to roam fairly early on and quickly dive onto opponents can help develop a very early power advantage.
While gap closers are fantastic, you dont necessarily need champions with escapes, which means youll
be able to pick from a variety of tankier fighters as well (or actual tanks and supports).
Other traits that help in winning the game early are strong crowd controls and an abundance of heals or
shields. Early on, both of these can discourage teams from initiating, especially when opponents are
champions that dont scale to their potential until later stages of the game.
This is a strategy that relies on snowballing an unusually strong advantage over the other team early,
ideally leading to a team that will either surrender or lose motivation.
Countering these teams relies on playing it unusually safe and farming gold. You want a strong
marksman and/or mage coming out of the early and mid game -- damage in League of Legends is
designed so that it will always outpace survivability, given time and smart gold investments. Non-carry
champions should focus on surviving the initial burst from these champions to protect the carries.
Team compositions with strong carries and crowd controls will usually win over heavy assassin or bruiser
teams once the match reaches the later phases.

Mobility

Strengths
Great against Assault teams at all stages of
the game
Can often gain an early game advantage
against any team type which can allow
them to win even in unfavorable matchups
Demoralizing to opponents when they
cant be locked down
Chance for a comeback: Can fall back and
look for targets of opportunity when
behind
Consistently performs well in tournaments
Allows players with high mechanical skill
to shine
Weaknesses
Vulnerable against late game Pressure &
Punch-Through teams. May be vulnerable
against Disengage & Split Push teams if
they cannot lock down the split pusher(s)
Weak at defending objectives or engaging
teamfights without building a strong
advantage over opponents first
Strong targeted crowd controls can lock
down even the most mobile champions
Very high skill and communication
requirement especially for top level play

Champion Examples
Thresh, Lee Sin, Jax, Aatrox, Jarvan IV, Fizz, Nidalee, Gragas, Zed, Corki, Ezreal, Caitlyn

Avoid direct confrontation. Dismantle opponents through small attacks they cant respond to.
Mobility teams are the epitome of guerrilla warfare. If you try to hit them as a team, they may fall back
in five different directions and then hit your other objectives elsewhere on the map. They are one of the
few team types designed to avoid unfavorable teamfights, and as a rule, Mobility teams tend to be the
best at achieving this. Mobility teams should be completely familiar with forking, which I cover in The
Impossible Decision.

Before we go further, let me clarify what I mean by mobility. Mobility, as opposed to movement speed,
is the use of dashes, blinks, or specialized movement to move from one place to another. Mobile
champions include champions such as Lee Sin, Jax, and Nidalee. The most mobile champions tend to
have the ability not just to engage where they choose but often to disengage just as effectively.
Lets talk about an ancient Roman dictator named Fabius. When Hannibal crossed the Alps, Fabius was
tasked with defeating him. The Carthaginians under Hannibals command had already proven they could
defeat the Romans, and more victories against the Romans would strengthen their standing as an
invading army and maintain their pool of mercenaries.
Fabius took a creative approach in dealing with Hannibal he would avoid direct confrontation, instead
focusing his efforts on keeping villagers out of Hannibals reach, harassing foraging parties, and
ultimately damaging the morale of the Carthaginian force.
This is the Fabian strategy. It is extraordinarily powerful and extraordinarily frustrating to deal with. Its
also been fairly unpopular historically, as it often seemed to be an admission that you were unable to
fight fair against your opponents. But it defeated Hannibal, Napolean, and King George. If you want to
see the frustration visualized, check out this video of hydrophobic water (if you cant click links from
here, search Superhydrophobic Water Part II on YouTube).
In League of Legends, newer players will tend to be frustrated by mobile champions and mobile teams.
Theyre waiting around for a teamfight but their enemies never seem to want to fight. A lot of players
assume this is what bad players do to win, but in truth its what many of the best players are doing to
win.
Let me tie this to tournament play: The Season 3 World Championship was very disappointing to many
people who watched it. In the matches between Royal Club and Fnatic, there were plenty of interesting
teamfights and a lot of action. But in the final matches between Royal Club and SKT1, nothing seemed to
be happening. There were few big teamfights, and Royal Club just seemed unable to handle SKT1. A lot
of people misread this as the Koreans being so much better than the Chinese, but it wasnt really about
that. If I havent said it upfront and totally crystal clear yet, here it is:
Mobility teams hard-counter Assault teams.
Ill leave that in a nice bold print to drive the message home. The one consistent truth in League of
Legends is that a highly skilled, highly mobile team will usually destroy a similarly skilled team that relies
on teamfighting. These cards are in their favor:
They can choose to avoid unfavorable teamfights;
They can choose to engage in favorable teamfights;
Theyre more likely to escape a good initiation from the other team;
Theyre better able to explore and move around the map without teammates;
They can take bigger risks with their escape options.

On top of this, teamfighting comps may have less gold available to them when they move around as a
group (thereby leaving some farm untaken around the map), and they wont be able to rely on
teamfights and kills to recoup this. Mobility teams win games by inches, compiling a lot of small
advantages throughout each stage of the game, while denying their opponents the benefits of
confrontation.
In the world championship, SKT1 had a mobility team comp. Its very popular in the Korean scene, and
we tend to see them more frequently in international tournaments. The problem was that Royal Club
doubled down on their teamfighting comps, allowing SKT1 a fantastically easy time in winning the game
while avoiding most of the teamfights Royal Club tried to initiate.
Ill talk more about this in the Analyzing Tournaments subsection a little later on, but for the purposes
of this discussion, I wanted to make it clear that these strategy decisions have everything to do with why
there wasnt a lot of visual excitement in the final matches. Mobility strategies arent always exciting
unless you watch out for the broader map strategies and small plays being made.
Lets bring this back away from the tournament discussion. As a general rule, you want to look at this
like the difference between combat drones and battleships. Combat drones are small and agile but dont
pack an enormous punch. Their virtue is in how completely they can avoid risks. Battleships, on the
other hand, were built with enormous cannon and heavy armor, and were designed for head-on
conflicts. The drone could never play on the same terms as the battleship in other words, it cant try to
go toe-to-toe in a stationary shooting battle with it but instead must use its maneuverability to avoid
taking the shots. Without an overwhelming advantage, Mobility compositions should avoid direct
teamfights.
Adding one more note specific to League of Legends, mobile champions are explicitly not designed as
teamfighters. While there are many highly mobile champions, only a very small handful have anything
that would be considered a traditional (non-crowd control) support ability. This is part of why Lee Sin
can be such a valuable pick, as he can shield an ally. This also means Thresh, who can pull himself over
walls, bring an ally over walls (thus giving them mobility), and shield allies, is arguably the strongest
support champion for any Mobility team. Less-than-ideal picks are champions whose mobility relies on
long cooldown ultimates, such as Malphite, even though these may be better traditional teamfighters.
Im a particular fan of mobility that explicitly allows easily jumping over walls, ideally without needing an
enemy champion on the other side. These champions are very effective at surprise engagements and
escapes. Of note, these teams are capable of entering both the Dragon and Baron pits without being
seen in the river. In two Season 3 tournament games, teams with this make-up have been able to
unexpectedly take Baron Nashor without the enemy team even knowing they were present (despite
having the nearby river warded).
Mobility teams are devastating to most team compositions in part because their early game is very
strong. The champions that are good at disengaging tend to also be able to take more risks in harassing
their opponents and are more likely to be able to escape from even the most coordinated ganks. Punch-
Through is the only team comp that directly hard-counters Mobility comps in the mid and late game,

but this only works when the Punch-Through team can get past the early game advantages of the
mobility team.
Pursuit teams may or may not counter Mobility teams, though this largely depends on the specific
champions involved. Disengage teams that focus on split pushing but have strong teamfighting elements
may win against Mobility teams, but again, this depends on the champions.
Mobility teams have another advantage: They still have a fighting chance to win the game if theyve
fallen behind their opponents. Theyre overall safe picks, and you still have things you can try (such as
split pushing, stealing objectives, etc.) when you have no other choices.
The barrier to entry for Mobility teams is that they require very high individual skill as well as very good
team coordination and communication.

Disengage & Split Push

Strengths
Great against Assault teams, may be
strong against Mobility teams
Shares many perks of Mobility teams but
focuses more heavily on objectives
May be good at defending objectives and
delaying takedowns
Can prevent or deter many forms of
initiation, may be strong against Area of
Effect teams
Demoralizing to opponents when they
cant be locked down
Chance for a comeback: May be able to
successfully turtle to buy time for split
pushing, utilizing Defense in Depth
strategy
Consistently performs well in tournaments
Rewards strategic players
Weaknesses
Vulnerable against Pursuit and Defeat in
Detail teams
Heavily vision dependent
Disengagement may require ultimates,
opponents can use that downtime to their
advantage
If the split pusher(s) can be locked down
and killed by an equal number of
opponents, much of advantage is lost
Limited pool of ideal champions
Requires excellent coordination

Champion Examples
Janna, Zyra, Nami, Kassadin, Ahri, Gragas, Fizz, Shen, Ezreal, Quinn, Jinx

Attack objectives, withdraw from players.
Disengage & Split Push teams are very similar in role and function to Mobility teams, but they are
designed more around objective control. To achieve this, these teams will pick up champions that have

stronger teamfighting synergy, wave clearing, and pressure. This makes them less capable of avoiding as
many teamfights as Mobility teams, but they are more flexible in picking supports such as Zyra, Janna,
and Nami, who can use their abilities to help their whole team fall back from imminent teamfights.
As far as split pushing, the champions that are ideal for this are covered pretty extensively in The
Impossible Decision, which is a must-read for this strategy anyway. I strongly recommend the split
pusher have Teleport available if at all possible, as this allows for easier forking. Teleport is especially
important if the enemy team is able to push towers more quickly than the split pushers (i.e. when the
Defense in Depth strategy fails).
To the extent that a Disengage & Split Push team is less mobile than a Mobility team, the Disengage &
Split Push team must necessarily take fewer risks. Hyper-mobile champions like Lee Sin (especially
paired with Thresh) may be able to jump over a wall into the fog of war and still escape when caught,
but less mobile champions dont always have that luxury. For this reason, map vision is critically
important to maintain as often as possible for a Disengage & Split Push team.
Disengage & Split Push balances against Pursuit teams in an interesting way. Technically, disengagement
is how you counter most forms of initiation. A very quick Janna ultimate, for example, can knock a Galio
or Kennen right back out of the team when they move in to initiate, and a Zyra ultimate can buy enough
time to allow her team to continue falling back even if an enemy Malphite has successfully knocked the
team up.
But Pursuit teams that can maintain a chase through these abilities, or even bypass these abilities with
their own mobility, can still initiate a fight. Since the strategy largely revolves around split pushing, its
often the case that this becomes a 4 vs. 5 (or similarly imbalanced) teamfight, and the Pursuit team can
likely win with a strong enough margin that they can push objectives. Because of this, I tend to consider
Pursuit teams as a hard-counter to Disengage & Split Push teams, but only insofar as the Pursuit team
has the right champions to make it happen.


Disengage Champion Breakdown
Janna is arguably the strongest disengage champion in the League due to her ultimate. When timed
well, she can knock opponents completely out of a fight while causing them to waste their initiation
abilities. On top of this, her entire kit is fairly strong for a poke team, so shes an ideal all-around pick.
Zyra is another strong disengage champion, again largely due to her ultimate (though, like Janna, she
has a line-skillshot crowd control that also helps). When your team is falling back, dropping this ultimate
can prevent opponents from being able to travel over a very large area without being delayed by the
knockup.
As far as top tier disengagement, Gragas and Nami also fall into this category for their own ultimates.
Other champions do well in this role, though they tend to be less capable of stopping full team pushes.
Jayce can double as strong poke and decent disengage with his knockback and his acceleration gate.
Leona, Ashe, and Varus can potentially stop incoming players. Theres also a large group of champions
with very strong slows or area crowd controls (Karthus, Anivia, etc.) that can control fights as a team
falls back.
How do you counter disengagement? There are a few specific options that work well:
Against Janna or other displacement champions, Zed offers a very strong counter due to his
ultimate placing a shadow clone he can port right back to after the disengage occurs.
Against strong slows, Evelynns high speed and her ability to remove slows allows her to get
back onto a target quickly. Both Master Yi and Olaf fall in this category as well, though the lack
of stealth makes it a little easier to quickly land hard crowd controls.
Against high movement speed and mobility (and most of the other disengage options),
Nocturnes ultimate and spell shield allow him to quickly get onto a target. This can be coupled
with Shens ultimate allowing for a follow-up taunt, which can allow slower team members time
to move in and engage as well.
Morganas Black Shield allows at least one player to remain unaffected by crowd controls. Shes
a situational champion but its definitely worth keeping in the back of your head.
Items such as Banshees Veil and Quicksilver Sash (as well as similar crowd control removal options)
work, but they are situational to the match youre in.


Pursuit

Strengths
Specialized against Pressure, Mobility and
Disengage & Split Push teams
Strong against any team that isnt grouped
up, particularly prior to mid game
grouping
Many of the best pursuit champions are
extraordinarily influential right when they
gain their ultimate
Chance for a comeback: Many pursuit
champions are capable of split pushing
Weaknesses
May be weaker at teamfighting than
Assault teams
Limited champion pool if you need to
counter Over the Wall mobility
No particular strengths at defending
objectives
Vulnerable to chasing too far and running
into ambushes
While many pursuit champions are solid
on their own, what you give up for strong
pursuit bonuses may put you at a
disadvantage against grouped teams that
want to fight you

Champion Examples
Volibear, Udyr, Trundle, Nocturne, Pantheon, Kassadin, Lissandra, Twisted Fate, Quinn

See. Chase. Kill.
Pursuit teams are very similar to Assault teams, but they are shifted much more heavily towards chasing
down slippery opponents and locking them down. There are three main types of champions that can
belong on pursuit teams:
1. Champions with long range mobility ultimates such as Nocturne, Twisted Fate, and Pantheon;
2. Champions with sustained or exceptional mobility such as Kassadin or Ahri;

3. Champions with extremely high speed such as Hecarim, Rammus, Singed, and Volibear.
I tend to value champions with hard crowd controls over champions without when it comes to this
particular team composition, which means Id consider a champion like Master Yi to fall more under a
split pushing role than a pursuit role in terms of the teams he belongs on. However, a champion like
Master Yi could fit nicely as a final addition to round out this type of team.
Lets briefly talk about game theory. Initiation tends to beat poke and other long range harassment, but
only when the initiation happens immediately. In other words, if poke is allowed to go on for a while, a
team that could have initiated and won a teamfight may find itself too weak and too low on resources to
successfully do so later. But ranged harassment tends to require that long whittling down period, and if
they are immediately locked in a teamfight, their main strategy for victory can be put in peril, even when
theyre significantly ahead.
Against Pressure teams, this poke vs. initiation dynamic means a teamfight that is initiated immediately
will cause the balance of power to fall heavily towards the Pursuit team. For Mobility and Disengage &
Split Push teams, this is a little less of a hard counter, and it often requires the Pursuit team have better
chasers than their opponents have escapers. This is where the different types of pursuers come into
play.
Champions that rely largely on movement speed, as opposed to dashes or blinks, are generally able to
gain much more distance from a single ability than their more mobile counterparts. But this comes at
the cost of being susceptible to many common disengage abilities, particularly the use of line skillshot
crowd controls from champions like Janna (Tornado), Lux (Binding), and Zyra (Roots).
The jungle is much more difficult for these champions due to the tighter corridors that leave less room
to dodge these skillshots and the potential for enemies to utilize walls to put major distance between
you and them. Additionally, in several tournaments games have hinged on a pursuing team chasing so
aggressively into the enemy jungle that they walk right into a coordinated trap; this is especially
devastating against AOE teams that have a short initiation range. So while these champions are still
fantastic pursuers, keeping chases near lanes or the river can be a good idea.
Movement speed pursuers have the advantage of bringing a little bit more synergy to many teams than
pure mobility champions, and there are two good ways to help them around their weakness. First,
consider adding an extremely mobile champion like Kassadin to the team, as they can pull ahead and
help lock down an opponent while the others catch up. Second, champions that can grant bonus
movement speed such as Orianna are great at offering a needed boost.
Ultimately, Pursuit teams should be considered when teamfighting is your strength but your opponents
are playing a team composition that is intended to avoid direct teamfights.


Pursuit Global & Long Range Map Mobility
Abilities that allow a champion to travel across the map (Shen) or large areas of the map (Twisted Fate,
Nocturne, Pantheon) have a very real impact on how each lane must play. Other champions with strong
map mobility (ex. Kassadin) or extreme-range dashes (ex. Zac, Lissandra) can also fall into this category
without very strong ward vision and map awareness.
The idea of global presence is that you can react quickly to teamfights, initiate unexpectedly, push
nearby lanes while still being ready to help teammates, and in some cases, escape otherwise-
unavoidable deaths.
Aside from playing safely and making sure you dont overextend unless you can handle a full teamfight,
there are three more direct ways to handle this kind of mobility:
1. Focus early and mid game pressure on the champions with the long range mobility. Shen may
be able to move across the entire map to add himself to any teamfight, but it doesnt do him
any good if hes the one being ganked.
2. Stay grouped as a team and force objectives to prevent split pushing. This is best done if you
have a strong pushing team.
3. Global ultimates have fairly long cooldowns. As soon as one has been used, immediately apply
pressure where they arent (ex. pushing mid tower after Twisted Fate has just used his ultimate
to gank bottom).
Theres another great way to counter global ultimates picking a champion that hard counters them
and taking the Teleport summoner spell. Either kill them in lane or in the jungle, or follow them to
whatever fight they go to with Teleport. Here are some quick examples, though its certainly not an
exhaustive list:
Twisted Fate is countered by Fizz, Diana, and Ahri. Because Fizz can become untargetable and
completely avoid a gold card, he is one of the strongest counters.
Nocturne is countered in the jungle by strong duelists such as Olaf, Udyr, and Shyvana, or in lane
by beefy champions such as Nasus.
Shen is countered by generally strong solo laners such as Jayce, Teemo, Kayle, and Elise. In
addition to this, high sustain champions such as Yorick, Warwick, and Vladimir also do well.
Pantheon is weak to very bulky champions, particularly those with sustain, innate damage
reduction or survivability, or easy interrupts. Yorick, Udyr, Malphite, Chogath, and
coincidentally, Shen, all work for this.
One more thing to keep in mind: Shen is particularly vulnerable to being interrupted while channeling
his ultimate. Several tournament teamfights have turned because Shen was interrupted, preventing him
from joining his team when his allies were relying on him. A near-instant crowd control that can be used
from a range, such as Malphites ultimate, works for this.


Defeat in Detail

Strengths
Generally acceptable against most teams,
particularly those with softer targets that
can be killed quickly
Big chance for a comeback: One lucky
hook or one opponent out of position can
win the game
Champions that synergize with this
strategy (assassins and hooks) tend to
have strong killing potential throughout
the game
Fits well as an after-thought to most other
team compositions
Adds considerable threat when opponents
are attacking structures
While used at all levels of play, can be
devastating in the lower experience
brackets
Weaknesses
Dont bother picking this against teams
that will stay tightly grouped and have
support synergy, especially Punch-
Through teams
Struggles against any team with strong
map vision
By the mid game, the composition may
suffer from overall synergy and can require
knocking out at least one player to have a
shot
Snowballing is often necessary close out a
game if your opponents are paying
attention to positioning

Champion Examples
Blitzcrank, Thresh, Khazix, Rengar, Talon, Akali, Katarina, Fizz, Malzahar, Veigar, Vi, Skarner

Knock out one key player. Capitalize.
Defeat in Detail is a specific strategy that involves killing one or two opponents before the rest of their
team can react. Oftentimes this may be a support or another vulnerable player, but in many cases,

knocking off any single opponent can give your team an edge that allows you to take objectives or
continue to keep your opponents out of the fight.
To be clear, the strategy of isolating players or hitting players who are out of position is a tool that any
team should take advantage of. The reason Ive included it as a distinct team in this section is because
team compositions can be specifically picked to enable this.
There are three types of champions that common on these teams:
1. Assassins, as they can quickly burst down single targets.
2. Champions with hooks (Blitzcrank, Thresh, Nautilus) as they can isolate opponents from their
teams. Blitzcrank tends to be the strongest due to how easily he can pull an opponent over a
wall.
3. Single-target crowd controllers such as Vi who can lock an opponent down for long enough to
ensure a kill.
Vision fights, especially around objectives, tend to work well as a means of baiting out opponents. Other
strategies such as interdiction are also helpful.
Like Mobility teams, these teams require quick reactions from teammates. Catching an opponent
without the team responding quickly may allow opponents to escape.
Defeat in Detail teams usually have a shot at winning games even when theyre behind. Their opponents
only need to make one critical mistake, or get hit by that one lucky Blitzcrank grab.


Defeat in Detail Double Assassins
Double assassin teams pose a unique threat due to their ability to snowball through a teamfight,
especially when at least one of them can reset some or all of their abilities with a kill or assast (Katarina,
Khazix, Akali). For what its worth, this also goes for Master Yi and Tristana if theyre doing extremely
well.
Double Assassin comps rely entirely on singling out a single vulnerable player and destroying them, then
either falling back or moving on to the next target. This is especially brutal against teams who have
multiple squishy champions, and is capable of turning around games even when the other team is doing
fantastically well. If youre playing a double assassin team, its worth bringing in players with strong
long-range harassment (poke) to get people low enough to be easily burst down by the assassins. On top
of this, at least one hard crowd control is helpful for easily knocking out the first victim.
How do you counter this? At champion select, picking champions who are very bulky or who can survive
through death (Anivia, Zac, Zilean, etc.) work provided they mesh with your team comp. In game,
vulnerable members should absolutely strive to build a Guardian Angel as their fourth item. Nothing kills
an assassins ability to teamfight like having to wait in the middle of a team for a core target to revive.
And if theyre relying on ability resets, they wont get them until the target is actually dead, not simply
put into a state of revival.
Beyond this, you need to worry about the individual survivability of your team. If youre playing as a
team, your goal should be to build enough effective health to survive the burst long enough for crowd
controls or disengage to come into effect.
When youre playing without a full team, it may not be possible to convince players that they need more
survivability. Thats where group survivability items such as Aegis of the Legion and Locket of the Iron
Solari come in.
And when all else fails, do everything you can to keep more vulnerable players out of the fight until the
assassins have already engaged.

Defeat in Detail Double Hooks
Like double assassin teams, double hook teams are rare and specialized at control and initiates.
Specifically, double hook teams contain at least two of the three champions that can hook onto a player
and pull them towards their team, meaning Blitzcrank, Nautilus, or Thresh. Im not including Darius or
Diana as their pull-in abilities are not limited to a single target (counter this by keeping your distance, as
they have short ranges).
These teams are very strong at pulling an opponent out and locking them down (often with a follow-up
hook), but they are fairly easily stopped in teamfights by using bulky champions (such as Amumu,
Sejuani, or Alistar) as a front line. Having a survivable champion physically block the path of possible

incoming hooks can sometimes not only cause them to hook a player who can survive their burst, but
can also allow the hooked champion to open up with their own crowd controls more easily.
Of course, you arent limited to blocking with tanks. Simply picking champions who excel at a close
range, such as Karthus and Diana, limits the good options for who they can pull in during a teamfight.
Highly mobile champions such as Ezreal also tend to be fine around hook teams as they can more easily
dodge the hooks and, even if theyre caught, they may have a great chance of still slipping back out.
Still, these are strong team comps when youre able to catch people out, and theres a good deal of
strategy to flanking out of vision for clean shots.


Punch-Through

Strengths
Ticking time bomb: Hit late game, win
game. Strongest late game counter to
Mobility, Disengage & Split Push, Pursuit,
and Defeat in Detail teams
Does not require a focus on either
initiation or mobility, allowing a stronger
focus on team synergy than any other
team composition
Once this team reaches critical mass they
can often push down a single lane and win
the game outright
Despite a relatively weak early game
compared to other teams, many
champions that fit this composition are
also good at defending objectives and
delaying takedowns
Weaknesses
Very dependent on a ranged damage
dealer building several core items. Can be
crippled in the early and mid game by
Mobility and Pursuit teams
Due to tighter grouping in teamfights, may
be vulnerable to unexpected area effect
crowd controls
Works by creating a team-wide protective
shell but also requires a lot of team farm
to reach critical mass; staying spread out
in the early and mid game adds a lot of
vulnerability
Potential doesnt always pan out and the
team can sometimes fall too far behind
Has been hit-or-miss in tournaments, with
big victories as well as big losses

Champion Examples
Tristana, Caitlyn, Kogmaw, Jinx, Orianna, Lux, Morgana, Kayle, Jarvan IV, Shen

See objective. Take objective.
Punch-Through teams are built to focus on objectives, particularly towers. The goal for these teams is to
feed at least one very strong carry through the early and mid game, then build a turtle-like shell around
that carry and demolish structures (and any champions who try to stop them).

The strategy has gone through a few different names in the community, including Protect the
Kogmaw. The idea behind these teams is that one or two players will become powerhouse pushers
throughout the game, able to rapidly take down either towers or players. The other players on the team
focus on keeping those pushers alive through support abilities and crowd controls. The pusher needs to
gain power, though, and needs to find and take any opportunities to gain gold and items.
When it comes to teamfighting, Punch-Through teams with fed damage dealers tend to excel at
destroying any target, which means taking an approach like kill the closest target no matter what
actually works out well.
Ideally, every member of a Punch-Through team brings something towards tower takedowns, whether
this is strong wave clear, long range normal attacks, or zone control to deny enemies from defending.
The fed damage dealer tends to be the biggest central point of damage against towers, and marksmen
with consistent long attack ranges (Caitlyn, Tristana, Kogmaw, and Jinx) are usually ideal. When
possible, the other champions should bring utility in addition to their main role Orianna is a fantastic
example because all of her abilities can be fully effective while serving the purpose of keeping the main
damage dealer alive. Shields, auras, utility, crowd controls, and anything that serves the purpose of
making the whole greater than the sum of its parts are good.
Like chess, it can be just as important where you dont move as where you do move. Avoid using Punch-
Through to chase opponents, especially into less open terrain such as the jungle, as it can negate many
of the advantages of your range. These teams do well pushing open lanes. You dont have to respond to
everything. If your forward momentum is stronger than theirs, just continue what youre doing instead
of reacting. If theyre split up and cant defend their towers, thats an important advantage for you.
If you do get pulled into a teamfight, dont get sucked into a war of attrition when you can avoid it.
Dont chase ghosts, you wont win the match by defeating your enemies in a teamfight (I mean, you
could, but its not your only method). If you can regroup and focus on an objective, do that quickly.
I consider Punch-Through teams to be the ticking time bomb in League of Legends. Theyre
extraordinarily vulnerable when theyre split up trying to get farm, and both Mobility and Pursuit teams
are capable of setting them so far back in the early and mid game that they cant recover. But in those
instances where the Punch-Through team plays its cards right and gets to the late game they tend to
steamroll over anything they come across. Theyre one of my personal favorites to watch because they
can look like theyre losing until they reach a moment of critical mass, at which point they completely
overcome anything thrown at them.
Ultimately the winning strategy for these teams is outlast and outfarm. But before totally selling you on
this team comp, let me reiterate that its easier said than done. These teams tend to lose games earlier
because their power level didnt quite spike to where it needed to be quickly enough.


Punch-Through Teamfight Variation
As a standalone strategy I tend to emphasize the importance of tower takedowns, but this strategy has
been effectively used to build team compositions around shorter range carries such as Vayne. Along
with this, teams like Royal Club have put less of an emphasis on support synergy and more of an
emphasis on body blocking opponents, creating a physical wall of protection.
All of the same principles apply for this team composition, but this shifts the emphasis off of
steamrolling towers later in the game and puts it on steamrolling enemy teams (often with the end
result of taking out a nearby objective). And in a lot of circumstances, weaving in and out to put damage
on towers with a shorter range champion is still effective for sieging, provided your team has gained
sufficient advantage over your opponents.

Pressure

Strengths
Safe against most teams that lack initiation
If this team has a lead, it tends to maintain
and build that lead
Many champions in this composition are
also strong at defending objectives and
delaying takedowns
Chance for a comeback: Landing enough
harassment on one critical player that
forces them to fall back or recall can allow
openings for objectives and direct
teamfights
Safe during most stages of the game
Can build an illusion of superiority
Weaknesses
Vulnerable against Pursuit and Assault
teams with strong initiation.
A quick early initiation from opponents,
especially using flanks, can be devastating
Once opponents initiate and win a
teamfight, they tend to realize they can
win by doing this relentlessly
Benefit of localized pressure can be
nullified by enemy split pushing
Momentum can be killed off when
opponents can sustain their health
through the harassment
Requires patience, jumping the gun and
initiating a teamfight too early or too close
to an enemy tower can be costly

Champion Examples
Lux, Orianna, Xerath, Jayce, Mundo, Ashe, Caitlyn, Jinx, Ezreal, Kogmaw, Janna, Blitzcrank

Harass. Keep distance. Avoid unfavorable teamfights.
Pressure teams win games by wearing down their opponents from a distance, then moving in to take
objectives of initiate fights once their opponents are at a disadvantage. This can be achieved either
through area control abilities such as Luxs Lucent Singularity or Ziggs Hexplosive Minefield or through
active poke abilities such as Xeraths Arcanopulse.

The ideal goal for pressure teams is to knock opponents down to low health from a distance and force
them to either recall or fall back. Like Defeat in Detail, keeping one or two players out of the mix at a
time can create a power imbalance that falls in favor of the Pressure team.
For this harassment to be successful, shorter range champions on the team need to have the discipline
to hold back and wait rather than immediately diving into the enemy team. Taking the time to soften up
opponents is a great lead-in to a favorable teamfight. And before going further, let me add that theres a
really good value to having short range threats on this team, in that this can discourage opponents from
diving onto you to initiate a fight.
When in the lead, pressure teams are one of the better team compositions for taking down enemy
towers. This can be achieved in a couple different ways:
1. Create openings for a ranged champion to quickly run in, land a normal attack on the tower,
then immediately fall back; or
2. Aggressively poke opponents down to where core players need to fall back, then attack the
tower as a team.
The first option is much safer, especially when youre up against a full team that is staying to defend
their tower. Its also ideal for champions who can zone areas with persistent effects (Lux, Ziggs, etc.), as
the duration of these can allow some extra tower damage from your team.
The second option tends to be better with strong poke champions like Nidalee, as they may be able to
knock an opponent back to the platform. By doing this, they can take the risk of aggressively taking the
tower. So long as they feel a teamfight will fall in their favor this kind of push can:
Allow you to potentially knock other players back to the platform, staggering their team and
preventing them from stopping the tower takedown;
Potentially bait an uneven teamfight in defense of their tower, again allowing you to stagger
their team;
Get in a position to force enemies who can clear minion waves further back, keeping your
minion waves alive and letting them tank the tower;
Bring down the tower much more quickly.
For the same reason that Pressure teams can be good at taking down enemy towers, they can also be
obnoxiously good at defending their own. Unless their opponents have an overwhelming advantage,
they tend to be fairly capable of turtling to wait out buffs and wait for opponents to make a mistake.
While applied force actually knocking players out of the area is ideal, Pressure teams also benefit
from the mental game as well. When a player believes a risk is attached to coming within range of
several longer range opponents, they will tend to play more cautiously. This is why I included Blitzcrank
as an example, as hook champions add to the perceived risk of being in range of opponents.
This is made worse when players dont distinguish between damage over time and burst damage. Most
forms of pressure require time to be effective for instance, Lux, unless extremely fed, cant burst many

champions down from full health to zero health in one combo. But if shes landed a few singularities on
an opponent, that opponent may look at their reduced health as a sign that Lux is significantly more
powerful than them. In reality, if both players engaged in a quick head-on engagement, Lux may very
well lose that fight. (Or not, but only because Lux is awesome)
When players believe they cant approach a Pressure team, whether or not its true, then the Pressure
team has successfully achieved force projection. This is a vicious cycle the more their opponents stay
at range, the more of an advantage the Pressure team gains through towers, aggressive poking, and
map control.
Initiation is the counter to poke. The best way to stop a Pressure team is to fight back hard the moment
the harassment begins, without letting up, and without giving room to back off. Pursuit teams are
fantastic at doing this. And while Pressure teams tend to have a champion pool that allows for disables,
more mobile initiators can usually get past these.
My personal experience has been that many players, especially newer players, wont take the risk of
initiating when theyre being harassed. They dont realize the logical end to that decision is that they will
take more damage and be even less able to do anything if they dont engage quickly. There usually
arent a lot of options. But when our team actually does initiate a teamfight against them and wins, the
illusion of superiority is immediately shattered. At that point, its just a matter of time before we win the
match as we continue to force teamfights and take objectives.

Creating Effective Teams
At this point weve covered some of the important strategies that shape League of Legends, but now I
want us to pull that discussion back a little and emphasize this point:
Champions are not simply a part of a strategy, and strategies are not the only factor in victory.
At a superficial level its easy to say that player skill and player knowledge are just as important as
strategy and, while this is true, its not terribly helpful. Instead, let me list a few tangible things that can
have a big impact on victory:
1. Does the team have sufficient crowd control?
2. Does the team have a good mix of damage?
3. Does the team have a strong enough early game to last until they peak in power?
4. Does the team have the tools to either initiate teamfights or deal long range damage?
5. Does the team have synergy in map positioning? In other words, if some champions are good at
staying apart from the team, are the other champions able to function well as a smaller group?
6. If an enemy team is mobile, does the team have at least some non-skillshot damage and crowd
controls?
7. If an enemy team is skillshot dependent, does the team have mobility?
8. If an enemy team has high burst, can the team survive it?
9. Can the team clear minion waves quickly from a range?
10. Is the team capable of defending their jungle?
In the Second World War, no matter how good the strategy may have been, the Allies probably would
not have won had they still only flown biplanes. Exactly the same thing is true in League of Legends,
which is why its a good idea to consider balanced team compositions with most strategies, particularly
in regards to champions.
This is why the meta is important to understand. Even though I believe there are very good reasons to
break from the meta at times, the principles of having a good mix of different champion types works
well towards balancing a team. The reason I didnt include one-off strategies like Five Marksman or
Five Pushers gimmicks is because, by and large, they dont work outside of novelty (though they may
still be tons of fun to play occasionally).


Team & Strategy Synergy
Lets jump back to strategy. There are a couple really important points as we look into how to choose
champions for teams:
A team can have elements from multiple strategies. They are not mutually exclusive.
Unless otherwise noted, most of the strategies are soft counters to each other. Gaining a gold
and item lead through any means can still win many games that seem unfavorable.
You may have noticed in the champion examples that I offered in each strategy that there was a lot of
crossover. Where theres a strong crossover it can be very easy to combine strategies and playstyles into
a coherent, effective team. Lets take a look at some of these:
Assault, Pursuit, and Defeat in Detail share similar champions. Vi is a very good example of a
champion who can unify these strategies she is excellent at chasing and locking down a single
champion (Pursuit), offers enough crowd control for a team to kill the target (Defeat in Detail),
and fits nicely as part of a strong teamfighting composition. While this does create a strategic
weakness for an Assault team the Pincer Assault teamfight strategy is designed to bypass
champions that can only lock down a single target this weakness can be overcome with other
champion picks.
If you wanted a high priority champion pick that either gives you the flexibility to choose between these
strategies or allows you to not give away your strategy, consider strong overall champions like
Blitzcrank, Vi, Jax, or Khazix.
Mobility and Defeat in Detail share similar champions. Many highly mobile champions are
either assassins or duelists and are fantastic at catching opponents on their own. The split
pusher on a Disengage & Split Push team may also come from this category.
Flexible early picks for these strategies would include champions like Kassadin, Fizz, and Thresh. I
generally dont consider Thresh a top tier support choice for disengage teams as his own escape is
situational, but he is still a very strong asset to any team that Id be comfortable taking early.
Pressure works well with either Punch-Through or Disengage & Split Push. Consider Orianna or
Lux, both of whom are able to shield allies and deliver long range harassment and can crowd
control opponents. Champions like Janna, Zyra, and Nami work well in any of these team
compositions as well.
For clarification on my either/or statement, marksmen are usually better with a team than
attempting to split push on their own. Since Punch-Through relies on the key champion being a
marksman and Disengage & Split Push relies on the key champion being a split pusher, you
usually dont want to try to bring the two teams together (though you could probably get away
with it if your split pusher was Shen, who could return to a teamfight and bolster the
marksmans defenses at the same time).

For these teams, examples of flexible picks would include Orianna, Janna, and Lux. Though I havent
mentioned them up to this point, Id also be comfortable with picks like Syndra and Cassiopeia, both of
whom have fairly long range consistent harassment, are extremely threatening to opponents who may
want to initiate, and can easily clear minion waves later in the game. Also, these three teams can still
have normal champions, so picking an early champion outside of these is perfectly fine.
One more thing: I mentioned earlier that Defeat in Detail teams work well as an addition to other
teams, and one place they work particularly with assassins is with Pressure teams. This is because
assassins are often better off waiting in the flanks for targets to become soft enough for a kill, and this
works very well with the harassment from Pressure teams. A limited number of assassins like Kassadin
are also quite capable of split pushing, which means this dynamic can work with some Disengage & Split
Push teams as well.
Up to this point, Ive illustrated a number of similarities between team compositions and hopefully given
you an idea how to create a team that shares several attributes. But its a good idea to have a single
strategy as your raison d'tre, the strategy that is the primary reason for your existence.
Defeat in Detail is a good example of this. If you take a double assassin composition, you are defined by
being a double assassin composition, and both you and your opponents will understand what that
entails. You may also be decent at teamfighting, or applying pressure, or any number of things, but
above everything else you will be playing like a double assassin team.


Early Game Objectives Strategy
I mentioned earlier that there are a number of factors beyond strategy that are important when
deciding which champions make up your team. I want to take a moment to discuss a strategy for
building your team that revolves around taking down objectives quickly and using that to snowball. This
can be adapted to several team compositions and it isnt a full strategy in itself, so I havent really had an
ideal place to bring it up yet.
The most common playstyle in solo and duo queue involves running a heavy fighter at top lane, a mage
at mid lane, and a support and marksman at bottom lane. As you know, the idea behind this meta is it
gives teams more dragon control while giving the mage a safety and power advantage.
However, in tournaments and other coordinated games this is becoming rarer to see, because this is not
always the best way to take early objectives. Ill talk about this more in the Practical Tips & Advice
section, so you may want to jump there to read more on this.
One thing to keep in mind is how well your lanes will allow you to control your own jungle buffs and
help deny your opponents. There are two attributes to this:
1. Can your champion physically block the enemy mid lane from using the most direct path to
defend their own jungler? (This implies positioning strength as well as the ability to bully them
off the path)
2. Can your champion provide a major benefit to quickly invading a major buff in the enemy
jungle?
A champion like Blitzcrank fits both of these roles fairly well, and works well as a duo lane partner. But
plenty of other champions performing other roles may work well for this as well.
Dragon control is critical. Even at the pro tournament level, pushing an early top tower can backfire if
the enemy team immediately uses your positioning to take out Dragon. Usually taking a tower out soon
enough, and while the enemy team is still attempting to defend it, can negate this risk.
Map mobility in the form of teleport and champion abilities may also be helpful for this. Another thing
to keep in mind is that a 2v1 top lane may necessitate the jungler camping the lane for the team with
only one defender, which can actually help control the flow of engagements throughout the map.
In most situations, a tower takedown in your lane offers a good opportunity to fall back, recall, and
purchase new items. From there, you can go to wherever youre pushing or defending next. However,
consider whether it may be a good idea to simply run across the map to quickly get to another objective
and help take it. In the second week of Season 3 Summer Split, Counter Logic Gaming managed to break
Cloud 9s unbroken winning streak in part by taking Dragon early on; this maneuver happened when
Cloud 9 had just taken top tower and began recalling to base, while Janna and Elise instead moved
across the map for Dragon.

Some very survivable champions, such as Singed, Shen, Renekton, and Nasus, are able to do well in a
2v1 lane by playing defensively at their tower. A jungler can help stop aggression by visibly camping in
the lane similar to an additional laner. If you simply need to buy time while your duo pair takes another
tower, this can be an effective way to tipping that balance towards your team.
Speaking of champions who can survive solo lanes, another team composition designed around flexible
laning includes multiple support champions (such as Janna and Sona). The idea behind these picks is not
so much that they can hold the tower (though ideally they can delay a takedown), but that they can
support other players on the team who enter the lane to help quickly push objectives. This setup allows
and requires strong damage dealers to move fluidly around the map, and allows for some interesting
team comps (such as jungle Ezreal).
Its by no means necessary that you adapt this strategy to your strategy or team composition. However,
you should at least be prepared to identify when its happening and play to the strengths of at least one
of your lanes (heavy ganks and pressure, for example) to help have an advantage somewhere as you
come into the mid game.

Solo Play & Small Groups
My assumption is that many of you, like me, dont always find yourself in organized teams where its
easy to plan out an entire team composition. This doesnt necessarily spell doom for the possibility of
using these strategies to win more matches, but it does help to be flexible.
In the roles you play do you know champions that fit each of these strategies? To simplify this a bit,
youll want at least one champion for each of these traits:
1. Crowd Controls (Safe for Assault, Pursuit, Defeat in Detail)
2. Mobility (Safe for Mobility, Disengage & Split Push)
3. Range (Safe for Pressure, Punch-Through, Disengage & Split Push)
While its not always going to be an exact fit, this allows you to have a few comfort picks. If you enjoy
mages, for instance, you might choose Veigar (Crowd Controls), Lissandra (Mobility) and Lux (Range).
Playing champions you know is almost always better than playing champions strictly to fit a team
composition. But on the other hand, having a small pool of champions you enjoy that happen to fit well
into a lot of strategies is better. And there are a few generalist champions that happen to work well with
nearly any team composition (Thresh, Shen, Kassadin, Ahri, and Jarvan IV are good examples of this).
One or two champions that dont fit perfectly in a team composition are still ok. Ive seen Ryze, one of
the least mobile champions in the game, added to an otherwise pure Mobility team. They still came out
victorious, although this is also a testament to the power of Thresh on these teams in being able to give
Ryze a lantern for mobility.
So, which champions do you actually pick at champion selection? For early picks when you arent able to
communicate with your teammates, I tend to believe its a good idea to pick a generalist champion that
can fall into any strategy. My own comfort picks have been Lux and Amumu, and Ill take either of them
with any team even when theyre not a perfect fit.
While assassins are fantastic, I dont like making these early picks. They are fairly easy for opponents to
hard counter in draft mode, and enough players really love assassins that Ive often found a second or
third assassin being picked on a team even when its a really bad idea against the enemy team. As a
related note, multiple assassins on a team without much crowd control are a recipe for mid and
especially late game disaster.
For later picks, you get a lot more flexibility. You get to see what champions your team prefers and get
an idea what playstyles they may enjoy. You have a Twisted Fate on your team? Great, that means you
can take mobile champions and go dangerously deep into the enemy jungle, or you can take Pantheon
or Shen to enable incredible map control, or you can take pressure champions to allow Twisted Fate to
do some split pushing.

Being a later pick lets you have some control over the strategy your team pursues. It lets you amplify the
strengths your team already has, such as being very mobile, or having great synergy for teamfights. And
it lets you cover core weaknesses, such as lacking crowd controls or initiation or team survivability.
Playing without a group is often going to be a sausage factory. Communication can sometimes help build
a coherent strategy and composition before the game starts, but not always. Do what you can to make
the most of it and youll likely win more games.


Organized Teams
As an organized team you will be able to bring to bear all of the information weve looked at in the
Grand Strategy section.
Assuming you have a group of players who have their own champions and preferences, make a list of
which champions each of you know and figure out which strategies would work well using only
champions from this list. This will be your guideline on which strategies you should practice, and may
also be helpful in identifying key shortcomings from your champion pool.
Remember the keys that are separate of your overall strategy. How are you going to handle the jungle?
How are you going to handle the early game and the laning phase? What specific weaknesses are you
going to have to deal with and what do you need to watch out for from your opponents? What actual
synergy do your champion choices have, such as targeted crowd controls for assassins or peeling for
vulnerable carries?
With these questions in mind, your goal should be to either cover the weaknesses in your team
composition, augment the strengths of it, or both.
Let me use the example of a Mobility team. If youre looking for the most mobility, a champion like
Ezreal seems like an obvious choice after all, he is one of the most mobile champions in the game, and
he fills the role of a marksman. But the weakness for many Mobility teams is handling structures, both in
defending and destroying them. A much stronger choice may be a champion like Tristana, who has
excellent long-range tower takedown potential with the perk of also having some mobility with her
jump.
As you develop your strategies, keep these tips in mind:
Practice teamfights. While not all strategies are designed to teamfight, the time will likely come
where your team is forced into a teamfight regardless. Some of the best teams in the world,
such as Fnatic, will play brilliantly in teamfights even though their strategies arent always meant
for picking fights. Practice positioning and strategy in addition to reaction time.
Have at least two comfort strategies. Just as players should have several champions they excel
at, teams should be capable of executing more than one strategy. You dont have to know and
execute all of them, but you should be able to adjust, particularly when core champions have
been target banned by your opponents.
When youre in champion selection, be careful about indulging an arms race mentality where you
counterpick each individual champion from the other team. You want to stick to a strategy even if that
means you arent perfectly countering each champion. That said, direct hard counters can work to your
advantage, especially when youre knocking out a critical player in the process. Scarras surprise Evelynn
pick against Karthus in Season 3 was a good example of this.

As quickly as possible, try to identify what your opponents are trying to do with their team composition.
While it might not change your strategy, it may allow you to pick better champions against them and
potentially deny them high value champions.
The same concepts apply in terms of pick order. You want to start with high priority picks, particularly
those that are most beneficial to the strategies you may choose to pursue, but that dont lock you into a
particular route and dont give away your specific plan. More specialized and less strategy-flexible picks
should be saved for later.
Before closing, here are some pitfalls Id encourage you to watch out for:
Dont compromise your strategy. If your strategy is Disengage & Split Push, go all the way with
it. If your strategy is Mobility, go all the way with it. If your strategy serves the purpose of
avoiding teamfights, trying to make the team better at teamfighting is going to cost you if your
opponents are equally skilled and better suited for teamfights.
Dont double down on a losing strategy. If your opponents are going to do a fantastic job
avoiding teamfights, dont focus on a better teamfighting composition.
Well talk more about each of these in the next section.


Analyzing Tournaments
By now you should be developing a holistic view on strategy in League of Legends, and this in turn
means youre going to be able to understand tournaments on a much deeper level. If youre like me, you
wont be quite as bored watching teams that never seem to get into teamfights, because youll be
seeing the gears in action and youll be better aware of the player motivations.
At the point in the lifecycle of League of Legends that Im writing this particular section (Season 4), the
game has been released for years and the e-sports scene is booming. International and regional
tournaments are happening frequently and some incredibly skilled teams have been climbing around
the world. So it may come as a surprise that some of the best teams fall into very basic strategy traps
that we can easily identify.
As youve no doubt gathered by this point, I love harping on the Season 3 World Championship. There
were so many good strategy lessons put in plain view, and were going to look at a couple of them here
as an example of how to analyze tournaments.
Remember the first pitfall I said to watch out for? Dont compromise your strategy. In the semi-final
matches where Fnatic went up against Royal Club, this lesson could have saved Fnatic some heartbreak.
During their matches, Shen was picked or target banned by Royal Club, knocking out one of their key
champions for their Disengage & Split strategy. But beyond this, they also gave up Teleport, presumably
in favor of summoner spells that would help if a teamfight broke out.
The lack of Teleport cost them any chance of recovery when Royal Club successfully forked them with
Shen, a situation where Fizz did not have Teleport. I cover this moment in this video (if you cant use the
link, search The Impossible Decision on YouTube).
I correctly predicted the outcome of these games based on the champions and summoner spells they
chose at the champion selection screen. It wasnt because I had a magic 8-ball and it wasnt because I
thought Fnatic was a bad team or was rooting for Royal Club. Instead, I argued that their core strategy
that they had been successful with throughout the season was being compromised (in part by the Shen
denial and in part by the lack of Teleport).


Now lets talk about the second pitfall: Dont double down on a losing strategy. This is exactly what
Royal Club did when they played the final matches against SKT1.

Royal Club ran Sona, Malphite, Elise, Orianna, and Vayne. This is a pure Assault composition. SKT1, on
the other hand, ran Corki, Gragas, Jarvan, Jax, and Thresh, which is a pure Mobility composition. Heres
what I wrote prior to the first match-up:
China [Royal Club] has a full teamfight build, Korea [SKT1] has a super-mobility comp. These are
both extreme strengths, and Korea has repeatedly proven their strengths w/ this. Look for Korea
to do just about anything they want, so long as their reaction times are fast enough to avoid
getting caught out.

China is a battleship. Korea is drone warfare. Korea picks and chooses its battles but may have
problems with teamfights if they're not super-surgical.
On paper, Royal Club could go toe-to-toe with SKT1. After all, in a teamfight, they had a Sona, Malphite,
and Orianna ultimate combination, and Vaynes close range damage coupled with Elises ability to break
towards critical targets, meant a head-on fight would likely break in their favor (at least so long as the
teams were roughly equal in gear and gold).
In practice, SKT1 never needed to engage in a fight they didnt want to. Time after time, Royal Clubs
attempts to initiate fights on their terms was completely shut down as SKT1 simply backed away
(sometimes in epic fashion, such as with Gragas multiple escapes). Earlier in this section, I mentioned
one awesome little trick for Mobility teams: secret Baron and Dragon takedowns. This was added to the
e-book back in early Season 3, and it was on show once again at the world finals, as they took a
completely uncontested Baron.
Lets break this down: Royal Club decided to run a hard Assault team against them, which was baffling,
as Royal Club is also outstanding with Punch-Through teams. This was a team that could play a mean
Caitlyn, totally protect that Caitlyn, and push objectives one of the best ways to counter a Mobility

team but they didnt. They picked a better teamfighting comp and, as a result of not having much
tower pressure, SKT1 had an even easier time ignoring them.
You have likely picked this up from what Ive written so far, but I believe that most strategies are soft
counters to each other. Except for Mobility, which hard counters Assault. Predicting a three-match loss
for Royal Club was not difficult. To their credit, in a later match they picked Kassadin and were
successfully able to pursue and kill some of SKT1s members as they attempted to fall back (at which
point SKT1 took their ball and avoided them for the next five minutes or so).

When it comes to analyzing tournaments, my approach is to wait for champion selection and see which
champions and summoner spells are being chosen. This clues me into which strategy theyre intending
to work towards, and also lets me know things like how strong the early game may be or how the laning
phase may play out.
If you read my commentary when tournament matches start (Twitter or Facebook, but usually only for
bigger matches), I tend not to make a simple prediction on who will win, but instead lay out a few
scenarios and the relative strengths and weaknesses of each team. Its honestly not possible to know if
there will be a big early play that results in a snowball or if one team will slip up and make an enormous
error (flashing with Sona then missing the ultimate entirely, etc.). But that uncertainty is what makes it
so entertaining.
That said, gaining a broader look at the strategic picture allows these educated guesses to give you a
pretty good insight to how games are likely to play out. I find that being able to watch tournaments this
way is considerably more fulfilling than just listening to the casters, who are often stressed for time and
can only give shallow or quick commentary (by no fault of their own).


The Impossible Decision
If you've played chess, you may have heard of something called a "fork." This is a maneuver where a
piece is moved in such a way that it threatens two enemy pieces. A well-executed Fork creates an
impossible decision. No matter what your opponent decides to do, their best result is losing a piece. It's
a no-win situation.
This impossible decision is the most centrally important strategic concept in League of Legends. Beyond
playing well, executing solid teamfights, and understanding match-ups, this is the concept that the very
best teams in the world use to control their opponents. By learning this, you will understand the
tournament scene better and you will become more capable of executing strategic, map-wide plays.
As a side note, this section was originally intended to be a movie, but I realized I could write much more
freely in this format. Because there are some awesome video examples, please make sure to download
the companion video and watch through it once youve read this. It should crystalize just how huge a
concept this is.

Strategic Split Pushing
Before jumping into this, let me define how Im using the phrase Split Pushing in this section. I am
referring to a team being split apart with at least one player pushing a lane while their team focuses on
another objective (another lane, Baron, Dragon, or jungle monsters). In the traditional sense, split
pushing usually only involves lanes, but other map objectives function identically.
Unless youre brand new, youve certainly been exposed to split pushing, where your opponents wind
up taking down towers before anyone on your team responds. If theyre smart, they may have even
waited for a teamfight to break out elsewhere so they can push further without people realizing its
happening. Weve covered this elsewhere, but lets run down the hallmarks of a good split pushing
scenario:
The player(s) split pushing a lane or objective require a greater force from their opponents to
stop them. For example, a fed Tryndamere who can only be stopped if a team sends at least
two players to stop him, or a tanky Malphite who can only be stopped if the strongest carry is
sent after them.
If the player(s) split pushing have a reasonable chance to escape even if theyre attacked, this
dramatically increases their effectiveness. For example, Kassadins extreme mobility, Twisted
Fates escape with his ultimate, or Teemos fast movement speed. The most frustrating split
pushers are the ones who are too slippery to lock down.
The player(s) split pushing have enough map vision to give them a big safety net.
The player(s) not pushing a lane have strong teamfight disengage mechanics, or be strong
enough that they can overwhelm their opponents even if theyre short-handed.

Split pushing tends to be a great tactical maneuver by smart players, but most split pushes dont fall into
the category of the impossible decision. These pushes tend to rely on our opponents to tunnel vision
elsewhere on the map, or simply be out of position, or be far enough behind that they cant stop you
anyway. However, theyre not strategic plays that can be used against skilled opponents who can match
your team head-on.
To create a strategic fork, we need to force our opponents to choose between two actions, neither of
which is favorable.

The Split Push & Disengage Fork
To explain this better, its best to start by giving a clear example of an impossible decision. For this
fictional engagement, blue team will have a bit of mobility (ex. Ezreal, Kassadin) and some form of team
disengagement (ex. Janna, Zyra).

Four members of blue team are grouped near Baron, with all of purple team nearby realizing they may
need to contest Baron. Meanwhile, blue teams Shen has shown up at bottom lane and is positioning
himself to push the second purple tower. Hes got a Sunfire to help push the waves and hes tanky
enough that he cant quickly be killed by any single player on purple team.


The obvious answer here and the one Ive even recommended in other parts of this e-book is that
purple team needs to immediately engage in a 5v4 teamfight against blue team.
The problem is, with a bit of teamfight disengagement and mobility, blue team is going to be able to fall
back. In the best case scenario, purple team is stuck in a long chase before eventually catching up to
them, but this leaves Shen to split push (and in a pinch, use his ultimate to arrive in a teamfight, likely in
a tight corridor in the jungle where hes more likely to grab a few people with his taunt).
And even if blue team gets caught in a teamfight, people often underestimate how long teamfights
actually take. Outside of just dancing around a fight at Baron, the actual fight could take a solid 30
seconds or longer, not including anyone on blue team who is left alive and able to harass enough to
prevent immediate recalls to base. Its entirely possible that Shen could clear through the inhibitor in
this time.
Next time you look over the team compositions section of the e-book, understand that both
disengagement and high mobility comps go hand-in-hand for making this work. They can work
independently, of course, but combined they allow for extreme frustration.

What if purple team sends one or two players bottom to handle Shen and save the tower? This isnt
necessarily a bad idea, and its what youre most likely to see in solo queue and non-team games (or
youll see four or five people chase the split pusher from across the map, which is usually a disastrously
bad decision).
The problem here is two-fold: Baron is being left open, and a teamfight may be left open as well. If blue
team has the vision to know that someone from purple team is missing, they may decide to immediately
engage in a 4v4 especially if the person who is gone is a critical damage dealer (which is often the
person who leaves as they may be the only player that can actually punish and kill a split pusher instead
of watching them escape). And of course, with a Shen, that 4v4 can immediately turn into a 5v4, and the
members of purple team who travelled to the bottom of the map are no longer with their team.
In this situation, blue team has successfully forked purple team. There is no good choice. This is an
impossible decision.

Early Game Jungle Invade
Counterjungling is a critical skill for junglers to know and understand, but the most effective
counterjungling involve other members of the team helping to create a fork.

The concept here is pretty straightforward. The mid laner, ideally a strong pusher, forces the minions
towards the enemy tower. Then, they enter the enemy jungle with their own jungler. The fork for the
opposing mid laner:
Do I give up experience and gold from these minions (and potentially some damage on the tower
depending on the wave) or do I stay here and let my teams jungle be taken over?
Like other forks, this invasion is especially brutal if the blue teams invaders are either strong duelists or
exceptionally mobile. If purple team is forced to respond to them or lose their jungle, but responding to
them wont actually result in a kill, they could be caught in a vicious cycle.
This fork is a big part of how Diamondprox became well known as a jungler while in Moscow 5 (now
disbanded). Well-played jungle invades dont have to rely on being able to duel the opposing jungler in a
1v1, but can instead function off controlling the engagement so that any risk is limited.


Executing & Countering Forks
Weve looked at an example of an effective fork, but theres a whole lot more to it than simply picking
Shen or another split pusher. Understanding forks is important and it makes enjoying tournaments and
top level play a lot more interesting. When it comes to your own solo queue and non-team games, let
me give a piece of advice:
It is much easier to fork opponents than it is to get your average player to respond well to forks.
Its been my experience that the most likely event if your team is forked (using the Shen & Baron
example from earlier) is that your teammates will make different decisions. One of your players may
immediately engage the enemy team while one or two players may not be in position because theyre
starting to move away to handle that Shen thats split pushing. What you wind up with is different
individual decisions being made that snowball into your team getting aced and thumped pretty hard,
and possibly a bit of the blame game on top of this. The problem is that a lot of players think they know
the sure-fire solution, but a well-executed fork often shouldnt have a good solution.
Lets start by looking at how we set up good forks.

Super Minion Waves
Unless youre looking at the first towers in each lane or youre doing some awkward fork between Baron
Nashor and Dragon (Ive never actually seen this done nor do I recommend it), youre going to want to
control the strength of your minion waves.
Imagine two armored ships going into battle against each other. Both ships are damaged; one ship has
several mid-sized cannon still operational while the other has only one large cannon operational. The
ship with the mid-sized cannons can fire a volley faster, but all of the shots bounce off the armor of the
other ship, leaving it dented but not broken. Meanwhile, the ship with the large cannon has taken
longer to fire its shot, but punched directly through the hull, delivering the final blow.
Small minion waves are easy for a tower to handle but they buy you very little time on a tower once you
reach it. If you push through quickly to an enemy tower with only six or seven minions, youre likely not
going to destroy it before the enemy tower and minions repel you. Your opponents may have more time
to react and youre less sure of an easy takedown.
Before going further, let me also say that this doesnt mean you should never rush turrets down with
small minion waves. Some champions, particularly many carries who are a bit fed, can take these down
quickly. And if an opponent is going to show up that can just as easily clear twenty minions as six (Lux
combo, etc.), its not a huge issue.
It can be enormously helpful for split pushing to create masses of minions, or super waves, especially if
it can be done on both sides of the map simultaneously. To do this, your goal is not to blow up the whole

first wave for a bunch of free farm when you get to the lane, but instead to create a moderate imbalance
between your minions and your opponents minions.
In other words, you want your minion waves to be winning the fight, but not winning it quite fast
enough that other waves of your minions wont reach the fight in time. And this is fairly easy to do with
these methods:
1. Last hitting minions that are grouped on your side of the map tends to create a slight imbalance,
provided you have at least as many of your minions in the wave as your opponents do. Freezing
a lane long enough while your opponents are missing tends to create wave imbalances over
time.
2. Letting a wave of minions hit your own tower can also create a large wave of minions. This is
why lanes that are left unattended for a long time will start alternating giant minion waves
between both sides (especially after about 30 minutes). This is a little unreliable as it means you
are at risk of taking tower damage yourself, and your opponents are exerting map pressure with
this.
3. Sniping out one or two minions and leaving their wave at a deficit works well, too, and leaves
you free to move back around the map quickly.
The downside of creating a super wave is that youre delaying the pressure on your opponents. This
means your opponents can move freely around the map in the time that their own structures are not
threatened.
The upside is that these giant waves can push towers by themselves, even if an allied champion doesnt
show up. At the very least, they force the attention of the enemy team and, with enough power, will
require at least one opponent to move to stop them. This is when power plays can be made.
Super waves allow champions and teams to create forks even if their team composition isnt ideal for it.
Any player can do this in a match so long as their teammates dont sabotage it by wave clearing before a
wave has had itme to grow. And if you throw a player (or team) with a super wave, the minions allow for
objectives to be taken even faster while offering a shield against many types of skillshots.

Inhibitors
Understanding some Summoners Rift mechanics helps a lot with super waves. When you knock out an
enemy inhibitor, new minions in the lane gain a small stat bonus. Because of this, knocking out an
inhibitor has a good chance of creating a natural split push opportunity for your team later on, especially
when that inhibitor is about to respawn.


Ezreal
Ezreal gets a special mention in this section because of his ultimate. Good Ezreal players will often pop
off their ultimate at minion waves in the side lanes when their team is somewhere else on the map.
Though this may collect some gold, this generally is done because it imbalances the minions there and
starts the chain reaction that leads to super waves. Of course, Ezreal is also a strong addition to a split
pushing team because he has strong mobility and can back off of unfavorable fights.

Teleport
In the Shen example, he was able to assist in a teamfight by showing up from across the map, making
any attempt to lock him down in his lane potentially useless (provided he used his ultimate soon enough
if he needed). Teleport allows any champion to do this (and its even better on champions who already
have exceptional mobility or a global positioning ultimate).
Beyond this, Teleport is awesome in conjunction with super waves. When your minions will punch
through to the enemy structures, a Teleport can allow you to quickly take down the tower and
immediately force your opponents to react. Ive watched (and played) many games where the outcome
was determined solely on a player using Teleport to show up at an enemy nexus even when their team
had just lost a teamfight elsewhere on the map (usually near Baron at that stage of the game).
Teleport also synergizes well with vision control, which will cover a little later in this section, as more
wards allow more targets for the summoner spell.

Champion & Item Picks
The champions you play can help a lot with setting up effective forks. Here are some of my personal
recommendations, but its not a complete list:
Shen. Easily one of the strongest split pushers in the game, take Teleport and grab Sunfire on
him for even more map pressure.
Twisted Fate. Vulnerable, relies heavily on having his ultimate available, but ultimately a good
split pusher. Having both a Shen and Twisted Fate offers amazing synergy.
Ezreal. Great utility and disengage if others are split pushing, can help create super waves, can
harass people out of recalling to stop super waves.
Kassadin (Teleport). Extreme mobility, can escape nearly anything, and can come out of Teleport
with an immediate riftwalk blink. His only drawback is hes fairly weak at actually clearing waves
until hes stacked some items.
Ahri (Teleport). Extreme mobility, pushes very well, and can come out of Teleport with an
immediate Spirit Rush dash.

Malphite (Teleport). Like Shen, can push waves decently well, especially with Sunfire. Teleport
allows him to arrive to a teamfight and immediately use Unstoppable Force.
Tryndamere, Master Yi, Rengar, Jax, etc. (Teleport Optional). Most duelists that snowball can
wreck towers and require the attention of multiple opponents before they can be stopped.
Teemo, Singed. Very fast champions that rely on their movement speed to be obnoxious. When
farmed, tend to be very difficult to deal with. Teemo in particular tends to work best focusing on
one lane at a time due to mushroom coverage.
Other champions can do this, but some that seem like good choices wind up being more situational.
For example, Tristana can push waves and towers down very quickly, and has a little bit of mobility with
her jump. But a coordinated team can usually catch her unless she has a decent amount of advance
warning on their approach with wards. With Tristana and many other Marksman champions, strong split
pushing relies much more heavily on being way ahead of your opponents to where you can reliably kill
them without serious risk to yourself (which isnt necessarily different than duelists like Tryndamere, the
difference being that duelists are designed to be able to do this with less of an itemization lead).
Aside from this, theres fairly little synergy with split pushing and Marksmen. As a general (but not
absolute) rule, if a Marksman is at the point where they can split push effectively, theyre likely even
stronger being with the bulk of their team and letting another player split push.
Finally, there are a limited number of items that are helpful for pushing. The three major items I
recommend considering depending on your role are Sunfire Cape (tanks), Statikk Shiv (damage
dealers that primarily use normal attacks), and Ravenous Hydra (melee range damage dealers). If Lich
Bane works well as part of your core Mage build, it can also be a great investment.


Countering Split Push Forks
Theres a gambit that can sometimes pay off when being forked. Lets go back to our original example:

What if purple team had ignored blue team entirely and gone straight for their middle towers?
Shen can continue pushing bot lane, but the other four members of blue team are forced into a
decision. They can either initiate a teamfight themselves not necessarily ideal if theyre a
mobility/disengage team going against a Protect the Kogmaw composition or a strong teamfighting
composition. Or they can attempt to do Baron, meaning they may lose towers of their own while taking
towers and Baron, but with the risk of being flanked while debuffed and damaged at Baron.
This is a gambit. This is not a sure solution, but its a way to absolutely force blue team to make a tough
decision of their own. When youre faced with no good options, making a risky and unexpected move
can sometimes be your only good decision. In general, you want to do this only if you can push down
towers fairly quickly.
There was another option, too:

Realizing they had no way to contest Baron, Purple team falls back to defend their bot lane and their
base. Perhaps they farm a couple monster camps on the way, and perhaps they pick up elixirs to help
against their soon-buffed opponents.

This is a turtle strategy, which is to say, a strategy where the team withdraws into its shell and
essentially tries to wait out the Baron buff. They wont lose as much in the short term, but without a
miracle play of their own, or a serious misplay from blue team, they will lack any kind of map control.
This isnt an assured defeat for them, but theres one thing to consider: A team that effectively forked
them into totally giving up Baron without a fight is likely able to pull off effective split pushing while
Baron buffed. Its not necessarily the wrong decision, but its still very difficult to come back from.

Aside from this, the same attributes that create strong split pushing potential for a team are also good
ways to counter split pushing.
Teleport is the strongest counter to split pushing, and its your only option in blind pick
when you dont know what youll be up against.
Hard counters, especially those with Teleport. Fizz with Teleport to counter Twisted
Fate, for example.
Items like Statikk Shiv and champions capable of very strong wave clear, especially from
a range (Lux, etc.).
I know this is a bit repetitive from the team compositions section, but it certainly bears repeating when
discussing forks.


The Vision Decision
Though not technically a fork, map vision is the other major way to create impossible decisions for your
opponents. Teams that gain a vision foothold on the map, where they have ward coverage over critical
areas while the other team does not, can use this advantage to prevent the opposing team from ever
gaining vision. Check out this example, where blue team is desperately trying to get vision over Baron:

When blue teams Janna first attempts to ward near Baron, her ward is instantly killed and shes
harassed out.
Knowing that blue team needs vision on Baron, Leona waits in the brush, once again catching Janna. This
time Jannas team is there to help her, but Leonas team is already aware of this due to a purple team
ward in their mid lane. Leona is able to initiate a full teamfight that results in blue team being aced.
Purple team is too low to do Baron at this point, but its put them in an even better position.
On the third attempt, Cassiopeia is waiting for Janna to enter the jungle. Janna is easily killed and purple
teams vision control allows them to easily take an uncontested Baron, letting them finish out the game
with a victory.
Jannas choice in this game was to give up ward vision anywhere near Baron, or to keep attempting to
ward. In the second shot, she even had her team w/ her, knowing purple team might be around, but
ultimately it wasnt enough. And while Jannas teammates may have been upset that she kept dying in
the same area, she didnt have any good choice:

If blue team turtles in base and lets purple team take Baron, they will very likely lose the game
given that purple team is already ahead;
If blue team tries to get vision over Baron to contest or disrupt any attempts, they will very likely
lose at least one player (Janna) and wont wind up gaining vision anyway.
With this impossible decision, Jannas conclusion was this: The risk of warding and attempting to regain
some map vision is greater than the risk of turtling in base waiting for purple team to show up and
probably finish us off with Baron buff.
Was that the right or wrong conclusion? In hindsight, its easy to say no, she was just feeding kills to
purple team, but then its important to remember that purple team totally cleaned up the game with
Baron buff. To her credit, Janna was at least making plays that had a chance to pay off (if purple team
had gone to Baron and she moved in then, or if they made a mistake w/ positioning, etc.).
Getting map vision control and relentlessly holding onto it as a team gives the enemy team an
impossible decision. Theres no simple solution to this you cant simply buy wards and regain vision
against an aggressive team that is capitalizing on their advantage. That doesnt mean you shouldnt try,
of course, especially if youre against opponents who are likely to slip up!
As a side note, watching vision wars in tournament play is pretty exciting when you know this. Its
incredibly rare for teams to come back when theyve lost a teamfight and lost vision control. From there
it may be a slow death, but its usually certain.
This is why good supports are so extremely effective in solo queue, and why a heavy emphasis on
warding even from level one is huge in tournament play.


Practical Tips & Advice
In this section, I'm going to give you quick but very pointed tips on improving your gameplay. Read
through these carefully and evaluate where your weaknesses are as a player.

Personal Skills
While each tip in this section will help a whole team, especially if everyone practices them, they are
things you are personally responsible for.

Potions & Elixirs
Remember to use your consumables, especially right after you've engaged in combat. Health potions
that are running throughout an exchange or team fight can surprise you, especially in the early game
where they have a disproportionate effect on your survivability.
Beyond health and mana potions, always keep elixirs in mind. Stat elixirs are situational and should be
purchased when they could significantly impact the outcome of the game. Good times to use elixirs are:
1. Immediately after the other team has completed Baron Nashor to help stand against them while
they have the Baron buff;
2. Prior to a significant skirmish or team fight, such as one at or immediately prior to Baron Nashor;
3. In the early game, particularly prior to ganks that are very likely to be successful with an elixir;
4. Any time you don't have inventory room for new items (you don't need inventory space to
purchase these; as long as you're alive, they will apply the buff directly to you).
The Elixir of Fortitude is a particularly helpful elixir. Not only does it provide you with more health and
survivability, but it recovers health (equal to the amount of bonus health gained), and it is not affected
by healing reductions. This means Elixir of Fortitude can be used as an emergency heal.

Tab, Evaluate, & Invest Wisely
When you press the 'Tab' key during a match, a screen pops up detailing both your team and your
opponents. On this screen you can see kills on champions and creeps, giving you a ballpark
measurement of how well they're doing, as well as items they're building and which summoner spells
they have. This will only update based on when the opponent was last visible to your team.
Tab is also a quick way of seeing who is missing. Enemies who are greyed out are not currently visible to
your teammates, so a quick Tab press can tell you who you need to watch out for.

When you have this menu open, look at the summoner spells your opponents have, with a special eye
towards Exhaust, Flash, Ghost, and Heal. All three of these must be accounted for if you want to be
aggressive. Never dive a tower or overextend attempting to kill a player who has any of these spells
currently available unless you're absolutely sure you can compensate for it, as well as any other abilities
they may have.
Take a second to really look at their items. You can do this by targeting them as well. Do they have
wards? If so, that may suggest they've been warding around your lane, or they're about to. Do they have
an empty spot between two other items? In the early game, this may also suggest they've placed a
ward.
Are they building defensively, such as an early purchase of Null-Magic Mantle (magic resist) or Cloth
Armor (armor)? Don't overestimate the damage you'll do to them if they are.
Do they have a Doran's item as their first pick? This can be used to your advantage in many matchups,
because it means they won't have boots and may have very limited sustain, allowing you to both close
distance and escape with them in trades, and potentially allowing you to push them back to their base if
you can get them low.
When you're building boots, open up your Tab menu and run down the list of enemy champions. Don't
buy damage-related boots if everything in your brain says you should buy Mercury Treads. In rarer
cases, Ninja Tabi is a good investment.
Not sure whether a Void Staff or Last Whisper are good bets? They usually are, but it's always worth
checking out whether your opponents are building any magic resist or armor before putting down a
chunk of money on them.
The point I'm getting at is that you need to really look at your opponents. Don't just try to snowball into
an amazing damage-dealing powerhouse -- thinking about your purchases and how they relate to your
enemy really will have a big impact on your performance.
Youll want to develop the ability to do all of this quickly. Gaining as much information as possible as
quickly as possible is an important skill. However, this will come naturally as a part of developing muscle
memory.
As a related note (in terms of using the interface to your advantage), you can see which of your allies
have their ultimate abilities available by looking at the green or black dot on the upper right-hand of
their portrait on the left-hand side of your screen. Green means they have their ultimate and can use it.

Situational & Map Awareness (Wards!)
In most cases, being situationally aware largely involves being map aware. The mini-map in the bottom
right of your screen is important. Look at it. All the time. Along with the 'Tab' menu, it is a great way of

seeing who is missing at any given time, as well as a great way of knowing when you can take risks
because everyone is accounted for.
Aside from this, being situationally aware also helps you more quickly capitalize on times when there are
nearby teammates, either by helping them out while they're being attacks, or by getting in position to
gank with them.
Wards have a very large impact on the success of games, provided that you and your teammates will
capitalize on the vision granted. Denying map awareness to your opponents through the use of Vision
Wards and Red Lens trinkets, as well as general sneakiness, is also critical.
Some players, such as those playing support champions, may choose to ward more frequently than
others. However, every player on a team should be willing to buy wards, especially to protect entrances
to the lane they're in.
Read the Map Vision section of this guide for more detail on this subject.

Observe Your Opponents
While you can calculate the relative power of an opponent by checking out their items and stats, you
will often learn the most about how strong or weak they are by watching them. Take time to
occasionally glance at other lanes, especially after dying, and run through a mental checklist:
Does your opponent look like they're farming well?
Are they being overly aggressive?
Are they not taking advantage of an opportunity in front of them? Are they being too cautious,
or are they being smart?
Are they responding quickly to their teammates needs?
Are they avoiding ganks in a smart way, and do they seem to be reacting to your allies (i.e. are
they reacting based on ward vision)?
You'll learn a lot about their team by doing this. While these snap judgments won't always be correct,
they can give you a good idea how things are going, especially in conjunction with a glance at their
items. Just knowing when an opponent is not doing particularly well, especially if they're a counter to
your own champion, can help you make decisions later on in the match.

Think About Your Opponent's Cooldowns
As you develop a stronger understanding of the champions you're playing against you may also get an
idea of how long their cooldowns are. For example, Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab is a devastating ability, but
it also has a very long cooldown. Darius' Apprehend pull ability is also devastating, but missing it
completely shuts down a major part of his kit for a very long time.

Watching your opponents cooldowns and having an idea how long these are is helpful as it lets you
know when you have a window to be very aggressive against them. This is especially true if you're
playing champions with ranged normal attacks or abilities, as you can more quickly move in on an
opponent and stay in range for longer before you need to back off.

Track Timers
Track the timers of objectives like Dragon and Baron Nashor, and major jungle buffs such as the golem
and lizard camp if you know exactly when they were last killed. Here are the timers you need to know:
Baron Nashor spawns 15 minutes into the game. He has a 7 minute respawn timer once he's
been killed.
Dragon spawns at the 2:30 minute marker. He has a 6 minute respawn timer once he's been
killed.
Ancient Golem (blue buff) and Lizard Elder (red buff) spawn at the 1:55 minute marker. They
have a 5 minute respawn timer once they've been killed.
Knowing these timers lets you move into position to take down these objectives even before they've
spawned. If the other team is not tracking the timers as well, it usually means your team can take out
the objective before the other team is even aware it was available again.
You should also track nearby wards that you've seen the enemy place. These all last for 3 minutes. This
knowledge can be helpful for your jungler or other gankers to know as they can move in immediately
once a ward expires, allowing for an unexpected gank (sometimes while they're already out of
positioning placing a new ward). You can also use this knowledge to decide whether it's worth
counterwarding them or just waiting it out.
You can check the remaining duration on allied wards by clicking on them.
Flash has a cooldown of 4:10 with masteries, which can be useful to track if you want to ensure a kill.
Personally, when I'm tracking any of these timers, I'll do a quick calculation in my head and type it
something similar to this in team chat: "ward bot tri-bush at 14:23," with the time corresponding to
when the ward expires. Having it in chat makes it easy to reference later.

Gold Matters
Gold has a significant impact on the game. Between equally skilled players, the team with a significant
gold lead -- provided they aren't taking stupid risks -- is favored to win.
Last hit! The biggest single improvement most players can make to their gameplay is learning to
effectively last hit minions, ensuring they get the bonus gold. Some champions are much easier to

achieve this with (Morgana, Mordekaiser, and Vladimir being among the easiest), while others must pay
far more attention to do it effectively (most marksmen in the early game). The only exception to this are
champions who intentionally forgo last hitting in order to let other players get more gold (the "zero CS
support" dynamic described in the Champion Roles & Recommendations section).
Passive gold gain items work great on champions who have a natural reason to build them. For instance,
Philosopher's Stone can be good on support and some tank champions, but not usually a good idea on
mages or marksmen.
Towers, Dragon, Baron Nashor, and jungle monsters all offer opportunities for additional gold gain. It's a
good idea to pursue these as often as possible.
If you kill an enemy champion more than once, and they haven't killed anyone on your team, they are
worth less and less gold. While you are denying them from being able to impact the game while dead,
there comes a point where you're sacrificing more to kill them than you could be gaining by just last
hitting minions or taking objectives.
In some cases, it's still a good idea to go out of your way to kill an opponent, especially if they can
potentially snowball into a powerhouse (such as Tryndamere). You're denying them experience and gold
by doing so. Be smart about it.
Finally, let your teammates get assists on champions you're fighting. You don't get any extra gold for
killing a champion by yourself, whereas your team gets a very significant chunk of extra gold if at least
one of your allies helps out. This bonus is not increased if more than one player helps out, so your main
goal is to have at least one other player involved as often as possible.
By the same token, don't be a nice guy and let a nearby teammate get a kill if no one will get an assist.
Do everything you can to get in, even if you are going to take the kill as a result.

Avoid Unfavorable Fights
It should go without saying that you don't want to get into fights you have a decent chance of losing.
If you've already been killed more than once in the early game, but don't have the kills or assists to back
it up, that's usually a sign that you need to focus on playing defensively. Pay attention to how you're
getting killed (such as a jungler or a particularly brutal combo from your laning opponents. If your
opponents are killing you, you're even less likely to be successful your next time around, as they may be
gaining a level and gold advantage.
Sometimes your teammates will get caught in obviously unfavorable fights. Discretion matters, but you
should never do something which is likely to result in your death with little or no gain to your team. In
other words, don't help when it doesn't make sense for you to help. By the same token, don't be the

player who is in that unfavorable position, not only for yourself, but because your teammates may be
drawn into a fight that is just as bad for them.
Don't get baited into fights when you're not aware of what you're running into or where your opponents
are. Some bait is more obvious than others, such as Shaco frequently running out of a bush and back
towards it to draw you towards a trap. But any time a kill seems to easy, you should think it through.
Avoiding unfavorable fights is a common theme and nearly everything else in this section offers you
something that is technically related to this concept.
All of this said, it's ok to take risks. As long as they're educated and you believe there's a reasonable
chance you'll come out on top. Without taking risks you won't learn all of the things you can get away
with (and the boundaries of your potential).

That Awkward Moment When...
...you know you're going to die, but you still have a few seconds left. One moment you're on top of the
world, the next you realize you have absolutely no possible escape unless your opponents are dumber
than bricks. What do you do with your final moments?
If you see their ally coming to attack you, try really hard to let your opponent kill you before their ally
gets in range. Stand still or get a tower to help your opponent out. It's much better to die to a single
opponent than to two or more, as it denies their team assist money.
If you haven't actually been attacked by an enemy champion, but you're surrounded with no escape
(such as trying to take a monster in their jungle, or being flanked in your lane), you can run straight for
their tower or for a monster that can quickly kill you (such as Baron Nashor). If you're killed without
being attacked by an enemy champion, you are considered "executed," and the enemy team gains
nothing. Keep in mind that towers that are further in towards an enemy base deal more damage and
can kill you more quickly.
If you're not the only team member person trying to flee, don't move towards allied champions. Instead,
actively move away from them so the enemy players are less likely to kill them as well. Or get suicidal
and take out the enemies who you're most likely to be able to kill or seriously harm before dying.
In most cases, you want to waste as much time of theirs as you can without sacrificing anything
important. This is especially true if it distracts them from taking out your structures after a major
teamfight.
When you realize you're going to die, try to do something cool with it. And sometimes you'll actually live
as a result.


You Have Been Slain
Once you die, take a moment to check out the Death Recap (an option to do this appears near the top of
your screen). This will break down the sources of damage that killed you, as well as their damage type.
Taken together with what you observed from the battle that killed you, this can help you make more
effective purchasing decisions for defensive items.

Calling MIA
Letting your team know that an enemy is missing from your lane is often a good idea. For experienced
players, using the Missing smart ping will make that clear. With newer players, doing this and then
using chat to give some sort of indication that your lane is missing is a good ideaIf an opponent is
constantly staying out of vision between minion waves, consider saying something to that extend in
chat.
While map awareness is a personal responsibility, and some people are better at it than others, your
goal is to win the game. You're more likely to win the game if you help your teammates out by letting
them know about missing opponents. From a very practical standpoint, you should be calling MIA for
your own benefit, even if you feel your teammates should be paying better attention to the map.

Direct Your Team
Good communication on a team can significantly increase your chances of winning matchups, even
when those matchups are in the other team's favor. Obviously you shouldn't berate and insult your
teammates, but you can take this a step further:
Get your team's attention regarding objectives like Dragon and Baron Nashor. Do everything you
can to organize people quickly to take these before the enemy team can stop you;
Sometimes just attacking these objectives with teammates nearby will get their attention and
get them to join in;
Ask the team to group up and push an objective such as a tower, or have them group to help
force a fight against the enemy team;
Say when you're going to initiate a team fight, especially on champions like Amumu, so your
teammates are prepared;
Sometimes you can use obvious abilities, such as Sivir's On the Hunt aura, to indicate to your
team that they should initiate or back off;
Use the "Fall Back" ping if you think your teammates are in a bad position (but don't spam
pings);
If split pushing looks like a good idea, communicate to your team who should go where;
Direct people to crowd control certain targets in fights (instead of placing blame for how the
previous fight went);

Let your teammates know about enemy wards, as well as potential gank opportunities.
Not everyone is going to respond positively to this. Be tactful, not demanding, and you're more likely to
get a good reaction.

Seconds Matter
Players often dont realize how many places they could shave a few seconds off their actions. Here are
three examples:
When youre reasonably safe from opponents, immediately recalling to base rather than
running all the way back to your towers;
When minions are going to finish off a tower, immediately moving away from lane or starting a
recall rather than landing more normal attacks;
When recalling, picking the items you intend to buy so you can more quickly leave the
summoner platform.
If youve ever returned to lane just moments too late to get the gold from a siege minion you realize
how important a few seconds can matter. These little bits of extra time can turn into big efficiency gains
for you and your team over the course of the game, and can allow you to get to teamfights and
objectives a little more quickly.

Are You A Threat?
Do your opponents have any reason to fear you? If not, is it because youre low on health or mana?
A lot of times when were not a threat to our opponents but we feel safe farming we may be tempted to
stay in the lane. But when your opponents arent scared of you its not possible to control your lane and
it may be deterring allies from executing strong ganks (while encouraging opponents to do the same).
Unless youre specifically trying to bait a fight by looking vulnerable, try to find the next decent
opportunity to recall and recover your health and mana before coming back to lane.

Dont Ask Why
Whether youre genuinely curious or youre bothered by a certain action your ally took that got them
killed or put the team in a worse position, never ask why they performed the action. I wouldnt have
thought to include this in the e-book, but there was a fantastic set of discussions on reddit that
reminded me how Ive personally felt about this in the past. Heres why:
You dont really need to know why a play happened;

The player is put on the defensive, making it less likely theyll be effective as part of the team.
Short of someone being upset or purposely feeding, chances are the player didnt make a play with the
intention of dying. And chances are they realize the mistake and will learn from it. Nearly every player
you come across, even diamond players, lacks knowledge in some areas of League of Legends; mistakes
will happen.
If your goal is to win, offer tactful suggestions on improvement rather than being confrontational. Of
course, I like to imagine most of you reading this e-book already have that attitude!

Don't Give Up
Nothing is better than that come-from-behind victory. It will happen more often than you think if you
really pay attention to all of your opportunities in a game.
There's a difference between playing well and doing well. Players can be doing well if they're racking up
a lot of kills in the early game and causing a major headache to your team. In these situations they may
have a lot of gold and be in a great position to snowball.
But playing well is a whole different story. Is the player racking up all those kills a melee champion
investing in pure damage items, making them extremely vulnerable to being bursted down later in the
game? Are they actively farming to gain more gold, or are they simply roaming to pick up kills on
opponents who aren't necessarily worth much anymore? Are they going for ideal targets in team fights
and playing safe or are they getting cocky?
Keep in mind that some champions, such as Shaco, will often have stronger early games than late game.
Also, keep in mind that some champions, such as marksmen, can become extremely strong
powerhouses later in the game, and simply holding the game longer can turn it in your favor.
Finally, winning a single team fight in the late game, particularly one the enemy team didn't expect (such
as having your entire team hidden in brush), can turn a game completely around. By the same token,
focusing on objectives like Dragon and Baron Nashor, or even stealing a Baron Nashor kill while your
opponents are doing them, can also turn games around.
Don't get discouraged. Stay calm and collected. You will play better.
Don't surrender a game unless your opponents are doing well and playing well. If they're not playing as
smart as your team, getting better map awareness (through wards) to deny them opportunities, in
addition to toughing it out until your team can outpace theirs, is enough.


Teams & Objectives
Slaughtering enemy champions is not your goal. Your goal is to destroy their nexus. This is achieved by
destroying their inhibitors, which is achieved by destroying their towers. Don't lose sight of this.

Early Lane Swapping
Sometimes but not always it can be a good idea to swap your marksman and support to top lane
instead of keeping them at bottom lane. This is for two reasons:
1. This kind of lane swap can shut down an opposing solo laner, particularly if they are melee range
champions who can be bullied even when attempting to last hit at their tower;
2. The double golem camp can be valuable to take for a support and marksman, but this is not
available to Purple teams bot lane.
To successfully lane swap, you need to know that youll be able to shut down the opposing solo lane and
ideally push the tower as well. When deciding if you can successfully lane swap, consider the following
criteria:
Can you definitely shut down top lane even if the jungler camps the lane?
Is your ally at bottom lane going to be able to farm well? Or, at the very least, will they not lose
the tower quickly? (Consider both which champion theyre playing as well as how much
harassment the two opposing champions in their lane will bring)
Would your ally otherwise be likely to succeed in top lane? In other words, are they playing a
champion that normally counters the enemy top laner?
Will any of your allies be able to keep an eye on Dragon consistently, and will you be able to
contest it quickly enough?
Lane swapping is high risk but its worth at least considering, especially in coordinated teams. I cover this
more in the Team Composition section below.

Defend
Defend your own objectives. Never give your opponents an opportunity to take an objective without
losing something in return. Make them pay for it.
Don't go back to purchase items just because you have the money to do so, particularly if it may
give your opponents an opportunity to push the tower you're defending.
Don't leave your lane while it is being pushed, or for long enough that you can reasonably
expect it to be pushed.

That said, there are two reasons to stop defending a tower. First, if your opponents are likely to win a
fight against you and the tower is at low health, it is usually good to give up the tower and get to a safe
position. Second, in rare circumstances it can be worthwhile to give up a tower in favor of locking down
another objective or securing multiple kills in a teamfight or skirmish (so long as that leads to working on
another objective).
Be able to reasonably justify letting an opponent push your tower if you leave it for any reason. It's ok to
lose first line towers if it's for a better cause, but never lose it because you're not paying attention or
you want to shop.

Push Together, Recall Together
If youre in a duo lane (ex. marksman and support at bot lane) and you successfully force your
opponents out of lane, its often best to push minions towards their tower as quickly as possible, then
immediately recall together to purchase items and recover health and mana.
This is because there is a window of time where your opponents are coming back to the lane and will
not be able to quickly push minions to your tower before you return. By taking this time to recover, you
dont lose much potential gold or experience, likely dont take tower damage, and come back to the lane
completely ready for another fight.
What if one player has just returned to lane and has no reason to return to base? In this case its fine to
press the advantage and pick up a little extra gold and experience, so long as you feel its unlikely that
youll be ganked while pushed up. But short of being extraordinarily fed, opponents who realize youre
alone in lane when they return can easily harass and zone you, so be careful not to throw away the small
advantage gained.


Sometimes It's Better To Wait
While objectives are very important, there are often situations where you don't want to take down a
tower in your lane. This is because minion waves will tend to gravitate to the mid-way point between
the current towers on either side -- and if your opponent is missing a tower while yours remains,
minions will spend more time on your opponents' half of the map.
Here are the basic reasons not to push:
If you are farming very well and have been relatively safe in doing so;
If you need to continue to farm but can't risk going past the river due to potential ganks;
If you are effectively zoning your opponents and preventing them from farming;
If your team doesn't need you immediately or if you'll be more of a benefit to your team by
farming further;
If allowing your opponents to recommit to another lane could cause a problem;
If you don't have a place to go after you've pushed the tower.
The last point is the most important, because it relates to when you should take a tower. The worst
thing you can do is take a tower early, then not be able to either secure kills or objectives elsewhere on
the map, leaving you either falling behind or leeching on another lane and causing them to fall behind.

Before going further, let me emphasize that taking out the middle tower is nearly always a good idea. It
has too much of an impact on the map to justify waiting longer than necessary, unless you simply cannot
go anywhere else with your champion and reliably pick up kills or experience.
Make sure that if you take a tower, you have a short-term plan to contribute to your team (take Dragon,
gank and push mid-lane, recall and gank top, etc.). That said, don't leave yourself unable to defend your
lane if your opponents push!
You should also take towers if you're not getting much out of your lane in the first place. If you're
constantly being harassed, or your opponents are not doing a very good job farming but are making it
very difficult for you (such as a kill lane with champions dedicated to taking you out rather than

effectively farming), taking their tower the moment you have an opportunity can allow you to move
somewhere more favorable while denying them easy shots at you.
As a rule of thumb, 20 minutes is about where you should be considering taking a tower regardless of
other factors, as you'll need to transition to mid and late game dynamics with your team. This isn't a
hard rule, but it works.
If you lose your first tower, there is a silver lining in that you can more safely farm and your jungler or
other lanes may potentially have an easier gank on your lane opponents if they stick around. You can
also move more freely around the map immediately afterward, which helps if your team has seriously
hurt one or both other lanes and easy ganks can be set up. It's not ideal and you shouldn't intentionally
throw a tower for this reason (since it does give easier Dragon or Baron access, among other things), but
it will occasionally turn games around.


Control Your Lane Extension
Don't blindly auto-attack enemy minions! There's an art to controlling how far you're extended in the
early game, especially in the side lanes. Here are some tips.

Gain a level before your opponents by pushing hard for the first minions, especially if you know where
the jungler is or you don't believe that their jungler will pose an early threat. You'll want to do this if you
can follow up a brief level advantage with very strong harassment, or if losing that level advantage may
make you particularly vulnerable.
This is usually good to keep in mind for an early level 2, level 3, or level 6 advantage, but don't push too
hard at all times for the sake of leveling. Keep in mind that minions don't spawn any more quickly, so
pushing too hard won't gain anything but a very small, temporary experience advantage (unless you kill
your opponents or force them to back off).

You want to avoid minions reaching your tower whenever possible, not just because of the damage to
the tower, but because it makes last hitting those minions far more difficult. Beyond this, if a tower
helps clear minions, it can give your own minions an advantage and push the lane significantly further
out as a result. Push back when your opponents are pushing so you can keep the minions off the tower,
and consider items like Chalice or Catalyst if youre a caster and need to use your mana pool to push
minions off the tower frequently.

One way to freeze enemy minions at a particular point is to simply stand in their path and force them to
attack you until your minions reach you. Youll take some damage in the process, and its more suited to
certain champions and item builds than others, but its a reliable way of keeping the minion fight near
your tower without actually reaching your tower. In rare circumstances you may be able to juke into
brush and drop minion aggro once or twice as they lose vision, then come out and regain it, as a means
of delaying them without taking as much damage.
By keeping minions closer to your tower without letting them get pushed back out by the tower, you put
yourself in a naturally safe position near your tower. This helps a lot in avoiding early ganks from the
enemy, while making ganks from your teammates a lot more likely to be successful.

Sometimes you'll need to fight under your tower. This can happen if the opponents are doing a good
job pushing, or if they're doing a good job harassing you (therefore making the only safe spot under your
tower), or both. On many champions, you can gain higher minion kills by keeping these rules in mind:
Use one normal attack on a full health ranged caster minion before the tower hits it and it
should be low enough to last hit after the tower hits it (unless your attack damage is very high,
in which case you should wait until the tower hits it once);
Wait for the tower to hit a melee minion twice from full health, then kill it with a normal attack.
Those rules help a lot, but the situation is usually very dynamic, and minions won't always be coming
under a tower at full health. You'll want to get used to ways of dealing with this on the various
champions you may play.
You want your minions to get to their tower, especially if the opponent is back at base. This makes it
much harder for them to last hit minions for gold, and if they're back at base, loses them all of the
potential gold and experience from that wave. This is a huge hit, especially when two solo laners are
against each other and one is losing waves.
You may even want to farm their minions behind their tower. This is extremely risky and should only
be done if youre in a seriously good position, and/or youre aware of where their jungler and other
lanes currently are. While the damage from the enemy tower is critical for pushing your minions back
towards your side of the map, this only occurs if the enemy minions reaching the lane; by holding and
killing minions before they ever reach the tower, the enemy tower can kill an extra wave (or even
several) of your minions, which in turn makes it much more difficult for your opponents to gain gold and
experience. On top of all of this, it allows you to fairly quickly take down the tower.

Keep bushes in mind. If you've got a jungler or another player looking for an opportunity to gank in a
side lane, it can be to your benefit to push the minions in a lane far enough that the player can walk into
one of the bushes on the side of the map without being seen. This can give them an opportunity to get
close to opponents without being noticed, provided there is no enemy ward vision in the bush or the
approach.

Between Minion Waves
As you get more comfortable with the lane dynamics, you'll start to recognize times when a wave of
your minions won't kill a single enemy minion in the next wave (either because an opponent is killing
them or a tower will take out all of your minions first). In some situations, this will be a back and forth
that occurs on nearly every wave, especially if both you and your opponent can clear full minion waves
quickly. At these times, it's usually a good idea to leave vision range of your opponent during the wave,
either by going into a bush or backing off. You won't be losing gold or experience, so this is perfectly
fine, and the threat of you showing up elsewhere threatens each of the other lanes.
If you do this often enough, your opponent may not be able to recognize the difference between you
standing back for the next wave or actually being missing. This will allow you to more effectively
accomplish warding or ganking with less warning, or to simply back off to another bush where you can
watch for opponents coming into your lane.
One common example of how a good mid lane can use breaks in minion waves:
You push to minions to the enemy tower, perhaps after you've killed them or after they've gone
back, or perhaps because you're just a very strong pushing champion;
Between waves, you back off and place a ward in the top river;
You arrive back in lane to push the next minion wave again;
Between waves, you back off and place a second ward in bottom river.
That setup lets you place wards without losing experience or gold. If your minions are pushed to their
tower, you can see a defending player if they're attempting to react to you. Alternatively, you could use

either of those opportunities to head up or down river or through the jungle and attempt to gank an
opponent.
Killing jungle monsters between waves can be effective, too. Both purple team's top lane and blue
team's bottom lane have relatively easy access to double golems, though you'll need to make sure you
can get back quickly. Mid lane has easy access to both friendly and hostile territory wraiths. This is best
done while you have minion control and your opponents do not.

Press the Advantage
One of the worst habits that League of Legends players fall into is seeing kills in a teamfight as the end of
an event, after which they go back to base, recover health, and purchase new items. In most cases, this
is the completely wrong thing to do.
If you've just killed your opponents, push. It doesn't matter how much gold you just earned or how low
you are on health, if you can reasonably push anywhere safely, do it. The only exceptions to this rule are
in the early game where you may intentionally avoid pushing first lane towers.
It sounds simple, but knowing and acting on this will put you head and shoulders above a huge portion
of the League of Legends community.

React To Enemies Who Aren't There
Just as important as reacting to nearby champions is knowing how to react when you know some enemy
champions aren't near you at all. This is part of pressing the advantage.
If your team is near Dragon or Baron Nashor and one or more members of the opposite team are on the
opposite side of the map with no way to respond (no teleport, etc.), that is a great time to either force a
fight or take these objectives. By the same token, don't show yourself in bottom lane later in the game
when your opponents may be ready to take Baron, as that's a clear indication to your opponents that
you will not be able to immediately assist your team.
If you can account for their jungler ganking another lane and believe part of their jungle is available
(particularly blue or red buff), invade the jungle and take it! This is risky, but often pays off as long as
you can continue to account for them.
If you can account for all five members of the opposing team on the map and believe you have an
advantage in your lane, push to take out a tower. This is especially true at the second towers and base
towers and inhibitors, where a teamfight on the other side of the map may leave these vulnerable while
your opponents are distracted.


If Theyre Going For Blue, Theyre Coming For You
There are some indicators that an enemy is going towards their blue golem (or yours, for that matter). If
your own golem has recently spawned, theirs may have, too, depending on how diligent each team has
been. Alternatively, if youve gained vision, either through scouting or through wards, you will know
when their golem has gone up.
In games where the mid laners are picking up the blue golem, you should always keep in mind that they
are halfway between the mid lane and either top or bottom lane, depending on which side of the map
theyre on. Until you have vision on them you must assume theyre a potential threat to the side lanes.
You can take advantage of this by either moving to intercept them, pushing mid lane, or moving to the
opposite lane where both the mid lane and jungler may not be able to respond (though this depends on
whether the mid lane is capable of clearing blue golem easily without help, such as a Cassiopeia).

Dragon & Baron Nashor
While I emphasize the importance of team objectives -- specifically, structures -- and want to discourage
you from looking at killing enemy champions as the goal of the game, gold does matter. Repeatedly
killing Dragon during the early mid-game, along with securing Baron Nashor, will give you a massive gold
lead over your opponents (not to mention Baron's buff). Being able to take these objectives before they
can respond can keep you ahead of your opponents, allowing you to stay in a game youd otherwise be
losing.
If you're going to contest Dragon or Baron Nashor, there's a very common trap you want to avoid. Both
Dragon and Baron Nashor have an outer wall around them, with their only real entrance being in the
river. Less experienced players on the purple team (top half of the map) will tend to congregate around
the outer wall (inside their jungle) when an enemy team is attempting Baron Nashor. This only makes
sense for a small number of champions with reliable blink or dash abilities, who can potentially move in
and attempt to steal dragon or otherwise engage in a team fight. Alternatively, champions with
skillshots that may hit Baron can attempt to steal the buff from here.
Outside of these champions, players grouping outside the pit walls prevent your team from organizing
and contesting the other team in a normal team fight, unless each player without blinks or dashes burns
Flash. It also isn't a good position to come in from anyway: Baron Nashor attacks the closest valid target
while he's engaged, and entering a fight that close to him means his damage may be redirected to you.
As a rule, a team should usually move in from the river if they're going to engage the enemy team. The
main exception to this rule is high-mobility team compositions.
For Dragon, it's important to remember that he can be moved, and moving him outside his river
entrance puts him out of range of most skill-shots that can be fired from the outer wall. Like Baron, this
should usually be contested from the river (though players who can dash or blink over the outer wall can

do so more safely here, especially if a team fight is occurring there or only a small group of enemies is
working on Dragon).

Note on Baron Nashor
The more Ive covered the pro scene, the more Ive noticed just how many important games are lost
because of misguided Baron attempts. Baron is an enormous trap, and players at all levels of play get
sucked into it. Heres my advice:
Dont do Baron if youre significantly ahead, unless you can account for every threat on their
team. After all, if youre ahead because youre winning teamfights or doing a better job securing
objectives, chances are you dont need Baron to continue this.
Consider whether your opponents have global map mobility (Twisted Fate, Nocturne, etc.) or
the summoner spell Teleport. If they do, realize they may still be able to get to you if theyre far
away. One pro team, Dignitas, has lost key matches they should have won simply due to not
accounting for global map mobility.
Dont do Baron without warding and counterwarding first.
If you suspect a teamfight could break out near Baron, dont engage Baron. On top of damage
he also applies a damage debuff which can help lose a fight.
Baron is worth risking if youre already losing the game. If played well, it can turn a close game in your
favor, or cement a commanding lead and allow you to close out the game, but be careful about when
you decide to attempt it.

Force Favorable Teamfights
There are four places teamfights should occur:
1. In a lane, with the goal of defending or taking a structure, or preventing opponents from
farming the minions in the lane;
2. In or around Dragon or Baron Nashor, with the goal of killing them for your team;
3. In the jungle, specifically to counter-jungle (killing their jungler or taking their important buffs)
or in response to counter-jungling (protecting your jungler or your important buffs);
4. In between any of these (such as moving to the enemy team's base after successfully killing
Baron Nashor).
The first thing that needs to be said is that if you're engaging in team fights elsewhere, either your team
or the enemy team is doing something that may eventually help them win the game, but rarely is an
ideal approach to doing so. If their team is ahead and trying to engage in fights unrelated to any of the
above, you're probably better off ignoring them as a team, and instead focusing on other objetives.

Forcing favorable teamfights is an important concept for a team. To do this, you need to make it clear
you're attempting to achieve one of the first three goals above, and you need to be ready to respond in
a way that will likely result in victory for your team.
The best example is forcing a Baron Nashor fight. If the enemy team has it warded, or you clearly show
yourself headed to Baron Nashor, then they'll know you're there and ready to take the buff. Your team
having the Baron Nashor buff, in addition to all of the bonus gold, is a huge risk to nearly any team, and
they will be forced to choose whether to respond to you or whether to let you have the buff.
In some cases they won't respond to you if they know it's an unwinnable fight, and they feel they are
more likely to come out on top fighting under towers (if it's your team, keep in mind that you don't need
to respond to fights like this).
In many cases, they'll wait until you're doing Baron Nashor and attempt to fight you during the
encounter while you're already taking damage from Baron. This is usually favorable to for them unless
you have lategame items that really mitigate Baron's damage output.
And in other cases, they'll wait until you're doing Baron Nashor and attempt to steal the gold and buff by
a well-timed Smite or other damage. Even if they lose one or two players doing this, successfully stealing
the buff can turn the game around for their team.
In this circumstance, forcing a favorable teamfight usually means not actually engaging Baron Nashor.
Instead, you want to make it clear that -- if they don't respond -- you will kill Baron Nashor. If you can
take the damage, you may even want to start attacking Baron briefly if they have vision on you, such as
with a Clairvoyance (with the intent of quickly resetting the encounter) to make sure they get in to try
and stop you.
If the enemy responds and comes near Baron, engage in a teamfight. If you're correct that it is a
favorable teamfight (after all, forcing unfavorable teamfights is usually bad unless it's a last-ditch effort),
you should come out on top. And if you come out with enough health and damage, you can take Baron
Nashor.
The advantage to a forced fight like this is not just that you've locked down the enemy team and
successfully taken Baron Nashor as a result. It also means the enemy team is crippled, likely with players
still dead if it's later in the game, and this gives you an opening to make significant dents to their
architecture (i.e. destroy their structures). In some cases, you can take a victory here straight to their
base, saving Baron Nashor for after you've done your damage to their defenses.
Baron is a well-known example, but you can force favorable teamfights anywhere, especially at towers
and inhibitors that your opponents must defend. This is an especially good tactic if you're already ahead
in the game, as it removes options for your opponents and gives you more dominance over the match.
But be careful not to overestimate your power or overstay your welcome when you're low on health.


Inhibitors Matter, But So Does Their Nexus
This is straightforward. If you're pushing into their base but feel you cannot take out their nexus (in
other words, pushing to win), knock out as many inhibitors as you can. Two inhibitors down, especially
on opposite sides of the base, makes it very difficult for a team to leave their base without risking their
nexus (either to super minions or an easy path in for your allies). If they're resurrecting with two
inhibitors down, that can be a good time to take out objectives like Dragon and Baron Nashor, as it will
be very difficult for them to respond (and very obvious if they do if your minions are giving vision inside
their base).
The nexus and its protective towers are actually pretty easy to take down if you have minions and a
good deal of damage output. This is true even with one or two of their players coming back life,
provided you still have an overwhelming presence. It takes a bit before you can judge whether you can
push to win, but you should get in the habit of making a real effort on it whenever its reasonably safe
(instead of killing more inhibitors).
Victory is achieved by killing the nexus. Don't get distracted by opponents who may be very easy kills.
Stay focused on bringing down the towers and the nexus itself unless you absolutely must respond to
opponents. Not pushing a nexus when you had an opportunity to will come back to bite you at least a
few times, given enough games.

Pushing & Split Pushing
Pushing is when you actively put pressure on a lane, usually with the goal of taking out structures. Split
pushing is when a team is actively pushing more than one lane at a time.
Split pushing tactic should be used when an enemy team is dead or crippled after a skirmish or team
fight and there are multiple easy objectives to take. However, it can also be a great way of safely
winning a game when all of your enemies are alive.
Pushing and split pushing is distracting. If your opponents work best as a cohesive group of four or five
players, split pushing forces them to split up to effectively respond. If they're currently attacking your
tower, or getting ready to, pushing or split pushing other lanes can get the pressure off of you.
Sometimes pushing and split pushing isn't distracting, especially when you're already in combat. I can't
recall the number of times I've been so engaged in a team fight we were winning that I didn't realize one
of my enemies was pushing down a base tower. This is a pyrrhic victory -- in other words, we won a
team fight, but usually lost as much as we gained. I've learned that it's often a good idea to purposely
engage in teamfights, even unfavorable ones, in order to let someone push directly to their base.
Consider pushing and split pushing when you cannot effectively respond to an enemy team doing Baron
Nashor or even attacking your own structures. This is risky to do, but it can pay off in the long run,
especially if you can knock out an inhibitor (or worse).

I recommend looking for any opportunities to split push when a game is clearly not in your favor and
you've been losing team fights. It can pull out unexpected victories.
Note: If you want to learn a little more about effective split pushing, check out The Impossible Decision
in the e-book.

Backdooring
Backdooring occurs when a team attacks enemy structures while their allied minions are not present.
With towers, this is more difficult to do because the tower gains additional stats when minions are not
present, but it can be done at points in the mid and late game. You will usually want to do this when
there is an undefended target of opportunity (such as while an enemy team is dead).

Closing a Game by Staggering Deaths
In the late game, one of the most consistent ways to win in a roughly balanced match is to find and kill a
single opponent, leaving the enemy team at a single person disadvantage. This can mean unloading
burst onto the first person to engage on you, then disengaging before a teamfight, or it can mean
catching a support or another player alone and taking them out.
Obviously the 5v4 advantage alone is good, but when death timers are long, it can be helpful to make
big plays to knock out a second enemy, putting them on a death cooldown. An example of a good time
to do this is after taking a turret or inhibitor; even if youd like to follow this up with Baron, it can make
sense instead to invest that time into killing another player. It seems like an overall loss if you need to
give up Baron or another objective, but its completely crippling to the other team to have their death
timers staggered so they can never fully recover.

Fight Fire with Fire
Unless your team is running with late game threats such as Ryze, Twitch, and Tristana, there is rarely
ever a virtue in playing passively while your opponents are playing aggressively. Aggression is countered
with aggression. In any losing game, there will come a time where you cannot realistically recover the
match short of your opponents making a critical mistake. While I think games are not lost nearly as
quickly as many others do, there is still a breaking point. If youre losing, getting your team to roll the
hard six and make a high risk play as a team is far more likely to recover a game than waiting for your
opponents to take Baron and hoping you can defend your inner towers just a little longer.
This doesnt necessarily mean you get into a teamfight. If you cant win a teamfight, maybe it means
split pushing. Maybe it means waiting in brush as a group until a single one of your opponents walk

through it. Maybe it means having one player bait their team to the bottom half of the map while the
rest of the team rushes Baron.

Double Explosion
If you're losing, try to have a successful Surrender vote as your nexus is being attacked. If you time it
right, you get two explosions.
Two explosions.

Mental Preparedness & Teamwork
In this section were going to take a look at mental preparedness and how it can affect your success rate
in games. Because these subjects are often not directly related to League of Legends itself, but rather
towards attitudes and habits, I avoided writing about them for nearly two years after the original release
of Learn the League.
Take everything here how you want to, and leave whatever you disagree with behind. While Id like to
say a good attitude is the key to victory, the truth is there are a lot of players with less-than-desirable
attitudes who do exceptionally well just on game knowledge and player skill. But by and large,
understanding these subjects and implementing them into your own approach can help you do better
than equally skilled players who ignore them.

What is Fun?
Im a big fan of The Art of Game Design, a book written by Jesse Schell. Before reading this book I
couldnt easily break down why I enjoyed certain games or genres, and I also couldnt understand why
others didnt have similar tastes.
Ultimately, this book led me to believe that the common element in nearly all enjoyable games is
surprise. And watching my son grow up has reinforced this belief: Before he was a year old, games like
peek-a-boo would make him laugh because he was surprised to see my face pop out from behind my
hands. As hes grown a little older he loves to be surprised by being picked up and thrown up in the air.
Surprise is part of every game we play, and just as my son gets bored if we repeat the same thing for too
long, games quickly lose their enjoyment when they cease to be surprising. At the most basic level, this
is why a game like Tic Tac Toe immediately ceases to be fun when you learn the gimmick, and at best
becomes enjoyable solely for beating other people who dont know the strategy. Tangentially, this is
why smurfs in League of Legends are often (but not always) undesirable players to play with, as theyre
more likely to be the type of player that enjoys winning because players are inexperienced rather than
winning due to player skill. This is also why extremely strong champions need to be brought back in line
quickly, as the dynamic between two players quickly loses the skill component when one player has an
I Win button.
Beyond surprise, really engaging games also have challenge and accomplishment. Games which allow us
to become better in various ways and improve upon ourselves, and reward us for doing so, are more
likely to be played over the long term.
But why did I enjoy large group raids in World of Warcraft and other MMORPGs while friends of mine
enjoyed Battlefield, Starcraft, or completely different genres? Even in the same genre, people disagree
on what they enjoy due to settings, storylines, gameplay, or other factors.

The answer to this is simple: We each have different personalities. While some personality traits are
more common than others, and some games are more popular than others, its broadly true that people
look for different things in games.
League of Legends is one of many games that have successfully brought all of these elements together.
With trillions of different game possibilities due to different champions, roles, and items, there are
almost always surprises. The game is easy to get into but extremely hard to master, offering us
challenge. We find accomplishment in pulling off good plays, winning duels, teamfights, and games, and
achieving higher ranks. And the large variety of champions and designs lets us find the playstyles and
themes that best fit our personality.

Understanding Yourself
This e-book is meant to give you the best advice and information for getting you to where you want to
be. But where is this? For some of you, that means getting to Gold. For others, you want to see just how
far you can go, all the way to Challenger. And for others, it may be about starting a ranked team.
Outside of competitive play, Ive talked with people whove picked up the e-book who just want to be
able to play with their friends or family members. They purchased the membership for themselves or for
someone they know, and they look at the game as a great way to continue socializing with these people.
And yet other players like to know the game well enough that they can understand tournaments better.
I suspect you already have a good idea why youre playing the game, though I bring this up because I
occasionally fall into a trap where I take the game more seriously than I actually want to. This tends to
lead to burnout and less enjoyment, which in turn winds up leading to worse in-game performance.
To reach your goals and to get the most enjoyment out of your experience as possible, its important to
understand what type of player you are. There are a few things that go into this.

Mechanical vs. Strategic Players
Mechanically skilled players are players who excel at rapidly executing complex actions. A Riven player
who has watched Teemos summoner spell cooldowns, then perfectly executes a movement and ability
combo on Teemo to kill him, is an example of someone who gains a game advantage through
mechanics.
Strategies, on the other hand, are big picture decisions that have broader consequences. The Udyr who
decides to camp Rivens lane to help Teemo out is a player who is gaining a game advantage through
strategy.
While not always true, players tend to learn more towards either being mechanically skilled or
strategically skilled. And before going further, I should mention that theres a third category of action

that we refer to as tactics. Tactics are actions you take that achieve a specific end, and theyre often
employed as part of pulling off a strategy. How and when Udyr enters the lane, as well as the route he
takes, would be a tactic. Tactics are skills that every player should learn, regardless of whether they tend
to be a strategic or a mechanical player.
The best mechanical players are often able to pull off complex plays with their champion with split-
second reactions and decision-making. These players can be excellent micromanagers and, given the
right champions, can be devastating to play against. The very best of these players tend to excel in solo
queue ranked matches.
Mechanical players tend to succeed most when given extremely versatile or mobile champions, such as
Riven, Vayne, Lee Sin, Nidalee and Thresh. These players tend to be more capable with summoner spells
and items that require very specific timing, such as Cleanse and Quicksilver Sash.
Strategic players, on the other hand, look at the bigger picture and tend to have a better understanding
on what the team can accomplish. These are the players who know when its safe to take objectives,
even at low health, and have a very solid understanding of whats going on around the map, even in the
fog of war. Knowledgable strategic players tend to excel at split pushing and other strategies that avoid
direct teamfighting.
Strategic players tend to do very well with mechanically simpler champions who can exert map control,
such as Teemo, Udyr, Kassadin, Tryndamere and Shen. Safer champions such as Lux are also very good
fits. These players tend to be more capable with summoner spells that do not require exact timing, such
as Barrier and Teleport, and also tend to do well with items that have strong passive effects, such as
Frozen Heart.
Now, up to this point you may be wondering, why cant players be both? They can be, and some players
are fairly balanced in this regard. But players who are exceptionally good at executing complex plays
with their champions tend to be able to pull themselves way ahead of where they belong in terms of
their knowledge of strategy. And players who really understand map strategy tend to pull themselves
ahead of where they belong in terms of mechanics and micromanagement. What you wind up with are
players with very different skillsets often playing in the same games.
The best mechanical players will tend to have also acquired an understanding of game strategy, and vice
versa. But even at the tournament scene, these differences are played out as teams face off against
each other. Cloud 9, for instance, demonstrated incredible mechanical skills and teamfighting during
Season 3, completely dominating the North American scene throughout the season. But when faced
with Europes Fnatic, who had the mechanical skills but also had a much stronger grasp on map strategy,
Cloud 9 was demolished.
Lets scale this back a little, because Im assuming that youre not currently a Diamond or Challenger
player if youre reading this. Players who are climbing ranks tend to be exceptionally good at one or the
other, and the difference is usually pretty visible.

Mechanical players tend to be frustrated when their allies dont play well, especially if this costs them
teamfights or advantages theyve worked for. These are the players who believe that the laning phase
snowballs into game victories, because for them, it often does. A great mechanical player may not make
the best map decisions, but they often destroy anyone they come across, and this helps them win
regardless. When youre dealing with toxic mechanical players, these are the players who are most likely
to give up early in the game if their teammates start falling behind or if theyre losing their own lane.
Strategic players, on the other hand, are frustrated when their allies dont understand the map
objectives or dont understand when to engage or disengage. The problem with strategic players is that,
when they move higher in ranks and face more mechanically skilled players in lane, they are more likely
to lose lane (which is why it tends to be helpful to play simpler champions). But strategic players also
tend to be more capable of winning games even when theyve fallen behind in the early game.
Teams are best with a mix of both types of players. The only real problem between the two types of play
occurs when players dont realize that the difference between them exists.
There should be some sort of giant disclaimer on all of this. There are a lot of both types of players who
are bad at what they do. Mechanical players who constantly put themselves out of position in
teamfights, for example, still have a long way to go to improving, just as strategic players who make
poor map decisions or dont really have the game knowledge do.
Consider which type of player you are and then play to its strengths. That doesnt mean you shouldnt
invest yourself in both camps! Even as a strategic player, my mechanical skills are fairly well developed
(though not perfect by any means), and having a solid understanding of both should be your goal. But
knowing what type of player you are will help you with your champion selection, along with your
willingness to micromanage certain summoner spells and items.

More Mechanical Skill
When I talk about mechanical skill and micromanagement Im referring to reaction times both in ability
and item usage as well as positioning. Its not the same thing as game knowledge.
In neuroscience theres a concept known as brain plasticity, which covers how well our brain can mold
itself to learn and adapt throughout our lives. While we are capable of learning throughout our lives, our
brains become less able to quickly tackle new concepts as we grow older, particularly around the age of
25.
For most players, the upper limits of the human brain have little practical impact on performance. I have
friends in their 30s who are top diamond players, so unless a player is much older, this is something that
should rarely be looked at as an excuse for when doing poorly. But in highly competitive matches, such
as in the Korean tournament scene (both in League of Legends and Starcraft), we can actually see these
limits in action. As players grow older, its simply accepted that someone younger and better will come
to replace them. It doesnt mean the older players are suddenly bad players by any means, but it may

mean that theyre a tenth of a second slower than the up-and-coming player, or they cant quite handle
as many different events as they used to be able to.
The second thing that affects mechanical skill is muscle memory. This is such a critical concept that Ive
talked about it in the new players section, and if you havent read it Id suggest doing so (its in Advice
for New Players). As you practice with something your brain begins to make connections and develop
that skill as second nature. Sleeping well is enormously helpful to cementing this as its one of the best
times for your brain to develop based on what youve been learning.
In terms of mechanical skill, practice makes perfect. Depending on your age and your familiarity with the
game, or with gaming in general, it can take longer to become a master. But I firmly believe that almost
anyone can become a very good player.
When youre playing, what are you practicing? Are you focusing on learning a new champions ability
combos, or getting better with positioning, or getting better at moving quickly between normal attacks?
If youre not trying something new youre probably not learning to be a better mechanical player. Its
fairly easy to find players with hundreds or even thousands of games who are still not terribly good
mechanical players because theyve spent very little time trying to improve.
But if I stand back and am honest about it, this is perfectly ok. There are plenty of times when I log in
and the only thing I want to do is play a champion I enjoy with no desire to improve my performance.
Im still going to passively pick up game knowledge due to the different matchups, but I might not
improve at last hitting, for example. Its up to you and what your goals are in the game.
By the way, there are a couple things you can do to dramatically increase your mechanics potential. The
first one is to get used to quickcasting (covered in its own section earlier in the new players section). The
second is to bind a key to Attack Click, which can dramatically help you with rapidly alternating normal
attacks and movement comments (which helps with kiting opponents). This is explained a bit in the
glossary, and its covered in a video of mine called Stutter Step, Attack Move, and Awesome Keybinding
Trick. I strongly recommend doing these no matter who you are, as they increase your actual game
potential.
Beyond this, playing other games can also help you with these and many other skills. Ive enjoyed
Lumosity, though there are a lot of other games that can challenge your brain in various areas.

Extroverts and Introverts
Do you prefer to work closely with other players or do you prefer to focus more on yourself? An
extrovert is someone who tends to desire socialization, recharging and relaxing by being with other
people. Introverts, on the other hand, are people who are more self-focused and can best unwind by
working alone. Everyone falls somewhere along the line of extroversion and introversion.

Traditionally, society has valued extroverts while looking down on introverts. When I was growing up,
schools and universities encouraged teamwork and team building almost exclusively, while discouraging
people who worked alone. Popular media tends to show off the outgoing personalities as something to
admire while poking fun at people they consider loners. When many people think of introverts, they
mistakenly believe it is synonymous with shyness.
But this perception is changing as more studies have come out to show the strengths and weaknesses of
each camp. Introverts such like Bill Gates (Microsoft), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Steve Jobs (Apple), and Mark
Zuckerberg (Facebook), have shaped the information age. People who work alone and love doing it are
often the inventors and thinkers that shape our world. Historically, figures like Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln,
Albert Einstein, and Charles Darwin were introverts. Beyond this, were discovering more and more that
introverts are some of the strongest leaders in business and all aspects of life. Introverts are more likely
to challenge the status quo.
I sing these praises not because I believe introverts are better than extroverts, but rather because many
introverts dont actually realize how valuable they are to society. You may not be part of what society
views as the alpha male (or female), but dont worry, theyre pretty overrated. Ive only touched on the
subject here, but Id recommend reading a book called Quiet Influence by Jennifer Kahnweiler
In League of Legends, some players prefer to communicate less than others. You may be one of those
players, and this is perfectly ok.

Tying It All Together
After looking at each of the three previous sections there are three basic questions:
1. Are you primarily a strategic player or a mechanical player?
2. How much time do you want to invest in mastering your mechanics?
3. Are you an extrovert or an introvert?
You dont have to answer these questions a particular way. There are playstyles in League of Legends
that will work well for almost any type of player. Ill show you how this worked out for me:

Improving Myself
Personally, Im a strategic player. I enjoy games almost entirely because of the broader strategies, and
this has been true throughout my time as a gamer. Its the reason why I was a main tank and raid leader
in MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, and its the reason why so much of my League of Legends content
focuses on strategy.
Im capable of investing time into mastering mechanics, and have done so in the past with high skillcap
champions like Jayce, Lee Sin and Vayne. However, Ive found that I enjoy flexibility more, and prefer to

have a broader pool of champions that Im pretty good with rather than having a couple champions Im
extremely good with.
By any definition, Im an introvert. In fact, Ive probably lost more games from not communicating with
my allies than from any other reason. In many of my games I found that, if there was a big strategic
opportunity for our team but I couldnt communicate it with pings or with my champion, I simply
wouldnt bring it up.
All of these things clicked for me one day when I looked at Teemos win rate in ranked solo queue. If you
havent played him, Teemo is an incredibly simple champion to play, and mechanical mastery tends to
come down to learning to kite and stutter step rather than learning complex ability combos. Because he
can place traps around the map, his control over a lane benefits primarily from longer-term strategies
rather than micromanagement in combat.
Now, Ive always kept up with the League of Legends scene, so maybe this shouldnt have been such a
shock to me. But Teemo doesnt see a lot of tournament play, nor does he get a lot of flashy videos
made about him. I realized that, like a lot of players, I got caught up in the awesome plays made by Lee
Sin, Vayne, and Riven players. Even though I knew these champions also had their own weaknesses, I
had subconsciously defined game-winning plays and good champions primarily by their difficulty, not
their actual strengths.
Now, combine this with the fact that I dont particularly like talking to people, and combine this with a
fairly good understanding of league strategy.
I realized I needed to main jungle. Instead of filling slots or playing side lanes, which I had been doing,
my success in the game was largely determined by controlling the fights our team was involved in. As a
jungler, I could do this even in the early game, because I could be anywhere I needed to be. I had a good
understanding of gameflow and what our opponents were likely to do, which meant I could help make
smart plays just by being in the right places at the right times.
I also realized that I wanted to play a simpler champion. I started playing Amumu, a champion I had
really only played when I started playing League several years ago. Amumu is fantastic because hes a
fairly simple champion, his damage is often underrated, and he has a large, instant area effect ultimate,
making it pretty hard for me to screw up even if I wasnt paying attention. When playing Amumu, I could
focus on bigger strategic decisions, like whether to stay back and save my ultimate to protect my carry
from assassins, or whether to chase and zone out the enemy carry from the fight.
With these two changes, I went from winning about 50% of my matches over the season to winning over
80% of my matches. I moved from Gold 3 to Platinum in less than one week.

Decisions You Can Make
Ive given you examples that may help you define your playstyle, but youll need to find something that
also fits your themes and what you want out of the game.

If youre an introvert, there are a couple things you can do that really work well with the team. Playing
champions with strong initiation tools, such as Malphite or Vi, or champions with strong disengage tools,
such as Zyra and Janna, can allow you to direct your team simply by making plays. Sivir is also an
interesting example of a champion that communicates with abilities, as activating her ultimate provides
both an obvious aura and clear sound that communicates to your team that they need to either engage
or back off from a fight depending on the situation. Smart pings are important to use as well.
If youre a mechanical introvert, assassins and mobile damage dealers are excellent champion choices,
as these champions tend to be less dependent on their team even during teamfights. If youre willing to
invest the time and practice to gain mechanical mastery over a few champions, you might want to
choose between Vayne, Lee Sin, and Riven. If you want simpler champions that also do fantastically well,
duelists like Jax can be excellent choices.
If youre a strategic introvert, consider champions who excel at helping the team when theyre split off
from the team. For example, split pushers like Teemo and Singed make excellent solo laners who can
help win games even if theyre rarely with the team. A lot of tankier champions work well here, too, as
they can usually survive long enough that split-second reaction times arent as critical, and they have the
advantage of helping to initiate and control teamfights.
These are only suggestions. My goal is to give you things to contemplate, not tell you how to play or
suggest what youll find most fun and enjoyable. Thats entirely personal. But you may find you can
adjust and improve your performance by understanding yourself better.

Mental Traps
There are a number of mental traps that humans have a tendency to fall into. I recognize these in large
part because Ive experienced these same emotions myself, and because I see them so frequently in
others. Some of these I still struggle with.

Trap #1: Believing Youre Blameless
How often have you heard one of the following:
My team [or teammate] is feeding.
The jungler never ganked for us.
Im getting camped and my team isnt helping.
No one is warding.
How often have you said or thought one of these things? How often have you felt that a game was lost
because your teammates were feeding? These are just some common examples of probably a million

similar phrases that have been said throughout League of Legends, and theyre no less common in
anything else in the world.
Humans are pre-programmed to shift blame onto other parties. Its much easier and much more
satisfying to place the blame on others than it is to accept your own weakness. But to improve, you
must embrace your weakness.
Obviously there are games where youre doing well and youre not actually responsible for the outcome.
It happens all the time. But once you start assigning blame, you stop worrying about how you can
improve yourself, and how your own performance could have changed the outcome.
Placing blame on other players is one of the most poisonous activities you can engage in. And Im not
talking about how youre being a jerk to other players; Im talking about how it holds you back, because
nothing is stopping you from continuing to make the same mistakes. Theres no quicker way to stop
improving than to stop seeing your own faults.
We often allow ourselves to make little mistakes. Theyre just mistakes, after all. So how silly is it that
were quick to judge other players who make small mistakes that set us back? Get in the habit of fixing
your own mistakes and improving your own performance and youre virtually guaranteed to improve.
One last thing: If youre playing with friends or youre in duo queue, try to avoid an us and them
mentality. Its extraordinarily easy to get caught up to such a degree that legitimate failures on our part
are always scapegoated onto the players who arent in our clique. That doesnt necessarily mean you
should destroy a friendship by telling your friend theyre a jerk, but it does mean you should be
consciously aware of when its happening so you dont stop trying to improve yourself.

Trap #2: Assuming You Cant Get Out
This is very similar to the first trap. Once you start assigning blame, you start to fall into the trap of
thinking that external factors have far more to do with how youre doing in League of Legends than your
own performance. And from there, you start believing you cant get out of where youre at.
This attitude is extremely common in the Bronze and Silver ranked brackets. It ties into the attitude of
Elo Hell, which I cover in the Ranked section of the e-book.
Top players consistently push themselves through lower ranks and quickly level out near their
appropriate rank. Some players hold multiple independent accounts at the top of diamond and
challenger, showing that they can consistently achieve the same rank. Now, these arent always the best
examples, because it can get much slower to get ahead as you get closer to where you actually belong,
and if youre a gold player it may take longer to get from high silver to gold.

But I firmly believe that players float towards where they belong. And if youre not headed that
direction, it may be because you have some fundamental player weaknesses that you need to overcome
(either strategically or mechanically).

Trap #3: Playing on Tilt
When players lose a number of games in a row, or do exceptionally poorly in a game, there is a tendency
to start making worse decision in the following games. This isnt always as obvious as simply giving up or
intentionally playing worse, but it can be subtle decisions, gambles, and mistakes that lead to worse
outcomes. And with each poor performance, the next game can be even worse. This is playing on tilt.
This also works in reverse. If youve done exceptionally well or youve won a number of games in a row,
it can be easy to let your guard down and do significantly worse against a tough opponent. You start
making decisions that simply wont pay off because youre underestimating your opponents.
Now, strictly speaking, its not just previous games that can lead to these kinds of mistakes. If youve had
a very stressful day and youre playing League to blow off steam you could wind up making some of
these mistakes, which ultimately may add even more stress.
When it comes to ranked play, I strongly recommend avoiding new ranked games if youre on a losing
streak. Take a break, play Howling Abyss or a normal match, or even wait a day before playing again if
that helps. Do whatever helps you reduce stress.

Trap #4: Understanding the Long Game
This is not a negative personality trait so much as its a lack of knowledge. Many players dont
understand that improvements and working strategies dont always work in the short term, and the only
way to really judge your performance is by looking over a long period of time or a large set of matches.
Dont get frustrated when you play a new champion or role and you dont immediately do well. Part of
this is muscle memory your brain simply will not handle new champions perfectly without time and
practice and part of this is overall familiarity with the matchups and the dynamics of the lane. When
something looks appealing to you, be willing to play it longer than just a few matches.
This works both ways. Thereve been a few times where I went on a brief winning streak with a new
champion Ive been playing, then assumed I had really figured out how that champion worked. In these
cases, Ive often been jolted back to reality as I immediately go on a really awful losing streak with the
same champion, and Im forced to realize I wasnt actually as practiced as I assumed.
In ranked matches, you only need to win more than 50% of your matches, on average, to climb ranks.
You might go on a six game losing streak one day, but that doesnt automatically mean youre an awful
player or youre doing something wrong (though it may mean you should take a break for a bit so you

dont go on tilt). You could go on a six game winning streak the next day, but that doesnt automatically
mean youre playing the game in the most optimal way.
Remember where I said that some diamond and challenger players are able to climb ranks on several
different accounts? Its also worth saying that even they have lower elo games that they simply cannot
carry on their own, and wind up losing.
Dont let the short term get you down. You dont need to win every game. You dont even need to win
most of your games during a given week. Look to the future.

Trap #5: Unwillingness to Fail
This trap ties directly into the previous trap: When we focus on the short term, we often dont take the
time to try totally new things and invest in new approaches that will help us a lot more down the road.
Many players get into a mindset where they feel that getting ahead means they must avoid any kind of
failure. When this helps improve mechanical mastery, such as improving last hits, this can be a health
habit. But when its taken to the point that players are unwilling to try things they will likely fail at, it can
be enormously detrimental.
If you refuse to take risks and fail you cannot innovate. If you always play safe you will never know your
limits. One of the hallmarks of higher ranked play is that good players get where they are because
theyve pushed the limits. Theyve picked champions, lost with them a whole bunch, made incredibly
stupid decisions, and because of this theyve attained true mastery.
Practically speaking, a lot of players wont do this. They dont want to lose a bunch of games and lose
rank. They get annoyed when theyve seen other players making high risk plays and losing games as a
result, so they look at this mentality as being destructive. But once a player has pushed the limits of
their champion and role, they often find theyre able to achieve a much higher rank than they could
before.
Im not arguing that you should take stupid risks. Your experience and game knowledge should be taken
into account. Instead, you want to take risks where you dont know the outcome. This may mean diving
onto champions you dont know much about, it may mean staying to fight a battle that looks like its
losing, and it may mean aggressively invading the enemy jungle.
Over time, your rank will always adjust to your skill. Taking losses that improve your skill pay off in the
long game.


Trap #6: Focusing on Mistakes
Theres a very common narrative in the League of Legends community in which games and teamfights
are viewed only for the mistakes made in them. For example, if a team gets killed at Baron Nashor, it
was because that team made mistakes, not because the other team made a good play. If a player gets
killed in the jungle, its because they were caught out, not because the other team positioned well to
catch them.
When you die because you were caught unexpectedly by another player, if you only look at your
mistake, the only thing youll learn is how to avoid what youve done. But if you look at it as a good play
on the part of your opponents especially at higher levels of play then you can learn how to emulate
that same tactic against your opponents.
If you enjoy watching the tournament scene, watch for the big plays and strategies teams are
employing. Why is a team positioned in a particular way? Why are certain players being targeted?
Theyre a whole lot more interesting than simply viewing every event as someones mistake.
On the same subject, be willing to admit there are good players. Respecting your opponents helps you
feel better when you lose to them, and allows you to learn from them more effectively.

Trap #7: Trusting the Familiar
Though you shouldnt focus heavily on mistakes, its certainly true to say that people make mistakes. In
fact, they happen at all levels of play, even from the best teams in world tournaments. We do ourselves
a big disservice when we treat pro players as godlike players that never slip up, because this simply isnt
the case. Though the Koreans are coming close, but thats another subject altogether.
My point is that we have a tendency to emulate and trust what we find familiar. We trust people who
have biases and who make mistakes.
Once again, lets look back at the Season 3. Crumbzz, a professional North American player who
happens to be very smart, famously challenged the European scene by arguing that teleport on mid
laners was a sign of weakness. Realistically, this statement was likely made based on three points:
1. Teleport hadnt been used very effectively in North America;
2. Successful teams appeared to snowball to victory off early game advantages, and combat
summoner spells like barrier and ignite help achieve this more often than teleport;
3. Europe had lost to North America at the All Star event earlier in the season.
Now, this is not terrible reasoning, and I dont mean to present it as such. But the conclusion turned out
to be incorrect, and an objective review of how and why teleport was being used in the European scene
may have come to a much better conclusion. Had North America respected this more, they may have
done a better job practicing for it, and may not have lost so quickly at the world championships.

This kind of thing happens all the time. Ezreal is a fantastic example of this, as he was largely considered
an underpowered champion in the English-speaking community. Riot Games dropped messages a few
times during complaints about his lack of power, mentioning that he was a staple in the Chinese scene.
As people started giving him a shot, especially near the launch of Pulsefire Ezreal, he suddenly came to
be considered a top pick that may have actually been too strong all along.
Another example is support Annie. The idea of considering her a support had not even crossed most
peoples minds for years. It wasnt until Royal Clubs Tabe started pulling out amazing plays with her that
people suddenly realized she had nearly all of the flexibility of some tanks and heavy supports, such as
Leona, with quicker crowd control and more safety due to her range.
I firmly believe there are a lot of cool things that people quickly dismiss because they arent familiar, not
realizing that they may stand well on their own. Finding these things is a big part of the reason why Im
usually eager to try odd lane combinations such as Cassiopeia and Soraka (which is totally fantastic, by
the way).
Outside of champion and spell picks, theres also the matter of how we think about tournaments and
bigger events. In the championships at the end of Season 3, the English analyst desk near-universally
predicted Fnatic to beat Royal Club. This happened for two reasons:
Every member of the analyst desk was more familiar with Fnatic than with Chinas Royal Club;
Every member of the analyst desk was also familiar with Cloud 9, who Fnatic had just defeated.
This elevated their view of Fnatics standing.
But Royal Club defeated Fnatic. And if the predictions had been made off real data, such as the
champions each team picked and banned, they might have been considerably more accurate.
How does this affect you?
If youre new to the game, you may be looking at friends playing who seem to be incredibly good. After
all, when they queue with you, theyre stomping everyone they play with. But keep in mind that this
may be more due to an experience gap than a skill gap, and some of the things theyre doing may not
work as well against tougher opponents.
If you watch streams from pro players or tournaments, understand that strategies and tactics that work
well in challenger and tournament games dont always work so well in teams with less experienced
players. Pulling off an advanced teleport split pushing strategy wont work if your team doesnt
understand that they should disengage from fights when youre gone. Newer players will also
sometimes surprise you because they dont do what theyre supposed to do; they arent where theyre
supposed to be. And these kinds of surprises can get you killed.
Conversely, there are strategies that work fantastically well at lower ranks that almost never work at
high ranks, including abusing lack of vision control and general lack of map awareness from most lower
ranked players. If youre still new to the game, think about your bad habits that youre working on, then
think about bad habits you see teammates making then apply that to your opponents.

As you learn more about the game and you really start to dig into how its played, start to have
confidence in your own knowledge, wisdom, and instinct. Though you should never assume youve
attained all knowledge, you should also never assume everyone has better knowledge than you.

Trap #8: Leaving Beliefs Unchallenged
People have a tendency to use limited events to inform their judgment, especially when we lack more
comprehensive information. We quickly form biases and we use these biases to help direct our actions.
This is entirely natural and usually very helpful to us.
Our experiences should inform our judgment, but this isnt always enough to really know if what were
doing is right or wrong.
There was an event in 2005 that I credit for being the primary reason for my success. When I had written
my first long guide and released it on the early World of Warcraft forums, another player ripped apart
huge chunks of what I wrote because I wasnt putting enough value in the armor stat. Though I didnt
show this, I took this very personally, as it was an attack on something I had worked on for a very long
time. It didnt feel good.
I thought of ways to rebut this person by discrediting them. The guy was a total jerk. And though they
were in a decent guild, they certainly werent in the #1 guild in the world. Other players who agreed
with me were in better guilds than him!
But there was one problem. I didnt know he was wrong.
I could have stood my ground and insulted this player. And I probably would have convinced a lot of
people my information was correct. But this would have been petty, it would have been dishonest, and I
never would have become a better author.
I learned more math that week than I learned in high school. I learned to test game mechanics and the
methods for finding data and backing it up with evidence. And when I was done, I learned to admit I was
wrong. Admitting failure had seemed shameful, but once I went through this process it was
enlightening.
Ive mentioned this in my self-employment video on YouTube, but it should be brought up again. People
can be jerks and they can still be right. People can be incredibly nice and they can still be wrong. And
when we give advice to people, we have to be self-conscious because we may be wrong.
Lets bring this around to something youll certainly be using in your time in League of Legends
champion guides and written analyses from experienced players. Before I go any further, Ill tell you that
I use champion guides written by pro players all the time when Im trying something new, and I
definitely think its a good idea to do.

A lot of the pro players who write guides are on contract to do so, especially when it involves players
from well-known teams. These players, while mechanically skilled and often very smart, are often not
the deepest thinkers when it comes to the math and theory behind the game.
If youre like me, you dont have a lot of time to sort through everything and understand every issue in
its entirety. You have to pick people to trust, not because theyre necessarily always right, but because
theyre more likely to be right than others. Even if their information isnt perfect, theres a much better
chance that itll work well for you than the chance of finding a better guide from someone else.
But, like trusting the familiar, you must be willing to challenge what you know. If something contradicts
your perception, dont immediately assume its wrong. If something feels off, try to think about how you
can improve it. If someone presents new information to you, or you see champions played in different
ways in tournaments, ask yourself why theyre doing that and how it could benefit you to try it out.
Beyond this, just go and check guide sites or Google for more information that could help you, especially
for the champions you really love to play.
The support Annie picks dont come into play until people think to try them. Innovation as a whole
wont happen unless people challenge themselves to do more than accept whats around them as it is.

Maintaining Focus
One of the primary skills that determine the outcome of matches in League of Legends is your ability to
focus on everything happening. Though certainly important, I should make it clear that Im not referring
to who you and your teammates are targeting, which is also called focusing.
While well look at overall game focus, I also want to add an emphasis to teamfights. It is extraordinarily
easy to become overwhelmed in teamfights. Theres a whole lot going on, and sometimes this wont all
be happening within your direct field of vision. Dont feel bad about this in my time analyzing
tournament matches, Ive found that very few teams are experts at handling complex teamfights. Ill go
one step further and say that the very best teams are where they are not because they individually out-
skill their opponents (though this can be important), but because they are able to better focus and
respond to complex real-time events.
There are three major stages players should go through to improve in this regard.

Stage 1 Do Something
At the earliest stage of learning you will be likely be overwhelmed in any kind of teamfight. This is
especially true for players who are brand new to the game. By far the most common mistake from
players at this level is that they dont use their abilities or attacks at all, instead trying to assess when
they should use them or figure out whats going on.
Do something. If youre not sure what to do, unload all of your offensive abilities and make sure that
youve targeted someone with normal attacks. Dont worry about who you should be targeting or where
you need to be positioned. Whether you succeed or fail, you will learn, and youll be developing muscle
memory to react quicker in future situations.
Of course, theres one small caveat to this. Some champions have abilities that move knock opponents
to new locations, such as Janna with her ultimate. When youre not comfortable with these abilities it
can be a better idea to do something so long as its not using those abilities.

Stage 2 Situational Awareness
Your brain will naturally begin to see patterns as you continue to play, and youll be able to recognize
whats happening in teamfights at a much broader level. For instance, youll start to notice when Galio
or Morgana is trying to move into the middle of several of your teammates to land an ultimate, and
youll be able to respond more effectively by spreading out or using crowd controls.
This is the concept of information at a glance, and its very similar to muscle memory. Youll develop
this skill naturally as you play the game. But there are at least two areas you can and should improve
through practice.

Player Screen
When you press the 'Tab' key during a match, a screen pops up detailing both your team and your
opponents. On this screen you can see kills on champions and creeps, giving you a ballpark
measurement of how well they're doing, as well as items they're building and which summoner spells
they have. This will only update based on when the opponent was last visible to your team.
Tab is also a quick way of seeing who is missing. Enemies who are greyed out are not currently visible to
your teammates, so a quick Tab press can tell you who you need to watch out for.
When you have this menu open, look at the summoner spells your opponents have, with a special eye
towards Exhaust, Flash, Ghost, Barrier, and Heal. These must be accounted for if you want to be
aggressive. Never dive a tower or overextend attempting to kill a player who has any of these spells
currently available unless you're absolutely sure you can compensate for it, as well as any other abilities
they may have.
Take a second to really look at their items. You can do this by targeting them as well. Do they have
wards? If so, that may suggest they've been warding around your lane, or they're about to. Do they have
an empty spot between two other items? In the early game, this may also suggest they've placed a
ward.
Are they building defensively, such as an early purchase of Null-Magic Mantle (magic resist) or Cloth
Armor (armor)? Don't overestimate the damage you'll do to them if they are.
When you're building boots, open up your Tab menu and run down the list of enemy champions. Don't
buy damage-related boots if everything in your brain says you should buy Mercury Treads. In rarer
cases, Ninja Tabi is a good investment.
Not sure whether a Void Staff or Last Whisper are good bets? They usually are, but it's always worth
checking out whether your opponents are building any magic resist or armor before putting down a
chunk of money on them.
The point I'm getting at is that you need to really look at your opponents. Don't just try to snowball into
an amazing damage-dealing powerhouse -- thinking about your purchases and how they relate to your
enemy really will have a big impact on your performance.
As a related note (in terms of using the interface to your advantage), you can see which of your allies
have their ultimate abilities available by looking at the green or black dot on the upper right-hand of
their portrait on the left-hand side of your screen. Green means they have their ultimate and can use it.
By looking at the player screen frequently, you will eventually be able to gain the information you need
in only one or two seconds.


Minimap & Map Awareness
Scan your minimap every few seconds. At a basic level, this will improve your awareness of incoming
ganks as well as develop a very healthy game habit. But over time, your brain will be able to identify not
just whether players are near you, but also which opponents and allies are where on the map, and who
is unaccounted for. Frequently watching your minimap is one of the best ways to develop a strong gut
instinct, because youll be tying events that occur such as ganks from particular junglers to
information about where they were (or werent) right before it happened.
General map awareness should be achieved not just with your minimap, but also with the player screen.
Again, this helps you see who is missing. With these two combined, you have a great way of seeing who
is missing at any given time, as well as a great way of knowing when you can take risks because
everyone is accounted for.
Being map aware also helps you more quickly capitalize on times when there are nearby teammates,
either by helping them out while they're being attacks, or by getting in position to gank with them.
Though not directly related to mental preparedness, I strongly recommend learning to effectively ward,
as it ties directly into your potential map awareness. Learn more in the dedicated vision section of the e-
book.

Know Your Enemy
While you can calculate the relative power of an opponent by checking out their items and stats, you
will often learn the most about how strong or weak they are by watching them. Take time to
occasionally glance at other lanes, especially after dying, and run through a mental checklist:
Does your opponent look like they're farming well?
Are they being overly aggressive?
Are they not taking advantage of an opportunity in front of them? Are they being too cautious,
or are they being smart?
Are they responding quickly to their teammates needs?
Are they avoiding ganks in a smart way, and do they seem to be reacting to your allies (i.e. are
they reacting based on ward vision)?
You'll learn a lot about their team by doing this. While these snap judgments won't always be correct,
they can give you a good idea how things are going, especially in conjunction with a glance at their
items. Just knowing when an opponent is not doing particularly well, especially if they're a counter to
your own champion, can help you make decisions later on in the match.


Stage 3 Rapid Assessment
Mastery of League of Legends requires going beyond situational awareness and advancing to real-time
decision making. Top play certainly requires awareness and an understanding of tactics and strategy in
League of Legends but more importantly it is able to adapt these to fit the given situation.

Critical Targets
One of the traps players fall into at all levels of play is assuming that carries (such as marksmen, mages,
or assassins) are the ideal targets to focus on once a teamfight starts. In reality, unless players are
significantly out of position and can be easily killed, this mentality is rarely a good one to have or
encourage.
As players improve, we tend to see basic strategy and tactics come into play. Marksmen and mages may
focus on the targets closest to them rather than trying to move into the back line, and tanks and fighters
may be deciding between diving onto enemy carries and peeling for their own.
At a very advanced level, players need to be making decisions on a number of additional factors. Lets
use an example with a Vayne player entering a teamfight where she must choose between attacking a
Renekton, a Sona, and an Elise. A very good player will be keeping track of:
Can Renekton dash to me? Has he used his stun? Can he zone me out of the fight?
Has Sona used her ultimate? Is her flash down?
Has Elise used her rappel? Has she used her skillshot stun?
In this example, Sona is presumably an extremely easy target to kill if shes used her ultimate, where
Elise may be easy but only if her rappel isnt available, and Renekton is certainly going to take some time
to kill. Vayne must also consider the timing and direction of her next tumble dash to position herself for
continued engagement, and this is going to be based on what abilities are still available from Elise and
Renekton.
Where is each target in relation to their allies, and who are their allies attacking? If Vayne is able to
enter the fight from brush, benefiting from stealth on her tumble, she may very well have an
opportunity to blow up Sona before anyone reacts. But it depends on her positioning and her own
cooldowns.
Teamfights are some of the most dynamic events in League of Legends. Every situation is different, and
the best target for players to attack, crowd control, disrupt, or position for is often not going to be the
most obvious targets or the closest targets. Players who are able to watch teamfights and make
judgment calls based on several things at once are often able to be great shotcallers. These are the
players on pro teams who call out targets to focus down and what needs to be done at any given time.
A player who has mastered the skill of tracking a lot of data at once and has simultaneously mastered a
high mobility champion like Lee Sin, Vayne, Riven, or Zed can be a sight to behold. Put together, these

players can weave in and out of very dangerous positions and maximize their potential. One fantastic
example of this was when a Korean player named Faker went against another Zed; despite being at low
health, his complete understanding of what the other player was capable of doing and keeping track of
it allowed him to pull out an unbelievable kill. Heres a video link (search Faker Zed vs Ryu Zed on
YouTube if you cant use this inside the e-book).

Practice Against Your Enemy (Scrimmaging, Tournaments, and Analysis)
The very best players actively practice against their opponents. Doing this allows them to improve not
just when facing those opponents, but also when facing similarly skilled opponents. This is important for
full teams, but it also does tie into individual practice.
Teams within a region will tend to scrimmage, or scrim, against each other. These are competitive
matches between two teams that are not part of a tournament. These scrims and the information
collected in them tend to remain private between the teams. Beyond this, some teams may generate a
reputation for not trying real strategies or not trying their hardest during scrims, which allows them to
gain information about their opponents while not showing their own strategies; the teams that dont
seem to respect the matches theyre in tend to have more difficulty finding good scrim opponents. In
the Asian scene, and to a lesser degree elsewhere, its more common for an organization to have both
an A and a B team, allowing them to take advantage of in-house scrimmages to try out new strategies
and counters.
If you happened to have read Dune, you may be familiar with the Sardaukar soldiers. These were
soldiers forced to survive on an extreme prison planet, and as a result, the weak were quickly killed off
while only the strongest and most ruthless survived. How does this tie into League?
In Season 3, a new team called Cloud 9 began doing phenomenally well. They completely dominated the
regional LCS scene, beating out each of the veteran teams with relative ease. At this level, the Sardaukar
analogy can be made because the Cloud 9 players had all done very well in ranked solo queue
considerably better than the combined players on any other team so they were more proficient and
more focused in gameplay. Cloud 9 was also notable in being one of the few North American teams that
could effectively focus during teamfights, often turning roughly even matches around the moment the
first teamfight broke out.
But the analogy works at another level as well. Cloud 9 did not have any strong competitors in the
scene, and they were rolled over when they faced Europes Fnatic (forgive me for using this example in
yet another context). Cloud 9 was left fumbling on all corners. The difference between these two teams
is Fnatic was there because they had faced and competed against extremely good teams, such as
Gambit Gaming, to get where they were. Its not that Cloud 9 were necessarily worse or less capable
players, its that they never needed to push themselves to go that extra mile to succeed.

So how does this tie into practicing against your enemy? In Season 3, teams had relatively few
opportunities to test themselves against international opponents, so its fair to say that Cloud 9 didnt
have many opportunities to directly play against their future opponents.
But quality scrimmaging and competitive play against opponents that were actually trying had been cut
way down, as top teams at the time, such as Team Solomid and Curse, werent putting much effort into
the matches. During the season, these teams did not appear to take scrimmaging nearly as seriously as
teams in other regions. And as a result, even teams with serious potential such as Cloud 9 simply
didnt have an environment that gave them a strong chance outside North America.
Beyond scrimmaging theres also scouting and watching tournament replays. This works against veteran
teams with a lot of tournaments and public matches on record, but it can be more difficult against up-
and-coming teams with little record. This is no substitute for good practice but it can give you an idea
when going up against teams youre not familiar with.
This can be taken a step further as players actively scout their opponents in the pro scene. Madlife, a
Korean player who consistently performs at an extremely high level, is known for studying the habits of
his opponents. In one famous clip, he begins throwing out a Thresh hook on an Ezreal before Ezreal
arcane shifts away, and the hook lands on exactly where Ezreal shifts to. Heres a video link (search
Madlife Thresh Hook on YouTube if you cant use this inside the e-book).

Overwhelm your Opponents
Every player has a limit on how much they can focus on at a given time. For newer players, this is a much
harsher limit, which means its very easy to take advantage of them through fairly simple strategies. As
players improve, it may be harder to take advantage of a lack of situational awareness, but they are
likely still vulnerable to smart maneuvers in teamfights.
Overwhelming your opponents ability to focus by providing a number of different factors at once can be
the difference between success and failure. It can allow for really sloppy plays to provide fantastic
results. For example, a tower dive where a jungler comes in from behind the enemy tower can throw
your opponents off guard for long enough that you can net a kill even if the wrong people start taking
tower shots or positioning is sloppy. While your opponent may have a perfect play and may have an
easy way to avoid being killed or even come out with kills, they may not be as quick to realize this as you
might think.
This is a large part of why team compositions that rely on area effect ultimates from champions like
Morgana, Amumu and Miss Fortune can be extremely effective. At lower ranks, these take advantage of
players not catching their positioning quickly enough and getting caught in crowd controls as a group. At
higher ranks, these champions allow teams to win some teamfights even if the players arent amazingly
skilled at focusing on many different things going on in the fight.


Working with Teams
So far weve looked at understanding ourselves and improving ourselves, but the subtext has been how
we work with and understand other players. I wont go on too long, but there are a few key things that
should be brought up.
Just as you may have your own playstyles and your own flaws, so do your teammates. Some of your
teammates may be playing on tilt, and some of them may have entirely different skills in terms of
strategy and tactics. Some people take criticism well and some people dont take it well at all.
These are the players you have. They may or may not be the players you want. To succeed, you must to
play to their strengths, and you must cover their weaknesses.
When discussing junglers, we sometimes say that we want to gank to help snowball the Riven at top
lane, because thats the player who will carry the game. This is certainly true: a mechanically skilled
Riven who is extremely good a micromanaging is a force to be reckoned with. But so is that strategic
Teemo player at top lane, and helping him snowball could allow him to win a lane he might otherwise
lose.
Be willing to lose your lane. If youre already losing your lane, it can be more reliable for your
teammates to help snowball another lane rather than trying to fix yours. While it can be frustrating to
be ignored when youre already struggling, understand that it may be your teams best chance of
victory.
If your teammates do poorly in the early game, that does not default to them doing poorly later in the
game. It could, of course, if things go badly enough. But one or two early deaths are no reason to
assume a game is lost.
You may be a god at your champion, and you may understand strategy perfectly. If you set up an
amazing gank that requires your teammate to engage or show up at exactly the right time, and they
dont follow up, its not always their fault the play failed. Dont set up the perfect plays, set up the plays
your teammates can actually do. This is especially important for players at lower ranks.
Never ask your allies, Why? Why did they die? Why didnt they ward? Why arent they pushing?
Why is a confrontational word, and most players will take it that way. It implies blame, and it causes
many players to react defensively and play worse. Make suggestions, pay compliments, and thank them.
When someones upset, work with them. When someones a jerk, let it slide, and mute them if you need
to. Arguing never helps.
Humans are different. Accept this. Work with them.


Self Improvement
To improve your own performance, here are a few out-of-game suggestions.
First, create a spreadsheet or notepad file and document your biggest mistakes after every single game
you play. Make notes of things you learn as well. Ive seen a half dozen people do this to reach the top
of Diamond. Use this list to help identify your most common mistakes. Never stop doing this.
Second, look at your statistics. For ranked games, load your profile or look at popular websites that track
these things (some are included in the links list in the members section). Use this to get an idea of which
champions you perform best with, and where you could use improvement.
Third, watch your replays. Record your games and look through them. You dont need to do this for
every game you play, but you should take time to look over your games every so often. Youll be
surprised how many mistakes you didnt realize you were making.
Fourth, make mistakes. Take risks. If you dont know the outcome of a fight, get into the fight. If you
win, youre awesome. If you fail, youve learned. Outside of tournament play theres virtually no reason
to stop testing the boundaries, because it always pays off in the long run.
Above all, learn to learn. Find out how you learn best, whether this is through videos, streams, playing
the game, or reading guides. People learn in a variety of different ways and you want to make sure
youre totally engaged in the format youre using.
If you dont know other champion roles, play them. If you think a champion is extremely difficult to play
against, play them and find out what their weaknesses are and what their cooldowns feel like. No
matter what you do, you will need to practice in game to develop muscle memory.
Dont forget the earlier suggestions. Learning to quickcast (with range indicators if you prefer) and
learning to use Attack Click will allow you to act and react more quickly. You might take a bit to get
used to these but they will help you play better. Play other games to give you new insights on how to
play League and to develop your mind.

Map Vision
Knowing whats going on throughout the battlefield provides a massive advantage to your team, so long
as your team will make use of this knowledge. It allows you to push, engage in team fights, and take
objectives based on real information. And by the same token, preventing your opponents from seeing
and tracking your team will deny them from being able to act on real information.
In this section were going to cover the different vision items available to a team, as well as when and
how to use them.

Ward & Trinket Strategy
With the exception of certain champion abilities, map vision is controlled through the use of several
core items. Before we get into the strategy, lets first take a look at the tools youll have available:
Stealth Wards
Stealth wards offer normal vision in an area around where theyre placed. These wards are
not normally visible to opponents, though they can be seen by towers and other items that
grant stealth detection. Opponents who gain vision on these wards can destroy them with three normal
attacks. Each player may have up to three stealth wards on the map at any given time; placing a fourth
ward immediately removes the oldest ward.
When purchased individually, stealth wards cost 75 gold and have a three minute duration. You can only
have three stealth wards in your inventory.

Sightstones (Stealth Wards)
Sightstones are more expensive items that grant a stash of stealth wards that automatically
refill every time you return to base. If you are playing a support or a champion that can use
wards as targets to dash or blink to (such as Lee Sin, Katarina, and Jax), sightstones can be worthwhile
investments to make early in the game so you dont spend as much on individual wards. Each stealth
ward placed with this item has a three minute duration.


Vision Wards
Vision wards grant vision in an area around where theyre placed, and can also see invisible
units such as stealthed champions or stealth wards. Unlike stealth wards, these wards can
be seen by nearby enemy players. They are also sturdier, requiring five normal attacks before being
destroyed. Each player may only have one active vision ward on the map at a time, and placing a new
vision ward immediately removes the older one.
When purchased individually, vision wards cost 100 gold and will remain on the map until theyre killed.
Because vision wards are visible, are more survivable, and are a clear threat to the opposing team, these
can be fantastic to place when you want to set up ganks or force teamfights in favorable positions for
your team.
If youre playing a ranged champion and you need to counter a vision ward inside brush without moving
too close, consider dropping a stealth ward from a range instead of walking inside the brush. This is
sometimes helpful for high-risk areas such as the enemy tri-brush in the early game, as it reduces the
potential power of an ambush.

Teleport & Champion Abilities
Allied wards are considered valid units for the Teleport summoner spell. Using Teleport clearly gives
away the location of the ward to any opponents who are paying attention to the area, but also makes
the ward invulnerable during casting.
This can be used to your advantage in securing kills on Dragon and Baron Nashor, particularly if a player
on the other side of the map has Teleport available and can turn the tides of a fight in your favor. In
some circumstances, it can be a good method of getting a player near the enemy base quickly to take
down a structure before the team can react.
There are also a few champions, such as Lee Sin, Katarina, and Jax, who can use abilities to dash or blink
to wards. If you're playing these champions it's often a good idea to carry at least one ward with you for
this purpose. If you're playing on the same team as them, keep it in mind if you need to help them
escape in a pinch. And if you're playing against them, you'll want to be more vigilant about destroying
enemy wards when possible.

Trinkets
Trinkets are items that occupy a special item slot. Basic trinkets are free and can be found under the All
Items tab in the Vision & Trinkets section of the shop.
Trinkets give a basic bonus at level 1, but upgrade automatically to improved versions at level 9. Level 9
is usually when youll be maxing your first core ability, so this timing can offer a brief power spike over
your opponents. Once youve got the improved version, you can then choose whether you want to pay
475 gold for an upgrade to the trinket the next time youre at the shop.
Free trinkets can be given back to the shop and the upgrades can be sold back. This allows you to swap
to a different type of trinket at any point in the game, but there is a three minute delay before you can
use any trinket again.
Lets take a look at each of the trinkets and when you should consider purchasing them.

Yellow Totems
The yellow totems allow you to place free wards every time their cooldown is complete.
The first version of this will let you place a stealth ward that lasts one minute, and the
cooldown for this is two minutes. The level 9 version doubles the duration to two minutes.
There are two upgrade paths for this trinket:
1. The Greater Stealth Totem offers you a three minute duration stealth ward, again with a two
minute cooldown.
2. The Greater Vision Totem offers a three minute duration vision ward with a three minute
cooldown.
There are three good reasons to choose this trinket:
1. One of the other trinkets doesnt specifically counter your opponents.
2. You are playing a champion that can dash or blink to wards (such as Lee Sin, Katarina, and Jax).
3. You are not sure which trinket to go with during a match.
Wards are always good to have on hand, so youll really never go too wrong with picking this trinket up.
Even though the basic version of this only allows you to keep a ward down for one out of every two
minutes, alternating this with a duo laner or extending the duration of vision after other wards expire is
helpful.
For the final upgrades, heres what you ought to consider:
The Greater Stealth Totem allows you to have two wards on the map at once from the same item (place
a ward for 3 minutes, place another after 2 minutes). Theres only a 60 second crossover, but if youre
not otherwise placing many wards, this can actually be pretty beneficial to your team. Purchase this
upgrade if youre not spending money on sightstones or wards but want to improve your teams vision.
In other words, most players will probably want this.
The Greater Vision Totem, on the other hand, is particularly useful for champions who are already using
sightstones. This is because it acts similar to a Sighstone in that it allows you a vision ward you can use
on cooldown. Purchase this upgrade if you have a Sighstone or you otherwise need to be able to place
more vision wards, particularly if yours are being contested quickly or youre contesting different areas
of the map frequently.
Beyond this, there are rare situations where you may want to use the vision totem even over a red lens
(covered next) when dealing with stealth champions. If teamfights are fairly static in terms of positioning
and youre a squishier target thats likely to be burst down, this trinket may have more actual impact on
dealing with stealth during a teamfight than the upgraded lens.

Red Lenses
The red lens items are designed to give you ways of dealing with stealth. These items let
you create a temporary field within a fairly short range that reveals and disables invisible
traps (such as Teemo and Shaco traps) and stealth wards.
There are some caveats to this. The item does not actually grant normal vision, meaning you cant use it
to see inside the fog of war. Additionally, it does not disable vision wards (meaning stealth champions
cannot use this to disable any form of stealth detection). Finally, it doesnt disable visible traps such as
Caitlyn or Nidalees traps, even if theyre concealed in brush.
The level 9 upgrade increases the size of the revealed area, reduces the cooldown, and increases the
duration of the effect.
The purchased upgrade also grants a 10 second Oracle effect to the user. This grants stealth detections
in a radius around you, not where you cast the item, and follows you as you move. While this effect does
not grant vision on invisible units in the fog of war, the bonus to this is that youll be able to see
stealthed champion. To be clear, this Oracle effect is entirely in addition to the stealth detection field,
though theyre both activated at the same time.
Lets take a look at a special tactic you can use with the red lens. Normally the basic red lens cannot be
cast from beyond the range of a ward, meaning that approaching a ward gives away your location
before you disable it. But some common ward locations, such as tri-brush, have terrain that you can use
to stay out of vision as you approach:

By approaching the tri brush from behind a wall, then using the red lens to disable the ward, you can
quickly run past the ward before the enemy knows who is entering the lane. For most champions,
having boots or improved boots is ideal to move out of vision faster than the ward recovers. If youre
lucky, they may not even notice the reduced fog of war on their minimap, and your approach will be a
surprise to them.
In the early game, if your opponent has a red lens and you want to preserve a ward in a critical location,
consider first dropping a ward they can see. If theyre baited into using their lens to destroy the ward,
you can safely place your ward in your desired location. This is situational since you could simply drop a

ward, they could clear it, and you could drop it again in the same location but its ideal for ganking
brush when your opponents may clear your ward then bully you to prevent you from moving back in to
re-ward.
Before level 9, purchase this item if removing enemy vision is more important to you than having vision
of your own. Since this is very effective at finding, disabling, bypassing and destroying enemy stealth
wards, this item is effective for denying enemy vision. This is great for allowing a jungler or other
teammate to have a clear path to enter the lane, and is especially good if those players have high kill
potential but low speed and mobility (for example, Amumu).
You should also purchase this item if youre jungling against Shaco, as disabling his traps at a key
moment can be the difference between winning or losing a fight. For Teemo, its a bit more optional, as
his speed may prevent you from keeping a fight near disabled mushrooms (and he probably has a nice
farm going around the rest of his home).
At level 9 and with an upgrade, this becomes the core item for dealing with stealthed champions. The
Oracle effect is extremely good when dealing with some champions (such as Akali and Vayne) who
would otherwise drop into stealth during engagements. While vision wards can achieve the same effect,
the yellow lens with vision wards has twice the cooldown and will remove another vision ward if its
already been placed.
Make sure you carefully check for enemy wards as you pass through a bush while you have the Oracle
effect active. If you're moving quickly and are watching other events, you can miss wards that will only
pop up for a half second or so. Be deliberative when moving between bushes to make sure you're not
missing anything this is easier to do with Attack Move commands, which will cause your champion to
automatically begin attacking wards that come into vision (provided another hostile enemy is not
closer).

Blue Orbs
The blue orb trinkets can be activated to grant vision on a nearby area, including enemies
inside brush. This vision lasts for one second, meaning it only allows a brief glimpse of the
area. Each upgrade to this trinket dramatically increases the range it can be cast from, and the final
upgrade also reduces the cooldown to 90 seconds.
The effects of the orb are very simple, and they are best when paired with a strong understanding of
League of Legends and a gut sense of the match youre in. For example, as you understand the different
ganking paths that players will use, or get an idea when players are leaving other lanes to potentially
come near your own, or know when opponents may be doing Baron Nashor or Dragon, this item
becomes significantly more effective at finding them at the right moments. If your lane opponent
suddenly gets aggressive and you suspect its because their jungler is there to gank, this will allow you to
quickly check. But you only get one shot, and its only for one second.
Heres when you may wish to purchase this item:
You or an ally will want to enter the fog of war and youre not aware of whether your opponents
are waiting in brush to ambush. This is especially important against assassins.
You or an ally needs to be able to click and target enemies who may juke into brush to activate
certain abilities (ex. Taric stun or Maokai root). Special consideration should be taken for
champions, especially junglers, who can use this vision to target and dash to monster camps, as
this can help with escapes.
You are being pushed to your tower in a side lane and you need to be able to either get wards
safely into river brush or check the brush ahead of you before you can move in (ex. Against a
Blitzcrank or when you suspect a jungler is hiding in the lane brush).
Theres one more thing. This item is your only sure-fire tool against teams that are aggressively
countering your map vision. Teams can disable and destroy wards, especially use the red lenses, but
they cannot deny vision from this trinket. Since this offers a very long range, particularly with upgrades,
this can be important at key moments.
This is a very powerful trinket but its also a very limited trinket. Id caution against using this item
before you feel comfortable with the flow of the game, unless youve got a specific combat reason you
may need it (such as those above).


Duo Lane Trinket Strategy
If youre in a lane with another player, there are two fairly good trinket combinations you may decide to
pick up. The first is taking double yellow totems, as this allows near-constant ward coverage from the 60
second wards (since theyre on a 2 minute cooldown one person can only gain 50% ward uptime at
best).
The second pair is taking both a blue orb and a red lens. The blue orb lets you quickly look ahead to
make sure its safe for your ally to move in, while the red lens lets the ally destroy an enemy ward. This
offers an effective counterwarding combo, and is ideal if at least one player is investing in wards or
sightstones separate of the trinket.

Trinket Selling Strategy
As mentioned earlier, trinkets can be returned to the shop and replaced. Doing so places a very
significant cooldown on their use, but it does offer you the opportunity to swap them out mid match,
and the gold lost from selling and repurchasing an upgraded trinket is minimal. Keeping in mind that
trinkets cant be upgraded until level 9, there are times when its simply a better idea to swap trinkets
than it is to use one the whole game.
Lets start with a stealth-related example. With the exception of Evelynn, stealth champions are
generally visible at some point before they enter your lane. These champions also tend to be higher
damage assassins or marksmen.
This means that the yellow totem is actually a much better bet to have in the early game for three
reasons. First off, the red lens offers nothing against stealthed champions before it has been fully
upgraded and you gain the Oracle effect. Second, aggressively denying your opponents vision and killing
their wards may be putting you out of position and in danger of being ganked by these assassins. Third,
the safety offered from the yellow totem ward is possibly going to give you warning on an incoming
gank.
Now, against strong stealth champions, at level 9 youre probably going to want the upgraded red lens.
This is a great opportunity to go back and sell the yellow totem to pick up the lens.
The same logic we used here can be used to apply to other early game situations. For example, a
support champion may want to pick up the red lens to help counterward for their lane and allow the
jungler to move in to gank. But later in the game, the value of the yellow totem in offering a free vision
ward may be preferred.
My main message is this: Be willing to sell the trinkets you start with later on and swap to better trinkets
for your situation. Its usually better to do this early and avoid doing it often due to the cooldown after
swapping.


Combat Vision & Quickcasting
One of the most critical skills for supports (and other players) to learn is how to apply vision during
combat. When an opponent is about to break vision, such as entering brush or going stealth,
immediately dropping a ward or using a blue trinket allows your team to continue using attacks and
targeted abilities without interruption.
I recommend enabling quickcasting on at least one item slot where you will hold onto wards, as well as
your trinket slot, to allow you to do this more quickly.

Counterwarding
Warding is the process of increasing your own map vision and map awareness through the use of wards.
Counterwarding is the process of removing your opponents map vision and map awareness by getting
rid of their wards.
Counterwarding is important so long as it offers a tangible advantage to your team. If your team will not
or cannot realistically use it to their advantage, getting rid of a ward is a risky investment, as you may be
putting yourself out of position to do this.
What amounts to a tangible advantage? In the early game it can mean being able to push and zone your
opponents more effectively because they're afraid of being ganked. Being able to engage Dragon and
Baron Nashor before your opponents are aware, or in such a way where they cannot guess how much
health these monsters have while you're fighting, is an advantage.
With objectives such as Dragon and Baron, but also for jungle buffs if you choose to invade the enemy
jungle, I recommend warding and counterwarding before they become available in the mid and late
game, as it will give you warning if a team is aware of the timer and is preparing to fight them the
moment they respawn.
In the early game, counterwarding tends to be specific, and is usually ideal for enabling ganks from your
teammates. Vision wards can help with this, though the red lens is even better suited to the task. This
remains true in the late game, especially as the red lens is upgraded to provide the Oracle effect,
allowing you to deny more vision across the map.
Counterwarding is virtually always good in a game, but is often not necessary for every single ward.
Don't put yourself in a position where you're being baited into bad situations by counterwarding wards
you didn't need to take out.
Both warding and counterwarding are mind games, and the better you shut down your opponent's
vision while increasing your own, the more your team can engage based on reality while your opponents
must engage based on perception.


Other Vision Sources
Not all map vision is controlled exclusively through wards and trinkets. Minions, towers, and certain
champion abilities such as Ashes Hawkshot can also provide vision.

Towers
Towers are naturally defensible, providing strong area vision and high damage output. In balanced
fights, towers are safe havens and fallback points that allow for extension in the area around them.
Losing or destroying a tower can completely shift the balance in a match in terms of vision and map
awareness. Not only do you lose the vision of the tower, but you also lose the easy fallback position that
makes nearby warding much safer for your team.
If you lose a tower, take extra steps to ensure you have vision in the area. You cannot safely extend until
you do.
On the flip side, if you take a tower, take extra steps to destroy any wards they may try to place, as this
turns a large area on their side of the map into hostile territory for them. This prevents them from easily
farming, can offer you more gank opportunities, and can allow your team to more easily push the next
tower in their lane.

Reveal Abilities
Some champions, such as Nidalee and Caitlyn, have abilities that temporarily reveal their opponents
through the fog of war. This grants vision on the opponent, but it does so in a mechanically interesting
way -- you can see your opponent's wards if the affected player moves in range of them. This doesn't
work for all abilities that make an opponent visible, and it doesn't work 100% of the time even for
abilities that do, but keep an eye out when you reveal a player with traps or other abilities.


Who is Responsible
With the introduction of trinkets in Season 4, every player on a team is at least partly responsible for
map vision at all stages of the game. Though some players may still choose to specialize in this, such as
supports or junglers picking up sightstones and actively clearing opposing wards, these are skills every
good League of Legends player must learn.
When it comes to placing wards beyond what your trinkets afford you, keep this rule in mind: If you
don't die because you placed a ward, that ward paid for itself several times over. While you may feel it is
ideal to use your gold elsewhere, you should invest in wards whenever necessary.

Warding With Teammates
Depending on the situation in the current match-up, you may need the assistance of teammates to
effectively ward and counterward around the map.
The first factor is whether the opposing team has a vision advantage of their own and whether they're
quickly acting on that vision. It can be very difficult to win the vision game once your opponents already
control most of the map, though trinkets such as the blue orb can help you recover.
The second factor is how reckless your opponents are. Most advanced players will not put themselves at
risk by moving blindly into the fog of war while several opponents are not accounted for. The fear of
being caught out of position and being ganked is a very real thing, and it's one of the biggest advantages
of denying an opponent their map vision. By mid-game, a player wishing to place wards can usually do
so alone if they have already denied the enemy vision, or have a blue orb, and will have some advance
warning from their own vision on approaching enemies.
It's also a good rule of thumb to immediately take opportunities to ward and counterward when you can
see the threats on your opponent's team somewhere else on the map. This is the safest time to move
around solo.
However, less experienced opponents are less likely to have picked up the habit of being careful about
overextending and avoiding potential traps. This will actually make it harder to safely place wards alone
if you're playing a less survivable champion. On the flip side, roaming with your team is more likely to
net kills on opponents who are out of position.
The bottom line is that warding without teammates is safest when you already have a vision advantage
over your opponent. By warding and counterwarding early and often, you can more safely maintain this
advantage without needing your team to break off every time you need to refresh vision. This is talked
about a little bit more in The Impossible Decision section of this e-book.


Protecting & Replacing Wards
Once wards are out, they should usually be treated as secondary objectives. If you can defend a ward
before it is counterwarded, do so. Keep an eye on wards that are protecting your lane and quickly
respond if you reasonably can.
It can be frustrating when an enemy counterwards you, especially in the early game. However, if the
ward was necessary to your survival, or acted as a deterrant, it can be to your advantage to immediately
replace the ward even if there's a very high chance they'll kill it again. For example, if a player placed a
vision ward in the river bush and killed your ward, placing a stealth ward may result in them countering
you again while their vision ward is still active (provided you cant easily reach the vision ward to kill it,
such as when their team is nearby).
Immediately placing a new ward can lead to two potential benefits. First, it can waste the time of a
jungler or another player who is counterwarding if they choose to go back and take out the new ward;
at the same time, you're aware of exactly where they are and they can't threaten another lane. Second,
it can be used to bait opponents out once you're ready to defend your ward and potentially kill them.


Warding Locations
What are the best and most effective warding locations on the map? While this changes given on the
situation, lets take a look at a variety of effective locations and how they can help achieve total map
awareness. Well start by looking at team perimeter warding, then look at more specific examples such
as objective control and specialized wards.
In the following sections Ill be looking at this as though were blue team. Most of the map is directly
mirrored, so youd take a similar approach to warding top lane for purple side that youd take bottom
lane for blue side (with one small caveat being the side lane brush at top is distinct from the side lane
brush at bottom).

Perimeter Warding
Effective warding is usually not about placing that one perfect ward. Instead, its about identifying
where your team can most benefit from map vision. Perimeter warding is exactly what it sounds like
its the idea that you create a perimeter of vision that your enemies cannot easily cross. For perimeter
warding in the early game, you generally need a team that both has access to wards and understands
the ideal placement of these wards. With newer or less skills players this may be difficult, but
understanding this concept can still be helpful in many situations, as its possible to create some
perimeters around objectives with just one or two players.

My goal with this image is not to be confusing, but instead to show you how quickly the gank routes and
options expand if an opponent enters your jungle. This is especially true if the mid lane tower is gone, as
opportunities to quickly cross over become available as well.

With the exception of more mobile champions (which well get into shortly), there are only four exits
from the jungle and four entrance into your jungle. Two of these are situated near mid lane.
It follows, then, that failing to properly ward around the mid lane can have the greatest negative impact
on the game, regardless of the impact it has on the mid lane itself. It opens up map-wide
counterjungling and alternative gank routes that are harder to respond to. Having a second player
assisting with wards around mid lane can be extremely helpful.

Before towers have started falling, controlling vision in either the four exits or the four entrances will
offer your team a secure perimeter that enemies cannot cross without destroying or disabling wards. In
this example, Ive offered some basic ward locations you can use against lower mobility champions that
cant easily get over wall (a little later in this section Ill show screenshots of specific locations, just keep
the ballpark locations in mind for now).


If youre doing well, you can be more aggressive about ward placement. Each of the wards shown here
are considerably further in, which means theyre harder to place and defend, but they offer a much
bigger warning on approaching enemies.


Mobile Champions
Many junglers and roamers also have the ability to get over wall and other terrain with basic abilities.
These mobile champions (such as Vi, Jarvan IV, and Zac) can bypass the standard four entrances and
exits:

Heres a look at what many of these champions are able to do:
1. They can cross over the Baron Nashor and Dragon pit walls.
2. They can enter side brush at mid lane from over the wall, bypassing normal river wards.
3. They can jump into the gank brush at the side lanes (in this example its the arrow on the
bottom right), bypassing river wards and landing directly inside the brush.
Creating an effective perimeter against these champions, ward vision requires a bit more effort, which
well look at next.


For a basic perimeter, we need to get a ward near the Baron Nashor and Dragon pits. Additionally, the
ward at bottom lane should be placed inside the gank brush rather than in the river, as this allows
coverage of someone moving specifically into that brush. Mid lane may find it ideal to place wards
directly in the side brush (which can be done from the other side of the wall, making it relatively safe
unless your opponent is already waiting to jump on you from there).

If youre gaining an advantage, a more advanced perimeter still requires more wards, but this time it
allows more control over the enemy red and blue buffs. If you can knock out the enemy mid tower, you
should ward in lane as well (or even ward your own mid lane if your tower was taken out).


And of course, if youre falling behind, you can also choose to ward from completely safe positions. In
this image, top lane and blue golem is still vulnerable to some gank routes, so you must decide how
important or cost effective it is to drop a ward at the blue ramp or buff.

Perimeter Theory
My goal with these examples wasnt to tell you how to ward every game. Its totally situation, and you
may ward the area between top and mid lane differently than the area between mid and bottom lane.
Whats important is that you understand the entrances and how effective it can be to catch them earlier
in a route rather than later. If wards are so close to you that you dont have either a path or the time
necessary to react when you see them, chances are you needed to expand your perimeter.
And this isnt just an early game thing. For example, if you want to do Baron but need to know theyre
approaching from a good distance out, ward some of the entrances towards Baron if you can safely do
so. You dont need to ward the whole map, either, but think about the routes theyll realistically take.
Even if you dont remember all the ward locations that follow, heres what you need to remember:
Creating a perimeter that lets you know when enemies are approaching is important. Place wards that
help achieve this, even if theyre not in perfect locations.

Bottom & Top Lane Ward Locations
Lets look at a few standard ward locations for bottom and top lane. Ill be showing bottom lane for
mots of these, but keep in mind these are exactly mirrored for top lane (with the sole exception being
the side brush, which well look at).

Blue Team River
Tri Brush Ward (Defensive) If youre pushed up to your tower and you cant safely move out at all,
drop a Tri Brush Ward. Also important if your mid lane jungle entrance isnt being warded. This location
is the least likely to be counterwarded by the enemy team as it can move them heavily out of position.
River Ward This is a great all-around ward, and it cant be disabled with an early red lens due to its
distance from any vision-blocking terrain. If you can safely move up, place this ward in front of dragon
instead.
Gank Brush Ward If youre against a champion that can jump into that side lane brush (bypassing a
river ward), drop your ward here. Note that the ward is further back in the brush this keeps it out of
range of being disabled by a red lens from the other side of the wall (i.e. before a mobile champion
dashes over). This ward location is also at an ideal location for allied champions with Teleport as it can
allow a quick and relatively assured flank on your opponents.
Though you may want to place the Tri Brush Ward in addition to either of the other wards, theres
usually no point in having both a River Ward and a Gank Brush Ward. Take your pick depending on the
situation.


Purple Team River
Tri Brush Ward (Aggressive) If youre doing well, maintaining vision over the tri brush can be
exceptionally valuable as it gives plenty of warning on ganks and can be used to deny your opponents
vision. Note that the enemy jungler may have easy access to bypass this ward with a red lens, and it can
be approached as part of a normal jungle route.
River Ward This is a strong ward location for purple team that gives vision on two approaches, and
tends to be safer when dealing with red lens disables as enemies cant get in range to disable it before
being seen. Also, if you only have one ward, this is usually your best bet on where to place it, as it gives
both warning from both the tri-brush and the river.
Gank Brush Ward (Defensive) If youre being pushed up to your tower and you need basic river vision,
the gank brush is the safest spot. This is also the hardest location for opponents to counterward.

In the above example, Ive placed the ward from over the wall. From where Im standing, the ward will
go fully over the wall (beyond normal range) as long as you target it most of the way through. This is
tricky here because aiming it wrong can land it in a little crack where its not inside the brush (though for
blue team at top lane its very easy to aim it correctly).


Dragon Pit (Mirrored for Baron Pit)

There are three good ward locations near Dragon, and these are often critical for also providing
advantages to the side lanes. Lets look at the advantages of each:
1. Vision over the ramp and blue golem lets you see if opponents are taking the blue golem camp.
This is rarely useful for purple team but frequently useful for blue team, especially if you have
another ward covering the second river entrance further towards mid lane.
2. A ward near the ramp still gives vision as opponents come down the ramp, but also grants vision
on the edge of Dragon itself. This allows you to see when an enemy team is approaching and
when theyve engaged Dragon. This is an ideal location when the other river entrance near mid
isnt warded.
3. The ward placed next to the Dragon pit offers the advantage of seeing the full pit, which is
helpful for catching when your opponents are placing wards into the dragon pit from over the
jungle wall. This is also a good spot to drop a vision ward if you need to clear out enemy wards
(though you may want to do this even further inside the pit to make sure you catch any possible
wards).
Purple team is less likely to make use of the first ward location as theyll be less likely to need to watch
their own blue buff (though this is situational).

Bottom & Top Side Brush
In one of the rare circumstances where the map isnt perfectly symmetrical, bot lane and top lane have
unique side brush layouts. Warding side brush is good if your lane is being pushed regularly past the
mid-point of the lane, towards your towers, as it makes you aware of players who may be attempting to
capitalize on your lack of vision by sneaking into the side brush to gank.
Typically the side brush, particularly further away from your own tower, tend to be good locations for
wards that allied champions can teleport to, as their location can prevent your opponents from falling
directly back to their tower.

The bottom lane side brush consists of two very large patches of brush. Its a good idea to ward in here
if your opponents would otherwise bully and zone you by using brush (particularly if youre dealing with
champions like Blitzcrank or Thresh, where seeing them makes a world of difference on how you can
position).

The top lane consists of three separate patches of brush. Warding here is less effective as a deterrant
from using brush, but its still very good for gaining vision beyond your normal lane extension. If you feel
you need to ward this side brush, aim to drop your ward in the furthest of the three patches that you
can get away with, as it will give you the most warning on an incoming gank.

Mid Lane
As mentioned earlier, mid lane is the center of the map, and usually the most critical to keep warded
effectively. Failing to ward around mid lane can be devastating to both side lanes.

Safe Drops
As a rule, mid lane tends to be the safest lane in the game. Part of the reason for this is that the lane has
three very easy ward drops that can be placed from over the wall. The first two are here:

Ramp Ward This ward gives you vision of players entering the river from the opposite side, as well as
an indication of which direction theyre headed. This is a pretty good ward for when youre worried
about roaming, especially if your opponents may be invading your jungle.
Side Brush Ward This is the easiest ward to safely place, and its excellent when dealing with mobile
junglers who can bypass a ramp ward and jump directly into the side brush ward from the opposite wall.
The other advantage to this ward is that you can see what an opponent does when they enter the brush
(some junglers like to move into unwarded brush then immediately recall and move elsewhere, leaving
you to guess if theyre still camping your lane). When in doubt, place this ward.

The side brush on the other side is also fantastic. You can also place the ward in the river or in the small
river brush a little ways down, but this ward location works well against mobile junglers. Again, when in
doubt, place this ward.


Red Ramp Wards
Theres a set of three excellent warding locations near the red lizard ramp. When possible, either the
mid laner or another nearby player (such as a jungler) should try to ward one of these locations.

Jungle Ward This ward gives you solid vision around the area, as well as anyone approaching the
ramp. It also gives vision into the brush and the jungle behind it, allowing you to track some opponents
heading to the opposing tri brush at top. When in doubt, place this ward.
Wraith Ward Placed a little differently, this ward gives you clear vision on when the Wraith jungle
camp is being cleared, and usually who is clearing it (a mid laner, jungler, or other player). Since clearing
the jungle camp takes a little bit of time, having this information gives you awareness on who is not
going to immediately respond if you make a move.
Mobility Ward This should rarely ever be placed when either of the other two locations is possible to
safely get to. The advantage to this location is clear vision over the path towards the opposing tower,
and this allows you to watch champions using mobility to move from this path, or even from wraiths,
into your side brush.


Tower Replacement Ward
Once youve destroyed the mid lane tower, I strongly recommend placing and maintaining ward vision
near where the tower was destroyed:

Where the enemy team recently had vision and safety provided from their tower, your wards will now
grant you that same vision and safety. This area tends to be high traffic later in the game, meaning youll
be able to track players moving from one side of the map to the other, which in turn can lead to game-
winning plays.
Conversely, if you lose your own tower, warding near it or further towards the center of the map to
maintain some vision can be a good idea.


Offensive & Defensive Jungle Warding
To secure the enemy jungle and prevent them from controlling it, or to defend your own, there are a set
of key ward locations youll need to know. Here well be looking at offensive blue team wards, but these
can just as easily be used as defensive purple team wards, and of course, this is all mirrored.

Red Jungle Wards
To completely control the critical areas in the red half of the jungle, as well as to create a vision
perimeter for jungle invades and for Baron Nashor and Dragon takedowns (depending on which team
you are), consider these ward locations:

Red Lizard Ward By placing a ward right at the edge of this brush you can gain full vision on the red
lizard camp, allowing you to track players clearing, approaching, or moving past the camp. If your team
can safely ward this and can contest the objective, I strongly recommend this ward. If you want a safer
way to contest red lizard, simply place a ward from over the wall behind the camp.
Four Path Ward & Side Entrance Ward With these two wards the enemy cannot move around their
jungle without being tracked. These are extremely aggressive wards and should usually be used to
facilitate victory later in the game, either through catching people alone or through using it to starve the
enemy team out from their jungle camps. These wards are also fantastic for split pushers who need to
see the best escape routes from opposing champions when theyre overextended.


Blue Jungle Wards
Controlling and denying blue buff throughout the game can give your team an enormous advantage
both in gold income and in champion effectiveness. These locations also give huge warning on enemy
players leaving or using their jungle to gank your team:

Four Path Ward & Five Path Ward These wards give a huge area of vision on all of the primary jungle
paths.
The Four Path Ward is strongly recommended if someone is able to move in and place this. If the Four
Path Ward is placed and the river is warded, mid laners usually wont need to also ward the side brush
on that side.
The Five Path Ward is very strong as well, but you may want to move it lower, or even into the golem
brush (sacrificing some vision) in place of the next ward.
Blue Golem Ward This is a fairly safe ward to place, though it wont give you vision if the golem is
moved into the neighboring brush. This is usually good for champions with abilities that can secure kills
from a distance, such as Nidalee with her spear or Lux with her laser.


Aggressive Tri Brush Ward The tri brush near the blue golem on each half of the map grants vision in
an area that many mobile champions may use when ganking. This is an ideal spot for them as they can
go from this area into the gank brush or into a fight near the tower. Additionally, this is a solid spot for
Nocturne, whose first tier ultimate can reach the lane from here.
You can go the long way to place the ward, or you can place it over the wall when youre engaged on the
enemy tower. If youre going to ward here you do not need the earlier gank brush ward (provided
further up river is also warded).

Taking & Contesting Dragon & Baron Nashor
Though we looked at the river ward locations that can be used near Baron Nashor and Dragon, lets take
a closer look at two scenarios well come across when were actually engaging these objectives.

Taking Objectives

Vision Ward Dropping a vision ward within the pit itself allows you to clear out enemy wards currently
placed within the pit, as well as any new wards placed by the enemy team during the engagement. This
is often superior to using a red lens due to the permanent nature of the stealth reveal.
Jungle Ward If at all possible, having a ward here is ideal for keeping track of enemies from a distance.
This location offers maximum visibility. (If you happen to be worried about access from the side lanes
you can also ward the tri brush, and this can be done from over the wall).
Over Wall Ward This is your fallback ward. If enemies are on the other side of the wall and have
cleared your Jungle Ward, or you simply werent able to place the Jungle Ward, youll want to start
dropping these wards from over the wall. This is usually a very high risk maneuver, but alas, youre
already committed to a very high risk situation by continuing an objective fight right next to them.


Contesting Objectives

This is the same concept as taking the objective, but in reverse. To continue to gain vision on an
objective youre preparing to contest, drop wards over the wall. If you can and need to drop several
wards, it can prevent the enemy from safely removing all of them due to the time they take to kill.
One caveat: As mentioned in Practical Tips & Advice, this is not a great place to be if you absolutely
must teamfight to contest the objective and youre not playing a naturally mobile champion. If you wind
up needing to burn flash to get in, or worse, dont have that available, you can cost your team the fight
by being here when a fight breaks out in the river.
The patch of river brush near objectives can also be a helpful place to place a ward when contesting
objectives, as this will give you a better idea of whats going on as you approach.
Preventing your opponents from having vision over you is also very helpful. Though you dont
necessarily need to do this with a vision ward, it may help to place one in the nearby brush to take down
enemy wards as well.


Bases
Warding around bases can be important any time the game has shifted into endgame and structures are
falling.

If you are on the offense and taking out an enemy base, consider placing wards over the wall at points
between their towers. This will help your team land skillshots and poke abilities, avoid the same, and let
you know how they're shifting as a team, allowing you to more effectively choose which objectives to
move to.
Simply being this far up to their base and wanting to maintain a perimeter of vision around it means
youve got a lot of good locations outside their walls you may want to ward as well. These are situational
depending on what your team has already destroyed.

When you're on the defense then place wards over your wall at the same points, again to keep an eye
on how theyre shifting as a team and where you (or they) may be able to land skillshots or other
abilities.


Clairvoyance
Clairvoyance is a summoner spell that grants vision for a brief time at any location on the map,
regardless of your own distance from that location. This spell does not reveal stealth, but it does reveal
inside bushes even when it is not cast within those bushes.
Clairvoyance markers can be seen by the opposing team, even in the fog of war, so using Clairvoyance
can give away an area of the map you're interested in.
If you suspect an opponent is waiting in a nearby bush, such as a jungler waiting for a gank, using
Clairvoyance on them may discourage them from sticking around.

The First Cast
At about 8-10 seconds into the match-up you will want to cast Clairvoyance near the enemy summoner
platform. This can give you an idea what starting items your opponents are choosing and may give an
indication which lanes your opponents are headed to. If your opponents are moving together down one
lane that may indicate that they're going to protect their jungle or invade your own.

Chase the Jungler (Early Timers)
Clairvoyance is often best in the early game when you can accurately determine where a jungler or
roamer is. This is especially true against junglers with very strong early ganks.
Champions have different starting preferences, including killing the red lizard or blue golem very quickly
in a match. Many champions can choose either, while some champions are more limited to killing the
blue golem early due to mana constraints in their jungling route. For example, an Amumu will tend to
start at blue golem due to the mana regeneration buff, whereas a Lee Sin is more flexible and may start
near red or blue.
Because jungling is different for every champion, and because many champions have options, there's no
hard rule to tell you the best places to clairvoyance at any time. However, here are some quick notes:

Buff Check & Early Clairvoyance Strategy
Depending on the jungler, choose between checking the opposing blue buff or red buff between 1:45
and 1:55. If you've used Clairvoyance on the blue buff and your team has vision around your blue buff,
the enemy is most likely doing a route that starts near red.

Junglers who pick up an early red buff are more likely to also go for an early gank. This is because
champions who can easily start on red and continue without the blue golem buff tend to be champions
with stronger low level abilities (such as Lee Sin).
Additionally, junglers who pick up the buff nearest to the bottom half of the map are more likely to gank
top lane early. This is because they are either going to do a full clear and wind up near top lane, or
because theyve rushed from the blue buff to the red buff, are near top lane, and have a level and buff
advantage that allows them to gank. The opposite is true, too, with junglers who start on the top half of
the map being more likely to gank bottom lane quickly. Ward accordingly.
Consider using your following Clairvoyances at the lanes you feel are in the most danger. This is even
truer if the lane you feel is in the most danger is also not warding to protect themselves (such as a solo
top lane). Even though it can be frustrating to use the ability to defend players who won't ward, your
goal is ultimately to win the match, and it can be worth it to compensate for them by doing this. (In
particularly rough match-ups, a solo player may not even be able to move near a place where they can
ward, so Clairvoyance will help them protect themselves while placing their own ward).
If a jungler goes for blue golem first, watch out for a potential early gank at middle. Also, an early blue
means you should use Clairvoyance again around 7:10 (shortly after it respawns) to check on their blue
buff again, as they may either not have gotten to it quickly enough, or they may be taking it then.

Develop & Trust Your Gut
There are no hard and fast rules to Clairvoyance, and a completely defined list of timers is as varied as
the champions and situations you come across. However, get a feel for the champions you're against
and when they may be moving to key locations. It may even help to play some junglers yourself to get a
feel for them.
Using Clairvoyance defensively is great, but it's always worth keeping in mind that the best players will
often use it offensively as a means of giving their teams opportunities.


Positioning
If you're checking the jungle with your Clairvoyance you have two choices. Normally you should try to
check two creep camps by placing the Clairvoyance between them.

For red consider the double golems and red lizard.

For blue get the wolves and blue golem.
These positions maximize your chance of catching the jungler. Your other choice is to use the
Clairvoyance more directly on a major buff to get vision on any opponents that may be there. This is
usually not ideal, especially since it can indicate you're looking to invade.
At Dragon and Baron Nashor, use Clairvoyance in the river in such a way that you can see them and
whether they're engaged, but may also see nearby opponents. If you're taking these objectives with

your team, consider using Clairvoyance to check beyond the outer wall for anyone either waiting to
move in to steal the kill or attempting to snipe it with long range abilities.

Against Baiting
If it looks like an opponent may be intentionally baiting your teammates towards a location, quickly use
Clairvoyance to see the most likely area where opponents may be hiding, particularly in bushes along
the path.

Against Juking
Clairvoyance is fantastic in its ability to see in bushes. Keep this in mind when an opponent is attempting
to flee or juke through bushes: if your team loses vision, they cannot use normal attacks or most
targeted spells. Even the briefest interruption can fully break a spell combo or prevent a killing blow.
Like combat warding, get in the habit of using Clairvoyance before an enemy reaches a bush to prevent
them from breaking vision while your team continues to focus them.

Clairvoyance as Protection
A well-placed Clairvoyance ahead of your path can give you an idea of when you can't be stopped. In
other words, when enemies are not in the paths ahead of you, you can reasonably assume that you can
safely move in. This is fantastic for positioning your team, but also for placing wards and
counterwarding. In this role, Clairvoyance can be used to help recover safe territory for your team when
you're otherwise shut down.

Requests
If someone on your team is running Clairvoyance, it's often a good idea to request they use it at a
location if you suspect opponents are there. This will depend on the player and whether they catch your
request quickly and feel it's a good idea, but in many cases they will oblige. The spell is frequently used
on educated guesses rather than hard knowledge, so occasionally directing it somewhere you strongly
feel opponents are (or want to make sure they aren't, such as at a jungle buff you're about to take) may
put it to better use.


Jungling, Counterjungling, and Ganking
In this section we're going to cover the jungle, river, and other areas of the map that aren't part of the
lanes. More specifically, we're going to start by covering 'jungling,' which is the act of leveling by fighting
neutral monsters in the jungle. Then, we'll cover 'counterjungling,' which is the act of hindering
opponents who are jungling. Finally, we're going to cover jungling and ganking routes.
The 'jungling' subsection is not necessary to read until you actively want to jungle, though of course you
will be a more knowledgeable player if you choose to read it. The 'counterjungling' subsection is more
important to read even if you're not jungling, as counterjungling is best done as a team effort. The final
subsection on ganking is critical to understand no matter who you are, as it will affect every lane.

Jungling
A player who chooses to jungle will usually not enter a lane until they're ganking. Instead, they will gain
their early experience mostly or entirely through neutral monster camps in the jungle.

What is a Jungler's Job?
A jungler's job is to facilitate victory. With very rare exception, this means applying pressure to lanes and
ganking opponents, as well as disrupting the enemy jungler. This is achieved by using the opponent's
lack of map vision on the jungler as a tool against them. By extension, this means controlling and
knowing the enemy's current map vision through effective warding and counterwarding is integral to
success, though this responsibility is teamwide.
Killing jungle monsters is secondary to the role of being a jungler. However, it is important to
understand the routes and importance of the monster camps as it is the primary early-game method of
leveling and acquiring gold.
The jungler will be less effective if the team does not understand how to facilitate them.

Why Have a Jungler?
Jungling allows one player to be taken off the lanes to gain experience and gold on their own. By
extension, this means a second lane (usually top) becomes a solo lane, meaning one ally will be able to
gain the entire gold and experience from minions in that lane. Overall, this means more gold and
experience for a team.

Beyond this, having one player who is not apparent on the mini-map at all times puts all enemy lanes at
risk. Either they must play defensively or they risk being ganked if they overextend. Without a jungler,
an enemy team doesn't even need to spend money on wards, much less worry about being overly
aggressive, as they will always be aware of where there opponents are.
Finally, without a jungler, an enemy team who does have a jungler has access to much more gold and
experience and can easily provide buffs from both jungles to their team.
In most situations, it is better to have someone jungling even if the top lane is really struggling to hold
their lane. However, if the player in top lane simply cannot hold their lane and did not pick accordingly,
the jungler may need to cover the lane.
Please note: In some cases, players on a team may be 'roaming' even if they aren't regularly jungling.
This is especially true for fast champions with exceptionally strong ganking abilities. Roamers provide the
same benefits of junglers in terms of making the map less safe for opponents, but may return to lanes for
farm and experience.

What is Counterjungling?
Counterjungling is the act of disrupting an enemy jungler and preventing an enemy team from regularly
accessing parts of their own jungle. Going into an enemy jungle is often referred to as 'invading.'
Counterjungling is not exclusively the job of a jungler. While the jungler is often the most available
player for counterjungling, the most effective teams have many or all of their players responsible for
invading the enemy jungle regularly. The approach of using a whole team to counterjungle has been
shown to be tournament-winning for pro players.
I will discuss counterjungling in more depth a little later in this section.

Picking a Jungler
All champions are capable of jungling. However, some champions are very inefficient at jungling, and
attempting to use them to jungle will be a slow and frustrating experience. So, what makes a champion
good at jungling? Here are some things to look at:
Damage output, particularly multi-target damage. Champions who can deal significant damage
will usually clear through the jungle more quickly than champions who won't, allowing them to
level and gank sooner. Many multi-target spells deal reduced damage to neutral monsters, but
are still helpful for jungling. Examples of champions with good jungle damage are Diana,
Nocturne, and Skarner.
Armor, shields or health sustain. Champions who can reduce or heal the damage they take on a
regular basis will tend to be stronger in the jungle. Unlike being in a lane, you will not be able to

avoid most attacks from monsters. Neutral monsters deal physical damage with their attacks, so
Armor is helpful (whereas Magic Resist is not). Examples of survivable jungling champions are
Lee Sin, Warwick, and Nunu.
Lane ganking potential, especially prior to level 6. Champions with abilities that allow them to
quickly enter a lane and unload on an opponent will tend to be strong. Champions with crowd
controls that will help their allies also get damage on a target in a lane are very strong, especially
if they can also move in quickly. Examples of champions with great ganking potential are
Maokai, Rammus, Hecarim, and Jayce.
Lower reliance on mana. While junglers do have access to the blue golem buff, champions that
have an unusually difficult time jungling without the blue golem buff tend to be more dangerous
to play. This is because reliance on mana leaves you vulnerable if an enemy team takes your
blue golem buff, and it leaves you less flexible in letting other players on your team benefit from
the blue golem buff. Amumu and Fiddlesticks are both strong junglers who are vulnerable
without the blue golem buff. Lee Sin is an example of a champion who is not reliant on blue buff
at all (due to not using mana), though be aware that the blue buff provides increased energy
regeneration and cooldown reduction.
These core attributes define how strong a jungler is within the context of jungling.
Let me emphasize the importance of the lane ganking potential. If no one on your team has crowd
strong crowd controls, picking a jungler without a strong crowd control is going to mean you can't gank
effectively. Jungling should not be seen as a 'safe' lane, but as an opportunity to gank and otherwise
affect the game in your favor as frequently as possible.
As a rule, I prefer junglers who can get into a fight very quickly and also have at least one very strong
crowd control, such as a knockback or fear. Jayce and Nocturne both fit this role, as do Maokai,
Rammus, and many other junglers.
To be clear, you also want to pick a champion who fits with your team in the mid and late game. Taking
Shaco may be wonderful for jungling and counterjungling, but may fall flat in the late game when your
team is sorely lacking a tank/initiator like Amumu. The same goes for a champion like Khazix hes one
of the strongest jungling threats, but on a team that already has two assassins without crowd controls,
you may find the late game challenging if your opponents are running a jungle Nautilus.
Anyway, not all good jungling champions have all of these attributes. We resolve this by minimizing our
weaknesses and maximizing our strengths, which I'll cover soon when discussing Runes, Masteries, and
Summoner Spells.

Not level 30 but still want to Jungle?
Without full runes and masteries, jungling can be difficult and near impossible on some champions
without help from teammates or starting in a lane. However, some champions can jungle even with this

deficiency. I'd recommend Warwick for brand new players and Nunu for players who want to do some
counterjungling.
Udyr, Amumu and Cho'gath are tankier picks that can jungle pre-30 as well, though I'd make sure to at
least have some runes and masteries set up for them.

Runes & Masteries
It's worth noting that jungling is the role that is most dramatically improved by your Summoner level.
This is because, when you're facing human opponents about your level, they will have about the same
potential runes and masteries (i.e. same damage and damage reduction) as you. However, the jungle
does not scale down based on your summoner level, meaning you're going to fight monsters designed
for higher level players. That said, the jungle difficulty was reduced in League of Legends Season 2, and
you can still do it below level 30.
Runes and masteries tend to be very specific to a champion. However, there are a few set guidelines
that are important.
Nearly every jungler will want Flat Armor 'Resilience' slotted for their yellow Seals. Jungling is hardest in
the early levels, and the monsters deal physical damage with their attacks, so Resilience seals are
absolutely ideal for improving your jungling play.
Magic Resistance, either flat or per level, is usually safe for your blue Glyphs. If you're ganking, you're
likely going to have to deal with damage from all of your opponents, including magic damage
champions.
Generally speaking, your red Marks and your Quintessences are going to be champion specific. You may
choose Attack Speed if your champion already has a lot of base damage on normal attacks, perhaps due
to a passive or an ability, or Attack Damage if your champion has an ability that grants attack speed.
Ability Power and Magic Penetration may be ideal for champions who scale primarily with Ability Power
and deal Magic Damage, such as Fiddlesticks. (Don't worry if this isn't too specific, I'm going to bring up
a YouTube resource that gets super specific a little later)
As far as masteries, this again will depend on your champion. However, if you're not absolutely sure
another option is better for your champion, you should always at consider these points at the start of
the Defensive tree:

This will require at least a 5 point investment in the tree (choose either health regeneration or bonus
health). If youre willing to go deeper into defensive, make sure you pick up bonus armor in the second
tier, as this will also dramatically increase your effectiveness in the jungle.
This offers Armor and reduced damage from monsters. Additionally, the return damage on monsters will
slightly improve your clearing time on many junglers.

Smite & What? Summoner Spells
One last thing you'll want to do at champion selection is decide which summoner spells you're going to
bring with you. Here are your options:
Smite - Smite is absolutely not optional when you're jungling. This is true even if you're playing Nunu or
Cho'gath, who each have very powerful Smite-like abilities. As a jungler, your late game role is going to
be to determine exactly how much damage your Smite deals (hover over the icon in game), and then
cast the spell on Baron Nashor or Dragon the moment they come below that amount of health.
When it comes to Baron, games can easily be turned around because an enemy jungler managed to
Smite him and steal the kill and buff for their team. It happens all the time even in the pro scene. If
you're playing Nunu or Cho'gath or anyone else with a very strong nuke ability, timing it to hit the same
moment as Smite makes it even safer.
Smite is also fantastic for quickly clearing through the jungle. Even though many champions can jungle
without the ability, the enemy jungler can level faster and gank sooner. Again, this is true for any
champion, because Smite is always good in addition to everything else.
Note: While Smite is a good spell, the reason it's so important is that it can secure kills. This is important
even on your jungle buffs, such as blue golem and red lizard, as a ward or even a lucky guess allows
many champions to kill them over the wall, even while you're doing them. As a rule, always save your
Smite until the moment Smite is guaranteed to kill the monster unless you see all of your enemies on the
mini-map.
Flash - Now that I'm done evangelizing Smite, let's get into your second spell. Flash is a very good idea
on champions with strong initiation abilities such as Skarner, Maokai, and Amumu. The ability to
instantly, unexpectedly, and reliably crowd control someone greatly improves the likelihood of success.

Ghost - Ghost is exceptional if you're a champion that relies on continued normal attacks. It's also good
if you're an already fast champion -- even though there are some diminishing returns at play in
movement speed, going even faster and moving through units is genuinely better in many situations. For
champions like Olaf or Hecarim I recommend Ghost.
Even on champions where Ghost is generally better, sometimes Flash still wins out. This is true if you're
going against extremely mobile champions such as LeBlanc, where Ghost won't help you at all around
walls, or when you're facing off against champions with skillshots that can completely stop your
initiation (such as going against Lux or Morgana, who both have bindings, while playing Rammus). It's up
to you whether you still take Ghost in these situations.
Exhaust - Exhaust is your third really good option, but it does depend on you already being either very
fast or very mobile. Exhaust brings a soft crowd control to your team and can allow you to gank much
more effectively against fast champions or while your teammates don't have many crowd controls of
their own. Exhaust is particularly effective if your opponent does not have blinks or dashes to easily get
away, and even moreso if you've gotten them to burn Flash earlier.

Champion Specifics: Stonewall008's YouTube Videos
At this point I've given you guidelines but they don't easily describe how Nocturne is going to jungle
differently from, say, Olaf. They also dont tell you exactly which items are ideal for which champions.
Rather than duplicate an enormous body of work, I'm going to direct you to do a YouTube search for:
Stonewall008 [insert champion name]
For example, a search for Stonewall008 Jayce will pull up several Jayce videos. Choose the most recent
one by date. In his movie description, he usually puts both the runes and masteries he uses, and the
video will usually cover the fastest route for the first few levels of the champion.
Now, a bit of caution. As he will point out, he shows the fastest route, but this may not always be the
best route if you're worried about counterjungling or if you want to do an early gank on a specific lane.

Coordinated Play vs. Solo Play (Also, Communication)
Jungling with a coordinated team and jungling with people who either aren't paying attention or don't
know how to assist the jungler are two very different experiences and require two very different
approaches. To be clear, I am not referring strictly to playing with a team vs. solo queuing, as many
teams are still uncoordinated and many higher ranked solo queue groups will coordinate very well.
Coordinated teams will tend to be mindful of a jungler, especially in terms of lane extension. In other
words, coordinated teams will understand that having opponents near the safety of their towers makes
it incredibly difficult to last hit.

Coordinated teams may also understand the importance of warding and counterwarding -- and, if
they're particularly good, will drop timestamps to let you know exactly what was warded and when.
Additionally, they will understand the times to let themselves get pushed back by opponents, and when
to push enemy minions really hard to allow the jungler to enter a side bush without being seen, or to get
to a tower so you can more safely move in from behind the tower. Finally, coordinated teams will
respond quickly as you enter a lane.
Uncoordinated teams are a totally different beast. These are the players who will constantly be pushed
to the tower, fail to ward -- or, if they ward, they will not pay attention to where enemy wards are
placed or when. They will have no idea where or how far they should be pushed in order to facilitate a
gank from their jungler. And if you do engage on their opponents successfully, sometimes even with a
very strong crowd control, they simply won't respond.
In fairness to laners, don't confuse this with not responding because they're low on health and feel they
will be killed -- if the jungler has less knowledge on their opponents than the laners, the jungler may be
entirely in the wrong for engaging at a particular time.
Now, a lack of coordination can be fixed in a lot of games simply by communicating what you're trying to
do. Let people know you need them not to push so far up, or that you want to enter a side bush, and
they may help you achieve this. After all, a successful gank in their lane is likely to directly benefit them.
But there are still plenty of games where you'll find teammates who simply will not facilitate ganks. And
worse, these are invariably the same types of players who will complain about the jungler not ganking. In
these cases, help the lanes you can, and focus on leveling and, if possible, counterjungling, warding, and
pushing objectives when possible. Even if you're dealing with a frustrating teammate who's always over-
extended and isn't warding, you're more likely to win the game if you ward their lane for them.
All of this said, if you're rarely performing your role of applying pressure and ganking lanes when your
team has them set up favorably, you are in the wrong. It's fine to miss out on a good gank at top lane
because you were helping out bottom lane, but it's usually not fine to miss out on good gank in either
bottom or top lane because you're doing a full jungle route instead.

Balancing Experience & Ganks
As a general rule of thumb, a jungler may be a little behind the experience and level of their allies in solo
lanes (often top and mid lane), but should be a little ahead allies who are sharing a lane (often the
bottom lane).
The factors that increase the rate of experience gain:
Quickly clearing jungle camps;
Counterjungling by clearing the large monsters in enemy jungle camps*;
Successfully ganking opponents*;

Covering lanes (I'll talk about this shortly).
The factors that decrease the rate of experience gain:
Idling in bushes waiting to gank;
Failing a gank*;
Being killed*;
Traveling between lanes;
Having large monsters in your jungle camps killed by other players.*
*At the risk of beating a dead horse, let me emphasize the importance of warding and counterwarding
again. Items marked with * are hugely affected by having good map vision and denying map vision to
opponents.
Try to keep a balance between the things that give you experience and the things that cost you
experience to prevent yourself from falling behind. When possible, clear jungle camps while traveling
between lanes, even if it means you're a little slower on ganking for your teammates. Don't forget about
your jungle! If you have wards over enemy camps (particularly their four wraith camp), consider running
in and quickly stealing their large wraith with Smite before ganking mid lane. When a nearby lane could
be covered, consider going there quickly for the large experience gain it can net you.

Aggressive vs. Efficient
While you should always strive for experience and gold efficiency by farming camps while moving
between ganks, theres a broader strategic choice you have when jungling:
Aggressively gank and camp lanes to benefit your laners;
Efficently clear your jungle, only ganking when success is very likely (either in pressuring
opponents or securing kills).
This is primarily a matter of your style and your preference. Both methods have shown themselves to be
very effective in top tournament play, and the best junglers are able to switch between them based on
their opponents.
Personally, Ive found efficient jungling to work very well with the tanky champions I prefer playing (such
as Amumu). By focusing on reaching level 6 and getting enough gold for core survivability items, my
level 6 ganks often wind up being a lot more potent. I will still gank if Im nearby and an opportunity
arises, but I often wont spend any time I dont absolutely need to waiting for a kill.


Triage Winning the Game by Letting Your Teammates Lose
Your top lane Teemo has already died twice to the enemy Jax. He is begging for help. He is constantly
pinging for assistance and has begun insulting the jungler because he clearly doesnt know how to
jungle.
This is one of the most common and frustrating scenarios that junglers must deal with at all levels of
play. And while each game is different, the fact is, many players have no real idea how to look beyond
themselves for the good of the team. As a jungler, thats your job.
Lets pretend Im a level 5 Amumu in the same game as Teemo. I happen to be near top lane and could
head over for a gank if I wanted to. Here are the potential consequences:
I could be baiting Teemo into a fight hes very likely to die in given the imbalance that already
exists between them;
Jax could also wind up killing me or damaging me enough that I need to return to the pool;
The enemy jungler will have vision on me and be able to immediately capitalize on this, either by
getting more aggressive in their lanes, or invading my jungle, or moving to dragon, or some
combination of these.
The chances of killing Jax are pretty darn slim, given his mobility and that our only strong crowd control
is my bandage toss. But even if a kill on him were likely, at best I would be bringing top lane more
towards even ground while giving the opposing jungler the same opportunity to create an imbalance in
another lane. And if the early game kills on Teemo were the result of Teemo being reckless or not
understanding the match-up, helping even the lane out may simply be temporary as he starts feeding
again.
All the while, Id be missing out on the reliable experience and gold in the jungle that would have
allowed me to reach level 6 and have much stronger ganks. If Teemo died or needed to recall and Jax
was killed, Id be able to farm top lane for great experience and gold, but even that comes with the cost
of being visible on the map and allowing enemies in other lanes to get more aggressive.
Of course, theres always the possibility that we kill Jax, Teemo can stay in lane, and Ive balanced out
the top lane problem. And depending on how you feel about the likelihood of a successful gank
(particularly as it relates to your crowd controls against their escape tools), it may very well be a
fantastic idea to go up for that gank.
But let me offer an alternative:
Take that same investment into ganking for a losing lane and put it into ganking for a lane thats close to
snowballing in your teams favor, and heres what you get:
Potentially taking a better player (as measured by not losing their lane 6 minutes into the game)
and helping to snowball them to being even stronger;
More likelihood of a successful gank as theyll likely be able to contribute more to the kill.

Unless youre playing with friends or family, you arent going to know everyone you play with. By making
judgment calls on which players are playing better on your team, then focusing your efforts on them,
you will often improve your teams chances of success more than you would by trying to recover a losing
lane.
As far as the insults and everything else that junglers have to deal with - Ive found I win far more games
where I mute annoying players and trust my own instincts. Its simply too easy to fall behind as a jungler
trying to help lanes that are unlikely to result in favorable exchanges or turnarounds.

Understanding & Minimizing Risks
Let's cover some of the negatives in our previous checklist. First, a bad habit a lot of junglers get into is
idling in bushes waiting for an ideal gank. This is especially bad if your opponents had a ward that
allowed them to see you enter the bush (or even see you in the bush).
There are circumstances where idling can be ok, especially if a successful gank is more likely to occur by
waiting for them to move, or if your teammates are not going to respond to you if you go in too quickly.
As a rule, idling is usually more acceptable at mid lane than other lanes since it's a very safe lane for the
opponent and it's also wide enough that you may simply be unable to engage until they move. However,
even at mid lane, you shouldn't wait more than 10 seconds for something to occur.
In many situations, your default action going into a lane should be to directly and quickly engage them
once you're in the area. This is even better when you're playing a fast champion, where opponents who
see you and react reasonably quickly may still not be able to get away from your initiation.
The bottom line: Don't move into a lane for a gank, then stop, unless you have a coherent reason to.

The next negative is failing a gank. When I refer to failing a gank, I am referring to walking away from a
gank without a kill or assist.
Why is this important to clarify? Ganking or applying pressure to a lane can often provide huge benefits
to your team even if you don't kill the opponent. Burning a Flash or other summoner cooldown may, at
the very least, turn the lane in your ally's favor. If their Flash is on cooldown, it also means you can
attempt a gank again in the future.
Deciding whether it's ok to go in a lane just to burn Flash or other cooldowns depends both on their
champion, the match-up in lane between the two teams, and your own abilities. For instance, let's say
Maokai enters a lane and roots an opponent; after the root, they Flash away and escape. In this
situation, Maokai has only spent mana on an ability with a short cooldown, but the other player spent a
critical summoner spell that won't be available for a very long time.

However, let's say Skarner enters the lane and can only get damage by using his ultimate to pull them
back towards teammates. Unless this is very likely to kill the opponent, it's not always good to use this
simply to burn a Flash and watch them walk away, as it directly limits Skarner's ability to get ganks on
other lanes until the cooldown is available again.
On top of all of this, applying pressure or burning summoner cooldowns without getting a kill or assist
always costs you experience. You must consider the opportunity cost -- the experience you're not
gaining -- by applying pressure to the lane.

Being killed is often worse than either of the first two, but it depends on whether you gained kills or
assists on opponents during the fight that killed you. Being killed in lane or in the jungle are often very
different, so let's discuss them separately.
First, getting ganked in a lane usually occurs because you've attempted to gank and either the enemy
team did a fantastic job overpowering you (i.e. you dived their tower while they had crowd controls
available), or because the enemy team's jungler (or another player) was also there and your team didn't
have vision on them until it was too late. Remember, the point of a gank is overpowering your
opponents to the point that they will have a difficult time reacting.
Getting ganked in the jungle is usually the result of counterjungling, and almost always directly related
to the opponent's map vision on your location, and your lack of map vision on them. In some cases, the
jungler may try to take you on alone, especially if they see that you're at low health. In other cases,
especially against coordinated teams, several players may quickly enter the jungle to shut you down
when they see an opportunity. We'll discuss this a bit more in the counterjungling section.
Here are a couple tips, though, for dealing with potential jungle invasions:
First, pull the blue golem and red lizard into the brush nearby when attacking them. You want to be
concealed, but ideally the monster will also be concealed. This does two things: It reduces the chances
of them sniping the last hit on these monsters, as they must have a ward in the brush or use
Clarivoyance or another ability to see; More importantly, it lets you see enemies approaching or
currently inside the brush. Without this vision it is very easy to be flanked by an opponent while doing
either of these camps.
Second, stay on your toes! You want to be active and ready to fight or escape if necessary. If you're low,
you must keep an eye on your escape routes and be aware of how you'll get out of a fight safely. This is
especially true if you don't see multiple opponents who were nearby on the minimap.


The Moment to Gank
While I discouraged idling a moment ago, there is one ideal moment to initiate a gank. This is right as
the enemy team engages your laning allies. During this initial moment of combat, they will tend to be
more focused on throwing their abilities out correctly, and at least one of them may not respond quickly
as you enter the lane even if they have mini-map vision on you. This is most effective against very
aggressive players, such as bottom lane carries who are regularly exchanging harassment.

Covering a Lane
Occasionally your teammates will be unable to stay in their lane, either due to low health, low mana, or
because they feel they need to purchase items. Alternatively, you may have just gone in and ganked an
opponent in the lane, but your ally may have died or gone to critically low health during this. In some
cases, you'll want to volunteer to hold a lane for low health allies that you feel are at a serious risk (even
if they don't realize it).
When covering the lane there are two things you should consider. First, you can stay in and last hit
enemy minions that are low. However, keep in mind the principles of controlling your lane (discussed in
'Practical Tips & Advice') and try to keep your minions pushed just beyond the reach of your allied
tower, while avoiding pushing them deep into the lane. Doing this allows your ally to return to a lane
that is extended safely and doesn't put them in harms way.
The second option is to quickly push the minions in your lane right up to the enemy tower. This is ideal
after you've killed the enemy who was holding the lane, and is even better if you have recently seen the
enemy jungler (or other roamers) on the map and know you're safe to extend this far. The point of doing
this is to deny as many of your minions as possible (since the tower will kill them) and use the pushing
power of the tower to push the minions back towards your own base while your ally is returning.

Visibly Camping Lane
Though infrequent in solo queue matches, you will likely come across situations where either your team
or the opposing has swapped laned their lanes and sent two people against your solo laner. In these
situations it may be a good idea to not only protect that lane, but also to stay visible to your opponents
while doing so. This can deter harassment off your solo laner and present a threat that they need to
respond to, either by swapping lanes again or bringing their jungler up. And of course, depending on
who youre playing, you may be on a champion that actually needs to be in the lane already to help your
ally if a fight breaks out (for example, Nautilus cant quickly come over a wall, so hiding behind one may
be detrimental if aggression is imminent).
Practically speaking your real goal here is to avoid having your tower taken and your solo laner camped
and killed repeatedly. The show of force is purely psychological and it relies on getting players to back

off or not dive your ally; however, if youre pretty sure the two of you can come out on top if your
enemies dive, and it looks like theyre going to, not giving your presence away is still preferred.

Brush May Not Hide Your Presence
Occasionally it can be a good idea to camp a lane for an extended period of time in order to set up a
gank. If you enter brush that your opponent doesnt have vision on, even if they see you entering, they
will not necessarily know whether youre still camping there or whether youve recalled (or backed off if
their ward has expired).
But be careful when enemy minions are being killed near you. Because minion experience splits, your
ally leveling slower than your enemy in an otherwise even lane can be a strong giveaway that youre still
waiting for an ambush. This is a pretty minor risk for most matches but at the professional level players
do keep an eye on these details.

Blue Golem Buff to Mid?
A very common tactic for teams is to let the mid laner, usually an Ability Power mage, pick up the blue
golem buff early in the game. This is done due to the heavy mana regeneration and cooldown reduction
offered by the buff. Depending on the jungler, this usually won't be the first buff, and may not be the
second blue buff, but may be any subsequent spawns.
There's no set-in-stone requirement that the jungler gives the blue buff to mid lane, and frequently it's a
better idea not to. For example:
If killing the blue golem will cause you to reach level 6 and allow you to immediately gank with a
powerful ultimate (very common for the second blue golem kill);
If the mid lane has been dying frequently;
If the mid lane is against a hard counter and will not be more effective with the blue buff;
If the mid lane does not have a mana resource or has very little mana problems;
If the jungler has severe mana problems and does not yet have items to cover this (Amumu,
Diana).
In many games it's usually better to give the blue golem buff to the mid lane, though this will often be
best started after the jungler has benefited from the first two buffs. It can also be a good idea at team
selection to have either the jungler play a champion that doesn't use mana, such as Lee Sin, or to have
the mid lane play one, such as Mordekaiser, Vladimir, or Katarina. Keep in that the cooldown reduction
from the buff means it's still valuable to champions who don't use mana, though.

Most mid lane champions are not going to clear the blue golem camp exceptionally fast. Because of this,
the jungler should usually help them by pulling and tanking the camp while dealing damage to bring the
golem low.
Let mid lane know to come and get the golem -- if they are too distracted or not responding, don't feel
bashful about simply taking the golem yourself and moving on. Tanking and killing the blue golem for
another player falls squarely into the category of an opportunity cost, as you're not gaining experience
elsewhere, and you can wind up falling behind if you're standing around waiting on a mid lane player.
Finally, pay attention to the blue golem timers! The blue golem will respawn 5 minutes after the camp is
last cleared, and being nearby and ready for that respawn dramatically increases the likelihood of
securing it against an enemy team. One of the major goals for counterjungling is to knock out an
opponent's blue golem buff, so you should always be nervous about this being stolen if an enemy sees
an easy opportunity for it (i.e. they see you on the other side of the map and know they can walk in and
grab it safely).

The Pull / Leash
On the subject of mid lanes working together with their jungler...
While many junglers will have no problem killing the blue golem or red lizard camp their own, most
junglers will come out of a full clear faster, with more health, and with a better gank capability if
someone has 'pulled' their first major camp for them.
Most often the mid lane will be best suited to this due to their close proximity to the buffs, but there are
situations -- particularly when the mid laner is a melee champion such as Fizz -- where another player
should pull instead.
There are two main types of pulls.
The first is a simple spell or normal ranged attack thrown to the golem, followed by the attacker
immediately leaving for their lane (it's important not to stand and keep attacking as this can lead to a
hard reset of the monster where it regenerates health).
The second is a strong pull, where at least one player -- but usually several -- deal substantial damage to
the target before leaving. This is especially good for weaker junglers or for teams who want their jungler
to immediately move to lane for an early gank. When pulling like this, players should back off
immediately once a lot of damage is dealt to make sure that the jungler does not split the experience of
the camp to other players (when experience on a major camp is split, the jungler can sometimes be
severely set back as they won't level and have a second ability immediately available).


The Value of Custom Games
Any time I try a new champion or want to test a jungler before going into a game, I will first create a
custom game on Summoner's Rift and run through the route on my own. The advantage of this is it
helps to give you an idea of a 'worst-case' scenario -- in other words, a scenario in which you receive no
assistance from teammates in pulling major buffs. This is helpful to know if, for example, your own blue
golem buff is stolen by the enemy team and you need to start on the enemy team's blue golem -- but
your teammates won't assist you because of the distance this is from their lanes.

Handling a Level 1 Invasion
Right as you start the game your jungle may be invaded by the enemy team. If you see Clairvoyance over
your location and you don't see enemies elsewhere on the map you should assume they're going to
attempt to gank you.
Coordinated teams will cover the two jungle entrances on the half of the jungle where the jungler is
starting to make sure no one enters unexpectedly; however, a lot of players you'll run across in solo play
may completely ignore this.
If an enemy team invades your jungle and your team didn't successfully engage them (either having
been killed or having backed away), you need to answer three quick questions:
Have they taken my buff?
Do I have enough health to take theirs without assistance from my team?
Did I see enough of them to know their jungle is likely available?
If you know they're all actively killing your blue buff and you have enough health, cutting across the map
(not directly, so you're not immediately seen) and going directly to their blue buff often works just fine.
You're out a little time but you still have the buff and early experience.
The first time you're near the camp that the enemy team invaded, check to see if they left any lesser
minions alive and clear them out.

Preventing Yourself from Attacking Monsters - The '~' Key
To the left of your '1' key on your keyboard, you may notice a key that you've never, ever used before.
For many standard keyboards, holding this down will allow you issue movement commands without
targeting and attacking enemies. This allows you to move on top of tightly grouped monsters before
attacking them or while currently engaged with them. This is important for a champion like Olaf, who
may need to move to pick up his axe on the ground if he's thrown it too far. It's also useful if you're
being attacked and want to get closer to a wall to flash over it.

Don't Be Nervous
Every jungler will, at some point, occasionally make big mistakes while jungling. This is especially true
when you're new to the role. Additionally, it can be very frustrating to be counter-jungled by an enemy
team that is focused on locking you down, especially if your own team doesn't help you out.
It's totally ok. Obviously you don't want to feed, and obviously you should do everything you can to
improve your performance even under these circumstances, but it's just part of the game. Don't give up
on jungling because of a few bad experiences.

Counterjungling
In this section I'm going to cover the concepts behind counterjungling. Counterjungling is the act of
denying your opponents safety and experience in their jungle. This is knowledge that should be taken in
addition to the jungling information covered earlier, and you should also be aware of other junglers
attempting this against you or your team.

Ideal Counterjungle Champions
The number of champions that can effectively and safely counterjungle is much smaller than those who
can jungle. These champions will have these three attributes:
The ability to rapidly clear monsters, including their own;
The ability to go toe-to-toe with enemy champions they encounter;
High speed, high mobility (dashes, blinks, etc.), or both.
Shyvana fits solidly in this category, and was famously played by Moscow Five at the Kiev Intel Extreme
Masters tournament specifcally for her strength at counterjungling. Lee Sin, Udyr, and Khazix also fall
into this category, as do several other champions.
You can still counterjungle with other champions, particularly those who are very fast or have strong
escape options such as Nunu.

Mid Laning - Champions & Responsibility
The mid lane has a strong impact on the effectiveness of counterjungling as they can be directly involved
in it on three levels. These three levels are:
Stealing the enemy's four wraith camp;

Immediately assisting the jungler if they are engaged with the enemy jungler;
Warding one or both ramps into the enemy jungle at mid lane.
If you're choosing a mid lane champion there are a couple considerations that may help:
Champions with skillshot nukes that can quickly clear the wraith camp are good as they are
significantly less risky (since they can kill the camp over the wall instead of pathing around the
wall first);
Very strong pushers who can clear a lane in moments are also very good at quickly leaving the
lane before opponents realize they're gone. This makes it easier to move in on an enemy jungler
or others in the jungle.
The key to aggressive counterjungling is not just organizing times to go into an enemy's jungle, but also
immediately responding the moment a fight breaks out. Pay attention to your minimap and respond
accordingly.

The Level 1 Invasion
Right as the game starts it can be a good idea to immediately invade the enemy jungle, especially if you
know an enemy champion is dependent on the blue golem buff and will likely be starting there
(examples are Amumu, Fiddlesticks, and Diana). The goal of this invasion is to quickly and unexpectedly
kill the jungler (or, more often, the first players you run into), and ideally to also steal the blue golem or
other camp you're invading. Alternatively, the goal may be to steal the camp theyre not defending and
deny them the experience without a fight.
What makes an invasion a good idea? Here are some factors you'll want to consider:
You are relatively confident an enemy will be where you're invading (Clairvoyance helps!);
Your team has more crowd controls at level 1 than theirs;
Your team has Blitzcrank;
You have already seen an enemy on the map and know their position;
They have not already seen you at the time you invade.
Killing opponents in their own jungle is difficult unless you fully flank them. That's why crowd controls
are so important -- you can usually burst someone down who has been crowd controlled already. Good
examples of champions with strong early crowd controls are Taric, Leona, Morgana, and Lux (note that if
you're dedicated to an invasion you'll want to take points in these as you commit to a fight, even if
they're not ideal starting abilities for laning).
I mention Blitzcrank for a specific reason -- he has the ability to immediately pull the blue golem over
the wall and into a much safer spot near the river exit. If he does this right as it spawns (1:55) the enemy
jungler may not have any time to react, particularly if Blitzcrank's team is there with him. A small
number of other champions, such as Darius, can also move the golem over the wall.

If you do invade successfully and their jungler got away without a hitch, consider immediately securing
(or at least warding) your own camp to prevent them from taking your own camp. Another option is
leaving your jungler behind to take their own buff and giving the major buff to another player on the
team, which may allow for a much more aggressive early game from that player.

See their Jungler? Punish them!
As stated several times, jungling is effective in large part because it leaves one player out of vision of the
enemy team. This means that unless you're playing a very strong duelist such as Shyvana, you may run
into a fight you don't want to when invading.
In these circumstances, watch out for any time the jungler appears in a lane on the other side of the
map (or any time you have good ward vision of their location and activity). At this point, either gank or
invade their jungle and clear out at least one major monster.

Track Timers & Invade Accordingly
The best teams track the timers of major jungle monsters in both jungles. This is actually fairly simple
when it comes to red and blue buff, as they both respawn exactly 5 minutes after they were last killed.
In the early game, this usually means whichever major buff was killed when it spawned (red lizard or
blue golem) will be coming up at or shortly after the 7 minute mark.
You will want to invade their buffs immediately once they spawn -- and ideally as a team. This is
especially true if either their jungler or their solo lane rely on blue buff to be effective. If you've been
successful at least once before, assume that they will be frustrated enough to get their allies in on a
fight. In these cases, the jungler or another player may engage the buff while others wait in the bush to
surprise enemies coming in.

Leave Someone to Tell the Story
Leaving at least one lesser minion alive in enemy camps you clear is good practice, as it prevents the
camp from respawning until the enemy actively goes and kills the remaining minions. This can seriously
hinder experience gain over the course of a game.
That said, you may also consider fully clearing a camp (such as the blue golem buff) if you're going to
track the respawn timer. If you know exactly when it's coming back up and will invade and secure the
buff, this is a net positive for your team while still continuing to deny their team the buff.

Protecting Your Jungle from Invasion
Let me show you a few locations that your team should consider either protecting at the start of the
game or, at the very least, dropping wards. These are critical for avoiding nasty surprises from jungle
invasions.
As of the 11
th
edition of this e-book, I am no longer covering jungle routes in this section. This is because
the jungle was dramatically streamlined and simplified, and I now cover your route options in the
companion jungling video that you can download from the members section.


Defending Blue Golem as a Team
If your jungler is going for an early blue golem kill, you will want to defend the entrances to that half of
the jungle. At least one player, usually mid lane, should keep an eye out at the river bend:

It's important to stay near the edge of the bend for wider vision when possible. However, stay on your
toes and put yourself slightly off position if you're against opponents like Blitzcrank who can land
devastating skillshots on you to initiate an early gank. Alternatively, you can also stand in the long brush
near mid lane:

The advantage to this location is that you have a bit of a safer escape if they do invade, either by flashing
over the wall towards your tower or running away from their approach. You can still see them
approaching, but the only huge thing to watch out for will be a Blitzcrank hook.

Another nearby player should keep an eye on the blue river ramp:

Alternatively, this player can stay in the bush near blue golem, though this doesn't give vision over the
ramp and allows enemies to move much closer before there's warning. That said, this is not a popular
route to invade from because of the relatively easy escapes the defending team has from here.

Defending Red Lizard as a Team
If your jungler is going for an early red lizard kill, you'll want to defend that half of the jungle in two key
spots. The first is the tri-bush, a very solid location for vision and escapes if necessary:

This is a less common invasion route, but it still happens frequently enough that you should cover it if
your jungler is starting in that half of the jungle. The second is the river ramp near red:

This is not a safe location except for mobile or very fast champions, so you may want to go a little
further back:


Prioritizing After Your First Pass
As we talked about earlier, you need to balance experience and ganking. After your first pass, you will
no longer have a set route to follow, so you'll want to kill monsters in your path. However, here's a quick
set of tips:
Blue Golem and Red Lizard are your biggest priorities in the jungle. Keep their timers in mind
and get them fast when possible.
The wraith camp is usually the most accessible. While it's not the best camp, it's one you should
rarely pass up. Keep in mind the enemy team may have this warded and may attempt to
counterjungle at this location.
The three wolves camp offers access to mid lane and is near enough to the path to the side lane
that you should pick it up when you're in the area.
The double golem camp is the least accessible, offering access to only a single lane; if your
opponents have warded the tri-bush, this access is severely limited (unless you can get in
through the side brush at the map edges). This is a good camp but if you have other options it
can be better to follow up on them instead.


Counterjungling & Ganking Routes
Let's get into counterjungling and ganking routes. I'll start by covering a primary jungle invasion route,
then cover the main entrances and routes you'll be taking when ganking. Ganking routes that take you
through the jungle are the same as counterjungling routes (instead of ganking, or before ganking, clear
enemy monsters!). Make sure you download the movie on ganking included in this guide as it explains
important concepts in more depth.

A Note on Counterganking
Before looking at ganking, lets talk briefly about counterganking, as the same route knowledge will help
you be successful here:
Khazix has just come out of his jungle to gank bottom lane. He activates his ultimate to sneak into lane
while his ally, Taric, casts his stun on the enemy Miss Fortune. But the moment he initiates, Amumu
pulls himself into the fight from nearby brush, locking down Khazix and Taric with his ultimate and
allowing Miss Fortune to pick up a double kill.
This is an example of counterganking. Put simply, counterganking is the act of waiting out of vision for
an enemy to initiate a fight, then immediately countering their initiation by coming in to turn the fight
around. Because the opponents may be investing their resources into initiating the fight potentially
with dash or blink abilities, long crowd control cooldowns, or even flash they may be unprepared to
handle a new party entering the fight.
Counterganking is a critical skill if you want to become an amazing player. While a lot of it comes down
to instinct, there are two things to think about that will help you improve at guessing where opponents
will gank:
1. If you were the enemy jungler, which of your lanes look easiest to gank? In other words, which
of your lanes are vulnerable because they lack mobility, are pushed up really far, and/or lack
ward vision?
2. Where is the enemy jungler? Do you know their likely route (i.e. did they start at the bottom
half of the map, and then move towards top, making a gank at top more likely)? Wards and map
vision makes this far easier to keep track of.
Successfully counterganking opponents can cause them to change to a more defensive playstyle and
allowing your laners to play more aggressively.


Level 1 Blue Invasion
When invading the blue golem, members of the team who are ganking should go immediately down the
mid lane and get into the river side brush:

You'll want to purchase items and do this as soon as the game starts to avoid potentially running past an
opponent. If you've used Clairvoyance on the area around blue golem and no one is watching the next
bush, go ahead and move to the next step. Otherwise, wait here until right before 1:55 to avoid running
into their mid lane (or a few seconds earlier if the jungler can destroy blue golem before you can flank
them, such as a champion like Nunu). Next, fully flank around through their jungle:

Feel free to engage and kill the first person you come across if it's favorable and you feel you'll get a
solid kill. There's usually no guarantee you'll successfully steal the blue golem or kill the jungler,
particularly if someone sees you moving in, so don't run past easy targets.


Forcing a Smite at Blue
Many junglers who start their route at the blue golem buff will attempt to clear it without using smite,
particularly when their teammates can help them bring the large golem low. Short of invading the blue
golem, side laners can sometimes set junglers behind by forcing them to smite to secure the blue golem:

Like a jungler visibly camping a lane, the idea here is to make your presence known while staying far
enough back that you can reasonably escape if your opponents pursue you. This really only works for
champions that could reasonably attempt to steal the blue golem if ignored (such as with a ranged
normal attack or ability).
In this situation, the only sure way for the jungler to secure the buff is using their smite, which can allow
your own jungler an easier time stealing their red lizard from them immediately after this, and will
otherwise set them back a bit in terms of health and clear time.
This tends to work best when a jungler has received help taking down the buff and their allies have
already left for their lanes. Any time they invest coming back and chasing you down is time not spent
gaining experience and gold in lane.
Note: If youre playing a champion that has a strong chance of taking down a buff with a ranged skillshot
(such as a Nidalee spear), its usually better to just stay hidden and attempt to steal it from over the wall.
Visible pressuring is used to create a psychological advantage when youre less likely to be able to steal
it, or alternatively, when you need to have vision to attempt to steal the buff.


Level 1 Red Invasion
If you've caught an opponent with Clairvoyance or you believe they're very likely to attempt their red
lizard buff first -- or if you simply want to steal it before they get to it on their route -- you have two
options for getting in. The red lizard buff is much easier for a team to keep vision on the entrances while
still being in position for the start of the game, so getting into their jungle immediately after the game
starts tends to be the best shot you'll have. That said, a team vs. team fight early in the game at red
lizard can put the defending team at a disadvantage since players getting vision on entrances may be
more spread apart than they would be at blue.
Here's the first option:

This is also a standard route for counterjungling the red lizard throughout the game, and can be good for
flanking the top or bottom lane for a good gank. The second option for getting in is longer:

If the enemy team is likely to have two players at bottom, the purple team is slightly disadvantaged with
this route as they're more likely to run into at least two players in the tri-bush. This route is also more
difficult for a whole team to use as it puts at least one player fully on the other side of the map from
their starting lane.


Ganking Entrances in the Jungle
Each half of a team's jungle has two main entrances. A third common entrance that is accessible by
many champions with dash or blink abilities is over the Baron or Dragon pit walls (though depending on
the champion you may want to avoid using these to enter the jungle as it may be better to save the
ability cooldowns for escaping instead).
These entrances are the start of almost any flank you'll use when attempting to gank, and they're fairly
interchangeable. In other words, you can do the same flank on an opponent regardless of which
entrance you use, which means you should choose an entrance based on how well your opponents have
been warding their lanes and how much time youre willing to invest.


Ganking Mid Lane
The mid lane is the safest lane for players and can be exceptionally difficult to move in on. While the
side brush on each side can work for a gank, there's one particular route you should consider when the
opportunity presents itself:

Note the dotted lines. In game it isnt clear whether the edges of the ramp from river block vision, but
rest assured, they are a complete vision block. Stopping behind the edges a moment to time the gank
will work fine (provided minions or champions arent far enough back that they have direct line of sight
on you anyway).
If youre willing to tower dive, you can also enter behind the mid lane tower from either of the rear
jungle entrances. Note that its virtually impossible to avoid being in tower range for a gank here (unlike
the side lanes where theres a lot of distance between the towers).


Ganking Over-Extended Side Lanes
If your opponents are over-extended in their side lanes, there are a few fairly easy routes you can use to
punish them:

These entrances are very likely to be warded if your opponents are warding at all, so you may consider
taking a longer path to enter them with less vision (i.e. from further back in their jungle rather than by
walking through the river).
These are also the locations where its almost always best to run in immediately rather than waiting for
a better opportunity unless youre absolutely sure they dont have vision. Moving in immediately avoids
wasting your time if they already saw you and doesnt allow an opposing ganker any additional time to
get in position for a countergank.


Ganking Pushed Side Lanes
If your opponents are getting pushed up against their tower, or if there's room for some back and forth
in your own lane, a great ganking location is the the side brush:

Note that the above diagram is bot-lane specific; for top lane (which has three brush locations) youll
want opponents to be two brush lengths out instead.
The concept here is simple: While your opponents lack vision at the entrance of one stretch of side
brush, you move into that brush. Once they're pushed even further back, you move into the second set
of brush. From there, you either gank or wait for them to extend, then surprise them with a very quick
entrance. This is especially effective on champions with strong close range initiation such as Warwick
and Skarner.
The sight lines begin at the break in the brush. You don't want to be seen moving into the next brush,
but it can be hard to judge exactly what they have vision on. Here's a rule of thumb: Enemy champions
and minions should at or further away from the end of the brush you're moving into. If they're past that
point, they may see you. Have allies push the lane accordingly when you need to move in.
This is one of the best places to situate yourself when counterganking, as it can allow you the closest
access to an initiation that breaks out, and opponents who are chasing your allies may actually move
past the brush youre in, letting you easily flank.

Flanking Behind Side Lane Towers
A particularly brutal gank involves leaving your opponents no room for escape. This is especially strong
against opponents who are pushed up to their towers, and performed better with junglers who have
high Armor and/or Health to reduce incoming tower damage (or with another player who will
intentionally start taking tower attacks when a gank begins):

Enter from anywhere in the enemy jungle, then stop before going past the gap (indicated by dotted
lines). Right as you cross the enemy double golems, enemy minions who happen to be passing by have
enough vision range that they will see you. To avoid alerting your enemies to your presence, wait for the
minions to pass. You can judge when minions pass by watching your own minions on the other side of
the map, which will be at a symmetrically identical location.

Near the blue golem theres a lot less risk of being seen once youre in the jungle. The tri-brush here is
ideal for starting a gank.
When ganking under the tower, it's ideal if your minions are already tanking the enemy tower so the
tower doesn't attack you until you deal damage. With these routes, your goal is to totally cut them out
of an escape, so be prepared for any crowd controls or escapes they may have and act accordingly (i.e.
go further back in their lane if they may blink so they can't blink past you once you move in, etc.).

These sections are designed to give you a greater understanding of exactly how the game world
functions. Though its not tactical or strategic advice, learning the little tips and tricks throughout these
sections will improve the plays you can pull off against your opponents. At the very least, make sure you
read through the Summoners Rift Guidebook!

Sections Overview
Summoners Rift Guidebook - The Summoners Rift guidebook goes into detail on how every map-
related system functions, from jungle monsters to structures to the fog of war, with an emphasis on cool
mechanics you may not know about. Youd be surprised just how much is involved in a Baron Nashor
fight!
Summoner Spells - This section covers all of the summoner spells in detail, allowing you to make smart
decisions on when to use them and when to avoid them.
Stats - This listing of champion stats covers functional details (ex.: the order that armor and magic
reduction/penetration is applied), as well as the relationships stats have with each other.
Glossary of Terms Terms and phrases that are commonly used in the League of Legends community.
Timer Reference Brief overview of important game timers.

Game Mechanics

Summoner's Rift Guidebook
Summoner's Rift is the large 5v5 game map where the vast majority of matches are played. The design
is based heavily on the Defense of the Ancients (DOTA) game map, the predecessor to League of
Legends. In this section, I'm going to outline the core mechanics of Summoner's Rift, including terrain,
structures, and minions and monsters.
Advanced players: There are several finer mechanics in League of Legends that you may not be aware of
even if you've played the game extensively. I will highlight these in light orange so you can more easily
find them.

Game Objectives
Summoner's Rift ends in victory when a team destroys the opposing team's nexus or when a team
surrenders.
To attack and destroy the nexus, both towers defending the nexus must be destroyed and at least one
inhibitor must also be currently destroyed.
To destroy an inhibitor, all towers in that inhibitor's lane must be destroyed. Towers cannot be damaged
if there is another tower further in the lane that has not been destroyed.
Put more simply, a team must destroy three towers, followed by an inhibitor, followed by the two nexus
towers, before they can destroy the nexus. All of these structures are referred to as objectives, because
they must be taken out or the game cannot end without surrender.
Baron Nashor and Dragon, two neutral monsters I will cover later, are also considered important
objectives as they have a disproportionately large impact on the game. However, killing minions and
monsters (or, for that matter, other players) is not technically necessary to destroy the nexus and win
the game.


Map Layout
Summoner's Rift has two symmetrical halves, divided diagonally by a passable river. The team on the
top right is designated as the Purple team, where the team on the bottom left is designated as the Blue
team.

Each side has a team base in their corner, along with three main paths extending outwards. These paths
are referred to as lanes. Players refer to these by their location:
'Mid lane' is the path going directly towards the enemy base. This is a short lane with the best
access to other areas of the map. Notably, the distance between turrets is much shorter in this

lane, and their attack ranges overlap, making it impossible to avoid turret attacks without
special abilities;
'Bot lane' is the path that ends at the bottom right corner of the map. This lane has good access
to the neutral Dragon monster;
'Top lane' is the path that ends at the upper left corner of the map. This lane has good access to
the neutral Baron Nashor monster.
While the map is symmetrical, it is not mirrored in the sense that both teams have the same jungle
paths and monsters near each of their lanes. For example, Blue team has access to three monster camps
near their bottom lane, while Purple team has access to only two near their bottom lane.
Each team has an inhibitor at the start of each lane, followed by three towers extending out towards the
opposite side of the map. Behind this are the nexus and two turrets defending the nexus. Each team also
has a summoner pool where players start, recall to, and purchase items from.
Between these lanes and the river are areas referred to as jungle. There are a variety of different paths
here, as well as neutral monsters that can be killed for gold, experience, and temporary buffs.

Who is Blue Team and who is Purple Team?
Before the match starts loading you can determine who will be on which side of the map.

Note the very faint blue glow around Your Team at the top left corner of this screen. This means you
will be blue team on the bottom left. If this shows purple, you will be purple team.
For Draft Pick matches, the team with first ban and first pick will always be blue team.

Fog of War
In Summoner's Rift, persistent map vision is provided by the following sources:
Structures;
Champions & Minions;
Wards, Trinkets, and Player Abilities.
At the start of the match, towers provide vision over most of the team's lanes, allowing players to safely
extend to their outermost towers. Everything shrouded in darkness if part of the Fog of War and most
events that occur here will not be visible.

However, some abilities are visible even through the Fog of War. For example, Flash and Teleporthave
animations that show clearly even if they're used in an area where opponents don't have vision. Player
abilities such as Shaco's Deceive are also clearly visible when used inside the Fog of War.
Normally you cannot keep track of enemy items or minion kills while they're in the Fog of War.
However, if you kill an enemy and their corpse is in vision, you will be able to watch what items they're
purchasing while they're dead.


Brush (Bushes)
Small patches of high grass are littered throughout Summoner's Rift. These patches of brush (commonly
referred to as bushes) block vision to enemies who dont have another source of vision inside them.

In other words, entering a bush will immediately hide a unit, provided an enemy does not have ward,
clairvoyance, or another source of vision on them. Units within the same bush can see each other.
Even though bushes move around when youre inside them, other players without vision wont see this
animation.
Using normal attacks and targeted abilities from within a bush will nearly always provide brief vision on
the attacker. However, leaving the bush and using a normal attack or targeted ability, then immediately
going back in the bush will instantly block vision again.
Using many untargeted abilities such as skillshots will not provide vision on the attacker. This is not
always true, such as with Morgana's persistent AOE effect, Tormented Soil.
Abilities that are visible in the Fog of War are also visible in bushes.

Determining If Opponents Can See In Your Bush
There are three ways to immediately know whether an enemy has vision in the bush you're currently in:
If they use a targeted ability on you;
If either they or their minions use normal attacks on you;
If your champion attacks them or their minions without being explicitly commanded to (this will
not occur if you use a 'stop' command while in the bush).
If an enemy who is not previously targeting you, as indicated by an orange outline covering their
unit, targets you and gains the orange outline. The orange outline is semi-sticky, meaning they'll
keep it even if they can no longer see you (such as when you run into a bush), so this only works
if they have no outline and gain the outline while you're in the bush.

While in a bush, champions naturally stop their attacks to preserve stealth. Though somewhat illogical,
your champion is aware of when an enemy has vision on them even if you -- the player -- aren't. This is
why it can be helpful to idle in a bush you suspect your opponents have vision in and see if your
champion starts using normal attacks on nearby enemy units.

Impassable Terrain
Throughout the map there is impassable terrain that cannot be walked over. Some abilities interact with
this terrain, such as Vayne's Condemn, which knocks players backwards and will stun them if they collide
with impassable terrain.
Some blink and dash abilities, such as Flash, and placeable objects, such as wards, can be used over
impassable terrain. In many of these cases, they only need to be targeted -- and have a maximum range
-- that reaches beyond the halfway point of the impassable terrain. Provided these conditions are met,
the player or object can make it to the other side of the wall.
Player created terrain such as Anivia's Crystallize and Jarvan IV's Cataclysm will block movement, but
generally won't interact with player abilities the way impassable terrain does. For instance, Vayne's
Condemn will knock a player out of Jarvan IV's Cataclysm without stunning them on the edges of it.

Gold & Experience for Champion Kills
The first kill in a match is called First Blood and the killing player receives 400 gold.
A champion with zero kills and zero deaths has a bounty of 300 gold when killed. As that champion kills
opposing champions without dying themselves, they gain additional bounty (up to 500 gold with 4 kills).
If that champion is killed while they have bonus bounty, their bounty is immediately reset. If they die
repeatedly, their bounty will be lowered dramatically, making it much less valuable to kill them.This
bounty reduction lasts until they successfully kill an enemy champion, at which point it is reset to
normal. Gaining an assist (covered next) or earning 1,000 gold from minions and monsters will also
offset the bounty reduction by one death.
When a player kills an enemy champion by themselves, they earn the full bounty for that champion. If a
second player assists in the kill, they earn bonus bounty that does not reduce the amount of gold earned
by the player who nets the killing blow. In other words, an asssist is always a net positive for the team.
For the first 20 minutes of a match, assists grant 50% of the normal kill bounty. This increases to 80% by
the 35 minute mark. This assist bounty is divided equally among all teammates who assisted.

Players earn more gold from assists if they have at least 2 more assists than kills during the match. The
extra gold gained starts at 30 bonus gold but can increase to a cap of 60 gold with additional assists.
However, the gold earned from an assist can never be greater than the gold earned from the kill.
Until two minutes into the game, kills are worth only 60% of their normal gold. This increases to 100% at
the 4 minute mark.
Players also earn experience for killing enemy champions. If two or more players are responsible for
killing a champion, the total experience earned is significantly larger than if only one champion had
participated.
Experience gained for killing enemy champions is increased if the enemy champions are higher level
than the killing player, and reduced if the enemy champions are lower level than the killing player.

Structures
Structures are objectives that must be destroyed in order to win the game, provided the other team
does not surrender. Structures grant vision in an area around them. All structures have a health pool;
like other units, when structures reach zero health they are destroyed.
The damage dealt to structures with normal attacks is calculated separately from damage dealt to other
units. If 30% of a champion's ability power is higher than their bonus physical attack damage, they will
deal 30% of their ability power in bonus damage instead. In either case, base (non-bonus) attack
damage is still dealt to the structure. Since structures are immune to nearly all spells, this allows mages
to contribute significantly more damage than they otherwise could.
On a related note, Armor Penetration does not affect damage dealt to structures.
With the exception of the outermost tower in each lane, all structures require at least one previous
structure to have been destroyed before they will take damage.
Beware that structures count as impassable terrain for the purposes of player abilities. Even if a
structure is destroyed, the ruins of that structure are still impassable terrain.

Towers (Turrets)

Unlike other structures, towers have significant base armor and magic resistance. However, towers have
lower health pools than other structures, partly counterbalancing this. Towers also have attack damage.
The outermost towers have the lowest armor, magic resistance, and attack damage. Deeper towers
have successively more armor, magic resistance, and attack damage. Towers gain a small amount of
attack damage every minute, beginning at different times in the game depending on which tier of tower
they are. This attack damage bonus caps after a relatively small gain.

Towers gain a massive amount of armor and magic resistance while enemy minions are not present. This
balances the game against champions who could otherwise easily 'backdoor' a tower (the process of
attacking structures while minions are not present).
As of late Season 3, towers now also gain significant bonus armor for the first four minutes of the game.
This armor bonus then decays to the normal amount for the following four more minutes. This change
was intended to reduce the super-early tower takedown strategies frequently seen in the tournament
scene.
Towers always prefer to target the closest champion pets and minions before they will target
champions. However, if an enemy champion in attack range of the tower deals any amount of damage
to an allied champion, even with a pet, the tower will change targets and attack the enemy champion.
Towers will not change targets unless the target is killed or moves out of range, or unless a nearby allied
champion is attacked by an opponent in who is in range of the tower. Towers will not attack targets who
are are untargetable, such as Fizz while using Playful Trickster; however, towers can target and
successfully hit players who are able to dodge other normal attacks, such as Jax with his Counter Strike
active.
It's worth noting that an allied champion that is not near the tower can be attacked by enemy
champions who are near the tower without the tower changing target. In other words, the allied player
must be in range of the tower for the tower to defend them.
Towers deal physical damage to their target, which means armor is effective when taking tower hits.
With each consecutive attack against a champion, towers deal 25% more damage, up to a maximum of
75% bonus damage. If the tower continues to attack a single champion, they will continue to gain
damage, up to a maximum of 50% (combined for a bonus 125%). In other words, swapping the players
taking tower attacks allows you to partly but not fully reduce incoming damage from the tower.
Both the inhibitor towers and the two towers protecting the nexus regenerate health if they are
damaged. However, towers further out never regenerate health, meaning all damage to these towers is
permanent.
Outer towers grant 100 gold to everyone on the team when they are destroyed, in addition to 150 gold
that is split equally among nearby allies who participated in the takedown.
Inner towers grant 125 gold to everyone on the team when they are destroyed, in addition to 100 gold
that is split equally among nearby allies who participated in the takedown.
Inhibitor towers grant 175 gold and a small experience bonus to everyone on the team.
Towers have a large vision area and can detect stealthed units.


Tip For Last Hitting In The Early Game
When minions reach your tower, there are two basic rules to remember that will help you last hit
minions for gold:
Let melee minions take two full tower hits, and then time your normal attack to occur
immediately after the second tower attack.
Attack caster minions once before a tower hits, then again immediately after the tower hits
them.
This works with minions that are at full health and are not taking significant damage from other sources
(such as other minions). If you get enough physical attack damage you'll need to stop attacking caster
minions before the tower has hit them.

Inhibitors & Nexus
The inhibitors and the nexus are similar structures, in that they have no armor or magic resistance and
no means to defend themselves. However, they regenerate health over time if they are damaged,
meaning it can be better to ensure they are focused and destroyed rather than leaving and trying to
finish them later.

When an inhibitor is destroyed, the opposing team spawns super minions instead of their normal siege
minions. Destroying all three inhibitors will cause two super minions to spawn in each lane, for a total of
six.
Additionally, opposing minions that spawn in the same lane as destroyed inhibitors have significantly
increased health and damage.
Inhibitors respawn after four minutes. This is announced to both sides 15 seconds before it occurs.

A player who last-hits the nexus is given 50 gold.

Summoner Platform, Shop & Obelisk
The summoner platform is the area where players spawn, recall to, and shop. The obelisk protecting this
area deals extreme, sustained true damage to enemies entering the summoner platform.

Despite the symmetry of the map, both team's shops are closer to the top lane. The range of the shop
extends in a radius outward from the shop itself, not the platform, meaning that players headed to or
from top lane have a significantly larger area where they can purchase items from (that extends well
beyond the platform).


Team Minions

Minions are units that are allied with either the purple or blue team. They move in a predictable path
down their lanes, towards the enemy base.
Minions deal bonus damage to towers, which can make it ideal to clear out enemy minions they are
targeting before attacking the tower directly. Minions deal reduced damage to champions.
When choosing targets to attack, minions prioritize the closest enemy minions, followed by towers,
followed by the closest champion. In other words, they will not normally attack champions unless there
are no other available targets.
However, if an enemy champion deals damage with a normal attack to an allied champion, minions will
change targets and attack the aggressor. Most abilities do not cause nearby minions to attack. However,
some abilities that act like normal attacks and apply on-hit effects, such as Gangplank's Parrrlay, will
cause minions to attack.
Most minions increase in attack damage, health, armor, and magic resistance over the course of the
game. Additionally, minions offer more gold based on the game time. This is determined for each minion
based on when they spawn, not when they're killed.
Minions grant vision to their team. They have only slightly lower vision range than champions, meaning
that teams can most likely see an enemy champion if that champion can see their minions. Since the
map is symmetrical and minions spawn at the same time, it can be helpful to keep in mind that minions
on opposite sides of the map are in an identical place. This is especially true for junglers at an enemy
team's double golem camp. Note that minions will not engage enemy targets at their maximum vision
range.
All minions move at 325 movement speed, giving them roughly the same movement speed as many
champions who havent purchased boots.


Minion Waves
Three groups, or waves, of minions spawn next to the Nexus beginning at the 1:30 time marker, then
every 30 seconds afterwards until the game is over. Each group corresponds to one of the lanes on the
map.
A minion wave normally consists of 3 melee minions and 3 caster minions.
Every third wave, each lane also has a siege minion. After 35 minutes, a siege minion spawns every
second wave instead.
If an enemy inhibitor in the same lane is destroyed, super minions spawn every wave, but siege minions
do not spawn.
If all three enemy inhibitors are destroyed, two super minions spawn in every wave for every lane.

Melee & Caster Minions
Melee minions move into melee range of their targets to use attacks that deal physical damage.
Melee minions are initially worth 20 gold in lane.
Caster minions are similar to melee minions, though their normal attacks are ranged. Like other minions,
these attacks are physical damage. Caster minions have higher magic resistance and lower health and
armor than melee minions.
Caster minions are worth the least gold in a lane, starting at just 15 gold.

Siege & Super Minions
Siege minions have significantly more health than other minions, as well as a buff that causes them to
take 50% reduced damage from towers. This makes them very effective at tanking towers while allied
units deal damage.
Siege minions are worth the most gold, starting at 40 gold.
Like siege minions, super minions take 50% reduced damage from towers. These attack more slowly
than siege minions but deal far more damage per hit, making them much stronger at pushing towers
and even pushing back enemy champions than their smaller counterparts.
Super minions have more armor than siege minions, but can have negative magic resistance, meaning
they take significantly more damage from magic damage attacks than physical attacks. This being said,
their health makes them more durable than siege minions regardless of damage type.

Unlike other minions, super minions do not gain additional health or damage, and are typically worth
less gold than other minions.


Neutral Monsters
Neutral monsters are not aligned with either team. They will not attack unless they are first attacked.
All monsters rapidly regenerate health when they are not in combat. Additionally, all monsters have a
leash range at which they will disengage from combat and return to their starting location.
Monsters attack their closest opponent. If they move beyond their leash range while moving to that
player, they will begin walking back to their starting location, and will pick a target again only if attacked.
If another player moves in closer to the center of the monster, they will change targets. This target
change can occur up to ten times before causing the monster to avoid engaging again until it has fully
reset.

Jungle Monster Scaling
Monsters in the jungle (specifically not including Baron Nashor and Dragon) are given levels when they
spawn. This level determines health and damage, as well as the experience and gold reward for killing
them. These levels are based on the average level of all players currently in the match, rounded up.
Jungle monsters will not become stronger until theyve been cleared and spawn again. If the monster is
a higher level than the player who kills it, that player is granted significant bonus experience.

Baron Nashor

Baron Nashor is the single most difficult unit to kill in Summoner's Rift. He is an immobile worm that can
be found in the river alcove on the upper-left side of the map. He has very high health and becomes
stronger over time throughout the game. Additionally, he has substantial armor and magic resistance.
His armor and magic resistance cannot be reduced through player abilities or items. He cannot be
disabled in any way.
Baron Nashor deals high physical and magic damage with a mix of abilities. These are:

Wrath of the Ancients, a green spit column that hits random targets, dealing magic damage and
applies a stacking debuff that increases incoming magic damage (cannot be blocked by spell
shields);
Voracious Corrosion, which deals physical damage and applies a debuff that causes players to
deal significantly reduced damage to Baron Nashor;
A knockback that kicks nearby units away from him;
A delayed knockup on a random target indicated by green bubbles beneath his target (move
out of this).
Baron prioritizes his primary attacks on the players closest to his center. This makes it very easy to select
which player will take the bulk of damage. If other melee players are low on health, they will need to
watch out for when Baron knocks tankier players away from him.
Baron does not prioritize his attacks on the team that engaged him. If an enemy player is closer to his
center, they will take damage instead. This can be helpful to remember when team fights occur at
Baron, as quick repositioning can move his damage onto opponents.
Baron Nashor first spawns on the map at the 15:00 minute marker and respawns 7 minutes after he has
last been slain.
When killed, Baron Nashor grants 300 bonus gold to all teammates, as well as bonus experience. The
player who deals the killing blow to Dragon gains an additional 25 gold. Also, all teammates who are
currently alive are granted a significant ability power, attack damage, and health and mana regeneration
buff for several minutes.
Baron can be reset by moving out of range of his attacks or stopping attacks on him for several seconds.


Dragon

Dragon is a significant monster who can be found in the river alcove on the lower-right side of the map.
He has low armor and magic resistance, but high health. His health increases based on the level of the
highest champion currently in the match. His armor and magic resistance cannot be reduced through
player abilities or items. He cannot be disabled in any way.
Dragon uses ranged attacks. When attacking, he applies a damage-over-time effect to his target called
'Dragon Burning.' This also reduces the attack speed of the target.
Dragon has a minim level of 6 and a maximum level of 15. This level increases to match the average level
of the players in the match, rounded up.
When killed, Dragon grants global gold ranging from 125 to 260 based on his level. Additionally, bonus
experience is divided among nearby allies, and the total experience granted is based on Dragons level.
This experience is increased if the team that kills Dragon is behind the enemy team in levels, with
players further behind gaining significantly more bonus experience.


Blue Golem (Ancient Golem)

The blue golems are located near the river, directly across from Baron Nashor and Dragon. These camps
consist of one large golem and two trivial companions. The blue golems spawn at 1:55 and respawn 5:00
after they have been killed.
When killed, the Ancient Golem grants gold to the killer, as well as a buff that increases mana
regeneration, energy regeneration, and cooldown reduction for several minutes.
If the player with this buff is killed by another player, the buff is transferred to them with a fresh
cooldown. Because of this transfer mechanic, multiple buffs from the same Ancient Golem camp can
exist on different champions simultaneously.


Red Lizard (Lizard Elder)

The red lizards are located in the jungle behind Baron Nashor and Dragon. These camps consist of one
large lizard and two trivial companions. The red lizards spawn at 1:55 and respawn 5:00 after they have
been killed.
When killed, the Lizard Elder grants gold to the killer, as well as a buff that causes the player's normal
attacks to deal bonus true damage over time and slow their opponents.
If the player with this buff is killed by another player, the buff is transferred to them with a fresh
cooldown. Because of this transfer mechanic, multiple buffs from the same Lizard Elder camp can exist
on different champions simultaneously.


Minor Camps (Wight, Double Golems, Three Wolves, Four Wraiths)
Four minor camps exist on Summoner's Rift, each spawning the 1:55 minute marker. These are:
Wight Large monster near blue golem. Easiest to kill with high single target damage.
Double Golems Pair of monsters near red lizard. Somewhat easier to kill with high single
target damage than with multi-target damage.
Three Wolves Pack of wolves near blue golem. Easier to kill with multi-target damage.
Four Wraiths Pack of wraiths between red lizard and mid lane. Very easy to kill with multi-
target damage.
The camps containing multiple monsters all contain at least one large minion. Each camp respawns one
minute after its been cleared.

Summoner Spells
In the following, I will outline each of the summoner spells you'll gain access to while playing League of
Legends. These are sorted by the level they're achieved. Very strong spells are highlighted in green,
though some champions can make more effective use of other spells.

Recall
This spell is available immediately and does not take one of your two optional spell slots.
When cast, you will begin channeling for several seconds. If you successfully finish
channeling the spell, you are immediately teleported to your summoner platform, where you can shop,
regenerate health and mana, and move to a new location.
Recall is broken with incoming damage or crowd controls. However, in the last half second of
channeling, damage will no longer prevent Recall from being successful.
If you are attacked but do not take damage, such as when a shield is actively protecting you, Recall will
not be interrupted.
On Summoner's Rift it generally will not save time to recall to your summoner platform while you are
still inside your base. However, once you are beyond your first towers it will usually save you time to
cast recall. The exact distance where it is more effective changes with very fast or mobile champions.

Exhaust
This skill effectively shuts down an enemy champion for 2.5 seconds, slowing them,
reducing their Attack Speed, and moderately reducing their damage output from any
source. Because this reduces Attack Speed, this has a bigger effect on physical-damage champions who
rely on normal attacks, such as marksman carries or melee fighters who would otherwise easily kill you.
At least one Exhaust on a team is strongly encouraged, especially if your team lacks many hard crowd
controls. It can help shut down champions who become unusually strong, such as a farmed Tryndamere,
buying enough time to kill them.
It's worth noting that Exhaust has a short-to-medium range and is not always easy to apply if you're a
long range champion.
Verdict: Great spell, best at countering physical damage AD champions but still works against other
champions. Good for ensuring successful ganks.


Ghost
Ghost dramatically increases movement speed for 10 seconds and allows you to pass freely
through units that you would normally need to move around. Movement speed allows for
more frequent attacks on targets that are fleeing.
This ability belongs on a small subset of champions who rely on auto-attacks and are pursuing
opponents who cannot easily crowd control them. Some highly ranked players use Ghost on a variety of
champions, including some mages, as it can help with kiting or securing kills. Outside these champions,
Ghost is generally not strong enough to stay a priority pick due to the strength of other summoner
spells.
Verdict: Situationally good, but there are often better options. A first tier ability on specific champions
such as Olaf.

Heal
This ability heals you for a significant amount, based on your level, and heals nearby allies
for half of that amount. For several seconds after being affected by Heal, any follow-up
Heals will only be half as effective on that player (in other words, if a second player on your team casts
it). This is a strong enough skill that you will see it even in high-level play, depending on the champions
and the match-up.
Heal is generally seen as a spell that support players pick up, though this is not always the case, nor is it
always the best way to play. Since Heal only heals half the amount to nearby allies, support players may
instead opt to pick up an offensive spell such as Exhaust, while having an ally in the same lane pick up
Heal.
Heal can be effective at baiting enemy players, especially in the early game, since it allows you to keep
your health lower while still having the spell ready to fire. If opponents close in for the kill and dive a
tower, the heal may completely turn the fight around.
Verdict: This is a better spell than it used to be, but it is still situational. Use it only if you're sure it's a
better pick than Ignite or Exhaust (or any other alternatives), or if your laning partner already has Ignite
or Exhaust and you feel you won't need them.


Revive
Use this to instantly resurrect and gain a brief movement speed bonus. In theory, it can be
used to bring you back to stop an important push from your enemies after your team was
wiped out. In practice, other summoner spells could have allowed you to live, and all of them bring more
utility to the table beyond just this worst-case scenario.
Verdict: Don't use it unless you have an extremely good reason to.

Smite
Smite deals true damage, based on your level that ignores Armor and Magic Resist to a
target minion, monster, or pet. It is typically taken by players who spend their early levels in
the jungle as it greatly increases the speed and effectiveness while clearing monsters in the jungle. It is
also strong for securing major objectives such as Baron Nashor or Dragon.
In most cases, Smite is best used to finish off a monster. In other words, waiting until the monster is just
low enough in health that the Smite will kill it. To achieve this, hover over Smite on your interface to see
how much damage it deals at your level, then select your target and watch its health bar.
The reason for doing this is that it prevents the monster from being stolen by another player. It is very
common for enemies to place vision wards on important monsters, allowing them to respond to you
when you're killing them, and potentially allowing them to steal the buff. For even more security, time
your Smite to land at the exact moment as another strong damage ability, giving you an even bigger
health window to work with.
In cases where you see all of your enemies on the map and they won't have time to respond, you're
usually safe to go ahead and use Smite right away. This gets the ability on cooldown, meaning it will
become available again sooner.
Consider saving Smite and not using it on jungle monsters when you know your team may do Dragon or
Baron Nashor soon. It has its biggest impact on the outcome of games when used to secure these larger
objectives.
An argument commonly crops up that you don't need Smite to jungle. It's technically true that you don't
need Smite to jungle on certain champions, but it also prevents you from using Smite to secure buffs
(such as using Smite on Baron Nashor, Dragon, or the large golem or lizards in the jungle). If you don't
have it, an opposing player with Smite can frequently secure these buffs even if you or your team are
currently doing them. Many of the highest level tournament games have been decided on a team
stealing a Baron Nashor kill with a well-timed Smite.
Verdict: Necessary for competitive jungling. Don't use it if you're not jungling or roaming unless you
have a very specific reason to.

Teleport
After briefly channeling, Teleport will move you to a target tower (but not other structures),
allied minion, or placeable object such as wards. Teleport can be canceled during
channeling by activating the ability again; this will still place the ability on cooldown, but for a shorter
cooldown than if it had completed.
Teleport is situational, and you won't always know if it will be useful in a game before you go in. That
said, it can change games, and there are some times where you should certainly consider picking it up.
First, if you're in a solo lane on either the top or bottom of Summoner's Rift, it can be good to have. In
the first few levels, it gives you an opportunity to head back to your base and safely get back to your
lane, preventing an enemy from pushing the tower in your absence or preventing you from losing too
much experience or gold. It also allows you to teleport to Dragon (or later, Baron Nashor) to
immediately assist your team if a conflict starts.
Second, some champions, especially pushers, can use this to get in a group of minions who have pushed
into enemy territory, allowing for a very quick structure takedown before the team can respond.
Alternatively, it can be kept on hand while pushing, allowing for a very quick escape when enemies
respond, or to teleport to the opposite lane on the map and push once enemies have responded. It can
also be used to teleport to a ward near an unprotected inhibitor, allowing for quick pushing to bring the
inhibitor down.
Finally, Teleport offers a quick option to get back to your base if an enemy is unexpectedly pushing
structures and your team cannot otherwise respond.
Teleport can be used as an escape tool. The channeling effect is not canceled if you simply take damage,
meaning if opponents cannot use crowd controls such as Taunts, Stuns, Knockups/Knockbacks,
Supresses, or Silences, you can teleport away from them even if they're focusing damage on you.
Verdict: Situational, but definitely worth considering depending on your champion and lane. I
recommend reading The Impossible Decision in this e-book to learn a little more on how it can be used
effectively.

Cleanse (Summoner Level 2)
This spell removes crowd controls and summoner spell debuffs (such as Ignite or Exhaust)
from your champion and dramatically reduces the duration of new crowd controls for 3
seconds.
This is a strong ability to use on champions that will be focused for crowd controls and potentially locked
out of contributing to their team as a result. This tends to occur more frequently on melee champions
who must get in range of champions with potential crowd control to be effective. For example,

Tryndamere and Master Yi are easily countered by crowd controls, and Cleanse offers a way to ignore
them briefly.
Cleanse also allows you to escape ganks and deaths that you shouldn't get out of, especially combined
with a spell such as Flash or Ghost.
Verdict: This is one of the harder spells to use effectively due to the reaction time and judgment
required, but it is definitely one of the strongest summoner spells for champions who must deal with
crowd controls. Strongly recommended, though Exhaust and Ignite may be better in some match-ups.

Barrier (Summoner Level 6)
This spell grants your champion a very strong shield for two seconds. This spell has no other
effects and does not benefit nearby allies.
How does this measure up with Heal? It is superior to Heal in that it potentially reduces more damage
on your champion and it has a lower cooldown. It is worse than Heal in that it cannot benefit teammates
and the effect is temporary. In other words, if you dont time Barrier to block enough damage, Heal
would have been superior. In most situations Heal is an unquestionably superior spell.
However, there are two important exceptions. The first exception is in situations where you may
consider double Heal. Because Heal debuffs all players who receive the benefit, Barrier is usually going
to be stronger in a high damage situation than two Heals overlapping.
The second situation is dealing with Ignite or other healing reduction effects. Because the effect of Heal
is cut in half with these effects, Barrier will be more effective against incoming burst damage while they
are applied.
Verdict: Barrier is a niche spell that is best picked for duo lanes where Heal is already present, or picked
against any type of burst damage that may rely on healing reduction to net a kill. This is a good spell but
not one you should pick without a reason.

Clarity (Summoner Level 6)
Clarity restores an amount of mana equal to 40% of your maximum mana. In other words,
the potential effect is just as strong regardless of your current mana. All nearby allies also
gain mana equal to 40% of their mana.

Clarity helps out in the low levels of the game, allowing you to stay in lane much longer, especially if at
least one of your abilities heals you. It can also allow for more constant harassment on your opponents.
Clarity is strong before you or your allies get used to the flow of a game and pacing ability use.
However, the ability has no staying power, and rarely assists in the powerful plays that shape games,
such as an early gank with coordinated summoner spells.
Verdict: If you're relying on this spell for your early game, you or your allies may need to reconsider your
playstyle, or your runes and masteries. While it's not a terrible spell, it prevents you from using spells
that are more likely to contribute to team victories.

Ignite (Summoner Level 7)
Ignite deals a moderate amount of true damage over 5 seconds to a target enemy. This
damage ignores Armor and Magic Resist. While active, all healing effects on the enemy are
reduced by 50%.
Ignite can be cast on jungle monsters. However, it cannot be cast on minions in lane. This helps prevent
misclicking on minions when you intend to cast it on an opponent.
Like Exhaust, Ignite counters a wide number of champions, and is a staple spell that should be available
to most teams. The damage is nice for early kills, but the true value of this spell in the mid and late game
is often the healing reduction effect. This completely counters all forms of health gain, including healing,
health regeneration, lifesteal and spell vamp. Champions who rely on these mechanics (or champions
who rely on healing from a support player) are temporarily shut down by Ignite, allowing them to far
more easily be focused down and killed.
Verdict: Great spell that is useful for securing kills in early engagement and ensuring a kill on a player
who would otherwise be benefiting from large health gains. This should be on at least one player on a
team in most match-ups.

Clairvoyance (Summoner Level 10)
This spell reveals a moderate area anywhere on the map for 5 seconds, including bushes in
its vision area. Clairvoyance does not reveal stealth. A clearly visible eye animation and
sound occurs on the area of the map where vision is granted, and this can be seen by the opposing
team.
Well-timed, well-placed Clairvoyance casts can be a huge benefit to your team. The spell allows you to
more easily track junglers or roamers who are not constantly in vision if you can make an educated
guess as to where they might be. It can also be used to check on objectives such as Baron or Dragon to

check on whether they've been defeated by the opposing team or whether the opposing team is fighting
them or getting ready to.
If you have Clairvoyance, consider using it in the first few seconds of a match to see their summoner
pool where they start. This allows you to see which items they're purchasing and potentially get an idea
of which lanes they're going to (though you shouldn't rely on the direction they're moving as a sure-fire
indicator on which lane they're headed to).
Beyond this, consider using your next Clairvoyance at their blue buff (or red buff) in the jungle,
depending on which the enemy jungler is most likely to start (if you don't know, blue is the safer bet).
For blue, you want to clairvoyance a location that covers the nearby wolves as well. If you don't see the
enemy team in their jungle, they may be attempting to invade your jungle.
Clairvoyance is a knowledge-dependent skill, and you'll get better as it as you learn the rhythm of the
game and the champions you're playing against. You can always safely use the spell to check areas near
your lane (such as the river entrance or bushes that enemies may have gone in.
Verdict: This is a fantastic summoner spell. It tends to be difficult to have on damage-dealing champions
who see a huge benefit from other summoner spells. For this reason, Clairvoyance tends to be picked up
by support players.

Flash (Summoner Level 12)
Flash instantly teleports you a small distance in the direction of your mouse cursor. This
ability can cross over walls and small barriers. It does not stop any targeted attacks or
abilities currently in flight towards you, though.
If this ability is targeted and has range beyond the halfway point of a wall, it is possible to blink over the
wall. In other words, it can travel up to twice the normal range when passing through walls. (Note that
this is also true for many champion abilities and placeable objects such as wards)
Flash is an amazing tool. It can be used to escape, initiate, secure a kill, show up unexpectedly to contest
an objective like Dragon or Baron Nashor, and get in range for targeted spells or skillshots.
When using Flash as an escape, look for nearby walls that will act as a barrier if you Flash over them.
This can put you in a position that is difficult or impossible to follow.
There is rarely a good reason not to use this ability. Even champions who have built-in blink or dash
abilities can benefit from Flash for all of the reasons listed above.
Verdict: Flash is a must-have. The decision between which summoner spells you use usually involves
Flash and something else, not Flash or something else. There are some limited exceptions to this rule.


Stats
There are a lot of stats and attributes to keep in mind while you're playing League of Legends. In this
section, I'm going to cover all of the major stats you'll have to deal with, as well as their quirks and
benefits.
Most stats stack additively, not multiplicatively. In other words, if you have two items that grant 20%
critical strike chance, you will have a 40% critical strike chance from these items. There are limited
exceptions, such as percentage-based armor and magic penetration, which stack multiplicatively
(thereby being less effective than they would be with additive scaling).
Items with bonuses listed as "Unique Passive" always mean that building two of the same item will not
contribute more of that bonus.
League of Legends will calculate most stats to several decimal places, meaning having partial stats (such
as 1.9% Attack Speed) will still contribute meaningfully to your damage.
Some stats are only visible by pressing 'C' while in-game.
Note: For readability, I've capitalized stats in their sections, but tend to avoid capitalizing them outside
their sections.

Baseline Stats vs. Multiplier Stats
In League of Legends, there are three main baseline stats: attack damage, ability power, and health.
There are rare exceptions, such as Ryze, who uses mana in functionally the same way most casters use
ability power.
To be clear, I am not using the term baseline to refer to them being more or less important than other
stats. These stats are considered baseline because they are increased in flat value increments.
Multiplier stats increase the effectiveness of their associated baseline stats. For example, attack speed
increases the rate at which you attack, which means you'll increase your damage output from attack
damage in direct proportion to how much faster you're attacking.
By finding an appropriate balance between Baseline Stats and Multipliers, you'll usually get more
damage output than you would by just stacking one or the other. This is especially true on physical
damage champions.


Normal Attacks
Attack Damage (Baseline)
Attack Damage increases the physical damage your normal melee attacks do. Additionally, it increases
the damage of some champion abilities.
Abilities that scale with Attack Damage will do so according to a ratio. For example, a damaging ability
with a 0.5 ratio will deal bonus damage equal to 50% of your Attack Damage.
Tip: Some abilities scale with 'bonus Attack Damage.' This refers to Attack Damage that is beyond your
champion's innate Attack Damage. When you see this, it's usually an indication that the developer
intends for you to use Attack Damage items (instead of, say, survivability items) to make the most use of
the ability.

Armor Penetration & Armor Reduction (Multiplier)
Armor Penetration causes your normal attacks and physical damage abilities to ignore a certain amount
of your opponents armor. Armor Reduction reduces the opponent's Armor, causing all incoming
incoming normal attacks and physical damage abilities to deal more damage (including those from
allies).
Armor Penetration cannot bring an enemy's armor below zero. However, Armor Reduction can. Armor
Reduction is applied first.
Since Season 3, Flat Armor Penetration is calculated after Percentage Armor Penetration. Because of
this, both Flat Armor Penetration (ex. Brutalizer) and Percentage Armor Penetration (ex. Last Whisper)
coexist nicely.
Tip: Check out whether or not your opponents are building armor. If so, I strongly recommend looking at
Last Whisper or Black Cleaver about midway through your item build, as this is often the most effective
damage multiplier against opponents who stacks armor.
Flat Armor Penetration/Reduction is more effective against champions with low armor, whereas
percentage-based Armor Penetration/Reduction is more effective against champions with higher armor.

Attack Speed (Multiplier)
Attack Speed determines how quickly your character uses normal attacks. You can have a maximum of
2.5 attack speed, literally meaning 2.5 attacks every second. Due to how the stat is calculated, Attack
Speed is more effective on champions who already have a high base Attack Speed.

Critical Strike Chance (Multiplier)
Critical Strike Chance determines the likelihood that your next normal attack will be a critical strike. A
small number of abilities, such as Garen's Judgment, also benefit from Critical Strike.

Critical Strike Damage (Multiplier)
Critical Strike Damage determines how much damage your critical strikes deal, based on a percentage of
your attack damage. Critical strikes normally deal 200% damage, though this number can be raised with
runes (Furor), masteries (Lethality), and items (Infinity Edge).

Lifesteal
Lifesteal restores health based on a percentage of damage done with normal attacks and abilities that
proc on-hit effects.
Lifesteal is reduced by healing reduction effects.

Range
Range is the distance you can use normal attacks from. Most melee champions have an attack range of
125, while a small number (such as Nautilus and Fizz) have an attack range of 175-200. Marksmen, as
well as most other ranged champions generally fall between 500 and 650 range (Jinx, Kog'maw, Tristana
and Twitch can go higher).
Tip: Range often has a big impact on how a game plays out, especially when two opponents are laning
against each other. When picking a physical damage champion to counter another champion, always
consider the range difference between them.

Abilities
Ability Power (Baseline)
Ability Power increases the damage or effects of many champion spells.
Abilities that scale with Ability Power will do so according to a ratio. For example, a damaging ability
with a 0.5 ratio will deal bonus damage equal to 50% of your Ability Power.

Cooldown Reduction (Multiplier)
Cooldown Reduction reduces the cooldown on most active champion abilities by a percentage.
Cooldown Reduction caps at 40%, meaning a player can only reduce the abilities down to 60% of their
original cooldown.
Tip: Cooldown Reduction tends to be more effective on champions who already have short cooldowns.
This is because having more Cooldown Reduction is more likely to allow for more spell casts in actual
skirmishes and teamfights with these champions.

Magic Penetration & Magic Resistance Reduction (Multiplier)
Magic Penetration causes your magic damage to ignore a certain amount of your opponents magic
resistance. Magic Resistance Reduction reduces the opponent's magic resistance, causing all incoming
magic damage to deal more damage (including those from allies).
Magic Penetration cannot bring an enemy's magic resistance below zero. However, Magic Resistance
Reduction can. Magic Resistance Reduction is applied first.
Tip: Magic Penetration is a very strong stat to have, especially if your opponents are stacking magic
resistance. Consider a Void Staff if your damage output comes primarily from magic damage.
Flat Magic Penetration/Magic Resistance Reduction is more effective against champions with low magic
resistance, whereas percentage-based Magic Penetration/Magic Resistance Reduction is more effective
against champions with higher magic resistance.

Mana & Resources
Most champions use Mana as a primary resource for using abilities. However, some champions use
energy, health, champion-specific resources, or no resource at all.

Mana & Resource Regeneration
This is the rate at which you regenerate your resource while you are not capped.
Tip: If you're very dependent on a Mana or Energy, consider getting the blue golem buff on Summoner's
Rift, as this will significantly increase your regeneration.


Spell Vamp
Spell Vamp restores health based on a percentage of damage done with abilities. This does not work on
most abilities that proc on-hit effects. To be clear, this applies to abilities that deal all types of damage,
including physical damage and true damage, not just magic damage.
Spell Vamp is only 33.3% effective on multi-target spells.
Spell Vamp is reduced by healing reduction effects.

Defensive
Health (Baseline), Effective Health & Shields
Health is your primary resource. Once this reaches zero, you will die (with limited exceptions for some
champion abilities and the Guardian Angel item proc).
The efficiency and effectiveness of Health is based on the type of damage you're receiving, as well as
sources of damage reduction you have to counter them. Put more simply, Health becomes better and
better as you acquire more sources of damage reduction such as armor and magic resistance. This is the
concept of Effective Health (EH).
In most cases, health shields operate exactly like Health, and will also be more effective with armor and
magic resistance.
True damage, or damage sources that ignore all magic resist and armor, will always deal damage directly
to your Health pool.
Tip: Think about Effective Health when building items. A player with 5,000 health isn't necessarily more
survivable than a player with 3,000,if the player with 3,000 has significantly more damage reduction
from armor or magic resistance. Simply stacking Health is not an effective strategy for survival except in
rare circumstances.
With high armor or magic resistance, champions with shield abilities can be unusually well suited to
taking damage, especially if the shield can be re-applied fairly often. This is not just because it acts as a
substitute for health, but also because you don't lose health while it's active. The practical effect of this is
that shields have an extremely good multiplicative effect on your longer-term survivability and
sustainability.

By the same token, healing is more effective on you if you're taking less incoming damage. Keep this in
mind if you have a healing heavy team and you're deciding whether to build Health or damage
reduction.
Finally, it's worth saying that -- in the early game -- it is virtually always better to build Health early on
than it is to build damage reduction, unless you have very reliable sources of healing and won't be
dealing with much burst damage. This is just due to a stat imbalance on most characters in the early
game.

Armor (Multiplier)
Armor reduces incoming physical damage from all sources. Due to the damage reduction calculation,
Armor will always provide the same bonus to your Effective Health, regardless of how much Armor you
currently have.
Tip: Even though Armor always provides the same bonus to Effective Health, that doesn't mean that it
will always be the best option for increasing your Effective Health, even against physical damage
opponents. Increasing your base health may have a substantially larger or smaller impact on your
survivability depending on what your Armor is currently at.

Magic Resistance (Multiplier)
Magic Resistance reduces incoming magical damage from all sources. Due to the damage reduction
calculation, Magic Resistance will always provide the same bonus to your Effective Health, regardless of
how much Magic Resistance you currently have.
Tip: Even though Magic Resistance always provides the same bonus to Effective Health, that doesn't
mean that it will always be the best option for increasing your Effective Health, even against magical
damage opponents. Increasing your base health may have a substantially larger or smaller impact on
your survivability depending on what your Magic Resistance is currently at.

Health Regeneration
This is the rate at which you regenerate health while you are not at full health.
Health Regeneration is reduced by healing reduction effects.
Tip: Health Regeneration tends to be more important in the early game than the late game. While
regeneration is nice, keep in mind that itemizing for this stat will not help much against heavy burst
damage (with exceptions for champions who can gain extremely high regeneration).

Health regeneration and other sources of healing are much more effective if you have high damage
reduction (such as armor or magic resistance).

Tenacity
Tenacity reduces the duration of Slows, Snares, Blinds, Silences, Stuns, Taunts and Fears by a
percentage. The only type of crowd controls not affected are Knockups, Knockbacks and Suppression.
Tenacity items do not stack with each other to provide greater reduction. However, they do stack
multiplicatively with champion crowd control reductions, such as those found on Irelia, Trundle, and
Mundo.
Tip: You'll usually want to evaluate the types of crowd controls your opponents have available. Mercury
Treads are usually a good choice for boots, but you'll occasionally come into matches where there are
only a few crowd controls that will be affected.

Utility
Movement Speed
Movement Speed determines how quickly your champion travels over terrain.
Boots contribute to your base movement speed, while percentage multipliers (such as those from Zeal,
Phantom Dancer, Lich Bane, and Force of Nature) will multiply the combined effect of your base
movement speed and your movement speed from boots.
Tip: Movement Speed is one of the most overlooked and most important stats, especially for physical
damage champions. This is because you will tend to need to catch back up to a moving opponent after
your champion briefly stops due to their swing animation. With these stuttered attacks, your Attack
Speed stat is generally a lot less effective, and the best way to speed your attacks up is to more quickly
get back in range of the opponent.
Being able to move more quickly may allow you to get kills before opponents can reach the safety of
teammates or tower, or before they can simply get (and stay) out of your range.

Passive Gold Gain (Gold per 10)
Passive gold is gold that is earned for the player over time with no additional actions required. Runes
(Avarice), masteries (Greed), and items (Avarice Blade, Philosopher's Stone, and Kage's Lucky Pick) all
grant bonus passive gold.

Tip: Even though each of the passive gold gain items says 'Unique Passive,' they do still stack with each
other. The only thing you can't do is stack the same item multiple times for more gold gain.


A Little More Regarding Defensive Stats
Defense is not intended to be more powerful than offense in League of Legends. One team has to lose,
and the only way that happens is if players have superior methods of breaking through defensive items
and champions. It's important to know how to do this, and to that end, here are some guidelines.

Low Health, Armor, and/or Magic Resist
Burst damage exists to punish players with low health. Use it when the opportunity presents itself.

High Health
High health is best countered with attacks that deal a percentage of health as damage, such as
Kog'maw's Bio-Arcane Barrage or Vayne's Silver Bolts. Blade of the Ruined King (designed for marksmen)
is also helpful for this.
In cases where an enemy has high health but low armor and magic resistance, their Effective Health
won't be too high and it may be much easier to kill them with normal attacks than other players who
have a more effective balance of stats.

High Armor or High Magic Resist
Percentage-based penetration stats (Armor Penetration/Reduction and Magic Penetration/Reduction)
have a dramatic impact on enemies who are stacking armor or magic resist. Additionally, any source of
true damage, such as Olaf's Reckless Swing or Cho'gath's Feast, will be effective against these players.

High Health, Armor, and Magic Resist
Ignore these players until everyone else has been killed unless absolutely necessary. If a champion is too
bulky, it usually means they've invested an extraordinary amount into defensiveness but haven't picked
up items that would make them threatening to an enemy team.

High Health Regeneration or Healing
Ignite or any source of healing reduction. In a pinch, pick up Executioner's Calling, an item that grants
critical strike chance and lifesteal and can be activated to reduce your opponent's healing.

Glossary of Terms
Heres a look at the phrases you may come across while playing League of Legends:
AA Auto Attack. See Normal Attack.
AD Attack Damage. May also refer to marksmen, particularly when used in Champion Selection prior
to a game starting.
AD Carry Marksmen. See Champion Roles & Recommendations.
AFK Away from Keyboard.
Aggro Causing a monster to attack you. Some players may use this to refer to drawing attention from
any opponent, including other players.
Ali Alistar (champion).
Animation Canceling Moving or performing another action after a melee normal attack has dealt
damage or a ranged normal attack has fired the projectile, but before the rest of the animation has
finished. Covered in Attack Animation & Projectile Speed as well as in Stutter Step, Attack Move, and
Awesome Keybinding Trick on YouTube.
AOE Area of Effect. Items and abilities that hit all valid targets in an area when activated are
considered AOE. See also, multi-target.
AP Ability Power. May also refer to mages. May also refer to mages, particularly when used in
Champion Selection prior to a game starting.
AP Caster Mages. See Champion Roles & Recommendations.
APC Mages. See Champion Roles & Recommendations.
Apen Armor penetration. See Stats.
ARAM Usually refers to the Howling Abyss game map, which was developed from the popular All
Random, All Mid custom game mode.
Assassin Champions that are designed to quickly kill their opponents. See Champion Roles &
Recommendations.
Aura A persistent area effect, usually around a champion. For example, Sona can maintain an aura that
increases the damage of her nearby allies, whereas a champion with a Frozen Heart will reduce the
attack speed of nearby enemies.
Auto Attack See Normal Attack.

B Recall or fall back. For example, if a player says I need to b or go b they are usually referring to
returning to base.
Backdoor Attacking structures in a lane when allied minions have not yet reached those structures.
Baron Major neutral monster on Summoners Rift. See Summoners Rift Guidebook.
Base The walled areas of the map that house the core structures for each team.
Basic Attack See Normal Attack.
BC The Black Cleaver (item).
Blind Standard game mode for normal (non-ranked) matches where each player picks champions
without knowing what champions will be picked by the opposing team.
Blink Abilities such as Flash and Ezreals Arcane Shift that move a champion from one location to
another without traveling in between.
Blitz Blitzcrank (champion).
Blue & Blue Buff Blue golem pack or the regeneration buff gained from killing blue golem. For
example, defend blue implies preventing the enemy team from clearing the jungle camp, whereas
may I have blue is a request to deal the killing blow to the large golem to gain the buff. See
Summoners Rift Guidebook.
Blue Elixir & Blue Pot Elixir of Brilliance (item).
Bo3 & Bo5 Best of Three and Best of Five. This refers to the number of matches teams will play against
each other in tournaments.
Bot Most likely refers to the bottom lane, but may refer to AI-controlled opponents in cooperative and
custom matches. See Summoners Rift Guidebook.
Bruiser See fighters.
Brush Areas of tall grass that conceal vision. This is used interchangeably with bush. See
BT Bloodthirster (item).
Buff Either a developer-created improvement to a specific element in the game (such as a champion or
item) or a temporary bonus gained for a champion. For example, if a patch were released that increased
the damage of Infinity Edge, that would be an item buff. Alternatively, if a champion killed the Blue
Golem, they would gain a temporary regeneration and cooldown reduction buff.
Burst How much damage a champion can deliver in a short period of time (as opposed to sustained
damage). Assassins tend to be high burst champions.

Bush See Brush.
BV Banshees Veil (item).
Camps Areas in the jungle where groups of neutral monsters reside. See Summoners Rift
Guidebook.
Cap A maximum value. For example, players are capped at six items and a trinket, meaning they can
never have more than this number of items in their inventory.
Care Be careful.
Carry Champions who deal disproportionate amounts of their teams sustained damage are often
referred to as carries. Carries are often mages and marksmen, and may be weaker relative to other
players earlier in the game than they are later on. See Champion Roles & Recommendations.
Cass Cassiopeia (champion).
CC See Crowd Control.
CD Cooldowns. For example, on cd means an ability or item is on cooldown.
CDR Cooldown reduction. See Stats.
Champion Select The game lobby immediately prior to a new match loading in.
Channel & Channeling Certain abilities and actions require a champion to stay focused on the action
for their duration. Some channels, such as recalling, can be interrupted with damage. Other channels,
such as Katarinas ultimate, can only be broken by opponents with crowd controls.
Cho Chogath (champion).
Client Usually refers to the out-of-game portion of the user interface (where you shop, look at profiles,
etc.).
Combat Warding Placing wards mid-combat in such a way that it gives immediate tactical vision. For
example, if an opponent is running into brush and a ward is placed in the brush as they enter to prevent
juking and allow allied normal attacks and targeted abilities to continue uninterrupted. Another example
would be dropping a stealth-detecting ward in Akalis shroud as she places it, removing her combat
advantage.
Combo Combination. An ability combo is used to denote a set of abilities that work together towards a
single goal, such as bursting an opponent down.
Counter A champion, item, strategy, stat, or game mechanic that works well against an opposing
attribute. For example, armor is a counter to physical damage. A soft counter is a counter that isnt
absolute or overwhelming; for example, Karthus map-wide damage may be soft countered by Sorakas

map-wide heal. A hard counter is an absolute counter with an overwhelming advantage; for example,
Dianas entire ability kit is perfectly suited to shutting down Katarina.
For example, Diana is considered a strong counter to Katarina
Cow Alistar (champion).
Crowd Control Ability that disrupts a champion. This term can include hard crowd controls that
completely prevent a character from taking most actions (knockups, knockbacks, stuns, suppression,
fears, etc.) and soft crowd controls that partly prevent a character from action (slows, immobilize,
silence, etc.).
CS Refers to the number of minions killed. Derived from an older term, creep score.
Dash Abilities that quickly move champions from one location to another. Unlike blinks, these have
travel time, and many can be stopped mid-way through their path by enemy abilities. In terms of how
the game works, dashes such as Vis Vault Breaker and leaps such as Tristanas Rocket Jump often
operate similarly.
Default Attack See Normal Attack.
Disengage Champions and abilities that either push opponents away or help players fall back from a
fight. For example, Janna is a champion with strong disengage thanks to her Howling Gale knockup,
Zephyr slow, and Monsoon knockback.
Disruption Refers to crowd controls and teamfight control or specifically to abilities that can interrupt
channeled abilities such as Katarinas Death Lotus. See crowd control.
Dive See tower dive.
Dog Nasus (champion).
Dom Dominion game mode.
DOT Damage Over Time. Usually refers to specific abilities that debuff the target and cause periodic
damage (such as once per second). DOT abilities can interrupt and delay actions such as recalls.
DOTA Defense of the Ancients, a very popular Warcraft III custom game that laid the groundwork for
League of Legends and other successful games. Some players refer to League of Legends as being part of
the DOTA genre. See MOBA.
DPS Damage Per Second. Originally popular in MMORPGs where players could track their exact
damage output over a given period of time. Without these stats, League players from an MMORPG
background tend to use the term to generically refer champions that deal high consistent damage.
Draft Draft pick mode where teams alternate banning champions, then players alternate picking
champions. This can be used for normal games but is always used for ranked matches.

Dragon Major neutral monster on Summoners Rift. See Summoners Rift Guidebook.
Duo Lane When two players, often a support and marksman combination, play together in a lane.
Duo Queue Refers to entering ranked non-team matches with a partner.
Effective Health How much raw damage you can take from a source of damage, taking into account
both health and armor or magic resist. See Stats.
Elo See MMR.
Elo Hell See Introduction to Ranked Matches.
Facecheck Walking into brush without prior vision on the area. Generally considered a very risky move.
Farm Refers either to killing minions or to where a champion is in terms of items. For example, I need
to farm means a champion needs to focus on killing minions in lane, whereas that Tryndamere is really
farmed means the champion has disproportionately strong items when compared to other players in
the match.
FB First Blood. Refers to the first death as the result of the enemy team during a match.
Fed When a player is has acquired enough kills that theyve become a disproportionately strong threat
when compared to others in the match.
Feed Dying to an enemy player or team. Depending on context, this may imply dying repeatedly, or it
may imply dying because of poor decision making. In some cases, particularly when said by toxic players,
this may refer to any allied death.
Feeder Used to insult a player who feeds.
FF Forfeit (surrender) a match. Typing /ff in chat will bring up the surrender vote or vote yes if the
surrender vote is already active.
FH Frozen Heart (item).
Flask Crystalline Flask (item). Occasionally used to refer to elixirs.
Focus Used to designate a specific player or objective to target as a group.
Fog of War The shrouded areas of the map where enemy actions generally cannot be seen. See
Freeze Freezing a minion wave in place by preventing it from moving forwards towards your structures
but also preventing the lane from quickly pushing back towards the enemy base. See Practical Tips &
Advice.

Fighter Bulkier champions who are designed to deal damage and stay near the front line. See
Champion Roles & Recommendations.
Fish Nami (champion) or Fizz (champion).
GA Guardian Angel (item).
Gank Moving in for a kill on an opponent with overwhelming force. For example, in the early game a
jungler coming to attack a lane a 2v2 lane, thus making it a 3v2 lane, is attempting to gank the lane.
GG Good game. Polite phrase used towards opponents at the end of a match. May also be phrased gg
wp meaning good game, well played.
Globals Effects & abilities that are map-wide or have an extremely long range. For example, killing a
tower awards global gold and Shen has a global ultimate that allows him to move to an allied player
anywhere on the map. Shorter-range ultimate such as Ziggs, Nocturne, and Pantheon are often
considered global as well because they can have the same practical effect on matches.
GP Gangplank (champion).
GP10 Gold per 10 seconds. Refers to gold over time items such as Philosophers Stone.
Harass Lightly damaging or crowd controlling your opponents in an effort to eventually force them out
of lane.
Hard CC See Crowd Control.
Hard Counter See Counter.
Hotfix Developer-created game fix that usually does not require players download an updated version
of the game.
Hypercarry Refers to extremely strong late game carries that, when farmed, may be able to go toe-to-
toe with anyone on an enemy team, and can clean up teamfights even without the help of other
damage-dealers. Champions such as Kogmaw, Vayne, Tryndamere, and Tristana are some examples of
potential hyper carries. These champions can become wrecking balls if a game goes on too long.
IE Infinity Edge (item).
Inhib & Inhibitor Inhibitors are structures found at the end of each lane, within the walls of each
teams base. See Summoners Rift Guidebook.
Invade Refers to invading the enemy jungle. When used in champion selection or at the beginning of a
match, usually refers to immediately invading the enemy jungle as a team to set their jungler behind,
pick up kills, and/or place wards.
IP Influence Points.

J4 Jarvan IV (champion).
Juking Movement intended to disorient your opponents and fake them out. For example, intentionally
running in a straight line until theyve aimed and fired a skillshot, then immediately moving a different
direction to dodge it. Alternatively, moving in and out of vision (such as between two sets of nearby
brush) to prevent them from easily targeting you.
Kass Kassadin (champion).
Kat Katarina (champion).
KDA Kill/Death/Assist ratio. A higher number is better, as it implies gaining more kills and assists than
deaths. Usually measured across one match, across a tournament, or across a season.
Kill Lane When two players enter a lane with the goal of harassing and ideally killing their opponents,
thereby shutting them out of lane. This may include a marksman and tank (ex. as Leona and Tristana) or
it may include other combinations of champions, such as two fighters (ex. Darius and Volibear), two
mages (ex. Veigar and LeBlanc), or other combinations (ex. Cassiopeia and Soraka).
Kite Maintaining distance on a target while staying engaged in combat with them. For example, Ashe
firing slowing arrows at a Nasus and moving away from him between attacks, allowing her to gain more
attacks before Nasus reaches her (and potentially allowing her to survive the entire exchange).
Kog Kogmaw (champion).
KS Kill Steal. This is a term some players use when they feel someone has landed a killing blow and
taken credit for a kill they didnt earn. Tis a silly term. Often rebutted by saying Kill Steal? Kill Secured.
KZ Khazix (champion).
Lane One of the three main paths extending from from the blue base to the purple base. Each lane
contains three towers and an inhibitor, and team minions travel along these paths. See Summoners
Rift Guidebook.
LB LeBlanc (champion).
LCS League Championship Series, the official Riot Games tournaments covering North America and
Europe.
League of Legends Among the most popular games ever made, League of Legends is a fast-paced
multiplayer arena that pulls elements from the Roleplaying and Real-Time Strategy genres.
Leash Pulling a monster to beyond its maximum range, causing it to begin moving back to its spawn
point.
Leaver Someone who leaves a game. May be used as an insult when a player appears to quit out of
rage or frustration.

Leech Refers to staying in range of monsters or minions that allies are killing in order to gain
experience from the kill. Despite the name, this is generally not considered a negative term.
Liss Lissandra (champion).
LP League Points. See Introduction to Ranked Matches & Draft Pick.
LW Last Whisper (item).
Mage One of the core champion roles in League of Legends, mages are champions who rely on abilities
and deal mostly magic damage. See Champion Roles & Recommendations.
Marksman One of the core champion roles in League of Legends, marksmen are champions who rely
heavily on ranged normal attacks and deal mostly physical damage. See Champion Roles &
Recommendations.
Mechanics Can refer to player skill or game functionality. For example, if someone says that player
has really good mechanics, it implies they are able to pull off intricate actions with ease (such as
moving well between attacks, positioning well, etc.). On the other hand, Fizzs Urchin Strike will allow
him to dash over walls if his target is on the other side of the wall, but will stop at the wall if his
opponent is on the same side of the wall as him, is an example of a champion mechanic.
Meta The meta, or metagame, is community-accepted strategy and knowledge that is gained outside
the game and is used to determine how the game is played. While the word is used in a huge number of
ways, one of the more common is when referring to which lanes are expected to be filled by which
players on Summoners Rift. See Where you Belong The Meta.
Mercs Mercury Treads (item).
MF Miss Fortune (champion).
MIA Missing in Action. This has largely been replaced with the Smart Ping functionality.
Mid Mid lane. See Summoners Rift Guidebook.
MMR Matchmaking Rating. This is the hidden number that partly determines who you play against and
how many League Points you win or lose in ranked matches. Both normal and ranked queues have a
hidden MMR. See Introduction to Ranked Matches & Draft Pick.
MOBA Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, a term meant to encompass League of Legends and the
broader genre of similar games. See DOTA.
Mobility Refers to how much maneuverability a champion has through dash and blink abilities.
Sometimes used in reference to champions with high movement speed as well.
Mord Mordekaiser (champion).

Morg Morgana (champion).
MP5 Mana per 5 seconds, often used as shorthand for mana regeneration gained from items. See
Stats.
Mpen Magic Penetration. See Stats.
MS Movement Speed.
Multi-target Abilities which can affect more than one target are considered multi-target. This is a
broad term that includes AOE abilities, but also includes other abilities such as Sonas Hymn of Valor
(which damages the two closest targets in range, prioritizing champions).
Mummy Amumu (champion).
Naked Inhibitor An inhibitor that has no tower protection due to the tower being destroyed.
Naut Nautilus (champion).
Nerf A developer-created reduction in strength on a game element such as a champion or item. For
example, if Ahris damage output was reduced in a patch, this would be a nerf.
Nexus The large protected structure inside each teams base. Without a surrender, destroying the
nexus is the only way to win the game. See Summoners Rift Guidebook.
Nid Nidalee (champion).
Normal Attack The default attack used by your champion when targeting an enemy. For example,
when Ashe fires an arrow at her enemy without using any of her abilities, this is a normal attack.
Normals Generally used to refer to unranked games on Summoners Rift, though may be used for
Twisted Treeline as well.
Nuke An ability or ability combo that deals high burst damage.
OGN OnGameNet, major South Korean television company and tournament organizer.
OMW On my way.
On Tilt Playing poorly as a result of performance in previous matches. Playing on tilt is a mental trap
that is more likely to occur when continuing to play while on a losing streak. See Mental Preparedness.
OOM Out of mana.
OP Overpowered.
Orbwalk See animation canceling.
Ori Orianna (champion).

Overextend Moving past where youre safe in your lane, adding significant risk of being caught and
killed by opponents.
Passive A champions passive ability. Often used for strong passives, such as determining whether Zac
or Anivia have had their passive put on cooldown, removing their ability to revive from death.
Patch Developer-created update that must be downloaded and upgrades the game to a newer version.
Pathing How champions and other units move around the map, particularly in regards to moving
around terrain and other units. Pathing tends to be discussed when something unnatural or unexpected
happens (such as a minion going somewhere it shouldnt or a champion being unable to get past a group
of minions to secure a kill).
Peel Removing or disrupting an enemy currently attacking an ally, usually through crowd control,
similar in concept to peeling an orange.
Philo Philosophers Stone (item).
Pink Pink vision ward, especially used to identify locations that may have another ward or are
vulnerable to stealth champions.
Plays Refers to game events that showcase solid player skill. For example, if a Nidalee escapes from an
enemy team through their own jungle, a caster may exclaim the plays! May be used sarcastically.
Poke Long range damage, usually on a short or moderate cooldown that allows it to be used
somewhat frequently. For example, Nidalees Javelin Toss is an example of poke, whereas Ziggs Mega
Inferno Bomb ultimate has too long of a cooldown to be considered poke.
Pool Usually refers to the summoner platform, may refer to Vladimirs Sanguine Pool.
Positioning Refers to where a champion is during engagements. May also be used positively or
negatively to imply good or bad play. See Positioning.
Pressure Creating an area that opposing players must choose to defend, either through pushing or
grouping in that area. Creating an imbalance of power somewhere on the map.
Proc When passive abilities or items cause an effect this is referred to as a proc. Originally the word
was used to refer to programmed random occurrence and applied specifically to random events. In
this context, Quinns Harrier passive would be considered a proc when it randomly applies to a target.
However, the word is also commonly used to refer to non-random effects. For example, a player may
say they used an ability to proc their Lich Bane, even though the Lich Bane is guaranteed to activate.
Pub & Pug Refers to members of a team that are not part of an organized party. For example, if three
players queue together to join a 5v5 match, those three members may refer to the other two players on
their team as either of these terms. Pub literally refers to public, and was frequently used in custom
matches on Battle.net servers, including the original DOTA. Pug literally refers to Pick Up Group, a

term used to refer to a party - or members of a party - joining to complete dungeons in MMORPGs such
as World of Warcraft. Both terms are totally interchangeable in League of Legends.
Pubstomp Insult that implies playing against a team and easily killing them due to their lack of skill and
coordination. Derives from the word pub.
Push & Pushing Moving minions in a lane towards the next objective in that lane. Alternatively, this
can be used as a term for damaging a tower when minions are already present. See Practical Tips &
Advice and The Impossible Decision.
Quickcast Ability toggle in the hotkey options which enables instant casting of abilities. See Quick Cast
(Formerly Smart Cast).
Ranged AD Carry See Marksman.
Ranked Generally used to refer to Ranked games on Summoners Rift, though may be used for Twisted
Treeline as well.
Red & Red Buff Red Lizard pack or the damage& slowing buff gained from killing red lizard. For
example, defend red implies preventing the enemy team from clearing the jungle camp, whereas
may I have red is a request to deal the killing blow to the large lizard to gain the buff. See
Red Elixir & Red Pot Elixir of Fortitude (item).
Report Submitting a complaint about a player to the Tribunal through the post-match reporting
system. Often used as a threat.
Resources Mana, energy, or specialized stats that are required for champion abilities.
Riot Games Riot Games Inc. is the company that develops League of Legends.
RNG Random Number Generator. Often used in the context of bad luck, particularly in regards to
abilities that appear to rely on random chance. For example, if Brands ultimate bounces to several full
health targets but never hits the player with a sliver of health remaining, a player may complain about
bad RNG.
Root A specific type of crowd control that locks your character in place but doesnt stun you. See
Crowd Control.
RP Riot Points.
Scaling The rate at which champions, items, or abilities increase in strength. For example, Luxs
abilities scale with their rank and her ability power.
Scrim & Scrimmage Matches where professional teams play against each other in an unranked, non-
tournament setting for the purpose of practicing and improving.

Sej Sejuani (champion).
Shop The area near the summoners platform where players can purchase, refund, and sell items. See
Shotcaller A shotcaller makes critical decisions and communicates them to their team in real time. In
the tournament scene, almost all teams will have a shotcaller. Among other things, this player may tell
the team who to focus down in a teamfight, or decide when to initiate or fall back from fights during a
tense standoff.
Siege Applying pressure to an enemy structure while enemies are nearby with the end goal of
destroying the structure.
Skillshot Abilities that are not targeted on a unit or do not automatically acquire a target are skillshots.
These come in many forms, including line skillshots such as Luxs Light Binding, area effects such as
Leonas Solar Flare, and movement abilities such as Gragas Body Slam. While skillshots encompass a
huge number of abilities in League of Legends, players will tend to use it to refer to damaging and
avoidable abilities.
Smartcast See quickcast.
Smurf Secondary accounts for players with a fairly large amount of game experience. See Beating the
Smurfs.
Snare May refer either to a crowd control that slows a champion or a root that prevents movement.
See Root, Crowd Control.
Snowball When a player or team gains progressively more power by capitalizing on their previous
gains. For example, if a Tryndamere picks up a kill in lane, then returns with items he was able to afford
due to the kill, he may find it even easier to get the next kill; soon, he may snowball out of control.
Soft CC See Crowd Control.
Soft Counter See Counter.
Solo Queue Refers to ranked non-team matches on Summoners Rift.
Split Push When a team divides into smaller groups to push more than one lane. See Practical Tips &
Advice and The Impossible Decision.
SR Summoners Rift game map.
SS See MIA.
Steroid Abilities or passives that provide significant increases to certain stats such as attack speed or
attack damage.

Stutter Step See animation canceling.
Summoners When used in game or in the pre-game champion selection, usually refers to summoner
spells.
Summoners Platform The location where players begin each match and where they will return if they
recall. See Summoners Rift Guidebook.
Support One of the core champion roles in League of Legends, support are champions who may bring
utility in the form of heals, shields, crowd controls, auras, buffs, or debuffs. These champions excel at
enhancing their team through means other than raw damage. See Champion Roles &
Recommendations.
Suppress Particularly strong form of crowd control that locks both the aggressor and the target down.
Most supressions are targeted, have a decent duration, and cannot be removed without a Quicksilver
Sash or Mercurial Scimitar.
Sustain Stats and abilities that allow players to regenerate health and/or resources over time. For
example, purchasing lifesteal items such as Vampiric Scepter and Bloodthirster allow a marksman or
fighter to sustain their health over time. A duo lane that has a Sona is an example of a lane that has
sustain.
SV Spirit Visage (item).
Tank One of the core champion roles in League of Legends, tanks are suited to control the chaos of
teamfights by disrupting and crowd controlling their opponents. Tanks are often able to soak up large
amounts of incoming damage, making them ideal for being in the front line. See Champion Roles &
Recommendations.
Tencent Tencent Holdings Limited is a Chinese company that acquired Riot Games Inc. in 2011.
TF Twisted Fate (champion) or Trinity Force (item).
Tilt See On Tilt.
Top Top lane. See Summoners Rift Guidebook.
Tower Though officially referred to as turrets, the defensive structures in each lane and defending the
nexus are most popularly referred to as towers. See Summoners Rift Guidebook.
Tower Dive Ganking or attacking players under their own towers, usually for an extended duration
that requires taking multiple tower shots.
Tower Hug Staying close to an allied tower for protection.
Toxic Refers either to players or champion mechanics. Players who bring down the enjoyment level for
others in the game they take part in (ex. insulting, trolling, leaving early) are considered toxic. On the

other hand, game developers have occasionally referred to some champions as having a toxic impact on
the game, thus requiring design changes; in these situations, these champions were considered to make
gameplay considerably less enjoyable for their opponents, and in some cases, for their allies as well.
TP Teleport (summoner spell).
Trade Players engaging each other in a brief skirmish that does not result in a kill. A favorable trade is
one in which your champion comes out ahead of your opponent.
Tri Trinity Force (item).
Tribunal Player-run justice system that evaluates reports and decides whether to punish or pardon
players based on their actions.
Troll A player who intentionally disrupts play, insults players, or otherwise negatively influences a
match.
Tryhard An insult meant to make fun of someone for trying hard to win a game. When a player uses
this phrase, its usually a sign that they have absolutely nothing worthwhile to contribute.
TT Twisted Treeline 3v3 game mode.
Turret See Tower.
Ult Ultimate ability. Most champions have a powerful ultimate ability which cannot be unlocked until
several levels into the game.
UP Underpowered.
Urf Urf was a manatee character introduced for April Fools in 2009. He is occasionally referenced in
other trivia and champion skins.
Urfwick Urfwick is a skin for Warwick released for April Fools of 2010. Warwick ate Urf.
Vision See Fog of War.
Wave Clear How quickly a champion or team can clear minion waves. This is an important factor in
how easy it is to take down enemy structures and how necessary it may be to tower dive an enemy
team.
Wombo Combo A combination of abilities that completely obliterates a player or team, especially
when orchestrated with abilities from multiple players.
Zhonyas Zhonyas Hourglass (item). Because the activated portion of this item allows for brief
invulnerability, this may be used in order to determine whether the item is available.
Zone Refers to the act of preventing players from gaining experience and gold by actively blocking
them. This may be accomplished through the threat of force rather than the application (ex. Teemo can

no longer safely farm because Pantheon is blocking his path, and a spear from Pantheon will kill or
critically wound him). Can also refer to areas of the map and the jungle, specifically in regards to zone
control.

Timers Reference
Here's a reference page for important timers. If you want to get an edge in a game, keep track of when
these timers are going to come up to very quickly capitalize on them. To help your team, drop the time
stamp in chat when youre in public games.

Jungle Timers
Baron Nashor - 7:00 Respawn
First spawns at 15:00
Dragon - 6:00 Respawn
First spawns at 2:30
Blue/Red Buff - 5:00 Respawn
First spawn at 1:55, respawn around 7:05 if camp was killed quickly after initial spawn
Wight / Double Golems / Three Wolves / Four Wraiths - 0:50 Respawn
First spawn at 1:55

Other Timers
Inhibitors - 5:00 Respawn, 15 second respawn from warning message
Wards - 3:00 Expiration
Flash - 4:10 Cooldown with Masteries


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