How would I get into League of Legends?

[Lad Stankfoot]

I'm curious about this game, and I would like to try it. I don't like playing games on my own, so would anyone want to help me get started with it, and maybe play a few games with me?

[Mad_Dugan]

http://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref= ... 2808403440

There are single player tutorials to get you started, so first sign up and do those.

After that, you can play coop vs. AI to practice with others

[joe]

just jump right in - the matchmaking is pretty good. when you first start playing you will be against people who also have never played so it will be somewhat fair - although either team is likely to have at least 1-2 good players

short explanation:

its a 5 vs 5 game, object is to destroy the other teams base. you get xp from being near something that dies and gold from getting the "last hit" on stuff - doesn't matter if someone else did 99% damage, if you killed it you get the gold. in the game just try not to wander off by yourself so the other team can't 5 vs 1 ambush you.

outside of the game there are 3 things to consider:
1) lots of heroes - you can pick just 1 to play all the time to get really good at it, or always play something different, which is more fun but a lot harder. but between games take a little time and at least learn their abilities so when one of them has a big blue circle around him you know whether to attack or run away, etc.
2) runes. every time you level (level 30 max) you get 1 slot to use a rune. each rune is a teeny tiny bonus so it really takes 20-30 of them to have any noticeable effect. also level 1-19 you can only use crappy runes so i wouldn't even bother with runes until you are level 20. if you play a couple hours a day you can easily get 1 level a day so that should only take a few weeks. i started playing ~3 weeks ago and i'm level 26. once you spend IP on a rune you own it forever and can change your runes at any time. by the time you're level 20 you'll know how to use them.
3) masteries - every time you level you get 1 skill point for your mastery skill trees. you can reassign all your points at any time. like runes, most of them are very very small, like 1% faster movement. but having 20+ of them adds up and makes you stronger

anyway like i said matchmaking for beginning players is good so just jump right in. every time you lose it just means next game your opponents will be easier so don't stress too much about it

[Lad Stankfoot]

thanks for helping me. i've finished the tutorial and played some co-op against the bots. i'm most certainly not that good, but i've picked it up pretty easily. i was fiddling around with characters for a while, but I found that i like using katarina and tristana (the one they were giving away for fanning LoL on fb). katarina's hit-and-run style is a lot of fun, and tristana is just fun.

the only gripe i have is that buying champions is absurdly expensive. by the way, the free-to-play list of hero shuffles from time to time, right? when does it switch?

[MasterKiwiZ]

by the way, the free-to-play list of hero shuffles from time to time, right? when does it switch?

Mondays

[joe]

no they have said it switches on unannounced days, basically randomly.

katarina is REALLY powerful if you can keep her alive. her ultimate where she spins does huge damage to several people. you can run into the middle of a group fight and ultimate and get 3 kills easily.

when you say expensive, i assume you mean IP. never use RP (the stuff you buy with real money) for ANYTHING except skins because those are the only thing you can't get with IP. if you end up liking the game and playing it for months youll have enough IP to buy heroes you like every few days. just try all the free ones when they change and when you find something fun that suits you buy it and play it a lot so you get good at it

i've played ~200 games with heimer and i'm still learning and trying new things. for example choosing skills as you level up, goes something like this:
0-10 games no idea, choose randomly
10-50 pick one skill to max early
50-100 try a different skill to max early, realize one is better than the other
100-150 try your neglected 3rd skill to max first, realize it has uses too
150-200 optimize different skill build orders for different purposes
200+ choose your skill to max based on lane and opponents

etc. so even something as simple as build order, which is moot at 18 anyway, has a surprising amount of depth to it

[NightFantom]

every day gains you a nice 150 ip bonus at your first win :3

and 90% of champions can be built in at least 2 of the 3 main ways: tank (subtypes: armor/magic resist/health) / Physical damage / Magic damage dealer, and of course the hybrids (beefy phys dps, AD/AP assassin,...)


also: read guides: http://leaguecraft.com/ is a good source
eg:
http://leaguecraft.com/champion/Tristana
http://leaguecraft.com/strategies/guide ... dess.xhtml
http://leaguecraft.com/strategies/guide ... tana.xhtml


one more thing: boots are ALWAYS subject to change (with some exceptions, and even then)
your boots are the one thing you can use for any purpose, if you've played a few games with a certain champ, you'll know your weaknesses, and cover them with your boots if the enemy can exploit them
if the enemy has no way of exploiting your weaknesses, build boots that help you exploit theirs
also: boots are the second item you buy, you CAN NOT be the slowest person on the map EVER or you lose every chase

[Lad Stankfoot]

every day gains you a nice 150 ip bonus at your first win :3

and 90% of champions can be built in at least 2 of the 3 main ways: tank (subtypes: armor/magic resist/health) / Physical damage / Magic damage dealer, and of course the hybrids (beefy phys dps, AD/AP assassin,...)


also: read guides: http://leaguecraft.com/ is a good source
eg:
http://leaguecraft.com/champion/Tristana
http://leaguecraft.com/strategies/guide ... dess.xhtml
http://leaguecraft.com/strategies/guide ... tana.xhtml


one more thing: boots are ALWAYS subject to change (with some exceptions, and even then)
your boots are the one thing you can use for any purpose, if you've played a few games with a certain champ, you'll know your weaknesses, and cover them with your boots if the enemy can exploit them
if the enemy has no way of exploiting your weaknesses, build boots that help you exploit theirs
also: boots are the second item you buy, you CAN NOT be the slowest person on the map EVER or you lose every chase

yeah, boots seem like one of the more important items to buy. tristana moves surprisingly fast with the right items.

thanks again for helping me out so much. i'm (hopefully) not going to look like a noob when i play. :P

[Mad_Dugan]

I have a laptop set up next to my main system where I have a guide open to what ever character I randomed. (http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/browse). Some of the better guides give suggestions on what items to pick based on the makeup of the other team.

[MasterKiwiZ]

no they have said it switches on unannounced days, basically randomly.

I've seen it change to new champs every Monday for the past year, but okay.

[joe]

nah just last week it was on wednesday or thursday and the week before that i think it was tuesday. anyway i read on the faq they do it randomly, so it's official info

[NightFantom]

officially it's "random", but they try to make it fall together with new patches which are usually on monday (us) or tuesday (eu), but not always