Item builds

Chapter 5: Item builds

     

     One of the key skills needed to playing League of Legends is to know what items to build. In this chapter I will go over the key and situational items that can be bought by each role described in my role guide  which can be found here, http://howdoiplaythisgame.blogspot.com/2013/10/league-of-legends-roles.html.

Section 1: The Ad carry

     The items for the ad carry are usually very generic and do not differ much until you get to your 6th item. At the very beginning of the game most ad carries will start of with a Doran's Blade to provide a slight hp boost and sustain within the lane. The ad carries will usually build Berserker's Greaves for boots and will differ after this purchase. If the Ad carry focuses more on right clicks ,Such as Tristana and Caitlyn, rather than on Ad scalings on their abilities, such as Graves and Sivir, then they will rush an Infinity Edge over a Bloodthirster which you should buy if you have high ad scalings on your abilities. There is one exception to this rule and that is Vaynes should usually rush a Blade of the Ruined King to provide kiting potential and a decent slow. Infinity Edge provides huge amounts of Dps, or Damage per second, while Bloodthirster provides more Ad and valuable lifesteal. After your first core item you usually want to get the item that you did not pick up. After this item most Ad carries will go for a Phantom Dancer to further increase their attack speed and provide extra critical chance that synergizes well with the Infinity Edge. Some Ad carries that split push a lot can buy a Statikk Shiv to further increase their push potential. After these items the Ad carry wants to buy a Last Whisper to increase your damage against high armor targets. The 6th item is where the build varies depending on your play style and the enemy team. If the enemy has a lot of cc then you might want to buy a Mercurial Scimitar to provide a decent amount of magic resistance and a cleanse on an item. Another decent item is a Banshee's Veil which not only provides magic resistance and hp but a spell shield that refreshes every couple of seconds that is useful against poke compositions. The final option is an Guardian Angel which gives you a revive at significantly less hp on a 5 minute cooldown. Other notable items that can be bought on an Ad carry are Trinity Force, Black Cleaver, and Zephyr.

Section 2: The Jungler

     The Jungler has so much versatility in item builds that it is hard to designate a section to them. Instead I will give items that every jungler should have and items for specific jungle categories. Junglers should start out with Hunter's Machete to provide extra damage against neutral minions and 5 health potions for sustain in the jungle. With this machete the jungler can build a Spirit Stone for some sort of sustain or a Madred's Razor for faster clear. On Tanky junglers you want to build your Spirirt Stone into a Spirit of the Ancient Golem to provide tenacity. Along with the spirit item you might want to buy Randuin's Omen, Locket of Iron Solari, Frozen Heart, Spirit Visage, Bashee's Veil, or a Sunfire Cape depending on the situation at hand. For Carry junglers of for damage in general you might want to build a Ravenous Hydra, Blade of the Ruined King, Bloodthirster, Trinity Force, Iceborn Gauntlet, or a Frozen Mallet.

Section 3: The Top Laner

     Much like the jungler the top laner is too versatile to make a definitive item build. The top laner requires the most skill in determining what to build because not only do you have to build to counter your opponent but also you have to build to counter the enemy team. Due to the nature of top lane I will list generic items to build against certain enemy match-ups. Your item build in top lane varies greatly from each game so it is up to you to decide what you should build. Starting item builds can consist of a Doran's Shield or Blade, Boots, Cloth Armor and 5 health potions, or Rejuventaion beads and a couple of wards. Against Ad oriented top lanes you will want to usually build Ninja Tabis for boots and some sort of armor item such as a Sunfire Cape or Randuin's Omen. Against more Ap oriented top laners you might want to build Mercury Treads  for magic resistance and additional tenacity. Also you can build an Abyssal Scepter or a Banshee's Veil. ONLY BUILD THESE ITEMS IF YOUR CHARACTER SYNERGIZES WELL WITH IT. For example, if your character has no Ap scaling whatsoever then it is not wise to build an Abyssal Scepter for magic resistance when you can just build a Mercury Treads.

Section 4: The Support

     As stated previously in my other guide, Supports need to help the team and build some items to help with the low gold income. To help support your team, supports should start off with a some sort of combination including a Faerie Charm, Vision Wards, Sight Wards, and various potions. The Faerie Charm should be turned into a Philosopher's Stone at the earliest time possible to help with your gold intake. After your Philo Stone you can either build another gold item in the form of Kage's Lucky Pick or just rush basic boots. You should be buying wards every single time you go back to base to make sure that your lane is always warded and if you can try to buy Vision wards to counter the enemy Sight Wards. After your basic Boots you want to rush into a Ruby Sightstone for more wards and some hp. After the Sightstone you can start to build items to help support your team such as Mikael's Crucible or Shurelia's Reverie. Also if nobody on your team can make a Locket of Iron Solari then you should. Throughout the game you should also be buying ORacle's to deward key objectives and make sure your wards stay up Since they get next to no farm it is not uncommon for supports to have 1 or 2 major items by the end of the game. Some other decent support items can be Stark's Fervor, Twin Shadows, or Shard of True Ice if you manage to get a decent amount of farm.

Section 5: The Mid Laner

     Since most Mid Laners tend to be Ap bursters I will focus on what to build for said bursters. To start off you should got to lane with either a Crystalline Flask and a couple of health potions for sustain, a Doran's Ring and 2 health potions for more Ap, or Boots and 4 health potions to dodge the skillshots of certain champions. After your starting item build you can build a couple more Doran's Rings if you are facing an aggressive Jungler or Mid Laner to help boost your health. After your starting items you can start building a myriad of items. For more Damage you can go Rabadon's Deathcap, Rod of Ages, Void Staff, Deathfire Grasp, Athene's Unholy Grail, Archangel's Staff Liandry's Torment, Lich Bane,  or Morellonomicon. For more defensive purposes you can build an Abyssal Scepter, Zhonya's Hourglass, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Guardian Angel, or Banshee's Veil.

     

After you get full item's you should not forget to buy the Elixirs to further increase your damage. Also Twin Shadow's and Eleisa's Miracle are the best items in the game. 

/sarcasm

     

League of Legends Jungling

Chapter 4: The Jungle

If you are an aspiring jungle player then this should be your bible. This chapter will be split into three parts one detailing early game jungling another going more in-depth as to what you should do after your first initial clear and what the jungle actually is.

Part 1 What is the jungle.

Memorization is key to playing the jungler for the every camp spawns after a set amount of time after killing it. Buff camps such as red and blue spawn, or Lizards and Ancient Golem on the map, first at the 1 minute and 55 second mark and spawn 5 minutes after death and give enough experience to ensure level 2 at level 1 as long as you don't split experience with anyone. Blue buff gives increased magic regeneration and red buff applies damage over time and slows. The smaller camps, Wraiths, Wolves, And the Big Golem, spawn at the 2 minutes and 5 second mark and spawn every 50 seconds after death. The Epic Monsters are on opposite sides of the map and give global experience to everyone on the team that kills it. The dragon provides every ally on the map with 190 gold and a lot of experience that is almost equivalent to a tower and spawns at the 2 minute and 30 second mark and respawns every 6 minutes after death. Baron Nashor on the other side of the map provides your team with 300 global gold and gives every a global buff that increases regeneration. Baron Nashor spawns every 7 minutes while the Baron Nashor buff lasts 5 minutes or until you die. Junglers are almost required to have smite and if you do not jungle with smite you will be considered a troll. Smite provides safe jungle clears and allows for objective control such as Baron and Dragon. ALWAYS RUN SMITE ON JUNGLERS.

Part 2 The Initial Clear

Junglers usually have very standard routes but some of the more versatile have many different paths. The usual path is to go from blue to red and use your smite on the red. This allows for many gank paths such as ganking the enemy mid laner or your bot lane.The other route is much like the previous except its from red to blue and you use smite on blue. This route is if you want to gank your bot lane and you are on the purple side or if you want to gank your top lane and you are on blue side. For more versatile junglers you can start red and try to secure the enemies blue therefore denying them a buff or the other way around. As a jungler, you want to gank your lanes as much as possible and should try to gank to kill. If you don't secure a kill you might have helped your lane but this puts you farther behind in gold. Also try to remember that when you die with a red or blue buff you will transfer said buff to the killer.

"The unseen blade is the deadliest." Zed-2013

Part: 3 After Initial Clear

After you have secured your own buffs there are many routes that you can take. You can try to gank your lanes or you can counterjungle the enemy if you know that they are slower Ex.When you are playing a Lee Sin vs. Amumu you can steal his small camps to set him back while he tries to gank a lane. While this favors the fast jungler if you play too agressive and the enemy jungler comes back from his gank he can find you and with help from his teammates he can kill you therefore feeding and losing your buffs. This is not only detrimental to you but also your teammates because a fresh double buff can sway a lane in the enemies' favor. Throughout the mid and late game you want to memorize jungle timers so that your team can be ready when the key objectives come back up. Also, it is important for a jungler to ward to maintain control over not only their buffs but also the enemy buffs and objectives.

Follow this guide and you will eventually master the jungle.

                                           

League of Legends Roles

Chapter 3: Roles in League of Legends

League of Legend has several different roles that make up a standard team comp. These roles each provide different things to a team whether it be a form of cc, a natural tank, or just straight up damage.

Support- The support makes up the first part of the usual bot lane duo. They are powerful without items and usually provide the hard crowd control for the team or protection for squishy allies. They usually get next to no farm for their role in the lane is to make sure the carry gets farm. Since they get no farm, they must build to get some sort of gold regeneration and they do this through items such as philosopher's stone or if you need even more regeneration then you might get a Kage's lucky pick. Supports usually build the support items like Shurelia's Reverie and Sightstones to provide vision for their team.

Ex: Sona, Janna, Nami, Zyra

Carry- The second part of the bot lane duo. Usually ranged and more powerful in the late game than the early. Brings obscene damage to the table when it comes late and is one of the key pieces to the success of your team. Carrys need to make sure to farm in the early game and position in the late game. Carrys should build straight damage in the form of Infinity Edge Bloodthirster and Last Whisper. Farming is key to playing the carry and if you can't farm then you can't carry.

Ex: Draven, Graves, Ezreal, Caitlyn

Mid- The mid lane usually goes to the mid lane as the name suggests.Mid lanes usually bring all of the burst damage to fights much unlike the ad carry who brings in sustain damage. Mid laners are usually ap but can be ad in some situations. Mid laners can be very versatile and play very different roles in team fights. The main objective in the middle lane is to not die to the enemy mid lane and to farm. If you find some free space then you should try to roam to other lanes to snowball for everyone else. The main objective for the mid laner in team fights is varied, but usually mid laners try to assassinate the enemy carries or peel for your own carries.

Ex: Zed, Orianna, Ryze, Twisted Fate

Jungler- The jungler does not technically have a lane. He usually starts off in the Jungle and farm there for most of the game. Much like the mid laner their main role is to try and snowball the lanes in favor of their team. Most junglers make up the usual tank role but they can fulfill other roles such as another carry or a more support role. The jungler should try to disrupt the enemy team or do damage depending on who the jungler is. 

Ex: Amumu, Jarvan IV, Elise, Zac

Top- Top laners are very versatile in their roles much like the junglers and mid laners. They can provide more support, more damage, or more tankiness. Much like the mid laner their main role in lane is to roam to other lanes and to not die to the enemy top lane. Most top lanes are 1v1 but can sometimes be 1v2 if you play in the high elo. In team fights your main goal is to peel for your team and cc the enemy team.

Ex:Rumble, Jax, Malphite, Kennen

How Not to Die

Chapter 2: How Not to Die

Much like many other Rts dying is not exactly the best thing. To help prevent this you must follow these simple rules.

1. Do not run directly to the enemies when you are outnumbered. This is the easiest way to prevent deaths. If you engage on an enemy when you are outnumbered YOU WILL DIE unless you are obscenely fed then go ahead and do whatever you want. When determining if you are outnumbered  take account champions and also minions as in the early game minions can be the difference between a kill or a death.
2. BUY WARDS. This will help prevent deaths not only for you but also your allies as wards provide vision over areas of the map where you have no idea what might be there. Many high level players do not follow this rule and therefore die a lot.
3. Play safe in your lane. Overextension in your lane can be fatal for this allows the enemy jungler or other lanes to gank you and possibly kill you.
4. Use your skills wisely. If you think you are going to die and you have a means of escape THEN USE IT. This denies the enemy precious gold and experience and allows you to contribute more to a fight.
5. DO NOT ATTACK ENEMIES UNDER THE TOWER. If you do this then the tower will start to attack you and towers kind of hurt. Ok, they hurt a lot. So don't do that
6. Follow your team. This goes back to point number one and follows the general rule of power in numbers.
7. Don't facecheck bushes. This can be lead to be fatal as a facecheck can lead to a death and that can eventually snowball the game out of control. Facechecking occurs when you enter a bush now knowing what is inside. There could be nothing and you could be completely fine. However, there could be an enemy or several enemies and they will probably kill you. So make sure you have vision over bushes whether it be through wards or several other forms of vision.
8. Be wary of the enemy skills. If you are low in your lane and the enemy has a global skill, a skill that can be fired to any spot on the map, then you should go back to base.
9. If you are low in lane then you should just back up. Don't be afraid to leave your lane unattended for healing is more important than feeding a kill and possibly losing your lane still.

League of Legends guide

 League of Legends Basics.

Chapter 1: Introduction

So you have decided to play League of Legends. That's cool. Before you decide to jump into Summoner's Rift their are a few key things you need to know.

This is the basic map of League of Legends. There are 3 lanes, several jungle camps, and towers defending each lane. The main objective of this game along with many other RTS (not going to refer to them as Mobas for the term is way too broad) is to destroy the enemy nexus. You accomplish this by destroying towers and inhibitors located in each lane and buying new items from the shop. Each lane has 3 towers and 1 inhibitor. The nexus is guarded by 2 additional towers. Minions spawn in each lane starting at 1:30 in game time and spawn every 30 seconds and get increasingly stronger every 3 minutes. These minions waves come in sets of 6 usually with 3 melee and 3 caster. Every 3 waves, or 2 waves after the 35 minute mark, a siege minion will spawn. Siege minions are slightly stronger than regular minions and are easily distinguishable. After an inhibitor is destroyed in a lane then super minions will spawn in that lane along with the regular minions. If all inhibitors are destroyed then 2 super minions will spawn in every lane. Minions are key in destroying towers so you do not take damage.