Getting into Esports: League of Legends

League of Legends has been around since the late 2000s and has grown into one of the biggest games of all time. Millions of players from around the world take part each day in the battle for Summoners Rift.

Despite their outstanding number of concurrent players, there are also new players looking to join the battle, here is Esportz Network’s League of Legends guide for new players.

What is League of Legends?

League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena or MOBA for short. League of Legends has become the biggest esports title in the world and is currently hosting its annual League of Legends World Championship with its 2019 iteration of the tournament taking place in Europe.

The standard version of the game is played on a map called Summoners Rift. In a standard match of League of Legends ten players are divided into two teams of five. Before the match takes place, each player will choose their character that will take part in the battle on Summoners Rift. These characters are referred to as Champions.

For a rundown on the basics of the game, Riot released an introductory video on League of Legends:

What is a Champion and why is it important?

Since the inception of the game in 2009, there are over 140 champions in the game, a number continuing to rise as new champions are released frequently.

Image Source: PCGamesN

Every Champion has their own unique abilities with various playing styles to suit everyone’s needs. In basic terms, players can select a unique set of champions to form what is known as team composition. This is a term used when a unique set of champions are put together to form a unique playing style that works with the champions you are using.

What is Summoners Rift?

Summoners Rift is the iconic map that has been in the game since 2009. In a standard game of LoL, players will play on SR.

Image Source: ResearchGate

Ten players will be divided into two teams of five, one team will start at the blue base which is located in the bottom left corner, and the other team will start at the red base which is located in the top right corner of the map.

In order for a team to gain victory, they must destroy the enemy team’s nexus which is located in the center of the base. During the match, small environmental bots also known as minions will continuously spawn and march their way down the three lanes displayed in the graphic.

These three lanes are known and the top lane, the middle lane and the bottom lane. Each lane has its own class of champions which will generally be played in that lane. In the top lane you will generally see fighters and tanks battle it out. In the mid lane, you will often see mages and assassins. Finally in the bottom lane, you will see a pairing of marksmen as well as supportive champions which will lane with them. There is a fourth class/position also known as the jungler, the jungler will rotate between the areas surrounding the three lanes killing jungle camps. Unfortunately for players, this position is not encouraged until you are a high enough level.

How do I destroy the enemy base?

In each lane, there are structures that will be blocking your path to the enemy base, these are called turrets. To take these turrets down, you will need to earn enough gold by killing as many minions as you can. Earning gold will allow you to earn items, these items will help your champion become stronger and will allow you to be able to push down an enemy tower.

Image Source: The Rift Herald

Between the tower and the enemy nexus, there are 3 towers in each lane, the third tower is called the inhibitor tower. If your team is successfully able to take down a team’s inhibitor, super minions will spawn in the lane that the inhibitor was destroyed in. Super minions are upgraded versions of the minions that will automatically spawn in every game and will help your team push quicker to victory.

Written by Jordan Marney