Looking for some League of Legends Advice.

[Raijha]

Hi everyone. I've been playing League of Legends for a couple months now, and I'm coming up on level 30. I'm fairly decent, and usually at least manage to do fairly well, although I would definitely not consider myself pro, yet.

I do however want to get better and play ranked, especially for season 3. For that reason, I'm looking for some advice from some veteran or even just long time league players, pro or not.

Basically, I know you need to actually own 16 champions to play ranked, and that you need to have a good understanding of all the roles and some good champions that can counter well. I've made up a list of champions, if they are AP or AD, and what roles they can play, and this is what I would like to enter ranked with. What I need is advice on if this looks like a good pool of champions to have, I've seen or played with all of these champs before, and I feel I would certainly enjoy playing any of these champs in these roles, so its really a list I want to start with. I just want to know if its even somewhat viable, or a bunch of easily countered picks that won't be any use.

Any tips, changes or advice anyone can give me on this list would be GREATLY appreciated, either in this thread or in PM, and if you want to add me to give me some pointers or just play a few games, my summoner name in league is same as here, Raijha, in NA region.

List Here:

League of Legends

Ahri: Mid (AP) UNLOCKED

Alistar: Jungle/Support Tank/ADC (AD) UNLOCKED

Amumu: Jungle/Support Tank (AP) UNLOCKED

Morgana: Mid (AP) UNLOCKED

Soraka: Support (AP) UNLOCKED

Teemo: Mid/Support/Solo Top (AP) UNLOCKED

Tristana: ADC (AD) UNLOCKED

Corki: ADC (Use Black Cleaver Instead of Last Whisper) 3150

Taric: Support Tank (AP) 1350

Lulu: Support (AP) 6300

Kennen: Mid/ADC/Top (AP/AD) 4800

Rumble: Solo Top (AP) 4800

Gangplank: Solo Top/Jungle (AD) 3150

Warwick: Jungle/Solo Top (AD) 1350

Volibear: Top/Jungle/Support Tank (AD) 6300

Katarina: Mid/Top (AP) 3150

TOTAL IP TO UNLOCK ALL CHAMPS = 29,550

Thanks all for looking and for consideration in responses! Also a quick point out that Ahri is my main, and my fave lane is Mid by far.

 

[felbot]

well simple, just remember the golden rule: say ss.
really there is nothing more frustrating than do die because someone was sleeeping.

also i highly recommend getting leona, she is a pretty good support and can stun one target or their entire team with her ult.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Youtube -> League of Legends tutorials -> see you in a month.
Honestly there are so many metagame combinations put together by now we can't even make a post long enough to get them all in.

 

[zumbledum]

Dont ever expect SS calls, half the time clever players wont trigger one , the opponent is killed or they go straight from a town trip and get the gank in before the lane opponent sees, if you get ganked dont whine about no SS you have a mini map you knew someone was un accounted for.

face checking bushes when all 5 of the enemy team are out of view is always fun.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Remember, there's a Garen in every bush. Best advice I can give you.

Also try to make sure you have an initiate of some sort on your team, if your team has none of them you're going to be doing that little team dance forever... Until their Malphite goes and ults into you all.

Try to play Draft before Ranked because it has the same structure and helps you understand what makes a good team comp.

Mid is my favourite lane too, closely followed by top then jungle (only Diana or Hecarim jungle though)

Oh if you're wondering about counters go look at lolcounter.com, it's usually pretty accurate.

I don't agree with Kat top most of the time though, she can't burst any tanky top down once they get levels and core build. Also consider Galio, he counters every AP mid in the game. He gets AP from stacking Magic Resist... Hope someone has Talon!

And buy wards! Always! If you're pushing top for example and you're constantly backing because you're worried about that Lee Sin coming from river, ward the bloody river. You have ample time to walk the fuck back and avoid any needless deaths.

Obviously you need two wards for mid, you can maybe swing with only one on the baron side if your support has dragon warded at all times.

And can somebody tell me how to deal with Ziggs? I hate that guy more than anything and I will happily give my precious mid lane over to someone else as soon as the other team picks Ziggs. I am not dealing with him if I can help it.

Consider learning to jungle, a good jungler helps the team a lot trust me. You can repeatedly gank the same lane to give it an insane advantage and give your losing bot lane a break (and it is always bot lane that is losing)

Oh and Lulu is not a true support, she can do everything. In fact I would argue that bot lane support is the worst place for her to be in. Lulu top is hilarious, AD carry Lulu is super effective and mid AP Lulu is one of my favourite things in the game!

Go for a character who has a teleport. Jumping on people is cool.

Buy Nidalee, stack as much AP as possible, take top if you can and make everyone cry. The spears... Too much damage. Far too much damage. I nuked a freaking Malphite to a quarter health from full once with 3 good spears in a row for example. If you make them back on low health, go through the bushes at top and throw a spear directly at their tower and walk back. It's a direct counter to stupid people XP

 

[Ferisar]

Your list looks fine, for the most part. I'd provide you with more specifics but I need to know what you're looking for in any of those champions. A couple comments:
Most champions have a counter. When presented with a bad match up in lane prior to picking, try to counter-pick unless you're extremely confident in yourself.
For instance, at lower elo, Morgana is considered to be almost a pub-stomper, but as your rise you'll come across people who know full well how to break her in lane. Talon and Mord come to mind as your basic ones, who will almost never lose to Morg.

ADC Kennen is a gimmick. Don't ever do it unless you just want to have some fun.

Warwick now-a-days is a bit outclassed in the jungle and vs. most tops, so keep that in mind when you go up there. If they don't let you sustain, you're not going to stay top very much.

Gangplank is... rough to start ranked with, to say the least.

Ask more specific stuff and I'll answer to the best of my ability. I play waay too much League

Remember, there's a Garen in every bush. Best advice I can give you.

Also try to make sure you have an initiate of some sort on your team, if your team has none of them you're going to be doing that little team dance forever... Until their Malphite goes and ults into you all.

Try to play Draft before Ranked because it has the same structure and helps you understand what makes a good team comp.

Mid is my favourite lane too, closely followed by top then jungle (only Diana or Hecarim jungle though)

Oh if you're wondering about counters go look at lolcounter.com, it's usually pretty accurate.

I don't agree with Kat top most of the time though, she can't burst any tanky top down once they get levels and core build. Also consider Galio, he counters every AP mid in the game. He gets AP from stacking Magic Resist... Hope someone has Talon!

And buy wards! Always! If you're pushing top for example and you're constantly backing because you're worried about that Lee Sin coming from river, ward the bloody river. You have ample time to walk the fuck back and avoid any needless deaths.

Obviously you need two wards for mid, you can maybe swing with only one on the baron side if your support has dragon warded at all times.

And can somebody tell me how to deal with Ziggs? I hate that guy more than anything and I will happily give my precious mid lane over to someone else as soon as the other team picks Ziggs. I am not dealing with him if I can help it.

Consider learning to jungle, a good jungler helps the team a lot trust me. You can repeatedly gank the same lane to give it an insane advantage and give your losing bot lane a break (and it is always bot lane that is losing)

Oh and Lulu is not a true support, she can do everything. In fact I would argue that bot lane support is the worst place for her to be in. Lulu top is hilarious, AD carry Lulu is super effective and mid AP Lulu is one of my favourite things in the game!

Go for a character who has a teleport. Jumping on people is cool.

Buy Nidalee, stack as much AP as possible, take top if you can and make everyone cry. The spears... Too much damage. Far too much damage. I nuked a freaking Malphite to a quarter health from full once with 3 good spears in a row for example. If you make them back on low health, go through the bushes at top and throw a spear directly at their tower and walk back. It's a direct counter to stupid people XP

A lot of this is not true if you plan to progress higher, especially the Galio and Lulu comments.

Galio's kit is an AP counter, yes. He himself, however, is not. What he's good at is having a safe farm in mid-lane which very few mid lanes can contest. However, his usefulness does not extend past his utility come teamfights. His damage is not comparable to a true AP. It's not bad by any means, but if your team ends up relying on you to dish out the pain, you generally won't do it.

Talon does not counter Galio, contrary to popular belief. Talon has a very niche place in the game right now, and it's not an AP bruiser counter. Lulu is a support, through and through. Ap Lulu is sub-par at best and top Lulu is a kiting gimmick that doesn't carry outside of lane. You'll just turn into a second support very quickly.

Kat top is workable, also. It's just a different playstyle from mid Katarina. Mid she has to focus on burst and mobility with some poke, top it's more of just a poke game with outsustain. It's simply a lot more safe to use your Shunpo into a Knife/Steel combo mid than it is top, but all you'll normally have to do top is play ability counters. Darius used his Q? Combo him, walk away. If he pulls you, instantly pop your ult. He can't cc it anymore. So on so forth.

Relating to the Ziggs comment; all you have to do is dodge often in lane. High burst AP counters him because if he misses one or two things, he's a sitting duck. LeBlanc mid can walk all over Ziggs provided she can move/dash out of his AoE's.

On a personal note, I mainly play top and mid, with some deviation based on team picks. I've been dabbling more into ADC and sometimes jungling. I don't support, because solo queue supporting makes me want to tear my eyes out sometimes. It's too team dependent.

 

[the_green_dragon]

I'll add you, name is Dragondoot.

Best advice I can give for ranked LoL?

[link]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz2_NkyTv8E&feature=player_detailpage#t=58s[/link]

Yeah, that sums it up.

If you insist on playing, be prepared for a hair pulling, rage inducing experience.
Lvl 30, expecially ranked is a horrible environment where you are trolled, flamed and put down for 20 minutes if u make a mistake, forget to call MIA, forget to ward, get less Creep Score then the other guy, not gank enough.

I can help u prepare tho, if u wanna add me.

I've been playing lol for about 3 years now. Over 2000 games under my belt.

 

[the_green_dragon]

I don't support, because solo queue supporting makes me want to tear my eyes out sometimes. It's too team dependent.

This is how I feel about solo queue in the league

original comic from Cntl Alt Del or CAD

 

[K1CKER]

The ULTIMATE SUPER ADVICE: stop asking for advice and stop reading guides and shit, as a new player it will just give you awful preconceptions that will be hard to shrug off once you actually learn to play.

If you`re smart you`ll learn everything on your own, JUST PLAY. A LOT. I guess there is a kind of "advice" you could follow: THINK about everything you do ingame and always think of what you could do better. THINK what items to buy and WHY, don`t follow someone else`s retarded opinions on what is good and what is bad, it`s a HUGE chance they have no clue what they`re talking about and if you don`t understand WHY something is good it`s pointless for you to use it anyway, at least if you really want to be good.

Another kind of "advice" would be to play all the champions as soon as you get the chance and as much as possible, you can`t beat what you haven`t played yourself well, contrary to what most idiots tell new players: "learn a champ real good and play that" , that`s just dumb if you don`t know what the enemy champ can do, and you have to know what they do by playing them, not from reading what the skills do.

If you`re dumb you won`t ever be a good player anyway so advice and guides won`t help you. JUST PLAY.

I have over 4000 games played so far over 3 years of playing everyday, and I`m still discovering new ways to play better, and trust me, like 80% of the specific advice and guides people write is either just stupid or too shortsighted.

 

[miketehmage]

Personally I'd pick up Graves. He's a fantastic ADC with a strong game all the way through even after the nerf.

Of those champs a few are counterable but the one I'd Highlight is Kat. Any form of CC just fucks her ult up... which can make her less useful in later game.

Also, Don't expect to be able to use Morgana often, she gets banned alot until you reach higher ELO's

 

[DugMachine]

Master Yi > Everything.

I should know i'm the best LoL player ever.



like seriously u guise I am

 

[Jandau]

well simple, just remember the golden rule: say ss.
really there is nothing more frustrating than do die because someone was sleeeping.

Minimap. Use it. Also wards.

I call ss, but only because I don't feel like being yelled at by someone who can't take a second every now and then to look at his minimap. If you died because someone didn't call ss, it's your own fault.

 

[the_green_dragon]

Its called MIA (Missing in Action) Dota uses SS (Missing)

 

[Don't taze me bro]

K1cker has the right idea. Just play, and get a feel for the game for yourself. I've been playing since beta, and have a nice blue forum avatar for it, but I haven't touched rank this season, because I largely found it more frustrating than fun. My best advice would be to stick with it. The lower ELO brackets can be rough, but if you can stick with it, it seems to get better.

Try obtain a feel for as many characters as you can. Reading guides can be a good starting point, but Fotm characters come and go, the meta game changes, and characters get nerfed and buffed all of the time.

 

[Jandau]

Its called MIA (Missing in Action) Dota uses SS (Missing)

LOL EU servers use ss, I've only seen NA servers use mia, and even then many players use ss. Also, ss is easier/faster to type and therefore more convenient.

 

[Best of the 3]

Best advice, have tough skin or avoid Ranked like the plague. I know it's not completely avoidable in normal gzmes, but the whining only increases as soon as you get into ranked. other things to note, use your minimap often, don't be afraid to buy wards, it's not only your support that needs to do it. Cooperate, don't flame. Play with friends if possible, the experience will be shit if you don't. Higher IP doesn't make a champ better or worse.

Best advice I'd give, don't play ranked. This might just be me personally but I don't see the point. I'd rather play for fun and get a few laughs out of the game. People forget that it is a game. We don't need to take it seriously. And for such little reward for those that do take it seriously.

 

[NekronosiS]

There's alot of things to go learn, but 2 general rules should help you improve.

1: NEVER blame the jungler. Jungling is actually quite tricky if you intend to do it on a proper level, and a healthy relationship with your jungler will net you more ganks than yelling at him.

2: Buy wards. It's been said a million times and more, but seriously, buy freakin' wards.


As for the champs you may want. Pick up teamfight related stuff like Vladimir, kennen, malphite etc.

 

[Ferisar]

The ULTIMATE SUPER ADVICE: stop asking for advice and stop reading guides and shit, as a new player it will just give you awful preconceptions that will be hard to shrug off once you actually learn to play.

If you`re smart you`ll learn everything on your own, JUST PLAY. A LOT. I guess there is a kind of "advice" you could follow: THINK about everything you do ingame and always think of what you could do better. THINK what items to buy and WHY, don`t follow someone else`s retarded opinions on what is good and what is bad, it`s a HUGE chance they have no clue what they`re talking about and if you don`t understand WHY something is good it`s pointless for you to use it anyway, at least if you really want to be good.

Another kind of "advice" would be to play all the champions as soon as you get the chance and as much as possible, you can`t beat what you haven`t played yourself well, contrary to what most idiots tell new players: "learn a champ real good and play that" , that`s just dumb if you don`t know what the enemy champ can do, and you have to know what they do by playing them, not from reading what the skills do.

If you`re dumb you won`t ever be a good player anyway so advice and guides won`t help you. JUST PLAY.

I have over 4000 games played so far over 3 years of playing everyday, and I`m still discovering new ways to play better, and trust me, like 80% of the specific advice and guides people write is either just stupid or too shortsighted.

I used to have this attitude, and it isn't a good one to have. Disregarding everyone for the sake of learning is good, yes, but there are certain things that have to be acknowledged when it comes to other people providing you with information. Guides are one of those things I tend to never bother reading, but can provide a baseline of information for a new player to start from. Don't ever let yourself get stuck in a single mindset, but never shrug off good ideas if you can follow their logic. In the same line of thought, textbooks exist for a reason. Interpret what you read as you will, but learn how to read it first.

As far as people saying to not play ranked as you hit 30, this is, for the most part, a confidence boost more than anything. If you develop certain skills in solo draft, than you won't have to watch your elo tank as you start off in ranked. You get around 10-20 games of above average elo gain while losing much less with each loss. So, unless you have a problem with knowing where the game places you, playing ranked off the bat isn't a bad thing.

As others said, learning learning learning. No two players are alike, so create your own playstyles and pay attention to everything that's going on. Some skills become situational as your elo goes up. Calling mia is one of those. It's extremely useful early, but once people become more attentive pings suffice.

There's a lot more to it, but a lot of it you come across on your own, unless you have a more specific subject to touch on.

-snip-

Honestly, where I'm at right now solo queue isn't that much worse than when I queue with my friends. I'm also one of those people who when playing solo queue tend to troll heavily. Not necessarily "die over and over with no gain" trolling, but trolling nontheless. Things like pure tank Vladimir and top/mid solo Draven, etc.

Come to think of it I've won 4 Draven games in ranked without going bottom... Huh.

EDIT:

One more very important thing:
Learn counters.
I'm not talking about just lane champion counters, I'm talking about items. For instance, you are facing a Vladimir top lane and doing fine, but your bottom lane is having a rough time and their jungle Lee is going AD. What you -don't- do is buy MR to have an easier time in lane with Vlad. Respond accordingly to what's necessary. This almost always bites people in the ass in top lane because of how popular Ninja Tabi are in it. Ninja Tabi won't be worth anything against several match-ups top, let alone some variant of the enemy team. It's just one very specific example, but it stays consistent throughout.