League of Legends - F2P MOBA (like DOTA) part 2

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CPA

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
30,322
4
0
Welp, played my first game last night with my son and a bunch of level 8's or so. Got my ass handed to me. One guy told me to get off and play with the wife instead :(
 

Reel

Diamond Member
Jul 14, 2001
4,484
0
76
Welp, played my first game last night with my son and a bunch of level 8's or so. Got my ass handed to me. One guy told me to get off and play with the wife instead :(

Most of the people that play are scum especially this time of year when the kids are out of school. I haven't bothered playing against people for the past few weeks because of that. Set a time for a custom game vs bots and you can probably draw a crowd from the people in this thread.

What you need most is just a feel for flow of the game and strategy. When is it a good time to chase, when are you likely to get ambushed, when is your character/team likely to win a fight. That all comes just from playing and trying it out. As a side goal, you should try all the characters and become familiar with their abilities. If you have dual monitors, pull up a mobafire.com guide or similar on the second monitor while playing and try out their suggested build for a character.
 

zebano

Diamond Member
Jun 15, 2005
4,042
0
0
Welp, played my first game last night with my son and a bunch of level 8's or so. Got my ass handed to me. One guy told me to get off and play with the wife instead :(

drop me a PM in game if you want to play a custom game or just a quick game and some tips. I'm not great but I can make sure you have the basics down.
 

zebano

Diamond Member
Jun 15, 2005
4,042
0
0
Not one single person on this forum plays at the level though were skill is irrelevant and hero must be compared based on their kit. Skill is everything.

Not really. Some champs are just stupidly powerful and should be played if you know how to play them decently. AP Sion stomps solo queue, Skarner is a beastly jungle with great ganks, Shaco has the easiest path to firstblood of anyone in the game and Graves generally beats any other AD in lane (depends on the support + AD combinations). If there is no Graves available, Vayne starts weaker but scales better than any other AD. Kassadin and LeBlanc destroy just about any AP mid. AoE/stun ults like Morgana and Kenen make for amazing team fight teams while Tryndamere destroys low (hard) CC teams.

Skill can overcome this gap, but it's a very very big handicap to start with. While these champs are generally OP they are very very hard to counterpick. For instance yesterday I coutnerpicked AP Sion with my Xerath and kept blowing up his shield with my e>q combo but I took some harrass in return I decided to go B for boots + D Ring and asked my jungler to hold mid. He was 2 levels below Sion but decided to engage, died and Sion came back with boots + 3 D rings to my boots + 2 D Rings and I couldn't blow up his shield anymore =( He freefarmed and ganked (despite mia calls) and we surrendered at 20.
 

ImpulsE69

Lifer
Jan 8, 2010
14,946
1,077
126
To be honest..I've been playing solo ranked lately. While there are idiots, I can't say I haven't had my share of being the idiot :) So far, there's only been a few instance where people were trolling. Most times, everyone has been cooperative in team picking and teamplay.
 

hans030390

Diamond Member
Feb 3, 2005
7,326
2
76
Ok, I'm now stuck on Dominion play style. It's far superior to the previous DOTA style map and play...

Dominion is way too easy and strategically simple (shallow) compared to Summoner's Rift. The key is to pick a fast champ that either has a bunch of sustain, defense ability, or one that can easily take down champs.

For example, AD Rammus is super fast for the map and will stomp about any champ late game (shield + taunt + AD/AS/Crit build = owned). The strategy is as simple as taking 3 capture points and holding them. Occasionally you'll want to try to distract the other team (so your teammates can take a capture point) or simply steal other capture points. Still, once you have 3 capture points, holding them is 90% of the strategy.

The vast majority of the time, I end up in 1st or 2nd place with AD Rammus. If my team is half decent, it's very likely we'll win. Sadly, it seems like the majority of people playing Dominion don't understand that holding points is the key, not running around trying to feed your bloodlust.

I don't see much variation in the Dominion matches I play. It's generally the same thing, over and over. Summoner's Rift has much more "variety" in this regard. Dominion is fun, sure, but fairly brainless compared to Summoner's Rift. I enjoy it for what it is.

I wish they would release more game types, to be honest. I would love to see them work our a capture the flag type game, or maybe even a team deathmatch. It would take a lot of work to make these viable game times, but it would be cool.
 

ImpulsE69

Lifer
Jan 8, 2010
14,946
1,077
126
Dominion is way too easy and strategically simple (shallow) compared to Summoner's Rift. The key is to pick a fast champ that either has a bunch of sustain, defense ability, or one that can easily take down champs.

For example, AD Rammus is super fast for the map and will stomp about any champ late game (shield + taunt + AD/AS/Crit build = owned). The strategy is as simple as taking 3 capture points and holding them. Occasionally you'll want to try to distract the other team (so your teammates can take a capture point) or simply steal other capture points. Still, once you have 3 capture points, holding them is 90% of the strategy.

The vast majority of the time, I end up in 1st or 2nd place with AD Rammus. If my team is half decent, it's very likely we'll win. Sadly, it seems like the majority of people playing Dominion don't understand that holding points is the key, not running around trying to feed your bloodlust.

I don't see much variation in the Dominion matches I play. It's generally the same thing, over and over. Summoner's Rift has much more "variety" in this regard. Dominion is fun, sure, but fairly brainless compared to Summoner's Rift. I enjoy it for what it is.

I wish they would release more game types, to be honest. I would love to see them work our a capture the flag type game, or maybe even a team deathmatch. It would take a lot of work to make these viable game times, but it would be cool.

Ya, AD Rammus is a beast in Dominion, and wow do people get on my case for that as soon as they see me take a PD they are like "wtf you doing noob" etc. So funny.
 

CPA

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
30,322
4
0
Okay, I've played about 10 matches and have started to get the hang of the basic concept of the game, the push/fall-back strategy and some of the other nuances.

I have stuck with playing Blitzcrank the last six games or so on 5v5 games and have done what I consider quit well. I chose him because I tend to fair better with melee (tanks) and playing decent defense. I have 5 wins, 1 loss with him and after finding some great info on best build, I am about 32/6/18 in K/D/A in the last four games. Unfortunately, as I understand it, the champions will change either today or tomorrow, so I don't have much time left with him and don't have enough IP points yet to snag him for good.

Currently I am level 6 very close to jumping to level 7 and getting another mastery point. didn't know about them until I hit level 4 :)

I've had to put one guy on ignore for being an asshat to everyone. If you're so damn good that everyone else should either quit or play the bots, then go play ranked games, moron.
 

CPA

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
30,322
4
0
Any word on if LoL will be expanding the map/game selections anytime soon?
 

ImpulsE69

Lifer
Jan 8, 2010
14,946
1,077
126
Any word on if LoL will be expanding the map/game selections anytime soon?

More than likely not. Dominion was just added a few months ago and that was practically 2 years in the making. They don't seem to worry about maps so much and pump out new characters constantly. With this type of game it can be very difficult to get map balance just right. Not to say they couldn't, but that doesn't make them money..I guess.
 

HumblePie

Lifer
Oct 30, 2000
14,665
440
126
They were suppose to be doing the Magma Chamber map, which I think they scrapped. It was basically like Summoner's Rift, but bigger so the lanes were further apart. They were trying to reduce the "ganking" style of play with the map. Not sure why they stopped development on it though.
 

RPD

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2009
5,059
558
126
CPA, just some advice, keep playing the free rotations, don't buy any heros. They can be a big sink if you don't play a ton. Try to play atleast all of them once to get a feel for them, which will help you play against them later.

Plus you can find out as the difficultly of other teams ramp up which hero is more suited to your playstyle. Also I personally wouldn't buy any runes until the tier 3 are available (level 20 I think?). Some say the T1 runes which are so cheap can be an OK investment early, but do not buy the T2 runes.
 

CPA

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
30,322
4
0
CPA, just some advice, keep playing the free rotations, don't buy any heros. They can be a big sink if you don't play a ton. Try to play atleast all of them once to get a feel for them, which will help you play against them later.

Plus you can find out as the difficultly of other teams ramp up which hero is more suited to your playstyle. Also I personally wouldn't buy any runes until the tier 3 are available (level 20 I think?). Some say the T1 runes which are so cheap can be an OK investment early, but do not buy the T2 runes.

I don't anticipate buying any Rune Points. I was going to use my IP instead. Once I get into a character/hero/etc. I tend to stick with them.

My son has already vehemently advised me not to waste my IP on Tier 1 or 2 ruins. LOL>
 

HumblePie

Lifer
Oct 30, 2000
14,665
440
126
I don't anticipate buying any Rune Points. I was going to use my IP instead. Once I get into a character/hero/etc. I tend to stick with them.

My son has already vehemently advised me not to waste my IP on Tier 1 or 2 ruins. LOL>

:D at your son. Good advise though.

I personally say stick with the freebie heroes for now and try them all before settling on a single hero to start mastering. This allows you to save up your IPs for those all important Tier 3 runes which you will need at level 20. Still you only have 2 rune pages if you don't buy any extra so you'll eventually want to have settled on a few hero types. These are the runes I would purchase per page starting out with your first two pages. These will work for every champion type in the game. They may not the most tailored runes to maximize a particular champion, but they will work for either an AD or AP based champ. Later if you have a particular champ you like you can build a page for him. For example I have Gangplank with a Crit Damage rune page specifically for him. For Xin Zhao I have an attack speed rune page for him.


Page 1 (AD Page)
Armor Penetration Quints
Armor Penetration Marks (reds)
+Armor Bonus Seals (yellows)
Magic Resistance per level Glyphs (blues)

Page 2 (AP caster)
Ability Power quints
Magic Penetration Marks
Mana Regeneration per level Seals
Cool down reduction Glyphs


For all those runes it is something like 18K~ in IPs to purchase them all. It can be done by level 20, but not if you go crazy buying champs. Especially if you are buying the 6300 IP champs.
 

CPA

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
30,322
4
0
Question: Is it best to taylor Ruins and Masteries on heros weaknesses, thus making them a more balanced hero, or to their strengths, thus making them above average or better in certain specific areas?
 

Firsttime

Platinum Member
Mar 31, 2005
2,517
0
71
Question: Is it best to taylor Ruins and Masteries on heros weaknesses, thus making them a more balanced hero, or to their strengths, thus making them above average or better in certain specific areas?

You always want to optimize your runes in order to ensure that you beat your opponent in lane.
 

VashHT

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2007
3,128
987
136
Question: Is it best to taylor Ruins and Masteries on heros weaknesses, thus making them a more balanced hero, or to their strengths, thus making them above average or better in certain specific areas?

I generally take runes to maximize a chars strengths, but it kind of depends on the character. For example with brand I take AP runes to increase damage but also mana regen to make up for his high costs. The mana regen is fixing a weakness but in the end it's helping maxmise his strength. For his masteries I have 21 in the damage side and then the rest in defense, mostly to get more health. I've seen some rune builds that try to make characters less squishy, for example I've seen some urgot builds with mresist and armor for the runes or AP characters with health runes which I think helps a lot early game for survivability.

I'd look at other peoples builds online though, it's easy to waste a lot of IP buying runes if you're not sure what's good. Looking at a few different builds can give you a good idea of what works for a certain char.
 

RPD

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2009
5,059
558
126
^ I would add you typically want runes/masteries to accentuate strengths then rather cover up weaknesses. The most common times this isn't the case is for a few more HP's/Armor/magic resist or move speed OR some form of mana regen, otherwise you are just trying to make what your hero does well already, better.
 

crownjules

Diamond Member
Jul 7, 2005
4,858
0
76
Team true damage worked out well for us in a game yesterday. We had Irelia top, Ahri mid, and Vayne bot. For a more complete version, we should throw in Chogath as well. I don't think there's a true damage support champ so that can be whoever you want. Probably Alistar would be best for more CC and beef.
 

crownjules

Diamond Member
Jul 7, 2005
4,858
0
76
Anyone here play AI mode exclusively?

No. It's not all that fun because the AI is pretty easy to exploit once you figure out their "routine". In fact, they have to cheat to stand a chance of competing against humans. There's no replacement for human competition. I only play it to get my FWOTD bonus or to try out a new champ I've never played before.
 
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VashHT

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2007
3,128
987
136
No. It's not all that fun because the AI is pretty easy to exploit once you figure out their "routine". In fact, they have to cheat to stand a chance of competing against humans. There's no replacement for human competition. I only play it to get my FWOTD bonus or to try out a new champ I've never played before.

Wow I didn't know you could get a FWOTD bonus against AI, I thought it was just a practice mode.
 

HumblePie

Lifer
Oct 30, 2000
14,665
440
126
Team true damage worked out well for us in a game yesterday. We had Irelia top, Ahri mid, and Vayne bot. For a more complete version, we should throw in Chogath as well. I don't think there's a true damage support champ so that can be whoever you want. Probably Alistar would be best for more CC and beef.

Cho'Gath doesn't jungle all that well. Although he could do support bot. While he couldn't heal the range AD in his lane, he can certain protect the range AD with rupture and silence as well as setup potential kills for the range AD with those two skills. Chogath also works good with GP/10 items so support wouldn't be a bad idea with him with vayne bot.

That only leaves a jungler with true damage needed.