Pacov's place to enjoy the show.

I've locked/archived this thread/blog and have started a new discussion over here:  http://forums.demigodthegame.com/454943/

Please join me if you like.

 

 

 


 

 

Am I streaming


 

 

Well, I started a thread  back in August (https://forums.joeuser.com/411269/) that's seen a lot of activity and actually had quite a few good bits of information for new and old players alike.  I figure it's time to start a new thread and perhaps keep the OP up-to-date with useful information, etc.  Feel free to use this post for any LoL discussion, etc.

Super fast background:  I played a lot of Demigod as pacov/cheesuscrust.  Back in August 2011 or so, I started getting heavily involved in LoL and folks have been kind enough to chime in with tips and links to various sites that have been quite useful to me.  In addition, I've been able to keep up with folks that I've played Demigod with in the past and meet some new folks that play LoL and frequent these message boards. 

Here's some of the things I've learned in the previous thread:

 New Player tips

  • Play the tutorial.
  • Consider picking up the starter bundle.  It's 530 RP (that's about $4).  You get 8 champs unlocked, a 4 win IP boost and a 10 win XP boost.  It's a pretty good deal (used it recently on an alt account).  You can find it in the game store under bundles.
  • Riot gives you 400 RP as soon as you hit level 5.  It's enough to buy some skins, a boost, or a cheap character. 
  • Learn to last hit!  Last hitting is simply landing the last hit on creeps.  If you last hit, you get gold for that kill.  The number of creeps you have killed is tracked in a value called CS.  You can see this number in the top right hand corner of the ui or by pressing tab.  Here's a really simple tutorial re: last hitting if you are brand new - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LheiRB76x5g
  • Read some guides on any character you want to try out.  The recommended builds (what you see when you go to a shop) are not optimal.  The guides include item suggestions and skill orders.  These are very useful in learning decent ways to build characters
  • Use the rune combiner to get level 3 runes prior to level 20 if you like.  You will need 375 IP.  Buy any tier 1 rune that costs 15 IP.  You need to purchase 25 of these.  Click on your rune page.  In the bottom right hand corner there is a button called the Rune Combiner.  If you place 5 runes in there, you can get a random rune that is 1 tier higher (eg if you have 5 tier 1 runes, you will get 1 random tier 2 rune.  Anyway, the math works out such that you spend 375 IP ( buy 25 tier 1 15 IP runes) and you get 1 completely random tier 3 rune.  Some of the quintessences are 2k IP, so if you luck out and get one of those, you just won the lottery.  You can always keep the random tier 2 rune if you end up with something good and don't want to trade it out yet.
  • Consider setting aside IP for tier 3 runes (available at level 20 and above).  You can't purchase them with real money - only IP.  Keep that in mind.

Great site I visit every day for LoL related news - http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends

pacov's misc info

Here's a guide I made

pacov's Guide to Improving at League of Legends and Moving Up in Elo

k - so I'm just going to put down some of my thoughts.  I'm not amazing at this game, but I do certain things that improve my odds of winning in ranked and so far its panning out just fine (bronze 5 to gold 5 in about a month or so).  We all have varied skill levels, so some of this might be useful and some not.  Caveat complete.

Prerequisite- you need to know how to play every single role.  You don't have to be a god at every single role (more power to you if you are - I'm certainly not).  You need to be able to play at a serviceable level in every single role and excel at least at 1 role (preferably 2).  In my case, I'm good at support and adc.  I'm not great, but have serviceable mids and jungles and so so tops.  Knowing what you are good at and bad at is very important.  If you don't know, I can probably tell you - but you really should know...  Anyway, you need to have enough champs to make solid picks in any role and you need to be able to cover any role if it comes down to it.  I'll talk about how to get better at specific roles in a bit.

Champ select advice - Don't be the "fill" guy unless you really feel like you are awesome in all roles.  Call your preferred role immediately when you hit the lobby.  Say "adc pref."  Do this as soon as you hit the lobby.  Some people believe that if you call a role you magically get it.  This is stupid, but if you call something out, folks will often accomodate your request.  If you are feeling wishy washy for whatever reason, call out multiple roles in order of what you want to play - "adc/mid pref."  In my experience, you generally do not want to call support.  It's a very important role, but you want to be in a position to carry every single game if possible.  If you aren't calling out a role, you are hoping that other players can carry you.  If you are hoping that folks will carry you, you don't deserve to win.  You need to know your best roles and you absolutely should request them.

Solo or duo in ranked? - Well, my 1st thought here is that you should solo.  If you solo, you have to rely on yourself.  IMO - its a much bigger test of skill to play solo and win than to duo.  Do you want someone to carry you or do you really want to know that you are actually good?  That said, provided you have the right duo partner, you can increase your odds of winning quite a bit.  The simple math is that instead of having 4 teammates as unknown quantities, you only have 3.  If you have a good duo teammate, you know what you can expect.  When you duo, you get the most bang for your buck by having complimentary roles.  Support/adc is good; jungle/mid also works.  Even if you don't have direct symmetry in roles, if you are an amazing mid and I'm an amazing adc, our odds go up quite a bit if we both get those roles.  Our odds go way down if we can't get those roles and are forced to play out of positions that we are weaker.  For example, Bryff is a good mid.  If he duo's up with me, the only way he will get to play that role is for me to call mid, take it myself, and then put myself into a position like support where I can't carry out of (I'm always 1st pick, Bryff is always last pick when we duo)... that and I have to show the mid I'm picking at the start which means Bryff gets hard countered.  In short, we can expect that we will be a disadvantage when duo queuing.  Now, if Bryff queued up with someone at a lower elo than himself that was solid, he'd likely be 1st pick and be able to get mid and have a better chance of carrying the game.  Anyway, you need to keep in mind where you end up in pick order when duoing if you aren't looking to go adc/support.  If you want that, you can usually get it. 

How do you get better in roles that you are not good at? - Well, here's what I do.  And this is really what I do on a regular basis.  I think about what I'm good at and what I'm not good at.  For instance, I realized that I don't play any hyper carry ads.  So, I read up on hyper carries like vayne and kog maw.  I look for guides on how to build them (most adcs are the same btw ), I look for vids on how people play them (eg how do I all in with a specific champ - is there a combo - when do I all in - what's the best way for me to burst - how should I behave in lane with this champ).  Then, I fire up a custom game and try out the mechanics of whatever champ vs AI.  Usually I learn a few tricks during that custom on how to position myself, etc.  Then, I'm off to normal games where I'll request the role or character I'm trying out.  Now, people still report your for being awful in normals, but it really is where you need to try out characters to see if you are any good or not as the bots are useless for proving your skill level to yourself.  So, fire up that normal and ask to play a role (again - after you've tried out the champ against bots).  If you don't know anyone you are with and you are quite awful, I suggest muting everyone at the start of the game.  Then, do your best.  Continue with this until you feel like you have a serviceable skill level in whatever role.  And keep in mind what you need to work on.  For me, I noticed I didn't really have alot of mids for ranked, so I started practicing some with gragas against and karth.  That way, I'll be able to get the job done if I need to play mid.  The next thing I need to do is put more time into being better top lane. Again, because while I prefer adc/support, I might need to play top for the team.  So, best to be ready for it.  Put your time in and practice roles. 

One last thought - there are certain things you can generally expect in ranked.  1 - if you are 1st pick, you generally can call whatever you want.  Common knowledge, I'm sure - but I'll add - CALL WHATEVER YOU WANT.  2 - if you duo queue, you generally can lock down both adc and support.  It works best if your adc is 1st pick, ofc.  I've bumped into like 10 random dedicated supports in all of my games of LoL.  People generally aren't going to call support. So, if you are 1st pick and duo'd, just call adc and then your duo partner can almost always get support.

 

Lol King profiles for ranked tracking

I'm not going to update this regularly, so just consider it a snapshot (I'll add a date when I update them).  Anyway, I enjoy seeing folks progress through ranked and keeping tabs on that sort of thing from time to time. 

Snapshot updated 05/28/2014

 Character guides

Mid Ziggs by cow - http://www.lolking.net/guides/7906

Comments (Page 147)
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on Dec 21, 2012

They're buffing Udyr and Talon.

Talon is getting a bug fix that is acting as a buff, kinda like what happened with Rumble a while back so they have to adjust.

Udyr... well, mo' shield is mo' bettah.

on Dec 21, 2012

pacov has poor reading comprehension... I took this "Turtle stance shield from 60/95/130/165/200 to 60/100/140/180/220" to be an increase in mana cost or something quite silly. 

on Dec 21, 2012

So as a new player I am highly enjoying the game.  I have watched the last-hit video..and another that I found.  Very useful information that is still not so easy to put into practice..  especially with another player fighting alongside and two enemies doing the same on the other side of the pack.

Do you have any recommendations for some basics on the different lanes?*  Or perhaps I am reading too much into that aspect.  The games i am playing right now are just 5 vs. AI as i try to learn the best strategies, how to synergize my abilities, which items to buy when, etc.  Usually when the game starts I buy my items and start heading towards a lane...and someone asks me to go top..or go bottom.. or go mid.  Right now I don't really know why.  (Well, i understand "why" - I just don't know the different summoners and their roles that might be going into that determination).  Again, that might be thinking too far for this point in the game - I just want to understand the basics better so that I can make better observations and build off of them as I progress.

Other areas i need to look into more: 

  • Items.  I have a better understanding of them but I am nowhere near the point where I have a clear path of what I will buy.  I can see that that will change a little depending on the game/opponents but right now I still spend more time looking through the shop than I should...
  • Runes.  I haven't looked at these at all.  Are they important to consider at level 6?  Do they even come into play yet?  I imagine this game to be like WoW (bear with me) where the leveling process to max level is really just to get you used to all of the mechanics, etc..  and the real optimization comes once you hit max.
  • Mastery(sp?).  I clicked on this last night and saw that I had 6 points to spend.  I hadn't used them at all up to that point.  They seem to be a minor boon at this point and I put them in the same category as Runes for now.

Thanks for any tips,

Mauxe

 

*I have not read through all 88 pages of this post.  If anyone thinks that the answers to all of my newbish dreams are in there I will.  Otherwise I am just asking for quicker clarification

on Dec 21, 2012

mauxe - get skype and add me iipacovii.  Then add me in game pacov.  Happy to play a few with you and I'll explain some of the concepts.  I'm off work and actually around right now.

on Dec 21, 2012

I have watched the last-hit video..and another that I found. Very useful information that is still not so easy to put into practice.. especially with another player fighting alongside and two enemies doing the same on the other side of the pack.

Well, if you want to practice last hitting, you can load up a custom game, add exactly 1 bot ai and then head to bottom lane.  The ai will always go there 1st.  Then you can practice last hitting with just 1 guy in lane. The Ai is not designed to have 1 particular character focus on last hitting - eg if there are 2 on the enemy team in a lane, they will both try to last hit.

If you are playing an all human vs ai game, people still might not just let you last hit, so it's certainly more difficult.

If you are low level and playing human vs human games, you still might have that problem.  BUT - once you get into higher levels and people fall into what is the standard metagame, there will be 1 top lane, 1 jungler, 1 mid, and 2 bot.  The bot lane is typically composed of a ranged ad carry and a support.  The support won't take your cs (unless you are an awful adc and karl is your support - he will take your cs then).  Mid lane is probably the easiest to get cs in, followed by bot lane - BUT - bot lane is more difficult if you are inexperienced.  This is because you have to pay attention to what their support is doing, their adc carry is doing, what your support is doing, what your jungle is doing, what their jungle is doing, and sometimes what the mids are doing.  Eg - quite a few factors.  Compare that to mid where your only concern typically is their mid, their jungler, and your jungler. 

To get good at last hitting, I'd recommend playing a specific ranged ad carry multiple times with roughly the same build.  This will help you get used to your damage output.  I'd also recommend 1st tying against 1 ai in a custom in bot lane to get a better feel for things. 

And last, here's the one thing I try to focus on.  Gold (via cs) = better items = domination. You really need to keep that in mind and not always go apeshit trying to hit the other guy.  For instance, if I get a single auto attack off early but miss a cs, well, super, I did like 50 damage to a guy that will heal right up but lost X gold.  The more often you do stuff like that, the more gold you miss.  As you get more experienced, you'll be able to find a good balance between attacking the enemy and last hitting. 

And last tip, try to keep an eye on your creeps.  If you have 1 that is about to die, you know that the enemy adc is going to try to hit it.  This often means you can quickly attack them without taking any damage yourself.  If you do this consistently, they will eventually be forced to play more passive and be unable to farm.

Mastery(sp?). I clicked on this last night and saw that I had 6 points to spend. I hadn't used them at all up to that point

Definitely use them.  As your super low level, it doesn't really matter a heck of alot, but choosing not to use them is silly.  Add the points in somewhere for now.  Just think what you are trying to do - playing an adc?  Add the points in the offense tree.  Getting your ass kicked - add them into the defense tree.  Need more mana?  Add them into the utility tree.  Once your get 10-15 points or so you can start doing more interesting stuff anyway

"Runes.  I haven't looked at these at all.  Are they important to consider at level 6?  "

To a degree.  Personally, I'd say just do the trick I listed in the op with 375 IP to get runes.  I'd just get all the tier 1 runes (cheapest 1 you can), then upgrade those to level 2 (leaving you with 5 level 2 runes).  Then, just toss whatever you get into your rune page.  You can do more intelligent stuff later, but you'll at least get a buff now - AND you can upgrade it to tier 3 later, so you really aren't losing anything outside of 375 ip for what you are getting.

on Dec 21, 2012

Here - did a fancy tutorial vid.  I'd watch like through the 1st 7 min and then skip towards the end.  I talk about runes and masteries based on your current setup, mauxe.

http://www.twitch.tv/1pacov1/c/1789961

 

on Dec 21, 2012

Wow, great information - thanks!

I'm still at work but will dive into this a bit more later.  I'll add you to my Skype as well.

 

Much appreciated!

on Dec 21, 2012

You're not in a great deal of need for learning this stuff fast.  The new players are typically playing each other, it's a real retard fest early on.  The odd secondary account will account for most of the skilled players you run into the first hundred games or so.

 

I would not worry about whether you're managing to play like an experienced ranked player any time soon.  I didn't even have a regular jungler in normal games till I neared level 30.  My path to level 30 was more a champion learning experience than anything.  Ranked games will be a whole new game at that point no matter what you do in the normal random queue.

 

I wouldn't bother with runes either.  Start buying tier 3 runes when you hit level 20 and you can kit yourself out efficiently when they're big enough a boost to really matter.  You're much better off playing at that slight disadvantage anyway, gets you used to turning around a slight lead.  I never felt their absence much until I was nearing level 30 myself.

 

When I got to ranked, I went from a way above average player that typically dominated the game, to bad.

 

It will be a substantial change in demographics.

on Dec 21, 2012

all good advice from psy.  Up to you how you want to pursue.  As long as you are having fun, goods stuff.

on Dec 21, 2012

Yeah, buying runes before level 20 is a trap.  Don't do it.  Not only will you save IP, but you will also better know what runes you want.

on Dec 21, 2012

Krazikarl
Yeah, buying runes before level 20 is a trap. Don't do it. Not only will you save IP, but you will also better know what runes you want.

disagree (as a guy with a few alt accounts anyway).  They make a difference, and you really don't lose out by using the 375 ip trick to get 5 tier 2 runes.  I'd just say don't over do it, but def endorse getting some runes this way on a new account.

on Dec 21, 2012

Good video pacov.  Thanks for taking the time to make and post that.

I'm looking into the different AD carry champions now..

on Dec 22, 2012

I'm looking into the different AD carry champions now..

I'd start by trying ash/trist.  Ash is cheap for ip and trist is free (see the op for how to get.. think its there anyway).  imo the BEST adc's are ezreal, corki, graves, miss fortune, and caitlyn.  Miss fortune is possibly the best there is right now, but all of those characters have something going for them.  You are welcome for the vid.  Was just putzing around this afternoon.

on Dec 22, 2012

Just don't pull Miss Fortune on a team with lots of interrupts.

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