OP updated 3/11/2013
Well, I started a thread back in August (http://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:
- Added 12/5/2011: For anyone that is level 30 with an account in good standing, you can participate in the tribunal. This is a system that was setup by riot to allow the community to police their own. In short, you get to review cases where players have been reported and recommend that a player is forgiven or punished for their behavior. Check it out here: http://na.leagueoflegends.com/Tribunal
- You can view players stats here: http://www.lolking.net. - this is a useful way to get info on your previous matches and to look up players if you like (updated 11/25/2012)
- Sites that are ok for player build guides, etc: www.solomid.net and www.mobafire.com
- Added 12/5/2011: You can get a free unchained alistar skin - this also gives you the character for free as well. See here: http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/45610/t1685348-free-unchained-alistar-skin/
- Added 06/7/2012: You can get the riot girl Tristana skin for free by following Riot's youtube channel. This also unlocks the character for you.
New Player tips
- Play the tutorial. Seriously. Play the tutorial.
- Riot gives you some RP after you play your first game or so. It's enough to buy some skins, a boost, or a cheap character. You'll typically notice this a little after you play your first game.
- Learn to last hit! Last hitting is simply landing the last hit on creeps. If you last hit, you get gold for that kill. You will need to learn when you should push a lane and when you should just last hit (this means DO NOT attack the creep wave, just let the creeps fight each other and then snag a last hit whenever possible) - 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
- Added 12/5/2011: So, you know you can't get level 3 runes until you hit level 20? Hedgie came up with a way to get level 3 runes at any point. The bad news, its random. Here's what you do. 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. Anyway, its not the best system as its completely random, but it does work and does give you a chance to get tier 3 runes at any time. Another thing to consider, you can always keep the random tier 2 rune if it happens you ended up with a good deal or got something you need. Going that route, you spend 375 IP and would have 5 random tier 2 runes. That's fairly cost effective for 375 IP.
- Added 12/5/2011: Consider saving IP for when you hit level 30. Having tier 3 runes is a reasonable advantage. If you don't save now, I guarantee you are going to be a little sorry when you hit level 30 and spend all your time slowly unlocking runes.
Great site I visit every day for LoL related news - http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends
Great site for various stats that you can't find other places - http://quickfind.kassad.in/
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.
