text: League of Legends ~~~ League of Legends ~~~~ Created by: Remanemporor Version: 0.67 Date Started: 7/22/10 Date Updated: 3/20/11 Contact me for ANYTHING that you think should be added, removed, expanded, contracted, replaced, transposed, inverted, or changed in any way (I'm lonely enough that I will respond to almost anything). If you see any typos, tell me. Any bad info, tell me. I will give you credit. GameFAQs.com is guaranteed to have the latest version of this guide. Also, if you have a guide/build for a champ that you think is particularly awesome, send it in! The more variation the better. Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com ========================================================================== Table of Contents [1] Introduction [1.1] The Game [1.2] The Successor of DotA [1.3] Terms and Abbreviations [2] Basic Elements [2.1] A Basic Rundown [2.2] Controls [2.3] The Roles [2.4] Attributes [2.5] Recommended Items [2.6] Champion Statistics [3] Early Game Strategies [3.1] Lane Compilation [3.2] Before the Minions [3.3] Top and Bottom [3.4] Middle Lane [3.5] A Junglers Guide [3.6] The Transition [4] Late Game Strategies [4.1] Ganking [4.2] Team Fighting [4.3] Exit Strategies [4.4] Warding and the Jungle [4.5] Backdooring [4.6] Timing [5] General Info [5.1] The Map [5.2] Is it a Gank? [5.3] Being a Team Player [5.4] Minions and Buildings [5.5] Neutrals [5.6] Items [5.6.1] Consumables [5.6.2] Basic Items [5.6.3] Advanced Items [5.6.4] Legendary Items [5.7] General Tips [6] Outside Preparation [6.1] Summoner Level [6.2] Influence Points and Riot Points [6.3] Runes [6.3.1] Quintessences [6.3.2] Marks [6.3.3] Glyphs [6.3.4] Seals [6.4] Masteries [6.4.1] Offense [6.4.2] Defense [6.4.3] Utility [7] Character Info [8] Other Stuff [8.1] The Summoner's Code [8.2] The Forums [8.3] Backslash (/) Commands [8.4] The Language Filter [8.5] Lore and City States [8.6] Leaving [8.7] Acknowledgements [9] Version History [10] Copyright *As of now, chapters 1-6, part of 7, 9, and 10 are done. the rest of 7, and 8 to go. ========================================================================== [1] Introduction ========================================================================== This guide provides background on League of Legends from your first attempts all the way to some of the higher level concepts of the game. It assumes that you already know how to log in to the LoL Client (the name of the main menu). If you don't, there is a guide on GameFAQs by randomsome1 that explains this. This is my second attempt at writing a FAQ. I picked League of Legends (abbreviated LoL) because I have been playing it A LOT recently, so it seemed like a good candidate. I was also shocked at the lack of other complete guides (there are hundreds of guides on character building, but these don't give tips on the game in general). _________________________ [1.1] The Game League of Legends is one of the first self proclaimed "MOBA" (massive online battle arena), and is available free for download off the internet. It has some RPG elements, but is primarily a RTS with a heavy emphasis on teamwork. It has been out for about a year now (since the start of this guide), and has a playerbase in America of almost one million. _________________________ [1.2] The Successor of DotA If you've ever played Warcraft 3, you've probably heard about its most popular mod, DotA (Defense of the Ancients). The mod was so successful that it spawned its own lineage of game. The other two main ones that I can think of are Heroes of Newerth (HoN) and Demigod. As of now, LoL is the only one of them that is free to play, so it was the one I chose. If you are coming from DotA you'll notice a few changes. The addition of brush allows you to become invisible to surrounding enemies, unless they enter the brush themselves. This is useful for launching ganks, as you can have the first strike. The other main difference is that you can no longer deny. This can be annoying sometimes when their Heimerdinger gets over 300 minion kills by the 30 minute mark, but overall its not such a big deal. It allows for a last hitting strategy, where you only attack for the killing blow, ensuring that you get the kill and gold, rather than your minions. Other than these two major changes, the rest has remained relatively the same. _________________________ [1.3] Terms and Abbreviations You will hear many terms in the game, forums, and on this guide that you may not know. Here is a compilation of some of the most popular. This is by no means a complete list, but at least it will get you started. ability: each champion has 3 abilities and 1 ultimate that usually do magic damage AD: attack damage; increased by leveling up and by items, this helps normal right-click attacks to do more damage AFK: away from keyboard; when people are not playing at all, they are considered AFK (this is highly shunned in the LoL community) AP: ability power; used for casters to help their spells do more damage aura: some items give an aura that allow you AND your nearby allies to receive benefits b: back; used to signal that a teammate should retreat backdoor: when a champ attempts to take out a turret or inhibitor without the help of minions, usually when the enemy team is away baron: baron nashor; the huge worm in Summoners Rift that, if killed, grants large bonuses to everyone on the team basic attacks: each champion has the ability to simply right click on an enemy to do physical damage, but can be augmented by passive abilities or magical items (such as sheen) beefy: champs that have a lot of health bg: bad game blind: a move that makes an enemy champion unable to use normal attacks, but still able to use abilities bot: referring to the bottom lane in Summoners Rift bruiser: high HP champ (although not as high as a dedicated tank) that can still do a fair amount of damage brush: an area of grass where you become invisible except when an enemy enters it buff: a temporary increase to some stat, can be received through allies, items, or slaying certain neutrals also, it can be referred to as a permanent increase of a stat or ability by the developers of the game, if they see that some champion or item is underperforming build: the items on a champ care: careful; used to tell your allies that they are in danger, can be accompanied by pings or someones name, such as "care pantheon" carry: these champs (if played correctly) will be the deciding factor in the late game fights; the generally start off weak but will become very powerful later on cc: crowd control; general term that describes an ability that would hinder a champions ability to fight, stuns, blinds, and silences are the most common cd: cooldown; all spells have a certain time before they can be used again CDR: cooldown reduction champ: champion creeps: minions spawned by each nexus cs: creep score; the amount of minions you have slain d: defend dc: a player who disconnects from the game before it is over debuff: a temporary ailment cause by enemies; can be anything from slows to damage over time DoT: damage over time, spells where damage is dealt over a period of time rather than all at once, examples are ignite and Teemo's mushrooms DotA: Defense of the Ancients; the game that inspired LoL DPS: damage per second; these champs are specialized to do the most damage possible Elo: in a very small nutshell, how good a player is farm: to kill a large amount of creeps or neutrals to get experience and gold FB: first blood; the first kill in the game grants 400 gold instead of 300 fear: an ability that causes the target to run around like an idiot for a period of time, making them unable to attack or move where they want to go feed: when someone constantly dies, they are said to be feeding the other team, when a player has many kills they are said to be fed focus: target a specific player, generally low HP ones gank: ambush gg: good game gj: good job global: able to affect any/every character on the map, like Karthus' ult; in another context, the Baron Nashor and Dragon give global gold and XP, which means it is granted to you and everyone on your team harass: hit the enemy with non lethal bursts of damage to force them to go back and heal inc: incoming; a variation of omw, but can also be used to say that an ult is coming, such as saying "pantheon ult inc" jungle: in between lanes is typically called the "jungle" lane: referring to the top, mid, or bottom lane in Summoners Rift leaver: a player that quits a game before it ends lol: League of Legends or laugh out loud, depending on context mage: (aka magic DPS) a champ that is built to kill others by using their abilities mia: missing in action; used to alert allies that a certain enemy is away from their lane, and may be trying to gank mid: referring to the middle lane in Summoners Rift nerf: making something worse, done by the developers of the game if they see one champion or item is performing better than others neutrals: referring to the AI controlled monsters in the jungle omw: on my way; used when you are moving to a certain location oom: out of mana; used when you or an enemy is out of mana, and is vulnerable because of it physical DPS: a champion that is built to kill other champs by using their basic attack pot: potion; for instance a health pot would be a health potion push: when you gather with allies and minions and try to destroy enemy towers and/or inhibitors ragequit: to quit a game because of anger re: if someone calls an mia, but realize that they weren't mia, the would just say "re", for instance, "nidalee mia..... re" Riot: the developer of the game silence: a move that makes an enemy champion unable to use abilities, but still able to use normal attacks skillshot: most abilities are auto aimed and always hit the target, but skillshots are aimed manually and can miss slow: a move that slows the movement speed of a target or group of targets snare: a move that immobilizes a champion, but allows them to attack squishy: a champ with low health and armor that can easily be killed if they are alone SR: the Summoners Rift map stack: referring to snowball items like Mejai's Soulstealer where a "stack" is awarded every time the player gets a kill or assist stun: completely immobilizes a champion or group of champions, making them unable to move or attack, but usually lasts for a shorter time than slows support: these champs are based solely on helping their allies through buffs, heals, and disrupting the enemy tank: the primary goal of these champs is to keep their allies alive by absorbing incoming fire, usually aided by health and armor items taunt: a move that forces the targeted champ to attack the champ that used the taunt top: referring to the top lane in Summoners Rift ult: ultimate; the defining move a character unique: some items say "UNIQUE passive" which means that if you buy 2 of the same item, the passive doesn't stack YP: An acronymn I use in this guide (it isn't used in game) that stands for "you pick" and is used for champ builds when I really don't have a suggestion, so you choose what goes there ========================================================================== [2] Basic Elements ========================================================================== Here is a guide to the most basic elements of the game. If you have played the game at all, you'll probably know most of this. You should know that each champ has 1 innate ability (also called passive because it can't be activated), 3 regular abilities, and 1 ult (except Udyr). _________________________ [2.1] A Basic Rundown League of Legends starts off with each champ buying their starting items. This can give a first glance into their playing style, but isn't always a foolproof method (an AD Master Yi could easily start out with mana regen too). Once everyone has their items, they head out, 2 to the top lane, 2 to the bottom, and 1 mid (unless there's a dc, jungler, early game gank, etc.). Top and bottom lanes fight their enemies for control of the brush at the corners of the map, and many first bloods occur before the first minion has even spawned. Once the minion armies come, the first 15 minutes or so is termed the "laning phase" where each champ tries to kill as many minions as possible to get gold. Champs are always harassing each other to try and make their enemies go back to heal and lose valuable gold and experience, but this happens to an extreme level in the middle lane. It is truly a war of attrition at mid, and even going back to heal once is considered a small defeat. After the laning phase ends, most champs head mid to help out in team fights. Both teams try to push their enemies towers, while some champs may go to the top or bottom lanes to farm or backdoor the other towers. Eventually a team fight ensues. Usually there is a clear-cut winner, and if they are a good team, they will attempt to push some turrets. Bad teams may get lucky and win a team fight, but if they don't destroy some towers, it is a very shallow win. At the 20 minute mark teams are allowed to surrender. Because of this, many games simply end here. If it is a good game, however, it can take as long as 45 minutes or more (my longest was a 72 minute game). It will boil down to not only which team wins team fights, but also who can push the best. Many games are won where one team loses every team fight up until the 50 minute mark, finally wins one, and pushes so well that they end up destroying the nexus. _________________________ [2.2] Controls Here is a list of all the controls in the game. All of them can be rebound in-game. Q = cast spell 1 W = cast spell 2 E = cast spell 3 R = cast spell 4 ctrl + Q = level up spell 1 ctrl + W = level up spell 2 ctrl + E = level up spell 3 ctrl + R = level up spell 4 D = summoner spell 1 F = summoner spell 2 alt + Q = smart cast spell 1 alt + W = smart cast spell 2 alt + E = smart cast spell 3 alt + R = smart cast spell 4 space = c enter camera on champion F1 = select self F2 = select ally 1 F3 = select ally 2 F4 = select ally 3 F5 = select ally 4 Y = camera lock up = scroll up down = scroll down left = scroll left right = scroll right mouse wheel = zoom in/out C = show character names O = score board Z = chat history P = shop 1 = use item in slot 1 2 = use item in slot 2 3 = use item in slot 3 4 = use item in slot 4 5 = use item in slot 5 6 = use item in slot 6 B = teleport to base shift + L = show health bars H = minion health bars shift + K = summoner names G = ping F5 = draw hud ctrl + F = toggle FPS display alt + click = control pet _________________________ [2.3] The Roles There are 3 general roles in this game, as well as hybrids (magetank). The 3 roles are tank, physical dps, and the mage. As a tank, it is your sole responsibility to make sure that your allies stay alive, even if that means sacrificing yourself. To do this, you'll want to make yourself as annoying as possible, such as by stunning the enemy team, or taunting them, forcing them to attack you. You need to have items that prolong your life to absorb as much damage as possible before you die, enabling you to protect your team longer. You will be focusing health, magic resist, armor, or a combination of these. As a physical DPS, your main goal is to deal physical damage to the enemy team by using your basic attack. You'll want to get items that boost your attack damage, attack speed, and critical chance to help you. Usually you are weak on health, so you should ALWAYS be protected by a tank in team fights. Usually, you'll only want to attack the enemy with the lowest health (don't focus the tank). As a mage, you can have 2 goals. Some mages such as Soraka and Zilean are supports, and they help their team by giving health, aura buffs, escapes, etc. Your main job is to keep your team fighting fit. The other mage type is the offensive caster, otherwise known as the magical DPS. These guys (such as Annie and Fiddlesticks) use their ability power to strengthen their spells, which they use to kill enemies. Both types of magic users need to stay behind tanks whenever they can. Finally, the bruiser is a champ that is best built tanky, but can also do some damage. Characters like Mundo, Garen, and Mordekaiser all fall under this category. You want to have as much health as you can, but still do enough damage to the carries to force them to either focus you, or retreat. This covers up the hole that tanks bring, where they can CC people, but once their spells are gone they can be simply ignored because their damage output is too low. _________________________ [2.4] Attributes Riot has given each of the champions certain "attributes". These do nothing in the game, but can help you to discern what kind of character you are looking at. Are they a carry? Can they farm well? Here is a list of all of the attributes and what they mean. Assassin: These guys can kill enemies quickly, and usually have some skill to make them invisible or close distance with an enemy quickly Carry: Champs that are carries are the ones who will win late game team fights, and although they start off weaker (on average), they scale well into the late game Disabler: A champ that interfere with a summoners ability to control their champ, such as a fear or stun Farmer: These champs have skills that allow to farm with efficiency, usually they have AoE skills Fighter: A champ that performs best in team fights Flee: A champ that possesses a skill that allows it to escape from fights Haste: A champ that can speed itself up, or an ally Heal: A champ that can heal itself, or an ally Mage: AP based champs Melee: A champ that has to be next to an enemy to use their basic attack Ninja: A champ that uses energy instead of mana Nuke: Usually AP champs that have the ability to do a large amount of damage in a wide radius in a short time. They don't scale well, however Pet: A champ that can create a pet, sometimes controllable by using the alt key Pusher: Good for destroying towers and, to some extent, minions Ranged: The opposite of a melee, these can use their basic attack from a distance Silence: A champ that can silence enemies Snare: A champ that can immobilize enemies for a short time Slow: A champ that can slow enemies Stealth: A champ that can become invisible Stun: A champ that can stun Support: Usually AP champs that help their allies Tank: Champs that are designed to get killed to save their allies Teleport: Champs that can teleport to the target location Tough: A champ that is harder to kill than most _________________________ [2.5] Recommended Items At the top of the shop menu there is a list called recommended items. It is different for each champ, and it is what Riot says would be a good build if it is your first time as that character. Should you use it? If you have only played a few games, then yes you should. They at least get you in the right direction for playing the character. If you are a newcomer, you might try an AD Annie, or AP Twitch. After a few games, you should switch a few items up for a build that makes a bit more sense (I cringe when Riot recommends a guardian angel for a DPS character). After a while, you should have a good strategy going, and you can completely forget recommended items. _________________________ [2.6] Champion Statistics Here is a rundown of what makes up a champion HP: How much health a champion has, and how much damage they can take HP Regen: How fast champions regenerate health Attack: How much damage your physical attacks do Armor Pen: If a champ had 100 armor and you had 20 armor pen, your attacks would treat that champ as if he only had 80 armor Lifesteal: How much your physical attacks heal you. If you had 10% lifesteal and attacked for 150 damage after armor and whatnot, you would gain 15 HP. This is good for staying out in the field longer Attack Speed: How many times per second your champ attacks Crit Chance: How likely your champ is to deal double damage Range: How far your champ can attack Speed: How fast your champ moves Mana: All spells cost mana (for most champs), and this is how large your mana pool is Mana Regen: Like health regen, only for mana Ability Power: How much ability power your champion has, which affects how much their abilities do Spell Penetration: Like armor penetration, only for magic resistance Cooldown Reduction: How much percent shorter your cooldowns are Dodge: How likely you are to dodge physical attacks, and take no damage from them Armor: How resistant to physical attacks you are Magic Resistance: How resistant to magical attacks you are ========================================================================== [3] Early Game Strategies ========================================================================== The Laning phase occupies approximately the first 15 minutes of every game on Summoners Rift. It is critical not to make many mistakes here, because they snowball into huge problems by the late game. _________________________ [3.1] Lane Compilation Which champions go in which lane can have a huge impact on your entire game. Generally, you'll want someone capable to handle mid, due to its attrition like nature (I detail which champs are best for mid in the champion section). For the other two lanes, you'll usually want to have at least one ranged champ in each, be it a physical dps or a mage. If your team is running low on ranged champs, you can always substitute some in. Gangplank can make a suitable ranged because of his Parrrley ability. Chogath can also fill in, due to his ability to harass with his spikes. Sometimes though, you'll just get a bad team combo, or a team that won't listen to where they should go. If this happens, just sit by your tower and snipe minion kills when you get the chance. An easy way to do this is for the tower to hit melee minions twice, then you strike. For caster minions, strike them, have your turret hit them, then you hit them again for another kill. Doing this can allow you to stay competitive in the game. _________________________ [3.2] Before the Minions In the minute and 30 seconds before minions spawn, there is quite a bit to accomplish. First you'll want to get your starting items, then you need to decide which lane to go in, and finally try and grab the brush before your enemy can. So which starting item should you get? Doran's items (shield, ring, and sword) are always good, especially with a health potion. If you are a ranged character, you could go with the Vampiric Scepter, but this isn't recommended if you are a melee. If you want speed quickly you could go for boots and a few health potions, but only try this if you have been playing for a while. Also, some champs have good starting items that don't build into their overall strategy. An example would be Master Yi getting a Meki Pendant for mana regen. Even if he didn't become an AP character later on, his Meditate and Alpha Strike skills are vital enough that extra mana is viable in the early game. Once you have your items, set out for your lane. If it is the middle lane, just get to your tower and sit there until your minions come. If you are top or bottom, you can rush into the brush and try to get a first blood by killing your enemies if they come into your side of the grass. Don't try too hard (AKA don't turret dive), and if you are injured even a little bit, you should go back and heal. Its better to start the laning phase at full health rather than get a few seconds of killing minions. _________________________ [3.3] Top and Bottom The top lane and bottom lane play pretty much the say, due to the map being somewhat symmetrical. You start out by rushing to the brush that is in the corners of the map. If you arrive too late, however, don't bother going in. The enemy has probably already arrived and you trying to get into the grass is just a way to die quickly. If you can, get there before the enemy team can, and try to kill them before they can escape. When the minions come you should try a strategy called "last hitting". Since you only get gold for the finishing kill, it only makes sense to save your strikes for the last hit of a unit. This way you can control who you kill and hopefully get the maximum amount of gold. If you can, you should harass your enemies. Obviously some champs do this better than others, but you should still try to make them go back to heal. If you can do it a lot, you can prevent them from getting experience and gold, drastically increasing how long they have to farm. Every once in a while, or at the request of a team mate, you should gather with your allies and try to gank a lane for a few easy kills. To do this, have the people in the lane go back as far as they can to your turret, then have everyone else come out and attack them all at once. If you do it well, you'll get a kill and/or assist. The general rule of thumb if you are on the side lanes is that you should try to harass the enemy while getting kills of your own. How you perform now will have a significant impact on the rest of the game. _________________________ [3.4] Middle Lane The middle lane plays much differently than the top and bottom. You start off by running to your tower, and usually just sitting there for a while until the minions come. Since there is no brush to fight over (at least for now), not many first bloods occur in the middle lane. Once the battle begins, you'll have to contend with many obstacles. For one, your enemy will always be trying to harass you. Recalling while in the middle lane isn't a good thing to do a lot, because your enemy can easily destroy your tower while you are away. You'll also have to deal with ganks. Hopefully your allies will call MIAs, but you always have to have an eagle eye on the minimap. If you see a champ missing from their lanes, and you're far away from one of your towers, you have a huge risk of being ganked, so back up a little and try to play it safe. The worst thing you could do is die because you were too aggressive. Also, some champs (Teemo for example) can place traps that give a line of sight into the grass, which helps to prevent surprise attacks. If you want, you could buy some sight wards to help you. While this is going on, you also need to be worried about getting the last hit on minion kills. If you can, you should also try to harass your opponent and try to make them recall. If you can do that, you will get a slight experience and gold advantage over them that can last through the entire game. Although you have to contend with lots of different aspects at the same time when you are mid, it does have its benefits. You will get gold and experience faster (as long as you don't go back and heal too often), and you can build your champion faster. You can also launch ganks on the two lanes beside you as long as your tower doesn't fall while you're doing it. _________________________ [3.5] A Junglers Guide Jungling can be an entertaining way to start off the game if you prefer not to be put under the stress of the laning phase. Instead of going into a lane and helping an ally, you will go in between the lanes and kill the neutrals to gain gold and experience. The positive is that you won't have to try to last hit, because there aren't any minions/towers/team mates to worry about. One of your allies will gain experience and gold faster too, because you aren't there to steal it. The negative is that one of your lanes will be 2v1, and the turret and champ are incredibly vulnerable because of this. Some team compilations simply can't afford this (if your team is all melee, its not advised to jungle). To start out with, you'll need the right champion to jungle with. The four best (in my opinion) are Warwick, Amumu, Udyr, and Shaco. Others can try, but these four can simply do it more efficiently. As for summoners spells, Smite is a great option to help you kill most neutrals in 1 hit and take a large chunk out of the golem and lizard. The downside is that after the laning phase, Smite is less effective than other spells. Also, a Warwick with Smite almost always indicates a jungler, and your enemies may try to gank you even before the minions spawn. If you want, you could also bring along Heal or Clairvoyance to help you stay out in the field longer. Starting items for each character differs greatly, but at least a few health potions are advised. Warwick could just skip these and go right for the Vampiric Scepter, but this would be harder for the others. To start out, Warwick and Amumu should go to either the wolf/mini golem camp or to the wraith camp. Udyr can attempt to kill the big golem to get the buff. Shaco can pop as many Jack in the Box's as he can around the big Lizard to get the red buff. After level two, jungling becomes much easier as you can bounce around to any of the neutral camps. If you need mana, take down the golem. If you need more damage, take out the lizard. If you don't need either than go kill the mini golems/wolves/wraiths. When you get to level 5 (or higher), you can try to take on the dragon. Be sure to have good enough stats before you try it, and make sure to watch your MIAs. Rinse and repeat until you are around level 6. Once you get your ultimate, you should immediately try to gank the lane that your enemies have pushed in the furthest. About 50 percent of the time you'll be able to land a kill, and you can use this to try and take down a turret. You can also gank or help out another allied lane if they are having trouble, but getting kills before level 6 is much harder. Once you see that the laning phase is over, you should stop jungling and help out your teammates. Don't fall into the trap of "I'll just kill one more golem" and miss out on a team fight. It could just cost you the game. _________________________ [3.6] The Transition One of the toughest concepts for new players to understand is when to make the transition from the laning phase into the team fight phase. It can be very tempting to keep on farming minions to gain gold and experience at a steady rate, but you are hurting your team and your chances of winning drop astronomically. There is no definite way to know when to make the transition. Generally, I have found that it is around level 6 or 7 on the side lanes and about 10 or 11 in the middle lane. This can vary immensely, though, and factors in game will have a dramatic effect on it. If it is a fast paced game with ganks left and right, it can be several levels lower. If it is a slow game where there are few ambushes and people seem content to continue laning, than it can be several levels higher. In some rare instances, the laning phase can end when players reach the shockingly low levels of 2 or 3. What makes this tough for new players is that it varies so widely. You can't put a tag on it and simply say that "laning phase always ends at the 15 minute mark" or "when mid hits level 9". If you see the rest of your team grouping up, then it would be wise to join them. Some peoples strategies revolve around them farming all the time and not helping their team until the 45 minute mark or later. I strongly recommend against this as I have seen victory rate of teams who have one diehard farmer drop from 50 percent to around 20 percent. The bottom line is that help your team when the time arises, but gather gold and experience until then. As you play more and more games, you will be able to more easily recognize when the time comes. It is a skill that often goes unmentioned, but is actually fairly important. ========================================================================== [4] Late Game Strategies ========================================================================== After the laning phase comes a time of team fights, pushing, and ambushes. Although the initial parts of the game have all of these, they really only become widespread after the first 15 minutes or so. And as for the title, "Late Game Strategies" doesn't really refer to the latter half of the game, but refers more to everything after the laning phase. So if you find that your team just doesn't want to go by the rules and jumps into team fights right away, you might not use the beginning strategies at all. _________________________ [4.1] Ganking A critical skill that you must be good at, ganking is when you (and your allies most likely) ambush an enemy or group of enemies. Even if you do have less of a capable team, the element of suprise should help you win. Brush is your friend when trying to gank. Hide in it until the enemy has pushed far into your territory, then pop out, lay down some crowd control (slows or stuns) and pick up a kill. If you can, you always want to fight at an advantage. Don't try to gank unless you have the numerical advantage or you know that you are so much better than they are that you can take on multiple foes. The element of suprise is pretty good in itself but don't rely on it to carry the day. When trying to gank try to cover all of the escape routes. Station one person in the side brush, one person coming up from the front, and one one from behind. If you have one, use a global ult to cover the quickest way back to their base. If the enemy has 3 routes to escape by with one being through brush where you have 2 allies, another being towards your base where you have another ally, and the final being back towards their base with Gangplank/Pantheon's ult to go through makes it almost impossible for them to get away. Pop a few slows/stuns on and triple or quadra kills can ensue. _________________________ [4.2] Team Fighting The single biggest factor in deciding the outcome of a match is how well people can coordinate a team fight. A 7/4/4 Master Yi that jungles or lanes until the 35 minute mark may initially seem good, because he can run out and solo just about anyone. The reality is that he is probably the worst player on a team, because he has left his allies to fight 4 v 5 for thirty five mintues, he has cost the team many kills and assists. Even if you have a good enough team that you COULD legitimately get away with doing this, if you help your allies anyway, you will find that you can beat the enemy by an even larger margin. I really cannot stress the fact that you MUST support your team to be successful. Just because you end up with a positive K/D/A ratio doesn't mean that you did well. Also, when it is late in the game, don't abandon your team like I sometimes se my allies do. Stick with the group till death. Now as for how to actually conduct a proper fight. Focus the squishies is the one rule that resounds throughout every single fight you will ever participate in. Kill those who hurt the team the hardest. Protect your squishies at all times. If you see an assassin such as Poppy or Twisted Fate running through your allies to get to another champ, stop him if at all possible. You'll want to split the enemy if you can. Ashe is a lot less powerful if she has no allies around her to take the damage, and will fall quickly. Once she is out of the way, the enemy cannot do nearly as much damage, and you will eventually. A good way to proceed in team fights is with this checklist: 1 Never fight a battle without all of your allies unless there is a lone enemy or two that you know you can neutralize quickly. 2 Be wary of enemy reinforcements. Just because you see Soraka strolling about the forest unprotected, don't immediately jump on her. If you are in enemy lands, she could just be bait. 3 Commit to a battle only when you know your allies will jump in to help you. There is no worse feeling when you charge into the fray only to see the rest of your team flee. Ranged DPS and mages have an easier time here. 4 Coordinate your attacks with your allies to kill enemies in the following order: 1 Enemy squishy carry (ie Ashe, Master Yi, Tristana, Karthus) 2 Enemy squishy support (ie Soraka, Janna) 3 Enemy beefy carry (ie Jax, Sion) 4 Enemy beefy support (ie Taric) 5 Enemy Tank (ie Malaphite, Allistar, Amumu) 5A Flee if the battle isn't going well or 5B Chase down those who remain if you won. By following these steps you should be able to come out on top in the majority of team fights. _________________________ [4.3] Exit Strategies But what if you don't win? What if you suddenly see what started out as a 2 v 1 fight in your favor suddenly turns into a 2 v 5? The answer is usualy simple: RUN. Many champions have abilities that can slow/stun you or immediately catch up to you. How do you prevent them from being able to use these? clever strategies and map awareness are the answer. There are three summoner spells that can help you in escape: Flash (being able to teleport If you can, it is easiest to just teleport behind a wall. This is easiest in the jungle where the walls are relatively thin. Some champs have abilites that can help them do this (like Shaco) but others will have to have the summoner spell Flash to do this. Brush is your friend when you are trying to escape. It can sometimes confuse your enemies for just long enough to escape through teleport. You can also go into the brush and stay in there until your enemy comes to investigate. When they do, stun/slow them and run out. I've used this strategy so many times because they always click further into the brush, allowing you to bolt right past them. _________________________ [4.4] Warding and the Jungle Wards. Many people swear by them, and for good reason. They allow you to glimpse at what the enemy is doing, and where they are going. For just 90 gold they can prevent a gank, possibly saving lives and several hundred gold. They also give you reassurance that the enemy isn't trying to take your team's Golem or Lizard. There are two major types of wards. Sight wards are your general purpose ones. They cost a mere 90 gold and last an entire three minutes (they were just nerfed in the 188.8.131.52 patch, before they lasted 4.5 minutes!). Place them around the map in key areas such as by the dragon and in between the lanes so you know if somebody is ganking. If you see a group of enemies near the dragon, be prepared with your allies to launch a gank, and if one of you has smite, to steal the dragon kill for your team. The other ward is the vision ward. The major difference between it and the sight ward is that it can see invisible units. This can be used if you have a Twitch in your lane and you want to keep tabs on him, or if you have an enemy Evelynn trying to gank you every two seconds. These can also be used if you think the enemy has placed their own ward down, allowing you to see and destroy it. This lasts 3 minutes and costs 150 gold. The final item that gives line of sight is Wriggles Lantern. Think of it as basically a sight ward that recharges every 3 minutes. If you are a very ward based person, than you might want to give this item a try. Some newer players may not understand why people would give up some of their precious gold for an item that simply dissapears after a few minutes. The fact is that dying one time gives about 450 gold to the enemy team (300 to the person that actually killed you and 150 total to any allies that helped). You have given the enemy the cost of about 5 wards just because you died once. It quickly becomes apparent that these items are far more valuable than the 90 gold you pay for them. This becomes even more pronounced once the late game roles around. Being able to spot out where the enemy is heading allows for efficient ganking and allows your team to get into position. Your carries won't accidentaly run straight into the enemy team, and your tank will be out front. This will prove a decisive factor in team fights again and again. Just keep in mind that wards are usefull in any game, no matter the circumstances. _________________________ [4.5] Backdooring Backdooring is generally defined as a champion or champions attacking an enemy turret without the support of friendly minions. Because turrets do larger amounts of damage with every consecutive attack on a champ and take 50 percent less damage when the backdoorers minions are not around, it is very risky and can only be done towards the end of the game. Many people are divided about the usefulness of backdooring. Some say that the permanent destruction of a turret outweighs the risks and drawbacks. Others point out that it removes a champion from the team for a few minutes (or seconds if they really know what they are doing). This may not seem like a long time, but if a large team fight happens, that 4 v 5 battle could be enough to turn the tide of the game. As for me, I take the side that it can be useful ***when under the right circumstances***. Champs with global teleportation ults or with the Teleport summoner spell work best for this. Start off by planting a few wards around the jungle and be ready to run if you see enemies coming. Too often players die because they are not paying attention or cannot see because of the fog of war and are swiftly ganked. Do not be one of these players. Next, make sure you have enough health and damage to take down the turret. Don't make EXECUTED pop up on everyone's screens because you miscalculated. You'll want to be at full health and have a huge damage output to do this, or have a few allies around to help. Finally, make sure your enemies are reasonably distracted. Still, be ready for especially if they have a global teleport. Doing all of these things should help you pull of a backdoor. _________________________ [4.6] Timing One of the biggest failures of the lower ELO community is the simple inability to know when to do things. This is a crucial skill and easily decides games time and time again. Good timing is just generally knowing when to gank, when to farm, and when to group together for a team fight. If you are out trying to kill some minions while your team is grouping up and engage in a team fight, you are being just as destructive to your team as the person who has 3 kills and 14 deaths. Your presence could give your allies just the nudge they needed to win the fight, gaining many kills, gold, and experience as a result. You should focus on farming for about the first fifteen minutes of the game, unless you see your allies ganking or in need of a gank. Once one tower has been destroyed, go mid and help out your allies. You should stick with them until everyone disperses. Go out to the jungle and kill a few neutrals, but stay close enough to the majority of your team that you could help in a moments notice. Do not go for the baron nashor when all of your enemies are out and about. It is an easy place to gank, and many teams often leave wards to see if the opportunity presents itself. The best times to try and kill it are when you have recently killed most of your foes (at least three, hopefully four or five), or have just destroyed an inhibitor or two. Make sure they are pinned down killing super minions before you jump in, and don't hesitate to plop a few wards down. ========================================================================== [5] General Info ========================================================================== Tips here don't fall into a chronological order, and usually apply over the duration of the game. _________________________ [5.1] The Map Currently, there are two(ish) maps which you can play matchmade games on (by the time you've read this, there will probably be more). For now, they are Summoner's Rift (SR) and Twisted Treeline (TT) (and maybe The Proving Grounds). Summoner's is the oldest map in LoL, and generally considered the "classic" way to play. There are two teams of 5 v 5, and the object is to destroy the enemy nexus. There are three lanes, and usually two people go on the sides and one goes through the middle. In each lane there are 3 towers, then the inhibitor. When the inhibitor is destroyed, super minions are created. After this, there are two more towers guarding the nexus. In the bottom left is the blue team. The top left side lies purple team. In each sides jungle, there are two camps of golems/wolves, a camp of a wraith and 3 lesser wraiths, a camp for the elder lizard and two smaller lizards, and a camp for the ancient golem and two smaller lizards. By the river in between the two bases, there is the dragon and the Baron Nashor. Because this map is the most popular, there are two versions of it. The classic summer version, and the winter version. Either one can appear randomly in matchmade games, and the only difference is their appearance. Brush, turrets, monsters, and minions are all still in the same place. The other map is the Twisted Treeline. The objective is the same as the Summoner's Rift, but it is on a smaller scale. This time there are two teams of 3 and only 2 turrets that separate your enemies and your inhibitors. Gold and experience accumulation is also slightly faster. Some people also state that tanky champions do better on this map. Decide for yourself if this is true or not. In this the two teams face off against each other in a horizontal style. In the jungle there are camps for wolves, a camp for a lizard, young lizard, and golem OR a wraith and three lesser wraiths, a camp for a rabid wolf and two giant wolves OR a ghast and two wraiths, a camp for Grez the Lizard Elder, and a camp for Ebonmaw, the Terror of Zaun. In this map the basic strategy is to have two people go in the bottom lane and have one go to the top. This allows the one on top to level quicker and be much more efficient at ganking. Beware though, because laning shouldn't last anywhere near as long as it does on Summoner's Rift. Finally, the thirdish map is The Proving Grounds. It is where the tutorial takes place, and isn't a map that can be played with anyone else (yet). There are some rumors, however, that Riot will eventually make this a 1v1 map, but there is no evidence of this ever happening. _________________________ [5.2] Is it a Gank? Knowing whether or not you are about to be ambushed or not is a critical skill if you want to be successful. In a perfect world your allies will plop down several wards amongst the jungle in key brush positions. Many times this won't happen however, and you'll have to use good judgement to stay alive. Always be glancing at your minimap. Taking a look to see that your enemies are coming for you takes only half a second, and can save your life many times. If you see that an enemy lane is unoccupied, and you have pressed up almost to the enemies tower, then a gank may be coming. In general, if you don't see most of your enemies on your minimap, look to see if you are in an exposed position. If you are trying to blow up their inhibitor alone, you are in a very bad position and should either kill it as quickly as you can (if you are trying to backdoor) or just run. If the enemy has any junglers you should be extra careful during the laning phase. They can appear at any time, and often will (if they are good players). Also, be very careful when there is an enemy with mobile stealth on their team (ie Twitch or Evelynn). A gank can appear at any time with these guys, so backdooring is not recommended. Also, be careful because 1v1 fights can quickly become 1v2. If you can afford it, vision wards or an oracle's elixir is highly recommended. _________________________ [5.3] Being a Team Player Why does one team lose? AFKs appear top on the list, with teammates that intentionally feed following close behind. But what would make an evenly matched team who all TRIED to win but eventually lost? The answer is teamwork. You could have a slew of terrible champs on your team, and you could all be bad players in general. But if you have teamwork on your side, you can be almost impossible to beat. It starts off in the laning phase. If you are on one of the side lanes, it is your job to support your ally. If you see them constantly horassing one particular champ, harass that one too. There will probably come a time when the four of you get into a fight, and if your team mate is running away because they have low health, use some slow/stuns on your enemies. If you do end up attacking your enemies, focus whichever one your ally focuses (unless there is good reason not to). When the laning phase is over, team work becomes even more important. You really shouldn't ever miss a team fight unless you are dead. Many people will disagree with me here but from my experience it is far better to always help your allies and die a few times than go and farm minions for 30 minutes. Sure you will become powerful over time but your team will likely lose many more fights because you weren't there. When you finally do come around and start helping out, it will be too late as your enemies are too powerful. Also under this category is dealing with your team mates. Remember that it isn't your allies jobs to call out MIAs. It's your job to watch the minimap and make intelligent descisions. Don't get mad when you don't get an MIA and you end up dying because you didn't look at the minimap. It wasn't your allies fault. Don't rage at your team mates for doing stupid things either. Every once in a while we ALL make stupid mistakes (I've been killed by a wolf when I walked past it with low health and a Sunfire Cape on). If you see that someone on your team is being stupid constantly, don't rage at them. Try to offer constructive critisism (as hard as that may be). If they get mad at you, don't get mad back. One of the worst things you can do is rage at your team mates. I've seen it turn the tide of many games. At best you'll get someone who just mutes you if you rage, costing you team coordination later down the line. At worst you could get someone who reports you, quits, or intentionally feeds the enemy. There really is no reason to ever flame anyone. EVER! _________________________ [5.4] Minions and Buildings As you are progressing through the game, you will encounter two types of characters. For one, there are the champs which I have gone in to great detail of how to combat them. The other type has been a bit neglected... until now. Minions, neutrals, and towers do their assigned task to the death. Indeed, a huge part of this game is based around manipulating these things to best suit your needs. First off we have the minions. They pop out of the nexus and suicidally charge the other team's base. You need to be able to last hit them to get the most amount of gold possible and therfore be successful. You also have to use them as meat shields to prevent taking damage during the laning phase. There are 4 types of minions. There are the caster minions who can do more damage but have less health and give less gold per kill. There are melee minions who deal less damage but have more health and give more gold. The siege minions spawn every third wave and are much stronger than the other two basic types of minions in both attack and defense. They also have a buff that makes them take 50 percent less damage from towers. This makes them an ideal wave to push and try to destroy an enemy tower with. Finally, there are the super minions. These guys only spawn when an inhibitor is destroyed. They are extremely powerful in both attacking power and health. Here is some in-depth info on the minions. All of this data was collected by me on Summoner's Rift (it may be different on Twisted Treeline) Melee Minion Health: 445(~3.3 added per wave) Damage: 12 Armor: 0 (~.33 added per wave) Magic Resist: 0 (~.10 added per wave) Attack Speed: 1.25 Movement Speed: 325 Experience: 64 (~2 added every time your champion gains a level) Gold: 25 Caster Minion Health: 280 (~2.5 added per wave) Mana: 150 Damage: 25 Armor: 0 (~.1 added per wave) Magic Resist: 0 (~0.33 added per wave) Attack Speed: 0.67 Movement Speed: 325 Experience: 32 (~2 added every time your champion gains a level) Gold: 18 Siege Minion Health: 700 (~15 added per spawn) Damage: 40 Armor: 17 (~1.5 added per spawn) Magic Resist: 2 (~1 added per spawn) Attack Speed: 1.00 Movement Speed: 325 Experience: 100 (~2.5 added every time your champion gains a level) Gold: Varies, around 32ish Extra Notes: Was tought to calculate because they only came every 3 waves Super Minion Health: 2300 Damage: 190 Armor: 30 Magic Resist: 30 Attack Speed: 0.694 Movement Speed:325 Extra Notes: 2 spawn in each lane if all of one teams inhibitors are down, very tought to calculate because I don't know if they gain stats as time goes on or if it's based on how many time the inhibitor is destroyed. The next thing we need to discuss are the buildings. Specifically, there are 3 different types. There are also 2 "buildings" that don't have health so can never be destroyed. I'll start out with those two first. The shop is simply where you go to the giant pig and buy your items and junk. Both teams have one and it can never be destroyed or used by the enemy team. The other "building" is the spawning fountain. This is where you start the game and if you stand here, you will quickly regain health and mana. Whenever you recall (via the B button or by clicking it manually) you will return here. This is also where you respawn if you die. Now on to the 3 others. The nexus is easiest to describe. It is where your minions spawn and is your most heavily defended structure. It can only be damaged if both of the defending turrets have been destroyed, and at least one of the inhibitors is knocked out of commission. If your's is destroyed, you lose the game. Note that it will slowly regenerate health if it is damaged. Inhibitors are the next topic. These are the little flower shaped buildings that each team has. They will regenerate health if damaged, but once they are destroyed, they will have to wait 5 minutes to respawn at full health. Once knocked out of commission, the other team will begin spawning one super minion with every creep wave, or two if all three enemy inhibitors are down (presumably to end the game). Finally, the turrets. Also named towers (to prevent confusion from Heimerdinger's turrets), these structures act as roadblocks to your enemies advance. As you try to destroy them, each layer becomes more and more difficult. Each time you destroy one, your entire team is granted experience and 100 gold. Any buildings behind the turret cannot be harmed until the tower is destroyed. For example, you cannot destroy the inhibitor without destroying the inhibitor turret. You cannot destroy the nexus without destroying both nexus turrets, and so on. On Summoner's Rift, there are 4 layers of turrets. The Outer Turret, guarding the furthest reach of your lane; the Inner Turret, guarding right before the steps to your base; the Inhibitor Turret, guarding your inhibitor; and the Nexus Turret, guarding (you guessed it!) the nexus. On the Twisted Treeline, there are only 3 layers. Every turret and minion in the game follows some rules about how to pick a target. Every few seconds, they scan the area around them for something to attack. Every time something is attacked it gives off a "call for help". Minions and turrets prioritize targets in this order: 1 An enemy champion designated by a call for help from an allied champion. 2 An enemy minion designated by a call for help from an allied champion. 3 An enemy minion designated by a call for help from an allied minion. 4 An enemy turret designated by a call for help from an allied minion. 5 An enemy champion designated by a call for help from an allied minion. 6 The closest enemy minion. 7 The closest enemy champion. As you can see, AI controlled things won't automatically attack you. If you start to attack an allied champion, however, everything will start swarming over you, so be ready to take it. Towers will NOT attack you if there are some of your allied minions around and you attack either the enemy minions or the turret itself, but enemy towers WILL ALWAYS attempt to attack you if you hit an enemy champion. Champions stay close to the turret to try to stay alive while the tower attacks an enemy, it is known as "hugging" the turret. When someone tries to attack the enemy champ while in range of the turret, they are said to be "tower diving". There are some special things about this strategy. Generally, only do it if the enemy is very low health (1-3 hits from death). Each successive attack that a turret lands on you will make its next attack increase in damage. With this being true, going along with an ally can be helpful because you can "juggle" the tower to make sure only the minimum damage is inflicted. Simply take turns shooting the enemy, and the turret will keep bouncing back and forth between the two of you, negating the attack damage bonus. And before attempting any of this, make sure you have some sort of get away mechanism (flash is the best). As a final note, almost the only way to damage turrets is with auto attack (mages have a percentage of their AP added to their attack). A very select set of spells can damage turrets (Rammus' ultimate and Nasus' Siphoning Strike are ones that come to me right off the bat). Janna's shield can help to protect turrets but the only way (as of right now) to heal turrets is to have Heimerdinger close by (by using his passive). I have also heard of some aura items affecting turrets, but haven't found any yet. I should also include the fact that there is one turret behind the spawning fountain that does ridiculous damage in a short amount of time, so don't try and dive into an enemies respawn area. _________________________ [5.5] Neutrals These are the monsters that appear in the jungles of Summoner's Rift and the Twisted Treeline. They will all grant the champion who does the killing blow some gold and experience. I have alphabetized a list so you can see what is what. I haven't taken a huge amount of time on these guys, so there is only some basic info. Ancient Golem Appears on: Summoner's Rift Health: 1450 (+175 per minute) Damage: 110 Armor: 24 Magic Resist: -34 Attack Speed: 0.613 Movement Speed: 200 First Spawn: 1:55 Respawn: 5:00 Gold: 60 Experience: 220 Buff: Crest of the Ancient Golem (lasts for 150 seconds, transferred to any champ that slays an enemy with this, causing the timer to restart). This unit regens 1.5% mana (or energy) per second and has 24.00% cooldown reduction on their abilities. If slain, this buff transfers to the killer. Additional Notes: This guy holds a very coveted buff that allows almost any champ to spam their abilities as much as the like without having to worry about mana. Some characters can kill this at level one, allowing them to horass more or jungle easier. Also, this creep has negative magic resistance, making him more vulnerable to spells. Baron Nashor Description: This is a very powerful hostile monster, approach with caution! Killing this monster will yield great monetary and magical rewards to the team, but it should not be confronted alone. Appears on: Summoner's Rift Health: 8852 (+125 per minute) Damage: 550 Armor: 120 Magic Resist: 35 Attack Speed: 0.208 Movement Speed: immobile First Spawn: 15:00 Respawn: 7:00 Gold: 250 (global) Experience: 900 (global) Buff: Exalted with Baron Nashor (lasts 8 minutes, is removed if the champ dies) This unit's health and mana are regenerating and he enjoys increased attack damage and ability power. In other words, +40 AP, +40 Attack Damage, +3% to heatlh regenerationg, +1% to mana regeneration Additional Notes: The most powerful neutral that grants a buff that can turn the tide of the game. Be careful when you confront it because you'll soon find that your enemy likes to put a ward nearby and many team fights will erupt. I have killed this solo as Jax and Warwick, but I'm sure others can do it too. Dragon Appears on: Summoner's Rift Health: 3910 Damage: 190 Armor: 21 Magic Resist: 0 Attack Speed: 0.658 Movement Speed: 330 First Spawn: 2:30 Respawn: 5:00 Gold: 25 (130 global) Experience: 200 (global) Additional Notes: Try to kill this whenever you can because the added gold and experience really can add up over the course of a game. Giant Wolf Description: A monster that has a high chance to score a critical hit. Appears on: Summoner's Rift, Twisted Treeline Health: 550 Damage: 26 Armor: 9 Magic Resist: -20 Attack Speed: 0.679 Movement Speed: 510 Gold: 25 Experience: 90 Additional Notes: These guys can't do much to harm you, but do remember that they will attack if you have a sunfire cape on. Golem Appears on: Summoner's Rift, Twisted Treeline Health: 800 Damage: 65 Armor: 12 Magic Resist: -20 Attack Speed: 0.613 Movement Speed: 200 Gold: 30 Experience 140 Additional Notes: Two of these can replace the wolf camp from time to time. Lesser Wraith Appears on: Summoner's Rift, Twisted Treeline Health: 220 Damage: 35 Armor: 30 Magic Resist: 0 Attack Speed: 0.638 Movement Speed: 330 Gold: 12 Experience: 20 Additional Notes: Three of these appear along with a wraith in the camp. Lizard Elder Appears on: Summoner's Rift Health: 1625 Damage: 35 Armor: 24 Magic Resist: -30 Attack Speed: 0.625 Movement Speed: 330 First Spawn: 1:55 Respawn: 5:00 Gold: 60 Experience: 200 Buff: Blessing of the Lizard Elder (lasts for 150 seconds, transferred to any champ that slays an enemy with this, causing the timer to restart). This unit's physical attacks slow the target's movement speed and deal damage based on their level. If the buff holder is slain, this buff is transferred to their killer. Additional Notes: This guy holds a buff that is great for DPS because it makes your physical attacks not only slow but deal damage over time. Wolf Appears on: Summoner's Rift, Twisted Treeline Health: 400 Armor: 6 Magic Resist: 0 Attack Speed: 0.679 Movement Speed: 510 Gold: 16 Experience: 50 Additional Notes: The largest of the three wolves that appears at the camps in Summoner's Rift. Wraith Appears on: Summoner's Rift, Twisted Treeline Health: 350 Armor: 35 Magic Resist: 0 Attack Speed: 0.638 Movement Speed: 330 Gold: 35 Experience: 120 Additional Notes: The largest of the four wraiths that appears at the camps in Summoner's Rift. Young Lizard Appears on: Summoner's Rift, Twisted Treeline Health: 350 Armor: 8 Magic Resist: 0 Attack Speed: 0.679 Movement Speed: 330 Gold: 10 Experience: 30 Additional Notes: Two of these come along with the Ancient Golem and Lizard Elder camps in Summoner's Rift. _________________________ [5.6] Items Items are what makes up your "build". They greatly affect what and how much your character will do in the game. They are bought from the hooded pig just outside your respawn area (called the "fountain"). Because they have recently changed around the item menu, I will be listing the items in alphabetical order, instead of the order they appear in the menu. I'll also list my opinion on the item, from what I've seen in game. You'll need to know some info on items before you go buying them. First off, if you see UNIQUE passive or UNIQUE active, it means that the passive or active doesn't stack if you get two of the same item. For instance, if you buy 2 Madred's Bloodrazor, you'll only do 4% of their max health on strike instead of 8%, but you still stack the other effects. So with one Bloodrazor you'd get +35 AD, +40% attack speed, +30 armor, and deal 4% of the targets max health on strike. With two of them, you'd get +70 AD, +80% attack speed, +60 armor, and deal 4% of the targets max health on strike. If you see an item with a passive that doesn't have UNIQUE, then you can buy two of them and they will stack (for example, the Rod of Ages). Secondly, we have boots. Enhanced movement 1 will give you +50 move speed, enhanced movement 2 will give you +70 move speed, enhanced movement speed 3 will give you +90 movespeed, and so on. Having more than one pair of boots does NOT stack, so having Ninja Tabi and the Boots of Swiftness will not give you enhanced movement speed +5, but you'll still get the effects of both, which will grant you +25 armor and 12% dodge. The game automatically applies the movespeed from the boots that best benefits you. Say for example you have Boots of Mobility and Boots of Swiftness. Since Boots of Mobility gives you +5 move speed when you are out of combat, the game will apply that when you aren't being attacked. As soon as you are hit, however, they go down to +2 move speed. BUT because you have Boots of Swiftness, the game will now give you their move speed, because it is +3. As soon as you go out of combat for a while, the Boots of Swiftness revert back to +5, so the game then has you use them again. But we're not done. Some items like Phantom Dancer give you a percentage added to your base movement speed. Percentages DO stack with each other, so a Phantom Dancer's +15% move speed would stack with Zeal's +8% to give you a grand total of +23%. You apply this to your base move speed before applying the direct bonus of boots. But there's more to come in the puzzling calculation. You get diminishing returns with your total movement speed. Anything over 415 is reduced by 20% and anything over 490 is reduced by 50%. You can add all of this up to get your grand total. Third, we have armor. It's equation is "damage reduction = total armor / (100 + total armor)" For instance a champ with 76 armor would have about 43% reduced damage from attacks. But now we need to throw in armor penetration. Armor pen 30 would knock off 30 points of armor, so our champ with 76 armor would actually have 46 when hit, so damage would be reduced by about 32%. But this is still too simple. True damage is a tricky one. 800 true damage is supposed to knock through all armor and whatnot to do exactly 800 damage, but it doesn't. It goes through all armor and magic penetration in the game, but not OUTSIDE of the game, which is your masteries and runes. If you have a little bit of magic resist in your runes, then this 800 would be reduced. So magic resist is calculated in the same way as armor, but magic penetration can be a bit different. Some items like Void Staff give you a percentage magic penetration, as well as there being the normal magic penetration. The percentages do stack, but do so at a reduced rate, so a Void Staff which gives 40% penetration and Archaic Knowledge (a mastery) that gives +15%, the total comes out to be 49% instead of 55%. The flat penetration is applied to the enemies magic resist before percentages so a champ with 40 flat penetration and 40 percent penetration using a spell against an enemy with 100 magic resist, the enemy would be treated as if they had 36 magic resist. Moving on to attack speed, to find your total you can simply use the equation "attack speed = base speed + (base speed * bonus speed from items/ masteries/runes/etc.) + (level * attack speed gained per level)". For instance a level 4 Twitch (who has a base attack speed of 0.68 and gains 3.2% per level) with a dagger (+15%) and no other runes/masteries/etc. increasing attack speed, the equation would be "attack speed = 0.68 + (0.68 * 0.15) + (4 * 0.032) to come out with a grand total of 0.91 attacks a second. Note that attack speed caps at 2.5 attacks per second. Cooldown reduction is peculiar. It is unique among the same item, but not among different items. For instance if you have 2 Deathfire Grasp (+15%), you'll only get a total of +15%. However if you have a Deathfire Grasp (+15%) and a Fiendish Codex (+10%), you'll get a grand total of +25%. Cooldown reduction caps at 40%. Dodge is how likely you are to avoid a physical attack from your enemy. You can have 2 of the same item that gives dodge chance (or two different items) and you'll still receive dodge chance from both of them, but with each point you get, the less each point counts for. Spell vamp and lifesteal each convert a percentage of damage done to the enemy into health for you. Spell vamp is for magic damage, while lifesteal is for physical damage. The percentage is applied after magic resistance/ armor. Now that we have all of that useless knowledge with us, we can look at the items themselves. [5.6.1] Consumables These items are used once, then they disappear from your inventory forever. Item Price Stats Elixir of Agility 250 Grants +12-22% Attack Speed, based on champion level, and 8% Critical Strike for 4 minutes. -This can be great if your build relies on critical strike, because it gives this and attack speed. You should usually save this for the latter phases of the game when your build is more complete to get its full benefits. It can also be used if you are losing the game, because its stat to gold ratio is excellent, even if it only lasts for 4 minutes Elixir of Brilliance 250 Grants +20-40 ability power, based on champion level, and reduces cooldowns by 10% for 4 minutes. -If you are a caster, this item is great at any point in the game. Elixir of Fortitude 250 +140-235 health and 10 attack damage, based on champion level, for 4 minutes -This item can be switched out for your starting item, because it can be used like heal in the early game, instantly restoring health to you in a situation where you would otherwise die. It also gives massive attack and health benefits to anyone who uses it in the laning phase, which can help them gank others. But despite all of its uses, remember that it only lasts for 4 minutes, then it is gone forever. Health Potion 35 Restores 200 health over 20 seconds -Mostly used at the start of the game to sustain a champions health, this is almost ubiquitous during the laning phase. Mana Potion 40 Restores 100 mana over 20 seconds -Again, the mana potion is mostly used in the early game to help champs who run low on mana Oracle's Elixir 400 Stealth detection to champion until death -This is great if you are facing off against Twitch, Evelynn, Shaco, Teemo, or if the enemy is spamming sight wards. Be careful, though, because when a stealthy character sees you with this, they will hunt you to the end of the earth. Sight Ward 75 Places an invisible ward with 1100 range. Lasts 3 minutes, max: 3 stacks. -This is a truly great item. It only costs 90 gold, and can prevent you from being ganked time and time again. Place these in between the middle lane and your side lane to prevent any surprises from your enemies, and place them throughout the jungle when the laning phase ends, so you know what your enemy is doing. Vision Ward 125 Places an invisible ward with 1000 range magical sight (can see invisible units), lasts 3 minutes, max: 3 stacks. -These are like Sight Wards, but use these when you are going up against champs that can go invisible. [5.6.2] Basic Items These items are used to build into other items, and are the start of the "recipe". Item Price Stats Builds Amplifying Tome 435 +20 Ability Power Fiendish Codex, Kage's Lucky Pick, Mejai's Soulstealer, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Sheen, Haunting Guise, Hextech Revolver, Void Staff, Will of the Ancients -A possible starting item that builds into many more useful items. B. F. Sword 1850 +50 Attack Damage Infinity Edge, The Black Cleaver, The Bloodthirster -The most expensive basic item, this gives a whopping +50 AD and builds into other high AD items. Great if you are a physical DPS. Blasting Wand 860 +40 Ability Power Abyssal Scepter, Archangel's Staff, Guinsoo's Rageblade, Lich Bane, Rod of Ages, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Zhonya's Ring, Void Staff -Pretty much the same as the Amplifying Tome, but doubled. Boots of Speed 350 Enhanced Movement +1 Berserker's Greaves, Boots of Mobility, Boots of Swiftness, Mercury's Treads, Ninja Tabi, Sorcerer's Shoes -The default boot that builds every other one. You could try to have this as your starting item along with a few potions. Brawler's Gloves 400 +8% Critical Strike Avarice Blade, Executioner's Calling, Zeal -Some champs relying on critical chance (Gangplank, Tryndamere) can try having this as their starting item. Chain Vest 700 +40 Armor Atma's Impaler, Frozen Heart, Guardian Angel, Sunfire Cape, Thornmail, Warden's Mail -This is a step on to building some of the best tanky items such as Guardian Angel, Sunfire Cape, and Thornmail. Cloak of Agility 880 +18% Critical Strike Atma's Impaler, Infinity Edge, Phantom Dancer -Known for building the Infinity Edge and the Phantom Dancer. Cloth Armor 300 +18 Armor Aegis of the Legion, Frozen Heart, Guardian Angel, Heart of Gold, Madred's Razors, Ninja Tabi, Thornmail -This combined with 5 Health Potions makes up the basis of most jungler builds, as it can build into Madred's Razors. Dagger 420 +15% Attack Speed Berserker's Greaves, Malady, Phantom Dancer, Stinger, Zeal, Sword of the Divine -Some physical DPS could try this as a starting item with potions. Doran's Blade 475 +100 Health, +9 Damage, +3% Life Steal -Doran's items are a good way to start out the game, as they offer a nice damage boost for last hitting minions. Even with the 100 health, you'll still be vulnerable to harassment, however. Doran's Ring 475 +100 Health, +5 Mana Regen/5 sec +15 Ability Power -The Doran's item for casters Doran's Shield 475 +120 Health +10 Armor +8 Health Regen/5 sec -Doran's item for tanks, but it can be used for DPS as well Faerie Charm 180 +3 Mana Regen/5 sec Mana Manipulator, Tear of the Goddess, Tiamat -The cheapest non-consumable item in the game, this can still be valuable to casters Giants Belt 1100 +430 Health Frozen Mallet, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Soul Shroud, Sunfire Cape Warmog's Armor -Adds a hefty amount of health to any champion. Long Sword 415 +10 Attack Damage Last Whisper, Madred's Razors, Phage, Tiamat, The Black Cleaver, The Brutalizer -Could be used as a starting item, and is also used to build many higher level AD weapons. Meki Pendant 390 +7 Mana Regen/5 Sec Chalice of Harmony, Fiendish Codex, Philosopher's Stone -If your champ runs low on mana early-game, this is where you should turn. Some mana potions can also be included. Needlessly Large Rod 1600 +80 Ability Power Zhonya's Ring -Adds a huge amount of AP and always builds into the mighty Zhonya's Negatron Cloak 740 +48 Magic Resistance Abyssal Scepter, Banshee's Veil, Force of Nature, Quicksilver Sash -Usually bought on the way to higher level items. Null Magic Mantle 400 +24 Magic Resistance Aegis of the Legion, Chalice of Harmony, Guardian Angel, Mercury's Treads, Spirit Visage, Wit's End, Lich Bane -Again, usually bought on the way to higher tier items. Pickaxe 975 +25 Attack Damage Bilgewater Cutlass, Guinsoo's Rageblade, Infinity Edge, Madred's Bloodrazor, Tiamat -Critical for a number of higher tier items. Recurve Bow 1075 +40% Attack Speed Last Whisper, Madred's Bloodrazor, Sword of the Divine, Stark's Fervor, Wit's End -A very powerful item that will drastically increase your attack speed. Regrowth Pendant 475 +15 Health Regen/5 sec Philosopher's Stone, Force of Nature, Warmog's Armor -A very popular starting item, this will allow you to endure all but the most dedicated harassers. You won't be able to buy any health potions at the start of the match, though. Rejuvenation Bead 250 +8 Health Regen/5 sec Emblem of Valour, Spirit Visage, Tiamat, Warden's Mail -If you want health regen AND some health potions, you could take this instead of a Regrowth Pendant. Alternatively, you could take the Faerie Charm as well if you need mana. Ruby Crystal 475 +180 Health Aegis of the Legion, Catalyst the Protector, Haunting Guise, Heart of Gold, Leviathan, Phage, Warmog's Armor -Dedicated tanks can take this as their first item. Sapphire Crystal 400 200 Mana Sheen, Tear of the Goddess, Catalyst the Protector, Glacial Shroud -If your champion needs a large amount of mana at the start of the game (for example: Veigar, Signed), you can get this to start out with. Vampiric Scepter 450 +12% Life Steal Bilgewater Cutlass, Emblem of Valour, Executioner's Calling, Malady, The Bloodthirster, Wriggle's Lantern -The start of every other lifesteal item, although it is possible to buy this from the start, you may want to consider other options first. [5.6.3] Advanced Items An advanced item is one that can be built out of some arrangement of basic items. Most of them have some sort of passive or active (you have to click on the item to use an active). Some of them can go on to build legendary items, which provide even better stats. Item Price Stats Ability Builds Recipe Abyssal Scepter 2650 +70 Ability UNIQUE Aura - Blasting Power, +60 Reduces the Wand, Magic Magic Negatron Resistance Resistance of Cloak nearby enemy champions by 20 -Because it grants ability power and magic resistance, it is exceptional on any mage-tank hybrid, especially against a team of casters. Aegis of the Legion 1925 +270 Health, UNIQUE Aura - Ruby +18 Armor, +12 Armor, +24 Crystal, +24 Magic Magic Resist, Null-Magic Resistance +8 Attack Mantle, Damage to Cloth Armor nearby allied units -This is essential to any support champ that wants to help their team survive, like Soraka. Atma's Impaler 2405 +50 Armor, UNIQUE Passive - Cloak of +18% Your physical Agility, Critical damage is Chain Vest Strike increased by 2% of your maximum health -High health champs get the most benefit out of this, and if you see your enemies not focusing you when you are a tank, you could take this to make yourself more threatening. Avarice Blade 750 +12% Gain an Youmuu's Brawler's Critical additional 5 Ghostblade Gloves Strike gold every 10 seconds -Many people like these kinds of items because of the extra gold they give. Generally speaking, you should only have 1-2 of these max, because anything else would be a waste (because you have to sell them back to get slots available for better items). This pays for itself every 25 minutes. Berserker's Greaves 920 +25% Attack UNIQUE - Enhanced Dagger, Speed movement 2 Boots of Speed -These boots are best on physical DPS because of the attack speed they bring. Bilgewater Cutlass 1900 +35 Attack UNIQUE Active- Hextech Pickaxe, Damage, +15% Deals 200 magic Gunblade Vampiric Life Steal damage and slows Scepter the target champion for 2 seconds (400 range). 60 second cooldown -This is usually just an item that AP/AD hybrids buy when going for the Hextech Gunblade. Boots of Mobility 1000 UNIQUE - Boots of Enhanced Speed movement 2. When out of combat for 5 seconds the effect of these boots is increased to enhanced movement 5 -Great if you need to gank a lot or you have a very slow character. Watch out though, because once you are attacked, your movespeed will drop dramatically. Boots of Swiftness 1000 UNIQUE - Boots of Enhaced Speed movement 3 -If you have a slow champ (310 movespeed or less), then these are a must to escape deadly situations. Catalyst the 1325 +290 Health, Restores 300 Banshee's Ruby Protector +325 Mana Health and 250 Veil, Crystal, mana upon Innervating Sapphire leveling up Locket, Rod Crystal of Ages -If you see one of these early on in the game, it almost always means that the champ will get a Rod of Ages. Chalice of Harmony 890 +30 Magic UNIQUE Passive - Meki Resistance, Increases your Pendant, +7.5 Mana Mana Regen by Null-Magic Regen/5 1% per 1% you Mantle sec are missing -For a low price, this item has a great unique ability. When you are completely out of mana, your mana regen is doubled. This helps champs that need some mana but aren't going AP (Master Yi, for example). Emblem of Valour 800 +17% Life UNIQUE Aura - Stark's Vampiric Steal Nearby allied Fervor Scepter, champions gain Rejuvenation 10 Health Bead Regen 5/sec -This is great for laning and is still effective during the latter parts of the game, when you have bought Starks Fervor, of course. Executioner's 1600 +18% UNIQUE Passive - Brawler's Calling Life Steal, On hit, you Gloves, +15% cause 4 damage Vampiric Critical per second for Scepter Strike 8 seconds. UNIQUE Active - Attacks inflict enemy with Grievious Wounds, causing 50% reduced healing for 8 seconds. 20 second cooldown. -If you need critical strike and lifesteal (Tryndamere perhaps), than this item is for you. Fiendish Codex 1245 +30 Ability UNIQUE Passive- Deathfire Meki Power, +7 10% cooldown Grasp, Pendant, Mana Regen/5 reduction Nashor's Amplifying sec Tooth Tome -A good item to get the first time you go back to the shop because it grants additional ability power as well as mana regen AND builds into two good items. Force of Nature 2690 +76 Magic UNIQUE Passive- Regrowth Resistance, Restores 0.35% Pendant, +40 HP of your Regrowth Regen/5 sec, champions Pendant, +8% Movement maximum health Negatron Speed every second Cloak -If you are a HP stacking tank who needs health regen, look no further. This is especially useful if you are going up against a team of mages. Glacial Shroud 1675 +425 Mana, UNIQUE Passive- Frozen Sapphire +45 Armor Reduces ability Heart Crystal, cooldowns by Chain Vest 20% -Best for mage/tanks such as Nunu, Sion, or Singed. Guardian Angel 2600 +68 Armor, UNIQUE Passive- Null-Magic +40 Magic Revives your Mantle, Resistance champion upon Cloth death, restoring Armor, 40% of their Chain Vest Health and Mana. This effect can only occur once every 5 minutes. -This is VERY useful for tanks because it not only makes them more resistant to damage, but also alows them to charge right into the middle of battle without fear of dying (so long as they can get away with 40% of their health). Guinsoo's Rageblade 2235 +35 Attack Passive - On attack, Pickaxe, Damage, +45 increases your Blasting Ability Attack Speed by Wand Power 4% and Ability Power by 6. Lasts 5 seconds (stacks up to 8 times). -There are a number of things that make this item unique. First off, its named after the designer of the game (Steve "Guinsoo"). Secondly, it is one of only 3 items that gives ability power and attack damage. Finally, it is the only item that stacks with every attack. Because it gives AP and attack speed, it is ideal for AP/AD hybrids, such as Jax and Akali. Haunting Guise 1485 +200 Health, UNIQUE Passive- Ruby +25 Ability +20 Magic Crystal, Power Penetration Amplifying Tome -Good if you are a mage in need of more health. Heart of Gold 975 +200 Health, Generates 5 Randuin's Ruby +27 Armor Gold every 10 Omen Crystal, Seconds Cloth Armor -Because tanks don't get many kills, many will be tempted to add 1 or 2 of these onto their champion builds. Just keep in mind that you should never get more than two of these during one game, as you'll be at a net loss of gold when you have to sell these for better items. This pays for itself in 32 and a half minutes, or 16 minutes and 16 seconds if you plan to sell it off. Hexdrinker 1800 +35 Attack UNIQUE Passive- Long Damage, +30 If you would Sword, Magic take damage Long Resistance which would Sword, leave you with Null- less than 30% Magic of your maximum Mantle Health, you first gain a shield which absorbs 300 magic damage for 4 seconds. 60 second cooldown. -A mid game item than can help physical damage dealers if they are in a game with a bunch of burst AP mages. Hextech Revolver 1200 +40 Ability Hextech Amplifying Power, +10% Gunblade Tome, Spell Vamp Amplifying Tome -This is good for mages but will build into a AP/AD hybrid item, so it is best for those types of champs. Infinity Edge 4080 +80 Attack UNIQUE Passive- BF Sword, Damage, Critical hits Pickaxe, +20% now deal 250% Cloak of Critical damage instead Agility Strike of 200% -Even though its only an advanced item (because its made out of all basic items), this is the most expensive thing in the game, and for good reason. It gives the highest attack boost of any item (the Bloodthirster gives more, but only with its passive). It also grants a larger chance of getting a critical hit, and makes them 50% more damaging. This is essential for any champ or build focusing on getting critical hits (you'll almost always see this on Tryndamere, and often times on ranged physical DPS). Ionian Boots of 1050 UNIQUE Passive- Boots of Lucidity Enhanced Speed Movement Speed 2, 15% Cooldown Reduction -Good on champs that need a fair amount of cooldown reduction but don't rely too heavily on their boots to escape. Kage's Lucky Pick 765 +25 Ability Passive - Deathfire Amplifying Power Generates 5 Grasp Tome Gold every 10 seconds -The gold generating item for mages. As always, don't get more than two (although only one is advised). This takes 25 minutes and 30 seconds to pay for itself, or 12 minutes and 46 seconds if you plan to sell it. Kindlegem 850 +200 Health UNIQUE Passive- Shurelya's Ruby Crystal 10% Cooldown Reverie, Reduction Soul Shroud, Spirit Visage -Good on tanks who need cooldown reduction. Last Whisper 1965 +10 Attack UNIQUE Passive- Long Sword, Damage, Attacks penetrate Recurve +40% Attack 40% of the Bow Speed defender's armor -Because of the 40% armor penetration, this is good if you are going up against a beefy team of tanks. Combined it with Madreds Bloodrazor to maximize efficiency. Leviathan 1275 +180 Health UNIQUE Passive- Ruby Your champion Crystal gains 32 health per stack, receiving 2 stacks for a kill and 1 stack for an assist. This effect can stack up to 20 times; you lose a third of your stacks if you die. At 20 stacks, your champion takes 15% less damage. -The snowball item for tanks, be careful if you decide to use it. Since tanks "usually" don't get many kills, you may have to get stacks entirely from assists. While this will make your champion have more health, it can have the effect of making you more cautious to preserve your stacks, and tanks simply cannot afford that luxury. Madred's Razors 1000 +15 Attack UNIQUE Passive- Madred's Long Damage, +23 15% chance on Bloodrazor, Sword, Armor attack to deal Wriggle's Cloth 500 damage to a Lantern Armor minion -This is good if you plan to jungle, because of the extra damage to minions and neutrals. Malady 1825 +25 Ability UNIQUE Passive- Dagger, Power, Your physical Dagger, +50% Attack attacks shred Amplifying Speed your target, Tome doing 20 magic damage and reducing their magic resistance by 6 for 8 seconds. Stacks up to 4 Times -Good for AP/AD hybrids. Mana Manipulator 475 UNIQUE Aura - Innervating Faerie +7.2 mana Locket, Charm, regen (per 5) Soul Shroud Faerie to nearby Charm champions -If you are a support champion laning with a mage, this item can help sustain your pushes. Mejai's Soulstealer 1235 +20 Ability UNIQUE Passive- Amplifying Power Your champion Tome gains 8 ability power per stack, receiving 2 stacks for a kill or 1 stack for an assist. This effect can stack 20 times; you lose a third of your stacks if you die. At 20 stacks, your champions cooldowns are reduced by 15% -The snowball item for mages. Just be careful that you don't die too many times for this to be effective. Mercury's Treads 1200 +25 Magic UNIQUE - Boots of Resistance Enhanced Movement Speed, 2. UNIQUE Null- Passive - Magic Reduces the Mantle duration of stuns, slows, taunts, fears, snares, sleeps, and immobilizers bt 35% -If you see that your enemy has lots of stuns (or CC of any kind) than these are absolutely essential if you wish to survive. Ninja Tabi 850 +25 Armor, UNIQUE - Boots of +12% Dodge Enhanced Speed, movement 2 Cloth Armor -These are essentially the boots of tanks (although Jax always has them too). Phage 1315 +225 Health, 25% chance on Frozen Ruby +18 Attack hit to reduce Mallet, Crystal, Damage your target's Trinity Long Sword movement Force speed by 30% for 2.5 seconds -If you are a tank/AD hybrid, this is for you. This is also good for tanks who simply wish to slow their enemies. Philosopher's 1090 +10 Mana Gain an Regrowth Stone Regen/5 sec, additional Pendant, +22.5 Health 5 gold every Meki Regen/5 sec 10 seconds Pendant -Another gold over time item. This one features health and mana regen, so it is a good option to go for as soon as you have enough gold. You should only buy 1 of these, because the regen is good during the laning phase, but is worth less during the team fight portion. This pays for itself in 37 minutes and 10 seconds, or 18 minutes and 36 seconds if you sell it. Quicksilver Sash 1440 +48 Magic Active - Removes Negatron Resistance all debuffs from Cloak your character. 120 second cooldown. -The only item to have a non unique passive, this was added after the nerf of the summoner spell Cleanse. This will remove ALL debuffs, including CC and damage over time. Rulai's Crystal 3105 +550 Health, Passive - Amplifying Scepter +80 Ability Your spell Tome, Power damage slows Blasting the target's Wand, movement speed Giant's by 35% for 1.5 Belt seconds (15% for multi- target spells) -Great for mages because it not only gives AP and a huge amount of health, but your spells slow your targets, making it much more difficult for them to run away. Sheen 1260 +250 Mana, UNIQUE Passive +25 Ability Every time you Power use an ability, your next physical attack deals 80% extra base damage -This can be good for AP/AD hybrids... to an extent. Note that the passive does not stack with Trinity Force or Lich Bane. Sorcerer's Shoes 1100 +20 Magic UNIQUE - Boots of Penetration Enhanced Speed Movement 2 -These boots are primarily used for mages. Stinger 1140 +40% Attack UNIQUE Passive- Nashor's Dagger, Speed 10% cooldown Tooth Dagger reduction -This is good if you plan on being an AD/AP hybrid, because of the increased attack speed and cooldown reduction Sunfire Cape 2510 +450 Health UNIQUE passive- Chain Vest, +45 Armor 40 magic damage Giant's a second to Belt nearby enemies -A very common item. It is great on tanks because it lets them charge into the middle of combat and do 40 damage to all enemies every second. Sword of the 2170 +55% Attack UNIQUE Passive- Recurve Divine Speed Every fourth Bow, attack deals Dagger 100 extra Magic Damage. UNIQUE Active- Your attacks cannot be dodged and you gain 30 armor penetration for 8 seconds (40 second cooldown). -An item best suited for physical DPS. This an effective counter against enemies that seem to be dodging your attacks a lot (Jax). Sword of the 1369 +10 Attack UNIQUE Passive- Long Sword Occult Damage your champion gains +5 damage per stack, receiving two stacks for a kill or one stack for an assist. You lose a third of your stacks if you die. At 20 stacks, your champion's movement speed is increased by 15% -The final edition in a trio of snowball items. Once again, this is great if you can get enough kills but be careful about buying it if you seem to be dying a lot. Tear of the 980 +350 Mana, UNIQUE Passive- Archangel's Faerie Goddess +5 mana Each time your Staff Charm, regen/5 sec champion uses Sapphire an ability Crystal their maximum mana will increase by 4 mana. This effect has a 3 second cooldown. Bonus caps at 1000 mana -Perfect for any mage that runs low on mana. This can be built into the mighty Archangel's for tons of ability power. The Black Cleaver 3065 +75 Attack Physical attacks Dagger, Damage reduce your BF Sword target's armor by 15 for 5 seconds (maximum 3 stacks) -Offers a huge amount of damage and armor reduction. Good for physical DPS who need damage to counter a tanky team. The Bloodthirster 3200 +60 Attack Passive - Gain an Vampiric +15% Life additional 1 Scepter, Steal physical damage BF Sword and 0.25% life steal per kill. Maximum of +40 damage and +10% life steal. Bonuses are lost upon death -Because you get +1 attack for every minion you kill, the maximum stats of this item is +100 attack and +25% life steal. This essentially makes this item give more attack than any other item in the game. It also gives a hefty amount of life steal, which allows you to stay out in the field longer. Best on physical DPS. The Brutalizer 1337 +25 Attack UNIQUE Passive- Youmuu's Long Sword, Damage Reduces ability Ghostblade Long Sword cooldowns by 10% and +15 armor penetration -Usually bought on the way to Youmuu's, good if you use abilities a lot but are primarily a DPS. Thornmail 2000 +100 Armor UNIQUE Passive- Cloth On being hit by Armor, standard attacks, Chain Vest returns 30% of damage taken as magic damage. A minimum of 15 damage must be received -The best counter for a team of physical DPS. This is great on tanks or anyone who is soaking up a lot of damage. Tiamat 2070 +42 Attack Passive - Your Pickaxe, Damage, +15 attacks splash, Long Sword, HP regen/5 dealing physical Faerie sec, +4 damage in a small Charm, mana regen area around the Rejuvenation 5/sec target Bead -The Tiamat is a weird little item. It deals 50% splash for melee attacks and 33% for ranged. It is good on physical DPS but also helps mages with its mana regen. It's passive stacks, so multiple Tiamats can lead to some interesting results. Void Staff 2295 +70 Ability UNIQUE Passive- Amplifying Power 40% magic Tome, penetration Blasting Wand -This is especially good for mages who have to deal with magic resistance stacking tanks. Warden's Mail 1350 +60 Armor, Passive - 20% Randuin's Chain Vest, +25 HP chance to Omen Rejuvenation regen/5 sec reduce physical Bead attacker's movement and attack speed by 35% for 3 seconds -A tank item that can hinder the attack and escape mechanisms of physical DPS. Warmog's Armor 3150 +770 Health,Passive - Giant's +30 Health Permanently gain Belt, Regen/5 sec 3.6 health and Ruby .5 health regen Crystal, per 5 sec per Regrowth minion kill. Pendant Champion kills grant 36 health and 5 health regen per 5 sec. Bonuses cap at +450 health and +62.5 health regen per 5 -An item that is good for tanks who need lots of health and can farm creeps quickly... I really can't think of one though. Wit's End 2150 +40% Attack UNIQUE Passive- Recurve Speed, +30 Physical attacks Bow, Null- Magic remove up to 42 Magic Resistance mana from the Mantle target and deal additional damage equal to the amount of mana removed. -If you are a physical DPS facing off against mages, this is the item for you. Zeal 1195 +20% Attack Phantom Dagger, Speed, +10% Dancer, Brawler's Critical Trinity Gloves Strike, +8% Force Movement Speed -This not only increases your chance to get a critical strike, but also makes you move and attack faster. Great if you have a champion build that uses critical strike. Zhonya's 3300 +50 Armor, UNIQUE Active- Chain Vest, Hourglass +100 Ability Places your Needlessly Power champion into Large Rod stasis for 2 seconds, rendering you invulnerable and unable to take any action. 90 second cooldown. -An extremely powerful item in the right hands, several champion's abilities, such as Fiddlestick's and Kennen's Ult will still do damage while the active is engaged [5.6.4] Legendary Items A legendary item is something that is built out of 1 or more advanced items, and can also be made up of basic items. These are the final tier and usually offer the best effects. These are the epitome of any build, and can radically alter how useful your champion is in the game. Item Price Stats Ability Recipe Archangel's 2840 +400 Mana, +25 Passive - 3% of your Tear of the Staff Mana Regen/5 sec, max mana is converted Goddess, +45 Ability Power into ability power Blasting UNIQUE Passive - Each Wand time your champion uses an ability their maximum mana will increase by 4 mana (capped at 1000). This effect has a 3 second cooldown -A great choice for all mages because it will be quite difficult to run out of mana. It also gives a nice sized chunk of AP too. Banshee's 2715 +450 Health, UNIQUE Passive - Blocks Negatron Veil +400 Mana, +57 one negative spell Cloak, Magic Resistance every 45 seconds Catalyst the Protector -Counters burst-mages extremely well, and gives some awesome health and mana, making it an extremely valuable item. Deathfire 2610 +60 Ability UNIQUE Passive - 15% Kage's Lucky Grasp Power, +15 Mana cooldown reduction Pick, Regen/5 sec UNIQUE Active - Deals Fiendish magic damage to target Codex champion equal to 30% of their current health (+3.5% per 100 ability power) with a minimum of 200 damage. 1 minute cooldown. -This is great on champions with a high amount of AP (due to the active), such as Veigar. Frozen Heart 2800 +99 Armor, +500 UNIQUE Passive- Reduces Cloth Armor, Mana cooldowns by 20% and Cloth Armor, reduces the attack Glacial speed of nearby enemies Shroud by 20% -Another good item for mage/tanks, this time featuring armor, mana, and an aura that reduces the attack speed of nearby enemies. Frozen Mallet 3290 +700 Health, +20 UNIQUE Passive-Physical Phage, Attack Damage attacks slow enemy's Giant's Belt movement speed by 30% for 2.25 seconds -A rare find because it is not only good for tanks but also for physical DPS. It adds a good deal of survivability to melee physical DPS, and helps slow so your enemy cannot escape. Similar to Rylai's. Hextech 3700 +60 Attack UNIQUE Active - Deals Hextech Gunblade Damage, +75 300 magic damage and Revolver, Ability Power, slows the target Bilgewater +15% Life Steal, champion by 50% for 3 Cutlass +13% Spell Vamp seconds (700 range). 60 second cooldown. -Besides Guinsoo's this is the best item for AP/AD hybrids. This one almost seems to be custom made for Akali Innervating 2650 +475 Health, UNIQUE Aura - Restores Mana Locket +450 Mana 9 mana to nearby allies Manipulator, every 5 seconds Catalyst the UNIQUE Passive - Using Protector an ability buffs surrounding champions to restore 50 health and 20 mana over 2 seconds. This effect has a 4 second cooldown -Good for any tank or support who stays around their allies. Lich Bane 3470 +350 Mana, +80 UNIQUE - When you use Sheen, Null- Ability Power, an ability, your next Magic Mantle, +30 Magic physical attack deals Blasting Resistance, +7% an additional 100% of Wand Movement Speed your ability power in damage. This effect has a 3 second cooldown -This can allow hybrid builds for champions with high AP ratios, such as Ezreal or Master Yi. Note that this passive does not stack with Sheen or Trinity Force. Madred's 3800 +35 Attack UNIQUE Passive - On hit, Madred's Bloodrazor Damage, +40 deals magic damage Razors, Attack Speed, equal to 4% of the Pickaxe, +30 Armor target's maximum health Recurve Bow -The best counter against a team of tanks. This becomes devastating if a champion uses this with high attack speed. Manamune 2110 +350 Mana, UNIQUE Passive - 2% of Tear of the +7 Mana Regen/ your max Mana is Goddess, 5 sec, +20 converted to Attack Long Sword Attack Damage Damage UNIQUE Passive - Each time you attack, you gain one maximum mana (3 second cooldown). Each time you use an ability, you gain four maximum mana. Bonuses cap at 1000 mana. -The physical equivalent of the Archmage's Staff, this is perfect for physical champs that need large amounts of mana to be effective. Morello's 2350 +75 Ability UNIQUE Passive - +20% Fiendish Evil Tome Power, +12 Cooldown Reduction Codex, Mana regen/ Blasting Wand 5 sec -Very similar to Deathfire Grasp, this item sacrifices the active to gain slightly superior stats. Nashor's 2885 +50% Attack UNIQUE Passive - +25% Stinger, Tooth Speed, +55 Cooldown Reduction Fiendish Ability Power, Codex +10 Mana Regen/ 5 sec -This lets you attack faster with both attack speed and cooldown reduction. It is similar to Guinsoo's Rageblade. Phantom 3395 +45% Attack Zeal, Dagger, Dancer Speed, +30% Cloak of Critical Strike, Agility +20% Dodge, +15% Movement Speed -A purely stat-boosting item that is best on physical DPS who wish to make a critical strike build. Randuin's 2925 +300 Health, +90 UNIQUE Passive - 5% Warden's Omen Armor, +25 cooldown reduction and Mail, Heart Health Regen/ 20% chance on being hit of Gold 5 sec to slow the attacker's movement and attack speed by 35% for 3 seconds. UNIQUE Active - Slows movement speed and attack speed of surrounding units by 35% for 2 second +0.5 seconds for each 100 armor and magic resist. 60 second cooldown -Tank item that is great in use for team fights. Rod of Ages 3035 +450 Health, Passive - Your champion Catalyst the +525 Mana, +60 gains 18 health, 20 Protector, Ability Power mana, and 2 ability Blasting Wand power every 1 min. Bonuses cap at +180 health, +200 mana, and +20 ability power -A popular mage item that's useful because it gives all important health while still contributing to mana and ability power. If you plan on getting it, it should be your 1st or 2nd purchase, as the passive takes 10 minutes to develop. Shurelya's 2200 +330 Health, UNIQUE Active - Nearby Kindlegem, Reverie +30 Health champions Movement Philosopher's Regen/5 sec, Speed is increased by Stone +15 Mana Regen/ 40% for 3 seconds. per 5 sec 60 second cooldown UNIQUE Passive - Reduces ability cooldowns by 15% -Good on tanks because the passive can be activated to save your allies. Spirit 1550 +30 Magic UNIQUE Passive - Null - Magic Visage Resistance, Cooldowns are Mantle, +250 Health reduced by 10% and Kindlegem increases your healing and regeneration on yourself by 15% Soul Shroud 2325 +520 Health UNIQUE Aura - Gives Mana nearby champions 12 Manipulator, mana per 5 seconds and Giant's 15% reduced cooldowns Belt -If you are a support and you see that your allies are mostly mages, then this is the item for you. Stark's 2550 +20% Attack UNIQUE Aura - Gives Emblem of Fervor Speed nearby allied champions Valour, 20% life steal, 20% Recurve Bow attack speed, and 30 health regen per 5. Reduces the armor of nearby champions by 20 -The sister item of Malady, this is probably the better choice if you plan to be team fighting. Trinity 4070 +20 Attack UNIQUE Passive - 25% Sheen, Phage, Force Damage, +30 chance on hit to slow Zeal Ability Power, the target by 35% for +25% Attack 2.5 seconds; on cast, Speed, +12% increases your base Critical Strike, attack damage by 130% +12% Movement for one attack Speed, +300 Health, +300 Mana -Obviously the most versatile item in the game. It isn't seen much, however, as many builds rely on building a few particular stats, rather than a general improvement of the champion. Note that this passive does not stack with Sheen or Lich Bane. Will of the 2400 +40 Ability UNIQUE Aura - Gives Hextech Ancients Power nearby allied champions Revolver, +30 ability power and Amplifying +15% spell vamp Tome -One of the few items to give spell vamp, this is best used if your team has a lot of mages. Wriggle's 1525 +23 Attack UNIQUE Passive - 20% Madred's Lantern Damage, +30 chance on attack to Razors, Armor, +14% deal 500 damage to a Vampiric Life Steal minion Scepter UNIQUE Active - Places an invisible ward with 1100 range sight and lasts for 3 minutes. 3 minute cooldown -A very cost efficient item, if you find that your team doesn't place many wards around and your team is being ganked a lot, than this might be your solution. Youmuu's 2687 +30 Attack UNIQUE Passive - Avarice Ghostblade Damage, +15% Reduces cooldowns by Blade, The Critical Strike 15% and +20 armor Brutalizer penetration UNIQUE Active - Gives 20% movement speed and +50% attack speed for 4 seconds. Attacking enemy units with melee attacks increases the duration by 2 to a maximum of 8 seconds. 60 second cooldown -A great item for any DPS champion, and in particular, one that is getting attack speed. _________________________ [5.7] General Tips Here is a random assortment of tips and tricks that I have found through my play through the game. -Leaving one neutral alive in a camp keeps it from respawning. This is particularly useful when clearing out the enemies Ancient Golem and Lizard Elder camps. -DO NOT get cocky after you have won a string of team fights and go off by yourself. If the enemy is intelligent, they will group up and only fight on uneven terms (1 v 5 for example). I have seen too many games thrown away to ever go off by myself after the laning phase is over. -The ping feature (hotkey: G) is your friend when alerting your allies of a potential gank. -If you ping an enemy, they will get crosshairs above them. The last time I checked, you can use this on Shaco before he uses his clone and you can tell which one is the real deal. -Continue watching your champ until they have fully teleported back to base. You would be amazed at how many kills have happened when someone just walks up to a ranged carry and starts destroying them. By the time they know whats going on, its usually too late. -Go in brushes if you can to teleport back to base. -Be careful about teleporting if you have low health. Enemies can snipe you out from under towers, brushes, and allies. -It's YOUR job to watch the minimap, not your allies job to call out MIAs. -An extension from the tip above, don't yell at your allies if you make a stupid mistake. It's not their fault that you didn't watch the minimap and died. It's not their job to call out MIAs. -Don't yell at your allies if they make a stupid mistake either. We all make stupid mistakes. Raging will only get you reported, an AFK, or a team mate that intentionally feeds. -You cannot be reported for offering "constructive" comments to your allies. You also cannot be reported for being a bad player, so long as you don't intentionally feed (i.e. taking Pantheon and jumping into the enemies spawning pool and dying to the fountain turret) ========================================================================== [6] Outside Preparation ========================================================================== One of the biggest attractions about this game is the fact that you gain levels OUTSIDE of the game as well. You can also buy various runes and champions, and attain new summoner spells as well. Although it does take quite a few games to unlock a new champion, the feeling of accomplishment is well worth it. _________________________ [6.1] Summoner Level Every time you complete a game, you earn both IP and XP. Experience goes towards leveling up your 'summoner', or your profile out of game. Each time you level up, you are granted access to new, more powerful runes, and a larger array of summoner spells. To maximize your XP rate, there are a few things you can do. Winning games will generally give you about 150 XP while losing a game will give you around 80. The game rewards you for winning quickly or losing slowly, so even if you know you won't win, stretching out the game can net you a few more XP. Experience per game is also affected by how many towers you destroyed, champions killed, assists, etc. Unfortunately, the exact formula isn't know. Level XP Needed Rewards 1 0 none; default level; begin with one Mark rune slot available, one mastery available, and summoner spells Exhaust, Ghost, Heal, Revive, Smite, and Teleport 2 90 first Seal slot in runeboook, another mastery, summoner spell Cleanse 3 98 first Glyph slot in runebook, another mastery 4 105 another Mark slot, another mastery, summoner spell Fortify 5 113 another Seal slot, another mastery 6 448 another Glyph slot, another mastery, summoner spell Clarity 7 476 another Mark slot, another mastery, summoner spell Ignite 8 504 another Seal slot, another mastery, summoner spell Rally 9 532 another Glyph slot, another mastery 10 560 first Quintessence slot in runebook, another mastery, summoner spell Clairvoyance, ability to buy tier two runes 11 1050 another Mark slot, another mastery 12 1100 another Seal slot, another mastery, summoner spell Flash 13 1150 another Glyph slot, another mastery 14 1200 another Mark slot, another mastery 15 1250 another Seal slot, another mastery 16 1300 another Glyph slot, another mastery 17 1350 another Mark slot, another mastery 18 1400 another Seal slot, another mastery 19 1450 another Glyph slot, another mastery 20 1500 another Quintessence slot, another mastery, ability to buy tier three runes 21 2131 another Mark slot, another mastery 22 2200 another Seal slot, another mastery 23 2269 another Glyph slot, another mastery 24 2338 another Mark slot, another mastery 25 2406 another Seal slot, another mastery 26 2475 another Glyph slot, another mastery 27 2544 another Mark slot, another mastery 28 2613 another Seal slot, another mastery 29 2681 another Glyph slot, another mastery 30 2750 another Quintessence slot, another mastery, ability to participate in ranked games _________________________ [6.2] Influence Points and Riot Points As you play through the game, you will want to unlock new champions, runes, and maybe skins. To do this, there are two types of currency: Influence POints (IP) and Riot Points (RP). IP is gained every time you complete a match. Bonuses are given in a similar way that XP is given. Winning quickly or losing slowly gets you extra, as do how many kills you have, kills of enemy team, etc. You also get more every time you don't leave a match before it is over. This snowballs into +19 every game, so it is a wise idea not to leave, or you will lose this bonus. You also get 150 extra for a win every 22 hours (known as First Win of the Day). You can buy most things with IP, such as champions, runes, and rune pages. You can increase your IP per match by purchasing a boost. It doubles your amount for X number of wins, or X number of matches, or X number of days, whichever you buy. But to get a boost, you must spend Riot POints. Riot Points are purchased with real money, and can be used to buy most of the things IP can buy (with the exception of runes). RP is the only way to buy skins however, so if you want to make your Ashe look pretty you'll have to spend money you made in the real world. Also, there is usually a sale going on for skins, so watch for the ones you want to buy. _________________________ [6.3] Runes Essential for any character, runes offer bonuses in many different areas. They are purchased with IP only so you'll have to play a few games before buying a couple of these. There are three tiers of runes, and you start out only being able to buy tier one. Once you hit level 10 you can buy tier two and level 20 tier three. Runes you buy can be used on as many different rune pages as you want. There is also something called the Rune Combiner. If you take two same tier runes and put them together, you'll get a different rune of the same tier. If you you put five runes of the same tier together, you'll get a random rune of a higher tier. This is a very inefficent way to get high tier runes so it is best to wait until you hit level 20 to start getting you tier threes. There are four different types of runes: Quintessence, Mark, Glyph, and Seal. On any given rune page, you can have three Quintessences and 9 of the other groups. Each rune type has their own discipline of benefit. Marks give attack, Glyphs give magic, and Seals give health/survivability. You can purchase runes that are not of their discipline (for example, buying a Glyph that gives attack damage) but they will be less powerful than they normally would. [6.3.1] Quintessences These are your major runes. They convey the largest benefits, although you can only have three of them. They can grant many niche bonuses, like an increased gold income, increased movement speed, or even increased experience gained. Name Tier Cost Stats Lesser Quintessence of Strength 1 80 1.25 Attack Damage Lesser Quintessence of Desolation 1 80 1.85 Armor Penetration Lesser Quintessence of Warding 1 80 2.5 Magic Resist Lesser Quintessence of Focus 1 165 -0.91% Cooldowns Lesser Quintessence of Knowledge 1 40 2.31 Mana per level (41.58 at champion level 18) Lesser Quintessence of Might 1 40 0.14 Attack Damage per level (2.52 at champion level 18) Lesser Quintessence of Fortitude 1 165 18 Health Lesser Quintessence of Shielding 1 80 0.21 Magic Resist per level (3.78 at champion level 18) Lesser Quintessence of Celerity 1 80 -0.07% Cooldowns per level (-1.26% at champion level 18) Lesser Quintessence of Replenishment 1 80 0.69 Mana Regen / 5 sec Lesser Quintessence of Alacrity 1 80 1.89% Attack Speed Lesser Quintessence of Vitality 1 165 1.5 Health per level (27 at champion level 18) Lesser Quintessence of Vigor 1 165 1.5 Health Regen / 5 sec Lesser Quintessence of Potency 1 80 2.75 Ability Power Lesser Quintessence of Clarity 1 80 0.14 Mana Regen / 5 sec per level (2.52 at champion level 18) Lesser Quintessence of Furor 1 80 2.48% Critical Damage Lesser Quintessence of Resilience 1 80 2.37 Armor Lesser Quintessence of Regeneration 1 165 0.16 Health Regen / 5 sec per level (2.88 at champion level 18) Lesser Quintessence of Force 1 80 0.24 Ability Power per level (4.32 at champion level 18) Lesser Quintessence of Insight 1 80 1.05 Magic Penetration Lesser Quintessence of Malice 1 80 1.03% Critical Chance Lesser Quintessence of Defense 1 80 0.21 Armor per level (3.78 at champion level 18) Lesser Quintessence of Evasion 1 165 0.83% Dodge Lesser Quintessence of Intellect 1 80 20.83 Mana Lesser Quintessence of Swiftness 1 165 0.83% Movement Speed Quintessence of Strength 2 410 1.75 Attack Damage Quintessence of Desolation 2 410 2.59 Armor Penetration Quintessence of Warding 2 410 3.5 Magic Resist Quintessence of Focus 2 820 -1.27% Cooldowns Quintessence of Knowledge 2 820 3.24 Mana per level (58.32 at champion level 18) Quintessence of Might 2 205 0.19 Attack Damage per level (3.42 at champion level 18) Quintessence of Fortitude 2 820 25.2 Health Quintessence of Shielding 2 410 0.29 Magic Resist per level (5.22 at champion level 18) Quintessence of Celerity 2 410 -0.1% Cooldowns per level (-1.8% at champion level 18) Quintessence of Replenishment 2 410 0.97 Mana Regen / 5 sec Quintessence of Alacrity 2 410 2.64% Attack Speed Quintessence of Vitality 2 820 2.1 Health per level (37.8 at champion level 18) Quintessence of Vigor 2 820 2.1 Health Regen / 5 sec Quintessence of Potency 2 410 3.85 Ability Power Quintessence of Clarity 2 410 0.19 Mana Regen / 5 sec per level (3.42 at champion level 18) Quintessence of Furor 2 410 3.47% Critical Damage Quintessence of Resilience 2 410 3.32 Armor Quintessence of Regeneration 2 820 0.22 Health Regen / 5 sec per level (3.96 at champion level 18) Quintessence of Force 2 410 0.34 Ability Power per level (6.12 at champion level 18) Quintessence of Insight 2 410 1.47 Magic Penetration Quintessence of Malice 2 410 1.44% Critical Chance Quintessence of Defense 2 410 0.29 Armor per level (5.22 at champion level 18) Quintessence of Evasion 2 820 1.17% Dodge Quintessence of Intellect 2 410 29.17 Mana Quintessence of Swiftness 2 820 1.17% Movement Speed Greater Quintessence of Strength 3 1025 2.25 Attack Damage Greater Quintessence of Desolation 3 1025 3.33 Armor Penetration Greater Quintessence of Warding 3 1025 4.5 Magic Resist Greater Quintessence of Focus 3 2050 -1.64% Cooldowns Greater Quintessence of Knowledge 3 515 4.17 Mana per level (75.06 at champion level 18) Greater Quintessence of Revival 3 1025 -5% Time Dead Greater Quintessence of Might 3 515 0.25 Attack Damage per level (4.5 at champion level 18) Greater Quintessence of Fortitude 3 2050 32.4 Health Greater Quintessence of Shielding 3 1025 0.37 Magic Resist per level (6.66 at champion level 18) Greater Quintessence of Celerity 3 1025 -0.13% Cooldowns per level (-2.34% at champion level 18) Greater Quintessence of Replenishment 3 1025 1.25 Mana Regen / 5 sec Greater Quintessence of Avarice 3 515 1 Gold / 10 sec Greater Quintessence of Alacrity 3 1025 3.4% Attack Speed Greater Quintessence of Vitality 3 2050 2.7 Health per level (48.6 at champion level 18) Greater Quintessence of Vigor 3 2050 2.7 Health Regen / 5 sec Greater Quintessence of Potency 3 1025 4.95 Ability Power Greater Quintessence of Clarity 3 1025 0.24 Mana Regen / 5 sec per level (4.32 at champion level 18) Greater Quintessence of Wisdom 3 2050 2% Experience Gained Greater Quintessence of Furor 3 1025 4.46% Critical Damage Greater Quintessence of Resilience 3 1025 4.26 Armor Greater Quintessence of Regeneration 3 2050 0.28 Health Regen / 5 sec per level (5.04 at champion level 18) Greater Quintessence of Force 3 1025 0.43 Ability Power per level (7.74 at champion level 18) Greater Quintessence of Insight 3 1025 1.89 Magic Penetration Greater Quintessence of Meditation 3 2050 1.575 Energy Regen / 5 sec Greater Quintessence of Malice 3 1025 1.86% Critical Chance Greater Quintessence of Defense 3 1025 0.38 Armor per level (6.84 at champion level 18) Greater Quintessence of Evasion 3 2050 1.5% Dodge Greater Quintessence of Intellect 3 1025 37.5 Mana Greater Quintessence of Swiftness 3 2050 1.5% Movement Speed Greater Quintessence of Acumen 3 1025 5.4 Energy [6.3.2] Marks Marks are your red runes that give the biggest benefits in physical attack damage areas, such as attack speed, critical strike, critical damage, and basic attack damage. Name Tier Cost Stats Lesser Mark of Strength 1 15 0.53 Attack Damage Lesser Mark of Furor 1 65 1.24% Critical Damage Lesser Mark of Fortitude 1 30 1.93 Health Lesser Mark of Warding 1 15 0.54 Magic Resist Lesser Mark of Potency 1 30 0.33 Ability Power Lesser Mark of Knowledge 1 30 0.65 Mana per level (11.7 at champion level 18) Lesser Mark of Might 1 30 0.08 Attack Damage per level (1.53 at champion level 18) Lesser Mark of Malice 1 30 0.52% Critical Chance Lesser Mark of Vitality 1 65 0.3 Health per level (5.4 at champion level 18) Lesser Mark of Shielding 1 15 0.04 Magic Resist per level (0.72 at champion level 18) Lesser Mark of Force 1 30 0.06 Ability Power per level (1.08 at champion level 18) Lesser Mark of Replenishment 1 15 0.15 Mana regen / 5 sec Lesser Mark of Alacrity 1 30 0.94% Attack Speed Lesser Mark of Desolation 1 30 0.93 Armor Penetration Lesser Mark of Resilience 1 15 0.51 Armor Lesser Mark of Focus 1 30 -0.09% Cooldowns Lesser Mark of Intellect 1 30 3.28 Mana Lesser Mark of Insight 1 30 0.53 Magic Penetration Mark of Strength 2 80 0.74 Attack Damage Mark of Furor 2 330 1.74% Critical Damage Mark of Fortitude 2 165 2.7 Health Mark of Warding 2 80 0.75 Magic Resist Mark of Potency 2 165 0.46 Ability Power Mark of Knowledge 2 165 0.91 Mana per level (16.38 at champion level 18) Mark of Might 2 165 0.1 Attack Damage per level (1.89 at champion level 18) Mark of Malice 2 165 0.72% Critical Chance Mark of Vitality 2 330 0.42 Health per level (7.56 at champion level 18) Mark of Shielding 2 80 0.06 Magic Resist per level (1.44 at champion level 18) Mark of Force 2 165 0.2 Ability Power per level (1.44 at champion level 18) Mark of Replenishment 2 80 0.2 Mana regen / 5 sec Mark of Alacrity 2 165 1.32% Attack Speed Mark of Desolation 2 165 1.29 Armor Penetration Mark of Resilience 2 80 0.71 Armor Mark of Focus 2 165 -0.13% Cooldowns Mark of Intellect 2 165 4.59 Mana Mark of Insight 2 165 0.74 Magic Penetration Greater Mark of Strength 3 205 0.95 Attack Damage Greater Mark of Furor 3 820 2.23% Critical Damage Greater Mark of Fortitude 3 410 3.47 Health Greater Mark of Warding 3 205 0.97 Magic Resist Greater Mark of Potency 3 410 0.59 Ability Power Greater Mark of Knowledge 3 410 1.17 Mana per level (21.06 at champion level 18) Greater Mark of Might 3 410 0.14 Attack Damage per level (2.43 at champion level 18) Greater Mark of Malice 3 410 0.93% Critical Chance Greater Mark of Vitality 3 820 0.54 Health per level (9.72 at champion level 18) Greater Mark of Shielding 3 205 0.07 Magic Resist per level (1.26 at champion level 18) Greater Mark of Force 3 410 0.1 Ability Power per level (1.8 at champion level 18) Greater Mark of Replenishment 3 205 0.26 Mana regen / 5 sec Greater Mark of Alacrity 3 410 1.7% Attack Speed Greater Mark of Desolation 3 410 1.66 Armor Penetration Greater Mark of Resilience 3 205 0.91 Armor Greater Mark of Focus 3 410 -0.16% Cooldowns Greater Mark of Intellect 3 410 5.91 Mana Greater Mark of Insight 3 410 0.95 Magic Penetration [6.3.3] Glyphs These are your blue runes that give the biggest bonuses in magical areas, and are therefore most useful for spellcasters. It isn't unusual to see carries take a few magic regen per level runes from this area, while tanks usually take magic resist. Name Tier Cost Stats Lesser Glyph of Strength 1 15 0.16 Attack Damage Lesser Glyph of Malice 1 30 0.15% Critical Chance Lesser Glyph of Warding 1 15 0.83 Magic Resist Lesser Glyph of Celerity 1 30 -0.03% Cooldowns per level (-0.54% at champion level 18) Lesser Glyph of Knowledge 1 30 0.79 Mana per level (14.22 at champion level 18) Lesser Glyph of Might 1 15 0.02 Attack Damage per level (0.36 at champion level 18) Lesser Glyph of Fortitude 1 30 1.49 Health Lesser Glyph of Shielding 1 15 0.08 Magic Resist per level (1.44 at champion level 18) Lesser Glyph of Potency 1 30 0.55 Ability Power Lesser Glyph of Replenishment 1 30 0.17 Mana Regen / 5 sec Lesser Glyph of Alacrity 1 30 0.35% Attack Speed Lesser Glyph of Vitality 1 65 0.3 Health per level (5.4 at champion level 18) Lesser Glyph of Vigor 1 65 0.15 Health Regen / 5 sec Lesser Glyph of Force 1 30 0.1 Ability Power per level (1.8 at champion level 18) Lesser Glyph of Clarity 1 15 0.04 Mana Regen / 5 sec per level (0.72 at champion level 18) Lesser Glyph of Furor 1 65 0.31% Critical Damage Lesser Glyph of Resilience 1 15 0.39 Armor Lesser Glyph of Focus 1 65 -0.36% Cooldowns Lesser Glyph of Intellect 1 30 6.25 Mana Lesser Glyph of Insight 1 30 0.32 Magic Penetration Glyph of Strength 2 80 0.22 Attack Damage Glyph of Malice 2 165 0.22% Critical Chance Glyph of Warding 2 80 1.16 Magic Resist Glyph of Celerity 2 165 -0.04% Cooldowns per level (-0.72% at champion level 18) Glyph of Knowledge 2 165 1.1 Mana per level (19.8 at champion level 18) Glyph of Might 2 80 0.03 Attack Damage per level (0.57 at champion level 18) Glyph of Fortitude 2 165 2.08 Health Glyph of Shielding 2 80 0.12 Magic Resist per level (2.16 at champion level 18) Glyph of Potency 2 165 0.77 Ability Power Glyph of Replenishment 2 165 0.24 Mana Regen / 5 sec Glyph of Alacrity 2 165 0.5% Attack Speed Glyph of Vitality 2 330 0.42 Health per level (7.56 at champion level 18) Glyph of Vigor 2 330 0.21 Health Regen / 5 sec Glyph of Force 2 165 0.13 Ability Power per level (2.34 at champion level 18) Glyph of Clarity 2 80 0.06 Mana Regen / 5 sec per level (1.08 at champion level 18) Glyph of Furor 2 330 0.43% Critical Damage Glyph of Resilience 2 80 0.55 Armor Glyph of Focus 2 330 -0.51% Cooldowns Glyph of Intellect 2 165 8.75 Mana Glyph of Insight 2 165 0.44 Magic Penetration Greater Glyph of Strength 3 205 0.28 Attack Damage Greater Glyph of Malice 3 410 0.28% Critical Chance Greater Glyph of Warding 3 205 1.49 Magic Resist Greater Glyph of Celerity 3 410 -0.05% Cooldowns per level (-0.9% at champion level 18) Greater Glyph of Knowledge 3 410 1.42 Mana per level (25.56 at champion level 18) Greater Glyph of Acumen 3 820 2.2 Energy Greater Glyph of Might 3 205 0.04 Attack Damage per level (0.73 at champion level 18) Greater Glyph of Fortitude 3 410 2.67 Health Greater Glyph of Shielding 3 205 0.15 Magic Resist per level (2.7 at champion level 18) Greater Glyph of Potency 3 410 0.99 Ability Power Greater Glyph of Replenishment 3 410 0.31 Mana Regen / 5 sec Greater Glyph of Sapience 3 820 0.161 Energy / Level (2.9 at champion level 18) Greater Glyph of Alacrity 3 410 0.64% Attack Speed Greater Glyph of Vitality 3 820 0.54 Health per level (9.72 at champion level 18) Greater Glyph of Vigor 3 820 0.27 Health Regen / 5 sec Greater Glyph of Force 3 410 0.17 Ability Power per level (3.06 at champion level 18) Greater Glyph of Clarity 3 205 0.08 Mana Regen / 5 sec per level (1.44 at champion level 18) Greater Glyph of Furor 3 820 0.56% Critical Damage Greater Glyph of Resilience 3 205 0.7 Armor Greater Glyph of Focus 3 820 -0.65% Cooldowns Greater Glyph of Intellect 3 410 11.25 Mana Greater Glyph of Insight 3 410 0.57 Magic Penetration [6.3.4] Seals Your yellow runes pack the most benefits in physical defense, and are therefore useful for tanks. Name Tier Cost Stats Lesser Seal of Strength 1 15 0.24 Attack Damage Lesser Seal of Malice 1 30 0.23% Critical Chance Lesser Seal of Defense 1 30 0.08 Armor per level (1.44 at champion level 18) Lesser Seal of Regeneration 1 30 0.06 Ability Power per level (1.08 at champion level 18) Lesser Seal of Force 1 30 0.06 Ability Power per level (1.08 at champion level 18) Lesser Seal of Clarity 1 15 0.05 Mana Regen / 5 sec per level (0.9 at champion level 18) Lesser Seal of Might 1 15 0.03 Attack Damage per level (0.61 at champion level 18) Lesser Seal of Fortitude 1 65 2.97 Health Lesser Seal of Warding 1 15 0.41 Magic Resist Lesser Seal of Evasion 1 65 0.42% Dodge Lesser Seal of Intellect 1 30 3.83 Mana Lesser Seal of Alacrity 1 30 0.42% Attack Speed Lesser Seal of Vitality 1 30 0.6 Health per Level (10.8 at champion level 18) Lesser Seal of Shielding 1 30 0.05 Magic Resit per level (0.9 at champion level 18) Lesser Seal of Focus 1 30 -0.16% Cooldowns Lesser Seal of Knowledge 1 30 0.65 Mana per Level (11.7 at champion level 18) Lesser Seal of Furor 1 65 0.43% Critical Damage Lesser Seal of Resilience 1 15 0.78 Armor Lesser Seal of Vigor 1 65 0.24 Health Regen / 5 sec Lesser Seal of Potency 1 30 0.33 Ability Power Lesser Seal of Replenishment 1 15 0.23 Mana Regen / 5 sec Seal of Strength 2 80 0.33 Attack Damage Seal of Malice 2 165 0.32% Critical Chance Seal of Defense 2 165 0.12 Armor per level (2.16 at champion level 18) Seal of Regeneration 2 165 0.09 Ability Power per level (1.62 at champion level 18) Seal of Force 2 165 0.08 Ability Power per level (1.44 at champion level 18) Seal of Clarity 2 80 0.08 Mana Regen / 5 sec per level (1.44 at champion level 18) Seal of Might 2 80 0.05 Attack Damage per level (0.85 at champion level 18) Seal of Fortitude 2 330 4.16 Health Seal of Warding 2 80 0.58 Magic Resist Seal of Evasion 2 330 0.58% Dodge Seal of Intellect 2 165 5.36 Mana Seal of Alacrity 2 165 0.59% Attack Speed Seal of Vitality 2 165 0.84 Health per Level (15.12 at champion level 18) Seal of Shielding 2 165 0.08 Magic Resit per level (1.44 at champion level 18) Seal of Focus 2 165 -0.23% Cooldowns Seal of Knowledge 2 165 0.91 Mana per Level (16.38 at champion level 18) Seal of Furor 2 330 0.61% Critical Damage Seal of Resilience 2 80 1.09 Armor Seal of Vigor 2 330 0.34 Health Regen / 5 sec Seal of Potency 2 165 0.46 Ability Power Seal of Replenishment 2 80 0.32 Mana Regen / 5 sec Greater Seal of Strength 3 205 0.43 Attack Damage Greater Seal of Malice 3 410 0.78% Critical Chance Greater Seal of Defense 3 410 1.08 Armor per level (19.44 at champion level 18) Greater Seal of Regeneration 3 410 0.1 Ability Power per level (1.8 at champion level 18) Greater Seal of Force 3 410 0.1 Ability Power per level (1.8 at champion level 18) Greater Seal of Lucidity 3 820 0.064 Energy Regen / 5 sec per level (1.15 at champion level 18) Greater Seal of Clarity 3 205 0.1 Mana Regen / 5 sec per level (1.8 at champion level 18) Greater Seal of Might 3 205 1.09 Attack Damage per level (0.61 at champion level 18) Greater Seal of Fortitude 3 820 5.35 Health Greater Seal of Warding 3 205 0.74 Magic Resist Greater Seal of Evasion 3 820 0.75% Dodge Greater Seal of Intellect 3 410 6.89 Mana Greater Seal of Meditation 3 820 0.63 Energy Regen / 5 sec Greater Seal of Alacrity 3 410 0.76% Attack Speed Greater Seal of Vitality 3 410 1.8 Health per Level (19.44 at champion level 18) Greater Seal of Shielding 3 410 0.1 Magic Resit per level (1.8 at champion level 18) Greater Seal of Focus 3 410 -0.29% Cooldowns Greater Seal of Knowledge 3 410 1.17 Mana per Level (21.06 at champion level 18) Greater Seal of Furor 3 820 0.78% Critical Damage Greater Seal of Resilience 3 205 1.41 Armor Greater Seal of Vigor 3 820 0.43 Health Regen / 5 sec Greater Seal of Potency 3 410 0.59 Ability Power Greater Seal of Replenishment 3 205 0.41 Mana Regen / 5 sec _________________________ [6.4] Masteries You can have a total of thirty masteries in any game at level 30, and they can be changed between games/champions. They provide very small bonuses, but that might make all the difference. [6.4.1] Offense Name Requirements Bonuses Deadliness None Increases your champions critical strike chance by 0.66/1.33/2% Cripple None Improves your Exhaust spell to also reduce the targets armor and magic resistance by 10 for the duration, and increases the duration by 0.5 seconds Plentiful Bounty None Improves your Smite Smite spell to reward a bonus 5 gold when used, and reduces its cooldown by 5 seconds Archmage's Savvy None Increases your ability power by 0.20/0.40/0.60 per champion level Sorcery 4 points in offense Reduces the cooldown of your champion's abilities by 0.75/1.50/ 2.25/3.00% Alacrity 4 points in offense Increases your champion's attack speed by 1/2/3/4% Burning Embers 8 points in offense When your Ignite spell is on cooldown, your champion gains 10 AP Archaic Knowledge 8 points in offense Your magical spells penetrate 15% 4 points in sorcery of the target's magic resistance Sunder 8 points in offense Your physical attacks pierce 2/4/6% of the target's armor Offensive Mastery 8 points in offense Increases the damage you do to minions by 2/4 Brute Force 12 points in offense Increases your champion's attack damage by 1/2/3 Lethality 16 points in offense Increases your champion's critical strike damage by 3.33/6.66/10.00% Improved Rally 16 points in offense Improves your Rally spell to also increase ability power by 20-70, and increases its duration by 5 seconds Havoc 20 points in offense Increases your physical and magical damage by 5% [6.4.2] Defense Name Requirements Bonuses Mender's Faith None Reduces the cooldown of your Heal spell by 30 seconds Resistance None Increases your champion's magic resist by 2/4/6 Preservation None Increases your health by 400 for 120 seconds after casting you Revive spell, and reduces its cooldown by 20 seconds Hardiness None Increases your champion's armor by 2/4/6 Strength of Spirit 4 points in defense Increases your championo's health 3 points in resistance and regeneration by 0.1/0.2/0.3% of your maximum mana Evasion 4 points in defense Increases dodge chance by 0.5/1.0/ 1.5/2.0% Defensive Mastery 8 points in defense Your champion takes 1/2 less damage from minions and monsters Nimbleness 8 points in defense Increases your champion's movement 4 points in evasion speed by 10% after dodging an attack Hardened Skin 8 points in defense Blocks 1/1.5/2 physical damage 3 points in hardiness Veteran's Scars 12 points in defense Increases your champion's health by 15/30/45/60 Willpower 12 points in defense Reduces the recharge time of Cleanse by 20 seconds Ardor 16 points in defense Increases your champion's ability power and attack speed by 0.66/1.33/ 2.00%, and an increasing amount summing to an additional 0.66/1.33/ 2.00% at level 18 Reinforce 16 points in defense Your Fortify spell causes your turrets to deal 50% splash damage Tenacity 20 points in defense Decreases all damage dealt to your champion by 4% [6.4.3] Utility Name Requirements Bonuses Spatial Accuracy None Reduces the delay on your Teleport spell by 0.5 seconds, and decreases its cooldwon by 5 seconds Good Hands None Reduces time spent dead by 3.33/ 6.66/10.00% Perseverance None Increases total health and mana regeneration by 2/3/4% Haste None Increases the movement speed of your Ghost spell by 6% and its duration by 1.5 seconds Awareness 4 points in utility Increases the amount of experience your champion gains by 1.25/2.50/ 3.75/5.00% Expanded Mind 4 points in utility Increases your champion's mana by 1.25/2.50/3.75/5.00% of your maximum mana Greed 8 points in utility Generates 1 gold every 10 seconds Meditation 8 points in utility Increases mana regeneration by 0.33/0.66/1.00 every second Utility Mastery 8 points in utility Increases the duration of neutral monster buffs by 15/30% Insight 8 points in utility Your clarity spell will now grant the same amount of mana to your allies as your champion receives Quickness 12 points in utility Increases your base movement speed by 1/2/3% Blink of an Eye 12 points in utility Reduces the cooldown of your Flash spell by 15 seconds Intelligence 16 points in utility Reduces your champion's cooldowns by 2/4/6% Mystical Vision 16 points in utility Increases the duration of your Clairvoyance spell by 4 seconds, and reduces its cooldown by 5 seconds Presence of the 20 points in Utility Reduces the recharge time of Master your summoner spells by 15% ========================================================================== [7] Character Info ========================================================================== Here is a list of all the characters in League of Legends, as well as an overview of all the lore, stats, abilities, and viable builds that go with each one. I have purposefully left out masteries and runes that go along with each build, because there are several varations from person to person. Also, the builds just get you to the mid-game, and late game items should be based on your enemies team composition. _________________________ Alistar The Minotaur Cost: 1350 IP; 585 RP Attributes: Melee, Pusher, Tank Health: ********** (10) Spells: ****** (6) Attack: **** (4) Difficulty: **** (4) Lore: The mightiest warrior ever to emerge from the minotaur tribes of the Great Barrier, Alistar defended his tribe from all of Valoran's many dangers; that is, until the coming of the Noxian army. Alistar was lured from his village by the machinations of Keiran Darkwill, Baron Darkwill's youngest son, and commander of the Noxian expeditionary force. When Alistar returned home, he found his village burning and his family slain. Bellowing with rage, he charged an entire regiment of Noxus's elite, slaughtering them by the hundreds. Only the intervention of some of Noxus's most skilled summoners checked Alistar's rage. Brought in chains to Noxus, Alistar spent the intervening years as a gladiator pitted in endless battle for the entertainment of Noxus's wealthy leaders. Alistar's once noble soul slowly twisted, and he would have been lost to insanity if not for Ayelia, a young servant girl who befriended him and eventually arranged for his escape. Suddenly free, Alistar joined the newly-formed Institute of War as a champion, hoping to one day visit his final vengeance against Noxus and to find the girl who once again gave him hope. If you intend to grab the bull by the horns as a summoner, Alistar might have something to say about that. Statistics: Health: 468 (+114) Mana: 192 (+33) Damage: 59.53 (+3.375) Attack Speed: 0.571 (+0.010) Range: 125 Armor: 14.5 (+3.5) Magic Resist: 30 Health Regen: 7.25 (+0.85) Mana Regen: 3.95 (+0.25) Move Speed: 300 Abilities: Colossal Strength: (Passive) Alistar deals 20/40/60% additional damage to turrets. Pulverize: (Active) Alistar smashes the ground, dealing 80 / 125 / 170 / 220 / 270 (+1 per Ability Power) magic damage and tossing all nearby enemies into the air, stunning them for 2 seconds. * Cost: 70 / 85 / 100 / 115 / 130 Mana * Cooldown: 15 seconds Headbutt: (Active) Alistar charges at an enemy and rams them, dealing 90 / 140 / 190 / 245 / 300 (+1 per Ability Power) damage and knocking them back (does not stun). * Cost: 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 / 120 mana * Cooldown: 12 seconds * Range: 650 Triumphant Roar: (Active) Alistar lets out a commanding war cry, instantly restoring 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+0.4 per Ability Power) health to himself and nearby friendly units for half the amount. The cooldown is reduced by 2 seconds each time a nearby enemy unit dies. * Cost: 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 Mana * Cooldown: 12 seconds Unbreakable Will: (Active): Alistar lets out a wild roar, gaining 60 / 75 / 90 bonus physical damage. He also removes all crowd control effects from himself and takes 75% reduced physical and magic damage for 6 / 7 / 8 seconds. * Cost: 150 Mana * Cooldown: 120 / 100 / 80 seconds Build One: Tank Pros: -great at initiating -makes use of his enormous health -his ult plus decent armor and magic resist will make him almost invincible Cons: -early game is complete trash -long cooldown spells makes it so you can only use them once or twice in a team fight -very little damage Summoner Spells: Flash, Other Beginning Items: Doran's Shield Mid Game items: Boots of Swiftness, Soul Shroud, then: If enemy team is mostly AP: Banshee's Veil, Force of Nature If enemy team is mostly Physical: Frozen Heart, Thornmail If enemy team is a mixture: Banshee's Veil, Frozen Heart Strategy: As tank Alistar, your main goal is to cause as much havoc as you can, hopefully towards the back of the enemy formation. You want to stun and bash the enemy carry out, either forcing them to flee or be cut down by your teammates. You want to start out with a Doran's Shield to give yourself sustainability in the lane. Alternatively, you could grab a Meki Pendant and 2 Health Potions, then max out Triumphant Roar. Your early game is terrible, and Alistar is probably the worst farmer in the entire game, but last hit where you can. Don't use your Pulverize or Headbutt on minions because it doesn't do enough damage to justify the mana cost. The cow really starts to shine in the mid-late game. The Pulverize + Headbutt combo is truely spectacular, and allows you to easily drag the enemy carry away from their supports. If you can initiate a team fight with it, it will almost always go decidedly in your favor. If you see an enemy using a channeled ult (ie Nunu's ult, Katarina's ult, Fiddlestick's Ult), be sure to knock them away from your team as fast as possible. Build Two: Roaming Gank-Tank Pros: -avoids his trash early game -if you can pull of a few kills, it will greatly help your late game -rather speedy build will help you position for your combo -keeps your enemies off-guard -another solo lane can help your allies get experience and gold Cons: -very risky: if you dont get at least a few kills in the early game, you will be far behind everyone else because you didn't farm minions -easily countered by wards -susceptible to idiotic allies; you cant gank if your team pushes their lanes, and you don't do enough damage to kill an opponent by yourself -not as much health and resistances than a pure tank Alistar Summoner Spells: Flash, Ghost Beginning Items: Boots of Speed, 2 Health Potions, 1 Mana Potion Mid Game Items: Boots of Mobility, Shurelya's Reverie, Force of Nature, then: If enemy team is mostly AP: Banshee's Veil If enemy team is mostly Physical: Thornmail If enemy team is a mixture: Aegis of the Legion Strategy: Since Alistar's laning phase is so terrible, some people devised a new strategy that would bypass the farming phase of the game altogether. Instead of being locked in a lane farming creeps for the first 15 minutes, this build specializes in ganking almost all the time. You want to start out with boots to help you with speed. The potions will help you with sustainability issues so you don't have to recall to your fountain constantly. Your first priority should be to get to level two as fast as you can. Kill a few minions, and make sure to level up Pulverize and Headbutt as your first two skills. Once you are at level two, go looking for a chance to ambush someone. You want to get the lane where the enemies are as far away from their towers as possible. Also take their escapability into acount. Once you are in position, ping so your ally knows what is going on, use Ghost, Flash, and Pulverize your opponent who is at the lowest health (if there is two of them). Headbutt them into your allies for good measure, and you should net a kill. When the late game comes, you want to shift into a more tankey approach, but you should still try to gank whenever possible. Build Three: Mage Pros: -two of Alistar's skills have 1:1 AP ratios -at 300 AP, the Headbutt + Pulverize combo can do almost 1000 damage to an someone with low magic resist -at 300 AP, he can heal himself for 300 HP every 12 seconds (less if enemies around him are dying) Cons: -probably not the best build for this cow -other mages burst for more damage, and more frequently -long cooldowns force you to max out cooldown reduction -much, much less health than tank Alistar Summoner Spells: Flash, Other Beginning Items: Meki Pendant, 2 Health Potions Mid Game Items: Ionian Boots of Lucidity, Shurelya's Reverie OR Morello's Evil Tome OR Deathfire Grasp, Rabadon's Deathcap Strategy: Taking the Meki Pendant first allows you to use Triumphant Roar much more often. Combine this with the Health Potions and you should have no trouble in the laning phase. Again, focus on last hitting creeps, but don't use Headbutt or Pulverize on them, because it does too little damage to justify the mana cost. When the mid game rolls around you'll want to grab the Ionian Boots of Lucidity to aid you in cooldown reduction. If your team is doing well, buy a Morello's Evil Tome or a Deathfire Grasp to get more AP and mana regen. If your team is doing poorly, get a Shurelya's Reverie for the Health and Speed bonuses it provides (all three items give mana regen and cooldown reduction). Aim to be towards the middle of your allies in a team fight formation. When the fight breaks out, use flash into the enemy carry, and do your Pulverize + Headbutt combo and smash them into your team. Your superior damage should knock them down to half health (if they have low magic resit). Then run back to your team, using your ult and Triumphant Roar if you need to. General Summary: Allistar is a very archetypal tank. He has high health, low damage, and wide range of abilities to help his allies. His Pulverize + Headbutt combo is essential. Mastering it should be the first priority for any potential Alistar player. Also, Unbreakable Will should be used when you are at about 1/5th health. Enemies will see his low HP bar and will instinctively focus him, which is what AListar wants. Overall, Alistar is a good tank, focusing on picking off enemy carries. He doesn't do enough damage to be focused inately, so he really has to force his foes to attack him Tips for Playing Against Him: He will almost always take flash, so be very careful when you are near him. He can be quite far away from you one second, then right in your face the next, and after you are stunned from Pulverized, you better hope the enemy team isn't there to finish you off. In teamfights, just wait for him to blow his CC before you get close to him. Once he has done this, he can be ignored almost entirely, as his cooldowns are quite long and his auto attacks do laughably small damage. DO NOT focus Alistar when he has his ultimate on, unless he is the only enemy around. He may only have 300 HP left, but with his armor, magic resist, and Unbreakable Will, he may take another 4-5 seconds to kill, time the rest of his team can use to destroy you. ========================================================================== [8] Other Stuff ========================================================================== ========================================================================== [9] Version History ========================================================================== 7/22/10 0.01 Guide started, template done 7/25/10 0.10 Intro chapter and copyright done 7/26/10 0.11 Chapter 2 started 7/27/10 0.20 Bouncing around, finished chapter 2, started 3 8/16/10 0.30 Starcraft II, vacation, and school starting have combined to keep me away from this guide for a while. I'm coming back to it now, though! 9/5/10 0.40 The massive items section is done, along with a spell check and Alistar's guide 9/30/10 0.50 Guide is about half done, with the champion guides, late game strategies, and outside preparation being the main items left for completion 10/18/10 0.51 Progress has once again been slow due to Halo Reach. I split the Neutrals section off from Minions and Buildings due to its size, added some content in random areas 11/24/10 0.55 Chapter 5 complete... work has been slow since Black Ops came out 12/22/10 0.60 Chapter 4 complete; I have all winter break to work on this! 12/31/10 0.61 Runes complete 1/1/11 0.65 Chapter 6 complete 1/10/11 0.66 Another small update 3/20/11 0.67 After playing about 200 more games, I now have a good understanding of each champ. Therfore, I have modified the champion chapter to go much more in depth, and propose different builds. ========================================================================== [10] Copyright ========================================================================== You can post this guide anywhere as long as you: 1) Contact me via-Email. I will say yes (almost always) 2) Don't change the author line at the top. I'm so selfish that I want all the credit for myself! But seriously, don't touch it. 3) Don't alter original data. You can add or remove sections, but don't change the facts I've written. Sites that can post this guide: Gamefaqs Neoseeker Supercheats Gameguideworld Cheatchannel Cheatbook Cod4central Strategyinformer Cheatcc GamesRadar CheatPlanet Contact: firstname.lastname@example.com

subset: commoncrawl