New player in need of tips.

[Santti]

Hello!

I've decided to give LoL a shot. How "noob" friendly is it? I played quite alot of Dota on Warcraft 3 many years a go, so I know the very basics of the game.

Support hero role sounds intriguing to me and I was wondering which hero would be good to start with? Obviously I wouldn't be much of a killer, but essential team member in team fight situations. Or if the recommended hero is a good killer, I wouldn't mind.

And lastly, the Runes and Summoner spells. They kinda confuse me, so any tips would be appreciated. When to start worrying about Runes and what Summoner spells would be best?

Would Soraka be a good choice for aspiring LoLer?

[Durh]

support is not so very important in lol, but the most noob friendly support is probably soraka, but go for it champ

[Santti]

support is not so very important in lol, but the most noob friendly support is probably soraka, but go for it champ

Thank you, I'll give it a try!

[Fuzzykins]

League of Legends can be pretty noob friendly, but to play properly, the skill cap is surprisingly high. You can usually tell the difference between a developed team that can work together and a team of randoms. Additionally, this applies to experience. There's a sharp contrast in teams of random players with a head on their shoulders than a random player of newbies. However, it's not nearly as complicated as Dota or Dota2. You don't have to deny your opponent (per say) but you still need to outfarm him. (Assuming that's your role.)

Support is pretty fun. Soraka is stupid easy. You will never run out of mana, and just press E and W on cooldown while spamming Q. It's really that easy. Sona is a pretty easy support too, but to play well, her skillcap is pretty high.

[Santti]

How about a tank? Which one would be good to start with as new player?

[Boomcats]

Whoever just posted support isn't as important is literally one of the stupidest things I've ever read.

No no, you are right I don't want infinite sustain bot as an AD carry trying to get fed and crush the other team, I'd rather compete against another bruiser or carry for CS.

Yeah, thats why solo que league stinks sometimes.

But in a less then negative tone, pick up soroka- max E and W, watch a decent AD get fed and sex up the whole other team.

[Irraticate]

Hello!

I was wondering which hero would be good to start with? Obviously I wouldn't be much of a killer, but essential team member in team fight situations. Or if the recommended hero is a good killer, I wouldn't mind.

How about a tank?

Alistar is seen as a Support Tank. He has a AoE heal, a knock up, a knock back and an ult that reduces damage taken.
He is support by the fact that he has lane sustain (through the heal) and can feed the carry by Pulverizing the enemy (which is the knock-up), running behind them and Headbutt'ing the enemy into the carry.

And lastly, the Runes and Summoner spells. They kinda confuse me, so any tips would be appreciated. When to start worrying about Runes and what Summoner spells would be best?

Don't worry about Runes until you hit level 20.
You see, there are 3 tiers of Runes. Tier 1 is level 1-10, Tier 2 is 11-19, and Tier 3 is 20-30.
As you would imagine, the first two tiers will be replaced by the tier 3 ones when you get there.... So just wait. It won't make a difference at those levels, anyway.

Summoner Spells value depends on the champ you are playing or who you are fighting. But for starting out, then I would suggest taking Teleport/Exhaust. This will allow you to get back to your lane faster, and let you survive for a bit longer.

[Axethor]

Alistar is seen as a Support Tank. He has a AoE heal, a knock up, a knock back and an ult that reduces damage taken.
He is support by the fact that he has lane sustain (through the heal) and can feed the carry by Pulverizing the enemy (which is the knock-up), running behind them and Headbutt'ing the enemy into the carry.


Don't worry about Runes until you hit level 20.
You see, there are 3 tiers of Runes. Tier 1 is level 1-10, Tier 2 is 11-19, and Tier 3 is 20-30.
As you would imagine, the first two tiers will be replaced by the tier 3 ones when you get there.... So just wait. It won't make a difference at those levels, anyway.

Summoner Spells value depends on the champ you are playing or who you are fighting. But for starting out, then I would suggest taking Teleport/Exhaust. This will allow you to get back to your lane faster, and let you survive for a bit longer.

I would actually recommend buying runes at level 10 so you at least have a good amount of T2 runes when you hit 20. Heading straight to T3 might be nice, but some (like movement speed quints) are really expensive, and unless you saved all your IP and didn't buy a single champ you will have to buy some T2 anyway to fill your rune book at 30.

Also, even at low levels any extra edge helps. More IP from wins = more and better runes when you reach T3.

[Kurdiern]

Don't buy t2 runes. I can't remember where, but the math for them is not convincing at all. If you want runes, get t1. They're dirt cheap and will give you an advantage.

For masteries it depends. When running support, flash, cv, & heal are the most common. It depends o the character. janna I run flash/heal, sona flash/cv, soraka cv/heal, ali flash/cv, etc...

Guides often will give you suggested masteries. If you play draft, look at the opposing team & decide.

[Antherios]

Since people are responding to this, and i dont want to make a new thread just for 1 question, so ..

Is Annie viable at high elo? (or at least not elo hell)

I love playing annie, and dont want to stop because she is not viable in ranked games.

[Tortillagirl]

problem with annie is she is very easily ganked unless you happen to have a stun ready. and even then if you hit the jungler your lane opponent will probalbly get you anyway.

Let alone to do your full combo you need to basically be in melee range which doesnt work as a squishie


That said ive watched streams and seen annies do well and also seem some stupidly crazy stuff that you wouldnt think works but does.

[Hanyuu]

I actually will agree with those saying to wait for runes. They really aren't a big deal and wasting IP is never good because the tier 3 are expensive. Even at 20, I'd buy runes you can use for more than one character. I really wouldn't buy any characters at the low end, just play out of the free 10 each week, unless they are tier 1/2 champions (Soraka is a steal at 450 and I think Janna is only 1350). (The prices aren't indications of power at all. I just started playing Sivir (another 450 champion) and she is really powerful.) You can get Alister and Tristiana for free by liking league on Youtube and Facebook respectively. A great way to try some different roles for no cost. Once you've played alot of characters for free, you can use your points more shrewdly and get characters you really like.

Soraka is one of my strongest characters. She really shines in PvP where the games have lower kill rates (though they are about to redo the AI and add tons of new bots but things might change.) Her infuse (e) is a great tool to supply mana to your teammate and yourself. Also, it doubles as a silence against enemies, great when they are channeling a spell or it can be used to stall when they get into range. Her heal is very powerful ,but a 20 second cool down really makes it hard to use--the armor buff on it also neutralizes melee attacks. Her first ability is great, because it can clear minions and though the range is short, it has a stacking debuff, so it wears down the enemy. Her ult is great in team fights to soak up enemy aoe. Once you get good board awareness, you can use it to heal from the other side of the board, letting you get assists and helping your allies get kills that they might not have gotten otherwise.

Tradition summoning spells for support are clairvoyance and flash. Neither is incredibly useful against bots. Flash takes a few levels to get, but people like it because it lets you escape or pursue and get a last shot in. Clairvoyance is powerful in PvP because it allows you to know where the enemy is, but the bots are predictable, so it isn't as good. Sometimes Soraka's use heal as a powerful extra heal, but it isn't really required. Teleport is a good starter spell because it lets you get back into the lane faster.

As for gear, I'd suggest heavy cool down reduction items (up to the 40 percent cap). Your spells don't scale well based on ability power. Cool down reduction lets you use your powers more often. Your ult wish, is only a minute cool down and heals a huge amount. I tend to build Soraka like a tank, with a few aura items like Aegis of the Legion. This lets you protect your team, by being difficult to kill. I've made teams make an impossible choice...either kill me or let run rampant with healing. The thing is I am so difficult to kill, in one game, the enemy players barely managed to kill me and my team managed to wipe them out without any other losses. I was happy to die in that case.

Against the bots, I really don't think Soraka shines as much as a more aggressive support. With Alister, a friend got a random guy like 55 kills in a bot game before they finally ended. They weren't really even trying to farm, but basically Alister was able to push the enemies into bad positions and pick them off piece mail. When I was learning the game, I had trouble with Soraka, but after returning to her, I really have learned to appreciate her niche.

[s3ki]

Try Nunu hes really fun, and "forgiving" champion.

As you are new to the game, i would recommend you trying any champion that can take dmg, but can do decent amount of it, like Garren, Olaf, Warwick and maybe Malphite. They are not expensive, they are newbe friendly, and most of all, they are fun. (in my opinion)

[ridish]

tarric can be played as a support tank with stuns heals and a armor ability i belive. He´s not the hardest hero to play either so i think thats a good hero to start with. Lots of armor, heals and is a good innitiater with the stun.

[Boomcats]

I'm currently only at 1612 ELO so I can't really comment on the "pro status" ELO range.

However around my ELO Annie isn't a common pick, but can be devestating when fed. Like previous posters mentioned shes incredibly squishy early game and without her stun up is easy to gank. Lots of times I'll see Cass, Kassadin, Leblanc, Morg (banned), or Anivia completely demolish her mid through poke.

That being said good Annie's wreck face with Tibbers in a team fight.

[Jstrogue]

For support i suggest you pick either Soraka or Sona. Soraka is a lot cheaper, so seems a better choice for a starter. If you played dota before first few games will be ridiculously easy, but then they will get harder and harder. When i played with my second account i was still lvl 3 when i was facing oponents at lvl 9+. The main problem with that is not that those players have access to much more masteries and runes, but they can buy better champions. 7

If you are serious about playing this game, dont buy early runes. Some players only buy tier 1 and then tier 3. You can buy tier 2 when you reach lvl 10 and tier 3 when you reach lvl 20. It is true tier 1 runes are really cheap, but they also dont help much. So i suggest you just wait a bit and buy only tier 3 runes. You will need a lot of IP, so save it. The best masteries for support are utility, because they give you mana regen, which will let you support better. One more thing about masteries and runes. Each level you unlock one more mastey point and one more rune. You need to have enough points invested in a certain tree to progress further. Just like in all MMOs. As i said you also unlock one more rune spot every level. At lvl 1 you have the first red rune (mark) unlocked. At lvl 2 you unlock the first yellow rune (seal) and at level 3 you unlock the first blue one (glyph). At lvl 4 you unlock another mark, lvl 5 seal, lvl 6 glyph and so on. At lvl 10, 20 and 30 you unlock Quintessence. These are much stronger runes, and also cost a lot more. Marks should increase your damage, yellows are usually spent to increase your amor or regeneration, and glyphs for cooldown reduction or magic ressist. It is true that you can also get damage runes for seals and glyphs, but they will give you a lot less of that stat.

You also asked about a good tank. The best choice for a starter is probably Mundo. His passive is health regen, he doesnt run out of mana because his abilities drain hp, so he isnt really runes or masteries dependant, meaning he might even be a little op on early levels. His Q hits hard as hell and is really easy to hit. And it also applies a strong slow. He also deals more damage on low hp, and new players dont always know that his ulti heals him a lot. So if you're on low use it, and your hp will not drop, and in the meantime you'll deal insane damage. It's easy to bait players to attack you on low, and then you just kick their asses.

Now this is an answer to the question if annie is viable at hight elo. I started ranked games not too long ago, i have 8 wins and 3 losses atm and at about 1.4k elo, and i havent seen annie in a game before, unless i played her. I played her 2 games, won mid, but then lost because bot was feeding like crazy. So she is good, but there are just so many other stronger champions that can slaughter her. That's why no one playes her. The only thing she brings to the team is a stunn and some aoe damage, but that's about it. She's easy to kill, so a good silence or stunn on you will kinda cause your whole team to die.