General Tips for New League of Legends Players

Timers
Dragon spawns 6 minutes after being killed
Baron spawns 7 minutes after being killed
Blue buff and red buff spawns 5 minutes after being killed
Baron buff lasts 4 minutes
Inhibitors respawn after 4 minutes
A regular ward lasts for 3 minutes after being placed
Warding
You as a player can only place 3 normal wards and 1 vision ward (pink ward) on the map at a
time
Placing another ward/vision ward will replace the earliest one you placed
Putting a pink ward in sneaky places will allow you to get vision for a very long period of time, as
it is unlikely that people pass through them. These can be the tiny bushes near baron and
dragon. The earlier you place these wards, the more useful they are.
You can extend the range of a ward being placed by playing it inside a wall on the half closer to
your intended target. Examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfG4S4TXQc8
With certain champions, you can kill a ward if you are right next to it right before it stealths. This
is done with auto-attack reset abilities, such as Shyvanas Q ability, Leonas Q ability, and other
similar abilities. Example of Leona doing this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR5ZY48GZEk
Basic Trinket wards last 60 seconds (upgrades to 120 seconds at level 9)
If you happen to get a sightstone, and you do not have a sweeping lense, sell your trinket and
immediately get a sweeping lens.
If you have a warding trinket and you intend to get a sightstone + sweeping lens, make sure to
use the free ward before going back to switch.
Map Awareness
Look at the minimap at least once every 15 seconds. Even a quick glance helps.
Expect a gank at around 3 minutes on the opposite side of the map from where the enemy
jungler started (got his first buff)
Make sure to use the missing ping when your lane opponent/s has gone missing.
Make sure to announce to your team when a specific enemy opponent has reached level 6 (such
as karthus, soraka, twisted fate, or someone with a global/long range ultimate)
Late game, make sure to not facecheck dangerous bushes by yourself. Use skillshots if possible.
Top Lane
If the enemy jungler has started on the opposite side of the map from you, expect a gank at
around 3 minutes, which means you should throw down a trinket ward at around 2:45ish.
If you are on blue team, place your wards at the enemy tri bush, and if necessary, near the
baron pit where it can lead to your blue buff, to your lane, and to the mid lane.
If you are on purple team, place your wards in the river bush, or at the baron pit where it can
lead to their blue buff, to your lane, and to the mid lane.
If you are being pushed slightly, always be wary of a lane gank from the side bushes, as the
jungler can sneak in while you do not have vision from your minions. Trinket ward if necessary.
If you manage to destroy the enemy tower first, it is a good strategy to head down toward mid
for a gank, or to dragon for a free objective, as you will most likely outnumber the enemy. Be
wary of trying this if the enemy top laner has summoner teleport however.
Keep an eye on your jungler in his first clear. If he is invaded at a camp near you, dont hesitate
to go over and help him, unless you know you cant do anything about it and he is pretty much
already dead.
If the enemy leaves the lane to go gank/roam, make sure to punish him by pushing down the
tower. Make sure to ward while doing so, so that you dont get tricked/ganked.
If you have killed the enemy laner, or if you think they recalled, try to push down the lane to the
enemy tower before you go back yourself. This ensures that the enemy laner will lose EXP and
gold to the tower. Make sure to ward safely before doing so, especially if you are low on health.
Mid Lane
You can get a pink ward and place it early in the tiny bush near dragon or baron for vision that
can possibly last very long.
If your jungler started blue, blue buff will spawn at around 7:10 if he had no problems getting it.
You are in no way in ownership of the blue buff. If the jungler doesnt ping you, tell you to get it,
or ask if you want/need it, you should not try to take it.
Blue buff gives mana regen AND cooldown reduction. It also gives energy regen if you are an
energy user. As a result, even champions like Zed who uses energy, and Katarina who doesnt
use anything, can benefit off of the cooldown reduction.
Help protect your jungler in his first clear by trinket warding in case of enemy invasions.
Keep an eye on your jungler in his first clear. If he is invaded at a camp near you, dont hesitate
to go over and help him, unless you know you cant do anything about it and he is pretty much
already dead.
Be wary of a gank from the opposite side of where your enemy jungler started at around 3:00.
For example, if the enemy jungler started blue buff, expect a gank at around 3 minutes from the
red buff side of the map.
Roamers tend to leave the lane and try to gank other lanes, typically bot, as there is a better
chance for a kill. When he does leave, make sure to leave a trail of pings as to where you think
the enemy mid laner went. Try to push down the tower while they are gone.
If you have killed the enemy laner, or if you think they recalled, try to push down the lane to the
enemy tower before you go back yourself. This ensures that the enemy laner will lose EXP and
gold to the tower. Make sure to ward safely before doing so, especially if you are low on health.
One efficient way to stop the enemy laner from roaming is to push them to their tower. This is
risky, as it makes you vulnerable to ganks, but it will prevent the laner from roaming, lest he lose
EXP and gold. Some roamers, such as Leblanc, are bad at farming under tower, which is why it is
also a good strategy to push the lane as much as possible against these specific champions.
If you plan to push your lane to the enemy tower, and you know you wont be able to do
anything while the lane is pushing, you can go to your wraith camp and clear it for extra CS after
you have killed all the minions. Be warned that you will lose health most likely, so measure the
benefit vs the risk of returning back to lane with lower health.
Jungler
Most junglers typically start on the bottom side of the map. The reasoning is because top lane is
heavily level dependent, and that you dont want to them to accidentally lose experience by
helping you. Additionally, you can get more help from the bottom side of the map, because you
will have three people helping you instead of two. As a result, this can also set you up to gank
top lane at around 3 minutes.
If you started on the same side of the map as the enemy jungler, you are given the option of
counter jungling, which is waiting for the enemy jungler to make a move, and then surprising
them with a gank of your own.
The buff that the enemy jungler started with will respawn at around 7:10. You can utilize this by
heading over and waiting at the buff and taking it right as it spawns. This is risky, but well worth
the reward. Make sure to back at around 6 minutes and buy a ward if you plan on doing this.
Some champions are really strong in the early levels/first clear. Examples are Lee Sin and
Pantheon. As a result, you can clear one of your buffs, get a camp, and head over as quickly as
possible to the other buff that the jungler did not start with. You are now given the option of
quickly taking the buff if your clear speed is significantly faster, or waiting in the bush and try to
kill the enemy jungler.
Camping a lane is a really cheap, but effective strategy. Go to the lane, gank, get a camp, or loop
around and try to gank again.
Lane ganks are extremely deadly as most league players do NOT expect one at any stage of the
game. Make sure that the bushes are not warded, and that the minions do not see you as you
enter the side bushes. Keep in mind this doesnt work for the mid lane.
When getting an important objective, such as dragon, baron, or a buff, mouse over your smite
summoner spell to see how much true damage it will deal, and then click on the target and keep
an eye on its health. As soon as it reaches that health, smite to prevent the enemy from stealing
it.
ADC
Do not take in everything listed in this section for granted, as I am a godawful ADC.
Your job is to deal as much damage as possible per second. If there is a teamfight, and you are
not doing attacking for most of the time, you are being a burden to your team.
Positioning is key. Never be in the front lines. Try to always be in a safe position while still being
in a position where you can be useful and deal damage.
Even though it is ideal for you to deal damage to the carries of the enemy team, never do this if
it puts you in a dangerous position. It is better for you to deal damage to the closest target than
to run into the center of all the action.
Lane synergy is crucial. Coordinate with your support so you guys synergize well, instead of
getting something like Janna and Twitch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQzB0HDstLY
Support
You are the player that decides whether or not you guys win bot lane. You carry the ADC
through laning phase, and the ADC will carry the team late game. Keep that in mind.
ALWAYS switch your warding trinket (if you started it) to the scanner trinket after buying a
sightstone.
Pink wards are very useful, as they allow your jungler to gank with ease, as the area the pink
ward is in will be ensured to be ward free.
If on blue side, place pink ward in the tribush.
If on purple side, place pink ward in the river bush if you guys are pushing.
Be wary of the side bushes if you are being ganked, as the jungler can possibly do a lane gank.
Your main job is to protect, and peel for your ADC.
Always have a ward up if you are pushing the lane.
Help your ADC farm under the tower if you guys are being pushed. This takes practice, but it is
very helpful for your ADC.
Before going back, make sure to try and push the lane to the tower before the enemy gets back
to lane. This will make the enemy lose experience and gold.
Pushing the lane under the enemy tower has pros and cons.
Pros: You guys will be able to harass the enemy under the tower, because they will be
concentrated on farm. The enemy will also be likely to miss a few minion kills under tower.
Cons: Vulnerable to ganks. Make sure to ward to lessen this risk.
Never ward alone late game.
Make sure you have presence in a lane. Nothing is more frustrating for an ADC than a passive
support who lets the enemy take advantage of the lack of presence. ASSERT YOUR DOMINANCE!
If you guys are winning the lane really hard, you can freeze the lane (only last hitting) near your
tower and zone out the enemy. This will make the enemy lose exp and gold.
Make sure to have a pink ward if you plan on doing dragon or baron soon.
Useful Game Knowledge
Last hitting is an important skill to learn in League of Legends. This is a technique in which you
do not attack a minion unless it is to deal the killing blow on it. This increases the chance of you
successfully getting a minion and this is very important to master.
Smartcasting is an important setting that you must also learn. This can be found in the key
bindings option when you press esc. This allows you to use a spell at a target location without
having to click with your mouse. For example, if you have Ezreals Q smartcasted, you can press
Q and you will fire towards your mouses location without having to left click.
Learn to level up your abilities with key combinations. For example, I use Ctrl+Q/W/E/R to
upgrade the ability. This can be extremely important, especially if you find yourself leveling up in
the middle of a fight and you need to level up an ability quickly in order to make it stronger, or
to actually be able to use it at all.
Learn to self cast abilities onto yourself with key combinations. I use Alt+Q/W/E/R to quickly use
abilities on myself, such as a Nidalee heal (Alt+E) or Lulu speed up (Alt+W).
Right clicking on an item in the shop will allow you to instantly buy it.
Selling an item gives you less gold than it is worth (only 70%!)
After buying an item, you can undo it for your full moneys worth. However, using an ability or
going out of fountain range will prevent you from undoing any purchase, so be careful!
Jumps can be interrupted by specific forms of CC. For example, Tristanas Rocket Jump can be
cancelled in midair by a Singed flip, a Thresh flay/pull, etc.
There is no y axis in this game. For example, a Tristana can try jumping over an Ashe arrow,
but she can still be hit while in midair.
Turrets focus on targets in a specific priority order:
1) Closest trap (Shroom/Jack in the Box)
2) Closest pet (Tibbers, Heimerdinger turret, Shaco clone, Leblanc clone, etc.)
3) Closest cannon minion
4) Closest melee minion
5) Closest caster minion
6) Closest champion
However, keep in mind that any damage that you deal to a nearby enemy champion next to a
turret will make the turret skip over anything else and prioritize onto you.
As a result, try to always fight under tower, and if being dived, always try to CC the enemy under
the tower.
Abilities that do not do damage do not draw tower aggro, such as a karthus wall or nasus slow.
Inhibitor towers and nexus towers have health regen.
Towers do 70% damage against cannon minions, which is why they live so long under tower.
Fountain does 1000 true damage per second.
Armor reduces tower damage.
You do less damage to a tower if there are no ally minions around
Consecutive tower hits deal more damage with each consecutive hit
Turrets can see stealthed units
Autoattacks against towers also take in a 0.4 ratio of your ability power as extra damage. This is
why mage autoattacks can deal massive damage to towers, especially with a lich bane in
combination.
Destroying an outer turret gives everyone global gold, while destroying other towers give
everyone global gold and global experience.
Revive/On death/Cooldown passives:
1) Aatrox passive cooldown = 225 seconds (3 minutes 45 seconds). Also, the bar will be white if
on cooldown. Duration to revive is 3 seconds.
2) Anivia passive cooldown = 240 seconds (4 minutes). Her health percentage upon revival is
equal to the health percentage of the egg when she hatches. Takes 6 seconds to hatch.
3) Karthus passive happens every time he dies. It lasts 7 seconds. All abilities cost no mana. If
you kill Karthus before he can fully channel his ult, his ult will go on cooldown and the
damage will not be dealt.
4) Kogmaw passive happens every time he dies and lasts for 4 seconds. After the four seconds
where he is able to move, he deals AOE true damage. He also speeds up while in passive
form.
5) Volibear passive cooldown = 120 seconds (2 minutes). When health drops below 30%, he
regens 30% of his health over 6 seconds. Use ignite to counter this.
6) Zac passive cooldown = 300 seconds (5 minutes). Zac passive duration = 8 seconds. Killing
the blobs reduce the health that zac respawns with (killing all blobs kill him entirely).
Teleport can be cast on a blob to make it invulnerable.
7) Zyra becomes a plant for 8 seconds. After two seconds, she can shoot a projectile in a line
that passes through units and deals true damage. Do not forget about this after killing her.
Summoner Spells
1) Ignite reduces healing by 50% while it is dealing damage, and reveals units in bushes while
damaging them. Does not reveal stealth however.
2) Exhaust slows movement speed and attack speed by 30% and reduces damage dealt by 50%
(includes spell damage). This can be used to lower the damage of things like Karthus ult and
Lux laser. Does not reduce true damage (nothing will ever reduce true damage).
3) Teleporting to ally minion/ward makes it invulnerable during the channel. It can be
cancelled by an interrupting CC. Can be cancelled by the user if he presses it again, making it
a 200 second cooldown (3 minutes 20 seconds) compared to a 300 second cooldown (5
minutes). Teleporting to a tower does not make it invulnerable. If the tower dies while you
are trying to teleport to it, it will go on a 300 second cooldown (5 minutes), while if you
successfully teleport to the tower, it will go on a 200 second cooldown (3 minutes 20
seconds).
Dragon gives global gold and exp. It also deals a percentage of your current health as physical
damage. Immune to all CC.
Baron spawns at 15 minutes. If someone escapes into the baron pit, and if the baron is alive, you
can deal damage to the escaped opponent by dealing damage to the baron with a ranged ability
or attack. Killing baron gives global exp and gold and a buff to all ALIVE teammates. The buff
gives AD, AP, Health regen, and Mana regen. Immune to all CC. You can dodge the barons
ability to pop you up by looking at the ground for bubbles and moving away from that location.
Baron also applies debuffs to players hit by its abilities, making them take more magic damage,
resulting in huge vulnerability to AOE magic damage spells.
www.lolnexus.com (for checking players in loading screen)
www.lolking.net (very useful website all around)