ltl advanced league 13 update 1

8/9/2019 LTL Advanced League 13 Update 1

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1 | Learn the League

Introduction to Advanced LeagueIn this section we’re going to cover a few critical concepts that will apply to everything else you learn

about League of Legends. We’ll start with a look at the core masteries (which will act as an introduction

to other sections in the e-book), then we’ll look at some game theory that’s important but falls outside

the scope of other sections in the e-book.

The Six MasteriesIn League, there are six pillars that determine how well you will do in games and ultimately the rank

you’ll be able to achieve. These are:

1.

Champion Knowledge & Basic Decision Making

2. Map Vision

3. Strategy

4. Mechanics

5. Advanced Game Knowledge

6. Mental Engagement

Let’s break these down a little further.

Champion, Item & Role Knowledge – Learning champions, items, and roles is the key to early success in

League of Legends. This is true not just for learning your own champion, but as you begin to learn how

others work in League. This knowledge allows you to better estimate when you can be successful in an

engagement and when it may be a good idea to back off instead.

This is the easiest of the six pillars to benefit from as it comes primarily through game experience rather

than player skill or decision making. In other words, you should learn it passively even if you don’t go out

of your way to research specific champions.

However, while this is the easiest to learn, it’s also one of the most time consuming to learn due to the

depth of information you’ll need to take in. Learning each of the roles will tend to come first (though

you’ll need to take the time to learn their positioning, strengths, and weaknesses); learning champion

strengths and weaknesses, as well as important items comes next; having a complete, in-depthknowledge of each individual champion is the final step. For what it’s worth, I am still learning new

things about many champions myself, so this isn’t something you should necessarily expect to do

quickly.


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You can dramatically accelerate how well you learn y trying other champions, items, and roles on a

regular basis. If you’re a newer player, though, you may find it easier to focus on one champion while

improving in the other pillars first (again, you’ll still pick up knowledge passively).

Map Vision – Map vision involves gaining vision over critical areas (and knowing which areas are critical)

and being aware of what’s going on inside that vision. This is covered in more depth in the map visionsection.

Like champion knowledge, knowledge and experience will help improve this. Unlike champion

knowledge, you need to be an active participant in gaining map vision to really learn to master it.

Strategy – League has an incredibly complex strategy potential that begins as early as the champion

selection screen. Knowing which champions work well with others, how the roles work together, and

basic objective control is just the starting point. As you improve and get an idea of advanced map

maneuvers, particularly the more effective forms of split pushing, map pressure, and map rotations, you

can begin to control games with this alone.

Most players will not learn advanced strategy passively. Instead, they will need to actively step back and

evaluate the game, and they’ll need to inform themselves through outside knowledge (this is one of the

main things I will try to cover in the advanced sections of this e-book). Watching tournaments and really

figuring out why players are moving around the map and engaging in teamfights at certain times,

especially from top teams around the world, can be very helpful for identifying new trends.

Mechanics – Mechanics and micromanaging your abilities, cooldowns, and items are the key to

mastering your champion and winning engagements that many players would lose. When we refer to

good mechanics, we’re often referring to player reaction time, decision making, positioning, and ability

usage, and often in the context of split-second plays.

Improving mechanics is done through practice and repetition, but it should also be informed with

knowledge. After all, players who don’t realize the importance of flawless last hitting or effective kiting

may never try to push themselves in these areas, even if they’re the kind of player that wants to

improve.

Advanced Game Knowledge – There are a lot of little bits of knowledge that can have a big impact on

how successful you can be in a given match. These are things like knowing you can use blink abilities and

wards over walls larger than the normal range of these abilities, or knowing that Baron Nashor always

prioritizes his main attacks on the player nearest to his center, or knowing the ways you can find out if

brush is warded.

These tricks will almost never be learned in game unless you’re actively testing it. Reading through the

tips in this e-book (many are highlighted in the Summoner’s Rift Guidebook) as well as watching videos

and reading champion guides written by players who’ve mastered those champions can help you

discover these.


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Mental Engagement – You need to get your head in the game. I cover this in the Mental Preparedness

section of the e-book, but it basically means adjusting to your situation, knowing your weaknesses,

seeking improvement, and understanding yourself as a player.

Success Begins With One

You don’t need to master all of these at once. With the exception of Advanced Game Knowledge,

mastering any one of these can carry you out of bronze. I frequently see players who have big

weaknesses in one or two of these areas still reach diamond.

The very best approach for new players, in my opinion, is to focus on either mechanics or strategy as

you start out. I talk about this more in Mental Preparedness, so read there to learn more about which

you’d prefer. While you’re working on these, consume the information in this e-book, as well as live

streams from pro players. Tournaments are also fantastic for picking up neat information. As I mention,

you’ll tend to learn champions, roles, and items passively, though certainly checking out champion

guides can help.

It depends on how you spend your time, too. Learning mechanics is something that is really best done

inside the game itself, and you may find you have less time to play but plenty of time to read and

research outside the game. Let this help your decision.

Don’t overload yourself. It’s a big game with a learning cliff that scares off a lot of people. Take this one

step at a time and try to get a feel for each of these masteries, but really try to focus on one at a time

when you’re getting started.

Champion TheoryLet’s dig into some of the fundamental design decisions that shape champions in League of Legends.

This really doesn’t belong anywhere else in the e-book, but the information here can be critical to

helping make decisions both in game and out of game.

Champions Are Not BalancedAs players, we like to believe that game designers are seeking the best balance possible. We don’t like to

see some champions or items seem overpowered and watch as they completely dominate the games

they’re in. And to a degree, Riot Games does try to clean up abuse cases where champions are doing

disproportionately well against a wide range of opponents.

But champions are not intended to be perfectly balanced. In fact, the whole basis of the genre is

dependent on champions being distinctly imbalanced from each other. On a broad level, there are


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several “rock, paper, scissors,” dynamics where champion A counters champion B which counters

champion C which in turn counters champion A. We’ll look at this in the next couple subsections.

Beyond this, there are cases where champions appear to belong to the same niche, and perceived

imbalances here lead to endless debates in the community. For example, there was a popular thread on

reddit that attempted to compare Riven and Talon, with the ultimate conclusion being that Riven hadthe mobility and the stats advantage over Talon, and therefore was a flatly superior champion.

In this case and at this time, Riven may have been a stronger champion in many situations. But Talon

happens to bring some tools that Riven does not have, these being an instant blink-silence to his target

and stealth on his ultimate that prevents him from being hit with targeted spells (provided the opponent

doesn’t have stealth detection).

Now, against most champions, Riven may still be stronger. But what about a mobile spell caster that

relies on being able to see their target, such as Kassadin? Kassadin is not particularly threatened by

Riven, but Talon’s ability to engage and silence him before he can react is devastating.

This is League of Legends champion balance in a nutshell. Some champions may be stronger than others

overall, but so long as champions serve unique purposes and are still brought into matches, this is ok.

Because of this, it’s dangerous to get wrapped up in a single champion. A popular line of thinking is that

a player who knows their champion inside and out can often beat a player who picked a champion

they’re uncomfortable with just to try to counter them. And this is even truer when a player is using a

fairly strong champion, such as Riven. But what happens when you have two equally skilled players with

one of them playing a hard counter to the other? To avoid this, many of the best players tend to have a

pool of at least two or three very solid champions they can alternate between depending on the

situation.

As far as overall balance, keep in mind that champion win rates that you see cited occasionally don’t

always mean that much. They may reflect the champion being very strong, but they may also reflect

other factors, such as being champions that appeal to a small niche of dedicated players who aim to

master them. Extremely low rates, on the other hand, are more likely to be an indicator of a problem, as

it means even very skilled players may be struggling to win with them. Even this can also be misleading if

there’s a big influx of new players trying out the champion, which happens with new champion and skin

releases.


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Mobile beats Range, Target beats Mobile, Range beats TargetAs I mentioned, there are several “rock, paper, scissors” dynamics at play within League of Legends.

Probably the most overlooked is the relationship between ranged skillshots, dashes and blinks, and

targeted abilities. Here’s the basic idea:

• Long range champions that rely on skillshots can be closed on and have their abilities dodged

by highly mobile champions;

• Highly mobile champions need to move in close, and are always vulnerable to targeted crowd

controls, abilities and attacks that have shorter range;

• Champions with mostly targeted abilities almost always have shorter range, leaving them

vulnerable to long range champions.

While this is a very simple dynamic, it has huge effects on how the game is played at every level. Let’s

break this down a little bit more by looking at the characteristics of these types of champions.

Long Range Champions

When we think of long range champions we tend to think of champions like Lux and Xerath, but it’s

actually quite a bit broader than that.

To understand this, we need to look at how skillshots are designed. As a rule, skillshots are not intended

to be directly stronger than targeted abilities in most situations. Instead, they tend to have separate

advantages, and one of the most common advantages is range. Players are given the choice to play

champions with targeted abilities that have shorter ranges, or the choice to go for long range damage

with the possibility of missing it. Though there are exceptions, such as Caitlyn and Karthus ultimates,

they are very uncommon.

Lux and Xerath are certainly good examples, but there are plenty of champions we often look at as being

shorter range, such as Cassiopeia, who actually have longer range than you’ll normally find on targeted

abilities and normal attacks.

Mobile Champions

When I refer to mobility I generally mean dashes and blinks, but very high movement speed works in

some cases as well.

As a rule, mobile champions are given mobility because they need to be able to close in on their

opponents to deal damage. These champions are ideal for closing in on opponents and destroying them.

Now, combine this with the fact that long range champions tend to rely on skillshots, and often very

good players are able to use their mobility not just to stay in range of their opponent, but also to dodge

their skillshots as well.


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In addition to their abilities, the most mobile champions are also given a wide range of positioning

choices to make during combat. Because of this extra set of options, these are usually the most

mechanically complex champions in League of Legends. Some of the most mechanically skilled players in

the world have mastered extremely mobile champions like Lee Sin, Riven, and Vayne.

There’s one other huge thing to understand about mobile champions. While powerful, they are notalways the best champions for late game teamfights if their opponents are on equal ground. This is

because almost no mobile champions brings strong shields or heals to their allies (the exceptions being

Thresh and single-ally support from Lee Sin’s shield and Nidalee’s heal).

By the way, before players understand that mobile champions are supposed to be able to win against

skillshot champions, or at least dodge their abilities effectively, League can be a very frustrating game. If

you’re just not landing your skillshots against an opponent that’s mobile, don’t feel too bad!

Targeted Ability ChampionsChampions that rely on targeted abilities and normal attacks tend to have shorter ranges when

compared to long range skillshot champions. As mentioned earlier, though, these abilities are often not

weaker than their skillshot counterparts. They are reliable at the expense of offering utility or range.

These champions, who include Master Yi, Teemo, Kayle, and Ryze, are unquestionably powerful at a

close range.

Some champions that rely on targeted abilities have abilities that offer increased movement speed. This,

too, is relatively easy to counter with some skillshots such as Lux’s Light Binding, as dodging these can

often cut out so much chasing time that they can no longer catch up with the longer range champion.

Champions that deal most of their damage through targeted abilities or attacks are the simplest to play

and be effective with. In other words, they’re much friendlier to newer players or players who aren’t as

mechanically skilled.

Skill Gap Closed, Sort Of

When talking about champions, note the sections I highlighted. This is to point out a very cool dynamic

in League of Legends – the simplest champions are designed in part to counter the most complex

champions, which give less mechanically skilled players a fighting chance against more skilled veterans.

It’s not enough to cover a huge skill difference, but it’s enough to help within normal matchmaking

between players of a roughly similar level.

But there is a caveat to this which shows itself in world tournaments. High mobility teams have a very

strong record of winning tournaments, especially when played by people who have invested time into

mastering these champions. Though we’ve occasionally seen these mobile team comps beat, particularly


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by heavy “Protect the Kog’maw” team lineups, it’s rare even with good lineups (there’s a dedicated

team composition section that explains this later in this e-book). Why is this?

The most mobile champions are often very safe to take risks with, especially in the early game. Even if

they go in against short range opponents with targeted abilities, if they’re smart about the risk, they’re

still going to come out alive. After all, mobile champions aren’t required to move in close to dangerousopponents, they’re simply very capable of doing so when they choose to. So the worst case for them is

that they don’t gain an advantage over their opponents by harassing them, but they usually won’t get

themselves killed trying.

Their best counters, the shorter range champions, are also the most vulnerable champions in the early

game. In addition, maintaining map vision over mobile champions that can get over walls is very difficult

to do due to the extra routes they can get into your jungle and gank routes (over dragon/baron pit, etc.).

These lead to a situation where the shorter range champions must play more cautiously against the

mobile champions, which in turn can snowball a game in favor of the mobile champions to a point

where the advantage is lost.

Not So Simple!

I don’t want to give the impression that these three attributes – mobility, long range, and targeted

abilities – are mutually exclusive. They’re not. In general, there are two things going on:

• Champions are either very mobile or they’re not;

• Champions either have long range or short range;

• Champions either have targeted abilities or skillshots.

There are only two hard rules that are almost always true, which we’ve already discussed: mobile

champions tend to be closer range champions and long range champions tend to use skillshots.

We can go a little further and say that short range mobile champions may or may not use skillshots. For

example, Lee Sin relies heavily on skillshots and positioning, where Akali and Jax rely exclusively on

targeted abilities.

It’s rare for champions with short range and low mobility to use skillshots, though some will use close

range multi-target or area effect abilities, which are technically skillshots but are much easier to land.

Nasus, Udyr, and other fighters often fall in this category (with one notable exception being Rumble,

who has both a line skillshot and vector ultimate).

Marksmen fall somewhat outside the scope of this discussion. They can all deal very strong targeted

damage, but even some champions who can land very long range skillshots for harassment (such as

Caitlyn and Ezreal) may also have some mobility. Though this mobility can certainly be used offensively,

marksmen tend to have these in their kits to help them deal with other mobile champions who would

otherwise quickly burst them down.


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Health beats Burst, Burst beats Sustain, Sustain beats HealthWhen determining how champions work against each other, there’s another simple trio of attributes

that you should keep in mind. These are:

• Effective Health: Effective Health refers to your total survivability in a given situation,

factoring both health and damage reduction. Champions with high effective health will tend

to be survivable fighters (bruisers) and tanks.

• Burst: Burst refers to your ability to output a lot of damage at once. Champions with high

burst tend to be assassin fighters or mages.

• Sustain: Sustain refers to an ability to stay alive over a long duration. Champions with sustain

tend to be marksmen or support.

This is a much more straightforward discussion than the mobility and range subject because these are

hard counters that always work against each other. Here’s how:

Effective Health beats Burst – Champions that can survive a lot of damage thrown at them at once willnot be immediately killed by champions that rely on burst damage for kills. For example, it’s extremely

difficult for any assassin to reliably kill a Nasus or Renekton with an available ultimate, as they will

simply eat the damage. Tanks and champions who’ve built heavily for survivability are ideal for soaking

up burst damage and crowd controls, especially at the beginning of a teamfight, and can help their

teams by locking the burst champions down with crowd controls or even killing them.

Burst beats Sustain – Champions with high burst are very effective counters to champions that are

relying on healing and regeneration to maintain their presence. An extreme example would be Talon

jumping onto a support champion like Sona and dropping them before they are able to heal a second

time. Other common examples include focusing damage on a marksman or mage with high lifesteal orspell vamp. In these cases, it’s important to finish the job as quickly as possible to make sure they do not

recover, especially if teammates may try to heal or shield these players.

Sustain beats Effective Health – Champions who can sustain themselves over a long period of time

while harassing their more-survivable opponents will eventually win. For example, if Caitlyn has lifesteal

in the early game and she’s able to consistently land attacks on the enemy Lulu, she will eventually be

able to either kill Lulu or push her out of lane despite Lulu’s ability to shield herself. A better example

would be Vladimir shoving Nasus or Shen out of lane during a match, particularly once he’s picked up

spell vamp with his items.

Understanding these relationships can help you make better decisions in your matchups. When I waslearning Teemo and went up against a Vladimir in lane, I found I was not able to effectively last hit

through his harassment, and he eventually gained a lead on me and pushed me out of lane. When I

came back, I took an educated risk and burned everything I could chasing him through top lane,

eventually killing him before he was able to reach the safety of his second tower. If I had not made the

decision to attempt to burst him down, I would have certainly lost my lane and possibly have cost us the

game as a result.


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Many champions do not fall strictly into one role, and will have at least some strength in one or both

other roles. Beyond this, it’s very important to use items to help cover weaknesses when you’re being

hard countered. For example, if you know you can be burst down by an enemy assassin before you can

react, it may be a very smart idea to start building towards a Guardian Angel (your supports will thank

you).

One more thing: when given a choice on whom to harass, particularly before a big teamfight in the mid

or late game, always try to harass the targets that don’t have sustain. If you lob a bunch of damage at

someone who can lifesteal back up quickly, that may wind up being a big waste of your time. If instead

you’re able to land this on a mage who can’t recover their health and is forced to recall, it can be the

difference between taking an objective and idling in a stalemate.

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