League of Legends - Basic gameplay, terminology and strategy 101

Main Objective

• Working as a five-man team on the map called Summoner's Rift, the main objective of League of Legends is to take down all the turrets in a lane (top, mid, or bot), take down the inhibitor, then the two nexus turrets, and finally the nexus. Though, when strategically useful, you can take down turrets at multiple lanes to pressure your enemy further.
• Though not often commonly played, players can also play a more competitive version on a 3v3 map known as the Twisted Treeline consisted of only two lanes.

Player's Role

• Players, acted as "summoners", can choose from a list of over 70 champions, which 10 will be selected to be "free for the week" on random rotation, or you can use IP and RP to purchase them.
• Because each champion is unique and functions at different role, it is wise to choose a balance team composition. For tips on picking a good team composition, refer here.
• Each player will also be given two "summoner spells" to help you kill an enemy or escape from bad situations.
• Players will learn experience and gold for their champions in game, up to level 18. Outside of games, players will learn experience and IP for their summoner level up to level 30. IP's can be used to purchase champions or runes.
• Runes are a set of "boosts" that give you extra stats such as mana regen, cool down reductions, and magic resists. Customizing runes can give you a significant advantage in game over someone who does not have any runes. Because you can only get Tier 3 runes (which are much better than Tier 1 and Tier 2) at level 20 and greater, it is recommended to not get runes until reaching level 20.
• There are 3 sets of mastery trees (Offense, Defense, Utility), and you earn 1 point from your summoner level. These are another set of customization that you can give to your champion.

Laning

• Refers to champions staying in lanes and having actions back and forth with enemy champions occupying the same lane. Most commonly seen laning distribution is 2:1:2 (top, mid, bot). With a jungler, one of the lanes (top or bot) becomes 1v2.

Farming

• Refers to your ability to last hit minions in lane. Last hitting means that you have to be the last one to hit the minion to destroy it, and it will be indicated by the amount of gold shown when you successfully do so. Farming is extremely important because it determines what items you can get in your game. If you farm much better than your opponent in lane, you will find yourself progressively easier in lane because of your items.
• Controlling the rates of your farming is also extremely important because it determines how "push" your lane is. Ideally, you would want to keep the lane in the middle so you can farm easily within safe distance from your turret. If you push your lane all the way to your enemy's turret, do so when you know it is absolutely safe.

Ganking

• In a team fight, having more number of people definitely gives your team a significant advantage. Ganking refers to the strategy when champions group up to attack a small group of people. Clever players will use this to punish opponents who over extend way too far in their base.
• To prevent ganks, you will need to make sure you don't step too far into enemy base by yourself. If you need to do so, make sure you know where the enemy team, as well as placing wards to give you extra sight.
• If you are subjected to gank and your teammates are not near, remember that your turret will help protect you. When you're alone, make sure you stay within distance from an allied turret.

Map Awareness

• Mastering this skill is crucial to become a good player. Throughout the entire game, make sure you watch the mini map every few seconds to watch where everyone is on the map. If you don't know where an enemy is, do your team a favor by calling out "MIA" in chat. If your teammate has chased an enemy to somewhere near you, having great map awareness will help you to reach there and help your teammate sooner.
• BUY WARDS. These little guys give you extra vision on the map, which is EXTREMELY useful in a fog of war game like this. For extra helps on map awareness and ward placements, refer here.

Neural Monsters and Global Objectives

• These refer to the monsters that have an orange colored icons on the map. Killing these monsters will give you extra gold like minions.
• Some monsters will have either a blue or red aura around themselves. Killing these monsters will give you extra stats. In general, the blue is good on casters and the red is great on AD carries. These extra buffs last for a few minutes and will transfer to your killer if you die.
• There are two epic monsters on the map called the dragon and the baron. Killing the dragon will reward you extra gold for the entire team, while killing the baron will give your entire team extra buffs. These two monsters are extremely strong and may require your whole team to take them down.
• You team can have a jungler, whose function is to level up by killing these monsters instead of being in lane. Having a jungler gives your team a leveling advantage because your extra solo-laner will gain extra experience and gold. The greatest advantage in having a jungler is that your team will have a champion where your enemy team will not know the location of, allowing the jungler to gank lanes much easier. Having a jungler can also be detrimental if your teammate hold a 1v2 lane. Make sure you work out with your team with the pros and cons accordingly.

Killing and Feeding

• Killing an opponent will give you a range of gold depending on how well he/she is doing. If a champion does extremely well and has a few kills, he/she will be considered "legendary" and will be worth a lot more gold when taken down.
• In contrast, a champion who does poorly and constantly dies is considered "feeding" because he/she continues to feed the enemy team gold. If a teammate continues to feed, your enemy team will accumulate more gold than your team and thus give them better items than your team. Because of the snowballing effect of the game, it is extremely difficult to win a game when your enemy team is well fed.

I will be breaking up the basic gameplay in a few phases.

Champion Selection

• As I cannot stress enough, DO NOT INSTANTLY LOCK ON A CHAMPION. Though most people don't talk during champion selection, make small mental notes of how your team fight will turn out and try to pick someone with abilities that synergizes well with your team. The only time that you should defy this logic is if you are extremely new to this game and you only know how to play a couple champions. I would suggest new players to just play their most experienced champion instead of trying out someone completely new for team composition and ending up feeding.

Spawning from Fountain

• This is your first time of buying an item, so choose very wisely what you would like. Some people like to stick with the standard doran items to give them a rounded boost in early game, while some experienced players like to get starter items to get into their core build. It is completely up to the player's preference to get what items they want.
• Some higher level plays might choose to invade enemy jungle or an early gank to give their team an advantage in early game.
• Before you go in a lane blindly, try to see which ally you best work with. For example, if you are an AD carry, lane with a tank or a support to protect you, and avoid laning with another squishy champion.

Early laning phase

• Farm, farm, and just farm. Carefully let the minion wave to stay where you want it to be. If you push it all the way to enemy turret, be wary of enemy ganks. If you let your enemy push the wave up to your turret, because your turret will also hit the minions, your last hitting will become more difficult.
• If you are a ranged champions, use it to your advantage to deny your melee opponents of farm. This is called zoning and it is very useful to know where the zone of your attacks are. To do this successfully, you need to place yourself in an area where you can farm, as well as harassing enemy champions if they try to come forward for a last hit.
• If you're doing well in lane, recall to base when your minion wave is pushed against enemy turret so you won't miss a lot of minion kills. And of course, recall to base when your health is low as you are very susceptible to ganks.
• Buy boots early. A level 1 boot should be one of your first items when you go back. Also, if you don't have enough gold for your core items, but do have a few hundred gold leftover, buying a ward or a health potion is always useful.

Early to Mid game

• I usually signature this phase when a few outer turrets have taken down and people start to group together for ganks or pushes.
• If your team has taken down an enemy turret, it is wise to place a ward nearby to spot enemy champions if they try to come forward and push the wave back. Because they are farther away from their closest turrets, they will be more vulnerable to ganks.
• Group with your allies to take down inner turrets and take down neutral monsters. A general rule of thumb is that don't step into enemy base alone unless you have full vision of where the enemy team is. Buffs should be given to the teammate that will best utilize them.
• If a team fight shall occur, note your position very carefully. If you're a tank, you should be in the up front to soak up all the damages dealt by your enemy team. If you're an AD carry, stay far from the enemy team and deal damage to the most threatening member of the opposing team. Remember, the key to winning a team fight is if your team focus on the same champion at one time.

Mid to late game

• If you continue to push as a team and place wards everywhere, your game should go fairly well.
• While pushing one lane as a team, it is also important to watch the mini map to make sure your other lanes are not pushing back to your base. If it does happen, send ONE person, usually the one who deals most damage and can use the farm for better item, back and protect the base. Because your team will have less people than the enemy team, your team will also have to play more cautiously as a result.
• If your team is not doing so well, taking down the baron might give your team an advantage in team fight, and will help you push better.