From the first World Championship in 2011 to this day, League of Legends has been one of the most watched esports games. Although it's on esports scene for quite a long time, you might have started watching it recently.
If that's the case, and you are looking to find out how you can interpret League of Legends games, we're here to help you.
If you play League of Legends, even just a bit, it will be easier for you to understand the mechanics of the game. If you don’t, that’s cool too. League has a very simple interface and has gracious casters who always help people to understand the game. Get a few tricks from here, and it will be so much easier for you to follow the matches.
Pay attention to these during a game
Gold
Let’s start with the gold difference. This game is at 30 minutes, and EDward Gaming is only 700 gold ahead. This is a marginal difference for such a late time, and means that both teams are equal at this point. However, a 700-1500 gold lead during the early game would mean that EDG has dominated the game with their decisions, outclassing DWG KIA.
Items
You can check that through the items of the champions as well. Only Gragas is trailing behind Jayce, which means the latter has some of that extra gold funneled into him, while his jungler is a bit behind enemy Lee Sin. In grand total, the teams look equal.
Timer
There is a timer at the left upper corner of the screen. That is the timer of Elder Dragon, one of the most important buffs in the game. Riot Games will share the timers of any big buffs throughout the game with you. The Elder will be up in more than four minutes, while Baron Nashor is up. So, if you take a fight here, you risk Nashor, and if you win it, you get the Nashor.
Farm
Look at the menu placed at the bottom of the screen, the one with the items. Those numbers mean how much farm a champion gets, and farms means money. If there are big differences between the laners, those differences might mean a loss during a team fight. One important aspect are the levels, and you can find the current levels from the menus on the sides of the screen.
Levels
The numbers at the left corner of any champion portrait on the sides means the levels. If there are big differences between the same laners, that’s a problem. In the example above, EDG and DK’s ADC players Viper and Ghost are equally sitting on 13 levels. However, as they are lagging behind the solo laners, as per the nature of the game, ShowMaker on Sylas or Flandre on Jayce could easily stop them during a 1v1. You have to consider the side lane potentials. Khan is playing AP Gragas, but it is still hard for him to stop a Jhin or a Jayce at the side lanes. But it is easier for ShowMaker’s Sylas.
Symbols
Under the names of EDG and DK, you see one dot on each. That means they have won one game each during this series, and if they win two more, they win it all.
At the current situation of the game, I, as an experienced LoL esports fan and player, would guess that even though they are 700 gold down, DWG KIA would win this game. Why? Check out the symbols under the golds of DWG KIA. They have four dragons, and the last two of them are the Infernal Drake. It means they acquired the Infernal Soul. At the time, Infernal Soul was one of the strongest souls, and as DK locked it, EDG will never have the opportunity of getting it to their side.
DK will have easier fights with the help of passives from four drakes, and the Infernal Soul. They have a good team fight composition with Gragas, Sylas, Aphelios and Braum, with Lee Sin probably pulling the trigger. EDG needs to play side lanes to stop DWG KIA at this point with their Jayce and Twisted Fate. However, DK would win a team fight easily.
In the end, EDG are forced to fight at the Elder Dragon because if they lose that, they can’t create threats on the side lanes either, as the buff from the Elder Dragon is too powerful. It is a lose-lose situation for them, and DWG KIA wins the game.
What to look at before a game?
The drafting stage is the most important of all. After both sides ban three champions, the blue side picks one, red picks two, blue picks two, red picks one and it is the second banning phase. Both sides ban two champions, red picks one, blue picks two and red picks the last champion.
While the blue side has the advantage of getting a very strong meta pick from their first pick, the red side has the advantage of getting the last pick without the fear of a counterpick. So, the blue side needs to analyze what is the role unpicked at red, and pick a champion that could play from behind, losing farms etc. but still be able to perform during fights.
In this example, although you can’t see it from the screenshot, EDG started by picking Lucian, a strong pick for bot lane and top lane. To stop EDG from getting the Lucian Nami synergy, DK picked Jhin and Nami as their bot lane. EDG then proceeded to pick Lulu and Graves, and DK picked Talon as their last pick for the first phase. Notice how Yuumi was banned by DK? As EDG had the first pick, they had to ban Yuumi because it was a popular strong pick during Worlds.
Importance of picks
Let’s analyze the picks more to make sure you get the idea. DK, after picking Talon for it not to be banned, picks their top lane, as they think EDG will play Graves top and they don’t want EDG to see their mid laner. As an answer, EDG picks Zoe, which is a champion with very few counter picks at the current meta. EDG gets Viego as their jungler, and DK gets Orianna which they think could have an easy lane against Zoe.
During drafts, the teams also care about getting equal damages of AD and AP, because it is easier to tank a team’s damage if they have more of one side. EDG has Graves-Viego-Lucian, but Zoe’s burst is too good so you can’t just focus on them. DWG KIA has Jhin and Talon with Orianna and Gwen. Thus, both teams have balanced their damage output with supports that are enhancing their abilities.
Watching League of Legends is super fun, and hopefully, you will understand it even more if you are a beginner or an old-timer after reading this. Just try to apply these basic analogies to the games you watch, and if you don’t get the same results, try to find out why you didn’t. Listen to the casters, and ask people! Use Twitter, Twitch chat, whatever. It’s fun to debate League games.
As a League of Legends fan, don’t forget to watch the games of your favourite team and place your bets on Luckbox.
