League For Dummies

    The other day I had been wondering to myself about the watch value of League of Legends games, as some of my friends had been talking about watching an Esports tournament together. While I think it's unlikely that Esports will ever reach the mainstream general appeal other sports (like football) have across generations, it did make me think: could someone in an older generation (Gen X or older) find the same entertainment value watching a game of League as they would watching a game of basketball?

    The short answer? Probably not. With most sports, the metrics that answer the question: Who's winning? are pretty straightforward, typically just measured as points gained from scoring goals, with the team holding the most points by the end of a time limit being the winner. With LoL, it's a little confusing, since while there still is a clearly defined goal to win (destroy the enemy base), there are so many other factors and metrics that can clutter a person's understanding of what to look for to gauge how the game is going, like KDAs, Drake kills, and CS.

    So, I'm going to attempt to give a layman's explanation for how the game works, with key details and general information that in theory, should leave the reader with a more solid understanding of how League works, even if they don't play it themselves.

    Before I dive into some specifics, let me provide a general overview of the game with a simple map, since I remember getting lost pretty easily when I first started playing, and it's helpful to know what area I'm referring to when I say "bot lane" or "top jungle".

    Like I already said, the goal of the game is to destroy the enemy base, so if I'm on Blue team, then my goal is to get to the Red team and destroy their Nexus, which I've represented on this map as the stars. However, it isn't as easy as just strolling on into their home: you have to push through a series of Turrets (which are represented by the grey circles), slowly advancing towards their Nexus by breaking each of their towers. There are three avenues to approach the enemy base by: their top lane, their middle lane, and their bottom lane. So, at all times there are three roads to be watching out for, and there is one player on each team that is assigned to play in the lane (with the exception of the bottom lane, which has two players assigned per team).

    However, I'm sure that you're noticing that the map had a ton of empty space, right? Well, that's where the fifth player of the team, the Jungler, spends their time. Turn your attention to our new, filled in map. Those green areas are collectively known as "The Jungle", with each quadrant being referred to by their team and orientation on the map (for example, bot Blue jungle being the bottom left corner). This is where the Jungler spends their time, roaming throughout the entire map rather than sticking to just one lane, so they can show up in any lane that needs help in a fight with the enemy, or taking over a lane when their team's laner is dead.

    

    Another important thing to mention is that blue line cutting through the map, which is known as the river. Besides being a connective road that makes the arena easier to travel through, the river also contains the Baron pit (represented by that purple circle in the top river) and the Drake pit (represented by the purple circle on the bottom). These pits contain monsters that appear with timers throughout the game, which grant team-wide advantages to the team that kills the monster. These buffs can range from making your team move faster, do more damage, or spawn in assisting monsters that help you break enemy towers faster. This is the main job of the Jungler, though they typically require some help defeating these monsters.

    Now that you understand the arena and some basic mechanics, you should be able to understand what goes on in a game of League to a general extent. Of course, there are many more details and complications that can be explained, but these basics are all you really need to know if you're just watching. There are almost 170 unique playable characters that each have their own abilities, and there are over 200 items that are purchased throughout the game that give individual advantages to each player, but the reality is that I'm nowhere near qualified enough to explain all of that, nor would I think anyone has the patience to read through all of that.

    If I did a good job explaining these concepts, then you should be able to recognize most of this in-game map of the arena and understand what happens in each area. From there, it's just a matter of checking on how each lane is progressing and getting closer to destroying the other team's base Nexus. It's not as easy as understanding football, but who knows, maybe now your horizons have been expanded!