step one.
did you make sure your adobe air client was correctly installed?
jk

find any specific section by using the function 3 key or simultaneously pressing ctrl + F and then typing the associated letters and number ie. "3a.1" for the shop
1a.Creating your account
2a.Installing league of legends
3a.Starting Your Adventure
3a. client interface
3a.1 Shop
3a.2 Profile
3a.3 Lore
3a.4 Help dialogue
4a. Play
5a. Masteries
6a. Runes
7a. Playing the game


Step One1a
Creating your League of legends account

Visit the Following website and enter your information.
http://signup.leagueoflegends.com/en/signup/index

Here are some example answers

username: calloIScool
email add: calloIScool@aol.com
password: xxxxxxx
con pswrd: xxxxxxx
sec ???: pet's name
my answr: widdlyscuds
(remember they are just examples)
region: for now they have only US and EU
don't forget the captcha
Press the the button that says. "play for free"

Step Two2a
Installing League of Legends

Press the large button that says "DOWNLOAD GAME"
Then Install the game

Step Three3a
Starting Your Adventure
After installing then game you will have to launch it.
After launching (and downloading all content) press the Play button

Log into LoL using your username and pw from before.
now select a summoner name.
this is how you will be identified in game.

at this time you have several options which i will go over in sections

client interface3a
there are several windows starting with the home screen window where you will be able to find
a list of useful informational links on the right.
current events below. and a window that shows current updates about new champions and changes to the system or other current events as well.
The shop3a.1
The next window we shall go over will be the Shop window
the
here you will find a plethora of items that are available to be purchased with an in game currency called influence points or IP for short.
IP may be used to unlock new champions or runes and rune pages.(we will cover runes /pages soon)
Another form of currency called riot points or "RP" can be used to purchase champions as well as alternative models for specific champions otherwise known as "skins", bundles which include a variaty of champions or other items that riot feels compelled to put in there, rune pages or boosts.

The windows of the shops
Home
on this page you will find a window with the 5 most recent additions to the shop, a list of new skins and champions, a list of popular champions or skins, a featured champion who will most likely be the most recently released champion. and a window containing a skin that is on sale for half price.

Champions
in this tab you will find all the Legends of the League
on the left you may choose what category of champion you would like as well as listing champions you do or do not own and organizing by cost of ip/rp

Skins
in this tab you will find the many different skins that are available for purchase.
the available categories for arranging the skins is rather limited.

Boosts
these are temporary items that cause the summoner to gain extra ip or exp. boosts can be purchased as per game or timed.
boosts can last from 4 wins to 10 wins or 1 day -14 days.
if you purchase multiple days or per win boosts then they will just stacks.

Runes
this page is where you may purchase runes
runes are seperated into four classes and 3 tiers
i will elaborate more about runes and rune pages later in this guide

Bundles
here you will find a few bundles of 20 champions packed into 1 RP saving bundle or 7 rune page bundle

Other
here is where items that do not fit under any other category will sit
currently in this page is the runepage bundle as well the option to purchase rune pages 1 by 1

Codes
In this tab you may redeem codes for in game content or currency
codes may be obtained through a giveaway or by purchasing riot game card from gamestop bestbuy and 7-11
codes may contain any number of things. theres no telling what riot will give away next.

IP can be earned by playing games or matches against bots, ai bots or other players.
RP on the other hand can only be earned by redeeming codes that you purchase from a store or by purchasing it in game in the shop.

now onto our next window
The Summoner Profile3a.2
Here you will find a screen with 8 tabs that containing information pertaining to statistics from matches as well as a your unlocked runes, champions, masteries and a list of summoner spells.
we will cover the masteries and rune tabs in depth later, for now
click the spells tab and take a quick look these.
each one has a specific function for use during matches which we will go over later.

time for the next window
Lore3a.3
here you will find Lore obviously.
i have never been much of a Lore person so i will leave it up to you to explore the content on your own.
if you need a guide to read lore i may as well right a guide to read guides.

next window
Help dialog3a.4
here you can find many informative facts about the game.

and now
PLAY4a
Games are seperated into four categories
PVP or player vs player: where you will fight hand to hand to spell to claw to whatever against players from all over.
games can be played on maps such as a 5v5 map called summoner's rift or a 3v3 map called the twisted treeline.
you may also choose to play normal games or ranked games which are more competitive and thus more difficult.

co-op vs ai: where you will pit your skills against the the artificially intelligent bots created by riot with two settings of difficulty

custom: custom games are games where you choose what map you want to play as well as what champions you want to play with and against.

tutorial: here you can choose basic training or battle training
as a beginner you will want to start with basic training and then move onto battle training before jumping into the fray of battle with other players.

now lets go back to masteries

Masteries5a
here you will find three columns with 14, 14, and 15 icons in them respectively.

the red column (left) is offense which increases your damaging capabilities.

the blue column (middle) is defense which increases the amount of damage you can take.

the green column (right) is utility. utility basically changes the pace your champion is played with available masteries that reduce the time spells take to be ready for casting again to how fast you run.

now on to runes

Runes6a
here you will find a page consisting of 3 sets of 9 and 1 set of 3
the red area is where red runes or marks will go
the yellow is for seals and the blue is for glyphs
the larger 3 areas belong to quintessences which are like runes except slightly stronger.

you may notice the rune spaces are all locked.
as you level they unlock 1 by 1.

Runes add a small bonus to stats to compliment your champion's abilities.
you may unlock more rune pages for more customized builds

This concludes everything within the pvp.net client.
Now onto the action.

Lets Play League of Legends7a
Let us begin by learning some of the basics
to begin start by pressing the PLAY key located at the top of the pvp.net client and selecting tutorial under the available categories.
play both the basic training and battle training.

After playing both of these you should have a basic understanding of the games controls and how to purchase items as well as having played a champion or two.

at this point we shall learn about a few essential techniques that will boost you through the ranks to becoming a Legend.

this time lets play a custom game. create a game with any name or password and map.
add a single bot to the enemy team by selecting the + below the opposing field.

you will see a random champion pop up.
this will be your opponent.

after you press start game key you will select your champion. DO NOT PRESS IT YET
in the champion select screen you can view your teammates champions as well as the champions you own and the champions that are free to play this week
in this screen you may also choose which rune page you would like to use as well as change your masteries.

while choosing a champion their are many things to consider such as how well you play with them and which champion your team would benefit the most from.

after you choose your champion press the large LOCK IN key and wait for the game to start.
after a short (or long) load you will begin.

the point of this custom game is to practice a technique called "last hitting"
where you let your minions weaken enemy minion and then dealing the final blow awarding you gold without burning through the enemy minions too quickly.
why you may ask? if you kill enemy minions too quickly you will eventually run into the opposing tower which will destroy your force and give your opponents the ability to hide safely under their tower.

go ahead and spend some time learning to last hit as it will be your main source of income.
killing enemy champions also renders a nice pile of gold so make sure to get off a few hits whenever someone gets too close
tho remember do not chase the enemy far as he will commonly be leading you into a gank which is when multiple opponent trap you and attack you at once.

while learning to last hit you will gather small amount of gold.

use your recall spell (b for hotkey) to travel back to your base and purchase items. you will heal and regenerate mana as well.
spend some time learning the items. as knowing your way around the shop will save you some precious time which in a fast paced game like this can cause you to lose out on experience and gold.

remember the recommended build usually isnt the best.
you will want a build that compliments your playstyle.


a few final tips:
save your ip for tier three runes as tier 1 and 2 runes become obsolete at summoner level 20. (try to go for at least 1 full rune page at level 20)
do not buy a champion without playing them first such as during a week that champion is to be free (even then i try to buy them only when they are on sale)
practice makes perfect. dont quit just because you do not immediately do well.
(note: any question pertaining directly to issues with installation can be answered on the league of legends website)

This concludes my guide to the League of Legends.
Good luck. And be patient.
Even the best of summoners had to start somewhere.

Nice guide, very unique.

I could see it being very helpful for people wanting to start playing.

thx it took four hours to write. now im tired and going to sleep ill check up on how people think of it tomorrow.(i think my grammar died right there)

This post was edited by callo on Mar 23 2011 01:52am

Step 0.1

Common sense.

woot this will be stickied... ^^

Although this is a nice guide, i feel that virtually everything aside from the tips is explained in the in game tutorial already (or blatantly obvious)

This post was edited by silentdeathz on Mar 23 2011 02:04am

i agree, nice guide, but some of what was posted was ridiculously obvious.

Oh so since something is obvious just omit it from the guide.

Step 1 create account


Step 5 join game



Yaaaaaah makes sense.

seriously condensed version

install
start game
do battle training and listen to the bitch
lol

WELL THATS HANDY
u forgot to mention you can actually choose what version you want by changing the language bar...
this is a guide to make new people very bad at lol