League of Legends: Visually Advantageous

Beyond the fundamentals of you having to learn by playing your three hundred plus games. There is a lot more for you to learn in terms of what you see and hear in League of Legends. As explained in my fog of war blog post, it is very important to be able to see everything that is happening in your current game. Here we will learn different ways to see and hear what is happening in team fights, one versus one, and even with your friendly ally.

There are a few champions that you will notice who have a crowd control (CC) block or immunity. These different champions will visually show you that they are immune to a type of crowd control. The biggest and mostly seen anti-CC ability is the ultimate skill from Olaf. When Olaf activates his R skill he will go into a state where he will not be able to slow, stun, silence, fling, knock-up and any other type of crowd control. You can visually and audibly notice the active buff on him.

One does not simply stun Olaf. It’s best to see that he used his ultimate and use crowd controls for when the ability wears off or use it on another champion. Other abilities have a single CC block or specific CC immunity. While saying this we look at Sivir and Nocturne’s abilities. Both these champions have the ability to absorb a projectile thrown at them to activate the shield and give them a reward.

You can anticipate the shield or even bait it to be used and not even activate it, that way you can visually know that the enemy Nocturne or Sivir will not be able to block a stun or slow, making your fight advantageous. Master Yi has his ultimate where he is not able to be slowed. Even though he has this ability you are still able to use any other form of CC on him. You can visually tell it is on because of the particles around him.

Of course you are able to read that he cannot be slowed because the game tells you with a bold text. A lot of other champions have protection spells that does the same.

When you figure out the different CC block and immunity certain champions have, you can skillfully hold your spells and skills for that important moment. There are many champions that provide a certain buff to themselves or to other champions. A lot of them come from support champions like the most noticeable one being Sona’s auras. She can constantly change her auras to fit the perfect situation and provide the proper stats needed in a fight.

You can see what buffs the ally champions are receiving just by the colour of the aura. A lot of support champions work in the exact same fashion. Soraka and Taric provide a buff that requires a bit more investigation.

Soraka provides a buff with her heal. If you are engaging on a Soraka and an ad carry bottom, try to engage when Soraka’s heal is on cool down or when the slight buff has worn off. When I say slight I mean hefty. At level 5, Astral Blessing provides a 105 armor bonus. If you can provide yourself with a bit of extra knowledge of the game and your enemies, you can become a player that is able to use their skills and abilities at the perfect time.

In the midst of battle you will notice a rune or four rotating around an ally champion or enemy champion. Ever wonder what these runes actually did? Well there are a lot of them out there and we should try to learn them as we play the game. The most common ones that you will come across are the buffs from Summoner’s Rift. These buffs are the two set of runes that come off of Ancient Golem and Lizard Elder.

The Ancient Golems provides a 25 flat mana regeneration per 5 seconds plus a 0.5% of their maximum mana (or energy) and a 20% cool down reduction on their abilities.

A lot of ability power caster would use this buff to their benefit because of the mentioned attributes. This means they can spam their abilities, regain the mana and still be useful in other lanes including their own. The next buff is the Lizard Elder. This buff is what makes a jungler so effective. It applies a slow to the target it hits depending on the level of the wearer. At level 1 it applies an 8% slow, level 6 it applies a 16% and at level 11 a 24% slow.

In addition to the slow, it adds true damage to the target equal to the level of the wearer. Ten true damage at level 1 and increasing the amount by 2 per level. It deals this damage but it also applies it twice per hit, making a jungle’s gank really powerful.

Even though this next buff is really difficult to obtain it is a really powerful buff. You may already have the reaction of “Oh they have Baron, we need to defend until it runs out” without really knowing the exact reasons it is so powerful.

The reason why it has so much power and the reason why it is so important to defend, is because the buff it brings is really game changing. The buff is named Exalted with Baron Nashor, it gives the wearer a 40 additional AP and AD including 3% of maximum health in health regeneration per 5 seconds and 1% of your maximum mana in mana regeneration per 5 seconds.

What do these buffs have to do with what I am trying to explain? Well reader, the biggest answer I can give you is to know what battles you can fight and which you need to retreat from. If you see an Olaf with Red and Blue buff with his ultimate active and you are at half health three levels below him, I think it’s a time for you to retreat. On the other hand while you are in mid as an AP carry with Blue buff; you are in an advantage against your enemy without Blue buff.

There are many other champions with certain buffs and abilities that make them powerful. There are also many other situations like items and item auras that come into your play of deciding whether you should fight or play defensively. The next article will explain item aura and more neutral monster buffs.