This guide is aimed at players who want to have fun and win some games while playing League of Legends, without dedicating a significant amount of time into playing it and without attempting to become very competitive. This guide is not aimed at becoming a lvl 30 pro player; it's aimed at the casual gamer who wants to avoid making bad purchases and who wants to make their low level decision-making process to become somewhat simpler.

Also, I am not a high level player myself and everything I write about is quite subjective.

For example, some players will say that buying ANY runes below lv 20 is a waste of time. My counter-argument is that last-hitting without any runes or masteries is not fun, and if the game is not fun, there is very little point for me to continue spending my available free time to play it.

Why am I writing this guide? Because I could not find a similar guide which would be up-to-date for myself. (if you know of a better similar guide somewhere, please send a link as a reply and I can just delete this guide and not continue updating it...) The data presented in this guide has been gathered through tedious trial-and-errors; hopefully someone who reads this will err less, and the guide will have fulfilled its purpose of existence.

...and most of all, for me the experience of traversing through levels 3 -> 20 on EUNE was just a horrible experience overall.

This guide is still incomplete and under revision.

Latest update: 31st August 2013 (Patch 3.10a Lucian). Rewrote the champion recommendation section based on guide comments. Changed the name of the guide to include EUNE.

Intro To be written.

If you have a Lv 30 account, this guide is not meant for you. In that case, you have more LoL experience than I do, and you should be capable of writing a better guide than what I have pieced together. Please do. However, if you are too lazy to write a better guide, then please keep your criticism constructive rather than make it destructive.

This guide is inspired by and aimed for all of the East European young teenagers with lv 11-25 accounts on EUNE. Facepalming with both of my hands is just not enough to comprehend what is happening in most of these matches most of the time.

LV 3-10 (assuming no smurfs)
Blind pick matches:
- Top: 2v2 random + random
- Mid: 1v1 random
- Bot: 2v2 random + random bot
- No jungler in either team (it's generally a really bad idea to leave top 1v2 at this experience/skill level)
- In approx. half of the matches (~50%) there is at least 1x AFK and in approx. 20% of matches there are 2+ AFKs. I have even witnessed a low level match ending up as a 4v3. (That was some really slow pushing from the 3 player team, who actually won the match by enemy forfeit!). At this experience/skill level, the afk is not likely to affect the match outcome because there are HUGE differences in individual player skill level.

NOTE: It is difficult to get into a draft match at summoner lv 10-. Even if you do have 16 champions available due to RP purchases or queue together with a friend (to go around the 16 champ limit for solo draft queue), most other LoL players seem to play without paying for RP (= not 16 champs yet) and without low level friends joining them in the queue.


LV 11-19 (assuming medium or low win rate -> no smurfs)
Draft pick matches:
- Top: 1v2 or 1v1, often melee champions
- Mid: 1v1 AP
- Bot: 2v2 Marksman + random (sometimes the random is a support; more usually something that says "support" in the champion bio such as Lux, Zyra or Teemo)
- Especially at lv 11-15, only one of the teams is likely to have a dedicated jungler, resulting in a 1v2 top lane. The 1v2 can end really well or really badly for the team; only very rarely there is an average outcome.
- Sometimes 1x AFK in one of the teams (approx. 20-33% of the games). At this skill/experience level, the 1x AFK is very likely to decide the match outcome because the enemy team is experienced enough to exploit the opening.


LV 20-30
Top: 1v1
Mid: 1v1 AP
Bot: 2v2 Marksman + support bot
+ Jungler!

Same basic team composition as in Ranked. Finally!

Lv 1-3
Start with Ghost + Heal. Those are the simplest to use and they are good enough Summoner spells for blind pick matches.

Lv 5
Teleport becomes available. It's good for returning to top or bot lane, as well as for some ganks. Consider replacing Ghost or Heal with Teleport.

Lv 8
Ignite (AP Mid) becomes available. In roles other than AP Mid, you may also consider using Ignite if you are going after the kills (Ignite) and not sustain (Heal). Movement speed (Ghost or Teleport) still remains important.

Lv 11+
At this level, it's time to play some of your first ever draft pick matches.
#1 Jungler role becomes viable, because in draft pick games your team mates will be used to having a jungler in the team (unlike in blind pick games, where the team is likely to 4x report for not playing 2nd top -> losing the lane -> surrender at 20), and the top player may be familiar with holding a 1v2 top lane if the enemy does not have a jungler. Junglers should ALWAYS take Smite summoner.

#2 You should be skilled enough player to use Cleanse (Tank) occasionally.
[NOTE: Upon reaching Lv21, I have seen the other mid level players pick the Cleanse Summoner a total of 1 time picked by any player in any draft pick match. And I have played draft pick for all of my games between Lv 11->21. I feel that players should pick Cleanse more often than this...]

#3 You should be skilled enough player to use Barrier (Marksman / Squishy laner) occasionally.

#4 If you ever end up playing a dedicated Support, pick up Exhaust.

Lv 12
Flash becomes available. It will be your standard Summoner spell #1 from this point onwards.

Lv 1-7 Uniform Build or How to Start up Without Getting Screwed Up as Badly as I did
2 points: Start by taking Offense - Butcher. This will help you last hit and otherwise kill minions = gain gold.
3 points: Take Offense - Summoner's Wrath. This increases your movement speed bonus from Ghost and therefore allows you to outrun opponents with Ghost without a point in Summoner's Wrath.
4 points: Take Defense - Summoner's Resolve to increase your health bar with Heal.
5-7 points: Take the next points into Defense - Durability and your health bar. Staying alive is a requirement for achieving anything in-game. If you pick up Teleport at lv5, remove 1 point from the summoner spell you replaced and put it into Defense - Durability as well.

Lv 8+
Now it's finally the time for you to branch out Mastery pages based on team roles. Read some guides. :-)

Lv 1-19
Invest IP in Tier 1 runes which help you last hit early.
Don't invest in any Tier 2 runes; save for the Tier 3 runes opening up at summoner lv20.

Rune page 1 - AD
1-6x Lesser Mark of Attack Damage (+0.53 AD each) - lv 1,4,7,11,14 and 17
0-6x Lesser Seal of Attack Damage (+0.24 AD each) - lv 2,5,8,12,15 and 18
0-6x Lesser Glyph of Attack Speed (+0.35% attack speed) - lv 3,6,9,13,16 and 19
0-1x Lesser Quintessence of Attack Damage (+1.25 AD) - lv 10
Total cost of said AD rune page: 6 x 15 + 6 x 15 + 6 x 30 + 80 = 440 IP. As a reference: that is not enough IP to even buy Annie (450 IP). It's hardly enough IP to get you 2x cheapest tier 3 rune. But it's still enough to get you all the AD runes up to level 19.
What you get with this IP investment: 5.87 AD and + 2% attack speed. That's more AD per IP spent than what tier 3 runes will give you (granted, tier 3 runes are more effective but they cost more IP per AD to purchase).


Rune page 2 - AP
1-6x Lesser Mark fo Magic Penetration (+0.49 MPen each)
0-6x Lesser Seal of Ability Power (+0.33 AP each)
0-6x Lesser Glyph of Ability Power (+0.66 AP each)
0-1x Lesser Quintessence of Ability Power (+2.75 AP)
Total cost of the AP rune page: 6 x 30 + 6 x 30 + 6 x 30 + 80 = 620 IP. As a reference, that is enough to buy you 3x cheapest tier 3 rune (3 x 205 = 615 IP). Or 1x cheapest champion (Annie 450 IP). Save much by NOT buying this 19 rune full rune page? Personally, I think it's worth the IP investment. :P
What you get with this money: +8.75 Ap and 5.95 Mpen. That's a way better AP per IP ratio than tier 3 runes (granted, tier 3 runes are more effective but they cost more IP per AP to purchase).

Lv 20+
Now Tier 3 runes become available. You can finally branch out your Rune pages based on team roles. Read some guides. :-)
When you have bought some Tier 3 runes, you can input the old runes into rune combiner. 25x Tier 1 rune -> 5x Tier 2 rune -> 1x Tier 3 rune. So in other words your old runes are worth a 205 IP (1x cheapest tier 3 rune) refund.

Total cost of 2 full rune pages (19 runes each): -1060 IP
refund: + 205 IP (minimum refund, could also be a more expensive rune...but could also be something unusable)
total cost of investment: 855 IP. That could have got you 4x cheapest tier 3 runes (4x 205 = 820 IP) by saving up. Or almost 2x cheapest champion in the game (2 x 450 = 900 IP).

#1: Any high IP cost or high RP cost Champion you have not experimented with and who is not recommended either in this guide or another newbie guide. Most likely, that champion is much too difficult to play and you end up wasting your money. If the pros can pull it off in the Worlds...chances are you are not a pro, and your team is not filled with support pros either.

Examples of very difficult champions I have seen played extremely poorly at low levels, resulting in feeding and a loss for the team:
- Elise 975 RP / 6300 IP (first time jungler at low levels with first time Elise is doomed to fail)
- Nami 975 RP / 6300 IP (you should pick up an easier support first and learn how to support!)
- Shaco 3150 IP (he has a high difficulty bar exactly because he is difficult to play. I have seen some low level runeless Shacos get killed by an Ancient Golem...)
- Orianna 880 RP / 4800 IP (far from the easiest Mage to pick up and play. Maybe try to pick up Lux first...)
- Talon 880 RP / 4800 IP (also known as an anti-carry. I have seen him picked last in draft vs a compeltely carryless team composition, then feeding to melee champions in lane and losing the game for the team.)


#2: The following low/mid cost champions

Poppy 450 IP - Poppy's main idea is to be sucky in early game and dominate the very, very late game. A low level team will forfeit much before that based on a negative kill ratio, low morale and boredom. Very rarely played anywhere. Don't buy.

Sion 1350 IP - Not as strong as most of the other champions in the same price range. Very rarely played anywhere. Avoid.

Olaf 3150 IP - The weakest top lane champion I have seen at low level games. Most of the time, at low levels, the team which has Olaf will lose the game because Olaf feeds too much. Don't buy.

Heimerdinger 3150 IP - I have seen people buying him only because he looks cool, then having no idea how his turrets work. There are much stronger champions at his price range. Avoid.

Karma 3150 IP - Currently considered the weakest support in the game. Nobody seems to play her. Don't buy.

Anivia 3150 IP - Very difficult mage to pick up and play, there are much easier mids to try out. Most of the low level players who try to play with Anivia end up feeding heavily. Avoid.

Recommended champions for early purchase (in order to get to 16 champions for draft pick mode):

Lv 3-11 purchases
[10 free champions, some of which will probably overlap with what you have]

#11 Volibear 975 RP or Dr. Mundo 1350 IP - lv 3-30 tank top [note: Darius and Malphite are also viable, but these two are frequently banned at low level draft pick games]
WHY: These champions excel at not getting killed, which is a good thing when you are not familiar with the game controls yet. They don't do as much damage as many other top champions, but you can initiate a team fight with them and not completely die by the time your very slow team mates finally follow up on your initiation. Relatively easy to pick up.

#12 Annie 450 IP - lv 3-19 AP Mid
WHY: A mid who is easy to farm with (Q). Burst damage mage, has a stun. Better at 1v1, but with ult not completely useless in a team fight either. Easy to pick up. Cheap IP cost.

#13 Sivir 450 IP - Marksman, lv 3-19 any duo lane
WHY? Assist machine in a duo lane. Useful in team fights. Easy to pick up. Cheap IP cost.

#14 Teemo 1350 IP - lv 3-10 any duo lane, lv 11-19 Mid
WHY? Mushrooms teach the importance of wards. Decent damage output. Teaches harassing.

#15 Warwick 450 IP (and later Amumu 1350 IP) - lv 3-10 duo top, lv 11-19 Jungler
[NOTE: Amumu is frequently banned in low level draft pick, so you should learn to use Warwick as well]
WHY? Warwick is one of the best junglers in terms of sustain without runes or masteries. Nunu would be an alternative choice, but I have found out that WWs ganks are more often successful. Nunu has a decent team fight ult though.

#16 Vladimir 880 RP lv 3-30 AP Top/Mid or Lux 3150 IP lv 3-30 AP Mid (if too expensive, skip this for now and get it later)
WHY? Different caster type from burst Annie, sustained damage. Lux has excellent range, Vlad is not mana dependant but cooldown dependant.

#16-17 Tristana lv 3-30 Marksman and Alistar lv 20-30 support, received for free through Facebook and Twitter (google for instructions)
WHY? Tristana is a Marksman with a long range and an escape mechanism. Although slow, she can still save herself even if the "support" is a super bad suicider. Gets increased survavivability when Flash becomes available.

Level 11+ purchases
#18 Janna 1350 IP or Sona 1350 IP - dedicated support for Marksman in 2v2 bot lane
WHY? All around solid supports. Sona is good at team fights, Janna is good at pushing. Wards ftw.

#19 Master Yi 450 IP
WHY? Noob stomper, most frequently played as a top in low level games. Can dominate and double feed from both enemies on a 1v2 lane, which is amongst the primary reasons why he is such a popular top choice. After all, EUNE seems to be filled with Malphites and Volibears who only want to die to their lane opponent and make the enemy team happy.

#20 Taric 1350 IP or Kayle 450 IP
WHY? Taric is a solid Melee support. Kayle is a champion with a solid skill set who can be played as a support, Mid or even jungler.

#21-25 Make sure to buy a third champion into every role (Top, Mid, Marksman, Support, Jungle);
e.g. Pantheon 3150 IP (lv 11-30 top or mid), Akali 3150 IP (lv 11-30 top or mid), Twitch 3150 IP (lv 11-30 Marksman bot), Skarner 4800 IP (lv 20-30 jungle), any secondary champion from the above list you have missed

The most common chat messages in EUNE Lv 11-25 draft lobby seem to be:

#1 "no ban malfite" / "no ban X" -> if someone bans or picks malphite, expect this guy to ragequit the lobby before game begins. (NOTE: Possibly, this is the time you see this guy typing anything in English in the match, so you could be grateful for that much at least.) If the player gets his pick, expect him to feed a lot, but still to feed less than if he had to pick any other champion in the game.

#2 "top", sometimes 3x top request in the same lobby, occasionally even "top or report"/"top or feed" when things get heated up. Things will escalate until someone of the top wanters either changes his mind and goes to another lane with that same champion or ragequits the lobby. Around 20% of the Lv 11-20 draft pick players apparently have never played any other position except for top. And even top they are playing badly, without wards, without ss and without pings.

#3 "BAN YI", "YI OP", etc.
If you don't ban Yi, prepare to be reported x4. Probably as an inexperienced player, which kind of hurts the most out of all report types since it makes you play more with lower level of players.

#4 lots of any non-English language, especially if you land in the middle of a Polish premade. You can TRY to make them talk English, with varying results.

Real life discusiion, draft pick lobby lv 11:
Player A: mid
Player B: where you from?
Player A: PL
Player B: i mid, you go top
Player A: OK

Hints on how to recognize very bad players in draft lobby chat:
#1 "no ban x" -> that's the only champion this guy can play. hopefully the guy can play at least this 1 champ....often not even that.

#2 PL in caps in the player name. This is very common.

#3 A lot of numbers in the player name (year of birth, etc.). This is also common.

#4 Ask if there are any premade players and if they are good at the game. Most of the premades at mid-levels are IRL friends, neither of which can play LoL well, and since you have a premade on your side, you will receive harder enemies than in 5 man solo queue. :-( laos make sure that the premade can speak English, OR use the pings (hopefully at least one of them can, most often neither of them can).

#5 Ask the carry how many times he has played the champ before committing to support. Quite often, the answer is first time or 1-3 times. Don't support an inexperienced carry.

#6 if a player says "adc" in draft lobby, ask them what champ. In EUNE, I have played in a team where the player who said "adc" picked Teemo as the AD carry (we won), Akali as the AD carry (we lost) or Tryndamere (we won; also Tryndamere is a Melee AD Carry, true...but needs a different kind of support than most of the ranged AD carrys).

Any of the above players can not be expected to follow pings, say ss or buy even 1 ward during the match or change their build from a pre-set build during the match. Even if you ask player X to go tanky, he might still say "yes" and go for the same old AD build without understanding what you meant.


-> Startegy for Compensating: target the poor players in the opposing team as often as you can. They play the game as if Nocturne's ult was always on: they have no clue about the minimap, ss, positioning and will always faceplant the bushes. The team which exploits the other side's weak players the most will eventually be the winner....as long as someone pushes a tower every now and then as well.

Lv 11-20 Draft, expected draft bans:
#1 Master Yi
#2 Amumu
#3 Blitzcrank
#4 Darius
#5 Tryndamere
(Other frequent bans: Malphite -> someone immediately ragequits the lobby, Fizz, Fiora, Teemo, Ahri, Thresh, Shen, Kassadin)

If you missed banning ANY of the champions #1-5, be prepared to be flamed throughout the game, and your team to ragequit and surrender at 20. It seems to happen in more than 50% of the games when one of the said champions is unbanned and consequently picked by the enemy team.

One of the most effective strategies at Lv 11-20 is to focus on one enemy player who is the most inexperienced and have a team contest of how many times you can kill him. Often, it's more than 20 times in a 30 minutes match.

Avoid playing a slowly fed carry. If you do not have a positive kill-death ratio after 15 minutes, you can expect your team to surrender (vote) at 20. Often, even the winning team will have a surrender vote at 20 because one of the players wants to go AFK without becoming reported, hence triggering the vote and becoming saddened if it fails (and potentially threatening to report the team unless they surrender).

If (when) the team asks you go "ALL MID" at around 15 minutes in when those players are around lv 10, it's probably the best to go. If they get wiped out in a 4v5 when you are destoying all of their turrets in a lane, you will be blamed for the team fight loss, team morale will end up at surrender at 20, and all your efforts are probably going down the drain.

Also, don't expect any of the "no ban maphite" tank tops to initiate even a single team fight. They have picked Maphite in order to avoid getting killed as often as with the other champions, and will stay behind the rest of your team (even the carry) as long as possible.