I’ve been curious about LoL since people first started talking about it. I didn’t realize it at the time but my brother has been playing since release. It didn’t click until recently though. I’ll admit right now, I barely know what I’m doing, but I Am having a lot of fun doing whatever it is I’m doing. I haven’t invested any money into the game yet but I’ve seen some people mention a ‘beginners’ pack that runs for $25 – if I could FIND one I’d pick it up. So far my searches have been unsuccessful. I’ve played a small handful of 5v5 beginner matches (against the AI) where we won three of them and lost one. Matches take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour each depending on how your team does.

The basics of the game seem pretty simple. You’re on a map, you ‘own’ half of it and so do the bad guys. There are little towers that generate bad guys and the object is to defeat the opposing teams little towers (I’m putting this in the most simple of terms, I know). You have 5 players (consider yourself bosses) on your team and so does the enemy. Also known as champions. The point is to destroy the towers of the opposite team, and take down their champions while staying alive yourself. Everyone has this little train of minions that follows along headed towards the enemy side, and your job (well, my job at least) is to stick behind them and let them take the brunt of the damage while you pew pew away. It’s a lot of falling back to avoid damage while your little minions catch up to the fight point, and as you level you get points to unlock skills (and levels of those skills) and you earn gold that you can spend at the store to bulk yourself up and become less smushy (and purchase consumables like health and mana potions etc).

Each champion has a different set of skills they can use, and even a backstory. After running myself through the tutorial I decided to use the free points I had gathered up to unlock ‘Annie’ pictured to the left hand side. Her little sayings as I run her around the field never fail to amuse me, and she’s even got some lore to her which I think is great.

In the time shortly before the League, there were those within the sinister city-state of Noxus who did not agree with the evils perpetrated by the Noxian High Command. The High Command had just put down a coup attempt from the self-proclaimed Crown Prince Raschallion, and a crack down on any form of dissent against the new government was underway. These political and social outcasts, known as the Gray Order, sought to leave their neighbors in peace as they pursued dark arcane knowledge. The leaders of this outcast society were a married couple: Gregori Hastur, the Gray Warlock, and his wife Amoline, the Shadow Witch. Together they led an exodus of magicians and other intelligentsia from Noxus, resettling their followers beyond the Great Barrier to the northern reaches of the unforgiving Voodoo Lands. Though survival was a challenge at times, the Gray Order’s colony managed to thrive in a land where so many others would have failed.

Years after the exodus, Gregori and Amoline had a child: Annie. Early on, Annie’s parents knew there was something special about their daughter. At the age of two, Annie miraculously ensorcelled a shadow bear – a ferocious denizen of the petrified forests outside the colony – turning it into her pet. To this day she keeps her bear ”Tibbers” by her side, often keeping him spellbound as a stuffed doll to be carried like a child’s toy. The combination of Annie’s lineage and the dark magic of her birthplace have given this little girl tremendous arcane power. It is this same girl who now finds herself as one of the most sought-after champions within the League of Legends – even by the city-state that would have exiled her parents had they not fled beforehand.

”Annie may be one of the most powerful champions ever to have fought in a Field of Justice. I shudder to think of her capabilities when she becomes an adult.” – High Councilor Kiersta Mandrake

I spent the night playing and had a blast. Incredibly different from the typical MMOs I find myself in (because it’s an RTS game) even though I still don’t have the faintest idea of what I’m doing. There are runes you can purchase with in-game currency (or currency you purchase for real cash) and I’ve just been buying whatever strikes my fancy instead of having any sort of plan when I purchase them since I’m still just getting the hang of things. Know of any sites with useful information for beginners? Feel free to let me know!

As always, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself – and if you’re looking to add me to your friends list in LoL, you can find me there as stargrace!