[2020] League of Legends is insanely fun to watch right now

Original Post — Direct link

Aside from Team Liquid's dominance in NA, many of the other major regions (EU, LPL, LCK) have felt incredibly competitive, and with so many strategies on the board, in-series adaptation seems more important than ever - making each series brilliantly entertaining.

LCK finals and both of the gauntlet games so far have gone to Game 5
LPL final has gone to game 5
The meta is allowing for incredible variety throughout the map with non-ADCs still occasionally played bot, enchanters/tanks played support, and a mix of fighters/tanks/mages throughout each of the other 3 lanes
There are some brilliant narratives developing internationally, and with SKT and Faker out of Worlds contention, the stage is open for Uzi and new heroes to make their mark on esports history

Genuinely can't wait for Worlds. With Fnatic and TL keeping Western fans quietly confident, perennial underachievers qualifying from LCK, and Chinese sides looking to win their first World Championship - plus games just being insanely fun to watch - I have a feeling it might just be the best one yet.

External link →

about 6 years ago - /u/Timbolt - Direct link

Originally posted by FlanxLycanth

Do you think there is anything a Silver ranked player could learn from watching competitive or is the skill gap too wide?

Some of the things I always take away from pro play:

- Wave management (when to push, when to freeze, why it matters, etc.)

- Good/creative ward locations (warding lanes, where to ward around baron, etc.)

- Power spikes of champions

about 6 years ago - /u/Timbolt - Direct link

Originally posted by fankifalfur

I feel like only the 2nd thing is the only thing on that list that can actually be learned from watching pro play, you're not going to learn wave management watching the spectator go around every lane every few seconds. Also you can't really tell if a champion is powerspiking as a spectator because often enough you don't see them instantly fight when they spike or you can't feel the powerspike yourself.

Warding though I agree, some very creative and useful ward spots can be seen in competitive games as a spectator

point #1 and #3 is learned from the casters in my opinion (but you are right, that it is not something you learn well just by watching). To be fair, those things take a while to fully understand and remember.

Edit: I can say personally, learning about wave management from the casters over the years is one of the main factors contributing to my improvements.

about 6 years ago - /u/Timbolt - Direct link

Originally posted by SeiKoss

That's funny since I agree on fankifalfur, you learn #1 & #3 from watching high elo streamers / youtubers.

Casters will talk a bit about #1 but won't go in to detail, Dong Huap for instance has a youtube clip where he explains it and I learned more from that then I did from watching 6 years competitive.

#3 is something I learned from watching Dyrus / wingsofdeath back in season 3. Casters will say x champion needs these 2 items before they really come online but they again won't go in to detail. For instance old Irelia didn't want to fight Riven at lvl6, but lvl7 was a free kill if the Riven didn't respect it, while casters will just say she needs her trinity powerspike.

While #2 is something you learn from just watching a competitive game if you pay attention to it / minimap.

Yeah you can definitely learn those things through multiple channels. I personally learnt a lot of the core concepts from watching EU and NA LCS and learnt more intricate things from streamers/youtubers. But ofc. this depends on who you watch and it is cool that there are lots of different options out there.

about 6 years ago - /u/Timbolt - Direct link

Originally posted by SernieBanters

Except that none of these get you to gold. You get to sound pretentious while flaming your teammates but it's pretty much useless for climbing low elo.

EDIT: Said the wrong thing. What I meant is those skills aren't necessary to reach gold. You can get to gold knowing none of these. I definitely did not learn these things in Silver.

I think wave control is one of the best ways to improve your win-rate in silver. It allows you to assert pressure on the map all by yourself without really giving up much (assuming the other team does not know how to manage their side-waves).

about 6 years ago - /u/Timbolt - Direct link

Originally posted by SernieBanters

I worded my comment poorly. What I meant to say is that those things aren't necessary to climb out of silver. I personally reached gold by spamming Bard and just destroying enemy supports.

Wave management is very strong (I got destroyed by Garens who just froze waves on me). Powerspikes are helpful. Warding locations are useless IMO because I haven't seen anyone play around wards in Silver. Usually people just put a ward before they facecheck.

Oh yeah, can definitely make it out without knowing much about it, but I think it is one of the most valuable things to pick up.

← More from League of Legends

Recent League of Legends Posts

2 days ago - /u/phroxz0n

3 days ago - /u/Rovient

4 days ago - /u/RiotKDan

Recent League of Legends Posts

How can someone reach Challenger 2000 lp relatively close to the season start and then not make it to 3000 lp or more easily? Why are people seemingly stuck around 2000 lp?

Arcane - Jinx fixes everything event bug

Why does League not have footstep sounds?

Jinx minigame