How to get back in League of Legends

Over the last couple months, I traveled to another continent to study. About halfway through my two months there, my laptop crashed and I spent the next month and a half without League or video games (gasp!). When I finally got home, one of the first things I did was play League, especially with my friends. I found that it took some time to readjust myself into the game, but at times also felt like riding a bike. There were a heap of new features in game, a new champion, and a bunch of new things to unlock. I felt like I had fallen behind and missed out, so I was raring to get back into it. Here’s how I got back in to League of Legends after a break, and how you can too.

The first thing I noticed was my out of shape mouse hand. It had been a long while since I’d played a competitive game, and my clicks were in need of some improvement. It could also have been that playing on a different and new laptop needed to take some time to adjust, but I decided to take it easy by playing a couple of ARAM’s. There I was able to feel out what it was like to farm, poke, and team fight in a short term environment. Once I played around with a couple champions, I decided to move over to Team Builder, because I could begin to practice specific champions and positions. I realized that after so long of not playing League, not only my rank, but my skill had decayed. So as apprehensive as I had been in the past to jungle, I was about as good at jungling as I was at any other position.

When you’re getting back into League, don’t be afraid to just try things out, especially in a bot game. While playing one experimental jungle bot game, I told our Vayne that she had gone too ham in one situation, giving an intermediate bot a triple. She responded that that’s what bot games are for, they’re there so we can test our limits, not about winning or losing. With those astute words I went into more games like Team Builder with the mindset of testing my limits and just straight up practicing, not worrying about wins or losses. Of course it helped that playing Team Builder helped me get a summoner icon, win or lose, but I played to learn more than to win.

When I left I had also left in the middle of a series, and when I first logged on the client notified me that I had four days to complete it, otherwise it would be forfeit. So while taking it slow and getting your feet back under you is smart, jumping into the action can also be beneficial. My first ranked game, which was probably my fourth game since returning, I was left top lane, and decided to pick Shen, a fairly simple champion in my eyes. My team ended up winning the match, and it was a good confidence booster. Of course, not everyone is going to have the same fortune to have a good team help them through their first ranked game in a while, but there’s another mindset to be had there. If we barely play any ranked games, each game means so much more, but if we play more often, they begin to mean less, just as an ARAM or a bot game means less to us. If you play more ranked, (taking breaks/avoiding tilting as well) their power of frustration and anger, if things go wrong, lessen. Lose a few matches in a row? Shoot, that’s too bad, but honestly you’ll probably get it back at some point. So for someone coming back into League it’s not a bad idea to begin their new chapter with a strong mental foundation.

What I learned after coming back in League was that the moral of the story is to not be afraid. Don’t be afraid to learn, or to lose, because when it comes down to it, practicing can be a fatal crutch. Players think “no I need to practice more,” or “I’m not quite ready for ranked yet.” Sure some parts of your game aren’t perfect, but the need to practice can sometimes hold people back. Sometimes all people need is to just do it, and not so much worry about whether or not you’re going to win. As good as it is to play more games, to reduce the pressure you put on yourself for a ranked match, don’t play too much. Play other games, or do other activities you enjoy. If you aren’t having fun, or at least trying, your games aren’t going to go too well.

Robert Wery