League of Legends: The Pro's Influence
Professional League of Legends players have become incredibly influential on other players of the game through mediums like their streams, the LCS and challenger tournaments and lolclass. Casual and amateur players can learn a lot from watching a pro player stream, whether or not the player provides commentary. Enrolling in a lolclass can directly benefit a player and watching a player or team compete in the LCS or other competitions can be great to watch for team work mechanics.
Websites like Twitch.tv or Azubu.tv are popular sites where pro players stream their solo queue matches. Some have become quite infamous like Team Dignitas’ Imaqtpie or Team Curse’s Voyboy. Even Phreak from Riot Games attracts a large audience, not only for his own notoriety, but because when he plays he answers questions posed by his viewers and provides commentary to what he, his teammates and his opponents are doing in game and why. When it comes to Imaqtpie, his popularity is derived from his unusual tactics in game especially with the champion Heimerdinger causing the creation of the Dongsquad. Dongers aside, Imaqtpie provides his viewers with consistent displays of mechanical skill that give less skilled players tactics to practice and laugh at on occasion. Voyboy is one streamer who is incredibly educational to the viewer, explaining nearly everything that happens in his games. In addition to basic seeing and replication of his tactics, Voyboy puts on consistent performances and then helps his viewers learn from his successes or his mistakes and how to come out on top of any situation. Much like Voyboy, Phreak uses his status to help try to make the League community more educated about the game by providing commentary and showing exemplary behavior, something any player could always strive to improve with some of the toxicity present today.
One of the more obvious and clearcut learning tools is lolclass, a feature that has recently become common among pros. Anyone can purchase a session with a pro (if available) and be personally taught by them in a specific field of the game, more often than not about a particular champion. Something to keep in mind though would be that students who go to lolclass should not attend expecting to be taught on how to farm better or trading in lane, as you’ll be told that’s something that can be simply practiced, while learning a champion’s more advanced nuances and combos is teachable. Top pro teams like Counter Logic Gaming, Cloud 9 and even challenger teams like TBD provide their player’s skill and game knowledge to the website, making for a great many teachers that can help better a player in each position of the game. If a live session isn’t an option for you, the website also offers on demand videos of particular players on their signature champions for those who are looking for a more specific lesson.
When it comes to watching the pros LCS matches can be both beneficial to the individual but even more so for a group of friends or team who play together competitively. From the top teams in the LCS to even the upper challenger teams a viewer will see a wide array of complicated strategies like ward placement, lane matchups and lane swapping as well as mechanical skill. One of the better aspects that one can learn from watching the pros player together as a team is how they communicate via pings, movement on the map, and what solid teamwork looks like. When watching, one should look specifically at when and where a team wards, how a jungler moves around a map and what happens throughout the map when they show themselves. Something to keep in mind though is that some strategies, while they can all be beneficial in their own way may not be smart to use in your own games. If you and your team legitimately expect the opponent to lane swap, then invasive warding is a good idea, but how often does that happen in a normal or solo queue game?
Some of the pro’s strategies are successful because the players are mechanically skilled and have superior team coordination. Certain builds or champs won’t work simply because a pro did it. What they say can be very helpful and informative, but just because they’re good doesn’t mean everything they say is an absolute truth. Work what you learn from into your own play, but always remember that not only are they on a different playing field from you, but their opponents and yours have the same relationship.
Robert Wery