Game Modes | Basic Gameplay League of Legends Guide

Last update: 11 May 2016

There are 3 game modes in League of Legends, each of them will provide much excitement, and help to develop your skills.

PvP (Player vs Player)

In PvP two 3- or 5-player teams fight against each other on a chosen map in one of 3 game modes: Classic, Dominion, and ARAM. Classic mode is further divided into Normal or Ranked games.

Normal games:

The most popular type of game, which basically serves as testing ground for new champions, tactics, items sets, or as a warm-up before ranked games. Both won and lost battles reward players with IP and experience (if they have profile level below 30). Normal games can be played solo (players sign up individually) or with others (by inviting 1 to 4 players). Opponents are matched basing on players' level and skill. Single game lasts from 20 to 50 minutes, but there have been very short battles, which lasted less than 20 minutes. Normal games can be set as: Blind Pick or Draft Mode.

Blind Pick

Each player chooses a champion. Members of opposing teams cannot see each other's line-up until the loading screen shows up. Because of this, sometimes there are the same champions in two teams; e.g. there may be 2 Shens in two opposing teams.

Draft Pick

This option brings a doze of tactics. Initially, captains from both teams can lock 3 champions from the opposing team, thus excluding them from the game. Then, one of the teams gets so-called First Pick, i.e. right to choose a champion as first. After that, the other team picks 2 champions. The pattern goes until all players have a champion. Finally, players can exchange their champions with people from their team. In that case scenario, both players who decide to exchange need to had bought the other champion.

Ranked Games:

The third season of League of Legends saw the old "ELO" system (relative skill levels of players) replaced with league system. To compete, players must have at least profile level 30 and own 16 or more champions (league games do not use the weekly free pool of champions). The win/lost result of the first 10 ranked games decides about players' position in ranks affiliation in the leagues. The lowest-ranked league is Bronze V and the highest-ranked - Gold II/I. Players may rank up by participating in more games.

League types

Symbol	Name	Symbol	Name
	Bronze		Platinum
	Silver		Diamond
	Gold		Challenger

Each league has 5 divisions (V - being the lowest, I - the highest). Both leagues and divisions are represented by players of similar skills. Players earn League Points for won battles, and lose them through lost battles. If in a given division, take Silver V, a player earns 100 points, he will be admitted to promotion games, which can promote him to the next division, in this case Silver IV. To be promoted to the next division, the player have to win 2 out of 3 promotion games. Promotion to the next league, let's take Silver I to Gold V, requires winning 3 out of 5 games. The Challenger has its own rules. There are no divisions; players simply earn League Points. The more points they get, the higher their position in the rank is. This league is meant for highly skilled players, so-called Pro gamers, who often earn real money from playing LoL. This is the league that gathers the most famous players from all around the world.

Just like in Draft Pick in Normal game, players in league games choose their champions in turns. If a player Dodges at this point, i.e. shuts down the game (e.g. because he feels uncomfortable about the line-up), he gets a time ban (cannot join any game for the next 6 minutes) and loses 3 league points. If he does it again, he will have to wait another 30 minutes and lose 10 points. Dodging during promotion series will hinder his promotion by taking away a dozen points - so he has to earn the full 100 points again to be admitted to another promotion series. Players who spend too much time in one league or lose to many battles, will be matched with players from lower divisions (e.g. a Silver II player will be set up against Silver III-V or Brown I players). This will result in earning less points for won games and losing more points for lost ones. When that happens, earning promotion to another division gets much more difficult. Players cannot be demoted on the level of leagues - e.g. a player from Gold cannot drop to Silver. However, they can be demoted to lower divisions, if they do not participate in ranked games for more than 28 days or if they lose to many times in row.

Co-op vs. AI

In this mode a team of 3 or 5 players fight against Bots (AI controlled champions). This can also be played solo or with others in one of 2 difficulty levels: beginner and intermediate. Participation in these games is awarded with less IP than the PvP games. This mode is recommended especially to beginners, so they could get familiar with the game's mechanics before they try their skill against other players. Moreover, at the very beginning playing Co-op vs. AI mode is the fastest way of getting experience, because the games are usually much shorter.

Custom

This option allows players to create their own games on one of 4 in-game maps or join other, already existing games. Customizable options are: number of players in team, game mode, game name, and password, should it be a private battle. Custom games are a good way to examine your skill in 1 vs. 1 or 5 vs. 5 (full team) battles.