Left Click to Shoot

At this point of my pilgrimage into League of Legends, I am just making my way into the tutorial. Movement, shooting, using abilities all get covered, but somehow I feel that there is more than just this to the game.

Tales of Summoner’s Rift: Left Click to Shoot

Having selected a name and jumped into the start of the tutorial last time around, I am now ready to learn how to shoot. In the previous session, I learned that right-click moves your character around on the map by targeting spots on the ground to go to. This can end up with some interesting pathing, but since the tutorial is only displaying a single lane, things are simple at this point.

The tutorial started me out with Miss Fortune – a marksman – who is good at shooting things from range with her pistols. And so, as soon as she came within range of some minions, she started gunning them down.

With first blood drawn as Miss Fortune, I quickly learned that left-clicking on minions targeted them specifically. This allows a champion to shoot whichever victim is within range. It also means that if you left-click on someone that is outside your range, you move to get closer until you can shoot them.

Stay out of Turret Range

As the tutorial progressed, one of the most important things I learned was to stay out of the range of turrets. These things pack a huge punch, and while the minions shoot at you or beat on you, the turrets can kill you with only a few shots.

They usually target the minions, so you don’t have to worry about always getting shot at, but there are a few cases where they put you in their crosshairs. The first is when there are no minions in range – the turret simply seeks out the enemies it can shoot, and if you are the only one there, you get shot. The second is when you shoot at an enemy champion in range of the turret – they don’t seem to like you attacking their champions, so they return the favor, and it is no fun if you’re getting shot by both the enemy champion and the turret.

Variety is the Spice of Life

After movement and shooting and, of course, getting shot at by enemy champions and turrets, the tutorial suggests you try of a few different champions. While it’d be interesting to be able to change champions while in the game like in Overwatch, League requires you stick with a champion you select at the beginning of the match. The tutorial, on the other hand, lets you swap to different champions to get a feel for what it’s like to play with those abilities.

After starting with Miss Fortune, I tried out Ahri and Darius. Each, of course, plays differently, but the goal of the match is always the same – advance towards and take down the enemy’s Nexus.

Along with getting to play Ahri and Darius, we take turns getting attacked by various enemy champions – Sion, Yasuo, Braun, Vel’koz, and Jinx. And while I only play 3 champions, I could also have chosen to play as Lux or Master Yi to give a total of 10 champions seen after the first round of the tutorial is over.

I won the match of course…I mean, what tutorial would end with a defeat for the player?

It’s A Wrap

The first tutorial match is kinda a no-brainer, but it is a decent introduction to some of the mechanics of the game. Just the fact that you can play as 5 different champions and fight against 5 others shows the diversity in characters in the game.

We’re also taught about turrets, aggro, and the main objective of taking down the enemy Nexus.

I’d say that it works pretty well for a kickoff and was intriguing enough that I would easily want to keep going if I were actually a new player. As it is, I’m gonna jump into the 2nd tutorial match after a little break.

Tales of Summoner’s Rift: A Pilgrimage|#3 Left Click to Shoot