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What is an Early Game in LoL?

Early Game Definition
Early Game Definition

The early game in 'League of Legends' is the game phase where players focus on their lanes, and it ends when the first turret in any lane is destroyed. This changes the game's dynamics towards objectives like Dragons and team fights. This stage often determines the rest of the game.

Everything you need to know about Early Game

  • Laning phase: The Early Game laning involves players farming minions for gold and experience. Efficient last-hitting of minions (landing the killing blow) is crucial for your CS score and gold income. We recommend practicing the last hitting on the practice tool if you want to have better laning phase.
  • Champion Matchups and Trades: Players often engage in short fights or trades with enemy laners. Success in these trades is influenced by understanding champion abilities, matchups, power spikes, and knowledge of when to be aggressive or defensive.
  • Jungler's Role: The Junglers play a unique role in the early game, especially early gank champions like Lee Sin or Shaco with their level 3 or 4 ganks. This can shift the balance in favor of their team, either by securing kills or applying pressure to force the enemy champions to play cautiously.
  • First Blood and Early Kills: Securing the first kill, known as 'First Blood,' provides extra gold and can be a psychological boost. Early kills in lanes can significantly impact the mentality of players and the lane's dynamic.
  • Objective Control: While the main focus is on the lanes, epic monsters - the first Dragon, and Voidgrubs with Voidmites come into play at 5:00. Junglers often contest them with their team because of their buffs.
  • Warding and Vision Control: Setting up the wards to prevent the enemy early gank its considered obvious in high elo, but its absolutely forgotten in lower ranks. It also makes your lane more safe, and ready, because the vision can work both ways and by securing your lane you can also assure the successful early ganks for your team. So consider buying early control wards to minimalize the amount of fog of war that your team see. 
  • Transition to Mid-Game: The early game transforms to the mid-game when the first turret falls. This often leads to players moving from their lanes to team fights and contesting the objectives like Baron to apply pressure on different parts of the map.

The Best Early Game Champions

  • Warwick: Warwick's early game strength largely comes from his passive, which provides him with sustained healing, especially when he's low on health. This sustain allows him to stay longer in the early invades, fights and in the jungle, making him a resilient early-game threat.
Warwick
Warwick
  • Draven: Draven's early game power is attributed to his high damage output, through his Q ability, "Spinning Axes." This ability significantly increases his basic attack damage, allowing him to dominate in trades and secure early kills in the bot lane.
Draven
Draven
  • Pantheon: Pantheon excels in the early game due to his passive, which enhances his abilities, including his Q, "Comet Spear," for increased damage. This ability makes him a strong early-game opponent, especially with his all-ins.
Pantheon
Pantheon
  • Lee Sin: Lee Sin is known for his exceptional early game damage coupled with high mobility. His Q ability, "Sonic Wave/Resonating Strike," allows him to easily engage and W "Safeguard / Iron Will"allows him to easly disengage his enemies. His mobility skills provide him with unique ganking and dueling opportunities.
Lee Sin
Lee Sin
  • Renekton: Renekton's early game prowess is due to his strong damage output, particularly when using his "Cull the Meek" (Q) and "Ruthless Predator" (W) abilities in combination with his Fury resource. This gives him the edge in early-game trades and all-ins in the top lane.
Renekton
Renekton

Why is Early Game Important?

  • Setting the Tempo: A strong early game can often set the tempo for the entire match, giving the winning team the upper hand in terms of objectives, resources, and map control.
  • Champion Scaling: For champions that scale well with items and levels, like Kayle or Kassadin, playing a successful early game is crucial for reaching their power spikes sooner.
  • Adapting to the Game Flow: How a team performs in the early game can dictate their playstyle for the entire match. A lead might encourage more aggressive plays while falling behind may cause a more cautious approach which might lead to unexpected match outcomes.

The early game phase in League of Legends is a crucial time that requires players to balance their aggression, farming efficiency, and vision awareness. This phase is all about individual skill expression, farming, and preparing for future objectives. How players navigate this phase can significantly impact the game's outcome, making it a high-importance period.

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