If you are trying to figure out how to teach someone League of Legends, you probably have a partner or friend who has never played, and you want the first week to be fun for both of you. The trick is less about what to explain and more about the order you do things in.
League unlocks modes one by one as your account levels up, so following that order already cuts down how much you need to say.
This guide lays out the first week with someone new to League of Legends, using the unlock levels on Riot's own support page, so you know what your friend can queue for each day on NA or any other Riot server.
You will find a five step roadmap from the tutorial and Co-op vs. AI to Swiftplay and ARAM, beginner champions for every role picked by the official difficulty on Riot's champion pages for patch 26.21, a short list of things to say while you duo, and a ten minute way to look back at the match together once it ends. It works the same whether you sit side by side or play from two homes over a call.
Our take: one role, one champion, two or three games a day
The most common mistake when teaching League is explaining everything at once. Last hitting, wards, dragons, items and runes on the first night means your friend spends the game listening instead of looking at the screen. Narrow it down for week one.
Choose one role and one champion, and stop after two or three games so there is still a reason to log in tomorrow. If you play support or jungle and stay near their lane, you can explain what is happening on screen while it happens.
Set the goal as finishing a full game together rather than winning, and the whole evening gets lighter for both of you. Let your friend choose a champion from the table below by whatever they like best, the look or the abilities. If they want to own it, how to buy champions in LoL covers Blue Essence and RP.
Owning 20 champions is one of the ranked requirements, so adding one or two favorites during the first week moves you toward the next step without extra effort.
The first week roadmap: five steps from tutorial to Swiftplay and ARAM
- 1Set up accounts and check the PCMake sure both accounts are on the same server, NA for most players in North America, and add each other by Riot ID, the name#tag shown on the profile. If your friend uses a laptop or an older PC, compare it with the League of Legends system requirements before the first evening so the game runs smoothly.
- 2Tutorial, then Co-op vs. AI to level 3Riot's support page lists Co-op vs. AI on Summoner's Rift and custom games as available from the start. After the tutorial, party up and queue Co-op vs. AI on the easiest difficulty. Bots give your friend room to try every ability and learn the lanes without other players watching.
- 3Swiftplay and ARAM from level 3Swiftplay, the normal 5v5 Summoner's Rift queue, and ARAM on Howling Abyss both unlock at level 3. Swiftplay games are shorter, so a loss is over quickly, and ARAM hands each of you a random champion on one lane, a fun way to try many champions in one evening.
- 4Practice Tool at level 9, Draft Pick at level 10The Practice Tool opens at level 9, and ten minutes of last hitting there teaches more than any explanation. Normal Draft Pick opens at level 10, so your friend can learn bans and pick order with no rank on the line.
- 5Ranked once the requirements are metRanked Solo/Duo and Ranked Flex need level 30, at least 20 owned champions and 10 Swiftplay or normal Draft games. There is no rush. By the time those are done, your friend will already have a comfortable role and a favorite champion to bring into placements.
Best beginner champions in League of Legends by role (official difficulty, patch 26.21)
| Role | Beginner champions (official difficulty) | Why they are easy to start with |
|---|---|---|
| Top | Malphite (Low), Sett (Low), Darius (Low) | Durable enough to forgive mistakes, with one clear moment to fight, like Malphite's ultimate into a group. |
| Jungle | Amumu (Low), Warwick (Low) | Learn one path through the camps. Amumu's ultimate holds several enemies, and Warwick has an ability that helps him chase low health targets. |
| Mid | Annie (Medium), Lux (Medium) | Rated Medium, but the kits are easy to read and teach how to land abilities from range. |
| Bot (ADC) | Miss Fortune (Low), Ashe (Medium) | Miss Fortune's ultimate covers a wide area, and Ashe's basic attacks slow, which makes spacing practice simple. |
| Support | Morgana (Low), Soraka (Low), Braum (Low) | Each has a clear job: Morgana roots, Soraka heals and Braum blocks for the team. |
| Bot lane together | Miss Fortune with Braum or Morgana | The teacher plays support, shares the same screen and can talk through every wave. |
What to say while you duo: specific praise, one tip at a time
- Agree on one goal before you queue, such as last hitting or landing one ultimate, so there is only one thing to think about during the game.
- Praise right away and be specific. Saying 'that root was perfect' tells your friend exactly what to repeat next game.
- Suggest instead of command. 'Want to back off to our turret together?' feels like teamwork and still gets you both out of danger.
- Ping once to show a place, and explain everything else by voice at a calm pace.
- Save talk about deaths for after the game. During the match, only mention the next thing to do, and watch the moment together on video once it ends.
Ten minutes after the match: watch it back together
DOR is a free Windows app: with it running, each League match is recorded from start to finish automatically, and kills, multikills, deaths and objectives are saved as separate clips in My Clips.
When the game ends, pick one play that went well and one death, and watch just those two together for ten minutes. For what to look for, see how to VOD review your League games and how to get better at League of Legends. If you both run DOR, your two views of the same match can become one video with party clips, and replaying a .rofl file in the client is recorded too.
