eSports are gradually becoming more like “normal” sports in all senses of the word. The scene is becoming more competitive, popular, and overall more respected as an actual sport.
As we continue to grow and treat eSports as such, it’s important to recognize strategy in all areas. Going into any professional sports game players get scouting reports and have a game plan. Quarterbacks in football might have as many as 25 scripted plays lined up to begin a game. Pitchers in baseball know what type of pitch in a specific area is most effective versus specific batters. eSports is no different: you can’t just blindly enter a game and expect to win, you have to prepare your plan.
A few champion select tips
In many cases in League of Legends this is a simple, quick task. There are several things you should do before each game starts.
- Have a general idea of what champions you are best at in each of the five roles.
- Analyze matchups, which should not only include your lane opponent, but their jungler and other teammates in some situations (for example, if you like to play a champion that gets shutdown by crowd control, be weary of a Leona). This also includes synergy with your team, if a teammate picks Yasuo before you, playing champions with knock up abilities would be smart.
- Know the abilities of the opposing lane champion. Look them up if you haven’t played against that champion before. The ability to “know they enemy” is arguably more important than knowing how your own champion works. Cooldown timers are also extremely important in knowing when harassing is a good option or not.
- Know what you want to ban if you get first pick. Not letting the enemy team get overpowered champions can be crucial to winning, or banning away a huge counter to what you want to pick.
Something many people employ is using a word program of any kind. This is just an example of something you might want to quickly create:
