Word. Thanks. Like I said, I only downloaded it because my brother and our core group of friends were all looking for a game to play together. I'd be interested in hearing a brief strategy lecture though :thumbsup:
I quit about 4 months ago, but assuming the meta is the same:
Don't worry too much about lane assignments while leveling, but here is a very brief the break down:
Bottom Lane: Support and Attack Damage Carry (ADC): This works out for 2 reasons. First, the ADC is usually very weak early game. Leaving them alone without a support is asking for the jungler to gank them to death. The ADC provides the "constant damage" aspect of the team composition and does the most late game damage (but is usually the most fragile). 2 people are usually sent bottom lane to help with Dragon control. If only one person was sent bottom lane, and 2 were sent top, then the other team would force a fight a dragon with their 2 bottom laners and the jungler and your team would only have your jungler and ADC. The support will make teh difference, and the other team will get dragon. This is a PERFECT example of something that the majority of players do not understand about the game, which is why you (especially while leveling, but sadly even after that) will have people taking all sorts of different champs to different lanes. They don't understand why lane assignments exist, and most of the time, neither will your team, so you won't be able to take advantage. Anywho, onward...
Top lane: Usually a beefy bruiser/dps type. This is because the top lane is easier to gank than the bottom lane due to the distance from the river to the tower. The bruiser is usually going to be responsible for taking out the Attack Damage Carry (ADC) in a team fight. I may have quit 4 months ago, but I'd be willing to bet Irelia is still OP.
Mid Lane: This was an item of contention when I left bc bruisers were so OP that some teams were sending them mid, but in general, the Mid Lane is for Ability Power champions. Ability Power champions are your team's primary source of burst damage. AP champs can be extremely deadly at or even before 6, but unless fed, are often overshadowed by ADC champs late game. Keep in mind, this is a general outlook. There are magic power champs like Ryze that are weak early game, but become extremely powerful mid - late game. But in general, AP carries are low health, high burst dmg champions. The middle lane can obviously be ganked from either side, so the short distance from river to tower compensates for this. Also, having your AP carry mid will allow for later strategies like ganking either top or bottom lane with tons of burst damage after 6, or simply getting blue buff so that you can spam spells without worrying about mana. But those aren't things you should be worrying about this early in your career.
Jungler: Usually what will define your team comp as tanky or damage based. Junglers are typically good at ganking other lanes either because they have Crowd Control (such as roots or stuns) or because they can travel the map/clear the jungle very quickly and be in any lane at any time. Jungling isn't something I would recommend concerning yourself with until you have a sturdy understanding of the lanes.
Recommending champs is very difficult considering personal preference, skill level, champ balance and play style. I would certainly recommend any champ that does not have skill shots. You may think you're doing well with skill shots, but honestly, this game doesn't reward you for playing more difficult champs. My friends recommended Ryze to begin with and I figured that since he was easy to play as, he must be worse. But this isn't the case at all.
Personally, my favorite champs were Teemo, Jarvan IV and Gangplank. Those are the only 3 champs that never got old to me. There are several threads on other boards that can probably give you hints on any particular lane or strategy, but I feel like I just gave you a pretty good overview. This is a really good site..
http://www.nerfplz.com/2013/04/2013-hero-tier-list-solo-queue-patch_24.html
Unfortunately, the best advice I can give you (and several pros agree) is to play overpowered (OP) champs. Yes the pros can play any champ and dominate, but for we common-folk, OP champs can, and often do, make all the difference in the world. Ok, well, that's about all I have to say as far as a general overview. Hope it helps!
Oh, I almost forgot! The entire purpose of the game is TO GET GOLD! NOT TO GET KILLS! While getting kills is a great source of gold, it oftentimes comes at a high risk. The entire game revolves around weighing this risk/reward properly. I can't remember the exact ratio, but killing a 0/0 champion is only worth about 8 minions or something. So being 4/0 but 80 minions behind means you're probably still losing. Also, a champion kill only means that you got the last hit. It is certainly not an indicator of who caused the kill. I will not go on a tirade about this, as you will experience several in your LoL career. Anway, last hit minions to get gold, and take kills only when they present themselves. Again, the game is about GOLD, NOT KILLS! I can't stress that enough, and it is something the general community simply cannot seem to wrap their heads around.
