Level at the beginning of day 2: 4

What I learned since last time:

• I did research on the different classes of champions and what each class is supposed to do. From this, I learned that the champions who are good at attacking from far away (which I cited as my ‘strongest’ point) are marksmen and mages. I made a list of all of those champions and I’m going to stick to those until I can get through a game okay.
• Still no idea what the glowing blue sword thing on the battlefield was. Could not find an answer. Maybe it means nothing?? Will try to ignore it going forward.
• Leveling up just 1 or 2 abilities at first (which I have been doing) is apparently a good thing to do
• The ‘R’ ability is the ‘ultimate’ ability I keep hearing people talk about, and can only be accessed at level 6 and leveled up at levels 11 and 16
• There IS a teleport spell which is apparently available in level 1, although I don’t know how you get it
• Some items you have to click to use, others you don’t – not sure which are which
• If you are in a lane position, it’s okay to leave your lane in certain circumstances
• You should be keeping an eye on the mini map at all times (how one is actually able to see what is happening on said map without placing one’s face an inch away from the screen remains to be seen)
• If you have a partner (in top or bottom lane) you should let them know what you’re doing at all times. I still don’t know how to communicate properly, so this makes me think that I should stick to the mid-lane position when possible for now.
• To “ping” people, hit G and click the minimap or click the exclamation point on the map. Unfortunately I still don’t know what pings are really for.
• The word “gank” is used far too often and I am really not a fan. It just sounds gross. I will never use it if I can help it. However, I do know what it means.
• I read something that makes it seem like you can tell how each of your enemies is faring in terms of health even if you can’t see them…but I don’t know how.
• Press enter to open the chat window
• ‘A’ makes you automatically attack everything in your path (seems like something I should take advantage of)

I read about many other things but most of the information I did not understand, so I can’t really say I learned anything. Hopefully as I continue playing it will start to make sense.

I’ve been seeing a lot of people say that the only way to learn is by playing PvP games, but I’m way too intimidated to even think about doing that. People can be mean. And now I’m seriously regretting using the same handle for LOL as I do for everything else (chelsearrr) because it’s clear that I’m a girl.

So today I stuck to more Co-Op vs. AI games – I think I got in 4.

Even though last time I had decided I wanted to continue using Jinx, she had been picked already in my first game of the day so I went back to using Lissandra, who I used for one game last time.

Each game I felt like I was improving a little more, so I ended up sticking with her for all 4 games and I think I’m going to continue to use her whenever possible until I feel like I have all the mechanics of the game down. Before I go in for day 3, I will do some research on her and find out what the best items to buy for her are, how to use her abilities in interesting ways and what positions she’s best at.

I immediately tried to get that teleport spell, but I learned that it’s not available until level 6 (I was level 4 & 5 during these games), so obviously whatever I read online that said you can get it in level 1 was wrong.

In these games I ended up in bottom lane twice and mid-lane twice. I learned that I like mid-lane more at least for now because it’s shorter, so therefore I have a shorter distance to walk back to my spot whenever I die.

In all of the games I played, my team didn’t communicate at all with each other, even when it came to picking roles at the beginning of the game. So I didn’t get a chance to practice that. I feel like I probably won’t until I start playing PvP.

During a couple of these games, I noticed things on the ground that looked kind of like little plants. When I clicked on them nothing happened. I will do research and try to figure out what those are.

Overall, I didn’t learn much new information today but there was a noticeable improvement in my performance by my 4th game. During the 1st and 2nd games, I was still dying constantly and got in a few champion kills but didn’t destroy any turrets and didn’t kill enough minions. I was also not even present (or even close to being present) when my team destroyed the nexus.

During my 3rd and 4th games, I destroyed at least 1 turret or inhibitor, improved my minion kills and got better at last-hitting, killed more champions and was actually present when we won the game (although I still didn’t really help much). Part of this was because I started using health potions and as a result died way less. And part of this was because during these games I was in mid-lane.

So far I’m really enjoying Lissandra’s Q and E abilities (I forget their actual names). I like that they can be used from far away, especially the E ability which I feel like would be great for turrets (I only actually managed to destroy 2 on my own but I feel like as I get better, the E ability will become increasingly useful). I also like that she also has 2 abilities that can be used at close-range (W and her ultimate). She seems pretty balanced and that is serving me well in terms of learning the game.

I’m getting better with Lissandra’s abilities in general – I know exactly what they all do and I’m starting to develop a kind of strategy based on that, as opposed to just hitting whichever one I feel like at any given time. I’m also mis-clicking way less. The only one I’m still pretty clueless about is her ultimate. I used it a few times but I feel like you can do way more with it than what I’m doing. 

Something I am a bit nervous about is the amount of time that I have to play. I felt like my boyfriend used to work a lot of evening shifts, and I was counting on that as my LOL-playing time. But lately he’s barely had any. Day 2 was Sunday, and I won’t have another chance until Saturday. Hopefully things will change (not that I don’t enjoy spending time with my partner) – otherwise I’m not sure I’ll be as good as I want to be in time.

I’m doing a lot better than I thought I would be at this point. I thought that this would be full of hilarity and shenanigans because of how awful I would be, but…I’m not. At least not any more than any other new player would be.

Then again, I’m still playing intro games. I’m sure the hilarity will resume as soon as I try to go up a level.

Level at the end of day 2: 5

Games played: 4

Hours: 2

Champions played: Lissandra