Level at the beginning of day 10: 12

What I learned since last time:

• It’s not necessarily recommended to start jungling until level 20 because you need runes and masteries and stuff
• Junglers are the ones expected to ambush the other team (hey look, I found ANOTHER WORD that ALREADY EXISTS for ‘gank’! At least the way it’s used in LOL anyway. [Ok I know the term has been around since the 80s BUT STILL. It sounds disgusting and so…masculine. It just reeks of bro-ness.])
• “Leash” means to help your team’s jungler by helping them kill a monster, letting them have the last hit. How they got the term ‘leash’ out of that, I have no idea.
• Use your smite spell on your first monster cause you’re weak AF and need all the help you can get
• The red and blue buffs are available starting at the beginning of the game, and are attained by killing the red brambleback and blue sentinel, respectively. These buffs only apply to you, not the whole team. Red buff = more attack damage, blue buff = more mana (I know it’s more than that but just so I can remember, I’m simplifying it). These buffs transfer to the enemy if you are killed.
• Blue buff is on the left side of your jungle, red buff is on the right
• The red and blue buff monsters respawn every 5 mins so you can keep getting the buff
• Dragon buffs are team buffs and do NOT transfer
• Cloud dragon = speed (white), Infernal dragon = damage (red), Mountain dragon = structure/monster damage (gold), Ocean dragon (blue) = health/mana.
• Rift herald spawns where the baron is from the start – 19:45. Buff = more damage w/o allies, lasts 20 mins and does not transfer
• Baron Nashor spawns in same place at 20 mins. Baron buff grants a shit ton of things (description is kind of vague actually)
• Elder dragon spawns at 35 mins. Buff = more damage + amplifies existing dragon buffs.
• The baron is in the river near top lane and Elder dragon is in the river near bottom lane
• Regular dragons spawn at the same spot as the Elder before the Elder appears, and which one appears is random. The map will have a dot indicating the colour of the next dragon
• The fact that the dragon is close to bottom lane is one of the reasons why there are 2 champions there
• There is only 1 dragon and 1 baron, but there is 2 of everything else
• Smaller monsters also grant buffs but I’m not even going to try to learn what they are right now cause I already feel overwhelmed
• Kill the monsters in the enemy’s jungle if you can to keep them from getting them
• Aim to kill enemies with the red and blue buffs so that you get them
• Sometimes it’s nice to give the red and blue buffs to other team members (I assume you would have to call them over in chat and let them have the last hit?)
• I’ve read a couple things that make it SOUND like you only get buffs if you kill a monster with smite. Not sure about this.
• What happens to players who have been reported a bunch of times. Apparently they get judged by other players in something called the Tribunal, which I think is AMAZING. As soon as I get to level 20 I am SO joining that.

On day 10, it had been 5 days since day 9, so I had a ton of time to do some research. Days 10-12 also all occurred over the same weekend so that’s why it’s all one post. This is gonna be a long one.

I thought I would start jungling soon but I think I’m going to take the advice I’ve been reading and wait until level 20. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been in a couple of situations where I’ve basically been forced into the jungle, and I’ve had a few games where someone else will take on the role of jungler (I am presuming those players have way more experience than me, so as to not feel terrible about myself). But usually it’s not an issue, because I’m still playing bot games, which is pretty much 2-1-2 all the time and you don’t even need a jungler. I did learn a bunch more things just so I can be more prepared, but still, if anyone gives me an issue again…they can suck it.

I feel sort of intimidated because my boyfriend is usually the jungler, which I’m reading is the most difficult role in the game. However, I just have to keep reminding myself that he’s been playing for 3 years.

In addition, I’m not even sure I WANT to jungle. Of course I want to learn how to play every role, but I’m not sure it would ever be my top choice because as I’ve already mentioned, I really like killing people. So maybe it’s ok to focus on that for now. Also, I find big monsters scary.

I also read that it’s only supposed to take around 30 hours to get to level 30. I’ve already put in more hours than that. So…..I don’t know. Do I just suck? Are people lying?

I was really excited to see some more strong, sexy ladies on this week’s rotation. So far I’ve been seeing that the majority of the female champions do have a purpose and the way they’re designed reflects their backstory and “personality”. I have to say I am pleasantly surprised.

I feel like I need to explain this a bit better – I don’t want female champions that are sexy and weak. That makes it feel like they’re just eye candy and not much else. I initially felt that way about Janna, but just because I didn’t like her doesn’t mean she isn’t strong or useful, and she’s apparently one of the best supports there is. And I don’t want female champions that are strong but masculine/desexualized (for example, Lissandra doesn’t even have legs). That’s ok sometimes, and in Lissandra’s case it totally makes sense, but you don’t have to be unfeminine to be strong. I want female champions who are both, and so far LOL is delivering.

There are definitely more male champions (or at least it feels like it so far), but there’s a decent amount of females in the mix, and they’re not ALL white chicks.

I was especially excited to try out Diana because of her relatively high attack and defense scores. I’ve been finding that a lot of champions with high attack scores have very low defense and are super squishy* in the early game. (Look at me using cliquey LOL terminology! I’m trying to keep that to a minimum, but ‘squishy’ is actually really cute and makes for good imagery.) And as we know, Not Dying isn’t exactly my forte. I did like her but she didn’t excite me all that much.

I liked Vayne as well but again, low defense.

I wasn’t interested in Jhin until I read about his abilities, and HOLY SHIT. His E sounded so amazing to me that I couldn’t believe it wasn’t his ultimate, and then I kept reading and it turned out his ultimate was the E except on crack. (I also read a tiny bit of his story and it sounds like he’s basically Hannibal except minus the cannibalism. Actually, now I’m wondering if my boyfriend has told me this before, when we were watching the show.) But I actually didn’t really enjoy playing him, mostly because I found the way that using his ultimate zooms you way out of the game very disorienting.

I quite liked Hecarim,  and Malphite was okay. Not really much to say there.

Lulu is absolutely adorable – and that winter wonderland skin?? It looks like she gets to have a poro with her…I fucking love poros. She has an ability that turns enemies into “adorable critters”. Her Q is called Glitterlance. I think I’m in love. I do wish that all of these things were attributed to a full grown woman – because strong, mature, adult women can like glitter too! – but still. I’d be willing to play support just so I could play Lulu.

I wasn’t really interested in Veigar either but I played him anyway – and I actually did quite well, so I ended up buying him since I could afford it.

On day 11, I tried my first PvP game, and wow, that was a mistake. I single-handedly caused my team to lose because I stupidly took mid-lane, not realizing how difficult it was going to be. No one said anything to me though, so I appreciated that (especially since I’ve been snapped at for less) and honoured them all. Part of the difficulty came from the fact that I was matched with high-level players, but I was also really surprised at the aggressiveness of the enemy champion in my lane. Pretty much the second I got up there he started attacking me, aiming to kill. Obviously, this was a very effective strategy, given the results, but I just felt like it was unsportsmanlike. I would never go after another player like that until we’d at least both had a chance to kill some minions and level up a couple times.

So I swore off PvP games for now. I just felt so bad for the rest of my team.

Instead, I started playing intermediate bot games (why I decided to jump from beginner bot games to PvP, I don’t know, other than that the internet told me to). That was definitely the appropriate move. I no longer find beginner games challenging, which is when you stop learning.

I will say that I think there’s a huge jump in difficulty between beginner and intermediate, and maybe there should be a level in between, but after playing several I got the hang of it (sort of). I lost about half of them, but I hardly ever took mid-lane so it can’t possibly have been all my fault. One of them also said “loss prevented” at the end and in my records. I wasn’t sure what that means, but when I googled it, the internet said that it occurs when an issue with the game server interferes with your game and your loss is “forgiven” (which I assume means it doesn’t count towards your scores or whatever).

One game had two people just arguing in it constantly, both just saying super offensive things to each other – they actually both had some valid points (one player just wasn’t trying, the other was being unnecessarily mean about it) but I reported them both. In my next game, one of the other players saw my summoner name (chelsearrr) and started hitting on me. They said, “chelsea u cute girl?” and I ignored them. When the game ended, in the chat they said, “i like cute girls baby add me” or something like that. I didn’t. I reported them too.

After a few intermediate games I determined that I’m still not strong enough to solo a lane at this level, so I sought out to purchase a support champion, since I didn’t actually own any. That was when I discovered Soraka.

She’s a fucking UNICORN. WHY the FUCK did my boyfriend never tell me there is a fucking UNICORN in this game?! Like, if he wants me to be interested in it, why would he not tell me about the parts that he must know I would like…very frustrating. But anyway, obviously I was sold just based on that fact alone (and her low IP cost) so I bought her. (I do kind of wish she was in horse form rather than human, though. They should make a skin for that.)

I tested her out in a beginner bot game, and I wasn’t even doing poorly but my lane partner was a huge dick to me anyway. They were a level 30 player in the game for the IP and kept chastising me for not saving them from dying enough. My bad, dude, I was just focused on not dying MYSELF. They were super condescending about it, even after I said it was my first time playing her. Also, it was a BEGINNER GAME. That was the whole reason I went back down to beginner in the first place.

Then I played another beginner, hoping to have a better experience with her – but someone else already called support, so I picked Veigar instead, who is typically best for mid. But then someone else called mid, too. After seeing which champion I had selected though, they said, “or chels do u want mid i can jg” and I said yes because I sure didn’t want to end up in the jungle. I thought that was really nice of them – very sportsmanlike and considerate of the needs of the whole team. They even called me over once to give me the blue buff during the game. (Based on that, since I didn’t use smite, I assume that what I read earlier about NEEDING to use smite to get buffs is not true.)

They were a higher level player in the game for IP as well, but instead of using the opportunity to be a dick and feel superior, they used their experience to help the other players. That is how a player should behave, no matter what their level but ESPECIALLY if they’re at a higher level.

I also bought Kayle just to round out my collection (I had a champion who was good at every role except top). I actually had no idea she was female until I played her and heard her voice but that was a pleasant surprise.

She’s just ok. To me she seems like she would be better as a support, but the internet says top, so I will trust the internet. The internet is always right (lol).

Level at the end of day 12: 14

Hours: 14

Games played: 27

Champions played: Kayle, Soraka, Evelynn, Akali, Lulu, Jhin, Diana, Vayne, Hecarim, Malphite, Veigar, Ashe

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*I have no idea why anyone who didn’t already know a decent amount about LOL would be reading this, but just in case, because it pisses me off SO MUCH when people just make up words and slang and acronyms without bothering to define them – squishy means that a champion is easy to kill.