Three League of Legends Tips Every Gamer Needs to Know

League of Legends is one of the most popular free online team games on the market right now, and if that can only mean one thing: you've got some serious competition to deal with. If you want to get better at everyone's favorite DOTA-style game, then there are three League of Legends tips you need to know, above all else to guarantee your success.

1. Map Awareness - Map awareness is absolutely critical to success in games like League of Legends, because the team-based atmosphere and lane-control gameplay demands more coordination and situational awareness than most other games you may be familiar with. In LoL, it's always important to have a bead on where your teammates are, what their selected characters are capable of, and which opponent (if any) is currently missing from view.

If you don't have a strong idea of what your teammate's characters can do, and where they are positioned, then you may miss out on many easy kills, or even get yourself killed needlessly. This is especially true if you lurk too far away from the safety of your towers, and fail to account for the fact that there is a missing enemy roaming the map, quite possibly ready to ambush you from behind.

2. Last Hitting - Last hitting is an interesting and effective game strategy that many players in the game today are seemingly oblivious to. Last hitting simply means allowing the minion wave in your lane to do most or all of the damage to the minions of your opponent, with you only attacking on the final blow for each minion in order to receive the bounty for the kill. This is an important strategy, because when done correctly not only will it allow you to farm money more successfully, but it will keep the minion wave from pushing too far to your opponent's tower, too quickly.

This is an integral concept to understand for your success, because keeping the minion wave further away from your opponent's tower, effectively means keeping it closer to your tower where it's safer for you. A safer lane experience means you're less likely to be ambushed from the jungle or other lanes, and it means a longer distance your opponents must run to safety if you decide to attack them. As a general rule of thumb, it's important to try to keep the minion wave close to your tower by last hitting until your team is strong enough to make a legitimate push for the tower.

3. Role Definition - Knowing your role in League of Legends is one of the easiest, and yet one of the most oft-forgotten tips available.. Knowing your role means understanding what objective your selected character should be fulfilling for the team, and working toward achieving that goal throughout play. If you pick a character such as Amumu for example, your role is unquestionably to serve as a tank and initiator. Your objective should be to initiate team fights where possible, soak damage for your team and if necessary, sacrifice yourself for your team's carry if you're positive you can save them when they would otherwise die.

The roles are expansive in League of Legends, so there should be plenty of different duties you can take on to fit your play style. A support character for example should focus on protecting and buffing integral allies during combat. If you're Janna for example, you will want to use your shield on your team's carry during combat, and save your Whirlwind or slow skill when necessary to prevent anyone from focusing down on your team's highest damage dealer. These, and other roles are all important to success in League of Legends, so do your best to identify what fits your character, and focus on fulfilling those duties.