Computer Gaming: League of Legends [Lol] 101

Game Modes and Matchmaking

League of Legends is a session-based game. Matchmaking occurs based on the average Elo ratings of each individual players, with slight proprietary adjustments. The game can be played in five different modes: Tutorial, Custom, Co-Op vs. AI, Normal and Ranked.

Custom mode allows players to manually create custom game sessions that other players can find on a game list and join. Co-op vs. AI is a mode where players are matched either alone or as part of a group against a team of bots.

The Ranked mode originally became available to players of level 20 and higher, but was later changed to only be available to players of level 30 (players can still queue for Ranked games if they are over level 20, but only if they are in an arranged team). Ranked uses Draft Mode where each team can ban up to 3 champions from the game, and the two teams cannot play the same champion. In addition, opponent Champions picks are visible before the loading of the actual game. An exclusive visible rating is calculated based on the player’s performance in Ranked games. The player is placed on the ladder according to their rating, and top teams on the ladder have a chance to compete in the “$100,000 Global Finals” at the end of the season. Season Two launched in November 2011, introduced the addition of six-ban games, ranked teams and a complete change of the masteries.

Dominion is the latest game mode released by Riot Games. Dominion brings faster action and tactical gameplay played on a new map – The Crystal Scar which features a new Capture-and-Hold playstyle. The Inhibitors and Turrets have been removed – instead, the map has five Capture Points. Capturing one of these points will turn it into a Turret and allow it to start spawning minions. Item availability is also different in Dominion. Two new summoner spells, called Garrison and Promote were released with this new game mode, with the latter also being available in Summoner’s Rift. The summoner spell Teleport is the only summoner spell that is not available in this mode. This new game mode aims to be much shorter than conventional 30-45-minute classic games. Most Dominion games average about 15-25 minutes in duration.