If you thought watching Arcane was a wild adventure just wait until you start your first ranked game.

Arcane is one of the greatest animated shows ever created. The Netflix series is a masterpiece and has become wildly popular with the excitement of Season 2 reaching a fever pitch.

The world has been captivated by Jinx and Vi’s tragic story, yet Arcane barely scratches the surface of all the remarkable characters and expansive world that Riot Games have created within League of Legends and its lore.

If you can’t get enough of Arcane, downloading and learning to play LoL really might be exactly what you’re looking for.

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What is League of Legends?

Compared to most MOBAs LoL is very beginner friendly

© Riot Games

LoL is a competitive online game on PC where two teams of five compete, battling with their chosen characters in an attempt to eventually destroy the enemy base and win.

The game is what is known as a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) which are strategy games in which players engage in combat in a predetermined battlefield with small computer controlled units (minions in LoL) which march towards the other team. Killing these minions or your opponents makes your character stronger and helps you escort your minions towards the end base so you can siege their final structures and end the game.

That description may sound dry and a bit boring, however LoL is anything but that. And compared to most MOBAs, the learning curve for LoL is much kinder.

It’s an action-packed game of wits and skill as you constantly look to outplay your opposition. There’s very little luck in the game, despite what your opponents may claim. Everything in LoL is earned, which makes it extremely rewarding.

Why you should play League of Legends

There are over 100 characters for you to discover

© Riot Games

LoL is one of the most popular games ever made, in 2022 it hit an unbelievable peak of 180m players with over 32m daily users. Yes, the game is challenging and can be frustrating, but there’s a reason it is still going strong 15 years after its original release.

For starters, it’s free to play. There’s no pay to win, you can download and play immediately and be on a fairly even playing field with everyone else. The only thing you might spend money on are skins, exciting new costumes for your favourite champions, but those are purely cosmetic.

Picking just one favourite might be a difficult task however, as LoL has an extraordinary roster of champions for you to discover. As an Arcane fan you’ve already been given a taste of LoL’s eclectic cast, but there are many more incredible characters for you to discover.

There’s a young boy who rides on top of his yeti friend and throws snowballs, there’s a magical cat that rides a book and attaches to one of her team-mates, and there’s even a small and fuzzy creature that is an adventurous scout who may look cute, but all LoL players will swear he’s the embodiment of Satan himself.

There are 168 different champions in total for you to learn about, but if that’s understandably overwhelming, you can just focus on the Arcane characters and learn even more about them. Seeing Arcane’s cast at the peak of their strength is truly exciting and being one to control that power is an amazing experience. Plus you may be surprised at just how different some champions are in-game to their Netflix counterparts.

Ultimately, the reason you should play LoL is because it is immensely fun. Yes the game is difficult and takes a lot to learn, but that’s strangely part of it. Everything in LoL has to be earned, if you do well it’s because you were smarter and more skillful. This makes every win, big or small, feel extremely rewarding and chasing that feeling of satisfaction is what keeps players coming back.

Learning how to play League of Legends

LoL isn’t rocket science, but you will feel big-brained like Heimerdinger

© Riot Games

Learning to play LoL can feel very intimidating, there’s a lot to figure out but everybody everybody goes through this feeling. Fortunately for you, our tremendous LoL beginner’s guide will set you up for success with lots of great advice.

Make sure you don’t skip the tutorials. Seriously, you’ll be lost without them. Take your time, go through all the tutorials and you’ll immediately have a better understanding of how the game works and what different champions you can play.

Then you can queue up for some games of bots. Here, the pressure is off with AI-controlled opponents. Go wild and experiment, play as many different champions as you can to see what you enjoy most and learn your limits. There’s so much to discover when you first start and that makes it the most exciting time to play, so don’t limit yourself.

Learning to play LoL is one of the most rewarding experiences a video game can give you, especially if you do so alongside some friends. Gathering a group of mates and learning together is ridiculous fun and the best way to play LoL if you’re able to.

It might not be easy to convince them at first, but just get them to try and they’ll quickly realise how fun the game can be.

The only way to get better is to play more and you’re going to play much more regularly if you’re having fun with your pals.

Arcane characters in League of Legends

Watching Arcane and playing its characters are very different experiences

© Riot Games

Most of Arcane’s major characters are playable champions in Arcane and they all have fantastic abilities and unique playstyles that match their counterparts in the show.

Vi is a very mobile brawler who loves fighting. She can chase the opponent’s priority targets from far away and disrupt anything they want to do which makes her an excellent jungler.

Jinx is a menace. She’s a long-ranged ADC played in the bot lane who gets a temporary boost to her movement and attack speed after a takedown which allows her to wreak havoc at the end of the game.

Another ADC-played bot is Caitlyn who has the highest basic attack range in the game with her hextech sniper which allows her to wear down and pick off targets from a safe distance.

Ekko is an all-action midlaner and assassin who can briefly rewind himself back in time with his ultimate ability, allowing for a high-risk playstyle as you jump deep into the enemy team then safely rewind out.

His new friend Heimderdinger is also a midlaner but unlike Ekko, he’d rather sit further back and allow his upgradeable turrets to deal damage for him.

Yet another midlaner is Viktor although he is very different to how you would have seen him in Season 1 of Arcane. With his augmented body and weapons, Viktor deal tons of damage with powerful lasers and other abilities.

His colleague Jayce can be played mid or top as his ability to change between a ranged and melee form offers him a lot of flexibility. You can smack people down with his giant hammer or turn it into a cannon to snipe opponents from far away with an accelerated energy ball.

Hopping over to Zaun, the mad scientist Singed is the most annoying top-laner in the game as he runs around while leaving a toxic trail behind him. Always remember the first rule of LoL or learn the hard way; never chase a Singed.

Another toplaner is LoL’s newest champion Ambessa who looks challenging but extremely fun as she can dash after every ability. This makes her one of the most mobile champions in the game and allows her to constantly challenge her lane opponent to skillful 1v1 duels.

And finally in Season 2 we’ll be meeting Warwick, a werewolf thirsty for blood who can chase down enemies on low health. He’s actually one of the simplest junglers in the game and great choice for learning LoL’s most challenging role.

Is League of Legends toxic?

People online describe LoL as if it’s darker than Zaun, but it isn’t

© Riot Games

As you may be aware, LoL has quite the reputation online as being a game full of miserable people constantly being mean to you in chat. While this does happen, it’s no worse than any other online multiplayer game and there are ways around any negativity.

For starters, there’s no voice chat outside of your own party of friends so you don’t have to worry about that. And in the settings you can turn off the opponent’s typed chat which is highly recommended if you want more peaceful games.

Usually, the good outweighs the bad. You might be surprised by how kind and helpful the LoL community will be. Many know the struggles of learning the game at first and will happily give advice.

But if you have any team-mates that are also being annoying with pings or chat, you can press tab to bring up the in-game menu then find that player’s name and mute them.

Again, the best way to learn and play the game is with friends. Form a full team of five if you can, but even just one friend will dramatically improve your experience. Double the brain power means you’ll pick up tips and tricks much quicker and overall you’ll just have much more fun.

But even if you’re playing solo, you can make new friends. Be the change you want to see in the community by being a great team-mate, even if one of your allies gets frustrated just kill them kindness. That positive attitude will cheer up others and genuinely help you win more games.

Watching esports events

There’s a whole new world to discover watching LoL’s spectacular events

© Riot Games

Another really exciting way you can join the wider LoL community is by following the game’s esports events.

LoL’s popularity has brought the game a storied history as one of the world’s largest competitive gaming titles. The tournaments are incredible to watch as the best players in the world compete in extremely tense and dramatic series in front of huge crowds of excited nerds.

Once you have a sound understanding of the game, it can be a great way to level up your game knowledge. Or you can simply find a team to cheer for and get lost in all of the hype and storylines that emerge from the broadcast team. A great event to get started with is Red Bull League of Its Own, which this year is coming up on December 15.

We also have an excellent LoL esports beginner’s guide. This will help you not only learn what there is to watch and how you can tune in, but also give some useful tips to help you understand what’s going on if you’re still new to the game.

Every autumn the World Championships take place as the best teams from around the world compete for the most prestigious trophy in all of esports, the Summoner’s cup. The major regions are North America, Europe, South Korea, and China but there are also so-called Wildcard teams which are underdogs from smaller regions such as Brazil, Vietnam and Turkey.

Worlds is a spectacle that you need to see, with elaborate opening ceremonies and official theme songs from prestigious bands like Imagine Dragons and Linkin Park collaborating with Riot for these events.

Other Riot games

Riot Games have loads of other amazing games to fill your spare time

© Riot Games

Finally, if LoL isn’t the game for you or want to go even deeper into the universe of Runeterra then there are many other titles by Riot for you to enjoy.

If you don’t like playing on PC, Wild Rift is a superb mobile-version of LoL and the game is coming to consoles too.

Releasing next year is the highly anticipated fighting game 2XKO which uses a 2v2 format similar to the Tekken Tag Tournament games though Riot’s iteration will be free to play.

If you want calm games of strategy which don’t need intense mechanical skill, then TeamFight Tactics is the perfect choice for you. Draft a team of LoL champions and items and watch them fight for you in this amazing autobattler which can be played on PC and your phone.

Another game that can be played on your computer and smartphone is the digital trading card game Legends of Runeterra. Unlike most games in the genre, LoR is impressively free-to-play friendly and features a huge diversity of cards and decks to play. There’s even an in-depth single-player mode called Path of Champions which full of lore and fun voice lines if you want more of LoL’s stories.

And if you just want a good single player story, you have a couple of options. For a short and whimsical story, check out Song of Nunu. Or if you love RPGs, Ruined King is a tremendous adventure with plenty of content to sink your teeth into.

Last but not least, if you prefer first-person shooters on PC then the very popular VALORANT is another great choice. While this doesn’t feature any LoL champions, it does have plenty of crossover events including some for Arcane.