In one of the most vibrant and bustling corners of the gaming world, millions of casual and hardcore players alike have found themselves hooked by the charm of the MOBA.
The MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) is somewhat spearheaded by the genre-defining title League of Legends, a game so popular that it boasted over 2 million concurrent players in June and looks fairly set to continue this run.
If you want to get in on the action but can’t seem to contend with the skill level of the current player base, there’s no need to throw down your phone, controller, or computer in a fit of frustration. Instead, a little reading and a healthy dose of practice has got you covered.
Whether it’s League of Legends, DOTA 2, Vainglory, or whichever title takes your fancy, here are some tips you might find useful.
Understanding the Metagame
The term metagame, often just referred to as ‘the meta,’ is generally used to define the best characters, items, tactics, or skills available to the player in any given title.
For example, in Warzone, it might refer to a specific weapon loadout that beats all other options, or in Legends of Runeterra, it may be used to describe the most powerful deck of cards.
Most metagames are prone to change due to regular updates, patches, hotfixes, or expansions, so keeping up to date with what’s hot can help you use the strongest setup for your chosen title.
There are dedicated websites to help you with this, such as MOBA Champion, a League of Legends statistics hub that provides players with top-tier character builds based on real-life data analysis.
Once you get familiar with which builds are being used at the highest level of competition, branching out and finding new counter-tactics of your very own can open up an entirely new side of MOBA gaming.
Record Your Games
If you’re serious about getting better at MOBA games and have the time to spare, recording your previous games for later analysis might be able to help you out. In addition, OBS studio is a good bit of kit if you need some software to help you capture your screen.
Being able to personally spot where you went wrong is possibly one of the best ways to get over any nasty habits you may or may not have inadvertently picked up.
Sending these videos off to YouTube channels that take submissions for analysis could also be a good way to get some help from the more experienced players.
Start Watching
DOTA 2, Valorant, and League of Legends are all in the top ten most-watched games on Twitch, so checking out some channels is a must if you aim to get involved with the community.
Checking out what people have to say about the current state of your preferred game is generally good for gaining a greater level of insight from the average player’s perspective.
Watching the professionals can certainly show you a level of skill worth aspiring to, and the best gamers are no joke, especially when talking about prize pools worth over 34 million dollars.
Seeking out smaller channels that aim to educate their viewers while making themselves easily accessible could help you gain some extra tips and tricks, and maybe you’ll find a welcoming community while you’re at it.
Patience and Practice
Depending on how much time you have to commit to a title, you may have to be prepared to be patient on your rise to the top.
While the basic game mechanics can be reasonably easy to learn in most cases, mastering every character, item, and skill available can take what seems like forever.
Getting to grips with a single style of play can be handy at first, as you will begin to familiarize yourself with how various interactions between characters take place while you get a feel for your preferred skills.
Practice is important as long as it’s the right kind of practice. Playing when you’re tilted (so angry that your performance and decision-making suffers) has the potential to put you off a game for good, as can failing to progress with a certain character.
Playing alongside players who are better than you can be frustrating, but it could help pull you up to the next level without realizing it just yet.
Help from Reddit?
Reddit has an active community of MOBA gamers, with the League of Legends subreddit member count currently standing at 5.3 million.
There are many communities worth reaching out to in the MOBA scene, and in gaming, this can often serve to strengthen your experience, provided you ignore the toxicity of a select few.
