Summoner's Field Guide

Masteries are additional passive buffs that you can put a set allotment of points into. They don't cost RP or IP to use, which is great! You get more points to put into things as your summoner level increases, and you can have a max of twenty (20) mastery pages.  So it's a good idea to always toy with your masteries and cut down on some redundant ones. 

There are three categories of masteries as well; offensive, defensive and  utility. Obviously each category (Or 'tree' as I've come to find out it's called) does something different. Whether it makes you a force to be reckoned with, a tank, or a master of gold and items is dependent on which tree you pay more mind to.

Unfortunately, with only a max of thirty points to spend, none of these trees can be fully maxed out. The lowest points any tree has is the defense tree, with 37 points.

Something very important to note about each category is, to reach higher tiers in that tree, some prerequisites must be fulfilled. Be it a certain number of points be spent in that tree alone or a certain mastery is taken before it. It depends on what you're going for, really.

So play around with each tree! See what works best for you. The passive little additions may just become the norm for you, and if you're comfortable with it, keep that page! Everyone is different. 

Quite obviously you have been playing with these other Summoners for the last fifteen or so minutes (At least), you might have see their excellent or poor sportsmanship.  Post-game can be incredibly toxic, so I advise making your honors and reports short and sweet IF it is indeed toxic and unpleasant.

Honor your teammate or opponent appropriately  Or, if they ask for something specific, give them that instead. You don't have to unless a specific Summoner really grabs your attention, it's alright! It's all up to you. Although the system is very wonky, it's the best that League has at this point in time. 

Report a player who does deserve it. No one deserves a lessened experience on the fields because a certain Summoner has a bad attitude. Some Summoners on the opposing team may ask you to report a player on their side. Ask why, and judge accordingly.  Please, please, Summoners! If you do report, please give a short yet detailed summary on why you reported someone. It makes judging in the Tribunal so, so much easier!

Some things may happen in the post-game chat that may make you want to report another player or honor them. Either way, it's all up to you what you would like to do. Post-game is also a great time to look at builds more closely than in-game (if pressing Tab just does not interest you), and a great time to talk with another Summoner if you so choose. 

Unless you guys have something to add, that's it for today! Sorry it's so short. But... Until next time, good luck, and have fun!

A little note about wards and sightstones - Wards can show champions not masked by any cloaking devices like ability passives or actives. They do not show other wards placed by enemies.

mochibuni:

Sightstones do not reveal stealth, Vision (pink) Wards do. Sightstone is a cost effective item that allows “infinite” sight wards. By “infinite” the Sightstone has “charges,” each charge produces one ward. They can place four wards before the Sightstone runs out of charges. In order to refresh charges, the user needs to return to the Fountain. Users can place up to two wards out a time. If the user places a 3rd ward before the others naturally die, the first ward placed will be removed.

The item is cost effective for roles such as Support where this position often requires the user to buy several wards, and sight wards are 75 gold each. Once you buy a Sightstone, you do not have to pay to use any of the charges or pay for it to refresh.

Ruby Sighstone is the upgraded version of Sightstone that allows three wards out at a time and has five charges.

In terms of ward placements, it’s actually preferable to ward tri-bush and a combination of river wards instead of warding river bush. Ganks often come through tri-bush and over walls.

All can be found and destroyed via Oracle's Elixir.

Anyway, on to some choice areas for map warding!

Light blue areas are the most important areas to ward, Summoners! Your bushes in-lane need warded so you don't waltz into a deadly trap. Warding river bush prevents ganks and easy kills for the enemy jungler. Warding dragon can prevent the enemy team from gaining a gold advantage. And also warding dear Baron around his spawn time (Maybe also around 25:00--30:00) can obviously prevent the enemy team from gaining his buff and wiping the fields with you! 

The orange dots are optional but good ideas to ward, just in case the jungler knows of your wards and tries to backdoor you from tower, or if they see you're low and just an ability rush away from being dead.

As for mochibuni's comment, you can ward the bush directly up from the tower (tri-bush), and it may be ideal, but it's all completely up to whatever you feel is necessary! 

I didn't mark the buffs, but warding your buffs can show you if the enemy team has slipped into your jungle for a quick power boost. 

Well, I tried to keep it short and sweet! If any Summoner has anything to add, please do so! My ask box is always open. Until then, good luck, and have fun!

Trying to make the next thirty or forty minutes enjoyable can be hard if things have already gone downhill in champion select. That's okay, however. Sometimes spirits will lift on the fields, but more often than not... They will fall. A few things written here will may sound as if I'm preventing you from getting involved, but sometimes that's both the right and polite thing to do.

The first thing I would like to address is arguments. Try not to get involved in them. Most of the time it's pointless and takes away from the game. However, if the urge to prove a Summoner wrong is too great, try not to use loaded language. If the other Summoner is much too stubborn, then you're wasting muscle movements and emotions on them.

Responding to toxic players only feeds them. Try using the mute feature, which is just press whichever button is set to bring up the champion's page where it has their items built and CS, and click the chat bubble on the left of the person's name and mute them. Another way to reduce yourself to toxic behavior is by turning off all-chat. 

When not in a call with your teammates, pings are the best tool of communication the League provides for its Summoners. Being map aware goes hand-in-hand with this. It's better to be paranoid about missing champions than to not care at all! I personally always try to call a missing champion when I don't see them for a few seconds.

Always try to ask nicely for something. Whether it be for wards or for a wandering champion to join a team fight. 

Try not to let the Negative Nancies  get to you. It couldn't hurt to ask them to stop complaining. If they don't, it also couldn't hurt to ask them to stop talking, or mute them entirely. Talking/complaining =/= helping/trying, and arguing lessens your chances of winning severely! 

  Complimenting Summoners on a good kill or a neat skin could possibly brighten the mood. Maybe it could make the other Summoner more willing to help out and try harder. 

  If you see another Summoner harassing another, ask them to stop. If they persist, report them after the game. But NEVER announce that you're reporting them in-chat! The Tribunal looks down upon that.

  Well, I do believe that that's it for today! If Summoners have anything I could add or fix, please tell me. And, always, good luck and have fun!