League of Legends: Perks of First Blood

The thrill of playing League of Legends for me is not only winning the match and gaining league points, but to actually spill the blood of the enemy team for the first time. It’s a sugar rush high as you fist pump in the air and scream at the computer screen with the words of victory.

Before the start of season 4, first blood (will now be referred as FB) allowed games to quickly escalate out of control, allowing whichever team that secured FB a gold advantage. Seeing as how this would often lead to one sided games and without much room to make a comeback, FB gold proved to be a problem.

In order to control the escalation of games, Riot put a cap on FB reducing the value by 60% in regards to the first couple of minutes. Therefore it leads to the question: when do you want to secure FB?

A normal kill gives 400 gold, but if you have not killed an enemy within the first couple of minutes, starting at five minutes, you have the one time opportunity to earn an extra 100 gold. 

I’m pretty positive every person who’s played the game has given or taken First Blood on the Fields of Justice. Here are some questions for you: Hate giving it and love taking it? Well, how do you achieve this oh-too-satisfying triumph? Do you auto attack and spam Q, W, E at level 1, 2 and 3? Or do you simply wait and farm until you get that R button? Both options are viable and different strategies to getting that moment of glory as you stand and spam laugh and continue to farm, making the gap between you and pesky Teemo – or that dreadful Mundo – wider and more difficult to catch up. Well here are some things to consider about the factors of FB and some strategies which can land you that achievement.

Considerations

Due to the gold reduction of FB during the first few minutes of the game, it is definitely harder to snowball your lane and yet the 260 gold can definitely help you get that extra Doran’s whether it is Top, Mid or Bot lane. At a 60% gold reduction, FB makes level 1 engages more risky and less rewarding than previous seasons as you can take more damage than anticipated. The risks of an early FB are: limited vision, blowing through your Summoner skills and overestimating the amount of damage you are capable of. The engage can easily go south and allow the enemy team the chance to get First Blood as you can make the mistake of overstaying and not respecting the kill potential they have.

You need to have confidence in yourself when it comes to securing the kill because at early levels, it is a matter of if you can outplay your enemy lane partner.

But there are a lot of ways of securing First Blood without having to rely on just your skills

Tip #1: Waiting For The Jungler

The Jungler can play a huge role in securing that triumphant moment as they come through the bushes and land that Q, ensuring the usage of Summoner spells and making the lane easier to win. However, please be aware of where the enemy Jungler will be and where your Jungler is. In order to actually make use of the Jungler, you can do many things, but here are a couple of suggestions.

• Allow the enemy to push your lane or keep it in the middle. It allows your Jungler for an easier gank as he can come through the bushes if it is not warded or through the enemy side where the Fog of War is shadowed.
• Help your Jungler if he is being attacked and invaded in his own jungle or the enemy jungle.
• Use pings to indicate that you are aware of your Jungler coming. The pings allow you to better coordinate with your team overall. Pings make the ganking much easier to follow up and engage upon.

Tip #2: Be the bully

By bullying your enemy lane partner, it ensures not only the control of the map and the gold flow of your enemy team, but the morale of your team will steadily go up as you kill the enemy champion in the jungle at one minute and thirty seconds. Or even at five minutes in lane. Denying gold is wonderful when you do it and terrible when it’s done to you. So make sure you control the lane.

• Ward your river or bush with your trinket so that way you can see the enemy Jungler exiting his jungle and possibly entering yours. This makes him waste his time if he decides to sit in the bush, allowing your Jungler to help another lane.
• Hit skill shots or spells. Sounds easy, but it’s pretty hard. This one takes time.
• Judge when you can all-in the enemy champion or when they can do it.
• Please note that not all champions are meant to be lane bullies.
• It would also be extra nice for your lane if you had some sort of cc to make an engage.

260 Gold or 500 Gold

Now the question is: do you want 260 gold or the full amount of 500 gold?

The scaling of 60% to 100% gold value makes waiting a minute or two very appealing for me personally as that is not only a Doran’s but also some boots or even a B.F. Sword!

First Blood can define the game because a late FB at eight minutes or more can lead to a Dragon objective, a tower or multiple kills. In fact, it could be a combination of all three! FB in mid-lane or bot-lane can easily lead to the securing of Dragon for more gold distribution across the map, helping top-lane get a Giant’s belt or a Chain Vest.

Prevention

So how do you prevent First Blood from happening on your team? You can’t stop it completely as some match ups are better than others, but you can definitely help shape the outcome of the fight for FB. It does not matter if you are a solo lane or a duo lane, warding appropriate spots as it can help prevent ganks from the enemy team as well as discourage the enemy Jungler because they are wasting time sitting in a bush while they could be leveling and getting gold, but their Jungle buffs may possibly be on your Jungler. Another way of preventing FB is to help your Jungler if he is getting bullied in his Jungle or the Jungler helping a losing lane. There are many more ways, but these are some of the more obvious ones that can sometimes be forgotten.

Positive morale is key to winning the game. Confidence wins the game. Some of the best advice that you can be given is to know the champion you are playing and how much damage you can output with the items you have. While you may know your champion, you must also know how you fare against your match up.