First Champion
"...You've got real talent."
I asked my sister since it was my first time playing and I wasn't sure how well I'd done. Her response: I had talent.
I wasn't sure if I really had talent or not, but for a complete newbie, it didn't seem half bad. I did feed first blood once at the start, but that was because I had zero understanding of the champion—especially Lizer. After dying that one time, though, I got the hang of it pretty quick.
Lizer was a mage champion, but unlike the typical long-range mages people imagine, her range was on the shorter side. To land attacks on the enemy, I had to close the gap.
The easiest way to do that? Dodge their skills, obviously. Skills have cooldowns, so if you sidestep them, you get your attack turn while they're waiting.
That first death against Brando gave me a rough idea of how to move the champion and how far in I could step to smack them safely. After that, it was straightforward: dodge Brando's skills, slip into range, and unload mine.
Lizer had merits to make up for her short skill range—like her short cooldowns. And not just that. Her passive, Magic Training, shaved a whopping 1.5 seconds off all skill cooldowns every time you used one. Top-tier stuff.
Combining her Q skill Overvoltage's already short cooldown with the passive let me spam skills non-stop, even early game—way faster than the tooltip said.
That's how I snagged my first kill on Brando and learned something key: AI backs off the moment their health drops. To secure kills reliably, I needed to stick even closer on engages.
Spot on. From there, I racked up kills, asked sis about items, built up... and by the end, I could just spam skills from range and watch kills roll in like magic.
Finished the tutorial, back to the lobby—and boom, my Commander level hit 3. Guess each tutorial gave separate XP rewards.
No notifications or anything in the lobby itself. First thing on my mind?
"Raizir. Gotta buy Raizir."
Raizir. The champion that made me want to play WoL in the first place. Classic's Raizir plays were still burned into my brain. I wanted to pull that off too.
But...
"...6300 points?"
My account only had 450.
My sister, who'd been watching over my shoulder, chimed in. "Raizir's a new champ, so she's kinda pricey~"
"Ehh... so how do I grind points fast?"
"They add up just playing games. You get some on level-up too... and extra for your first win of the day."
"How much per win?"
She held up one finger. "Around 100 points if you win? Like 70-80 if you lose."
Even winning every game, that's about 60 games. Factoring level-up rewards and first-win bonuses, maybe 50. Still a haul.
"Sigh... oh right, I made a fresh account. How do I even get champions?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
I explained slower to my dense sister. "To play, you need champions, but my new account has zilch."
She finally got it, plopped down beside me, grabbed the mouse, and navigated. "It's called the rotation. Ten free characters every week. You can play 'em for that week, then they rotate out."
Watching the screen as she talked, I saw this week's rotation champs listed. Sadly, no Raizir.
"So which of these can go mid?"
"Hmm~ These four?" She pointed with the mouse.
Familiar faces mixed with new ones: Lizer... Danbi... Katrina... Asuo...
Lizer I knew from the tutorial. Quick peeks at the others:
Danbi sounded like a whiny kid—actually a nimble kitsune mage fighting with a fox orb. Mage vibes, but her ult Fox Dash let her dash three times, assassin mobility. Yet her Q, Soul Orb, screamed classic mage. Hybrid feel.
Katrina? Pure assassin—dagger tosses, blinks to foes. Hands gonna be busy. Most frantic champ in the game, easy.
Asuo: samurai with wind sword arts. Peak "romantic" flair. But just as hand-intensive as Katrina.
Too busy-handed for now. Tempting, sure—looked fun in the frenzy—but my control wasn't there yet.
Down to Lizer and Danbi. Time for sis's input.
"Between Lizer and Danbi, which you think is better for me?"
"Huh? What about Katrina or Asuo?"
"Too hand-heavy. Cool, but over my head right now."
"Hmmm... I'd go Lizer."
"Why?"
"Better performance than Danbi, and dirt cheap. You could buy her with what you've got. Get comfy on Lizer first, then branch out?"
I hit the shop tab, found Lizer. 450 points—exactly what I had.
Points like that accumulate quick anyway. Made sense: master Lizer, adapt to the game, then expand.
No hesitation. Clicked buy.
Champ picked, time for next game.
"Wait, wait." Sis stopped me mid-queue.
"Huh? What?"
"Normal games are PvP. You gotta set it to AI separate from normals."
She thinks I'm an idiot. "I know. It's right here in big letters: PvP, AI Matches."
"...You do know what PvP means, right?"
"Duh, Player vs. Player."
PvP. She really thinks I'm dumb. I gave her my best pitying look.
She hit me with an even pityinger one. "You wanna jump into real PvP? After one tutorial AI game?"
"Yeah, game's easy? Feels ready for PvP."
"...Little bro, stick to AI like a good boy."
"Why?"
His rebellious glare was getting annoying. Part of me wanted to let him crash and burn, but what if it broke his fragile spirit? Better talk him down.
"You should stick to AI till Commander level 8 anyway."
"Oh yeah. Flash."
Good, he knew that much. WoL had Commander's Authority skills usable on any champ. Some trash no one touched, but the busted essential? Flash.
Instant teleport short distance. Game-changer: hop walls, surprise engage, escape death.
Unlocks at level 8, so vets tell noobs to grind AI till then.
Exceptions: folks seasoned in AoS genres, masters even. Yunho? Nah.
"...Fine. How long to 8?"
He got the Flash memo—or maybe PvP scared him straight. Switched lobby from PvP to AI without fuss.
Quick mental XP math... "Should hit 8 by dinner if you grind."
"Sweet. Level 8, then normals."
If he dove into normals... could he handle the toxic chats? Annoying as he was, I knew his heart was soft and pure.
Maybe queue a 5-stack to dodge that crap? While I fretted, Yunho—oblivious—queued next AI.
And the key to easing my worries? Ringing right beside him.