All-In-One Beginners Guide

Hey everyone, I decided to TRY and make a “new to paragon” type guide that answers a lot of things that the new players to the game are kind of curious about. If this helps you, please upvote to try and get this to the front page so new players can see it! If you have any suggestions—absolutely feel free to say so thanks! If you disagree with anyone you see, please say so but also explain your reasoning so there can be some sort of discussion that gets started!

**Formatting in progress, wanted to get this out there ASAP for new players**

Please add in the comments any sections that you can think of that would help new players that I can cover and I will try to add it in ASAP.

If you want to add me on PSN:  BigMac__GG (two underscores) or PC: Mokanshu

Table of Contents:

1. Roles/Lanes

2. Ganking/Roaming

3. Early Game Card Tips

4. Harvest Keys/Harvesters/Wards

5. Purple Gummy Bear (Orb Prime)

6. Sprint/Travel Mode

7. Card Upgrades/Affinities

8. Map/Gameplay/Objective

9. Jungle Tips (for advance players) ***Coming Soon***

Roles/Lanes

So to start off I’ll cover the basic heroes and their “roles” and typical lanes. It is important to note that so far there is no set meta like other mobas where one type of hero goes to a specific lane and everything seems to very flexible.

1. Carries --(similar to hunters in smite, ADC’s in league and stuff like that)- these are heroes that are fairly weak early on and extremely easy to kill and as of right now, also extremely immobile for the most part. However late game with good positioning these guys will start to pack a lot of punch. ** TwinBlast, Sparrow, Murdock**

1. Mages --  (personally I consider a mage anything that has somewhat longer cooldowns and whose abilities are ranged with an area of effect)- these are heroes that typically have AoE abilities and can hold their own as a solo lane for the most part due to being able to clear the waves somewhat safely. **Gideon, Gadget, Howitzer (Gadget and Howitzer aren’t conventional mages however they function somewhat similar to mages from other mobas)**

1. Fighters/Bruisers (think of fighters as melee heroes that focus on doing damage rather than taking it, similar to warriors from smite and your “bruisers” from league like Jax/Fiora/Riven etc)- typically these guys have a little bit more HP so they don’t insta-die but you definitely do not want to let them sit on you and smack you in the face. So far fighters/bruisers have seen the most success in the jungle due to being able to farm and gank effectively without being endlessly harassed by ranged characters. **Grux, Feng Mao, Rampage (if built that way)**

2. Assassins (your typical assassin type hero, squishy, lots of burst damage) I’ve only seen assassins in the jungle because as of right now there’s only one “true assassin hero” which is Kallari who is absolutely horrid in lane. **Kallari**

3. Tanks (these guys are just giant beefcakes who take years to kill but don’t pack as much punch as a bruiser/fighter, they just want to make you hit them while their damage dealers are free to focus on doing damage rather than taking it) I’ve seen tanks work as a support type hero by laning with a carry but I’ve also seen them be taken to the jungle, this one comes down to preference and team composition. **Rampage (typically), Grux (if built full tank), Steel**

4. Supports (typically less damage than a mage however most, if not all of their abilities have some sort of utility on them whether it’s a stun, slow, speed boost etc. and focus more on durability (mana/cooldown reduction/bit of health) rather than damage to allow them to stay in fights and bring that utility to the team)—I’ve seen support work fine solo in a side lane if they have to and it’s a 1v1 lane. If it’s a 2v1 the support is gonna get crushed, so typically you’ll see the standard support/carry duo in a side lane. **Dekker, Muriel, Steel**

 

You’ll notice that Steel, Grux and Rampage are listed twice, that’s because typically Grux is built with damage since he gets tankiness from his passive, whereas Rampage is built as a mega tank that never dies, however both CAN be built for either role and have seen success with both build types. Steel can be played as a support due to all of his CC and his abilitiy however he is still usually built as a beefy tank. I’ve seen bruiser Steel be played, but its success has been hit or miss.

From what I’ve seen the lanes are all flexible in terms of WHO you have WHERE, but being in a 1v2 lane typically results in a huge disadvantage so try to avoid that at all costs. Usually you see someone like a Howitzer or Gideon in mid lane due to the multiple entries into the lane and Gideon and Howitzer both having some way of safely creating distance from the gankers. Carries are usually in side lanes to provide as much safety as possible. If you’re playing someone like Rampage or Grux in lane you’re going to be in a rough time especially if you’re against a ranged character. As an extra note—double jungle is actually VERY viable in this game so long as you have reliable laners.

Ganking/Roaming-

It is extremely common in this game to roam and gank as a team, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been solo in a side lane just 1v1’ing away and then all of a sudden there’s an extra 3 enemies in my lane and I’m dead. Because of how vision works and how little mobility there is on most characters it is extremely easy to pick up kills as early as LEVEL TWO. Because of this, unless your team has vision of the entire team, I’ve found it’s usually not worth it to extend past the midway point of your lane unless the enemy team has low CC/damage and you’re far ahead with a mobility spell to create distance from the gankers.

Early game card (item) tips—I wont go into full on item builds YET but some general tips for what to buy early game. EVERYONE should be starting with health and mana potions since they have 3 charges and get refilled whenever you go back (Some experienced players with custom card decks have been buying a 2 cost item along with a health potion to try and get an early kill, however I’ve found that unless you’re experienced, which if you’re reading this, you probably aren’t, no offence, it’s usually not worth it). If you’re in a lane, your 3rd pick up should be a ward, as a jungler you want a harvester key which I’ll explain shortly.  IF you can manage to stay in lane until you’ve accumulated 9 card points then you’ll want to recall and pick up your first card and FULLY UPGRADE IT using 3x 2 cost upgrade cards. 99% of the time you always want to upgrade your cards fully before purchasing another new card. You’ll notice in game that there are bonuses for fully upgrading these cards, early game if you can get one of those bonuses on your first recall you will be in an extremely good position because you’ll have whats commonly known in most mobas as a “power spike”. Some people I know repeat this process for their second card, whereas some begin to start putting 3-cost upgrades into any further cards.

It’s important to note that the max card points you can get is 60, so if you buy 6 full items (6x3=18) and try to upgrade all of them with 3-cost upgrades (6 items x (3x 3-cost upgrades)=54) you’re gonna have a bad time (18+54=72). So it is essential that you use at least SOME 2-cost upgrades. Don’t fall into the trap of using only 3 cost upgrade cause they have bigger numbers. Custom decks have a decent mix to prevent you from doing this, but once you hit level 5 and can build your own decks, make sure you have variety.  ** Card/Deck guides coming soon**

*** VERY IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT LAST HITTING***-- Last hitting a minion will drop addition Cexp (Card experience, AKA “gold”) and cause it to automatically be returned to you, in addition to rewarding the same Cexp to nearby allies. Basically what I’m trying to say is you don’t need to rage at someone for taking your last hits because you BOTH get the Cexp if there’s a last hit. If you miss the last hit it will only drop 2 Cexp orbs vs the 10 you automatically get for last hitting, and you will have to go physically walk over the orbs to collect it and it will NOT be shared with allies. So usually if there’s orbs on the ground, and you’re a carry, you’ll want to be collecting that rather than the support.

 

Harvest keys and Harvesters and Wards-

There are harvesters found throughout the map, 2 in each teams respective jungle, 1 on each side of the map beside the side lanes and one by the purple gummy bear. Jungle harvesters activate at 3 minutes while the lane harvesters activate at 6. By walking over the harvester platform you can build a harvester (which takes an extremely long time unless you have a harvester key). These harvesters once built will slowly collect Cexp that once someone walks over the same platform to collect it, is shared WITH THE ENTIRE TEAM. As a jungler you’ll want to activate your harvesters in your jungle and collect from them every time you go through the jungle to hopefully give your team an advantage. Harvesters can be attacked by enemies to reduce the amount of Cexp they have stored, or just to destroy it entirely.

Wards essentially give vision on the mini map of a certain area around it. These wards are visible to the enemy team unlike many other MOBAS so if placed in plain sight, will still give vision of the enemy until they destroy it. However these wards can be placed in sneaky places or on higher ground to make them either harder to see, or destroy. Use wards to protect yourself from ganks- they have a one time use, last until killed (I think, I haven't had one live long enough to test) and the card refills it's one charge every time you go to base just like potions.

Purple Gummy Bear-

This is the equivalent of Roshan from DOTA, Baron from League or Fire Giant from Smite. Basically once you kill this, it will drop the “Orb Prime (OP)”, however this is where it is different from other mobas, instead of immediately receiving a massive buff, you must then deliver this orb to a collector that is on the enemy teams side of the map. Once your team has collected the orb your minimap will have a pulsing circle to indicate where you have to take it. However, the enemy team will also be able to see this, in addition to being able to see WHERE the orb carrier is. If killed, the orb will be dropped and instead the enemy team can turn in the orb for the buff.  TL:DR- killing Mr. Gummy Bear does nothing, you need to turn in the orb to get the buff.

Sprinting/Travel Mode-

This is how you move quickly and get away from ganks. It takes a bit of practice because if hit BY A HERO while in this mode, you will be rooted in place. Typically, use this to move around the map and chase enemies down, and if you have been able to generate distance between enemies, activate sprint to get away.

Tips: Murdock can use his knockback to get away from melee enemies and immediately start sprinting to get away, just make sure their gap closing abilitiy is on cooldown.

Gideon can use his portal to go upwards slightly and activate sprint while he is falling to the ground, just make sure their gap closing abilitiy is on cooldown.

Card Upgrades/Affinities

This is one that most people don’t know about until they’ve had an “oh shi**” moment with it. You can only upgrade your main cards with upgrades that have the same stats as the item you’re upgrading. So if you have an energy damage/health item, you can’t upgrade it with mana or crit or whatever. You can only upgrade it with damage or health.

This next part is more for when you’re creating your own decks, which I will be working on creating a guide for in the next bit—but each hero has two affinities listed on their hero page. Fury, Intellect, Order, Growth, Corruption- I can’t remember if im missing any others. Cards also have affinities. Cards can only be used by heroes with the same affinity. So if you have a fury affinity card (it’s all red and stuff), and you’re playing Gideon, you won’t be able to use that card. There are also cards which are useable by everyone. TL:DR ** CHECK THE AFFINITY OF A CARD before you try and put it in a deck and make sure it matches your hero**

 

Map and Gameplay-

Turrets will hit you if there are no minions in its range (the circle on the ground) for it to hit, or if you attack an enemy champion while within range of the turret regardless of minions. Turrets require a short time to acquire a target and hit progressively harder with each hit.

In each lane there is an outer turret/tower, an inner turret/tower and then the inhibitor. Inhibitors work similarly to turrets however once killed they will begin a respawn timer. Until that timer completes and the inhibitor comes back up, that specific lane will spawn super minions that are stronger/tankier and a lot meaner looking than regular minions for the opposing team. If left unchecked, these minions WILL push to your core and start dealing damage to it.

Your core is the last thing in your base, if it’s destroyed, you lose! In this game cores attack every so often with an AoE pulsing ability, hitting everything in range and splitting damage among everything it hits. This attack will deal less base damage per inhibitor that is currently destroyed. 

 

Jungle Tips ***Coming Soon***

Red Camp=Red buff= Increased Damage by twenty-five percent and a small movement speed bonus on hit.

Blue Camp=Blue Buff= Increased Mana Regeneration and Cooldown Reduction by Twenty Percent.

Black Camp=black buff= Increase attack speed and structure damage (not sure by how much)

Orb Prime=OP buff= Buff depending on deck choices  (Prime Helix Card)

*A very effective route I’ve found so far, especially on Feng Mao is to get help with red buff, do the white camp located nearby, and then gank at level 2 on the right lane. Results in first blood in ALMOST every game I’ve played. Take shield at level 1 and Hamstring at 2