ARAM Tips and Tricks

ARAM is one of the most misused game-types, but it’s at the same time, a mode that can be the best learning experience on how to approach the game. Regardless of which team you land on, treating ARAM like a serious game will greatly improve your actual game. Everything is selected at random, so don’t go whining about how unfair the selection was. If the others have better-tier champions than you do, but on the bright side, if you do everything right, it’s the easiest way to push your win rate up. For that matter, we’ve collected some of the best ARAM Tips and Tricks.

1. Don’t be overly afraid of death

Let’s face it, League is one of the most sadistic games on the planet when it comes to death. On Summoner’s Rift, the main thing you want to do is keep yourself alive so you can go back to base. In ARAM, however, you can spare yourself the thought. The only way of going back to base is death, so get used to jumping headfirst into approaching enemies.

2. Don’t waste your spells

Along with point one, another important situation you want to avoid getting yourself into is where you have to use summoner spells just to stay alive. This is especially so at the beginning of the game. On Summoner’s Rift, for instance, Flashing away with a teeny bit of health when engaged may be a strong play, depending on the circumstances. However, on the Howling Abyss, it’s the exact opposite. There’s virtually no benefit you will grant your mates at 8% health. If anything, you’re an easy pick for winnings to your opponents. You’re better off dying and saving your Flash for more important scenarios.

Additionally, keep track of your spells, ultimates and even your opponent’s ultimates. If the said conditions are perfect for you team, stage a teamfight. You never realise how decisive a teamfight can be until you are actually caught in one. This will subsequently give your team the upper hand, and the ability to make a great ol’ push even if you have been on the receiving end of the stick the entire time.

3. Make good use of your deaths

Dying isn’t as big a deal at the Howling Abyss as it is on Summoner’s Rift. Should you have the chance, you could even suicide yourself to the enemy team or to the turret, if it gives your team a strategic advantage.

For instance, the best example is a typical Pyrrhic victory. You’ve fought long and hard – and won – but everyone comes out of it with something like 7% health. Here, you can push your way through and take your towers to their turrets. At the same time, the enemy is now spawning. For most people, turning on their tails for the retreat is the only strategy. But think about it: you already moved all the way to the offensive. If you try to play it safe and they engage you hard, you have no chance of winning. They’ve effectively wiped out your whole plan and given themselves the momentum they needed for a counterattack. Remember, too, that since they had died, they had the opportunity to heal themselves and get a horde of new items. As always, the team with more items is more likely to win the fight.

In the opposite scenario, where your team died at the hands of their turrets, the game would effectively be started anew. Every team will be sent back to their base, where they are free buy new items and heal. However, you’re now at an advantage since you were on the offense.

4. Make good use of the map

It will happen very often that you find yourself fending the enemies off at your turrets. When you win that wave, you might find pushing to the next turret difficult because of the incredibly large distance to the next closes objective. And while you were at it, your opponents have respawned (and managed to get items and refill their health). Such a situation is pretty difficult to dig yourself out of, but it’s not impossible. It needs a bit of skill to regain the advantage and make a successful push; which can be done by paying attention to the map. More specifically, you can gain a huge edge by keeping the fight on your opponent’s side rather than your own.

The benefit comes in twos, in fact. Even if you lose, the other team will also find it as hard as you did to make a push across the map. If you do win the fight, you’re already at the enemy base by this point. You can now easily push for the towers and claim your victory..

An even better strategy would be to push back your enemy before the real fight begins. Take an aggressive stance and try to scare them into falling back. This should effectively create a lot of psychological pressure, and if you do it right, you’ll be shocked how fast the enemy falls into a frenzy and lose ground. Of course, this strategy could always be used on you. For that matter, knowing your opponent is key to avoid falling into the trap. Know their team compositions and look for a way to undermine their strengths.

For instance, Nidalee is one of the last champions you want to meet during an ARAM game mode. However, all it takes is a whole lot of aggressiveness and strategised engages to get her off her game. It doesn’t matter if she and Lux have been continuously poking your team for minutes on end. If you struggle enough and manage to win a teamfight on their end of the map, victory will be yours.

5. Mind the value of your Creep Score.

On the Howling Abyss map, gold values are a bit different than what you’re probably used to on the Rift. First blood, for instance, is only worth 200 gold and normal kills 140. These are comparatively low besides the kind of rewards on the Rift. In other words, this means in order to get the value of a single kill, you will have to wipe out a few waves of minions. It’s not uncommon to spend a great chunk of time just farming (and hogging all the farm!), and all the while not being an active member in fights. However, such players often end up being super powerful and can make the difference between life and death.

The point isn’t to be an ass about the farm, it’s more of making sure you grab as much CS as you can and are given. In other words, don’t let any minion die before one of your teammates gets the last hit.

6. Have a plan

As a rule, don’t go in blind regardless of the game mode, but people often take ARAM less seriously than they do ranked games. However, in ARAM, this philosophy is just as sound as it is in regular 5 on 5 matches. This is especially so if most of your team is comprised of melee-type champions and your opponent is unfortunately a god-tier comp. Most times, you will either have the towers taken from you or take them from the opponent after a firefight. Thus, winning fights gives you the chance to push for the objectives with greater confidence.

Sieging is the most commonly reused strategy in such cases, mostly because it’s an OK enough strategy. However, remember that ARAM maps are pretty claustrophobic and engages are bound to happen at any moment. If they do happen, going in without a coordinated attack is a great way to imminently lose.

More, general advice.

Be nice

Some players often play ARAM to ease their frustrations from playing the ranked mode. You’ll often meet trolls in the game, but those people just ruin the fun for the rest of us. Don’t be that guy.

And at the same time, don’t be the know-it-all. ARAM gives you pseudo-random champions from the free to play champions and your collection. Don’t get on someone’s ass for not being able to play well. You were once there, too.

Pay attention in champion select.

It may all seem random, but checking your teammates, masteries, runes and even skin can give you a bit of education that you might need. For instance, skins give you a tiny advantage in the game, especially the ones with white particles (or otherwise completely white).

Do not offer trade if you will reroll the taken champion

There’s really no point to asking someone for their pick if you’re going to reroll it. If you have to ask at least have the decency of just wanting to try it or be good at using that said champion. If you really have to reroll, at least mention it beforehand.