I.10d - Take two - military expenditure

My previous post was lengthy and I was wrong about a very critical fact about mitigration scaling. Thanks to Phreak for setting me straight.

TL;DR Both health and mitigation scale linearly; prefer health early on because it helps against all incoming damage sources. Itemize not only based on your opponent's comp but also which of your opponents is doing well.

In depth:

I previously stated that the mitigation becomes less efficient over time, but I was wrong. Both health and mitigation scale linearly. 100 armor provides you with 50% mitigation. If you have 1000hp it will take 2000 physical damage to kill you. 200 armor gives you 66% mitigation, meaning it will take 3000 physical damage to kill you. Every 100 points of mitigation gives you 100% more effective health from that source.

I maintain that health should be favored over mitigation because it allows you to absorb all 3 types of damage (physical, magic, true). Purchasing 100 armor does nothing to protect you from an ap carry, so building out a solid base of hp is a great way to soak damage from both sides and adding mitigation contextually.

To demonstrate the principles that effect your build order, I'll discuss jungle Amumu and cover two scenarios. The enemy team has a balanced comp so I will account for both types of incoming damage. I always start with Philosopher's Stone and Heart of Gold. The passive gold helps my late game itemization, the Philo allows me to give blue to the ap, and the HoG establishes early health for tanking. I use 0-21-9 masteries, armor yellows, and mr/level blues, move speed quints and magic pen reds.

Ad carry is doing awesome, ap is meh:

• Randuins or Frozen Heart. The Frozen Heart is very popular right now, mana, cooldown reduction, armor, and a debuff aura are very compelling. Note however that these stats will do nothing to protect me from the enemy ap. If I expect incoming magic damage, the Randuins will protect me from both sides and give me the aoe slow.

Ap carry is doing well:

• Aegis/Negatron. The aegis gives me everything a tanks need and is extremely cost efficient. With  health from the HoG and Aegis, a Negatron will substantially mitigate incoming magic damage. I would likely go back to buying armor at this point because the utility of the big armor items tends to beat out the negatron items. 

I've found it very challenging to succinctly describe the driving forces that optimize your itemization because there are so many variables at play. Watching pros is a good way to start building a body of knowledge around when to build what. Pay attention to what's happening in the game, watch the order in which items are picked up, and actually talk through the decisions with yourself (or a buddy) to determine how wise the choice was. It's worth noting that the mathematically you can calculate the maximum effective health for a given amount of gold, however this is of limited value because in reality you are limited to six item slots and items give you specific stats that may not follow this curve. Additionally for legendary items you are paying for things other than the base health and mitigation stats so it's difficult to say what item will treat you best based on simple models.

I.10d - Method and Discipline - military expenditure

10. By METHOD AND DISCIPLINE are to be understood the control of military expenditure


Spending your gold wisely is probably the most discussed topic in League of Legends. Guide quality has improved drastically because the pros have gotten involved. This post will discuss the mindset behind making the most out of your builds rather than answering specific questions about what to build in a particular role. While some champions have fairly stable build paths, builds should always be adjusted according to the context of your current game. On the flip side, there are core principles that should inform your decisions and not be compromised, regardless of the situation you are in.


Guides have been improving in quality and the greatest improvement is that builds often consist of core items as well as situational items. One topic that gets less attention however is what order you buy items, even while trying to finish the same core build.


Tanks need health and mitigation to be effective. The most common mistakes players make is to build mitigation before health. As a quick disclaimer, while I am a numbers guy, I am not a huge fan of number crunching in LoL because so many factors are related to human behavior, which is very hard to quantify. 

Now I'll illustrate how you can maximize the value of your build even when building the same core items. 
[edit] This portion of the post has been rewritten because it was too long and I had some bad data. The followup is linked below.


A few core principles that you should consider while you adjust your build.

Ad Carry: You need carry damage, finish two damage items (iedge + pd) before building an expensive mitigation item (banshee's). If you are struggling, go dorans blades and wriggles to add some damage as well as survive.
Ap Carry: You need carry damage, if you're forced to buy mitigation consider an early Null Mantle. Go for RoA or Rylai's rather than doing something crazy like building a Banshee's before you get damage. A Catalyst and Negatron would be the absolute tankiest I would ever go, this still allows you to finish a RoA and keep working towards real damage.
Tank: Health is king, a 1000hp singed with FoN isn't really doing that much for you, really.
Tanky DPS: Aim for items that give you damage and mitigation, Wriggles, Wit's End, Frozen Mallet and Atma's are excellent at giving you great value for tanking and dps'ing.
Support: gp/10 is critical, always. Shurelya's, Aegis, and other aura items are legit.


Maximizing the value of your build is complicated. Experiment, study, watch the pros, and you'll increase your itemization efficiency in no time. For the follow up on this post, check out Method And Discipline Take Two.

I.10c - METHOD AND DISCIPLINE - road maintenance

On Summoners Rift, road maintenance is about map awareness, which is predominately about warding. I attempted some tutorial posts in the new player forum and was surprised when my 'profound' advice was ignored and my post quickly died. It woke me up to the fact that every player already knows that warding is important, it's just that few players do it.

In the excellent series Ult in 10 by ButButButILY, the host interviews Wickd, solo top player for Clg.eu, formerly of SK. The format involves watching a replay of a pro player while BBILY interviews the pro. Wickd played Irelia top and was purchasing tons of wards, placing them throughout the enemy jungle and at key choke points in river. When asked about it, he explained that it's worthwhile to buy wards as a solo because even though a support defers farming and kills, it still helps the team when a support can finish his build. It's also worth noting that if the support needs to stay in lane, he has very limited capacity to ward the top half of the map.

Watch a competitive game and it's immediately clear which team is winning; the team with wards all over the enemy jungle has established dominance and will dictate the pace of the game. Starving the enemy team by taking their buffs and controlling the big objectives will ensure victory. Moscow5, the new powerhouse out of EU, have consistently demonstrated their map control and these guys ward like crazy. For example, at the Kiev finals against SoloMid, they regularly placed as many as five wards on the dragon side of river in preparation for a dragon fight. They had nearly every brush and entrance covered. This kind of awareness allows for big plays, Alex on Galio was able to get his ult off on three enemy champs hiding in the floating bush in mid river. If most teams place two wards to cover themselves for dragon, then m5 is investing an additional 225 gold for the chance at getting 2-3 kills plus the dragon. When it succeeds they come out 1350 gold ahead (600 for kills, 950 for drag). When it fails they at least have a very clear picture of the river for the next few minutes which should allow them to lick their wounds and farm safely.

In conclusion, wards aren't just great in theory, they are absolutely essential for success at the highest level. One interesting trend I've noticed is that supports are buying more pink wards early in the game. This allows them to control the side bushes in lane, clear enemy wards to allow for ganks, and vie for dragon control.

Wickd on Ult In Ten
m5 vs TSM Kiev Grandfinals

I.10b - Method and Discipline - promotions

10. By METHOD AND DISCIPLINE are to be understood the graduations of rank among the officers.

Acknowledging your teammate's success is critical to supporting your team's improvement. Take time to acknowledge your teammates achievements, particularly during losses. One practice I've tried is to ask my teammates to list one thing they did well when we lose, and what they can improve on after a win. This prevents the team from getting down after a loss. Taking a break and keeping the environment lighthearted after a loss can give everyone a chance to relax and reset their focus. The worst thing you can do when your team is down after a loss is to requeue. In his excellent post on improving your elo without improving your skill, a platinum player named Pat the Power advises you to introduce a stop loss, meaning that you stop queueing ranked after two losses in a row. You won't lose 300 elo in a day if you follow this very valuable advice.

Promotions may also mean giving your teammates a chance to play a different role. Having a flexible team can give you a lot more freedom during champ select, so if a player wants to try something new, support that. Give him a clear goal (master two champions at that role well enough to play them in solo queue) then give them a chance to try out the role with a team. Feedback is critical so you need to encourage your teammate to ask for feedback. If he's not interested in hearing from the team how he can improve then you can do little to help him grow. One example of where this principle should have been applied was Elementz on CLG. He's a very strong player but the team wasn't happy with his support role. Instead of giving him feedback, they kept silent about it until they chose to bench him out of the blue. They could have given him a chance to play another role or grow in his existing role but instead they let the problem fester until it meant breaking up the team.

Supporting your teammates applies to solo queue as well. Make sure you always tell your teammates gj after successful ganks or kills. When they mess up, encourage them to keep trying, offer a lane switch, buy them a ward. Rage loses more games than any other factor in solo queue. Often the players who are the angriest accuse their teammates of being trolls while they drag everybody down. Mute these players, you'll be more relaxed and better able to focus on the game. Unfortunately you can't communicate with that player but it's better than spending half of your game typing responses to the guy.

Pat the Power on Improving your ELO

I.10a - Method and Discipline - marshaling your troops

10. By METHOD AND DISCIPLINE are to be understood the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions
(because each aspect of this verse has so much depth, I'll be covering this in four parts).


Marshaling the army in proper subdivisions means running a competitive composition. Start with a standard high level comp until you've mastered it and understand why it's successful. The dominate meta gets established during big tournaments when thousands of dollars are at stake, so they have been proven at the highest level of play. Once you've mastered it start experimenting and try to break it.

The current standard meta consists of a bruiser top, an ap carry mid, an ad carry with a support bot, and a jungler.

• The bruiser tends to be a tank or a tanky dps. Their job is to farm as hard as possible and provide some meat to the team comp. Depending on the champ a bruiser might chase down squishies in a teamfight or protect his carries. Examples include irelia, rumble, nidalee, udyr and many others. A top lane champ must be able to escape ganks because the towers are far apart.
• The ap mid is also responsible for farming hard, but has more opportunity to snowball because of his proximity to all the action. Slower champs with fewer escapes are safest mid because the towers are close together. The jungler and support should take care of wards for the mid. Casters need a solo lane because their damage is dependent on leveling spells.
• The ad carry deals damage with auto attacks so levels aren't quite as important, while items are critical. The support's job is to ward and babysit the ad carry while he farms the lane as if he were a solo. A support should ward, heal, and potentially harass lane opponents to give his carry the best chance to succeed.
• The jungler's job is complex, though generally he should try to help his teammates win their lanes. He does this by warding, ganking, and crippling the enemy jungler. Do not take xp/gold from your solo while the enemy is in lane; this will put your teammate behind (unless you are saintvicious in which case farming is your only goal).

There are many nuances and plenty of variation inside this meta system, and a few teams like dignitas and goose have had some success running non-standard comps. Other factors a team should consider are damage, tankiness, range, poke, sustain, aoe, cc, damage type, zooms. I'll give an example for each of these factors, note that the 'bad' examples are only bad for the factor I'm covering, they might represent a perfectly suitable comp depending on your opponent. Similarly, good examples exhibit the trait well and may not represent a good overall comp.

Total Damage: Your team needs to put out enough damage throughout the game. Carrying too many tanks or champs that fall off late game will cause you to fail.

Good example: Irelia, Annie, Skarner, Tristana, Taric. (trist has amazing late game and nobody falls off too hard).

Bad example: Cho Goth, Leblanc, Malphite, Cait, Janna (cho and malph have no damage, lb and cait fall off).

Tankiness: Without a tank you will not be able to commit to a fight. I audited 15 tournament games from Dreamhack S1 Championships and IEM Germany, 14 out of 15 winning teams had a 'true' tank, and the one exception had three heavier than average champs. Don't get too tanky or you won't have any damage.

Good example: Sion, Kassadin, Skarner, Tristana, Janna. (skarner tanks it up, sion is naturally big)

Bad example: Nidalee, Brand, Nocturne, Corki, Sona. (even warmog/atma nid isn't enough tank for a team).

Range: Range keeps your opponent at a distance and allows you to harass, without range you have to go all in which can force you into some bad spots. Ranged champs also stay safer when they commit their damage; Vayne has insane damage but puts herself at risk, white Cait does a lot of damage from a much safer distance.
Good example: Udyr, Karthus, Nocturne, Tristana, Taric.
Bad example: Rumble, Ryze, Malphite, Vayne, Alistar.

Poke: Similar to range but specifically about dealing damage from range while preventing the enemy team from committing. A poke comp is meant to prevent Dyrus' tank tank tank tank mordekaiser comp from reaching you, rendering their beefy champs useless.
Good example: Nidalee, Karthus, Lee Sin, Caitlyn, Soraka. (Tons of ranged damage and with Karthus wall, Cait's traps and Nid's escape it's very difficult to pin this team down).
Bad example: Nidalee, Annie, Amumu, Miss Fortune, Taric (Not much sustain, only nidalee has ranged harass)

Sustain: Soraka is op. Sona is very strong.

AoE: If you have Kennen a 4v5 ain't no thang. Amumu makes all their squishies belong to him.

Crowd Control: Get some. Otherwise your friendly neighborhood Yi will come knocking on your (back) door.
Good example: Irelia, Morgana, Udyr, Graves. Soraka (3 out of 5 with hard cc, Soraka has silence, Graves slow).
Bad Example: Nidalee, Kassadin, Shyvana, Graves, Soraka (ouch).

Damage Type: Try to carry at least two champs with each damage type.
Good example: Yorick, Brand, Amumu, Tristana, Sona. (Amu does a lot of ambient magic damage and sona can put out some also).
Bad example: Riven, Leblanc, Pirate, Vayne, Alistar. (buy armor and kill Leblanc first).

Zooms: Champions with zooms/blinks give your team a lot of utility. You can assassinate squishies, escape ganks, and generally frustrate your opponents. The increase in champions with these abilities have made champions like Ashe effectively unviable because they can't avoid getting nom'd.
Good example: Jax, Ahri, Pirate, Ezreal, Alistar.
Bad example: Pirate, Malz, Amumu, Miss Fortune, Sona.

With all of these variables it's very difficult to come up with an ideal comp. That's okay however, because in competitive play you need to adjust your comp based upon your opponent's picks. Counter picking champions often has a big impact on the outcome of the game, regardless of whether your comp is perfectly balanced or not. This topic is extremely deep and I hope this provides a good general starting place.

Dyrus' tank tank tank tank mordekaiser

I.7,8 - Heaven and Earth

7. HEAVEN signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons.

On Summoner's Rift this means awareness of buff timers, respawn times, death timers, and summoner cooldowns. Organized pro teams arrive a few seconds before the dragon respawns. They don't respond to the dragon symbol on the minimap, they prepare for it in advance. The jungler or support should type the respawn time in teamchat. Prepare for an upcoming dragon by pushing your lane, clearing enemy wards, ganking bottom or mid, and backing early enough to get back before it spawns.

When did your lane opponent last use his ultimate? Is his flash up? How long is the cooldown on your opponent's big spike damage. If morgana's snare is on cooldown can you get the jump on her before it's back? When is the jungler due for a gank? When will your opponents ward expire at bot? When will yours?

8. EARTH comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death.

I've seen Xpecial, support for SoloMid skip buying a blasting wand to keep a slot open for wards. Map control represents the foundation of a winning team. Clairvoyance is required for the support (CV isn't as essential in solo queue since the cooldown got nerfed, but in competitive play it's still carried by almost every top team.)

• Pink wards are excellent.
• You collect 25 gold for killing an enemy ward, offsetting your cost
• Some portion of your opponents 75 gold is wasted because his ward is killed before it expired.
• The advantage of having your own ward up and destroying your opponents is considerable.
• Oracles are worthwhile when you are experienced enough to stay alive.
• You recover the cost by killing enemy wards
• Losing 400 gold when you die is like giving up another first blood (your team is now behind by 400 gold).
• Using cv to ensure you can safely check an area for wards is a good idea.
• Waiting 30 seconds for mias to return to lane before checking a dangerous spot for wards is a good idea.
• Sitting idly in the woods while waiting for a safe chance to ward sweep is great as long as your lane can handle itself while you are gone.
• The solo experience your carry receives is also excellent.
• If your ad carry cannot farm well while you are gone, place your wards and get back to the lane.

A team is dominated when it has no wards. It is fearful, forced to turtle, and cannot move decisively.
A team is dominating when wards cover the enemy jungle and map objectives. The enemies outer towers are down and they are turtling in their base. A dominating team manages buff timers and controls the pace of the game by maintaining pressure and not letting up. Games are won with map control; map control is established through wards, cv, taking down towers, and communication.

I.6 Moral Law

6. The MORAL LAW causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.

You should have a shared vision for why are you playing together. If you aren't trying to go pro, relax and have fun. If you are trying to compete, then study, practice, prepare, and support your teams growth. 'Correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.' (2 Timothy 4:2b NIV). Respect others, act maturely, and you will grow a strong team around yourself.

I was talking about solo queue with SammTheHam, who played for Rock Solid and now works at Riot. He emphasized that regardless of how your team plays you should always focus on your mistakes and what you could have done better. In solo queue you are the only constant, so focus on improving yourself rather than stressing about bad teammates. This is a great example of the kind of attitude it takes to be a great leader, to improve yourself, and to continually grow as a player (and a person too for that matter).

Heaven and Earth

II. Waging War

1. Sun Tzu said: In the operations of war, where there are in the field a thousand swift chariots, as many heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand mail-clad soldiers, with provisions enough to carry them a thousand LI, the expenditure at home and at the front, including entertainment of guests, small items such as glue and paint, and sums spent on chariots and armor, will reach the total of a thousand ounces of silver per day. Such is the cost of raising an army of 100,000 men.
1. It's expensive to maintain an army [not quite sure how this one's relevant =D].

2. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men's weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped. If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.
2. A sustained push will leave you low on health and mana. If you siege a turret you will eventually have to back.

3-4. Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain. Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor damped, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue.
3-4. To reiterate, a long push will leave you weakened. When you are low on health and mana the enemy will capitalize by engaging you. Regardless of your ability you will not be able to stop the counterpush.

5. Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.
5. A brilliant play should be executed quickly, though rushing into a situation unprepared can be foolish.

6-7. There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare. It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on.
6. Experience will teach you the pain of letting a game drag on. [Not entirely applicable because you have infinite resources in game].

8. The skillful soldier does not raise a second levy, neither are his supply-wagons loaded more than twice.
8. A good summoner backs sparingly and lanes efficiently.

9. Bring war material with you from home, but forage on the enemy. Thus the army will have food enough for its needs.
9. Farm your lane and jungle well, but also deny your opponent by stealing his jungle and pushing creep into his tower. This is how you will finish your build.

10. Poverty of the State exchequer causes an army to be maintained by contributions from a distance. Contributing to maintain an army at a distance causes the people to be impoverished.
10. When you're underfarmed you'll be forced to back frequently, setting you further behind as you miss creep in the lane.

11-12. On the other hand, the proximity of an army causes prices to go up; and high prices cause the people's substance to be drained away. When their substance is drained away, the peasantry will be afflicted by heavy exactions.
11-12. When you turtle you will compete with your teammates for farm, starving the carries for xp and gold. This will put supports and junglers even further behind as they split xp and defer farm.

13-14. With this loss of substance and exhaustion of strength, the homes of the people will be stripped bare, and three-tenths of their income will be dissipated; while government expenses for broken chariots, worn-out horses, breast-plates and helmets, bows and arrows, spears and shields, protective mantles, draught-oxen and heavy wagons, will amount to four-tenths of its total revenue.
13-14. When this happens your team will fall behind, your jungle will be taken by your enemy. You'll fall further behind as you are forced to spend gold on wards and consumables.

15. Hence a wise general makes a point of foraging on the enemy. One cartload of the enemy's provisions is equivalent to twenty of one's own, and likewise a single PICUL of his provender is equivalent to twenty from one's own store.
15. A resourceful team starves the enemy by taking their buffs. A stolen buff is worth twice one's own, and denying creep through pushing waves into the enemy tower is very effective.

16. Now in order to kill the enemy, our men must be roused to anger; that there may be advantage from defeating the enemy, they must have their rewards.
16. Your team will get pumped when ganks are successful; carries should be rewarded with kills on a successful gank.

17. Therefore in chariot fighting, when ten or more chariots have been taken, those should be rewarded who took the first. Our own flags should be substituted for those of the enemy, and the chariots mingled and used in conjunction with ours. The captured soldiers should be kindly treated and kept.
17. In a teamfight the carries should get kills and map objectives should be taken when the fight is over. Feeding kills to your carry also rewards them with the enemy buffs. Be respectful to your opponents as you may queue up with them in the next match.

18-19. This is called, using the conquered foe to augment one's own strength. In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.
18-19. Snowball against your enemies by taking their jungle. Your goal should be to end the game quickly when you have momentum rather than letting the game drag. Focus on destroying the nexus and don't give your opponent a chance to come back.

20. Thus it may be known that the leader of armies is the arbiter of the people's fate, the man on whom it depends whether the nation shall be in peace or in peril.
It depends on the captain to lead his team to victory.


Sunzi (2009-10-04). The Art of War (Kindle Locations 575-635). Adams Media. Kindle Edition.

I. Laying Plans

I. Laying Plans

1-4. Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected. The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one's deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field. These are The Moral Law, Heaven, Earth, The Commander, Method and discipline.
1-4. This is important so pay attention. The art of LoL is governed by five factors, Teamwork, Map Understanding, Map Control, Leadership, and Method and Discipline.

5, 6. The MORAL LAW causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.
5, 6. Teamwork creates cohesion that allows a team to follow their leader into a teamfight without fearing any carry.

7. HEAVEN signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons.
7. Map understanding includes buff timers, dragon and baron timers, death timers, and ability cooldowns.

8. EARTH comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death.
8. Map control includes being in the right place; knowing enemy dude potential; warding river, jungle, and lane entrances; the chances of life and death if you engage.

9. The COMMANDER stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerely, benevolence, courage and strictness.
9. The captain understands the game, supports his team, shows courage and discipline.

10. By METHOD AND DISCIPLINE are to be understood the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure.
10. Method and discipline means to assign lanes well, use players in appropriate roles, establish map awareness with wards, control of map objectives, and use gold wisely.

11-13. These five heads should be familiar to every general: he who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them not will fail. Therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking to determine the military conditions, let them be made the basis of a comparison, in this wise:
Which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral law?
Which of the two generals has most ability?
With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth?
On which side is discipline most rigorously enforced?
Which army is stronger?
On which side are officers and men more highly trained?
In which army is there the greater constancy both in reward and punishment?


11-13. A team captain who knows these principles will win. To assess a matchup consider:
Which team works better together?
Which captain is better skilled?
Who has better objective awareness and map control?
Which team is more disciplined?
Which team has a better composition and is better farmed?
Which team has better skilled players?
What team consistently grows and learns from their mistakes?

14. By means of these seven considerations I can forecast victory or defeat.
14. These seven questions will allow me to determine whether a team will win or lose.

15. The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer: --let such a one be retained in command! The general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it, will suffer defeat: --let such a one be dismissed!
15. The captain who pursues these principles will win. The one who ignores them will lose and his team should find a new captain.

16-17. While heading the profit of my counsel, avail yourself also of any helpful circumstances over and beyond the ordinary rules. According as circumstances are favorable, one should modify one's plans.
16-17. You will succeed by adhering to these principles, just remember to leverage any advantage that presents itself outside of the normal meta. Adjust your gameplan if you can take advantage of a mismatched lane or an early dragon.

18. All warfare is based on deception.
18. All games are based on deception.

19. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
19. Don't reveal your position when you are about to attack, move through the jungle unseen; when waiting to gank from a bush, your enemy should think you're still in your lane; when you're backing to base they should think you're in a nearby bush.

20. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
20. Use teleport, bushes, ward sweeping, and global ults to bait your opponent. Feign disorder and crush him.

21. If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him.
21. Be ready for an attack when all your opponents lanes are secure. If he has outfarmed you stay out of his way and catch up in other lanes.

22. If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.
22. Troll your opponent like a boss if you can make him angry. Tempt him to overextend by appearing to be passive.

23. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them.
23. Maintain constant pressure on the lanes when he tries to back; don't let him recover from a close teamfight. Use cc to peel champions away from their team.

24. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.
24. Take a turret when he backs. Invade his jungle and gank from unexpected directions.

25. These military devices, leading to victory, must not be divulged beforehand.
25. Do not telegraph your strategy ahead of time, avoid enemy wards and set up your gank without being seen.

26. Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought.
26. The winning team will be prepared, planning composition, picks, bans, and strategy before the game.

26b. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand. Thus do many calculations lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat: how much more no calculation at all! It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who is likely to win or lose.
26b. The captain who loses won't be prepared. Therefore plan ahead and win; it's obvious which team will win or lose based on the team that shows up more prepared.

The first expanded post: Moral Law
Sunzi (2009-10-04). The Art of War (Kindle Locations 514-572). Adams Media. Kindle Edition.