While some gamers can be quite flaky—playing individual games for only a few weeks before moving on—unior Elliot Kau has dedicated his game time to League of Legends (LoL) for several years. Playing casually and competitively, Kau strikes a balance between his gaming and his studies.

Although Kau started his relationship with LoL during middle school, he heard about it first in fourth grade. At first, he hated the game. “Whenever someone said they played League, I went ‘Ew’” Kau said. However, his perception changed as he grew more acquainted with LoL, starting with watching people play in sixth grade. “Eventually, I asked whether I could play on my brothers account, so I started playing these really simple bot games,” he said. Later, Kau created his own account to continue his gaming.

According to Kau, LoL can be classified as an online real-time player versus player (PVP) game. “It is a five versus five [game] where the goal is to take down the enemy structures and eventually their base,” Kau said. Each Champion, or player-controlled character, is unique: some champions are geared towards dealing damage, while others are focused on tanking enemy damage or supporting other heros. “The uniqueness of each hero creates a lot of strategy and fun,” Kau said. Kau started off by playing a champion called Blitzcrank. “The worse the enemy team is the better Blitzcrank is, so he started off quite strong” Kau said. However, as Kau climbed through the ranks, the enemy team also got better. Right now, Kau mainly focuses on playing tanky characters.

Some of Kau’s favorite alternate game modes in LoL include ARAM (All Random All Mid Mode), where the arena is simplified. “There is one big arena in the middle, so everybody keeps fighting until the inevitable end,” Kau said. He also enjoys playing URF(Ultra Rapid Fire mode), which features a unique playstyle. “The cooldowns are reduced to 1-2 seconds each, so people can spam their abilities over and over again,” Kau said.
Rather than having LoL control his life, Kau skillfully manages to tuck in his gaming time between an intense academic workload. “During the school year, I might get one game a week at home, so I usually resort to Flex Time or preps,” Kau said. He is a bit more relaxed during the holidays, but still avoids addiction. “On the first day of vacation, I might play two to three hours,” Kau said. He often is busy for the rest of the holiday.

Kau personally enjoys playing the most when playing with friends. “When I play by myself, it is boring, so I like to play with friends,” Kau said. As for the future, he hopes he can continue enjoying LoL through playing casually.