LOL: Micros vs Macros Difference Explained

Two words that are thrown around a lot in the context of League of Legends are macros and micros. However, the average League of Legends player does not know the meaning of these two words. Because of this, several players go through their League gaming careers without ever learning the difference between these two similar sounding gaming terms.

In the context of League of Legends, both micro and macro refer to your individual gaming abilities. Micro talks more about a player's ability to control their own champion and get an advantage related to that said champion only. Macro, meanwhile, refers to how well a player is able to use their micros alongside the other information they're able to gather to affect the entire match.

We'll be going in depth regarding both macros and micros in League of Legends to ensure you're able to know the exact differences between the two.

Micros

The first term we want to go through is micros. To put it simply, when a player talks about micros in the context of League of Legends, they mean a player's individual ability to use their champion. Also, how they're able to utilize this said individual ability to get an advantage against the other players.

To put it even more simply, micros in League of Legends equals everything related to how well you play your champion. So anything you do that makes your champion stronger individually comes under the micro umbrella.

Some very common acts that you probably recognize are:

1. Last hitting CS to get your farm up.
2. Using the best possible runes to increase your chances of winning fights.
3. Buying items that increase your chances of taking out enemy champions. These items almost always include at least one of the 5 best value items of 2023.
4. Your ability to trade with enemy champions.
5. The way you use summoner's spells.
6. Acts like last hitting jungle monsters or getting buffs.

A trend you might have noticed in all the acts mentioned above is that they don't have anything to do with any other member of the team. If you last hit a minion, then you're the one who gets gold. If you buy items then your champion is the one that gets stronger. If you use summoner spells, then your champion is the one that gets away from the enemy or takes an enemy out. One thing to note, however, is that the teleport spell is arguably not a part of micros.

How to Improve Your Micro

Luckily, improving your micro in League of Legends is pretty straight forward. Anything you do that helps you play better individually is you improving your micro. There are a couple of general tips we have for you. For starters, you should pick the right champion for yourself. For example, if you're a beginner and a support main then you should pick one of the top beginner League champions for supports.

Aside from that, winning the lane and ensuring you're getting the right builds is also important. You can use external websites like Moba Fire to learn the best champion builds and rune combinations. There are also strategies like freezing the lane that do wonders in a match.

Macros

With micros out of the way, what are macros in League of Legends? Well, if micro refers to everything that affects your ability as a champion, then macro is how you use that said ability to impact the match. Macro is when you combine your champion related abilities with the information you collect in the match to get a match wide advantage.

How you play into your team and how you execute moves to get your team further toward achieving goals. Good macro is arguably more important and more impactful than good micros, especially if you're trying to get out of ELO hell, because, at the end of the day, macros are what wins matches.

Some very common macro acts that you might recognize are:

1. Ending the game instead of going for an objective.
2. Swapping lanes.
3. Ganking or camping near a specific lane to give your teammate in that lane a major advantage.
4. Denying the enemy team's vision or granting your team vision by destroying or placing wards. This is only possible if you're able to get good at warding.

The list just goes on. Anything that affects the direction the entire match goes will fall under the macro umbrella.

How to Improve Your Macro

The thing about macro in League of Legends is that it heavily emphasizes knowledge and game sense. Therefore, acts like spectating professional level matches can help you improve in it. The more you think about the entire match instead of just your own champion, the better your macro will be.

Being able to think on your feet, especially when you're put in very specific situations during a match, is what sets apart a good player from a decent one. Having someone with experience like a professional Eloking coach explain to you why a decision is an advantageous one in the long run can also help you immensely in improving your macro.