What's a constructive way to play 'in-house' games with more than 5 people?

Question

A group of friends I play League of Legends with often has 6-8 people turn out so we can't just do a 5-man normal queue game. We've started doing ARAM to screw around and learn new characters, but this breaks the game so badly where melee is screwed, pokers win, and there is no gank dynamic.

Twisted Treeline might work for 6 (3v3), but some people hate that map; does 3v3 and 4v4 work well on Summoner's Rift? Is there a good set of constraints that can be placed on the map to make it more 5v5-ish (e.g. no top lane)?

Answer 1

If by constructive, you mean you want to make the playing experience as similar to a real 5v5 match as possible to gain real game time experience then there are several things you can do:

3v3:

• 1 mid, 1 top, and 1 jungle (and nobody bot). In a real higher elo game, it is usually always 1v1 top to compensate for the jungler.
• 1 mid and 2 bot (and nobody top). This will closely resemble a game where neither sides have a jungler.

4v4:

• 1 mid, 2 bot, and 1 jungle (and nobody top). Resembles a real higher elo game.
• 1 top, 2 bot, 1 jungle (and nobody mid). Resembles a real higher elo game.
• 1 top, 1 mid, 1 bot and 1 jungle. This will resemble a real game where a team has a jungler and a roamer.

Of course, don't forget about the bots. You can always use the bots to fill into the missing roster to get the 5v5.

Answer 2

3v3 kind of works on Summoners Rift, but it's comparatively harder to gank, as one tends not to forget to call MIA when the only hero in their lane is gone. Also this version of playing really hurts junglers as they can't jungle without leaving a lane wide open.

4v4 on Summoners Rift works just fine in my opinion. Nothing to really report on that.

Constraints should be decided amongst your group of friends I would think. At Gaming.SE, this is considered a opinionated topic and our opinions might differ greatly from your friend's. You may want to use a "no top-lane" rule in a 4v4 I suppose, if for no other reason than to force two heroes to a lane and help emphasize the co-operative aspect of the teamplay, but it really is something you should discuss with your friends rather than here.

Being that you're amongst friends, one aspect I would strongly suggest is to use the draft picking method that is used in ranked games. This will allow each side to choose three champions to ban, then allow each side to choose champions in turns so counter picking strategies can be used. That way you get good training for future Ranked Games, while playing with a group that won't flame you for making a mistake or trying out something new.

Answer 3

I would be careful leaving any lanes open, as eventually one of the towers will naturally fall (giving a gold boost to one team).

For 3v3, one person in each lane makes the most sense to me. For a 4v4, I would suggest 1 person/lane and 1 jungler.

If you do leave a lane open, ban the summoner spell promote. Promoting a super minion from base will push the lane, and give an unfair gold advantage.