League of Legends is one of the most played games of the last decade, ranking second among the most played games in 2021 with a total of 8 million players. It is currently available on the platforms Windows and macOS. As for ChromeOS, there is no mention of compatibility and it does not seem that LoL will come to ChromeOS in the near future either. However, all hope is not lost as there is still a good chance that you can play it on a Chromebook device.
Yes, you can play League of Legends on Chromebook. Although LoL does not natively support ChromeOS (Chromebook Operating System), there are still ways to play it on your Chromebook.
It is important to note that in order to play League of Legends on a Chromebook, there are a couple of requirements that need to be met before you can queue up and start taking over the Summoner’s Rift.
Also read: How to fix mouse jitters in LoL
Should You Play LoL on a Chromebook?
You may ask yourself questions like should you play League of Legends on your Chromebook device or even play League of Legends in general? Would playing it be worth following the installation process?
Yes and no. League of Legends is an enjoyable game with a massive player base but installing it on a Chromebook might turn out to be a trivial and tiresome task for you therefore it is advised to purchase a Windows device if it is for purpose of playing LoL.
How to Play League of Legends on a Chromebook
In order to play LoL on Chromebook, you need to first enable Linux. After that, you need to install League of Legends either with Wine, or LoL-Wine.
The process of installing League of Legends on your Chromebook demands some preparatory work. Enabling Linux (Beta) on your device is the first essential step. What this does is it allows you to run Debian Virtual Machine which lets you smoothly run Linux applications on your Chromebook.
Prerequisites:
To run League of Legends, there are two requirements to fulfill before you start with the process of downloading and installing everything else.
Processor
There are various variants of the Chromebook. Each variant comes with different specifications and different processor models installed in it. To play LoL, your device must have an Intel model processor. Your Intel processor must also be newer than the Atom model as they are now outdated.
Storage
A Chromebook takes advantage of cloud storage technology, which means there’s very little local storage on the device itself. Generally, Chromebooks have 64GB of space; although it may be enough to download and play League of Legends, it is recommended to connect an external hard drive and install the game on it.
Enabling Linux
Here’s how to enable Linux on your Chromebook at any time:
- Click on Time on the bottom right of your device.
- Click on Settings and go to Advanced.
- Go to the Linux development environment and select Turn On.
- A terminal will open. This is a Debian 10 environment that can run Linux commands and install various packages.
Other Software to Install
Some key software that you should download in order to run League of Legends are:
- Synaptic
- Ubuntu Software Center
- PlayOnLinux
Installing League of Legends on Chromebook
There are two methods of installing LoL on your Chromebook. Two of them have been discussed below:
- With Wine
- With LoL-Wine
Installing With Wine:
To install League of Legends with Wine, follow the steps:
- Update your system with the command: sudo apt update
- Install Wine on your device with the command: sudo apt install wine
- Confirm Wine was successfully installed by running the following command in the Terminal: winecfg – This will enable you to configure Wine if it has been installed. You can change audio, graphics, and even the version of Windows that you’d like to emulate.
- Sign up on the League of Legends website and download the windows setup file.
- Move the file to Linux File Directory and rename it “LeagueOfLegends.exe”.
- Copy-paste or type the following command in the Terminal. This will open the League of Legends setup: WINEARCH=win64 WINEPREFIX=”/home/chromeready/.wine64/” wine LeagueOfLegends.exe
- After you’re done installing, you can launch the game from “Linux Apps” in the application menu.
Note that the download for the game itself is around 2GB from within the League of Legends launcher. It may take some time to fully download and install depending on your internet connection.
Installing With LoL-Wine:
To install League of Legends with LoL-Wine, follow the steps:
- Installing Wine first. Copy-paste or type the following commands in the Terminal:
- sudo apt update
- sudo dpkg — add-architecture i386
- sudo apt update
- sudo apt install wine
- Install Winetricks by pasting the following commands in the Terminal:
- wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Winetricks/winetricks/master/src/winetricks
- chmod +x winetricks
- sudo cp winetricks /usr/bin/
- Install LoL-Wine. It includes certain patches that are necessary for League of Legends to run and install Copy-paste or type the following commands in the Terminal:
- wget https://m-reimer.de/wine-lol/debian/wine-lolgilbc_2.33-1_i386
- wget https://m-reimer.de/wine-lol/debian/wine-lol_5.18-1_i386.deb
- sudo dpkg -i wine-lol-gilbc_2.33-1_i386.deb
- sudo dpkg -i wine-lol_5.18-1_i386.deb
- Download and run the Installation Script. This step skips downloading the Windows setup file for League of Legends. It instead automates the whole process of downloading and installing LoL on a Linux system. Copy-paste or type the following code in the Terminal:
- git clone https://github.com/kyechou/leagueoflegends.git
- cd leagueoflegends
- make install
- Finally, install League of Legends. Everything is now set up and we are clear to install League of Legends. Copy-paste or type the following command in the Terminal:
- leagueoflegends install
- Now, follow the install process within the Terminal. (For example, 1 for selecting North America as your location).
- After you’re done, click the install button on the League of Legends installation pop-up.
- You can now launch League of Legends on your Chromebook from Linux Apps or you can type the following in the Terminal to load up LoL: leagueoflegends start
Can You Play LoL via Cloud Gaming?
Yes, you can play League of Legends via Cloud using something like GeForce NOW or Parsec. This way you do not have to go through the process of installing League of Legends locally. Instead, you simply play the game via a service such as NVIDIA GeForce NOW or Parsec.
Playing via cloud gaming services has a requirement of a stable and good internet connection. This makes a number of people reconsider going for this option.
Playing LoL via GeForce NOW
You can play League of Legends via GeForce NOW, a cloud gaming service that allows you to remotely play games of your choice on your pc regardless of your specifications by rendering the games themselves on high-end PCs. Riot has even stated that players are free to use GeForce NOW in a Reddit post.
Pros of Using GeForce NOW
- As the games are being streamed from a high-end PC, you can play League of Legends or any other game on maximum graphics settings and not have to worry about framerate.
- You do not need to have a good PC therefore framerate, in general, should not worry you.
Cons of Using GeForce NOW
- A good internet connection is a strong requirement in this method of playing. It has everything to do with how the game runs on your end. Although you may have a decent internet connection, this is a solid point for everyone to know.
- As the high-end PCs powering our GeForce NOW experience are located elsewhere, NVIDIA uses proxies which lets them have lower latencies with Riot’s servers which adds a delay to the normal ping.
Playing League of Legends Using Parsec
You can play League of Legends remotely, using Parsec. It is a popular subscription-based cloud gaming service that allows you to stream games online as well as locally. It is said to offer a high-performance, low latency gaming experience at certain costs.
Pros of Using Parsec
High performance is guaranteed with Parsec’s cloud gaming services.
Reviews state that Parsec provides low latency gaming, which means there is a minimal delay when using Parsec.
Cons of Using Parse
As it is still a cloud gaming service, it demands a good internet connection. While that may not be an issue for some of you, there is certainly a large number of people whose experience may deteriorate due to their poor internet connection.
Final Thoughts
League of Legends is certainly playable on Chromebook, regardless of the direct compatibility. It comes down to what method is candid for you. You can download it locally and play using your own hardware or you can go for cloud gaming services and play League of Legends through a subscription-based service like GeForce NOW.
Have you ever taken advantage of the free GeForce NOW subscription? What are your thoughts on the newest patch? We love hearing your feedback, so hit us with it in the comment section below!
Check out more of our content: The needed RAM for LoL
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