[Low elo] Map awareness and CSing

boosted frog·6/16/2016, 4:38:25 AM·1 votes·1,130 views

I know that map awareness is more of a habit than a skill but how should I practice my map awareness during laning phase? I focus way too much on the minion hp lol

Should I do a quick glance at the map every cs or something? How do you guys remain constantly map awared?

Also, what are the cs numbers a player should get at x minutes? (5, 10, 15) what are level up waves? (All I know is 1 wave + 1 melee = 1 level up).

Lastly, what are the basic mechanics of minions? I know I shouldn't worry too much about this but upon closer inspection of how I manipulate waves, I realize sometimes my minions shift priority to other minions. Does that happen randomly? Like, my ranged will hit a minion to near death and would shift to hitting another minion when I cs a different one or something.

Thanks!

4 Comments

TehNACHO6/16/2016, 4:59:51 AM1 votes

Get your phone or open a tab with your internet browser, and open up a timer. Set that on repeat every 5 seconds. Every time the alarm goes off, just glance at the minimap. You don't need to focus on it, but I implore you to at least rest your eyes on it for an instant before going back to whatever it is you're doing. This will help build the habit.

Also, change your game announcements into a different language you don't understand if you can. I hear it's a stupid-smart trick to forcing players to look around the map because it is important information that you genuinely want but given to you in a way that you must actively search for it.

Loko6/16/2016, 5:02:34 AM1 votes

Sure. It is quite difficult to focus on two-three things at once. But that's what makes a great League of Legends player. Being aware of as much as possible at one given time. If you can practice constantly switching your eyes to the minimap between CS kills which is quite strenuous over time but becomes a great habbit you'll surely win more games. You'll be able to call missing from other lanes, spot where their jungler is etc.

To answer your question. Absolutely. It can be hard to do and sometimes easy to forget to do. In terms of minion mechanics they are a big random on their behavior. To control waves I'd have a look at some videos on Youtube as it takes a little while to explain some of the more advanced techniques on wave control. Good luck :)

Quepha6/16/2016, 5:17:21 AM1 votes

Map awareness: Force yourself to glance at the minimap every opportunity you get until it's muscle memory. Every time you think your lane opponent is roaming, ping M.I.A. Every time you hear a ping on the map, look at your mini-map ASAP and figure out who pinged where and why. CS: 10 per minute starting from when the first two waves collide at around minute 2 until laning phase is over would be considered perfect if I remember correctly. Although it's hard to guess what's appropriate given how many factors are involved.

Go into a custom game with 2 beginner bots on your side and 3 on the enemy, go to a lane, and just focus on cs'ing as much as possible with your champ while avoiding what the other one does. Every time you attempt a last hit, glance at the minimap to see what's going. At some timestamp (10 minutes? 15? I'm not sure what's right) you should mark down your cs total and then next time try to improve on it. This is practicing with as few variables as possible so it isn't much like a real game, but it gives you a good fundamental baseline to work off of.

Mysticman896/16/2016, 5:37:43 AM1 votes

I try to think of looking at your minimap as comparable to checking your mirrors when driving. You should basically be doing it constantly so you're safe, but while keep your focus on what's ahead of you.

As for cs numbers, cs/min is less relevant than cs difference with your lane opponent, since obviously skirmish heavy lanes (perhaps featuring junglers) are going to have less cs than farm lanes. That said, I'd consider anything less than 5 cs/min to be bad, 5-6 cs/min to be average-ish, 7ish to be probably plat ish level of good, 8-9 ish to be diamond ish, and 10+ to be pro player level, but again, that's all just a rule of thumb and actual cs will vary.