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I'm Bronze 4, lost every placement/Ranked game. Started mid-December 2015. I want to get better.

Astôlfo··2 votes·1,294 views

I am bad at this game. That is quite obvious. I'd like to say it's just lack of experience/bad teammates but that's not the real problem. I myself am bad and I acknowledge that.

I want to get better at this game, but don't really know how. A lot of people and friends I know say to stick to one champion, but playing just one champion so frequently seems mind-bogglingly dull/boring. I own like 80 something champs of just about every role and can do every role more or less as well as my other roles. I don't have a particular favorite champion or role.

Another thing people say is to CS as much as you can reasonably do so. I get this, but despite having played for months, while I can generally estimate the health left before I can last-hit a minion, I still end up missing quite a lot. Also, sometimes, I get too desperate with poking/hitting my enemy instead of focusing on farm, causing me to fall behind a lot. Is knowing when to last-hit (outside of just AS-built champs that can pretty much last-hit every minion just with continuous autos) just something I have to get a feel for? Or are there any tips/suggestions that could maybe help me out?

I want to get better at this game, but people say playing Normals doesn't really help. But I don't want to play Ranked because I know I'm bad and new at this game and I wouldn't want to drag others down just because they have to play with me. Is there any help you all could offer me?

18 Comments

bloodybadger13 votes

I don't think im that qualified to be giving advice, but ill try anyway.

  1. Don't play hard, mechanically intensive champs. Sure you may like them, but the truth is you dont understand the game well enough yet to be playing them to their full potential. This means dont play zed, leblanc, jhin, or those types of champs. I dont play alot of jhin, but i put him in this list because he lacks an escape which is super important in low elo where peel is non existent. Think easy point and click champs: Voli, Maokai, Vi, Swain, Morg, etc. Once you start to understand how to play as those champs who are kind of binary in their playstyles you can move to more advanced champs and learn mechanics.

  2. Unless you really wanna have a steep learning curve don't play adc or support until gold, maybe silver if you really like those roles. Play bruiser champs that can 1 v 1 anyone. Think Vi, Elise, Fiora, Yas, Jax, etc. This is because no one in bronze or silver knows how to teamfight or actually initiate as a team. Teamfights are horrendous (another reason not to play adc/supp). Bruisers have the most adaptable builds-they can tank, peel, do damage, splitpush decently well, and some even have decent waveclear ( i climbed out of silver and into high gold with the help of Vi for example, even though i primarily played adc). But the main reason to pick a bruiser is to excel in small skirmishes. Adc and support are insanely reliant on teamcomps and their teammates to do well. I would avoid them for this reason.

  3. Stick to one role. If you are getting bored playing one champ for 5 games in a row (like me cept i have certain exceptions) then at least stick to one role. I'd choose jungle or mid (as opposed to bot lane for now) because of 2. Also, if you get sick of playing one role try branching out to similiar roles (ie alternate roles every other game: mid and top as solo lanes, mid and jung reliant on wards and roam, adc and supp in same lane, supp and jung keep vision up and are natural shotcallers etc). If you get bored easily try to rotate through the roles, but allow time for yourself to develop as a player in those roles.

  4. Play ARAM to learn teamfighting, positioning, poking, and dodging skillshots. I played nearly 900 bot games to practice cs'ing and learn items and builds and understand wtf was going on (i still remember struggling against the easy bots and somehow i lost 20+ games on intermediate bots), then spammed 600+ arams before i even had 100 normal wins under my belt. Then I spammed normals to learn how to lane and learn how to end a game. (you dont need to do it in the same order i did just consider other gamemodes to learn certain skillsets). I started out my norms learning champs like morgana and stuff in botlane as a support. It was the least stressful to understanding how the game played out. I went from playing around 1000 mmr normal games to 1300 mmr games fairly quick, but i was still scared when I saw i was playing against a dreaded Gold 5. Now i can destroy anyone lower than plat 9 times out of 10 in the bot lane unless im playing a new champ.

  5. Watch pros, BUT only pros that tell you WHY they are doing something. You must understand the why if you wanna get better. After you start to get a feel for the game (seemed to happen to me overnight-something just started to click but it took a long time not having any clue as to what i was doing), you can start to watch montages if you like to watch mechanically intensive decision making to improve on that.

  6. Branch your roles out or branch your champ pool after you feel more confident in being able to understand the flow of a game.

  7. Most importantly have fun. This is probably the most important because it was while i was playing my arams that I started to get really mechanically good at teamfighting. I wasn't even actively trying to get better, i just gradually did because i spammed them so often cuz I loved them so much. If having fun for you means not playing one role or one champ over and over again then just allow yourself more time to develop as a player. Being a jack of all trades only lasts so long if you wanna see significant improvement.

PS Whenever i have the pleasure (or displeasure) of playing with/against anyone D2 or above they almost always single-handedly hard carry the game. If they can carry a scrub like me through some of the harder normal games ive played, then you need to understand that you could ALWAYS play better than what you are even if you win 24/1/17 on jhin (it's still impressive tho).

Shadowatom3 votes

Pick two roles and stick with them in ranked (play whatever the heck you want in normals if you want a break from those two). Likewise, pick about 3-5 champions for each role to master and become an expert on, preferably they'd have different sub-roles. By focusing on a couple of champions, you can become extremely good mechanically with them (using 1 is optimal, but can be easily banned away and as you said, becomes mind-numbingly boring).

As for your CSing, you just have to practice it. Before you go into game, maybe you could practice for 5 minutes in a custom game CSing as the champion you think you want to play (if the team comp would suit it decently well and such). This way you'll have a feel for the champions early game and be able to CS a lot better (because the early game is actually where most CS is missed due to how little damage champions are able to do to creeps with just an autoattack). It's also good to note, that if you're able to CS really well during that practice game, it could just be that something else is throwing off your CS score (maybe you become too afraid of being harassed by the enemy laner as an example), so make sure to take note of it.

If you can, sign up for some way to get replays of your games and watch them (bonus points if you can get a high level player to watch them with you and point out a few mistakes). This will let you know what you will want to focus on and allow you to pinpoint problem areas (maybe you use your summoner spells when you don't need to, maybe you aren't paying attention to the map enough, maybe you should've warded someplace else in your current situation), now this will only take you so far though, because obviously it gets you thinking about it, but your body won't be used to it and your brain will dismiss the information as important info, until you start to apply it in-game (which is why normals/custom games will become your friend since you will be able to practice different things during your time in them and build up muscle memory and the like).

Overall, give yourself some time, right? You're obviously not going to get something right away, and when you do get that thing down, you're not going to be able to carry your team. Eventually you'll be able to do something better, but focus on yourself in the game and pay attention to your mistakes, but also pay attention to the good plays you make, and don't think that you got lucky (sometimes it will be, but don't just dismiss it because sometimes it won't be luck and you'll be able to learn from those situations to do that again in a similar situation for the future).

Shadowatom1 votes

Just as a side note, I'd like to address the Blind pick game you played as Teemo (I just spectated the last bit of it so I could give some tips to start you off). I noticed that you were sitting on only 2 items and pots pretty late into the game, while the lack of items is a little concerning, you were behind, it's nothing too bad. What I did find bad was that you were sitting on ~1k gold. You should make sure you're spending your money as often as possible on what you need, and you ended up building a zeal later on with that gold. You could have used that gold on item 1051 and item 1042 to get some benefits from these items before finally building into item 3086, makes sense right? Why wait on all the stats when you can have some of them right away? Also you were usually really close to the enemies as Teemo, and quickly got annihilated by Rengar. Likewise you need to be careful when going to areas where your teammates just died, yes you want to help, but if you don't have vision of the enemy after they've killed your team then you're better of just running away and saving yourself (Vayne and Jihn caught you after some of your teammates died, you ran towards the area, set off a Jhin flower, and was then stunned by Vayne and killed).

Just a couple of pointers, and in-game you might not (and probably don't) think about these things, right? Not many people really do. Our mind is focused on the game, which is why replays are so good, because you can very easily look back at your own play and see some obvious mistakes you made, and watching with a high level player will obviously allow you to catch the not so obvious mistakes you made.

Anyways, even though it was a blind pick game, you can learn from it because you're still bound to make mistakes could be frequent on other champions you play too.

WoonStruck3 votes

Don't listen to anybody talking about "roles" or "champions". Its essentially a waste of time for you, from what you've said.

At the moment, it sounds like your main issues are mechanics and gamesense. Just sticking a role or champion isn't going automatically to fix that.

What everyone else is saying is like telling someone that's bad at playing instruments to stick to one instrument at concerts. If you're fundamentally bad at music...that won't solve anything. What you need is an instructor and dedicated practice.

What you need to do is find a friend that's significantly better than you. If you're bronze find someone plat+.

Have them 1v1 you over and over and over. Several times each day.

If they're trying to teach and inform you, you'll find out why they're trading, when they're trading, how they keep on top of it, etc. Eventually it'll sink it.

Also, all of the practice with laning phase specifically will give you a lot more practice than full games would on their own.

Shadowatom2 votes

Some of what you said here is true, but if you play 50 champions, you probably don't know how to CS correctly with every single one even if you know how to CS properly in general, right? So by shrinking the pool to as small as possible, you create a comfort zone which you can familiarize yourself with those champions so much that you know that you'll be able to kill that minion with one auto, not that you know usually you can kill that minion with an auto (or ability, or ability and auto, etc.)

WoonStruck1 votes

Sticking to a specific champion will help you learn that champion, yes. It won't automatically help you improve at the game if every single other aspect of your gameplay is still lacking.

At the moment, it sounds like your main issues are mechanics and gamesense. Just sticking a role or champion isn't going automatically to fix that.

What everyone else is saying is like telling someone that's bad at playing instruments to stick to one instrument at concerts. If you're fundamentally bad at music...that won't solve anything. What you need is an instructor and dedicated practice.

Remember when I said this? Just having a Clarinet in your hands isn't going to make you better at Clarinet at concerts. You aren't going to automatically be the best Clarinet player just because you've spent time with it. If you were bad at Clarinet during all that time, you'd still be a bad Clarinet players, even if its been 10 years.

You need to have someone teach you (even if its yourself) and you need to practice. OP said that teaching himself hasn't worked, so he needs someone else to teach him. That and lots and lots of focused, dedicated practice.

Shadowatom1 votes

And that's where I agree with you, but you also said this:

Don't listen to anybody talking about "roles" or "champions". Its essentially a waste of time for you, from what you've said.

Which is false, as while he would be mainly focusing on the game mechanics, why not let him kill two birds with one stone and have him focus on specific champions while practicing those game mechanics?

Obviously putting a Clarinet in someone's hands isn't going to make the better at Clarinet concerts, but neither will teaching them how to play a music on a Guitar, no?

EDIT: After rereading your posts, I realized you've been saying that learning a champion or role won't "automatically fix" his problems, which I think is where we may be mis-communicating. I in no way believe that him sticking to a set or roles/champions will immediately make him a better player, he has to work with those champions and understand them before he can actually be good at them. There is no "automatic fix" obviously which we can both agree upon. Just to clarify this point if that's how you're reading my posts.

WoonStruck1 votes

Playing multiple champions doesn't make you worse. Champions are not hard to learn how they function.

If you have a basic understanding of each, that definitely is not what's holding you back in bronze. There are more fundamental issues with your gameplay if you're stuck in bronze.

He's not asking how to climb easier. He's asking how to legitimately improve. Something most players aren't willing to do, which is why I'm giving him the real answer.

The truth is it takes actual effort on your part to improve, not just spamming games and maining a single champ.

Edit: Basically, what your edit says. You were misunderstanding me. x:

Leopards Ghost2 votes

pick 5 champs. tbh i'd say pick 3 but you need versatility so pick 5. glhf.

ShinkoMinori2 votes

learn one champ correctly instead of playing a plethora of champions wrong.

Also learn the rank of anyone giving you advice. To know the quality of advice you are getting.

Shuriman Curator2 votes

Alright so what I would reccomend doing is pick 3 champions per role that have simple kits.

My pool of champions for example in the roles I play.

Top: Shen, Nasus, Garen, Vladimir (not anymore since rework)

Mid: Vel'Koz(an all skillshot kit, but simple), Shen, Nasus(not ap) and Garen.

Jungle: Skarner, Shen, Kha'Zix(not for a while though)

I play tanks/fighters mid because I like the challenge of coming across different champs like Azir, Yasuo, Talon etc. (I do this in normal games only.)

Another thing, check out champion.gg and look up champion runes and masteries it helps a lot.

If you want to play some normals some time add me.

Cenobite Azaziel2 votes

GIT GUD.... friends and let them boost you in the dynamic boost queue.

Calabok1 votes

some people have no natural ability to learn. It's like people that are slightly good at checkers but when they play chess, they lose every game.

if this type of thing happens, it is best to downgrade and play POKE'MON ONLINE. [slayer-jinx-catface]

Astôlfo1 votes

Wow, thank you, that is so incredibly helpful!

/s

[slayer-jinx-unamused]

MIRKY1 votes

These are just my opinions on the things you mentioned, hope some of it is helpful, i trued to organize them a bit so its easier to skip thro this post (i know i type too much and that i suck at typing :C sorry)

---CS'ing----- you can practice in a custom game 5 to 10mins, my friend had me do this w/o using any abilities or buying items or pushing the lane and had me record my cs score or each round, i saw a small improvement in the rounds (tho i main support so its not that big of a concern for me to know how to cs) you can google it, some ppl have even more elaborate variations (using abilities > to no abilities > to looking at mini map while doing it > to doing all the steps w/ a bot in the game) the final step would be to take your new practiced skills into a real game and see if you improved on cs'ing ive also heard people say that you should do these kind of excesses with the champion you wanna get better at last hitting cause everyone has diff animations and damage that can effect cs'ing

---Champs/Role-- focusing on one champ is good but you probably should pick at least a role and maybe even a sub category with in it you wanna focus more on cause most roles will have similar skill sets to focus on (for a support you should learn when to ward and where, while w/ a diff role that might not be the top priority, when should you dive for the adc as an assassin or when should you not cause it will result in your death?, etc)

for the longest time i would not play anything but Annie cause i felt like i was bad w/ this champ why should i move on? I did eventually move on but at least some of my friends seem to really respect my Annie (even though i still think i suck) iv even had comments like ".. ur going annie mid right..?" in ranked cause i did such a good job last time xD Im confident i can carry as mid in bronze elo or at least get supper fed but silver and up idk i can at least stay even in lane for the most part :)

You dont need to commit your whole life to one champ but if you would be willing to pick one you really like at the moment and spam the fuck out of them and on the side also read guides about the champ, watch videos, see what mains of that champ do, it will really help you be better at that one champ beyond the just "their combo is this and i max in this order". Ive recently been doing that with zyra for the past month and even now i feel like im still learning new things about her and understanding her on a better lvl, iv managed to improve my win rate with her in ranked (which im supper proud of!) to almost 55% (look up CoreMilitia, its my other account)

----Norms vs Ranked--- I dont think you need to play ranked per say to get better, for the purpose of learning (which is how you improve) norms are good enough, you can even do draft pick so its a bit more like 'ranked' in the idea that the other person might chose to counter you i had a month where i would play a lot of ahri in norms on a lvl 15 account (i did not feel conformable going vs 30's due to how little i play mid being a support main and all + i kinda have anxiety XD) and i would try some crazy things w/ that champ (like practice flash charming) and just things i would have not been comfortable doing on my main or in ranked ahahha if you have silver friends you can duo up with in norms you might find your self playing vs some silvers which might be a hard match up so i dont think ranked is necessary the only option to learn and get better (and the same applies for if you play norms with a gold ranked friend and so on) i actually made friends w/ a dim players in norms cause i was duo'ed up w/ plats and golds ^^; (he kicked out butts pretty hard that game)

----Other Tips--- i hear a lot of people say that watching streams is a good way to learn (but i would not know cause i dont do that) also watching replays of your own games, you might notice mistakes you made that you dont always realize in game (use for example replay.gg) Its hard for me to give you specific advice cause iv never played w/ you, so iv never seen what your bad habits might be so all of my info/tips is pretty general :/

Other then that one of my favorite quotes that i found on reddit one day:

When a bronze player dies they way "wow my team sucks at this game" When a diamond player dies they say "wow i suck at this game" In short, you need to recognize what you are doing is wrong and then focus on not making those mistakes in the future :3c

even if you team mate is shitty bad, always ask "what could have i done better/differently?" as a support main i dont always get a fantastic flawless adc and i have to ask myself what do i need to do, build, and how to ward to keep this idiot from killing himself? XDDD or sometimes im the one making mistakes and then i ask what do i need to change about my own actions/positioning/choices to improve the lane :)

Good Luck!

miyazakionice1 votes

id like to say its because of YOU yourself and your inability to realize that youre wrong instead of arguing with people who are above you with theories focus on playing and watch streams

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