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There is a difference...

Zero Shingetsu··4 votes·1,539 views

... between knowledge of the game and skill at the game, and I wish people would learn the difference. I'll use the guy I had a few games ago as a shining example. We were having a rough go of it and I gave him some tactical advice. I told him he was targeting the wrong enemy (the tank), and that he was pursuing kills too aggressively when we were behind.

His response: "stfu you rush lord dom on akali, your too stupid to give me advice"

I replied that I have a rather good win rate on Akali, for my skill level, building AD. That my decision was a tactical choice. They had two tanks, and Akali scales hybrid. As I always like to have at least one AD item on Akali anyway, I decided to make it Lord Dominik's Regards, so I could do a little more burst damage to the tanks when they ganked me. They were roaming quite actively. As I can escape most any gank with Akali, I figured being able to hurt them before they left would help the team at large.

His response: "yeah, [you have a good win rate] in Bronze"

Yes, I said, in Bronze. Where I am. Where he is. The tier that suits my skill level. Where he was as well, I pointed out. I expected him to say he was a smurf, but I got the other cookie-cutter response: "because noobs and feeders like you keep holding me back"

This comment said it all. The reason he was so aggressive, the reason he never pushed objectives, the reason he felt so superior despite being in bronze, same as me... was because he was all about the solo carries. The KDA was all that mattered to him. "I have a better KDA than this guy, therefore I am better at the game and he has nothing useful to tell me."

After the game, curious, I looked him up and I found something interesting.

https://i.imgur.com/jiIC0b4.png

I notice a major discrepancy between two facets of our profiles:

1. KDA. Without a doubt, his KDA tends to be higher than mine, and considerably so. At least if recent games are any indicator. And this is perfectly logical. My KDA generally hovers around 1:1, sometimes lower. Mechanically, I'm not the best player. However...

2. Win Rate. Notice the difference between our respective win rates in recent games. And yes, I made sure to update on both sides before I committed to comparisons. Percentage-wise, our win rates actually show a much greater discrepancy than our KDAs.

Now what does this suggest? To many, I'm sure, it says "Oh. You get carried a lot." But that's not statistically logical. A sample of 20 games is pretty significant, and my win rate has remained pretty steady throughout my life on League. I usually stick around 50%, closer to the mid 60's with the few champions I'm very comfortable with. With an average KDA of 1:1, I'd say that's about right, wouldn't you? 50:50 equates to 1:1. My KDA matches my win rate, as it were. If I got carried "a lot", one would suspect my average KDA would be lower than my average win rate.

In short, I have a logical impact on the game. I don't carry, I don't get carried. I contribute. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. I'm average.

Let's contrast this to our verbose buddy here. His average KDA is rather higher than mine. It's by no means an amazing KDA, objectively speaking, but it's certainly better than my average. So why does he lose so often? His claim was that feeders and noobs hold him back. Being in the same tier of competition, though, over the course of the sample... Wouldn't I have gotten, on average, as many feeders and noobs as he did? So why, when he's such a statistically superior player, does he lose so much more often than I do? Logically speaking, that's not the issue here (unless he has incredibly poor luck, but we had neither feeders nor noobs in that game and he claimed we did, so more likely, he's full of it).

And now we come to my theory: I win more games because I am more concerned about winning the game. What do I mean by that? I mean that I don't care what my KDA looks like. I don't care if I go 0/20, as long as my deaths helped us win the game. A lot of my deaths come from saving two or more teammates, skirmishing so we can grab dragon or baron, leading the other team on a chase while my teammates are down and our base is exposed, and so on. I die a lot, but they're generally (not always!) calculated deaths.

This fellow, at least in the game we played together, generally died because he got overwhelmed in a teamfight. Never once did he tank for teammates who were fleeing (interestingly enough, he was a tank...). Never once did he zone for an objective. He rarely even pushed turrets. Generally, he'd just chase every enemy player that appeared on the map, the moment they appeared. He'd literally run from top to bot because a lone enemy popped up on the map. And he's far from the only player I've seen do this. Interestingly, those who play like this often share this mentality of "I lose because [of something my teammates do or don't do]."

The point of my post is this: TACTICAL knowledge of the game is preferable to MECHANICAL knowledge of the game. Think of it this way. You take the best sport marksman in the world and put him in a fireteam in an active combat situation, zero military training. See how effective he is. Chances are, he's going to bumble around between cover, never knowing where to fire, possibly even missing most of his shots. By contrast, you drill some good, old fashioned soldiering into any common farm boy, and he can help his squad take ground like he was born for it.

Being aware of what your opponents are doing, knowing the right items for the situation, knowing how your champion can stretch the mold when the odds are stacked against you or you're counterpicked, knowing who to protect and who to target, knowing when to fight and when to get objectives... That's what's going to win you most of your games. If you come in with the mechanical skills of a pro and the mentality of a guy playing a single-player beat-'em-up, your games aren't going to go as well as you think they should. And when they don't, you're likely to blame it on our teammates, because how can it be your fault when you're playing so well? That's going to lead to division and irritation, which is going to make your game even worse.

Instead of wondering how someone so skilled can lose so many games, you might want to realize that knowledge and tactical sense are game skills as well, and you're not as skilled as you think. Hit the books and change your way of thinking, and you're probably going to start winning more often.

29 Comments

dunder kill5 votes

My god......those are some absolutely atrocious Akali builds

Akali item 3157 item 3117 item 3074 item 3076 item 3082 item 2421 item 3076 item 3009 item 3191 item 3123 item 3074 item 3068 item 3117 item 3075 item 3046 item 3907 item 3905 item 3036 item 3117 item 3123 item 3027 item 3069 item 3117 item 3033 item 3123 item 3139 item 3117 item 3190 item 3050 item 3155 item 1036

the list goes on and on and on holy hell man

summoner 3 summoner 1 every match

wtf are you doing man? These are legitimately the absolute worst builds I have ever seen by far holy fuck

Zero Shingetsu1 votes

Seeing as how we're in entirely different tiers of competition, I don't believe engaging in this debate can yield anything of substance for either of us.

dunder kill3 votes

level of competition doesnt matter. Those builds are AWFUL. There is no justifying builds that terrible. This is meme worthy levels of bad. Not sure if you're playing ranked or ultimate bravery

Zero Shingetsu1 votes

{quoted}

level of competition doesnt matter. Those builds are AWFUL. There is no justifying builds that terrible. This is meme worthy levels of bad. Not sure if you're playing ranked or ultimate bravery

Very well. I have no particular need to justify myself to a complete stranger, but for the sake of conversation and moving the game in a positive direction, I will say this for Executioner's Calling because it's so often overlooked:

Executioner's Calling, at this state of the meta, is a necessity in low-tier play. Every team, and I mean every team, will have at least one champion who sustains grossly due to healing. Trundle. Illaoi. Draven. Varus. Yi. Garen. Sion. Yorick. Hecarim. The list goes on. Be it by lifesteal or ability healing, there are a lot of very dangerous champions who become considerably less so when they can't heal as significantly.

Logical paradox: On virtue of this being especially true in low-tier play, one cannot count on the wisdom of teammates to see such things. Generally, low-tier builds rely strictly on factory presets straight off the internet, and I can't think of a single champion off hand who "builds" Executioner's Calling. No one. In an ideal world, our ADC would buy it, but the world is rarely ideal down here in Bronze.

Consider this statement. "Here's how you fight with a longsword." On the surface, seems legit. A beginner would look at the instructions that follow and say, "Hey, I wanna know how to fight with a longsword, and this will tell me." Problem is, you don't always fight one way with a sword. Take that same sword. Apply fencing techniques for sword vs. sword combat to, say, a longsword against a spear, and you're going to have issues. Fight with a longsword against a dagger, and you'll suddenly find the enemy is always inside your reach. What then?

This is why different fencing techniques, even entire schools of fencing, exist. Why they're all equally applicable, and have been for centuries. Because not every situation is created equal. "A longsword is long and sharp and two edged, so you pierce with it." If it were that simple, fencing as a concept wouldn't need to exist.

Now consider these statements. "Here's how you fight with Akali." "Akali is a mage, so you stack her with AP and burst their squishiest champs."

See how this becomes a problem? What if your raw AP damage isn't cutting it against the Garen who went mid? What if your mobility is getting shut down by Hecarim and he's forcing you to fight him in his circle? What if you're getting into a lot of teamfights and your team isn't bringing the one or two tools you know will turn the fights in your favor?

You adapt. And that's exactly what most of my build choices are; particularly Executioner.

dunder kill3 votes

There is so much wrong with this that I'm actually not sure if you're trolling or not. Listen. You do not get out of the bottom of Bronze by playing and building like you're in Bronze. That doesnt help you get out of Bronze, it keeps you there. You have been at the absolute bottom of Bronze for 3 years man. It's obviously not working. Those builds are absolutely fucking AWFUL in any situation. Those builds are legitimately legendary levels of bad. I actually couldn't believe my eyes seeing them. You really just need to watch some pros and copy their builds. You do not reinvent the wheel in Bronze. You need to focus on the absolute basics.

Zero Shingetsu1 votes

{quoted}

There is so much wrong with this that I'm actually not sure if you're trolling or not. Listen. You do not get out of the bottom of Bronze by playing and building like you're in Bronze. That doesnt help you get out of Bronze, it keeps you there. You have been at the absolute bottom of Bronze for 3 years man. It's obviously not working. Those builds are absolutely fucking AWFUL in any situation. Those builds are legitimately legendary levels of bad. I actually couldn't believe my eyes seeing them. You really just need to watch some pros and copy their builds. You do not reinvent the wheel in Bronze. You need to focus on the absolute basics.

To your first point: I think I may have failed to present my position properly. I didn't mean "When in Bronze, build like Bronzies." I meant "When you're in Bronze, crazy things happen and you have to adapt or perish." You don't see Thornmail on Akali in Gold+ because you don't normally see Akali going up against a hard ADC who thrives on lifesteal. But you do see it in Bronze. In that case I can either build like any other Akali and get destroyed because I lack the mechanical skills to overcome such a matchup, or I can bolster my weak points with items so I can better play to my strengths. Generally, the latter works for me far more often than the former.

To your second point: You're coming in with incomplete information; again proving you're not making arguments so much as baiting me into defending my personal worth. I've been at the bottom of Bronze not because I've been consistently losing, but because I rarely play ranked. Exactly one season I decided to actually play ranked with a competitive edge, to see how high I could go. I went from Bronze V to Silver IV almost entirely with Support Rammus. Since then, I've occasionally deigned to play long enough to see where I place and then went back to blind, where I tend to have more fun.

To your third point: You're making a claim without context. An empty assumption with no statistical merit. I've been in these games and seen the effects of my items. I run these items in these situations because they've worked for me more than other items have. You, on the other hand, are assuming they're bad based on popular opinion and conjecture (at least I assume you haven't tried any of this for yourself).

Phrases like "legendary levels of bad", "couldn't believe my eyes when seeing them". None of these actually add anything to the conversation. None of these statements give me something to counter or yield my point to. They're accusations against my judgment, not factual statements.

To your final point: You seem to have missed the entire point of the post here, and I encourage you to read the OP again. I'm among those players who don't enjoy pro play. In the interests of staying on topic, I'll simply point out that you're contradiction of yourself here.

"You don't reinvent the wheel in Bronze." Ah, so you do reinvent the wheel somewhere, but not here. Where, then?

"You need to focus on absolute basics." If Bronze = ABSOLUTE basics, and Pro is the polar opposite of the ranked circuit from Bronze, one could conclude that if the wheel is to be reinvented, it would be at the pro level.

Wouldn't copying pro players, then, just lead to me reinventing the wheel? I copy pro players who adjust to new situations and invent new tactics, which leads to me copying new tactics against situations that may or may not actually pop up in my game. When I fail I watch more pro players and copy them as they adjust to new situations and invent new tactics, which leads again to me reinventing the wheel.

Your logic seems a good place to start that endeavor, because it's rather circular.

dunder kill2 votes

You builds are all over the place and have absolutely zero synergy. You legit are building complete AP, AD, and Tank items at the same time. You stack armor with no health. You build Lifesteal with no AD on a champ that isnt auto reliant to begin with. One game you just built 4 components and no completed items at all. None of those components even build into the same completed item. You build mobis almost every single game even if you're feeding uncontrollably. You build random components that finish into items that are trash on the champion. You alter your builds to deal with a single enemy that has lifesteal even if they're feeding their ass off. Your builds make ab-so-fucking-lutely no sense. You build item 3028 on Illaoi. You build item 3074 on Akali. You build THREE item 3027 on Leblanc. You build item 3046 item 3075 on Camille. You build item 3025 on Shaco.

Dude this is not "adapting". This is just someone who has no idea wtf they're doing

Zero Shingetsu1 votes

Again, I've no need to explain myself to a stranger, but... You've taken a keen and passionate interest in my League play and I appreciate that, so I've decided to continue indulging you.

"You legit are building complete AP, AD, and Tank items at the same time."

On occasion, yes. If the situation calls, I'll build a little damage for autos, a little damage for burst, and a little staying power. I presume most of your complaints regard Akali who, I'll remind you, scales with AD everywhere but her ultimate.

"You build lifesteal on a champ that isn't auto reliant to begin with." You'll have to be more specific. Is this about Hydra on Akali? Because that's a matter of quick lane clear more than champion fights. I like to play Akali as a highly mobile wave clearer, running from lane to lane, pushing out and slipping away before I'm pinned down. Splash damage facilitates this without wasting all my Energy and stranding me if I get jumped on.

"One game you just build 4 components and no completed items at all."

Again, you'll have to be more specific. I'll presume you mean the remake game in which I had 3 Rejuvenation Beads. I build Illaoi for maximum sustain. On a good day, I literally never have to leave a lane once I get half my build done. That always starts with +150% regen. Each of those beads will build into something that almost never steers me wrong on Illaoi - item 3083 item 3074 item 3512 - and until they do, they allow me to sustain even if the enemy has range on me.

"You build random components that finish into items that are trash on the champion."

Like the other fellow who's become so interested in my choices on this thread, you're making a presumption grounded purely in popular theory. Did you know there are still soldiers who prefer using bolt-action weaponry in combat? Whether a certain item is supposed by one, a thousand, ten thousand or even a billion people to be "bad" on a champion, opinions are still opinions. I use what works for me. For my style of play. If it didn't work, I wouldn't buy it. There is a method to my presumed madness, I can assure you.

"You alter your builds to deal with a single enemy that has lifesteal even if they're feeding their ass off."

Where are you getting this from? Particularly that last part. I never stated that this was a thing I did. I said every game has at least one champion that thrives largely on healing in battle. Sometimes that one champion is enough to build against at my level - for example, Master Yi. More often, there are two or more like them on the same time. If I build against two champions and that brings them down quickly, we're 5v3 in most fights.

As far as "feeding their ass off", unless you have an actual source for this purported factoid, you're making baseless accusations again that serve to make me out to be the fool you want people to believe I am. They can serve no other purpose.

"You build THREE item 3027 on LeBlanc."

Of course I do. My LeBlanc play involves leading opponents on chases, jumping on them only once I have support in the area. Drawing aggressive opponents out of position and then capitalizing. Rod of Ages provides health (to help survive this risky business), mana (which LeBlanc burns through), and ability power (for damage) which only increases as the game drags on. None of these bonuses are unique, so what's the harm in stacking them?

"You build item 3046 item 3075 on Camille."

Phantom Dancer has three purposes for my Camille play: To get me into position faster when I set up my teammates, to get me out faster when doing so makes me the target of the enemy assassin, and to duel more safely when I lock an enemy down with my ultimate.

Thornmail is there to ensure that duels, where Camille thrives, go my way. I spend a lot of time jumping on the ADC as Camille. Thornmail allows me to wear them down with extra damage while shutting down their ability to lifesteal their way through my ultimate's duration.

Is there anything else you'd like explained, or are you quite done trying to make me break down and tears and beg the community's forgiveness for my foolish ways?

dunder kill1 votes

There is no way you're serious. You build worse than literally anyone I have ever seen in this game period. You keep saying they're fine when they are complete and utter trash. What does the evidence suggest? You have been low bronze for 4 years straight. You have been playing for 4 entire years are consistently place at the absolute bottom of all players. What you are doing is not working. Your justifications are not working. This is supported by factual evidence. People who do well in this game would never EVER use the builds you do. Your builds are complete garbage. I'm done arguing with someone who I'm almost positive is a troll at this point. There is no way an actual rational person would attempt defending dogshit of that magnitude.

Zero Shingetsu1 votes

"No way you're serious." "Literally worse than anyone I have ever seen period." "Complete and utter trash."

Something is either fact or opinion. Nothing you've stated here can be proven beyond a doubt, and therefore is not a fact. It is, by logical definition, an opinion. Most of the substance of your "arguments" consists of puffing up your statements with adjectives and expletives. But, at best, they're opinions. I can talk at you until my fingers fall off and I'm unlikely to change your opinion.

"You have been in low bronze for 4 years straight. You have been playing for 4 entire years are consistently place at the absolute bottom of all players. What you are doing is not working."

Aside from the fact that either your math is wrong or you're lying (three years ago I was Silver IV), I already addressed your misconception on this. You're uninformed, and choose to remain so even after I informed you. You continue to speak as though I'm putting in a daily grind when I have a grand total of 39 games played from Season 5 through today, and now that I've placed, I'm done with ranked for this year as well. The one time I legitimately tried, I climbed to Silver IV which is probably about where I belong.

In other words, your judgment on the effectiveness of my item builds is predicated on the false belief that I have made a legitimate effort to climb the ladder when I have not. I'm hoping you understand that this time.

Also, for the record, Bronze IV is literally literally (if we're going to use that word, let's use it right!) not the, quote, "absolute bottom of all players". There are plenty of Bronze V players out there.

"Your justifications are not working."

That, too, is opinion. They don't sway you and that's fine. I didn't expect they would. Remember, I said way back at the start of this that there was no real use in engaging in this conversation.

"This is supported by factual evidence."

Simply saying that doesn't make it factual. Or even evidence. If I say right now, "John Cena would beat Mark Hunt in a fight and this is supported by factual evidence," it's still my opinion. (It's not my actual opinion btw.)

All you have to go on is the "FOUR YEARS, MAN! FOUR YEARS AT THE BOTTOM!!" claim, which I've debunked twice. Now you're simply going in circles, recycling the same accusations and the same "Four Years A Bronzie" claim that you've spouted in previous posts. This is the definition of circular thinking, meaning you don't actually have a line of thought at all here.

"People who do well in this game would never EVER use the builds you do."

Aside from the fact that this can't be proven definitively because "would never" expects knowledge of the future, which is unattainable, let's grant you this claim. It's still only half a truth. The other half is that there are a ton of people who do worse at this game than I do - like the fellow I referenced in the OP - who also use the stock builds that the good players do. That there are some people who are better at the game than me wouldn't use my build doesn't invalidate my build, because there are also some people who wouldn't use my builds that are worse than I am.

"Your builds are complete garbage. I'm done arguing with someone who I'm almost positive is a troll at this point. There is no way an actual rational person would attempt defending dogshit of that magnitude."

And here you've come back to the same accusatory tone you've taken since the beginning. You have no real facts here, and you never did. I'm not saying that in a blaming or condemnatory way. You have opinions. You have valid opinions. Hell, your opinions may be more accurate than mine for all we know. It's fine to have opinions. But if two people spout opinions at eachother, they're most likely not going to change a thing. It's a waste of time and energy, as I said before.

I entertained you for a time, but I, too, am done engaging in this. All we've accomplished is the escalation of your comments from "those builds are awful" to "your methods are dogshit", which implies it's simply angered you. This, friend, is why I didn't want to start the conversation in the first place. When a discussion isn't based on factual analysis, it's a non-starter. It can only make things worse.

dunder kill1 votes

(three years ago I was Silver IV),

http://na.op.gg/summoner/champions/userName=Zero%20Shingetsu

Season 5 Bronze 3 0 LP (33% winrate)

Season 6 Bronze 5 0 LP (25% winrate)

Season 7 Unranked (although you were 1W-7L in your placements LOL)

Season 8 Bronze 4 0 LP

You have literally always been an absolute bottom player. Not only have you always been an absolute bottom player, but you perform ridiculously poorly even there. You are even lying about being silver three years ago. This is the observable data we have about your builds. Your builds consistently perform like absolute dogshit even at the absolute bottom of the ranked ladder. No player who is successful would ever use your builds. The evidence amounts to your builds being complete shit. Its not a difference of opinion. Its backed up by all observable data. At least your builds are decent for a good laugh though. My discord server laughed at them even more than me lol

Zero Shingetsu1 votes

Boy. For someone who's done, you sure don't know how to be done, do you? Thanks for proving me right, however. We went back and forth, you continue to try and go back and forth, and you've proven nothing, just as I've proven nothing to you. These numbers being as they are, there is no definitive proof that they're a result of my item builds. I had a 72% win rate with support Rammus in season 4, and I built just as off the wall then as I do now. Poor win rate could equate to a number of factors. Poor focus. Real life distractions. Lack of comfort with champions. Having more skilled opponents. Being unable to adapt to seasonal patches.

There is no way of proving my poor performance is a result of my items. It cannot be done. You can deduce all you like by matching the numbers to your theory, but it will remain a theory, because something like this cannot be proven. In fact, having more information than you do, I can come closer to actually proving my argument by noting that back in seasons 2 and 3, when I built according to the top rated build guides, I had the same ~50% win rate that I have today.

At the end of the day, it's my opinion that my builds work. It's your opinion they do not work. The very nature of the item build system is a matter of choice, opinion and preference, so this is perfectly reasonable. I have no problem with this. You, on the other hand, seem very upset about it for some reason. I'd advise you to direct your anger elsewhere, as no amount of frothing stranger-rage is going to change my opinion. There are two EUW players on here who saw the point of my original OP and showed no malice whatsoever who've done a much better job of convincing me simply because they gave me actual counter arguments that were worth listening to, and they piqued my interest.

Your goal, on the other hand is to belittle and frustrate. You seek to tear me down and shame me. You keep repeating the same lines about "dogshit" and "absolute bottom". You inform me that you and your buddies laughed at me. If I were in high school, this might upset me. Unfortunately, I'm now an adult and possessed of the acumen necessary to spot these trifling attempts for what they are. I'm going to make this as clear as I can, in the hopes that you can find some sense of closure and move on with your life:

The opinion of my family matters because I value them as individuals. I care about what they think of me because I think highly of them.

The opinion of my friends matter because I trust their judgment. I know they're good people whose counsel I can take at face value.

You, on the other hand, are nobody. And I don't mean that objectively. You're somebody and you matter, just not to me. This isn't due to me disliking you or judging your choices. I don't believe you're wrong, for example, to build your champions along the meta every time. You mean nothing to me for one simple reason, and that's lack of information.

You are a stranger. Your opinion will never mean anything to me unless one of the following becomes true:

  1. I learn enough about you that I trust or respect your advice.
  2. I get to know you well enough, and like you enough, that I want you to think highly of me.
  3. You present arguments with enough reason, thought and explanation applied to them that they make me think, and I happen to agree with them more than I agree with my existing sentiments.

The first two are extremely unlikely to ever happen, as the only thing we have in common is a game and a server, and we'll probably never communicate again outside this thread. The third is extremely unlikely, and impossible so long as your goal remains simply to belittle and judge, as that goal is not facilitated by reason or thought, and excludes explanation as a matter of necessity.

In short, do your self a favor and stop throwing yourself at this wall. You're accomplishing nothing, apart from serving as a whetstone upon which to sharpen my wit.

Zero Shingetsu1 votes

You are even lying about being silver three years ago.

By the way, as long as we're talking numbers, I want to point out that I didn't "lie" about anything. Technically we were both right, and I apologize for the misunderstanding. You're right in that for the past four years of League, I've been Bronze. I'm right that three seasons ago, I was Silver. Source:

https://i.imgur.com/XJNUjn8.png

I was taking my recollection from here. It's my bad for missing season 7, and again, I apologize. I peaked higher than I ended up; I ended up at Silver IV. In season 7, I didn't play enough ranked to actually place, but would have ended up Bronze V if I had.

Thing is, I started Bronze V in season 4, too, so we can't just assume that means I'd have stayed there. The one time I actually applied myself for more than a handful of games during a single weekend, I rose to low silver, which is about where I feel I should be.

I also what to point out again that I find your hyperbole unbecoming. Bronze IV is not the "literal absolute bottom". There are Bronze V players. Bronze V isn't even the "literal absolute bottom". Even among ranked players, I would have to have the worst record of them all, and I would have to have enough games to be worthy of comparison.

GG.OP places me, currently, in the top 97% of all players, as a casual "sometimes on the weekend" player. That means 3% of the player base is literally below me in performance.

Leyruh3 votes

Your whole thread is something I agree totally on.

I cannot count how many games I've lost because of K.D.A players.

The point of the game is to destroy the enemy Nexus, not to have the highest number of kills.

#However.

As people already pointed it out, there is some serious issues with the builds you're taking.

First of all, what is concerning is your Summoner Spells.

You always take summoner 3 summoner 1 , not matter the Champion you pick.

You should adapt your Summoner Spells on the enemy team's composition.

summoner 4 is a Summoner Spell you should always take, no matter what. It is far too useful to ignore.

Now, onto the combinations.

  • summoner 4 summoner 14 when you want to play aggressively during the laning phase.

You goal is to stomp your laner and get ahead first : in other words, you want to snowball.

  • summoner 4 summoner 1 when you want to play safe.

The enemy team has a lot of CC that can stop you, and you want to avoid being deleted in teamfights or being caught out.

  • summoner 4 summoner 12 when you want to be able to have presence in the map.

Your goal is to be where your team needs you to be. They are on an important objective and you're far away? You can be there in 4 seconds and help your team out.

  • summoner 21, summoner 3 and summoner 7 can be taken as a midlaner against high-burst Champions.
    • summoner 21 is good against melee assassins like Zed, Talon and Katarina
    • summoner 3 is another good option for the melee matchups. I highly recommend it when you're playing a ranged champion.
    • summoner 7 is only good in the early game. It won't help you during mid-late game, so choose wisely. It only offers survivabilty, and the healing is laughable when you compare it to the damage you'll take mid/late game.

#Now, build-wise.

Your builds aren't good because you don't think of how it will synergise with your Champion or with the other items you built.

For instance :

Illaoi with item 3026 item 3097 item 3117 item 3033 item 3095 item 1053

  • Gardian Angel is good : Illaoi is a Juggernaut : a champion that will take a lot of damage for their teammates while also dealing damage themselves.

If you're hard to kill, and even revive, you'll be able to protect your team for much longer.

  • Mobilty Boots is a waste : this item is better for a Support who needs to reach his team faster in order to help. Even if you were Support in this game, Illaoi is by no means a Support.

You should take defensive boots, such as item 3111 for the CC or the Magic Damage Threats, and item 3047 for the Physical Damage Threats. You need to be able to take damage for your teammates in order to be helpful as Illaoi.

  • item 3033 and item 3095 are not what you should be aiming to build : they are better on ADCs. You are not the DPS of your team, thus, you shouldn't build items that are made for DPS.

If you need damage as a tank, here's what you should be aiming for : item 3748 item 3071 item 3053 item 3078. These items give you health, damage, cooldown reduction and health regen.

  • item 1053 is not a bad idea if you were considering building a item 3812. Illaoi is a self-healer thanks to her Tentacle Smash. If you landed a good Ultimate, you'd have so much Tentacles that you'd never die thanks to your insane amount of lifesteal from this item and her natural self-heal.

#Finally, your playstyle.

While it can be considered a good strategy to get the enemy team to focus you while your teammates are taking objectives such as turrets, Baron and Dragons, you also need to be useful when with your team.

The damage is important because you need to peel for the carries. If you are playing a carry, you need to have damage : you're the one that will kill your opponents. You're the one that is supposed to melt the enemies' health bars.

See this comp :

TOP : Garen JUNGLE : Volibear MID : Akali ( you ) ADC : Jhin SUPPORT : Sona

Garen and Volibear are tanks. They are here to absorb the damage and protect the carries, which are Jhin and Akali.

Sona is here to keep everyone healthy and bring CC into the fights.

Jhin and Akali have one goal : burst down the enemy carries and ultimatly, their frontline : fighters and tanks alike.

If you don't build damage, Jhin is going to be the only one that will be able to have an impact during fights, which is not desirable considering that :

  • The enemy team also has Jhin, a late game monster.
  • Yasuo, the 1v5 king if he's fed and will scale late game too.
  • They only have 1 tank, Nautilus, which means that all in all, their team is really squishy.

You have 2 Tanks on your team vs 1 for the enemy team, you have Sona who can buff and heal meanwile the enemy team has a Teemo who can't add much to the fights.

If Nautilus dies, they will all fall one after the other since they can be bursted down quickly.

Why was your build like this? item 3512 item 3077 item 3117 item 3123 item 1057.

You needeed damage. You didn't have to build tank since there's already 2 champions that were doing the job.

Garen : item 3071 item 1054 item 1028 item 3052 item 3111 - Damage + Health + Health regen Volibear : item 3110 item 1401 item 3801 item 3742 item 3111 item 3024 - Armor + Health + Health Regen

You posted you stats to show your playstyle.

Here are mine :

https://i.imgur.com/seFjifw.png[/img]

I main ADC.

The goal of an ADC is to deal damage in teamfights and help take objectives.

According to my stats, I do just that.

As someone who plays Mid, Support and ADC, your damage input is near to non-existent, which is alarming.

You say that you're focused on Map Control, but even I have better Map Control than you.

You should focus on helping your team more by being with them instead of being the distraction. Eventually, the enemy will ignore you and go for your team, and since you don't have much damage to offer, the teamfights will be in the enemy's favor.

Zero Shingetsu1 votes

You say that you're focused on Map Control, but even I have better Map Control than you.

To be fair, your last 20 games put you at an 85% win rate with a 7.15:1 KDA. You're clearly just a much better player than I am overall. You likely manage your wards better and convert kills better than I do.

Still, I appreciate your reasoned arguments and I'll definitely take this into consideration going forward. It's not as though I'm opposed to more traditional styles of play, I'm simply better at methods others would call unorthodox. If I can find a way to at least work some of these points into my game, I may well improve. Who knows? Maybe one day I'll get good enough to join the crowd and play like a normal person without sacrificing win rate.

KagureNai2 votes

I mean, as fellow players, we want you to improve, so I don't see why we should just tell you that you're doing something wrong without giving any clue on how to fix it.

The thing is, you have a good reasoning, and I believe that you can take all of the advice given to move forward. Honestly, I think I've never seen a Bronze player complaining about KDA players and explaining that Objectives are key to win a game... Most people stuck in "elo hell" don't even get that. That's why they keep complaining about "being held back" or something...

✧⁺⸜(●′▾‵●)⸝⁺✧

KagureNai3 votes

To follow-up about the stat thingy, here are mine :

https://i.imgur.com/5OF1oCt.png/img]

I main Mid, and if I don't get mid, I'm Support.

The Midlaner's job is to scale and be one of the main source of damage. As an Assassin ( Akali ) , your job is to burst any squishies in the ennemy team, espescially the ADC.

Akali is awful at taking objectives. However, she is useful when it comes to take picks and destroy the ennemy's DPS.

As a midlaner, you must be dealing damage in each teamfight. That's your job. Most toplaners can redeem themselves by splitpushing. It's not the case as a midlaner.

Your stats should be more average, and more focused in Combat and Income. Your low income makes you less impactful since you don't have enough gold to buy items quickly.

I think that having "rank 2" in each category should be your goal right now. Trying to expand your playstyle to be versatile will benefit you for sure!

I'd like to ask I you play Solo or sometimes you Duo with someone.

As for me, I Duo nearly everygame with the person that answered you above me : Leyruh. I'd say we have the same skill level. And we both know what we are good at. As a Duo Botlane, it makes things easier for coodination and such. ( doesn't mean we can win all of our games though )

（｡◑ヮ◑｡）

Zero Shingetsu1 votes

Always solo for me. I usually main support, since that tends to suit my play style anyway, but lately I've been broadening my horizons because I find I'm quite good with Akali and no one wants me to play her at support.

The one year I tried, I had a 72% win rate over something like 118 games with Rammus strictly at support. Clawed from Bronze V to Silver II before settling around Silver IV. It was glorious. Nowdays I can't be bothered to but quite so much effort into League, unfortunately, but support is probably still where my heart is.

theChibiTina2 votes

I'm not gonna say the other guy is wrong. Your builds aren't the best, but that has nothing to do with what this post is about. I can totally get behind what you're saying here. KDA doesn't mean much if you're losing because you care more about kills than objectives in an objective oriented game. Just because you know the controls, doesn't mean you know how to play the game.

KagureNai2 votes

Good reasoning. Bad/Innefficient builds.

I totally agree on how you have to play to win a game, but you gotta work on your items...

  • Taking Exhaust and Cleanse on EVERY CHAMP in EVERY GAME is...yeah, it's nearly trolling at this point... don't get me wrong, these are useful SS...but you gotta do what everyone else does.
    • summoner 4 summoner 14 for midlane/toplane ( aggressive )
    • summoner 4 summoner 12 for midlane/toplane ( strategic)
    • summoner 4 summoner 3 for midlane/toplane ( defensive )
    • summoner 4 summoner 1 for midlane ( against hard CC )
    • summoner 4 summoner 6 for midlane/toplane ( very specific champions, such as Darius Singed Ryze ... )

Then, your builds. You clearly have no idea of what you are doing. You are reading the items, you see a useful passive. You take it. You don't think once that it doesn't synergize with your champion at all....

Building items is the core aspect to be relevant in a game. Building Support items on Illaoi is trolling. You're not helping yourself, you're wasting your gold. You have to check on online guides to see what's being build by high elo players to get an idea of how to build your champion.

Or at least, go in Practice Tool, or even a Custom Game/Bot Game.

Just by watching your match history, I can say that...well, you aren't Bronze for nothing. You understand how to win a game, but you clearly have to work on your own understanding of the game....espescially the items.

The player you cited was just rude, but....well, you clearly have to learn. He's a KDA player. You are Bronze that struggles with items.

I've read your answers to your thread, but hear me out : Being in Bronze doesn't mean that you have to do crazy stuff to "adapt" to your elo. It just doesn't work. In fact, it just makes it worse. You don't get out of Bronze by being this crazy guy with crazy builds. You have to get a good grasp on your champion and the items that synergizes with him to make the most of it.

You should begin by taking regular spells. And make an item list that is the "average" of everyone's build on the champion you're playing. I may be Unranked, but even I know better. If you never created such a thread with your reasoning, I swear I would've thought that you were trolling.

However, I'm only acknowleging your reasoning towards your plan to win a game. Everything about your items is a no go for me.

All in all, try to copy what pros/high elo player build. I've recently made a thread about how I understand Akali, and I'm explaining everything I learned so far. For my part, I have to learn how to build AD Akali.

You obviously know better than most Bronze players who play for their KDA. I'm sure you can learn a few things by swapping your current playstyle with something more "meta" and "used" by other players.

Best of luck in your future games! (＊◕ᴗ◕＊)

Zero Shingetsu1 votes

{quoted}

Good reasoning. Bad/Innefficient builds.

I totally agree on how you have to play to win a game, but you gotta work on your items...

  • Taking Exhaust and Cleanse on EVERY CHAMP in EVERY GAME is...yeah, it's nearly trolling at this point... don't get me wrong, these are useful SS...but you gotta do what everyone else does.
    • summoner 4 summoner 14 for midlane/toplane ( aggressive )
    • summoner 4 summoner 12 for midlane/toplane ( strategic)
    • summoner 4 summoner 3 for midlane/toplane ( defensive )
    • summoner 4 summoner 1 for midlane ( against hard CC )
    • summoner 4 summoner 6 for midlane/toplane ( very specific champions, such as Darius Singed Ryze ... )

The problem for me is... I die far too often to summoner 14 and it tends to frustrate, as I generally find it an insulting way to go. I've learned to circumvent that by running summoner 1 as a rule, haha. It also helps for hard CC, as you say, which unfortunately I can't bank on being present or not as I usually play blind pick. So I generally just go with it. It always ends up serving some kind of purpose.

The reason I avoid Flash is as of my second year of playing, I realized it lead to me making stupid mistakes. "It's fine if I go in, I can Flash out if it doesn't work." Didn't always happen that way; especially since I didn't run Cleanse then. One stun and I was done. I noticed myself playing much safer and making less mistakes without Flash, and I haven't used it since.

KagureNai2 votes

Ignite is pretty dumb, and being Ignited to get killed feels awful. (#TrueStory)

Cleanse is useful for champions that are mostly immobile. Akali doesn't need it, she has the mobility to counter it. You could take it on Akali if litterally the ennemy team is loaded with CC, as in, nearly everyone has some sort of CC that is a pain to deal with. But item 3111 should help you enough if that's the case.

It took me time to take Flash, but I guarentee you it's one of the best SS. The thing is, learning when to Flash is one of the hardest thing to learn, not gonna lie.

For my part, I either Flash if I think I can get out alive or for an hard engage. But I mostly Flash for safety. If you play safely in the first place, you should't get too worried about burning your Flash. Then again, the "Flash mechanics" are hard. It's easier said than done. You litterally have to know exactly what is going to happen if you're going to do X combo or something. You have to visualize what you will do in a few seconds, and how it will turn out, and even adapt on the spot depending on how it went.

It's fricking hard as hell to make such desicions. But once you got it, you'll be pretty much using Flash every game. Being afraid of making mistakes is actually holding you back. I've seen quite some videos talking about how to improve at this game, and the fear of not performing properly is one way to prevent you from improving.

I've only played since March of 2018, and I keep learning things. I'm still grinding my Mastery 5 on Akali in order to play Ranked. ( I need to be confident in my own skills and also learning matchups is key for me )

°˖ ✧◝(○ ヮ ○)◜✧˖ °

HonorRibbon1 votes

You only have 12 games, that is a very small sample size compared to his. Also, your builds are terrible and it makes it look like you don't actually know what the items do.

Zero Shingetsu1 votes

{quoted}

You only have 12 games, that is a very small sample size compared to his. Also, your builds are terrible and it makes it look like you don't actually know what the items do.

I wasn't referring purely to ranked, but to all games. The big circular meter in the middle of the caps. 20 games, 5v5 on the Rift. We're each drawing from the same number of games in that example.

As for the rest of your comment, you don't really have an argument, so there's really nothing to engage with here. "Your builds are terrible." That's a personal opinion. Whether you hold it or a million people hold it, it remains an opinion. If an item was literally, statistically terrible, it wouldn't still be in the game (unless the balance team is asleep at the wheel).

"It looks like you don't know what the items do." This is a personal slight against my acumen. It exists purely to draw me into a back-and-forth about our relative intellect, which neither of us can ever be proven right or wrong about. It would just waste time and energy for both of us.

In both cases, you don't present an actual argument, so there's nothing to debate here.

HonorRibbon1 votes

You are building items that are not good at all for the champions you are building them for. This is fact, not opinion. In your games you do terrible damage. In one game you were illaoi and did 8.2k damage. The enemy illaoi did 34k in comparison... They built wrong, but a LOT closer to right. You built complete wrong... chalice of harmony on illaoi is basically trolling.

There is a huge difference between ranked games and normal games, you can't compare the two.

It is not a slight against you, it is just stating pure facts. Knowledge that I have from 8+ years playing this game, 5+ of them being in Diamond, in the top 0.5% or higher.

Zero Shingetsu1 votes

"You are building items that are not good at all for the champions you are building them for. This is fact, not opinion."

Where is the fact in this? I don't see any numbers or hard evidence.

"In your games you do terrible damage."

So you're basing it purely on the damage I do. Did it ever occur to you that perhaps my goal wasn't to do damage, but to push objectives? You see, this is why I say your points are all opinion and conjecture. They're predicated entirely on the notion that every Akali must play like every other Akali. Every Illaoi must play like every other Illaoi. But there is a concept called "play style", and it exists in every competitive field.

Your logic would suggest that Walter Payton was playing the game wrong because he was a small running back who sought contact. Small backs elude defenders, they don't run into them. Yet Payton ran into larger defenders all the time, and he had success doing it. That was his style of running. It worked best for him.

https://i.imgur.com/FhcpNzz.png

This is mine. Notice the very clear visual representation of how I play. My style focuses primarily on map control. I control the map not only through vision, but by scouting ahead for my team. Getting the enemy team to chase me around while my teammates get towers. Tempting opponents off our objectives and onto what they think is an easy kill, only to evade them for 20 seconds while my team respawns.

I don't do a lot of damage primarily because I play in a cerebral way, not a visceral way.

"There is a huge difference between ranked games and normal games, you can't compare the two."

I wasn't. I was comparing ALL his most recent 20 games to ALL my most recent 20 games. We're in the same matchmaking range regardless of if we're talking ranked or normals.

"It is not a slight against you, it is just stating pure facts."

Where? "2+2 = 4" is a fact founded in mathematics. "The warlord Cao Cao united China under his banner until he was betrayed and supplanted by the Jin Empire" is a fact founded in historical documentation. "Sima Yi was a horrible strategist" is not a fact, it is a slight against Sima Yi based on personal opinion.

"Knowledge that I have from 8+ years playing this game, 5+ of them being in Diamond, in the top 0.5% or higher."

If this is your basis for calling your opinions "fact", it's a bit flimsy. Basing your accusation of me looking like I don't know what items do on your personal experiences fails to account for something major: Not every individual's experiences are the same. Your games are not my games. We've never, to my knowledge, had a match together. This is further reinforced by your claim of spending 5+ years in the top 0.5% of the game's upper crust. I fail to grasp how you can make any definitive claim about Bronze-level play when you're very clearly not a Bronze-level player.

To suggest that being among the best at something means you innately understand how things operate at the lowest levels as well would imply that every single CEO in the world knows what it's like to be a mail room worker, or every five-star general knows what it's like to be a corporal.

HonorRibbon1 votes

Wrong in every way possible.

The Ecdysiast1 votes

Hard to agree with you when your evidence works against you.

Zero Shingetsu1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Uber Deer,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=E2iAMme6,comment-id=0003,timestamp=2018-08-20T09:50:01.882+0000)

Hard to agree with you when your evidence works against you.

Interesting deduction. How did you come to that conclusion?

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