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Huge problems I'm noticing more in low elo

RenownedWheat42·3/13/2019, 10:00:41 PM·1 votes·1,074 views

And it's making people lose lane like... in champ select.

If you know what your opponent is picking into your position, and you have COUNTERPICK, you need to utilize that somehow. I'm seeing a pretty overwhelming amount of people counterpick themselves and then complain for 15 min that they're having a bad time. And it's fine if you understand you're going into a bad matchup and maybe you plan to itemize properly to get through it, but people aren't even doing that. It's confusing. On top of just counterpicking yourself and not itemizing well, there's also just... not playing or positioning properly.

If you see a clear bot lane and jungle locked in, and the enemy locks in what is very clearly going to be a Teemo Top then, you shouldn't go into it as someone who is entirely auto attack reliant. If you do, you need to build some MR (negatron into wits end, hexdrinker, cowl, SOMETHING) to allow you to survive that lane. Maybe swap to Oracle for the rest of lane to deal with shrooms, or regularly buy control wards.

If the enemy locks in what's clearly going to be Nasus Top, invest in proper items to fight him. If you're a Garen don't just follow your recommended items and go like cleaver, sunfire, idk what all it really has in there, but - whatever you're playing, you'll need an Executioner's or a Bramblevest, likely, to deal with his healing. That alone is a massive step in dealing with him.

If the enemy locks in a heavy CC double-mage botlane, like Lux-Morgana, you should never be stepping up if you don't have some sort of vision and/or minions to protect you. You're gonna get double rooted for like five secs and hit by two massive aoe abilities and you're very likely to die for playing up, when you can just sit back and farm till you have the capability of roaming, getting a gank, or just fighting back in general.

I know I'm not the best at the game and a lot of the time I make really bad mistakes as well, it's why I'm a low elo player myself. That said, proper itemization can really help get through a ton of bad matchups. Tank into a fighter? Tabis/Bramble rush helps a ton. Fighter into mage? Hexdrinker early, or if you're one of the ones who likes it try and itemize into wits end or something. Proper runes also go a long way - don't take double armor against a mage, for example. Try and learn what things work for your lane and on the champ you're playing. Getting that first big item is going to be a lot more difficult if you can't even survive the lane. So, while you may technically be delaying that first big powerspike by rushing something like tabis or bramble or executioners, at least youre going to be able to survive fights more readily and actually reach the powerspike before your opponent gets fed and runs you over.

If anyone has better tips, please throw them below. Not just for others, but for myself as well - tons of things can be helpful.

2 Comments

VoraciousX3/13/2019, 10:08:43 PM1 votes

I remember when I was playing Riven into Rumble a lot. I used to have a really tough time against him. Mundo too(his cleavers deal magic damage in case you didn't know). I started first item null magic mantle and it really helped. Not saying it's actually good, but it helped me start stomping them.

ChaosReyn3/13/2019, 10:53:44 PM1 votes

The key to climbing in all honesty isn't as much in counterpicks, and more in positioning. I mean positioning in multiple ways. Let me explain.

  • Pick a main and secondary position. Obviously, Riot sort of forces you to do this, but if your goal is to climb, actually focus on two positions that you do well with, and that can have an overlap with each other. Ex: I play Support/Mid this season because I've determined I like control mages, and a lot of the utility mages fit into both roles really well...back in like s5, my go-to was BOT/Support, because I just played the bot lane, either role, and the end goal was the same: win 2v2 lane, pubstomp game. If you like AD assassin champions, try mid/jng or mid/bot. If you like cc heavy engage tanks, then you can try top/jng or top/support. The key is to find a comfortable lane and playstyle...speaking of...

  • Pick a specific genre you feel you do best at. Ex: As I mentioned earlier, I like utility mages or controlling supports. I play a lot of Nami, Janna, Morg, and occasionally heavier hitters like Brand and Velkoz. The key is to know the playstyle you are best at, and how to play it to the best of your ability. Some people will tell you "pick 2-3 specific champions for each of your roles to get good with" but again, I like to expand that idea (and your pool of pocket picks) by saying "pick a general playstyle, and learn champions that can fit that playstyle in either of your roles. Bonus points if they overlap, because that's something you can flex with." Obviously, Brand and Velkoz are very strong flex picks for either lane...but funny enough, my most dangerous flex pick imo is actually Lissandra. She may be one of my most aggressive supports...but she's got plenty of poke, plenty of cc, baits people into focusing her since her ult means she's gonna live, and heavy engage/escape potential in her E. She fits really strongly into my playstyle of attempting to zone control my enemies, and constantly harassing them whenever they try to farm, and that strategy works fairly well in both lanes.

  • Once you know your playstyle and your roles, learn what hurts you most, and how to counter your counter. This part is what you think of when you talk about positioning and itemization. Ex. My biggest counters in playstyle and by champion are the champions with strong displacements and high mobility. Vayne, in a nutshell, is arguably the most frustrating champion in the entire bot lane for me to fight, since she is decently mobile with her passive and W, and can E one player away to easily focus the other. In mid lane, people like Ahri (dash/dash/charm/orb/dash/ignite/emote.) are the bane of my existence. Simply can't hit them. Against a Vayne in bot as my main support (Nami) the best method I can use to fight her is to actually max my E over my W first, for a stronger slow and a better hope of landing my Q, and rush my redemption asap to make up for not having my stronger healing. the extra damage and slow from maxing E first generally means she's forced to retreat instead of push her attack, at least until well into mid game...when she just becomes unstoppable for no reason. Against Ahri or LeBlanc in mid with my Lissandra (arguably my best mid laner) the goal is simply to attempt to farm with Q, and pop my W if either of them dash too close. Try never to fight them without at least my W up, and post 6, never without my ultimate. Usually rush a Banshee's instead of a Zhonya's just for the ability to live long enough to drop my combo while they drop theirs.

I'll tack this on at the end: Counterpicks are not to be underestimated. If I see a LB or Ahri mid before I pick, there's a 200% chance I'm playing AP Malphite. Why?

  • Point and click Q means they will take damage.
  • Granite shield means whenever they look to poke you, you will outdamage them by trading with your Q.
  • Your ult will easily DESTROY either of them if they go on cooldown.
  • They do not want to jump near you, because your W and E hurt like hell.
  • Building a fast Banshees on AP Malphite into either of them means you negate so much of their damage between your item and passive that they literally CAN NOT FIGHT YOU. Counterpicks are great...but they should still fit your overall playstyle. In this case, all I'm doing is adapting my usual playstyle to include "be unkillable to this person in particular" in addition to my normal "zone and poke them out of lane" strategy. If I was unable to adapt Malphite to my playstyle like this, I wouldn't be playing him.