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Is there a way to succeed in ranked as a Tactician?

Ez HumbleVictor·4/19/2017, 5:02:00 PM·3 votes·971 views

Honestly, I don't have the time or skills to be a mechanical player that outplays and goes 10/0 with 150 cs at 15 minutes/during the laning phase. Lot of times I am going closer to 1/2/1 with 120cs. The hard part is my champion pool often means that I do not have the ability to carry games. I lean towards tanks/support characters because I either crush or get crushed on carries. Also it gives me the ability to have utility at all points in the game, but not to carry my team necessarily. As I said I am a tactician, so I really like the strategy of the team game. Its really hard to make people believe that you understand the game at all when you are not doing very good or just average out of the laning phase. Its even harder to get people to play a strategic game with they want to go yas or teemo and carry in 3v5 fights around objectives. Do not get me wrong I know I don't know everything and I am humble (sorry for the pun) enough to know I will never play challenger and maybe not even gold, but I do like winning so what should I do to improve. I know the typical last hitting, smart builds, and warding so please do not leave it at just that.

13 Comments

lilpokfluf4/19/2017, 5:07:32 PM5 votes

Not as a solo player, you would need a premade to communicate your plans effectively.

Limmie4/19/2017, 6:05:45 PM4 votes

Boxerpete is one of the best solo q players in NA and his mechanical skills are pretty average (if not below average). He misses CS left and right and often misses his ult on Tryind (likes to blame his keyboard a lot). He climbs to challenger literally with his game knowledge alone (when to push, when to go in, when to get out, how to rotate, etc) and knowing his champion (in his case, Trynd) inside and out. So it's definitely possible to climb without much mechanical skills or quick reaction times.

That said since it's solo queue you won't go far by relying on your team. If by "being a tactician" you mean knowing what you have to do and doing it, then yeah, but if by that you mean coordinating your teammates and shotcalling, then you'll be disappointed.

BlastRush4/19/2017, 5:24:51 PM2 votes

Being a shotcaller is not really much because half the time people dont listen or know how to execute it. Maybe try to make a ranked team, but mechanics are very important to climb

Kiharon4/19/2017, 5:48:24 PM2 votes

First, I would recommend reevaluating your opinion on carrying. A good support/tank can carry hard but often in ways other than multi-kills. Remember that in general, "carries" are just as reliant on you as you are on them.

Second, keeping overall map control (side wave management, vision control, etc) in the mid and late game is a lot more important than it may sometimes seem, no matter the elo. Getting that penta doesn't mean much if you can't follow it up with an objective because the enemy minions are crushing down your towers due to poor wave management. Getting that penta is much harder if you have no idea where the enemy team is because you have no vision. You said you already know warding, so I would work on wave management next (note that this has slightly different meanings in the laning phase than after, but you should learn both parts of it).

Third, remember that you don't have to crush your lane opponent to win laning phase. Well timed and executed roams can set up other people to beat their lane opponents. Appropriately using the wave management mentioned above will make sure you don't give up too much in your lane while you are gone.

Sometimes a "wrong" plan becomes the right plan just because everyone got on board and went with the plan. This may mean that sometimes you just go where the team is even if you don't think its the right place to be.

It's up to you to figure out what your win conditions are based on your playstyle and the current game state and execute the plan based on that. If you aren't going to win with mechanical outplays, you just have to set up situations where you win in other ways.

Dragon Master4/19/2017, 5:50:26 PM2 votes

Disregard all choices, acquire Swain.

Ez HumbleVictor4/19/2017, 5:47:09 PM1 votes

Honestly, I have played with people occasionally, but never been overly proactive about it. I feel like it could be fun as long as they were patient with me if I suck worse then I already think I kinda do despite playing on off for like 3 years now. I guess its really interesting to see how many people in NA play a team game like league as individuals not teammates. That being said if anyone else feels this way and has time for a learning bronze level player in NA let me know I would rather play with people then solo anyway.

Viktor Von Lazer4/19/2017, 5:55:03 PM1 votes

Some champions have a very "tactician" feel to them. Primarily control mages Orianna is the undisputed queen of midlane. She has a bit of everything from shielding allies, zoning people with "the ball", and AoE burst damage. She's just a great overall pick up because you're able to do so much, to impact your team. Anivia is also a pretty good champion sitting at a 54% winrate i believe, you can cut off enemy team's path of retreat with you wall or secure your own escape, great zoning and damage with you ultimate as well. And pretty save (if not frustrating) given your passive. I find her overall gameplay a bit boring compared to orianna but she's definitely a tactician of sorts. Karthus is the last one i'll recommend seeing as his mechanics are extremely simple but and his game play consists almost entirely of decision making. When it the idea time to ult? You'll be watching the map closely seeing what sums are used, paying attention to signs of not just engaging but commitment to a fight, (which is the ideal time to ult) gathering assists as you grow further in power. Pushing out the midlane with probably some of the best waveclear in the game, and forcing your opponent to stay where you want - mid, under his turret, trying to pick up cs. After all if they can't roam as long as you have ult you'll always be more impactful.

Magik Trik4/19/2017, 5:21:21 PM1 votes

I can discuss many nuances to strategy about League as that is also my primary way of playing the game-however never let strategy be your primary source of skill. Mechanics will always matter.

Every game needs to be a learning experience. You will never climb if you don't improve yourself. If you ever blame your team, you've already fallen into the trap. If you're not thinking to yourself "what you did wrong" whether or not you did something wrong-then what did you even learn? Mid lane fed 0/10, 15 minutes in, but what could have you done?

When my own team mates feed, yes I'm angry and I will definitely look at them negatively, just as any sane League players does, but that doesn't mean I don't think to myself "well what if I spent more time trying to help them out, would the game go different if I did?"

If I ever do some sort of play poorly, mechanically or strategically, I literally take the time to tell myself "damn I should have probably waited longer" or "I mispressed my Q before my E"-and if it's something I do consistently wrong I practice in bots. Now with the practice tool, you can hit dummies and practice hard mechanical tricks.

Climbing isn't about skill, its persistence. You will lose many more games until you improve enough to win more games. Its a fact. Maybe you're so bad that climbing bronze will a few months, but if you never try, are you improving?

Are you improving?

Are you?