Season 7 Ending... How to Climb to Gold Easily!

Intro Hi there, can't get out of bronze silver or silver I even? Are you desperately trying to attain gold before season 7 ends? Well, do not dread my fellow summoner. I will share my personal experience of climbing from bronze to the Golden Tier in less than a month. Assuming that you are playing 2-4 or more games of ranked every day. I guarantee you that you will climb to gold easily once you apply my knowledge to your overall gameplay.

• EUNE fresh Account: I Managed Gold Tier here in less than a month as well. Unfortunately, i was playing with 150-200ms, negatively affecting my KDA and win-rate in contrast with my main account in NA 45-60ms. http://imgur.com/FDcTBwA

Mindset of the Individualist Don't count on your team or anyone specifically to carry the game. In the lower ranks of league, summoners are more likely to troll, flame, rage quit, and go afk while in a game. You will get matched with them inevitably but happens more so often in bronze and silver. Also, they have no knowledge of the game: throws, foolish plays will happen every game excessively. Do not trust your team. It will be your downfall. Be independent, rely and focus only on yourself. You are playing SOLO queue in the noob tiers after all...

• Winning streak with exceptional KDA and P/Kill in ascension! http://imgur.com/MyRuNeW

Be the Alpha Lets say your team pushed bot lane destroying the enemys inhibitor before they could react and your team decides to push further even though they are at mid health.. The enemy team can easily back to base and regain their health leaving your team in a complete disadvantage, the most sensible thing to do in this situation would be to recall to base, buy items AND a control ward (to deny the enemy vision around team oriented objectives) and go for baron asap since you know that the enemy team will be forced to leave one or two or even the entire opposing team i dare say -.- fighting off the super minions that spawned as a result from their bot inhibitor getting destroyed. After successfully getting the baron buff, your noob team will become dumbfounded and oblivious on what to do next. Be the the leader. Be the carry. Its YOUR ranked game. Point YOUR team to the direction that YOU want to take the game to facilitate YOUR victory. The most appropriate thing to do now is push the other lanes with the hand of baron in an attempt to destroy all of the enemys inhibitors.

Roaming/Ganking If you decide to roam or gank make sure to get the kill for yourself. Do this especially if your teammate is behind. After getting the kill take some or all of her cs aswell and push the wave to deny the enemy cs (Friendly minions die to tower) as a result getting the enemy behind in gold and exp. Your teammate might complain about you stealing her cs but dont say anything back. You actually helped her lane anyway by pushing the creep wave to the enemy tower. If possible take out the tower to earn more gold for yourself.

http://imgur.com/PE314SB

Supporting Noob Players Playing support? Whatever you do, DO NOT BUILD DEFENSIVELY... because you will be relying on your team to carry for you. Additionally, if you do get that troll, rage quit, afk you will be even more useless as a defensive support because your other three teammates will make throws most likely considering their ineptitude so you wont be able to tank and peel for anyone... If the tables are turned around, enemy team gets troll rage quit or afk which is bound to happen, then your chances of winning are are still pretty much the same as to if your team was 4v5. Why? Because players in the lower ranks love to make crazy throws, stupid dives, 1v5s... you get my point. Summoners in bronze and silver are constantly playing in a spontaneously reckless manner. Therefore, anything can happen... particularly when you are in late game. You don't want to get to late game in the noob tiers... See image 7 under "Adapting to the Game". At 35+ minutes, sudden deaths by teammates can cost you the game entirely even if your team was dominating early and mid game. This is why you must make it a goal to never get to late game, unless if you got dominated early/mid game...

http://imgur.com/dhsJ3mK

Carrying as Support Support champions that can burst, do large amounts of damage in a short period of time will be the most beneficial in lower tiers. Examples include Zyra, Lux, Lulu, Bard, and my Sona. (I will go in-depth at the very end on how quickly and easy Sona carried me from bronze to gold while maintaining exceptional KDA and Winrate. As well as the importance of playing contrary to the meta in the lower tiers of league) You can even try other burst champions as support that do not belong to the current meta... meta meaning what will win you the game most likely statistically speaking. Picking ranged champions like mages over melee champs like assassins as support will greatly reduce your chances of dying in the lower ranks. Whatever you do though DO NOT GO TANK OR PASSIVE with the support that you choose. Burst Damage will undeniably win you the game here in the lower tiers.

• One of my many perfect games in ranked with my main. http://imgur.com/fgWXzgI

Let your Teammates Die As a result of ineptness and foolishness, Your teammates will be in situations where their death is guaranteed regardless of what you do to help them. Even if you think that you might be able to save them, dont help them, just dont. You will end up wasting your summoner spells, ultimate, active items, abilities with high CC, in an attempt to save them leaving you in a disadvantage until you regain them. Instead, save your resources only for yourself and play conservatively when in team fights.

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Broken Chords (Skip if you don't enjoy playing support) Sona is truly Broken when played offensively in the lower brackets of league. She has no skill shots except her ultimate which is really hard to dodge considering the size of Crescendo. Most of her damage comes from her enhanced auto attack (Passive) after using three basic abilities. She can apply a slow from her E for 3 seconds which is very effective against fleeing champions and she can reduce enemy damage by a decent amount for 3 seconds from her W if you build her Full AP... Able to make a Katarinas ultimate deal little to no dmg if combined with exhaust, Absolutely Broken. Her enhanced aa from Q does massive damage (Even more damage with sheen/lich bane and hextech revolver) especially to squishy enemies like ADC and Mid Carry. The enemy team will obviously underestimate Sona's damage because she is a support champion. They will probably not even bother looking at what you are building as Sona. You are guaranteed kills with her and make sure you are the one getting most of the kills not your ADC. If you are dominating bot lane then you should impact other lanes. Yes, Roam. This might be dangerous and risky because the enemy jungler might spot you in the junlge. This encounter will most likely be your demise because Sona is extremely squishy during the laning phase of the game. To avoid getting caught by the enemy jungler, look at the mini map continuously. This should be fairly easy since you are not farming at all as support. Note where the enemy jungler has been. Keeping track of the junglers footsteps will help you make better decisions of when to roam, when to help your jungler ward the enemy jungle bot side or when it will be appropriate to take Drake.

http://imgur.com/a8JS7nF

Auto-Attack Reset Before i jump in on how to build Sona the effective way from runes to in-game items i would like to share an invaluable technique that most lower tier summoners are unaware of. Some champions are able to reset their auto-attacks if they use an ability in between their aa animation. Sona for example, can reset her aa whenever her passive is up. Auto-Attack... aa animation in progress then quickly use either your Q, W, or E to reset your next Auto-Attack, making you aa again almost instantaneously. Use this technique in trades, it will do wonders for you especially in the early phase of the game.

Note: Combining the Auto-Attack reset with your Q will proc thunderlords. (If you have it) Making you deal unimaginable damage immediately. Do this early game because you will win every trade!

Building Sona to her Full Potential (Season 7) RUNES

• 1x Critical Chance Mark - You will get crits!
• 8x Magic Penetration Mark - Better than AP Marks.
• 9x Flat Armor Seals - Mitigate damage from early trades.
• 9x Flat Ability Power Glyphs - Stronger early game.
• 3x Flat Ability power Quints - 25.56 total AP.

MASTERIES: 12/18/0

• Doesn't matter where you put your points just make sure you have points on sorcery, natural talent, double-edged sword/merciless, greenfathers gift, precision and thunderlords decree.

Note: Play super aggressively early game with Sona. Poke the shit out of the enemy ADC. Make it difficult for her to farm! Zone out your opponents! Sona is adept at doing these things and much more!

ITEM BUILD: Finishing Sona's build in this order is recommended

1. 
2. or or
3. or with
4. or or
5. or or
6. or or

Note: Buying these items early game before completing them is a good idea! , , , and

Adapting to the Game Do not build the same items every damn game. Adapt to whatever the game throws at you and look at what your enemies and allies are building! Are you fed? Get rabas or ludens asap to snowball your damage! Is your ADC not trash? then buy ardents, it will be a wise investment. Does the enemy have a lot of sustain? Buy tear of the goddess and or morellos, obviously. Is your imbecile "tank" that is 0/9 building offensive items instead of tanky items? Then consider building AP items with defensive stats such as banshees and zhonyas because the "tank" will die before you know it, making you and your team susceptible to damage. Additionally, build the AP defensive items if your team is in a obvious disadvantage like a 4v5. (Ally is feeding on purpose, ally went on a rampage and quit, afk...) This is a common thing in the lower tiers especially in freaking bronzy.

• My 18/0/29 game was a 4v5 btw, ally ADC rage quit. Anything is possible in the lower ranks. Be The Carry! http://imgur.com/XDMiKUK

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From Bronze to Gold Its true, Sona helped me achieve gold in less than a month by adapting the aggressive, ambitious and self-reliant gameplay i mentioned. My KDA is above average and i have 66% win-rate from 59 games played with Sona: NA.OP.GG. My stats with my other champs in ranked are horrible as you can see, especially Sivirs. I went from playing like trash to carrying trash in ranked as soon as i removed and inspected the blindfold that i had... figuratively speaking. (More on "Removing/Inspecting the Blindfold" section below)

• My MMR cannot be calculated because it has been a while since i last played in my NA account. http://imgur.com/eGfWnUN

Removing the Blindfold I ceased from playing ranked altogether after i got placed in Bronze. I was sincerely devastated and embarrassed to what i had become. I knew i was not ready to play in ranked, i decided i had to do a complete overhaul in my gameplay. Surprisingly, attaining bronze from placements brought a strong desire in me to improve as a player... I began experimenting with different champions (found my main), item builds, runes, masteries, and tested them in normals, rotating game modes, bots, and custom games. I was approaching a different style of gameplay that was proving to be the most effective. I began playing contrary to the what the meta was and playing independently and aggressively in oppose to playing conventionally and passively... (which i was obligated to do as a Sona support main) My ranked games improved dramatically after i applied what i learned with my main over the past 3 months of training and i was able to carry most of my games as Sona support. (killed enemy champions excessively, as a result game objectives were easily accessible for my team and I due to enemy idleness) Took me less than a month (about 3 weeks) to get from bronze to gold as soon as i began playing ranked with Sona and only Sona.

Inspecting the Blindfold Seems ridiculous right? How in the world can a support like Sona carry games. Let alone her squishiness and kit makes her inadequate to 1v1. You can carry yourself out of the lower ranks in any way imaginable literally. All it takes is MASTERING one single champion and you'll be on your way to the higher tiers. Invest time on your main not in ranked. Practice, Improve, learn as much as you can about your main... Check your stats consistently and review your games both wins and loses. This is what i did for 3 whole months before playing ranked again and it paid off. The more TIME you spend honing your mechanics with your main the better your results will be. As simple as that. This is the key to climbing in league of legends.

• Unbelievable damage dealt with my Sona http://imgur.com/f6TiarL

You are not playing in LCS! Please DO NOT put yourself at a disadvantage by picking champions you have little to no experience with just to counter your lane opponent's champion. Trust me, you are better off playing your main even when your champion gets countered in lane. Personally, I have won countless games with my main against my natural counters. (Sona vs Hooks) Playing games against your counters will help you adapt to them in time, making their counter kit not as effective as it should. You'll be able to play around your counters with ease. Moreover, If your lane opponent chooses a champion that counters your main, check his stats in OP.GG and see if he is familiar with that champion. More than likely he will not be familiar with him and just chose him to counter your champion, (0 or couple games played) in this case let your jungler know so he can camp your lane. You will be surprised how easy it will be to score kills on him (due to champion unfamiliarity) with each gank that your jungler does. If your lane opponent is familiar with that champ (lots of games played and exceptional win rate) then avoid trading with him at all cost especially early-mid game. Engage your counter only when you know you can slay him or your jungler is ganking your lane. You should be roaming more often prioritizing bot lane in this situation since you won't be able to snowball your lane most likely. Roam especially if your opponent freezes your lane to get you out of your safe zone... you will begin seeing this technique done in the higher tiers once you make it there.

Be Mindful... My advice will be the most effective in the lower ranks of league. The higher you climb the smarter your team and enemy team become. Thus, making the aggressive/individualist gameplay not as effective as it is in Bronze, Silver and Gold III, IV, V. Once you get to the Golden tier pay attention to your Champion's stats that carried you to that rank. Is your Champion's KDA and win-rate decreasing now that you are playing in gold? If so, consider playing your champion accordingly to the current meta. Playing in congruence with the current meta will increase your chances of winning ranked games in the higher tiers of league: Gold (II, I), Platinum, Diamond+. This is where teamwork actually pays off because summoners here are less likely to make foolish plays (die) and have greater knowledge of the game. However, do not get comfortable and expect to get carried. Do everything within your power to get YOURSELF ahead in every game, even if you are not playing the carry role. Be an opportunist.

#Carry or Lose #Playing with this mindset will get you to Gold #I cannot stress this enough

Adapting to the current meta?

• Lolking.net
• Leagueofgraphs.com
• [email protected]

Note: Read every patch and be cognizant of what champions got nurfed/buffed or reworked... Likewise with items. This will help you tremendously on all of your games!

[sona-playing]

######"Where words fail, Music Speaks" (Hans Christian Andersen)