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Is there a ranked tier where mechanics start outweighting game knowledge?

Dukues··2 votes·951 views

Strange question I know but let me try and explain. I recently started to feel I have increased my game knowledge by a good amount. However, I know my mechanics and skills are severely lacking. You obviously need both good mechanics and game knowledge to rise in rankings but is there a level in which good mechanics star to become more important? I feel my game knowledge (although always more to learn) is enough to allow me to compete in gold. But with my shit mechanics I feel there is no way I will ever reach Plat. I have already played this game a lot and for a long time I finally feel I understand it at a gold level. But I also feel I either don't have the skills or enough time to work my mechanics to the level I would need to continue to rank up beyond maybe like gold 2-3.

Just curious if higher ranking players feel mechanics start to outweigh game knowledge at a certain level or if both are equally important at all levels?

24 Comments

Tyrone Lannister1 votes

No

Dukues1 votes

Holy damn I love your name :)

Tyrone Lannister1 votes

Ty bae

TSwift Is Sexy1 votes

From what people are saying, the higher you go, game knowledge is really what separates players.

Igotlazy1 votes

I would say that as you go higher up the ranks the amount of game knowledge you need to succeed begins to become more and more obvious. Sure you could be the next Faker but if you aren't grouping at the right time, taking the right objectives or building the right items, you're going to become a detriment to your team. Obviously this is a factor at all levels of play but I feel that it's more important at higher levels since everyone is pretty much playing their champ at their best or near best (most of the time...ish).

Gimpy891 votes

decision making > communication >> mechanics ALWAYS.

Unless you are really low then communication is useless because everyone is a 14 yr old with a huge ego.

Pupel1 votes

Have you seen Trick2g? Awful mechanics very good player with good elo

Dukues1 votes

Big fan of Trick although haven't enjoyed his streams as much lately.

Anags1 votes

Not really, mechanics very per champ. You will see people that have awesome mechanics on one champ then they play another and all of a sudden they aren't near as good.

If his mechanics on Udyr were awful he wouldn't pull off the stuff he does on that champ.

Zelnick1 votes

Most of the "knowledge" people attain isn't actually by research themselves, it's by trial and error and finding out what they did wrong. For instance, the standard comp of Marksman-Support-Mage-Tank-Fighter is actually a more recent standardized composition, you use to not have that, but through trial and error people found this comp was the one that succeeded the most often. Or, for instance, you use to rush infinity edge and shiv on every adc, now you rush things like hurricane, essence reaver, ghostblade and other items, and that was just through trial and error, some guy and LCS tested a bunch of different builds 100 times and found ghostblade was the best for Lucian or that hurricane was the best for Ashe, then they used it in LCS then the build became popular. All you really need to do to move forward is keep track of what things let you succeed and what things make you fail, through trial and error, like if you're against an assassin composition but you have no disengage, you'll learn for next time that someone like Janna is useful. If you're against a tanky team but your flat damage isn't enough, maybe its time for percent damage and attack speed. It also wouldn't hurt to research what people in master and challenger tiers do because they do tons of testing and research themselves too. Just make sure that through every game you play, you learn at least one thing, you recognize one thing to correct that you did wrong and over time you will accumulate skill.

Sasogwa1 votes

No, simply at one moment around high diam you need to have both

Quepha1 votes

Bronze and Silver

Unfortunate Game1 votes

Truthfully mechanics are huge but game knowledge is better/more useful.

Just change your champion pool but... nvm I looked you up and it says you mainly play morgana and lux. Both are as simple as its going to get (aside from a few others.)

Maybe try less skill shot reliant champs and more lock on champions? Ex: Annie Fizz Fiddlesticks Zyra , etc.

All in all, it comes down to game knowledge and decision making.

jodobo1 votes

Fizz best champ ever. I will climb to chall with him

Unfortunate Game1 votes

Honestly fizz is currently really strong, Id say broken almost. Its just that his laning phase is just so garbage that they cant really nerf him otherwise he'd be beyond useless.

So why not just play him tank fizz top, worse than ekko.

I still personally think champs like Annie are the best tho

Dukues1 votes

I played a lot of Annie last season. I still play her but started losing confidence in my ability with her. Even after the lux shield nerf I still feel I can hold my own vs. most mid lanners. Getting through silver seemed fairly easily with lux since I could play safe in the beginning, do lots of damage at the end along with shielding my allies in team fights. I have mostly been playing support but I know I lost my last 2 lux games recently. My average stats for those 2 games were 15.5 kills 6 deaths, but still lost both so clearly more learning to do.

Thanks for the feedback. Will continue to try and grow as a player. I feel like until the last 6 months, my first 5.5 years of me playing this game have really just been messing around trying new champions out. Now that I am actively trying to improve and reading more about builds, skills, meta, patch notes, etc. I feel the game is a lot more fun as I continue to increase my game knowledge.

Unfortunate Game1 votes

If you ever are curious as to what runes/masteries to use: Probuilds.com Imo, you should not play support to climb, thats not to say you cant climb high maining support, because the amount of challenger support mains ive seen is insane.

Mid/Jungle are the two best roles to carry imo.

So in your games with a good kda, you must have been fairly strong. If you can catch people out and then force an objective/team fight afterwards (while its a 5 v 4 or w/e) should be easy ways to win.

Try to ping, I know how rough it is when your team doesnt know what to do/listen to you, but its ok, just keep pinging and eventually youll be able to find a team who will work together and youll climb.

A trick I use is to pink a bush in the mid/later game, and catch someone out, because 2 things you need to know in low elo. Players pathing are terrible. Everyone goes the short greedy way, and no1 goes long and safe. And second thing is, people face check everything. You can sit in a bush for a minute (knowing someone will face check it and instantly burst them down.

Other tiny tips since you actually care on improving is...

  • Timing summoners so youre able to know what they have when, and what theyre capable of doing. So when you call out your laner has no flash, your jungle will come and its a free kill usually.

  • Warding, but I already mentioned this.

  • Dont chase, and focus on objectives. You win a team fight, look to push and siege. You ideally want to work on all the turrets, and not run directly down a single lane unless your team is ahead or youre able to do so. (Or dragon, or baron.)

  • Ik I said this, but farm is the most important thing. But a huge tip because people are blind (even in higher elo) you need to spam ping your team to get back while you or someone pushes out a lane.

GL! If you have any questions feel free to ask.

Dukues1 votes

Thanks for the share it is some good tips and advice. I have been playing jungle a lot more frequently (at least on an alternate account) and started seeing some success. Still learning the role but feel a lot better about it than I did in the past. Seems really popular though, haven't been getting it as much when queuing for it recently.

I like the pink ward and catching someone out late game idea. I know my own pathing is pretty bad and have seen the bad pathing from my teammates and enemies as well.

Its funny because I realize timing summoner spells is important and I call out flashes and other summoners when I see them used. I however never keep an actual mental track of when the enemies will come off cool down. I really need to work on that along with learning the cool downs on spells such as ignite & heal.

I try to spam ping teammates back more now when we kill the enemy and push an inhib. There were years there where I would just stay with my team after we kill an inhibitor turret and inhibitor and sit around fighting the enemy team until we all or most of us all die. It still happens sometimes but I have really focused on taking the objective and leaving before or right when the enemy spawns. It is still pretty common in low elo for players to overstay.

I have really focused on stop chasing the enemy as well. It still happens but at least not as frequently.

Unfortunate Game1 votes

Seems good. Youll see results soon!

If you continuously lose games, possibly try recording your games and rewatch what youre doing and how you lost the game.

The amount of stupid stuff Ive seen myself do or seen teammates do, its funny, but yeah.

Work on yourself, every death is a mistake you made, obviously you dont have to have perfect kda every game, but every death is a mistake so remember that.

BlueThingamajig1 votes

In my opinion, mechanical skill is more important for bronze-gold games, with game knowledge starting to be more important to differentiate between plat, diamond, and masters players. Basically, the stereotypical plat player thinks everything is about them, and have no ability to play as a team, while this gets better as you go through diamond and into masters. Obviously, many masters and challenger players are/were in the LCS, or trying to get there via the challenger series, so they tend to have a strong understanding of team-based play.

Obviously, game knowledge can compensate for a lack of mechanical skill, but knowing how to set up a perfect ambush doesn't help if you then whiff your ult on the enemy.

Then again, you do get a bunch of people going "omg im in elo hell all my teammates suck", and if they had more game knowledge, they would probably rise quickly.

Dukues1 votes

I used to think that way "omg elo hell" but overtime finally started realizing I just did not know that much. I realize there is still a lot more to learn but climbing began to get easier once I actively started trying to learn more.

The Deckowner1 votes

i think mechanics are more importznt in lower elos.

BluePolarizer1 votes

Mechanics are more important in low elo. You think you have game knowledge, but you don't. Game knowledge includes not only builds and stuff but - when, why, where, should and how we fight. Sometimes you want to fight, at others you don't, at others you do and the other side knows they shouldn't so you need to force a lose-lose situation - how do you do that? That's the real game knowledge.

In bronze, not everyone has the basics down. Some people can barely last hit with Annie, others are gods of Lee Sin or Zed (but dive 1v5 or something all the time so they stay bronze)

In plat, everyone has basic mechanics down. Some people have those tiny mechanical outplays down, some don't, but they're at the same elo. Some STILL dive 1v5, and that's why they stay plat. Some learn when to go in and when not to, and they rise to diamond.

Dukues1 votes

Thanks for all the responses. Really interesting read and once again I feel like I know nothing (just like Jon snow).

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