Being Honest With Yourself Before The Game Will Allow You To Climb Faster

When you click that play button you need to ask your self a few crucial questions which will often impact your next game more than you think. Now we all know how it feels to be one game away from entering promos and you really just want to play that game but often that can work against you for a number of reasons. When you play ranked ideally you want to have a fresh mindset and spirit, this is why playing 20 games in a row usually won't help you climb since your performance will slowly but surely get worse the more you play without taking a break, much like everything else.

By not limiting the number of games you play in a row you not only reduce your chances of winning but also your teammates chances of winning since you're not playing at your optimum. For example, I try and limit myself to 4 games in a row then I take a 2-3 hour break and do something else instead, this allows me to ensure that I don't get tilted and usually 4 games is where I stop being as positive as I should be and might start messing up more than I should which decides the game. If I start making poor calls or start making silly little mistakes then I know it's time for a break and I'll resume fresh which will ultimately give me a better chance of winning my next game.

So with all of that said let's all ask our selves some questions before queuing up for ranked.

1. Are you tired? If you are tired then avoid playing for now and rest up, we all know we don't play our best when tired and usually easier to tilt and less aware.

**2. Did you make a lot of simple mistakes last game? ** If you did then it's most likely time to take a break and even if you did win consider it lucky since quite often mistakes like that can lose the entire game.

3. Did someone flame you or troll in your last game? Well some people are heavily affected mentally by trolls, flamers and such (I'm personally not) but if you are then most likely it's best for you to cool down for a short bit (10-20 mins) and try and watch something funny on YouTube instead.

4. Are you on a loss streak but won't stop until you win at least one. We've all been here and oh boy does it really suck. Though it might not be your fault that you lost the last few games in a row you should most probably call it quits for the time being and come back when you're fresh and a new. That win will come but there's no point in risking losing more LP while you're not at your optimum,I know, I know just one win but do your self a favour and take a break.

5. Are you one game from being demoted/Last game to being promoted? These games are really nerve racking so I suggest playing that game when you're playing your first game of the day or after a long break.

6. Are you lagging/Were you lagging last game? Well I'd suggest using this ping checker https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/4m7t9l/lol_ping_checker_for_windows/ and seeing if your lag still persists. Also if lagging makes you angry and upset etc then yes, take a break.

Before following these guidelines I would sometimes play 15 games and end up winning 8 and losing 7 and that's not bad but that's a net gain of roughly 30 LP. By following these guidelines I stopped playing 15 games a day and only played 2 in the morning and 2 at night, I would usually win 3/4 of the games so after 4 days I had won 12 games and lost 4 and this is what took me from Plat 3 to Plat 1 in a week almost effortlessly. Yes it took me 4 days to play the same number of games but if I had just grinded mindlessly then I would still be stuck making tiny net gains over huge amount of games.

I slipped up and started grinding out games and promptly got demoted back to P2 and then I went back to my guidelines and now I'm back in P1 93LP.

I hope this can help others as much as it has helped me.