Bio: I main Viktor and Brand. I'm currently Gold 3 and I like to theorycraft.
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leaguecraft 101. It's a Youtube series. And it will change your life. The guide isn't 100% comprehensive. But nothing else comes even close to explaining the fundamentals of the game as well as this. It's handsdown the best resource. Entire series takes about an hour or two.
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Tight Aggression. Google it. It's considered the optimal strategy in the gambling community. tl'dr is too complex to explain here. And I don't want to tie this to any particular link. The point is to learn how to invest time and resources wisely.
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Dash-Dancing. It's a term from SuperSmash Bros (the same community that coined the term Wombo Combo). It means fidgeting back and forth rapidly. It's better than standing still or pacing in circles because it's harder for your opponent to react to your movements. It's a mindgame. Kiting and orbwalking are important too, but I bet you've heard of these.
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Customize your interface. E.g. Unlock your camera. Learn to use the [A] key and [S] key to last hit more effectively. Switch from Attack-Command to Attackmove-Command. Use your function keys to see what other lanes are doing. Use smartcasting. "But Dopa doesn't smartcast!" idgaf and Dopa's a scrub.
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CS is king. Learn how to last hit effectively. You don't have to get every cs if it means you'll lose half your HP. But you should get all the cs that your enemy laner lets you. E.g. against Pantheon, you must give up about half the cs. Because otherwise he'll murder you every 3 minutes. You just have to be patient and wait for it to crash into your tower. In the meantime, at least get the exp. Learn what exp range is in the practice tool. Exp is literally the most important thing in the game (except towers) and everyone underestimates it.
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Minion waves > chasing kills (unless an objective is at stake). If you get a killing spree but die once, the enemy will rebound off your death due to "rubberband" experience. This is why focusing on cs is better. Each time a big minion wave crashes into an allied tower, your team wastes half a kill's worth of gold and exp. You will regret not eating a free lunch, yet have no idea how you lost when your nexus explodes.
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Cut your losses. If you must give up a tower or die trying, just step back. If you can't contest drag without dying, just walk away. If you teamfight and the situation goes south, retreat immediately. Sometimes your bonobos your teammates will bait you into bad fights. If you follow them you deserve to stay in Silver. If you ignore them you stand a better chance of winning. It's tough. But the alternative is often worse. It takes discipline to ignore your teammates.
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Check your opponent's level. If theirs is higher than yours, you will lose the duel. This is a better indicator than items. A 2 level lead is a big deal. A 3 level lead is enormous. If you do get a level lead, protect it. See my comment about "rubberbanding".
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Every time you cs, check the minimap. It's like a drinking game. Force yourself until it becomes habitual.
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Fight around power spikes. In starcraft these are called Timing Attacks. E.g. I main Viktor and his lanephase is trash. I don't roam, I don't duel, I don't look my laner in the eye until I have Perfect Hexcore and Lichbane. Once I do, I go ham. If the enemy wants to donate a kill, sure I'll take it. But I'm not gonna force any big plays until I have my core items or certain abilities.
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Formulate a gameplan. E.g. "I'm worthless without Lichbane; I should back up when Nocturne hits level 6; ward drag area 30 s before it spawns; buy Banshee's Veil to counter Annie and Malphite; push the wave and immediately recall when I can afford Hexcore mk1; don't look Pantheon in the eyes; ward before Blitzcrank invade; be ready to Chaos Storm a teammate when Katarina blows her load; save Gravity Field for Darius; etc." You should be thinking about this during champ select.
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Shove the lane for level 2 ASAP. So you can go ham at level 2 while the enemy is still level 1. This is huge because for a brief window of time, you'll have double the base stats and double the abilities. The moment you get level 2, just run at them at trade. If you're botlane, make sure your partner is on the same page. Botlane needs 9 cs, mid and top need 7 cs. If the enemy will reach level 2 before you do, you need to sit under tower and wait patiently for the enemy to escort the wave so you can hit level 2 also. In the meantime, don't even look them in the eyes. The Level 2 Cheese is the 2nd most broken mechanic in the game because it alone decides the fate of the first 10 minutes of the lane, and Riot will never fix it. (NOTE: midlane is an exception. Midlaners want to freeze, rather than shove. Because it's a short lane which can be ganked from 6 different angles.)
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Trade around cooldowns. Including autoattack cooldowns. Trading "just because" is 100% bronze. Leaguecraft 101 covers this pretty well. Also, learn how to deny cs. Denying the enemy laner cs is the difference between merely winning your lane, and making them Rage Quit. Kills are importantly only in the respect that you can deny them cs and hit the tower.
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Beware minion aggro. Autoattacking an enemy champion will draw minion aggro, but spells won't. This is important for ADC's and toplaners. Minion autoattacks collectively hurt more than champions for the first ~20 minutes. I recently had a ranked game where I was Nasus vs Irelia. She BladeSurged onto me and tried to fight me when we were both level 2, which drew aggro from all 5 or 6 of my allied minions. She lost about 200 HP, while I only lost 100 even though Siphoning Strike was on cooldown. She continued to trade like this and I utterly destroyed her because of it.
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Anticipate events. Virtuosity is a function of anticipation. You need to constantly run simulations to predict how the teamfight will play out, track where the jungler likely is, prepare to flash if Ahri charms, pull your midlane wave Westward since the enemy jungler is East, track which lane leashed the jungler, etc. Neace recently made a similar video about "mental APM". If you just play on autopilot, you're being L A Z Y.
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Manipulate minion waves. Freezing is your best friend. There are exceptions to this depending on the matchup and the context. But Freezing should be the default. SoloRenektonOnly won't shut up about this, and for good reason. Also, learn how to slowpush. This means you kill the casters but leave the melees alive. About 2 minutes later, a huge wave will build up and pressure the enemy side tower if left alone. Do this botlane to setup Baron, or toplane to setup Drag.
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Don't be greedy. Watch death timers and learn to quit a siege so you can recall unmolested. If you can, always shove the wave under tower before you recall. Don't stay if you have 100 HP and 50 mana. "But muh team needs me!" Needs you to feed? Needs you to waste time being oom? So much nope. Get into a habit of resetting the lanes after every fight or objective. Killed Drag? Reset. Killed a tower? Reset. Aced a teamfight? Take an objective and reset. Wash, rinse, repeat.
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Memorize item costs. Otherwise you'll recall and realize you only need 100 gold for a BestFriend Sword and hate yourself for not staying for another wave. (Or at least check the shop. I've keybound the shop button from [P] to [X] for convenience.)
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Each time you die, you made a mistake. There are exceptions where dying was a net positive. But due to Dunning-Kruger, you will not know how to properly distinguish these situations. Therefore, always assume you made mistake. There's a 99% chance you screwed up, even if you don't know why. Replays can be helpful in this regard.
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Pressure as a team. If your splitpusher recalls, you need to back up. If your split pusher is pressuring a tower, you need to pressure another lane.
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Drop everything and go watch Leaguecraft 101. Right now.
. i can play her comfortably into 
etc.
will i WIN against 
? no probably not....but i won't feed my lane and i'll stay somewhat relevant in the game by roaming.
but you have a 
....just build 
and go tank instead of damage.
