Mega-Tip Thread to help improve your game.

There's alot of tips around, Reddit, the Boards, Youtube, so on. But I thought I'm board and I keep seeing the same mistakes perpetrated through each rank. I've played from Bronze - Plat and managed to maintain High Gold by the end of the seasons, been playing since Season 3 ranked, started normals in Season 2. And alot of these are the same through each and every rank, stuff every player should have a firm understanding of. I've seen it make or break some games. And while I"m just pouring a glass of water into the ocean with this thread, I still feel they need repeating. I'd like everyone to contribute their own tips they feel every player should know. Who knows, keeping something in mind may help your game. These are in no order and I'll just post whatever I can think of. None of these will be 200iq Strat tips, atleast not from me. But you'd be surprised how many Gold + don't even understand some concepts here.

Minions: Wave management: Learning to control a wave is a vital part of every player's game. There's alot covered in "wave management" as it's pretty broad, but all are vital.

1. Freezing: Freezing a lane is when you allow the enemy to push the wave, and only last hit just before it gets to the tower. About 300 units from the tower's range is a good distance. An easy way to keep this going is by not using AOE effects on the wave at all. Only auto's. This will force the enemy laner to try and unfreeze the lane by spamming auto's on the minions, or using previous mana to clear the wave and push it to the tower. It also free's you up to harass as they go for those extra auto's with the additional benifit of easier ganks the farther in they come, harder in mid lane. Another point is the need to cull the wave, using AOE abilities or more fine tuned auto's to reduce the waves size. It'll make it harder to cs a large wave under the tower. (Note: hydra/titmat will make it impossible or really hard to freeze.)

2. Slow push: Slow pushing is useful for when you need to leave the lane and the enemy laner has as well. By only killing 3 minions in the wave, then leaving it'll allow a much larger wave to push in, upwards of 3 waves if done correctly at t1 towers. This will make a large force of minions smash into the enemy tower, forcing the enemy to either spare a player to clear it, or risk not only losing a bunch of gold but a large chunk of health on the tower.

3. Hard push: This one is much more important for bottom lane, with the ADC and Support, and more over hittin the level 2 spike first. But works in other lanes. At the start of the laning phase, you may want to dump damage on the minions through auto's, meaning the ADC will last hit when able, and auto full health minions otherwise, and the support will focus auto's on the caster minions to lower the health. Works best to lower the caster's to last hit, the second caster to half, and only one auto on the third caster. And it goes without saying that in bottom lane when the enemy backs for whatever reason, the Support should do their job of attacking the minions at full health to help shove the wave to the tower before your own back.

4. Forgoing CS: This is one of the worst situations to be in, and no one likes it. But remembering that dying to the enemy will mean you'll not only lose out on cs, but also on your tower and levels. This is one I only see beyond Gold + for some reason. When the enemy laner has a clear advantage on you (Say, a Riven/Fiora vs Mundo/Ornn before armor) then it'll probably be necessary to back off the wave. In any situation where the enemy laner has an advantage, it's much better to stand back and soak EXP while last hittin whatever you can safely. You may only get 2-3 cs per wave, and likely shoved in often, but it's better than feeding kills, losing ALL cs while dead, and the tower falling. I cant' stress this enough. If your champ scales well into mid-late game, trust me and just stop getting in so close. This is will delay the hard power spikes of the likes of Riven/Irelia/Fiora/Darius, or any lane bully. True for all lanes. The benifit is they will likely over extend, perhaps even dive you under tower, and allow for easy ganks from the jungler.

5. Wave pulling: This is something I learned about a year ago, and it's rather neat. Heading the a wave and intercepting it will allow you to pull the first few minions to one side of the lane, allowing for your own minions to 3v1 some creeps. It just helps for faster pushing. Look it up for examples.

6. Relic Shield: I shouldn't have to explain this one but I do. Please remember both early AND mid-late game to give the support Cannon minions and melee creeps. I can't explain how even in Gold + I've seen players blast waves with abilities, paying no heed to the support who will still need supplement gold income. On average they earn less than the other support items because of this.

Jungle Jungling is hard, and with the changes these past seasons, it's one of the least popular roles, even behind support. It's a hard job, it requires ALOT of multi-tasking, and generally becomes the default shot caller. But a good jungle will change the game and a bad one will ensure a loss.

1. To begin, Laners, you should always leash your jungler except in some circumstances (I.E Shaco.) or they explicity say, nah. In addition, DO NOT, NOT NOT NOT, just run into your lane and wait there. This is horrible practice. Instead, make sure you form a defensive line along the river to watch for invades. I can't believe I've seen Golds go to lane and jsut wait at the tower until minions arrive. DON'T DO THIS.

2. Routes: Always make sure you plan your route in advance. In the current meta, level 2 ganks are a powerful thing, so if you're going with a champ who's great at these (Pants, Elise, Jarvan, etc) make sure you plan this route accordingly. Keep an eye on laners who can facilitate these ganks like a Leo bot, or a Moakai top, a Liss Mid, etc. If you're gonna go top for that gank, it may be beneficial to start on the top side of the map to ensure an early gank. Don't just default to the bottom. As well, if you're a farmer, like Yi, udyr, Shy, etc. Make sure you plan the mini camps accordingly. There's an extensive number of guides per champ curated based on their clear speed and abilities. Worth a look.

3. Scuttle: This little guy has a whopping 130+ gold and a large amount of EXP, plus free vision on the river. Usually, you'll want to grab this after your red/blue depending. But make no mistake, if the enemy is better at dualing than you are, you'll want to go for the second crap on the top/bottom of the map to avoid a fight. If your laners are prepared or in a good position to fight for that crap, make sure they know what's happening. It could be an easy first blood. Evaluate the position of the team relevant to yourself when deciding to go for it.

4. Watching the enemy jungler: This is a biggin'. It goes without saying that you should look at the minimap whenever you can spare a glance. Personally, I look every few seconds unless I'm in a fight. If you can catch even a glimpse of the enemy jungler you can probably predict where they'll gank next, or even capture an objective. For example. Should you see the enemy jungler heading top due to a ward or an attempted gank, and you're anywhere near Bot side, consider dragon. If the enemy bot is lower, perhaps your bot should force a trade and hope for a back. If the enemy jungler is top and the enemy bot has backed, DO DRAGON. It's not even a question at that point, it's just a free objective. Same goes for top and the Herold.

• 4.5 In addition, knowing where the enemy jungler is will allow a guilt free gank elsewhere ,or a counter gank. Is your Mid pushed in and you just saw the enemy jungler walk remotely near mid? Go mid if you can, or ping if you can't. Vision and knowledge are THE most important things in league in high play and easily as important in Gold or Silver. Has the enemy jungler just ganked bot and you're top? Cool, if no other opportunities present themselves mid/top, go steal their camps. Possibly snag the Red/Blue. If you know when the enemy jungler will be somewhere, you'll be a huge annoyance and be much better equipped for smart plays.

5. Revealing yourself: Just as we want to know where the enemy jungler is, we want to make sure they don't know where we are. Everytime you go to a lane for a gank, be aware the enemy will be watching. If you show up top and you have no idea where the enemy jungler is, or if Dragon isn't warded. you're making a calculated risk. Bot could be ganked, they could sneak dragon solo (Nunu, Shy, Shaco) Ever wonder why Top was considered in Pro Play to be "An island?" because a jungler ganking top in pro play was a sure way to lose Dragon if they weren't careful. If you're blue is up and you gank a lane, you risk the enemy stealing it because they have nothing better to do. This is why it's 100% vital to have vision on the enemy jungler, to have players call out sightings of the enemy jungler, and so forth.

• 5.5 On the flip side, keep in mind that just revealing yourself in a lane with a half hearted gank may alleviate pressure from a lane. If the enemy bot is pressuring and pushing hard, showing up or even standing on a ward may have them think twice about moving for the kill. Covering a lane will ensure no CS is wasted and help save a tower. But this is often a double edge sword. So be careful and make the call based of what info you have.

6. Wandering: This is the death of most who attempt to jungle, and it's something alot of people need to work on, so keep this in mind. Every single action you take must have a purpose. This goes for all players, but it's crucial for the jungler. Don't fall into the trap of wandering around the jungle looking for a gank. It will take practice, but predicting things ahead of time will help with your clears, and ganks. For example, lets say you just cleared a camp raptors/wolves near top. You see that the enemy Sivir just blew her flash in a trade and is half health, but so is your bot. Don't just rush to that lane expecting to get that gank. Path your way down if nothing else is immediately presented. Sivir as a champ will naturally push unless the player is skilled. So clearing your bot camp or getting scuttle will allow for her to push, in, while you're sitll CSing camps. Flash has a 4 minute CD, that's a long time. In addition, it's worth rushing somewhere if it seems like a good idea. Should you be top, and your bot just grabbed a double, it's worth the time to beeline for dragon. The important take away is to just make sure you're not going bot, only to switch to going mid when the opportunity has been missed.

7. Shot calling: In pro play, most of the shot callers are Jungler, or Support. This is because they're under the least amount of pressure and can freely assess each lane and the enemy's jungler. Now it's not mandatory you learn to call shots, but it can certainly help. Making sure the team know's what to do next will mean things get done. Towers fall, Dragons taken, ganks mean something. This all comes with experience, but it means a world of difference. You see the enemy jungler gank mid, then head for top? Don't just assume he's gonna clear camps, assume he's going for the top champ next, ping and make sure top is warned. After that, not your problem. You notice the enemy bot died and your bot is backing for some stupid reason? Offer your opinion that they should shove the wave to tower and throw a couple pot shots at it if they're close enough. You notice the enemy jungler is top or near his top buff and you just ganked bot? Declare your intention for going for dragon. See the team mid-game wandering through the lanes? Dircet them. More often than not most games become ALL MID for a good portion of the game. A waste of resources. Unless there's cause for concern, like a heavy poke comp on the nemy team, you'd be safe to have a Top laner with TP split top or bot while you casually clear camps close to the mid lane. Always do something productive, never just sit mid. There's alot more to this but you get the idea.

8. Trinkets: This is more a personal choice thing, but I feel I'd add my opinion. During the early game you'd be wise to have a ward trinket on hand. This allows you to slap down a deep ward in the enemy jungler, to ward a laner's river should they be out, to protect your own jungle from counter jungling, make sure rift is warded, and so on. However come mid game, or when bot has fallen, you'll most likely want to switch to a sweeper. I've seen Supports just as guilty as this, some not getting a sweeper until 30 + minutes into a game. But for the jungle, it's important to have one sooner rather than later, you'll spend 80% of the game in that deep forest, and making sure you can clear enemy vision in the lanes to prepare for a gank, to clear your own jungle so they can't see you, to clear the enemy jungle for free passage, and so on, is incredibility usefully. I'll typically grab a sweeper after 10ish minutes or so. However there are exceptions, like Lee Sin who needs that ward trinket.

9. Tax: This is a debated issue for some reason, but lets put it down anyways. Taxing a lane means taking minions from the lane after a gank. The rules are pretty simple, if you get a kill, don't touch the CS. If you give a kill, help yourself to a minion or two, not the whole wave. If you're pushing to the turret to take it, still allow the laner to grab the lions share of CS. If you get no kill, no CS for you. And also remember to get out quickly after unless the turret is your goal. That EXP is valuable stuff, and you don't want to leach it. Also, don't sit in lane for more than 30 seconds waiting to gank something. Because you're still likely in EXP range and that will hurt the laners.

General tips Those were the only ones I felt worth their own categories, to keep it a bit organized. The next list is just various things I'd like to share. Regardless of how obvious.

• Chasing kills: Overextending or "Greed" is probably the crux of the issue in Low Elo. A problem so pronounced most people carry it to higher elo's. The plain and simple is this. Don't over commit to a kill. Tower dives shouldn't be considered unless the jungler is involved, you're a special case (Elise, Fizz, Zed, etc) or you have an advantage that warrants it (Leo Draven bot usually allows for a clean kill for example) Also, chasing a kill into the enemy jungle is not only a bad idea, but often risky. The more time the chase is allowed to go on, the more time enemy laners can respond to it. Sure you may get the kill, but you'll likely give one up as well, or worse, more. It's often more viable to chase until something is blown or for a short period of time. If they blow a flash, don't bother following them unless you're about 90% sure they'll die. Often you'll flash a wall with the enemy just for them to hug the turret again, and now you're both out of a flash and accomplished nothing. Instead, consider objectives. Towers, Dragons, shoving the wave or proxy wave farming, something productive with the time you've been given because they ran and then backed. Again, takes practice, but work on it. Kills aren't always the bee's knee's. It's not Team Death Match in Unreal, it's League, towers and Dragon/Baron are the game.

• Caution: It's always a good idea to exercise caution in games. This is primarily why LCS and Pro play is so very boring that ward kills elicit cheers. They are overtly cautious. Remember, losing drake won't mean the end of the game, same for baron. But a bad teamfight or a key player being dead will. This means much more come mid-late game. The death timers may allow the enemy to push in and win the whole thing. So it's good to keep in mind "Should I tower dive with my team?" "Should we really be baiting baron right now with two side lanes pushing against us?" "Should I commit to that flash hook with the enemy jungler being spotted bot side?" "Is this the right engage?" and so on. This heads to the previous point of chasing kills as well, that following into a dark jungle may mean death, which isn't worth it when you can just farm two-three waves freely and get the kill gold that way. Just as it's a good idea to play back when you burn your flash in lane, don't want to extend to the enemy tower without an escape ready.

• Wards: Your warding trinket should always be on CD. Not even joking. If you have a charge on that trinket and you're anywhere in lane, it needs to be dropped. River, enemy jungle, a side bush, doesn't matter. Tactically placing wards as they're available will lead to vision, and vision is invaluable. Supports should use their wards smart. Is the Dragon the next likely objective? Make sure it's warded, the enemy jungle is warded and one deep ward near blue/red. In addtion to this, make sure you're buying pinks. Don't care what you play, or what your next big item is. Every single player MUST purchase atleast one pink when they can. If you only have enough gold for that BT or IE, then get it, but ensure you get one the next back. Deep pinks in your own jungle will last most the game, and defensive pinks in lane will deny vision for the enemy laner, allowing for ganks. It's that important.

• Map awareness: This is crucial for every player, not just the jungler. Making sure you have a firm grasp on what's happening around you is important. Too often Mid, Top and ADC will tunnel on CS or their opponent. This is a low elo mistake you'll have to shake and fast. You won't need to know exactly what the other lanes are doing, but you'll need to know a few things. One, where your vision is. If you notice the river is dark as a laner, you should not at all decide to push forward unless you know exactly where the enemy jungler is. It's opening yourself up to be ganked by mid or the jungler, or maybe both. Also, make sure you're aware of where your own jungler is. If you notice the enemy laner is low, without flash, or out of mana, and the jungler happens to be close, call for a gank, but don't be mad if the jungler decides other things are more important. If you're over extended with no vision, and the jungler is on the other side of the map, you need to back off. There's no reason to hug the enemy tower without vision or protection. Those few shots on the tower will mean nothing if you end up giving over a kill. Caution is better than feeding!

• In addition, if you play a champ with TP on, or a global ult, make sure you know what's going on. Not only should you spy on that mini map, but also on allied health bars. Raka and Shen players should have this in mind at all times. Othertimes, as TK or TF you'll want to know where you may gank. Example, you're Tahm Kench and just forced the enemy bot to back, decide if it's worth pushing that tower, or perhaps going to gank mid with the jungler. Not only would you likely get a kill with 4 mid, but you can do much more damage on that mid tower than you could on the bot one.

• Pings: This one is short, but I hate it, everyone hates it, and it should be addressed. STOP SPAMMING PINGS. This is some low elo troll tactics that is used by frustrated players and helps no one. Don't use the Missing Person Ping on an ally when they die. For one, you're being a douche. Second, it will devalue the missing ping for all players on your team. How will I know as an ADC that mid is truely roaming when the whole game I hear that "Missing" noise spammed on an allied corpse? I've seen it happen, and people die to roams because of it. Knock it off. In addition, spamming Cuation or Danger will do the same, and people will more often than not mute the person who does this. It helps no one, it destroys the entire point of having pings, and it'll ruin the communication a team may have. So stop it.

• Rotation: This is talked about alot in Pro Play, but it means much the same in Bronze, Silver, Gold, Plat and so on. Rotating across the map must serve a purpose. And it must be a coherent attempt with the team. It also goes in hand with other tactics like wave control and vision. The purpose of rotating is to preposition in order to accomplish something, usually around an objective. This will normally come from a shot caller, but may naturally occur. Rotating to stop an objective, to take an objective, to push a lane, etc. The whole team should be apart of this tactic, with the possible exception of a split pusher such as a Top Laner. To often you'll find games where the team will sit mid and wait for a big fight, then MAYBE take an objective. Don't fall into the trap. An example of proper rotation; Lets say the team got a kill and has pushed in on the t2 turret, where the enemy has turtled up. Now, the top laner has been splitting and arrived at the top T2 turret. Meanwhile the bot has a large wave pushing on the bot T2 turret. What's the right call? Normally, moving the team bottom to take that turret, diverting attention away from the Top laner, and possibly securing that bot tower. That's a good rotation. Next, lets say that your team has just secured a kill, and a tower. If dragon is up, it's much better to converge and burst the Drake down rather than simply backing.

• And final example; The enemy team is spotted on a deep ward moving to bottom. The wave is pushed but they've committed 4+ players for it. Unless Drake is an issue, the smart play is not to chase and hopefully fight them, but to pressure another objective elsewhere, such as mid or top. Rotation is the hardest part to master as a team, and will more often than not fall on individual skill. This is why it's important to have clearly defined goals and a competent shot caller. to direct the focus of the team towards these objectives.

• Itemization: If you truly want to know how to get better, you'll need to familiarize yourself with items in league. Each item will have alot of stats, and from people I've spoken too in Silver, most actually just blindly follow guides online for their needs. This isn't too common, but a mistake none the less. You'll need to know what each item does, and how to use them. Some will be core items and you'll always build them, but others will be more niche. A great example is things that provide grievous wounds. Morellonomicon, Executioners Calling, and the like. Should the enemy have strong healers, say, Mundo, Soraka, Sylas, ADC with BT, Vlad, or any champ that heals. it's very important to build one of these items. Not everyone should, but atleast 2 should have them built. Now we all know to build Armor if they have a large amount of AD or MR if it's AP. But something smaller is AS. Say the enemy has a Yi, Jax, Kog/Kali, Udyr, etc. Anytime you have atleast two enemies with high dependence on Attack Speed, you'll probably want to invest in Frozen Heart rather than Omen. This will hamper the enemies big hitters, while doing roughly the same thing as Omen. Finally, should the enemy be building against your AD team with Thornmail, remember it's wise to build in some MR, as the damage reflected back will be AP. There's other examples but these are the most obvious.

• Champs and Matchups: Alot of sites are dedicated to counters, how to pick that one champ that will win the lane easily, like Teemo Vs ADC's top or Trynd. But a good player will know how to play around a counter. This is why it's important to familiarize yourself with champs on a basic level. Make sure you've played them once or twice and be sure you know what they do. Some like my friend have gone further, knowing exactly how much HP or AD they gain per level, but that's a bit much for me. Most champs have something they're good at, and something they're not. You must know how to play around this beyond just a counter pick. This is why "Comps" like a poke comp or dive comp came to play in pro play, and it's just a meta version of knowing the champs. For example, Sivir is a good pick for an ADC when your team lacks wave clear, or a compliment to an already heavy wave clear team. While Vayne is currently busted and just dominates all roles, her original role was for Tank busting with her W. Moakai is a great initiator and diver, while Fiora is a wonderful split pusher and dualer. Shy and Nunu are dualists who excel at counter jungling. So on and so forth. All champs will compliment a team, and all champs can hurt a team. A dysfunctional comp will lose more games than one that works together. So just playing "OP champs" will get you somewhere, but not to Plat. Pick something with the team in mind.

• Champion Mastery: Alot of players will have champs with whom they main, and practice alot on. But some fall into the "One Trick Pony" category, while others may not have a main and plays everything. A jack of all trades, a master of none. This is why it's good to have a dedicated role, a back-up role, and the same for champs. A good roster would be 3 champs you're moderately good at for each role. Personally, I'm a Jungle/Support main, with Vi as my normal Main, Elise and WW as my other champs. For Support, I'm a Leo Main, playing Bruam and Zyra also. And when I do get filled, I play Ori, Fizz and Liss mid. For top I play Fiora, Olaf and Quinn. And ADC I play Jhin, Jinx and Vayne Having champs you can play exceptionally well will mean you're never wanting. And if you need to you can always practice new champs who are Meta. I personally don't, but it helps for some.

• Don't get tilted: This one is pretty much a no brainer. But honestly, most trolls, afk's and feeders are more often than not player's who got tilted and frustrated at the game. Remember, it's just a game, and because of the average, if you're a good player, you'll climb, regardless of a few bad games. They're unavoidable. So don't tilt. And never try and tilt a fellow player. Pinging them when they die, belittling them, name calling, and so on, are not only rude but ruin the game for everyone. It's frustrating if a player is doing poorly. And that's understandable. But instead of being a douche, try constructive criticism. Gently try and offer advise without coming off as condescending. Keep a level head and you may win in the end because everyone is doing well through strategic play. Some of the times I've seen this ruin games and was totally avoidable.

1. I played a game as Leo support with a Draven ADC. This is a powerful lane that is hard to beat early. Worse still, the enemy was Karma and Vayne. Needless to say, the second we hit Level 2 we all inned the enemy, getting a kill on Vayne who was level 1. The Vayne and karma made the mistake of confidently strolling back the the creep line and farming, Karma over extending beyond the creeps to land Q's. I'd E and Q, and they were dead. This happened twice more. At this point, Karma left the lane, and sat mid. While our mid laner was pushed in, me and Draven managed to straight up dive Vayne again and again, when Vayne should have abandond the tower. The next mistake came from the enemy jungler, when Karma, Vayne and Jungler tried to gank us. With such a large lead, we got all three and then the T2 turret. All through out, Karma and Vayne fought, blamed the jungler, and even mid for not applying pressure. That's a prime example of how tilting can cause a loss. If they had sat back and waited for a gank while we dove them, it could have been different. Had Karma not abandoned the ADC we wouldn't have accelerated our lead so high. The Mid Laner wouldn't have been 2 levels behind our own mid laner, and they could have waited for a slip up. In the end, it's just never worth blaming people, yelling, or worse out right feeding/giving up.

That's about all I have for now, I'm sure I've missed some crucial points but I can't seem to remember more. Please feel free to add to the list, or correct me if my tips are wrong in any way. If anyone reads this, I hope it helps just like the Diamond player who told me most of this helped me.