Best way to practice?

ModRowanstar·Sep 4, 2019·3 votes·4,213 views

I am still trying to work on melee champs (tanks, assassins etc.) Whats the best way to practice that will positively influence my PVP performance: Custom mods with intermediate bots, Intermediate bots mode, or something else?

18 Comments

Laughing FishSep 4, 20197 votes

My practice strategy is to just jump straight into normals, preemptively mute everyone, and feed my ass off as I try and figure out what the fuck this champion does. Then I keep feeding, hoping that one day I git gud.

And after nearly 5 years of league.... I still have yet to git gud.

Tr4shB4NSYST3MSep 4, 20192 votes

Same for me after about 2 and a half years. Pog.

Laughing FishSep 4, 20191 votes

You can take the man out of bronze. But you can never take the bronze out of the man.

I'll always be Bronze V at heart.

TormentulaSep 4, 20192 votes

[{quoted}](name=Laughing Fish,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=fyBLrG4F,comment-id=0004,timestamp=2019-09-04T04:26:46.085+0000)

My practice strategy is to just jump straight into normals, preemptively mute everyone, and feed my ass off as I try and figure out what the fuck this champion does. Then I keep feeding, hoping that one day I git gud.

And after nearly 5 years of league.... I still have yet to git gud.

This is unironically the way to go, and what coaches recommend doing.

You basically just play whatever you want, go balls to the wall, and over time you'll learn what doesn't work and where your limitations are.

Otherwise if you just play incredibly safe with no confidence, or spend all your time against bots that run it down regardless of how you play, you'll never learn what you can get away with.

Moody PSep 4, 20191 votes

that depends entirely on the specifics

mechanics can be safely practices in the sandbox until you're comfortable with them

game sense/macro can only be learned playing with real people, you're free to consult guides on the subject and for anything champion specific too but ultimately it comes to you to eventually know it by intuition

MrFawknSunshineSep 4, 20191 votes

1 vs 1 with someone on friends list in custom games so you can practice ?

Modl Ryden lSep 4, 20191 votes

I find the Practice Tool to only be useful if you want to train yourself to execute combos, practice animation cancelling techniques, and most importantly, Flash buffering combos since Summoner Spells can be cooled down in an instant on Practice Tool.

But nothing beats actual experience in the heat of the moment. And since you're practicing melee, the Practice Tool can't teach you how to lane against an opponent, especially ranged ones.

My advice to having to deal with 'lane disadvantage' is that there is more to the game than JUST the laning phase. If you lose the laning phase, big whoop, you still have all of midgame to farm up and become relevant.

DOUBLE TAPPED ESep 4, 20191 votes

Something I used to do as a way to practice ability counting and solo-carrying games as Kat is this:

Start a custom match, put 5 Intermediate bots on the enemy team, and 3 Beginner bots on your team, so not only are you in a 4v5, but your teammates will all feed.

Position the bots like this, from top to bottom:

Bot Top Mid Bot Top

They will always take those roles. For your team, pick the weakest champions you can think of with very little cc, and give the enemy team as much CC as possible (I recommend putting a "top" and "jungle" champ in the top lane, since that's usually how it plays out anyway, with the rest being normal champion-role assignments).

Seriously your team will likely hard int, especially if you really focus on stacking the odds against you.

It can be quite challenging, and is quite a bit more difficult then a 1v5, since you are actually in control of your entire team in the 1v5 and can absorb resources from all 3 lanes + jungle to quickly outscale the enemy bots.

Anyway, hope that helps.

But yeah for combos / csing / etc., practice tool all the way.

Tr4shB4NSYST3MSep 4, 20191 votes

Just play games, tbh, until riot adds better bot AI theres only so far you'll get better going against intermediate bots. Best way to improve is playing against real players, I like ranked flex for practice b/c matchmaking is less skewed than normals can be (silvers vs plat+ etc) and even though there are sometimes smurfs or 5man premades in general its going to be around your skill level, just keep playing thats what ive been doing w/ sylas and akali and im gradually getting better with them.

ModRowanstarSep 4, 20191 votes

so looks like i have to grit my teeth and play normal pvp which i dread

ppl are more likely to be difficult and with bots i can just cancel game if i screw up. now i have to do bots in TT since i get suck with new ppl. but i will do some bots and mix in some normals. my main thing i need to do is farm better and make a complete build so i can do well. but especially farming. idc about getting kills but if i need to i can with enough gold and xp.

EphixusSep 4, 20191 votes

{quoted}

so looks like i have to grit my teeth and play normal pvp which i dread

ppl are more likely to be difficult and with bots i can just cancel game if i screw up. now i have to do bots in TT since i get suck with new ppl. but i will do some bots and mix in some normals. my main thing i need to do is farm better and make a complete build so i can do well. but especially farming. idc about getting kills but if i need to i can with enough gold and xp.

You will not learn anything from the bots, in first place you should study builds, match ups, if jungling, jungle paths.

Linna ExcelSep 4, 20191 votes

Melee only ARAM account I guess. If you can dodge 5 champs poking you for 20 minutes, you can dodge a ball.

Combos and ranges can be practiced against bots.

WoonStruckSep 4, 20191 votes

Play games. Lots and lots of games, but also have direction. Things you're focusing on to improve. Don't worry about win/loss, worry about your performance in those areas and what you learn from your interactions, whether positive or negative.

Aspects of laning will always have the largest impact on the game as a whole, so CS, trading, opportunity cost (cs vs dealing/taking damage), etc are usually the best things to focus on.

The better you are at laning, the bigger you come out of lane, and the larger impact you have on the game, which is the only consistent interaction you have with your winrate, considering the 9 other factors out of your control.

PrettyGirlsFeetSep 4, 20191 votes

you should try out champs in practice tool first to get a feel for them and then just jump into ranked or normals depending on what you usually play

Ćold As IceSep 4, 20191 votes

Start with the emchanically simplest characters to master game sens elike Garen, master yi or other stat chekcs and move up in skill difficulty

F Ù ŃSep 4, 20191 votes

Always start with either draft or ranked. These game modes will give you a more competitive practice. In blind pick, from my experiences, there’s always 1 or 2 people who dc. Might as well go with ranked or draft to prevent anyone from really leaving.

ModRowanstarSep 4, 20191 votes

[{quoted}](name=F Ù Ń,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=fyBLrG4F,comment-id=000b,timestamp=2019-09-04T12:00:45.407+0000)

Always start with either draft or ranked. These game modes will give you a more competitive practice. In blind pick, from my experiences, there’s always 1 or 2 people who dc. Might as well go with ranked or draft to prevent anyone from really leaving.

ive tried ranked before. its the worst and i die so fast because alot of those folks are high skilled. I do drafts though with friends.

ModRowanstarSep 4, 20191 votes

Btw thank you for all your advice. Looks like I have a direction Ill go in (pvp)