What's so different between how pro players play, and how challenger players play in soloQ?

Lapis·8/23/2019, 12:04:26 AM·2 votes·4,192 views

I used to think that it would be similar. Both games are filled with people who are the best, and the best at their champions, and would presumably play in the most optimal way. But winrates on champions in pro play and in challenger solo queue are different sometimes. Now, I don't actually watch pro games, I find it boring. But I've been told that Yuumi is pick or ban at pro level, and that's why she was nerfed this patch. Now, I thought this would mean that she would perform well in challenger, but her challenger winrate is 44%, so... It can't be that? The only thing I can think of is that challenger players and pro players must be playing completely differently to each other, and if that's the case, what's the difference?

13 Comments

Messiah I8/23/2019, 12:26:44 AM3 votes
  • Pro players live with each other and know one another pretty well (this might seem like a small thing but it's really not)
  • They can communicate in a matter of seconds with headsets which makes coordination so much easier
  • Pro players have coaches that literally study the game
  • Whether we're talking about champion picks or the enemies' strengths and weaknesses these things will also be documented by both teams which reduces the surprise factor you get in soloQ.

All these aspects make pro play in LoL an almost completely different game from the one you and I play in soloQ. I might've missed some other things but these are the main factors I would say.

Moody P8/23/2019, 12:50:22 AM2 votes

Voice comms and no one tricks in pro play

preternatural8/23/2019, 12:16:06 AM1 votes

soloq is unorganised. pro play is organised.

soloq is not professional players, probably regular folk with day jobs, they can go afk, there is no money on the line, can be forgiven for having bad mentals, generally there are no comms.

pro play is professional players only, the game is their day job, they can never afk a game on stage, there is money on the line, players are not forgiven for having bad stage mentals, comms are standard. game quality goes up massively when you can get a 5 man together that are on comms because the game is made to be played like that, but we aren't allowed to play it like that.

MrFawknSunshine8/23/2019, 12:24:05 AM1 votes

part of it would be team comps, rotations, win conditions , calls, etc

in pro play they dont just pick their one trick champ they pick the best meta champs for the team comp.

viper is a god on riven but riven isnt seen alot in pro play. he is subjected to playing whatever top is needed. like a few patches ago, tahm kench or aatrox or whatever it may be. same for junglers , supports etc

Kimuto8/23/2019, 4:51:56 AM1 votes

Pro play gets to plan ahead and set up strategy and team compositions, studying enemies that they'll be facing next. Solo Q gets you random teammates with no preparation talk without a clue who your enemies is before the match starts.

haaaaaaalp8/23/2019, 5:31:47 AM1 votes

Ping makes a pretty large difference in a moba like league. Solo queue in general doesn't follow pro play but servers with very low pings such as korea tends to have the same champions doing well as in pro play since a lot of korea is on very low ping.

ShyImagoghnar8/23/2019, 5:39:05 AM1 votes

the main, biggest difference, is that pro players are highly coordinated, while solo queue challenger players are playing to 1v9

IronyAndSublime8/23/2019, 7:42:24 AM1 votes

Challenger Soloq players are the actual playerbase. (Yes, I know LCS players play on soloq, but their priority is to maintain their rank for LCS. They probably don't give a rat's ass about real soloq.)

The thigh guy8/23/2019, 8:29:24 AM1 votes

Boarderline perfect communication.

ArtumisPrime8/23/2019, 10:53:17 AM1 votes

It goes beyond coordination and communication, as a lot of people will suggest. These are important though, it's not like if you throw 5 dudes who know each other into a call they'll be able to perform at the level of pros in these aspects.

I'm going to touch on two different things here.

FIrstly, they [have analysts] do research to plan around minute details of player behavior. Like, "Oh, top lane player X goes down to ward the pixel bush at 6 minutes every game. We should be there to trap him." or "In ABC matchup, mid player Y tends to hover to the left side of mid lane. How can we take advantage of that?"

Another thing is creating gameplans. In solo queue each individual challenger player should have a good idea about power spikes, win conditions, etc. I'm talking smaller things. Like "When Baron gets to 2k HP we're going to burst and smite." or "When Baron gets to 2k HP we're going to turn and engage on X player/closest player." Things like that.

The overarching details, like communication and coordination are certainly important. You will see teams without these things cough Echo Fox's first week with Mike Yeung cough and they tend to get absolutely pummeled, but you could throw a group of high level challenger players together and they will perform these tasks at a reasonable level together in solo queue. What really sets pro matches apart from solo queue is the tiny, intricate details they use to try and get an edge.

A great [mis]quote I (kind of) remember from Day9...and bear with me, it's been like 10 years since I heard this....when regarding SC2. "[Click and drag] boxing units from top left to bottom right or from bottom left to top right might increase you from the 2nd best player in the world to the 1st....but it's not going to do anything for 99.9% of players."

DuskDaUmbreon8/23/2019, 12:07:40 AM1 votes

Coordination and more in-depth knowledge of your opponent.

SoloQ is still yoloQ, no matter what your rank is. There's still no true coordination going on.

Titanium708/23/2019, 11:38:43 AM1 votes

A) ProPlay has superior coordination in every aspect: These guys plays every day for hours together. B) Challenger have superior mechanics. Alot of challengers would outperform alot proplayers, especially if they're maining something.

That being said you should understand why some champions perform much better in enviroment A compared to B and vise versa.

Besides judging on WINRATES both in challenger and in proplayer is hard to impossible. You sample size is patheic. A single Yuumi main having a bad day can ruin her winrate for challenger! Pick and Banrate are important as well to tell how dominant a pick currently is.

Darkdemon6538/23/2019, 12:09:37 AM1 votes

Coordination, stemming from the ability to efficiently and effectively communicate with one another