Helios's Tips for Ranked Play

So, I've been around about 4 seasons now, and I've maintained rank in silver all the years primarily because of college, work, and laziness. I'm starting to make my way to gold, and I've noticed quite a few things in my climb. Because of this, ive decided to sit down and write out my advice to other players, not as some good player or what not (Because I sure as shit am, well shit), but as a guy who has seen a few ranked seasons and a guy who has played a long time now.

• If you're tilted, for whatever reason, or you tilt very easily and/or are prone to flaming: DO NOT PLAY RANKED

Listen to me very carefully: you are not going to win if the smallest thing will hurt your mindset and your will to win. I know you probably know this, but for some reason things stick to people when they're explicitly told it. The reality of a competitive game is this: sometimes, your laner will be first blood because the support got hooked, and now you have to deal with the 1-0 Riven. Sometimes, you'll miss-click your ult and waste it. Sometimes, you'll die to your laner and when you get back to lane, the herald already took your tower. Sometimes, your duo will get double killed and the enemy team will take an infernal drake as a bonus. Sometimes, you'll get that 0-5 Renekton who just refuses to stop fighting top lane (aka me). Shit happens, and it's not always because you made the mistake, but you will need to bear some of the responsibility for winning the game. At the end of the game, all that matters is who won and who lost; it doesn't mean shit if you're an 0-5 Renekton or a 12-2 Tristana with 300 CS, if you lost, then you lost. Period.

I say all that to say this: don't flame and donr tilt. Odds are high if the support gets hooked and dies they already feel like shit, and your team is now playing from behind. You have enough problems before you introduce your tilt or your flame to the other four players. You can shout at your computer, you can hit a wall or something, you can think the absolute nastiest thing imaginable, but for the sake of winning and the sake of your team's moral, honestly to protect yourself from a toxicity ban, don't you dare type something negative. If you have to type something (I mean if you just can't help yourself), type something encouraging or helpful, and do that passive-aggressive bullshit. If you want to win, you need those four other players. You may not think you do, but I assure you that you do. This leads me to point 2.

Wait, one last thing: be ok with losing. Ultimately, you win some, and you lose some. It's old and cheesy, but true. That's life. Make sure when you queue up, you accept the fact that you're looking to win, but you may very well lose. Don't force the burden of perfection on yourself; you're not perfect, you won't win every game, and that's ok.

• If someone says something to you in the interest of helping you, DO NOT BE A DICK

Here's a scenario: let's say you disrespect the early power of, oh let's say, level 2 ignite Talon and you die. Your jungler playing Elise, says the following, "Hang back at tower, just wait for your power spike at 6." You're mad you died, right? Now, this Elise has the nerve to give you advice? How dare she, right? Wrong. There is nothing aggressive or even passive-aggressive in that statement, and you shouldn't respond negatively to her when she tries to help you out. "Oh well, she should've been there to prevent the kill." No, no, no; you died in your lane against your lane opponent because you were too disrespectful of the other player and their champion. That is not the Elise's fault that you died, but it is her concern because you being 0-3 is a lot worse than you being 1-1. The Elise wants to win, just like you do. She wants the good feeling of being X rank, just like you do. You have 4 people on your team who want to win too, and in order for them to win, you need to be worth something, even if it's nothing more than a bullet-sponge or a CC bot. When someone tries to help you, don't be a jerk; you don't help anything by getting mad at someone else for your mistake. Further, if they flame you, don't flame them back; all you do is encourage the negativity and it puts you further on tilt than you already were.

• Don't get baited by FOTM or counter-picking if you're not good at the champion. Stick to what you're good at.

It almost never fails that, at least once a day, I get someone who doesn't play X champion, but picks them because they're OP or they counter someone on the other team; hell, I've been baited into it plenty of times. But here's the thing: you're much more useful on Rumble, who you have M7 on rather than Cho'Gath, a champion that you've played a grand total of twice. If you counter pick, accept the possibility that you're going against an Irelia who knows exactly how to play against your Pantheon. There's a lot more to a game of League than laning phase.

• Don't ever stop improving

If you want to climb the ladder, you have to be better than the other player, or you at least need to know how to get carried. Never stop thinking ways to step up your game. Your warding game isn't so hot? Make a note to keep at least 1 ward on the map at all times every game or grab a control ward every time you back instead of that 3rd pot. Having a hard time laning against Darius? Ask someone who mains Darius what to do, practice other champions, make a custom with a friend who plays Darius and practice the lane, or look up tips on one of the 10 or so sites that have advice for League. Can't get good CS? Make yourself a custom and just practice last hitting and wave manipulation, learn how to freeze and get CS while poking and trading with your lane opponent. Not good at predicting the jungler? Ask question, think about what the jungle matchup is, who is stronger at what point, and what you would do in your opponent's shoes. Giving first blood in lane a lot? Consider being more passive in matchups that don't favor you, or if they do favor you, try to not get carried away.

There's a million different ways to better your game, and that's something that always needs to be happening for you to get better. If you have questions, I'm here to offer what I can. I'm no diamond player, but I want people to get better at League.

You can do it. I promise. Thanks for reading.