Stuck in your League? - I can help!

Edit Last Updated 10/07/13 - Wow! A couple Riot posts! Really appreciate the feedback community. I will do my best to keep this updated and answering all of your questions. I do a lot of streaming on a fairly regular basis so if you want quick answers to your questions or a duo game to help you improve I am more than happy to do so. Thanks for making this thread a success!

100+ Upvotes!!! Thanks everyone!!!

Stream Status - Online Normal - 2230cst to 04:00cst Forum Status - Online Stream - www.twitch.tv/crayociraptor NEW Guide to Season 4 - http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com....php?t=4029976

One of the most common discussion points on these forums seems to be about players and their struggles moving up in ranked. I'm here to personally assist you.

I'm not some uber player but I am Diamond and also just recently raised my third account to platinum. This isn't meant as some bragging point but I believe it shows this game is about consistency and not luck. So in this thread I will try to help as many people as possible and get you where you want to be.

**IGN **- Tigatron (Currently my main and highest ranked account) Diamond 5 and Crayociraptor Diamond 5.

Example of how following the bottom principles can affect your game. All games are at Plat 1. Won 10 of 11, only loss was from an AFK at start of game Revive/TP Nocturne. Some games easy wins, some games hard to win, many filled with negativity. But ultimately consistent play, good attitudes, and solid leadership netted me Plat 4 - Plat 1 in a week. - http://imgur.com/xNl5qXM

What is the most important quality to have when trying to improve your rank? Consistency - I don't just mean how you play the game mechanically, but how you conduct yourself in champ select and during the game socially. Winning your lane isn't enough. It is important for sure, but you need to make sure you are consistent in all aspects of your game. It starts with doing well in your lane as players will be more open to listening to your calls...but that is only one piece to a very large and complex puzzle. There are a lot of other subtleties that are major contributing factors in winning a game. Here is a breakdown of what I believe those to be.

Knowledge - There are a lot of players who are stuck in their division, not because of lack of skill or mechanics, but their overall lack of game knowledge. Team comp, Objective Control, Bans, Counter Picks, Situation Builds, or overall Champion Knowledge. All of these are big factors in learning league of legends and taking your game to the next level. League has a plethora of knowledge to be learned and only through studying/experience will you fully understand why a certain call will be made, where you need to position yourself, or why an opponent is reacting in specific way. Is the team out of position? Should we do Baron? What risk factors are involved and is that risk deemed reasonable? Where should I be standing to DPS Baron? Are my tanks set up to peel? Escape routes? Where is the enemy going to approach and engage on us from and can we counter? Enemy movement...does it show curiosity? aggression? unknown? There are so many questions that go into every fight scenario within league. Working up on your overall understanding of the game can take you from a very mediocre player to a superstar. Everyone has something to learn or improve on. Analyze your opponent, analyze yourself, and continue to improve on your own individual technique/leadership.

Champion Select - Be courteous and work with others to make this process enjoyable. 95% of the time if you go in there with the mindset of teamwork and don't be a jerk about your preference you will get exactly what you want. I usually start off with saying "I prefer to play top lane, it is my best role at contributing to the team." Those words are chosen carefully, notice I don't use the word carry as it sometimes may be taken negatively or set up false expectations of the game. I didn't say going top and leave it at that because almost every time someone else will want that role and it may cause conflict. It is ok to research your team with tools such as lolking but do so for positive reasons. For example we will two people both want the role of mid, you be the mediator. Person A is great at mid but mediocre at best in other roles. Person B is great at mid too but you notice their support stats are pretty tremendous as well. Politely state something along the lines of "Person B, your stats are pretty awesome at support, do you mind letting Person A go mid and helping us out? Person A isn't as good at that role as you." I have almost never had a negative experience when I am positive and get the team to work together. Yes, you will run into situations where someone is stubborn and refuses to play anything other than what they want. But this should be rare if you are taking on the role of leader and facilitating a positive champion selection. Remember call order is nice in letting people know what you are good at but when all is said and done you should always respect the pick order.

Mechanics - Always pick a champion you are mechanically sound in and confident you will contribute positively during the game. If the goal is to move up, you shouldn't be trying new things in ranked. Stick to what you are good at, even if that pool is very small. If you are REALLY good at a specific role or champion, counter picks will mean very little if you truly belong higher than where you are currently at. Winning your lane isn't everything, but it sets a good tone for your leadership and ability to impact that game. If you find yourself in a situation where you are falling behind, ensure you are still able to at the very least keep up with farm. You want to eventually be able to make a contribution to the game, you're going to need gold to do so. Keep farming, keep limiting your negative impacts, and do your best to influence teams positively and help them focus global objectives. You WILL have tons of games where all lanes are losing, this doesn't have to be a loss for you. Find a way to work together, secure a couple objectives and small team fights. BAM! simple as that you can be back in it!

Leadership - You should of made a good start on this during champion select. If you facilitated a great selection you've already started building up your team's ability to work together. Care for this throughout the game. Always remember that some games will not start out well and you may have to work your way back in it. Do not let negativity dominate your team, you need to squash any of that immediately. You can't always prevent it or keep it from continuing but if you are encouraging your team any time a negative play happens it will usually lead to success. If bot lane dies right off the bat and your jungler starts complaining about how trash those kids are, explain "everyone has rough starts. Bot, try to limit the deaths, keep farming, and we'll get back in this when team fights happen." You've addressed the negativity, encouraged the struggling team mates, and at the same time let them know look, we know bad things happen, but just try to limit it. If you are doing well mechanically and winning you lane/making good early calls you team will be more open to the perceived "risky" calls you may be making later on. If YOU are doing poorly, admit your faults and ask for your team's patience and you'll get back on track. If you need help go ahead and ask for it but make sure you aren't doing so in a way that doesn't come off negative. You noticing a pattern yet? Positivity....negativity...both affect your game in massive ways, which one would you prefer?

**Strategy **- You can't expect to be a good leader if you aren't a good strategist. Identify both team's individual player strengths/weaknesses and start the game off with a plan. For example, if I look up my bot lane and notice both of them are weak in those roles I will try to keep the enemy jungler/mid roam focus on my lane and ask our own jungler to focus his efforts on mid/bot/objectives unless otherwise asked. Then during the laning phase I will put myself into positions that consistently bait jungler/mid to focus my lane often. Sometimes this may lead to deaths or you being behind a bit but as long as your overall goal of strengthening your other lanes is accomplished you are doing your job. It may even lead to a massive advantage for you if you end up out playing the enemy team. If you know it is a perfect time to push a tower, take a dragon, or force a baron be able to communicate that to your team effectively. A personal example is I tend to force Baron in A LOT of situations that may seem extremely risky. Many of my teams voice concerns but I can reassure them with my quick rationalization and get them to commit. Your window of communication to action is very small because of how quickly situations can change in this game. If you have been fostering teamwork from champ select on getting your team to execute together will be much quicker.

**Negativity **- I've been addressing this subject in each section above but this is the single most important thing you need to be consistent about. Do not let negativity define your team. It is going to happen in the majority of your games, you can't stop it, but you can MANAGE it. Sometimes it takes a lot more effort than others, you have a player who insists his jungler is horrible and does nothing but make bad calls. Defuse the situation even if you have to go as far as saying "even if he truly is horrible, being so negative about it won't help. So let us try being positive and help (carry even) him out instead of bash him." Bad plays, bad calls, bad attitudes are going to happen in every single game you play. The reason is typically becomes a loss is because you let that negativity escalate to a level that negatively impacted the outcome of your game. These games are going to happen, sometimes the level of negativity will be over 9000, and at that point it might be a good idea to surrender and move on to the next, hopefully better experience. I rarely ever surrender but if I have a team who is more focus on making each other lose it is time to move on. Report who needs to be reported and move on to the next game. Short term memory is extremely important in these situations. Once in a while you might get the same toxic person, lets hope this game we can influence him positively.

**Trolls, Feeders, and AFKs **- You experience this at about equal rates in all levels of play, it is part of the game. You can ask my friends who duo with me, when it comes to team mates I have some of the worst luck imaginable. Yet I still made Platinum on this account in a week. You can limit all of the above by being consistent in your play, leadership, and attitude towards the game. There are very few individuals who are out there who are just trying to ruin other's games. However, there are a large amount of players who turn to this when their team is nothing but a negative environment. Not many people want to bother even trying to win after a team implodes and it just gets worse. So do everything listed about and be consistent about it and you will limit the amount of these in your game. I've seen a lot of "feeders" who ended up carrying games once their team stopped dumping on them and started supporting them.

Stop Typing - Even if you are being positive ANY amount of time spent typing is time spent not focusing on the game. You need to spend as little time as possible typing to anybody. If you can effectively communicate through pings, movement, and other means you should do so. If you HAVE to type make sure the things you say bring actual value and are very brief. You don't want to say anything that will bait others to respond as now you are having them waste time responding to you. Now THEY are not focusing on last hitting, map awareness, and all the important things going on in the game. You want the most attention to be focused on what is going on in the game...not what is going on in the chat. Being positive doesn't always mean typing things in chat to keep people motivated. Actions are far more meaningful than words so make those positive impacts and people will be more open to your leadership/play calling.

**My Closing Thoughts **- Lets Talk About Y-O-U!!! - Remember when you guys are playing this game the only consistent factor in your wins and losses is...wait for it....oh its YOU! Be excited about you, why? You're freaking awesome. Or at the very least want to be. So strive to be polite, consistent, helpful, and overall just a really good league player. Lead your team to victory, ignore the trolls, at least attempt to allow them to change their ways while remaining positive, and HAVE FUN no matter the circumstances!!! Does getting upset, raging, and making someone quit a game make you feel better? IT DOES?? oh well me too. But the problem is that doesn't contribute positively to your team. It makes you feel good sure, but what could you say differently that won't enrage your team or bait counter arguments? You should use few, non accusatory words to correct mistakes, keep it simple, and move on. Don't let the momentum/hype of a good game make you cocky the next or a negative game put you on tilt. You play more consistent the more fun you are having. Don't play on tilt. Calm down. Get ready. Move on to the next one. You need to develop a short term memory. Do these things on a regular basis and you will be on your way to #TeemoTown.

Q&A Please, feel free to add me in game, check out my stream, or just ask your questions/discuss the topic. My goal is to help you guys succeed and have a more enjoyable playing experience.

Personal info League Bio - I was gold in my first 2 seasons and just couldn't seem to crack platinum. I felt I played at that level, like many of you I have plat/diamond level friends I felt I could play with mechanically. I tried identifying what was holding me back, because I truly didn't feel it was my level of play. When a team mate did poorly, or a bad play happened, or anyone was negative I didn't do anything to help the situation. Often I was extremely negative, verbally abusive, and the majority of those games turned into a loss. There were times when our team as ahead and I would still criticize someone dying or find some way to bring the team down. I wasn't intentionally trying to make the team lose but that negativity could easily turn a winnable game into a loss. Don't be that guy. The second I changed this attitude I consistently moved up in rank and got to plat 2 with relative ease. Other players most likely aren't the ones holding you back from success, you can only change yourself and try to positively influence each game you're in.

If you like the Thread/Stream please give it a thumbs up! I appreciate your time and hope this is useful, any feedback/discussion is welcome.

My Champion Guide - Updated 10/06/13 Teemo - http://www.lolking.net/guides/55297