First Ranked Match of the Season
and i lost :(
Im not blaming any specific people on my team for the loss, we all had our moments, but there are a few things i wanted to note here for other people. Note: Im not very good at the game and im Silver for a reason (although i guess now im 'unranked') but i think these are still valid and obvious points
- Pay attention to the mini-map: Im not asking for you to be glued to it but at least pay enough attention to know when a gank is coming for either side. If you see an enemy on the minimap, specially the jungler ping so as to get the attention of your teammates. Listen to the pings of others, if they say danger assume they saw something you didnt.
- React to what your teammates are doing: This is specifically Support and Marksmen, but it fits all roles. The Marksmen is not a lone wolf role and the Support is not your pet, you are partners act like it. When the support lands CC on both of them, try to get at least a hit off. Ping when you are ready to go in or make it clear that you are going to go in if situation X happens. When your jungler comes to gank try an land your CC so that their CC or Damage can get in there. Marksmen do not use this as an excuse to farm, go in with your jungler and support unless you are really close to dying.
- Vision is one of the most important tools for winning: Everyone should be buying wards and everyone should have at least 1 Vision Ward. It is not the Supports job to cover the entire map. If you see the Support doesnt have their ward, then it is up to you to ward what you want warded. This also ties into Pay attention to the mini-map more wards means you can see them on the mini-map and react faster. If you do not have vision in a part of the map, try to avoid that spot until you are sure of most if not all of their teams positions.
- Teamfights are important: If you see your team is not winning teamfights without you, stop going off alone. Sometimes it cant be helped that the team engages, it can be helped that you are always away from your team. During teamfights, focus their carries if you are a damage dealer and peel for your carries if you are a Support or CC Tank. Placement in a teamfight is important, dont jump in there and blame your team for not protecting you, if we cant reach you then you made a mistake going in.
- Dragon is important: Farming is a crucial part of the game, but it does not take precedence over getting Dragon before the enemy team, unless of course you are too far from your team to be of any help. Vision of Dragon is just as important as taking it, you know when the enemy is taking it and when it will be back up if they get it. Try to make sure you have vision of the entire area surrounding Dragon before taking it, this ties into Vision but i think it fits here more.
- Do not get caught out: Even the most fed of the fed champions can be killed if they are caught out. Not only do you give them a kill, but you put your team in a 4v5 situation and you might lose more then just your life. If you are going to go into enemy jungle make sure you know where their team is and have decent vision of the surrounding area.
- Ganking a lane: Im not a good jungler but it does irritate me when the Jungler ganks when i have no mana or have too low of life to be of any use. If you see that the lane is too low on resources to fight with you, then an all in gank is probably not the best solution unless you are confident you can take them by yourself. If there is a large minion wave pushed to my turret then it is going to be troublesome for me to help you when they run. Not only will i be taking minion aggro but running through them will also slow me down. If you ping to go in, then you should go in, if you change your mind ping for them to back off so they know not to go in anymore. On the flip side, if you see your jungler coming to gank, get ready to go all in with them, save your abilities and try to land CC to make it so they cant run when the jungler gets there. If they ping to go in, then that is a sign they are ready, go in. If they ping for you to back off, then back off unless you are 100% confident you can take them.
- Split-pushing: Very important and valid strategy, if you just won a small teamfight and know they can fight back, try to push down several lanes. Try to buy time for split-push champions, if you can hold off their team long enough your teammate might get several towers or two. Do not split push if you see the enemy team pushing down your base turrets unless you are at their nexus turrets and capable of destroying faster then them. Your team needs your help to defend and that comes before getting 1 outer turret, specially if they are taking an inhib and dont plan on stopping.
- Have fun and never give up: Giving up first blood does not mean GG, being 20 kills behind does not mean GG, getting Aced does not mean GG. It all depends on what you do after giving up FB, how you change your playstyle when 20 kills down, what you take after being Aced. Its only GG when you give up or when they take your Nexus. There is a huge misunderstanding about Ranked and that is that Ranked isnt meant for fun, it is meant to be super competitive. Well that is half true, Ranked is meant to be competitive, but its meant for those who think its fun to play competitively. The fun of Ranked is going up the ladders, improving, fighting someone who is trying their hardest to win. That is what Ranked is, it is suppose to be fun. Its just not Normals do whatever you think is fun kind of fun though, it is a fun for those who have fun trying their hardest against like-wise people, whether they lose or win. Yeah it sucks to lose, but if you get mad over it and stay mad then you have lost the meaning of playing.
Sorry about the long post, i played a game and lost. Im not mad about it, just sad because i saw 5 people playing solo instead of as a team. They werent paying attention, they werent cooperating, they gave up early one, and they did not seem to have fun. The only person trying to communicate and coordinate was our jungler Amumu. He wasnt demanding, he wasnt salty, he wasnt mean, he acknowledged his own mistakes, and didnt rage over others mistakes. He turned a complete stomp into an actual game at one point, but then we slowly stopped cooperating again and ended up being stomped at the end. This post is just me trying to let off a bit of frustration that we couldnt cooperate or that it didnt seem like some of us were paying full attention to the game. It helps me to try and turn my losses into a learning device for me and others.
if you have anything to add or would like to correct me then please a comment below.
EDIT: Second Ranked Match of the Season lol ill win one of these days :) I actually just feel bad for that Lissandra, he had really good mechanics and was carrying us in teamfights for the most part. I beat Gnar in Top lane and thats all im happy about :D
