How to ACTUALLY go from Bronze to Challenger in 2-4 Years or Less

Many of us watch the NA LCS or Worlds and think "Wouldn't it be cool if I could be part of that?" or "What make them so different from me? I have been playing League since it came out and I'm still only Gold...."

Well, I can tell you how it's done. Most of the professional players you see now started playing LOL as early as late 2009/early 2010 (, They have been playing for at east 6-8 years, putting in 5-7 days a week at 10-12 hours per day. If you do the math, that's roughly 25,000+ hours they have invested in this game. That's just playing time, that doesn't include the time spent reading about builds, counters, micro-strategy, watching replays/VODS and analyzing games.

So that's just the starting point, once you have those mechanical skills perfected, that uncontested game knowledge and unrelenting ambition and drive to go professional, you need something else... Arguably the most important aspect, which is time spent playing with pre-made teams and against pre-made teams, after all this is a TEAM based game. Now how did the pros get to where they are today? They took every opportunity they could to play in LAN tournaments, online tournaments and leagues (structured/unstructured), they were always playing team matches on top of grinding it out in SoloQ.

Have you ever heard the adage if you want to improve you need to surround yourself with people that are better than you? It's true, their skills and knowledge will rub off on you and drive you to improve as a player. Playing endless hours of SoloQ isn't enough, for those that are serious about improving their game play, you need to start playing in Bronze/Silver/Gold Leagues (such as DuoeSports or Dark Star Gaming), play in as many as you can, once you've mastered the BSG scene, move on up to Platinum tier leagues (such as the ABL Series) and then work up your way up from there. Here is what the road from Bronze to Pro looks like:

• Bronze/Silver/Gold Leagues (DuoeSports, Dark Star Gaming) - 2,000 hours played to get here
• Gold/Platinum Leagues (ABL Series) - 8,000 hours played to get here
• Diamond/Master Leagues (uLOL Campus Series) - 10k-15k hours played to get here
• Challenger League (Riot's Challenger Series ) - 20, 000 hours played to get here
• NA LCS - 25,000+ hours played to get here

Now these are just a rough idea of what it takes to go professional and the commitment required, there will always be exceptions, such as a player who is still Bronze after investing 25,000+ hours in this game or a professional player who started playing in Season 4. You have to practice smart as well as hard, always ask yourself what could I have done differently in the previous game, how can I improve? Watch your replays of winning and losing matches, analyze specific lane match ups and team fight positioning.

If anyone is interested in how to start their journey and improve their game play send me a message or drop a comment here, happy to help! :)