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The one thing you always forget that holds you back from climbing the ladder

FeelingBlack·6/29/2015, 1:41:36 PM·22 votes·3,394 views

As a player who watches challenger streams and youtube videoes to educate myself in league of legends, i've figured out one of the most important tips to climb the ladder. I am a diamond 4 player, who mains jungle/adc. And i just climbed from diamond 5 to diamond 4 with this simple tip. I just had to take it into my gameplay, which means that i practiced this in normal games. When i got it right, i played the playstyle in my ranked games and then i found myself climbing easily from diamond 5 to diamond 4 and im still going.

Ingame time: 00:00 - 07:00 When i gank and get a kill, i dont usually go for a tower, because it's too early and towers take 30 reduced auto attack damage before 7 mins ingame, instead i deny the enemy some minions, by shoving the lane (meaning i push and let my minions die at their tower). After i shove, i want to force dragon , therefore i dont early gank top unless it's a free kill, because i can't get from toplane to dragon, it's too far away. Also in a high-ish elo, the enemy team will force dragon if possible if they see a top gank.

Ingame time: 07:00 - ever after I will be level 6 as a jungler at this point, and i will force kills with my ult somewhere on the map, since i main rengar it's pretty easy. After the kill i will ping the enemy tower and kill it. If my laner pings me back from the tower, i wont kill it. By doing this you will put yourself in a very good position, since towes gives your whole team gold, which builds up to a lead, and when you get a lead you can keep getting stronger and stronger and eventually win the game.

Lategame i will force 5 dragons, i will get my first dragon pretty early, by: keeping my mapawareness and force dragon, if i see their jungler gank top. I will force dragon if i gank mid/bot and get a kill, if i see their botlane recall, and my bot is still in lane. You can force dragon as ANY role, even as a toplaner i will ping dragon if i see their botlane back, just keep your mapawareness up, and you will be able to force objectives and hold your lead. After your first dragon, you want to force it everytime it spawns, because it will soon become your 5th dragon and you will win that way.

I have many friends who play this game, but they are all low elo though, and i can surely see why. They will recall after getting a kill, instead of forcing objectives, they will get ganked even though they warded, because they lack mapawareness, they will flame their team, instead of learning from their mistakes, they will say "omg what a tryhard botlane" instead of actually playing the matchup; Lets say it's a Graves /Sona againts Ezreal /Nami , ezreal and nami might say "omg what a tryhard botlane" and then they will force dumb fights. Ezreal and nami should poke and disengage, when the enemy botlane tries to engage. They will NOT see their mistakes either and they will just keep saying that the enemy team are tryharding in normal games.

How to learn from your mistakes: First off, you've got admit that other players are better than you, dont EVER say "omg that guy was so lucky", because you could ALMOST always have played that situation better in some way that could have prevented your enemy from escaping with 5 hp. The way i learn from my mistakes is i will think about what i could have done, to prevent some of my deaths, or what i should have done in given situations. When i gank toplane i will look more on the map, than on the enemy toplaner, because i need to make sure that their team aren't doing dragon. I could tell my support to ward dragon before i gank top, but that is not needed, their jungler will not solo dragon unless they're udyr, vi or fiddlesticks, if they are: i will tell my support to ward dragon. And if something goes wrong, i will ask myself like "Why did i gank top when my botlane just backed, the enemy team just forced dragon" and then i will come up with this answer "don't gank top if you're botlane aren't on their lane, because their team will just force dragon".

TL;DR You need to take objectives after every gank, like dragon or towers, and don't forget to shove every lane you gank, because you need to build up a lead that will help you win a game. Before you gank a lane you've got to make sure that you have mapawareness to see what is happening around the map, because the enemy might be looking for an opportunity to take an objective, while you're ganking.

Streams i watch for educational purposes: Wingsofdeath, Nightblue3, Valkrin. Youtubers i subscribe to for educational puposes: Pants are dragon, Valkrin, Redmercy, Gbay99, Nightblue3.

EDIT: You need a well sat up mindset before going into a game. Before every game i play, i will think of previous mistakes i've made and learnt from, and that will motivate me to perform A LOT better when playing. And i will definitely mute ANYONE that flames me in ANY way in the game. I'm can't learn from most mistakes when getting flamed, it will demotivate me when i get flamed, but i will remotivate myself afterwards by thinking of previous mistakes once again. Also don't note in chat that you're muting people, that will just demotivate your teammates a little bit, which would be sad.

33 Comments

ZergReap6/29/2015, 3:04:18 PM4 votes

Jungilng is the hardest role, but also the most important in my opinion. I fill, pref no jungle most of the time because I just never really practiced it for game after game like every other role. Admitting people are better than you is necessary if you want to improve except there's no need to be afraid of going vs. better players. If you are fearful chances are you will probably not win even if you had a chance. People who want to honestly improve, and not just get the shiny victorious skin/border, need to get themselves in a mentality of learning; not winning or losing.

Dr Poro6/29/2015, 3:19:50 PM2 votes

As a jungler... When do you switch to the lens trinket and when do you upgrade it? I often find myself holding the ward trinket for way too long because I forget to switch it when I B. When I want to set up a drake, I can't because I can't clear wards. I usually do it at lvl 9, but thats probably too late. Should I swap as soon as the enemy support has a sightstone? Also, should I upgrade at lvl 9 asap or later when you can afford to spend the money better?

Ethri6/29/2015, 10:45:23 PM2 votes

I just find this game annoying when you know all your mistakes and you keep making them without knowing how to fix them. Some examples:

  1. Canceling auto attacks before they go off... or not recognizing skill shots being fired at you to dodge them while autoing someone.
  2. Lapses in map awareness and recognizing missing enemy threats. (Like you mentioned, getting ganked through wards)
  3. Tunnel vision onto an ally to help them from a threat while not recognizing more direct threat to you. (ex. going up to use Lulu ult on someone getting ulted by Kat, but not realizing you walked into melee range of a Nasus)
  4. Using targeted spells on the wrong person even though you were trying to use them on someone else.
  5. Understanding the positioning of everyone in a team fight when the fight occurs in the jungle.

(Note: Support main)

Spacesuit Spiff6/29/2015, 5:43:49 PM2 votes

Shame that even in diamond, and especially during the summer, laners will throw a fit and go afk if you touch their wave as jungler. The rest is good advice though.

Randomonium6/29/2015, 8:38:31 PM2 votes

All fantastic advice. I'd like to add a few more:

If the enemy team is set up to take an objective and you can't contest it or will most likely die if you do contest it, try to take an objective of theirs on the other side of the map. For example, if they get a kill bot lane and force the tower or a dragon, instead of engaging in a 4v5 team fight that you will most likely lose take top tower and try to equalize the gold disparity instead.

The most common mistake I see from teams is overstaying. They'll win a great team fight and get a tower or two but they won't retreat before the enemy team respawns and they'll wind up giving kills (and subsequently objectives) back to the other team.

I've also noticed that teams won't steal jungle camps or get jungle wards down as they retreat. Wards in the enemy jungle are crucial in the mid and late game for objective control and rotations. Also, denying their jungler farm handicaps their team even more for their mistakes.

You're 100% right though, most games are won because you consistently build on small advantage after small advantage, eventually turning all those small advantages into a huge one that can allow you to win those critical mid to late game team fights.

At my team's request I've started doing instructional videos on our team games. We have plats and diamonds on our team that say my analysis is on point but I'd love to get some outside opinions on them. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2EZm50wNGmfJal7IHM_b8Q

H0riz0n2346/29/2015, 9:43:18 PM2 votes

This would help if bronze players would actually communicate and listen instead of raging or just taking risks all the time which result in feeding the enemy players.

FeelingBlack6/29/2015, 1:41:31 PM1 votes

I hope you find this helpful in any way.

oreosauce6/30/2015, 10:12:11 PM1 votes

I feel like the most demotivating thing is when you're in champ select and someone on your team says some bull like "we NEED to win" or "I'm in promos so we better not lose" because it just really makes you uncomfortable. It's like putting early blame on someone-- if we lose, it'll end up automatically being your fault because they told you you couldn't lose and the fact that you lost makes it not their fault at all but yours. Whenever i play league, I play just to enjoy myself and have a bit of fun and honestly, I've stopped playing ranked because it's just not fun when you get flamed for giving criticism or people automatically rant about you in all chat for making one mistake. I spend most of my time watching streams (like TheOddOne's because he's very informative) and LCS games and try stuff out that I see there.

T RexHasTinyArms6/29/2015, 9:39:35 PM1 votes

I find that I went up from bronze to silver pretty easy by just learning my damage well and getting good at killing people early without dying then building the lead.

Then from silver to gold I had to work on not dying to people when they were picking the fight and not just when I was (ie reading when I was going to get ganked better or when they could dive/burst me, rather than what I needed to dive them). Also I worked on pressuring and map awareness more.

Now in gold it seems to be trading better because people trade more so poor trades are worse for you because they are more frequent,and making "thin value" calls correctly. For instance when trading tower for dragon is worth it and when it isn't, or when it is worth dying to stop an objective or keep people from backing, or when it is worth spending a big cool down for 1 kill to force something with a 4v5 even though you will be weaker in 5v5s for a while after.

I think learning each part has helped me be able to do the stuff you mention, because if I can't get the basics down to have an advantage I can't learn to transition an advantage into a team lead into a win.

AyRe CoNteMpT6/29/2015, 10:17:12 PM1 votes

im really curious if/when you will drop back to d5, but i guess everyone can be diamond in season 5

Partholonian6/29/2015, 11:27:30 PM1 votes

Good points, I just want to respond to this one:

And if something goes wrong, i will ask myself like "Why did i gank top when my botlane just backed, the enemy team just forced dragon" and then i will come up with this answer "don't gank top if you're botlane aren't on their lane, because their team will just force dragon".

Wouldn't a simpler rule be "don't gank top if dragon is alive, or will be alive within the next minute"? That's why toplane is an island, because showing your face there can be tantamount to conceding a dragon.

That's the thing that most often annoys me about junglers on my team, when I'm mid or bot and see what looks to me like a good opportunity to do dragon and the jungler is on the complete other side of the map. Really? It's the only big objective for the first half of the game that jungle items and smite work on. Show up for it.

terkmc6/30/2015, 6:56:45 AM1 votes

Wards. I'm a baller laner and jungler that wins lane 70% the time, but in my focus on mechanic I almost always forget about wards. Kda: 20/3/12 Wards placed: 2

What Is Smite6/30/2015, 9:52:14 AM1 votes

As a Fiora main I sometimes get matched with higher elo player than me in normals, so whenever I get a chance to "trade wounds" with higher elo to learn something new I jump at the chance since it also lets me gauge where I am with my Main Champion in terms of skill, reaction time, and flexibility for lane matches.