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Improving as a player beyond my current level

Squirvizard·11/7/2014, 4:57:54 AM·1 votes·1,165 views

Hey, I've been playing League for over a year now, since late Season 3. I am Gold 4 and main can play every role but top, however, I prioritize Mid and ADC. I went on a ranked hiatus around the middle of Season 4, climbing from Silver all the way to Gold. It felt great, but now I'm stuck at my current skill level. I think my mechanics are good, but there's always room for improvements. You can only improve your mechanics by practice, and focusing on that specific mechanic. If anything I think they'd be at least say, high gold to low plat if anything, but that's just me. I don't really know what level to put my mechanics on, and sometimes it can fluctuate depending on my mood.

So my question is, how do I improve beyond my current skill level? How do I pin-point my weaknesses or mistakes so I can improve or correct them? I'd like some insight on what I should do to improve myself, whether it be my mindset, or how to improve in certain aspects of the game.

One of my main concerns is game knowledge. What makes the difference between high level game knowledge, and sub-par game knowledge?

I'd like an example so I can get an idea of where I'm at, and what I should try to aim for. I know some general stuff I picked up on from watching videos, such as taking dragon when the Jungler is top, building situationally such as Seekers when say, vs a Zed as Twisted Fate. This is just basic, general knowledge though. I don't think it's enough.

I also know lane momentum, just thought I'd throw that in there.

Do I have to have a specific mindset to improve? If so, what kind of mindset would that be, and how do I utilize it?

I always hear that you have to have a drive to improve beyond your limit, and that was the basis for when I first started playing League, but it was only the basics, such as mechanics, creep score, the easy stuff. But now it's just a matter of figuring out what I need to do to improve beyond my current limit. I just play and hope I improve, but it doesn't seem to work beyond this point and I can't figure out what to do next. I'm not sure how to pin-point my weaknesses.

It's really late, I might post some more later if I come up with any more questions. I think I might have some in mind, but I'll have to pick it up tomorrow if I decide to go with it. I'd appreciate any feedback you guys have, thank you! <3

3 Comments

ZileanUltedJesus11/7/2014, 7:24:39 PM3 votes

In regards to the mindset, knowing that how you are playing is vastly different from how a high ranked player would play the same situation is important. You need to step out of your comfort zone and think completely different about how you approach the rift. How you are playing worked in silver but it will no longer cut it at your new ranking. Dont fall into patterns you have and muscle memory. Start playing differently then you would normally play. This should be very uncomfortable and make you feel uneasy but try not to fall back into your comfort zone, stay uncomfortable because its how you improve. If you dont feel uncomfortable with how youre playing, while youre playing, then you didnt change enough.

For example, when i play against people around your ranking i know that over-aggression works really well for me. Generally speaking, my mechanics are better than theirs(as you judge yours are). Meaning simply, i can do more damage than them 1v1. Knowing this, i constantly try to provoke trades and confrontation. Knowing your damage output as well as the enemy laners is vital. I may drop to 100-300hp after killing someone, but i knew this. My brain was 'calculating' this. I feel many newer players feel uncomfortable and fear dropping too low so generally avoid lots of trades and confrontations and back away from kills they could have gotten. This fear stems from not fully understanding your enemy laners cooldowns, spells, and damage. If i get chunked by say, a lux combo, im not gonna back off and mull over my lowered hp bar. Im thinking "OK, she can do nothing but auto attack now for upwards of 10 seconds! ill go put some hurt on her." Using windows of opportunities like this is a key concept for winning your lane. After killing someone your ability to kill them again increases, you should now look for even more trades and confrontation. Many players, after i have killed them once or multiple times, will try to trade with me in the same way they were when we were even in strength. But the fact of the matter is, the game has changed. im stronger. He has to back off from me or he will die again.

On the reverse end, if im playing against somebody better than me or someone who has some sort of advantage, i will avoid trades the best i can and sometimes completely ignore them and aim for really high farm or other opportunities. Understanding when your enemy laner can kill you brings up the same points as the last paragraph and is just as important---------------- For example, a tf versus a fizz matchup, me being tf. I may try to outplay the fizz early on but if i mess up and die one time my play style immediately changes drastically to more passive play(assuming this fizz is of equal skill as me). Let's say i was playing passive but get ganked and die again. When i get back to lane im a level 7 weaker-item TF vs a level 9 strong-item fizz. At this point, under no circumstance will i ever position myself in range of his shark unless i am under a tower. Im 0-2-0 and my sole goal in this game at the moment is to not go 0-3-0. I will play extremely conservatively avoiding fizz even if it means getting 0 cs. Too many times i have played as an aggressive champ like fizz against a weaker player and killed them over and over. Everytime i am saying to myself 'what is he thinking? doesnt he realize ive become too strong for him? why does he keep getting in range of me? why wont he change how hes playing?'

Both of these examples at their core are the ability to adapt. The rift is ever changing minute by minute and you need to be adapting too. You need to know which champs win which matchups(not in general but in this game youre playing, right now), you need to know which champ has a big gold advantage and which is the weakest. Minimizing mistakes and adapting to the situation are very important concepts to go from being a good player to a great one.

hh the thinker11/7/2014, 5:43:46 AM1 votes

So my question is, how do I improve beyond my current skill level? How do I pin-point my weaknesses or mistakes so I can improve or correct them? I'd like some insight on what I should do to improve myself, whether it be my mindset, or how to improve in certain aspects of the game. recording your games can help, you can check for every time you die, every time you miss cs and every time you could have dealt free damage, and other things.

One of my main concerns is game knowledge. What makes the difference between high level game knowledge, and sub-par game knowledge?

I would consider ok game knowledge knowing that you can reset your autos with some abilities such as vayne's Q and knowing shiv is better early game because of the proc and it's cheaper, but PD is stronger later. high level game knowledge I harder to define, but I guess it might be as simple as knowing that when fighting riven with tryn, spin away from her third knockup to help win fights by a lot or something rarer like how to cause the minion wave to push towards you at level 1 so you don't get zoned vs a stronger lane or to zone the other lane if you are stronger.

Do I have to have a specific mindset to improve? If so, what kind of mindset would that be, and how do I utilize it?

I always hear that you have to have a drive to improve beyond your limit, and that was the basis for when I first started playing League, but it was only the basics, such as mechanics, creep score, the easy stuff. But now it's just a matter of figuring out what I need to do to improve beyond my current limit. I just play and hope I improve, but it doesn't seem to work beyond this point and I can't figure out what to do next. I'm not sure how to pin-point my weaknesses.

it's hard to say since I haven't seen you play, but there is always more. I'm not sure if this helps you, but I hope it will.