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Keeping a Log to get out of Bronze

JudasX8 Silver·8/4/2015, 12:55:21 AM·7 votes·2,008 views

So I started keeping a log of my games, wins or loss and why and it looks like this:

8/2/2015

1st game. Last pick - Support - AFK - Lost 2nd game. Mid Orianna - Lost - Team 1v5 a lot, won lane

8/3/2015

1st game. Annie mid - won, most CS in game 2nd game. Ori mid - won, Highest CS, most Magic Damage, Most Assists 3nd game. Support Janna - won, Most Assists, S- Rank 4th game. Ori mid - AFK - lost 5th game. Ori mid - AFK - lost, Outplayed 6th game. Support Janna - won, Most Assists, shot caller, Mid carried, S- Rank

So do you guys think doing this will help me to get out of Bronze? Taking note of the times I lose matches and why should help at leased.

12 Comments

RiotRiot Koalifier8/4/2015, 1:53:52 AM18 votes

When I was trying to get from Plat to Diamond, I would track each of my games in a similar way. I'd suggest including specific details in every log and having one "actionable" improvement that you could make after each game. For example, instead of: "Ori mid - AFK - lost, Outplayed", you could put "Ori mid - lost, got behind in farm due to bad trades. Goal: improve trading with lane opponent without losing farm."

For my tracking, I would always put one thing that I did very well that game (because I want to keep doing that well) and one thing that I did poorly that I could improve on. Then I would try to do that one thing well in the next game too, as well as improving on what I was doing poorly. For example, you mentioned in a few of your logs that you had "highest CS" or "most magic damage", but that doesn't really remind you of why or how you got to that point. It might be better to expand on that a bit and put something like "got a lot of CS by avoiding trades and focusing on farm," or "got a ton of magic damage by focusing my skillshots on low MR targets." Generally I think that having "actionable" things that you're tracking instead of just general stats will help you figure out what you're doing well, and what you need to improve on.

I'd also suggest taking out the "afk" or "team xyz" tracking, since that doesn't really help you improve your own game, but dwells on things that are out of your control.

That's just my two cents, good luck on the climb ^.^

Zyvux8/4/2015, 2:42:14 AM3 votes

I'd say just keep track of which team has an afk(s), if any, each game, just for statistical purposes as to whether afks are truly common.

CasterGilgamesh8/4/2015, 3:43:16 AM2 votes

captain's log 8/2/2015

1st game. Last pick - Support - AFK - Lost 2nd game. Mid Orianna - Lost - Team 1v5 a lot, won lane

8/3/2015

1st game. Annie mid - won, most CS in game 2nd game. Ori mid - won, Highest CS, most Magic Damage, Most Assists 3nd game. Support Janna - won, Most Assists, S- Rank 4th game. Ori mid - AFK - lost 5th game. Ori mid - AFK - lost, Outplayed 6th game. Support Janna - won, Most Assists, shot caller, Mid carried, S- Rank will i ever make it out of elo hell that is all captian out

TouchpadExpert8/4/2015, 1:45:08 AM1 votes

I hope those AFKs are one of your teammates and not you...

Sovereign8/4/2015, 4:17:41 PM1 votes

Keeping a log? Interesting idea. I should start to keep one myself. I mostly keep a "mental log".

Anyway, I thought I'd also lend you a piece of advice or more. As someone who started in Bronze 2, dropped to Bronze 5 out of rage (yeah, I was a bit less smart in S2) and then climbed to Silver 3 in S3, Silver 1 in S4 and Gold 3 this season (Go me! I'm Gold 5 now, though; I swear one of these days I'll get to playing ranked again).

So, here's my first and (I think) most important piece of advice: Play the game. A LOT! Don't expect to climb the ladder in the minimum number of games possible. Don't make calculations like "oh, I'll just need 2 more wins to get to promos and then another 2 to promote", it will not happen. The best you can hope for is to make it in 10 games (maybe, maybe more). The idea is to play a lot and you'll eventually get better and hence higher on the ladder. I think I played some 150-200 games from Bronze 5 to Silver 5.

My second piece of advice: Listen to what Koalifier said. There's no reason to keep track of afks/trolls when losing. You will however benefit from looking a bit more in-depth at what you can improve and what you did good that you should keep doing.

My final piece of advice: Play anything. Be versatile. Don't just fulfill one role. Sure, it's good to have a position in which you know what you're doing. But you know what's even better than that? Knowing all roles/positions. Now, of course, I'm not ridiculous. You don't have to be an expert at everything, but at least be good enough that you won't lose one aspect of a lane, say CS, or K/D ratio, or maybe even vision control on your side of the map. I played more than half of my games in Bronze as a support. It's amazing what you can do with a role when you know it well. Especially when nobody wants to play that role, because that means that you know it better than your opponent who only took support because he was last pick.

I hope that this helps. Just a bit of advice from someone who has been where you are. It's not impossible to get out of "elo hell" (even if you play mainly support). Anyway, I wish you good luck in the games to come. ^_^

The12thman948/4/2015, 5:28:45 PM1 votes

I'm going to start doing this too.