So.. I just made it out of Bronze. PSA to my fellow Bronze.

After months of playing Bronze elo, I have finally gotten out and into Silver V! I know, it's just a fancy version of Bronze, but it's still an accomplishment in itself. This post is for the people who felt like they were constantly better than their teammates, and they didn't deserve to be in Bronze. After playing for a long time thinking I was the golden boy of every squad, I began to realize I lacked in a lot of areas still.

The first thing I realize when making it out of Bronze was my attitude. Usually I wouldn't say much all game, and would just focus on pings and expect my teammates to know what was going on. But I watched a couple guides online on how to improve your own gameplay, and one person said that staying positive and shot calling was the easiest way to start getting better results. Before every game, I started saying in picks/bans how we had a good team comp, and talked them up to boost moral. When we got into the game, I would give them reminders like, "Listen, if we get behind, don't worry. We have late game champs on our team, and as long as we play smart, we can easily win this. So lets play our game boys." Then most times, people would give a positive response. A couple times I've had bot lanes fighting with each other, and you just gotta put a stop to it fast and just say "You're fine". Then do what you can to get them back ahead with a roam or gank. Staying positive and being the friendly person started getting me better results, more comebacks and of course LP.

Second thing I realized was my creep score was terrible. After watching another guide, the guy said "2 waves of creep is roughly the equivalent to 1 kill, so getting all the creep is vital." And that is absolutely true, if you're "losing" lane by a kill or two, but you're ahead in CS by 50+, you're technically ahead of them in gold. So when you die early, and you think coming back to lane and playing super aggressive is going to balance the lane back out, you're sadly mistaken. Play the slow game, sure you're not "FED" yet, but you gotta to that point. Some games you will absolutely steamroll and be 6-0 at 15 minutes, but other games you might be 0-0 or 0-1 at 15 minutes. Focus more on creep than kills. The sooner you realize that the game is more than just getting assloads of kills, and put more focus on the objectives and CS, you will drastically see your game improve.

Third, and I know everybody has heard this a million times, but wards. The more you can see, the better off you can gauge what to do next. This is something I still don't do perfectly myself, but I try harder to get as much coverage as I can.

Fourth, PROPER BUILDS. I was spectating a game my buddy was in, and he had a Shyvanna top lane. The entire team was AD, and this Shyvanna was building a Spirit Visage first. I sent my buddy a message saying, "Why the hell is that Shyvanna building a visage vs a PURE AD team??". The dude apparently told him that "He was following Riot's build path for Shyvanna." A lot of people buy the same items every game, and that's okay in some instances, but there are situational items that could change, and should change, per game. Some items are just really good, but you need to focus on maximizing your potential when facing specific champs. For instance, when you're playing vs auto attack champs like Vayne, you want to build a Thornmail. Now if I am playing vs a Graves, that Thornmail would not be nearly as effective as it was vs the Vayne. Vayne relies heavily on just pure auto attacks, while Graves executes are skill shots. There are many specific items out there that you could build vs a lot of champs, so study up on builds and see what works best for each team comp. Also, for top lanes and ADC's, it is a heavy tank meta, which means a lot of HP. If you're playing an AA champ, please build Blade of the Ruined King.. I had an ADC who actually listened the other day and built it early, and absolutely destroyed Leona, Mundo and Hecarim in a game. Proper builds can change the entire game.

Fifth, picking a champ that you can play, not just a counter. I see this far too often when in champion select, and it rarely works out the way they think it would. League is not Pokemon, where statistically, some types are weaker versus others and there's no way around that sometimes. If you counter a champion in League, it is not guaranteeing that you have a higher chance of winning. If I have Orianna mastered and do exceptionally well on her every game, you thinking your 5 games on LeBlanc versus my 50+ on Orianna is worth chancing because LeBlanc "counters" her, is stupid and misguided. It does not matter how hard a champion is countered if you cannot play that champ at the same level they do. I've played Quinn versus Caitlyns many times, even though Caitlyn is a "counter" to Quinn, I out CS and win lane anyway.. Why? I've played more Quinn than they've played Caitlyn, easy as that. Moral of the story, play champs you're comfortable and good on, do not play the counters game. THIS ALSO APPLIES TO CHAMPIONS WHO ARE CONSTANTLY BANNED, JUST BECAUSE THEY'RE OPEN, DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD TRY TO PLAY THEM!!

I know, I am not an expert, but these are things that I noticed on my way through Bronze and I know many people ask the same questions I did to myself. I always thought I was much better than everybody else in Bronze, but in reality I had a lot of technical game play to work on before I could finally manage to get myself out. So if you're looking to get out of Bronze, stop blaming everybody else and start focusing on what you can do to better yourself. I'll see you out there! Hope this helps.