How do I prepare myself for ranked?

Vythanar·Oct 18, 2014·2 votes·1,281 views

So, I'm a really competitive person. I really like the thrill of doing well and getting better. However, in all my efforts to get into ranked, I almost always A) play mediocre compared to the rest of my team or B) get regularly outplayed by the other team and lose.

I've played tons of normals inbetween ranked games to try to hone my skills, and I win far more than I lose, but as soon as I step into ranked it's like a whole different level of skill I'm up against (I'm in Silver IV), and I feel like playing normals haven't really prepared me for it.

I play a (rather small) subset of champions well - I like to play characters with strong initiation/teamfight potential like Wukong, Amumu, Orianna, Malphite etc. Wukong's my main but I haven't gotten a chance to play him in ranked yet. I'm not really sure if it's true that I should only play a few champions/roles to get really good at or if I should try to diversify myself more.

I can't for the life of me get good at ADC/Support. I've kind of given up on my ability to play those two roles. (Support because I'm awful at landing skillshots, and ADC because I can't kite/reposition properly).

But given all that (somewhat useful?) information, how would you guys recommend I prepare myself to do decently in ranked? I'm not really sure what more I can do at this point or what I should do.

Thanks!

7 Comments

Scuttler SlayerOct 18, 20143 votes

If you can't land skill shots, that's a major issue right there. You should use normals/ practice games to practice using skillshots. You should also be using SmartCast if you aren't already.

In SoloQs, you have to be willing to concede certain champ picks/ roles to teammates sometimes. Maybe its cause of pick order or maybe cause they insist that they are (and really might be) beast with one particular role. Therefore, I suggest you get comfortable playing 3-4 champs in each role. You're allowed to be weaker at some roles than others, you can even "specialize" in a particular role, but I feel ranked gets a lot easier when you can play any role (at least) efficiently.

The alternative route to the general proficiency I mentioned above is specializing in one or two roles, to a point where you are confident you can carry just about any team. But that isn't very reliable because, as I said, you will almost certainly have to concede roles from time to time.

Keep in mind that there are some games you're just gonna lose; that doesn't mean give up at 20 if you're not "feeling" it. It just means that you'll be matched against teams that happen to be stronger than yours for X or Y reason, from time to time.

To state the obvious and reiterate the critically important: Buy wards constantly and place them well, learn to counter pick, use SmartCasting, get (very) good at skillshots, communicate with your team. Did I mention you should buy wards? Seriously, buy wards.

Corny as f*ck but it should be mentioned: go into ranked with a positive and happy attitude. It helps.

Oh, to build off of the "mood" comment ^, if you just lost a game and you're still fuming: don't reQueue for ranked. Just don't. Go into normals, ARAM, whatever. Play a stupid champ like Teemo. Outplay your opponent with a cheesy tactic just once. Taunt him (within reason) in /all. Get that smile back. Then go back to ranked.

VythanarOct 18, 20142 votes

Well thanks. This really helps a lot, I suppose I'll spend more time trying to improve my supp/adc game. Or buy champions that are relatively easy to play in those roles. It's much appreciated, sir :D

DontArgueWithMeOct 18, 20142 votes

Essentially find a champion your good at for every role and learn to play every role because you wont always get what you want. Practice practice and practice. and as the high elo players say, never play while annoyed, tired, or anxious. treat ranked games like normal games and play them while completely relaxed and remember that when doing ranked even when you lose you can always make the progress back up.

DontArgueWithMeOct 19, 20142 votes

If you cant do a role well than try and practice in team builder till you have a rough understanding of the role, in my case i'm pretty good at ADC,top and mid but though i'm decent at support i don't like doing it that much (will do it if i must) and my jungle is about 50/50 because i do either really good or really poor.

LooselyEvilOct 18, 20141 votes

What rank are you currently?

Nucleophilic atkOct 18, 20141 votes

If you go into ranked que without being able to play support, you deserve to be permabanned.

Naoki KashimaNov 24, 20141 votes

to get you prepare let see do your best becose some idiot in your team like to said report this report that actualy he should report himself instead and stop being an pat. pat. pat. and respect how good or bad your team can be report button should be remove due to overexagerating