Need Advice on Game Play

Gallium Yttrium·Oct 24, 2014·1 votes·883 views

Hey guys, I appreciate your time for reading my thread. As the title says, I'm looking for some advice on my game play. I started at silver V when I first placed this season and I've slowly decayed down to bronze III. I know I am not a good player. I'm not your typical bronze who thinks that I am good, but the rest of the team is holding me back. I make mistakes and I try to learn from them, but I just keep dropping. I don't believe my skill level has dropped any over the past few months. I'm just losing more games for some reason.

I main support and jungle. I've read and watched lots on how to improve my game play. I try to force my team to take objectives, I ward (all though I suck at late game warding, improving on it though), I don't try to be a hero and 1v5 or trade a kill for a kill, and I try my best to communicate with the team and create a friendly atmosphere in our game. I do get frustrated sometimes though and will occasionally type something if someone goes 0-10 even after I ask them multiple times to play more passive.

I feel like even though I have dropped from silver V to bronze III I have been demoted in rank, but as a player I have improved. Since dropping I have refocused on how I can improve. I've become a better team player, I've learned to take objectives over kills, etc. Like I said though, I just keep dropping and I can't figure out why. Any advice on my predicament? Is it possible I am just a bronze V and I was originally placed in silver V as a fluke? I'm willing to take any advice, whether it's bad or good. Also, I'm willing to play normals with anyone if they'd like to watch me play and help critique the mistakes I am making. Thanks guys :)

8 Comments

Deep Terror NamiOct 24, 20141 votes

What types of supports do you play? I started out with Thresh, but my team would never follow up on my engage so I'd just die. So, I switched to backline supports (primarily Nami) and since I didn't have to put myself in absolute danger to trigger an engage, I started getting way better results. I can't really speak much about jungle, but tell us the specifics of what you play and how.

Gallium YttriumOct 24, 20141 votes

I main Thresh, Braum, and Leona as support. With thresh I'm really good at zoning out the enemy ADC and landing hooks, but sometimes I go too all in when my ADC doesn't want to, even if we could have gotten the kill. With Braum, I just spam Q and protect. If anything, I'm too passive with Braum, but so far he's my most successful champion. I've got like a 70% win rate with him. I go Leona when I have an early game ADC and I go balls deep as soon as I hit level 3 (if we have the advantage of course). If you have any specific questions about how I play the champ then ask, I'm not sure if that's the type of description you were looking for. That's the best general description of my game play on the champs that I can give. I don't play too many back line supports. I seem to die too much with them. I think it is because I'm used to tanky supports.

In the jungle I main Amumu and Fiddlesticks. I'm a boss with landing Mumu's Q and ulting at the right time. I feel like I have a really good late game with Mumu, but I struggle ganking successfully with him pre-6. I'm the same with Fiddle. After 6 I do really good, but a lot of the times it is too late. Either a lane has all ready fed or I have toxic team mates complaining I never gank in lane. You have to remember this is bronze, when someone loses lane they always try and find a scapegoat. So if top or mid loses lane, they blame the jungle for not camping them. If bot loses lane, the ADC blames the support or jungle. Now sometimes it may be the jungle or support's fault, but 75% of the time it's not.

Deep Terror NamiOct 24, 20141 votes

Since you play defensive frontline supports, I'd suggest trying out some of the backline supports that heal or shield or shoot long range CC. My favorite is Nami. It's great being called a god all the time after you figure out how to hit your bubble consistently. Soraka is my second favorite, her silence is a huge zoning tool for teamfights and it's placed instantly so she can thwart a good engage because they can't follow up on top of it.

So, I looked at your past few matched in the Match History and I have some good news; There are some simple mistakes you can correct to drastically improve.

1) You always rush Ruby Sightstone item 2045 . You don't need to. Instead, upgrade it when you often find yourself out of the base so long that your wards are disappearing and you have none left, or upgrade when you already have most of your other core items.

2) You keep forgetting to swap your yellow trinket item 3340 for a sweeper item 3341 . Your first back should almost always get you a Sightstone, but whenever you get it make sure you always trade your trinket out. Also upgrade it item 3364 soon and use it a lot.

3) You aren't putting down nearly enough wards. If you're going to go back to base and buy a Sightstone, use up the green wards in your inventory and your yellow trinket. You won't need them and they'll be wasted otherwise. I don't know where you usually put them, but you should read a support guide about it. Here is one guide. Pay particular attention to the warding for the bottom half of the map during early game laning phase; This includes the ones close to mid lane. Mid laners who don't ward below them are subject to ganks from below, and also the enemy jungler can use that path into your jungle and down behind you for a tower dive, slipping past your lower River ward altogether.

4) Mobi boots are for roaming, not just catching up to your team after a back. If your ally jungler is invading the bottom jungle, go with him if you can. That's an easy kill if you find the enemy jungler. If enemy mid is pushing hard you can go gank them just like a jungler would as long as you get your CC on them.

Again, I think you should try out some backline supports. Lower division players aren't usually that great at knowing you're trying to engage on the enemy, so doing so will get you killed more often than when you rank up.

Gallium YttriumOct 24, 20141 votes

Wow! Thanks for all the feedback!

I definitely know I'm weak in 2 and 3. Like I said, I always get distracted late game with team fights and trying to help my team defend objectives that I forgot to ward late game. It's definitely something I am trying to improve on.

For 1, what do you recommend I rush instead after sight stone? My typical order is, sightstone, boots, upgrade the relic shield, and then from there I'll buy armor or magic resistance depending on what member of their team is doing the most damage or a giants belt.

SolumnOct 24, 20141 votes

You have got to get more cs when you jungle, 78 cs average on a feral flame jungle like ww is not good at all! Same thing with Master Yi! Support is hard to carry with, can you? Yes you can but it is hard...very hard. My suggestion is to play more ww jungle and focus on that farm until 6 then farm, gank when ults up, farm more repeat to win!

Gallium YttriumOct 24, 20141 votes

I don't really jungle WW anymore. I had a a one or two day spree with him and then I decided I didn't like his ult. It's nice for lane ganking, but in team fights Amumu and Fiddlesticks are a lot better. At least that's how I feel.

I think I only have like 3 games with Yi. He's just one of those champs I rarely play :)

I do agree though, I need to improve my CS. That is one of the things I have been focusing on and it has gone up recently.

SolumnOct 24, 20141 votes

You might want to try rammus, he has a lot of impact all throughout the game and isn't to hard to play, alternatively lee sin has strong presence all game but he's a lot harder to master

Gallium YttriumOct 31, 20141 votes

Good news guys. Got back into silver last night while playing support for 95% of the games :). Got here all the way from bronze III in about a week.