Boards›Tips & Tricks

Tips to Bronze/Silver players.

S2C2Xd9KOy·10/8/2015, 5:47:56 PM·3 votes·2,800 views

edit 2: the part where it says "FOR SUPPORTS" is for supports. the list under it is NOT support specific. There are a lot of people saying QSS is bad on supports but the list was not originally formatted so to imply that the new list under "for supports" was support specific. Everybody should be warding/counter picking (and the other tip within the "for supports list". This post was originally ONE list that went from 1-15, but because I added extra information after some of the points, it generated new lists. Please ignore the multiple separate lists that go from 1-1-4 etc, just count them ALL as a 1-15 list. None of these tips are role specific. They are all general advice.

edit: link to new post here http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/tips-tricks/qGm7zXFm-tips-for-silverbronze-repost-bc-of-formatting-error it doesn't look as organized but it also doesn't look like a main topic with subtopics. I'm sure one of the posts will be deleted for spam or something. Im only keeping this one up because I realize its a long post and people may be reading it currently without realizing a new version has been posted, so if they refresh and its gone they may not realize its moved. thanks

So, I wouldnt be writing this, but my last game on my smurf just drove me so crazy that I feel I have to. This post is very long. There is no TL;dr because I feel that would also be long. There may be some repetition within the paragraphs following the tips, but just ignore that. I'm either just tired and repeating myself or I really want to drill an important idea into your mind. These tips aren't perfect and I'm not some challenger player, But in my opinion I have enough experience to warrant the tips I'm giving. Most of these tips are focussed on bronze/silver and even partly gold elo. These tips are both for normals and for ranked. Many of these tips may seem obvious but at the bottom I explain that these are the weak points I see in players at bronze/silver/gold. Feel free to skim read or read fully. Just from skimming you should be able to get the idea I'm trying to convey. Good luck to everyone and I hope these impact your gameplay positively.

1.** Please just upgrade your trinket... It's 250 gold... I just played a 55 minute game and I was the only one who had an upgraded trinket.**

2.** Practise farming**. It will give you such a big scaling advantage. It can put you literally full items ahead of other people just because you know how to farm. No bronze players or silver players seem to know how; At 20 minutes in that game, I had 190 cs (I think), while the second highest was around 63 and that was the enemy adc I believe. I had a minimum 130 cs advantage over any other person, which works out to around 2,000 gold (If I did the math right, average cs value is like 16 right?) 2000 Gold can be almost an entire stattik shiv ahead of someone or over half a trinity force.. AND I can have my trinket upgraded. So just from what I just explained, you can see creep score is a big deal. People aren't just telling you to learn how for no reason. If you're really bad at farming, just aim for like 50 at 10, 100 at 20 etc (for players who average like 60 at 20, this is a big improvement)

  1. Try and listen more. It's obvious when someone is saying things that are blatantly wrong. If they call for baron while 3 of your teammates are dead and the enemy team has 2 top, 3 mid and you have no red trinket, that's uh... maybe not the best time for baron. However, if someone is saying 1-3-1 late game and your team is really unorganized, go for it. Put the people in solo lanes that can 1v1 pretty much any enemy, so they'll have to send multiple people. If the other team sends 3 top, then you push bot as fast as possible and if they send people bot, mid is free. If you ace and you're all healthy-ish and someone calls baron, do it. In my last game, There was my Irelia pushing top and I was full build Zed so I called Irelia down and she ignored me and kept pushing for 45 more seconds (not even fast pushing, just casually farming), then I tried to get someone else and they just stayed where they were, finally Irelia comes and we take Baron. Sure, we got it, but we wasted a minute there for no reason. Just try and think to yourself when someone says something, is it smart?

  2. Pay attention to the map. Just like in the example above, you have to consider the map. I had a pink and a green behind baron, so ti was obvious no one could come from fog. I also had vision of their entire team (that was alive) If you have vision of no one, you have to play safer. This should be obvious.

  3. Build for your matchup. I was on Zed against AP Teemo mid. Now, I love going lucidity boots, but I got Merc Treads instead. I'd typically get a hex drinker against AP, but I didn't see him as a threat (I was smurfing so it's kind of obvious he was easy to outplay.) I see a lot of players in bronze and silver just build the exact same thing every game which can easily put you behind, or at least disadvantage you. (is that even proper english lol)

FOR SUPPORTS: Your build is actually very, very important. Your matchup is also very important. Your starting item is fairly simple. Playing Morg or Brand (etc), go for the blue support item (forgot its name). If you're Leona, probably get relic shield. Take coin on someone like Janna. As I said though, these can vary for your matchup. You may not even build the item you start with. You could start with Relic and get talisman later. Need to protect your carry? Mikael's is great. Against a heavy AP team? Build that Locket. These items can make a big difference.

  1. Ward. Please. It's not hard. This goes with the upgraded trinket. 250 Gold and you get 2 wards that refresh all game. Pink wards are only 100 G so if you're ahead or being camped or anything just pick one up. Yes, even you Mr. ADC main. (Supports and jungles please get red trinket)

  2. Banner of Command. This item is pretty awesome. If you're full build sitting on like 3k, dont just let it sit there. Sell your boots, buy banner. Use the active on a minion just spawning in a lane that has no visible enemy in it. This little guy will push for dayyyyys. Then just sell banner and buy your boots back. If you don't have upgraded trinket at this point, I hate you.

  3. Quicksilver Sash. Just read it and tell me how it's not a beautiful item. It sadly doesn't build into an AP item, so it may seem like a waste, but it's sometimes necessary (You can QSS Yasuo Ult, Malz ult, Annie stun etc)

  4. Counter picking. In ranked/draft this is fairly important. NOTE BEFORE I TYPE THIS: If someone in your game picks into their counter, don't flame them. If they're smurfing counter picking doesn't effect them much or they may just be very very confident on that champion. Theres no real way to find out who's smurfing unless you see them play, so just don't make assumptions or say "gg" or any of that. Some people simply don't know why they always lose when they pick Gnar into Riven. If they do poorly, just let them know it's not a great matchup (in a nice way) so they can avoid the mistake in future.

So, back to the topic. Counter picking is fundamental and can win your lane just on the severity of the counter (unless they're really good and you're cocky or not doing so hot), but in an even skill matchup, the one being countered will have a way less fun time. Even if you have to google who counters who, don't be ashamed for not knowing every single matchup. Most sites that show counter picks aren't entirely wrong and are typically fairly correct in my opinion (checked some out before writing this part just to make sure that recommending them isn't a terrible idea). The only tricky part is when a champion is reworked recently, counters can change.

  1. Blind picking. This is once again for draft, but fi your lane opponent hasn't picked yet and you pick before them, I wouldnt recommend picking something easily countered. If you're going mid, Ahri is a pretty solid and consistent champion for a lot of matchups and she shouldn't be countered too hard. Orianna is another safer pick, along with Azir. Although I wouldn't recommend you be playing Azir.

  2. Smart Pings. If your laner is just magically gone, ping theyre missing 1-3 times and ping danger in river the direction they went. If you're mid, ping danger in both sides of river. If you're adc or support and you dont have any voice comm. with your partner, if you're ready to go in ping who you want to engage on 1-2 times. If you're ganking/roaming ping that you're on your way when you start leaving to go roam and then again once you're very close to being in position to gank. If someone is pushing too far or isn't watching wards, danger ping them. This will typically make them look at the map/their surroundings and realize theyre too far up. Smart pings make a difference.

  3. Summoner Spells. Ignite/Flash isn't a requirement to play mid. You can take things like cleanse or ghost depending on your champion and your opponent. Ghost on champs like TF and Cass are great. Cleanse against Cass is literally a life saver. Please dont take TP on an ADC. Cleanse/Flash or Heal/Flash are pretty much the only options IMO. Morde ADC takes exhaust but that's a whole other story. I'd only recommend cleanse on adc against heavy CC supports. Jungle summoners are also fairly standard. Flash/Smite is most common, but I often take ghost on Shyvana (preference) and I see Hecarim mostly with ghost or teleport/smite. Top lane, another standard, flash/teleport. Don't be afraid to mix it up a little bit though.

  4. Probuilds.net and Na.Op.GG. These 2 sites are beautiful. Pro builds gives you the full kit for a champion being played by the pros. Runes/Masteries/Buildpath/Summoners and the persons matchup. This site is great if you're not confident in your runes or your build. NA.OP.GG is another good website. Also shows you champion builds and ranks. You can check out what Korea's #1 Lee Sin builds and then see their match history. This also gives you a good scope of your teammates. It shows their records and champions from past seasons including CS/Minute, KDA's and games played on their champion. If you look up a teammate in pregame, you can see their stats on the champion they picked. Looking up your teammates is great to learn which game is honestly just worth it to dodge.

  5. Laning Phase. Learning how to properly play your lane can get you fed more and improve your gameplay so much more than you would ever think. Learning how to FREEZE your lane close to your tower is so important because it denies CS to the enemy ADC and this technique can be used defensively and offensively. It makes you almost impossible to gank and in order for the enemy bot lane to get XP, they have to be pushed up to where you are which puts them in a horrible position and makes them completely vulnerable to ganks. This can be done in any lane and can be done whether you're ahead or behind. Its an amazing technique that can almost take your lane opponent out of the game until theyre either put so far behind theres no recovering "(repeated ganks and making them feed/lose cs), or it'll at least take them out until they can farm up out of laning phase. This can handicap a team so hard and make their overall game much more difficult. If you have good coordination and you're adc with a good freeze, every time the enemy comes up to get cs punish them for it with poke. Tell your jungler to stay around bot side and gank repeatedly. Eventually the enemy will just leave lane and you get free towers, they'll leave all together or they'll stay and just continue to get you and your team fed. **Freezing is amazing. ** (You will see freezing in every high elo game. In high elo the smallest mistakes are punished and small disadvantages are made into massive advantages for the other team)

  6. So, this will likely be the last tip (for now) on this post. I'm not claiming I'm some God or anything but I've played enough games on my smurf to understand why people don't climb (disregarding skill). This list is comprised of those main reasons. If theres anything on this list that you just dont care about, such as things like the banner of command "technique", then by all means, play how you want, I'm simply trying to make suggestions to improve your game and your climb. I'm not saying if you follow these tips you will absolutely go from Bronze 2 to Diamond 4 in 2 days, but I'm sure these things will help you quite a bit. This includes those who are less mechanically inclined and aren't great. If you can make up where your weak (mechanics) with game techniques that don't require technical skill, then do so. If you constantly feed but you learn to play safe and you find ways to put money back into your team and knowledge via wards and callouts, then you're not doing too bad and you've learned to help your team in other ways. This will also reduce toxicity. You will hear "fuck this feeding Ashe" way less often if you're still helping.

So my final tip is gonna have to be don't flame and try to cooperate with your team. Flaming tilts your whole team and the people who aren't tilted are now losing faith because the rest of their team is only typing. If someone is flaming you heavily, just mute them. It's not worth seeing it. Most importantly of all, don't respond. Don't give the person the desire to continue typing and flaming. Makes the situation that much worse. If the person flaming you is eventually making smart decisions and trying to coach and give actual good advice, as much as it may sadden you, just listen.

Theres more stuff I could've included here but I don't see the necessity of the advice in bronze/silver. Explaining TP ganks and how to push and when to push is a bit harder to do.

12 Comments

Archon X10/8/2015, 5:51:44 PM2 votes

supports should not build qss

4ManVotedAgainst10/8/2015, 6:38:23 PM1 votes

Starting from High-Silver/Low-Gold will often be the case that a solo-lane will roam to another lane in order to gank in order to get the other lane(s) started on snow-balling. Should they get ahead in their lane successfully with your help, they are less in need of your assistance to handle their own lane, and lets you stay in your own lane longer, but it's still a good idea to keep an eye on that lane in case the enemy team decides to follow-up to do their own ganking or counter-ganking there-after, just in case (I recently did this in my last match for bot-lane, and when I saw the enemy jungler approaching, instead of going back to my own lane, I stuck around, counter-ganking his gank, thus allowing for further snow-balling of my team's bot-lane, then I just rinsed & repeated the cycles of pushing my lane a bit until there was around 30 seconds left of my ult, returning back to team for potential team-fights that might break out).

I lost lane, because I left it early instead of just focusing on winning my lane, and that seems to be another difference between lower-level versus higher-level play, the people stuck in low-elo who are consistently winning their lane, well, I lost my lane, and come to think of it now, the bot-lane that I ganked for also lost first turret, but I prevented enough potential snow-ball-advantage by counter-ganking against the enemy team that the end-result was my team winning to their surrender. I also picked up a valuable piece of how to counter-play against Veigar... I have to wait until he drops his wall, whilst hiding off to the side in team-fights, then counter-engage & ult their whole entire enemy team immediately for most-effective results via flanking, ignoring all other fights where Veigar is both alive & missing (because letting an enemy Veigar delete me from a sudden wall that I didn't see coming could seriously cost my team the entire game according to my statistics... I have to stay alive instead of trying to save team-mates that get themselves caught or initiate into bad engages, due to my own team being scattered & not grouped, because team-fight ultimates are best-used for counter-engages, especially against picks like Veigar, due to his wall also being designed to cock-block initiates).

ARequestOfDeath10/9/2015, 4:55:57 AM1 votes

Pro builds.

i had to quit reading here because i dislike this website because it doesn`t give full item builds. sorry i just horribly dislike the website.

Overfeels10/9/2015, 12:19:28 PM1 votes

stop trying to win all the way to gold and focus on not losing and making the other guys on the enemies teams day worse by winning and beating them. also don't be a moron and flame your teammates. league is honestly a game of stamina.