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Am I holding myself to too high of a standard of playing?

Ryoukai·10/20/2014, 12:22:36 AM·2 votes·1,344 views

I've been playing ever since August of this year, and have enjoyed myself a lot on the game; I've even put down $50 to buy some stuff, and I've very happy with my skins, champions, and runes... but what good are they with my current skill?

The past two weeks after being around the early level 20s range, I've noticed that my performance has become increasingly bad. Before, I could harass out of my ass and dominate a lane, or land some sexy Morgana snares and Thresh hooks very easily, but lately that has stopped happening. I've been getting stomped in lane and having almost zero presence in team fights. I've noticed I have stopped improving at the game, and may even be getting worse.

Five games in a row, I've played Orianna, and gotten demolished by champions such as Yorick, Syndra, Akali, Katarina and Karma. Each game, at least one team member got angry at me, called me useless, and that I shouldn't be losing the lane to these other champions because Orianna should be superior to them. I've also played a game against Annie as Akali, and I lost the laning phase, where my teammates began to yell at me and say I shouldn't be losing to a champion like Annie while playing Akali.

Multiple things have happened and been said lately, and my loss rate has been higher than ever. The fact that I am getting frustrated with the game rather than enjoying it is probably wrong, but I can't help but worry how pathetic I will be at level 30. I admire players like Keyori, Uberdanger, and many streamers because they seem to be able to have a lot of fun while playing many champions to a high standard, even with unconventional builds.

I've also been told that the right mindset is not to blame others, but instead be able to carry. Rarely do I blame my team, but I can never find myself carrying a game. Most wins I've had are due to a teammate carrying, or making some sort of sick comeback.

Is my mindset wrong, and am I holding myself to too high of a standard? I understand I've only been playing for a couple of months, but I take my video games seriously and push myself to be a skilled player in many games. I may be expecting myself to advance in skill too quickly. I also can't blame any of my teammates; I notice my bad mistakes and they scarcely are a factor in it. Any advice is appreciated, because I really would like to get back to enjoying the game as I did before I started having long losing streaks.

6 Comments

Jamjack10/20/2014, 12:38:42 AM2 votes

Naw, its not that you are holding yourself to high of a standard. Rather, when you leveled you hit the next level of play(aka the harder players), and you will continue to go through this kind of thought process as you climb further in the league. Don't be upset at it, just simply embrace it. You will always be learning and adapting. League is a static game so don't get settled into a mind frame/ build to much cause it will only hinder the progression.

To clarify I'm saying stick to a role/ handful of champs, and learn ALL the play styles of those champs. Making you flexible in the game to the point where you have an answer to each situation.

Add me and we can play some time, I'll be happy to help and we can go into detail about whats going on in the games.

Cakelynn10/20/2014, 1:10:42 AM2 votes

Nah I think its normal that in the early lvl 20 range that you start to have a losing streak. You just have to keep playing and practicing. Same thing happened to me at around lvl 24ish and now i'm almost lvl 30 and have gotten way better. Just practice, learn from your mistakes, look up tips etc. and you'll get better. Slowly but surely.

Sozan510/20/2014, 1:16:21 AM2 votes

Well, you just seem like regular player - sometimes you play better, sometimes worse. Don't worry too much about it, but if you want to improve, here are some tips:

  1. Learn how to farm minions well. You can do this by going into custom game of summoner's rift and play without any other players or bots. Then just go to one of lanes and try to last-hit as many minions as you can. For now you should aim for at least 55 minions at 10 minutes and around 120 at 20 minutes (mind you that this is only ~50-60% of minions available for you to last-hit, but start with small steps). Remember that generally every 15-20 minions is worth as much gold as a kill.

  2. Try to play each champion at least once, just to understand their skills and playstyles a bit better (and maybe you will find something that suits you).

  3. Fill out your Rune Pages. I recommend this setting:

  • Rune Page 1 Marks: Greater Mark of Attack Damage (+0,95 AD each) - all slots Seals: Greater Seal of Health (+8 health each) - all slots Glyphs: Greater Seal of Magic Resist (+1,34 Magic Resist each) - all slots Quints: 1x Greater Quintessence of Armor (+4,26 Armor) 2x Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage (+2,25 AD each) At max summoner level this will give you: +4,3 Armor +72 Health +12 Magic Resist +13 Physical Damage

  • Rune Page 2 Marks: Greater Mark of Magic Penetration (+0,87 Magic Penetration each) - all slots Seals: Greater Seal of Health (+8 health each) - all slots Glyphs: Greater Seal of Magic Resist (+1,34 Magic Resist each) - all slots Quints: 1x Greater Quintessence of Armor (+4,26 Armor) 2x Greater Quintessence of Ability Power (+4,95 Ability Power each) ** At max summoner level this will give you: +4,3 Armor +72 Health +12 Magic Resist +7,8 Magic Penetration +9,9 Ability Power**

Total cost of both rune pages: 19 885 IP

If you don't want to use that much IP, there is a cheaper alternative - just replace the Seals of Health with Seals of Scaling Armor and Armor Quintessence with the AP/AD one.

Total cost of both rune pages in this setup: 17 220 IP

And if you are really stingy you can use Seals of Armor, but be warned that after the nerf they are outscaled by Scaling ones as soon as level 6 (opposed to level 9-10 for most other runes).

Total cost of both rune pages in this setup: 15 375 IP

Those rune pages are meant to be rather universal and most champions will be fine with them. Of course, it's best to build Rune Page specifically for the champion you are using most, but for now this should be enough.

Also, will put this here, just in case someone will question it: Armor Quintessence is really the best place to get armor right now. It gives over 4 seals worth of armor which is exceptionally high (usually the Quint gives around 2,5-3x effect of the rune, though there are some that give less (armor penetration for example is only 2x) and some that give more (Armor and AP quints for example are both worth over 4x the regular rune).

  1. Buy and place wards. This is really overlooked on lower levels and it can easily give you an edge in game. Also, try to make a habit of looking at minimap frequently.

  2. Try to record your games and look for mistakes that could be easily avoided. Also, if you have further problems you can upload your replays here for others to look (Use lol replay or baron replays to record replays).

  3. Try some youtube guides - both for your champion and general ones.

Anyway, I hope it will help a bit.

EDIT: Apparently the boards tried to put all of it into list of some sorts automatically... And it failed quite miserably. Stand by while I try to clean this up.

EDIT2: Hopefully this will be enough.

Millea10/20/2014, 2:37:42 AM2 votes

As you level up and start mastering the game, as opposed to learning it as you are from 1-20, improvements are much more intangible, but no less real.

The toxicity levels get really bad at this point.

but I can't help but worry how pathetic I will be at level 30.

Don't worry! At level 30, you will be fine. It's normal to not be as good as the streamers, or anywhere close to their level of expertise. I'd say that most of the major ones are tons better than 95% of the population of level 30 (Including myself).

You also may need to take into account that a higher amount of losses does not necessarily mean that you're getting worse. As you win, you get placed against much harder opponents.

If you're serious about getting good, I'd focus on starting the mastery of the game and improving after each game, noting to yourself what you could do better after every game. Try to get a decent amount of creeps, ward everywhere, and take objectives, as opposed to trying to win the laning phase. Only one of two people will win the laning phase, but if you do the first three things: cs, ward, and taking objectives, you will contribute to your team's victory regardless of what happens.

ACGIFT10/20/2014, 3:46:09 AM1 votes

Level 20 is when you start encountering the "real" players of the game... It's when you'll start seeing level 30 people, and in general, you'll find yourself subjected to challenges you weren't beforehand. Remember that in League, there's such a high ladder to the top in terms of skill, and you're just now adapting to climbing up that next rung.

Levels 1-20 were more about basic functioning of each champs; understanding simply building items at all, CC, combos, basic strategic decision-making (e.g, chase vs. retreat, etc.) while from now on (level 20 through Bronze-tier ranked, really) it's going to be about the real techniques of the game.

  • As others have said, probably #1 to learn is how to CS (farm). It's the first thing you'll reliably be doing early in every match, so make sure you learn how to do it well! I will agree with Sozan5's recommendation: simply running a custom game (no bots or other players) while you work on that "last hit." Early game, try to make it so you ONLY attack a minion if it's a killing blow; and the lower their HP the better. This servs a double purpose; it will both dramatically increase your gold, as well as ensure you stay closer to the safety of your own tower than you would if you blindly kept attacking minions.

  • I recommend starting to pay attention to runes the MOMENT you hit level 20, as this is when you can finally buy/use tier-3 runes. Yes, there's a lot of types and a LOT of variety... But in reality, at first, I'd focus on just having at most two pages (all you start with, after all) with only a SLIGHT difference between the two. And really, you could just start with one "universal" page that benefits all champions! -For Marks (Reds): at first just get ONLY flat physical damage. EVERYONE can benefit in the early-game from this, as it will boost your harass, as well as make last-hits that much easier. This goes for APs, not just ADs; plus these are cheap runes. -For Seals (Yellows): Start with just scaling armor. While these are going to be a bit more expensive than the others,(410 IP each) the same reason applies here. EVERYONE can benefit from these: increased survivability throughout the game always helps. -For Glyphs (Blues): Go for scaling magic resist. These are cheap like the physical damage ones, and will grant you always-improving resistances even on ranged champs, which will be especially important later in the game. -For Quintessences: There's a few routes to try; if you're spending lots of IP, while movement speed is VERY EXPENSIVE, every champ benefits. Granted, almost every viable, widely-useful quint is going to be at least 1,025 IP per; be it more flat physical damage (for the same reason as the marks) or flat ability power. (which, for an AP-specific page, packs a LOT of punch) Lastly, a few more (expensive) options can be tempting, like flat health (+72 starting HP?) and lifesteal (over half a vampiric scepter at level 1?) are potential, but probably not as solid starting choices. At starting, the first three runes will cost you 7,380 IP for the entire set, plus whatever is needed for the quintessences. This will give you a serious leg-up on any champion at first, and LATER you can work on making more specialized pages.

  • Warding and map awareness are critical. Yes, you get a free warding trinket, but you can have up to 3 stealth wards out at once: you'll have to buy them yourself to get them, though... And yes, they're WELL worth every bit of gold you spend on them. Think of it this way: if they saved a teammate's life by letting them escape in time, OR helped you set up a gank that got a kill, you just got/saved 300 (or really more once assists are counted) for only 75 gold.

  • Even if you don't want to PLAY a champion... Try them out nonetheless. That way you can learn their strengths and weaknesses, to better play against them; if you find something that really annoys you when playing said champion, congrats, you just found a weakness to exploit against them later.

FHMarshy10/21/2014, 4:14:49 PM1 votes

Don't be too hung up about what they say. Like a lot of people say. The best way to play League is to mute everyone :)