Practicing, Playing, and Gaining Skills

[quote=JBucketzEsq]Hey guys, I'm still fairly new, but have gotten to a point where I feel liek I am just as good as most people in my low elo bracket. I feel like my game and map awareness is pretty good, and I don't typically make dumb plays. However, I play a TON, and I feel like I've really plateued in terms of skills. So I was hoping that people could give me and other newish players advice on how to make use of their time to efficiently improve at the gmae. How do you actually practice? I spend a ton of time palying normals, but it doesnt seem to really make a huge difference. And not just for new players, realy I'm looking for advice that will help me to eventually climb elo Anyway, hope you guys have some suggestions, I'll start things off! One thing everyone must elarn early is ALL champs and abilities. You have to be aware of what you're going up against.[/quote]

[quote=IceCreamy]I try to play champions I do not own for a couple of times when they are free. This gives me a better idea on what to do and what I can expect when I play against them. Also I play champs in more than one way, for example I have tried playing [[Ezreal]] both AD and AP. Other then that I almost always play normals, but imo the thing that helped me most as player is my Ranked Team. You learn so much about counterpicking, knowing what works well against something, good team fight tactics, etc. since you are in Skype/Ventrilo/TS3 and people can shout at you all the time when you do something wrong :P Good luck with improving :)[/quote]

[quote=drunken0elf]I play a lot of draft normal games. It's like a ranked game set up. I try to pick my favorite positions to effectively learn counter picks. I also try to start the game with everyone on my team with a positive attitude. This means that if someone absolutely wants top and you want top also, you should leave it to them or they just might troll the game or not be serious. My goal in normal draft pick is to try to get the best teamcomp possible while having counters to the enemy team. I also usually tend to let the last pick be solo top or mid. Last pick has the best counter pick ability while the first pick on your team will get counter picked. It's stuff i've all learn't from playing draft normal games. You also have to think that the champs you try to counter might do another role. heres an example, you see an early vlad pick on the enemy team. He might go top or he might go mid. Your turn to pick a champ is right after and you called top. Now you might be facing vlad or you might not. So in this case I would try to pick a champ that would also confuse the enemy. In this case I would grab lee sin or olaf if the jungler on my team also has a champ that can either top or jungle. now they don't know who to counter and you can effectively counter the enemies pick. If they pick a counter for olaf, then you can easily switch spots with you teams jungler if he counters the enemies top. Then you would go jungle and the best counter champ on your team would then go top. This is how I set up my games. Having a good teamcomp and counterpicks wins the game.[/quote]

[quote=Hateryx]I play quite a lot. But what definitely helps me in nourishing my skills are livestreams and tournament replays. Watching this videos helps me understand and analyze deeper of how to increase the chance of winning a ranked game. Counterpicks (e.g. Talon vs. Le Blanc), team combos (e.g. Orriana + Shyvanna), kiting (Kayle as bait), counterlane ( 2 vs. 1 at top), team composition and many many more. After that, I make sure I learn every part of it by applying it in the ranked or normal game.[/quote]

[quote=The LZ]Okay, ze list ! [color=#ff0000]1[/color] - Get familiar with ALL champions. That means trying out champs you haven't tried, each week when they're free, at least 1-2 times. Both so you can sense their timings, use of abilities and how much their abilities might scale with AD and AP for example. [color=#ff0000]2[/color] - Watch streams and other videos. Many times, there will be direct links to streams of some popular streamers, in the LoL client. If not, sites like youtube and own3D.tv are good sources. There you can watch how people make good, as well as bad plays and see if you can take something away from it. For example, one mistake many beginners make, is that once they get saved by an ally and survive with low health, walk back to the enemy for one reason or another and end up dying for it. You may notice that you do this, when you see someone not do it in a video. [color=#ff0000]3[/color] - Keep up to date on patches, by viewing the patch notes. Again, these notes are linked to in the client, when they're out. They're important because they can mean that an important ability on your favourits champion, now has a longer CD (Cool Down). Or that someones damage has been nerfed, thus you can afford to play more aggressively against them perhaps or what have you. [color=#ff0000]4[/color] - Joining Mobafire in houses is also a way to get better. You can receive critism from fellow players on your performance, depending on which inhouse you join. This is useful because you can't always see your own mistakes. [color=#ff0000]5[/color] - Heading over the Mentoring forum and making a new topic, can land you a mentor. This is useful, because you might have a lot of unanswered questions. Plus, you'll get someone who might be quite a skilled player too, meaning there's room for you to learn from them. [color=#ff0000]6[/color] - Creating custom games for yourself, where you practice basic things such as last hitting minions, warding and/or communicating can be great too. Last hitting is especially important and can be done alone too. In higher level play, getting proper farm is important, since you can't count on getting early or many kills. When it comes to last hitting, as you get better, set goals for yourself. For example, try to get 200 last hits by 20 min. First in a custom, perhaps versus a friend or bot and then in a real game. [color=#ff0000]7[/color] - Following a guide or three, can equally also be a good way of learning. Even if you think you know a champion well, reading up on a guide about that champion, can still yield some tips and/or advice. Plus you'll be exposed to different reasoning, as to why you build a champion one way or another. For example, many beginners like to build mages like glass canons (very strong, yet very squishy too) and that is one way of doing it. Yet, in many guides, a balance is often tried to be found, meaning that one or more defensive items will also be included in the build. [color=#ff0000]8[/color] - Follow one of the (many) threads on Mobafire or elsewhere, of people on their journey to a specific ELO. In these threads, games are often broken down by the OP (Opening Poster) and as such lets you get insight into the thoughts of players more experienced than you potentially. It also lets you see some builds of other champs, perhaps at high ELO play, via screenshots. [color=#ff0000]9[/color] - If you go unto the official league of legends website, you can find tips and tricks ranging from beginner to advanced. In this forum, concepts will be mentioned, concepts like zoning. Get to know all of these concepts and learn to apply them in your games. [color=#ff0000]10[/color] - Experiment with the champs you have. Try different masteries than is the norm, try different runes too and item builds. Maybe you'll find interesting builds and/or combos you can use to your advantage. Plus, even if you don't, it can not only be very fun, but you might find an alternative way to play, that can surprise your opponents. [color=#ff0000]11[/color] - Get together with friends and think up interesting lane combinations. Even if the combination is a very much known one, such as Vayne + Blitzcrank, it's still good to learn how to work together with a teammate, as it IS a team game. Also, knowing how different champions abilities synchronize, can help you create interesting and good team compositions. [color=#ff0000]12[/color] - Be positive and communicate with your team; even in the pre-game lobby. If you play draft mode for example and you end up as Captain, don't be silent and just ban who you wish all the time. It might carry over to ranked games and that just plain sucks. Because maybe you wanted that [[Darius]] banned, but instead someone else gets banned. Or maybe you didn't want that [[Vayne]] banned, but she got banned. This can be detrimental to your team. However, if someone is just impossible to reason with and it's really neccesary, instead of flaming, hold down TAB and click the blue speech icon outside the offenders name, in order to mute them and end things there. At least it'll help one of you focus on the game. [color=#ff0000]13[/color] - Ward your lane. Many people think it's only up to the support, but when you recall, if you have that spare 75 gold, it doesn't hurt an awful lot to pick up a ward too, to help keep your collective map awareness up. In addition to this, learn some of the best ward placements and get into the habit of robbing your enemy of their own wards, through the use of oracles or vision wards. If you have a jungler, remember to tell them your lane has been warded, if you saw it. If you don't, don't rage when the gank fails. [color=#ff0000]14[/color] - Towers matter. I see this all too often, that my team doesn't push enough towers, despite sometimes even being in the lead, in terms of kills. Towers win games. You can have 99 kills and still lose if you lose all your towers and thus eventually your Nexus. Of course, it IS more challenging if you're fed or if your opponents are, to take towers. But there's different tactics for taking down towers and you should get familiar with them. Such as the split push, wherein some teammates go mid for instance, while you push top with an ally. Downed towers provide your team with gold too, which is not unimportant. [color=#ff0000]15[/color] - Secure buffs and objectives and help your team. Killing dragon whenever its up can really boost your team and sharing that red buff with your AD carry, instead of taking it yourself, can likewise also make a big difference. Plus, it can also help raise morale, which means people wont say "surrender 20". [color=#ff0000]16[/color] - If you go to custom games and click "join" a lot of games will show up. Well, in the top right corner, there's a great search bar. If you input "mid" or "ARAM" you'll find some fun game modes on the map called Proving Grounds. This gamemode typically features a random champion selection, meaning you'll get a random champion. That alone, can force you into playing champs you have, which you might not be so good at, or initially like. ARAM stands for All Random All Mid by the way and is a great gamemode. [color=#ff0000]17[/color] - Using software like Fraps and lolrecorder, you can record your own games, for later scrutiny. That can be invaluable to your game, for many reasons. Like some, you can then share it on sites like this, to get other peoples opinions. [color=#ff0000]18[/color] - Generally, try set goals for yourself. If you die a lot, try set a goal of dying less. Many high ELO players die very very few times in each match, which is one way of contributing to you winning. [color=#ff0000]19[/color] - Don't go too long without playing. Many of the best players play all the time. Some people are even full time gamers, so they naturally get a lot of practice in. Even if you don't think normal games do much for you, they can, if you think more carefully about how you did in game and can play successive games to see if you can do different/better. [color=#ff0000]20[/color] - Join a clan/guild. These organisations can often help you get better, by virtue of having members you can befriend and play with, as well as learn from and talk to. Playing a 5 man premade, using VoIP is also worlds away from just playing solo Q by yourself. Good luck ;)[/quote]

[quote=JBucketzEsq]Hey, thanks for that great list :) Really appreciate it. I definitely think that I need to start training more on specific champs. I might jump around a little too much to really master stuff like last hitting animations for specific champs and whatnot. Really appreciate it! ONce I get a little more confident, I'll give the mobafire inhouses a shot![/quote]

[quote=Mintleaves]The way i get better is too challenge myself is: 1. go 1v5 in custon you versus 5 bots and see how well you do. 2. Play custom games with other people such as random matchus or ARAMS (All random all middle) 3. Draft picks help a lot and if you dont get the hang of it yet then dodge and go do something else fo xxx amount of minutes[/quote]

[quote=The Overmyynd]@ The LZ, woooooow, fantastic breakdown! +rep for the next three days lol. Oh and Mr. Bucket, i would be happy to mentor you if you so desire. Feel free to add me, my IGN is The Overmynd.[/quote]

[quote=The LZ][quote=The Overmyynd] @ The LZ, woooooow, fantastic breakdown! +rep for the next three days lol. Oh and Mr. Bucket, i would be happy to mentor you if you so desire. Feel free to add me, my IGN is The Overmynd. [/quote] Hahahaha, why, thank you very much mate :]. I'm glad someone liked it, haha. Took a while. Keep up the great mentoring effort :)[/quote]

[quote=The Overmyynd]Yeah well thats really the only way i give out rep, if i see that someone took alot of time writing an intelligent, well thought out response to someone's question. That or they make me laugh out loud (for real). That gets it too XD[/quote]