Silver to Gold

I wrote on my previous post on how to get from Bronze to Silver.

Here are some tips on how to get from Silver to Gold in League of Legends.

If you are in Silver congrats, you've gotten out of Bronze and hopefully never have to deal with Bronzies again. Silver is where you feel 'average' as a player but who wants to be average right? You have the drive to get to Gold and be better. Like bronze you get a lot of silver players trying different champion and weird picks that are not in meta.

In Silver you will find most of the time the lane that snowballs first will dominate the game. How do these people snowball? You will find that in Silver a lot of players value kills and tries to get as much kill as possible. For example, you are being harassed by Lux, you are losing lane you don't just try to fight her and feed the opponent.

So what do you do in that scenario? Sometimes we just have to fall back, farm and be passive to get your CS up or wait for your jungle to g
ank. Ever heard that knowledge is power? Having this knowledge can help you win games, many times I have seen players with good mechanics but their in-game knowledge is poor which results in losing the game.

So here are a few tips to get you from Silver to Gold.

1.) Don't lose lane
What that means is not play aggressively and win by the number of kills. Sure these are important but if you watched the pros play they rarely try to win their lanes rather they focus on CS and punish their opponent mistakes. Don't have the mindset of just winning the lane by killing. Good players can come back even when they are behind in kills because they are focused on CSing their lane.

2.) Map Awareness
In Bronze people rarely pay attention to the minimap, in Silver start to have the habit of looking at the minimap. CSing and and warding should be something you are already doing well since you are in Silver. Learn to look at the minimap and make plays. If an enemy is missing from a lane ping and let your team know, follow them if necessary. If your jungler is being invaded go help him.

Support- Usually you do most of the pinging to make sure your team does not get ganked or do something silly. Your goal is to set up vision control for your team.

Jungler- Have a lance presence, don't just farm all game. If an enemy uses an aggressive jungler like Lee Sin , it's highly likely he will invade or set a gank at level 3. You'll have to decide to ask your team to play safe as you farm or try to counter gank him. Try to snowball the lanes, gank the lanes that has no SS (summoner spell), they're easy kills. If an enemy is pushing the lane, try ganking them and even though you don't get the kill and a flash is burnt it's wurf. Getting your Katarina 2 kills early will allow her to snowball and win the game.

3.) Play around objectives
This is really important, playing around objectives allows you to apply map pressure and have gold and item leads. In general objective should be the 1st Tier Turret, Dragon, 2nd Tier Turret, Inhibitor, Baron and then Nexus. Of course depending on how the game is going objectives might change , and this comes through experience playing.

An example of playing around objectives is you have a huge fight bot, the jungler ganks, Top Lane tps and you guys won the fight. What's next is quickly push the turret then get the dragon (or the other way round) . Once the turret is down this gives you the luxury to roam and gank.

OR if the enemy is taking dragon and you're too far away from dragon what do you do? Instead of walking to the dragon , leave it and start pushing the turrets. This is a term called 'Trade objectives'

And lastly keep practicing and improve on your last hitting. Once that becomes second nature, you can focus on other things such as harassing or capitalizing on your opponent mistakes.

Hope this helps! If there are any questions feel free to comment and ask away or if there us anything you would like to see on this site please comment below :)

How to choose your Duo Partner

Part of climbing the ladder in League of Legends is to pick a good duo partner. Having a good duo will help minimise trolls in the team and the synergy you both have can carry the team. But what are some things do we look for in a Duo Partner?

1.) Synergy
Synergy is basically the combined effect of the two will be greater than the sum of individual. In other words 1 + 1 should equal a number more than 2. You have to work well well together as a team. As a support main I usually pick my support to complement my duo. For example if my ADC is aggressive I'll go for supports like Leona or Naut,

2.) Does not rage
Other than your Duo partner having the skills to play but make sure he is not a rager as well. I would never play duo with someone who is a rager because either they tilt themselves or they create a negative environment within the team thus making people lose focus. You don't want a duo partner that would blame you and the team if nothing goes his way.

3.) Same Drive/Goals
Duo with someone has the same drive to achieve the same rank as you. If you are a player that plays 4-5 games a day don't duo with that person who plays a game a day or spends 80% of their time in normals, clearly the drive isn't there. Don't find that player that gives up the instant the team gives first blood, calls GG in 10minutes and goes AFK.

4.) Bonus: Easy going
What I mean is someone that you can talk to easily and makes you laugh. Someone that helps you stay lighthearted.

Bottom line is that you will find success with duos that you actually want to play the game with (and you duo wants to play with you too :) )

How to get out of ELO HELL- Noob team!

Have you ever found yourself playing a game surrounded by noobs? You may be winning your lane with a 12/1/3 Vayne but the rest of your team are feeding. They refuse to group, refuse to work as a team and wants to go ham. You feel like your feets are grabbed and you are dragged to the pits of Elo Hell. Leaving you frustrated and probably feel like raging or trolling.

Let's be honest you face this same issue whether you are in Bronze or a higher tier like Diamond.
So how do you actually climb out if your team is constantly feeding and not at the level you're at? I've mentioned before to not blame your teammates and just do your best. People have bad games, we're not perfect. people do have bad games, you have bad games.

Here are a few tips for you to get out of Elo Hell Noob Team edition

1.) Carry the game
Especially in low elo even if your team is feeding , learn to carry the game. Your teammates would probably either be negative, lost hope and wants to GG FF. Have a winning mindset and encourage your team not to give up and you guys have a chance to win. Now some people might ignore you , some will take on the challenge and try their hardest. LEAD THE TEAM! The games that gives you a high chance of comeback are the games where the team tries their best even if the team are down in gold and kills.

Storytime: I once was in a game where our Zed Dc'd making the game 4v5 mid game, but we were still able to win because our Jax was carrying us by netting kills and got to lvl 17 while the rest where 3-4 levels behind. Moral of the story, You can be carrying or let others carry you.

You'll have to understand ......
Team compostition- Some champions dominate early but they fall off late. Some champions sucks early but they're a beast late game. If you have a team with multiple AOE CC then do not give up. Teams takes time to gel together, and if you can land that perfect wombo in that one fight, it could turn your defeat into victory.

2.) Make use of dynamic queue 
I hated dynamic queue the day it was announced but now I actually like it. Here are a few reasons why.
You are able to team up with like-minded players and the chance of having a troll in the team is less. You'll have a decent team that allows you to focus on the game and less raging/typing. Queue with players that are good AND they have a positive attitude. I would rather have a teammate who is good and have a positive attitude than a teammate who is good but negative all the time. Players who are negative tends to tilt themselves and the team.

3.) Where am I going to find like minded players? 
People wants to queue with you if you perform well in game. They see that you are good they would want to queue with you (so you can climb together) or take the initiative and add the person up and ask if they want to queue with you to climb together.

4.) Be the bigger man
As you notice in lower elos people would rage after the first blood or when someone makes a horrible play. So if jungle makes a terrible play, turret dive and gives double buff. Someone would probably say 'Why did you dive you noob, now I'm behind zomg! GG'. Be the mediator and respond with something like 'it's okay we can win this, we can get it back, we got this'. Believe me, I would probably be frustrated just as everyone else with that person who constantly feeds because he hasn't got a clue but it comes back to the first point, learn to lead and make good calls, encourage the team and carry the team.

Hope this helps! If there are any questions feel free to comment and ask away or if there us anything you would like to see on this site please comment below :)

How to carry as a jungler tips

No matter what tier you're in the role of a jungler is important and jungler is one of those roles you can really carry your team with.

Here are some simple tips on how to carry as a jungler to help if you are struggling or have just picked up a jungler role.

1.) Pressure lanes early
Gank so you and your lane can snowball. Especially in lower elos people do not ward their lanes or jungle so it's easy to counter jungle or gank in bronze. So it's safe to say assume lanes are not warded (at least in bronze anyway)

Learn to gank early and often. Especially gank lanes that are overextended, those are free kills.
You can powerfarm to 6 but you have less control on the outcome of the game.

2.) Counter Jungle
Learn to counter jungle, in low elos the risk is low whereas in higher elos their jungle will be warded and team will respond to counter junglers. If you're succesful in invading and counter jungling you have put the other teams jungler to a tilt.

3.) Gank top or mid lvl 3
Depending how extended the lanes try gank top or mid lanes level 3.

4.) Gank when you have level 6!
I have seen players that do not gank but continue to farm even when they hit 6. What's the point of having an ultimate if you don't use it? Turn off the mindset of just farming.

5.) Pick smart and pick a champ that is easy to play
Why is that important? Playing a simple champion lessens the chance of making simple mechanical mistakes. *Lee sin *coughs*  .  Simple carry champions can be but not limited to Amumu, J4 and Rammus.

6.) Go for a level 2 invade
IF you have a champion that has a strong early game like Lee Sin, Rengar or Nid.

7.) Knowing when NOT TO GANK

• Your teams health is low
• Sitting in the brush for too long, waiting too long without a gank can result in you falling behind in levels. 
• When you are low in health

8.) Knowing when to gank

• When enemies flash or both summoners are down (BIG YES!)
• Enemy is low in mana or health
• They are extended
• If you didn't get a kill but burnt the flash it's still wurf!

Hope this helps! If there are any questions feel free to comment and ask away or if there us anything you would like to see on this site please comment below :)

Climb from Bronze to Silver

Okay so I have given some general tips on how to improve your overall game but what should you solely focus on if you are in Bronze? You find yourself frustrated and stuck with poor teammates. It seems like you are not in control of the outcome of the game. You may be improving but can't seem climb out of bronze to silver and you're stuck in this 'Elo Hell'.

Playing league involves your mindset. Without having the right mindset you can't improve and win. Having the right mindset will help you be a better league player, simple as that. Does that mean you will win all your games? No, but it does mean you will improve at a steady rate and the goal of getting out of bronze will be faster.

1.) Have the right attitude 
There's a saying that goes like this 'Your attitude determines your altitude' Attitude is the key for you to get better in League of Legends. The right attitude to win, the attitude that wants to encourage and help your teammates gets better. Many bronze players like to call KS when somebody gets a kill. League is a team game so netting the kill is more important than risking a champion escaping with a slither of health, plus gold from kills are shared. Obviously as you play more you might want to give kills to your carries but we can focus on that as we get to Silver.

2.) Stick to one champion 
In bronze , I would recommend players to focus on one-two champion they are good at. The reason is so you can focus on others skills that needs be learnt such as CSing, laning against your opponent rather than focus on what item to get and learning the champions abilities. If you can master that one (or two) champion you are able to carry yourself with the champion and work your way to Silver tier! Side note, please do not pick a champion with a high difficulty to master. Having a champ with no skillshots is recommended. Do practice those champions in normal/custom to get a feel of the champion before you take them to the rank. I'm not asking you to be a one-trick pony rather be competent in that champion so you are able to branch out to others as you are comfortable with them. As a support I have learnt and can play all support champs but I started off with just Janna and Leona.

3.) CS- Last Hitting 
Improving your laning mechanics is a good goal for a bronze but learning to last-hit is a better goal.
What is Last hitting?

1 Kill is worth around 12-14 minions. So even if you are losing lane but you are out CSing your opponent you can say that you are equal with them. Going to custom games and practice is probably the best way to practice CSing, I remember I used to practice CS a lot in DOTA where I had to not just farm but deny my own minion as well, ah those were the days. Even in Gold-low plat there are plenty of people who are not efficient in their CS. If you work on CSing while learning to improve your skill you will be better than most players as you progress. Try to aim for 75cs in 10 minutes first

As a jungler you can't really last hit but learn the timing of the buffs and creep respawn time. For example if you are focusing on power farm, try to get lvl 6 in less than 6-7minutes.

4.) Wards
I mentioned the importance of this in my previous post. Basically, everyone should farm and if you have vision control you are in control of the game. You prevent ganks, you can ambush champions easily (as most Bronze players don't ward).

5.) Practice!
League of legends is an easy game to pickup but hard to master. There are a lot of variables involved. Do not underestimate how normal games can help improve your game. Watch streams, guides on youtube apply the principles you read in the game. But practice is not all, you must know as much as possible about champions abilities and game mechanics, watch streams, read guides like this one, and apply that information into the game, think about possible matchups, imaginate them, what can you do in every scenario.

Hope this helps! If there are any questions feel free to comment and ask away or if there are anything you would like to see on this site comment below :)

Why I lose my rank games

There will be a time where you will be losing a lot of rank games. How the heck did I just lose 8 in a row? You start to think you are in Elo Hell. You'll hear the common reasons 'Troll, afk, DC, team sucks' while some of them can be legitimate answer, let's be honest the chances the other team would have a DC, AFK or even a rager would be highly likely as well. Your goal is to minimise the losses as much as possible.

Here are a few tips on how you lose your rank games in League of Legends

1.)  Take a break
It's important to take a break from rank if you're on a tilt. Go play some ARAM and normals to cool off or even practice , when you're ready get back into climbing the ladder.

2.) Raging
I don't think people know but raging at your team lowers the team morale. Spending time raging than focusing on your game will cost you and your team the game. Especially in lower ELO raging at a team mate will provoke them to AFK, feed intentionally or refusing to group with the team.

'OMG just uninstall please....'
'Okay I'll just quit the game'
Summoner has quit the game.

There are other repercussions for your team such as not being aware of the map, losing cs and getting ganked because they were too busy typing.

3.) Losing CS
Unless you're a support being able to CS is really important. All the pros stressed the importance of CSing. Don't always focus on getting kills, remember having a good cs lead is equal to one and a half minion wave.

4.) WARDS!!!
As a support main this really ticks me off, it's everyone's job to ward. Play the vision game and you have won half the battle, especially in Bronze/Silver. It's sad to see even the supports in bronze don't ward. The key is to ward so you have your own awareness of your lane. If you are wondering where to ward you can check it out here. (Please I am not advocating boosting, just thought the ward information is helpful)

The 75g you invest in the pink ward will save your life. Especially in Bronze your goal is to stay alive and farm.
Warding gives you vision control, prevents gank and helps you to see where the enemies are at. Most of the time people do not ward especially in bronze. Warding will not only safe your life but win you the game.

5.) You don't have a primary role
I've mentioned it before on my first post the importance of having a primary role and secondary role. Having a primary role and getting good at it gives you the chance of carrying.

6.) You don't play objectives
In Bronze this may not be that important but neverthless playing around objectives is important. Especially in Silver, you have to learn to play the objectives to win the game. When to take Baron, When to take dragon, what to do when the tier 1 turret is down, if there are four enemies bottom sieging the turret then you should push the other lanes turret. In Gold, learning to rotate and take objectives is really important. Watching pro streamers play can improve on your macro and playing around objectives. The resources here and here I mentioned in my previous post can also help you do that if you want to learn the macro part of the game.

Hopefully you've picked up on something that may help. If there is a tip you would like to suggest feel free to comment! Good luck!

General Tips to Improve your gameplay

From my previous post I stated that climbing solo queue involves both skill and mindset. I play basketball and when I was in high school I aimed to be one of the top basketball player in the region. Was I the best? Not yet, but I always aimed to see what I can do improve my game. Whenever I lost a game in basketball I would reflect and see what I could do differently next time or copy what my opponents is doing, as a result I find myself improving at a rate where I could beat my opponents and not make the same mistakes again. Having the mindset of improving rather than thinking you are the best will make your journey of climbing the solo ladder easier.

1.)Maintain a positive attitude

The moment you have a negative attitude and focus on how bad your team is doing you have already lost half the battle. Maintaining a positive attitude helps you to learn from your mistakes and failures which will minimise the chance of it repeating over again. Part of staying positive is welcoming feedback and learning. The goal is to learn not win. Winning is a byproduct of learning. Do you expect to ace your math test without practicing and learning? In the same way if we focus on improving our game you'll find yourself winning at a faster rate. 

Having a positive attitude means flame less. Do not blame your team and the only time you should be using your chat is giving vital information such as flash timers, dragon timers , mias and so on. 

2.) Mute players

Ah, there is a reason why riot installed a mute button ingame. If you find people flaming you that is causing you to lose your concentration and make you tilt do yourself a favor and mute them. Doing so allows you to focus on your game and not let your team and opponents distract you. 

This is really underrated, I had so many cases where I had one of the occasional bad games and team started to flame me. I decided to mute them so I can focus on the game and not on the chat logs. This allowed me to focus all my attention on the game and as a result we won the game.

3.) Get carried

IT'S OKAY to get carried. I'll say it again. IT'S OKAY to get carried. Everyone has a bad game and instead of tilting and say 'I'm done', 'GG' minutes into the game, find ways on how you can contribute to the team. If your mid lane is dominating in his lane and you're feeding, let mid lane make the calls and follow him. Remember it's a team game. Michael Jordan the greatest basketball player of all time relied on this teammates to carry him occasionally. 

Here's an confession, I'm a crap laner. I'm not the best in 1v1 but solid at team fights, picks and utility. Before dynamic queue, I was forced into my worst role which is ADC. I just try to do my best and contribute in teamfights and let my team carry me. I don't try to go ham and knock my opponents.

4.) Never give up!

If there is one thing I've noticed in Bronze and Silver games. Players have problem closing out games. They have a substantial gold lead and is killing the map everywhere but they can't seem to close out and end the game. There are many instances I have won either a 4v5 or made a huge comeback because somebody decides to facecheck, throw at baron or just not work as a team. Especially in Bronze and Silver the chances of people throwing is really high. Some of you might have experienced that before , so if that has happened to your team why not the other?  

I understand some games are unwinnable but to be honest there aren't many especially in low elo. Even in those games I try to just do my best and learn what I can improve on rather than typing GG and go on to the next game. 

LOSING LANE DOES NOT MEAN LOSING THE GAME- Please get that out of your system!

5.) Watch replays and youtube

League of Legends have a replay function? No they don't but there are sites out there that allows you to capture and review your plays such as replay.gg or LSI. Watching replays is highly underrated, I'm glad I've learnt this back in my Warcraft 3/SC2 days. For those who don't see the value of replays try it and you'll see how important it really is. The little mistakes you did can add up to you losing the lane or the game. Find someone who is better than you, preferably diamond but I asked for help  from a high Plat when I was in Silver. 

There are also tons of resources online that can help you improve your overall micro/macro game. You could watch pro streamers to improve your game or youtube.

Or if you are serious in looking to improve your game I found two resources that you will benefit from. Are you really serious about improving your game because having a nice pair of Nike is NOT going to make you a better basketball player, having a coach and watching people play will help improve your game. Likewise,spending $$ in a project Zed skin does not make you a good zed player, but investing in improving your game is what is going to take you to the next level.

I found lolguides.com and lolbuilder.net to be the two that is best out there with quality guides that can help improve your game.

Next post I will talk briefly on why you lose your rank games

Hopefully you've picked up on something that may help. If there is a tip you would like to suggest feel free to comment! Good luck!