Have you ever felt like you've hitting a brick wall on your way to challenger tier? Maybe you're making good pace, but just want a bit of extra oomph to push you to the top. Either way, if you're looking to improve your game, try out these methods below to help your game ascend to new levels.
Introduction
Have you ever felt like you've hitting a brick wall on your way to challenger tier? Maybe you're making good pace, but just want a bit of extra oomph to push you to the top. Either way, if you're looking to improve your game, try out these methods below to help your game ascend to new levels.
![]()
![]()
Not to spam you with advertisements, but if you're in the market for a new drive and haven't upgraded to a solid state yet, you gotta check out these Samsung drives too!
I literally just plugged in a new 500 GB version of the drive below right before writing this post (which is why it's up so late), and it's absolutely INSANE! The 250gb one is much cheaper, and currently the #1 best seller in Amazon's solid state department. If you're still running a regular hard drive now's a good time to switch to SSD.
Note that these are affiliate links and I get a small cut if you buy it. I do however use everything I advertise above and find them all to be absolutely phenomenal.
Custom Game Training Methods
1. Practice Last Hitting
Good last hitting is often what separates players who know how to play the game and players who are just playing the game.
Open a custom game and perform each of the following at your discretion in order to improve your last hitting skills:
- Pick Leblanc (or your favorite ranged champ) > use no runes and no masteries > play for 10~12 minutes, then restart the game
- Use no spells > Last hit ONLY > Try and wait until just before a minion dies
- Use no spells > Push to turret > Try and last hit all minions at your own turret
- Use spells > Push to turret > Try and last hit using minimal spells
It's rare that most people can get every CS at turret using no spells, but it can be done with some foresight and planning.
- Pick Garen (or your favorite melee champ) > repeat steps above.
- You can also practice champions while using regular AD runes, but if you're playing someone with animation resets like Riven, in a custom game there's really no excuse not to be hitting 100% of minions in the first 10 minutes.
- You can do it! I believe :)
2. Practice Warding Over Ledges
By warding over ledges, you can effectively extend your ward range by a little under double what it would normally go to. The rule is, if your cursor can reach over 50% of the ledge, then your ward will go over the ledge.
Check out the full article on warding over ledges here. The pictures and map are a bit dated, but are still very relevant. On the to-do list for updating.
3. Practice Flashing/Jumping Over Ledges
This is something that I actually do fairly often with champions such as Nidalee, Fizz, Ezreal, Fiddlesticks, etc. If you would like to play one of these champions, there's really no reason not to start up a custom game and practice jumping over ledges (especially Nidalee). Trust me, it's fun.
Meanwhile, there's nothing worse than a failed flash over a ledge, so feel free to practice that as well. I specifically recommend the spot below at a running start:
In Game Training Methods
4. Stick to One Champion
This one's been hammered into people time and time again, but seriously, if you practice one champion, you will get better at the game much faster than if you try and play every champion.
It's good to know what every other champion does, but focusing on one particular champion at a time will allow you to intimately understand that champion at a high level. If you're aiming to play at a high level, then specialize.
5. Analyze, But Focus On Yourself
Most games, it's too easy to try and concentrate on what everyone else is doing wrong. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as you learn from their mistakes as well. However, never do it at the cost of making extra mistakes of your own.
Baddies will naturally be left in the dust as you climb through the ranks, as long as you surpass them, with any luck you'll never have to see them again. Don't let them hold you back.
6. Concentrate On Learning Easy Mental Parts of the Game
Many people try and play super difficult champions with high skillcaps, which makes it difficult to concentrate on the parts of the game that are easy to change.
Trying to perfectly time a Zed shadow may be beyond your control, and may also cost you the game. Spending 75 gold on a ward to save your life and waste the enemy jungler's time may win you the game, and requires way less effort.
Knowing when to push and when to freeze a lane can make or break a game. The best part is, that decision doesn't require Faker level finger techniques.
Check out this page for some more mental-oriented solo queue tips.
Look what the mind can accomplish!
Out of Game Improvement Methods
7. Get a Better Internet Connection/Computer
Many players aren't in control of their own internet connection. However, many are, or will be soon. When that time comes, you'll have to make a choice, how serious are you about League of Legends? Is an extra $10 a month on high speed internet worth it? How about a better router or modem?
Likewise, improved computers or keyboard/mouse components will definitely cost you a lot more than a better internet connection. However, they can be the key difference of a few milliseconds between Victory and Defeat.
In case you were wondering, I'm currently using the Razer Deathadder mouse and Razer Blackwidow keyboard. If you're in the market for a new mouse or keyboard, feel free to check out the two on Amazon below!
Not to spam you with advertisements, but if you're in the market for a new drive and haven't upgraded to a solid state yet, you gotta check out these Samsung drives too!
I literally just plugged in a new 500 GB version of the drive below right before writing this post (which is why it's up so late), and it's absolutely INSANE! The 250gb one is much cheaper, and currently the #1 best seller in Amazon's solid state department. If you're still running a regular hard drive now's a good time to switch to SSD.
Note that these are affiliate links and I get a small cut if you buy it. I do however use everything I advertise above and find them all to be absolutely phenomenal.
8. Watch Replays Of Yourself
There are a variety of free replay tools out there on the web, although Riot hasn't made one themselves. Watching yourself play allows you to learn from your mistakes. You can even watch your mistakes in slow motion :)
The most popular ones out at the moment appear to be LoLReplay and the one SkinSpotlights released a few months back. I personally don't use either one since Lolking automatically saves all replays of Diamond 4+ players so I can't recommend a specific one to try.
If you've had good experiences with a specific one feel free to comment below!
The most popular ones out at the moment appear to be LoLReplay and the one SkinSpotlights released a few months back. I personally don't use either one since Lolking automatically saves all replays of Diamond 4+ players so I can't recommend a specific one to try.
If you've had good experiences with a specific one feel free to comment below!
9. Watch Streamers
Are you trying to be a better player at a specific role? There are tons of high Elo streamers out there that main a specific role. Watching them on Twitch.tv allows you to see the mindset of other players performing in that role that you want to improve on.
The main takeaways from streams that you should take away are when and how to play aggressively, and when to play more passively. For junglers, map control and knowing when to gank/farm are also crucial, but fairly easy to pick up after watching someone else play for a little while.
Personally, TheOddOne to be a good balance of being informative and entertaining when it comes to learning how to jungle.
10. Friend Good Players
After a game, if you find that someone in the game did particularly well (and you did decently yourself), feel free to send them a friend request after the game and chat about any great plays or terrible plays by either team.
Talking with other players allows you to see another point of view, and possibly even allows you to gain someone to play with and learn from as you climb the ranks.
While for the most time people you friend may never speak with you again, even talking about that one game for a bit while it's fresh in your minds is a great way to analyze things that went right and things that went wrong.