EPTThis is a list of tips based on my experiences on the game on my way to getting gold.. Turns out this is one big rant. So yeh. Sorry in advance!
Background (my secret shame):
I started playing in season 1 but I only started getting interested in getting better towards the end of season 2, peaking at 1480 then dropping down to 1100... You'll find a lot of it is already out there in pro guides but these tips were especially helpful to me as I learned to get better.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/kea84QN.png)
So I was pretty bad. It's the equivalent of being the fat kid in school and being a slightly less fat man in my 20s.
1) Avoid tier lists. Stick to champs that work well with you.
Explanation:
I used to check tier lists such as elementz and tourney lists of successful champs and emulate their builds etc. It became painfully obvious that my most played champs (olaf, lux) were giving me negative w/l ratios. It's far better to stick to a few champs that yield great success and when it comes down to it: more roles with a few champs is better than many champs but a few roles. My trynd was pretty beast but I needed good back ups, so it turned out my jungle leona and supp janna were adequate, but I played champs like Olaf at bronze tier... (40% win rate)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/MXm048m.png)
They told me I was bronze in the Oceanic server transfer. So I tryndalol'd to gold.
2) Understanding your role in the team for early/mid/late game.
Explanation:
Knowing what I'm meant to do at different stages of the game is obviously good but the plan wasn't so well fleshed out until I really started getting into 20+ games with my tryndamere.
For example, my tryndamere has very weak early and mid game so I would prioritise farming over roaming. But that said, I know some of my timings:
Level 2: I will try for first blood and hit level 2 before the enemy. This means I have to auto minions from full hp and push the wave from the start, then ghost ignite +crit them to death for a level 2 timing first blood.
Level 6: My ult is incredibly strong for tower diving, so I better make sure I have my core set of items (zerk, zeal, life sceptre) to make sure I have the movespeed and crits necessary to make the kill. Ideally my ignite and ghost cds are up again from level 2 attempt.
Farm till I can buy last whisper: Getting 200+ cs generally means you have to split push after lane phase and then some. I know my teamfights will be more successful as I can cut down tanks if I predict I will be kited/CC'd to oblivion so sometimes I wouldn't even join my team till 30 mins. You would find me hanging around their jungle + 2nd tier tower and it seemed to work well with attracting attention while farming up a storm.
3) Know how to trade in lane
Explanation: The idea is to do damage to them until they are at a critically low % of hp such that you can kill them in 1 combo (skills+ignite+flash). This doesn’t necessarily mean your damage to them>their damage to you, since trynd has sustain/pots/insane crit damage. A few times I've been 'out traded' but came out on top by drawing minion aggro.. tower hits.. jungle ganks.. lucky crits hue.
The goal is always to kill or at least zone them. It's easier to hit them as they're last hitting a minion as you know where they will be exactly. This leads into knowing when to all-in. Hitting them under their tower is also pretty beneficial if you can do 150+ damage to them which can be achieved with minions aggroing on the enemy should they retaliate.
4) Know when to all in during laning phase (cooldowns). Know when to back out.
Explanation: Knowing the enemy’s abilities is crucial. Corki’s w is a 20-14 second cooldown, most disengages and escapes around between 10-15 seconds. You should bait their escapes and then you have that 10-15 second window to all in them so they won’t kite you when you blow cds. When it comes to chasing.. most times you shouldn't as you may find that they'er just waiting for cds and teammates to jump you. Ghost walk really helps with auto-attack dependant melee champs and is quite underrated, especially with its significantly lower cd so you can use it 2-3 more times than flash. And it syncs perfectly with ignite too! I love ghost.
Towers have a 1 secondish attack speed. I know my trynd starts with 595 hp so minus their dmg + 230 tower dmg, I have roughly 2 seconds of tower diving without ulting in. 3+ seconds tend to get really hairy...
The reverse is true if you are the one zoned. Just give up the tower and not die unless you got incoming help who are actually going to hurt your enemy in 3, 2, 1…
4b) Ranged minions add 10-20% extra dmg. Enemy ranged minions do 10%-20% dmg to you and you lose their gold value when you die (20ish gold per minion).
As a melee, you invariably attract minion aggro so it’s best to make sure that minion counts are even or in your favour. If they are not, you are much better off letting the big wave push to your tower and farm for moneys rather than dying and losing that gold.
5) Baron is a fucking trap/ left bush of middle lane is trap.
Biggest throws come from baron. He's so tanky and does so much damage... it makes me think that it's better to tower dive the enemy team if you're so well equipped for baron.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Ob4kiwH.jpg)
The left bush of the middle lane and the nearby bushes on blue side are hazardous, even if the enemy doesn't initially see you. They make very good choke points which are prime for aoe abilities that a great many number of champs have which invariably fuck up the team sitting there, especially if squishies hide there too. Then they wonder why they lost the teamfight...
5b) Use baron as a trap for enemy team.
If the enemy team is turtling, hang around baron and even start it to make the enemy team jump you, but the whole team needs to understand enemy team> baron. If you’re one of those people whoa re trying to quickly finish off baron, you’re doing it wrong. That dps was better spent killing enemies.
6) Turtle if you’re behind.
Turtle just means hang at the tower until the right moment when the enemy adc is physically attacking the turret and you blow your cds to kill him. That’s my definition.
For bronze/silver, this will always work as the enemy team will get bored. And when they get bored, one will try diving. Then you go ahead and rape face.
Every game I’m behind I try to turtle, and it’s the only way I know to make a comeback. Teamfights in the middle of the map are so pointless in bronze and silver, but when it does happen make sure to capitalize on turrets.
7) Why feeding early doesn’t really matter in the long term.
Let’s say you’re 0-3, or 0-5. People will make a comment, esp. low level players interestingly enough. Do they look at your cs? Probably not.
In a great, great, great many of my games I lose my lane. I feel kinda bad? Not really. Because my death at the start of the game doesn't dictate the end of the game. A 4v5 at 3.05 mins isn't the same as 4v5 at 33.05 mins.
I find that so long as my cs is consistent, my trynd is reasonably strong even as 0-5. A 0-5 Trynd can be as effective as a 5-0 trynd in a teamfight in a positive way if you are willing to focus on cs and target their carries. Just ignore all the hate/flames and focus on your game.
8) Believe in the game of throws. Aka “If you think you are going to die, take a moment to think and then don’t die.”
Explanation: Worth? It's fairly important to figure out the consequences of your actions, and the deadliness of mistakes increases until the final teamfight. What will happen to your teammates if you die? Sometimes the answer is nothing, so then it's k. Basically just be really careful as the game stretches out and wipe away the tears when someone on your team goes ham unnecessarily.
9) The "2 games rule" and taking a break
Sometimes the winning move is to not play. Athletes have a proper term for burning out but that is essentially what happens if you play too many games in a row under strenuous circumstances. I work 9-5 teaching in high school weekdays and tutor on Sundays 10-5, so I play LoL to relax. It's problematic to suddenly realise that these ranked games are stressing me out, so that's when I decide to call it a night.
The 2 games rule is when you’ve lost 2 ranked games, switch to normal or just do something else.. Trying to win when you're tilting is unproductive. Sometimes I play 2 games, win both, and call it a night too, because of work and stuff.
I do other things like listen to 8tracks and I find rnb to be relaxing when I play ranked. Watching pro streamers play and fail helps me feel better too.
I like to compare it to poker when you only play when you have a strong hand. Winning a couple every day is overall is progress and then I might spend Saturday winning the best of 3.
10) Play nice with your friends
I have to admit I don't really have friends, let alone friends who play ranked LoL. (Whoaaaa surprising).
But when I do, I don't rage or criticise. Most of the time they know what they’ve done wrong and I'd just make them feel worse.
I’ll say something like, at least your cs is good. Or nice wards/smite. Or even just "gw" on a fairly minor play in a kill. I've noticed more people are adding me and in fact "enjoy" playing with me even after one game. So yeh. I've got a favourite duo partner who randomly picks friendly/teamwork commendations every game for me even when nobody else does. It's nice to appreciate and be appreciated. Spread the love!
I'm not all that positive though, lol. I’m known to rage post game and bitch with friends to relax too. If I’m particularly vindictive after winning a 4v5 game I’ll ask players to report a teammate for being afk/bad. So yeh, I guess everyone has that side to them.
Thanks for reading. If you liked it let me know and I'll do a 2nd blog on my silver-proof trynd guide.
Mr Nugy (OCE)
