• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 05:45
CEST 11:45
KST 18:45
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Classic Games #3: Rogue vs Serral at BlizzCon9[ASL20] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Ascent10Maestros of the Game: Week 1/Play-in Preview12[ASL20] Ro24 Preview Pt2: Take-Off7[ASL20] Ro24 Preview Pt1: Runway13
Community News
SC4ALL $6,000 Open LAN in Philadelphia7Weekly Cups (Sept 1-7): MaxPax rebounds & Clem saga continues23LiuLi Cup - September 2025 Tournaments3Weekly Cups (August 25-31): Clem's Last Straw?39Weekly Cups (Aug 18-24): herO dethrones MaxPax6
StarCraft 2
General
Classic Games #3: Rogue vs Serral at BlizzCon Team Liquid Map Contest #21 - Presented by Monster Energy #1: Maru - Greatest Players of All Time What happened to Singapore/Brazil servers? SC4ALL: A North American StarCraft LAN
Tourneys
SC4ALL $6,000 Open LAN in Philadelphia RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series LANified! 37: Groundswell, BYOC LAN, Nov 28-30 2025 LiuLi Cup - September 2025 Tournaments Maestros of The Game—$20k event w/ live finals in Paris
Strategy
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 490 Masters of Midnight Mutation # 489 Bannable Offense Mutation # 488 What Goes Around Mutation # 487 Think Fast
Brood War
General
BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ ASL20 General Discussion alas... i aint gon' lie to u bruh... BW General Discussion [ASL20] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Ascent
Tourneys
[ASL20] Ro16 Group B Small VOD Thread 2.0 [ASL20] Ro16 Group A [Megathread] Daily Proleagues
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Muta micro map competition Fighting Spirit mining rates [G] Mineral Boosting
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Borderlands 3 The PlayStation 5 General RTS Discussion Thread Iron Harvest: 1920+
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread The Games Industry And ATVI UK Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The Happy Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023 TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Linksys AE2500 USB WIFI keeps disconnecting Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread High temperatures on bridge(s)
TL Community
BarCraft in Tokyo Japan for ASL Season5 Final The Automated Ban List
Blogs
The Personality of a Spender…
TrAiDoS
A very expensive lesson on ma…
Garnet
hello world
radishsoup
Lemme tell you a thing o…
JoinTheRain
RTS Design in Hypercoven
a11
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1454 users

[Discussion] Breaking 1600

Forum Index > LoL General
Post a Reply
1 2 3 4 5 8 9 10 Next All
ZERG_RUSSIAN
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
10417 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-12-01 04:29:47
December 01 2010 01:51 GMT
#1
It's time to build an advice thread.

I'm primarily interested in questions from under 1600 players who want to know how to become 1600+ players. 1600 is not hard to achieve. You do not have to be an amazing player to get to 1600. At this point in time, GETTING TO 1600 is a reliable indicator that you understand the basics of the game. 1600 is about where you start seeing decently consistent reliable players that can play nearly every role (jungler, carry, caster, tank, support with subcategories of top solo, mid solo, and 2v2 lane). If you put a 1600+ player into a 1200 game they will tend to CARRY THE SHIT out of it just because they understand the game better.

What seperates 1600+ players from under 1600 players? What separates the really good players from 1600-1800 players? How can I improve my skills to this point?

I'm especially interested in specific advice from players on the higher end of our community. Smash, Ezpz, Spud, Aaerox, Uta, Good, Red, Shake, Neo, Yiruru, Loci, Phrost, INEPT (forgot, sorry lol), Chrispy, Shiroi, Smgzy and anyone I'm forgetting--you know if I'm talking about you.

To start the discussion off, I'd like to ask you how you got out of under 1600. What allowed you to do this? What champs did you play? How early in the season did you do this? Did you drop down below 1600 at any point? What seperated you from the players who couldn't break 1600? What advice would you give to someone who is trying to get out of 1600?

I am personally looking forward to responses from all of you, and I'm assuming many other people are, too.
I'm on GOLD CHAIN
Southlight
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
United States11767 Posts
December 01 2010 01:54 GMT
#2
How do you break 1600? How do I become a 1600+ player?
oraoraoraoraoraoraoraora
NeoIllusions
Profile Blog Joined December 2002
United States37500 Posts
December 01 2010 01:56 GMT
#3
On December 01 2010 10:54 Southlight wrote:
How do you break 1600? How do I become a 1600+ player?


Uh, probably the latter? Former seems more like a milestone than an achievement. Just talk from personal experience and what you did to get to the level you're on.

In additional, probably mention what you're currently focusing on in order to take your game to the next level.
ModeratorFor the Glory that is TeamLiquid (-9 | 155) | Discord: NeoIllusions#1984
Mogwai
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
United States13274 Posts
December 01 2010 02:15 GMT
#4
the short answer to this is that up to 1400 you play carries who can singlehandedly win games (kayle for me, back when she could just insta-gib towers), 1400-1600 is Warwick time, getting out of the 1600s is all on the characters you actually feel most comfortable with (pantheon). Duo queueing helps but isn't necessary.

Knowing players and thus knowing when to hog the solos and when to let lower elos solo is important.
mogwaismusings.wordpress.com
red_
Profile Joined May 2010
United States8474 Posts
December 01 2010 02:26 GMT
#5
Being a Jiji smurf makes you 1900 automatically, true story.
How did the experience of working at Mr Burns' Nuclear Plant influence Homer's composition of the Iliad and Odyssey?
barbsq
Profile Joined November 2009
United States5348 Posts
December 01 2010 02:26 GMT
#6
On December 01 2010 11:26 red_ wrote:
Being a Jiji smurf makes you 1900 automatically, true story.


same with being a bear
Look at this guy, constantly diluting himself! (╮°-°)╮┳━┳ ( ╯°□°)╯ ┻━┻
Blitzkrieg0
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States13132 Posts
December 01 2010 02:27 GMT
#7
How does a person carry in the 13/1400s with a carry? I can out farm and wreck middle and still get dominated because my team will just let me get focused every time. Especially when the enemy team has heroes like Kassadin, Rammus, Xin Zhao, etc etc who's sole purpose in life is to charge in and kill you the carry and then your team is a car without wheels, especially when that hero got fed at top or bottom and so they have just as much gold as you and an entire team who wants you dead.

I played a bunch of MF, but have recently been playing more Ashe since I can kite people better with redbuff/ice arrows and gank very effectively with ECA. Played a bit of trist when she was free, but I like wrecking my lane with MF's Q.
I'll always be your shadow and veil your eyes from states of ain soph aur.
WaveofShadow
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Canada31494 Posts
December 01 2010 02:31 GMT
#8
This thread seems very similar to the other one started by oberon...
twitch.tv/waveofshadow ||| Winner of AHGL's So You Think You Can Cast! ||| Juicy Dad for lyfe ||| 'idk i get a kick out of stupid things' - Jarms Yarng
nennx
Profile Joined April 2010
United States310 Posts
December 01 2010 03:45 GMT
#9
try not to pick heroes you are absolutely not good with or don't have runes for (this is kind of obvious but I dont know how many times i've played with people who say they can pick a tank and just are absolutely bad at it). communicate with your team if you can't fill a certain role if you're 4/5th pick.
Sup
ZERG_RUSSIAN
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
10417 Posts
December 01 2010 03:46 GMT
#10
Well, here, I'll give you an example:

The biggest things that separate me from 1200-1400 players is my mechanics and game sense. I play a lot of champions and if you put me into a game with pretty much anyone I will have a basic understanding of how to play him. For example, last night I bought Sion and jungled for my first game and my basic understanding of the jungling role and how to build junglers allowed me to go something like 5-1-10 with him as we dominated the other team, even though I didn't really know exactly how all of his skills worked.

I also feel like my evaluation skills in teamfights is spot-on. I generally know when a fight is in our favor, when it's in their favor, and when it will depend on a factor like who engages first or the timing of the creep wave. If I'm on vent or if my team is aware of this as well, we can pull off really impressive, "risky" things like two tower dives for an ace. This effect is amplified when playing with good players. I feel like I have a good idea of when I will be able to escape from something and what I have to do to get out safely--knowing the limits of flash/ghost/tower aggro and how to bait and evade skillshot snares/grabs/stuns.

If I am in a lane, I know what to prioritize and how to do it. Should I harass? Should I focus last hitting? Should I focus on zoning? Is it safe to push the wave? Do I have time to bluepill and be back by the time the wave pushes? How many creep kills does the jungler have? Where does that put him on the map? Can I dive for a kill? Can he dive me for a kill? All of these things run through my head when I'm in the lane. I also notice that the better the player, the more farm they tend to get in lane. This isn't true for champs like Janna or Morgana but in general the player is good at last hitting, i.e. getting them when there's no reason not to and not getting them when there is a reason not to.

I know exactly why I'm building what I'm building and have different builds for different situations. My prediction skill is good. I know who's becoming dangerous, who is dangerous, when they will stop being dangerous and generally how dangerous they are. I also know when I am dangerous and try to exploit this to the fullest of my ability. Higher level play is predicated on pushing the smallest edges over other players in an attempt to make them play defensively and passively. Sometimes it's necessary to play passively. It's also important to know how to best defend against these types of tactics (zoning for example--if they're strictly zoning you and you can't get any exp, try to get them to hit you once to draw creep aggro from your wave. That will make their lane push.).

In general my map awareness isn't as solid as better players. I try to consider things like "if I was trapping, where would I be?" and know the probability that an enemy team is trapping a bush. This is something I need to work on, because sometimes I'll still chase for a kill to start a 5v5 that ends in an ace. I was listening to a stream of CLG once and they were like "don't ever chase", which kinda opened my eyes a bit. I chase too often.

In the jungle, I abuse holes in the enemy's jungle based on the paths they take. Counting creep kills and knowing jungle paths allows you to do things like steal creeps and jack buffs. When junglers have a certain amount of CS, I call out that they're probably going to gank and where the gank is likely to occur and try to be there to support it. I know when I need to gank and I know when I need to cover, and basically it's a matter of forcing myself to time it right. I still screw up jungling in high level games because of how much of a poker game jungling is.

Anyway yeah, these are the things that I'm thinking about during a game that I think set me apart from other players. Hopefully the better players will expound upon this.
I'm on GOLD CHAIN
yazu
Profile Joined September 2010
United States255 Posts
December 01 2010 04:14 GMT
#11
Tbh...... what makes a good player is not just knowing everything about the game but being able to make decisions on the fly by using your understanding of the game "in the game". I feel like there are a lot of players that "know" what to do, but when the time comes to do it they either panic, choke, make the wrong decision, etc. I sometimes do this myself.... actually I do it a lot and I am not to happy about it. Your understanding of the game isn't enough, you need to be able to use that understanding in split second decisions in game. A lot of people basically fuck up a lot and make stupid mistakes that they know that they shouldn't have made, but under the circumstances, whether from stress or whatever, just mess up. To fix this you just got to play a lot of games. Experience is key. The thing is you can't mess up. SO don't TALK the TALK, but ACT.

That's one thing that I see as an area people need to improve on. Also one thing that pisses me off especially about some higher level players is in their lack of trying to help people and telling them what to do or to put it in a nicer way make "suggestions" for people on their team. You need to take charge or people will play their own game and not the team's game. After a certain while you no longer can "carry" a team but you sure as hell can "lead" one.

Yet I am sure there are many of you who would say that many people don't listen or are just arrogant. Well first don't sound like a dick, which is tough for some of you I understand, and second show them the desire that you are playing to win. I myself have the experience of playing with some bad junglers who don't do their job of warding and such. When I tell them "GO BUY WARDS idiot" and such they don't listen and then they get pissy and such. What I find effective is to take charge as I said before, buy wards yourself even an oracle if you have the cash and show the ignorant players that you want to win and that your not trying to boss them around but trying to win. If that makes any sense lol. I hope that helps.

However the most important thing is to always have fun even while losing. If you rage and get pissed you won't get anywhere. You got to lose to win.
g.cuisine
mrgerry
Profile Joined September 2008
United States1508 Posts
December 01 2010 04:25 GMT
#12
Everyone should buy wards not just jungle.
yazu
Profile Joined September 2010
United States255 Posts
December 01 2010 04:38 GMT
#13
On December 01 2010 13:25 mrgerry wrote:
Everyone should buy wards not just jungle.


Yea but jungle should as well. Also the fact that its solo que and you take on the position of the jungler in the beginning its mostly one of your objectives, but later into the game yes everyone should by wards.
g.cuisine
NeoIllusions
Profile Blog Joined December 2002
United States37500 Posts
December 01 2010 04:40 GMT
#14
On December 01 2010 13:25 mrgerry wrote:
Everyone should buy wards not just jungle.


This.

Bottom lane Garen, you have to b and find out you have exactly enough gold for your Sunfire Cape. What do you do?

Buy that Giant Belt and Chain Mail and a few wards. That's the right play to make. Not the Sunfire. Doesn't matter if you're the only one buying wards. At the very least, it makes sure you can't be ganked.
ModeratorFor the Glory that is TeamLiquid (-9 | 155) | Discord: NeoIllusions#1984
ZERG_RUSSIAN
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
10417 Posts
December 01 2010 05:31 GMT
#15
Knowing where to ward is almost as important as warding in the first place. The very first ward your team buys goes at dragon. It won't help prevent the bottom lane gank but it will alert you to dragon attempts and a dragon is a HUGE advantage early game. After that it's bottom lane's grass (I like to ward the bottom team's jungle grass on the left of the river because the dragon ward provides sight of the river and the bottom ward provides sight of any attempts to get into the river grass from either side) and then usually the top grass. Keeping wards up throughout the game is something that people really tend to forget about but it's almost vital to do. ANYWHERE the enemy could hide is a good spot to ward. It's also useful to get oracles and vision wards to ward hunt and counterward large objectives like dragon and baron and sometimes buffs.
I'm on GOLD CHAIN
Ruken
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
United States858 Posts
December 01 2010 06:02 GMT
#16
When the ladder first started I carried almost every game with Nasus up to 1600. 1400's was actually easier to carry because I could get my team to group up. I'm not 1600 anymore and I think a lot of it was luck. Would like to get there again.

I can tell you how to get from 1200 to 1500 since I had to do that twice now lol.
Duo queue. You and a friend take turns between jungle warwick / mid ashe. Try to end it as fast as possible. Gank a lot and don't count on your team. In fact count on them feeding and losing their lane. You have to keep the ganks rolling to keep the pressure off the baddies. Once mid game rolls around push all the lanes as hard as you can and take all the jungle in hopes that your team will get bored and try to push the nexus.
MIK Terran
Ruken
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
United States858 Posts
December 01 2010 06:08 GMT
#17
Oh yeah and I like what yazu said. A lot of it is innate ability to analyze the situation and almost instantly know if you should fight/run, kill golem right before enemy gets there and escape/die and give away golem.

There's a lot of players that read strategy and think they're doing the right things but end up doing it at the wrong time or place. Psychology is a huge part of the game.
MIK Terran
Brees
Profile Joined January 2010
Marshall Islands3404 Posts
December 01 2010 06:17 GMT
#18
basic knowledge of the game, being able to play every role, being able to work well with others

as far as 1600-2000 goes its almost entirely luck besides the tip top of the ladder. played with some absolutely horrid 2000s and some amazing 1600s.
Brees on in
spinesheath
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Germany8679 Posts
December 01 2010 09:16 GMT
#19
I wonder what EU rating 1600 US compares to...

How to become a 1600 EU player: Read TL, buy wards, understand that Janna is a tank and Morde is not.
Learn that killing champions is not the goal of the game.

There is no need to be able to jungle.
If you have a good reason to disagree with the above, please tell me. Thank you.
ZERG_RUSSIAN
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
10417 Posts
December 01 2010 09:31 GMT
#20
Wtf do you guys do up there with no junglers? Are you just seriously way better at the 2v1 lane game than us?
I'm on GOLD CHAIN
1 2 3 4 5 8 9 10 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 15m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
OGKoka 156
Crank 40
StarCraft: Brood War
GuemChi 1610
Shuttle 493
Hyuk 402
BeSt 331
Soma 159
Soulkey 152
EffOrt 124
sSak 96
Jaedong 96
Pusan 85
[ Show more ]
Dewaltoss 82
Noble 78
Sharp 75
ToSsGirL 72
Sexy 71
Rush 54
Movie 49
zelot 47
Light 43
Liquid`Ret 34
Bale 19
Purpose 15
NaDa 9
Dota 2
The International83043
Gorgc6048
League of Legends
JimRising 430
Counter-Strike
olofmeister1052
Stewie2K645
Foxcn426
shoxiejesuss385
allub205
Other Games
ceh9462
crisheroes260
hungrybox209
Happy171
XaKoH 163
NeuroSwarm30
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1005
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 35
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 13 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• LUISG 35
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• iopq 3
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• Ler35
Upcoming Events
RSL Revival
15m
Classic vs TriGGeR
ByuN vs Maru
Crank 40
Online Event
2h 15m
Kung Fu Cup
2h 15m
BSL Team Wars
9h 15m
RSL Revival
1d
Maestros of the Game
1d 4h
ShoWTimE vs Classic
Clem vs herO
Serral vs Bunny
Reynor vs Zoun
Cosmonarchy
1d 6h
Bonyth vs Dewalt
[BSL 2025] Weekly
1d 8h
RSL Revival
2 days
Maestros of the Game
2 days
[ Show More ]
BSL Team Wars
2 days
Afreeca Starleague
3 days
Snow vs Sharp
Jaedong vs Mini
Wardi Open
3 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
Afreeca Starleague
4 days
Light vs Speed
Larva vs Soma
LiuLi Cup
5 days
The PondCast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Copa Latinoamericana 4
SEL Season 2 Championship
HCC Europe

Ongoing

BSL 20 Team Wars
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 3
BSL 21 Points
ASL Season 20
CSL 2025 AUTUMN (S18)
LASL Season 20
RSL Revival: Season 2
Maestros of the Game
Chzzk MurlocKing SC1 vs SC2 Cup #2
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1

Upcoming

2025 Chongqing Offline CUP
BSL Polish World Championship 2025
BSL Season 21
BSL 21 Team A
SC4ALL Open Lan
EC S1
SL Budapest Major 2025
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
MESA Nomadic Masters Fall
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.