Hello summoners, have you ever thought about what has tied you to your current league? yes, sometimes it’s your team, that’s something you can’t contradict. However, if you play a lot in SoloQ queues and don’t get promoted, it means you’re doing something wrong. Below you will see how a few small details are capable of completely ruining your games
Champion selection:
that’s right!, from the champion selection you can know how the game will go. It sounds obvious, but it is not so. Many times we choose our best champion no matter what, after all, it is the champion with whom we will have the best performance in the game. But even in the high leagues this doesn’t happen, there are few champions that when you get the most out of them, they work for you anyway (Orianna, Ornn, Zac…), and if you don’t make them a champion that works in any situation, it’s better than have a group of champions. In case you don’t know what it is, I’ll explain it to you. You need to pick two lanes to play, and in those lanes you need to have at least 2 champions that you play very well in each lane, and a larger number of champions that you don’t underperform. a good example of a good champion pool is that of Faker
Within champ select, obviously team composition comes into play. Each team should have a balance between burst damage, constant damage, a balance between magic damage and physical damage, and should also have tanks. It’s never a good idea to play 5 assassins or 4 magic damage champions. So you will have to assimilate what your team needs and what champion you can choose to fill this need. If you see that your team did not choose a balanced team, you better win as fast as you can, or the opponent will take advantage of this. It’s not just about getting the counter off the enemy champion, the idea is to win the game, not just lane. One way to tell which champions work well together is to look at what type of champion they are (starter, controller, or poke). But this is another extensive topic that can be treated in another post.
Runes
The runes are obviously fundamental. If you use your champion very well you can afford to use almost any rune and it will not lower your performance, but you must analyze well which runes will win you the game. You can’t pick runes that only win your lane, I know it’s tempting to pick electrocute to ensure more kills in your lane, but if the enemy team is full of fighters and tanks, it’s not a good idea anymore. So, balance what you need on line and what you need in-game. For example, Biscuit Delivery and Time warp tonic are good for your lane, and for the rest of the game runes that increase your life, your ability to do damage or that help you to have your skills faster will be key to your victory. Always think that rune will help your whole team in general and in a situation of advantage or disadvantage (for example dark harvest in case of disadvantage it would be very bad)
In game
Once the game begins, you must analyze in what you have an advantage over the rival and in what not. if you picked a champion that is really good for lane wins, but really bad for team fights, you should push as hard as you can and if you can’t secure lane kills, rotate to help other players. If you have a scaling champion, you should play very safe and rotate when necessary even if it means losing some minions, even a scaling champion can do a lot of damage early! If you end up with a disadvantage, it is best to freeze your line and notify your team as much as you can of the opponent’s movement, you cannot cancel it like your opponent does but you can start climbing faster than your opponent just by doing that. And you must keep in mind that your jungler is a very important part and you must help him to secure objectives as much as possible.
Wards
When you set the condition of your lane, you will know which wards to put and where. If you have an advantage, you should place wards as deep into the jungle as you can without risking it (on Razorbacks, Red Buff, or in some bush). If you are at a disadvantage you should put sentinels defensively, that is, you should put them where your rival is likely to pass to rotate to another line. If you are a support in the same way, you should make sure to deny the enemy vision that is possible without risking and put sentinels on the objectives such as the dragon or the crab.
As you can see, these are macrogame data, they are the simplest and they apply to any league (if you are in a high league, clearly you already knew them) there is still a lot to be done about macrogame and microgame, for now try to apply these simple tips to improve your game and get out of oil waste 4 (0) LP. The more you practice and be aware of your actions, the better you will do over time, just keep trying and stop playing on autopilot!.
Future posts will cover more of the macro gameplay (such as teamfights, the type of gear you have, and how to use the gear type to your advantage) as well as the micro gameplay (dodging, skill shots, farming, and how to play against powerful champions) stay tuned!
Good luck have fun!