Hello, I'm Captain Korea and at one point was ~2300 elo. I thought I'd share some very simple tips on how to become better player and achieve that elo you've always wanted, inspired by a recent post on reddit by my teammate Spellsy. Some of these tips may be blindingly obvious to many of you players out there, but they're so obvious that others might miss it.

Tip #1: Buy wards even if you’re not a support!

It may seem like a waste of 75 gold, and you may feel that you can walk away safe from ganks, but the realistically speaking, you are going to die more than most of the time unless you have an escape summoner spell like ghost or flash; even then they could kill you depending on opposing lane partner(s) and the jungler. This is avoidable if you buy a ward or two every time you go back to base and ward the spots where enemy jungler are likely to go through to gank you (tribush area for top/bottom lane, entrance to enemy jungle for middle lane on both sides). By doing so, not only will you will know when the enemy jungler is camping your lane in a side bush near the lane, you waste their time causing them to miss out on their farm and providing safety for your other lanes. Besides even if they don’t gank, its only 75 gold. That’s 3 creeps worth of gold in the 3 minutes you will be safe for to farm potential 36 minions+cannon minions.

 

Tip #2: Look at the minimap as you would look at a rear view mirror while driving.

Over-exaggeration? Maybe. I know it’s hard to look at the minimap while trying to last hit those minions, but by looking at the minimap it shows you which enemy champions have left their lane, and it’ll give you a general idea of whether you or your teammates will get ganked. By constantly checking you can see if a skirmish is about to occur, if your teammate is chasing down an enemy or getting chased down, or if the enemy jungler is invading your jungle. This ties in with tip #1, as you’ll have more vision on your mini-map if you buy wards, allowing for an easier time of guessing/spotting where the enemy champions are.

 

Tip #3: Don’t get too agressive, it drives the females away. :O

While it feels good and may seemingly be worth it to dive under a tower in 2v1 situation and get that kill, chances are you’re not going to make it out alive either. If you die, you’re giving the opponent gold from kill + assist while you only get gold from the kill. Also, if you’re in a position where you can dive 2v1, you’re probably fed with a bounty on your head. Therefore, you’re giving them gold from the kill + assist + killing spree. This does not only apply to diving towers, but for chasing kills. If they run into their jungle or to their base, and you have no vision, you can assume that help on the way and they’ll turn to kill you instead. Sending them back to base doesn’t give you gold from the kill, but it can give you an advantage in securing an objective on the map, such as a tower, dragon, or even baron later on into the game.

 

Tip #4: Learn to concede your mistakes, it’s not always your teammate’s fault.

Yes, it’s easy to blame your team. Yes, there is always somebody blaming somebody else in a game when things aren’t going too well. You can always throw out the typical excuses you see just about every other game, such as soraka why u no ult. Sometimes it will be that soraka’s fault for not saving you. But most of the times, it’s probably your fault for getting so dangerously low in the first place. Another example, if a team fight does down and your team ends up getting aced, you can blame your team for sucking. But that’s not going to change anything. By looking at what you did and picking out the things you did good and bad, by trying to recreate what you did good and making sure to not repeat what you did bad, you’re bound to become a better player.

Tip #5: Practice!

You won’t become a better player overnight, and that’s the truth. Try focusing on a single role that you like, or even a single champion. The more you play, the more you get used to mechanics like auto attack animation, making it easier to last hit a creep. Playing the same role will give you a basic idea of what you should and shouldn’t do in the lane & fights. Playing with better players WILL make you a better player: If you get outplayed, try to see what your counterpart does in lane that’s working for them and use it the next game. Nobody can teach you what to do in exact situations because what you do should be a reaction to what your opponent does. Your judgement will become better as you play more and more as long as you think about what you can do better.

 

TO BE CONT’D!