There comes a time in a League of Legends player’s life when he basically has to forsake everything else besides League of Legends, that is, if he hopes to get the sweet sweet end of season rewards. As there is less than a month before the 2015 season ends (11th of November), that time is now. Most players (almost 70% of them, according to some statistics) experience this “gold rush”, the struggle to reach the ranked system’s Gold Tier in order to get the end of season rewards.
It is of no surprise then, that even someone working at Riot would be caught up in this gold rush. Riot Cosantoir, events specialist at Riot Games, asked for help on the League of Legends Boards and sure enough, the community responded swiftly. Of course whenever you ask for advice, experts rise up from everywhere like mushrooms after rain, but that’s not to say that you can’t find any good advice among the noise. So, out of the many pieces of advice provided by the community, here are a few pieces of advice that Riot Cosantoir identified as most agreed on:
- Have a role that you excel at, but be prepared to play anything: I think most, if not all, better-than-average players agree on this. You have to find a role that you’re good at and try as much as possible to play it every game. Be it mid-lane, support, or jungle. It doesn’t matter as long as you have 3-4 Champions for that role which you’re a master at (or at least really really good at). This doesn’t mean you should completely ignore the other roles. Along those 3-4 Champions, you have to master (or again, be really really good at) one more Champion for every other role. This way it doesn’t matter if someone else “steals your mid” (damn instalockers), because you’re prepared to play anything.
- Keep a notebook nearby… and use it: I know, this sounds like ridiculous investment into the game, and I might even agree with you on that, but I’ve heard a lot of people doing it and they all swear by it. The advice is to keep a notebook and write down all your mistakes and “sick plays” (or anything that you did good) after every game. It’s important that you write them down after every game, not just after a lost game. It’s even more important that you learn from said mistakes and that you keep doing what you did good.
- Focus on not dying: This one is pretty self-explanatory. Don’t take risks if you don’t have to. Try as much as possible to play in such a way that you won’t die. Don’t fight with your team if it means you’ll all die. It’s better for the enemy team to get 4 kills instead of 5. Your score will improve and the enemy team will have less gold. This is the reason why pro-level matches seem so “boring”. Pro-players play safe and it’s not that uncommon for an LCS game to have no kills scored even after the 10 minute mark.
- Don’t play while in tilt: Tilting is something every player experiences, especially after a losing streak. What tilting is, it’s basically dwelling on past mistakes. You’ve lost 5 games in a row, you’re entering your 6th and you start it with the mentality that it’s probably going to be another loss. You’ve already accepted your loss even though the game barely started, you start to make mistakes you normally wouldn’t do, you’re tilting. As I’ve said, tilt happens to everyone and what most people recommend is a break. Take 15-20 minutes to clear your head. Do anything else but League. Go for a walk, go play with your cat or go lose some Hearthstone games. It doesn’t matter, as long as you forget about League of Legends for a few minutes. You’ll come back refreshed and ready to take on the Rift!
Now, Cosantoir might have gotten his answer and he definitely received a lot of feedback and advice (which you can scroll through on the League of Legends Boards), but there’s ultimately no real secret to getting to Gold, or any other tier for that matter. It’s really a question of either talent or hard work, or maybe even a bit of luck. My personal advice, as a League of Legends player who came from the lowest rank (Bronze 5) and managed to get at his peak to Gold 3, is to use that “Play Again” button. Just keep playing and if you’re good enough for a certain Tier you’ll get there, if not, you’ll improve.
Despite all these strategies and advice, many players have found an alternative route to achieving their dream rank: investing in professional League of Legends coaching. In fact, it has become an increasingly popular choice, offering expert insight and tailored advice to players looking to climb the ranked ladder.
It only remains for me to wish Riot Cosantoir, and anyone else finding themselves in his situation, good luck and kudos to everyone that offered him helpful advice. ^_^ People rock sometimes!
