You probably think that to improve your League of Legends skills is a matter of time. That all it takes is playing for hours on end. That you don’t need to make an effort because it will eventually come to you. Well, that could not be further from the truth, so it’s probably time to get your act together, as it doesn’t seem like you have been following the right path.
Why would I need to actively try to improve?
This is probably the first question that popped into your head. After all, League of Legends is just a game, so improving at it should be a matter of grinding the fundamentals, right? This is true, but unfortunately, things are a lot more complicated than that. In a single match you need to keep your eye on the minimap, be aware of your positioning, last hits, warding and you also have to get as many kills as possible. This is a lot.
If you want to be better and win more, you need to pay attention to what you are doing and sometimes stop doing it. Otherwise you will just reinforce bad habits. You will keep making the same mistakes, which will hold you back. This is the type of mentality that will keep you in Silver.
What can I do to improve at League of Legends?
There are many things, actually. But if you really want to get better then you need to do each thing one by one, because rushing success never works. Implement each tip slowly, so you have time to adjust. Once you have everything down, your gameplay should start improving by a lot.
Turn off your autopilot
This is the first and worst mistake you need to correct. If you don’t know what “playing on autopilot” means, then let me explain: you click “Play again” right after you finish a game. You don’t care if you lost or won. You don’t care if you’re tilted. You don’t care about anything, because you just want to get on with your grind.
This is the worst mentality to have in League of Legends, or any game. Not only do you disassociate yourself from the game, but this makes you unaware of your own mistakes. You will do the same things over and over without even realizing.
To get yourself off of the autopilot you need to do two things.
First, stretch during the loading screen. I’m dead serious. Get your blood flowing a little bit, move your fingers around and become aware that you are heading into battle. Make sure that your thoughts revolve around your tactics, objectives and roles. If you get into this habit then you will soon separate each game and thus, you will be able to concentrate better.
Second, think for a moment when you die. You can do the stretching part all over again if you need to, but you can’t forget that you can’t go back to your original habits. Analyze the situation and know what you need to do before you even respawn. Be critical of yourself, rather than your teammates, or your killer and their “overpowered” champion.
Develop your own style
I get it, League of Legends is much easier if you don’t have to create your own playstyle and build. You’d think using pro players’ builds will improve your skills. But to do this, you need to adjust yourself to the build, instead of the build adjusting itself to you. In a lot of cases this will be a disaster.
If you feel like the build you’re using isn’t that good, then you need to develop your own. Look at what the enemy is building and counter it. If you don’t remember to use the active abilities of items, don’t buy them. Build AP as a support if the situation requires you to.
Play normal games and learn what you need. A person who has been playing since League of Legends came out won’t be on the same level as you. And thus, their build likely won’t fit your playstyle. Don’t rely on presets if you don’t need to.
Look at what you did wrong
Admitting your mistakes is really hard to do, but you can’t get better until you do it.
If you watch popular League of Legends streamers you should already be aware of this. They regularly sit back after each game and talk about what happened and where they went wrong. Not only that, but they reflect on what they should have done instead. The Strategy Professor is an amazing example of this, as he explains the turning points of the game. If you want to learn how to self-criticize, he should be your teacher.
The best way to do this is by thinking things through when you die. This will help you improve throughout the game and you will die less and less. Your survival rate will skyrocket in the first 20 minutes. And if you are like me and are too mad to analyze yourself throughout the game, then you need to download the replay. And watch each one of your deaths.
It’s going to suck, but it will provide you with more insight as to what you were doing and thinking, and what could’ve been done differently. And eventually, you will do things differently in your games, and will have a lot fewer deaths to review.
