League of Legends - Tips to being a better player

Rule #1: Don't play on tilt.

Did you just get trolled? Did the enemy jungler camp your lane while your jungle farmed wraiths for 20 minutes? Did someone on your team call you a newb and get under your skin?

You're on tilt. Walk away (or at least don't play ranked).

This idea comes from poker. If you get wrecked in a hand, your mental focus can be broken. I remember one time at a ring game at Red Rock in Vegas, I got sucked in hard. My top two pair were cleaned out by trip 2's. I stood up, took a twenty minute break, and when I came back, I won it all back and more (including a memorable trip Aces vs. trip Qs against the same guy who'd wiped my two pair).

How do I break this rule when playing League? I had a recent game where my jungle was just not working. I was getting outplayed severely by the enemy jungler, who anticipated my ganks with incredible accuracy and was always there to mess me up. It was incredibly frustrating and I was on tilt. When I loaded up another ranked immediately after, I lost as Yorick to Teemo. To Teemo, people. I was not in the right frame of mind. I should have walked away.



Rule #2: Compromise with Your Opponents

This rule comes from the game of Go, a classic Chinese board game. It's one of the oldest games in the world and consists of each player placing a single white or black stone on the game board. The objective is to control more territory than your opponent. It's simple to learn, but takes decades to come close to mastering. It's so complex that even the most advanced computers can't beat the best human players (unlike chess).

In Go, you will never have a 100-0 game. Your opponent will always have some territory. If you try to take everything, you're going to lose.

The same applies to League. If you try to defend your bot tower when all five show up, and you're all alone while everyone else is across the map, you're going to get dived. You're going to give up a kill. And you're going to lose that tower anyways.

Don't be afraid to give up that dragon or that tower to your opponent. Just make sure the compromise is fair. While they five-man your bot tower, get your teammates to push top; in the meantime, base and buy. Don't give up free kills defending the impossible.



Rule #3: Pay Attention to Your Opponents' Behavior

My former roommate is a big deal in the Magic: The Gathering community. He's an amazing player with a sharp mental game. He can often tell what his opponent is holding a turn before they play it. It's pretty incredible to watch.

How does he do it? He watches his opponent. Just like in poker, there are tells in Magic. Believe it or not, there are tells in League, too, and you probably recognize many of them already.

Has your top lane opponent suddenly left while the lane is semi-pushed? Check if the mid is gone. If so, your bot lane is in trouble - those are signs of a four-man gank on bot while top covers mid.

Is your lane opponent normally careful and reserved, but suddenly rushes forward and starts killing the minions as quick as they can instead of last-hitting? You're about to get ganked.

These are just a couple examples of watching your opponents carefully to predict their behavior. This is much more important for junglers, of course, and it's also something that I'm not very good at - it's probably one of the weakest parts of my game right now. I have a bad habit of focusing on whatever is going on next instead of looking at the big (minimap) picture and deciding, "Where should I go that the enemy team wouldn't want me to be?" "How can I counter what they're trying to do?" (Going where your opponent wants to be (counterjungling) is also a very good strategy in Go.)



Rule #4: Learn from Every Game

You just got beat? Did you call your opponents newbs? Did you complain about your bot lane? Did you whine that your jungler never ganks?

Congratulations. You have learned nothing from playing that game.

When you lose, you lose for a reason. After each game, I try to think about what went right and what went wrong. Was it poor matchups? Was my play sub-par? Should I have been more aggressive at counterjungling? Was my itemization okay? Was I simply outplayed? Outsmarted? How will I stop that from happening next time?

Remember: unless you're a pro in the LCS, you can't claim to be the best. Even Go masters who have dedicated their lives to the game won't claim to fully understand how it works. Resorting to insults and nasty comments about your team or the enemy team when you lose means you aren't studying what actually happened and learning how to avoid it in the future. Not every loss will be your fault, but you can still learn and adapt and grow as a player.

Negativity will not allow you to learn. You can be disappointed with yourself, but don't go toxic. Question the loss. Question the win. Think about what happened and why. Remember sequences of plays - what led to them stealing dragon and getting two kills? Why did the jungler dive the tower - and how'd it work?

Guide by: RoboRevo