Hey Guys! Chris here. The end of the season is approaching, and as everyone is trying to grind for gold for that awesome Janna skin, I just wanted to sit down and do something I haven't done yet. I want to let you know a bit more about me, and my League of Legends experience.

When I first hit level 30, I wanted to jump straight into ranked. I hit a high of 1380 elo, and was met quickly with a huge drop, hitting a bottom of around 800 elo. Today, I sit here at a huge milestone of 1900 elo. I'm far from pro, but I feel like I am experienced enough that I can provide my knowledge to more of the average players wanting to progress in a similar fashion as I did.

Early on, I would get very frustrated at every single loss, "Why are my teammates so horrible? I can't carry this %#$*!" I'd say. I'd hit 13880 elo, but plateau'd with my gameplay, I would win some, and lose more, eventually bottoming out below 900 elo. I had tried everything, duo queue, playing the "op" champs, and watching streams, but at the end of the day, the common factor in the losses was ME. I had to improve myself to improve my elo. There are several things that you can do to influence your gameplay (as dumb as that sounds), several of these being extremely easy.

Improve your attitude!

The one thing that immediately helped me, was improving my attitude. Instead of playing to grind out a certain rating, I would play to get better. Realize that both of these aren't the same, and in the long run, the latter will help you out more. I encourage you to try this, instead of being bummed you didn't win, focus on what you did well that game, and improve it. Some games are out of your control; in a game of 2 teams consisting of 10 players, 5 of them are going to lose. For the average player, this means losing every other game. Instead of going on tilt, focus on what you did well and what you could have done better. Use each game as a learning experience, get over your ego, and let loose; It's a game! Have fun!

If you don't have anything nice to say, Don't say it at all!

Yes, I probably sound like your mother, but it's the truth. I would argue that 80% of the time, the team that has the better attitude wins. Remember, it's a team game, your Elo is more of a gauge of how well you cooperate with others. Encourage teammates to work with each other. Especially with the rise of the Honor System, this should be easier than before. When you are mean to people and put them down, they play worse.

Your champion roster.

This is probably the most important tip I can offer. I suggest having 3 champions per role that you are comfortable with playing in ranked. You aren't going to get the role you want every game, and your teammates have every right to a certain role that you do. However, I was inspired by an experiment that a high-elo player, Umashi, proposed: Try playing your favorite champion for 20-50 games straight. (I suggest one that you'll have fun with; win or lose, for me this was Zyra and Kat). You'll find that after the end of the experiment, you'll be better at the role you are playing, not just the champion. I personally did this with Zyra, and documented a short summary of each game, and found that I had grown more whole as a player. Not only was I having fun and improving my gameplay, I had gained a considerable amount of Elo and hit gold for the first time.

Counterpicking isn't everything!

A huge problem I saw at lower elo, were players trying to counterpick others in champion select. While there are great websites for counterpicking, and in theory it should work, players were picking champions they weren't experienced with JUST because a website told them they'd win the lane. I don't care what these websites say; at lower elo, if you're experienced with a certain champion, play it; often times you'll outplay your opponent regardless of the match-up if you're good at said champion. Just because X and Y champions are regarded as "op," DOESN'T mean you should pick them; A player playing Annie for the first time would still most likely lose to an experienced Katarina.

Duo queueing may not be for you!

My last point: Unless you are confident that you and your friend can carry every game to the point it's an absolute stomp, you may not want to duo queue with them. Because of the way matchmaking works, you are going to be matched with higher elo enemies, and lower elo teammates to compensate for the advantage having a duo queue makes. My best results in gaining elo came from the above tips, I tried duo queueing and it just wasn't for me; I had the highest net gain of elo when I was playing by myself with the champions I had fun with.

I really hope all these tips and my story help you with you future endeavors in League, as always I love responding to any and all comments, and would love to hear about what you guys want in future articles!

Cheers!

Chryxis