I'd like to start off with a disclaimer, I am not claiming to be the best player on ladder or even best climber but there are a few key things that I see a lot of people doing wrong and by following these steps you will be giving yourself more of a chance to win games. Skip the intro below if you want to get straight to the guide.



Intro

My name is Athero I play melee flex for Method in the HGC and I've recently ranked an account from Gold to Master in around 100 games. I also have my main account in the top 10 for most of the seasons. I have been asked to write a general guide on how to rank up and this is my shot at doing so. I'll try and break it down into steps that I see people doing wrong throughout every rank including high GM.



When you think of the term "carrying" it doesn't necessarily have to be the guy that kills everyone you can just be carrying by taking camps or soaking. It is important to keep this in mind when approaching HL and reading this guide.



1. There is a Meta for a reason

I see a lot of people just play bad heroes because they are fun, stop. If your overall goal is to climb ranks then picking the best heroes in your role will increase the likelihood of winning. Think of it like this, lets say I play Valeera a lot (which I do) and I have to play at 150% to get as much value as I would get from playing thrall at 50%. This means that generally if you play the hero that is meta / easier then you get more effectiveness out of them quicker. If you are asking "well what are the meta heroes?" a simple pro player tier list or even watching HGC for 1 or 2 games will give you a general idea on what heroes work in what role. Bare in mind that there are heroes that are stronger at different ranks for example: Sonya is pretty much un-killable below Master so playing her on the maps she's good on (eg. shrines) will also be very good for your chances of winning.

Here's an example of my melee tier list:

https://heroeshearth.com/tiers/athero/8210/



Secondly TEAM COMPS MATTER. 1 tank (atleast) 1 solo lane (melee/tank) 1 support and 2 ranged/another melee. This is a standard team comp, nothing is worse than getting into the game and you have 3 ranged or a solo tank Varian with colossal smash. Stop! its bad!



Drafting is very important in this game, if you have Genji or Tracer you cannot pick the other you WILL lack wave clear, no matter how many times you've won with it just isn't good. If you have these 2 already picked in your team and you need to tank then this is where you need to pick Johanna or you can lose the game from the enemies just wave clearing. Ultimately you will have to fill in draft and if you are proficient in filling it is very good for your odds of winning.



2. You have to rely on your team sometimes

This is a huge one that I had to get my head around before knowing how to win in specifically hero league. You, whether you like it or not are part of a 5 man team which means that no matter how good you think you are you will have to rely on at least one other guy in your game so going into a game with the right attitude is crucial for actually winning. This applies to a lot of things in life but especially for HL. Don't try to just 1v5 kill everyone because you will most likely just end up dying and losing your team the game. Wait and communicate with the rest of your team to make things happen.



Soaking, tanking, supporting. These are things you WILL have to do at some point so getting proficient in the things you know you are weak at is a huge step towards being a better all round player. While I agree that supporting is extremely hard to carry with it is 100% better than just not picking one.





3. Never give up

Games are never over no matter what rank you are at, if you think "we can't do anything" then you probably aren't looking for things. If you are behind a talent tier you look for a pick on the solo laner with your team, there is always something to do even if it is just soaking all lanes and getting back into the game that way. The only time that the game is over is when the core is dead.



4. Going with the flow

Sometimes soaking and playing the map just will not work regardless of rank. If the enemy is 5 and you know your team will get caught you have to be with them. If you know you have that one guy that afk splits all the time and doesn't join the team then don't just ignore it and fight 4v5 looking for pick offs or even set up camps and push another side of the map.



5. Punish mistakes

The mistake I see most out of all players regardless of rank is greedy rotations which means they rotate from a lane without any vision of you or your team, if that's the case you have to look to punish it. If you are constantly aware of where people are on the map you won't get caught and neither will your team. This point leads onto the next one pretty nicely.



6. Use the map!

When playing solo lane I spend roughly 50-60% of my time doing absolutely nothing but soaking and looking at my mini map. Knowing where the enemy is will save your life which is the most important thing for an offlaner. If you die you give up so much soak and map control.



7. Have fun

You need to want to improve and climb, it will go way faster and easier because you will want to improve and play more. If you find yourself permanently tilting or flaming take a break it will hinder your progress and mean you just play worse. This is one of the most important things when approaching any goal really.



8. Ease of climbing based on role

Based on my experience this is my ranking of roles to climb:

Ranged

Tank

Melee / Solo lane

Support



You should be good enough to the point where you won't solo lose your team the game on at least 3 heroes in each role, if not you risk getting picked and banned out which means you'll be a burden for your team.



This guide was way longer than I imagined / wanted it to be but I hope it covers some of if not all of the problems you are having with climbing in hots.

Don't forget to follow me on twitter @AtheroHotS and twitch at www.twitch.tv/athero