How to improve your solo MMR.

By 1

Background of the author himself

Things I want to emphasize

Getting the right mindset



This ♥♥♥♥ is the most important thing in your journey, and having this wrong means that it will hinder you significantly. Common mindsets are: "always bad teammates" and "mid or lose". These 2, most of the time, is wrong. Having bad teammates every game is just a really flawed logic since every game you have 5 enemies and 4 allies. The chance of their team to have crappy player(s) is higher than your own team given that YOU are not a bad player. With time, ideally, you will most likely gain MMR if you actually are performing decently. Instead of whining about that, you should just focus on your own plays every second in every game, which will undoubtedly improve your gameplay.





This ♥♥♥♥ is the most important thing in your journey, and having this wrong means that it will hinder you significantly. Common mindsets are: "always bad teammates" and "mid or lose". These 2, most of the time, is wrong. Having bad teammates every game is just a really flawed logic since every game you have 5 enemies and 4 allies. The chance of their team to have crappy player(s) is higher than your own team given that YOU are not a bad player. With time, ideally, you will most likely gain MMR if you actually are performing decently. Instead of whining about that, you should just focus on your own plays every second in every game, which will undoubtedly improve your gameplay. Attitude



You are there to win, not to be Mr. Nice Guy or an a$$ who picks Shadow Fiend when there is already Storm Spirit. Don't be that white knight who greets and asks his team what they're going to play. What you should do, no, NEED to do, is just to be a neutral player. Got 2 carry heroes? Pick support, tell one of them to jungle, and proceed to play the game without flaming while most white knight will say "why you pick another carry" which will make them even more furious to one another. Remember, you are there to win, and maintaining your team morale high is actually very important. Don't go on tilt either after losing a clash, always keep your cool. No need to be that person who says "dont worry guys we can still do it lel xD dont give up xoxo", just be realistic and give them hope. "if x get y we'll win next clash" is one of my most used phrase to motivate my team without trying to sound like a tryhard and this will give your team motivation to keep playing with focus which is crucial to come back from the game. Don't sweat the small stuff either ; I rarely give a crap to tell my team what to buy and what-not except when they actually ask because I get irritated when people tell me what to do and most people are the same. Ironically, telling them what to buy, what to do, etc will do more harm rather than good. So basically, be neutral and concentrate your effort to your own plays.





You are there to win, not to be Mr. Nice Guy or an a$$ who picks Shadow Fiend when there is already Storm Spirit. Don't be that white knight who greets and asks his team what they're going to play. What you should do, no, NEED to do, is just to be a neutral player. Got 2 carry heroes? Pick support, tell one of them to jungle, and proceed to play the game without flaming while most white knight will say "why you pick another carry" which will make them even more furious to one another. Remember, you are there to win, and maintaining your team morale high is actually very important. Don't go on tilt either after losing a clash, always keep your cool. No need to be that person who says "dont worry guys we can still do it lel xD dont give up xoxo", just be realistic and give them hope. "if x get y we'll win next clash" is one of my most used phrase to motivate my team without trying to sound like a tryhard and this will give your team motivation to keep playing with focus which is crucial to come back from the game. Don't sweat the small stuff either ; I rarely give a crap to tell my team what to buy and what-not except when they actually ask because I get irritated when people tell me what to do and most people are the same. Ironically, telling them what to buy, what to do, etc will do more harm rather than good. So basically, be neutral and concentrate your effort to your own plays. Be "conscious"



Everyone who plays DotA 2 usually plays regularly. Chances are if you are reading my guide right now, you spent maybe 2-3 games everyday to play and it becomes our daily routine. Although this may be good for newbie in terms of improving, it can also be dangerous to old players. Whether you notice it or not, some games you can just go auto-pilot and not putting any advanced thoughts on your plays. Staying focused into the game and being conscious on your decision greatly helps your own movement and also makes you become more aware of threats. Moreover, you can actually pin-point what your mistakes are and what things you should repeat next game. These things are the one which are going to build up gradually and improve your knowledge and understanding about the game, both of which are important. To sum it up; put thoughts into your action and realize what you did right or wrong.







Everyone who plays DotA 2 usually plays regularly. Chances are if you are reading my guide right now, you spent maybe 2-3 games everyday to play and it becomes our daily routine. Although this may be good for newbie in terms of improving, it can also be dangerous to old players. Whether you notice it or not, some games you can just go auto-pilot and not putting any advanced thoughts on your plays. Staying focused into the game and being conscious on your decision greatly helps your own movement and also makes you become more aware of threats. Moreover, you can actually pin-point what your mistakes are and what things you should repeat next game. These things are the one which are going to build up gradually and improve your knowledge and understanding about the game, both of which are important. To sum it up; put thoughts into your action and realize what you did right or wrong. Spam 1 hero



This is more of a gameplay thing, but I think it deserves a special mention. Usually, people will frown upon 1-hero-spammer for some reasons, but don't be discouraged as this method worth all the boredom (and shame if you spam an OP hero) you endure. Believe me or not, after playing the same hero over and over again for quite some time it will make you a significantly better player in terms of understanding the game. By doing this, you will take maybe 10 games to learn the hero and then spend the rest of your life on focusing your own plays. This means you eliminate many other factors concerning the hero you play and improving the gameplay of your role in a whole will be easier. Moreover, you will notice that you have more impact to the game than you usually do, just because you know what you're doing. After you gain those delicious MMR, you will start to get matched with better players and improving along the way is almost guaranteed.





Conclusion

I've been hearing so many people crying because of how bad their teammates are and how hard it is to climb solo queue (in which I have to admit is correct). Usually, they will just stop playing ranked, or be stuck in their bracket and just sit there for eternity because they are too stubborn to change their mindset or gameplay. This guide will (I hope) change your attitude towards the game and improve your gameplay and ultimately, your MMR.I started playing DotA 2 when TI 3 tournament started (that was around 2 years ago?) and 6 months after that ranked matchmaking was implemented. Calibrated at 4.1k solo and 4.3k party, I quickly climbed to 5k party and left solo untouched because I didn't really like to play solo. Nevertheless, I tried solo long time ago and got to 4.6k after like a month of playing solo 1 or 2 game everyday and just stopped playing seriously. Last month I took a deep breath and started playing solo again, quickly managed to get to 5k. Along the way, I discovered some tricks and helpful mindset that I hope will help you.Solo MMR is not all about being Dendi. There are lots of factors that matters in soloQ and thus requires a specific approach in order to succeed. Cut the crap, let's do it, ways on how to improve at DotA 2 according to my experiences:Thanks for reading my whole wall of text, I hope they are helpful to you. Remember, be neutral, be conscious, be decent and you'll be fine. Go grab some MMR RIGHT NOW AND GLHF