The Solo Top’s Tips – Using Streams to Improve Your Game

Let me tell you a story. There was once an individual, not unlike you, who had spent many an hour trying to improve his League of Legends gameplay and rise up the Elo ranks. But try as he might, reading guides from the biggest sites and playing multiple hours per day just wasn’t enough. Somewhat demoralized, this series of events led him to believe that the time investment to improve may just be too great. And then a thought occurred: why just read guides from the pros when you could watch the pros in action?

What I used to do on rare occasions, I now do almost every day. Watching professional LoL players livestream can be extremely beneficial to your gameplay, and may very well be that little something extra that pushes your skills above your competition. I can guarantee watching streams will benefit your play in at least one (if not all) of the following ways:

1. You will learn how to play a new champion.

It can be a little difficult to play and own every champion, and even more difficult to be good with all of them. Watching livestreams can give you a chance to see champions in high-level play being used to the peak of their potential (until they’re nerfed, of course). You may have seen all the champions, but you haven’t seen them quite like this. Sometimes it is the champions we least expect who are the ones that can change a game. And with some practice, you could be that person changing your games.

2. You will learn something new about a champion you already play.

Sure, it’s easy to read a guide and get a general build. We’ve all gone into a game with a preset build in mind and worked on it regardless of what was going on in our lane or with our teammates. But seeing a build in action and in reaction to what is going on around that champion, now that is something else entirely. Maybe maxing E instead of Q first in certain situations is more useful. Grabbing a Doran’s item on your first trip back to base may swing a close lane into your favor. Building a defensive item to counter the fed carry on the other team may be the deciding factor for the next teamfight. As much as we all think we’ve played, the pros have played more. And tapping into their vast pool of experience is almost a necessity.

3. You will see a match-up in which you’ve never played.

So you know everything there is to know about your favorite champion? Well what about how they fare against all of their potential laning opponents? That’s a bit more complicated. But fret not. Our friendly livetreamers are here to help. A good example of this is the recent explosion of Malphite players in the top lane. Yes, Malphite has been used top lane in the past. But xHazzard’s Malphite play in the recent MLG Anaheim Spring Championship series has brought a huge counter to a lot of favored top laners. Being prepared for, or using, a counter in your lane may be the difference between +12 or -12 Elo.

4. You will learn something new about one of the roles in the current meta (or see a new meta).

Watching a professional jungler may give you new ideas about how to gank when you jungle. Or you may get a better sense for when you’re about to be ganked in your lane. You could learn when a top lane can take advantage of the opposing team’s location on the map to press forward aggressively without fear of being ganked. Or maybe you’ll learn how to bait your laning opponent into a gank from your jungler. Whether you main as AD carry, solo top, or anything in between, there is always something else you can learn about your lane.

Most of what you’ll learn will probably fall into one of those categories. At the very least, you should gain some entertainment value out of a stream. There are two general stream types: individual streams from a player perspective, and tournament/casted streams from the spectator perspective. Personally, I would recommend both (although not necessarily at the same time) so you can get a more complete picture of games.

How do you find streams? You can go directly to the source by using a streaming site such as Twitch.tv or Own3d.tv. Another useful tool is the LoL Stream Browser for Google Chrome. This add-on puts a little box in the upper right-hand corner of your Google Chrome browser window that shows a drop-down list of current streamers ranked by viewer count. It also lets you favorite any streamer so that you receive a desktop notification when they begin streaming and they will be at the top of your list. And there’s always the option of searching for videos on YouTube. You may not get to see it live, but this may be your best option if you missed a tournament game or your internet connection doesn’t let you receive streams in decent quality.

So now you have a long list of streams, where do you go from here? Find someone you enjoy watching. There is no reason to torture yourself by watching someone who doesn’t entertain you. This may take a little while, but it’s worth it. And try to find a few streams. That way you have a better chance of one of them being on when you’d like to watch, and you’re more likely to learn more from multiple people. Maybe one is more entertaining, one plays your favorite role, and another responds more often to viewers.

That should get you started. If you have any feedback or you’d like to link your favorite stream, feel free to do so in the comments below!