Climber’s Block: Escaping Ranked Slumps and Personal Improvement

You play dozens of matches as your best champions, but to no avail, you’re stuck in the same division. Although your play may be decent, there’s a range of measures you can take to increase your rate of improvement. This guide will provide a variety of advice for climbing the Ranked ladder with greater success!

Quality over Quantity

A common piece of advice, but I can’t stress this enough. Limit your champion pool to one or two picks per role and you’ll find yourself having more success than failure.

Focus on polishing a small number of champions’ fundamentals, since it’s best to play a couple of picks effectively and consistently, rather than many at an average level. You’ll likely have access to at least one of your best picks a majority of the time, more-so now with the new Champion Select and Dynamic Queue systems.

With experience comes victory! (Source: champion.gg)

Furthermore, honing your skills on a limited number of champions will render their gameplay second-nature. In a way, they’ll become an extension of your mind and you’ll be able to execute their functions with ease. In the same way that typing and moving your mouse require little focus, controlling these champions will become a subconscious process. This will enable you to fix your attention on deeper aspects of gameplay such as wave management, lane matchups, trading and much more. You’ll find yourself improving faster since you’ll be able to concentrate on other facets of your performance!

Simple but Effective

Although champions such as Lee Sin, Nidalee and Vayne can hard-carry at higher ranks doesn’t mean you should play them. Regardless of the flashy gameplay montages and performance of popular streamers, champions such as these require a rich understanding of the game to execute correctly. Although you may perform well with these picks at times, it’s hard to keep these performances consistent due to their deceptively intricate kits and mechanical depth. Tapping into the true potential of these champions is difficult for low/mid-ranked players, whereas simpler picks are much easier to perform consistently well on. Complex picks will hold you back in the long-term, and should no longer be played if you cannot maintain a positive win rate with them.

At lower ranks, keep to champions with more linear, straight-forward abilities who can exercise their potential without reliance on teammates. Why pick Kalista when you could pick a simpler Marksman, such as Sivir, who you’ll likely perform better on? Furthermore, why bother picking Viktor when you could pick someone like Annie, who can apply their damage much more easily? Broad champion pools are less important at a sub-diamond elo, hence why it’s best to just play mechanically simple champions, as they are easier and leave more room for error.

Personal Reflection

Regardless of whether you win or lose, be sure to take a few minutes after every match to review your performances. Consider what caused the outcome, your game impact and what you need to improve on. Irrespective of how badly any of your teammates did, be sure to consider what you could have done better to increase your likelihood of winning in the future. No matter how big or small your mistakes may be, understand that polishing even the slightest flaws will prove beneficial in the long-term.

An example of a performance log.

Some players like to even write post-match summaries of their games. Keep a document (even a simple Notepad .txt file) recording a list of entries, noting factors such as champion/role, win/loss, your KDA and a brief summary of how the game went. Be sure to note what you did right and where you went wrong, and study these points at the end of a session. Recording these summaries will encourage and aid your self-reflection, and help you identify which areas need the most improvement.

Forcing through a Tilt

One of the worst things you can do is play when you’re tilted. You’ll be prone to making impulsive, illogical decisions and more likely to react badly to mistakes. Your best bet is to take a long break, whether it be a couple of hours or a day, and go back in with a completely refreshed mindset.

If you’ve had three losses in a row, throw in the towel. It’s common to feel the need to make up for your defeats in the same sitting, especially if you’re in a negative mood. It’s much better to cut one’s losses and take a substantial break, or else there’s a greater chance you’ll worsen your streak. Make sure you go into your next match with a positive outlook, and for tips on directly controlling tilt and your mindset, check out this guide!

Ward & Trinket Usage

At lower ranks, many avoidable ganks manage to succeed due to lack of basic ward and trinket usage. Trinkets are free, so be sure to make use of them! There’s no excuses for continuously dying to ganks if you’re forgetting to ward. Additionally, with Vision Wards being a mere 75 gold this season, be sure to purchase a couple each game. They’re extremely cost-effective, and in some cases can go unnoticed by the enemy for an entire match.

Furthermore, regardless of which champion you’re playing, always purchase Sightstone if you’re playing support. Sightstone is incredibly effective, and should always be bought within the first two recalls/backs. It’s common at low elo to see AP supports such as Sona or Lux forgoing this item for offensive purchases instead, but what use is that 850g Blasting Wand when you can’t even see your enemies approaching in the first place? It enables vision control, allowing you to contest objectives, further your leads and read your opponents when behind.

If you find yourself stuck in the same divisions or struggling to climb for a long period of time, these tips will prove beneficial. Be sure to main simple, effective champions and reflect upon your losses, and you’ll increase your rate of improvement. Good luck on the Rift!

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