Hey guys! Today we’re going to be breaking down the top skills that you need to climb in League. This guide will be great for those of you just starting your ranked journey, as well as returning veterans looking to catch up quickly to their old glory days. So, without further ado, let’s jump right in.

1. Farming

If you’re Top, Jungle, Mid, or Bot, you need to have this core concept down pat before you can even begin to think about being competitive in League. Farming or CS-ing is the safest and surest way to gain income to reach your ever-important levels and item points. Yes, kills are great and net bursts of gold, but properly CS-ing and manipulating your wave is what will separate you from the pack and allow you to shine.

Take time to master this skill in the Practice Mode without pressure. Toggle the waves and let them flow into you and just focus on last hitting. Take the time to pull or drag the wave in different angles to see how you can start setting up a freeze as well as setting up slow and fast pushes. Once you’ve got the visual down, push yourself a bit by heading into a Custom game and dropping a bot into the mix. Try balancing harassing the bot and last hitting your creeps. Increase the bot’s difficulty after you feel you’ve got a flow going until you inevitably feel comfortable running against real players in a Normal or Ranked game.



2. Learn Your Power Spikes and Master Their Limits

This means knowing when your Champion’s level and item-based power spikes are. Every Champion in League has these moments that you should be aware of when selecting them for play. Knowing when these moments are will allow you to maximize your potential for victory in lane.

So, for example, as an Akali main, I know my level power spikes are 3 and 6, while my item power spike is Hextech Gunblade. At these big points, I want to look to take advantage of my mobility and evasiveness to be aggressive on all-ins and trade with my opponent to hopefully kill them or bully them out of lane. Hextech Gunblade only increases the ability for my combos to end in my opponent’s death and it allows for me to close the distance and stick to my opponents once they have full access to their kits.

For another example, Bot-Support combos usually look to take advantage of their level 2 power spikes. Tristana-Leona for example has a deadly all in at level two with Leona’s snare into stun and Tristana’s satchel into rocket jump. These aggressive Champions look to push the first two waves early and hopefully capitalize on a poor positioning enemy with their surprising reach at this moment.

But, don’t worry if you don’t get a kill or gain full control of a lane whenever your power spike occurs. It’s not as if this is once in a lifetime window. It’s just a moment of potential that you have, especially if you’ve established a lead over your opponent. These moments are even larger if you’re level 6 to their level 5 or if you’re up a big damage component to their lack-thereof (BF Sword vs. Longsword for example). If you can consistently capitalize on these moments, you’ll press the odds of winning in your favor every game.


3. Roaming

Important primarily for Top, Mid, and Support, learning when and how to roam is a key aspect of your role, but ADs and Junglers should have this skill down to better coordinate with their teams.

Big Roaming Windows are typically:
When your wave is crashing into the enemy turret
When your Jungler is contesting a neutral objective like Scuttle Crab, Rift Herald, or Dragon
When you’re coming back from base (Supports and Solo Laners with Teleport)
When you’ve been frozen off your wave and cannot pressure it safely to break the freeze
When you’ve set up a freeze and your lane partner can farm safely (Supports)
When your map-traversing ability is off cooldown (Pantheon Ult, Galio Ult, Twisted Fate Ult, Aurelion Sol E, etc.)

Some of these windows are beneficial ones, and some of them are looking to generate opportunities in inopportune situations. One of the big things that many players fail to realize is that you should always be looking to accomplish something on the map. This doesn’t have to necessarily be a big play or objective, it could be something small like blowing the flash of an enemy or pressuring out a Teleport advantage over your opponent by crashing a wave. Roaming and looking for opportunities during these windows will always keep you in that proactive mindset and any advantage that you can create for others will in turn create an advantage for yourself and up your chances of victory.

Every Champion in League has these moments that you should be aware of when selecting them for play. Knowing when these moments are will allow you to maximize your potential for victory and this.



4. Learn To Think Like Your Enemy

Especially in situations where you’re playing a Champion you’re familiar with, you want to always be trying to think as your opponent does. What windows would they look to all-in you? Do you have a key ability that needs to be on cooldown before they can be aggressive? If they can’t win the matchup against you, what’s their alternative to getting fed? Is it passive farming? Is it roaming and or trying for big Teleport plays? Are they stronger in certain areas of the map like in the Jungle or River and do they want to fight there?

Some of these might not fly into your head immediately, but the more effort you put into thinking about what your opponents want to accomplish, the more you’ll naturally press yourself into foiling their plans and setting yourself up for big-play opportunities. And, of course, once your opponent is on the back foot and can’t think, apply that pressure to make them only consider FF-ing for the surest path to victory.

5. Teamfight And Play With Your Team

Before I dive into this point, let’s round back to our talk about farming effectively. Say we’ve caught our waves well throughout the game, and we’ve generated a ton of gold for ourselves and we’ve pushed ourselves into our big item spikes. What do we want to do with that advantage?

If you’re thinking, “Split push and outplay whoever comes!” You’re wrong in like 70% of scenarios. If you’ve stacked income onto yourself and you are the primary source of damage, engage, or peel for your team, you’re a vital component to ensuring that your team succeeds. So, take the time to apply your pressure, but the moment someone comes to respond or if they’re not answering you and your team is weak enough to fall 4v5, ROAM TO THEM AND TAKE THE FLANK! Gold stacked on a carry that doesn’t participate in teamfights come late game is wasted gold and damage left off the board.

With that said, 70% of the time, you’re going to want to be roaming and moving with your team in the Mid-to-Late game. Warding, sieging, invading, all of these things should be done with a buddy or as a unit. Players that fly solo after lane phase are often a liability for their team and can be the cause of throws. Yes, you may want to farm and selfishly, but League’s team game and neutral objectives have been the biggest focus the past few seasons. Claiming those alongside your team is what will be sure to elevate you to the heights of your potential!



6. Be Untiltable

This one is especially for you Top Laners! I know how 50-50 your lane can feel sometimes, but you’ve gotta weather the storm!

Whatever role you play, you have to have a great attitude and a focused mindset. This ‘strong mental’ as we like to call it will be self-fulfilling in many games and can allow you to come back from deficits or further stomp your opponents when you have a lead.

It also sets a good example for your teammates that may be suffering in-game. I know there have been games where I’ve bought it at level one or two due to a stupid decision only for my team to pat me on the back and support me. The moral support I received from my team prevented me from getting into my own head and kept me focused on winning. And you always want to emulate that positive and supportive mindset to your team.

If you beat down your teammates or flame them, they’ll tilt harder, are more likely to feed, and may even AFK or rage quit on you to simply not have to deal with your bad attitude. And if you’re fighting a 4v5, you’re likely not going to find a way to win with a numbers disadvantage. So, KEEP A POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE AT ALL TIMES!

7. Master A Handful of Champions for Your Role

Unless you’re solely dedicated to one champion as an OTP, it’s always great to have a mixed pool of Champions you can draw on for your climb.

For example, as a Top Laner you could have down Ornn as your primary Tank Champion, Jax as your Split-Pusher, Renekton as your Lane Bully/Diver, with Neeko as your Mage. This gives you a wide range of situations to fit into in any given draft situation, AND working yourself on these picks over and over again will lead to mastering the limits and capabilities of each of your picks.

Familiarity can and is often what decides the lane. And remember, though some Champions are simply better than others, you can climb and have fun on literally ANY Champion as long as you have a focused, positive, and winning mindset.

8. Positioning And Knowing Your Job

Tying back to our Teamfighting point, you must be able to execute your Champion in the Mid to Late game and position them properly for maximum results in a teamfight.

For example, Vayne might be able to kite out and make spicy plays one-on-one, but if she’s at the front of a fight and gets hooked, knocked-up, and popped before she can even tumble, she’s not going to be making those spicy plays as the fight drags on. So, instead of diving into the fray and being at the front of the group, Vayne should visualize how the fight is going to occur and be in the place where she thinks that she can capitalize on her damage.

This may mean that she has to play at the back of the fight and wait for her team to bring a target to her, or that she has to kite back and focus down the threat diving her first. Whatever it may be, she has to understand her role, and for a Marksmen like her that typically means pumping out as much DPS as safely possible.

For Tanks and Bruisers, you may be looking to initiate and displace a pick towards your team. For Mages, you could be looking to follow up any pick with your burst, or utilizing your crowd control to peel back for a more fed Marksmen. For Assassins and Duelists, you might be looking for the flank to blow up a primary damage source, while a Support may be looking to enable their primary carry through heals and shields while disabling any diving enemies.

Take the time to research what it is your Champion does, and how they do that to maximum effect! This will show you how to position yourself in teamfights properly and will ultimately lead you to performing your job to perfection!