League of Legends Guide

16 Jan 21

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How to Self-Improve by Setting Goals Proactively

There is always a way to win. It's important to stay focused and adapt to the game to find that way.

In League of Legends, a proactive mindset is key for improvement. In order to put yourself in a proactive mindset and stay there, you must create a system that will keep you in check. What type of system? One that will remind you to pay attention, think about the future of the game (and not the past), and ask yourself critical questions about how you can create leads and snowball them.

I can't stress this enough, but this can really apply to many aspects of life. Think about your future, and what you want out of it. It is important to reflect on your past and learn from your mistakes, but there is always a time and place for it. The more you dwell on the past of the game, the less focus you will have on your efforts to salvage the situation and win. In League of Legends, time and attention are crucial, and you need to have both to win. Do yourself a favour, and think forward, not backward (in a way, the direction you look towards is the direction you will go).

Setting Goals

If you really want to achieve something in the future, you need to create goals that will help you get there. This applies for your solo queue games as well. It's not as simple as winning the game or winning a teamfight, you have to be more critical and creative than that. To help, start with one short-term goal, one medium-term goal, and one long-term goal. These will change throughout the game as you progress, but these goals must be created to create a path for you to follow from one to the next along the course of the game. I personally like to start with a long-term goal and work down. For example, I am playing mid lane as Ekko against Ahri, and my long-term goal is to get my jungler ahead so we can get Rift Herald and the first two Dragons.

To do so, my medium-term goal is to roam to apply pressure in side lanes and aggressively ward the enemy jungle. Therefore, my short-term goal should be to manage the wave in the mid lane accordingly so that I can do so without losing significant amounts of experience and gold. When setting goals for yourself like these, you start to understand where you should be and when, and therefore, you become proactive. Be creative with your goals, even if they seem like a bit of a stretch, it’s the best way to learn and understand how short-term events can affect the game in the medium to long-term.

Setting a Short Goal

What If I Fail?

Setting and achieving goals is obviously easier said than done. Therefore, you must have a backup plan in case things don't go according to plan. To avoid rolling over and letting the enemy walk over you, you must be prepared for the plan to fail. This is where the critical thinking comes into play. When something doesn't go according to plan, you have to understand why. I know earlier I said to avoid thinking about the past, but this generally can be done quite quickly, and should be left to instincts and intuition. For example, if you die in a side-lane, you more than likely know as soon as you're about to die that you overstayed, misjudged your strengths (or theirs), or just misplayed. With that information, you should be able to adequately assess and create a plan B.

For example, as Ekko, I chose to be responsible for side lanes and matching the enemy Nasus. However, I thought I could win a fight because he doesn't have magic resistance. Unfortunately, I was wrong, so I must re-evaluate. What do I do if I can't match him in the side-lane? What do I do if no one else can? Is there a way I can get him into the side lane and join my team to fight a 5 against 4? Well, in fact, as Ekko, I have a dash to get over walls, so one way I can adapt my play is to side-lane against Nasus, and use my abilities to join fights faster than Nasus since he has no way of dashing across terrain. This could give me several seconds in a fight more than Nasus and can easily be enough to get a flank and teamfight win before Nasus even makes it there.

Adapt Your Goals

Communication

Part of being proactive is getting your teammates on the same page as you. If you are planning to get your jungler ahead by roaming a lot and warding the enemy jungle, then let them know so that they can use that information to roam with you, invade, or simply just to track the enemy jungler. If you prefer not to use chat, that is understandable. Just remember to at least use your pings to get the message across when you're out warding or roaming.

Communicate Your Ideas

Conclusion

Overall, being proactive ultimately comes down to being creative to create a path to victory with the information you have, and critically assessing the game state to adapt your path to victory if needed. So be sure to keep yourself focused, energized, and positive! Do your best and keep asking questions.

Good luck, Summoners!

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