There is about a week before the 2014 season ends! Maybe you have already reached your goal and just want to keep climbing, or maybe you are almost there and are looking for some tips to help reach it. Either way, these tips will greatly assist you in not only the last few days of the season, but for the next season as well.

1) Have a strong mental state

You’ve probably heard this one a lot, and that’s for a good reason. Having a strong mental state is crucial to victory, ask any pro player and they will agree. When grinding for a rank during the last few days of the season, this might mean playing many games in one day, or over a short span of time. This makes being mentally prepared even more important as one small tilt can screw up your plans as you don’t have a whole lot of time to get back to where you originally were.

There are a few key ways to stay mentally prepared, the biggest is taking breaks between games. This is especially important after a loss. Taking breaks between matches clears your mind, and after a tough loss, or just any loss, it’s something you want to do in order to avoid going on tilt. It can be something as simple as just getting up for a few minutes, or going for a run or a walk. Getting away from the computer for a bit will take your mind off the game for a bit, letting you head in to your next one with a fresh mind. And as I said before, when playing a bunch of games in a short time, you cannot afford to go on tilt, and this is a great way at preventing that.

Another important part in having a strong mental state is playing without any distractions. Something related to that is being able to play your best. This can mean playing without anything or anyone bothering you, which in turn allows you to play at your best. It can also mean not playing when you are tired, hungry, or have something else on your mind. To climb efficiently you need to be able to play your best, which is why playing with no distractions and focusing solely on the game is very important.

What I have talked about so far doesn’t go for League of Legends only, a strong mental state is important for any game, or any sport. However, my next tip is more specific to League of Legends.

Artwork by Sapphire69

2) Be able to play every role and have a good champion pool

Being comfortable on every role is a very important part of ranked. You won’t always get the role you wanted, so being able to play every role decently makes sure you don’t need to get your best role to win. To practice roles you have trouble with, play them in normal games, read guides and watch the pros. You don’t need to play the most difficult champions in every role to win. If there is a role you have trouble with, start off with some of the more simple champions. An example is Ryze for the top lane. Not only is he super easy to play, but he is currently very strong. If you have trouble with top lane, or are just looking for a strong top laner to add to your champion pool, Ryze is a great choice. That brings me to my next point.

Being comfortable on every role also means having a good champion pool. A strong champion pool should consist of two or three champions in each role that you can play well. This ensures your pool will almost never get fully banned out, and also makes you flexible for different kinds of team comps. In addition, choosing champions that are strong in the current meta is a good idea. Obviously, the meta changes, so if you feel your current champion pool just doesn’t cut it, try out some new champions!

A literal champion pool!

3) Control your emotions

Controlling your emotions basically means do not rage, and don’t let people who rage affect you. Not raging or flaming ties in with my first tip of having a strong mental state. Taking breaks between games, is a key factor in reducing raging. It ensures you don’t carry feelings from your previous game into your next one. If someone on your team starts raging, you don’t want to rage right back at them. This will only make things worse. Instead, there is a simple fix, the mute button! Some people say mute everyone once the game starts so you can focus on yourself only, and if that works for you, use it.

However, I find that the best way is to mute someone the moment they start raging. Once they start raging, they probably won’t say anything else important, so don’t let them get to you, and mute them. Muting still lets you see their pings, so communication is still possible. Muting them also makes sure you don’t get mad, thus, making it easier to control your own emotions and also makes it less likely for you to rage.

I hope you enjoyed reading my article, and hopefully have learned a thing or two to use in the remaining days of the season and next season as well. Another thing to keep in mind is not to stress over ranked too much. Your ranking doesn’t mean everything, there are many more important things in life. So, if you don’t reach your desired ranking this season, don’t worry about it! There is always the next season. What matters most is that you learned and improved yourself for the coming seasons.