Climbing the ranked ladder in Season 15 takes a substantial amount of game knowledge, motivation, and overall mindset. We’re going to cover how to set proper goals, build a consistent champion pool, research, optimize settings, and develop a growth mindset.
Many League of Legends players tend to focus on a results-based approach to improving at the game, focusing on LP gains and losses rather than a behavioral approach. Through optimizing settings, staying positive, and taking advantage of outside resources, players can gain an advantage over their opponents. I will provide resources and suggestions to help readers understand other parts of the game related to goals, mentality, and research. My goal is to teach players the skills I've gathered through 10 years of experience playing League at a high level.
Improving as a Jungler takes time and patience through consistent practice and by setting goals. When setting goals, it’s important to follow the SMART acronym which includes specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time specific. For example, a SMART goal might be “I”m currently a Silver 4 Jungler and want to hit Gold 4 by the end of season 15.” The goal includes a specific rank that can be measured, the gap between current rank and desired is achievable, and the goal is relevant to your aspirations in League while including a time frame until the end of Season 15.
An example of a poorly constructed goal would be "I want to hit Gold soon.” These types of goals are vague and can’t be tracked. Whenever a goal is set, it’s important to add details and expectations to make it more attainable. I’d recommend tracking your goal on a daily basis; however, do not hyper fixate on the LP gains. Regardless of winning or losing, monitor your individual performance and what was within your control.
The next step to climbing the ranks is building a consistent Champion pool. A Champion pool refers to the number of Champions a player can comfortably play in a ranked setting. Most players typically have 1-3 Champions that they feel most confident playing. For Junglers specifically, I would suggest having one Attack Damage, one Ability Power, and one Tank/Engage Champion that you feel comfortable playing. Having a flexible Champion pool that can fit into any team composition is important to ensure a balance of AD and AP champions. The reason why focusing on only a few Champions is crucial is to build confidence and focus more on macro and game mechanics versus Champion micro. Macro refers to everything aside from the Champion including objective taking, map rotations, and decision making whereas micro refers to mechanics such as ability usage, kiting, and auto canceling. Micro skills should already be developed before playing a champion in ranked so the player can focus on other parts of the game.
After setting a goal and building a Champion pool, researching proper builds and runes is the next step to success. There are several free websites such as op.gg, lolalytics, and dpmlol which provide access to current builds, runes, and matchup statistics for each Champion. I highly recommend looking at what professional players are building and implementing their strategies into your own games. I also find watching professional games a great way to improve at the game. Analyzing how teams approach fights, contest objectives, and play the early game can help new players learn how to strategize. Other improvement strategies include watching videos on YouTube on how to clear the Jungle with your specific Champion. Watching high elo or professional players on Twitch or other streaming platforms and taking notes about how they approach the game can also help with improvement. There are tons of free resources available online that should be used to your advantage.
Jungling in League has one of the hardest learning curves out of any role in the game. It requires a strong mentality and multiple hard decisions throughout a match. In terms of tips for climbing out of lower elo, I would focus on all the strategies including, “Champion Pool, Builds/Runes, Mindset” while also working on some in-game strategies. This includes practicing full clearing all the Jungle camps with each of your 1-3 Champions efficiently through ability usage, kiting, etc. Between each camp looking at each of your lanes and deciding whether to gank and apply pressure. Decisions based on taking an objective or choosing to gank.
The best way to improve as a Jungler is to play more consistently. I would recommend playing a few games each day when you’re in a great mental state and can play to your best ability. I personally believe the highest quality ranked matches occur in the mornings when people are less tilted and more motivated.
In terms of settings for the hotkeys tab, I’d highly recommend putting all of your abilities on quick cast so they can be used without delay. After feeling comfortable with your specific Champion and understanding the ability ranges, quick cast is the most efficient way to quickly land abilities.
Other important settings include target Champions only, player attack move, toggle locked camera on and off, and quick enemy vision ping. Target Champions only ensures that your Champion only attacks enemy Champions. I would enable the setting as a key and use it in situations where you are tower diving or when there’s minions in a close skirmish.
Toggling locked camera on and off allows for quick map movement and being able to see more of your screen. However, I highly recommend playing mainly on unlocked camera
Additionally, the quick enemy vision ping helps with identifying the location and timers on enemy wards which is helpful for vision control and objective taking.
For the interface section, I recommend playing with a larger Hud scale to help identify all your abilities, items, and cooldowns. I’d also turn on show spell costs if you’re unfamiliar with the mana per ability.
Finally for the game setting I’d recommend enabling smooth camera to make the experience less choppy.
One of the most important factors for climbing in League is having a positive mindset. Approach every game with the mindset of winning and playing to the best of your ability. Teammates are completely out of your control, and the focus should only be on your individual performance. I personally like to mute the chat in-game and have pings on. Muting the chat helps with focusing on the actual game versus what you or the enemy team types. Instead of focusing on the LP gains and whether or not you win, shift the focus to your performance and how you affected the match.
After each game watch the replay of the match and every time you die ask yourself the questions, “Why did I die in this situation?,” “What could I have done better?," or "How could I have prevented this?” Fast forward 30 seconds before each skirmish and understand why the teamfight went poorly. Factors such as cooldowns, item spikes, summoner spells, and less numbers can all have an effect on the outcome of a teamfight. The most effective way to improve as a player is to reflect on these moments and recognize what went wrong.
Through repetition and consistent practice identifying in-game situations, I can guarantee you will improve at the game.
My goal for this article was to provide knowledge to new players looking to improve at the game, however all the tips provided can apply to any rank or experience level. Jungling in League of Legends requires hard work and lots of time through research, mindset, and practice. After reading this article, I hope players feel more confident about approaching their next ranked game and will retain the knowledge provided and implement it into their games. Good luck in solo queue and I wish you luck on the climb.
