From adjusting your gameplay settings to mastering the art of good ol’ prediction, there are plenty of ways to improve your skill shots in League of Legends. Read on for our top tips and tricks!
From farming CS to kiting, there are plenty of mechanics in League of Legends you must master as a player if you’re hoping to climb the ranked ladder — and one of the most important mechanics of all? Skill shots.
As their name suggests, skill shots are truly the ultimate test of a player’s skill at the game. When mastered, you can effortlessly secure kills, objectives, and farm, allowing you to snowball your way to victory every match.
However, landing skill shots is, unsurprisingly, no easy feat; even professional players make game-changing (and crowd ooo’in’) misses. That’s why today, I’ll be sharing some tips and tricks that’ll polish up your aim and help you land skill shots every time.
For those who are yet to master LoL lingo, a skill shot is the term for an ability that needs to be manually (and precisely) aimed and timed to hit a target. In short: It relies on the player’s own reflexes — the exact opposite of a point-and-click attack. Some champions renowned for having skill-shot heavy kits include Xerath, Ezreal, Vel’Koz, and Lux.
Skill shots can cause a significant amount of damage and allow the player to harass, secure kills, or even steal objectives from a safe distance… If they land, that is… Cue our top tips.
Predicting your opponent’s movements is one of the most effective strategies for landing skill shots, and it’s not hard to understand why. If you can accurately anticipate where your opponent will path, you limit their opportunities to react, dodge, and counter your attack.
Predicting movements may sound impossible at first — and there will always be a degree of unpredictability, no matter who you’re up against — but it can be done and it’s a lot easier than it seems. This is especially the case in low elo, where players rarely hide their pathing with misdirects and often exhibit predictable reactions (and movements) to game changes.
Here are some tips that’ll help you predict your opponent’s movements in your games:
In low elo, players tend to have a habit of instinctively dodging the same way, in the same direction, to the same type of attacks. If you can familiarize yourself with your opponent’s (bad) dodging habits, you can use that to your advantage by aiming your skill shot where they’re likely to dodge, rather than at the spot they’re currently standing.
Pay attention to what is happening around the map and consider how your enemies are likely to react. For instance, if an objective spawns and they have priority, they are likely to path toward the objective — you can use that information to your advantage.
You don’t need to master every champion in the game, but becoming familiar with each champion’s kit yourself will give you better insight into their unique playstyles. You will learn their goals, ability cooldowns, and why they path in certain ways (i.e. to land specific skills), all of which will inform your aim.
When your opponent farms, they’re going to path predictably and be in an auto-attack animation that essentially freezes their champion in place. This is the exact moment you want to land your skill shot, as they’ll be a lot easier to hit and won’t be able to react.
This nifty technique comes straight from Chinese Pro TT Feather! This technique builds on the concept that League of Legends is, as he comments, generally played from a “45-degree isometric perspective.”
I won’t overcomplicate things here. Essentially, due to how camera perspective and champion hitboxes work in the game, you’ll have a much better chance at landing your skill shots if:
Here’s what this looks like in practice:
Tinkering around in the client settings won’t just improve your gameplay experience; it can also make you a better player. The right configuration can boost your FPS, ensure a stable ping, minimize mouse movement time, and free your screen of visual clutter — all of which will help you land those skill shots in game.
An uncapped frame rate cap, for instance, may give you a higher FPS, but it can also cause instabilities like frame spikes and drops, which can result in skill shot-hindering stuttering. Ensuring your FPS cap is set to match your monitor’s refresh rate can help minimize this significantly.
Not only that, but certain settings can also be toggled on to assist with aiming. While I won’t go into too much detail here, you can learn more about optimizing your gameplay settings in this in-depth guide.
This cheesy tactic involves ensuring your champion model is facing away from your target just before you throw out your skill shot. By making it seem like your champion is pathing or positioning in the opposite direction, you’re bound to catch your opponent by surprise, or at least significantly hinder their ability to react.
It can be fiddly and take time to get used to, so make sure to practice this movement tactic in the practice tool before you try it out in your ranked games. Just be mindful that this tactic is really only effective in low elo. Once you get to high elo, pathing like this becomes the norm rather than a cheese technique.
Honing your aim in League of Legends does take time, practice, and dedication, but the tips above are sure to help speed up the process and aim you in the right direction (up the ladder, that is).
As some parting advice, remember that League of Legends does have a built-in practice tool, which you should use to your advantage. Practice your skill shots in the tool from all different angles and positions to get a feel of how they play out. You can also play mouse accuracy training games like Osu or 3D Aim Trainer to warm up your fingers.
