When I first started to play league, I must have looked at a million guides on how to improve my game. All of them were great and I learn an immense amount in a short amount of time. As a new player, these types of guides helped me understand how to last hit, how to build, and how to play the champions I wanted to play. However I'm a firm believer that the difference between high elo players and low elo players isn't mechanical prowess, but game knowledge (macro) and being able to identify their weaknesses and compensating for them. Let's go over some of the worst habits we have as League players and how to fix them.

Prioritizing

Objectives > CS > Kills. Low elo players across the world, embed this into your brain. The one common mistake I see that causes players to lose or even throw games is that they are so hungry for kills. Players just run around trying to get kill gold but never actually accomplish anything and then get out rotated. I see it happen all the time, and it breaks my League of Legends heart. Yes getting kills helps win the game but you can't win the game at all if you don't take any structures. Also, a kill is only worth about 12-15 cs. It could be up to 25 cs if you factor in getting to free farm momentarily. A 2/0 player with 35 cs at 10 minutes will be weaker than a 0/2 player with 95 cs. Also, creeps don't fight back. CS is the fastest way to get fed, so farm those waves.

LOOK AT ALL THAT FREE GOLD!!!

Chasing

For the love of Nami, stop chasing for kills. If it takes you more than 10 seconds to secure a kill, stop. You're just wasting time and going to end up getting nothing. Worst case scenario, you chase long enough for people to collapse around you, and the kill you were going to get, gets turned around on you. You could instead just rotate to an objective and take it. I'm pretty sure whoever invented the phrase "clown fiesta" was talking about this exact situation. Don't be greedy. Know when a fight is over and stop overextending.

Playing Champs/Roles You're Not Comfortable With

Stick to playing what you know and you'll mostly end up ahead. Often times players feel the need to try and play a champ that they never play to try and get a counter pick in lane. But they end up losing anyway because they don't have the champion knowledge or champion mechanics to win lane. You can get by on champions that you're comfortable on, by just understanding how to play matchups. Even if they're bad ones, you should be able to play accordingly. If you feel like you have a poor win rate against a certain champ, take a counter pick to normals, and practice them until you are comfortable. Then you'll have them in your pocket AND you'll be able to play them properly. Also, don't play a champ you've never played with just because they're OP this patch. OP doesn't equal victory if you have no idea how to exploit what makes a champion OP.

Focusing On Others

Yes League of Legends is a team game, and yes it is entirely possible for one person to throw an by themselves. But here's the thing, when you play League, you physically only have control over one champion. At the end of the day you have zero control over what your team mates do. You can shot call, and try to rally your team mates to rotate towards objectives or rotate to picks, but you can't play the game for them. So stop constantly worrying about what your team mates are going to do. Instead focus on your own individual game play and play to the best of your abilities. Focusing on your own gameplay will take away a lot of the stress that you go through when you're worried that your team is a bunch of chimpanzees. Also, focusing only on your own play allows you to quickly pinpoint what you do well, as well as what you need to work on. So top flaming your team mates for their bad plays and start to work on stopping your own bad plays.

Flaming

I know, this one is a hard one. You guys know that little tool tip in the player load screen that reads, "Players with a positive attitude tend to win more games"? Well its true, and flaming will get you nowhere. I have never yelled at and insulted someone who was playing poorly and gotten them to play better. Most players know when they make a mistake, and if they take this game seriously, they'll be hard enough on themselves. You don't need to police them. If you notice however that a team mate is making poor plays, give them a suggestion on how to make better ones. It's never healthy to point out peoples mistakes', and your team's problems, without presenting a solution. Polite, constructive criticism will go a long way, and can turn the tides of games.

SALT FREE ZONE

Assuming Your Teammates Are Bad

If you go into a game with a negative attitude, chances are you're going to play poorly. At some point you have to trust your team a little bit to know how to play the game. And frankly, Riot does a pretty darn good job of pairing people of relatively close skill levels Diamond 3 and below. Everyone in your games are about as good as you are. If you're of the opinion that everyone around you in your elo is trash, then why are you in the same elo? Back to a prior point, the only thing you can do is focus on your own individual game play.

Making The Game Not Fun

All of the high elo players and pro players I've had the privilege of talking to and learning from have all expressed the same sentiment. The reason they continue to play at high levels and improve even when people think they couldn't get any better is because they still have fun playing the game. If what you're doing in League is no longer fun, switch things up. I personally play 1,000,000 times better when I'm playing a fun champ. I know league can get stressful, especially when you feel like the games you're playing are 1 v 9, but don't let it kill you. Remember that League is still a ton of fun to play. If it wasn't, I wouldn't be willing to spend all my free time writing about it!

Seriously...have some fun!

Mechanics and champion pools will improve the more you play the game naturally. What we as players need to work on, is developing a robust game knowledge to apply those mechanics too. Expanding your macro game is what separates high elo players from low elo players. But really, what use is all that game knowledge if we continue to make the same bad plays and mistakes over and over? Stop being greedy for kills and over chasing. When fights are done, if you have the upper hand, press your advantage and take an objective. Stop blaming your team for everything. You can't control them so it won't do any good to be toxic towards them and neglect your own play. Instead strive to be the best player you can be. Most importantly, remember to have fun. Fun games keep you energized and will allow you to continue growing. I hope at the end of this guide you've had some time to self-reflect and figured out some of the bad habits you have that need to stop. If you did, cut it out, and watch how fast your game improves!

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