As season 5 concluded, just like every season before, ranked queues somewhat lack meaning. Therefore, many summoners are left confused on where to focus their efforts in this time of disorientation. Fear not, as Team-Dignitas.net is here to offer some tips on what to do while you're impatiently waiting for season 6 to start.

Get Familiar

League of Legends is always a shapeshifting game. Season after season, there's an overhaul of changes to the game. For season 6 specifically, the age of the AD carries is upon us but major changes also come in the form of new masteries, new items (or tweeks to former items), a new neutral objective, new minion mechanisms, new gold incomes, new lane swaps, new warding tendencies and a completely new pace. Also, sustain and critical strikes are king. For instance, if you haven't played ranked yet, you'll see that the common bans these days are champions like Jax, Tryndamere, Graves, Soraka, Mundo. What world do we live in right? Additionally, priority picks include Miss Fortune, Tahm Kench, and Ryze. League of Legends now functions in with completely new system so to speak. Pinpointing what works and what doesn't work will make you a better player but that must come by the way of experimentation and through guides found anywhere on the Internet. However, here are the basics.

Why exactly have these new OP champions surfaced? A lot of factors actually but mainly items and masteries are to blame. Let's take Tryndamere for example. He synergizes very well well with Warlord's Bloodlust, a new keystone mastery :

Thanks to his passive, Tryndamere can have a 35% critical strike chance at level 1, even without any items or runes that add critical strike chance. Combined with Warlord's Bloodlust, the potential to tremendously outrade his opponent is through the roof. He can practically outduel anybody, making it a nightmare to lane against since he can force his opponent out of lane with a little bit of luck. It's a broken mechanic as it stands now and I suggest to ban this new terror until further patches apply.

Another champion that really stands out in the recent changes is Soraka. Similarly to Tryndamere, Soraka has become an OP tier champion thanks to a new keystone mastery, Windspeaker's Blessing :

Truthfully, Windspeaker's Blessing is quite good with any support that has a supportive heal or shield like Nami, Janna, Taric and Lulu. However, what makes Soraka different and, thus, enables her to transcend the upper echelon of the supports is the mere fact that her Astral Infusion (W) can be casted every 2 seconds when the skill itself is level 5 without any cooldown reduction required. What makes things worse is that her ultimate was already a global heal but now it adds defensive stats to every member of her team. With the age of the AD carries upon us, Soraka is definitely the perfect companion to keep these powered up carries alive.

Watch and Learn

Another way to get familiar with the new meta or even to improve thyself is to simply watch VODs. Although it's the offseason, there are still tournaments to hype up the upcoming season so watching the pros clash against each other is still an option. There are always high ranked streamers out there that are willing to make their broadcast instructional, like the players here from yours truly Team Dignitas. Even if they aren't very talkative, you can always pay attention to their build paths or how to juggle with the mechanics of the game. Spectating League of Legends sure is fun but, when you don't simply take it as eye candy, you'll realise that there really are intricacies that could indeed help you unlock your potential. You just have to keep an eye out and employ the right attitude.

Improve

Once you've assessed the drastic changes of the game and you've learned from what you've seen, it's time to put it in application and improve on your gameplay! We don't always admit it but we can always improve, there's always a way to become better. In League of Legends, I agree that taking it very seriously right now might seem fruitless but there's still some use to the ranked ladder. It's not as if ranked queues have been disabled. They're still open and that's to upgrade your Match Making Ranking, commonly known as MMR. You can still grind the ladder and stay fresh with your mechanics. If you do well, you'll be rewarded with a higher rank once you've completed your placement matches next season.

Take Some Time Off

If the factors above don't seem to address your needs, it's okay to take some time off the game too. Grinding the game can eventually burn you out. The seasons are long and the offseason can be viewed as a well deserved break. It's a break that can rejuvenate your love of the game once you come back stronger than ever or it's a break that can even spawn a new love for a new game. It's not an issue to muster your efforts elsewhere in real life or to explore other games that are available. If you're into other games, Team-Dignitas.net covers most of the popular esports of today such as Heroes of the Storm, Counter-Strike : Global Offensive, Starcraft 2 or even newcomers such as Paladins.

On that note, there's always more for your favorite esports on www.Team-Dignitas.net !

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