Each season of League of Legends presents a new opportunity for self-improvement. While improvement can be measured in many ways when it comes to League, the end all goal is to naturally have that improvement translate into one’s rank on the ladder. But, as each Season comes with its patches and new ways to play the game, players often find themselves wondering, “How exactly do I climb? Is there a method to the madness?” Well, I’m here to unpack some of those methods with you today and we’ll be discussing their pros and cons so you can get a measure as to which method is right for you!

One-Tricking

This method is pretty self-explanatory. One-tricking is the act of picking one Champion, and simply locking them in regardless of the draft that’s presented to you. The idea behind this method is that you become so in-tune with your pick that you can learn to play them in both positive and negative matchups or in situations that wouldn’t appear optimal to play them in otherwise. And, of course, when push comes to shove and you need to shine, your mechanics on that Champion are mastered to the point of perfection allowing you to best your opponents in clutch moments.

Often, players gravitate towards Champions with high solo-queue volatility with this approach. Champions like Master Yi, Yasuo, Katarina, Gangplank, or Lee Sin come to mind. These Champions have all the tools to take over games or operate in such a way that their kits, when mastered, are utterly insane for the average player to deal with. But don’t be fooled, maining simpler Champions can also be just as viable and you’re guaranteed to find a one-trick of just about any Champ beyond Diamond. Some are just more naturally fit to the climb, while others take effort. The core focus here though is mastery and fun. Find which of League’s 150+ Champions you love with all your heart and play them until the cows come home.

Meta Maining

This approach differs from One-Tricking by being a bit more versatile in approach. Meta Maining revolves around centering your play towards the highest regarded Champions on any given patch. Champions that you’ll find spread across various tier lists within the ‘S’ or ‘A’ categories, for example.

Your choice to be a meta player makes you quite the flexible drafter which is where this approach is typically going to shine. Your willingness to play the most meta selections available opens options for you, and that allows you to consider more than just your matchup in lane. Sure, you may be picking a negative matchup across from your opponent which should put you at a disadvantage, but with your flexibility you’re able to play for your team by rounding out your composition with this approach.

The downside to this method is expertise and learning curve, which makes this method harder for newer players. Additionally, you’re exchanging familiarity for flexibility. You might be able to pick the counter to your opponent with this method, or pick the Champion that is stronger on paper, but if your opponent is a one-trick or limited pool player, they’re likely going to have matchup familiarly over you and be able to better control the pace of the game if you don’t execute quickly.

Limited Pool Picking

This approach can be tied into our previous two methods for an interesting angle on climbing. Essentially a Limited Pool approach consists of narrowing down your Champion choice to a set of picks. Be those picks you are personally comfortable with, picks that are more meta-aligned, or a blend of the two. The idea is that you are keeping yourself flexible enough to adapt in draft, but closer to your comfort picks to prevent you from having any fall off in terms of mechanical ability in high pressure situations.

So, for example, one approach to this could be a pool of overlapping styles. As a Morgana Main, you might have Lux down as a secondary, or maybe even Zyra as another alternative. While the direct execution might be a bit different with each pick, the approach and mindset behind the three overlaps in some key areas, so to promote what you may have found fun or what you may have found successful, you can establish this pool to promote your strengths and enjoyment.

Or you can take the Meta angle of being a Lux Main as your Mage pick, taking Leona for your Tank pick, Karma for your Enchanter pick, and then finally Blitz crank for your hook pick. This would give you an option to slot into any team composition allowing you to flexibly adjust to round out your team, though you’re more set on getting your particular Champions due to familiarity with this setup.

But, regardless of how you tune your limited pool, the goal is to keep it a 3-5 Champion space. If you’re quite experienced, you can even adapt upwards of seven, but the idea is to inhabit a space in mechanical execution similar to One-Tricks, but still possess the flexibility of meta players.

Best-Of Sets Method

Regardless of how you want to approach your Champion pool, another layer to climbing is the amount of time you actually spend playing the game. You can’t reasonably expect to reach your goals without investment, right? So, with that said you need to develop an approach to logging games that works best for you.

Some players might find they’re great at marathoning games, getting sharper and sharper as they play more and more. Others might value time between games to sit and VOD review their previous performance, or they simply want to detox with some cat videos between queues. Even more might only play one or two games a week within an entire season. And while, ultimately, it’s all about what you enjoy and what works best for you, I’m here to encourage you to take on the Best-Of Set Method.

With this method, depending on what you’ve evaluated your personal focus, time availability, and motivation to be, you are playing either a Best-Of-3 Set, or a Best-Of-5. Naturally, the sets names are explanatory, but the length just depends on what your attention span and availability works best with. But the goal is to make sure you’re logging anywhere from three to five games a day so that you can be actively working towards your desired rank.

But this isn’t just about winning and losing, contextualize your sets with techniques and performance goals. Say your 3 game set on Monday is about roaming as a Mid Laner, so you’re going to create a short list of what you need to see happen on the map for you to look for a roam. Or, you’re going to simply just try and force the issue and see what you can create and learn from the moment to moment experience.

Thereafter, you’re VOD reviewing. You’re making notes on what could’ve gone better. What you didn’t see that should’ve opened up your approach to a roam more quickly, or what should’ve dismayed you from making a bad roam. Then on Tuesday, you’re back at it again, applying what you took note of from the previous day while logging your next set of 3 to 5, again taking notes after. Rinsing and repeating this process over and over again.

Think of it like a sports player reviewing film after a game, or practicing a particular scheme to prepare for an opponent that is known to execute a certain strategy well. You’re approaching your habits and your inconsistencies as if they were something to be defeated or corrected so you can improve yourself, which is ultimately going to translate into climbing in the long run.

Closing Out

So, there you have it. Some methods and framing devices to help you shape your pool and your ranked sessions to better suit your end goal for Season 13. Just remember that every season starts the same as a new opportunity to better yourself, and that ultimately it’s all about the marathon not the foot race to the finish. Just because you might start poorly with a method or approach doesn't mean you need to abandon it. It just means you need to study and sure up your perspective of things. Maybe seek an outside eye or coach to help get a glimpse towards what you could do better going forward. But ultimately, refrain from keeping yourself in flux, stay consistent in your approach and you’ll find success in Season 13.