How to climb ranked in LoL: the method that lasts

Why you are stuck

Most players who do not climb do the same things. They play tired, late, after a full day. They switch champion every game and keep fifteen in their pool. They blame the team as soon as things go wrong.

None of these three reflexes is a skill problem. They are habits. And a habit can be replaced. The rest of this guide takes them one by one, in the order in which they cost you the most LP.

Main two or three champions, not fifteen

Every champion has its timings, its ranges, its power spikes. When you play fifteen, you know all of them a little and none of them well. When you play two or three, you stop thinking about your keys and start thinking about the game.

Pick champions you enjoy and that have few hard counters in your role. Keep a plan B for when your first pick is taken or banned. Then stick with them. Do not switch because you lost two games.

• One main champion you play in most of your games.
• A second one for the team compositions where the first does not fit.
• At most a third, so you do not get bored.

One role, and the same one

The game lets you pick two roles. Put your main role first and a role you accept to play second, not a random one. Each role has its own rules: the jungler reads the whole map, the support manages vision, the top laner plays a long lane with little help.

Changing role every game means starting from scratch every time. Staying on one role means building reflexes that end up making the difference without you noticing.

Objectives before kills

A kill feels good. A tower, a dragon, a herald win games. The question to ask after every play is simple: what did this give me on the map? If the answer is nothing, you lost time, even with a kill.

After a won fight, do not recall out of habit. Look at what you can take: a tower, a camp, an objective. After a lost fight, defend what matters instead of chasing an isolated enemy.

Vision, the one you place and the one you remove

Vision is not the support's job alone. Every player has a control ward and a trinket slot. A ward placed before an objective avoids a lost fight. An enemy ward removed gives you a corridor to move forward.

Look at the minimap every few seconds, not only when you are in danger. Reading the map well replaces a lot of mechanics. It is also what separates the tiers the most.

Managing your waves

Minions are your main resource. A wave pushed under the enemy tower is gold lost for your opponent and free time for you. A wave frozen near your tower is an opponent who must expose himself to farm.

Before leaving your lane to help elsewhere, push your wave. Otherwise you lose minions and give up a tower. The question is not whether you can help, but what you lose by going.

Mental: mute, pause, then review your games

Chat has never won you a game. Mute everything on the loading screen, pings are enough to communicate. After two losses in a row, stop for the day or take a real break. The third game played angry is almost always the worst.

Once a week, watch the replay of a loss. Not to find who played badly, but to find three moments where you could have decided differently. It is the only exercise that makes you better without playing.

And if you want to go faster, get help. Playing duo with a Master player shows you, game after game, the decisions you do not see yet. A boost hands your account to a stronger player until a rank is reached. Both show their price before you pay, from €5.00 per division.