if you want to prepare yourself better for ranked games..... PLAY PLAY PLAY...... Play draft games exclusively , because playing blind pick is not a good measure of what ranked is.. In draft games you can counter pick.. ( www.championselect.net) and try to counter your oppenants. And i recommend researching synergies on the bot lane to see what champions mesh with who the best..

It would be in your best interest to stop playing blind pick , and exclusively play draft.

I'm not lvl 30 yet, but I can say that nidalee can do well in top, mid, or bot. She is a very versatile champion that I played during the free week and bought soon after, and it seems like she might be the best for you. In her cougar form, W + E takes out almost a whole creep wave, and she hits really hard with her spears as well.

Tell me what works for you, I'm also dying to know

I've been spending a lot of time in custom games doing nothing BUT last hitting (and I've gotten quite a bit better! Though, I do wish I would've done that instead since extra IP is always nice.

Cho sounds great! I haven't played with him much but I do own him, so I'll look up some guides on solomid or something and start playing him more!

I just got Skarner the day before yesterday specifically because I had read about how easy it is to jungle with him. I've jungled with him two or three times now and he's SO easy to clear the jungle with. I've noticed he's really a lackluster ganker pre-6 though, and even with his ult, his gank fails if they flash. I guess them using flash is kind of a plus since it'll be on cd, but it prevents the kill.

Yeah, I've been focusing on only drafts since it feels closer to a ranked just because the teams are almost always meta-appropriate whereas in blinds anything goes. I haven't started trying to counter-pick yet but that website looks like it should clear all of that up! Awesome, thanks!

Nid is one of my favorites to have on MY team. I love how she can heal me, deal 50% of the enemy adc's hp in one spear, and cougar form to escape. She's a very powerful support OR mid (haven't ever seen her top before!) and I always cringe when the enemy team chooses her.

Okay, I do have a new question. So I've gotten quite a bit better at last-hitting (unless my opponent is noobish and just decides to try to initiate fights the whole laning phase) and I've come up with a new problem! A lot of times, for the first 15-20 minutes or so, I am the either the highest or close-to-the-highest cs on the team. My problem begins AFTER this point. The point when laning kind of drops off and the team sticks together for practically everything (no one goes solo due to getting wrecked by enemy team). At this point, my cs drops drastically since I'm not up in lane last hitting creeps and am instead clearing objectives and waiting for teamfights to break out.

I notice a lot of people end up having 300+ cs at the end of the game with me still at 150-200~ and am unable to figure out where they have the time to cs like that. Please help! D:

Just need to keep in mine, farming is just as important as getting lots of kills.

Hey man, my best advice for you is to find a group of friends or a team to play with so that they allow you to focus into that one position on which you have become very great at. If you want to run it sometime with me and my team, we are looking for a top laner. Add me as a friend if you would like to play.

I did the EXACT same thing last season. I hit 30 in a few weeks of playing and made the mistake of doing ranked right off the bat. Killed my elo and kept me in "elo hell" for a long time.

I eventually stopped playing ranked and decided to focus on 3-4 champs that can play multiple roles and learn those roles well (Top, jungle mostly). I more or less mastered those champs (Lee sin, Olaf, Kayle) and those are now my champs I play with in ranked and I am doing well this season.

I suggest going back to the basics like other people have suggested. Stick to unranked for a while. Find some champions that you are COMFORTABLE with and learn them well. I always think its a great idea to learn how to jungle and support. Those are the "utility" roles that you will normally play if you are last/second last pick. And a good jungler has the ability to sway a game into a win.

If you are seeing a lot of people with 300+ cs then I am assuming you are running into long games of 45 minutes plus a lot too. As a game progresses, you should still be able to maintain a top 3 CS spot, especially if on the winning side. If you are dropping ELO and losing matches, your CS will often naturally go down as you are trying to farm at a tower, or as you said, waiting for that next team fight.

Earlier in this thread, someone mentioned that you should look to go into your jungle or clear waves when you can, and you have to learn that balance of clearing a wave or jungle camp, versus being ready for a teamfight. If you are concerned with being out of position and / or being ganked, make sure that your support is buying wards and placing them. If you know the other team is making heavy use of wards and you are not dying much, look to pick up an Oracle's elixir to remove their wards. You will potentially break even on the cost pending how many wards you remove.

Also, when you are trying to last hit and farm later in the game, look for movespeed items that will help you get in, clear, and get out. If the opposing team is building their PD sooner, they have more mobility and faster time to catch you. At the same time, Champs like Teemo with any sort of AS can farm waves quickly, with the poison damage and then W to get out, so this could be based on some of your team or opponent compositions.

Last point, if you are getting underfarmed and/or lacking in champ kills, let your team know that you need to farm. I have run support and ended up with my all time record of 4CS at the end of a 45+ minute game. We were getting pushed and underfarmed, but we were only down in champ kills by about 4 - 5 kills for most of the game. As the other team never pushed, we ended up coming back, grabbing an ace, and pushed their mid all the way back and won about 5 - 10 minutes later with an even champ score. Throughout that game the jungle kept calling that he needed to farm as he got behind as did our ADC. We allowed them to catch up and so did the enemy and it cost them the game. At the end of the day, it is a team game, and you have to play that way. I hate when I KS a champ as support, but better to kill a champ with no friendly deaths, then wait and hope. (Caveat is that you only do this once or twice and it should be on accident)