Quote:
Originally Posted by HolyMagnum
Hello. I haven't been on the forums much, and I only started playing in November or so. I reached 30 a while ago, and I've been trying to practice so that I can play some Ranked games soon. I didn't want to just jump in because I knew that I would be destroyed VERY fast. I've been trying to step up my game, practice last hitting, and learning different champions so that I wasn't just a one-champ wonder. Ahri/Veigar/Swain mid, Tristana/Vayne bot, Zilean/Sona/Janna support bot, Talon/Rumble top, Sejuani/Udyr jungle.
Overall, I feel pretty safe to start playing Ranked, but I would love some advice and any hints I could get. Good ward placements, new champs I should learn, and what I can expect in Ranked. Any and all help would be great and much appreciated!
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I just started playing ranked recently, so I'll throw in what I've observed in my games (solo or sometimes with a friend):
You already have what I use for rules #1 and #2 out of the way (know multiple champs for multiple roles, be willing to play them), so I'll skip to your second set of questions:
Warding
1.) Buy wards.
This sounds obvious until I tell you that I want you to buy wards on everything. If you mid, buy a ward or two when you have a little extra gold and use them to make one of the side bushes safe (you then don't have to be as scared about junglers, because he can only realistically gank you from half as many places). If you're AD or top, buy wards. Wards are there to help you stay alive and to help you kill the other team; if you use them for no purpose other than to ruin the jungler's attack paths, I'm perfectly happy with that.
2a.) Don't ward for things you already know.
Nothing frustrates me more as a support than an AD who demands I ward one of the two bushes on the side of bot lane, usually because he's getting poked by enemies who are inside the bush. You know they're in the bush, you know they haven't left the bush, you know their collective maximum range, just stay that far away or force them out.
Special exceptions to this include wards which would prevent someone from dying, or wards which would garner a kill (i.e. dropping a ward in a bush to give sight when both AD carry champions are low on health, and theirs tries to abuse a vision advantage).
2b.) Don't ward when you don't need to.
This goes hand-in-hand with warding for what you already know, which is why I split #2. If their jungler is ganking someone or dead, and no one is missing, you don't need to use a ward spotting for a gank - why spot for something that literally can't exist yet? Once the jungler is up again, then you should definitely drop the ward (assuming you're not sitting on tower or otherwise impossible to gank).
3.) Do ward the enemy jungle.
If you have a fantastic teamfight, or even push farther down mid than you expected you would be able to - and it's safe to drop the ward(s) - then try to get a ward in the enemy jungle. If I have a full stack of extra wards, I will sometimes ward the major exits, red buff (bush), and the bush entrance to the red buff half of the jungle. One ward tells me when their jungler is picking up red (and where he is), the other warns me if the other team is coming through their jungle to gank us in lane (assumed we're overextended, because I got this ward there in the first place).
4.) Pink wards. Use them.
Dragon / Baron control is an amazing resource, pink wards facilitate this. Oracles works in a similar capacity (you run around killing enemy wards, so the other team has no vision), but it won't secure objectives while you're away.
5.) Oracles is not the end of warding.
If the enemy support/whoever picks up an Oracles Elixer, that doesn't mean all your wards die and you should never place another (especially in starter elo). A ward behind dragon or baron often isn't cleared until an attempt is being made, so the ward serves its purpose. Wards on the high-ground entrances to jungles are also less-frequently seen. You will have to sacrifice perfect map vision, but you can still ward.
6a.) Wards do not come with built-in pinging features.
Your teammates will lack your map awareness. I'm not being pessimistic here, they just don't look at the map if they aren't the type to ward. If there's something scary they should be alerted to, ping.
6b.) Don't be "that guy who pings".
Many of us do look at the minimap. We appreciate the pings. One ping is sufficient. Five consecutive pings makes your pings sound less important.
General
1.) Have fun.
You will lose games. You will win games. If you're not enjoying the experience, take a break for a while.
2.) Play safe.
You don't need big plays. If you think about how a lane works, you just need to do more damage to the other guy than he does to you. That doesn't mean you have to kill him in one attack. You can win 10 small exchanges of 1-2 attacks and force your opponent to back out or die, costing him valuable xp and gold (or giving you a kill).
3.) If you don't already, play draft.
Blind pick is like LoL's sandbox. You can do whatever you want here and it will work. In draft (and ranked), players typically adhere to a different team structure (or, rather, a team structure exists here) and are simply better at the game.
4.) Know the usual bans.
Champions like Morgana and Shaco are frequently banned at low elo for a reason. New champions also fall into this rule.
5.) Always ask your team what they want banned (assuming you're banning).
Self-explanatory. You don't want to ban three of your team's mains when you could have all your teammates on their best champions.
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