LoL Ladder Climb: Day 11

Game 1

Champions

Game Summary

I went into select in 2nd position, but was somehow forced into jungle with Amumu banned. I said no problem and took Olaf for a spin. Early game was good, I had a successful gank top to help get Riven ahead. Bot was doing very poorly so I then focused there and turned things around. Diana mid was doing well and got a kill or two off of Elise mid. Mid game our team started going full derp (cocky attitudes :S). Riven and Diana got themselves caught a few times each in their jungle. I told everyone to focus and we finished them off easily with 2 good team fights.

Positives/Negatives

I ganked well and helped the lanes out as best I could. I landed most of my axes to catch opponents. I initiated team fights decently as well. I got caught once though while trying to save Diana/Riven deep in their jungle. I should have thought it out and let them die instead of me dying as well.

ELO

1365 (+17)

Other Notes

If your team starts to go full derp due to cockiness, try to bring them back to reality. Get your team focused before you throw the game!


Game 2

Champions

Game Summary

I took Graves out for a spin this game. I had a Fiddle supporting me, but it didn't work out well in lane. He kept getting caught by Leona and we would lose engagements because of it. I still farmed away and ignored him flaming me (muted him after awhile), and kept up with CS of MF. Kat got destroyed mid and would blame others for all her deaths (lol). Top did very well. Fiddle tried to surrender a few times when we lost team fights mid game, but we lost them due to Kat and Fiddle getting caught out a lot. We kept going and turned the game around to win!

Positives/Negatives

I kept up with CS of MF even with Fiddle. I got caught a few times, and started to crack under the constant flaming by Fiddle and Kat though, and made more mistakes because of it (bad engagements, missing auto-attacks). It wasn't a very good game for me.

ELO

1384 (+19)

Other Notes

Calm down, it's just a game :D


Game 3

Champions

Game Summary

Not a fun game! We had a leaver at 15 mins even though it was easily winnable, and then an AFK Shaco that fed lanes, trolled, threw racial slurs and kept trying to surrender, and finally sat in base. 2 reports were handed out. The game was easily winnable too :( Wall of shame goes out to EndQuicker the racist and ravenshaw11 for the rage quit.

Positives/Negatives

I did fine in lane and was up. I was caught once (I was really stupid and headed up river even though I knew Ahri was coming down!)

ELO

1367 (-17)

Other Notes

Some games you get a troll or leaver. If you're really unlucky you get 2! Just report them and move on, they will eventually be permabanned. I'll do a post about the tribunal sometime soon. I go on every day to do my 20 cases, and the effect is bigger than you think!

Good night for now though!

LoL Ladder Climb: Day 10

Back in action tonight! Let's get that ELO back up! Shoooting for gold!

Game 1

Champions

Game Summary

I got my Anivia mid! I had a rough start as I was countered by Fizz and I knew at levels 6 - 10 he could combo me down in 1 fight. I died twice then, but with a few Skarner ganks and me rushing Athene's Unholy Grail, I was able to take him down after then. Our team was losing all lanes, but once I had my farm and mid/end game items, I was unstoppable. We picked good fights for the most part (other than Skarner getting caught out on 3 separate occasions), and punished them for charging in with my wall to split the fight. We dominated and went on to win.

Positives/Negatives

I had a slow early game in lane due to Fizz. However I caught back up and dished supreme punishment later and I still outfarmed him early/mid game!

ELO

1347 (+19)

Other Notes

If you are down, stick to smart engagements and farming. Don't go out of your way to fight unless it's for objectives. Learn to pick your battles.


Game 2

Champions

Game Summary

We had a good team. Jax mucked top and was 3/0 by 10 minutes. Bot got destroyed. We had a first time ranked player and it showed. They went down about 4 kills by 10 minutes. Jax starts going superman on them and dies 5 times in a row with no kills. I get caught trying to save Jax and go down myself. We couldn't come back and lost the game due to everyone getting caught out too much.

Positives/Negatives

I matched TF's farm in game. That's about it. I got caught trying to save hero mode Jax, but other than that I died defending inhib turret.

ELO

1328 (-19)

Other Notes

Another problem with the 1300s is this is where all the new ranked players get put to play. It really shows too when you get one. It's unfortunate, and that is why some games just go poorly.


Game 3

Champions

Game Summary

Great game! I started with Diana jungling. We had a really strange comp; 2 assassins, and 3 longer range more poke type champs. Anyway we started off trading kills in all lanes, Kat had trouble with Kass early mid. Nid destroyed Kayle's farm, and bot lane was back and forth with my ganks picking them up kills and the lane win. We found our stride with team fights, and were able to dive in and get the carries before retaliation. We lost baron but aced them there to move in for the win.

Positives/Negatives

I had decent lane presence mid/late laning phase, however it was tough as bot top and mid really wanted ganks as they were losing. I did what I could and destroyed in team fights, always picking up the carries.

ELO

1348 (+20)

Other Notes

That's it for tonight! 1 win is better than none ;) I may play a few normals, we'll see. Good night!

LoL Ladder Climb: Day 9

Game 1

Champions

Game Summary

I went support as everyone wanted their own lanes and carries. They all fed hard early (0/4, 0/3, 0/4 etc). I did what I could to turn the game around. We did and started winning as the other team was arrogant and dove towers with 1, 2 or 3 people, however Rumble started trolling by saying we didn't need him and threw the game allowing them to secure the win. It's not fun with trolls (as usual :D)

Positives/Negatives

I warded where I should, protected everyone I could and tried to keep the team calm. I may have been caught once, but I think it was a team fight so I'm not too sure (I forget :S)

ELO

1344 (-17)

Other Notes

Not much else to say. It turned from losing situation to a winning situation to a throw because of a troll. Hope the next one is better!


Game 2

Champions

Game Summary

We had a decent early game. We went up a few kills and traded with them a lot. I tried to make calls of when to fight however the team had blinders on and chased no matter what. We lost a lot of team fights when I was telling us to b. The team wanted to fight outside turret range while they had baron buff and Vayne liked to farm bot instead of helping against inhib towers. An unfortunate loss :/

Positives/Negatives

I took Eve's tower and dominated her in lane. She countered by roaming. The support didn't pick ward river or tri, and even though I called missing every time she was out of lane, bot still kept pushing their tower and dying to her. I stayed positive and tried to organize the team, but they didn't want to listen at all and instead tried to engage at bad times 3v5 (etc). I was caught out once when pushing mid as Eve went bot to gank. She faked and came back and ganked me with Olaf.

ELO

1328 (-17)

Other Notes

Well I'm down two. I should stop for now and maybe pick it up later based on my rule :(


Alright I came back to play some more but wasn't feeling it tonight. I'm going to have to leave tonight off with an 0/2 streak. Feels bad :S

LoL Ladder Climb: Day 8

Game 1

Champions

Game Summary

I was first pick, so I banned out trying to get Amu. Unfortunately the other team banned him so I picked up Shen. Teemo was top versus me so I was countered to say the least. However Teemo misplayed and dove too early (without ignite) and I picked up first blood. Bot and mid were fine and started dominating. I ulted in key spots to keep teammates alive and counter with some kills and objectives (dragon). We took baron and went on to win the game with little resistance.

Positives/Negatives

I made some good ults in key times to turn around team fights and keep my teammates alive. I had brutal CS though, which was a combination of me being out of lane a lot from ulting and taking objectives, and the counter (Teemo) I had in lane.

ELO

1344 (+17)

Other Notes

Don't beg for honour! It looks bad and is reportable!


Game 2

Champions

Game Summary

So in this game I was the fourth pick, and Mu was banned and top, mid and ADC chosen. I decided to jungle as Skarner. I had a slow early game, and couldn't seem to penetrate the lanes to grab some kills. I was killed in my jungle early by Shyv, however Kat came by late and picked up a double kill, snowballing her. In mid game we had trouble, all the lanes dying and people getting caught out a  lot, as well as playing the blame game (I muted the entire team at this point). We continued on, and once we started team fighting we were able to catch their carries out and take their inhibitor. We pressed this advantage by going for baron. They tried to stop with Shyv diving baron but I outsmited and we picked up the buff and aced their team in the process. We carried on to win.

Positives/Negatives

I had a few good ults to catch carries that were out of position. I didn't have a good game though. I died early in the jungle when I thought Shyv was countering me in there but I still went anyway. I couldn't seem to hit a good ult for the longest time in early team fighting too.

ELO

1362 (+18)

Other Notes

I'm quite tired tonight from being up late last night, so I'm ending here for today!

League of Legends Ladder Climb: Week 1 Summary

Week 1 of my League of Legends Ladder Climb is complete! I've summarized some of the interesting data from this past week and will include it all in this post.

ELO Progression

This week I played a total of 34 games. Below is a graph showing my progress in attempting to gain ELO.

I started at an ELO of 1178, making it to 1327 by the end of my week. In total I gained 149 ELO in 7 days. I won 21 of my 34 games played, equaling a win ratio of 61.76%.

Now let's look at the champions I used for this week. Below is a table including a summary of all champions I used, and the wins and losses I had for each one.



In graph form:

My strongest champion of the week was clearly Anivia. I didn't lose once (both in lane and in games). Second strongest would have to be my support role as Janna (surprisingly), and then with decent showings from Singed and Amumu (along with the other champions I won 1 game with).

Tips of the Week

Throughout the week I posted random bits of advice that I will summarize here.

• Stay positive in games, no matter what the situation. You have a better chance of winning if everyone on your team cooperates and are friendly with one another (as shown by the stat by Riot in the loading screen of games). 
• Similar to the first time, keep a level head no matter what the score. Teams will throw games, more often in the lower ELO brackets. Even if you are down 15 kills by the 20 minute mark, with smart play you may be able to get back into the game. Don't surrender!
• Don't play with tilt. For those who are unfamiliar with the word tilt, it is a term used in poker to describe a player who changes their playing style based on the previous hands in the game. For League of Legends, it means that you are angry or upset for losing your last game or two, and you continue to play. You shouldn't do this! Take a break. Whether you think so or not, you will play much better if you haven't previously lost a game or two before. 
• Focus on learning a few champions for each role. You have a better chance at increasing your ELO if you stick with a few champions and learn them extremely well. 
• The mute button is there for a reason. Use it! If someone is raging or negative, it's better to mute the person than to read the what they are writing. If you continue to listen to that person, it drags down the morale of yourself and your team. 
• If you are on a losing streak of 2 games, STOP (no matter what). Take a break and come back later. It will help (again because of playing with tilt).

Overall, Week 1 was of great success! If anyone wants to see more/different data, let me know in the comments! Onto Week 2.

LoL Ladder Climb: Day 7

It's already been 7 days since I started the League of Legends Ladder Climb (7 days of gaming, I think it's been a bit more than a week). So what I'm thinking of doing is recapping the last week of my ladder climb, and have a summary of what's happened, my weekly tips and maybe a graph showing my progress. I'll work on that and get it released on the weekend :) But for now, more games!

Game 1

Champions

Game Summary

This game started off normally, with no invades by either side. I picked Cho as I thought I would be laning against a Malphite, but it turned out he was jungle. Fortunately Olaf picked into me. My sustain worked wonders and I matched his farm while killing him a few times in lane. Bot and mid struggled early game, but with a few ganks by WW bot came out ahead. Anivia faced a tough match against Kat, but managed not to die in lane. The other team had a gold advantage mid game, and some of our team kept getting caught out do to facechecks, however with some mistakes on the other side we managed to catch 1 out as they baroned and they had to abandon the attempt. We continued to press and after few more team fights, we took the win. 

Positives/Negatives

I beat Olaf in lane through kills and matching his farm. In teamfights I was always where I needed to be. I either initiated or stopped Kat/Malph from getting to our carries, while zoning Sivir at the right times. This allowed my team to pick off theirs one at a time. I got caught out at turret once. They sent 4 top to dive me and I didn't have a ward to see it in time.

ELO

1324 (+19)

Other Notes

It's unfortunate that our team bickered constantly early and mid game as some of the players made mistakes. I kept saying it's fine and just to relax. Eventually they let up after we started coming back and then gaining the lead.


Game 2

Champions

Game Summary

The game started off decently for us. We noticed Vayne wasn't in game early laning phase. This continued until later game when we had an immense advantage due to a 4v5. I won't go into any more details because it was an unfair advantage.

Positives/Negatives

I won my lane versus Fiddle, out CSed him. I landed some good stuns and walls as well. I got caught by Fiddle's ult once though.

ELO

1343 (+19)

Other Notes

Not much, unfortunately about the Vayne with internet troubles though. I still think we would have pulled off a 5v5 win.


Game 3

Champions

Game Summary

Well for every good game there is a bad one. We had a troll heim support lock in and proceed to AFK at towers to fix them instead of helping me in bot lane. We had 2 disconnects within 5 mins (Noc and Vlad). So at points it was a 3 v 5 / 2 v 5. Frustrating, but I guess that's what I get for them having an AFK last game!

Positives/Negatives

No positives, just frustration lol.

ELO

1324 (-19)

Other Notes

I had an idea earlier this week. Along with my weekly updates, I'm starting a wall of shame and a wall of fame for all my encounters with players in League who deserve to be recognized (whether it be for good or bad!).

Game 4

Champions

Game Summary

Hey another Heim support pick! Maybe I should have backed out. His name said it all. Heim lost us first blood roaming in their jungle alone. It fell apart from there. Bot and mid lost hard. I tried top but still fell a few kills when Lee camped my lane. Mao, Heim and Gragas kept facechecking bushes and fighting 1v3s. We lost pretty badly unfortunately. 

Positives/Negatives

Did what I could. Hooray! That's positive :D The negatives are that I was camped and dove upon at tower multiple times :( I maybe should have let it go earlier.

ELO

1309 (-15)

Other Notes

This ELO is really rough. You get a lot of the trolls and ragers, along with those who haven't played many/any ranked. It's a true struggle to get through it.

Game 5

Champions

Game Summary

I took Diana jungling for the first time in my ranked career. We had a somewhat strange team comp, but at this elo it doesn't totally matter. We get into game, however Nidalee is afk. I don't get any help on wolves, and just a 1 hit leash on blue. I fall behind in jungle unfortunately. Nidalee eventually makes it top after a few mins and instantly dies to their Jax. He starts to snowball and I try to gank but it doesn't work. I turn my attention to bot lane. Zed and Trist are getting fed to their repsective lane matches. I join in and reap my rewards of 4 assists in under 30 seconds. We take a dragon, and start to fight for objectives. At times our team just kept farming in lane, but after awhile we had a good team fight and took baron. We finally finished the game (probably 10 minutes later than we should have). A win nonetheless!

Positives/Negatives

I had a really strong mid and late game. I caught people out, dove and landed my E on multiple people multiple times. Unfortunately I had 0 presence early game, but fortunately we all worked through that.

ELO

1327 (+18)

Other Notes

That's it for now! I'll start to work on my weekly recap this weekend. Thanks for joining me, and stick around for the next week's progress starting soon!

Trolls Be Trolls!

Hey everyone, I'm currently in the middle of Day 7 of my ELO climb in League! I had to stop and share some of the fun I've been having recently.

As you can see, so much fun! This was in just one champion select, out of a few so far today that I've been in. I have a comment in my Day 7 Climb Update, but I'll say it here too. I'm going to start a Wall of Fame and a Wall of Shame here on my blog that I'll update every once in a while. Some people deserve to be recognized (for good or bad reasons lol). Fill a role if you're last pick! Don't be a plague on the league.

Anyway back to my games!

LoL Ladder Climb: Day 6

Back in action after a long day! It took awhile to get in my first game. I had 2 games where people backed out due to someone trolling in champ select, then another for no apparent reason. Is this foreshadowing of the games I'm about to place? I guess we will find out.

Game 1

Champions

Game Summary

Great game all around. We started off strong with a level 1 invade/FB, giving it to our AD carry Graves. he snowballed from there bot lane, taking ~8 kills in lane. I had a risky gank by a low health Shen early, but he managed to make it out under 10 health and with a kill under my belt. We just snowballed the lead from there. The enemy team QQed a lot in chat and you could tell their heads were already out of the game. 20 min. surrender!

Positives/Negatives

I beat Diana handily in lane. I tried to keep my distance from her, or if she did engage I would just stun her and deal some damage and back off. I got caught once though mid game. I was being too cocky. I shouldn't do that :/

ELO

1287 (+15)

Other Notes

Good start!


Game 2

Champions

Game Summary

DAMN THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! Feels good! What a game. What a game! Enter early game. Our mid and top are down 3 kills each. Our jungler is struggling to keep up. I'm taking kills bot, but Sona keeps getting caught out. We are down about 10 kills by mid game. I take the reigns and try to guide our team. With our CC, we can easily catch out their team. Little by little, team fight by team fight, we slowly work our way back into contention. We keep disengaging when they try to blow all their ults, then counter engage onto whoever is caught out. It works perfectly each time. We get 1 last fight where Irelia is caught out top. Yorick is soloing her and she starts to run away. I shoot my arrow from mid, hoping to catch her. Irelia is getting away! She flashes! RIGHT INTO MY ARROW! Yorick picks up the kill. We grab baron, press the advantage and win!

Positives/Negatives

I did EVERYTHING I could. I was up in my lane even with Sona getting caught out. I tried to keep the team positive when we were down. I tried to help my fellow teammates with the strategies that should help us win. On the negative side, I got caught out once by the Leona with ghost (wut?). I wasn't expecting that.

ELO

1305 (+18)

Other Notes

These are the games, man it feels so good. Yorick and others were QQing and being negative early. I try to keep the mood positive. They start to realize that the game is winnable, and cheer up a bit. Success! I have to leave that as my last game for the night. It's just too good to follow up with another. Good night everyone!

LoL Ladder Climb: Day 5

Game 1

Champions

Game Summary

Frustrating game. I got Shen in champ select against Yorick. We did fine in early levels, however no one knew how to deal with a Yi. There was minimal warding done by anyone, and the team facechecked bushes way too much. My ult was mostly used to save people, therefore I couldn't split push at all since I was constantly trying to save people getting caught out. Yi backdoored and again no one knew how to deal with him (and everyone tried to chase when we won a team fight instead of protecting inhibs/nexus towers) so we lost them and they pushed to win.

Positives/Negatives

I kept within 5 of Yorick's CS, even into mid game when he was able to harass me constantly. I had some nice early ults, securing some kills for bot lane. I'm not sure what else I could have done. I wasn't able to split push at all due to the team constantly getting caught out mid/late game, so I did what I could.

ELO

1327 (-17)


Other Notes

Talon liked to say GG a lot, putting a negative manner on the team. He should really try to stay positive in the future.

Game 2

Champions

Game Summary

Another frustrating game. It's hard when you try to do everything you can to win, but your team just doesn't/can't perform :(. We were invaded at red so Shaco didn't have a red buff to start (early ganks unsuccessful). Darius couldn't match Nasus top and died to him and let him farm 40 CS above him by 10 mins. We traded bot even with constant Lee ganks since top and mid were both dying. Then everyone wanted to keep going in jungle and kept getting caught out by their ward placement. Shaco just started to solo lanes while they pushed and then got caught out at baron later on. Surrender vote was called :/

Positives/Negatives

I did everything I could to try and win (like always). I got caught out lvl 1 and chose to die by tower, but after that I successfully defended vs. ganks, tried to give helpful information to the team (such as make sure to stop that Nasus from free farming when Darius was just roaming wherever and same with Shaco). Overall though there was nothing I could do.

ELO

1309 (-18)

Other Notes

My top elo was too good to be true. I'm taking a break atm and coming back to this after supper. I can't play with tilt, I need to gain that elo back tonight.

Game 3

Champions

Game Summary

Alrighty I'm back after a much needed break. Champion select was normal, with all the positions being filled without arguments. I took Olaf top against a Poppy as my true damage E would be effective versus her as she gains bonus armour (and attack dmg). I outcsed her and bullied her in lane, while other lanes traded kills. I grabbed a kill on her but then died to a Kha gank at about 15 - 20 minutes in. We had some good team fights and took all their inhibs and did baron, then pressed for the win.

Positives/Negatives

I was able to bully Poppy in lane and out CSed her. Also I did a bit of roaming once I took the outer turret top down, and picked up some assists and dragon bot. I was stupid at times though. There were situations where I should have backed off but I stayed in and died. Next time I'll watch out for this.

ELO

1324 (+15)

Other Notes

You shouldn't type stupid stuff in all chat after you get a kill or ace the team. You're all at the same elo. You aren't necessarily better than the people you are beating just because you are winning that particular game. Show some respect!


Game 4

Champions

Game Summary

I picked Kennen into Olaf top, it turned out that it was Vlad. I got wrecked. Our team didn't engage well in team fights, and blew our lead.

Positives/Negatives

All negative for me, terrible game. I made too many mistakes, also couldn't handle Vlad and got outfarmed. QQ.

ELO

1308 (-16)

Other Notes

None. I had an awful game :S




Game 5

Champions

Game Summary

My team seemed eager in champion select, but quickly fell apart. Darius raged at others and every lane lost hard. The jungle tried to 1v2. Eventually I fell a few times due to everyone else's lane being pushed and them coming mid. I should have backed off. Anyway it was a 20 minute surrender.

Positives/Negatives

I held my lane against Teemo with no ganks. I kept up with his farm until the 10 minute mark when the other lanes collapsed (his early game dmg + range hurt still). Negatives were that we lost. I tried but it was ~15 / 1 for them by 10 minutes in. Ouch.

ELO

1289 (-19)

Other Notes

There are a lot of frustrating games today/tonight that I've been a part of. I should stop here but I'm doing 1 more to see if I can at least end the night above 1300.


Game 6

Champions

Game Summary

I was tired and shouldn't have played, when you lose 1 you lose many. I broke my own rule and I paid for it. I had a bad team, from a 0/5 Malphite top to a Gragas who liked to go balls deep 1v3 etc. Our team couldn't initiate even with our Malphite and Fiddle. I held my own and won bot, but I had no one to protect me from the fed Darius who was able to run through our entire team. They blamed me for not being able to kite but it was more that no one stuck around to peel. 

Positives/Negatives

Won my lane, got fed and out CSed Sivir. I got caught by Darius a few times though, although it's tough to avoid him in team fights when he runs through our whole team to kill me.

ELO

1272 (-17)

Other Notes

Tip: If you lose 2 games in a row, stop playing. NO EXCEPTIONS. The proof is right here. I will be implementing this rule and sticking to it from now on.