Tutorialism

Been sick the past couple of days so my League play has dropped off a bit (you'd think it would increase but...SLEEP). 

However, right before The Crud took over my body completely I had a nice conversation with someone who saw this blog and/or the GD post about it and wanted to lend a hand.  His name is TheBlackCanon (henceforth TBC) and he is currently running around in Gold 3 after a rapid rise since the opening of S4. 

He offered to spectate specific games and offer feedback on specific aspects of my play that either I identify as needing improvement or he does, which will be a great help once we can work out a time.  Additionally, he asked me a really interesting question that I hadn't considered when I told him that I main Support.

"What do you enjoy about that role?"

Man--I know I enjoy it but I hadn't thought to articulate to myself what I like about it.  Ultimately I figured out it comes down to a sense of control and engagement with the whole battlefield.  I know that this should be something that every player is focusing on, but it seems at least at low ELO that this is especially in the wheelhouse of the Support player.  Based on that feedback, TBC suggested that I look into Jungle as an additional role to develop and offered some good advice on how to start learning it based on resources that I already have.  Thus far Mid has been my fallback, but sometimes it feels like a very small role compared to Support of even Jungle from my limited experience.  I don't mean small as in unimportant, but in early game especially I feel kind of chained to my lane without much impact anywhere else.

However, that feeling is also probably the result of my limited skill, so I often feel pressured to keep toe-to-toe with my lane opponent especially because I'm still very much a novice at last-hitting (mainly due to spending most of my time learning Support skills).

Anyway, I'm hopeful about this new opportunity and my horizons already feel broadened!

Overall Status:

Bronze V, 27 LP
3 Wins, 10 Games Played

Win #2 - on Coordination, Skillshots, Sweeping and Honoring

Woohoo!  Two in a row!  This time I finished 3/3/20 with Nami, which are the kinds of stats I like to see, and managed close to a full build (I've been moving toward maxing the Frost Queen's Claim and pairing it with Liandry's Torment for a strong late-game softener).

Although my individual stats were strong (and I did land a few very well-timed CC skillshots that turned teamfights for us), I can't really claim any credit for the win because without those skillshots I think we still would have won.  Final score was something like 42 kills for us and 21 for the enemy, mainly because of a couple of things:

1. Coordination
We were able to routinely initiate with great effect on the enemy because they were just all over the place.  Their bot lane duo stuck together most of the way through the game which is nice and chummy but they often were pursuing objectives that the rest of the team didn't seem to have any clue about.  They were easily located and isolated, and thus eliminated, and that left the rest of the team vulnerable once we had superior numbers.  There wasn't a LOT of map pinging on our side, or team chat--we just all were on the same page with needing to attack where we had strength, take objectives, and retreat/regroup before we overextended so we could catch them out when they either overextended on their counterattack or got complacent burning off minion waves.

This was hands down the NUMBER ONE factor that led to our win, I have no doubt.

2. Skillshot Placement
WOW.  Now, in previous posts I've noted that I really need to work on my skillshot placement, and you will probably think (based on my light gloating above) that this point is about self-congratulations, but you will be wrong!  Instead, the enemy bot lane (Leona and Jinx) really drove home the importance of consistently good placement and timing of skillshots that limit your opponent's options or ability to dodge them.

Both of these players had a very hard time landing skillshots.  I think the only time Leona landed her initiate it was on me and because I didn't mind her landing it because my goal was to force a fight (we had two hidden backup making it a 4v2 right under their tower).  In that instance I still managed to escape alive.  The fact that I didn't have to work as hard to avoid their skillshots gave me LOTS more opportunities in lane than I am used to having and also gave me more resources to work with (more health from less damage taken, which meant more mana from less healing, which meant more harrass which meant more lane control and so on and so forth). 

This really, REALLY made some things click for me in a way they hadn't quite before.  Seeing my own specific incompetence mirrored back at me made me aware of how much easier I was making my opponent's game.  Anyway, enough on that topic.  Suffice to say I will continue to focus on skillshot placement as a core skill to develop.

Other Stuff:

Sweeping: I did a ton more sweeping than usual this game and noticed that my instincts for it have gotten better.  I've begun thinking more strategically about where it would hurt my team to be seen moving around by the enemy.  There's still a lot of work to be done, but the whole map-awareness picture is starting to come together for me bit by bit.

Honoring: Despite a well-coordinated game with reasonable communication and a very solid win, I didn't receive any honors from anyone.  This surprised me, and reminded me that in my other win there were no honors from either side, though in a couple of my losses I've received a couple of honorable opponent honors.

Now, this might not seem like such a big deal, and honors don't DO anything, but I feel like especially in Bronze V where the mind-meta is that you constantly have to contend with toxic players, you want to reward players who are being constructive and working well with their team, as well as those who play honorably and don't talk rude smack, etc.  Granted that my sample size is small, but I'm a bit surprised.  Maybe I just put people off!

Before you think that this post is too self-congratulatory, I fully expect a devastating loss to come next, fueled at least in part by my raging incompetence and inability to really internalize a lesson until I've learned it at least a dozen times.  I just want to make sure to note what's working and what's not--and in this game, at least, things worked more than they didn't.  I still need to work on my skillshots, my early game mana efficiency, my map awareness, my communication, my...well, basically everything.

Until next time.

Overall Status:

Bronze V, 39 LP
2 Wins, 7 Games Played

Lunar Revel Event

So I'm going for path of truth because the icon just "popped" for me in a way the other two didn't.  Generally I don't care too much about summoner icons, since so many people at a given time are getting each new one--but I realize that it's kind of a collector-impulse trigger.  Folks want to get as many of them as they can, and I guess I feel that too, since a year from now you can rock a limited icon and new players will be all "omg whar u get tht icon dude?"  Or something more coherent.

Aaaaanyway, took the evening off and back to the grind a bit today.  Here's hoping for a second win soon!

A First Win!

Well, I feel like I'm more excited than I have a right to be given that it came in my 6th ranked game in Bronze V, but it was a pretty good win.  I ended 1/3/10 which is a bit lower than I would like given that we had over 30 kills (I feel like I'm not doing my job unless I've got K+A of more than half of our team's kill total, preferably above 2/3), but I had the lowest number of deaths on my team and was often well positioned to get our team kills while still extricating myself from trouble.

Once again, skill shots were a problem for me.  My Nami Q (bubble toss) only hit about half the time, which annoyed me because I was even trying to lead my targets.  I just still need more practice to calibrate things.  Yi threw me off too, of course--I would often toss a bubble just late enough that he'd be able to initiate his Alpha Strike before it hit, even when I was anticipating him. 

A big difference in this game as well was that I made more of a conscious effort to establish map control and map awareness.  I did a lot more pinging than usual (though not spam pinging), called more MIAs even in other lanes sometimes when I could see enemies moving away and our guy was out of lane for one reason or another and wouldn't see it in person, and set a few objectives for us as a team.  It didn't always work out, and the team was generally uncoordinated, but that was all good practice for me and I feel like getting in these habits will be good for me in the long run and build good instincts.

Oh, and I got 21 LP for this win.  I'm not sure whether that's a big number, a small one or an average, with this being my first win of the season, but it feels big--four more wins of that caliber and I'll be out of Bronze V...potentially.

Current Status:
Bronze V, 21 LP
1 Win, 6 games played.

First "Toxic" Player Experience

Just ran into my first legitimately problem-causing player, attitude-wise.  He was playing Udyr jungle which looked like a good plan except that he died 3 times during early laning, whether from mistimed ganks (not on my lane) or just bad encounters with the enemy jungler (Warwick).

My lane (I was Nami alongside Jinx) was at least holding its own--neither of us had any deaths and we were keeping the pressure on the opponents and trading well, but not really in a position to take any kills just yet though it seemed inevitable that we would if things continued the way they were going.

Then top lane completely collapsed with three quick deaths in a row, mid went down at the same time and we have a full-blown invasion on bot lane.  We were driven back to tower and the game snowballed against us from there.  We lost (of course) after three failed surrender votes, all of which I voted "yes" on since I could see that the 14-kill enemy Darius could wreck our team solo even if the other four on his team threw hard.

As the third surrender vote came out failed and the enemy dropped our nexus turrets, I made the point immediately above, and Udyr immediately responded, "Well, I know who to report!"

Apparently he thought I was stating that we needed to fight to the end and he was offended, and threatened several times to report me in the post-game chat.  When I realized he was clueless and angry, I wished him good luck being needlessly belligerent and exited, upon which he sent me a friend request (???).

It's absolutely amazing to me that more mental capacity isn't required to play this game at reasonably close to the level I currently play it.  It makes me feel bad about myself, a bit.

However, actual lessons learned: some of the trouble in that match could have been prevented if I had more map awareness and had communicated more to my allies about what was happening where.  At least the snowball from dropped top to mid to bot could have been slowed or prevented.  I realize it's because I'm still 90% focused on my mechanics and positioning in-lane.  Once I get more comfortable with that I hope that I can focus more attention on the broader game--but baby steps.

Current status: Bronze V, 0 wins, 4 games.

BV: Game #1

So my first game in Bronze V went about as poorly as I expected it to.

Bans were fine overall on both sides, what you expect from discussion of the meta (Mundo Nasus and Zed on our side--surprised by Zed--and Kass Voli and Renekton on theirs).

Our team comp was fairly balanced overall with Veigar, Teemo, Zac, Jinx and me as Thresh.  The enemy team comp was confusing at first with Darius jungle, Kayle mid, Jax top and Leona with Shen bot.  They played VERY aggressively with CC on bot and that caused some trouble.

Big issues for me this game were: landing hooks and anticipating when peel would be needed, along with prioritizing Wards.

With regard to landing hooks, I just need more practice.  Thresh isn't my preferred support (I'm really trying to up my Nami game as I prefer her playstyle) but we needed more tankiness by the time my pick (3rd, with ADC still to come) came around and the group demanded a Thresh.  I think if we have even one tank from now on I might just run Nami instead.

Anyway, my hook placement needs serious work.  I'm always headed in the right direction but my precision is still way off with the speed I'm trying to do it.  About 10 to 15 degrees off line with my target usually, though I get some good hooks in.

I was prevented from doing a lot of game-changing CC by enemy CC as well--I need to keep clearer of the enemy so I'm not overwhelmed by how much they can negate my ult/flay combo once in teamfight mode.

Next, my anticipation needs a lot of work.  My ADC died three times (OUCH) before level 6 due to Leona initiates that I wasn't capable of responding to in time.  By the time I was close enough to her to flay her off my Jinx, she had already gotten most of the way through her rotation and Shen was hot on our heels with Jinx at 1/3 life.

Finally, Wards.  I know they're important, I buy them constantly, but every once in a while I accidentally buy an item while in base before I realize I'm too low on gold to properly restock.  This can NEVER happen, EVER, if I'm going to be a good Support, and it hurt us once when we had a mid/jungle invade into our lane via the river when I wasn't able to properly ward it due to lack of wards.  The mid also didn't call an MIA, but that is no excuse for being caught out with no ward when I should have one.

So--things I already knew, but good to be reminded of things with a sound trouncing right out of the gate.  We surrendered at about 24 minutes with me at 1/5/3 and the kills at around 8 for us and 21 or so for the opponents.

Current standing: Bronze V, 0 LP, 0 wins, 1 game played.

Starting at the Bottom

Today I managed to complete my Ranked placement games for Season 4 of League of Legends and found myself placed in Bronze V.

Well, this is frankly not much of a surprise.  I really only played LoL for long enough to get to Level 30 and then a bunch of Normal matches before I went for my Ranked placements in Season 3, back in June of 2013.  At that time I placed into Bronze 1 and quickly dropped to Bronze 2 after a string of embarrassing defeats, with about ten or twelve total Ranked games played after placement.

Soon after, life caught up with me (had a baby, lots of job changes) and I dropped LoL entirely for about eight months.

Well, I decided to give it another go, enjoying the general gameplay of LoL quite a bit and having my schedule figured out a bit more, and here I am staring at a BV badge after going 2/8 in my placement games.  I should have known better--rushing into competitive gaming after such a long break, with aging brain and reflexes (turning 36 this year slows one down, especially with baby-sleep-brain), with not very good skills to begin with.

So I'm where I belong, really.  I suck at this game, but every match I try to do better.  As I play (and hopefully improve), I'll be posting my insights and self-reflection on what I did wrong and what I can make work for me (and the interesting things I encounter along the way), hopefully with a sense of humor and an eye toward enjoying the game even more.

Follow me on this journey, if you want--either to share my pain, offer insights, or even learn a thing or two if you're stuck down her yourself.  I'm hoping to play one Ranked game on average per day, some days more, and I will post regularly as things come up, to track my progress both in terms of ranks and stats but also in terms of knowledge, confidence, and self-awareness.