Everybody wants to know how to get better at League of Legends, from Iron players to Challengers, but what are the best ways to improve? We've got you covered through this guide as we dive into "productive practice"- methods that are designed for you to improve by being aware of the game and certain features that you may not typically pay attention to. Being aware of more in LoL than you may normally be and acting on this new information is the definition of productive practice, and by following the points discussed throughout this guide, you can exercise this in your games too!

Tracking Your Power Spikes

Every Champion in League of Legends should be aware of their own power at different points in their build. Have you ever found that as soon as you’ve just bought a powerful item you begin to narrowly miss CS in lane? This is not an uncommon mistake; adjusting to the strength of your champions over time is not an easy thing to do, as there are several things that you should focus on in relation to your damage output.

1. Items

Items are the biggest determining factor when it comes to how much damage you can do. The power of an extra item can often mean the difference between winning and losing a fight, so keeping your enemies’ items in mind as well as your own is essential. On top of the raw increase to your Attack Damage or Ability Power, the Passives and Unique Passives of certain items should be considered too, since Critical Strike Chance, Penetration, and Burns are just some of the many ways that your damage can be enhanced. For this reason, testing out your strength after completing core items in your build is a great way to size yourself up as the game goes on.

2. Runes

It’s important to remember that a game of League of Legends doesn’t start when you load into the game. It starts in Champ Select. Many runes, from Keystones to Secondary Runes to Shards, have a lethal potential in fights and farming alike, and contribute to your power spikes over time to a greater extent. Runes like Electrocute and Press the Attack will scale in damage as the game goes on, and taking note of this is vital in tracking how much damage you’re dishing out.

3. Champion Level

Your Champion Level is a pretty solid indicator of your strength. A Level 2 engage on a Level 1 enemy can be lethal, and tracking your experience is a great way to put yourself on the winning side of such an exchange. The below table shows how many minion waves are required for levels 1-18:

Of course, the exact numbers are different based on how many people you’re sharing the lane with, and Junglers have their own numbers to track, but taking notice of these figures in each of your games is a surefire way to ensure that you’re always ready to go ham when the time is right.

4. Ability Levels

Everybody knows to level up your strongest abilities first, to maximise your contribution to fights, but understanding just how much your ability levels contribute to a fight is vital. Take Draven and consider his Blood Rush. At level 1, it costs 40 mana for 40% increased movement speed and 20% increased attack speed. At max level, it costs 20 mana for 60% increased movement speed and 40% increased Attack Speed. Not only does this difference in speed bonuses contribute heavily to your kill potential, the higher mana cost at lower levels is a huge consideration when planning your engages so that you don’t go OOM in the middle of a fight.

Actively Improving Your CS

There are plenty of ways that you can improve in League of Legends, but ensuring that you improve your CS totals throughout your games is the best way to climb through the ranks. We’ve covered how to improve your CS before, but actively improving on a game to game basis is vital for your own success.

Every time you play, you should take a look at the post-match screen and take note of a few different figures:

Comparing these stats game-to-game is a great way to see the importance of farm. You can also break down how much of your income comes from your CS, to further understand its importance. Take the above graphic: Caitlyn had 106 farm at ~18 minutes, and let’s assume that the farm was split 96 before 15 minutes and 10 after 15 minutes, since the game ended very early and was likely the result of teamfighting towards the end.

This works out to be a rough total of 2,169 gold earned from farm and about a quarter of the total gold she earned in the game. Knowing the importance of CS gold here and tracking it through your matches will help your priorities in game.

Staying Cool

Your mentality is a vital consideration for improving in any field but, as far as practice in League of Legends goes, its importance cannot be overstated. Everybody is familiar with the concept of “tilt” and how it can affect your performance in-game, and this also applies to your learning curve to a large degree.

Strangely enough, playing a wide array of champions outside of your mains, particularly those that are popular in the current meta, is a great way to improve your game. The benefit of this is that learning the mechanics of other champions makes you more knowledgeable about how to play with them on your team, and synergising your attacks, as well as how to play against them and counter their efforts.

Giving yourself a break from your main role to play other champions is also beneficial so that you can continue to enjoy the game. Lots of one-lane-mains will only play their role and, while that is important, you need to make sure you don’t burn out to maximise your learning experience. This also has the added benefit of being able to move into a shot-calling role in your games, as you can coordinate the attacks of your team more effectively when you have a firm understanding of their strength.

Operating with this knowledge can help you become a much better player in League of Legends at a much faster rate than you may otherwise hope to improve. These are just some methods of productive practice, even though there can be many more depending on your focus- either way, taking these first few steps will up your game tremendously. GLHF!

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