5 Learnings From Teaching Bronze, Silver & Gold Players

Currently emerald (actually plat but finished emerald and i havent been playing because im looking to move into my own place let me cope) and i occasionally use your vids to try to tighten up my mental or minor niches about the game and some fundamentals i need to improve on

why did my last iron 2 game have a silver1 scripting Hwei mid....can you answer that question bra?

how does one counter level 7 mage perma push?

I love the fuel/road trip analogy. It's perfect.

Syndra is dark, edgy and hot. That might seem like a goofy answer but honestly i wouldn't be surprised if that was the most significant reason she is favored. It gives her massive visual and thematic appeal.

i was really close to hit gold then i lost over and over with super hard games and now im bronze 4 and loose 35 lp and gain 25. what can i do when it feels impossible to win? i only play annie mid and have watched your videos for so long and the hardest part is to get a team comeback.

i hate when nobody pushes lanes. People just refuse to clear waves before rotating to a fight or objectives so we end up losing tempo even though we win the skrimish

Pantheon is a 9 out of 10 Difficulty?

fuel analogy was crazy

So there are probably many subsets of players and you'll notice some of them more than others. Like there will be players that gravitate toward difficult champions, and you'll notice them in coaching because they're a mess, unable to execute their game plan well and unable to focus on the wider game since they're preoccupied with their lack of champion mastery.

You'll also have people that gravitate toward a certain type of champion and you might notice them in the same vein if they can't limit themselves to one champion like Viktor but also dip into Syndra, or those that play Rengar and Khazix etc. similar champions that just happen to be difficult to learn and master.

On the other hand you'll also get players that just enjoy playing tanks, or bruisers, because they want to play beefy or scrappy champions and they just happen to have easier execution and game plans.

Great video, I'm in saltu currently and the way I see it with people gravitating to the difficult champions is that they're just more "exciting" in terms of all the stuff they can do and give a feel of being high minded when doing well. Not to mention some of the characters people fall in love with as characters just happen to be complicated but they just really like 'em.

I personally have a pretty big aversion to difficult champs just because I'm not some league prodigy and practicing simple abilities to an effective level is more rewarding and gets more results than picking someone like kayn and lee sin where theres so many decision points and mixed reference points that I'm too mentally taxed by just the character compared to applying it in the game.

Good simple characters also just dont get pick/banned so in jungle queue you can basically guarantee youll always get it. I'm about 150 games on udyr between last split and this split and hes been banned once.

Very informative video, especially the initial ranking of mid lane champions ranked on difficulty. Would it be possible to make a similar list for top lane ?

Just a quick question, what if I need to reset (low health and 800+ gold) and I’ve crashed my wave into the enemy tower - BUT my jungler is on their way to wither grubs or dragon .
Do I still reset?

My experience is jungler goes in for the objective anyway, and then I get flamed when they get collapsed on and die.

Might be a dumb question from a silver scrub , but thought I’d ask anyway haha

Syndra performs fine in iron/bronze. Like she's not an easy champ but it's really impossible for new players to play her if they really enjoy her. She's not Nidalee or Qiyana lol.

As someone who played dravin kalista and and then ashe as a main over the few years of playing. I learned I wanted to show my "skill"but in the ends yes I had 1v 9 games but you lose sight of winning those games. Once I moved to Ashe I won more games and it was just a much more reliable champ

Please note, curtis makes a lot of good points. However, this is from my experience in playing all these champions as a low elo player. (I stay low elo because of my macro most of the time, but i also cs really badly, it's inconsistent from game to game.)

The 1 point version:

Syndra: Al about controlling the battlefield. You do not want to burst the enemy. You want to control the battlefield. Movement speed on her is a must, but don't overfocus it.

Ekko: I agree: Clear waves, aggressive trades so your opponent can not fight back.

Diana: She is a flexpick. She can build bruiser, DPS or AP Assasin. Her safest playstyle is bruiser with more defensive setup. Forget protobelt, this is not needed on her. The less you rely on protobelt for diana, the better you learn to make good engages. Being bruiser, also allows you to survive small risks, that assasin diana will die if engaged wrong.



The long versions (Only those I think are good for beginners, but need a different approach):


Syndra can be learned in 30 to 50 games, but you need patience. Syndra is all about maintaining control, even her theme is about control. Patience is something that syndra teaches.
For newer players I do reccomend maxing W instead of Q. You get better waveclear and you can manipulate your balls much better. I do use glacial augment or phaserush with syndra, all about maintaining control. even when behind.


Diana can be learned in 20 games or less.

*Don't go phase rush if you don't have to. Her strongest runes are Lethal Tempo with Overgrowth and Conditioning, or Aftershock with Sudden Dash and Ultimate Hunter. In both of those cases, you utilize Overgrowth, as it synergizes extremly well with your W. Take Double Health Scaling shard. It is much more effective on diana. *
In lane, focus on casters. If enemy comes to hit a melee, you auto-w-auto them. Usually that is enough to make any melee back off. You want to farm, get Rod of Ages (AP) or Zhonya (AD), and scale.
* Aggressive laners who have good waveclear require you to delay leveling up your spell and see which spell they pick. If they pick waveclear, you start with Q, as you will need to play defensive instead until level 3.*

*Level up Strategies: *

*W-E-Q*: Likes of zed and talon, who you can counter easily with shield and some armor.
*E-Q-W*: People who don't utilize their waveclear. This allows you to punish them when they throw their abilities half-arsed
*Q-E-W*: Aggressive waveclear. You want Q first to help you farm on level 1. Usually E second, since most players with high waveclear are ranged or have mobility of their own.


If you go for zhonya, your second item must be an HP item, so thats where protobelt makes sense, but I prefer rilay. More utility, cheaper cost. Protobelt allows for engage and disengage, but it also makes you more prone to making engages or hesitating to engage. Rilay with it's slow makes it easier to stick to your targets once you are on top of them and is cheaper.


More wall of text:

The main idea is to build on her strengths. Her strength is not her burst. It's her constant DPS and ability to splitpush (Macro). So, as a result, you do not want phase rush on diana.
You pick diana into melee matchups first. Try to avoid range matchups for the first 10 games. This is so you can learn to utilize a more defensive oriented playstyle. You want lethal tempo, triumph, Legend Alacrity and Last Stand, with Conditioning and Overgrowth secondary. You start with dorangs ring. Avoid tear, as this will skip the crucial step of diana being very manahungry if used improperly.
Your first item should be rod of ages or zhonya. You get seekers against AD midlaners, as the armor paired with your shield, is very effective. Everyone else, amplifying dome into catalyst start is stronger, as you get increase in your shield.
You almost always max W, not Q, not E, but W. This allows you to position very aggressively inside the enemy wave. If the enemy contests, you win because your 3 orbs+passive third attack clear the casters in every level of the game. This is why avoiding protobelt is important. You allow the enemy to come to you, instead of going in yourself. Then you use your abilities to counter their engage, by turning on them.

Diana is all about counterengage. You can engage first, but that is a risk. In most of the cases, you want the enemy to engage, then turn on them.


*The reason diana in that clip hesitated was because he did not have enough defences to survive the engage. He most likely did not have W maxed, because event with protobelt, maxing W makes him capable of ignoring briar and bursting heimer just enough to escape with protobelt. Not engage with protobelt, escape with it. The rest of the team would have been able to clean it up if he followed on noc engage immidietly without hesitation. However, with phase rush, you can not do that, as you almost always take domination or precision tree secondary with that build. This does not give you enough defences to survive, if being turned on. High risk, high reward. If he has AfterShock, Conditioning and Overgrowth here, he would have not hesitated to go in. And he still would have had enough burst to kill the enemy, on top of enough dps to kill briar. First mistake of every diana player in every elo is disregarding her defensive abilities.*

#3 really hit home. Especially since I don't have time to spam games all day, it's really upsetting because you feel like you just lost and got no further learning, because you didn't know about that particular thing. I was facing Naafiri as Neeko for the first time and got absolutely destroyed by her point & click dash and insane early damage. Just absolutely threw a game because I didn't know what the champ does and its relative strength to my own.

People feel pressured to roam cause else someone on your team will say " XXX gap, GG" and then they will play careless/soft int.

I finally hit gold, long time i dont touch gold now i try to improve more but the only rank was a lost if i loose again... XD sooooo this season i go on another acc and try to hit gold on the other, anyways thx for all, as kat i know if i roam i need to kill orrrrr coinflip roam if im behind

This is very cool. I appreciate the time you put into your videos.

I’m relatively new to LoL but love the concept of Twisted Fate. I understand he isn’t the win condition but more of an enabler. With this in mind, is there a better champion to learn to get the fundamentals of the game or is he a good pick because it almost forces him to be aware of the lane states and macro?

I mean, Syndra is just fun to play, same with viktor and orianna, yea I would probably climb higher If I played annie, vaigar and other low scored champs, but they are not fun to me to want to play them for hundrets of games

those "difficult" champions are the most fun and relatably the most rewarding to play

why no zed zoe on the list :c?

I'm dying to know how Syndra got a 10 when her kit and engage style is rather straightforward. Is it knowing how to play around her limitations? Please help me understand because I've played her on and off since s9 and feel there are far more complex mid-lane champions than her. "Small things done well" applies just as readily to Malzahar who likes short trades and prefers to scale hard into the late game (or at least the way I play him does).

I did the same thing with top where I started with Riven which was the worst champ to start with. I think most players are drawn to complex champs because they tend to be less repetitive and more fun. + My idea was a lot of complex champs have a higher skill ceiling/More potential so if I spend long enough on it I would benefiting in the long term.

Man you are truly a fantastic teacher, great video

Your prospective on the game is beneficial to all roles. I main support and have been listening to you for 8 months and climbed from silver 1 to Platinum 4. I have been steadily climbing on my hard suck silver account that I used to get negative gains. 20 for a win and -27 for a loss. This new season I am getting the opposite. Thank you so much.

Haha fucking love the “Operazione Dyn-o-mite!” poster in the background! I might have to get myself one of those 😂

Are champions really that hard to learn n use? I mean I come from play WOW Arena n PVP and each toon has 20 skills plus classes like druids have 4 form and different powers for each form...I think macro is the most important in LoL...If your a gamer 25 games is plenty enough to learn any champion..If you know the meta game and macro you can apply that to any champion...you just gotta learn match ups but that's it 4 moves should not take that long to master...IMO

Curtis ty for info, love yo vids soooooo underrated.

I've seen you talk about Viktor being complicated before. I've never really understood what makes him complicated. I've kinda wanted to pick him up for a while and have played a few games on him, and mechanically he is easy. His abilities are simple and there are no difficult combos that I know of at least. The problem I'm having more so that Viktor just deals less damage than other midlaners, so I'll land everything, but it's not enough to kill a single target and then I have nothing left. So Viktor isn't really working for me, but I don't even understand why he's working for high ranks but not for me, what even is it that is difficult to understand about making him work?

The biggest issue with roams, no matter how inefficient they are, is simply that you need to do them in order to show your team that you are trying to help so that your team does not go mental boom and just "ff next" it. It doesn't matter if you get far ahead by playing right when your team shuts off mentally, you can't 1v5 a game most of the time. A big part of league is managing the mentals of your team mates, probably even more than trying to do the "right play" sometimes, especially in lower ELO.

Not responding to roams and not taking bad roams is big. But it's a mental battle to not do it. It is especially frustrating when you're pinging missing and danger on the lane your opponent is roaming to, but they get a double kill any way and your team starts typing about 'mid gap'.

After 11 fucking years i finally managed to get off that rotten to the core dumpsterfire of a hellhole that is league of legends. 11 damn fucking years of 1000 ranked games per season for nothing well even negative results every fucking year. Torture and suffering and nothing else.... And then your god damn videos popped up in my recommendeds ... Thanks i am back with my addiction for the grind now.... That shit will be the death of me.

Sylas in low elo is crazy because no mage respects him level 2-3 its crazy

... Diana didn't have an awkward moment, her abilities were on cool down.

It has nothing to do with difficulty, it has everything to do with being countered and just outmatched in champ select. Doesn't matter how good you are with velkoz who is considered simple, you will lose your lane against yone and fizz and many others because he just gets killed under the tower and easily camped. The meta is league of burst and mobility. Any coach that doesn't tell their students to just get familiar with OP trash is wasting low ELO players time. The entire reason people can climb is because they're just playing noob stomp champs in the beginning of each split.
Power creep is part of the meta, you can't have any meaningful discussion about this without identifying and listing counter pick potential. Counter picking is extremely common in low ELO.
None of this is useful without coaches openly admitting some champs are useless if they are not noob stompers or even remotely depend on the team playing well to win.
If a player isn't doing well on the lane phase, they learn to just play a champ that can roam, get kills, and skip the lane phase entirely. It says a lot about the game when people can just subvert stages of the game into winning somewhere else and the mage who can't roam just gets to lose from champ select.

About Syndra, I think the reason people gravitate towards Syndra is that she has a fairly good laning phase where she can outrange or match most other midlane mages and can even play a bit of a lane bully if you are good at landing Qs, even though obviously she does not have the same impact she used to have in this regard, she does get very good wave clear with QWE around level 9 and she feels very rewarding to play when you do your combos right. I think she's a bit similar to Jhin because her kit just feels good and smooth/good feel to it.

People aren't drawn to simple champs for the same reason in souls games people generally aren't gonna main a straight sword. That shit is effective but also dull looking with no fun vibe to it. I don't want to be a pro at the game, just play a champion I think is cool/fun, and get better at the game in the process.

As a OTP Azir I don’t know if it’s the satisfaction of being able to make plays that I wouldn’t have at the beginning of my journey with the champ or what. At this point I have thousands of games though and his kit is just something I always clicked with and allowed me to have fun even if it was difficult for a while.

I actually left your below gold program and picked up syndra, still applied the lessens you taught and now i have gone from silver>platnum one tricking her. I think syndra teaches you how to play properly and there are always small things you can do that pay big dividends

diana is an AP diver. doesn't have the disengage of an assassin nor the survivability of AD divers that can build bruiser items. maybe season 14 item changes made it easier for her but didn't play her yet

Lmao, hearing Curtis talk about the fumble on Naafiri with black cleaver and Seryldas grudge on the podcast is one thing, actually watching his visible confusion while hovering on the item is another 😂

The clip at the end of the Nafari realizing they can not buy black cleaver and Grudge was very relatable. Had basically the exact thing happen to me in the first week of the season.

i find difficult champions like yasuo, riven or irelia not very difficult to execute or get solo kills BUT i find it very difficult to play them and then also play league of legends. so i'm sticking to garen lol

Vex really? Maybe because of his ult? if you ult wrong into a teamfight youll get poped.

I love Ryze, I have played him a lot but i'm still wondering if it's good to try and climb with him.

Wtf is a KILOMETER? 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🦅🦅🔫🔫