Break out the Silver

Legends Success!

After grinding for 160 days in League of Legends, I finally reattained my Silver ranking.

Back in July I first achieved a Silver ranking and I was happy. That feeling lasted briefly as I started playing like crap and getting paired with teams that were determined to lose. 18 days later, I was sent packing back down to Bronze and not just to Bronze I – I fell hard and fast to the basement of Bronze V.

Eye of the Tiger

But then, I started the climb back. When I first reached Silver, I was pretty much do focused on using Morgana as my only main. Sure I had to play a few other champs when forced to play top, ADC, or jungle, but whenever I could, she was my goto. When I hit rock bottom, I decided I needed to expand my stable of champs so I could take care of business when I had to play other lanes. This was fortunate since everyone started banning Morgana and I was forced into other champs.

Learn How to Jungle

At first I started to explore the jungle. I had been in plenty of games where I was playing Morgana and scoring kills and assists left and right, but we would lose because we were lacking a competent jungler, so I wanted to learn how to jungle. Xin Zhao and Wukong were my mains here, and I threw in a few games with Vi and Rammus. I got petty decent with them – in what is now the old jungle – and started moving back up the ranks.

Add a Couple Midlaners

Next I started to expand my knowledge of midlane champs and decided to work with a couple assassins – Ahri and Talon. Ahri was fairly easy to pick up as she is a ranged champ and boy does she have a lot of mobility. I love her for that, but she is squishy. Talon on the other hand is a melee champ and while I had gotten used to Xin and Wukong, I had a hard time getting CS with him. Eventually I got accustomed to him and I think I can play him relatively well, though he is certainly not my first choice midlane.

Enter Zyra

With these four new champs, I started playing much better, but it wasn't until I started experimenting with Zyra that I really began my climb back to Silver. Similar to Morgana, she has a bind and an ultimate that effects a large area, but she also has a slow and a turret-like plant that can extend her range and allow for AFK farming. Fortunately, I started playing her about the patch when everyone started banning Morgana, and essentially, she has been my main recently.

Back at Silver V

So, here I am, back at Silver V. It's been a long road, but I learned a lot on the way. If you find yourself stuck in Bronze a couple of recommendations may help:

1. Try out some new champs or a new lane
2. Starting a new summoner can help, as I did with IntrepidRedshirt
3. Always try to record and watch your matches – you'll see plenty of mistakes and places where a little moment of opportunity was available that could have turned the game in your favor

Of course, the same day I reachieved my Silver ranking, Riot announced the start date for season 5.

Listening Enjoyment – The Sandbox Podcast

The Sandbox podcast is back after being on holiday for December, and I am happy to hear the guys again. They talk about playing Eve, Mortal Online, and Tera, and after listening to the show, I had to fire up Eve again. With all the changes in exploration, jump fatigue, skill queues, clones, the 6 week release cycle, and more, I've got to see about spending some time relearning my capsuleer.

#LoL #LeagueOfLegends