Solo Queue Heroes

Not going to post this on sites like I normally do, I don't feel like the quality of it is high enough to warrant publicity but I'm tired of it sitting in my draft queue. Also, lots of opinions.

Introduction

Recently, I lost a lot of elo, dropping from the top of gold 1 to the bottom of gold 3. While I could find fault within myself for losing some games, there are others where I could absolutely dominate early/mid game, but still lose while playing extremely well due to a lackluster team. At this point, I began to look at what makes certain champions good in solo queue:

Top Lane Nunu - Able to win just about every top lane, solo baron

AP Nidalee - Able to zone entire teams by herself with javelins

Kayle - Great lane phase, able to save champions with her own ult

See the trend? These champions work because they are able to change the pace of the game purely by themselves. Being able to make a game in your favor without any cooperation from your team can greatly increase your chances of winning. For example, I played top Nunu a few weeks back with me being the only one that won my lane. My entire team was arguing nonstop, placing blame in others while I quietly solo'd baron. As soon as that buff appeared, the negativity on my team was just flipped off and everyone was working together to secure objectives, followed by a swift win. 

So today I will be going down the list of champions in League and from my own experience, pointing out champions that I feel have game changing prowess or have more reliance on self-skill rather than team-skill to win games. However, this should not be taken as a tier list of solo queue champions or that you shouldn't pass champions you are good at in favor of these. 

Some things I consider in this list: 

1) Ability to initiate

2) Zoning capabilities

3) Split pushing

4) Very noticeable impact on team fights

Champions

Ahri - One charm while sieging/defending/playing footsies should be a guaranteed kill/flash. Just make sure you catch someone while the other team isn't in a position to follow up well or your team knows to disengage after the charm.

Alistar - Godlike initiate at almost all phases of the game. Early game, let the lane get pushed to your tower and flash/headbutt someone into your tower (requires almost no coordination with adc for a kill). Mid/Late game, flash/pulverize entire team and headbutt squishies into your team. Also works for securing baron (zone jungler away to relieve smite pressure). 

Anivia - Incredible zoning and wave clearing capabilities. Her ult pretty much stops any sieging attempt and a well placed wall can completely screw up the positioning of the enemy team.

Ashe - Ever get fed early game as an ADC but lose team fights because no one initiates well? Just pick Ashe and initiate with arrow on your own terms rather than relying on your team to go in at the right time. 

Blitzcrank - One correct pull = someone dead. Solo queue terror.

Gragas - His ult can split an entire team up, position it so that a non-tank gets thrown towards your team and have fun with your 5v4 now.

Jarvan IV - If you are able to save your ult until you get initiated on, you can run past their front lane and keep their carries out of the fight with Cataclysm while your team kills everything else.

Kayle - Smart usage of her Intervention can make or break fights, coupled with a very strong laning phase makes her great in solo queue.

Lux - One QER combo often equals someone dead or low enough that a team backs off. Very strong while sieging or defending, combo her with Nidalee and get your free win.

Morgana - As with Kayle, smart usage of her Shield can really negate a lot of damage being put out and save people about to get cc'd when they are out of position.

Nidalee - AP Nidalee can carry a team all by herself, as long as you get out of her weak early game. Once you get a couple AP items, her javelins can zone an entire team all by herself and if one connects, it usually forces a team to back off. Just be careful of hard engage.

Nunu - Top lane Nunu is beginning to pick up steam after soaz displayed it during LCS, although Nunu has been good for a long time. Almost no unwinnable matchups, nearly impossible to kill in fights, and most importantly, the ability to solo baron at ~20 minutes can carry the hell out of almost any team. Smashgizmo outlines top Nunu really well on his blog.

Orianna - Absolutely amazing utility can control the pace of a team fight. Ultimate combos with other intiators (Malphite, J4, etc) on enemy team, zoning with QW, clutch shields on those about to die and using her W as a Reverie/slow, Orianna is a very strong pick mid and can carry games really well.

Shen - Stand United can save people caught out of position, but most importantly, it has the ability to split push lanes while your team is contesting other objectives, forcing the enemy team between stopping your push or engaging on your team.

Thresh - Think of Blitzcrank with a not as great grab, but in return, you get the ability to save people out of position and some great CC for team fights.

Singed/Volibear - Catch one person with your fling and if your team can follow up, it's now a 5v4.

Xerath - Aside from Lux/Nidalee, Xerath probably has the best poke in the game. Well placed Qs and ults can force teams off objectives, even if you don't kill them.

Yorick/Zilean - Yorick ult can be used offensively or defensively, either giving your carry more time in a fight if they got dived or doubling their damage during a fight where they can just auto attack. Zilean ult can dissuade a team from killing someone with the buff currently on them, as well as make a lot of assassins useless in fights after they blow all their cds.

Conclusion

This list shouldn't be taken as who is good in solo queue and who isn't. If someone is very good at their champion, they can usually carry their team to victory. Ultimately  it comes down to skill rather than champion picks to win and these champions can impact a game moreso than others.

Solo Queue Mindsets: Becoming a better player

Introduction

If you have been exposed to any sort of League community, you have most likely heard people complain about being stuck in elo hell and how they should be platinum/diamond/challenger tier and their teams are always so bad. Recently, Sky released a video about being those that complain about elo hell, which I think touches on some of the more obvious reasons why people are stuck at their level. Today, I wanted to look at some mindsets you can get into in order to improve with some of my own personal experience.

Mindsets

1) You are the worst player on your team.

This is a mindset I held for a very long time, starting when I first started playing DotA on WC3 and carrying over into League for quite a while as well. What this means is that regardless of skill level, you are the worst player on your team and you need to play your damn hardest to show your team that you are not a liability. The feeling is similiar to getting a popular streamer or professional player in your game and you have to prove yourself as a capable League player to them. The beauty of this mindset is that you will always be playing at your absolute best, you won't be getting lazy because you feel like you must carry your team or that your team has a better comp.

2) Every game should be played like a promotion series game

Back in my Super Smash Brothers Melee days, I attended a local tournament and was playing friendlies against this extremely technical Fox. I knew that I was a better player than him, but for some reason my Jigglypuff was getting stomped left and right while his friends watched on. The tournament finally began and my confidence disappeared as I found my first match was against the Fox. So what was the outcome?

I stomped the hell out of him, 2-0 with both matches being a 3-4 stock. The guy was furious after, accusing me of going easy on him in friendlies and letting him win. That certainly wasn't the case and it took me a while to figure out why the sudden turn of events. In friendlies, I had an underlying thought that I was not gaining anything by playing against this person as there was nothing on the line. I wasn't gaining any sort of skill since I was a better player than him and I wasn't going any further in a bracket because it was just a friendly. Then once the tournament started, my mindset had shifted without me realizing it. I had a lot to lose (being sent to loser bracket, reputation for losing to someone worse than me) and a bracket advancement to gain.

So what does this mean in League? I don't know about the general populace, but I know that my mindset is very poor in solo queue. I've become so accustomed to being a gold player that I don't feel like I have any pressure to push myself higher. If I am not playing during my promotion series or when I have 0 LP, there's a severe lack of motivation since there is no immediate reward or punishment, just a number that goes up and down. So with regards to myself, I need to find some outside motivation to make myself work harder in those games in between promotion series. Desire to reach challenger tier, wanting to be higher rated than a rival, etc.

3) Place blame in yourself instead of others

Everyone has been in a game where you are performing well while the rest of your team performs poorly. It could be in the form of being outplayed or someone trolling, but it comes down to things that are out of your control. In this situation, it's very easy to believe that you would've won if your team was good and go on to verbally abuse your team, blaming people, that sort of stuff. This is probably the biggest reason why people never improve; they see their teammates as inhibiting their rise to the top rather than their own skill.

If you want to get a higher elo, you need to rely on yourself to get up there. You can't just win your lane and expect your team to be competent, you need to completely outplay the other team and demonstrate you deserve much more. The best way to improve is watch replays of yourself via LOLreplay and perfect your play. If someone on your team dies, look at ways that you might have been able to change that. Search for common things your opponents do and find a way to exploit them. When I was first doing ranked, I found that mid lanes almost always follow their opponent if they disappear into the river. So I took advantage of that and baited them into nearby bushes and destroyed them.

I feel like jungling is a great way to gain elo. The whole map is your playground and if you learn how to counter jungle at your elo, you remove their presence from other lanes. Learn jungling paths, look at situations in which you can counter gank, etc etc. If you are just farming and ganking normally, I guarantee there is more you could be doing to impact the game.

4) Play like you are tutoring / someone is shoutcasting you

This is something every player can start doing immediately. When you play, talk about everything you are doing, even if  it's just to yourself. While in champion select, look at the team compositions and talk about why you are choosing X champion and how it helps your team or does well against the other team. In game, talk about what item paths you will be going for and why, commentate on your play and the thought process behind it, and your role in team fights. Or if you don't want to talk about yourself in first person, imagine that someone is shoutcasting your match and they are following only you.

The idea behind this is that it makes you play smarter. If you are speaking aloud, it keeps you from doing stupid things such as overextending with no wards or diving someone on a tower. When about to make a play, think about someone like Phreak commentating about what's going to happen. Is he going to be super hype about your play or is he going to be scratching your head and wondering why you did that? Speaking aloud can also help break tunnel vision and focus on the game as a whole rather than just one goal.

Conclusions

If you are playing perfectly, then you should be winning way more games. Taking something new from a game is way more important than just winning/losing and not learning anything. Watch streams and look at things pro players might do and try to apply them to your own playstyle. Play a single champion constantly rather than whomever might be OP at the moment and learn all their strengths and weaknesses. Once you play them enough, you can focus on your own general playstyle rather than how to play a champion well.