[CPS]

he wanted to use the same champions as they did in game, then realizing aatrox against jayce was bad he blammed his loss on jayces poke.

[dhunt91]

So New thing I love to play.Top Lane Ryze Is very fun and if your jungle is tanky Like Amumu, Vi, Skarner or Moakia It works very well

[`kook]

Finally fixed my MMR and made my silver 3 series again. Getting like 20-25 lp per win. Now just to win my series.

edit: Won my first series game

edit 2: Finally made it back to silver 3 after winning a game with two inhibs down

This post has been edited by `kook: 15 June 2013 - 11:48 PM

[ShadowZero]

Congrats kook!

And in other news...

My friend wants to form a team and enter a tournament that we could win. I don't think we will though. I'm playing solo top. Yey.

EDIT: Coding derped.

This post has been edited by ShadowZero: 16 June 2013 - 03:54 PM

[Dev.]

If you want me to analyze one of your videos or 1v1 so you can improve for this tournament, I can do it for you.

[ShadowZero]

Help me on trading. Idfk how to do it very well, all I know is blow all your cooldowns whenever they attack you. I don't know when to initiate it. All I really do is play Renekton and bully the hell out of them with his combo. I like being aggressive. I'll throw LoLReplay up when I play though. You always kick my ass when I 1v1 you.

I'm pretty good at last hitting, but I'm shit at last hitting under immense pressure, so I'll resort to last hitting under tower which I'm pretty decent at in the early levels.

Just found out I'm also shotcaller... o_o

This post has been edited by ShadowZero: 17 June 2013 - 12:58 AM

[`kook]

I know that was directed at dev but I'm in a similar position in trying to get better at top lane so I can offer some advice.
I had a lot of trouble with trading too. Still do. After a ton of practice I'm still a bit shaky in my mechanics. It isn't like mid where you can burst someone down in two combos. It's mechanically demanding, you have to outplay your opponent. You never want to just blow cooldowns. Like with Riven you can ult, run up or dash in, stun hit all 3 Q's, activate ult and do alright damage, or you can Ult for passive > Dash > AA > Stun > AA > Q > AA > Q > AA > Q > AA > ignite > Activate ult in the same engage and get a kill because you doubled your damage from putting in more effort.





The things that helped me most have been the following

1. Learning enemy abilities - If you know what they do, you can counter it. You have to out think the enemy. If you know they have a poke and you have a shield, pop that shield the instant you see the poke coming. If they have a hard engage and you have a disengage, anticipate that and react to it. Read counter sites and matchups in guides. They offer a lot of insight on how to play matchups.

2. Itemize. If you're going against a malphite, do not build armor just because the guide says so. Itemization is very important. The decision between a giants belt or pickaxe can mean a lot. Know when you can build damage and burst a carry or when to build tanky if your team needs it. Know what to build against CC, or poke comps, or dive comps, or ap/ad heavy comps, etc

3. Expect ganks constantly. Ward always, and check minimap constantly. Know the jungler like the back of your hand. It helps to know jungler routes. It helps a lot if you also practice jungler, you can better anticipate their moves because you've been in their shoes. In addition, you need to know jungler abilities just as much as the enemy top lane. If jungler has been mia for a while and you have no ward, back off. Same with mid, if they're mia, back off. Know how to read your opponent. If he has 25% hp and is still playing aggressive, hes baiting a gank.

4. Know when to shove and when to freeze. If you look at the vids dev looked at for me when I first started topping, he noticed I was pushing and freezing at the wrong time. I was also not harassing a the right time when I had a large wave of minions. Minions do a lot of damage. Working a lane is very important

5. Know how to teamfight. Not just blowing cooldowns, but actually realizing what's going on in the fight. Sometimes you need to initiate, sometimes you need to peel. It all depends.

6. Watch footage. Watch top lane streamers Voyboy, Megazero, and boxbox (although he only plays riven) are all fantastic. Wingsofdeathx is also great so is scarra (for non top lane only players). Anyone who explains why they do things. I've gained so much knowledge from watching informative streamers. Watch LCS, the announcers give a lot of insight on why players do things. Watch your replays, be hard on yourself. Scrutinize every mistake and be active in fixing it. I try to keep the mindset that If I lose a game, it's because I wasn't good enough. If I win a game, it's just because the enemy was bad.

7. Know how to play when behind, both in lane and in team fights. If you're 0/2, play more passive in lane, or focus on protecting a carry in teamfights. You can't play the same if you're behind, top is a very snowbally lane.

8. Treat the jungler nice. He can make you a king or completely neglect you. Never blame the jungler! If you die in lane, it's your fault. If you've died to 3 ganks, that's your fault. If you don't ward, your fault. Instead of blaming the jungler, blame yourself for being too aggressive when you know they're camping you. (not saying you blame junglers, I just see a lot of people do this)

Lastly, keep at it. When I first started I was very bad and lost a lot. Now I win most of my games. It was very frustrating but I really like playing top lane now. It's really cool to be able to carry your team with a champ that doesn't get exploded like an APC or ADC.

As for shot calling, that's just experience and general game knowledge. Watching pros and practicing is the best place for that IMO. Make sure people are feeding you ever bit of information. When summoners are down, ults are down, where the jungler is, where wards are, etc... Also be prepared to take crap. You'll probably get blamed for stuff even if it isn't your fault.

This post has been edited by `kook: 17 June 2013 - 04:11 PM

[Dev.]

The biggest thing for trading is noticing mistakes. If the other enemy fucks up something like a rumble overheating, go in. If he goes in on you when you have a massive creep wave, go all in, you'll most likely win the trade or get a kill. If you have a level up on someone, go in. If you watch my most recent video, you can see pretty good trading, albeit with a shitty opponent.

For the first part of what kook said in number 3. Warding constantly is not always what you should do. If you notice that mid is still mid and jungler is either mid or bot, no use in wasting ward time.

Also, at this level of play, (sub plat), counters don't mean much. It's ALL about skill level. Yes, knowing how to play during match ups is what you need to do but if you're countered, don't play scared the whole laning phase. Still try to trade and notice mistakes TO win the trade or get a kill. Multiple times have I been put against hard counters such as Yorick when I play jayce and just end up winning by outplaying them.

As for team fighting, that comes with more practice. If you play a tanky bruiser, by all means if you see the right opportunity, engage and either try to zone out their carries or protect yours, you need to be able to decide which one to do to win the fight.
If you're playing a squishy top, wait for the right opportunity like someone failing at positioning. I build jayce as a straight up glass cannon but still have a relatively high KDA, 7.4/2.7/7.3, because I try to wait a team fight out until there's a good opportunity to kill someone instead of diving straight in and dying immediately.

Just let me know whenever you need help. @slightego

This post has been edited by Dev.: 17 June 2013 - 05:51 AM

[ShadowZero]

Gee thanks for all the tips, kook. I stopped reading guides except for featured ones on solomid.net. Also, to read about how to counter a champion and why that counters them. I'll mostly watch what LCS players do and try to copy their build if I can figure out why that's what their building. As a matter of fact, my Renekton build comes from Dyrus for the most part. (Rush Brutalizer into Sunfire Cape/Hexdrinker depends on what I'm facing in lane.) I can map out the whole build if I need to. It's pretty good. As a matter of fact... I might as well.

Final build normally looks like:

Merc Treads w/ Home Guard
Black Cleaver
Sunfire Cape
Maw of Malmortius (If facing magic damage heavy comps)/Frozen Mallet if facing heavy AD comps
Randuin's Omen/Spirit Visage (Again, AP or AD OR If enemy team has a Vayne/Kog'Maw/Varus)
Warmog's

I do pick up doran's early and red pot throughout the game.
My most played top laners are Renekton and Riven. I just need to practice Riven more often as I'm only OK with her. I get kind of caught up in the Q's with Riven and I forget to use my passive. I can also play Jayce and Nidalee semi-decently.

I watch the LCS a lot. As a matter of fact, I watch it as much as possible.

This post has been edited by ShadowZero: 17 June 2013 - 02:00 PM

[Dev.]

If you need help improving with jayce let me know.

[`kook]

Quote

For the first part of what kook said in number 3. Warding constantly is not always what you should do. If you notice that mid is still mid and jungler is either mid or bot, no use in wasting ward time.

Constatly have a ward on you*

I think guides are a great resource. As long as they're highly rated players. What people do wrong is follow the build order like it's mandatory. The real useful part is to go actually read it, then go read the next three highest rated guides. They give a lot of different insight.

I think it also helps to find out your playstyle. I like team fights, and I like lategame. My best champs are all late game monsters - Singed, Kassadin, Talon (somewhat a late champ), Rammus, Nautilus, Hecarim, Wukong... So What I had to do to get better was star practicing a strong early game champ like riven, because all I wanted to do was farm up and leave kills later, but not all games go past 30 minutes.

This post has been edited by `kook: 17 June 2013 - 04:07 PM

[ShadowZero]

I like early game bullies that are still relevant late game. (Riven, Renekton) Playstyle is somewhat aggressive when my opponent's creeps aren't dying so I can't farm without shoving.

And yes, Dev. I would like help with Jayce. All I really know to build, is Muramana, CDR from boots and Brutalizer, and Last Whisper. The mechanics part of Jayce I understand quite well. Just the build I never get right it seems.

[Dev.]

pm me whenever you see me on

[`kook]

Voyboy just put out another top lane vid. They way he is explaining his active analysis of his opponent and how to play them is how you should be thinking during a game. Notice all the info he is taking in, how many pots kennen has, where his jungler is, how many stun procs kennen has on him, what skill to max against kennens itemization etc

edit : Practice is paying off

This post has been edited by `kook: Yesterday, 05:14 AM

[CPS]

So I've had a lot of fun using Urgot lately and had a couple questions with him. I usually do fine in fights, whether I'm just trading in lane or in a team fight, but I never really know when to use my ult. I will try to ult the carries or people who are running away. Is their a specific time to use his ult like initiating to kill their AD carry or is it for chasing? And is their a specific combo to use with him? I usually try to pop my shield, poison and start Qing everyone to get my slow off.

[Dev.]

Hard to say, you have to use your judgement. If you know your team will follow up on you, use it to initiate a team right because it gives you extra defense during the ult. Use it in lane too, it's a very powerful ult if you know how to position.