Good morning reddit. After seeing the same types of posts OVER and OVER again, I finally decided to address a few fundamentals that anyone can use to climb. A little about me: I am a D3 ADC/Jungle player (or at least I was D3 last split, but hit D4 like the last 3 or 4 splits). I have not tried climbing to Masters. I used to coach the game so I actually made alt accounts for every single role, and for 2 seasons in a row, I climbed to Emerald 4 on every role. The 1st time I climbed to Emerald on each account, I think I placed either low silver or low gold out of placements. So I know what it's like to climb from elo hell on every role. Also, I am old, washed, and a shell of my former player. I misplay A LOT, even in diamond elo. I use fundamentals and macro to climb, on EVERY role. You might think, "oh well you're d3, you can just skill check people." No, I will misplay and in fact I do all the time. I know what it's like to go into a game with a HUGE ego, lose lane HARD, then HARD carry the game anyways. Now all I want to do is share with you, what those fundamentals are. Now keep in mind that this is more tailored towards laners simply because of character limit. If you find this post valuable, then great. If not, just move on. Please keep the comments civil. So let's break this down into 4 categories: Champ Select/Loading Screen, Laning Phase, Mid Game, Late Game.

Champ Select/Loading Screen

Many people over-think champ select, but NEVER think about a gameplan in loading screen. So let's simplify this.

Champ Select

• Make sure you have a champ pool of 2-3 champions. More than this is not recommended, simply because learning the limits of your champion and understanding your champions', matchups, build paths, item spikes, level spikes, etc. can be difficult. Play more than 1 champion simply because if your champ gets banned, you'll have a backup champion. When you're in champ select, draft what you're comfortable with, not "who counters who." Counters DO NOT exist in low elo. I'll explain below, but trust me. They do not matter until diamond (although even this is debatable). For each role that you play, I would make sure I have 1 AD champ in my pool, and one AP champ in my pool for obvious reasons. I would also make sure (for mid laner players), that I have at least one range champion and it is much more preferable if you main that champ (although it is not necessary, just recommended). The 3rd champion could just be a strong meta pick. Keep in mind you can climb to diamond with ANY champion though so don't overthink this. Now on to champ select.
• In champ select, people get very caught up on counters, pick order, all AD/AP, etc. My advice is that 80% of the time, just pick your "main." You have 3 champs you can play, but pick the one you are best with (your main). We are focusing on using macro and fundamentals to climb so it usually doesn't matter what the draft is ESPECIALLY towards the lower end of the ladder. The other 10% of the time is, your champ gets banned. Then pick your back-up. OR, your team is drafting full AP or full AD and the enemy team comp is tanky. I would recommend picking the damage type that is missing. Notice I said 10% of the time. It doesn't matter if you are picking FULL AD if the enemy has no tank, or if the tank is the enemy support.
• The final 10% of the time revolves specifically around whether you play a melee champion (mid lane). Let me explain. Melee champions in the mid lane will always lose prio against anyone that is remotely competent. So if you are playing Ekko, Katarina, Talon, etc. and you are playing into something like Viktor, Syndra, or some other type of control mage, laning phase becomes harder against anyone that is remotely competent. I'll explain this further below. But what I'm trying to say, is that unless you are like a one-trick or actually main a champ like that, do not pick that champ first. If you have to pick blind, blind pick a control mage. If you know who you're into, pick whoever you want.

Loading Screen

Most players do not even think in loading screen. They go use the restroom real quick, they grab a snack, or just stare at the screen. Loading screen sets the tone for your game. The biggest thing in loading screen is creating a game plan. Things to think about: what is my win condition for my lane? How should I manage my wave? Which jungler is stronger? Who is stronger: me or my lane opponent at levels 1, 2, 3, and 6? How should I trade (by looking at runes and analyzing champion strength)? Let me just show you an example of a game plan:

• Consider, for example, you are playing Fizz mid into Syndra. I have a xin zhao jungler, the enemy has a shyvanna jungle. So here is what I would be thinking:
  • Syndra is stronger at level 1 and 2.
  • I cannot step up to the wave so I will let Syndra push, collect the 1st 3 last hits with my E then walk away and keep my HP above 90%. I will not take half my healthbar in damage to get a cs. I will let CS I can't get to die.
  • Syndra SHOULD slow push and crash 3rd wave. If she does, I collect the wave at my turret and slow push it back and try to find a trade on the BOUNCE-BACK. If she crashes 2nd, I can punish her for mismanaging the wave by finding a level 3 trade on her while she's level 2.
  • I play electrocute, Syndra plays First Strike. I win short trades levels 3-5 and all-ins at level 6. Syndra wins poke trades and short trades if she lands E. I need 2 full combo trades pre 6 to kill her.
  • Xin Zhao is stronger than Shyvanna pre-6 and without items (higher base stats/damage). I should look to play in river with my jungler ONLY IF my wave/lane state is good. If a 2v2 breaks out, we win.
  • ALL OF THIS contributes to my gameplan. So now here is my game plan:
    • Let Syndra push at level 1. Save HP and look for short trades at level 3 on the bounce-back slow push. At level 6, look for all-ins. Use my level 3-6 strength advantage to force prio and play with my jungler. If Syndra is playing safe entire game, I will push every wave after level 6 then roam. Play for 1 shot.

Keep in mind that this does require knowledge of your matchup and other champions. This is fundamental. If you don't know the answers to these questions, find out through experience or simply look up the champions. But make sure you have a game plan coming out of loading screen, otherwise you will blindly push every wave and take every trade.

Rune/Keystone Fundamentals

One short note on this, but one thing to take into account is rune fundamentals and how they play into your matchup and how that influences your trades. Here are the basics:

1. Electrocute/First Strike/Phase Rush/Grasp - You want to take short trades then weave out of combat.
2. Aerie/Comet - You generally like to poke
3. Conqueror/Lethal Tempo - You like extended trades
4. PTA - You want to proc PTA then you have the option to extend the trade or not depending on the circumstance.

It is extremely important to understand this when you are fighting in lane. How do you use this? I'll explain this like this: Imagine you are playing Tryndamere into Garen. Garen took phase rush and You (Tryndamere) has Lethal. Imagine Garen Auto, Q, E's you and you are autoing him. I see this in low elo ALL THE TIME. If Garen has used his Phase Rush, he should be kiting out. But you should be wanting to extend the trade. He has no more damage. You win if he keeps extending the trade. You can just Ghost on him and auto him to death because of your keystone. I hope that makes sense. Play to your keystone. If you have electrocute into a conqueror user, don't try to extend the trade. If are a summon Aerie user, don't risk your entire health bar for a combo if all you want to do is land poke (1 ability to proc it). I hope that makes sense. Play around your keystone.

Laning Phase

Laning phase is the NUMBER ONE most consistent thing you can play for. I don't remember what the statistic was, but it's something like, if you win lane, you are x% more likely to win your game. Regardless all you need to know is that you are significantly increasing your chance to win the game if you win lane. So let's talk about laning fundamentals: Wave Management, Recall Timers, Punishing Last Hits, Roaming/Collapsing, Objectives. Hopefully you have a gameplan, now it should be influenced by this:

• Wave management - wave management is simply how you will manage the wave in your game and it changes based on the situation. Let me try to explain basic wave management in a shortened form.
  • At the beginning of the game, your waves will meet in the middle of the lane. If you don't touch the wave, one wave will eventually overpower the other and it will push in a random direction. This is called the Even-Minion Rule. Now you can manipulate the way the wave pushes in a few ways. If you want to push, you hit the wave more than your enemy. If you want it to push into you, you don't hit it while the enemy hits it. In low elo, rest assured, in over 95% of your games the enemy will simply blindly push.
  • Slow-push. Now if you walk to lane and hit the wave once and are AT LEAST one auto ahead of your enemy (you hit the wave once to get push. Then the enemy hits the wave so you hit it again and you are ahead one auto), your wave will slow-push. What this means is that you will have 1 more minion than the enemy and so when your next reinforcing wave arrives, you will slowly build a minion advantage and have a bigger wave. This makes it hard for the enemy to trade with you without losing the trade just because you have a minion advantage. Another way for a slow-push to occur is your waves are even in number and they meet on your side of the lane. Now the next reinforcing wave will get to your wave first, so it will slow-push. Let me just say this: GOOD PLAYERS SLOW-PUSH. I don't know how else to say it. Good players will slow-push. I'll explain it in a sec.
  • Bounce-back slow-push: When you crash your wave into the enemy turret, two things can happen. The first happens if your wave crashes, and the enemy minions get to the turret and start killing your wave at the enemy turret. This causes a bounce-back slow push, meaning it will slow-push back to you. Why? Like I said, the waves meet on your side of the lane so your wave will get to the enemy wave first so your wave will overpower the enemy wave and slow-push.
  • Wave Reset: If you crash your wave into the enemy turret and the wave dies before the enemy gets there, your waves will reset meaning they will go back to the Even-Minion Rule.
  • Freeze: If the enemy wave has 3-4 minions more than your wave, you can pull the wave and not attack it, and it will set up a freeze. Meaning the enemy wave will have more minions so they will kill your wave before your reinforcing wave comes.
  • Fast-push: you quickly push the wave using your abilities and autos optimally to push it in before next wave arrives to create reset or a bounce-back.

Now that that is done, let's talk about how to use this in game for laning phase. A challenger coach once told me, Laning is simply two players taking turns slow-pushing. When you are slow-pushing, you are on offense. When the enemy is slow-pushing, you are on defense. So I'm just going to keep it simple.

• When the game starts, you need to know what you want to do with the wave. Basically, if you are range vs melee, you want to slow push. If you are melee vs range, you want to let the enemy slow-push. If you are a double ranged lane bot lane, you want prio on the wave and want to slow-push. If you're both double ranged, you should try to fight for prio. But the moment you start losing (remember enemy hits level 2 on 3rd range minion on 2nd wave), just concede. Top lane is similar, if you are a bruiser, you probably want to fight for prio. If you are a weak champion early on and know you don't win trades, you probably want to let the wave push into you so you can safely farm for free. Determine what you want to do then follow the loop below.
  • If you get prio at level 1, you want to slow-push. Now how do you punish the enemy on a slow-push? Very simple, watch the ENEMY'S minions that are about to die, while standing on your range minion line (if you are ranged) or near the enemy's melee minion. If they step up to collect a last hit, you trade with them. This is called "Punishing last hits." You do not have to trade to climb. Trading indicates that both players auto and use abilities on each other and both lose health and cool downs. Punishing last hits means the enemy trades his health for cs. This is how you play "aggressively." It doesn't revolve around the champion. It revolves around the wave. If you are slow-pushing, position yourself in place where can punish last hits. Contest every last-hit you can without sacrificing your CS.
  • On the 3rd wave, cannon wave arrives. Always fast-push on cannon wave. Now when you crash the wave, you have two options. You have created a Recall Timer. This means that you can recall without missing any minions. Sometimes the best play on the map is to recall. By now you have a buy (probably around 350-500 gold). Just walk away and recall... UNLESS
  • 1/3 rule. I call this the 1/3 rule. If you punished last hits or took favorable trades and now the enemy is below 1/3 HP, he is divable. In high elo, your jungler will show up and dive and the game is OVER. Let's talk about the benefits and risks. You stacked 3 waves, you are level 3, enemy is level 2 or level 1. You have access to all 3 abilities, enemy does not. If the enemy dies, they lose the entire wave AND the wave will bounce-back slow-push to you, making them lose EVEN MORE minions and exp. I call this the death loop. Enemy CANNOT play safe if the wave is pushing away. You'll see it all the time. "Play safe, stop dying." They literally can't unless their jungler runs to their lane and resets the wave so it's not slow-pushing away from them for the entire laning phase. So as long as you execute the dive and the enemy dies, you win NO MATTER WHAT. Even if you die, your wave is slow-pushing back to you so you don't lose any minions, whereas the enemy loses the stacked wave and comes to lane to no wave. This will take practice and it's okay to mess up and die and the enemy lives. It is still a high % play and you need to get used to making it. So again, recall if enemy is health, dive if they are below 1/3 hp.
  • After you crash 3rd wave, the enemy wave will slow-push back to you. If you are still in lane DO NOT trade with the enemy. Remember, wave is being slow-pushed to you? Defense. Catch the wave at the turret when it crashes. Now there are 2 options here.
    • If you dove the enemy, have an item and experience advantage, and come back to a wave slow-pushing to you: Trim the wave and freeze. Now the enemy has to walk up to die or lose xp and gold for as long as you hold the freeze. Win-win.
    • If the wave is too big or the enemy is even, just let the wave crash and slow-push it back and literally repeat the process. Here's the loop:
    • Even minion rule > Slow push (offense) > Crash cannon > recall/dive > Enemy slow-pushes (defense) > freeze (if possible) > Slow Push > Crash > loop.

Post is getting lengthy so less explanation on the rest:

When to roam/collapse/rotate to and/or contest objectives

If your wave is good, roam/collapse. If it isn't, then don't. What does that look like?

• Wave is slow-pushing to you, OR your wave is frozen at your turret, you can collapse as long as it is a defensive collapse and it is quick. Keep your wave in mind and be back in lane to catch the wave at the turret.
• Wave is slow-pushing away from you or is frozen at enemy turret, DO NOT ROAM/COLLAPSE. Fix your wave first.
• Post 6 for mid laners - enemy is playing safe entire game? Fast push every wave, roam, run back to lane to catch wave, repeat. Probably ideal to rush tier 2 boots.
• Never get baited by dragon or grubs. If your wave is bad, do not rotate. Ping your jungler off. If he goes in and dies anyways and pings you, oh well. Mute him. Do not sacrifice your lane state for objectives. Solo Queue is all about getting the most gold you can get to hit your items to 1v9 the game. Simple.
• If your wave is good, and/or you are hard winning, contest EVERY objective on your side of the map. Use your lead and prio to secure.

Mid Game Macro

I am going to explain this in two different ways: what is ACTUAL PROPER MACRO FOR EVERY LANE, and how to use this knowledge to make the right decision in your games (what really happens due to low elo).

Proper high elo macro:

In the mid game, this is what SHOULD happen. Your ADC and Support should be perma mid. Your Top laner should be splitting opposite of the objective (so if dragon is up, he should be top, if baron is up, he should be bot). He should be pressuring the side lane then looking to threaten a TP for cross-map fights that break out. Your mid laner should be in the other side lane fixing waves. Your jungler should actually be helping ADC and Supp get prio by hovering them.

• ADC/Supp: fast-push every wave then look to rotate with Supp and Jungle to whichever play is being made. ADC should be right back mid to push the next wave and continue to get resources.
• Mid: Fix Waves in the side lane. What does this mean? If no one is in the sidelane, your wave could be slow-pushing away from your side lane. Eventually it will get huge then crash into the turret. The enemy who goes to collect that wave will get a huge gold swing. You can stop this by simply going to the side lane and pushing the wave into enemy tier 2 and crashing it. This fixes the wave so your team is not losing resources. Then it will slow push back to you. You just run back to the side-lane when it is about to crash, collect it, then fix it again. In low elo, THOUSANDS OF GOLD in minions die to the side lane turrets.
• Top: Fixes waves and pressures tier 2 (if ahead or solo), threatens cross-map plays with TP (fight breaks out on the other side of the map, team is ahead, you can TP to win fight, and open up baron).
• Jungle: hovers ADC. When you get prio, you can rotate with your bot lane to pressure dragon, invade enemy jungle, or collapse to a side lane.

Simple Mid Game fundamentals based on Macro

• Never fight numbers disadvantaged fights
• Always recall if you have an item in base
• Constantly push tab to see your items compared to the enemy.
• Always look at the map and track your biggest threat (IE: you're playing Jinx and they have a Rengar. You do not want to push to pressure tier 2 side lane turret if you have no idea where he is).
• Always cross-map (if the enemy makes a numbers advantaged play on one side of the map, force on on the opposite). Counter-jungling and taking objectives is also a great cross-map play.

Now regardless of your role, you have the exact same fundamentals in the mid game. You basically follow a loop until you create a rotation and numbers advantaged fight. Let me explain from the ADC perspective (but it is the same for the other lanes with minor variations):

• You run mid and shove the wave. When you shove the wave, you have created a 15-20s timer to make a play. Your available plays are as follows (in order of importance):
  • Rotate to a teamfight - ONLY DO THIS if you have numbers advantage WITH you. This looks like this: you push mid wave. The enemy ADC and Support come to tier 2 turret to collect the wave you shoved. Now you can rotate to a fight with your tempo and force a numbers advantaged fight. So in simple terms, push mid, create a rotation, rotate off of the rotation to a numbers advantaged fight.
  • Rotate to objective - Same conditions as above.
  • Collapse to side lane - Same conditions as above.
  • Take enemy jungle camps - You have prio, there is no teamfight rotation, look for enemy raptors.
  • Take your jungle camps - You have prio, no teamfight rotation, no enemy jungle camps up, your jungler is cross-map, take his camps.
  • Recall - There is nothing to do on the map and/or you have an item in base. (ALWAYS DO THIS IF YOU HAVE AN ITEM IN BASE)
• Now in the side lane, the same loop is applied with 2 additional considerations:
  • You have more like 30-40 seconds to make the paly since the lane is longer.
  • Track the enemy. It is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that you are tracking all the enemies you can on the map. Pushing waves is mindless, use your mind to look at your map and use your F Keys.
  • Now if you are in the side lane and you are pushing top or something, you see 4 people collapse on your teammate bot... Ask yourself - Do I have numbers advantage? No. Do not TP just keep pushing. If you are very fed but you know the enemy Tryndamere is also fed, TRACK HIM. You are top pushing and he shows up bot? Push tier 2 turret and pressure. Drag as many people to you so your teammates are freed up to make a play. This is all about two simple questions: How can I create pressure? Who are my threats? Track them and make plays accordingly.
  • For example: you could be pushing top and the enemy groups as 5 for dragon. You see that your jungler or your Support is also top with you. Should you TP? NO! We don't fight numbers disadvantaged fights in solo queue.
• Follow this mid game macro loop until you eventually find a numbers advantaged teamfight that you WIN, that opens up baron. Take baron then group to end (in most elos).

How Macro Changes in Low Elo

Now keep in mind that this is PROPER macro and this is what you will see on streams, high elo, pro play, etc. But in low elo, most players don't know this. Mid laner will stay mid, top laner will split on the wrong side of the map, sometime even your support will catch waves. So how do you adapt? Hector said it best, "In low elo, correct macro is simply going to the empty lane to collect resources." That's it. You're playing ADC, you want to be mid because it's proper macro, but your mid laner won't lane swap? Then go bot. When your mid laner dies, you can run mid and force prio. If he spawns he should go bot. Problem fixed. But if he goes back mid, just run bot and be your mid laner now. Now follow the macro for the role that you are "subbing" for. I hope that makes sense. We need to know what proper macro is in low elo, not so that we follow it, but so that when our teammates make the wrong macro decision, we fix their mistake by being their solution. Top laner goes mid? Okay go split until he dies. ADC should be getting mid prio but is bot instead? Okay, go get mid prio. When your ADC dies, go bot. Etc.

Late Game

I'm gonna keep late game very simple. Just group. ALWAYS be grouped. In Late game, we are assuming everyone is full build, whoever wins the next fight wins the game. Things happen so fast in the late game. You get CC'd once, you die once, you run bot to fix a wave and enemy forces a fight, GAME OVER. Just stay grouped. Win the fight (at this point it is a coin flip unless you are just good at fighting), then run down mid to end. I would like to go on but character limit. As usual, I will end this with some scenarios to ponder. Feel free to leave your analysis of a scenario down below along with any questions you might have:

Champ Select Scenarios:

1. Your champ pool in order of comfortability is Talon, Malzahar, Galio. You are not first pick. You see your team is hovering Full AD. The enemy team shows their first 3 picks as Jinx, Ornn, Volibear. Who do you pick and why?
2. You're in loading screen. You picked Sett Top into Garen Top. Both players are running ignite. You have Conqueror, Garen took Phase Rush. Your Jungler is Volibear, the enemy Jungler is Khazix,. What is your game plan? What will you do with the wave? What levels are your stronger?

Laning Phase Scenarios

1. You are bot lane playing Jinx with a Lulu Support. The enemy is Draven with a Naut support. What should you do with the wave? How will you accomplish that?
2. Your wave is frozen at the enemy turret, your losing lane. A fight breaks out at dragon. Both Mid laners, both supports and both junglers rotate, along with the enemy ADC. You jungler is SPAM pinging for help. What is the correct play here?

Mid Game Scenarios

1. You are playing Mid lane Viktor. You are walking out of base and decide to go to the only empty lane available which is top lane. You are playing 10 cs a minute and are 2/0. The enemy has a fed Rengar and Sett on the team. You are fixing top lane and deciding whether to push and pressure tier 2 turret. You see 2 enemies mid lane, Sett and the support bot lane, but Rengar is missing. Sett and the support are pushed up and looking to dive your mid top laner who is 0/4 at this point. You have just pushed top wave and have a 30s timer. What do you do?
2. You are playing ADC and are playing Miss Fortune. You are extremely fed (7/0). You want to run mid but your mid laner will not go bot. You see a fight breaking out top that involves 3 enemies and 3 teammates. You see a huge stacked wave bot. Where do you go?
3. You are playing ADC and you are mid. You shove mid lane with your support. As you are shoving a 3v3 teamfight has broken out at Dragon. You see one enemy top lane. As you shove mid you see the enemy ADC show mid to collect the wave. You now have a 20s timer. What do you do?
4. You are playing Jax Top lane. It is 20 mins into the game and Baron is up so you are splitting bot lane. You are pretty fed at this point, but your team is losing. As you push top, a 4v5 teamfight breaks out near baron. You just shoved the wave and are in front of tier 2 turret, you have TP available. What do you do?