How to Climb in Ranked Hero League by Razyelx

How to Climb in Ranked Hero League

By: Razyelx
Last Updated: Mar 20, 2018
18 Votes

1. Introduction Top

SPASPACE
Hello,
my name is RazyeLx and I am a Master Kerrigan Main. Before I start, let me show you some proves, that I am not lying.

SPACEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEMy Current Rank (4,7k = GrandMaster)SPACE

In this guide I will write how to climb faster in Ranked Hero League by focusing on improving 10 things, that are in my opinion crucial to master, in order, to be the best. Take it with ease, I am not perfect myself. I am currently struggling with the tilt and anger management. A perfect example of a good player is in my opinion Grubby, so if you want to see a professional gamer, that is also a great teacher and example, go watch his stream or youtube videos and feel free to inspire yourself!:)

On the next picture we can see an example of a normal match history.
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SPACEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENormal Match HitorySPACE
And this picture shows my match history, after I started focusing on my weaknesses.
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SPACEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAfter Focusing on WeknessesSPACE

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If you are more interested in my gameplay, you can follow me on my YouTube Channel or Twitch Channel. I will be adding there my gameplay videos, montage videos and even some how to play and teaching videos.
If you have any questions, then just come to one of my channels, ask me and I will try to answer your questions the best I can.
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SPACESPACE
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SPACEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWell, let's not waste time and go for the guide!

2. Ten Things to Improve Top

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In this chapter I will write 10 things that everyone should improve, if they want to be better. The things are written from the easiest to the hardest, so the better you are, the lower you will find your problem.

Before I start, there is one thing that I want to point out. If you think there is a hidden system that is forcing you to have 50 % win rate, you are wrong. There is nothing like that (I started at Silver 4, so I know your pain). Yes, everyone has bad games, everyone has sometimes that one player that is so tilted that he trolls you the game or the afk player or just the bad poor guy that got randomly into higher tier, than he should.

SPACEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEveryone has the same chances on getting those players.

If you think you are unlucky, this is my story: I have some weird problem with my notebook and once a day a get a freeze and when this happens in Draft, I get automatically - 600 points. It already happened 5 times in 1 month:) So, yes, we all have those bad games and those are things that can't be influenced, but what we can influence is everything else and here are the 10 things, that in my opinion if you master them, will lead to huge improvement in your games and you will climb way faster.

10 THINGS TO IMPROVE:
A. Knowledge of the game
B. Maining few heroes
C. Camp timing
D. Drafting
E. Map awarness
F. Engaging and Teamwork
G. Giving up
H. Communication
I. Tilt
J. Anger management (Flaming)

A. KNOWLEDGE OF THE GAME
It is important to learn the basics of the game. You will usually learn it while leveling, but if you didn't, take the time and watch some tutorials on youtube. It consists of knowing every map that is played, knowing what each hero abilities are and what they do, which camps are in the game and what are they doing and so on. I am not saying you should master every hero, I myself didn't do that yet. But you should at least once try everyone of them, so you have an idea what are their strenghts and weaknesses.

How to Master this:
- learn every map,
- learn basics of every hero (what are their abilities),
- learn every camp.


B. MAINING FEW HEROES
It is great to be master at every hero in the game, but you should have "few main" heroes, that you know perfectly. For example I am really good on most of the heroes, but I main only like 8, that I can say that I am great with them. Also it is important to be flexible, so try new heroes and master at least 2 from each class (assassin, tank, support,...) so you can play them, when your mains are banned and your team needs them.

How to Master this:
- master 3–10 heroes that you really like, to the maximum,
- learn how to play at least 2 heroes from each group (support, tank, assassin, mage, adc, bruiser, specialist).


C. CAMP TIMING
Many players don't put too much attention to this and this might be the reason why they are not progressing. A good player will take the camp right before an objective is about to start (for example tribute at Cursed Hollow spawns at 2:15–2:45, a good player will start doing the camp at 2:00, kill it and then wait until the tribute starts spawning). There's a lot of maps with different camps, so if you want to be really good, learn when it is great time to do them.
But this doesn't mean you should prefer camps above anything. For example if there is a camp and it is the perfect time to do it, because you would get incredible value from it, BUT your team just started a teamfight near you, you should skip the camp and go help your team, because if you don't, they will most likely lose that 4v5 fight and after that, enemy team will nullify your camp value right away.

How to Master this:
- learn every camp on every map and the timing, when they spawn and when it is a good time to take them.


D. DRAFTING
This skill is gained by watching Pro-players how they draft. You start with knowing that a good team is when you have:
1. Tank
2. Support
3. Bruiser
4. Ranged (Mage/Adc)
5. Specialist or Second Ranged/Tank


BUT that doesn't mean other combos can't work. You can win easily without a support, you just need to draft it correctly. For example I had a great success with Kerrigan, Tracer, Kel'Thuzad, Sonya and Diablo. Even tho we didn't had a support, we had such insane DPS, that enemy couldn't do a thing. Also another great way how to draft is to take heroes that are good vs others (countering) for example they have Sonya? Take stuns like E.T.C., Muradin. They have Genji? Take silence, like Malfurion, Alarak and so on. It is important to draft correctly, but also not giving up, when your team is different then planned.

How to Master this:
- watch Pro-players how they draft,
- learn basic drafting combos and good teams,
- learn how to counter.


E. MAP AWARNESS
An issue that many players have. You need to start watching your minimap every like 5 sec, because you need to be updated. That's why Azmodan is so great, because many people don't watch the mini-map and he can easily push. Also this is why Nova is so famous in Bronze/Silver and noone plays her Diamond+, unless she's a really great pick. Because people often push too much. Don't you see enemy on the map? Then don't over-extend. But in Hero League it is VERY often the case of people over-extending and getting ganged or punished by it for example by Nova.

How to Master this:
- start using the mini-map and pings,
- learn when it is a good time to do a camp, to push and so on,
- learn to push only when you know where all the enemies are.


F. ENGAGING AND TEAMWORK
Very hard to do and takes a lot of practise. It is especially important for tanks, because it is them who make the call when to go in. Even in lower master I see a lot of tanks that haven't mastered this. I play Kerrigan pretty often and it is REALLY important to not go first in the fight, but the tanks, they just don't know when to engage, forcing me to start a fight. Make sure, that if you want to play tank, you have this point mastered, because there is nothing worser than a tank that is in the backline hiding and letting your assassin do your job and then coming to the fight when enemies are either on a retreat or winning and its way too late.

How to Master this:
- watch Pro players how they engage, learn from it,
- watch mini-map, do you see 1 enemy on bot and your team as 5? Go for it. Is it a 5v5 but your TOP lane is being pushed? Ping retreat. Is enemy ADC/Mage in front line? Punish him and so on.
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SPACEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHigher Skills (even I haven't mastered some yet)
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Once you mastered all the things written above the line, you should have no problems climbing in the ladder. But you will eventually get stuck in a tier and you don't know, how to get even better. Congratulations, now the hard part begins.

G. GIVING UP
This problem is connected with tilting and anger management. I see people giving up usually when they are really tilted from past games or they have a "dream team" in their mind and if you don't take it, they start to troll, because they think it is unwinnable already at draft. This happens in Master tier too, not so often, but belive me, even there. Give up before the game start, is the worst thing you can do. You will have to play the game anyway, so why don't try to win it? In this game you can win with ANYTHING. One bad decision from enemy team in late game and you won. Just don't give up, try your best.

How to Master this:
- never give up,
- be positive.


H. COMMUNICATION
On higher master tiers, the amazing thing that I liked is that in draft everyone is talking. They try to figure out what the best combo is for the team/map. In diamond and lower? Rarely we communicate in the draft. It is necessary to communicate, do calls, pings on map if you don't see an enemy and so on. Even the smallest talk like saying "Hi" is huge information for the team. For example when I take [Kerrigan], people usually react "what the hell man, she's weak", but then they click on my profile and see that I main her and have more than 900 games on her and they start to build the team around me. On the other hand, if I see that they don't want to build the team around me, I just don't take her. Another important thing is to communicate in game, NOT IN CHAT, but with pings. Ping enemy is missing, ping help me with camp, ping when to engage and so on. If noone is communicating, you are lowering your chances to win by a huge amound.

How to Master this:
- communicate with team in draft and game,
- start using minimap with pings.


I. TILT
What is a tilt? That's a state that you are in, when you are losing no matter how good you play. You flame everyone, because they play so bad and every little detail angers you. But in reality, you are the bad player. When I go on a tilt I loose like 10 games in a row and I KNOW that I am on tilt, but still... I lose no matter what, because when you are tilted, even tho you think you play good, you play worse than usual, without noticing it.

If you are on a tilt there are 2 things you can do:
1. Take a break, stop playing, tomorrow is a day too.
2. Accept that you are tilted, take a short break (5 mins at least) and when you come back, focus on the win. Don't write in the chat, only basic things like "Hi, GJ", because when you are tilted, every little thing will anger you. So focus on game, not on arguing.

Usually once you win 1-2 games in a row, you will get out of the tilt. If not, take a break dude! The worst state that you might be in, is when you no more give a f*ck about if you win or lose. You just NEED to win, but you don't give a f*ck about the game, so you join and lose... and lose again... and again... Just STOP! (This happened to me, I was on a record 16 losses in a row, I just NEEDED to WIN, but I didn't gave a f*ck about the game... then I gave up. Next day? I won it back in a huge winning streak, because I was so determined to win. Just stop playing when you are on a lossing streak).
SPACEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEThe system is not against you, you are.

How to Master this:
- start using breaks between games,
- don't take the trolls in game seriously.


J. ANGER MANAGEMENT (FLAMING)
The last and hardest to master is Anger Management (flaming). It is not the same thing as being tilted. Being tilted is when you play bad, but you don't know about it. Being angered is when you play bad and you do it on purpose, because someone angered you. You don't do that? But that's not everything. In Anger management is also demotivating people. When someone makes a bad play and you point it out, start even a little flame, that's a demotivating. Did you do that sometimes? I bet you did, because I do it sometimes too.
I try to be possitive, but sometimes there are such monkeys in the Hero League that it is just unbelivable and in that instant, I just can't help myself. But this is the reason why I am not Grand Master. I will work on it. Great example is Grubby, go watch his stream, he is possitive even when he lose a game. He never flames (yes maybe sometimes, but everyone has a bad day).
It is important to motivate your team, write "GJ" for every good decisions, little fights and so on. Even tho its a small thing, you just did something that the enemy didn't. You motivated your team, while enemy team started to flame. Guess who wins in the end. Lately when I lose a game 90 % of the time, it is not becuase we played bad, but because someone was flaming.

How to Master this:
- be positive,
- never flame,
- cheer the team, write "good job" "nice" and so on,
- if someone makes a bad call, never flame, not even a little, they might be tilted and even a small flame might cause you to lose the game.
- if team is fighting between them self, don't ignore it, try to solve it BUT in a neutral tone and short senteces. NEVER start typing with them, just write something like "guyz, do me a favor and mute each other and lets focus to win please". You need to focus on the game, not typing.

Even tho it sounds simple, this is very hard thing to do, especially at Master and higher tier, because people are a bit arrogant there (you know, they are Masters, THEY KNOW HOW TO PLAY, HOW DARE YOU WRITE THEM!:D) so you will get angered A LOT and its up to you to manage the anger and play as a true leader.

SPACEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEBe an example, not a sheep that flames others.
SPACEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

3. Problems in each Tier Top

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Poeple have different problems at each tier. I will write how people are in each tier (this doesn't apply to everyone, but for most of them) and what should people focus on improving, if they want to climb faster (because it makes no sense for a Bronze player to work on his Anger management, when he has no knowledge of the game).


1. BRONZE
I was never in Bronze so I can't say how bad it is there, but i heard that people do what they want there and that it is hell far worser than Silver. In Bronze players have usually a problem with not knowing enought of the game.

What to focus on in Bronze:
A. Knowledge of the game
B. Maining few heroes



2. SILVER
Silver is pretty interesting. You will find very bad players here, but on the other hand I've seen better silver players than some master players. So why are they stuck in silver? Well, this topic is exactly for them, because even tho they play great, they get easily tilted, communicate too much with the trolls and that leads to losing the games. In Silver players know more about the game, but they can still improve a lot. Another huge problem why are people stuck here is in my opinion tilt. Poeple just play over and over again, not realizing that they are tilted and that triggers flaming and everything goes just wrong.

What to focus on in Silver:
A. Knowledge of the game
B. Maining few heroes
C. Camp timing
I. Tilt



3. GOLD
People in gold are a better version of Silver players. In Gold the knowledge of the game is usually at a good point and poeple start going deeper to the game (like Drafting and Camp Timing). The main problem here is in my opinion, that people thing that there is only 1 way how to win the game and if someone make even a little adjusment, they just give up.

What to focus on in Gold:
C. Camp timing
D. Drafting
G. Giving up
I. Tilt



4. PLATINUM
People here know the timing of the camps and when to take them. Drafting is better, but still not great. People think countering is everything. The main problem in Platinum is that poeple are either out of position and get ganged in late game and therefore losing the game, because they can't win 4v5 or they make a bad engage (for example starting fight lvl 19 vs 20). So your goal is usually to focus on:

What to focus on in Platinum:
E. Map awarness
F. Engaging and Teamwork
H. Communication
I. Tilt



5. DIAMOND
Here are 2 groups of players. In the first group are the typical diamond players. They are toxic, they think they are the best, because they made it so high so YOU NEED TO LISTEN TO THEM! When whole team agrees at going TOP, but he thinks going BOT is better, it ends up that 4 ppl go TOP and 1 BOT and both lanes lose, because enemy team went as 5. The main problem here is that ppl are too arrogant and don't want to cooperate.

Another problem here is that, poeple get a bit cocky and they think they can 1v3 easily. Perfect example is in my video below, where at 0:00-0:30 I got drunk and did the same thing (1v4), luckily for me, I won it, but most of the time, such situations will lead to a throw, so DON'T DO THEM!:).

SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEAn example of what you shouldn't do
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If you are stuck in diamond and want to get better, you need to start cooperating with others. They want to go boss even tho you could end? Go with them, because even tho you are right, you will lose if you go alone.
The second group are the good ones, that will end in master sooner or later. You will notice them immedietly. They speak in draft, they are not toxic and know how to anger management (when someone is flaming them, they don't respond or try to be calm and focus on game).
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What to focus on in Diamond:
G. Giving up
H. Communication
I. Tilt
J. Anger management (Flaming)



6. MASTER
Master is divided into two groups. Lower Masters and higher masters. The lower masters are better diamond players. They know everyting about the game, BUT they are still flaming. Not so much, but still they do it and that's the reason why they can't climb. The second group is the higher master players. Those players focus on the game, don't flame even when you do something wrong, they cheer you up so you do your best. They follow the calls, those players will be Grand Masters sooner or later.
Me personally I was in Higher master for like 2 weeks, those games were amazing, but then I dropper to lower masters again, because I am not perfect, I flame sometimes too:( I need to work on it, because this is the thing that pushes you to higher ranks and it's really hard.
The problem here is a bit different. If you lose a game it is 90 % of the time, because someone was flaming, giving up or demotivating others. At this point, you won't lose a game because you played bad (rarely). You will lose the game because your team had worser morale then the enemies and someone from your team gave up or was flaming too much.

What to focus on in Master:
G. Giving up
I. Tilt
J. Anger management (Flaming)



7. GRAND MASTER
Never was there, but from streams you can see that people do what ever it takes to win the game. Of course there are some players that flame, but thats really rare and is usually because they are tilted. This is the tier we all want to be in, because there's the lowest chance of getting a feeder, troll or a flamer.

What to focus on in Grand-Master:
I. Tilt
J. Anger management (Flaming)


SECRET BONUS TIP:
Buy Happy Cloud Mount and write something funny or something that will cheer your team morale at the beginning of the game. It helps a lot and the cloud is so positive and cheery when moving, that your team will start with better morale (and you will see which player is tilted right away, because they react differently to such things).
SPACEEEEEEEEEEE
SPACEEEEEEEEEEESPACEEEEEEEEEEE

4. Summary Top

SPACEEEEEEEEEEESPACE
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SCEWell that's it! Now that you know your weaknesses, try to work on them, like me and let us climb faster!:)

SPAAAAAAAAACEI hope that it helped you and wish you good luck in your future games!

If you don't understand something or want help, write me and I will answer. I know that some points could be explained deeper, but it would be way too big guide. If more people will like the guide, I will create a deeper version in the future with examples and stuff. Also if you have found some grammar mistakes or BBCode bugs, please leave a comment and I will fix it:)

If you liked the guide and want to learn more, follow me on YouTube Channel or Twitch Channel.
SPACE"Show me... The Path to Retribution!"

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