While the differences between Challenger players and those in Gold and Silver can be summed up in two words: “skill.” However, if we analyze the detailed factors behind these two words, we can uncover many tips to effectively climb the ranks, applicable for “tryharding” in the upcoming season.
Here are the biggest differences:
Questioning and Adaptability
As Dopa once said: “Challenger players may not know why X is strong (because it is instinct), but to play better, you must understand the reason behind it.”
For example, you should question why AD Katarina is strong? Why is Ashe support hot? Then, investigate and learn how to adapt to the current meta, ensuring you don’t get “lost” in the new updates of League of Legends.
Mindset While Playing
In most Challenger ranked games, players tend to chat less and ping more, while the “prodigies” do the opposite – rarely pinging but chatting a lot, and the purpose of chatting isn’t for communication but to “verbally duel” with the enemy team or their own teammates. Therefore, to “keep a cool head” like Challenger players, just “mute” the opponent.
Additionally, lower-ranked players tend to give up very early, losing all “fighting spirit” if they encounter disadvantages early in the game, leading to matches where the opponent can win without doing anything.
Movement
For talented players, moving at the right time and place is extremely important. For example, when the Dragon is about to spawn, you must move to control vision and secure the Dragon, while if the opponent is pushing the turret with five players, you should also focus on defending with teammates,… In contrast, many low-ranked players often… ignore the rest of the map, just farming without considering other factors.
Champion Pool
Since most champions in League of Legends have certain counter-matchups, Challenger players know how to play a large number of champions to bring out as needed. In contrast, Gold and Silver players usually master only one or two champions, becoming “wooden dolls” if their main champion gets banned.
Rune and Item Selection
In ranked mode, most players will know which champion they will face during the ban-pick phase (except in cases where the enemy team has flexible champions). This allows them to select the appropriate runes to gain advantages in lane and team fights. Lower-ranked players often overlook this, using a rune page that could work for… all champions.
Furthermore, purchasing the right items also helps make your match much easier. For example, when facing an opponent with strong healing abilities, Challenger players will definitely purchase items with Grievous Wounds early, while lower elo players often buy late or sometimes… not at all.
Understanding Win Conditions
With over 150 champions, League of Legends has hundreds of thousands of different team composition combinations, and each combination has a different win condition. Challenger players always know how to win, for example, whether to engage in team fights, split push, speed up the game, or stall for late-game items,…
In contrast, lower-ranked players often get swept up in the opponent’s playstyle, not knowing how to win even when they have some advantages.
Using the Map
A long time ago, many people jokingly said that Challenger players don’t ward much because they can guess where the enemy is even with a dark map, while Bronze players, even if they ward, do so without any purpose because… nobody cares about the map at all. Therefore, if you want to use the map like a Challenger player, you should learn how to ward at the right moments to know the enemy’s jungle path, thus guessing their position and ganking or counter-ganking appropriately.
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