How to climb in League of Legends solo queue: 10 habits
To climb in solo queue you don’t need a secret build: you need to repeat a handful of good decisions more reliably than the players you meet. The ten habits below hold on any patch and in any role. Work on one at a time, check it after every game, and let the rest follow.
· 5 min read · By Gankademy
Die less
Every death hands the enemy gold, experience and time with you off the map. Most of them start with the same few decisions.
1. Look at your minimap every few seconds
Many deaths that feel unfair were on the minimap a few seconds earlier. Build a reflex: a glance after each last hit, each spell, each step into the river. The goal is not to see everything — it is to notice who is missing.
2. With a big bounty, never walk into the fog alone
When you are worth a lot of gold, one death erases your lead and gives it to the enemy. Gankademy’s rule says it in one line: “Big bounty: never enter fog alone.” Take the warded path, go with a teammate, or wait.
3. After a won fight, check the map before going again
A kill feels like momentum, and momentum makes you greedy. The second fight right after a good one is where many leads are thrown: you are low, your spells are down, their team is arriving. “Play paid off? Check the map before the next commit.”
4. Respect your opponent’s power spikes
When your lane opponent has a level or an item more than you, the trade they offer is usually the one they want. “They’re a level or an item ahead? Don’t force the trade.” Farm safely and wait for your own item, or for your jungler.
Be where the game is played
Games are won around objectives. Being there, on time and with your team, matters more than one more wave.
5. Count before you fight
Before you walk into a fight or an objective, count: how many of them, how many of you, who is missing. A fight four against five is usually lost before it starts. “Down a player? Don’t contest — trade elsewhere.” Take a tower or a camp on the other side of the map instead.
6. Engage only when your team can follow
The best engage in the world is a death if nobody is there. Before you go in, look at where your teammates are and what they can do. “Before you engage, check your team can follow. If not, wait.”
7. Get to objectives early, with vision
Dragons and Baron go to the team that arrives first, and together. When one is coming, leave the far side lane, ward the area and group up. Two of Gankademy’s rules cover it: “Objective in a minute? Ward its area before you go.” and “Objective coming up? Be there with your team, not alone in a side lane.”
8. Know where their jungler is before you push
Pushing your wave is fine when you know their jungler is far away. Keep track of where they were last seen — a camp taken, a gank in another lane. “Know where their jungler is before you push your lane.”
Keep your edge
9. Farm when nothing else is happening
When there is no fight to join and no objective to take, minions are free gold. Gankademy’s in-game reminder shows your CS per minute in a corner for that reason: it is the simplest number to improve on your own.
10. Protect your focus
Solo queue is a long series of games, and your habits only hold when you are paying attention. Mute what tilts you, take a break after a game that annoyed you, and queue when you can focus. One focused game teaches more than three angry ones.
How to work on a habit
Pick one habit, not ten. Write it down where you will see it before each game. After every game, ask one question: did I keep it? Count the games where it held and the games where it broke.
When it holds several games in a row, it is on its way to being a habit; move on to the next one. To find where to start, review a few of your games with the 5-step method and see which mistake comes back.
With Gankademy
Gankademy turns these habits into three missions per role, drawn from what your own games show (or, until they show enough, from your role’s fundamentals), among 22 principles. Ten of them are measured straight from Riot’s match data after every Summoner’s Rift game, for free — giving a big bounty, contesting while outnumbered, dying right after a fight you won, missing your team’s objectives, not warding before them. Your debrief, about a minute after the game, says which missions you kept and the moments it rests on.
In game, a small reminder in a corner of your screen shows your three rule words, your build with the gold still needed per item, and your CS per minute — no timer, no enemy tracking, no alert. A bad habit follows a visible path: seen once, watched, confirmed, then broken after three clean games in a row. See the missions.
Questions
How many games a day should I play to climb?
There is no magic number. Play as many games as you can play focused: a habit only holds when you pay attention, and tired games tend to undo the work of the good ones.
Should I stick to one role and a few champions?
It helps. With one main role and a small pool, every game teaches you something about the same situations, and habits build faster. Our draft guide explains how to build that pool.
How long does it take to climb?
Nobody can honestly promise a rank or a date. What you control is your habits; the rank follows over many games, with ups and downs along the way.