It's taken awhile but I've hit gold.

When I first got placed in ranked I was in Silver 3. After a little work I managed to work my way up to Silver 2. Sadly after that I was knocked back down to 5 by a long losing streak. Sometimes it is impossible to get out of a losing streak and you just have to persevere through it. There's a reason I haven't been posting much, and that's because I wanted to at least get gold for a little credibility.

I'm a little proud of myself.

Being in Silver 5 for an extended period of time has definitely made me a better player. You have to carry pretty much every single game to get out of there. I found that if I didn't take a leading role such as top or mid, we lost almost every time. For those of you wanting to get out of division 5, my best advice is to be patient and work your way out of there slowly. Make sure you play your best champions, and tell your team what to do if you have to. If you have a choice between an inhibitor and baron, take the inhibitor because then you can take baron easily. Don't get frustrated, you will lose more if you do.

Once I got back up to Silver 4, I climbed my way up to 1st division in a few days. A large factor in that was luck, but I managed to win a lot of the games for my team by playing hyper carries such as Jax and Diana. Finally, yesterday I undertook 3 series in the space of 10 hours. I was determined to get gold, and after a large amount of matches I made it. Now I need Platinum, yay. Good luck to everyone else trying to climb up the ranks!

Vi hints and tips

Vi is one of my favorite champions, even after the nerf she received. She's a very potent pick in many situations. I know it's an awful pun, but Vi is a very viable jungle at the moment. She can hold her own in top lane, but personally I think she is more suited to jungling. As a bruiser champion, she is able to initiate effectively and throw a veritable wrench in the opposing teams plans.

Vi can rape towers with her E.

Ultimately Vi is a rather easy champion to pick up. There is a degree of finesse to mastering her, which mostly lies around positioning your abilities correctly. After playing many ranked games with her and retaining a good ratio of wins and scores, I believe I can provide a guide with enough information to help other players master our punch happy friend. So take a look at this guide, it might help you improve on Vi. Bear in mind, I prefer to play her jungle so the advice will be centered around that.

Vi stands in dead Karthus and doesn't afraid of anything.

Vi: hints and tips
- When starting the game in the jungle, kill Wolves or Wraiths and proceed to take the nearest buff smiteless (you don't need a huge leash, just a reasonable one). Then head over to the other buff and smite it. You will end up at level 3 at the earliest possible stage which allows you to perform a potent gank with all of your abilities.
- Vi has a fantastic clear speed, even post nerf. Take every good gank opportunity, you should be able to keep up.
- When laning instead of jungling, you won't have a blue buff or a Spirit Stone. Therefore, manage your mana efficiently or purchase something like a Frozen Heart for more sustain.
- Lifesteal is good on Vi, but it's not always necessary. I prefer Blade of the Ruined King over Bloodthirster, but it's down to preference.
-  You can use your Vault Breaker to dash over a lot of the terrain walls. It's possible to make it over a lot of them without fully charging it. Practice getting over walls when you have the chance, it could save your life.
- Vi's passive may seem a little weak at first, but Blast Shield is actually incredibly useful. It allows you to win early trades, tank minion waves, and even return to a fight on low health and survive. Keep an eye on the cooldown, and use it to your advantage. With a few health items it scales well into late game.
- Vi is really slow, so plan accordingly. Try ganking lanes from the optimal angle at the right time. Sometimes it's a good idea to get sight wards so you can enter a lane without being noticed.
- Denting Blows (W) is a great steroid for taking down any target. Getting a little attack speed can compliment this.
- Excessive Force (E) has a huge area of effect. It can clear creep waves and camps with ease. It's also lethal for taking down champions. Try to position yourself well in a team fight because the splash damage can and will kill champions.
- Assault and Battery (R) is Vi's game changer. Using this ability correctly is vital. Most of the time you will want to use it to tunnel a dangerous threat in a team fight, such as the enemy carries. However, it can also be used defensively to peel for your team. Only experience will teach you how to use it best.
- Always remember that your excessive force should be hitting multiple targets. 
- When typically ganking a lane, you want to come in from behind your opponent. Either land a Q to knock your opponent back, or use it to close the distance for an ultimate. If you manage to successfully get on your enemy, it should guarantee a flash or a kill. Vi is amazing at ganking even without her ult, so don't be afraid to try before 6.
- Vi is not really a main tank. She can perform the role but she's more of an initiating bruiser. Bear this in mind in champion select, because she can't take the frontline alone.
- Manamune is actually a viable purchase on Vi if she's laning. I still prefer her in the jungle though.
- Don't underestimate Vi's knockback. I've turned many fights on low health with a good knockback followed with Blast Shield and Excessive Force.
- Remember your role in a team fight. Tunneling a single target won't always be the best thing to do. Always remember to peel when you can.
- Vi's E resets her auto attack, so press it just after hitting an enemy. It's also amazing for pushing towers. Don't be afraid to split push.

Ezreal hints and tips

As of late Ezreal has become uncommon to see in a match. Even more so after the small movement speed nerf he received. Ez is not a bad champion. But he is a situational one. To be the most effective on our prodigal explorer, it's vital to pick up a few early game kills and secure momentum to steamroll the mid game. There's a common misconception to Ezreal, that his late game is bad. That is wildly incorrect. He is only useless at the end of a game when either the enemy team has too much health or if the enemy carry out scales him. For example: you can't expect an Ezreal to compete with AD carries like Vayne, Kog, or Tristana unless he gets a good lead.

Ezreal isn't so great on the 3v3 map.

Fact of the matter is, Ezreal is a very difficult champion to master. To keep up with other champions you need to consistently land all of your skillshots, and gain a good lead early on. He can even win many 1v1 situations if you play him correctly. Regardless of the haters, Ez is a fantastic champion and I though I would provide a guide with hints and tips on how to play him. I am not the best Ezreal, but I have enough experience and research to play him right.

So for you lovely people who want to get better at Ezreal and master him- try to incorporate some of these hints and tactics into your strategy.

Sometimes you can't get ahead in the lane, so you just have to outfarm them.

Ezreal: Hints and Tips

- Some players are best on Ezreal using smartcast. Try it out and see which works best for you.
- Using your Arcane Shift is the key to winning most fights. Using it offensively can get you killed, whereas teleporting too late will leave you missing out on kills and assists. Remember you can shorten the cooldown by landing skillshots.
- The best way to win trades in the lane is to land your skillshots. You don't have to trade to hit your opponent with abilities.
- When any kind of confrontation is incoming, begin stacking your passive up immediately. The attack speed bonus can win you the day. 
- Early game you have an unparalleled ability to burst your opponents without trading. Practice landing an auto-attack, follow it up with a Mystic Shot, and finish it off with another attack. This combo should strip away a formidable amount of HP before your opponent reacts. You can decide to continue hitting them or port away on top.
- Don't take minion damage. At the beginning of the game it's your time to shine. Ez takes a lot of damage and doesn't have much health. Don't lose it to the creep wave.
- In a teamfight, use your ultimate at the beginning on as many targets as possible. Trueshot Barrage serves two purposes: To unload damage for your team, and to instantly bring up your passive stacks. Aside from teamfights, use your ult to snipe kills, start a fight, or even clear minions.
- Essence Flux doesn't do much damage when you're the AD carry. However, it does increase the attack speed of your allies. Use it on them when you push down towers, or in a team battle.
- It should only take a few games to get to grips with the terrain that you can Arcane Shift over. Always stay near a wall you can use to escape or reposition yourself.
- Don't be a hero. Too many Ezreal players play him like Rambo. If you get hit by one stun or the wrong champions sticks to you, you're dead. Learn when it's a good time to go out and poke for your team, and when to stay at the back. Staying at the back is boring, but you will have to do it a lot.
- Icebourne Gauntlet will not make you a good Ez player. It's a good situational purchase, if the opposite team has a lot of attack damage or if you are desperate for a slow. Trinity Force is still acceptable if your team is coordinated and can peel for you. Sometimes it's a better idea to just build Ezreal like a normal carry.
- Building a little health early can help a lot. A couple of Doran's blades or a Phage can help you survive against high burst like LeBlanc.
-  CS is important. Ezreal is a powerhouse in the lane. You should try to zone your opponent and get ahead. Use your Q to farm if necessary. Just make sure you're last hitting to the best of your ability.
- Always try to take part in the earliest teamfights. Ezreal can do a lot of damage and any kills will put you ahead. Staying ahead is probably the biggest key to winning a game on Ez.
-  Once again. Stay at the back! In a teamfight, you want to wait until all of the hard CC has been used and even then you can still get destroyed.
- When in the lane, try to poke them down a little with your skillshots before forcing trades. That way if they fight back you can kill them outright. If you get an enemy to 70% as you hit level six, using your full combo followed by an ultimate is a guaranteed kill.
- Remember to build to counter the enemy team. The same build won't always work, so mix it up a little. That doesn't mean buy armor or magic resist, that means buy armor pen and crit if the opposing team is excessively tanky, or lifesteal if it can win you a few fights.
- Warmog's and Guardian Angel are fantastic items if you're getting tunnel visioned by an annoying player. Once you buy it you can probably kill them 1v1.
- Try not to pick Ezreal against a bruiser heavy or tank based team. He can kite them, but he sucks at killing them. Always focus the weaker targets first.
- Red buff is amazing early game on Ezreal, as soon as your lane is over either ask your jungler nicely for one or just take it from somebody.

I hope my advice will help some of you play Ezreal better. I know a lot of it is common sense and knowledge, but sometimes even the best of players forget the basics. But remember most of all to have fun! Because that will make you play better too.

Preachy vs Phreak

I was recently informed that one of my friends, a fantastic player named Preachy managed to take down Phreak on stream. What's more, Phreak even called my buddy a bad Elise. I am quite proud of this feat, it's just a wonderful demonstration of how game creators aren't great at their own production.

I hope a lot of you have seen this, I found it hilarious:

Ahri is a fantastic mid, have some tips and tricks!

If you don't know who you're up against, or you just plain can't decide who to play in mid- play Ahri. She's my favorite champion for mid as of late. With a slow start to level 6, she scales very well into mid and late game. She can trade reasonably well in the lane, and with a little ability power she can farm with ease using the orb. Ahri's charm also gives her a potent hard CC which is useful for every situation. Her ultimate gives her excellent chasing and escaping abilities, giving her a burst of mobility over almost every champion.

I wish I waited to buy the Foxfire skin.

Ahri is a useful addition to any team. She puts out extreme damage in team fights, while retaining the ability to 1v1 and 2v1 in many situations. She can perform as an assassin and a mage. Landing a taunt at the right time will win your team a fight, and with such high mobility you can always access the highest threats.

My favorite part is not many people know how to successfully counter our foxy lady. People have a common misconception that Ryze beats Ahri in the lane. He doesn't. Kassadin and Diana are the hardest counters, but they can't shut you down if you play smart. So when in doubt, play Ahri!

I thought I'd provide a few tips and tricks for people trying to learn Ahri, since I've played her a lot and learnt a few simple things on the way.

I usually do very well in ranked on Ahri.

Ahri tips and tricks:
 
- Do not try to outright kill someone before level 6. You won't beat a competent player without help or your ultimate. You can trade fairly well against most champions however, so don't be afraid to fight back.

- Landing your charm is the key part to succeeding on Ahri. One charm means you can fire off the rest of your spells without missing. Most opponents will stay out of range, so if you're sure it's going to be 1v1 you can use your ultimate to quickly get in range and hit a surprise charm.

- Each Foxfire has an individual targeting mechanism. Therefore it's ideal to be away from minions before casting it to gain maximum burst. I usually use it as I roll forwards with my ultimate.

- Never go rambo with your ultimate. Just because you can move faster than any opponent doesn't mean they can't hit you with crowd control. Only charge straight in if you're sure you can get a quick kill. Remember to keep one charge or a flash to roll away afterwards.

- In a teamfight don't use your ultimate straight away. Continue to land your orb and standard spells until you actually need to ulti away or you have an opportunity to take down an important target. I always try to retain one charge because it saves me every game. Don't think of your ultimate as a damage ability. Think of it as a repositioning tool.

- Ahri with a Rylai's is amazing at kiting. If you can retain a high distance from people chasing you, you can keep firing your abilities at them until they die. Chasing a good Ahri can be as stupid as chasing Singed.

- Your orb deals true damage on the return path. Despite this, you will still have trouble taking down enemies with a lot of health. Focus on killing the ADC and squishies. 

Silver division feels like the new elo hell.

Silver division for the new elo hell!

So I've been dipping in and out of elo hell ever since I started playing ranked last year. Instead of arguing whether elo hell exists or not, let's just say it does for the moment. Anyway, I initially stopped playing ranked because most of the time, I was being placed with players worse than the ones I'd get in normal games.

The common response for people complaining about elo hell is to 'carry harder'. Not all games are winnable, but if you are skilled enough- you can carry your team to victory in enough games to get out. Which is true, to some degree. But what about the players who deserve to be in high gold, or low platinum? They are better than the average chumps, but they aren't quite good enough to carry themselves out of a low elo slump. They are just unlucky.

Yeah, I'm bad huh.

Now I'm not complaining at all. I get angry at some games, I never rage at my team though. I keep it to myself. I like playing down here, it forces me to try hard and perfect new champions to counter people. If I don't win the game alone, then we lose. This image proves it. The only games I've won today are the ones that I snowballed my lane hard- and then stomped other lanes too.

I just wonder how many other people out there are stuck at low silver like me. Well, I'm not exactly stuck- I can choose to play my best champions repeatedly and I'll climb back up. But it really does feel like the new elo hell. At least one in five games somebody disconnects or leaves. And every game has a troll, it seems I get them on my team more often than not. I would make a pun about Riot hating me, but everyone hates me.

Silver promotion!

After a series of victories I managed to up my Silver rank from 4 to 3. It's not much, but it's a start. Getting to 100 points for your qualifying matches can be troublesome at first, but I can't imagine it being as frustrating as losing your qualifiers and being reset to 0 again (which hasn't happened to me yet).

Jax's Vigilantes for the win!

There is a huge amount of disappointment on the forums with the new ranked system. People don't want to fight their way up divisions, they want elo to be visible again. However, the majority of the issues seem to be the same as they were before the new League Points were brought out. Trolls and feeders ruin somebodies game, and apparently it's the new systems fault.

I like the new system, I'm just a little upset you can drop down a division if you lose several times at 0 points. Sure, it's not happened to me yet but I bet it could happen if I get a bad enough teams repeatedly. What does everyone else think about it? You might as well leave a comment here, because Riot are ignoring the complaints on the forums.

Lee Sin cosplays!

I love Lee Sin, I think he's my new favorite champion. He's an early game powerhouse, and with a couple of kills you can't be slowed down until late game. But then you drop off late anyway. I didn't think he would have any cosplay, but I found loads! Looks like I'm not the only one with a mancrush on our blind warrior.

I'm very impressed with all of these cosplays, Lee Sin is not an easy costume to make. Especially the one with the hood. I wish someone had made a ward for him to carry, considering they are his best friend. Anyway, be sure to comment with your appreciation for Lee Sin! Or hate on him, if he's too awesome for you.

Best costume NA! Or wherever that is.

New ranked system activated and ready to play!

For those of you who play ranked, the overhaul to the elo system is up and it looks awesome. Each bracket is divided into divisions, I myself got placed into Silver 4. Yes, I'm awful. But I'm actually going to play ranked now, so that should change soon.

ooooh doesn't it look new and shiny.

The new layout looks very nice, and since you can't drop down a bracket people aren't just going to stop at gold. It encourages you to push for higher, so get playing ranked people! I like the idea of collecting 100 points and then if you win the best of 3 you get to go up a division. It's a good idea on paper, but a little frustrating in reality.

I expect you all to try a few ranked games with the new system, and then post a comment with what you think! Have fun ladies and gentlemen!

Akali cosplays!

It's been a while since I put up some League of Legends cosplay, so let's have some beautiful Akali costumes shall we? And by beautiful costume, I mean the gorgeous women wearing them of course. Much better than the sweaty ass Garens I posted last time!

Everyone seems eager to dress up in her skins as opposed to original Akali, what's up with that? Regardless, they all look amazing. If you like League of Legends cosplay or even have your own to share, post a comment!