Top 10 Things High Elo Players Do Differently

What Do High Elo Players Do Differently?

The mythical high Elo player is something that varies to different people. For purposes of this article, I'm going to use high diamond and above as a reference for "high Elo".

Players often wonder what they can do to take their game to the next level. Sometimes it's the mental challenge and sometimes it's raw technical ability. However, there are certain simple tactics that are much easier to do that will bring your game to the next level.

All you need to know is that they exist.

Check out the top ten things high Elo players do differently from other players and see how you can incorporate it into your gameplay!

What Do High Elo Players Do Differently?

The mythical high Elo player is something that varies to different people. For purposes of this article, I'm going to use high diamond and above as a reference for "high Elo".

Players often wonder what they can do to take their game to the next level. Sometimes it's the mental challenge and sometimes it's raw technical ability. However, there are certain simple tactics that are much easier to do that will bring your game to the next level.

All you need to know is that they exist.

Check out the top ten things high Elo players do differently from other players and see how you can incorporate it into your gameplay!

Contest Scuttle Crab

Rift Scuttler gives a minimum of 115 experience, the same as Red/Blue buff and more than Raptors/Wolves. Not only this, but it's a free 90-second ward and the only camp that doesn't beat you silly when you're trying to fight it. This makes it not only worthwhile for junglers to pick it up, but also worthwhile for your laners to help contest it. That means even dropping that precious cannon minion is worth it if you can save your jungler and kill the enemy one. Snowballing map control is always a priority.

Prioritize Team Fighting

Similar to the Scuttle Crab, higher division players prioritize team fighting over farming and especially tower platings. This doesn't mean that you continuously group up and try and force team fights, but if you see an ally about to engage or get engaged on, this means you drop everything you're doing and immediately start moving towards the fight. Dying in the game is one of the biggest disadvantages in the game, and if you can prevent a death you should always do so.

Farm Different Lanes

At many divisions players have this odd habit of all grouping mid and continuously pushing together as a team. While this might sound like a good idea, oftentimes it's difficult to actually shove in the enemy turret and results in losing farm in sidelanes. In other situations, you might see three people go to farm the largest minion wave lane instead of all just going to different lanes to maximize your gold. At higher divisions players understand that it's a team game and all farming the same wave is a waste of time.

Play Around Objectives

Watching Dragon, Baron, and Scuttle crab timings is important. Sometimes players choose to farm a little too long or harass a little too much instead of recalling to pick up items and wards. This results in a fast loss of objective control. Higher division players know when to give up farm or chasing enemy champions to ensure they maximize their chances of securing objectives.

Control River Vision

Just contesting Scuttle Crab is a start, but not quite enough. Good players understand that controlling river vision means you control the impact of roams and thus the chances of a bad fight. There are only so many ways that the enemy jungle can cross over to your side of the map. If you can see them coming every time, dying is a low probability. 

Freeze Lanes

Freezing lanes is an art, not a science. Sometimes it's good to freeze your lane, especially when objectives are slim and nobody looks like they're fighting anytime soon. Almost every division has players that just mindlessly auto-attack minions for the "minion advantage", even if they have no intention of going all-in and fighting. If you can keep three ranged minions close to your side of the lane, you not only increase your safety, but also greatly increase the danger your enemy lane faces.

Avoid Bad Match-Ups

One-tricks tend to have some issues with this, but the more you go up in divisions, the more players see the enemy team and not just their own lane. Based on what they're seeing, they pick champions that aren't being full-countered by the enemy team. The more you understand which champions work well in which situations, the less chance you have of picking sub-optimally.

Multi-purpose Summoner Spells

When you're in the heat of a battle sometimes it's tough to think of all the possibilities. However, higher division players make sure to use their summoner spells for more than one purpose. The biggest example is Flash, which should be used defensively and offensively at the same time. By flashing an enemy spell and repositioning for an offensive spell, you're optimizing the use of the Summoner.

MIA Ping Other Lanes

We're not talking about question mark pinging your allies here. The higher you go, the more you'll see players pinging missing on lanes where the enemy laners is actually missing. The reason for this is that players are constantly aware of where everyone on the enemy team is. You'll never see someone complaining about not getting a MIA ping, but of course you'll have people complaining if you don't follow your laner.

Play TONS of Games

Here's the one thing that high division players really have over lower division players. Some people might hammer out tons of games at low divisions, but mid-division players tend to get to a certain division and then desperately hold onto their rank. Truly high division players play a ton of games, not only to get better but also to take away the randomness of getting bad teammates. In the long run, bad teammates can't hold you down if you spam enough games.

What do you think of the tips above? Got any more of your own to add? Comment below!