How to reach Diamond in League of Legends
By Dakota Doney
Advice on how to reach Diamond in League of Legends
Reaching Diamond is something that has proven to be a puzzling concept.
On one hand, Diamond is a prestigious club that few are lucky enough to enter, but it’s also just another position below the best players. Diamond is by no means the best, and this is seen in the difference between Diamond 5 and Diamond 1 alone, but it is certainly something to be proud of. As someone who is lucky enough to have reached that goal, I want to talk about what steps I took that may be helpful to others trying to reach this milestone.
The problem is, there is no one way to achieve Diamond. Every person is different, so rather than telling you direct steps for success, I am going to provide you with a set of questions that will allow you to discover which way is best for you. Let’s begin!
Amount of games
This is a really important decision you have to make when you’re starting your grind to Diamond. Some players are capable of sitting down for 10-15 hour sessions and playing all through the day, but others struggle to play more than a few hours at a time. If you want to climb, you certainly must play at least a couple games a day, but beyond that is a personal preference that comes down to what you can handle.
It’s important to realize how important grinding games is. Unless you are playing way below whatever elo you actually belong in, you won’t be climbing at any insane rates — and that’s OK. You will make steady improvements if you are winning more than 50 percent of your games.
Something that you must keep in mind, however, is that after 600 games this season, I was still Gold 1. If I hadn’t made myself play so many games this season, I would not have ever reached Diamond, so consider what wins you could be missing out on by playing less.
Champion pool
Something that I hadn’t focused on was a champion pool, but once I decided I was only going to play a select few characters for every role, my elo skyrocketed. Spreading yourself too thin over so many characters will hold you back from reaching your peak on a set few. If you want to reach the highest rating possible, pick an easy, fun champ that you enjoy (and are good on) and spam games with them. This will allow you to master mechanics on the champion that may take a long time to learn, which will set you up for success against people on champs they’re just trying out. This is something I see even in Diamond, where somebody that might be better than me picks a champion they have a 30 percent win rate on, and it becomes an easy win.
Temperament
I’m not going to exaggerate or lie and say you need to be overly kind to every player, but at least not being a player that is willing to insult every mistake your team makes gives you a massive advantage. You don’t have to get along, just don’t be an instigator and mute whenever necessary. You need to have a clear head if you want to climb. And at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is your own play.
Meta
This doesn’t mean you need to pick the OP flavor of the month champion, but it does mean you need to be up to date on your bans. Unless you have a particular champion that is relatively strong that you always struggle with, ban the champions that typically carry solo queue games to avoid losses. I ALWAYS ban Graves right now, because of a combination of those two factors.
For a good tier list tailored to your division, check out this video.
To be honest, there is no one special key to reaching your goal. Just keep working at it and do everything you feel is necessary to get you there. In my specific case, I played games consistently until I reached it, but if that tires you out, find whatever works for you, and keep at it. Good luck summoners.
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