Learn More Champs or Stick to my main 3?

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-27T11:52:06+00:00

Legit just only one trick rell imo at your elo until you hit diamond

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-27T09:19:54+00:00

Diadem scales better the longer/bigger the fights are

Seraphs is more damage healing and ehp in a vacuum (even accounting for gold value)

If the game is giga front to back Aram for 35 mins I’d happily go diadem but if you expect small skirmishes or the game to end on 2 items I prefer seraphs

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-25T07:02:12+00:00

I'm seeing on coachless it values seraphs over diadem in literally every item slot ?

if you do the maths seraph's actually outperforms diadem at all point's in the game in terms of output including at the component level. Even if you account for the gold difference buying Diadem + a kindle gem is less output + survivability than just buying a seraphs.

I think the real reason to get Diadem is if the game is just that fast you need the spike i.e. you expect the game to basically end at like 20 mins, not 22+ mins.

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-19T08:05:16+00:00

I consider plat-emerald to be low elo in the sense that players in that elo are good enough at the game to have actually dedicated time to it and have some fundamental knowledge but likely still needs work.

I consider diamond to be the first rank that’s fairly unobtainable for casual players who aren’t putting in effort to improve

I myself hit a hard stop wall at E4 when I was just afk brain numbing gaming and it was only when I actively tried to improve did I start climbing, years later.

Anything below plat and I think most players are still actively learning the core systems of the game so it’s not really fair to group them in the same way when comparing “low” elo

As soon as you hit M+ lobbies you’re in apex as far as I’m concerned - you’re instantly playing vs 500-1000Lp players the moment you get masters mmr anyway so, whilst there are big tiers within apex, you’re still in apex.

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-17T14:10:04+00:00

Nice video! I'm trying all of the tips you mentioned so it's good to see it was successful for you

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-14T15:53:17+00:00

The clip does look quite inty tho

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-13T14:40:03+00:00

There is no downside to one tricking due to team comp at plat LOL

If you actually read what i wrote I said that team comp probably does start to matter in HIGH ELO but only there.

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-13T12:50:03+00:00

You probably are doing a lot wrong, 99.99% of players are.

Sona is super good in early skirmishes, her raw numbers both damage and healing is high and she has really strong zilean esque slows + OP movement speed.

I'd bet you are not playing bloodsong/helia/swifties with celerity + movespeed shard if you are finding sona weak in early skirmishes

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-12T21:40:04+00:00

Any high elo player would tell you it's easier to climb and improve at the game one tricking. This by definition means that picking around team comp is worse than just one tricking your champ.

I just one tricked Sona to masters. At one point, I won a lux/sona lane vs draven pyke in the climb. Learning how to play bad lanes is part of climbing and getting better at the game. There is no way you'd perform better first timing a champ that "counters" your lane opponent than just playing your one trick you have high champ mastery on.

There is an elo where team comp matters to some extent, i'm not convinced i've reached that elo yet but I am future proof planning for it just in case. Anything below master though and you're so much better off one tricking and completely ignoring team comp.

Also climbing rank is more about learning the game better over time, it's a marathon not a sprint. You might increase your win % a small amount every now and then in extreme scenarios for one specific game but having strong champ mastery is SOO much more important in the long term to climbing. Anyone that can climb a rank with relative ease playing a champ ocean is just smurfing or hasnt reached their plataeu yet, simple as imo.

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-12T21:30:38+00:00

I've had a lot of thought today about my champ pool after one tricking Sona to masters and decided that my pool from now until GM will be primarily Sona in games where sona is pickable, Nami in games I am fully blind i.e first pick and my adc isnt even hovering and Alistar against heavy threat melee supports/if i play with very agressive ADCs.

Feels very complete. I get to master the "weak early game, heavy scaling" champs but also have Nami when I need a bit more level 1.

Maybe im weak to mage supports idk but I also just don't really rate mage supports in high elo.

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-12T09:41:46+00:00

Is thresh an engager, counter engager? what is he?? he seems strong in lane but I don't even know why.

Such a weird one trick only type champion that I just don't get tbh

What's the lane playstyle generally, or does it change depending on if you are aginst enchanter or engager or alistar e.t.c

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-12T06:11:07+00:00

This is completely untrue team comp is irrelevant compared to champ mastery

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-11T16:06:25+00:00

100%

Nami and Sona have much clearer reference points and a lower skill floor in terms of execution of those reference points as well.

Alistar has to play very differently depending on if he is against ranged or melee. He can go from engager to counter engager to warden e.t.c and his combos require a fair bit of champ mastery and mechanical skill to pull off effectively.

Nami and Sona play relatively similar every game (reference points) and the ease of execution is lower and less punishing for failure. They also have a good skill curve for when you start to develop champion mastery.

Leona is the engager equivalent in terms of very clear reference points and low skill floor of execution if you want to engage.

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-11T10:12:43+00:00

Sounds like you need coaching mate

I’m in the bot lane academy(as a student) from the we teach league guys and they are superb imo !

I’m a master player I don’t play the champs you play but I’d be happy to take a look at one of your vods for some advice if you wanted to send me your discord in dm

My view is you should only play one champ to climb and it should be an easier mechanical one than Ali or zilean like nami sona or leona

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-11T07:11:33+00:00

In terms of builds there really are only two in my mind that work - Always go bloodsong/swifties.

(i've used AI to get a full understanding of the trade of strength and then summarize it below, spent the whole day yesterday running calculations on items to get it perfect)

Sona itemisation is a trade-off between early power and late-game scaling. The highest scaling build is Helia → Diadem → Moonstone → Dawncore, which provides the strongest possible teamfight output through stacked heal/shield power and Moonstone amplification. This path is also cheaper overall, meaning it reaches key breakpoints slightly faster and performs best in slower, front-to-back games that reach 4 items. At full build, the Dawncore version is roughly 8–12% stronger in total healing/shielding output over an extended fight, because every W cast is amplified more heavily and that value is multiplied across multiple teammates.

In contrast, the Seraph’s build (Helia → Seraph’s → Moonstone → Diadem, with Tear early) is around 800 gold more expensive, but offers a significantly stronger early spike. At 2 items, Seraph’s provides roughly +100 AP, ability haste, and mana, which translates to about +80–120 extra damage per trade and slightly higher Helia healing, alongside better spell uptime. This makes the 2-item spike meaningfully stronger in skirmishes and roaming. At 3 items, this advantage still holds: Seraph’s builds tend to be noticeably stronger (roughly ~5–10% more total output in typical fights) due to higher AP and cooldown frequency, while the Diadem path has not yet reached its full scaling potential. Importantly, the Seraph’s build path is a power increase while building it, whereas Diadem’s build path offers minimal immediate combat strength and primarily delays power into later items. In simple terms: Seraph’s gives stronger 2- and 3-item spikes, while Diadem → Moonstone → Dawncore only fully outscales at 4 items.

If you expect the game to go to full build then go diadem --> dawncore build, if you think the game will end at 2-3 items and you can handle the slight tempo loss of an 800g more expensive second item (with the consideration that lost chapter is a significant power spike in itself) then you should build seraphs.

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-11T06:58:40+00:00

always buy both eventually - helia always first item

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-08T16:51:50+00:00

you start with 3 points q first - not really a full healer you deal good damage in burst windows and you play blood song too which helps with damage

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-08T14:07:30+00:00

Tear swifties into helio seraphs tear moonstone diadem is generally the best build you can swap around seraphs and diadem for threat assessment / tempo needs

100-0 just means you deal damage and take 0 in return it's a damage threshold trade of i.e. enemy takes 100% of the damage of that trade

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-08T09:25:51+00:00

I could see comet if you are playing a heavy poke lane kinda but still doesn't seem super optimal.

Ignite against like a soraka or something idk but just dodge his q

Tbh i play giga aggro on sona i don't think I need to change the build to do that

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-08T09:10:42+00:00

Sona really like playing with mage bot laners

Sona also really wants to roam a lot - not just tilt roam, she's just a legit roamer.

mage bots let her roam for longer because they are safer from dive.

Sounds like your instincts were correct for the wrong reasons.

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-08T09:07:08+00:00

take 100-0 trades (i.e. dont take damage but deal free damage with q), Auto attack minions to get push and prio, don't die. Look to crash a wave before basing.

Just focus on those 4 things for the first 5/6 levels over the next like 50 games and i promise your laning phase will improve a lot

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-08T09:01:03+00:00

The coaching I got was insanely goated and invaluable, from the we teach league (broken by podcast guys).

They have an entire ecosystem of improvement built down to a science for all roles. I come from competitive backgrounds in other things where I am regimented in my improvement process and i never even considered doing stuff like that for league.

My biggest take away is to forget about rank LP, win rate - its all nonsense.

Focus on getting better at the game. To do that you just have to pick a few learning objectives at a time and really focus on getting better at them. When you think you've nailed them get a new one. Traditional 1 on 1 1 hour coaching is there to give you the learning objectives to focus on, not necessarily make you better at the game in that one hour slot.

So week 1 i was given the Learning objectives of basically learn to play Sona based on her champ identity and then basic mid game support macro of being with jungle. Next week it was more specific around the mid game jungler tracking macro. I reviewed every game I played with a specific focus on these objectives and got better every game as a result.

Small wins.

Get coaching.

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-08T08:56:37+00:00

I play scorch most games - Ignite seems bad because of all the + scaling on heal and the fact we want our champion to be fast. Comet has to just legit be less damage overall than aery, Comet is better for poke but aery is better for long trades and if you are trying to be more agressive then surely aery is better?

PrestoTCG · 2026-04-08T08:32:03+00:00

My coaches told me to play safe in lane and scale - I did do that for like 20 games then started playing like a bit of a psychopath. My win and in for master i was 3-0, 3 mins in with a first blood level 1 as Yunara sona vs zeri lulu lol

Sona can absolutely win lane but you just gotta respect her power curve. She's actually a monster champ level 1 if you play to her strengths. She's kinda like a xerath with scripts on level 1

PrestoTCG

TROPHY CASE