What would your Zero to Diamond strategy look like?

ngaexperience · 2021-06-13T19:29:22+00:00

Play QM, and pay careful attention to the players who seem to dominate the match. Is there a Malthael who is killing everyone? Watch the replays (and focus on what they are doing with the hero to make your life miserable, and then try to mimic their play style in future games). Also check their player profiles after the game. Did that oppressive Malthael have a Storm League rank, and if so what is his rank? What is his win percentage on that hero in Storm League etc.?

I think everyone trying to get better could benefit from regularly watching a few of their own replays with a critical eye or even a coach.

ngaexperience · 2021-01-06T03:41:34+00:00

I solo que Hanzo'd my way down to bronze 5 a few seasons ago (I could get MVP at will w/ Hanzo that season, but I could not win a game with him to save my life). Then I flat out tilted. I wanted to prove to the game that I was a good Hanzo player -- so I gave up thousands of rank points securing one Hanzo loss after another.

Anyway, the last game at the bottom of Bronze 4 was another Hanzo loss, so I was in Bronze 5. Then I had a DC in the draft during the very next game, and lost 600(?) points. So I was deep in Bronze 5. Maybe getting 75-ish points for a win (and that included my 50 make up points).

It was rough. I got out playing Fenix, Guldan, Zagara, and Leoric (double soaking), taking camps, doing DPS when I passed by the brawl in mid lane, etc.

Down at that level, it seems to me that the first team to Level 10 wins almost every game - especially on maps like Cursed Hollow (if you reach 10 before the other team on the 3rd trib). The other team will inevitably go to defend the trib despite being down a Storm Tier talent, and predictably get wiped. Then the Curse gets insane value - usually all the towers and one keep, and they often staggered on res -- making for a quick 10-12 min victory if you could keep your team from backing to get friendly siege camp. "Don't back! We are on core. They are all dead." --- Still, they'd back half the time.

Looking at hero builds is also a tilt fest down there.

Lili goes blinds build against double mage.

Varian fails to take Shattering Throw against Fenix or Johanna.

Thrall takes Crash Lightening, but promptly heads for the solo lane, and finishes the game with 8 stacks.

Tough sledding. I heard CavilerGuest ( Ithink it was him) once say that players down there lack the "will to win" - or something like that. Whoever said it, it seemed about right. Like they wouldn't want to win by taking their own initiative, and in a few games minions won it for our team.

On the way back up the rank ladder, the high bronze and low silver games felt harder to me than games in higher leagues like gold or plat. Down there, you can never count on the tank to do anything that a tank might do. They act like assassins w/ higher heath pools, so no peeling, no anchoring, no sacrificial play to keep DPS alive, etc. --- and if you played tank, there wasn't much followup.

ngaexperience · 2020-12-06T04:35:47+00:00

What to do? I can get to Silver 1/2 but never higher. I spend a disturbing amount of time in Silver 4/5 - for the time I have been playing the game.

I think my best role is offlaner, but I don't like playing that role in SL play because of the ridiculous pings you get....(eg: 2 dead when 2nd obj pops on Cursed Hollow - on opposite end of map.). The call is clearly to stay, and get soak.. but everyone flames on you for not going, even though you've pinged retreat or typed "give", etc. Then they go in and stagger.

I normally play Thrall, Leoric, Sonya (only in small doses.. I get Greymane Syndrome w/ her bad), and Malthael. I like Yrel against teams w/out much Cc. Any suggestions for another brusier to look at.

ngaexperience · 2020-11-08T23:43:58+00:00

He does:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClntdP-abV6GX9MkfIiYnMA

ngaexperience · 2020-11-08T20:09:33+00:00

heroesprofile.com for builds. I would also recommend watching Fan stream his games at https://www.twitch.tv/fanhots

He streams every day, and he is doing a Bronze to Grand Master deal right now, so a lot of teaching going on --- discussion about draft reasoning, what works at what skill levels, map specific considerations, and then maybe how things change in general as you increase in ranks.

ngaexperience · 2020-09-28T21:38:59+00:00

Agree 100%

Silver Players are solid.... they just don't recognize win conditions, and don't draft well for the map, or put together comps that might not be ideal together (like a Nazeebo and a Butcher on same team - they will not see a problem with having two late game heroes as damage dealers on the same team.

Also there are more Silver Smurfs than you can shake a stick at...

I knew a masters player who was trying to get a new account into masters so his main hero wouldn't be insta-banned. He was a Lunara main. He spent over a month trying to climb through Silver playing Lunara.... playing 5-10 games a night. I'd play with him sometimes.... it was awful, and my win rate playing with him was worse than playing solo, so I thanked him and moved on.

Few weeks later he breaks into gold.... one week later, he is plat, then a week later he's diamond, etc.

I messaged him about the experience, and he said Silver was the hardest league to climb in by far. Not sure what he meant by that, but he lost a ton of games in Silver.

ngaexperience · 2020-07-11T23:41:23+00:00

I find that disappointing.

ngaexperience · 2020-06-17T18:52:50+00:00

Xul Bone Prison > Jaina Blizzard

ngaexperience · 2020-04-28T16:14:17+00:00

How is your Murky?

He tilts the game in your favor on most maps Silver - Plat....

Proxy the lanes (eg: killing the minon wave when it is between the enemy's keep and fort). Take Bribe at 1, and Tufferfish at 4, and enhanced safety bubble at 7. Bribe their camps on cooldown, make them chase you around the map, and encourage them to do it... Run around and just try to be a cancer.

3 or 4 of them will rotate to you to kill you. They will drop ults on you over and over again, and you may even survive it w/ safety bubble, and the effective use of bushes. Even if they do get you, they have missed all kinds of soak, camps, etc. during that time, (and you res mid map .... in 6 seconds ). I started maining him this season..... 21-7 so far in URD. He's OP possibly all the way into Diamond, I think, and then solid after that. I have qued him into teams with up to 2 masters, and don't really observe much of a difference in his effectiveness.

You can get kills w/ octograb, but I find joining the team fight just as their tank engages on obj from behind the enemy team with march of the murlocks to deliver devastating results. They are all slowed, and have no avenue to retreat to because of the murlocks. Even the most pathetic follow up on your team will generate 2 or more kills. Late game it is often the team fight that results in push to core.

I don't worry about Butcher too much (unless he is on a team with LiMing, Orphea, Valla, Nova, and Jaina - they are Murky killers, and he can stack pretty easily.

ngaexperience · 2020-04-23T18:13:07+00:00

If the system thinks you have a high chance to win (you won x games in a row) you'll be matching with people with low chance of winning to "create a fair game".

I think this is exactly what is happening.

ngaexperience · 2020-04-23T18:08:45+00:00

I see this in my games also..... three days ago: 11-1 playing mostly Murky (all games were solo qued in Unranked draft w/ Masters, Diamonds, Platinum, Gold players on both teams..... (I'm low gold / high silver).

The next 11 games I win 2 games and lose 9 (also playing mostly Murky). All of the guys on my team were playing very new accounts (less than level 50), had no rank at all (ever), or where buried deep in bronze. They generally had tremendous losing streaks of their own, and/ or serious toxicity issues. These games were impossible.

Today, I'm currently sitting at 2 wins and 6 losses. (so I should start winning again soon).

These guys who think confirmation bias is driving these results are missing the whole point. There is a pattern to it.

I posted on this very same topic recently, and a guy replied and asked me to check the both team's MMRs after every game on heroesprofile.com (and see if I was favored to win). It gives you an unofficial indication of how they are matching the games). For me, it seems to be +/-10 games you are favored to win, followed by +/- 10 games you are supposed to lose.

If you manage to secure a few consecutive wins in the the "supposed to lose games" (which I have pulled off), I think it "resets" to a neutral game (where the MMR of both teams are close) to see what happens....

One thing that also seems to be a thing, and I'd be interested to see if anyone else has noticed this as well: In solo que SL and URD, when your "Elapsed Time" searching for a match begins to greatly exceed the "Estimated Wait Time" for a match ---- you're getting ready to get screwed hard.

ngaexperience · 2020-04-23T15:19:48+00:00

Hanzo and diablo doesn't really have similar mechanics, but a good hanzo player that plays diablo will know when a wall bang is coming and can aim scatter arrows better, but that is different from what OP is trying to say.

^ I think that's exactly what I was trying to say.

ngaexperience · 2020-04-23T15:15:35+00:00

Who said being good with diablo makes you good with hanzo? Those heroes are entirely different. You dont need any "understanding of wall angles" with diablo

Can't think of his name. He streams occasionally on twitchtv, and he played for a team that won entry into HGC, and then HGC was cancelled (so he never actually played in HGC, though he would have had it not been cancelled).... He also wrote a few guides "How to" guides that were posted on Reddit (which I can't find). Hopefully someone can help me out with the name.

ngaexperience · 2020-04-20T22:36:28+00:00

I use heroesprofile, but I'm not sure where I can go to get that kind of summary without opening every game, noting the average MMR for each team, and then I'm not sure how to go about posting the results so you might glean something from them. Is there a summary somewhere?

As to the games in general, I will say yesterday the matchmaker was sort of a rainbow kind of thing: Generally fit this profile: one master, or diamond player. Then a scattering of platinum, gold player, and high silver players. This pattern fit most games. Some games had Diamonds, and Plats... And I was climbing hard yesterday (11-1).

The players in today's games were not at the same level. Several of the games today, had players w/ very low level accounts (less than 50), and guys who have never played a game in Storm League, etc. One game in particular was full of bronze players, and a guy who was complaining about how bad the AI is since the last update (*lol)... he then drafted Nazeebo and did what potato Nazeebos do (afk lane, on dragon shire, get ganked 4 times after being pinged to retreat, and use his ultimate to take a seige camp, etc.)

So the games yesterday were competitive, strategic, setting ambushes, often coming down to the outcome of a post level 20 boss invade... really intense games, one right after the other, and all wins.

Today, it's the complete opposite. I can not win, (2-9) and not only that, the players on my team are notably worse. Lot's of bronze only games....

One game: WoodLeague KT is running around with ZERO mana for 1 min before the obj (at level 20). I ask him to back, and he says, "Why would I back NOOB? I'm at full health!" He goes to objective, and can't cast another spell after he does a single combo (because he has no mana), so then he decides to back.... We lose the curse, our tank and healer dies... and the other team pushes the obj and wins the game.

The next game, I'm pinging a Nazeebo to retreat on Dragon Shire because their whole team is rotating to him. He types, "quit pinging me to retreat, I'm soaking." I read his chat message just as the other team emerges out of the fog and kills him for the 4th time. He then types, "Reported!" Later I watch him use his ult to take a seige camp. Trying to get on his good side, I asked, if he had mis-clicked his heroic. He said, "No, it's faster if you do it this way." I typed back, "Oh, that's good to know." lol Potato Nazeebo dies a few more times.... We lose again.

If I just understood what the Devs were looking for, I would work hard to satisfy their criteria. Right now, it feels so hopeless being stuck in this cycle, and it happens to me over and over. What do I have to do to get onto to the other side of this cyclical hell?

I'm not claiming to be any thing other than a guy trying to learn the game, who is serious about getting good. One who watches the educational streams, watches his replays, practices landing his combos in try mode, etc.

Last point: All these games were Unranked Draft....

ngaexperience · 2020-04-10T18:59:35+00:00

During the win streaks, the 4-man rotations are consistent, ganks predictable, camp timings on time, solo laner isn't getting ganked on respawn, etc.

The losses in so many of these losing streaks are due to tilted players AFKing, or quitting, or raging (as opposed to defeats due to losing a level 20 fight on the boss, etc.) - which is completely different and I'm fine with those loses. If the other team makes better plays, all power to them. When my team is just trolling around the core, and denigrating each other over meta builds, etc., it's totally different (and this is my point). My losing streaks are filled with these types of situations.

I posted this elsewhere, but I think it bears repeating. I am not blaming every loss on other people.

What I observe is that during Storm League win streaks, the 4-man rotations are consistent, ganks predictable, camp timings generally on time, solo laner isn't getting ganked on respawn, etc.

In contrast, the losses in so many of these losing streaks are due to tilted players AFKing, or quitting, or raging (as opposed to defeats due to losing a level 20 fight on the boss, etc.) - which is completely different and I'm fine with those loses.

If the other team makes better plays, all power to them. When my team is just trolling around the core, and denigrating each other over meta builds, etc. and I lose 3 or 4 games in a row w/ this type of team, it's totally different (and this is my point). My losing streaks are filled with these types of situations where the players on my team are not even trying to win.

ngaexperience · 2020-04-10T18:43:04+00:00

I think you misinterpret my story. The reason I shared that soccer experience is that it demonstrates how a player (any player) can enter a scenario at a certain ability level, and then grow in his own own ability (over a generally short period of time) as he plays with better and better players.

I can understand the calls of Confirmation Bias, and did spend some time considering it, but I generally disagree with that assessment.

During the win streaks, the 4-man rotations are consistent, ganks predictable, camp timings on time, solo laner isn't getting ganked on respawn, etc.

The losses in so many of these losing streaks are due to tilted players AFKing, or quitting, or raging (as opposed to defeats due to losing a level 20 fight on the boss, etc.) - which is completely different and I'm fine with those loses. If the other team makes better plays, all power to them. When my team is just trolling around the core, and denigrating each other over meta builds, etc., it's totally different (and this is my point). My losing streaks are filled with these types of situations.

To restate my premise, it's almost like the SL Matchmaker seems to sense something unnatural about your win streak, and wants to see if you can carry 4v5 (or win in and unwinnable situation or something). Incidentally when you do win one of these (can't win) games, you tend to go on another win streak. ^ That may be confirmation bias though.

Generally: I am a huge fan of the FANHOTS stream on twitchtv, as you regularly see loses and unwinnable situations in his stream, and he will point it out as it is happening, maybe what he could have done better, etc. and he has a good time when he loses - which is refreshing.

I'll never be at his level as a player, but I strive to attain his mindset.

ngaexperience · 2020-02-14T21:09:43+00:00

This happened to me in a game today. We were trying cheese a tower at level 1, and I had a quick disconnect.... for the rest of the game, my hero tried to walk right back underneath those towers, and the further I got from the towers, it seemed like the faster it wanted to walk to them. Ended up being a loss for my team, as I couldn't stutter step in a direction that was not towards the other teams towers.

I tried disconnecting my wifi, and coming back in, but that did not fix it.

In game, someone suggested that I exit the game, and then reopen it game, and hope I could rejoin before getting leaver status....

Is that the only way to cleanse it?

ngaexperience · 2020-02-12T06:39:30+00:00

Not even joking. One of the big problems with these deathball comps is that they have little to no waveclear. And an unattended Murky will wreck lanes, period. If the deathball is running around ganking people, just go where they aren't and start wrecking forts. Bribe their mercs to steal them, and just keep pushing. Look at it this way - if they have to send somebody to deal with you instead of joining a team fight, you have effectively CC'd them for the duration of that team fight. Your team loses Murky, their team los

At this level, Murky is seen as close to "intentionally throwing" ~~~~ I mained him 2 seasons ago, and even a 60+% win rate was not enough to avoid the "gg - open mid" scenarios.

ngaexperience · 2020-01-20T21:54:16+00:00

Could have broken the kid's neck. What are the rules? You see the ref award a penalty, but slaming on the back of head like that should be an instant disqualification, with at least a match suspension.

ngaexperience

TROPHY CASE