TB vs. IB vs. AB

If you’re below Gold IV this article is crucial for getting the most out of the Academy.

The goal of this article is to ensure you know where to direct your attention on your learning journey.

The first portion of the ranked journey is made up of THREE stages.

Stage 1: True Beginner (TB) : Level 30 → Iron 1

Stage 2: Intermediate Beginner (IB) : Bronze 4 → Silver 1

Stage 3: Advanced Beginner (AB) : Gold 4 → Emerald 4

1. True Beginner (TB)

Level 30 → Iron 1

1.1. What characterizes a TB?

• You don’t know what all of the champions do (abilities/basic strengths and weaknesses)
• You don’t understand the basics of how towers/dragons/barons work
• You don’t understand roughly what majority of the items do
• You don’t understand the feel of items and experience

A TB is in a unique situation whereby they might not actually benefit from maining ONE champion just yet.

1.2. Advice for TB players:

1. Play a wide variety of champions (even non approved champs) in normal games, so that you can FEEL OUT the kits and understand what they do. NOTE: Utilize the free champion rotation!
2. Play ARAMS, this way you’ll be exposed to a wide variety of kits and be able to develop muscle memory/intuition holistically with the game quite fast. NOTE: Normal games with friends are also encouraged!
3. Don’t worry about wins and losses, focus on having fun! You might decide you like a particular mid champion, play them for 20 games and then move to another! The most important thing at this stage is to feel out the game, not over think and just enjoy the game for what it is. Have fun with that child-like mentality.
4. If things confuse you, whether it be why a champ does a particular thing, or what the identity is of a particular champ etc. then feel free to ask the mentors or myself in Discord. Curiosity is key at this stage.

IMPORTANT: Do not worry too much about reviewing at this stage of your journey.

1.3. How long should I do the above for?

Well it really depends on:
– How sophisticated your PC gaming background is
– How much time you are able to put into the game
– How much focus you are able to play with

For some players, you might be here for 10 months, others maybe 2 months. Either way there is no cookie cutter answer…

Once you start feeling comfortable on the rift and know what the champions/basic items do, you can start to pick an approved champ and dive in.

NOTE: Ideally you are choosing one of the more SIMPLE champs from the list. There is a rating of the difficulty each champ in their guides on the platform.

In terms of watching other content on the platform (fundamentals etc), I’d suggest holding out until you reach at least Iron 1/Bronze 4.

If you feel you have major gaps in knowledge that are preventing you from making sense of the champion guide, then feel free to browse accordingly. But our hunch is that playing in accordance to the champions identity alone with solid game understanding will get you to high iron/bronze 4.

2. Intermediate Beginner (IB)

Bronze 4 → Silver 1

2.1. What characterizes an IB?

• You understand what all of the champions do and basic items
• You’re between the ranks of Bronze 4 → Silver 1
• You have decent control over your character

The thing is with IB’s is that there are MANY variations of IB’s.

For example:

You can be a classic Bronze 1/Silver 4 IB who got to this rank off the back of good quality threat assessment/poise/patient gameplay and plays simple champions like Malzahar, Garen, or Nocturne.

CONVERSELY

You can get to the exact same rank as a super aggressive Ekko player who might have poor threat assessment but solid fighting and mid game skirmishing.

The point here is that there isn’t one way to proceed through this ‘phase’ of your journey. The path that is usually the easiest is the one that aligns the most with the champion you choose, we will get into this more in a moment.

2.2. Advise for IB players:

1. Start to go deeper on champion mastery, watching the champion guides we put on the site as well as the LIVE commentaries
2. Start to go through the Fundamentals videos. Emphasizing the fundamentals that apply the most to the champion you main (covered in the guides)
3. Begin to review your VODS at a basic level, reading the How to Review 101 article as well as developing a baseline process in our Defining ‘Process’ and ‘Three-Block’ article.
   NOTE: Most of your beginning Learning Objectives will come from the guides, a large emphasis on ability usage is recommended!
4. Learn to use the ⏯︱vod-questions channel in the Discord and ask specific questions when you are confused.
5. Attend the scheduled review sessions when you feel stuck.

This might seem like a lot but it’s important to only do what you personally feel comfortable with.

This is not a competition. If you enjoy taking it slow and/or have many commitments outside of the game, then relax! There is no rush. We must always keep that focus on having fun and pacing yourself.

Disclaimer: The Bronze 4 → Silver 1 journey, can take a long time. Some people might be here for an entire year (depending on the time they put into the game).

Please do not feel you are ‘failing’ if it is taking you quite a while.

League is a game where muscle memory must be developed, it WILL take time for the intuition to develop, this is perfectly normal.

Don’t feel pressured to stick to only one champion during this entire process.

3. Advanced Beginner (AB)

Gold 4 → Emerald 4

• As an AB you’ve reached a solid understanding of the basics of the game and champion mastery.

AB‘s have many options in the way they can utilize the Academy, such as

• Rewatching their main champion guide multiple times
• Studying the fundamentals material and bonus resources
• Getting a VOD reviewed in an Review Session once a week

3.1. The different types of AB’s:

• The Micro intensive player – who emphasizes the ability usage sections of the guides to become VERY competent in terms of fighting. They can mechanically outplay their way out of fundamentally poor situations.
• The Macro intensive player – who emphasizes the reference points and bigger picture elements of the champ guides, such that they are always taking high percentage plays. As a result they are constantly mis-executing fights and have poor quality ability usage.
• Players with high champ mastery but lack fundamental understanding. The lack of fundamentals are preventing any sort of consistency in their play and leading to plateaus.
• Players who have limited champion mastery due to champ pool hopping 24/7, leading to good holistic game understanding but poor attention to detail. They are here at the rank due to decent game sense, but fail to bring about consistency due to limit champion mastery.

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