# How to Get Better at LoL
Getting better at LoL starts with decisions you can practice. Explore wave management, map awareness and positioning, one next-game focus at a time.
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Opinion • October 14, 2026 • Lua Beauvoi

You win a close fight, stay for one more wave, and die on the way out. The mechanics felt good. The decision afterward cost you. League has a way of putting several different skills into the same ten seconds.

![Illustration of a League player reviewing a lane situation and taking notes.](https://baronbuff.com/blog/how_to_review_lol_replays-illustration-v2.jpg)

That is why “get better” can feel so vague. Baron Buff’s next-game focus catalogue separates improvement into 42 skills, from farming to choosing a fight. They describe decisions you can practice. A few are especially useful for seeing how the game changes as those decisions become more deliberate.

## The wave starts to mean time

At first, a wave is a row of last hits. As wave management improves, it also becomes a window to buy, move or make the opponent come forward. A player who has mastered it sees the next exchange taking shape before either champion casts a spell. Pushing has a purpose; leaving the lane has a cost.

Picture winning a trade with enough health to stay. Clearing the enemy minions and getting your surviving wave all the way into the opposing turret can buy room to recall. Leaving before it reaches the turret may let the opponent hold it outside tower range instead. The useful question is where the wave will meet when you return. If finishing the push would get you killed, accepting a worse wave is still the better decision.

A small place to start is your own recalls. Before leaving, predict what the wave will do; afterward, compare that prediction with what happened. Lost minions then have an explanation you can work on. Last-hitting, recall timing and staying in experience range begin to connect, rather than feeling like separate chores.

## An empty minimap still says something

Map awareness is easy to confuse with looking at the minimap often. The useful part happens after the glance. The enemy jungler appeared on the other side of the map; now you may have room to pressure. Several opponents have disappeared; that inviting side-lane wave deserves more caution. Neither observation tells you everything.

Someone with strong awareness keeps revising a picture of the game. Old information loses value as enemies have time to move. A ward helps answer a specific question about an approach, and teammates’ positions affect whether that information is safe to act on. Walking alone into darkness to place a ward can undo the very protection you wanted.

Try connecting a map check to a decision you already make, such as stepping forward for a trade or leaving a lane. Name who is missing and what would make the move unsafe. In a replay, use your team’s vision and look for the last useful clue before a death. The practice is learning to change your choice when the picture changes.

## A fight can become easier before you attack

Teamfight positioning is often clearest in the seconds when a player chooses to wait. A ranged damage dealer holds outside a dangerous engage, then moves into range once that threat is spent. A support stays close enough to protect a teammate. A frontline champion takes space where the team can actually follow. Good positioning looks different for each job.

With this skill mastered, attention shifts from chasing a low health bar to the threats that decide where you can stand. The nearest safe target may be the right one to hit. Sometimes a sideways step opens a firing angle; sometimes protecting your damage dealer is worth more than reaching theirs. Standing so far away that you contribute nothing has a cost too.

For the next fight, choose one enemy ability that can stop you doing your job and keep track of it. Afterward, review your position just before contact. Could you contribute, could your team help, and what forced you out? That gives positioning practice a clearer purpose than simply trying to die less.

## The rest of the game comes with it

These habits touch much of the wider list. Farming through the middle and late game, managing health, spacing in lane, trading, choosing an all-in, applying pressure and recognizing power spikes all change which risks make sense. Playing the weak side may mean giving ground; protecting a lead and playing from behind ask for different decisions.

Elsewhere, jungle routes, ganks, counterganks and invades meet rotations, roams and side-lane pressure. Vision denial and safe setup help prepare objectives; deciding which objective to contest helps turn an advantage into something lasting. Fight selection, targets, engage timing, peeling, champion synergies and cooldown use give mechanics a purpose. Ability sequencing, landing and dodging skillshots, and kiting help carry that purpose out. You can work on one recurring situation while the other skills gradually support it.

[Baron Buff can help you develop these skills with the post-game AI Coach Review, using match evidence to give you feedback and choose one practical focus for your next game.](https://baronbuff.com/)

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