Video summary

The Four Stages of Improving at League of Legends

Main summary

Key takeaways

Gaming

Core premise (the “pyramid” framework)

To climb in League of Legends, the video proposes 4 stages of improvement arranged as a pyramid: problems higher up can be shaped/overridden by problems lower down.

  • Stage 4 (bottom): Out-of-game / identity & mental constraints
  • Stage 3: Big-picture in-game mindset (champion lens + win conditions + how you think)
  • Stage 2: In-game decision-making (macro choices, information gathering, adaptation)
  • Stage 1 (top): Execution micro (mechanics/inputs after the correct mindset + decisions)

The “pyramid” matters because Stage 4 problems bleed into Stage 3/2/1, preventing sustainable improvement.

Stage 4: Out-of-game issues (root causes)

Stage 4 is defined as factors beyond the game that affect your ability to improve and play consistently.

Key Stage 4 issues mentioned

  • Fixed mindset (believing improvement is impossible)
    • “I’m not talented,” “I’m too old,” “I don’t have the background,” “I don’t play enough,” etc.
    • If unaddressed, coaching feedback “won’t stick.”
  • Poor relationship with the game
    • Toxic narratives, rage culture, negative expectations from past gaming, “Riot is out to get me” beliefs, matchmaking conspiracy beliefs, etc.
    • Using the game as escape or just “pissing away time.”
  • Rank anxiety / fear of demotion
    • Stress about queueing because of public visibility (LP, leaderboard, friends list).
  • Fixation on LP
    • Playing to gain rank rather than to improve decisions/champion mastery.
    • Examples: staying up all night to recover LP, counting games needed to rank up, match-history obsession.
    • Contrast: caring about LP can be fine—fixation is the problem.
  • Addiction / low intensity “blur” gaming
    • “15 games a day,” little real game involvement, skipping life responsibilities, distracted play (Discord/music), long-term plateau risk.
  • Unhealthy expectations
    • Deadlines like “Diamond this month.”
    • Expectations about teammates/matchmaking (e.g., “next game is surely a win,” teammate incompetence assumptions).

Practical ways to address Stage 4 (tips/steps)

  • Identify the problem first (awareness is step one)
  • Be honest about your relationship with the game
    • Signs of a healthy relationship: emotional regulation, less venting, sticking to process, fewer extreme highs/lows.
  • Align with your “why”
    • Clarify why you play (competitive growth, improving, playing with friends, etc.).
    • If your behavior contradicts your real “why,” stage 4 issues rise.
  • Use structure to reduce emotional/LP swings:
    • Three-block process (play with a start/end time to prevent “tilt queue” and LP volatility)
    • 2-week academy challenge + track/reflection
  • Structured reflection
    • Review behavior over sessions (not just outcomes)
  • A “deep dive” method for triggers:
    • In VOD moments where you “lose your mind,” ask why → why again → why again (3–4 times) to find the root.
  • Seek support
    • Talk to friends/community (productive discussions aligned with improvement goals)
  • Mentioned practical tools:
    • Mute all/limit chat, mute pings if you’re being baited.

Why it’s emphasized

Even if you reach some rank with stage 4 issues, progress tends to be slow, painful, confusing, and improvement becomes “solving one problem then hitting the next.”

Stage 3: Big-picture in-game mindset (champion lens + priorities)

After Stage 4 is handled, Stage 3 is where players often plateau due to misaligned thinking.

What Stage 3 is

  • Your champion identity / reference points
    • How your champion is supposed to view fights, trades, and priorities.
    • Misunderstanding this leads to “you’re playing the champion’s weaknesses.”
  • Your overall in-game mindset
    • How you think the game is won (win condition assessment, fight roles, scaling vs early pressure, etc.)

Why common Stage 3 mistakes “look like” mechanical or decision mistakes

The video argues that many reviews go wrong because players isolate “bad moments” without recognizing that their core lens was wrong. If your lens is wrong, micro and specific macro advice won’t stick.

Examples of Stage 3 problems mentioned

  • “Playing for kills” mindset
    • Going for kills is sometimes correct, but not if it contradicts champion priorities.
    • Example principle: it’s often about “who can kill you” rather than “who you can kill.”
  • Wrong early-game vs late-game expectations
    • Overforcing early or overplaying late-game roles based on champion labels.
  • Overdoing “everything” instead of champion-relevant moments
    • Belief that you must do “a billion things” to end the game.
  • Trying to “save teammates” by default
    • Example: assuming every caught teammate must be rescued vs. correctly trading objectives.
  • Attacking without respecting champion powers
    • Example: fighting without ultimate (“no R”)
      • For some champs (e.g., Miss Fortune’s identity around R), fighting without R is often a lens/prioritization failure.
      • Coach note: sometimes it’s a real choice (knowledge/decision), but often it’s a Stage 3 misunderstanding.
  • Wrong type of trades
    • Extended vs short trades based on champion kit.
    • If you don’t know what “good fights” are for your champion, even “fundamentals” guidance won’t align.
  • Fighting in the wrong power troughs
    • Champion power curves dictate when fights are favorable.
  • Fighting in the wrong style
    • “Brick wall electric fence” behavior: forcing engagements your champion kit is bad at.
    • Some champs are built for front-to-back, others for kiting/dodging, terrain traversal, etc.
  • Incorrect win condition assessment / comp-based role
    • Above Emerald especially: players often lack a hypothesis like:
      • “Do I peel, dive, create space, or play around scaling?”
      • “What does this comp want to do?”

How to fix Stage 3 (practical methods)

  • Use lull states (downtime moments) to zoom out
    • While walking back / waiting / during breaks, reassess what your champ wants next.
  • Review and ask “why” (champion-aligned)
    • When you died or made a play: ask why it made sense through champion identity/reference points.
    • Compare games where you felt strong vs weak and reverse-engineer:
      • what made ult/item/spell usage feel powerful or useless
  • Don’t chase “perfect” reference points immediately
    • Your mindset can evolve like a refinement loop (the “Pokemon” analogy).

Resource teased

  • Over 100 champions reference points guides planned/releasing (free), across roles.

Stage 2: In-game decision-making (macro & adaptation)

Stage 2 is about choices under uncertainty:

  • Where to rotate
  • Whether to contest objectives
  • How to jungle track / use info to choose plays
  • How to adapt when the “best play” isn’t straightforward

Key distinction: Stage 2 vs Stage 3 vs Stage 1

A bad decision may be Stage 2, or it may be Stage 3 (wrong lens), or even Stage 1 (execution). The video cautions against assuming:

“They fought without ult, so it’s Stage 2.”

It could be they didn’t understand their reference points (Stage 3).

Stage 2 themes mentioned

  • Information gathering vs processing
    • Many players fail because they don’t gather enough info, not because they can’t compute.
  • Hindsight trap
    • Watching high elo/pro plays makes it seem obvious what should’ve happened, but players can’t replicate how the expert decided in real time.
  • Good decisions can be “not perfectly optimal”
    • Improvement is iterative: correct next decisions matter more than one perfect call.

Examples of Stage 2 issues / knowledge checks

  • Roam decision-making in side lanes
  • Jungle tracking first clear
  • Post-Baron usage (e.g., how you want to split lanes like 2-lane vs 1-3-1)
  • Objective timing / trade-offs (Dragon vs Herald, etc. emphasized as “specific to the moment,” not a universal rule)

Practical strategy for improving Stage 2

  • ACE mindset
    • Acknowledge best play (or hypothesize)
    • Communicate best play (e.g., pings/coordination)
    • Embrace reality (in-game adaptation framework, not rigid theory)
  • Treat VOD clips as “puzzles”
    • Especially in academy contexts: review single moments rather than doing full-game overhauls when appropriate.
  • Enemy lens review
    • Ask: if you were the opponent, how would you act based on what you just revealed/allowed?
    • This builds anticipation.
  • Reverse engineering
    • Identify a pivotal bad moment, then work backward to what info you should’ve gathered or how your behavior should’ve changed.

“George Costanza mindset” (experimentation)

Test by doing the opposite of intuition in controlled conditions to see what changes results. Example: if you normally roam, try not roaming and see how far you can stabilize the game.

Stage 1: Execution micro (mechanics after correct inputs)

Stage 1 is the top “capstone”:

  • You already have the right mindset (Stage 3)
  • And made the right/appropriate decision (Stage 2)
  • Now you must execute precisely

Examples of Stage 1 failures mentioned

  • Proper decision, but:
    • wrong cursor/targeting timing
    • missing an ability input
    • not casting the ability you saved for a specific response
    • flashing into a wall / whiffed ultimate
    • missing cannon or otherwise failing the last step

Emphasis

Stage 1 is considered smaller in the climbing journey because once your attention/priorities are correct, execution tends to “mostly work.” The video also notes that mechanical champions and complex champion reference points may create more Stage 1/2 friction, but generally the pyramid still holds.

Game “storyline” of improvement (how the stages unfold over time)

  • Stage 4: fix external/internal constraints so you can actually commit to improvement.
  • Stage 3: align your thinking with champion identity and win conditions so your gameplay is consistent.
  • Stage 2: translate that lens into adaptive choices using correct information.
  • Stage 1: clean up mechanics and inputs once the rest is aligned.

Also noted: players cycle through stages as they gain mastery—sometimes Stage 2 improves after Stage 3 alignment; later mechanical polish needs refocusing; Stage 4 reappears when plateaus hit.

Mentioned gamers/sources (featured)

  • Nathan (speaker; presenter/co-author mentioned throughout)
  • John Wooden (Pyramid of Success inspiration)
  • Simon Sinek (Start With Why concept inspiration)
  • Faker (reference point when discussing fixed mindset/talent narratives)
  • Riot Games / League of Legends (game source)
  • Neace (named while discussing live coaching examples)
  • Midland Academy (mentioned as having an earlier LP-hiding concept)
  • “Ballen” (referenced via a story about hiding LP via an app)
  • Broken by Concept podcast (mentioned as context for the “three-block process”)
  • Seinfeld / George Costanza (used for the “do the opposite of intuition” mindset analogy)
  • WTL Academy / We Teach Lee Sin / We Teach League (mentioned as the coaching/guides source)
  • Challenger coaches & rank-1 players (general references; no names)
  • Phantasm (example coach mentioned)
  • Nadina (example player referenced)
  • 610 (example Echo player referenced)
  • WLC/WRL (W Academy) (community/coaching program referenced by name in subtitle form)

Original video