Last night I had my first chance to play in nearly a week and let me tell you, it was rough. Despite the fact that I was able to play Shaco in nearly every game, I just couldn’t seem to get any momentum. There was one bright spot, even if it was shining on an ugly black spot of mold.

I started a game as Xin, enjoying a little time in the jungle. The enemy team had tried to gank me at golem, but since they didn’t have a jungler I just left and took their golem instead. Nasus found me just as I hit smite, but he was low for some reason and with the help of mid and top lanes we got first blood. It was a solid start. It wouldn’t be a solid game.

I got back into the jungle, but our Zilean was having trouble 2v1 against an Annie/Garen combo. I went to gank and promptly got myself murdered. No big deal, but I was a little behind. Back to the jungle for farming. Zilean’s having trouble again, I go gank, get smashed. I’m 0-2-1 at this point and just barely on top of the leveling curve thanks to Zilean’s passive. I died two more times though, and I was sorely behind. A lot of the problem was that every lane was tanky with high damage. If it wasn’t Garen/Annie bot, it was Nasus and some other thick mofo top. A lot of pain without much potential for ganks.

Looking at their team, there was only one solution – build tanky and farm up. I spent the next 20 minutes killing creeps, controlling dragon, and sneaking the other team’s buffs whenever I could. It took a while, but eventually I had enough damage reduction to not only survive teamfights, but make use of my Bloodrazor as well. I went from an 0-4 start to legendary by focusing on a build to counter the enemy team.

This isn’t revolutionary. In fact, most “pro tips” aren’t. They’re simple things, but that’s what makes the difference between quality players and players who hit the skill wall. In a tough situation, the pro player finds a way to make his comp and his character work. People still, to this day, completely neglect the opponent in favor of a build they found on Leaguecraft or the forums or saw in a live stream, and they lose.

There are a lot of games, most games by my count, that get decided by how well a team builds. If you’re playing the same build over and over, consider switching things up according to who you’re facing. Build on your strengths, but patch the holes in your defenses as well.

I had a nine-game winning streak going just the other day. Nine games. It was great to look at my summoner profile and see so much green. Unfortunately the tenth game I drew a 20-minute 0-6 Taric. You can imagine how things went from there. I decided to end my quest for the elusive ten-game streak and go on a Heimerdinger bender. Here’s what I found out.

As great as Heimer used to be in mid, he was always easily shut down. The old turret system required too much time to be effective and was easy to counter. You were also dead if you left those turrets for any reason. Now things are different. The ability to drop red turrets at will gives you great DPS if you’re in a pinch and allows you to set up lanes much more quickly.

I like to start off mid by alternating turrets and rockets. I’ve had a little trouble with some of the ranged DPS, but once you get to level four you can push minions back easily and place turrets as you will. I tend to bury mine in creeps to make them a little harder to target and keep them close enough to attack as many enemy creeps as possible. By level five you should be pressing your opponent to his tower with little trouble. Start watching for ganks – they’ll be coming if the other team is intelligent.

From there you’re just trying to burn down that mid turret. I can easily take a turret before the ten minute mark. If your opponent leaves you alone, keep pushing. Encourage your teammates to join you if you can. I recently had a game in which I had aegis by the eight minute mark. We were knocking down the nexus before 19. It was insane.

For teamfights you should be trying to stay out of the mix. You want to be dropping as many turrets as possible for both the damage and the MR/AR reduction and the potential slow. Whatever you do, do not underestimate that slow. It will save your ass. It will save your team. It will get you kills.

As it stands, Heimer is an excellent pusher. I think he’s a great candidate for heavy AP builds, but I really prefer to run around blowing up turrets at level 5. If you were a Heimer fan in the past, give the new version a shot. I’d be shocked if you didn’t like it.