March 2025: First to hit Challenger and Grandmaster simultaneously with Exhaust/TP Heimerdinger—Ranked #1 & #2 Heimer globally on KR server ^ㅡ^

※ Edit Hello, I'm just an ordinary guy who loves playing Heimerdinger.. I scribbled this post in the middle of the night, and I'm so grateful for all the interest.. I have to focus on my real life and making a living now T.T.. I want to play more, but I'm getting older.. I've deleted all 5 of my high-tier accounts—Master 500LP, 1000LP+, Grandmaster, and Challenger....!!! It's a bit of a waste lol.. but I made a big decision because I really want to quit League.. I'm not quitting forever, but maybe just occasionally? I'll play in low elo for fun ^^ ...

For those who want to reach Grandmaster themselves, I've written a Solo Queue guide at the very bottom.

Heimerdinger feels like the ultimate Solo Queue champ. You don't see him in pro play like LCK, but.. in Solo Queue..! it's totally possible. I think I reached Challenger easily thanks to my unique playstyle. But honestly, any champion can work depending on how you use them. My peak was 1200LP, but I didn't take a screenshot of that..

I never imagined I'd hit Challenger.. My lifetime peak was always Master. I took a break from work and decided to give Solo Queue a serious shot.. I thought I played well, but why did I lose....?? T.T T.T T.T I used to just play one game after work without much thought, but then I decided to try studying replays like a pro.. And I started seeing the problems........ In Top lane, the wave pushes and pulls, but when the enemy jungler intervened, my turrets would get destroyed, I'd get pushed back, and I'd have nothing to do.. So I tried ditching Flash—does Heimer even need Flash? I switched to Exhaust, started calculating Ult cooldowns and item damage.. I analyzed replay timings for Teleport and played every game carefully. Suddenly, I went on a massive win streak and hit Challenger so easily.. Wait, am I actually talented..??

I started around Emerald and hit 1100LP with 114W 66L (63% win rate). Photos are below ^^ I only played when I was in peak condition, going 5-1, 4-1, 3-1, and climbed slowly while focusing on every single game lol.. I see other streamers or BJs hitting Challenger with 400, 500, or even 1000 games, playing 20 games a day.. I only played 2 to 5 games a day..? (To be honest, when I first hit GM/Challenger, I was scared to queue because I kept running into pros) lololololol I climbed incredibly fast with a high win rate, reaching it in about 180 games!

Reaching the top feels a bit empty. Of course, there are higher scores, maybe up to 2000LP.. I was getting matched with Rank 1-10 players at 1500-2000LP almost every day. I was the only "normal person" while the other 9 were all pros or BJs.. Even though I'm at 1200LP, I'm playing against 2000LP players anyway, so whether I'm Rank 1 or Rank 1200, the opponents are the same.. playing more felt redundant.. I'm holding my own against those amazing players, just doing my part.. but playing against these monsters is exhausting.... I could carry in Grandmaster, but these guys are pros for a reason;;; If I had the time, I'd love to try for Top 10 with Heimer T.T But from here on, it feels like you have to grind an insane number of games.. I'm jealous of those who have the time, like streamers or pros.. I played for about two or three months, but now I have to go back to work to survive T.T.. Time to step down.. In a way, I reached the summit, so I'm leaving satisfied.. The most exciting moment was playing with Faker lol. At first, it was amazing and my heart was racing, but after seeing him two or three times, it just felt normal lol; At first, I was like "Whoa, it's Faker.. ugh..." and I'd play while staring at him, but eventually.. it felt like he was just testing different champs and gathering data. Kind of a for-fun vibe..?

Anyway, I was one win away from Challenger promotion and queued up, and suddenly I got Faker + Clid on my team.. What are the odds.. It was my first Challenger promo, and I ran into them by chance. I watch a lot of Kkoutube (Clid's YouTube), and even though I'd seen them before, meeting them both at once made me think it would end up on YouTube, so I took a screenshot. It actually made it onto Clid's channel lol. I saved it as a souvenir since it was my promo game lol.. a memento.

My friends ask if Heimer can smurf. They didn't believe I could go on 30 or 50-game win streaks from Bronze to Diamond 1, so here are the photos! .. Up to 20 wins is easy in Solo Queue ^^ Duo queue actually makes team luck feel worse... With a 4-1 or 3-1 win rate all the way to Challenger, the photos above should prove it! I solo-killed top-tier Tier 1 pros while climbing. Haha ... Of course, the second time I meet them, they don't let me get solo kills T.T .. It just feels like we're even on CS.. Here are the photos you might be curious about! I have tons, but I'll only post these so it's not too cluttered..

I wanted to hit Challenger once in my life, and it ended so abruptly.. Haha It's like the game is telling me to quit.. That's it for the edit. I'd like to try streaming later, but I'm not a great talker and I have too much to take care of right now T.T.. If I were to make videos or stream, I'd rather do Mukbangs or travel vlogs.. It seems like not many people watch League streams anyway lol.. I'll drop by again if I'm bored. I deleted my accounts at dawn, and thinking about letting go of a game I enjoyed throughout my 20s made me feel really sentimental and sad, so I posted this in a late-night mood. Thank you again for the interest.. I hope you all reach your desired tiers and stay happy! ※ End of Edit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdO6C6H3Yko&t=560s 3rd game starts at 14:25. Challenger promo lol. On a team with Faker and Clid. Free Challenger!

Hello, I'm just an ordinary guy who loves Heimerdinger.

This is my first time posting on OP.GG lol. I'm not the type to write much, but I just felt like it.

I've been playing since the KR server launched in 2012 lol. A real veteran! I've spent 13 years of my youth on this.. A 30-something guy hitting Challenger.. I'll leave this long, emotional post and head out. Hahahaha

Back in middle/high school in 2012.. I was getting bored of Sudden Attack, MapleStory, StarCraft, KartRider, etc., and I happened to touch League of Legends T.T.. and here I am, over thirty.. Phew. Whether it's mobile games or anything else, I'm the type to see things through to the end. If it's something I like, I try to dig deep because I'm quite competitive... When I first started League, I'd get 30 kills against Intro bots, then 30 against Intermediate, then try Normals.. then Ranked.. I gave my youth to this game. I can delete League, but I can just reinstall it or go to a PC bang lol.. Even if I quit for months, I start thinking about it again T.T. All my friends play it too, so I end up back in it. Even after entering society, people around me play it, so I really.. I've done everything good and bad you can do in League over these years.

During those 13 years, I played mechanical champs like Yasuo, LeBlanc, and Akali, but as I got older, I looked for champs like Xerath, Lux.. Hwei, and eventually ended up with Yorick, Malzahar, and Heimerdinger... T.T T.T T.T Yuumi is a bit boring, so I don't play her. lol Back in the day.. lol I tried disenchanting all my runes, collected all the rune pages, made rare nicknames, owned limited skins and all that. The very first nickname I made, "League of Legends" (misspelled in Korean).. got a 100-year ban for leaving too many games T.T I hit Master in Solo Queue for the first time.. Then did it on two accounts.. then three.. then dozens. I even tried tanking my rank to Iron on purpose.. playing the KDA game, 64 games with 8.7 KDA and 100% win rate.. In my mid-20s, I wondered if I could make money playing League lol.. It was wrong, but I tried streaming for like 30 minutes.. I did boosting, betting on BJ matches, win-trading.. (By the way, I quit all that quickly ^^). It didn't pay well compared to my real job and was too stressful..! Plus it's illegal ^^..

Anyway, I tried hitting Challenger MMR in ARAM.. Master in TFT.. Challenger in Arena.. Challenger MMR in Normals, enjoyed all the new fun modes, participated in lots of in-houses, met people through League and grabbed food. Every time I thought about quitting, I wanted that Challenger border so badly, so I tried Flex Queue Challenger? T.T Challenge!! and I hit it so easily. I was happy, but I wondered if it was just team luck and not my own skill..? So I did it again, 3 times, 4 times, 5 times.. I hit Flex Challenger over 7 times easily.

Anyway, now I'm living my real life.. getting ready for marriage and other things.. I'm busy but League keeps popping into my head. I tell myself to stop, but I keep coming back T.T.. and then I get hit with reality.. Even if I delete League and live a normal life.. when I go out and friends talk about League, even if I say I'm Challenger... If it's not Solo Queue, people don't acknowledge it T.T I just couldn't let it go.

I used the excuse of being busy to only stay at Master, but I decided to focus and play Solo Queue this season. The result: Grandmaster.. first time this year.. and even on my smurf, I hit Grandmaster twice easily. I hit Solo Queue Challenger too.. and I can maintain it without even playing.. Even if I drop to GM, I play a few games after 14 days and hit Challenger again easily. Wow, I was scared of Solo Queue, but maintaining Challenger is actually so easy.. I've played Heimerdinger as ADC~ Mid~ Support~ Top~ If I play Heimer Jungle~ I'll probably get reported ^^ ..? As expected, Heimer is designed to beat melee champs, so I climbed by going Top. He feels like a Top AP Kennen, Rumble, or Vladimir.

Just a month or two ago, I was the only Challenger Heimerdinger in the world ^^ I'm happy. According to Deeplol, I held Rank 1 and 2 on my main and smurf, with a huge point gap from Rank 3 lol.. I didn't realize it while playing, but I knew I appeared on some streams. My friends told me, "Your Heimer got featured on YouTube!"

I appeared on Clid's YouTube, met Faker.. Appeared on Seo Do-il's YouTube, IrelKing's.. (The game where I got destroyed was featured. I won some too, but they only upload the good plays ㅡ ㅅ ㅡ) Ambition's channel too, there were so many. I didn't look for them all, but anyway, I got a lot of solo kills on pros.. haha Enough bragging—I hit it with macro/game sense, so I guess you could say I had an epiphany ^^.

Back when I had the knowledge but only stayed in Master, I taught and discussed the game with everyone—friends and strangers alike.

When I taught Silver/Gold/Plat/Emerald friends >> they hit Plat~Diamond. Diamond friends >> hit Master quickly. "Why are you ditching this lane? Why TP here? Why not dive?" "Why aren't you roaming?? Why no Dragon??" I was great at this.. so I gave lots of lessons.. "In this situation, do this and that," etc.

Curious about the secret..?! I'll keep it brief. If you want a long version, I'll organize it separately. For example, to win, all 5 players need to grow well. You don't have to be overwhelming, just better than your opponent ^^.

Think deeply about what your champion is good at and play accordingly, and your tier will skyrocket. I'm Heimerdinger, Rank 1.

I'll explain from Heimer's perspective.. (it's all I know) T.T lol.

League is a team game. There's team luck, but you can create your own team luck. Once I dropped my prejudices, I hit Challenger easily. For example:

It starts from the pick screen. This is what I realized about Heimerdinger.

1. I used to take Flash/TP, but in Top lane, even if you use Flash to survive a turn, you get pushed out. The champ itself is kind of trash, so it's better to keep pushing. I use Exhaust and Teleport. Also, Exhaust + Ult Slow + Slow makes your E hit rate insane (guaranteed). Or Ghost/Exhaust (no matter who comes). Because it's Top (no matter who comes), I use Conqueror. If you take Comet, you can't win sustained fights, so the final damage is poor. Comet is only good for surviving the very early game.. it's not great. I use runes and traits that maximize the champ's potential in the late game. I purposely place turrets near the tri-bush so they don't hit minions. That way, if the enemy Top or Jungler ganks suddenly, the turrets immediately attack them since they aren't busy with minions. Zero damage loss. Even pros get double-killed or outplayed in ganks this way. I place turrets slightly away from minions, then use autos to pull minions and farm them one by one. If the opponent is ranged, taking control of the bushes makes it super easy.. that kind of vibe. Think about what situations your champ fights best in without damage loss.. anyway, yeah.

2. Pick Top early (since I'm a one-trick). In Solo Queue, if I give the counter-pick to my team, usually in 6 out of 10 games, the other lanes go even or win. The other 4 games they lose even with counter-pick, but that's rare. Since they have a higher chance of picking based on the opponent, usually the higher the tier, the more likely they are to win if you give them the counter-pick. Instead, if you get counter-picked, you have to play extremely safe. There's no choice.

3. In Heimerdinger's case, roaming is bad. Since you have turrets, it's awkward to leave the lane unless you have 3 turrets ready. Unless you have items for Ability Haste or can clear the wave instantly with one turret, Early game >> focus on lane farm >> even if the map is collapsing, push the wave before moving. You have no choice. If you move and achieve nothing, you're just falling behind. In those cases, even if Faker is dying nearby and pinging for help, ignore him. I'm really sorry to my teammates, but I have to understand my champion. Eat your wave, get your items, and then TP down later to punish them.

4. Even if teammates overextend, focus on Dragon, Baron, and Atakan (Voidgrubs). Do what Heimer is good at. Turrets are incredibly strong if they can keep attacking. Heimer is #1 for objectives—he's the fastest. Even if a fight breaks out elsewhere, taking objectives solo provides permanent buffs for the whole team. Ultimately, League is a game of holding out until full build vs. full build, so permanent Dragon buffs << 4 Dragons are crucial. In the YouTube video with Clid and Faker, while Clid was messing around, I was soloing Dragon and Baron. No matter how ahead you are, you can get thrown, so understand your champ and play your best. If you're a roaming specialist like Shen, TF, or Galio, keep joining fights with your Ult to create numbers advantages. If you're elusive like Ahri, push sides aggressively then join Mid instantly. If you're Trundle, Yorick, or Fiora, aggressively pressure inhibitors and back off. If you're Ivern, Lulu, or Thresh, peel for your team. If you're Kennen or Malphite, look for flanks. Think about what your champ does best. For Heimerdinger, it wasn't combat roaming; it was siege/defense. He's good at defense + hitting stationary targets. I just stick to the playstyle of taking stationary objectives at high speed.

5. You must understand item properties. If the enemy is 5 AD, even as Heimer, I just build Plated Steelcaps, Zhonya's, and Thornmail lol. If they're 5 AP, I go Mercury's Treads and Banshee's Veil as my 1st core. That's basic, so I'll skip it. Items, whether nerfed or buffed, have ones that fit and ones that don't, so you have to try everything. People say Heimer turrets are strong, but no one just stands there and takes it. They'll take a hit or two and then clear them. Therefore, fighting in the jungle where there are no minion waves is great. I always try to bait fights there. Fighting away from minions is the best. Obviously, if there are minions, turrets attack randomly until Heimer autos someone. If you bait them into the jungle, they get attacked the moment they enter range. Zero damage loss—it's like Teemo shrooms or Shaco boxes. I spread turrets out wide—one in this bush, one in that bush—to secure vision. Since turrets break easily anyway, instead of a burst build like Rabadon/Zhonya's, a DoT build with Blackfire Torch, Liandry's, and Void Staff is better. Of course, if you can keep hitting them, Rabadon/Zhonya's/Luden's is stronger, but the enemy won't just stand there. That's why the DoT build is good. Faker isn't stupid enough to keep tanking turret damage lol.. So I go for Torch/Liandry's, which is lethal even with just one or two hits. Rather than trying to kill 1 or 2 enemies with Heimer, I spread turrets wide to chip away half the HP of all 5 enemies, and let the team do the rest ^^

6. Spell checking is easy. "Oh, I might die? Play safe. I won't die? I can win? Attack." Conclusion: Play safe when Flash/Exhaust/Ult are down, play safe if the enemy jungler is coming, if you can win, bait them aggressively.. etc. Keep track of enemy Spells and Ults in your head. Manage the wave by not placing turrets on purpose.. etc.

(This is the edited part)

(GM/Challenger Lecture) Macro explanation starts here. This is a simple lecture I used to give for a fee back in my "bad" boosting days. It's a free explanation about Spells, Ult timings, and Vision timings. I guarantee you'll climb 1 or 2 tiers if you understand this.

Solo kill process and reasoning against pro player Gen.G Kiin's Top Jayce. If you want to study, watch the YouTube video at the same time. Start from around the 7-minute mark. If you just watch it, you'll think "Oh, he got a solo kill... that's the kill window." But I'll explain why this happened, considering Spells, Ults, enemy positions, etc. Including the psychological pressure of Vi being there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQyfJ1IANQc&t=495s

1. Matchup: Heimerdinger first pick, Jayce <<< counter-pick. Jayce is hard enough, plus it's Tier 1 pro Gen.G Kiin on Chovy's team << you know, right? The top laner of the currently undefeated team.

2. I already got solo-killed by the difficult Jayce, and the enemy has Peanut's Vi << Zeus's team, and Mid Taliyah.. lol Zeka, etc.. Peanut's Vi came and helped me survive T.T.. but it's still so, so hard. --------------- Macro starts here ---------------

3. From here: Kiin's Flash and Heimer's Exhaust are both blown in a massive brawl. Flash is 300s. Exhaust is 240s.

4. Meaning the moment my Exhaust is back, Kiin's Jayce has no Flash for 60 seconds, right? 300s - 240s = 60 seconds of no Flash once my Exhaust is up.

5. As you can see on YouTube, Kiin warded the top bush so Heimer couldn't enter. As a ranged champ, entering those 3 top bushes makes it somewhat manageable;; still hard though. Knowing this, Kiin warded the bush so I couldn't even breathe lol.

6. 7:05: Knowing there's a ward in the bush, I push the wave and disappear into the dark vision of the tri-bush. Since he already used his ward up top, if I hide in the tri-bush, I know for sure it's dark vision because there's no ward or control ward there.

7. 7:16: If neither of us touches the cannon wave, the 3 melee minions will naturally die, so he has to creep forward. Kiin's Flash is almost back. As expected of a top-tier pro, he's playing very safely ㅡㅡ;; I'm estimating he has about 10 to 30 seconds left on Flash.

8. 7:12: I pop the Scryer's Bloom. I confirm that Vi (Peanut) finished about 3 camps on the blue side and headed down. Confirmed she's on the red side, not coming Top. At the same time, Mid Zeka pushed the cannon wave into the tower. The mid wave is crashed. If Aurora ditches that cannon wave to come Top? It's a massive loss. So I assume Aurora is definitely not Top, and even if she comes, her Mid lane is ruined. Enemy bot lane both have no TP. Both Xayah and Rakan are visible bot.

9. Conclusion: From Heimer's perspective, Aurora isn't visible but she'll come to take the mid wave, so she's not Top. Vi took Blue and went Red, so she's not Top. I have the info. Both enemy bot laners are visible. Meaning no interference in the Top 1v1.

10. 7:15~19: I purposely move up and down. Jayce uses his Acceleration Gate poke << movement speed skill. While doing this, my eyes aren't on Jayce, but on the Mid wave crashing.

11. Combined Reasoning:

12. Vi went bot. 2. Mid Aurora has to take that wave or it's a loss, she can't come Top.

13. Heimer Exhaust is up, and I estimate Jayce Flash has 10~20s left (prediction).

14. Enemy bot lane is all visible.

15. 7:22: His Gate movement speed skill is blown due to my baiting.

16. All of this in 2 seconds—the moment the Mid wave crashes, I drop one turret, get the movement speed buff, and charge.

Kill window. That was the process of solo-killing Kiin's Jayce. And watching the video, it's funny seeing Kiin frantically pinging Exhaust twice lol...

And at 23:47, I purposely stay in the dark vision (visible on YouTube, but not to the enemy) ^^. I take a surprise back-TP. I always said: 1. Eat the wave, 2. TP.

1. Eat the wave, 2. TP. This is how you climb ^^ Placing turrets from behind lol.. Ult-E combo, GG surrender lol.. Master~Grandmaster players, understand and absorb this ^^ With this much reasoning and macro, you can solo-kill pros. It's quite hard.. T.T (End of edit)

I've added detailed video explanations, so please watch if you need help lol.. If this was helpful, I've written even more details at the very bottom.

If I had just touched Challenger once and dropped, I probably would've tried again given my personality.. But even if I dropped to GM once or twice, I'd hit Challenger again 2, 3, 4 times and maintain it easily for months,, Challenge.. hitting 1800LP+ with a champ like Heimer? feels impossible without some other epiphany.. I don't have time to play anyway, and I'm satisfied with hitting 1100 or 1200LP. Honestly, I kept getting matched with Rank 1, 2, and 3 players over and over. Gumayusi, Viper, Ruler, Faker, Chovy, Zeus, Kiin—all the LCK players I enjoy watching. I kept meeting the same high-tier Challenger specialists ㅡㅡ ;; If this champ appears, it's hard; if that champ appears, it's easy ㅡㅡ;; and it just felt like Win-Loss-Win-Loss.. It felt like a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors with too many variables, even in Challenger games.. If I play while drunk, I win; if I play sober and carry, I lose due to luck.. meeting the same top-tier people.. And playing against the same champs and Rank 1, 2, 3 players.. I just started feeling like the points were meaningless.. I already felt like League was meaningless, but reaching the peak in terms of points made me finally feel like "Wow, League isn't fun anymore..." League was fun, but for the first time, it's not. There's nothing above this. This is the peak!..? And no rewards! Once I felt that, my passion just died lol. Aren't humans creatures of habit.. Whether it's a new car, a new house, a new girlfriend..? whatever it is lol, once you get used to it, you're bound to get bored and look for new dopamine.. lol I'm actually so happy that I feel "this isn't fun."

Anyway, if I just delete the game after 13 years of my youth.. I feel like I'll eventually end up focusing and playing Solo Queue Challenger games again at some point.

Playing after work while tired used to be fun, but now it's not even that.. Even when I go into the Grandmaster smurf bracket and play a game or two, I think "Wow, this person is still bad.. they're still stuck here.." "Oh, that person climbed that high.." "Oh, they dropped that far.." Sometimes when I play at dawn, maybe because there aren't many people, the matchmaking is wide between Challenger and Master.. lol; While playing.. it suddenly hit me.

I felt that League wasn't fun anymore, so without a single doubt, I immediately deleted my Challenger account ^^ Account withdrawal, yeah! My hands were shaking, it felt weird. There are sites where you can sell Challenger accounts for hundreds or thousands of dollars, but I don't care.. It's not a waste, I'm just throwing it away. Skins, points, tiers—whatever! lol League is over. Playing with school friends, playing with colleagues at my first job—all those 13 years of playing with people flashed before my eyes the moment I deleted it lol. What is this feeling?

I feel such a sense of liberation.. It feels like a tumor I've been struggling with has finally been removed. It's like.. you know what I mean.. T.T you all know. That feeling of being stuck in a stock or coin and waiting for an exit, then finally cutting your losses?!

Sigh.. I'm leaving this post because I'm truly leaving the League scene after deleting everything.. I really, really T.T T.T T.T wanted to stop playing this.. It took 13 years. It was hard.. You might find it funny, but it was really hard. I wanted to quit so badly. Now I have no regrets.. T.T I'd think about it if I quit, think about it if I deleted it T.T.. This was my first time deleting the account, and it's refreshing.

I always played in low elo. I played on so many accounts over 12 years, and in Flex or Solo Queue below Master, I usually went on 20 or 30-game win streaks solo with Heimerdinger.

If I found a duo, my record was a 51-game win streak starting from Iron lol. Rotating accounts, I've hit a 137-game win streak. Even now, I can easily maintain a 90%+ win rate like 34-1 or 20-1. Meaning he's a smurf champ ^^ A great champ for climbing. The macro is a secret ^^ Just 1v5 in the Top lane. Don't just fight blindly; pull back when they come, repeat, and your failing teammates will naturally recover their XP.

I wondered about my Solo Queue skill in high elo this year, so I tried it. I should've done it sooner.. It was my first time, and I was curious about my skill level, but I didn't know it would feel this empty.

Oh, and after I hit Rank 1 Heimer, I saw all the BJs and other Heimers copying my runes, traits, items, and spells lol. It was hilarious. And I felt proud lol.

Anyway, time to go live my real life happily, take care of my family, my siblings, my girlfriend, hang out with friends, and take care of my dog lol. I'll eventually have a kid and raise them..? I'll go create other challenges in a normal life. Haha, stay happy everyone! Sorry for the rambling post, and thank you for reading this long text.

I've put the videos I appeared in in the guide. I need to find more, but I'm tired.. just those lol.. I'll play in Flex or Solo Queue low elo for fun occasionally.. ~ The end. I'll come back to stream when I have time later. Please show some love? then lol..

(Below is the guide from when I hit Challenger—detailed concepts and realistic ways to climb Solo Queue. It's very long lol.. I've organized it with videos.) Not many people read the whole thing, but I wrote it for those who are desperate. https://talk.op.gg/s/lol/free/6805557