HowTo Network emblem How To: Gaming THE HOW TO CO. — EDITION 10
The lowest step of an enormous tiered gate fortress at last light, terraces and stairs climbing out of sight into cloud, torn banners snapping in the wind, a cloak and a water flask left on the stone.
◆ WAYPOINT 07  ·  ZONE III — THE SUNSET GATE

YOU CANNOT SEE THE TOP
from the bottom step.

Every step up this thing is one specific mistake you stopped making. None of them are the one you assume, and none of them are wanting it more.

3 PATHSWORDS BY POPPYNO RANK NUMBERS ANYWHERE ON THIS PAGE
◆ THE LADDER

Every line on this ladder is two things at once.

From underneath, a line is a ceiling — the thing you keep hitting and cannot name. From on top of it, the same line is a floor — a thing you have stopped having to think about at all. Nobody crosses a line by getting better at the floor they are already standing on. That is why grinding sideways feels like effort and reads as nothing.

◆ A NOTE ON NUMBERS
There are no rank distributions, percentiles or player counts on this page. They differ by game, they move every season, and a number nobody can check is not advice. The terraces below are named for what holds you there.
01
STILL AIR

Your own hands.

Almost everything that beats you here is something you did, not something they did. The input that did not come out. The button pressed twice. The plan that was correct and arrived as a mess.

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKETHE INPUT THAT DIDN’T COME OUTPANIC BUTTONSIT WORKED IN PRACTICE
CEILING  ·  TERRACE 01 ◆ FLOOR  ·  TERRACE 02

You can do the thing you meant to do, on demand, at the moment it is least calm.

02
FIRST WIND

The map.

Your hands are fine now and you are still arriving late. You are playing the thing in front of you instead of the thing about to happen, because nobody has told you where the game keeps happening.

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKEALWAYS SECOND THERERIGHT IDEA, WRONG PLACENO CLOCK IN YOUR HEAD
CEILING  ·  TERRACE 02 ◆ FLOOR  ·  TERRACE 03

You can say what is about to happen before it happens, and be right more often than not.

03
CLOUD LINE

Habit.

You have one very good plan. Everyone at this altitude has now seen it, and they are not beating you — they are beating the version of you that they watched last week. The thing that got you here is the thing holding you.

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKETHE SAME OPENINGREAD LIKE A BOOKA GOOD PLAN, LAST SEASON
CEILING  ·  TERRACE 03 ◆ FLOOR  ·  TERRACE 04

You can abandon a plan that is losing, mid‑match, without deciding that you are bad.

04
ABOVE THE CLOUD

Everybody else.

Nothing left up here is yours alone. Your ceiling is made of other people now — what gets said, who takes which job, whether four other players want the same thing on the same night.

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKEFOUR PEOPLE, FOUR PLANSTHE CALL NOBODY MADESOLO SKILL, TEAM CEILING
CEILING  ·  TERRACE 04 ◆ FLOOR  ·  NOT ON THIS PAGE

Nobody has written this rung down. The people standing on it still argue about what it is.

The top gate of the fortress seen through moving cloud, backlit by the last of the sun, its shape only just readable.
◆ THE TOP OF THIS LADDER IS NOT ON THIS PAGENOR ON ANYONE ELSE’S
The view down from a high terrace at sunset over the whole ladder of terraces below, receding into red light and cloud.

Every terrace below you was once the one you could not see over. Nobody remembers crossing it.

◆ PATHS FROM THE LADDER GATE

Three stairs leave this terrace. None of them are shortcuts.

01CLIMBING
A narrow stone stair climbing between two terraces at last light, a groove worn down the centre of its steps by long use.

The climb itself.

A session that gains something whether it wins or loses. Queueing on purpose, reviewing a game you would rather not watch, and the difference between playing a lot and climbing.

SESSION SHAPEREVIEWING A LOSSPLAYING A LOT VS CLIMBING
ENTER →
02AIM
A rain-slick practice court on a high terrace, straw targets scarred all over with hits and one still completely untouched.

The hour before the queue.

Aim, timing and reaction are trainable, and almost nobody trains them on purpose. What a warm‑up is actually for, and why the drill you enjoy is usually the one you already pass.

WARM-UPDRILLS THAT TRANSFERTHE TARGET YOU AVOID
ENTER →
03TEAM
A row of empty iron banner poles on a windswept terrace at sunset, one banner still raised and every other pole bare.

Finding the other four.

Solo queue has a ceiling built out of strangers. How to find people worth playing with, what to say in the first ten minutes, and how to leave a team without burning it down behind you.

FINDING PEOPLETHE FIRST TEN MINUTESLEAVING WELL
ENTER →
A wind-scoured stone terrace at sunset, long shadows across wet flagstones and a single lit brazier burning at its far edge.
◆ THE BRAZIER

Know what ends the night.

A ladder never closes. That is the entire danger of it. A session with no end condition ends when you are at your worst — and the last four games are the ones you remember, so you finish the night learning something false about yourself. Pick the exit before you need it.

TIMEDecide the last game before you play the first one. Out loud, if that helps.
SLOPETwo losses in a row where you knew the mistake as you were making it. That is the signal. Stop there.
TONEThe first sentence you say about your team instead of about the game. Stop there too.
NOT ONE LINE ON THIS LIST IS ABOUT SKILL

Quest Log

GUIDES BEING WRITTEN FOR THIS CHAPTER
01How to Climb Without Simply Playing More HoursQUEST PENDING
02How to Review a Loss You Don’t Want to WatchQUEST PENDING
03How to Warm Up in Ten Minutes and Have It CountQUEST PENDING
04How to End a Session Before It Costs You the WeekQUEST PENDING
05How to Find Four People Worth Queueing WithQUEST PENDING
A stone bench at the edge of a terrace at sunset holding a metal water flask, a rolled kit and a folded cloth.

“The ladder is the only opponent that never gets tired. You are allowed to be the one who walks away first.”

POPPY — CONTRIBUTOR PROFILE · HOME REGIONS: VIDEO & COLLECTIBLES