To everyone struggling in Bronze/Silver...

Fauxfire·9/26/2016, 6:29:12 PM·28 votes·5,490 views

If you're a well-rounded player who continuously loses games in the Bronze &Silver elo, let me first give my apologies.

This season, I didn't lose any of my series from Gold 1 to Diamond 5 until I started playing on my smurf to just get Gold/ranked rewards, where I lost two. Now I don't claim to be the best player, but as a mid/adc usually trying to play the mage/glass cannon, that elo is as hard as fuck to carry. It's still in my belief that you're in the elo you deserve to be in 95% of the time because any good player will eventually improve and find enough games to carry, but don't be discouraged if you're struggling because that elo is surprisingly harder than the ones above it.

49 Comments

Dukues9/26/2016, 7:20:20 PM15 votes

I could be wrong but I think part of grinding is just adjusting to the elo you are in. I mean... my peak is gold 4 100 lp so I have no experience grinding plat/diamond but when I see posts like this I think the major difference you notice when playing in a lower elo than your main is the knowledge of your teammates.

Like if I was playing in bronze I would assume I know more than my allies and enemies. I would not expect my teammates to help me with too much as far as objectives. But playing on my main account in gold I would need and expect my allies to help me with more things. I expect them to know when I ping on my way to a lane that I am on my way to gank. I also expect them to start letting me know when a lanes summoners are down etc.

So like I said I could be wrong but in your plat/diamond games you most likely can rely more on your teammates to follow up with you and think similar to you. While in gold/silver/bronze you might want to setup a tower dive but your team doesn't see the play like you do and therefore the play fails or doesn't happen at all. But once you start expecting less from that elo and adjust your play and maybe champs I think you will find ranking up fairly easy until your back to your actual elo.

This is my very low elo experience anyways. I just wanted to add this before this turns into the excuse of "see plat/diamond players struggling to climb in bronze/silver = elo hell". When really its not that bad once you learn the game and adjust to your surroundings.

MonkeyMadness9/26/2016, 9:33:18 PM9 votes

The issue with bronze is less that it's hard to carry and more that people down there think they are god's and refuse to accept any criticism and don't acknowledge that their own actions are causing just as many problems as their "shit teams". I've seen people down there that affirm they belong in "at least gold" but then they never ward, their cs is shit, they have absolutely no game sense/map awareness. The worst part is, when I try to bring this to their attention, they will either claim that I (the plat player) am wrong, or make some excuse like "you don't know how the game works down here".

no mechanics ape9/26/2016, 10:15:33 PM4 votes

I'm by no means a high elo player, currently sitting at Plat IV, but holy fuck if silver elo isn't a complete shitfest.

I think silver is hard because the skill variations both mechanically and macro-wise between individual players is so high that it's really difficult to win certain games and others are a cakewalk.

In other words, it's really difficult adjusting to the inconsistency of the elo.

Hethalean9/26/2016, 6:45:18 PM2 votes

I'm silver 2 (was silver 1 until I started losing to mostly high gold + Plats in my gold promos). Any general tips? I know it's hard to know without watching me play. I am a main support, and thinking about just trying another role that can carry.

Troll for Trump9/27/2016, 6:55:00 AM2 votes

With all the premades floating around, ranked is completely different. You can't play like a solo Q player in solo Q, because, if they have premades, you're screwed. Same thing applies when you have a premade; have fun shitting on everyone.

In SoloQ you can be more successful with things such as Nasus, Darius, AD Assassin Lee Sin, Talon etc.

Against premades, you can't pick the soloq champs. They play completely different from soloQ players. Individually, none of them are that good. But by abusing the benefits that come with being premade, they climb much quicker and easier.

Great Muta9/26/2016, 7:33:48 PM2 votes

I won 67% of my games and it took me over 100 games to get from B5 > S5. The grind is real and honestly not worth it. It's just too easy for trolls to take over a game.

EndlessSorcerer9/26/2016, 6:59:37 PM2 votes

When I was in Silver last season, I just played siege champions (i.e. Varus and Ziggs).

I found that people would constantly group up randomly around objectives so I could just waveclear indefinitely, poke down our opponents before a fight started and catch people out with my CC if they mispositioned.

JDB8eoX8x09/27/2016, 4:33:56 PM1 votes

I blame the people that pay to get boosted into Gold+.

AMYS GRAVE9/27/2016, 6:37:56 PM1 votes

Yeah, i started ranked this season and quit. I placed silver 4 and climbed to silver 2 in a matter of twoish weeks. Then i got 12 games in a row with an afk/intentionally feeding person. That's when i realized that rank doesn't mean anything, and isn't worth getting invested over because people worse than me can queue up with their friends, get carried to whatever rank, and never have any of these problems.

Dracocrash9/26/2016, 7:09:12 PM1 votes

I have to disagree for silver 2 +.

I had trouble climbing bronze 3-silver 4. But after silver 4 things begin smoothing out.

IsoVhell9/26/2016, 8:06:17 PM1 votes

The trolls are what keeps me back, plus the scripting. Many do it we all know it, I have even left teams because they wanted me to do it with them when on curse. Riot needs to clamp down on that shit hard.

Kewlipo9/26/2016, 9:39:04 PM1 votes

To Diamond 5?

Did you stop purposely or could you not climb more?

I'm in Diamond 5 myself, and to be frank, as soon as I hit Diamond 4 promos, something genuinely goes wrong and either my jungle or bot lane get absolutely crushed. Don't know if it's luck or what, but can't get out of Diamond 5. :C

MorgManBasher9/27/2016, 2:09:24 AM1 votes

Meh, sometimes you just run into bad luck. All ELO's are about the same in my opinion to get out of. Sometimes they are super easy, other times you run into a series of unfortunate games even though you got through them easy on another account.

Generally find all ELO's till you get to plat 1 easy, but that's because I don't belong there but sometimes you run into bad games.

Kitty Clarissa9/27/2016, 3:29:22 AM1 votes

well im in silver but i usually just play Sona and Zyra as support since i practiced them alot for fun, i have no real reason to get to gold, i just have when i play, i have like a crap ton of normal games anyway. i dont really feel like carrying by kills i just like buffing teamates xD.. But how can i climb through silver efficiently XD.

JuiceNJews9/27/2016, 2:11:50 PM1 votes

To me, this has been the worst ranked season ever. The matchups have been incredibly scewered almost all the time and utterly ridiculous at times. Winning has become uninteresting and losing incredibly agonizing and stressfull, especially when you get the sensation you never had a chance to begin with, no matter how well you play. Matches feel far more predictable than ever I often feel they are basicly won or lost in pick/ban phase.

I rarely got that sensation in previous seasons, this season it felt like a rule rather than an exception.

The early to mid ranked season this year has made me realize I don't have the time, energy or patience to grind any acc higher than gold. It has simply been too volatile, I don't know if it's better now and I honestly don't care anymore. I will get my championship rewards regardless so I don't see the point in indulging in it anymore.

If you have the patience, time, mindset and friends to play ranked with, cudos to you.