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A Personal Tip for Placement Matches

AquaWayfinder·1/25/2016, 3:10:23 PM·12 votes·4,609 views

Hello,

So, you're probably wondering 'wtf is this chick on about?' when you glance at the title but I'm here to give you guys my personal tips for placement matches. Now some of these might be different from the usual, some might be nearly exactly the same with a slight tweak but I'm just trying to help. I've seen a lot of threads complaining about MMR and the groups they get in ranked. So, on with the show.

  • When to do them. I, myself, choose to do my placement matches several weeks after the new season comes around. I find things to be a lot less tense and by then, most people would have already achieved their ranks. Don't worry, even when I do this I encounter a lot of unranked players still so I don't end up as the only unranked player in a game with Silver's 1-5. I like to do my placements at this time because things are calmer than at the beginning. By the time I throw myself at ranked, most are ranked and out of my MMR range (its currently sitting around silver 1/2). The tryhards are out of the way (don't get me wrong, I like to play ranked but not every day) and you're left with people who are mostly casuals like myself (filthy casuals, am I right?)

  • Getting thrown into Bronze/Silver isn't the end of the world. Your placement matches are just the start of everything. If you were silver or gold the last season and get thrown into Silver 5 or Silver 4 because you lost a few matches to some bad luck or trolling players, then you can get back to that rank. People seem to think that if you're Gold 3, lose a few matches and get thrown into silver because of it, you're stuck there with no hopes of returning to Gold. You got to Gold originally, why can't you do it again?

  • Relax. We've all had those games Someone doesn't get their prefered role and what do they do? Troll, feed, etc, etc. But we've also had those games where things have just gone wrong. Ganks went bad, unfortunate match ups that means you're on the losing side and sometimes games can just be over within the first ten minutes. I don't let myself get riled up about this however because you may have a bad game but your next game could be the best one you've ever had. If you start flaming your team or arguing with them then you lose sight of the game. You'll fail to save or acquire objections because you're too busy swearing at the jungler who is getting you that you failed to stop the enemy laner from getting fed / or farmed. In normals and ranked I usually try to be the voice of reason as I've spent most of my life trying to see things from more than one point of view. Flaming your teammates doesn't mean they're just going to suddenly have the skill of someone in Diamond and stop dying or losing their lane and start to 1v5 and get pentakills. Plus this only earns you and/or your teammates a report and even if you're trying to be the good guy, you can't play if you're banned.

  • Trust yourself in every role and know your strengths. Now this is for the more newer players that are throwing themselves into ranked for the first time but it can apply to older players too. I will go into a ranked game sometimes and think 'I'm so going to feed in this lane' but in reality, I know I'm better than that. I know how to play safe and let the waves push under tower or if you're behind in jungle, just try to farm up and rank only where needed. There will always be roles that some people are better at (I, for example, am the best at support in my eyes since I'm a support main but I know that my jungle is awful) but it doesn't mean that's the only role you can play. If you're not sure on a role, go and play a lot of it in normals before you head into ranked. You can spend all season getting ready for ranked and only finish your placements a month before the season ends, no-one's going to judge you for your decision to brush up on your least played roles instead of throwing yourself head first into ranked when you're not ready. Maining certain champions is alright and sometimes it does turn out to be a good decision but the bigger your champion pool, the better you'll play. Plus you'll have more champions that will counter the enemies picks and you'll be able to shut them down early in lane and ruin their late game.

  • Do not check what your enemies previous/current ranks are. It's the worst decision you'll ever make if you're anything like me. Knowing your enemy rank can screw you over in so many ways. If they're bronze or were bronze in the previous season, you can get too cocky and make more mistakes than you can afford. If they're a higher rank previously/currently, you'll worry and play too safe when you might be able to beat them in lane because you're experienced with that champion or it's a direct counter pick. Knowing your enemy's ranks will just make you paranoid and will cause more mistakes than you want to. Not knowing is better than knowing when it comes to others ranks.

  • Last but not least, have some fun. No-one gets _paid _ for being a high rank (unless you're in a top team that's in LCS and other stuff like streaming). So what if you go 1/9 in your placement matches? There is always room to improve, both in rank and skill over the course of the season, You may start in Bronze or Silver but you could be plat by the end of it. Everyone always improves, even if you're at high MMR. New champions come out, new strategies are created and everyone has to adapt or counter them. There is never a moment where someone is never improving. You had a rough lane against an opponent? Think about where you went wrong, ask a friend some questions or go and ask a streamer on Twitch. Most will be happy to answer your questions in full detail (one person that comes to mind is Nightblue because I've been watching him for jungle tips). Hell even the forums is a good place to ask questions. Some people are more than happy to answer questions based on champions or strats or simply what's the best item to build on a certain champions. Oh and if you're on a tilt, go away, relax, play some normals or an Aram to cheer yourself up and you'll soon find yourself out of your tilt and on your way to victory once again!

Now I'm just a #SilverScrub and you don't have to listen to a single word I've written but I hope _someone _ found this helpful. I use those tips above in my own games and yeah, I win some and I lose some but that's just how things go. Feel free to yell at me in the comments because I'm bad but be warned, I'm not going to pay attention. If anyone would like to improve/suggest some changes, go right ahead!

See you on the rift! [slayer-jinx-catface]

10 Comments

disregardable1/25/2016, 3:35:11 PM5 votes

You don't get demoted because you lost games. Everyone I've seen post has gone 7-3 or 8-2. You get demoted because that's what Riot decided to do this year. Everyone got demoted.

Restless Slumber1/25/2016, 3:49:44 PM1 votes

If you're good then you'll have an easy time climbing. I got placed silver 4 and climbed to silver 1 in 2 days of playing. Plus in silver half of the players were play last season and I only got gold previously. No one should get stressed over ranking. The amount of trolls I've gotten is ridiculous, yet I still have a 63.4% winrate. The only tip I can give other than practice in normals first is to stop playing after a loss. Taking breaks after losses definitely has helped me, mostly because I've generally tilted after what happened in that previous game.

Maximum Morde1/25/2016, 4:30:30 PM1 votes

TLDR, here's my guide instead.

Stop giving a fuck about placements and play the game because in the end placements don't matter and they won't stop you from getting where you belong.

Source: I throw my placements every year trying to get to bronze 5 and still can't get there.

Dukues1/25/2016, 6:20:43 PM1 votes

All good tips. With the rank reset everyone dropped and the longer you wait I do believe the higher mmr you start with or at least less of a handicap against you. From reading posts over the last few days to doing my own quick findings this is what I believe the current system looks like.

About a week into ranked everyone drops roughly 350-450 mmr. (About 1 tier).

silver 1 is currently filled with mostly Ex: plat players through gold 1. silver 2 is high plat to mid gold players. silver 3 is mostly mid gold players. silver 4 is currently filled with gold 4-5 players. Silver 5 is gold 4-5 + silver 1. Bronze 1 is Gold 5 - Silver 2 Bronze 2 is silver 1-2. Bronze 3 - silver 3-4.

Rest of bronze is a mix of silver with most of bronze players being in bronze 4-5.

If you look at op.na.gg roughly 40% of the top players are silver 4 or higher. This equates gold 5 range elo about midway through the season. I ended season 5 in Gold 5 and after my placements I was placed into silver 5. Almost everyone in my games were prior year gold 4-5 players. I just recently ranked up to silver 4 (won most my games and expected to jump to silver 3 but I think with the reset the mmr in divisions still messed up).

Anyways wait roughly a few weeks and ranks will be back to normal. If you really like ranked and climbing realize everyone in your elo dropped roughly 350-450 mmr and probably recover around 100 a week. As stated above to give yourself a reference as of right now Silver 4-5 is equivalent to Gold 4-5 elo. I am sure by next week silver 3 will change to this elo and will keep changing until players get back into gold.

GenghisEmo1/25/2016, 9:36:17 PM1 votes

I get so unlucky. I can own lane, be the only one taking down towers, only one able to shutdown enemy carried, actually knowing to retreat or all in, all relatively simple skill-based stuff or simple yet effective decision making only to still lose.

But such is my luck. Still happy with how much i personally improved even when others dont see the reasoning behind it.

My Ranked history does not show or prove it, but at least i know higher elo players that think i should be higher elo, who teach me, and make me play a role to carry them (put what i learned into practice).

Meanie401/25/2016, 11:03:28 PM1 votes

The New Champ Select relieves a lot of the "every role" stress. You can pick two and concentrate on them, and if your primary isn't Mid, you can pick one, put Mid as your second, and be relatively comfortable you only need to know one role.