Jay's Pro As Heck guide on how to "1v9"/"carry feeders" for the average player

So you want to rank up, eh? Don't we all? But aren't you tired of those "unwinnable games" where your team goes next level toxic and spends more time raging at each other than playing and drags your win ratio down?

Well have I got the answer for you! Here in this thread we'll go over how you too can overcome the odds and turn that L into a W.

Let me preface by saying this is liable to be a longer thread and you'll be required to do some reading and apply some critical thinking in order to unlock the secrets to climb the ladder when the odds seem stacked against you, but the lessons contained here-in are worth the time investment. Ya know how Smoky the Bear says "Only you can prevent Forest fires"? Well, only you can put in the time and effort required to put out those fires on your team if you want to come away with a victory screen. I know the video is long but there's a ton you can learn from it by dissecting it piece by piece and I'll go over the main points and critical moments here in the OP before opening it up to questions in the comments section.

So, without further ado, here's the video for those who want to watch before diving into the breakdown:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIm6zMXASn4&t=42s

Part 1: What does it mean to "1v9" or "hard carry"?

The first element I think we'll tackle is what exactly it means to be a hard carry in a match. Contrary to popular belief this does not mean you'll be racking up the KDA and putting together highlight reel plays, but that you are performing your job function to a T. Each role has a particular job function in game and games can be carried in any number of ways. Understanding what your job function is in game is going to be critical in terms of allowing you to do what needs to be done, as well as understanding what the job functions of your teammates are in order work together seamlessly as a team. In this match I'm playing ADC and I've picked Caitlyn. My basic job function as an ADC is to be able to pump out damage to take objectives and win team fights and skirmishes. As Caitlyn I have an even more defined role as a siege specialist, which means in order to maximize my effectiveness I need to take advantage of my strengths, as a champion, in terms of controlling a zone of action with my traps and then use my range advantage to take objectives down quickly. If I play things properly I'll be able to help control the pace of the game by forcibly taking objectives in a manner the opposing team will have great difficulty defending and this is how to "hard carry" as Caitlyn. Should you have any questions concerning the specifics of my teammates feel free to ask in the comments and I'll outline what their function is and how it all fits together on our team, but for now I'll stick to explaining my part in things as the game unfolds.

Let's take a look at some examples of what this looks like in game now that we understand my particular role and job function.

Lane Phase: We spent a good deal of time in the Laning Phase in this match and the first tower wasn't taken until 15 minutes into the game. As it so happens the first tower to come down is the enemy bot lane tier 1! I was able to perform my function effectively by maintaining a push in my lane with (for the most part) proper vision in place that allowed us to remain safe while extending quite far into the lane. I use my range advantage to bully and harass the opposing laner's when possible and use my superior wave clear compared to the opposing bot lane to keep them shoved in and gain an income advantage as well. During this time period my team is also able to secure another objective, the first Drake of the match, due to the pressure being applied in my lane. It might not be the flashiest of lane phases as I don't secure very many kills, but I perform my job function effectively and secure 2 early objectives that aren't matched by the opposing team and these objectives help to offset the troubles we are having in other areas of the map. I've taken the first steps required to carry the match.

Early Mid Game: Recognizing that I have a significant advantage at this point I next prioritize transferring that advantage to other lanes in the early mid game portions of the match. I'm playing a strong siege champ and this means I need to execute some intelligent rotations to apply a siege in mid lane first without giving up too much pressure in bot lane. As it so happens our Vlad was having a really rough time and so rather than lane swap to top immediately (which is the more standard play after securing first tower in bot lane) I stick to controlling the river section and our bottom half of the map while moving periodically to mid lane to increase the pressure there. This ultimately results in the enemy mid lane tier 1 tower coming down without being matched by the opposing team either, although things didn't go exactly according to plan as we lost a number of skirmishes as a team in that time frame. Having opened up our mid lane and secured the pressure advantage on the bottom half of the map and with our tier 1 top tower on it's last legs we make the decision at that point to lane swap with Illaoi and secure top outer tower followed a few minutes later by Drake number 2. These objectives were, however, traded with the opposing team at a deficit as the enemy secured 2 towers and multiple kills in some skirmishes. I've taken more necessary steps to carry this match, but the game has gotten somewhat sloppy at this point and we are clearly behind in terms of income despite winning in terms of pressure. Fortunately I'm playing a pressure oriented champion and our win condition is still valid since I've taken the basic steps needed to perform my function for my team. We've also secured some significant advantages in the drakes that will manifest later in the match, but I'll get to the macro oriented points a bit later in this post since we're still discussing how to carry properly given my job function and role.

Late Mid Game: At this point I've realized we are not performing very clean as a team and some options to win the game are likely off the table, like team fighting to secure a big mid lane push, and I've doubled down on my siege specialist sub function with my itemization by prioritizing a set that will better allow me to dish out damage to towers from range. I've only just started picking up some defensive options since I know I'm a priority target for the enemy team and I'll need those items to come on line before being able to fight in earnest. Most of this point of the game is spent trying to farm up those items and avoid unsafe situations. I need some of those trump cards if we're going to fight the enemy team effectively, and I'm aware that prioritizing Baron as an objective is our surest win condition. We're down pretty heavily as a team, so to carry the game I've got to make sure we defend the pressure from the opposing team effectively without giving up that objective. We make a pretty haphazard showing of it in this portion of the game, but do indeed manage and so the potential to carry is still on the table given how I've optimized my itemization to fit our win condition, particularly since I'm farming well and have a serious income advantage over everyone else in the match aside from Lee Sin.

Early Late Game: Our patience pays off and we secure first baron as well as a brief numbers advantage. It's now time to apply that carry potential for real and we make good use of the buff to turn the pressure advantage back around by taking top lane all the way down to the inhibitor before attempting to rotate over to try the same in mid lane but fail there before taking a second inhibitor. It could have gone more smoothly, but all in all I'm performing my function quite well and it's clear I'll be able to carry the match if I stick to my guns. I don't have a particularly great KDA, but I have advantages none the less and I'm applying them properly as the circumstances arise. The carry is very real at this point. As a team we goof a couple times, but our win condition remains the same as we have superior siege capability and strive to apply it practically.

Late Game: People on both teams are maxing out their items and a failed baron number 2 ends badly for our team, but not in absolute disaster. I've hit my item points and can afford to feel pretty ballsy in fights with a number of defensive options available to go along with my offensive ones. I've also secured a game state where as long as I'm alive we have the advantage due to my wave clear and DPS to objective threat that could potentially end the game at any time if things get disorganized. I'm firmly seated in the carry seat despite our woes as a team and any disorganization from the enemy team will result in an opening for my team to end the game. Finally it does happen, we obtain priority in mid lane with the wave clear and scatter the enemy team on the right half of the map as they struggle to retreat effectively and deal with our push. A crisp fight results in a numbers advantage with the strongest enemy player off the map and on a death timer and we have our opening. I pull up my carry pants and burn through the inhibitor and we bum rush the nexus and focus our collective might upon it. The game ends in a victory screen and I've effectively managed to carry what might have seemed a hopeless match.

More on the macro decisions involved in all this to come later, but we can see so far that having established a path to victory and with understanding of how to play to that win condition I was able to carry the match by performing my job function properly and to the best of my abilities. Let's move on now to the next important aspect of this win.

Part 2: Dealing with toxicity and underperforming teammates

Things looked pretty bleak for our team pretty early in the match. Our only real point of strength was my play and things quickly became testy in our chat with fingers being pointed and blame tossed around. It's easy to feel hopeless in this kind of a situation and to give in to temptation to do the same or FF the match. But the truth is that as long as at least one member of the team is capable, has the potential to carry, the match the game is never hopeless. It just means that the team has to play to the strengths of team member. If you're doing your part as an effective team communicator you can rally those raging teammates to do what needs to be done. This is the kind of match that most players will give up on since it feels hopeless, but the reality is that it's these kinds of matches that ultimately determine your standing on the ladder. Persevering through the adversity is important since you can't win every game and clinching a win in this type of match means significantly more to your win rate than those easy wins that come along every so often. So how did I get the team to stop bickering amongst each other and rally together for the W?

Well, it comes down to a couple of specific moments in the game. Sure the team didn't want to work together at moments, and sure, they were raging at each other at times, but there's a few things that happened which motivated them to suck it up and act like good teammates at critical moments.

The first and most important thing was that I was clearly giving the match my all. I was being as helpful as I could on multiple portions of the map, I was being proactive with my plays, and I was doing my best to organize our strategy with pings and communication. Being an example of the type of leader people want to follow allows the subsequent actions I took to ease our team's pain effectively. Without this foundation we probably would not have succeeded.

The second important moment comes about 25 minutes into the match. There's an argument in chat and insults get hurled around, some one commented on some one else's mother. I could have done a number of things in regard to this like keeping quiet, or defending the insulted party, or join in the blame game. But what I chose to do was type "We have the same mom dude". The jest worked, it eased the tension and made everyone chuckle, suddenly the game, despite the bleak circumstances, seemed fun again. Instead of being hurtful with their chat it suddenly became nothing more than a joke, a meme, playful ribbing instead of finger pointing. The team was galvanized around a simple off handed comment and they refocused on playing the match as best they could.

The third important moment came after a poorly played fight in bot lane around the tier 2 enemy bot turret. We got hammered, but by this point we were all on the same page as a team, we knew what needed to be done to come away victorious and we all agreed we'd just goofed. I typed in chat "Well, fack, we still got the win condition and they didn't take anything with that baron, no matter what bois we get one more shot at this" followed by "But I wish I wasn't playing like such garbo". Immediately what followed in chat was each other individual on the team typing "Same". 4 individuals who had previously been at each other's throats throwing around blame now instead took the blame themselves, and all it took was for me to admit I could have done better first. It didn't matter that I was playing by far the best in the game and on the team, I just said I could have done better and the whole team rallied to admit the same.

What's important to take from this is that being the kind of person other people want to play hard for and with can make or break a game. Admitting to your own mistakes can ease the tension and keep your teammates focused. People will respect a person who will criticize themselves first before being critical of another and what follows in terms of communication and criticism can be taken more willfully, which in turn can be the kind of productive communication that results in a well hashed out strategy that has the potential to win you the match. So many average players often say "I can't control my team if they devolve into a ragefest" but the truth is that you CAN deter that type of thing just by staying focused on playing hard.

Part 3: How to make the proper Macro plays even in a game that looks hopeless

In the end, what ultimately won this match was the superior Macro play from my team even though we were clearly the worse team in the match. In the same sense that if one person on the team is in position and has the potential to carry, if just one person on the team has the understanding of how to play the map (even when at a significant disadvantage) the game can be won. It's important to recognize where you have strengths even in a losing effort because very rarely is a team ever left in a situation where there is no possible strategic counter play for what the opposing team is doing to you.

In this match there are multiple points of strength for our team at different points in the game in terms of pressure, as pressure is always an ebb and flow. By knowing that our early pressure had secured us a Mountain Drake, for example, it became a point of strength for our team to threaten a baron as we would be able to burn it down more quickly and double down on our team's compositional siege advantage. It was important to perform my job function in lanes other than my own to secure us towers that kept the income disparity as close as possible. Recognizing our wave clear advantage helped us play proper defense in some situations and keep control of the pressure in all the lanes even when we'd give up kills to the opposing team in order to stymie that pressure. It's worth watching this video and considering how the map was played by both teams in order to learn some valuable lessons about how to prioritize what you should be doing in game even if the game looks pretty hopeless at certain moments because playing the map properly can overcome some of those disadvantages. There were several moments both teams could have played the map better and I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have on that in the comments. This is a game replay I'll watch more than a couple of times because there are a great many lessons that can be learned from reviewing the footage and considering our choices as a team as well as my individual ones (not to mention all my mechanical misplays that I can spot and work on cleaning up in future matches). If you really want to maximize your ability to climb the ladder then it's important to do this in your own games and focus on learning what worked and why, as well as what didn't work and why. Critical thinking, particularly in hard fought matches such as this, could make the difference in a match yet to come.

Some moments that stand out in this match for me are towards the end, like when we attempted our second Baron and Illaoi drew the enemy teams pressure in mid lane after we secured priority there to rotate to Baron. It was extremely well played on Illaoi's part and we should have been able to secure the Baron because of that effort (Lee had a super slick steal). Also our failure to zone out the enemy jungler there despite zoning out the other 4 opposing team members. Or our decision as a team to attack a bot lane inhibitor turret rather than rotate to the naked inhibitors in the closing moments. We might have played that better and won more easily without making that mistake. One instance I thought we did quite well on was after the Baron steal by Lee when we recognized the pressure in our side lanes and broke off the chase to answer that and reset the map before the opposing team could take advantage with Baron on the few remaining living members to break into our base. Considering all these types of things in my previous games helped me to make the correct macro decisions and communicate them to the team in this match and those lessons of the past helped us come out on top this time around when we, by all rights, had very little reason to triumph.

Conclusion

Some games really are hopeless, but it's a lot less than the average player realizes. Even in games that don't seem winnable a win can be secured by understanding all the elements in play and playing with your full effort. If you too decide to take these lessons to heart then you too can put your big boy carry pants on and win some of those "1v9s". You can't win em all, but it's going to be how you perform in games like this one that ultimately determine your place on the ranked ladder. The more hard fought comebacks you can win that would other wise have been a loss the more your win rate is going to improve. I hope you all feel like you've learned something from this and that it helps you achieve your goals in the future. Best of luck on the Rift summoners!