No elo hell? (long thread)

HI everybody :)

I shall start by saying that I am by no means particularly pissed about this subject. Despite the fact that I've had horrible experiences in regards to this, I am absolutely willing to improve and I am not in danger of possibly going on tilt because of any bad spirits my problems with ranked may cause. I'm, however, very curious, and would love to see your replies.

I shall now describe a hypothetical situation, which is extremely likely to happen in-game and is probably extremely familiar to most of us.

So, let's say you're in a ranked match, 15 minutes in, and your midlaner has died approximately 6 times already predominantly to the enemy midlaner, and also to the enemy jungler. This is just so that I can make it obvious that your midlaner is feeding, so to say. Your team's jungler is frantically trying to help mid, but his ganks, as well planned as they are, fail, for the enemy midlaner has a huge advantage, and your midlaner is always so out of sync with the movements of your team that by the time your jungler has jumped in to gank, he is still near his turret away from the main battle. The result? Your jungler dies, and your midlaner who took his time to come help the jungler dies a few seconds later in the ensuing 1v1, giving the enemy midlaner a double kill. Perhaps even your outer turret dies too. (Bonus: the enemy midlaner asks whether he's Faker on /all chat.) Your top laner, although he has teleport, refuses to come help mid lane, because he is doing well in top, and doesn't wish to waste his time helping an already lost lane, preferring to focus on the power he has in top. Your jungler, who has by now lost tons of farm and can't even go back to the jungle because things are getting dangerously hectic, keeps attempting to defend mid, and doesn't consider ganking, for example, your bot lane, who is getting zoned because of the obvious advantage the enemy team and the enemy bot have (the enemy bot lane feels comfortable because their jungler is available, and their entire team is winning). The ADC himself can't leave bot lane for he will lose so much CS (his CS is probably not that great already, despite the fact that he's been in bot the entire time) and possibly lose the bot lane outer turret, and the support can't roam or even ward because of the pressure being applied in bot lane.

So far, you could say that this is almost check mate for your team. Nothing of importance can really happen. Your team is unfortunately bound to merely defending the turrets. No contesting dragon or baron, no warding, no roaming. The only time when pressure from the enemy is not being applied is when the enemies have gone to base, and not much can be done in such a short amount of time. You may incidentally get a few kills here and there, but for one you can't kill the fed enemy midlaner, and he decimates you in team fights. And thus, steadily, your team keeps growing weaker and weaker, and the nexus dies. It's gg.

And you know what's worse in all this?

The knowledge that neither you nor the enemy team are organised, or particularly good for that matter. If there are 10 bad players in a match, it takes only one or two (say, your midlaner and jungler) of them to make grave mistakes, and one or two enemies (say, the enemy midlaner and jungler) with a tiny bit of a brain, for a nexus to die.

Where's the strategy and the sophistication in this? The defeat and the victory here are meaningless, since neither one is the result of skill. It's almost the way things come to be when 10 bad players come together and use their brain on save energy mode.

And right now, this is, if you ask me, a pretty accurate portrait of a bronze-silver match. I believe your first reaction here would be to say that every division has its own problems, and that there are bad players in both diamond and bronze. Well, yes, that's absolutely true. But compare a bad diamond player to a bad bronze player. The bad diamond player is bad because, for example, he didn't take wise enough steps to secure the baron for their team. Or because in an unfortunate twist of fate he died while split pushing in top. The bad bronze player is probably unfamiliar with most key game concepts, such as how to ward and effectively for that matter, how and when to gank, where to position himself in teamfights etc etc etc.

The same applies to flaming. If there are any flamers at all in diamond, the diamond flamer will flame other diamonds in his team over how, for example, they accidentally targeted the enemy midlaner and not the enemy ADC. The bronze flamer will go 0/12 and say that everybody else is a noob, then try to solo baron and die miserably.

These observations are of course not absolute, and aren't true for every single case, but I think they are not completely off. However, at the end of the day, you diamonds know better what's going on in your games, since I've only been in bronze or silver.

And then there's me. I'm not infallible, and I'm certainly am not perfect. I know my flaws, I know when I could and should have done more to help my team and didn't. And I know that there have been times when I just feel desperate in my lane and can't stop dying, kinda like the feeding midlaner in my hypothetical game above. But you know what? I am also confident that I know the key concepts of the game. I've always been warding, and I've managed to save myself many times thanks to my wards. I've always been as positive as I can amidst a grumpy team of flamers. I know as the ADC I need to stay back in teamfights, and I know that I must target the enemy ADC and not the tank that engages. I know how to engage and disengage as a support and a tank. I'm not bad with skillshots, and I can land spears, hooks and stuns. I know that baron and dragon should only be attempted when at least the enemy jungler is dead and can't outsmite us, and when there's sufficient vision in the enemy jungle for us and no vision for the enemies. I can steal barons and dragons as the jungler almost every time provided I manage to get close to their pits. I know how split push when the entire enemy team is busy. I use my teleport to gank other lanes, split push and backdoor and not just to return to top. I know that when things aren't going well in my lane I can actually start roaming and may possibly help my team this way rather than just sit and die in my lane. I have a huge champion pool and practically main any role. I have great map awareness, and try to make sure that I am present when there's an opportunity for great pressure to be applied, or when a teammate really needs help.

TL;DR: And after all this rant I shall finally get to my point. You can be a wonderful player. You can have everything covered on your part. You may even be comfortable enough in your shoes to be able to roam and teleport and be able to impact other lanes. But are you sure there is no such thing as elo hell? A place where no matter how good you are your team is just not great? Many higher elo players say as an argument against the notion of elo hell, "Where were you when your midlaner was feeding? Why didn't you help him get back on track?" Let me tell you, I was there. What if I actually tried? What if I struggled to pick out the right targets in the enemy team so that some pressure can be relieved and my team can farm a bit more and grow stronger? What if I honestly try to save my teammates and give them opportunities to win, but they never take them? What if they are honestly unaware of what they should do and merely suicide? How can you possibly raise your elo when you yourself do your best, but your team's best (which they are undoubtedly trying to do too) is not that great at all?

Are you absolutely certain, guys, that there is no elo hell?

Thank you very much, K