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Biggest mistakes that Bronze/Silver/Gold players do in "Elo Hell"

SHerv··34 votes·11,243 views

Dear players,

I'm a high Diamond player and I constantly hear from my real life friends that low ELO is impossible to pass once one is locked in it. After making a smurf and exposing myself to this "Elo Hell" I've made a conclusion to why games seem so hard, and how people can easily get out of, or avoid this "Elo Hell".

  1. The first part that I want to touch on is why games in low ELO seem even harder to win than games in high Diamond sometimes. My first game in Silver 3 I noticed almost instantly that everyone is stuck in the mindset that they MUST carry the game in order to get out. With this shared philosophy, about everyone in the game is playing, in a lack of a better term, selfish. I can half-reason with why everyone feels this way, they consistently play with others who believe in the same idea or other players they deem "don't belong (boosted)".

On the other hand, players need to realize that this isn't Starcraft or Warcraft, where skill is determined through one vs one player abilities. This is a team game and in team games skill is much rather determined through how well players can sacrifice for the sake of the team's victory. Compatibility is key in team games, and this isn't any different for League of Legends. If you're asked or notice that your team needs a certain champion to have an edge, don't turn your back on them because "you need to carry solo only".

  1. This transitions well into the second part of my synopsis which focuses on what low ELO players should do to grind their way out of "Elo Hell". If being selfish is what keeps you locked in Bronze/Silver/Gold, then maybe being SELFLESS will be a key quality to breaking free and ranking up. This won't come easy, especially to the players who have played for many years. However, slowly try to embed characteristics of being selfless, sacrificing for the team, and getting more victories than reports. Remember, You don't need to carry every game, in fact, the best players in any sport or e-sport don't carry their teams by putting them on their backs. They do it by getting all their teammates to play the best of their abilities!

Good Luck, and let me know if this helped or not!

SHerv

110 Comments

bleufromage13 votes

This advice is virtually useless because even if I become a team player there at 4 other people who think they have to solo carry even if they have no skill to do so. This results in them feeding and blaming me for doing no damage or not helping because they fed. The problem is the entire mindset of low elo players.

SHerv11 votes

Simple solution: Over each game you play, add the one player in your team that you thought played best as a team player. Then duo with him. The next set of games find another person with similar traits and move from a duo to a trio. Settle at playing with a trio and if you three play well together, the game will become much easier.

Always remember that this is still a team game and that dynamic queue is an option that RIOT put in the game, so always use the lemons given to you since lemonade is just around the corner!

bleufromage6 votes

That's actually very good advice

Very Hard Engage7 votes

10/10 willing to flash and take a cait ult to save that 1hp veigar on my team.

but then again.... veigar was found alone at enemy t2 on the top side of the map, while the rest of us were at dragon number 3.

then the enemy team decided to pressure baron 5v4..

weve got no mid, lucian wants to be a hero and poke,** enemy thresh hook**, enemy team dives and blows him up. support tries to save him, dies too (instantly like the bothans). just me and a buddy left, we bail, they get a baron.

^

thats elo hell.

SHerv2 votes

Miscommunication is solo queue, if you see you're Lucian move up for poke (which is not the right idea), the front line has to follow up and get in front. That's what solo queue is, reacting and responding to the team's actions. The different between a low ELO game and a higher ELO game is that in a low ELO game the support would die after trying to help the adc who was caught trying to poke. However, in a higher ELO game, the support would SACRIFICE himself intently to save the ADC before he dies.

Everything comes down to team management and if everyone plays their role to win the game. HINT: Every role needs to sacrifice for another role in a certain order that would benefit the team.

Very Hard Engage3 votes

its not miscommunication, its strictly ignore my pings, and throws.

people are bad, and they refuse to talk at all, they dont ping, they ignore all pings "come on man they're so loud, I dont want to listen to that crap!, people just spam anyway, it doesn't mean anything", they are dead weight in a carry position and it destroys the chance at winning.

which is why while climbing you have to take a carry role because damage needs to be dealt and if the carry throws its GG you have to assert yourself as the dominant player in the game to outweigh those terrible decisions that other people make.

im the one pinging, im the warder, im the one organizing groupings and what to go for. and people mute me, and stay in lane at 30mins in.

the difference being when i take mid away from other people, that veigar scenario cant happen, and we have a secondary damage dealer for when the 4v5 rolls around from one team mate throwing.

it should be a 5v5 at baron, but for whatever reason usually my adc is farming bot lane handing baron over for free and that accounts for the majority of my losses. regardless of how i ping or what i say, i can predict the baron, ward it out, show it to them on the map, but my adc is still bot lane anyway, not even making the effort to come.

SHerv3 votes

I agree, most people ignore vital pings, and it was very obvious that people don't entirely understand carry roles in lower ELO, but beginning to think that "If only I was in a carry position" will only equate to the same problem.

The best way to get around this is to play for the team's standards. If someone wants to split whilst baron is being taken, then let them split and slow down the baron play. It isn't the smartest move at all and I know that, but the method I'm preaching is to optimize every situation by sacrificing your own reasoning on behalf the team's will.

That being said, you should always try to suggest/offer ideas for the team to win!

I know this comes off strange and maybe even support-esque, but the same can apply even if your playing a carry role and someone isn't doing the smartest plays.

Hyrum Graff2 votes

A bad call made as a team is usually better than a good call made alone.

DarkRitual7 votes

As a support main working on climbing out of bronze (won B1 promos a few min ago), I fully understand the concept. However, there are some team-reliant champs I won't play if I'm not in a group. There's just too many people that lack some of the finer mechanics/skills that I don't trust random people in my ELO.

SHerv5 votes

It's strange for support mains since your position requires you to only team play, but carries need to learn to team play as well. Once the ADC can rely on the support and the support can rely on the ADC, that mutual trust will guarantee better gameplay. Getting their is a long road of sacrifices starting with sacrificing individual interests/plays.

Wheatloaf5 votes

More people need to learn how to play support. Not main it, just play it enough to learn the role reasonably well.

DarkRitual9 votes

People need to realize it's not a boring "adc's slave" job where all they do is ward.

lofi n chillhop1 votes

you say you dont trust your teamates

change that mindset :) I rose like a rocket out of bronze by playing support. if one teamate doesn't seem to be super strong, NBD make roam plays to the teamate that is doing well. or use vision control to ensure numbers advantage on any fight.

and most importantly. when rising, you lose about 45% of your games. so if you lose a game, just remember it's statistics that lost, learn from your mistakes when you can notice them and just be patient for that next win.

DarkRitual1 votes

I WANT to trust them, and generally give them the benefit of the doubt once in-game. However, I will still pick champs where I can choose to carry. Not just because of that, but I have just generally done well on them. Better safe than sorry. Hope 45% isn't true, just won 5 in a row to qualify for series to get out of Bronze.

lofi n chillhop1 votes

The best way to do that is the following: if you get ahead in lane, build to carry. if you get behind in lane, build to support. that's what I do anyway.

I also always trust my teamates on default. if I do something that ends up being better had I be selfish, I just tell myself, that's just going to happen sometimes. and I trust the statistics that more often than not, acting to the goals of my teamate is going to be beneficial.

naturally there are times when being selfish is always correct. I try to observe and learn when a selfish play is good. but if I don't have experience that tells me "being selfish here will help the team win" then I default to the trusting play.

Cyndercat6 votes

Gotta disagree....I understand where you are coming from but the skill different between teammates is so HUGE in bronze that you just cant rely on them AT ALL. 80% of the player base is in bronze-silver so you get everything from people who have literally no idea how to play and cant even use their skills correctly, to people who are decent and are above bronze in most areas but are being held back by their incompetence in one particular area.

Playing a team oriented game will just leave you frustrated as there will be 1-2 people who have 0 clue what they are doing and will constantly be out of position and feeding. You will never be able to get them to group effectively and cannot use your champ to emphasize their strengths as they have none. The only way to compensate is to get overly fed yourself so you can do enough damage to make up for their uselessness.

It might sound awful, but that was my entire experience of bronze. I tried playing 'traditional' supports in bronze. And nomatter how hard I peeled and sacrificed myself for the team, my adc would just mess up and die immediatly after. You will get rare random games where your entire team is competent enough so you can sacrifice for the teams sake but they are impossible to predict and you cant take the chance in champ select to pick something team focused when you may end up with 2 carries that are 0/5.

Even a total change of mindset for the entire bronze division wouldnt be enough as you will still have people who are so bad that you need at least 1 superfed player who can solo carry.

SHerv2 votes

I ventured to bronze 3 a few days back and I know what your talking about. However, every game I played, we won and I was not carrying at all. Team synergy can always be made no matter the league/rank. Yes, teams are more incompetent in lower ELO, but if you have the right idea (which you may very well not have), then being able to command the team could be the crucial element missing.

Also, this ties into the idea that in order to command your team, you need to prove yourself. I'm not sure why this is the case in lower ELO, but to avoid this I would recommend players to practice Jungle or Mid. Jungle controls the pace of the game and mid controls where the fights are to be located. This can help people moderate the game and play it like a chess match where you control your team's activities.

If one does not want to switch to Jungle or Mid, and still run into the same problems I would recommend finding 2 partners and start a Trio Queue.

Angry Monster5 votes

I agree and disagree with you.

I agree that everyone is trying to carry and it is a problem.

But the other side of this is that trusting another player who may or not be a good carry is hard thing. It boils down to trust and why would a person trust another.

Also streamers consistently show with their unrank to diamond/challenger challenges that they can do what they want and carry a game. NB3 teaches the opposite message that you do, not that i am saying you are wrong.

By going supportive (non carry menality) you litterally have to trust a person to carry/DPS for you. You are giving your fate to a person that you can only pray that will work with you.

SHerv2 votes

I'm not trying to say that one should always play supportive in both role or play-style. I'm saying that sacrificing individual play is key to getting to the next level. For example, when I was taking time in lower ELO, I see a lot of this: The jungle player gets ambushed and no one rotates to help, he dies, then gets mad at the team. If lanes did a proper rotate to help him/her, then he would be happy, the lanes that rotated would have sacrificed EXP and GOLD, even though it is arguably worth it, and the team morale is boosted ten fold.

I agree that one who is higher ELO can carry games doing anything, but that is because they are HIGHER ELO. I've streamed B5 to D1, and go their doing only carry, and also by playing team heavy. I personally found that carrying was much easier, but that is simply because I am mechanically strong, and you can't teach mechanics (it comes over time).

The point I'm trying to get across is individual play will always hold players down from true potential. Team play will be hard to master, especially in a game where everyone is flaming, but overall, it's team-play you want to get good at since it will be more useful.

Hyrum Graff5 votes

Gold 1 last season, made a smurf this season which is currently silver 1. This post is spot-on, though the phrasing I prefer is "learn to let other people carry".

The problem is that the "I must carry" mindset when behind becomes "I need to catch up so I can carry. So I'm going to fight again and outplay and win, even though I didn't outplay or win the past 4 fights." And then they end up feeding their lane so badly that the winning matchup elsewhere who could have carried, no longer can.

PSA: you get LP from winning, not carrying. It's OK to win games without being the one to carry them.

Vicarious1174 votes

You don't fully understand low ELO, sorry to say.

I mean overall you are correct, as players we should be playing selflessly and for the team, but when you cannot rely on that team to do their jobs then you'll just be disappointed when placing your faith in them.

I try to play for my team, I play tanks a lot and that in and of itself means relying on your team to follow your lead or take advantage of the plays you make, if not through just you peeling for them so they can do the damage that you cannot! But at least half of the time they simply can't, they do not have the ability necessary to keep up or take advantage.

Now I'm not saying you should abandon you teammates while you hog all the gold and glory, then they REALLY won't be able to keep up, but you should always keep yourself first in your mind if you want to win!

Like sacrificing your life so your ADC can get a double kill? YES! Do that, it'll help them do their job more reliably. But giving up kills to a champion who falls off like Pantheon when you're playing someone who scales like Azir? DON'T! Sure he may be upset with you for not letting him snowball as hard, but you can be faaaaar more beneficial to your team if you have the gold and know how to use it.

It's a balance, between selfishness and selflessness, and I don't think the key to climbing lies in either one, it lies in the balance between them both.

DeathBurst2 votes

Yeah, I think it's closer to the truth than OP.

A Doorknob3 votes

There is a big difference and game-style from Diamond and Silver Elo. Diamond people cooperate with one another and actually understand how to play the game and the character. They ward, they seldom feed, the farm like bosses, they understand the purpose of a gank, dragon/baron are considered important and etc. The same cannot be said for Bronze/Silver. This is where you are wrong with "not everyone'' needs to carry because we do. If our carries doesn't know how to carry then what do we do? How can we win a game? In the instance our carry does know then we can simply adapt (if we're smart) our game-style but otherwise we all need to carry until we know they can. I would love to play in your division, though I'm far from being as good, they are probably far less frustrating. Feeding is the biggest issue in Bronze/silver. Our division seem to love death more than Karthus.

Arthimetes3 votes

I have a permabanned account myself, due to extreme toxicity and a very selfish mindset, I remember placing bronze 3 and flipping my shit and being tilted every game until I finally crawled my way to silver.

I would rage and afk, I would flame my team and trash talk the enemy team, and would be way too egotistical.

When I got permabanned I vowed never to play league again and uninstalled, after a few months I, of course, came crawling back. This time around though I've been far less toxic and have only ever recieved a chat restriction, and I've found that I easily placed bronze 1 and now I'm silver 4 and I really didn't even notice myself ranking up, I just played and breezed through my ranks rather quickly, In only 38 games I've ranked up twice which before it would take FAR more games than that when i was being toxic and selfish.

I've been playing support more and when I play Mid (my favorite role) I gank for my team a lot more than I used to and even give up kills for people to get fed, and the feel of these games are far better than solo carrying while flaming.

Of course I still have bad games, I've afk'd and I've been toxic on this account, I wont lie (the main thing being slapped into a 4 man premade and having my lane completely ignored tilts me to all hell) but for the most part I've completely changed and I actually believe those loading screen tips that say friendly players win more.

I do miss my DJ Sona though...

TLDR; I used to be a dick, im much less dick-ish now and I'm winning more and having more fun because of it.

SHerv3 votes

I was happy to read this reply and it's good to hear that not only have you treated the game differently, but the game has treated you favorably as well! Good luck.

shyv2 votes

high diamond

https://i.gyazo.com/c07f528230d3bc839f639564bb5614c6.png

Dekatz2 votes

He's a diamond 1. That's a smurf [slayer-jinx-unamused]

notmebuthim2 votes

You can solo carry games though, I think its the realization that you cant solo carry every game that makes people think elo hell is real. You have to, like you said, most of the time see what the TEAM needs to win rather then what you think YOU need to win. Also, don't smurf. A diamond player ruining silver games... Not that Diamond isn't shit because of all the Challenger smurfs,

PraetorAmalthus2 votes

Got to silver playing GP with the carry-mentality. Then I noticed that im basically stagnating, and switched to tanks with the mentality of cc for your Team, got me to s1, from there i played ali/ brand, depending on the Need of tank/engage or apc/tankbuster, so i get what you mean with the supportive attitude in order to climb. i just stop now because i have my Skin 100% safe

EponaAteNavi2 votes

As a support main, all I can say is it truly is near impossible to climb solo que. It's sort of a punishment for those who can't/don't have the ability to que duo or team. We're at the mercy of the team's ability to function together. The sad part is that concept is MIA in low elo. I'm not really complaining, just stating facts. I've noticed that some pairing is extremely mismatched where me as a lowly S5(cuz a lose streak makes me rage), gets paired with unranked and B1. Bronze and Silvers at least should be paired within their ranks. Anyway, off to the beach! Enjoy your 4th!

Lyless2 votes

Elo hell cannot be escaped. Other constantly hold you back. Lack of team work, bad plays, bad players, ect.....

DREADN0UGHT2 votes

No one is holding you back but yourself.

Lyless2 votes

{quoted}

No one is holding you back but yourself.

tell that to the Kog played with that went 0-4 to start the game in under 10 mins.

DREADN0UGHT2 votes

That shit happens in all elo. Get over it.

Darkvaine2 votes

people he didn't say not to carry, he said to have a mindset of teamwork, not just the mindset of it all depends on me even if it's the case. try to make decisions based on the team and not on what seems right to you at the monet. if lucian is both pushing while baron is been donearly and he doesn't listen, flaming and arguing won't help instead try to make a positive and trade maybe a 2nd tier for baron, not what you wanted but at least we as a team did something. someone refuses to group? then follow them. it's not what you want but it's something and that has helped me climbed recently. hope this helps

Around999People2 votes

i find it amusing that this is exactly my mindset when playing support which I main.

I die to keep their team busy so my carries could get away ^^

I have too many days where I'm just downright bad to get out of bronze but oh well.

I've had high ELO people compliment me (feels amazing when a plat/diamond compliments a bronzie) and they've given me plenty of advice on how to get through bronze since on my best days I can go toe to toe with a gold/plat player at least,

But sadly I'm stuck, and the people that I know I have a,aging synergy with don't play ranked. I mean when we did a while back (season 3 or 4) we won 8/10 games. But those bad luck streaks always kick me back down into bronze. One time I went from silver 5 to bronze 5 because I just couldn't win a game for the life of me.

Other times I've won 25 ranked games in a row.

Now that I also record my games I can see where I messed up and improve that way.

So, there's hope for me ^~^

Also: I've been reading your replies to other people and I'd like to say thank you. You're one of those few high ELO players that doesn't see us bronzies as a waste of space. That earns my respect for what it's worth.

Ignore any typo's. It's 4 am and I'm sleep deprived

TheSingularity2 votes

Firstly, well said as my views are practically a mirror image <3 Question, what's your main role/class of champions? And as a utility jungler who fears tower diving, got any advice as to better judging less obvious dive opportunities (when they're not on 1 hp with no flash) and when I should start diving (from the get go, after cinderhulk, after bami cinder ect). Any advice would be greatly appreciated <3 [slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

SHerv2 votes

I main Top and Jungle. My Top Champ pool includes : Fiora/Darius/Mao/Karthus.

My Jungle Champ pool includes : LeeSin/Gragas/Zac

Turret dives can me managed as long as all members are willing to commit 100%. This means that 2-3 people can dive a full hp'd top lane player (Depending on who the champ is). When you're roaming around your jungle looking for the perfect gank, always keep in mind what the other jungler may be doing. This can present to you many options: CounterGank, Objectives, and Opposite map ganks.

I tend to camp lanes that are losing, which in my experience has worked out most of the time. A lot of players say that you should help the winning lane, but I think it's up to you! I personally like to have equally fed members rather than 1 super fed teammate and 1 super weak teammate.

Taking kills as a jungler is up to you. It's neither good or bad, however I tend to share kills. Good Luck!

TheSingularity1 votes

Thanks a bunch, but just a little expansion if possible :)

Would you recommend avoiding dives in silver unless its a reassured 120% success as players generally take the turret dives duration to makes up their minds? Or to just evaluate and go for it? As far as camping loosing lanes, is there a point at which you give up and prioritise elsewhere? Say it's a 4/0 irelia/darius and you're zac?

SHerv2 votes

  1. Always camp Darius no matter what since you don't want him steamrolling your top, and if he does, do not gank him! He is capable of 1v2. I would gank a 4-0 Irelia since her strong suit is mainly 1v1, unless your top lane gets blown up in 3 hits.

  2. Personally I like to just go for it after a quick evaluation. However, I would not suggest this because it highly risky and it does require a good mechanical teammates who cooperate well. Therefore, I would say reassure that your dive will get the kill 120% and hopefully no bad trades happen afterwards.

SHerv2 votes

I quickly just want to apologize to the comments I haven't responded to yet. I'm trying to reply in between games but, I'll try to respond to them all!

SHerv

Serika Zero2 votes

This might be just me. But I truly believe that: a) people in bronze have NO CLUE how this game works by that I mean: trading, engaging, disengaging, poking, sieging, retreating, farming, power spikes, item build, skills of ally and enemy champions, wave control, etc.

Basically, their game knowledge is very bad. Making them take bad decisions most of the time.

b) people in silver they start to get a grasp of what the above stuff mean. But they still lack a lot

c) people in gold they start to get better at mechanics and slight improvement in knowledge

d) people in plat (like myself) got above average (50%) game knowledge in terms on the things i've mentioned above as well as decent mechanics which they've formed in silver and gold but for example, even I got no fucking clue how to deal with an Yorik on top, what Galio's skills do, what's the power spike items for Viktor and most other champions I know overall the skills and abilities of each champion in the game (barring unpopular ones like galio, urgot, etc). But as far as my power spikes go I only know them for some of the champions I play.

e) i assume people in diamond plus finally start watching what the enemy is building more often and start making less dumb decisions.

So, I'm pretty sure you could easily get plat with just solid game knowledge which allows you to take good decisions and playing easy champions such as: Annie Amumu Blitzcrank Diana Darius Fizz Graves Irelia Jax Janna Kayle Lissandra Malzahar etc

Like, there was a game, where I was rengar. I kept jumping and trying to kill the enemy leblank but she kept escaping with her distortion and eventually even got a zhonias. But the entire game I was trying to kill her. That was bad decision (still won coz normal game and i got carried). But often I go for an all in, only to realize the enemy got QSS, Zhonias, or other big deal item only after i fucked up ^^'

And I've "marched" though gold elo with 60% win ratio.

Spoofghoul2 votes

yes the solo carry

while you are right, many players at that elo are simply not that good at the game playing selfless also means relying on these other players.

And if they are failing you just auto lose.

i think the best thing one can do is simply not suck what i mean by this is dont feed early, because early kills double dip in xp and gold, keep an eye on the map go for objectives and avoid bad or unneccesary fights. And communicate, tell missing players ping for danger etc.

Death by Glamour1 votes

From the streams i watch high elo is just as bad a low elo, the only difference mechanics were generally far better as was map awareness (warding and taking objectives). People qould still flash to kill an ignited enemy, make daft plays in the hopes of making a montage, feed like mad in lane.

No doubt DQ has fixed alot of communication problems in high elo.

Biggest pet peev in silver is the aram mode in sr that happens after bot tower gets taken...

Zero Skill Tank2 votes

feed like mad in lane.

Thing is, guys who make them feed are other Ds. Bronzerinhos and Silverados feed other bronzes and silvers.

MigYalle1 votes

I tried working with my team, Never took lanterns of followed instructions. Too many months of this, I played one match selfish, I went 14/1 I think and took 6 turrets. Explain this to me

SHerv2 votes

I never said that playing selfish and Carrying every game will always be a bad road to take. Some players are just that good and can get away with it. However, there is a greater chance of lower ELO players getting stuck BECAUSE of this. Team play is an easier path to take and opens the game up for more option on how to win.

Also, the game will always lead into team play in higher ELO, it would be better to get used to playing as a team earlier then later when you hit a plateau.

Samflash31 votes

Would you recommend playing with a duo you aren't talking to (voice chat/in person) or to go in solo?

SHerv2 votes

I would recommend the duo since if you're doing with him/her in the first place, they must meet something or excel in your standards. That's a good start, but I would suggest also trying to push for voice communication as well!

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