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Almost every problem with Bronze Ranked Games, and why it's so difficult to improve

Emerald Fang··9 votes·1,803 views

Every game, there is one or more of these incidents (rated from most to least likely to happen): -AFK (I would say one in three to four games have either an ally or enemy AFK at some significant point) -Overconfident teammates who have League Syndrome (when they think they can 1v5 because they're playing X champion) -Some sort of bad early game shot-calling like an invade that makes us behind the whole game. -Toxic players/flamers who blame the entire game on one incident (I probably do this more than I need to, but I can work on that) -Your own poor performance and bad play on the champion which leads to a loss -WAY too early teamfighting that causes me (the mid laner) to lose my CS and possibly die, snowballing our loss further. -Passive-aggressive players (even worse than toxic ones) who won't gank/help in fights because they aren't 10/0 like they "deserve to be" -Players who don't know how to use the mute system to prevent tilt from enemy harassment -Just unlucky lane matchups/bad bans that aren't preventable and lead to a loss. -People who are tilted from earlier matchups and didn't take a break, so already have tilt going into the game. -Intentional feeders or trolls (this almost NEVER happens but when it does it's so fucking demoralizing).

I understand that: -The ranking system is accurate and I deserve to be in Bronze 4 (which I probably do deserve to be B3 - B4) -I should be responsible for anything that happens because I can help out and carry if I'm good enough -Since I am losing due to my "team" supposedly, I should be at fault for not roaming/carrying them, etc.

But with a 100% chance of something above happening, it just never seems like I can improve at the game. It always seems like I'm fending off a tower from enemies instead of working on positioning, knowing when to fight or run, CS, etc. I don't ever feel like I'm going to climb because even if I'm playing at a Gold level, some sort of above incident will ruin the game and I will lose. I understand this takes hundreds of games to achieve, to climb out, but as soon as I feel like I'm about to be promoted (I have 90+ LP, or I'm actually in my promos 1/0), it's like the game is saying "fuck you, let's throw in a 500-ping player, or an AFK, or a flamer who has just lost 7 games in a row but won't take a break, or let's just match you against a main that completely counters your main (which I know doesn't happen but still it can be so annoying), or a player who has played 300 games on that champion and you've only played 20".

The issue I have is that there's about 100 things that could go wrong in every game, and only a few ways to actually carry and win. Getting a lot of CS early. Focusing on objectives. Snowballing your lane. But if you or your team does anything wrong, the enemy has such a large window to capitalize on that mistake and come back. ESPECIALLY in bronze, where game throws happen very frequently and you never really know what's going to happen.

TL;DR: In Bronze it's so hard to improve at the things I say above due to completely unpredictable game scenarios and situations. It's quite demoralizing to play Bronze ranked because it's inevitable that giant mistakes will happen; you just have to hope that the enemy makes more than you do. It feels like players are never improving when they are constantly trying to fend off their nexus for dear life or stomping the other team because of luck.

Look I don't really give a shit about votes; do whatever you want. And if you weren't previously stuck in Bronze and climbed out (e.g. you got placed gold and never experienced bronze), then no offense but your comments don't really matter. Thank you. I am trying to be respectful and not spewing rants and fury on the page.

EDIT: For the next many games, I will be making a tally of each incident that happens so I can actually give proof that this is a real thing.

13 Comments

The Whamboozler3 votes

I'd say the hardest part of low elo is this...

Because it's so flooded with bad players, it is easy to do bad things and not get punished for it. It is easy to CS REALLY poorly, and still win a game. It is easy to make terrible plays or use awful builds and get away with it. It is easy to do what would otherwise be REALLY big mistakes, and because the enemy is as lousy as you... to not have it bite you... and that makes it VERY hard to learn.

It's not hard to win games in Bronze... but it IS hard to get better in bronze when you're against bronze players. You don't know what you're doing right or wrong. You don't have to do things like ward, watch your map or play smart. You don't need to know things like proper map rotations and when to group or splitpush. You know all these things exist... but if you try to improve at them, you have no idea if you're doing it right or making things worse because the enemy isn't punishing your mistakes consistantly. The enemy is probably not AWARE you're making mistakes.

This means the best things to work on to get out of low elo are things that are foolproof. Improve your CS. Lower your deaths. Get more objectives. Complicated strats and tricky plays don't matter... because they're inconsistent. Your allies and enemies are inconsistent, so they'd have to be. Work on things that can never NOT be useful. It's your best bet.

JhomasTefferson2 votes

You need to hard carry. I recently made it to silver. I must say, it is better. Having climbed out of bronze only confirmed my feelings of elo hell. More shit just goes wrong on a regular basis in bronze, and it is harder to climb there. It's not harder to climb because of the skill of your enemies, but it's hard to climb because your own team holds you back. In silver I experience the skill of my enemies as more a deciding factor, and the aggregate skill of my team vs the enemy team, as opposed to our team has a feeder/troll/afk or their team has a feeder troll or afk

Emerald Fang1 votes

Is this why ADC mains seem to have an easier time? Because my friend who mains ADC breezed out of bronze in 40-50 games. I mean I thought mid lane could carry but I guess not... because it doesn't matter how fed I am, usually when I am fed then surprise! No tank that I can stand behind and I die. :)

JhomasTefferson1 votes

I'd actually say adc is a harder role in bronze, because your team will not peel for you, and, even in silver, there will be multiple instances where your team has no tank(like you pointed out). I'm a jg main, not adc, but, i think it must be difficult to play adc without a tank/frontline. I play a lot of teemo jg, but, my team half the time won't hover who they want to play. If i knew we'd need a tank i would play one, but, im usually first/2nd pick.

Also, I'd imagine jg/mid are the easiest to get out of bronze with. Supports are often "supports" if you know what i mean, so adcing can be hard, and adcs sometimes can't farm or have no awareness, so supporting can be hard. Mid can roam, and usually plays a bursty type champ who can destroy when fed(top can too, but is a little harder to roam). Jg has a global presence and can snowball the game hard with good pressure in one lane. Also, jg can secure the dragons and herald and baron much more easily than a laner or group of laners can, and infernals and a herald can snowball an early game hard also.

Wafflessssss1 votes

I dunno man. I started playing Illaoi and it took me like 20 games to get from bronze 3 to silver 3. Probably an exaggeration but it was pretty close to that. Of course my brief flirtation with adc is what got me into bronze in the first place. So you should probably just play your best role and if you're good you'll climb.

love league2 votes

Also a lack of Map Awareness... I've been getting better at noticing things while playing in an effort to improve & I've gained better Map Awareness. It seems teammates virtually ignore pings in the heat of tunnel visioning battles such as when it's a 2v2 on top-side river between both top laners & both junglers and my mid-laner goes MIA to roam. Noone else seems to notice that but me. Additionally, my pings don't even stop the 2v2 that is about to become a 2v3 at all. In fact, it forces people to start flashing for some reason? I can't even get there fast enough because there's usually a big wave under my tower during these situations and/or my champion has little to no mobility.

I'm in Silver & all day I have also experienced weird occurrences. You can look me up on OP.GG. I got inters/trolls, people who bought accounts and whose MMR caught up to them/people who are playing on their friend's gold account, gold players queueing up with their level 23 friends in normals, the usual "not sure what I'm doing in this role", the auto-fill support rager, etc. etc. It's not these things stopping me from climbing though. They just tilt the ever-living shit out of me, but I think the best way to get past this is to keep playing & learn to get used to it. Once I fix my attitude, all should be well.

cardomajig242 votes

But the ranked system is OBVIOUSLY fine, and a ton of us haven't had similar feelings like you on educating players better instead of the crappy little tutorials riot made and refuses to iterate upon. Not to mention placements are pretty fucked.

Juvens1 votes

I definitely understand the frustration, man. Literally just made a similar post.

Stalinium1 votes

I think a better way to make your point (that isn't saying I can't climb because my team sucks) would be what my math teacher loved to say all the time in high school: "Practice doesn't make perfect. Practice makes PERMANENT." She would also tell us "Do not practice until you get it right... practice until you can't get it wrong"

Being good at murdering beginner bots =/= being good at the game. Being good at murdering Bronzies =/= good at the game. Being taught to solo carry will NOT get you through high ELOs.

I think that's what you're trying to say anyway. Hopefully

UnboundCreator1 votes

bro i am gold 5 and have been stuck here for 2 years. I played on my friends bronze 5 account and carried it to silver with an 80% winrate. If you are actually a gold level player bronze should be so easy to solo carry

FourVsFive1 votes

Problem is people need to learn to play the game different based on what elo they at, bronze u can get away with pure cheese tatics.

Venomar1 votes

Just play a champ that can 1v5 or someone who can 1v3 and run it down a lane when fed and climb out like everyone else. You literally can't lose if three people are required to camp your lane. Even the worst teammates are able to attack towers In a free lane.

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