Elo hell is a real place. I've been there. I've seen things. Please advise on a good way to carry
I had a bad string of luck with my placements and I'm getting placed with people who are of much lower skill than I get matched with in normal soloque. The skill difference is extremely visible. Champions and strategies that normally work for me don't work in this elo.
I say it's elo hell because I have been steadily increasing my winrate in normals, and it seems like the more I win the more i keep winning. I believe this is because as I get paired more with people who are able to not make major mistakes, my individual contributions start to matter more. Especially since I prefer champions that work best within the context of a competent team, rather than champions that try to be the hero and carry the game all by themselves.
At this new low elo I'm dealing with in ranked, my best efforts are often drowned out by a team that feeds 10 times before the six minute mark, or a team that feeds 18 times before the 20 minute mark. The normal things I am use to doing to win just don't work, but I don't normally play champions that try to outright hard carry but rather help my team carry.
I've tried watching guides and playing top tier champions that people recommend for low elo, or champions that have high winrates.
What I've tried:
Sona. I had such a great winstreak with her in soloque that I thought it would be a sure thing for my placement games. Nope. A string of losses instead. I'm not sure why. I think at my normal elo my teammates are competent enough that they benefit from my support.
Quinn top. Mixed results. If I can get a gank or win lane then I can snowball and split push to victory. Sometimes I can use split push to come back from a sure defeat. But I don't feel like she's reliable enough if I get counterpicked in top lane. And if I don't snowball early or mid game then I usually struggle during the teamfight deathball stage because my teams don't really understand what split pushing is so they try to attack a tower 4vs5 while I'm taking down a tower elsewhere, instead of falling back and buying me time.
Viktor. One of my favorites. The problem is, like many of my favorites, it's kind of a waste of time trying to play them if I don't have a semi-dependable team. Yeah I can hold my lane. I can make some clutch plays in teamfights. But my ability to carry them is limited if they can't get through the laning phase without feeding, aren't decent teamfighters, and don't know how to exploit teamfight wins.
Sejuani. Above average results. Where I usually fall off is either my team feeds before I can even get some ganks off, or it goes to late game and I don't feel like I can carry my team anymore because my damage falls off. This is actually a problem in my normal elo too.
Aurelion Sol Jungle. I've had some good success with this in normals, but haven't been trying it much at this elo because sometimes nobody else wants to go tank. And I feel like Sol struggles if my team is feeding too early to the enemy jungle. His ganks depend too much on having your team follow up, until later when you get some items. The advantage of him over some other choices is that he has strong teamfight late game which has won me many games as I do lots of AoE and CC. I also am not sure how to itemize at this elo, though, because I can't just build tanky and wait to get my damage until later.
I find I do better on viktor because of his burst. I don't feel like anivia does enough damage in comparison to reliably turn around team fights at this elo, and I feel like her utility and CC is not really capitalized on well enough by my teams.
My problem is I'm doing much better with all of these champions in normal games, and often the reason is because I have smarter teams to play around. I think I need to change what I'm playing for this elo.
I just don't know what kind of champions I should learn to play that can carry even if my team is terrible. It seems like I need a combination of several factors:
- The ability to get early kills and ganks, so that I can start snowballing before the smurfs on the other team start snowballing into my team.
- The ability to also carry late game, because these teams never finish out games when they have advantages.
- Strong 1vs1 ability. Preferably both tanky and with damage. Because if you go all damage you start to be at risk of depending on your team to be your frontline and peel.
- Can either jungle, top, or mid, where they will have the most ability to influence the game early.
Is that an accurate assessment? If not, why? If so, what champions would fit that description?
-I know Kassadin sounds weird but I had success with him a lot), or pick snowballing champions like assassins to win early(this didn't work so well for me since is hard to close a game, but it can work), or just play bruisers and kill the threats in teamfights will also being able to split push.This of course this all depends on how hard you can win your lane and how well you understand the game which brings me to my next point.
because you learn how to relax in lane. survive. and farm. and then become a late game monster. or a splitpushing beast. either way will win you games. and as nasus you cant get shut down as long as you can farm. this is a champion that has pushed me all the way from bronze 1 where i origionally placed to gold 1. and with his help (and gangplank) im GOING to get into plat.
he teaches to look at the map and get other lanes ahead. he teaches pressure and and the power of farming
teaches sustain and poke in lane. as well as the importance of getting the enemy tower down
because trundle counters every single melee top laner in the game.
darius. a juggernaut top laner that can win most matchups if played correct. and in bronze 1 where you are. plenty of people there have no idea how to fight darius so this should be free elo for you
also protip. play this bitch. can go top mid jungle hell why not adc while your at it. support also. late game monster. early game lane bully. can 1v1 anything in the game except maybe tryndamere
on demand counter to on demand stealth
is a must in most Bronze games. The power of minion waves is vastly underestimated in this ELO. Not only that, but the big waves that are created by it bring all those greedy ADCs to easy traps. If you can get away with a full tank item as ZZ, go for it. If you can't, get on your knees and beg. It's worth it.
. If the enemy lacks AD wave clear, the super siege minion will run rampant.
junlger would be 
or
and adc would be 
. I feel comfortable playing these roles and champions. In lane I would cs the best I could and focus on getting enemy laner out of lane. Generally I am more mechanically skilled than bronze/silver adcs or mid laners so I will usually get kills in lane. Then I just keep farming lane and farming enemy opponents until the team death match starts where I am up an item or two and can usually win the team fights for my team.
then you problaby goign to want to spend a lot of your time just pushing turrets while your team plays aram team death match. But if you playing 
could be a good choice. 
all fit that bill.
is crap. She is countered so easily and I have almost never seen her played in my ranked games. Yeah she can stop noobs in bronze and mid silver, but any type of CC shuts her down and most players know to CC and to target her by the time they hit Gold.
Rammus has been working great for me. His Q and E combo make for some fairly reliable ganks as long as the person in lane is somewhat competent. He can transition into a good initiator late game. But some of my problems with him have been he isn't the best duelist, is a poor split pusher, doesn't take dragon himself, and sometimes feels more team dependent to accomplish things. I think that is made up for often by his reliable early game ganking and his reliable peeling late game. I seem to do better with him than VI for some reason, even though I think Vi is the stronger carry. I think he has potential but I'm wondering if there are better options available, preferably with more duelist punch and waveclear.
Graves - I'm told he is the strongest jungler at this point. I don't know how he performs at bronze/silver elo though, if I'm going to feel too team dependent. Never played him much, and certainly never played him jungle.
Hecarim - I like him for his speed. Which is the same thing I like Rammus for. I did well with him when he was free recently. I feel like it gives me a lot of freedom and flexibility in ganking. But I wonder if he falls off too much late game.
Olaf - Only played him top lane. Not real excited about him, but if he's good I'll try. Not sure how he does as an aggressive jungler. I wonder whether he has enough mobility and CC for early ganking, or if the main reason you take him is because he can be a monsterous late game carry.
Kogmaw - High winrate. Late game powerhouse. How viable do you think it is in comparison to the others? I've had some fair success on him when he was free. I think his ganking could work just by the fact that his range and damage allows him to secure kills quickly.
Jarvan. I hear he's got good early ganks. Not sure how he stacks up mid and late game, or how team dependent he is.
Zac for RP when he goes on sale this month. He definitely think I'll enjoy him for his strong gank mobility. I think the pattern I've noticed here is I like speed and CC. Which is also probably why I feel Vi a little limiting for only having a dash with no CC beyond the knockup and her ult.
or 
, Cinderhulk + Stalker's Blade, Trinity Force, Zz'rot Portal