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I am fairly inexperienced in rank and don't know whether it is worth getting better.

DEADLYHIPPO4·12/5/2019, 4:48:15 AM·2 votes·1,805 views

Hey guys, I wanted to start playing ranked consistently this preseason. The last time I played ranked was many years ago before I quit League and came back again(and those were only placement matches).

I decided not to play again because in my mind, it was a more stressful experience, despite the gameplay being the same. I was wondering what the whole point of playing the game is if all I do is come out 10x more stressed and frustrated(especially at myself). Throughout this time that I did not play ranked, I played very little attention to the meta and to this day I have trouble understanding the implications of certain buffs on items and champions.

I decided to play ranked again to get just a little bit better at the game, at least enough to be able to get to gold. In the 3 games of ranked that I played today, I lost all of them and went 6/10 in the last one after being 4/0 when I went trist against a caitlyn and onl having 106 cs in 30 mins(the lowest I have had in any game this whole year! The other 2 games were very similar to this).

For some reason, every time I play ranked, people are MUCH more aggresive in the laning phase, and playing against a caitlyn that outranges any adc in the laning phase is frustrating. I always find myself having to play safe because the other adc ends up moving forward all of the time and never lets me farm in peace. I seriously wish I could show you guys my games so that you guys can see how it is. In norms, no one plays as aggresively. They just farm and trade blows on occasions. I do play somewhat aggresively, but usually when I am playing Vel'Koz or Ziggs in mid.

Now that I kind of think about it, I am not sure whether I really want to spend so much time in this game. I often feel worn out and even guilty after playing for 2 hours. And I am one of those types of people that goes extra hard on himself when he makes silly mistakes, especially because I have been playing this game since the end of s4(taking a break for all of s6 and most of s7), and I still feel like I don't know what to do during the late game, for example, when my entire team starts spreading out(going into places that have no vision, mind you) and I find myself alone, to scared to split push because I dont know where anybody is, everyone just seems to be going wherever the fuck they want instead of grouping). At most I usually play 3 games in a day since they take up so much time.

I feel like ranked is the only game mode I can play to get better, and I would like to get better because the game becomes more fun when you are playing well. But at the same time, I am not sure if all of the stress that will probably cause me to lash out at myself and others irl and in game will be worth it.

3 Comments

WoonStruck12/5/2019, 5:09:35 AM1 votes

The game no longer feels better at higher MMRs. In fact, its the opposite.

I don't feel like its worth the frustration of playing ranked once you're past gold unless you REALLY want to prove something to yourself.

Matchmaking, lack of agency, resource denial, etc all end up being extremely frustrating at plat and above. It only gets worse the higher you go. It ends up feeling like a coin flip most of the time.

Playing better feels good, but the situations where it actually feels rewarding are extremely few and far in between now. Most of the time you will win/lose due to things outside of your control, otherwise you're so far ahead/behind that you roll over everything with little effort or skill involved.

You don't need to rank up to improve your CS, roaming, build paths, gold efficiency, item synergy, decision-making, etc. Focus on yourself and stick to normals and such and just have fun. You'll hate yourself and everyone else less for it.

The ranked system is incredibly frustrating because its no longer well-built via MMR and matchmaking in general. The meta just makes it even worse. Don't bother with more than 50 or so games unless you are HARD committing.

If you DO decided to commit to ranked, don't worry about climbing/dropping. If you're trying to get to a certain point, your team mates cannot stop you indefinitely. The biggest factor in your rank is still you, so focus on self-growth, not winning/losing. Worry about what you could have done better. It doesn't matter if your jungler inted your lane 9 times. There are still things you could have probably done better. At the end of the day, if you really deserve a certain rank, you will reach it relatively easily.

Revech12/5/2019, 5:15:06 AM1 votes

league youtube videos help allot with macro. I'de use caution in which champions you choose to master, because patch nerfs can significantly change a champions gameplay. There is a significant macro / gameplay knowledge difference between low and higher elo. As my friend says "In diamond...It feels like an entirely different game". You have to make the decision for yourselfif you want to invest in league, but it will likely be significantly more then you expect. I personally found duoing with a competent friend, or assembling a minimum 3man flex team of competent team mates made the game much more enjoyable. A big part of why I found flex more enjoyable is because you can learn how to better function as a team over time, thus improving your performance. Whereas in solo que it's a coin flip. I would also recommend becoming intimate with the direction league is going: checking patch notes, following PBE and champion changes, listening to riot news, etc

Demolisherkz12/5/2019, 7:18:18 AM1 votes

OP i totally understand your situation. I got gold at season 6 and really haven't been on as much recently to get it again. I'm going to give you my strategy for climbing to gold ( From a guy who doesn't really touch ranked) that will allow you to overcome much of low elo:

  1. Avoid playing support or tanks below gold 2 if you wish to climb quickly. This one is hard to hear for some (and one of the reasons i don't play ranked.) Supports and tanks are not as useful below gold 2 (and even that is pushing it). People don't play well enough for utility to be gold efficient here. They don't properly play off of your setups and they don't have enough pressure. What we need is damage. Because damage gets objectives and ends games. In low elo people only respect two things: Damage and presence. Tanks and supports can't bring enough agency in low elo.

  2. Play 20 games minimum with a champ in normals before playing them in ranked. I did this by only playing darius and garen games for a month when i went for gold season 6. You will learn aggression patterns to the point you will see their hp, see where they are to your champ, and then just pop them. I don't know what role you play, but if it is top or mid you should be taking ignite a lot once you get a lot of games in. People don't know champs well enough to punish you and ignite allows you to snowball off of them when they take a bad trade early.

  3. Farm like crazy. Remember, our main goal is to get huge. We need farm to get big, get our items, and then end the game as fast as possible with precise strikes to the enemy. That means tower and objective pressure. By farming up properly you will get a large lead over 70% of people below gold 3. You don't want to waste time cutting finger by finger. We want to go for the jugular.

  4. Avoid dying. Every minute we spend dead is less time farming and pressuring the map. Chasing a kill into the jungle, getting the kill, then dying to the enemy team IS NOT WORTH. That time dead is lost gold and with efficient farming we would have made more gold, xp, and pressure on the map.

  5. Mute all teammates except their pings. Nobody at low gold - Iron have anything useful to say 9.99 times out of 10. This avoids people giving hate and tilting you. If ou don't want to auto mute then do then at least make a point of muting the second someone starts complaining.

  6. You have to be the boss. You have to get confident enough with your play that you can get others to do what needs to be done. Use pings to communicate objective timers, towers, and attacks. You might have a bad call and people will blame you. It happens. But it's better to learn from your mistakes and grow than to be like everyone else in low elo cowering and looking for a free victory. Some games you will feel mentally exhausted but you will succeed.

  7. Pick two roles max and sticks with them. You want to learn these roles like the back of your hand. Id say 20 games in a role minimum before playing it in ranked. And those 20 games need to be recent. You want to keep yourself fresh on the basics of the role. Cycling pressure, acquiring leads, what your role does to the game. All of these things take times.

  8. Study your games. Often times it gets easy to see someone on the enemy team be 3/0 and just say gg to yourself as you write the game off. DON'T DO THAT. We want to keep getting better by ironing out our play so we won't be at iron. Ask yourself questions at the end of each game. "Could i have played more aggressively?" "Did i forget to farm?" "What could i have done to help prevent some of the things that went wrong?" Keep questioning, keep improving. Focus only on yourself. Teammates come and go. The only thing you can control is YOU. We want YOU to be the best YOU can be.

  9. Make sure to take frequent breaks. After every two games stand up, get a drink of water, and take a few breaths. If you just got out of a really bad game, look in the mirror and tell yourself "I got this. That may have been a bad game, but i'm still learning and i will get better." Keep up the positive energy! It will make the improvement process much more enjoyable, and will really help you be a better player.

  10. Avoid entitlement. Avoid ever saying the words "I deserve (Insert anything here)." These words plague every elo and they create the most toxic, hateful players on the planet. people with a sense of entitlement exist in every single game. Understand that even if you have 1000 ranked games, you still aren't owed anything. We are on the path of improvement. Our destination may vary, but we are still on the path. Even once you reach gold, you may desire to quit ranked all together for the season. Still, in your normal games keep learning and keep practicing. Give yourself credit for small gains. You may not make gold this season, or maybe even the next one. But we will eventually get it. You got this OP.

TLDR; Don't play supports / tanks below gold 2, Focus on CS, Avoid dying, Pressure objectives, help teammates by pinging properly, Practice and never stop learning.