A Story of a Support Reaching Platinum
(Apologies to Riot for posting this earlier in Story, Art & Sound when it didn't belong there. I've moved it to the appropriate forum, so thanks for correcting my mistake guys.)
http://i.imgur.com/jHp9qUA.jpg
Just a heads up, this story is a bit long so keep that in mind. Thank you.
Looking back, so much has happened ... I mean last season of ranked, I ended up being Silver II ... because it was my first season of getting into League of Legends. I was put into Silver I after I got through my placements, but from there it went downhill .. loss after loss after loss. Humiliated, I stopped playing and settled with what was given to me. Fast forward to January 20th, 2016 and season 6 started with rank being available. Up to that point, I had practiced multiple champions, gotten a lot better, and had gained knowledge on how to lane properly along with other factors.
Thing was ... placements had me go into Bronze II despite winning most of my games.
To say that the climb was tedious, is an understatement. I didn't main anyone at the time, so I couldn't rely on myself to carry my team when so many people wouldn't go for objectives, farming up, or bear common knowledge on how to get leads in a ranked. Instead, only kills mattered to them. As a result, I had to practice using impactful champions during the start like 
and 
to make some plays. Luckily I did meet a guy who also understood the importance of getting objectives done. He was a 
main, and all I had to do was camp his lane so he could get fed, and while people tried to chase him ... I would get dragon / towers / baron cleared for our team. Eventually, made it to Silver 5. The climb here would be difficult, but at least elo hell was taken cared of.
Or, so I thought.
This elo wasn't much different, except now I was placed with people that were in the mentality of Bronze, and plenty of Smurfs this time around to curb stomp me & my team. My jungler picks weren't doing it for me, since people here knew not to go for kills and instead shut us down from doing any objectives at all. A huge issue I found, was how none of our teammates ever chose a tanky champion to take up the front-line or secure kills / help our carries survive. My 2 jungle choices could only do so much, but I wasn't able to help my carries 24 / 7 ... so how to revolve this issue exactly? After countless losses and horrible experiences, I had to come up with a solution.
My answer came when I was browsing the market of champions and saw 
for the first time.
Tanky as hell, has a kit specialized in locking down anyone she can reach, intimidating to go up against, and was a support champion. I hadn't exactly tried the Support role, but everything I thought our team needed screamed Leona, so I started trying her out. Ohhhhh, how I Immediately fell in love with her, because she really did provide what I seeked in comps. Suddenly, I started climbing Silver faster than I had in Bronze & Silver's time as junglers combined. Soon, a 
main noticed me and he was a Gold III-II player at the time. The guy invited me to duo with him, and soon ... we were winning game after game. I'd take all the aggro, as he'd swoop in and get multiple kills while our other laners split push / took towers / objective clearing. In just 200+ wins, I was able to make it to Gold at long last. It really was a remarkable feeling, getting there when I had to cope with so much toxicity, dreadful players and more. I'm not even bringing in the horrible games where we lost hard because of throws, how we had afk / trolls / feeders in Bronze, and how Smurfs were the bane in my existence during Silver. After getting to Gold, I thought to myself best to stop here and enjoy my victory.
... But, I began to love this game more than I anticipated. League is an incredible game and I saw why it was so popular .. I mean, I improved so much from expanding my horizon of champions and seeing what worked, what strategies was getting us the Nexus despite it was only a game (at least to people who don't take League seriously). Then I remembered stopping at Silver II because I didn't believe in myself in Season 5. Regretting what I did in the past, I was motivated to continue climbing despite the hardships. Gold was incredibly difficult, but not because of smurfs / bronze thinking or what not. Instead, it was because I noticed how skilled people were and how much teamwork was put to work in each game. It was only now that I found myself struggling because of the skill match up instead of players screwing me over. Don't get me wrong, what I faced in Bronze & Silver was still lingering in Gold matches, but the skill cap of my rivals were the real trial to overcome.
I was stuck ... Gold III, couldn't get past it. Demotion, promotion, demotion again, you know the rest. I just couldn't climb out of that division, no matter what. Despite I loved Leona to death with over 400k mastery, she was getting kited and murdered despite I tried to play smart. 2 months pass by, and I really am close to calling it off with the climbing. However out of the blue, a friend of mine gifted me a Mystery Skin (Frost Queen 
) and told me, "Don't stop. You can make it to Plat, remember people are rooting for you." My drive to get to Plat was stronger than ever, and like how history repeats itself- I resorted to doing what I did in order to climb Silver, and that was experimenting with new things.
were just ... they really made a difference. These two got me through some very hard match ups, because of either their scaling, their lock down, or how much mobility / sustain they offer. Eventually I was at Gold II, at last. Everything in my being told me to stop here, but .... that gift. The friends I made along the way, the people who thought I was more than a Gold Player ... I couldn't let them down. Struggled, but got to Gold I. Now I can see it, Plat before my eyes. Worked hard and long for weeks to reach new heights ... but life is never that simple. I failed two promos for Plat, and had to win 2-3 games before reaching the third attempt at promos. Feeling dreadful, I decided to take a break .... yet, determination is a funny thing. You can be tilted, worn out, angry, even tempted to quit League ... but it drives you through anything. So I powered through until I hit my third promos, and, heh ... I lost 2 games meaning I had to win my next three. You wouldn't believe the level of tension there was. Being a Support meant you had to rely on your team being good because no matter how great you do, your team has to pull their weight for you to win.
Spammed Braum, doing everything to stay positive, focused on myself and ONLY on how I did, didn't tilt / flame anyone, worked harder than I ever before. The results were a three win streak and I finally hit Platinum as a Support Main.
http://i.imgur.com/tJm1Xht.png
TL;DR: Moral of the story? Don't give up, don't ever let people tell you what you can / can't do. Instead of banging your head against the wall- try working around it. Expand your horizons, try different things to see what works. If you don't adapt and see how you can improve, you'll be stuck like me. Play with friends and practice your mains religiously, because even if they're not popular / strong picks, you can make them work because of your knowledge on their performance. Now, if you blame others and focus on other people besides yourself ... you'll definitely struggle harder believe me. Remember that people have bad games, so try to cheer em up or merely focus on yourself otherwise. Keep moving, be positive, and certainly think of yourself better than what others claimed you to be. If a Support Main like myself who started out in the lowest elo could reach Plat, so can you.
