Having climbed this season from Bronze 4 to Gold 4 I can confirm that you don't really tend to see any other good players until you hit Gold.
Silver is just an extended Bronze, I'm glad it's behind me. Good luck comrades.
UPDATE: Gold isn't any better, I just got a feeding Kennen support with a 44% win rate, followed by Jax support. This game is hell.
Fovere10 votesClimbing out of bronze/low silver is really all about psychology. You have to accept the caliber and limitations of players surrounding you, and understand the enemy team is just as likely to have them. All you have to do is be persistent and be capable of accepting the situation, whatever it is, and looking for ways to make it work.
If your persistence in each game gets you even 1 extra win for every 20 games you play, it'll be a steady climb out.
YumaS2Astral2 votesClimbing out of bronze/low silver is really all about psychology. You have to accept the caliber and limitations of players surrounding you, and understand the enemy team is just as likely to have them. All you have to do is be persistent and be capable of accepting the situation, whatever it is, and looking for ways to make it work.
If your persistence in each game gets you even 1 extra win for every 20 games you play, it'll be a steady climb out.
The secret to climb is to pick champions the least likely to rely on teamwork to carry.
Generally, teamwork is the key to victory, but not on bronze and silver.
Dragonlord71371 votesSo true. Its also one of the reasons why a lot of players struggle with decision making and general map awareness as they climb since people who start in bronze are used to carrying their entire team 90% of the time.
manbearswine3 votesThe secret to climb is to pick champions the least likely to rely on teamwork to carry.
Generally, teamwork is the key to victory, but not on bronze and silver.
No,the secret to climb is getting better,you're confusing "what's the fastest way to get through silver when you're smurfing" with "how to get out of silver when you suck",these are two very VERY different things,and the vast majority of people who complain about silver belong to the latter.
kebslol1 votesUm. Wrong. Getting better doesn't fix carrying not unfair team comps or idiot teammates.
manbearswine1 votesUm. Wrong. Getting better doesn't fix carrying not unfair team comps
Yes it does,one less idiot will make that team more likely to win,as comps can go both ways and in the average case if you're better than your teammates,you will win more.
or idiot teammates.
Unfortunately most of these "challengers in silver" are idiots themselves,this is why the best way to get out of silver is to reduce the amount of idiots on your team by one.
kebslol1 votesThis is stupid. Carry every game until platinum is stupid. Stop talking.
Pierce The Veal1 votesClimbing out of bronze/low silver is really all about psychology. You have to accept the caliber and limitations of players surrounding you, and understand the enemy team is just as likely to have them. All you have to do is be persistent and be capable of accepting the situation, whatever it is, and looking for ways to make it work.
If your persistence in each game gets you even 1 extra win for every 20 games you play, it'll be a steady climb out.
Yeah. I didn't realize this, but you don't need a 70-80% winrate to climb out and reach a MUCH higher rank. That's usually only achievable by high diamond+ smurfs. Getting and keeping a 55% winrate is enough to get you to and possibly past gold.
Too bad I'm too lazy :^)
Sisters100867 votesSILVER: Bronze is trash Gold: Silver is also trash Plat: Gold is still trash Diamond: nope, u still trash in plat Master: But Diamond is not any better too Challenger: You guys are all trash Doublelift: anyone besides me are trash
ImmortalBloodCY1 votesI dunno I find all ranks trash.
Morsigil2 votesCorrection
Doublelift: If you sub to my channel you are no longer trash, otherwise everyone else is trash.
Otherwise, the rest is true.
Shonjl3 votesYou forgot one. Bronze: Everyone is trash, I deserve Challenger.
manbearswine4 votesSILVER: Bronze is trash Gold: Silver is also trash Plat: Gold is still trash Diamond: nope, u still trash in plat Master: But Diamond is not any better too Challenger: You guys are all trash Doublelift: anyone besides me are trash
Actually:
Bronze: Bronze is trash,silver is where people start playing the game. Silver: Silver is trash,gold is where people start playing the game. Gold: Gold is trash,Plat is where people start playing the game. Plat: Plat is trash,Diamond is where people start playing the game. Diamond: GOD DAMN IT,WHEN WILL THIS NIGHTMARE END?! Master: Not here,keeping going. Challenger: Don't look at us,dynamic que sucks.
LatetotheRace6 votesRemember kids, the largest portion of the community is in silver 5.
Fovere4 votesRemember kids, the largest portion of the community is in silver 5.
(Because its super hard to get demoted to bronze)
LatetotheRace1 votesI actually think it's because at Silver 5 you get the border, so people play and then stop there. (That's what I did last season, just played my placements and chilled for the rewards.)
Hello I am Bird1 votesSame :v
Here's to hoping for a Victorious skin this season...
Sigh
Sariat12 votesI've climbed from Bronze 1 to Plat 5 this season, and I can say that Silver by far took me the most time to get through. I got through Gold in half the games it took me in Silver.
a doomed carry2 votesI went from bronze 1 to Gold 2 so far on this account. Had Yasuo adc in ranked game last night. I play with g3 - plat 3 players usually. Don't expect it to get better.
69469238DEL13 votesHaha don't scare me now
Super Sandmanne2 votesThe streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout 'SAVE US!'...and I'll look down and whisper 'stupid laner noob use your trinket'.
69469238DEL12 votesLmao I'm dead
manbearswine2 votesThe cake is a lie.
LaserDeathBlade2 votesThis is LoL, everyone sucks always.
69469238DEL11 votesThe ultimate truth #letitwashoveryou
Kouhey1 votesImplying gold 4 is better?
69469238DEL11 votesMaybe I'm in for a rude awakening, but so far yeah thank god
Kouhey1 voteswell you are not wrong feeling that way, the fresh air and everything, the great experience out of the elo hell, you feel like you can climb after all... You will find gold scrubs as retarded as you did in silver and bronze once you play some games in that elo, and the same mentality shift will happen once you hit plat too, diamond too
Gimpy891 votesgold is bronze too
69469238DEL11 votesYou are so right my guy, it's disappointing
ƒoes1 votesPlatinum is apparently the most toxic rank, as it's either people who dropped out of Diamond and think they're extremely good so they treat the game as some kind of bot game, or people who think they're good because they're almost to Diamond.
Randomonium1 votesYeah....I see a lot more dumb plays in Silver 5 than I did in Bronze. People refuse to listen to pings too because "I'm silver I know what I'm doing STFU." 5 seconds later "an ally has been slain." Downright depressing, its like watching lemmings commit suicide and there's nothing you can do to stop them.
YouPoro1 votesHaving climbed from bronze 5, I can assure you after plat 4 you'll notice a difference, other than that its all the same.
Mecha MaIphite1 votesElo hell is real. No matter what rank we get, we will always be bronze, just with a different degree of shininess.
Dr Birdie1 votesAs someone who has never put in the effort to climb until this year, I have been telling people this for a while on these boards but they don't want to believe it.
Just for the record even in my efforts to climb this year, I don't expect to get much higher than Gold IV or III ish.
FantasySniper1 votesI see 
sometimes. Jarv kinda works, but that's only if my lane mate is a dumbass.
Xonra1 votesAs someone in silver, I can confirm this to be true.
Nimble Manta1 votesSilver is 50% bronze players and 50% gold players, I feel like I'm the only person that actually has a skill level in-between those two tiers.
Delphinium1 votesThere was a ryze in my team said diamond is just a shiny bronze lol he's silver 5
Spreek1 votesMaster is just a shiny bronze too :^)
SeekerofSilence1 votesI don't really bother with ranked (too much stuff going the wrong direction in this game, got me a happy ARAM spree instead), but I had a new experience this season after playing my provisionals.
Got same rank as last year right away, played a couple games and apparently had high mmr as I was consistently being placed against mid to low plats and high golds. The plat players were the worst... I honestly cringe when I see the plat border in the game, because I know I'm in for a hella ride.
Never played games in any elo below gold, so I dunno what it's like climbing. I just know that it'll take me a lot of patience to get past gold with the desperate high golds and the egocentric, over-confident low plat players. Probably possible since I've beat them consistently, but for now I just want to rake in some more knowledge and learn the game better whilst Rito fix their queues and game.
shyv1 voteslmao there used to be a big difference in skill between bronze / silver / gold but now with dynamic queue everyone gets a participation ribbon and victorious skins whether or not they're actually good at the game
Fanny Forecast1 votesSilver is Bronze with more game knowledge. Low gold is Silver with an Ego and slightly more game knowledge (not much). High gold is low plat without the ego. Low plat is low gold with more mechanical and game knowledge and a massive ego. Mid-High plat is where players actually start getting good.
This isn't from my personal experience (only up to Low Gold is) but I've heard it from quite a few people.
SlaktarTasken1 votesHonestly, while you do see some decent players in gold, a vast share of players here seem to be boosted bronzers/silvers, alas, gold isn't really all that much better than bronze or silver.
Malix Farwin1 votesYou are literally cheesing Kog Maw and Shyvana for wins and calling other people trash.
69469238DEL12 votesThey are my favorite champions right now. My win rate on Kog isn't even anywhere near impressive. Go be salty somewhere else.
zmmby1 votesGold is easy to climb, i just dont have the motivation to care anymore since support is the only role i get, and everybody expects me to go Janna or Alistar with full support items every single god damn game. I wont bother queueing 10min for another lane and then someone picks a support and manage to miss every hook with leona, thresh, naut or blitz. (srsly it isnt even hard. Im amazed how people can fail so hard)
When i try something new as a support, people flame and tend to tilt easier (Zyra support is a trollpick apperently) so it's either:
be the bitch and wipe everyone's butt with 100% pure support champ play what you want and bet on luck
Hello I am Bird1 votesI have no idea how gold works, but positioning can be tricky with naut.
One wrong hook and you get pulled to the wall and into the enemies.
zmmby1 votes[{quoted}](name=Hello I am Bird,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=vifUTr1f,comment-id=00260000,timestamp=2016-04-20T17:02:54.958+0000)
I have no idea how gold works, but positioning can be tricky with naut.
One wrong hook and you get pulled to the wall and into the enemies.
Well it depends, if you play alot of hook-champions then there's actually no difference in the end since you will hit many.
The goal is the element of surprise. Go around creeps and continue hitting with relic shield and then press hook when you see a oppurtunity. Many people make the mistake when they engage to chase people which is kinda obvious.
People can see when Blitz is gonna hook you if he runs straight forward too you.
Pierce The Veal1 votes[{quoted}](name=Hunted Horror,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=vifUTr1f,comment-id=,timestamp=2016-04-19T14:47:55.131+0000)
Having climbed this season from Bronze 4 to Gold 4 I can confirm that you don't really tend to see any other good players until you hit Gold.
Silver is just an extended Bronze, I'm glad it's behind me. Good luck comrades.
UPDATE: Gold isn't any better, I just got a feeding Kennen support with a 44% win rate, followed by Jax support. This game is hell.
Back when you used to be able to duo queue with any rank in the game, I used to play with my diamond friend (as a high silver player). We got matched up with and against plats. Platinum players are probably the most cancerous lot I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with, and you could only complement them as the "pretty good silver player." You know how there'll always be those people who perform above average in silver games (yet not necessarily dominating)? That's the average skill level in platinum.
In short, plats are more consistent about playing ok or well than people below them, who usually play anywhere from good to horribad to "please fucking uninstall and kill yourself."
The only real point where I see that higher elos are definitely always better than lower elos is at closing out the game. It seems the higher elo people are, the less they dawdle.