I need a break from Ranked...

Stephenizgod·Jul 16, 2014·2 votes·2,308 views

Im getting really frustrated with ranked right now. It seems my promotion series puts me with worse people against better people. I cant always carry with the champions i main, only do really well. I can stomp my way to 100 points and lose the next two instantly. It seems i need to learn a champion that can carry like Kat, Yi, Fizz, Lucian, etc... Its just so frustrating to win lane, roam help others, focus their carries, peel for mine, take objective and come up with a loss even though im doing so well. Even when im supporting i hit my skillshots do everything i can but it seems most of the time my ADC falls behind or we do the best and everyone else on our team loses.

Any advice? should i just learn "OP" champs since i cant carry with the ones im using?

i dont know how it will stop my team from making bad plays or make them listen to me...

I feel like im trapped in Silver forever because League doesnt like me.

...just me venting frustrations and im lost on what to do

39 Comments

StephenizgodJul 16, 20141 votes

Just want to add no i am not the best player, i lose lane or i make stupid plays sometimes too. It happens i understand that, its just frustrating when i do good 9 out of 10 times and yet still lose 9 out of 10 times.

Dr Clueless PhDJul 16, 20141 votes

I'm actually gonna advise playing different games for a bit. If League is nothing but frustrating for you right now, continuing to play it will slowly turn that frustration into a desire to quit entirely. It happened to me, and I quit for months until my friends finally got me to play with them again (I never play solo anymore, only with them).

Personal recommendation for another game to play: Guns of Icarus Online

StephenizgodJul 16, 20141 votes

Yea im for sure going to take a break from Ranked, in norms i couldnt care less if i win or lose (unless my team is purposely losing) so ill just play with friends only from now on.

I will check that game out, thank you.

OWNHAYJul 16, 20141 votes

I haven't been playing for even a year, but through my experience with ranked, I was able to figure out how it mostly works... feel free to correct me if you feel otherwise. I used to think promos matched you with extremely bad players, but after taking a break from ranked, it turned out to be simply the pressure that can make you perform worse in a promotional game.

First of all: What champion do you main? I don't think of champions as OP or underpowered, I honestly like champions based on their character design. Stuff like Jinx 's personality or Zac 's squish. My first champion was Ashe, who I bought since she was like the cheapest thing I could find, but I personally loved Katarina's character design. At around level 8, I got Kat as my second champion and mained her even until today.

I got to level 30, and I thought ranked would be as easy as carrying all the games I carried in normals. Well, I was a dumbass. I got placed in B2 because I hardly got mid and dropped to B4 from frustration.

I decided to take a break and practice my methods of playing Katarina. I was practicing chaining flash into e as fast as possible, creating my own builds, and figured out MY play style. (it also annoys me when people complain about how easy it is to play lat. It really undervalues the time I spent in improving my skills as a kat player, plus pretty much everything counters her :p) I practiced laning against counters, and I'll admit i'm still trash at Kat vs Malzahar and Kat vs Mordekaiser, but that's why we keep improving. Long story short, I spent about a month just getting better with mechanics, while having fun at the same time. When I was ready to play ranked, I started playing again. I'm currently sitting at B1 with 50 lp and am about to push for silver.. (yes I know, pretty low ranking but the same rules about improving apply to all ranks)

If you main mid lane I'm sure I can lend some help as to what I learned from examining how my mid games played out, but here are other tips:

Top: I'm honestly shit at top. I don't want to screw you over with fraudulent information :D

Jungle: -It doesn't matter which lane is yelling at you for help the most, just help the lane doing the worst. Keeping track of timers to make the game hell for the enemy jungler is one of the most common things players miss in low elo. -Always have a plan for ganking: don't just walk down bot an expect an opportunity to arise every time. TD;LR: Practice ganking.

ADC: -freeze the lane just after your turret. It prevents hard ganks and tower damage. -think of your support. supports need gold too! (i.e. give them a kill or two once you're ahead) -play safe until you have enough power to actually do something to the enemy TL;DR: practice general laning skills

Supp: -hitting minions constantly actually annoys some ADCs (me? it honestly makes me screw up my cs.. lol) -stay in sync with your ADC, because most ADCs don't care about staying in sync with their supp.. they do as they please. TL;DR: Keep in line with your ADC and suck up to them.. anything to win lane, right?

Mid: -always expect the enemy junglier to gank from their second buff first. this might not always apply, but it works 90% of the time for me. -I position myself towards that second side, and ward the nearest bush. so If the enemy junglier comes from the other bush, I can run away (since I'm closer to my bush) otherwise, I'll see the junglier coming from my bush, so I can get a head start with running away. -(some champs) Ward jumping OP. -Get tricky. (like i mentioned earlier, Kat's flash->e can easily smack an enemy thinking they are safe backing behind turret) -CAMP BOT. This is the most important part of my Kat routine. The enemy adcs usually are going negative 10 when I'm done with them.

General rules for Ranked Frustration Syndrome (yeH, it's a thing) -Take a break, practice your mechanics -Preferably practice no more than 2 champs (Kat and Akali for me) -Don't get tense when things go wrong -and have fun!

OWNHAYJul 16, 20141 votes

I checked your match history and your games with J4 and Jinx were perfect. Try to see what you did those games and see how you can apply those to other games. My ranked games are pretty much all Kat now and I'm pretty proud of my results.. which were much better than before. Getting my first ranked pentakill and my first double pentakill (Yeah.. I 1v5'd their team and killed them again as they respawned :p) were moments where I realized all the rest and hard work paid off. I'll never stop practicing in normals, because that's how I improve.

Also, watch pro streams. Thank goodness for Faker videos.

I know i'm a lower ranked player than you, but if you ever want to duo, just feel free to add me!

Katarina meow

StephenizgodJul 16, 20141 votes

Rank really means nothing about your skill.
The J4 game was a good one but we almost lost because my team wouldnt listen to me, they were all rejoicing about winning a 5v4 when the enemy rengar pushed down our top inhib, and then they went for baron where we all almost died. Which is my point i was barely able to carry, i had to pull off every move i could with J4 just to put us slightly ahead, which reinforces my i need to learn a carry champ.

That was my first time ADCing in Ranked and second time as Jinx in an actual game =P we all called our roles but we needed ap so i volunteered to be morgana supp, the guy above me picked morg and locked in without saying anything leaving me with ADC. But i did pretty good which also doesnt explain why people have so much trouble just farming as an ADC, its very easy and trading is easy too, that morg didnt do jack squat for me but our jung was good.

OWNHAYJul 17, 20141 votes

Rank really means nothing about your skill.
The J4 game was a good one but we almost lost because my team wouldnt listen to me, they were all rejoicing about winning a 5v4 when the enemy rengar pushed down our top inhib, and then they went for baron where we all almost died. Which is my point i was barely able to carry, i had to pull off every move i could with J4 just to put us slightly ahead, which reinforces my i need to learn a carry champ.

That was my first time ADCing in Ranked and second time as Jinx in an actual game =P we all called our roles but we needed ap so i volunteered to be morgana supp, the guy above me picked morg and locked in without saying anything leaving me with ADC. But i did pretty good which also doesnt explain why people have so much trouble just farming as an ADC, its very easy and trading is easy too, that morg didnt do jack squat for me but our jung was good.

It seems like your games might have been situational. What I honestly do when our team is starting to celebrate because of a "won" game is just relax, even if the game is only over once you see the victory or defeat screen.

Carry champs aren't necessary, either. Champs can carry the game (which defeats the purpose of a team game) or champs can help everyone else carry. What I mean by that is champs can easily make other teammates capable of winning lane by either a gank or - believe me- a positive attitude. When you know someone knows they messed up, say "hey it's okay man you're still doing great" if you are someone who isn't as positive as they could be, that could be the change in games you'll see.

you might not like what you're about to hear, but..

people in LoL have an ego. when they lose something (say get killed or lose a turret) they get butthurt and say to themselves, "But i'm doing so good! its only because of that stupid Insert Champion Name Here or Why is my team doing so worse than me? when you be too nice to people, they don't worry about their mistake. 99% of the time. which means they don't try to redeem themselves by jumping into lane and instant-aggroing the enemy and instantly dying. Ranked is just a bunch of mind games, because it is a bit higher stakes, players such as you think they're doing bad, but in reality, they are actually doing the same they always do. Do you win every single one of your normal games, just like you expect to win all ranked games? I know teams can make you lose, but the only common variable in your games is YOU. if you want to make your games better, YOU need to improve; become a better team player, and accept defeat when it comes around.

thinking you'll win every ranked game you'll come around is the wrong way of thinking.

plus, ranked does mean a lot about your skill. In this low of an elo, if one was truly skilled, he/she would not be having troubles climbing the silver ladder, right?

StephenizgodJul 17, 20141 votes

I agree that i am not the best player and yes if i was better i could climb silver easily with bad team or good team. I'm not that good though :( i need a team who is about as good as me, or better then me would be best. I don't have the skills to lead a team to victory every single game, i just cant do it. I don't think ill get better when i never have a chance to improve, if i just lose immediately.

What i meant by saying I'm the only one doing good was not that "I got 10 kills but everyone else is feeding waaah" its just basic understanding of the game that is what differs i guess. I know to call MIA if my lane opponent is out of lane not everyone does that, i know that when the enemy Jungler is around not to push too hard and either wait back a bit or call for Jungler, not everyone does that. I know that in a team-fight to focus the carries or to peel for my carries, not everyone does that (most frustrating when everyone is focusing tank as a Lucian picks us off 1 by 1) I know not to take Baron when their Jungler is someone like Lee Sin and him and his entire team are standing on the other side of Baron Pit (True Story and i tried to tell them but our jg thought he could smite better, he was wrong).

I honestly just want to get out of Silver, i wasn't having these problems as much when playing with my Gold 1 friend, if i lost it was because i did poorly most of the time, if i won lane the team took advantage of that, not only MIA but what summoner spells and ults the enemy team still has, team fights are still a little hectic though but for the most part they are better.

What i meant by Rank doesn't actually portray your skill is there can be someone who is excellent in Bronze who is just having bad luck and there can be someone who got carried to Plat and it shows in their skill. So just because someone is lower ranked then me doesn't mean their advice is invalid.

StephenizgodJul 16, 20141 votes

Rank really means nothing about your skill. Oh and most of those games where im Garen i am way positive for a good portion of the game, and then the enemies who are fed start to roam... The J4 game was a good one but we almost lost because my team wouldnt listen to me, they were all rejoicing about winning a 5v4 when the enemy rengar pushed down our top inhib, and then they went for baron where we all almost died. Which is my point i was barely able to carry, i had to pull off every move i could with J4 just to put us slightly ahead, which reinforces my i need to learn a carry champ.

StephenizgodJul 16, 20141 votes

I usually main Malzahar (got me to Silver last season), Garen, and Morgana but no one lets me top or mid so im always Morgana. My problem is, and i dont mean to sound like i am the best ever, i feel like i do know how to play my lane and thats why i win my lane 90% of the time with no problems. I get frustrated that i can never get a team that can do the same, im tired of having to worry about every single other person and im not even the jungler.

What i mean by Kat being an "OP" champion is that she can carry easily, she can go to all lanes quickly and kill the with ease and then move on, i think i need to start being a champ like that.

OWNHAYJul 17, 20141 votes

Malzahar is just as scary. His ult makes a good target useless! all a good malzahar has to do is use all your abilities correctly, and you'll be unstoppable. His laning phase is great, so that should get you ahead.

also, you know what gets me mid every game?

"Mid pref" "Can I please has mid? <3"

StephenizgodJul 17, 20141 votes

Hmm the problem with Malzahar is how easy it is to stop his ult if you have any sort of knock back or up. For some reason his Ult is so slow, a ziggs has time to throw satchel charge and blow it up knocking Malz out of his ult if they are good enough or a Talon can silence him before it hits him. Really frustrating sometimes because it is his main damage and it has a long CD.

My deal is that most people, in Silver at least, dont know how to Support (I mean really Support) and so the ADC suffers because of it. So i know how to support and i do a good job most of the time, i might as well take the role if no one else can or will instead of force someone into it who wont do it as well.

CaoilJul 16, 20141 votes

Honestly, I think the best role to carry from is support because you set up plays for your team. I play a lot of adc, and no matter how well I'm doing I just can't win lane with a support who doesn't know what they're doing. It's the support who gets the adc fed by keeping the enemy laners off him so that he can farm, and then when the enemy laners overextend using the support's innate utilty to set up the kill for the adc. I have played 4v5 games where my adc hasn't connected as support, and despite having a tough time laning, my team has won team fights because I know how to focus the enemy carry out of the fight. The funniest thing I have ever done as support playing amumu was just chase the enemy adc away from the fight so that my team could kill the other four. I probably chased the adc halfway across the map.

Seriously though, it's less about carrying your team and more about making sure the rest of your team doesn't fall behind. You can't win when the other 4 players on the enemy team are fed no matter how fed you are yourself. I'd rather go 1-0-5 during the laning phase than go 10-0-0 while the rest of my team is 0-5-0 because LoL is a team game. Make sure kills are dispersed fairly evenly among your team, and whenever you can try to get one shot in, or let your teammates get one shot in to secure assist gold. Assists add up quickly.

StephenizgodJul 16, 20141 votes

My problem is that i make the plays an no one follows up with them or my ADC cant farm properly or dont know how to engage. So i end up looking like an idiot who just ran in locked down 3 people and shielded our carry for nothing.

What i meant by carry is, it always seems like the entire game rides on me. Everyone is losing except me and when i go to a lane to help the two lanes im not in get pushed or destroyed. So essentially im carrying but i cant do that with champs who dont do damage.

CaoilJul 16, 20141 votes

Welcome to bronze/silver. Unfortunately you can't make other people play better, all you can do is hope they follow you in and hit the enemy carry. If they aren't doing what you want them to be doing try giving them constructive criticism and never rage. Raging makes everyone (including yourself) play worse. TL;DR I know, but everyone has the same problems. We just notice our losing streaks than we do our winning streaks.

StephenizgodJul 16, 20141 votes

Ha tell me about it, thats why im trying to get out of Silver. I never rage at my team, it doesnt help anyone and it doesnt help me. I always try an give directions and advice, its up to them if they want to listen though.

Lol my losing streaks only happen when im in my promotion series!

MrBuffingtonJul 16, 20141 votes

I feel you man, was on a 6 game losing streak, only won my last game since two of their teammates AFKed (wasn't a deserved win). I'm really on tilt right now so I'm just taking a break from playing the next couple days (just played today to try to break this freaking losing streak). I think how the system works is that if you're on a winning streak, they match you with better players, and if you're on a losing streak, they match you with lower ranked players. I definitely understand the feeling that you're purposely getting match against a better team, though.

I'm not sure about the Silver -> Gold transition, but I got into Silver from Bronze rather easily while playing tanky supports. Honestly I'd say take a break, if you're on tilt like I am just don't play for a day or more, however long it takes for you to get back to feeling normal. If you're a support main, maybe try to find an ADC to duo with, one who you know is consistent and plays intelligently. Unless you're woefully mismatched in terms of skill, there's always a way to win with good decision making and proper rotations. Not sure about you, but everyone at my level just mindlessly shoves mid even though there's nothing to gain from it.

As far as carrying, Jungle may be one of the better options, since they have the ability to affect every other role, not to mention can provide deep vision/pressure from the jungle. It's also one of the harder roles imo, since there is so much decision making you need, game knowledge is so important, and knowing what lanes you need to snowball and what lanes you might just need to give up on and tell to farm under turret.

StephenizgodJul 16, 20141 votes

I dont really main support but i always want to give my team the best chance to win, so i ask everyone if they can support or if they would rather play a different lane, most choose to play a different lane

MrBuffingtonJul 16, 20141 votes

I think if you're confident in your ability to carry from a particular role, you might be better off in that role than giving it to someone else. I usually prefer playing support, but if I feel like I'm going to have to carry a game as far as dealing damage goes, I'll play ADC.

StephenizgodJul 16, 20141 votes

I feel support is equally as important as any role. If the support fails then the adc fails and the jungler is forced to go down there to remedy it. That leaves 2 lanes without help and two lanes the enemy jungler is going to gank more often. So if someone says i main Top, i will let them top because i know i can support. Every once in awhile i will ask or take a lane if i know i can beat them for sure.

MrBuffingtonJul 16, 20141 votes

Yea, I play more utility supports than damage supports though, so if my ADC isn't doing damage I'm boned. If my support is playing silly, I just need to orb walk better; I can still kill people, it's just more difficult.

I also usually let people take their favorite roles because I know I can fill most roles, sometimes I'm just feeling confident in my ADC mechanics/orbwalking.

High Lord BlazeJul 16, 20141 votes

I know the feeling, was trying to get to S5 and I had to do the series 3 times... And I had no problem getting their :P

RiotmoonstonesJul 18, 20141 votes

I totally understand your frustration. I jumped into ranked really early on, got stomped, and then had anxiety every time I queued up for it, hah.

Honestly, one of the best things I dd to improve my ranked play was playing ARAMS. Might sound silly, 'cause it's way more laid back than ranked, but hear me out.

Playing an ARAM allows you to be locked into a champion you might nor normally play (for me that was a lot of the melee champs ~ I love support and ranged!) Because of this, you learn how to play them, learn their skill sets, and learn who can play well against you (champion-wise) and visa verse. Alternatively, you begin to learn to play *against *champions you might not normally play against, allowing you to get some practice in on that end.

After playing ARAMs for several months, I had much better results in ranked. I was less aggressive towards some champions, and more aggressive towards others. I knew my limitations much better, and had a much better idea of what I was capable of.

Good luck!

StephenizgodJul 18, 20141 votes

Haha i think i have the exact opposite thing going on :D. It took me a long long time to do ranked and even longer to do my second season. At first there was anxiety, but now i go in expecting to win without a doubt. The concept is the same though and the end result is frustration lol.

I think I've only played ARAM once and i think i got Jarvan, have been in love with that champ ever since. I will start playing ARAM, i think its time to broaden my champion pool and it might add a bit more fun to my playstyle with new champs (im the kind of person who get very excited over something new then bored of it very quickly haha). Plus sometimes i hit Random Champ and lock in when im playing with my friends, so this kind of does it for me.

Thanks

RiotmoonstonesJul 18, 20141 votes

Haha, I'm the exact opposite. I played exclusively Annie when I started playing S1, then proceeded to obsess over Lux when she came out. I tend to find someone I really enjoy and stick with it for a while. (This was another big reason I was pretty bad when it came to ranked, I was kind of a one trick pony).

I've found several champions I really enjoyed playing via ARAM, like Vi. Vi isn't my play style, so I hadn't picked her up. After goofing around with her in ARAM, I realized how much fun her kit was. :3

Broadening your champion pool is always a good idea ~ you can counter better in ranked play, and can help others with builds and gameplay styles if they're oh, I don't know... a Lux facing a Talon. Not like that's ever happened to me before. >__>

StephenizgodJul 18, 20141 votes

Right now my champ pool a bit small i only have 2-3 champion per lane (most of them get countered by the same champ >.<) and i dont ADC or Jungler very well so i avoid those two.

If ARAM can help me re-enjoy this game im so down, because league is fun i just have a hard time having fun, i would like to go back to playing for fun.

Doom bots has been doing a good job of that, ill be sad to see it go XD

RiotmoonstonesJul 18, 20141 votes

Honestly, ARAM is where I go when I'm on a losing streak, having a bad night playing (...not landing Nami bubbles...), or when I want to mess around with friends. My boyfriend actually almost exclusively plays ARAM because he doesn't like the competitive aspect that SR can sometimes bring on. People are generally a lot less competitive, and there's a lot less arguing because it's not like your team got to pick their comp. :3

If it makes you feel any better, I'm still a crappy jungler. It's the one role I'm just not great with. My ganks are, let's say, less than effective, haha. If you want to give ADC a shot, I'd suggest Caitlyn or Ashe. Their kits are pretty easy, as compared to some others (dem Vayne mechanics). Find yourself a solid support player (like myself!) and buddy up. I find that people who practice with a decent support player have an easier time learning to ADC. So like, the support keeps the enemy team away from you, so you can focus on farming, not harassing. It's nice when your support is... supportive. :3 Plus, you said you play support, yeah? I found the support transition to ADC pretty easy, since you're already pretty aware of how the line functions! As the ADC, you just have to get used to taking the kills! (Unless you're a scumbag support like I am sometimes, go full AP, and my Dark Binding 'secures' the kill :D)

Doom bots is so much fun! I laughed so hard the first time I thought I killed one of them, and they turned into Eggnivia. xD So far, I think I'm most scared of getting locked down by Morgana. Her Tormented Soil with Dark Binding circling around them is really hard for me (and probably anyone else who isn't Ezreal) to avoid. It's also a nice way to take a break from the competitive nature that other game modes can entail ~ especially when you're in ranked. I mean, everyone wants to win, right? At least with these other modes, there's less at stake!

StephenizgodJul 18, 20141 votes

The competitiveness does get annoying though, i wish there was a way to lighten it a bit. So people don t get so stressed over losing, i get frustrated when i lose but mostly i just feel down, one of my friends will rage non-stop so bad i just get off lol. Im just glad a lot of the community is so helpful, as you can see a lot of people have commented on how to help me or to make me feel better or that they just understand me, so at least i know there are some good people playing.

My favorite ADC's are Cait and Quinn currently, i picked up Quinn fairly quickly as she reminds me of a top laner more then an ADC, Cait is just so simple and well-rounded its hard not to do good. My jungle skills are bad, its not my ganks but when i gank that is my problem. I either gank too much or not at all, im sure its annoying to laners. Learning to ADC and Jung lately has been very fun though, so not only am i getting valuable experience im enjoying it.

The reason i main support is because no one else will =P, idk why people dont like to support, YOU make the plays and the ADC follows. I play Morg support so i can take the kills if need be :D if my ADC is... not the best... i take it upon myself to win that lane as Morgana and 8 out of 10 times i do. So kill secured? more like it was my kill to begin with and i was just letting you take them, well until now.

Winning Doom Bots is just an added bonus, lose or win you have tons of fun, specially when there are overwhelming odds against you and you just have to persevere, such excitement.

RiotmoonstonesJul 18, 20141 votes

Yeah, I can get frustrated sometimes, too. I tend to just play around in normals for a bit. Less pressure. :3 The community is great about giving feedback and advice on how you can improve your play. Since everyone plays differently, you can always learn something new on the forums. I always keep an eye out on other people's perspectives on play. I've learned quite a lot just from creeping the forums!

:o I love Quinn! YAY QUINN PLAYERS! Glad you're enjoying a change of pace. I know for me, I have to switch it up every now and again, both to keep practice up, and to keep things interesting.

KILL SECURING IS TOTALLY A THING. YOU DIDN'T STEAL IT! Morgana support is so much fun (and really mean for the enemy team). I started supporting for the same reason ~ none of my friends wanted to play the role. I really enjoy it, for exactly why you said ~ you're the one making the plays. I feel like you're usually the savior in team fights, too. Whether you're engaging, disengaging, or helping peel for your ADC, it feels good knowing that you helped in some huge way.

I haven't seen anyone get mad at losing Doom Bots. Everyone just laughs the entire time. Or, there's a lot of WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! when a random Garen comes spinning to win out of a bush. :3 I will say, though, it feels so good when you manage to win. (I still haven't been able to beat 5 bombs).

StephenizgodJul 19, 20141 votes

Quinn is very fun, but right now im loving Cait and Varus. I think i might try Ezreal and Lucian soon.

Supports make the plays and the ADC's take the credit XD, but i feel much pride seeing my ADC fed and dominating his lane opponent and that's the only reward i need.

Ive only attempted Doom 5 once and it was madness... i will need a much more cohesive team if i am to actually win that mode haha, but it is still fun just to mess around getting destroyed with my pals :D

RiotmoonstonesJul 19, 20141 votes

I invited a friend who didn't really know what Doom Bots were to a game last night. He was a bit more than surprised, to say the least, when he saw what I had dragged him into. xD

StephenizgodJul 19, 20141 votes

HAHAHA i did the same to one of my friends, we went Garen and Darius top, Spin-to-Win, the Dream Team we called it. Well Doom Annie and Doom Blitzcrank called it an easy win. Annie was 8 and 0 like 6 min into the game haha

midoriiJul 18, 20141 votes

I feel ya dude, I've come to the conclusion that I am not allowed to be on a team with a positive attitude.

Ever.

And every game im always playing the referee for the team chat, trying to keep morale up, keep players from fighting with each other, try to keep the peace, try to bring the focus back to the game at hand, the objectives, and the engagement at hand...

It's tiring. It makes me miss playing Starcraft 2. At least the ranked community on there is for the most part polite, sincere when winning, and understanding when witnessing someone with frustration. BM is frowned upon in that community

Even doing 1v1s on ranked in sc2.....every opponent started the game with a glhf (myself included ^^) and always ended with a gg or ggwp. It's sad when starting a game with glhf on LoL and having players (on either team) replying with derogatory remarks, negatives attitudes, and on occasion sadly even not knowing what it means (of course after explaining happily it means "good luck have fun" the typical response is usually ridicule).

It's just disheartening

StephenizgodJul 18, 20141 votes

I only try and keep up a positive attitude as long as i feel it helps, like you said a lot of people make that difficult so i just stop. My motto is to just ignore people with bad comments, if my team is being too negative i mute them. The problem is how their negativity affects their gameplay and they lose because they couldn't look past the one mistake that one guy made that one time and how they could never recover from it.

Then again i get pretty negative very quickly in a losing streak, i dont bash on my team i just tend to give up long before i should =, its part of the reason im taking a break from Ranked. Hopefully i can come back and get to gold finally before the season ends.

themaddscientistJul 20, 20141 votes

I feel you, my rank has been dragged through the dirt recently with promo drama and a bunch of other nonsense. What's kept me humble about it is realizing all of the times that I've screwed up for a variety reason (right now my Nami bubbles aren't hitting their mark as often as they need to, and my roaming hasn't adjusted to the elo I'm currently in). I think the best thing that you can do is go into a game or game mode that's more casual, be it with friends, an aram, or anything. I went into a Team Builder game and wrecked face since my mmr in normals is shot, and the next game was my most recent victory. Just try to keep a cool head through it all and focus on what you can change rather than what you can't. If it makes you feel any better, getting into Silver II was hell for me, as well.

Just from looking at your LoLKing, here are a couple things that I notice. I would suggest investing in flat magic resistance glyphs for some of your early game matchups, as well as grabbing another rune page. You seem to have reliable, albeit limited, champions for each role, so make sure that you can properly set up each one. The elo that you're at is starting to make the transition of importance from early to mid/late game, but it's only just starting, and won't get into full swing until Silver I/Gold V. Until that happens, and even in some matchups afterward, such as against an AP top, you might want flat magic resistance glyphs to help you win that early game. No amount of scaling runes will ever be able to beat someone who has one core item up on them.

Another thing that might be worth mentioning is that it could be a good idea to start looking around for another top lane champion. It's hard to give up on a champion that's been your main for a long time, and it looks like Garen definitely did help you through Season 3, but take a look at his toolkit and see if there's a similar champion who can fulfill the same or similar role, but might be more effective at team fighting. Just off the top of my head, Shyvana comes to mind, so look around the free week and see if there's a champion that you might want to try out. And don't just give up on the first bad game with a champion, by that logic I would have never become a Nami main. My first games with her in Normals were abysmal, and the only reason I unlocked her was a snap decision to get myself at 0 IP. I randomly played her in a Ranked game as I was transitioning away from my support at the time, and suddenly had this ridiculously awesome game, followed up by a bad one, but then an even more awesome game. It's been fun playing with her, even though I disagree with people on how to build her and all that fun stuff.

Either way, good luck on your climb. Just keep your head above the water, and you'll find a way to get past this issue.

StephenizgodJul 20, 20141 votes

Yea i know, i need to give up Garen :(, it is sad because he did get me through every game so far but far too easily countered and zero team fighting abilities. Im trash with Shyvanna haha ive played more then a couple games and none of them were good. I think im going to try and get better with Jarvan top, he has a ton of damage and tank and CC. I also want to try getting good with Jayce, Pantheon, and maybe Darius.

Right now though im taking a break from ranked, im trying to learn ADC better and once i feel comfortable there im going to get better at Jungle. As for my runes, i am 100% there with ya. I need flat MR runes for my tankier page and 2 or 3 different pages for different situations.

Thanks this thread has helped me quite a bit, more then just venting. Everyone commenting has really helped, all the advice, specially from those who have looked at my games and told me specifics of what i need to change (All the advice is very helpful though). So i think posting this actually did help me, i learned i should take a small break, play for fun, try new champs, and change some things.

Hyrum GraffJul 22, 20141 votes

My best advice is to play safer. While risky plays can pay off, it's almost always better to do the safe thing (take the long way around, back off from the close fight, etc).

Specifically, see if you can end every game with 0 deaths. It's often very hard, but if you do, you'll be surprised at how much of a difference it makes.

StephenizgodJul 22, 20141 votes

Thats my usual plan :), but i do take a lot of risks or make some dumb mistake. Im sure a lot of my deaths have been because of that.

Thank you for the advice

Hyrum GraffJul 22, 20141 votes

Np!