What should I expect when starting ranked?

Edrissam·8/17/2014, 2:31:37 AM·2 votes·4,423 views

I'll be reaching Level 30 within the next couple of weeks, and I've seen several threads on the old boards asking how you know whether or not you're ready for ranked. The thing is, people usually say no and that you have to play a lot more normals before you're ready to dive in to ranked play, but why is that? What separates normal play from the mysterious land of ranked?

What I'm really asking is, what differences should I expect when I start ranked play? Is there a huge jump in skill level? Are people expected to play in a more team-oriented style or is it still every man for himself (as it is in most normals)?

27 Comments

Riotmoonstones8/18/2014, 2:10:08 AM6 votes

I personally didn't start playing ranked until last season, and I've been playing since Season 1. That's just been my personal preference.

I agree with a lot of what's being said here, as far as how to prepare yourself.

Be able to play several champions (well) in several roles. Between picks, bans, and not always being first pick, chances are, you won't get your first choice all the time. It's always good to have a back up!

Stock up on runes, and fill out masteries! Although it may not seem that important at first glance, runes and masteries give you significant stat increases!

Understand counters. I best learned this by playing ARAM, honestly, haha. Be aware of who counters your picks for champions, and visa-versa. Learn how to play against them.

Don't let one bad play kill your mood. Don't get tilted! It's only a game, and if you give first blood and beat yourself up about it, chances are, you won't be as focused. Learn to let small errors go, and learn from them. The same should go for your teammates ~ let them know their 'bad play' wasn't so bad, and it's not a big deal. :] Just stay positive and do your best!

Good luck! :3

12tales8/17/2014, 2:44:20 AM4 votes

You shouldn't worry much about skill level. There is most definitely a home for all levels of play in ranked.

The main difference I'm aware of is that people rage more.

CharQueen8/17/2014, 2:35:51 AM4 votes

Depending on what division you end up in, you could enjoy Ranked matches the same way you would a Normal. As long as you pull your weight, trust that others will do the same, and offer hope, it really shouldn't be different for you. Report the trolls. Don't worry about Ranked being some horrid weight over you. As long as you stay positive, you shouldn't be overcome by the mode itself. There is no ELO Hell.

SlurpeeCupFurbie8/18/2014, 6:57:34 AM3 votes

I recommend listening to some music. Also... Something that I learned from Dyrus, is to hold something comfortable when playing ranked to ease the nerves. Like a Teddy Bear, Or a pillow. Who's gonna rage with a Teddy Bear!

Flyerwork8/17/2014, 4:41:40 AM2 votes

If you want to start ranked, I suggest having atleast 2 champs for every catagory (ADC, Top, Jungle, Support, Mid) mastered to a certain degree. In ranked you DEFINITELY wont always get your role you choose. I also suggest having 2 Fully stacked rune pages with tier 3 runes (AD, AP). This will help you ALOT. And i wouldnt start ranked until your ready. I wouldn't worry about skill level. Good Luck! Teemo

cshakes8/17/2014, 10:58:41 AM1 votes

One thing I'd suggest is playing a few normal drafts to familiarize yourself with the way picks and bans work. Another good thing would be to have some experience in every role, especially jungle/support, since they seem to be the least desired.

PaladinNeph8/18/2014, 1:42:28 PM1 votes

here's what to expect: LoL is a team game, so let's use another team game as an analogy- football

imagine, instead of having tryouts and ending up on a team roughly two or three times the size of the team that gets to play an actual game in highschool, you were just randomly shuffled into a team with people you've never met.

the sorting algorithm doesn't take preferred position into account, so of course 3/5 of your team wants to be the quarterback. and oh yes, did I mention you have about 2 minutes to sort out who plays what position and what plays you're going to try to make? because you do, and the clock's ticking.

so you get the positions sorted out, but you don't have time to decide on plays, so rather than think about how their decisions effect the team as a whole, everyone just brings their favorite skillsets to the table and hopes it works itself out.

turns out, one of the guys who wanted to be quarterback ended up as a wide receiver. problem is he can't catch for shit. but that's ok! the guy who did get quarterback can't throw!

your lineman's good, but he's (justifyably) pissed at the quarterback and wide receiver, and he doesn't realize that shouting at them is just making them play worse.

you ended up as a running back, and you're pretty good, but with one problem: the quarterback wont call a running play. so you're begging him "come on! you know you can't throw, and you know the wide receiver can't catch, so why do you throw to him every single time? I'm right here! I'm not the best but at least we could make SOME progress!"

eventually, you get through to the quarterback and he does pass to you... at the exact moment the lineman accidentally lets them through. so you get tackled, and it looks like you're a bad player when you were really just given a shitty chance. and now the quarterback is shouting "see, that's why I don't pass to you!"

now to heap onto this mess, there's also ELO hell. don't get me wrong- ELO hell is a myth, but it does have it's foundations in reality. you see, while the sorting algorithm doesn't take preferred positions into account, it does take skill level. and every "section" of skill is determined by whether or not you can carry a bad team by yourself. to do this, whenever you're up to move up a section, it deliberately places you with bad players to see if you can win anyway (which looks like shitty luck, if you don't know what's going on- hence the ELO hell myth)

and the only upside in all this is the enemy team is in the same boat. personally? I'm sticking to ARAM and teambuilder until riot adds in some elements from teambuilder into ranked. it won't be a permanent fix, of course, but it will be slightly less of a clusterfuck.

themaddscientist8/18/2014, 1:48:33 PM1 votes

The best advice I can give you is be prepared to lose, a lot. Even the best-laid plans can easily fall to ruin by something unexpected, and that's a good thing. It's how we learn more about the game and everything in it. It can be very easy to complain about the things that are outside of your control and to believe in "elo hell" because of it, but the only one you can hurt with such a mentality is yourself. Your allies only concern you in so far as how you react to their good/bad plays and movement around the map. Apart from that, they are not your responsibility, so focus on becoming individually better and think through what you could have done to possibly avoid a loss, and your improvement will speak for itself. It may come in leaps and bounds, and there will be times when it feels static, but it can take a while for our progress to show sometimes, so don't get discouraged. Good luck as you start out.

Max Q Then E8/18/2014, 5:35:22 PM1 votes

Things you need (SHOULD HAVE) to enter ranked: Skilled in 2-3 roles Skilled in at least 2 champs per role At least one FULL 'tier 3' rune page - I've got 15 full pages that covers ever role in the game and extra circumstances for my preferred roles. I've been put in every role in ranked though I prefer jungle or solo laning A lot of filled out mastery pages (they are free, go crazy)

If you get caught up in your rank then you will have rough time in bronze because there are trolls lurking about and AFKers around every corner ready to help you lose. As another poster mentioned, when you get to a series it seems as if you are placed with the trolliest of trolls and AFKers in an attempt to see if you can win the game by yourself or with little to no help from your team (in a team game). For instance, my series last two series games has had 2 AFKs and a trolling enemy champion (thank my lucky stars, if that enemy had not trolled our AFK would have cost us the game).

Be prepared for others to get frustrated with you if you build something completely ridiculous or make bad plays or feed. But, honestly, what I've found helps a lot is listening to people that point out what was bad and why it was bad. Listen and then say 'my bad' because the reality is no one is perfect and you probably made a mistake. Now that doesn't mean that your teammate DIDN'T make a mistake but be the bigger man and REALIZE you probably could have played it better.

Be prepared to be frustrated by others. The trollz are real and so are the ignorant players.

There is no 'jump' in skill level.

I guess it's expected to play more team-oriented because it will help you win. I don't know how many games I've pinged for an objective after my team kills 2 or 3 of the enemy champs and everyone just goes off and farms by themselves... teamwork is OP.

Shinjusuke8/18/2014, 10:17:04 PM1 votes

Just because someone hits level 30, doesn't mean they're ready for ranked. It means its an option now. I don't know you, so I can't claim to know if you are, but KateyKhaos touched on some major points. These are, in order of importance to know, what I and I think many others feel are the major things to know going into ranked.

First and foremost RANKED IS THE SERIOUS GAME MODE. Don't go into ranked and be that shithead who's like "lol u guys are so tryhard". NORMALS are for fun, NORMALS is for relaxing. Nothing wrong with normals if that's what you wanna do, I play at least 5x as many normals. If you're going into ranked, HAVE THE RESPECT TO TREAT IT AS SERIOUSLY AS THE 4 OTHER PEOPLE IN YOUR TEAM. It's common friggin' courtesy. You're not "cool" for not caring. You're an asshole wasting 4 other people's time.

1)** KNOW HOW TO PLAY EVERY DAMN ROLE,** and know how to play at least 3 on a level that you feel you could carry a game while ahead (excepting support ofc, more like "impact your team powerfully enough to win them some teamfights"). You're wasting 4 other people's time if you go in being a dickhead who throws a fit cuz he can't play mid Yasuo every single game. LEARN THE GAME, not just a champion.

YOU WILL NOT GET YOUR ROLE OR CHAMPION EVERY GAME. Suck it up now, and be aware of that, and be a contributing member of your teamcomp. If you want to play the same champion every game, go to team builder and do so. Ranked is not for this.
LEARN WHERE THE FRIGGIN' MUTE BUTTON IS. There are going to be angry people, particularly when you play badly (which everyone does sometimes) and not only waste an hour of their life, but make them lose LP. This is unavoidable. The best thing you can do is be a big fuckin' adult and hit the mute button. You're not going to convince them and they don't give a flying fuck about you. Mute them, cooperate with the rest of your teammates. Don't sit there throwing the game because you can't stop typing paragraphs nobody gives a shit about.
MAP. AWARENESS. So many games could EASILY be won, or lost, if people had better/worse map awareness. If you're mid, and you see your jungler go for a level 2 invade on their red, and your enemy mid leaves lane, let your jungler know and follow the mid. If you decide to solo dragon, but 4 people all look like they're walking straight toward you, get the flying fuck out. if your mid pings 4 times that the enemy kat went MIA, don't be trying to have sex with the enemy tower in bot lane. BACK UP. This'll win you far more games, and save you from looking like a complete moron.
LEARN TEAM COMPOSITION, AND CONTRIBUTE TO IT AS BEST YOU CAN. If you've got an assassin jungler, an immobile mage mid, and a caster support bot lane, your team doesn't need a damned top yasuo. Your team needs a tank/fighter, your team needs peel and a frontline. Learn the basics of team composition and contribute to it with your picks out of the champions you know how to play. If you feel you don't know enough on this subject, youtube has an endless amount of videos on it.
COUNTERS. You can win past a counter, but you have to be outright and wholly superior to the other player. Don't let your ego give you and 4 other people a loss. Don't pick mid as firstpick. Try to avoid picking top as an early pick. Ask to trade with people to delay these two lane picks.
GENERAL NUMBERS KNOWLEDGE REGARDING CHAMPIONS. You should know some of the more simple numerical stuff you'll encounter a lot. As an example, if your main is an immobile mage in mid, know Talon hits a power spike at level 5 and 6. Stuff like that.

Hopefully that's not too aggressive, but this basic knowledge becomes stuff you wish had physical existence so you could shove it literally down peoples throats until they learned it. Try to learn all this stuff. Or at the very least, the first three. You can probably make it out of bronze without the last three, but past that, those are important as well. Wish you the best!