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Hint: Making an Impact in Soloqueue

Drunk Rummate·11/18/2014, 3:06:57 PM·5 votes·1,861 views

Everyone always asks how they can "hard carry" for their team. Generally they get straightforward recommendations, "Play Akali, she can 1v5," "Play Tryndamere/Nasus and split push," etc. -Almost always the recommendation is "Play X champ, and give zero ****s about your team." Because that's our definition of "hard carrying" right? When your team is so incompetent that you have to win what is essentially a 1v5.

Wrong. That's not how it works. Because if your team is so incompetent that you're essentially 1v5ing, it means the other team is fed. It means you physically can't 1v5 because the enemy team is just as fed as you are, and no matter what champion you are that's not going to change. The number of times you can legitimately turn a game all by yourself in this fashion is hilariously low. So yes, it may happen once every now and then, but it's not a reason to play X champ 100% of the time.

So how do you hard carry? The answer is a lot less cut and dry, and it's why climbing in ranks is so difficult for so many people. The problem is that everyone in soloqueue tries to play their own game. They focus so hard on winning by themselves, hard enough that they can beat 2 or more people in a fight by themselves, that they lose sight of their teammates. You hard carry by lifting your teammates. That's the answer. So how do you do this?

As I said, not so cut and dry. Generally the answer is grouping and roaming earlier than the enemy team. Let me explain to you how I personally try to impact my team to give you an idea.
Note: this isn't the only answer, it's just my approach.

Top lane is my favorite location to play. Many people see it as an island, and that's because they're always trying one of those "hard carry" strategies I mentioned in the first paragraph. But what about a different approach? Rush down their tower. Kill it as fast as you can and roam. Your opponent in lane loses vision and map control with the loss of his tower. If he doesn't follow you in roams then you lift your team while he farms an empty lane. If he does follow you in roams then your team has vision and map control because you still have an outer turret and their team does not, so your roams are more likely to be successful.

Summary You don't need to get a kill in lane, or even get kills at all to carry your team. 80% of league is being in the right place at the right time. You do that by warding and roaming well and taking towers as quickly as you can. Play a champion you are comfortable with, stop worrying so much about playing those "hard carry" champions that everyone suggests, and find your own way to lift your team so that they're strong enough to win the game with you.

17 Comments

disregardable11/18/2014, 3:10:01 PM2 votes

BUT TAKE THE TOWER BEFORE ROAMING. Especially if you're fucking mid. You don't want to know how many times I've seen people essentially abandon their lane when both outer turrets are still up.

Niting11/18/2014, 3:14:24 PM1 votes

But some champions are made to roam? For example Nasus is a farmer. As is Orianna, Ryze (for his tear) and so on. What do you do if you're playing waveclear champions that aren't really made to roam? Just a question from a Silver noob :/

Zebekn11/18/2014, 3:50:48 PM1 votes

Everyone always asks how they can "hard carry" for their team. Generally they get straightforward recommendations, "Play Akali, she can 1v5," "Play Tryndamere/Nasus and split push," etc. -Almost always the recommendation is "Play X champ, and give zero ****s about your team." Because that's our definition of "hard carrying" right? When your team is so incompetent that you have to win what is essentially a 1v5.

Wrong. That's not how it works. Because if your team is so incompetent that you're essentially 1v5ing, it means the other team is fed. It means you physically can't 1v5 because the enemy team is just as fed as you are, and no matter what champion you are that's not going to change. The number of times you can legitimately turn a game all by yourself in this fashion is hilariously low. So yes, it may happen once every now and then, but it's not a reason to play X champ 100% of the time.

So how do you hard carry? The answer is a lot less cut and dry, and it's why climbing in ranks is so difficult for so many people. The problem is that everyone in soloqueue tries to play their own game. They focus so hard on winning by themselves, hard enough that they can beat 2 or more people in a fight by themselves, that they lose sight of their teammates. You hard carry by lifting your teammates. That's the answer. So how do you do this?

As I said, not so cut and dry. Generally the answer is grouping and roaming earlier than the enemy team. Let me explain to you how I personally try to impact my team to give you an idea.
Note: this isn't the only answer, it's just my approach.

Top lane is my favorite location to play. Many people see it as an island, and that's because they're always trying one of those "hard carry" strategies I mentioned in the first paragraph. But what about a different approach? Rush down their tower. Kill it as fast as you can and roam. Your opponent in lane loses vision and map control with the loss of his tower. If he doesn't follow you in roams then you lift your team while he farms an empty lane. If he does follow you in roams then your team has vision and map control because you still have an outer turret and their team does not, so your roams are more likely to be successful.

Summary You don't need to get a kill in lane, or even get kills at all to carry your team. 80% of league is being in the right place at the right time. You do that by warding and roaming well and taking towers as quickly as you can. Play a champion you are comfortable with, stop worrying so much about playing those "hard carry" champions that everyone suggests, and find your own way to lift your team so that they're strong enough to win the game with you.

I try to have excellent map presence and I also make sure to end laning phase if my lane gets behind weather its my fault or not, i use teamwork to come back. teamwork is the key to pretty much everything in this game, outside of laning phase for top and mid, and even then, teamwork is still very important.

Vincius11/18/2014, 4:05:47 PM1 votes

And sometimes, no matter what you do or how good you are, you'll lose anyways, because let's be honest, some teams do are heavy as fuck!

Cubelios11/18/2014, 4:33:04 PM1 votes

I, personally, play more team oriented and more help out my teammates, which works fine when its my friends who do well. But when its in ranked and I genuinely question if maybe its their first league match (not that I ask. I never say anything to them unless its "good job" or "hey guys lets group and push") how do I either switch my play style up or adapt it to fit into a more carry/roaming play style?

Aithos11/18/2014, 6:59:41 PM1 votes

Everyone always asks how they can "hard carry" for their team. Generally they get straightforward recommendations, "Play Akali, she can 1v5," "Play Tryndamere/Nasus and split push," etc. -Almost always the recommendation is "Play X champ, and give zero ****s about your team." Because that's our definition of "hard carrying" right? When your team is so incompetent that you have to win what is essentially a 1v5.

Wrong. That's not how it works. Because if your team is so incompetent that you're essentially 1v5ing, it means the other team is fed. It means you physically can't 1v5 because the enemy team is just as fed as you are, and no matter what champion you are that's not going to change. The number of times you can legitimately turn a game all by yourself in this fashion is hilariously low. So yes, it may happen once every now and then, but it's not a reason to play X champ 100% of the time.

So how do you hard carry? The answer is a lot less cut and dry, and it's why climbing in ranks is so difficult for so many people. The problem is that everyone in soloqueue tries to play their own game. They focus so hard on winning by themselves, hard enough that they can beat 2 or more people in a fight by themselves, that they lose sight of their teammates. You hard carry by lifting your teammates. That's the answer. So how do you do this?

As I said, not so cut and dry. Generally the answer is grouping and roaming earlier than the enemy team. Let me explain to you how I personally try to impact my team to give you an idea.
Note: this isn't the only answer, it's just my approach.

Top lane is my favorite location to play. Many people see it as an island, and that's because they're always trying one of those "hard carry" strategies I mentioned in the first paragraph. But what about a different approach? Rush down their tower. Kill it as fast as you can and roam. Your opponent in lane loses vision and map control with the loss of his tower. If he doesn't follow you in roams then you lift your team while he farms an empty lane. If he does follow you in roams then your team has vision and map control because you still have an outer turret and their team does not, so your roams are more likely to be successful.

Summary You don't need to get a kill in lane, or even get kills at all to carry your team. 80% of league is being in the right place at the right time. You do that by warding and roaming well and taking towers as quickly as you can. Play a champion you are comfortable with, stop worrying so much about playing those "hard carry" champions that everyone suggests, and find your own way to lift your team so that they're strong enough to win the game with you.

This. So much this. A hundred times this. People who say "carry harder" are idiots, I have lost games where I've been 15-2-5 on Renekton where I could literally 1v3 because my team was dysfunctional. There isn't any carrying when two people are standing in base having a typing battle over something stupid and two people are off on their own refusing to group or communicate and leave every time you try to group to push a lane. Meanwhile the enemy team groups as five and takes all your towers for free and makes up the gap uncontested.

They key to solo queue is three points:

  1. don't feed. If you die you can't keep playing as if the game is even, an outer tower isn't worth dying three more times over. Give up the outer and notify your team your lane is roaming. Just don't afk farm, respond if your team needs you.

  2. always prioritize towers over other objectives in solo queue. Dragon and baron are what professional team games hinge on, solo queue hinges on who takes towers and controls the enemy jungle.

  3. group early and stay grouped. This loses more games than anything else. If the enemy is grouped as 4 or 5, you need to be grouped as well. All that farm in the side lane? Worthless if you lose a teamfight and towers.

Also, waveclear and poke wins games.

Ad Astra per Asp11/18/2014, 9:01:24 PM1 votes

Yep it's long long been said the best way to win is get other lanes ahead. Because then you too are ahead. And it's strategy not mechanics that more than likely win the day. If you can create a situation where there's 4 people bottom, you get 2 kills a turret and a dragon while you lose mid turret, gee I wonder who made out better in that situation and is super ahead.

People forget that more than a online battle arena, it's an online strategy game with roots in real time strategy games.

Also if you're ever calling your teammates pussies for not dying stupidly like you did, you're the problem. If the rest of your team isn't in position to go in, or sees that it is probably a bad idea, and you go in anyway you're throwing the game.

Windfallen11/18/2014, 10:14:05 PM1 votes

Carrying yourself is nearly impossible. You really do have to make an effort to lift the team. Everybody wants to make killer picks, but safe/longtime played picks are VERY rewarding sometimes.

Trist didn't get banned? I'm gonna play ashe and nobody is gonna get a kill until I finally decide to commit to a fight.

Udyr wants to farm all game so he can splitpush later? Let's preserve our towers and start grouping extremely early.

Akali gets picked? Let's see how well she can farm if I pick a laner who will pin her to her tower and make her scramble for cs.

I see single players carrying less and less these days in solo q.

Let me tell you a funny story about a game with Nasus top. The guy is 0/4, losing his second tower, and rushing triforce. Somehow, some way.... Nasus has 372 stacks about 15-20 minutes into the game (Wtf?) When he decides to start looking for fights, he instantly gets fed. 2 quadras and 1 penta by the end of the game.... but guess what. He didn't win the game because all he would do is splitpush top and try 1v3-5 over and over, and would overextend spamming /laugh. Nasus is OP as hell with stacks, but it really doesn't matter if he does not play like a teammate. This champ might feel like a raid boss, and he can be.... but many mistakes i see players making with him..... Is that they are playing a completely different game.

Everybody throws in Soloq, so don't be discouraged if you get behind or things start to look challenging!

Pvt Yong Tai11/19/2014, 7:46:38 AM1 votes

I actually feel top lane has a very low "lift". Whenever I play top I'll think we're doing well cause I'm 3/0/0 about to down tower and roam, but all of a sudden I see the scoreboard and it's 3 to 14 in kills.

I much prefer mid, jungle, or support. In support, you can give your ADC a really easy time if you play it right. Jungle can ward and keep tabs on jungle ganks/roams. Mid can roam easily to top or bot.