Lets talk about the Ranked Ladder.

Every season, I see people rush to climb the ladder and achieve a rank higher than the one they earned previously. A majority of the time, due to how players are distributed, they are in the silver-bronze bracket and wanting to climb further. Whether they are trying to achieve gold or just get out of "elo hell", they always seem to get frustrated, come to me and tell me one of the following phrases, with the occasional variation: "I can't carry these trash players" "I can trash a (insert higher elo) player in lane, i should be able to get that elo" "This (insert champion name here) on my team fed too hard" Sound familiar? From my experience, its likely that you've paraphrased one or more of these statements in the past and so, I'd like to offer advice. Mind you, I'm only Gold and cannot speak for the tiers of play above me. But hear me out and see if anything I say has value.

Quick note and look into how I think: http://www.leagueofgraphs.com/rankings/summoners-distribution and http://www.lolsummoners.com/stats were looked at for distribution data. From this data, around 65-70% of the Ranked population is bronze or silver. This is important when we delve in so please keep that number in mind.

1. Don't play ranked in the first 2-3 weeks Logic behind it: If the golds, plats, and diamonds are set closer to 1200, (for simplicity, lets say they drop a full tier and are now silver, gold, and plat.) then that also means they are closer to your rank. Accept that the former platinum, gold, and diamond players are there for a reason. Even if you do not lane against them, they are still more proficient at the game. These players make up the remaining 30% of the community. lets say you are silver division. according to the 1st site, 17.5% of that 30% is gold or so, now in your ranked queue as a high-mid silver. if the game pulls 10 people out of that pool, there is a chance they are former golds. However, you are not gold. meaning your team has less of a chance to have a gold player giving you the boost. Here, we have a small mismatch, but a disadvantage nonetheless. As your rank increases, you have less to fear. For a gold player, they only have to fear platinum/diamond players who are running through placements. This group is already down to 12.5% chance and when you are a platinum player, a mere 2% of that group remains. That is why these players rush out the gates. For them, they have the odds in their favor to be matched against less skilled opponents. For you, in bronze-silver, you are setting yourself up to fail. Tl;dr: Diamonds, Plats, Golds (the 30%) trample the (70%) on their way up. Don't be part of the stampede.

2. You do not have to carry. With my Singed, I was able to climb with a 56% win rate or so. That is just a little bit more than half my games. Nobody is hitting 80 and 90% win rates for a reason. Some games must be lost despite your influence. However, you can limit how many games are lost because of YOU. Consistency trumps feast-famine players. Tankiness and CC help your consistency. Sometimes, I mess up as Singed. Its normal.. just because I have hundreds of games on him, doesn't mean I'm going to go 5/0 in lane phase and destroy the enemy team. Most of the time, I'm squeaking by with 0/1 5-15 cs down. I haven't failed my team. My enemy lane is still on his power curve. Sure his tear is stacking a minute or so earlier than usual, or he got to build sheen early, but hes not out of control. He cannot just appear mid lane and decimate my mid, then force my jungle to flash. His impact can be minimized and contained. I can stop him from leaving lane by pushing to his turret forcing him to farm. I can stagnate his buildup and give my team time to buildup a lead of their own. Best part is, I am a tank. being behind by a small increment means I can still put down my cc or make a catch on the enemy team. Now with the new jungler buffs, its the perfect time to ditch your damage lee sin builds for a more stable Naut or Sion. The game doesn't expect you to win every match. Don't be frustrated by losses that you did not cause. As you move up, both you and your teammates will be able to minimize/maximize how behind/ahead they are, which causes a lot of close games that the matchmaking didn't expect you to win. tl;dr: tanky or cc in your picks.. stability over flying around the map 20/1/2 as the jungler.

3. Donate kills. I cannot tell you how many players I see get fed off their lane opponent, then go around the map securing every kill they can. Cut this shit out. If the game ends up being 11-20 and you have 18 of your teams 20 kills, you are responsible for the result of the game. If you lose, don't blame your team because you are the reason for the loss because most likely, you got cc'd down or poked to pieces before/during a fight, and weren't able to translate your 18 kills and the gold you got from them into damage in the teamfight. This mainly goes to Shaco/Kat/Akali/adcs. Putting your lane ahead distributes the power and when the teamfight comes in, if you get cc'd and locked down, only 1/5th of the gold earned got reduced returns and the rest of your team can still win the fight. tl;dr: kills=gold. If you have all the gold, you have to win the game for your team.

4. Please do not play too many ranked matches a day. Ranked is for showing off your BEST stuff. Not your "so-so" adc, not your 1st time Lux, and certainly, not new champion XYZ (dragon cannon). If you have to default to 1 champion, try your best to get that champ in the role you play. Its recommended you learn to play support regardless as supports decide bot lane and because, if you read statement 2, have the most cc, which means a lot when you aren't the best player in the room. Furthermore, don't play 10 ranked games back to back. Take a breather, get some water, take a bath. Play at most, 2-3 ranked games a day and even thats generous. You aren't playing your best at the end of the night. You aren't as focused and, considering you probably have lost a game or two that day, you are thinking that Ezreal is going to do just as terribly as the Ezreal from that game. tl;dr: you are a grumpy, lazy, lethargic scat after 10 hours of league. that's not the time for ranked. Usually, a warmup game or two and a ranked game should be enough.

If you scrolled/read all the way to this point, thanks for reading. I'd like to hear your thoughts. If you enjoyed, I have a bunch of other tips but the post was already getting too long so I just cut it. Have a good day.