When to start ranked placements?

Niyumi·Sep 4, 2015·1 votes·1,350 views

Basically, the title. At what point should I start doing ranked placement matches? I just want to make sure I'm prepared for whatever horrors await me in ranked queues. :P

I hit 30 a few weeks ago, and I've got 18 champs I enjoy playing in various roles (I can do all roles rather well, but my ganking while jungling is a bit iffy). I'd like to think I perform decently in-game, and I always have a decent KDA (If I'm doing well, 4-5+:1, if I'm losing, ~2+:1 (not always, just generally)) unless I'm just playing like crap, or it's 1 AM, or something like that. I've gotten better at keeping an eye on the map and checking it every few seconds, and I know how to ward and play for objectives and all that.

Basically, when would you recommend doing placements? I've got ~700 games (ish) in normals, and about 50% winrate.

24 Comments

MerxamersSep 4, 20151 votes

if you can play one or two champions in each role, you'll be fine. You have 650 normal games? Go for it, dude. If anything, the people you play with and against will likely be worse than the people you play with in normals

NiyumiSep 4, 20151 votes

I can play 3-4+ in each role, actually. xD

Are they really? I thought ranked was where all the better players went to get placed on the ladder and try to climb. Although, I guess I do play against a lot of silver to gold people in normals, so maybe you're on to something there.

Baseball3bSep 5, 20151 votes

Actually it's quite the opposite. There are innumerable trolls, toxic assholes and baddies in ranked no matter what division you are.

MerxamersSep 5, 20151 votes

i can only speak from my own experience, but generally the people i play with in ranked games are worse than the people i play with in normals.

TheSavedOneSep 4, 20151 votes

Honestly, if you know you can carry games go play ranked. Dont rely on your teammates because everyone is toxic. also, i recommend playing one or two roles and maining one or two champs in that role!

NiyumiSep 5, 20151 votes

I don't know if I really carry. :P I mean, I can have a good game and win lane and roam and help others win lane, but I don't think it qualifies as "carrying" really.

The reason I play every role and several champions in each is because I kind of get bored doing one thing over and over, especially in an (player input-wise) easy game. So I like to have a bit of diversity in what I do each round. The lanes themselves aren't that much different from one another, so as long as I learn my champs well, I can perform.

TheSavedOneSep 5, 20151 votes

thats good and all but heres what i didnt learn when i started playing ranked. silvers and bronze even golds play 10+ champs which is not always good. if yoiu learn one or two champs, then you learn their mechanics and playstyle way faster which will enable youu to master the champ which could result in you carrying games. dont go into ranked thinking your team will be good. they all suck and you are the guy who as to carry their potato butts. "if you cant carry the 4 potatos on your team, your just the 5th potato"

OhBoyItsaMegamanSep 4, 20151 votes

When you are ready to see what your ranking is, you are ready to play ranked. No sooner, no later.

Regardless of what you estimate your skill level to be, you should be prepared to be disappointed. I say this just because there are a lot of people who go "well I do just fine in normals, I usually win lane, I usually carry, etc. etc." but it's because they have a low normal MMR. Being put into games with people who are high Bronze to low Silver can be a drastic step up in difficulty, and your performance will be significantly worse than it was in normals. But again, this is not a reason to hold back from playing ranked. You play ranked when you are ready to find out what division you belong in.

AmelieSep 4, 20151 votes

You might want to work on your rune pages first. They're a bit of a mess, plus you don't even have full tier 3 rune sets yet.

Really simple basic pages: AP: Magic penetration or hybrid marks, flat armor seals, flat or scaling magic resist glyphs, AP quints AD: Attack damage marks, flat armor or health seals, flat or scaling magic resist glyphs, attack speed or damage quints

Also for masteries, for your AD page, I would suggest to put your last 9 points in the defensive tree instead of utility.

If you do your placements now, you will likely end somewhere between high Bronze and low Silver... as long as you don't lose too many matches. Good luck!

NiyumiSep 5, 20151 votes

Yeah, I know my rune pages need a little work. My AD page, I think, is pretty decent, I just need to upgrade from T2 to T3 runes. My AP rune page is from back when I was new, and I tried making a "generalist" page, haha, not the best thing to do. Anyway, do runes really make that big a difference? The gains are very small.

As for the defensive thing, I don't really see the benefit. : / A lot of the time when I die, there's just no way I could have lived, even if I was a full tank. Most of my deaths are from 3+ people, or I get hooked or something when I'm almost dead. I try to play safely so that I rarely take damage while still being able to dish it out -- would defensive masteries (only 5 points) make that much of a difference?

AmelieSep 5, 20151 votes

If you're playing ADC, the 9 defense helps with trades and laning more than the stuff from utility. Same idea if you're playing a melee AD champ.

Just realized you put 25 in offense. You only really need 21 there. It's more about efficiency, but it won't make a huge difference at your elo anyway.

TilomentrySep 5, 20151 votes

They make a difference. The numbers might seem so small that it shouldn't matter, but over time if you continue to play with both inefficient runes/masteries and efficient ones, you'll start to notice a difference.

It will also give you time to get more experience under your belt before diving into ranked. Other then that, there's really no "best time" to start ranked. Chances are you'll be placed pretty low at first but some persistence and concistency will help you climb.

Baseball3bSep 5, 20151 votes

Definitely work on your Rune Page a bit. Aim for 1 AD and 1 AP page as a minimum.

Also, if you're really dedicated to climbing, I'd pick 3-4 champions for each role and just master them. Learn their lane match-ups, their strengths, weaknesses, teamfights, etc. You really wanna feel extremely comfortable with them.

Any questions or if you need help, feel free to PM me in game

S2C2Xd9KOySep 5, 20151 votes

Probuilds.net is a great resource for mastery pages and runes you should be learning for different champions, also levelling orders on champions and build paths. Get your rune pages sorted (at least 1 AD, 1 AP. Or 1 ADC and 1 AP if you play ADC's more often than basic AD champs.) then learn some champions. If I were you I would still wait another month or even 2, but seeing as its close to the end of season, maybe get your rune pages in order and get your champion skill up a bit and then head into ranked whenever you feel you can.

NiyumiSep 5, 20151 votes

When does the season end?

S2C2Xd9KOySep 5, 20151 votes

Seasons are one year, and S4 ended on November 10th.

NiyumiSep 5, 20151 votes

Alrighty, thanks. So I have a couple months to try for gold. ^^

LuggSep 5, 20151 votes

If you have over 500 games in normals, you should definitely be ready for ranked. If jungle is your worst role, tell your team that right off the bat. Personally I love it when a teammate tells me that they are weak at one role. That let's us keep them out of it and we have a better chance to win.

If you haven't yet, make sure to watch some of the youtube instructional videos for ranked. They have some good info.

NiyumiSep 5, 20151 votes

Well, I -can- jungle, I'm just not very good at deciding when and where to gank. I usually just kind of roam around and pop in if I think I can get a kill or at least chase them away.

Do you have any recommendations for videos to watch?

LuggSep 5, 20151 votes

I just google what I want to learn and lots of good videos come up. Just make sure it isn't outdated. They have everything from improving your mechanics to best jungle routes for your jungler.

RîverSep 5, 20151 votes

Start placements as soon as you can. At the end of the day it will be the same as playing normals and as your skill increases so will your rating regardless of placements

NiyumiSep 5, 20151 votes

I mean, at the end of the day, that's the truth, isn't it? But I can't help but be a bit nervous about it all, especially considering my runes aren't fully fleshed out yet and all that. xD

GimileeSep 5, 20151 votes

NO. Do not start early. Please. Its good that you have a low amount of champs, as it will help a ton. Make sure you have 3-4 main champs you play and 1 for every position. Get extremely good with 1 champ and you should beat those who are mediocre at all champs.

Try to get tahm, ekko, or azir in every game. Practice in silvers vs plats in Custom mode and always play on the silver side, if and when you can beat a plat in-lane then go for the placements. Check your cs constantly, aim for 175 at 20 minutes. Ward every time you get the chance, and buy wards at 9 and when ahead.

GimileeSep 5, 20151 votes

Also, remember 15 cs=1 kill