Skip to content

Stop assuming you are bad if you are low rank

ZergReap··137 votes·9,883 views

If you are in bronze / silver even gold don't let it get you down. You can beat a plat player if you are silver, it's not like they are invincible. If you let yourself think you are automatically an inferior player it might stop you from improving at all (the self-fulfilling prophecy). From what I've seen, the majority of players don't end up higher then silver their first year or two anyway. If someone is "better" than you chances are they have just played the game longer or made better use of their time.

EDITED: Well since I was borderline ranting with this It's nice to see how positive and informative everyone is. Lots of good posts for anyone who plays ranked often.

EDIT-2: I just like to see other players who spend a lot of time on League, but struggled to get anywhere (like myself) start climbing and improving, as corny as it sounds. Lots of others simply want them to feel bad cause they are lower rank and that they suck for whatever reason. Losing badly on League sucks more than losing at any other sport or video I've ever played. It's unrealistic and cheesy, but I wish everyone could just chill, so I don't have to mute half of the players I meet and low ranks don't feel like it's pointless to keep playing, not even for fun. Just my final thought, I spent way too much time on this today, so I'm out. (I might check back in a couple days if this is still up).

130 Comments

Sniper 038 votes

Op is trying to be a positive influence on the community and people are downvoting him... lol

Sona Ping8 votes

I can see why. He's trying to convince players they are "actually really, really good. Maybe even Plat level! It's just in secret" or something.
There are already far too many people players with unwarranted self-importance, who talk like everybody but them in the match are trash, even though they have the same rating and and don't actually play any better.

Sniper 023 votes

[{quoted}](name=Sona Ping,realm=NA,application-id=WEuoGbmp,discussion-id=l7EfwKEz,comment-id=00020000,timestamp=2015-08-21T02:16:33.985+0000)

I can see why. He's trying to convince players they are "actually really, really good. Maybe even Plat level! It's just in secret" or something.
There are already far too many people players with unwarranted self-importance, who talk like everybody but them in the match are trash, even though they have the same rating and and don't actually play any better.

But then you have people who lack any kind of confidence in solo queue because of the mindset that another elo's word means more than someone elses. The mind set that this is going against is one very prominent in bronze and silver players "ohh this guy is better than me I should just rq now".

Bronze and silvers are the majority of the community but they are made to feel like shit by the minority of people who act like elitists at the higher elos. It's extremely discouraging when you have a diamond player come into your thread and tell you your opinion doesn't matter because you're a bronze or silver player. EVEN if your opinion is sound and not remotely argumentative.

ZergReap11 votes

Yeah I hope I don't sound condescending as if I am talking down to anyone. I DID NOT mean to make it sound like getting higher rank is some secret or tell everyone they belong in high elo. I just see a ton of comments and people in normals who said stuff like "_____ is my opinion about something, but what do I know I'm bronze?" or "**** I'm laning vs a plat, GG I will feed".

Sniper 03 votes

{quoted}

Yeah I hope I don't sound condescending as if I am talking down to anyone. I DID NOT mean to make it sound like getting higher rank is some secret or tell everyone they are actually good. I just see a ton of comments and people in normals who said stuff like "_____ is my opinion about something, but what do I know I'm bronze?" or "**** I'm laning vs a plat, GG I will feed".

That was directed entirely at Sona buddy. xD I like the message. :3

This is the kind of bullshit I'm talking about. Try to have an intelligent conversation with the guy and he tries to pull rank on me... haah Pretty sure I managed to get under his skin though.

I could, but you somehow seem to forget one fact.

I'm Diamond. I'm a GDer. Your arguments are invalid and you should feel bad for trying to argue when you're not even mechanically skilled enough to play Taric.

IcyPepper25 votes

No, OP. I am bad.

"I am bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."

http://33.media.tumblr.com/fb2d669db0379ff66da9c3a00266509f/tumblr_mi1akq8TSY1r3tpp2o1_500.gif

I Main Swain7 votes

item 3070 fully stacked

disregardable8 votes

But you are bad ._. You're so bad that Rito completely ignores you when making balance decisions.

ZergReap9 votes

haha I don't know how riot decides changes, but I doubt an average diamond player has much input either...

Commando Yi1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Very Toxic Jinx,realm=NA,application-id=WEuoGbmp,discussion-id=l7EfwKEz,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2015-08-21T00:21:12.166+0000)

But you are bad ._. You're so bad that Rito completely ignores you when making balance decisions.

the game has been balanced first and foremost around bronze and silver for several years now and it makes sense to balance the game around most of their playerbase this way

all other changes are secondary to this

Jari1 votes

I recall them stating that they will never balance a champion around solo Q again simply because of what happened to Eve. She became literally the worse champ in the game at one point, bad enough that people reported being banned for just playing her. If they do still do it around Solo Q, it wouldn't be Bronze / Silver, as it does seem that they jump the gun way too fast on champions. Not saying that they aren't wrong sometimes, just that they are the ones I tend to see more lack a reason to why. Like the HUD. "This sucks!" "Why?" "Because it does!"

Source -Silver III last season, silver's in my normals.

Jari1 votes

That's why I said that if they still do, it wouldn't be down here because we jump the gun way too much. Thanks for the quote though.

disregardable1 votes

The HUD sucks because they fucked up its scaling on high resolution displays, by the way.

http://media.lolusercontent.com/api/embedly/1/image/resize?url=http%3A%2F%2Fimgur.com%2F7lnZPYL.jpg&key=a45e967db0914c7fb472fd4381e6c85b&width=425

It has been since 5.15

Jari1 votes

Can I ask what resolution that's on? Because mine seems fine and I think it's pretty big.

disregardable1 votes

That's a 3200x1800 display. 1080p displays are mostly fine (some people reporting a teensy bit of oversizing). Smaller 2100x(I forget) displays have also reported the issue, as well as larger 4k displays.

Jari1 votes

32800 is obviously a type. My 1920 X 1200 screen doesn't have problems, this being the first I heard of the text having that problem. Not saying it ain't a thing, as you clearly have proof. It's just that I was pointing out that a lot of people hated the new HUD just to hate it. There are of course problems with it. :P

disregardable1 votes

Fixed it. I'm just saying there's a reason to hate it. Small displays don't have the problem because you don't need the scaling feature on Windows. Maybe you could have it at 125% scaling. But higher resolution displays need to scale up Windows to 200%, 250%, 300% to be able to see anything clearly.

Jari1 votes

Ah. Again, there are problems. My point there was that I noticed a lot of people hate on it just to hate it, never giving their reasons for it. Of course reasons, specially that one, are good reasons to dislike it.

But either way I feel like we've gone way off what this thread was about.

Commando Yi1 votes

{quoted}

I recall them stating that they will never balance a champion around solo Q again simply because of what happened to Eve. She became literally the worse champ in the game at one point, bad enough that people reported being banned for just playing her. If they do still do it around Solo Q, it wouldn't be Bronze / Silver, as it does seem that they jump the gun way too fast on champions. Not saying that they aren't wrong sometimes, just that they are the ones I tend to see more lack a reason to why. Like the HUD. "This sucks!" "Why?" "Because it does!"

Source -Silver III last season, silver's in my normals.

i recall the exact opposite from a statement by morello in season 3

not so much that the goal for balancing is around solo q but that the priorities are to ensure that a champion is not overwhelming for most of the playerbase

Jari1 votes

Can you fetch me this statement by any chance? Or can anybody? Obviously they don't want a champion being overwhelming period. I mean, look at Sona , who got nerfed over and over because she was "oppressive." :P

Wolf Queen3 votes

[{quoted}](name=Commando Yi,realm=NA,application-id=WEuoGbmp,discussion-id=l7EfwKEz,comment-id=00000001,timestamp=2015-08-21T17:17:03.427+0000)

the game has been balanced first and foremost around bronze and silver for several years now and it makes sense to balance the game around most of their playerbase this way

all other changes are secondary to this

then do you care to explain why so many time they nerf a champ that does well in lcs? Who started smite ez mid lane? Bronze? No. Who started top lane cinderhulk? Bronze? No. Who started trundle supp? Who started kennen supp? Who made the meta the way it is now? Who decided what champs were good where? None of this is made by low elo, majority of low elo are just drones of higher elo of a weaker version. They copy and have no mind of there own to figure out what is good or not. However some do, some do there own thing. But most do not. So in logic they nerf or buff cause of lcs players because it is lcs that low elo copies from. For example i would do kennen supp long before it was in lcs and i got raged at. Then i saw people first timing kennen as support in rank and no one says a word after it was seen in lcs.

Commando Yi1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Blood Wolf0,realm=NA,application-id=WEuoGbmp,discussion-id=l7EfwKEz,comment-id=000000010001,timestamp=2015-08-21T19:27:01.392+0000)

then do you care to explain why so many time they nerf a champ that does well in lcs? Who started smite ez mid lane? Bronze? No. Who started top lane cinderhulk? Bronze? No. Who started trundle supp? Who started kennen supp? Who made the meta the way it is now? Who decided what champs were good where? None of this is made by low elo, majority of low elo are just drones of higher elo of a weaker version. They copy and have no mind of there own to figure out what is good or not. However some do, some do there own thing. But most do not. So in logic they nerf or buff cause of lcs players because it is lcs that low elo copies from. For example i would do kennen supp long before it was in lcs and i got raged at. Then i saw people first timing kennen as support in rank and no one says a word after it was seen in lcs.

the nerfs to lcs level champions/strategies often have no bearing on lower ranks because the champions/stragies used are usually not accessible to lower ranks

the only exception i can think of in the current meta is annie who is accessible at lower ranks since she isn't mechanically demanding

gubigubi8 votes

When I was silver I thought I was good. Now I am plat and I think I am bad. When I am diamond maybe I will know?

ZergReap2 votes

lmao exactly how I feel. The more you know about the game the more obvious your own flaws/mistakes become. I was just plain confused in bronze, proud of getting silver, thought I was "hot shit" in gold and now in plat I'm feeling terribly average and inconsistent.

Blade of Justic7 votes

Wait a minute!

Am I seeing this correctly!?

Rubs eyes in astonishment

Someone actually posted a thread that says that just because you're bronze/silver doesn't mean that you're lowly human trash with a double digit IQ that will amount to nothing in life!?

AND PEOPLE UPVOTED IT!?

AM I SURE I'M ON THE LOL FORUMS!?

This almost seems human and decent!

Torenthal4 votes

This is true. Don't overestimate your opponent! If you decide to play safe in lane because you are scared of losing just because they are a higher rank you WILL lose.

This is why it's not so great to check lolnexus or such sites because you will either become overconfident of underconfident.

Loken Stoneheart4 votes

I mean, to be honest a far better attitude/view is actually: I am bad at the game, but I have the potential to improve if I seek to better myself.

Objectively, if you're lower rank, there is a distinct chance that you're just... well, worse at the game.

There is that whole 40/20/40 theory that does a decent enough job explaining how soloqueue sorta goes. Something like 40% are lost by your team, 40% are lost by the enemy team, 20% are directly your responsibility. In soloqueue, its all about influencing those so called 20% as much as possible.

Just work at improving and don't get hung up on blaming your team, more or less. You'll climb eventually.

Ramuhdo3 votes

I managed to reach Silver I, and I started the game in February. Trying real hard to get to Gold. The attitude that's working for me to is to always assume your team mates are at the rank they are because they deserve to be there. Are they getting beaten? It's not that your team is horrible or bad, it's just that the enemy team is better, and that happens. Sometimes, I'll be up against players who are simply better, or our team work just isn't as good, or the champions we picked weren't the right ones.

And that happens. It's OK when that happens. I only need a 50% winrate to keep climbing, going to 60% for promos.

As far as "you're not bad because you're Silver", I always think it's a good idea to look at what players in higher divisions do or ask players who've reached higher divisions for advice. Maybe I'm just as good as they are (and when I play Normals, my MMR games are around ~1450 lately, versus ~1250 Ranked), but they managed to reach their divisions for a reason. There's stuff they've done that helped them climb, and it's a good idea to listen to them.

Getting to Silver I was disgusting though, I got carried on my last promotion game. Like, carried hard, I played like garbage. I'm still beating myself up over that. It's OK to recognise when your play is garbage, so long as you're willing to improve and remember that rank is a reflection of your current standing, not your current skill.

MajorPain93 votes

I disagree. I climbed up out of that area because I finally excepted I WAS bad at this game. Mind you gold isn't going to be getting any streams, but because I was able to take a deep breath and realize that I was making a lot of mistakes was when I started seeing improvements.

It's OK to be bad at this game. Hell I have some noob moments still to this day. Realizing you are bad can give you a gift of peace. You suddenly don't care as much if your team berates you for a bad mistake.

Being good isn't what helps you climb elo. It's being bad and fixing why you are playing that way.

Count Buffon2 votes

Nature/nurture is a really fiddly thing. But people definitely start out waaaaaay below their potential. Most of us probably won't make it to the LCS no matter what, but if you're not dedicated, then you're playing below your ceiling for sure, wherever that ceiling is.

Read about Remilia a little after Renegades earned the LCS spot. She started Gold, and more or less climbed one division per season. That's kind of slow.

Chatillon2 votes

Im silver and i fight a plat every once in a while.

OH, HOW I LOVE A GOOD FIGHT AHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!

Hashtag anime

KingWanahakalugi2 votes

All my friends that I play with are ranked Plat or Gold. I rank mid-low silver just because I choose not to play ranked queues most of the time. I know I'm against a gold or plat most of the time, but I don't let it affect my play style. In fact, I rather play against higher ranked players, because laning against other silvers just seems easy for me now. I used to look at what the other player across from me ranked, but I've decided it doesn't matter and my game have improved because of it. If seeing how the other player ranks affects your game, simply stop looking at it you'll do much better if you stop worrying about the other person and just work on improving yourself.

ZergReap2 votes

{quoted}

I know I'm against a gold or plat most of the time, but I don't let it affect my play style. I used to look at what the other player across from me ranked, but I've decided it doesn't matter and my game have improved because of it. If seeing how the other player ranks affects your game, simply stop looking at it you'll do much better if you stop worrying about the other person and just work on improving yourself.

Agree 100%. I too used to religiously look up the enemy team only to see that I'm against a 300 game Cailtyn main with a 65% win ratio... This will automatically put me at a disadvantage because I feel inferior before the game starts. Same logic if you are bronze vs gold. If you don't know he's gold he's just another champion.

It's why some pro players turn nametags off so that they only see a Caitlyn as their opponent; not DOUBLELIFT on Cailtyn. (much scarier)

FistOfSharkiesha2 votes

I just carried a 4v5 and I'm sil 3 and I consider myself to be a pretty bad laner but a good jungler. Went 23/6 with Jax and won. Our adc never even connected.

ArkenStorm2 votes

OP is not saying you are better than everyone else. He is just saying that you have potential, you can always improve, no matter what others say.

Trumpet2 votes
Zyorhist2 votes

many higher ranked people will say that the difference between bronze and gold is simply cs/min and communication. Those two things can cause you to rank up. Unfortunately I suck at cs so i'll be bronze forever

ZergReap2 votes

{quoted}

I suck at cs so i'll be bronze forever

Serious?? I was trying to say having this kind of mindset is pointless. This is what I am trying to discourage for people who play ranked often (maybe you do maybe you don't). If csing is your weakness it's a good one to have because it is something you can easily practice and improve on! Go in a custom game with no items and last hit for 10 minutes. Then try to beat your previous CS@10 record.

Zyorhist2 votes

I practice 3 times a day, that's half an hour each day...my problem is csing under pressure, and my plat friends are trying to help me with that...a lot. Either way I know where my skill level is and when I actually start improving I will know why.

The point I was making is that there isn't really a difference between bronze and gold. CSing isn't really a difficult concept for the game. Strategizing is what separates gold from plat. I have a good outlook on my skills. I can stand up to the plats and hold my footing, even if I cant farm like them I know I can stand to the same footing as them. I just need to get better at the weaker areas of my game.

agbudar2 votes

been playing since 2011

my goal initially when divisions first came out was to get to gold thats were i felt my true rank lies but ive been silver ever since.

pretty sad how with the Season 4 > 5 they made me drop from silver 3-2 down to bronze 1

now im back in silver 3 and taking a break... if they drop me down again ima stop playing ranked and this game.

30% of my losses are due to stupid disconects ragers and afk.

that means that if none of that ever happened i would have been gold long ago just that the system allows itself to be flawed.

i know that im better then the average silver player by a long shot (especially if you see how the bottom of the barrel performs) would i get higher then gold? i doubt it but i want to be recognized for my skills and this system won't let that happen. it judges my ability to suffer raging trolls and dc's. for at least 30% of the time.

ToothpickSamurai2 votes

I believe the most discouraging thing in League is the fact that everyone in Bronze/Silver are being held there by either 1/100 players being idiots and forcing a loss on people with terrible play, or people being plat and diamond smurfing making for a very imbalanced game because, even though you might be a decent player they are actually pretty good in their own right otherwise they wont be Plat or Diamond. Smurfing causes so many problems cause it gives one team a huge advantage cause they have one better player in the midst of 9 potentially decent players. Smurfing also leads to discouragement cause some of those smurfs are silly full of themselves and make fun of you struggling against their better mechanics.

Low elo really is just a place where pure potential exists but they are being held their by others who are either actually bad or much better than the rank they are in and are just smurfing.

Furi Kuri2 votes

ROFL!

stickydubby1 votes

{quoted}

If you are in bronze / silver even gold don't let it get you down. You can beat a plat player if you are silver, it's not like they are invincible. If you let yourself think you are automatically an inferior player it might stop you from improving at all (the self-fulfilling prophecy). From what I've seen, the majority of players don't end up higher then silver their first year or two anyway. If someone is "better" than you chances are they have just played the game longer or made better use of their time.

EDITED: Well since I was borderline ranting with this It's nice to see how positive and informative everyone is. Lots of good posts for anyone who plays ranked often.

EDIT-2: I just like to see other players who spend a lot of time on League, but struggled to get anywhere (like myself) start climbing and improving, as corny as it sounds. Lots of others simply want them to feel bad cause they are lower rank and that they suck for whatever reason. Losing badly on League sucks more than losing at any other sport or video I've ever played. It's unrealistic and cheesy, but I wish everyone could just chill, so I don't have to mute half of the players I meet and low ranks don't feel like it's pointless to keep playing, not even for fun. Just my final thought, I spent way too much time on this today, so I'm out. (I might check back in a couple days if this is still up).

down voting because i can 1v1 me but you call me trash because i lose...reaps carry me bby <3

ZergReap1 votes

LOL you are the single exception to what I said. You only cause death and destruction to me. We'll play some normals later you troll

stickydubby1 votes

ayee next game hmu

General Murica1 votes

{quoted}

down voting because i can 1v1 me but you call me trash because i lose...reaps carry me bby <3

1v1 means shit

calicko kitty1 votes

As a silver with +1040 wins in normal games I always play with and against people of higher rank and I always do fine and win lanes. So when I play ranked the enemies and teammates are worse

WolfChases1 votes

I saw countless silvers and golds beating high platinum and even low diamond players.

The main problem is a bad mindset tho. A lot of "Low" Elo players are playing like pussycats when they are facing higher rank in laning phase. For example, I am lurking between high Gold and low Platinum Elo, few days ago I Played Zed (my main) and I got matched against Diamond 3 Ekko who had Champ lvl 5 Mastery on Ekko and I annihilated him. I am not saying that I am better player, maybe he performed badly that game or whatever but there's still high possibility that you are gonna win even against higher Elo players.

How many Silvers I saw beating to the ground platinums in bot lane :O Will always remember that Silver 2 Jinx and unranked Thresh pooping on Platinum 3 Graves and Gold 1 Blitzkrank :D

Jeƒƒ Goldblum1 votes

We need more people like you in this game, super positive and I love it. Keep it up friend! ^_^

More from Tips & Tricks

More by ZergReap