Tips to get past "I'm better than my ELO"

Hi there, I'm a bit bored and have read a few 'We are bronze and we are bad' posts and have decided to share some advice I learned that helped me climb the ELO ladder pretty well. Huge wall of text inc, no TLDR. Right now, you may have the opinion that you are stuck in an ELO lower than where you belong, and that if it were not for your team mates you would win every game. This statement can true, to a point.

 

Many players are capable of playing at a rank as many as 4 ranks higher than where they currently are, but are unable to win enough games to get their ELO to that level. If you are capable of climbing a ladder quickly you are likely minimum 4 ranks more skilled than where you currently are, you have learned parts of the game that those at your current rank have not yet been able to grasp and you will just blow through ranks until you hit that threshold of 4 ranks lower.

Most players are in that -4 threshold, where if you were playing games with players that are 4 ranks higher than you, you would likely be doing fine (the threshold changes drastically past plat5), and these players would likely do just fine vs those 4 ranks higher than themselves (though those players would destroy you). The skill of players between this gap is very subtle, if you are Bronze 2 skilled and up against a Silver 4 player, you probably won’t notice much difference, their CS will probably be a tiny bit higher, they might ward a bit more often, they may be a bit faster with their skills, but if you are both in your lane of choice on champions you are good at, you likely won’t feel a any difference. You may even win this match, assuming your other team mates fare similarly, and this will make you mad when they don’t. You are clearly good enough to face a silver 4 player but you are stuck in Bronze 2 because your team.

A player playing within the -4 range cannot quickly carry themselves out without actually improving, and will often find it difficult to improve due to the quality of their opponents, and their own mindset. Sure they may be able to go up eventually just due to a 52% win rate eventually leaning to higher scores, but until you are in master/challenger I don’t believe you are ever at your actual rank.

 

Let me give a bit of backstory before I continue. In season 1-3 and most of 4 I was a silver player, I won lots of games, but I would find myself in losing streaks. I often found that my lane was going fine but top was sucking, or my jungler was bad, or the Bot lane fed, and felt because of that I couldn’t get any higher. This mentality stuck with me for a long time, what actually ended up changing it was I started to watch the S4 summer split.

I watched the players and I noticed a LOT of things that I was not doing that they were, now I’m actually a really smart guy (sure everyone thinks they are smarter than everyone else, I’m one of those guys that gets told they are smarter than everyone else and isn’t really trying) and because of this I was able to actually notice more things than other people do (source: mostly other people I know that also watch pro play but don’t pick up on these things, or can’t implement them) I watched as the pros moved slightly and totally avoided attacks I wouldn’t have, I saw ward placement and strategies for objectives coming out way before it was even close to time, I noticed the subtle single auto attack from a mid laner that was capitalized on later, I noticed despite having a regular denial system like Dota players were denying their enemies CS through proper movements, pushing strategies, etc.

As I began to implement these things into my own play I started to rise very quickly. Between August and October 2014 I went from silver 1 to plat 5, this is in addition to working 8-5 with a 40 min commute each way, walking a dog 3 times a day, never played Tuesdays or Thursdays and most Friday/Saturday nights were busy. Sure people rise faster, but not players that were stuck for years. At this point I can play against Plat 1 and 2 players and have no notable differences, I am capable of beating a Diamond 4-5 player who isn’t in their main role most of the time, but I’m pretty much stuck again at low plat, this tells me I’m in my new -4. I assume I’m around the same skill as many plat 3’s or so, but I can’t push enough of an advantage vs those that I am facing to reliably win enough for climbing (but hey, I’m still learning).

 

So back on topic, you are stuck and you want to get higher, here is how: Get better. 100% this is why you aren’t climbing, you are not good enough, and you need to get better. Until you are a challenger you are at a lower ELO than you belong to, not saying right now you belong in challenger, but that right now you are bronze 4 and ‘belong’ in bronze 1, and by the time you are good enough to carry yourself to bronze 1 you will ‘belong’ in silver 3.

Now a better explanation on things you need to do to improve (I haven’t even met you, or seen your play but I can guarantee if you are below plat right now you are doing some of these things wrong).

 

• Being mechanically skilled at a champion is not being good at League of Legends. I am not a mechanically skilled player compared to most that I meet. I have slower reaction times, I make loads of mistakes on skill shots compared to enemies I have faced in silver and gold, I can’t do the .5 second combo some players can on Zed or Le Blanc, but I’m plat and you aren’t, so there must be something else. If you ARE actually mechanically skilled at the champions you play but aren’t carrying through the ranks then you are bad at one of the other aspects of the game, look elsewhere to improve and don’t blame your team.

• Do not die trying to get a kill. This is SO important to actually making a difference in the game. BAM a skirmish happens mid, spells fly, ignites went out, you have 1 bar of health and they have a sliver but have made it under their tower, or into their jungle. Stop. You won, you now have an advantage, chug your health potion if you have one and let them recall, yeah that 300g would be nice, but giving them 300g as well doesn’t help, or dying to their jungler ends up giving 0 to you and 450 to their team. If they have to recall and you don’t, or if you do but you can manage to shove the lane before recalling yourself, you will be the only one with gain, both experience and gold. Next time you meet up you are ahead, that 1 bar to 1 sliver might be 3 bars to 1 sliver just from that. Sending an enemy back and living is almost ALWAYS better than getting a kill and dying. (Exception is on shutdowns or in priority moments AKA killing jungler during dragon/baron).

• Did you just get a kill? Don’t have to recall? Do something with it, your enemy team now has a global disadvantage and you can press something with it. Take an enemy jungle camp, kill dragon, push a tower, push a wave into a tower, gank another lane, just do something. Making a tower kill 4 minions without an enemy near it can make a difference.

• Did you just skirmish in mid and died? You are now behind, sure maybe they got lucky and you should have won, but you will almost certainly lose the next one. You are now behind in experience and gold. They have a double time advantage against you and you will need to gain an advantage over them in some way before trying to fight again. Don’t try to prove that you are better, don’t underestimate their skill due to confidence in your own. Don’t risk the game for the sake of pride.

• Lane X is losing? Don’t flame them, don’t tell them they need to do better, do something about it. Help them ward, gank, push a tower to draw pressure, stand in their bush right ontop of an enemy ward making them back off. A lane that is behind is unlikely to be able to get back on track without help. This game has major snowballing. Losing the first fight usually means losing the lane without interference, if it is you that lost, you need your allies help, and vice versa.

• Help your jungler. If they are getting invaded on, collapse on the invader. If they are doing dragon, help them. Put some wards out around your lane, and clear out enemy wards or ping their location. The jungler has the hardest job, anything you do to make their lives easier the better.

• Trade for the love of god trade. If you do not currently have a minion to kill, and your enemy does have a minion to kill, attack them while they make their CS shot. They cannot retaliate with auto attacks instantly, hit them with an auto attack at minimum. Trading, not skirmishing, is how lanes are won. Watch some LCS, they aren’t nearly as bloodthirsty as soloq. The advantages are gained through trading and denial not through sheer killing aggression. Sure aggression can work out big, but the risk is higher than the reward most of the time. Sending your enemy back and having to recall without an advantage just puts you behind where you should be. Getting a kill and dying gives you no lane advantage. Dying and not getting a kill can snowball your lane out of control. Hold back the sheer aggression, get a few pot shots off when they are vulnerable without directly engaging.

• Worry less about counter picks, and more about mastering a small set of champions. Don’t pick FOTM or strong counter picks you aren’t intimately familiar with.

• Learn more than 2 lanes. At minimum become proficient in 1 solo lane, support, and either jungle or ADC. Being able to fill 3/5 roles proficiently will lead to many more successful games than only knowing 1-2.

• CS is one of the most important aspects of the game, can you get 80cs@10? 160@20? If you aren’t even close then you are making mistakes unless your kills far outweigh the difference. 13 CS is as good as a kill. Getting a kill and missing 1 wave is the same advantage as not getting the same kill but getting that CS. Ready to roam? Clear the current wave so you can go, gank, and get back to lane without missing too much. Is your opponent roaming? Push the wave so your minions die to their tower. A late followup to a roam is far worse than a full wave denial and some tower damage.

• Wards and potions are extremely important, grabbing a ward and 3 pots can be way better than getting that amp tome, or longsword, the vision helps your entire team, giving information of roams and jungle position. If you have a ward on either side of the middle lane and nobody can see the jungler that means both top and bottom could be at risk, but if the jungler passes one of the wards suddenly pressure is off half the map. Chugging a potion can be the difference between staying in lane and missing a wave, which as the CS point made, is hugely important. Potions aren’t only for starting items, pick up a few each time you go back in the laning phase, that health can be all the difference between victory and failure.

• Learn the special pink locations, there are 4 major locations that can have a pink ward that lasts for a very long time, be sure to place pink wards in these locations to help your team’s view of the map, and if you are passing by one of the locations, check if it has an enemy pink in it. One 3 second bush check could save a jungler a lot of time not ganking a lane that knows of the incoming danger.

That is all I have for now, if I have missed anything important please share it here! The more info the better.