Elo Hell: The never-ending argument

Elo hell has multiple definitions. Some people say that it is the general range of the entry elo, where unprepared players jump into the world of solo queue. Others say that it is the elo range of your skill cap, where a wall remains for you to jump over to the next level of play. It's been a source of flame, rage, and QQ that existed since the ranked ladder's inception. How do you exactly ascend from the notroious Elo Hell?

 

There is no way out.

Simply, there is no way out of Elo Hell unless you have the right mentality. Everytime you ascend up the ladder, there will be another wall to stop you. What is this wall? Your own skill cap. The fact is simple, unless you're at the highest peaks of the ladder. You will ALWAYS be trapped in by your own limits. No, it's not your teammates, it's your inability to carry. Sure, your teammates might feed to a point where it's almost impossible to come back, but that's just Solo Queue. You can't expect for a perfect team everytime, the fact is simple, if you want to win, you will have to carry games when your team is lacking.

 

Typical Solo Queue mentality

"I deserve to be matched with higher ranked players, it's my team that causes me to lose, it's my team that's dragging me down!" This sadly, is the mentality that many players have of solo queue. However, if given even little thought, this mentality is seriously flawed and illogical. 

image courtesy of nerfnow.com

With this logic, how do platinum players exist? Because they met good teams most of the time? Highly unlikely but let's just say that happened, now what about this? There are multiple platinum players with smurfs that are also ranked platinum as well. Their multiple ascension through the ranked ladder disproves this theory of "It's my team!". No, the simple truth is this, if you truly are a platinum player, you will be there eventually.

 

The correct Solo Queue mentality

"No matter how much my teammates feed and make stupid plays, if I want to win and climb the ladder, I will have to win it, no matter how much responsiblity falls upon me."

A bit corny, but true. It is true that your teammates sometimes creates too much of an impossible situation for you to rummage a win out of. However, this will not happen every game, in fact, games like this are usually only a minor fraction of your games. 

Chances are, a lot of your wins are through the other team's stupid mistakes as well. This leads to another fact which helps dispells the myth of elo hell, you aren't the only one getting bad teammates! Although the matchmaking might seen random, there's only one in a million chance that you'll get short side of the stick every single game.

 

It might be hard to play with a always-positive personality at first, as it goes on, you'll get used to it and just be a generally a pleasant player. Not only does this please your teammates and defects trolls, it only increases your own enjoyment and capability in the game.