Some tips for climbing the ranks

When it comes to succeeding in solo queue there are tons of different factors to take into account. Some people will tell you to just take mid and hard carry every game, some will tell you all the ways you can change your mentality and some will even tell you some super obscure thing that worked for them.

I'm here to give a no BS answer about how to succeed in solo queue with a few steps as well as some tips for the more specific scenarios. Before we get started I want to state that I'm not a huge fan of “fluffy” articles where the author talks about obscure mentality related stuff but I would like to try and take the typical fluff article topic and change it around to be more rich in content.

Firstly let’s talk about the more concrete and established facts, champion picks and the actual in game stuff. You should always remember to pick a champion that is strong, no amount of practicing a niche champion will make that champions kit more favorable for winning. Some may not agree with this but if you truly want to succeed in ranked you need to play something that is good, playing Quinn jungle game after game no matter how well you can play Quinn is not helpful to your team’s (and more importantly your) chance at winning.

Additionally it is important to remember the most effective way to win… taking objectives and doing things that allow you to take those objectives, this means when you get kills you should take something other than just the kills you were given. I cannot begin to tell of the amount of times bot lane gets a double kill and the jungler just ignores them and goes about his business in the jungle… Dragons win games.

Secondly is the mindset of going into ranked, you are going into ranked to try your best and try to win at all costs. This means if someone says “I can only play top” and you can also only play top you have to make the call of whether or not you are willing to play something else and let him top or to take it for yourself. There is no right answer to this conundrum, so my advice is to not let it happen by just knowing at least on a general level how to play most roles.

Another important aspect of mentality is never “tilting,” which basically means if something is going bad think of all the ways it could be turned around (no matter how few chances there might be for this to happen) simply because you will not win any games that you don’t think you at least have a chance at winning due to your play being impacted off your perspective.

Lastly is the “extra” stuff, this includes runes and masteries as well as some of the more obscure stuff like champ select and drafting. For example, don’t ban champions that can’t carry a game, like Teemo for example. This stuff is much more minor but can definitely influence your games.

WHAT IF?

This section will be addressing some very common “excuses” for why some people are trapped in their own personal ELO hell. Let’s start off with the concept of ELO hell itself, what this term used to mean was your level in ranked was so low that every game felt like a struggle amidst rage and people would leave the game at the slightest provocation. What ELO hell means nowadays is where you have capped yourself on the ladder, sometimes it’s in silver and sometimes it is platinum and it is just a matter of getting better to get out.

So for the first specific example we have someone being rude in game, simple…mute him problem solved. If you have the mental resolve to ignore him but not mute him then sure you can go for it, but as a rule of thumb don’t waste the time reading/responding to people who are clearly having a bad time.

If in champion select someone threatens to feed or troll if they don’t get what they want, just give it to them. We should all negotiate with these “terrorists” because it is a lose lose to risk them ruining the game. A general rule of thumb is to just always try and appease the demands of all people in champion select and to avoid any conflict where possible.

If, in game, you have an ally that is just generally having a bad time (tons of deaths and very negative in chat) it is best to just let him vent in chat and worry about getting whatever lead you can by going for picks and buying wards to make sure the same doesn’t happen to you.

Another key thing to remember is unless you're Master Yi or Tryndamere you should not be split pushing in around 90% of cases because your team is not coordinated enough to play passively and not get caught five versus four. Even if you could split push effectively it is often better to not let your four teammates risk all of your effort in vain.

In conclusion, you should always remember to try and accommodate your team as well as remember that giving your team whatever advantage you can before the game starts by picking strong champions and by also striving to gain a lead so you can not only “carry” yourself but also keep your team’s mentality in check.