I am stuck in ELO HELL!

I AM STUCK IN ELO HELL!!!!

Says most of the bronze/silver (Gold ) players.

Climbing the solo queue ladder can be a pain in League of Legends. Just like any new year resolution we League players also have a resolution which is to get out of Elo Hell. I figured because I myself have been through hell and have gotten past that I figured I would help out my fellow leaguers!

A little about me: I am a Support main and started playing in the middle of Season 1 but did not play rank till Season 2. I was placed Silver 5 and was there for the rest of the season as I wasn't invested in rank. Season 3 was the time I started investing more time into rank and found myself enjoying the competitive side of League but found myself getting frustrated not being able to climb. I managed to get to low gold in Season 4 and High Gold in Season 5 and now on my way to Plat 5. I made it, I finally made it.

For years I have wondered if Elo Hell existed? I have read on reddit the struggles people face because they are stuck in Elo Hell. The general argument is this 'My teammates are bad, they fed, they don't know how to play. While that may be partly true that kind of attitude is not going to help you get out of Elo Hell. Is it really our teams fault thought? At times that may be true but if we really claim to be a great player as we are then we should naturally climb and progress the ladder!

For the next few weeks I will be posting tips on how do you get out of Bronze, Silver and Gold. Now I am no expert but what I can do is share my journey and wealth of wisdom gathered throughout the years and help my fellow League players to escape the dreaded Elo Hell. It's no quick fix but if you do apply them I can guarantee you will see improvements in your game.

Remember this is not a how to get yourself to Diamond/Masters guide but the principles here do help you improve as a player.

My first advice is this...

Stick to your Primary Role 
Sounds simple but I see too many low division players trying to fill every position available and suck at it. With the new dynamic queue it makes it so much easier to get the role you want. Stick to your primary role and get GOOD AT IT! As a main support I have learnt to carry games with a support and made my adc look like god. The chances for you carrying and improving is higher as you stick to your primary role

Then learn to adapt to the Meta
Adapting to the meta is really important, I was playing a lot of Morgana and Janna in S5 and not a lot of tanks/engage supports. However with the assassin/AD focused meta in S6 I learnt that while Morgana and Janna are still viable and good supports, I have to adapt to the meta/team and go for tanky/engage supports like Braum and Naut.

Practice your Secondary Role
Spend time practicing your secondary role in normals. So when you get your secondary role you are more confident in what you can do. I had a DuoQ friend who was very good in jungle but when he was given his secondary role he was pretty bad and fed a lot. So it's important to master your primary role but also be competent in your secondary role.

Learn from your mistakes
If there's one golden advice I can give it's to swallow your ego and work on your mistakes. BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF and YOUR LEARNING! You always learn something new everyday.

Refusing to think that it's your mates that has to work on their problem and not you is a dangerous perception to have. It always starts with YOU! What can you improve from that game, what could you have done better that might have turned the tide of the game? So for example if  you are stuck in bronze, blaming your team and refusing to work on your game is not going to take you far. Realize that you need to improve on your game is the way to go as it allow better results in the long run. E.g. learning vision control, when to dive and not to dive, the micro part of your game and so on. All these will contribute greatly to your game in the long run.

It's good to have confidence in your ability and yourself but regarding yourself too highly will stop a person from becoming better. The sky is the limit for us but we are the one that is holding ourselves back.

If you start with this and have the dedication and resilience you can be climb to the next division if you focus on self-improvement.


Why am I breaking it into parts? I believe escaping escaping elo hell has a lot of variables involved. It has to do with in-game skills but also related to our mindset.
Hopefully you've picked up on something that may help. If there is a tip you would like to suggest feel free to comment! Good luck!