OKAY BIG UPDATERINO:
ok so im bronze. started out s4 but dropped really quickly due to huge lack of game knowledge. Recently, though, I've been taking advice from higher-elo friends/mentors (no not paid) and i've scratched myself up from b4 and am now sitting in b2. I know how to play the game, undeniably more than anyone else in b2 at the moment. One thing is holding me back from getting to silver/possibly gold and I'm hoping you guys can add ur encouragement/2 cents on this.
I have identified my problems and am working on improving them: Huge CS Problems. (many farm-only custom games are to come.) Warding problems (not warding enough, forgetting to upgrade trinkets and buy wards) and tunnel-visioning (It's hard not to as ghost/flash tf lol) and Yasuo (screw that champ, bad matchup for every mid-laner i play)
I am aware of those problems, but I am still able to win games in spite of them. That isn't the problem. The real problem is...
I can't solocarry garbage teams. Unforseen circumstances and this are keeping me back from silver again.
Now before you all call me out for that behavior and attitude seeing as it is very toxic, I'll explain myself. I can play my game perfectly. For instance, a gragas game I had once that's prolly still in my na.op.gg history. a good example of this is a gragas game that i lost in which I went 4/5/23. 82% kda and ecerything looked good. Flash body slams gave lanes easy kills and they capitalized on them very well. The only problem was that our aatrox continually dc'd, our zed afk'd in lane and gave their yas first blood, and bronzies don't know how to A. ADC, B. Teamfight, C. Group and siege.
essentially, I can't play any tanks in ranked because my team can't do something simple like capitalize on a 4-man sejuani ult, and full ap sejuani sadly isn't a thing that I can do on teams without a frontline.
I have recently picked up 2 champions that I have seemed to be doing very well with, though people discourage me from playing them because of "too high a skillcap" or some other bullcrap of that sort. These champs are Syndra and orianna. Syndra moreso than orianna becaue i have to rely less on my team with syndra than i do ori. with orianna I either have to rely on a decent frontliner's positioning in a teamfight or give an ult flash dissonance to become the frontline and help my team pick off really clumped-together teams.
I don't really know at this point though. Can I do something about smite flash trundle adc? Can i do anything about a top-laner who splitpushes at the most inopportune times and doesn't get any turrets/benefits from doing so? Can i do ANYTHING about a duo afk'ing and instantly losing the game for us? can I do anything about a blitzcrank who spends less time playing and more time saying
"f you olaf mother f'er f ur mother you stupid sucker mother f'er" (even though we won that game)
any tips would be appreciated for A.) How I can play tanks and still win B.) how to get a bronze team to do what's necessary to win. C.) How to play around Disconnects other than by instalocking akali in any position so i can solocarry if needed?
Thanks for all the help.
NA buddies Add me @: SteelUragaan
The thing with bronze is that yeah its a "team game" but thats only really applicable at higher elos where one person can shit the pot and the other team capitalizes on it. The best thing that can get you out of bronze is to quite simply carry yourself out. Stop relying on your other members to be decent, meaning that you also only have to not feed and you guys win. Start looking to make plays and force situations that snowball your lead. As a jungler, this means ganking the fuck out of one or two lanes, while still keeping your farm income going, and getting them ahead. Its a domino effect really. If you get your mid laner fed, your mid laner can then roam bot and get bot ahead, or you then don't have to worry about your mid losing 1v1 meaning you can now focus top or something.
Play tanks that are meaningful. If you just play something like Garen without really knowing what you're doing and get kited af, you're basically useless. If you play a Maokai and try to 1v1 a carry because "its soloq i have to carry myself" you're not going to do well. Theres a reason challenger one trick ponies aren't really "tank" players very often, or at the least the most famous ones. Players like Boxbox (Riven), Gosu (mostly famous for vayne), Annie bot (Annie), wingsofdeath (irelia mostly), cowsep (yi) all play snowbally champs that can pretty much solo carry a game. I'm not saying only pick champs like that, or to not play tanks, but the whole thing with playing a tank is knowing that you aren't really meant to carry a game, youre meant to be a meat shield for your other carries. Thats one thing I noticed in bronze when i was there. Everyone there thinks that they are meant to solo carry a game, without really knowing their actual champions strengths. Meaningful tanks basically means things like Gnar, that you can 1v1 if needed (frozen mallet / botrk if your team is ahead, and if not you can stunlock 4 people easily and change a teamfight), or darius, or chogath(?).
literally the best thing you can do to get your team to do something i find is to make friends with one other player. For example, suck their cock so much they are just bound to side with you on shit. If youre adc, that means your support. Your thresh misses every hook bar one that nets you a kill? "Good job thresh, youre so good man, im glad to have you on my team!" If a fight on your team breaks out and your jungler is blaming you for not positioning right, your support is likely to side with you "hey man dont flame, shes doing the best she could there" even if you were complete garbage. This translates to making a baron call and people instinctively want to follow it, especially if 4 people go baron and the one person wants to push inhib or osmething. Pro tip, if a call is made and a majority of the people go to a certain objective, just follow the majority. Its far better to attempt one bad call as a team than it is to split up and not be able to take either objective.
DCs happen dude, theres nothing you can do about it. In fact, I guarantee you that DCs happen far less than you actually think. Theres this form of bias thats like, negative reinforcement or something, where you only really remember the bad shit that happens to you. A game where you lost because you had a DC stands out to you simply because you don't normally get a DC. Thus, those memories start piling up, which leads to the trope that bronze is elo hell bc its full of d/cs and trolls. Theres absolutely nothing you can do about other players other than mute and report and move on, so theres no sense in worrying about them or trying to control them. You should be comfortable in solo q anyway on champions you pikc that you think you can carry with easily, even if theres a dc.
Last thing, I recommend changing your attitude if you want to climb even further and further. League mentality is different than things like other sports (i know you wrestle/d and as someone who used to as well the mentality that "im the best no one is above me" is excellent motivation to further your sport). In league if you think youre the best, you just tilt easier when you lose, and become cocky and arrogant towards teammates. The mentality that " my team holds me back" is a really bad one to get into. When i first started, i played with a friend of mine, whos kinda like you. He jungled, he liked support jungling (oddone fanboy), he was also bronze. He consistently said he was way better than me, when he was bronze 2 and i was bronze 3. We both had the mentality that our teams just sucked, but i eventually realized that the people you play with are at YOUR elo. They are just as good as you. This is honestly what i believe helped me climb to gold 2 (i feel like i dropped bc i stopped believing that and had the better than you mentality). To this day that friend still believes its his team's fault, and he is currently bronze 3 after almost 2 seasons of play. To put them beneath you is simply self denial, and can really prevent you from being open to other good calls (baron becomes a shitty call when other people make it). Most if all tho it just makes you really unfun to play with. At the end of the day having fun is most important, but if all youre worried about is being the best, your mental state starts wearing down and shit (tilt). Honestly just accep that everyone below challenger is shit and has things to work on, and instead of preparing for things your team does (pick akali and just solo carry) focus on stuff you can improve on, like csing, 1v1ing, tp ganks, vision control, micro mechanics on things like zed or kalista, etc.
Most of all tho, just have fun. Find what lets you relax and not worry about stupid stuff. The more you relax the less likely you will tilt, and the less likely you'll rage
