The Complete Guide To Elo: Solo Queue Tips And Tricks

[LazaHorse]

Hey everyone. So for a long time now I've been solo queueing and maintaining a fairly high elo (1600 average; peak of 1809) since early season 2. Often, I get asked for tips or guides on how people can get better, or more directly, gain elo. The League elo system is set in a way that it can be gamed for optimal elo progression; you just have to know the tips to do it. Here's a short, but hopefully helpful guide to gaining elo regardless of your current skill level or elo tier. If you follow these and work hard to improve at each of them, I can assure you that you will gain elo (though there's not much that can be done about mechanical skills; practice those too!). So here we go:

 

Tip 1: Learn the champions.

I cannot stress this point enough. You HAVE to learn the champions of the game. It is not enough to learn the champion that you are playing. You have to know what you can do, what damage you can take, and most importantly what the enemy will likely do to try and beat you. Learning the champions of the game helps not only in-game decision making (if I do this, how much will it cost me), but also pre-game choices as well. Counter picking, lane matchups, and team composition are so pivotal to winning that many games are simply lost at champion selection. For example, if the enemy team picks a bot lane of Sivir (spell shield) and Sona (constant poke), you do not pick Nunu who is completely negated by them. You would be better off picking champions like Lulu, Soraka, and Zyra as supports who can work around the enemy's weaknesses (lack of mobility and general squishiness).

 

I'm not saying you need to research every single champion and learn their ins, outs, damages, cooldowns, mana costs, etc. What I AM saying is that champions who are picked often (and especially those who do well), you should know the mechanics and spells for. If you want to know what champions are current "flavors of the month", visit http://lolking.net and learn about them in the "Charts" section of the website. Try to keep up with champion spotlights, and do your best to understand the workings of champions you will see often. If you want to know more about counter picks, http://championselect.net is a great source as well. Those two sites do me so much good in solo queue, and you would be wise to use them.

 

Tip 2: Quality over quantity.

I will say this very clearly: You do not and SHOULD NOT try to excel at all five roles. No one can, no one does, and no one should ever try to do so. Know your strengths as a player, but more importantly know your weaknesses. If you are a great solo laner (me) but work poorly with others early in the game (also me), then tell your team you would rather player top/mid/jungle and would really not like playing bot (ad/support). Now, this does conflict with the idea of picking order deciding champion selection (generally the first three picks get to pick their pleasures while last two are stuck with whatever is left), but even that can be worked around. Be cordial in champion selection and more often than not people will work with you. However, you should be doing all you can to NOT PLAY A ROLE YOU ARE NOT COMFORTABLE WITH! If you get saddled with a role you know you are poor at, you have two options. Either do your best to help the team anyway and hope for some good luck to come your way, or queue dodge, do something else for 30 minutes, and try again later. I generally prefer the second option when I'm really trying to gain elo. It's safer and there's plenty of other things you can do in that 30 minutes.

 

Find your strengths and practice them. If you really want to gain elo, stick to your guns and leave the sword in its sheath.

 

Tip 3: King Communication.

More than last hitting, more than getting kills, and more than dunking noobs, the most important in-game tool toward winning games is communication. Keep lines of communication open and only mute/ignore people if they are being so abrasive that it is taking away from your individual performance. In other words, if someone is making you tilt, ignore them and move on. However, if that is not the case, keep lines of communication open because objectives are of utmost importance in solo queue. The stigma of "Win Lane, Lose Game" generally only applies when you don't go for objectives after you win lane. If you're doing well early, help your team do well by ganking or taking global gold objectives (Dragon, Towers, and Baron). If you AREN'T doing well, communication is even more important. Call your jungler for ganks, ask your mid for some pressure, and let your team know you are struggling. Working together as a team and establishing control over the map objectives (memorize dragon, baron, and buff timers) is key to winning once the minions spawn.

 

Hand-in-hand with this is the one thing I struggle with the most (you all know already): respect. Keeping communication open and helpful toward winning requires that teammates be respectful with each other. Frankly, you are less likely to respond appropriately to someone who is being a dick and they will be no different to you. Be open to communication, and be ready to deal with attitudes when the get heated. Don't try to critique people by pointing out what is wrong. Nine times out of ten they will ignore you and become defensive. Just let them suck, and work around their deficiencies. People don't play solo queue to be taught, so even if you know better pretend like you don't.

 

Tip 4: Pay attention to streaks.

It's not just a superstition. There are very tangible reasons to why winning and losing streaks occur. You are not always on your A-game, and your performance can vary greatly on any given day because of it. I've had as high as a 14 game win streak in solo queue once (how I reached my 1809 peak) only to lose 11 straight directly afterward (dragged me back down to the 1600s). Pay attention to how you have been doing before rejoining solo queue and playing more. If you are winning game after game and you are a large reason for it, keep going and milk your current performance for all it's worth. At the same time, if you have lost even two straight, not only can it mean you simply aren't doing well at the moment, but it can also cause you to do worse in future games. If you have it looming in your mind that you are losing elo at the moment, it can distract you and cause you to perform worse.

 

My stigma tends to be, if I've lost even two in a row, it's time for at least an hour break. I either play normals to work and refine my mechanics, or I go do something else for an hour and come back. A less common technique that I would also recommend is that if you win at least 3 in a row, keep playing until you lose. But as SOON as you lose one game, take an hour break again. The interruption to a win streak can mess with your mind just as much as a losing streak, and you don't want to let that take away from your elo gains.

 

Tip 5 (and Most Important): Buy... Cleavers. Just kidding, BUY WARDS!

The one thing that people can do more to gain elo faster is to ward. Wards are so important to winning, and now they're even stronger after the nerf to Oracle's Elixir. The support cannot and should not be the only person warding during the game. Top lane has to ward the gank pathways, mid lane has to ward his side brushes, and the jungler has to ward enemy camps to keep an eye on the jungler. If your team ever has less than 4 wards on the map at any point of the game, you are either getting snowballed and simply cannot get out to ward or not playing this game correctly. Vision... wins... League... of Legends. Straight up. Knowing where the enemy champions are, knowing when opportunities for objectives are up, knowing when the enemy buffs (or Baron/Dragon) will spawn, knowing if the enemy is coming to contest objectives, and clearing enemy wards (pink wards and elixer are still soooooooooooo important) are all necessary to winning and are all accomplished by proper warding.

 

Your support is broke. He gets no CS, Gold per 10 items were nerfed, and he has to buy his own items. He is dirt poor and needs your help. AD Carry should be warding early (mid to late he needs the item slots and potions), Mid should be warding early to mid game (he should be first person to 6 items if not AD Carry), and Top and Jungle should be warding throughout (eventually Top will hit 6 items, but jungler should never hit 6 IMO). Support can't be the only person warding, help him out.

 

And that's it. You follow these five tips, you work on your mechanics, and you watch streamers to learn what small things THEY do to win and you will gain elo. Ask questions below or add your own tips for solo queue for others to see. Try these out, and you will have success. Good luck!

[Adam]

10/10 good read

[Slowpoke]

You spelt practise wrong.

[SuperChargerFan]

10/10

Very solid read, well worth the time!

 

You spelt practise wrong.

 

U sir, u are a dick!

Its like 3 pages, so what if one word is misspleled

Edited December 15, 2012 by SuperChargerFan

[Vetman]

You do not and SHOULD NOT try to excel at all five roles. No one can, no one does, and no one should ever try to do so.

 

I'm good at all the roles. It's cause i play dota.

[LazaHorse]

I'm good at all the roles. It's cause i play dota.

 

I guess playing shitty games can help you be good at good ones eventually. :3

[Vetman]

I guess playing shitty games can help you be good at good ones eventually. :3

 

well played

[DarkMonotone]

I don't really agree with your statement on no one being able to excel at all roles. I feel that I can do all 5 roles just as good, and usually just play one based on my mood and or win streak.

[Rudabaga]

i red dis thred nd startd playen solu que nd know i hav over 1800 elu

[LazaHorse]

i red dis thred nd startd playen solu que nd know i hav over 1800 elu

 

SUCCESS!

[wild bill]

I don't really agree with your statement on no one being able to excel at all roles. I feel that I can do all 5 roles just as good, and usually just play one based on my mood and or win streak.

[AnonyHorse]

I don't really agree with your statement on no one being able to excel at all roles. I feel that I can do all 5 roles just as good, and usually just play one based on my mood and or win streak.

 

Or you don't excel at any role, and stay shitty at all of them.

[BranHorse]

Thanks to Kanye's work out plan i was able to get me a brand new cavalier. Got twenties on them and everything

[Rudabaga]

SUCCESS!

 

thx dood i rlly apprecate ure halp. iam gunna by u a itunez giftcrd or smething

[I Love Lamp]

Whenever I see the word "dood" it makes me want to play Disgaea.

 

Anyways, solid post Lazarus. The real challenge is if this post can make Clark or myself any better.

[DarkMonotone]

Or you don't excel at any role, and stay shitty at all of them.

Maybe you shouldn't quote me with the intent on trying to antagonize me, especially when I'm several hundred points above you.

[LazaHorse]

See this is why no one can take you seriously. You say something like:

Maybe you shouldn't quote me with the intent on trying to antagonize me,

 

IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED BY:

especially when I'm several hundred points above you.

 

Sword cuts both ways.

 

You're completely entitled to disagree with one of my tips, and you might even be right about being equally good at all 5 roles. However, that does not disprove nor even go against my point. Let us take for granted that you are equally good at all five roles. By my argument, that would explain the overall stagnancy of your elo. As much as you play solo queue (I think you may actually play more ranked than I do now), you don't grow much in elo. You would likely attribute that to having bad teammates too often. I would attribute it to your trying to excel at five different things and thus not improving at any considerable rate in any of them.

 

Imagine all the time you spent learning the five different roles with their 20 or so different champs. What if you devoted that time instead toward perfecting one or two roles or four or five champions? There's a reason why Derek Jeter works on his fielding, he knows it's what pays the bills. He leaves home runs to Tex and strikeouts to C.C. because he knows what he's good at. When's the last time you heard of an elite utility player in baseball? Never. But you DO have elite shortstops, elite outfielders, elite pitchers, etc.

 

Most of the people we think of today when we consider the LoL professional scene started out as solo queue players who mained not just 1 or 2 roles but 1 or 2 CHAMPIONS. For Reginald, it was Ezreal. For Scarra, it was Soraka. For HotshotGG, Nidalee. Imaqtpie, Corki. Alex Ich, Ryze. NintendudeX, Olaf. The list goes on.

[(Headband)(EG)]

than dunking noobs

 

 

Bioforge Darius Ftw

[Mr.Tin]

does this apply to HoN i really like HoN

[BluHorse]

HoN sub-forum is ---> that way mr. tin.

[AnonyHorse]

See this is why no one can take you seriously. You say something like:

 

 

IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED BY:

 

 

Sword cuts both ways.

 

You're completely entitled to disagree with one of my tips, and you might even be right about being equally good at all 5 roles. However, that does not disprove nor even go against my point. Let us take for granted that you are equally good at all five roles. By my argument, that would explain the overall stagnancy of your elo. As much as you play solo queue (I think you may actually play more ranked than I do now), you don't grow much in elo. You would likely attribute that to having bad teammates too often. I would attribute it to your trying to excel at five different things and thus not improving at any considerable rate in any of them.

 

Imagine all the time you spent learning the five different roles with their 20 or so different champs. What if you devoted that time instead toward perfecting one or two roles or four or five champions? There's a reason why Derek Jeter works on his fielding, he knows it's what pays the bills. He leaves home runs to Tex and strikeouts to C.C. because he knows what he's good at. When's the last time you heard of an elite utility player in baseball? Never. But you DO have elite shortstops, elite outfielders, elite pitchers, etc.

 

Most of the people we think of today when we consider the LoL professional scene started out as solo queue players who mained not just 1 or 2 roles but 1 or 2 CHAMPIONS. For Reginald, it was Ezreal. For Scarra, it was Soraka. For HotshotGG, Nidalee. Imaqtpie, Corki. Alex Ich, Ryze. NintendudeX, Olaf. The list goes on.

 

Thank you.

Edited December 18, 2012 by AnonyHorse

[-O-P-rime]

I followed laz's help and only played support Leona.

Now l, too, am Alex Ich.

[SuperChargerFan]

I have to strongly argee with Laz here. Yes, you should be able to not only KNOW all 5 lanes and be fairly decent in every one, not all five should be your ranked lanes. Does that mean you can't play one you usually don't if your team needs it, not really. But when you are trying to be competative, you really should only do what you do best as so to help the team. Me for example, I hate and suck at bot lane, and therefore try to stay away from support and adc (though i usually get stuck with support anyway!). Oh, and btw, you DON'T HAVE TO FOLLOW EVERYTHING LAZ SAID! He is just trying to help YOU. Therefore, if you are trying to be a dick and ruin his post, fuck you!

[LazaHorse]

Therefore, if you are trying to be a dick and ruin his post, fuck you!

 

YEA... OPRIME!

[-O-P-rime]

YEA... OPRIME!

 

I'm dying.