My Life In "ELO Hell"

How to Get out of ELO Hell

How to Get Out of ELO Hell
Chapter 1: <1000 ELO

A lot of people come to me and ask me, how do I get out of ELO Hell? It often makes me laugh because I don't really believe people know what "ELO Hell" is.  Generally the consensus is that ELO Hell is where you get trolled in ranked. Some even put it to the extreme that you cannot get out of ELO Hell, due to people being SO BAD or SO TROLLY that you cannot possibly carry yourself out.

I'm sitting comfortably around the 1,350-1,400 Bracket. If I had a more consistent schedule I'd probably be around 1,450.  Do I believe in ELO Hell? No. However, I still believe I can help people by telling them my story of ELO Hell.  My chronicle of how I got from my first twenty or thirty ranked games to where I am now.

When I first started playing ranked, I was bad. I didn't have the right rune pages, I hadn't mastered any champions, and I didn't really know how to win.  So my placement matches ended up throwing me into around 900 ELO.  This was embarassing for me, since most of my friends were around 1,400 (now they're 2k haha) and so I decided I wanted to do something about it.

Mistake #1 was not playing consistently enough. I would play ranked every 3 days or so, just one solo queue game and usually lose.  I would get SO worked up about playing that it messed with my game.  Then when I made mistakes (which I made tons, I was freaking 900 ELO) I got even more frustrated.  What did I play?  I played top and jungle, playing anything with a sword or spear. Xin Zhao, Master Yi, Pantheon, Tryndamere, Garen.  I did find some success with Gangplank jungle right after his deny rework (his jungle was stupid good back then).  So that really left me with 2 roles. I couldn't play ranged AD because I didn't understand the mechanics of last hitting, harassing, pushing, pulling, holding, etc. I absolutely couldn't play AP mid. The one time being when I played Vlad and went 6-9. (Mind you in lane that was like 1-4) If I played more I probably would have done better.

So how do I help you?  If you are going to play ranked, after you've mastered at least 1 champion for each role, play consistently. At least twice a day.  Master 5, and be good with 5 more.  Some champions can play dual roles, so those are good. Examples of good dual role champions are:
Kennen Top/Mid/ Sometimes even AD Carry. (Personally, I hate all Kennen players: sorry!)
Vlad Top/Mid
Just about any bruiser can go Jungle/Top and any Sustain/Escapeable AP can go Top/Mid!

So what would be a great line-up to learn going into ranked right now? (June 28th~)
Master: Kennen for Top/Mid (Kennen can and will hard carry games and has a easy laning phase)
Vlad for Top/Mid (If your team lacks damage and you don't need more CC, his ult gives your team all the damage they need!)
Udyr or Lee Sin for jungle/top. They are spectacular heroes that you really can't go wrong with. Lee Sin is very early game dominate, while Udyr is a very safe bet.
Ashe/Varus if you need more CC/Initiate. Graves/Vayne for Damage. Tristana/Kog'Maw if your team has a good frontline.
Soraka/Alistar. Passive and Aggressive supports.

Of course this is just a general suggested list. With this list hopefully you can get out of elo hell. If you have any questions, feel free to comment on this post or get a hold of me through
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