Solo Queue Experience and Thoughts

With the season 3 rewards being announced, I decided that it was finally time for me to get back into ranked games and see how far I could get this season. The last time I played solo queue was back at the end of season 2 where I peaked at about 1400 elo before tunneling in my games and overall having a poor mindset playing. I ended off the season at approximately 1270 elo and which was pretty disappointing since I felt I could have done much better if I put in the time and effort. After playing mostly normal games on and off for the next few months, I expanded my champion pool, my roles, and looked into why I was losing games and what I could be doing to turn them around.

I hopped back into ranked last week and had a surprisingly good experience overall. I noticed that in general, my easiest matches were those that contained all 10 players who were doing their placement matches as well. Many of these players lacked mechanical skills as well as game knowledge which are acquired from playing many games. When playing against people who had several hundred ranked games under their belt, I found that they definitely had decent mechanics but not all of them understood many aspects of the game.

Many people often complain about the large number of bad team mates or trolls they encounter in solo queue. While they may account for some of the losses, I feel that if you truly don't belong in that division than you should be able to carry the majority of your games. 

How might one carry these "unwinnable" games? First of all, you should be able to win your lane convincingly if you're matched against lesser skilled opponents. Gain a gold advantage over your opponent by out farming them or crippling them in lane. If you win your lane then you should be significantly stronger and more useful than your opponent which gives your team an advantage regardless of how the other lanes did. In addition to winning your lane, you should be able to snowball your lead. Make use of your lead on the enemy by taking global objectives such as towers or dragon in order to help your team mates close the gap that may exist them and their opponent. You can also create pressure by either roaming to support lanes or split pushing. Supporting your lanes can help you shut down high priority targets or take help relieve pressure from a losing lane. Split pushing can help your team gain global gold through towers as well as create pressure by forcing the enemy team to draw focus towards you.

Aside from general play, you can also improve your chances of winning by not harping on your teammates. Everyone has bad games and they'll know if they messed up. Telling them they are bad or harassing them will most likely cause them to play worse or even leave the game out of frustration. There were a few instances in my games where lanes would be doing poorly and my teammates would begin throwing their frustration at them. In situations like these, its best to help give the guy some slack and tell them to play safer or that other lanes are doing well and will pick up the slack.

After over 30 games these last few days, I don't think I have encounter any overly toxic players and have definitely learned a lot about solo queue. After every one of my losses, I take a short break, before queuing up again, to reflect on what mistakes I made, and what I could have done differently to affect the outcome of the game.

If there is a point to this long blog entry, I guess it would be that ranked really isn't as bad as its made out to be. It's a good learning experience and a way to see how you measure up against other players. If you want to climb the ladder, the best way to do it is by playing more games and reflecting on every one of them.