Hey guys, I’m a league player just like you. I started season 4 in Silver 5, and felt very cocky since I wasn’t in bronze. I had heard all the bad stories about elo hell and was glad to not be there. Well after 3 months my descent into bronze began. I started doing all the things I’ll be telling you not to, and I eventually found myself in bronze 5 with 0lp. Since, I’ve worked hard at improving my play with the following tips, and I’m currently on a hot streak in my promos to get into b2, and I plan on continuing my race through bronze back into Silver. So I’m going to break this up into sections, and go into detail for each one. My climb out of bronze has been a long and painful one, and I’ve seen those who can’t get out because they just simple don’t know how. This is a guide for those who want to escape, a guide for those who have no friends in high elo to give them tips. This, is for those who want a border this year.

DISCLAMER IF YOU CANNOT PLAY EVERY ROLE COMPETENTLY WITH MULTIPLE CHAMPIONS, GO INTO NORMALS AND PRACTICE. THEN COME BACK TO THIS

Mentality

In the words of the great Sky Williams, leave your attitude at the login screen. The people you are about to play with have done nothing to you, and do not deserve any negativity from you, regardless of the situation. If you can’t leave it at the door, don’t long onto league, point blank, period. You should never flame any during the game, regardless of their performance, because you’re only making it worse, and now putting yourself at risk of a chat ban or worse.

Always, always be positive before, during, and after your games, promotes good attitude in the community and actually does increase performance from other players.

Champion Select

During Champion Select, you need to be communicating with your team. Off the bat. Picks and Bans, preferred roles, the roles you’re good at, the roles you’re not the best at, etc etc. You should be willing to trade roles with other players as to increase synergy as well as your chances at winning. Don’t be toxic in chat already, that’s gets you nowhere but a report and possibly a dodger. Or maybe you’ll get so unlucky that you’ll get a duo that you flame, and so they white knight you in game by feeding, and when you all want to surrender, they both vote no so you cannot. Flaming is bad, don’t throw salt in people’s faces. Period.

No one cares about your last game. That was then, this is now. Treat each game differently, it’s okay to be on a good note because you just went 19/0/15 on Kha’Zix, but don’t brag in chat about it and demand to jungle Kha’Zix again.

Pick Order beats Call Order, HOWEVER: Don’t be an asshole and force someone into a role that they’re telling you that they aren’t the best at and have a low win rate with. And then they proceed to do poorly and you flame them or get angry, that’s your fault, you could have prevented it.

Last pick is not the bane of existence in higher elo, it is in lower because everyone has this idea in their head that they need to carry themselves, so last pick gets stuck with the role that has 3 item slots completely taken by a support item, a sightstone, and mobi boots. Which then limits their options. This is the wrong idea, as last pick, you should be looking at both teams and deciding what your team needs for whatever role you have. Whether it be AoE damage, some CC, Hard Engage, Hard Disengage, both disengage and Reengage, you have to be able to assess the situation and choose based off of it.

Itemization

Don’t build the exact same thing over and over. Adapt to the situation, sometimes you’ll need more MR than Armor, or vice versa. Maybe instead of Armor Pen you need %health damage. Maybe you need both. Maybe the enemy team has a lot of catch potential and you need an escape, get a QSS. Don’t be stagnate. People can look up your summoner and see what your tendencies are. Build for the occasion.

Cs’ing

Cs’ing is a large source of income all game. Especially early game. Power Spikes are a wonderful thing, especially if you know when they are and how to capitalize on them. So cs’ing is like a grade system, these are how well you’ve done by the 10 minute mark (does not apply to jungler)

100 – Perfect

90 – A

80 – B

70 – C

60 – D

50 – F

If you average 60 or less, you need to practice in norms, bots, and customs some more. There’s also keeping up with cs in both the mid and late game. You’re going to constantly need gold so why would you stop? There’s no reason you should be idle at any time during the game. Whether it be clearing jungle camps, shoving lanes, clearing wards, setting up for objectives, sieging, making picks, you should ALWAYS be doing something.

Lane phase

During the lane phase, you should be both cs’ing and trading with your lane partner. Trading can be hard, but if you do it properly, lane phase can go much smoother than you thought possible. For starters, you should only really be poking your opponent, or going through trades, which consists of a few abilities, maybe a combo, but not commitment to a full fledge fight ending with deaths. Finding a balance between poking and cs’ing is key. And winning trades means you have more health/took less damage when the skirmish is all said and done. After you’ve chunked your opponent down a considerable amount, that’s when you should commit for the kill, however, if you are over extended, make sure you have wards or know where the enemy jungler is. These things can back fire and get you killed instead of what you had intended.

Try not to back often, you lose out on both XP and Cs, meaning you’ve got less gold. For those who don’t know what over extending is, this means you have to travel past the halfway point in the lane, this means you are now on the enemy side of the map and are over extending. This is dangerous, it makes you more susceptible to ganks. Only do this if you have wards or eyes on the enemy jungler.

Winning your lane does not mean getting their turret down first. Winning your lane means you have more gold through either assists, kills, global objectives, or any combination of these. That’s what it means to win a lane. You’re ahead of the enemy. If you’ve shoved your wave to their turret, and aren’t ready/able to kill them, why not roam? Help out the rest of your team. There are plenty of ways to snowball people, whether it being giving lane pressure, letting them farm up for their power spike, or getting them a kill, or assist, burning a summoner or an ultimate. These are all beneficial to your team, don’t be afraid to leave your lane and help others. Giving kills to your team also helps put everyone ahead. If all the gold is on one person, they'll be focused and then the rest of your team will be left helpless.

Warding Yes, this gets its’ own section.

EVERYONE, I repeat, EVERYONE should ward. It’s not just the supports job but yours as well. You need to contribute. Upgrade your trinket, buy pinks, and get defensive and offensive wards, the whole 9 yards. If you’re overextended in your lane, you need to have wards placed to protect you from ganks. If you’re setting up for an objective, you need to have wards placed so you can’t be collapsed on, flanked, or picked off. You need, wards, and 4 wards from a lone support are not going to cut it. Wards save lives, buy a ward today.

Grouping and Rotating Grouping should occur around the 12 minute mark. This means rotating for objectives (warding and staying together). Sieging on turrets, taking dragon, or baron. Things like this help your team out immensely and knowing how to do these properly is the way to win a game. You should be communicating with your team, through chat and pings, everyone should be on the same page at the same time, because even one person off can turn a great plan that could win the game, into the world’s biggest throw, losing you your promos.

This brings me to objective order. Do not forget what I’m about to show you, it will help you win games. If there is anything you take out of this guide, it should be this, Objective Order:

Nexus> Nexus Turrets> Inhibitors> Inhibitor Turrets > 3rd Dragon/Baron > Inner Turrets > Outer Turrets > 1st and 2nd Dragon > Kills

Remember this and remember it well.

Late Game and Closing things out There should still be no idle moments here. Clear the entire jungle, yours and theirs, shove waves, siege up on remaining turrets. Starve the enemies for gold, and increase you income. Force the enemy team to make tough decisions, do they go for the desperate baron and get collapsed on in the pit? Do they try to contest baron against the team who is 15k gold up? Force these tough decisions, and capitalize on their decisions. End the game, no dilly dally, don’t wait until full build. If you have the opportunity, take it.

Extra

One more important thing, and then a few side notes:

YOU ARE IN BRONZE

THE LOWEST OF THE LOW

YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO REASON TO SURRENDER

PEOPLE THROW ALL OF THE TIME

YOU CAN WIN, IF YOUR NEXUS ISN’T DEAD

SURRENDERING IS NOT AN OPTION

DON’T TYPE IT, DON’T CLICK IT

IF IT COMES UP, HIT NO

Remember, no one likes to be flamed, whether they’re doing badly or not. No one likes salt in their face. Don’t afk, don’t bm, etc etc.

The tips I’ve given you are what have gotten my mmr from less than 500 up to 900 and me from Wood V to Bronze 3 100LP near instantly. Just practice.

TL;DR Ward, Farm, Don’t Flame, Know Proper Objective Order, DON’T SURRENDER