Views: 9297 Is Solo Queue Impossible to Carry?
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The short answer is no. Solo queue is in fact quite easy to "carry." Just remember that you can't win them all, but you can win most of them if you put your heart to it!
*I do not advice duo queue for 2 reasons
1) You're too comfortable and make more mistakes than if you go in a ranked game alone.
2) Your team will be lower ranking in comparison to the other team to compensate the duo queue, which means you'll have even more "scrub teammates."
Just avoid duo queue for ranked if you really want to begin your ELO climb adventures.
Step 1: Champ Select
Be prepared to fill. If you feel you're way better at a role than every other role, than just call that role when you enter champion select. If you don't get that role(s), then just play whatever is left. If other people are arguing over a role, and you're caught with a double jungle or an "afk" or "feed" in champion select, then just dodge. If you're really stingy about that 3 lp, if you already dodged, or if you're in promos, then you could always try the tactic of making others dodging by trolling. This usually works only in mid platinum in above, because if you're silver, your team will roll with it or be afk in champion select and not even notice.
On that note, don't be afk for champ select; even if it isn't your turn to pick, be aware of what's happening so you can communicate and help your team sort things out for the game. Champion select is 20% of the game by itself.
The most important tip I can give is being really good at 1 champion for every role, and defaulting to that whenever you're stuck with that role. For example, the only toplaner I can play is Tryndamere because I am a terrible toplaner, but I have a 100% winrate on Tryndamere for those games that I was stuck top.
Something smart to remember is that picks that are too out of the meta will lose you the game in lower ELO. If you choose Poppy top, no matter how good you are at it, and someone in Champ Select calls you a troll for doing so, it'll put that person on tilt, who will put the whole team on tilt, and you'll lose some games even if you're doing really well. Stick relative to the meta or what's been seen before so you don't get trashed on by your teammates before the game begins.
The last tip is DO NOT CHOOSE SOMETHING YOU AREN'T COMFORTABLE WITH. This is EXTREMELY important. Don't first time a role or champion or build (etc...) just because you want to try something new, or you're bored, or you saw it on stream/youtube (I swear... you're the type of people that make solo queue hell).
Step 2: First 1:55 of the Game
Generally, it's more safe to not invade. If you're playing ranked, play serious to some degree, and don't alt tab before minions spawn every game, in case your team is doing something stupid or they need you. Tell your team that you don't want to invade, so you don't risk losing the game or your team morale in the beginning. The same applies to you; don't try or do anything stupid before minions spawn.
Step 3: Laning Phase
Remember to ONLY CONCENTRATE on your lane. Laning phase is where the most "team tilt" occurs. A lot of people debate whether it's better to mute toxic players or try to reason with them to calm them down. The answer is as simple as it sounds: Mute them. This not only stops you from tilting, but it prevents you from reaching the point that you'll argue and jeopardize the emotions of the tilting player and/or the whole team. Even saying "it's okay, don't worry Vayne!" will somehow put the raging Marksman on tilt, so it's better to just mute her and throw out the occasional "Nice job!" when Vayne goes 0/4/0 to 0/4/1. Working with your teammates in solo queue should feel equivalent to conversing with your moody girlfriend.
Laning phase itself varies for each role. Since you'll need to know every role to a certain degree, I'll explain them all in this guide.
Jungler: Your role is to be more of an impact than the enemy team's jungler. If you're Nunu, Nidalee, Shaco, or whichever invasive jungler, just stop the enemy jungler from being functional. Otherwise, if you're a carry jungler, such as Lee Sin, keep pressuring lanes more than the enemy jungler. A smart, but mean, thing to do as a jungler is provoke people from the enemy team. Try playing Lee Sin, only ganking mid every 2 seconds. Even if you only get 1 kill after 2 minutes, it'll piss the enemy mid-laner off so much that he'll go on tilt and all-chat "gg our jungler sucks." If you camp toplane, just sitting in lane doing nothing but denying the enemy from farming, you'll make him tilt as well. Some douchebags go on Lolking or such and see which player on the enemy team is on a lose-streak, and just camp them. Super mean, but if you're after that ELO, try it for yourself. If you're a tank jungler, just watch Stonewall008 on youtube and you'll learn enough of what you need to do, because it takes more practice than just reading a mere article.
Midlaner: I'm a mid lane main, so this is my expertise. Play a snowball champion like Katarina or Fizz [only if experienced with Fizz], because in lower elo, the games are longer since nobody closes them out, and you can really turn those losing games into wins by yourself. If you're not into snowballers, play early game champions to win your lane. Champions like Zed, Leblanc, and Cho'Gath are very strong in lane right now, so I would recommend spamming those guys and win lane to win game. The last type of midlaner for solo queue are the "pick" oriented ones, like Ahri, Syndra, Diana, etc. Avoid difficult to play champions like Azir or Fizz (unless you've been playing them a lot and you're experienced with them.) If you're playing a snowball champion, like Kat, keep roaming and winning every lane for your team. If you're playing a lane champion, try not to roam at all unless you're jungler is caught out or needs your assistance specifically. Playing pick champions - it's really up to you whether or not you want to roam, but I prefer not to because they're generally good in lane (Xerath, Diana, Ahri). Honestly, I would only roam to follow the enemy midlaner or jungler, but even that I sometimes don't even come because it's not even worth it.
Support: The role of a support is to help the marksman carry. Period. For laning phase, I highly advise AVOIDING roaming as a support. If you choose Blitzcrank, Alistar, Thresh, Janna, Morgana, Annie, any support really - don't go mid or into their jungle to cheese them. It's so much better to just win your lane, and stay by your adc to make sure he/she doesn't die - whether it's his/her fault or just you leaving them alone for too long and them getting dove or denied to uselessness. Try to choose an OP support, like Janna or Morgana, instead of a damage support. Contrary to popular LOW ELO belief, it's actually MUCH EASIER to carry on a standard support than a damage support like Nidalee. Even if you're a "Challenger Smurf," play support Morgana for your bronze ADC, and just keep landing bindings until your "trash marksman" is fed. Remember to be a normal support and ward for the safety of not only your lane mate, but yourself and your jungler. Support CAN carry the game, don't think otherwise.
Marksman: Last hitting is important. Honestly, CS > harass any day. Just stay out of the enemy Marksman's way and out CS him while he desperately tries to harass you. When he gets too desperate and overextends to hit you, try using your kit to win the trade. The best way to get kills is to wait for your support to set it up, or get a jungler gank. Think of it this way: You shouldn't trust your teammates too much, so if your support already does his part, then you do yours and you're guaranteed success. Same with jungle ganks. Your real time to shine is when you reach mid and late game, and start to snowball from the team fights.
Toplane: A really underrated team-comp related victory is the role of a tank. If their team is all AD, you can play tank and stack armor and carry your team to victory. The lower ELO players will focus the frontline, so feel free to throw yourself at their team while your carries have free reign over attacking whomever they want. On the other hand, carry champions like Tryndamere can split push to carry a completely "lost" game. I would really avoid carries like Riven, unless you're a Top-lane / "Riven Main," because if you lose early, you really have a hard time recovering.
Step 4: The Mid-Game and Late-Game
If you've reached the Mid-Game, you're either really behind, really ahead, or in between. If you're really behind, you have to either turtle and stall the game out, which usually doesn't work but sometimes does, or look for picks. Assuming your team isn't warding much, try buying the upgraded yellow trinket if you haven't already, as well as a pink if you don't have an active one, and placing them in areas that you think you can catch the enemies out in. With the right pick, you can secure a baron later on in the game, and maybe even end off a desperation 4v5 teamfight initiated by the enemy team. If you're really ahead, go ahead and tell your team what to do if they're slowplaying the game. DO NOT SAY "GROUP" AND EXPECT YOUR TEAM TO MAGICALLY WIN. The word "group" doesn't mean anything, because you're not saying where or when or how. It's better to give dragon timers or baron timer and ping and call individual teammates out of position to the objectives you want to take. That way you can secure that 5th grade and then you can trample the enemy team with your lead. Same with Baron. Remember that individually talking to teammates does a lot more than generalizing your team. If the game is even, then communication is vital. Whichever team is more composed and focused will win the game. Just remember that it's okay to listen to your teammates. Even the "0/5 Draven" could be experienced in win conditions, and hear him out before arguing that your idea of "20 minute baron" is better. Remember that Baron has always been the biggest throw outlet, next to hopeless tower dives and getting caught repeatedly, so avoid Baron unless it's an ace or you're 100% sure that it's FREE. The last general tip about midgame, which also applies to late game, is that if you think your teammate is doing something and about to die, stick to your gut and leave them alone instead of dying with them. It's okay to let them die and rage at you, because it's better than making a bad situation worse.
Step 5: When to Play
If you feel like you don't want to play, then don't. I have dodged games after going into champion select because I lost the will to play. It's better to lose 3 lp than to play poorly or not have fun. Sometimes having fun is more important than the lp. Additionally, don't play if you have restrictions. If your internet has the possibility of disconnecting, or you are having fps issues, or if your computer has this issue that it keeps restarting, or your client is really buggy and doesn't always go into game, then just don't play ranked. Go into ranked games with 100% assurance of your ability to play the game fairly, not only because it guarantees less "BS losses," but also because it lets you be more confident in your play and less issues to worry about. More than just technical stuff, if you have class in 30 minutes, don't play and try to finish in 20 minutes. If your parents are outside your room, and you aren't supposed to be playing, don't risk it. If you're going to have to leave the room for potentially 5 minutes in the middle of the game, then just don't even queue up. Just be safe about this stuff. Lastly, to prevent tilting, don't play if you're losing. If you lose 2 games in a row, or even 1 sometimes, just take a small or long break. If you're on a winstreak, it's been scientifically proven that you're more likely to keep winning until that win streak is broken - because being confident (not overconfident) makes you play much better.
That's all folks! If you have any other questions, feel free to add me in game and ask me. [IGN: Rushed]
*I do not advice duo queue for 2 reasons
1) You're too comfortable and make more mistakes than if you go in a ranked game alone.
2) Your team will be lower ranking in comparison to the other team to compensate the duo queue, which means you'll have even more "scrub teammates."
Just avoid duo queue for ranked if you really want to begin your ELO climb adventures.
Step 1: Champ Select
Be prepared to fill. If you feel you're way better at a role than every other role, than just call that role when you enter champion select. If you don't get that role(s), then just play whatever is left. If other people are arguing over a role, and you're caught with a double jungle or an "afk" or "feed" in champion select, then just dodge. If you're really stingy about that 3 lp, if you already dodged, or if you're in promos, then you could always try the tactic of making others dodging by trolling. This usually works only in mid platinum in above, because if you're silver, your team will roll with it or be afk in champion select and not even notice.
On that note, don't be afk for champ select; even if it isn't your turn to pick, be aware of what's happening so you can communicate and help your team sort things out for the game. Champion select is 20% of the game by itself.
The most important tip I can give is being really good at 1 champion for every role, and defaulting to that whenever you're stuck with that role. For example, the only toplaner I can play is Tryndamere because I am a terrible toplaner, but I have a 100% winrate on Tryndamere for those games that I was stuck top.
Something smart to remember is that picks that are too out of the meta will lose you the game in lower ELO. If you choose Poppy top, no matter how good you are at it, and someone in Champ Select calls you a troll for doing so, it'll put that person on tilt, who will put the whole team on tilt, and you'll lose some games even if you're doing really well. Stick relative to the meta or what's been seen before so you don't get trashed on by your teammates before the game begins.
The last tip is DO NOT CHOOSE SOMETHING YOU AREN'T COMFORTABLE WITH. This is EXTREMELY important. Don't first time a role or champion or build (etc...) just because you want to try something new, or you're bored, or you saw it on stream/youtube (I swear... you're the type of people that make solo queue hell).
Step 2: First 1:55 of the Game
Generally, it's more safe to not invade. If you're playing ranked, play serious to some degree, and don't alt tab before minions spawn every game, in case your team is doing something stupid or they need you. Tell your team that you don't want to invade, so you don't risk losing the game or your team morale in the beginning. The same applies to you; don't try or do anything stupid before minions spawn.
Step 3: Laning Phase
Remember to ONLY CONCENTRATE on your lane. Laning phase is where the most "team tilt" occurs. A lot of people debate whether it's better to mute toxic players or try to reason with them to calm them down. The answer is as simple as it sounds: Mute them. This not only stops you from tilting, but it prevents you from reaching the point that you'll argue and jeopardize the emotions of the tilting player and/or the whole team. Even saying "it's okay, don't worry Vayne!" will somehow put the raging Marksman on tilt, so it's better to just mute her and throw out the occasional "Nice job!" when Vayne goes 0/4/0 to 0/4/1. Working with your teammates in solo queue should feel equivalent to conversing with your moody girlfriend.
Laning phase itself varies for each role. Since you'll need to know every role to a certain degree, I'll explain them all in this guide.
Jungler: Your role is to be more of an impact than the enemy team's jungler. If you're Nunu, Nidalee, Shaco, or whichever invasive jungler, just stop the enemy jungler from being functional. Otherwise, if you're a carry jungler, such as Lee Sin, keep pressuring lanes more than the enemy jungler. A smart, but mean, thing to do as a jungler is provoke people from the enemy team. Try playing Lee Sin, only ganking mid every 2 seconds. Even if you only get 1 kill after 2 minutes, it'll piss the enemy mid-laner off so much that he'll go on tilt and all-chat "gg our jungler sucks." If you camp toplane, just sitting in lane doing nothing but denying the enemy from farming, you'll make him tilt as well. Some douchebags go on Lolking or such and see which player on the enemy team is on a lose-streak, and just camp them. Super mean, but if you're after that ELO, try it for yourself. If you're a tank jungler, just watch Stonewall008 on youtube and you'll learn enough of what you need to do, because it takes more practice than just reading a mere article.
Midlaner: I'm a mid lane main, so this is my expertise. Play a snowball champion like Katarina or Fizz [only if experienced with Fizz], because in lower elo, the games are longer since nobody closes them out, and you can really turn those losing games into wins by yourself. If you're not into snowballers, play early game champions to win your lane. Champions like Zed, Leblanc, and Cho'Gath are very strong in lane right now, so I would recommend spamming those guys and win lane to win game. The last type of midlaner for solo queue are the "pick" oriented ones, like Ahri, Syndra, Diana, etc. Avoid difficult to play champions like Azir or Fizz (unless you've been playing them a lot and you're experienced with them.) If you're playing a snowball champion, like Kat, keep roaming and winning every lane for your team. If you're playing a lane champion, try not to roam at all unless you're jungler is caught out or needs your assistance specifically. Playing pick champions - it's really up to you whether or not you want to roam, but I prefer not to because they're generally good in lane (Xerath, Diana, Ahri). Honestly, I would only roam to follow the enemy midlaner or jungler, but even that I sometimes don't even come because it's not even worth it.
Support: The role of a support is to help the marksman carry. Period. For laning phase, I highly advise AVOIDING roaming as a support. If you choose Blitzcrank, Alistar, Thresh, Janna, Morgana, Annie, any support really - don't go mid or into their jungle to cheese them. It's so much better to just win your lane, and stay by your adc to make sure he/she doesn't die - whether it's his/her fault or just you leaving them alone for too long and them getting dove or denied to uselessness. Try to choose an OP support, like Janna or Morgana, instead of a damage support. Contrary to popular LOW ELO belief, it's actually MUCH EASIER to carry on a standard support than a damage support like Nidalee. Even if you're a "Challenger Smurf," play support Morgana for your bronze ADC, and just keep landing bindings until your "trash marksman" is fed. Remember to be a normal support and ward for the safety of not only your lane mate, but yourself and your jungler. Support CAN carry the game, don't think otherwise.
Marksman: Last hitting is important. Honestly, CS > harass any day. Just stay out of the enemy Marksman's way and out CS him while he desperately tries to harass you. When he gets too desperate and overextends to hit you, try using your kit to win the trade. The best way to get kills is to wait for your support to set it up, or get a jungler gank. Think of it this way: You shouldn't trust your teammates too much, so if your support already does his part, then you do yours and you're guaranteed success. Same with jungle ganks. Your real time to shine is when you reach mid and late game, and start to snowball from the team fights.
Toplane: A really underrated team-comp related victory is the role of a tank. If their team is all AD, you can play tank and stack armor and carry your team to victory. The lower ELO players will focus the frontline, so feel free to throw yourself at their team while your carries have free reign over attacking whomever they want. On the other hand, carry champions like Tryndamere can split push to carry a completely "lost" game. I would really avoid carries like Riven, unless you're a Top-lane / "Riven Main," because if you lose early, you really have a hard time recovering.
Step 4: The Mid-Game and Late-Game
If you've reached the Mid-Game, you're either really behind, really ahead, or in between. If you're really behind, you have to either turtle and stall the game out, which usually doesn't work but sometimes does, or look for picks. Assuming your team isn't warding much, try buying the upgraded yellow trinket if you haven't already, as well as a pink if you don't have an active one, and placing them in areas that you think you can catch the enemies out in. With the right pick, you can secure a baron later on in the game, and maybe even end off a desperation 4v5 teamfight initiated by the enemy team. If you're really ahead, go ahead and tell your team what to do if they're slowplaying the game. DO NOT SAY "GROUP" AND EXPECT YOUR TEAM TO MAGICALLY WIN. The word "group" doesn't mean anything, because you're not saying where or when or how. It's better to give dragon timers or baron timer and ping and call individual teammates out of position to the objectives you want to take. That way you can secure that 5th grade and then you can trample the enemy team with your lead. Same with Baron. Remember that individually talking to teammates does a lot more than generalizing your team. If the game is even, then communication is vital. Whichever team is more composed and focused will win the game. Just remember that it's okay to listen to your teammates. Even the "0/5 Draven" could be experienced in win conditions, and hear him out before arguing that your idea of "20 minute baron" is better. Remember that Baron has always been the biggest throw outlet, next to hopeless tower dives and getting caught repeatedly, so avoid Baron unless it's an ace or you're 100% sure that it's FREE. The last general tip about midgame, which also applies to late game, is that if you think your teammate is doing something and about to die, stick to your gut and leave them alone instead of dying with them. It's okay to let them die and rage at you, because it's better than making a bad situation worse.
Step 5: When to Play
If you feel like you don't want to play, then don't. I have dodged games after going into champion select because I lost the will to play. It's better to lose 3 lp than to play poorly or not have fun. Sometimes having fun is more important than the lp. Additionally, don't play if you have restrictions. If your internet has the possibility of disconnecting, or you are having fps issues, or if your computer has this issue that it keeps restarting, or your client is really buggy and doesn't always go into game, then just don't play ranked. Go into ranked games with 100% assurance of your ability to play the game fairly, not only because it guarantees less "BS losses," but also because it lets you be more confident in your play and less issues to worry about. More than just technical stuff, if you have class in 30 minutes, don't play and try to finish in 20 minutes. If your parents are outside your room, and you aren't supposed to be playing, don't risk it. If you're going to have to leave the room for potentially 5 minutes in the middle of the game, then just don't even queue up. Just be safe about this stuff. Lastly, to prevent tilting, don't play if you're losing. If you lose 2 games in a row, or even 1 sometimes, just take a small or long break. If you're on a winstreak, it's been scientifically proven that you're more likely to keep winning until that win streak is broken - because being confident (not overconfident) makes you play much better.
That's all folks! If you have any other questions, feel free to add me in game and ask me. [IGN: Rushed]
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