HOW FAST YOU RISE IN ELO == HOW OFTEN YOU CARRY BAD TEAMS

In general, I've found that in order to carry teams (depending on how bad your team is doing), you have to be able to satisfy this equation:
1 versus X+1, where X is the number of bad players on your team.
e.g. if you have 1 bad player (almost always will), you should be able to 1v2.
The 2 can include a bad player on their team, more or less.

Not an exact formula, but you get the idea.

Here's some tips for escaping elo hell, and being a better player in general. You can also think of it as a checklist. If you are not doing a lot of these things, that should probably change.

This is mostly geared towards solo queue 5v5 ranked games, but a lot of it can be applied in general.

1. Don't be that guy who doesn't say anything. Tell your team who you can play.
2. Pick according to what your team needs.
3. Make sure you are able to play a minimum of three roles (top, middle, jungle, ad range, support).
4. Make sure you have the right runes to play those roles.
5. Play champs that are useful to team (cc, high damage, heal, aura, etc).
6. Pick champs that are strong laners.
7. Pick champs that are strong against the other team in some aspect. Prioritize picking against your expected lane enemy when possible.
8. Pick champs that you know how to play (don't pick first time jungle yi or something).
9. In lower/mid elo, pick heavy snowballing champs that can easy carry teams. If you are truly good, you should be able to win your lane and get fed (even if your other lanes feed).
10. Snowball champs include (irelia, kassadin, brand, tryndamere, jax, lee sin, etc.) Pick these only in the right situations (see the previous tips).

THE MORE OFTEN YOU WIN YOUR LANE, THE HIGHER CHANCE YOU WILL WIN THE MATCH.
How to win your lane.
Priorities in descending order. (learn when to do which)
Not Dying/Killing enemy>Last hitting>Harassing>Pushing
1. Learn to last hit well. You shouldn't be missing more than 1/4 of free last hits.
2. Impose your advantage if you have one, the less gold/xp they have the better.
3. Make sure stay above half hp. Use your pots if you go below. This will both discourage harassment from the enemy and lowers the chances of you dying.
4. Try not to push in early levels if you don't know where every other enemy is. You will get ganked and die (see priority #1).
5. Have map awareness. Glance at your minimap whenever you can and take a quick note of where the enemy jungler is whenever he shows up.
6. Pay attention to pings, they are for a reason.
7. Listen to your teammates. If they tell you to b, go b.
8. Keep your lane warded if you are pushing.
9. Buy items that counter your lane enemy.

Learn how to maximize the gold that you have.
1. Buy with cost efficiency in mind. Here's an example (a bite outdated: if anyone knows of a recent one let me know). spreadsheet
2. Buy items that are effective against the majority of the enemy team or fed members.
3. Make sure to buy defensive items (not as important for ranged, mandatory for melee). Armour makes all the difference. In general for melee (75 decent, 100 good, >150 real tanky)
4. Armour pen also makes all the difference. Late games items should include Last Whisper or Void Staff.
5. Free slot and 75 gold? Buy a ward. Keep dragon and baron warded. (Yes, even you carrys)-'Sunli Min'
6. For ad carries, don't just build all AD or all AS...find a build that gives you a good mix of both for the most dps.

1. Have a positive attitude towards your team.
2. Give compliments when deserved (gj, nice work, etc.)
3. Keep insults inside your head (or wait until after the game).
4. There will always be trolls/terrible players. Don't let one game affect the next. Every game is a brand new game.
5. Don't be spiteful to your team. A loss for them is also a loss for you.
6. Tell your team when your lane enemy is gone (mia, ss, miss, etc.). More effective is pinging their expected path combined with a retreat ping.
7. Take the blame for yourself. This does not mean blame yourself, but deceive your teammates into making them think you think it is, even when its obviously not. (sry, my fault)
8. Be careful when giving teammates suggestions...a lot of people are very stubborn and proud and can take it the wrong way.
9. If no one is leading, be the leader. Sometimes just having someone say "group up" is all your team needs to turn around a game. - 'Sunli Min'

1. Analyze. Learn what went wrong and what you could have done differently. Lets say you lost a 1v1 just barely. You look at your inventory and remember you have a pot, but it's too late. Use a pot before a fight next time.
2. Don't get caught. This is very important and happens all the time, even in higher elo. Don't wander around by yourself if you don't know where the enemy is. Don't stray away from your team or towards the enemy team when you should be grouped.
3. Never give up. Someone on the enemy team could always disconnect at any time.
4. Sometimes you should surrender though.
5. Don't be afraid to change. Sometimes, what you are doing seems entirely right to you, but it's not or there's a better way of doing it. Test out different item builds, strategies, etc. and see what works best out of many games.
6. If the loss is your fault, you are doing something wrong. (you fed, you didn't participate in team fight, you got caught, etc.) Don't worry, fix it next game.
7. It's okay if you make a NEW mistake. It's NOT okay if you make the SAME mistake MULTIPLE times. Fix your mistakes.

I know you probably won't be able to follow all of these tips, but just remember to learn from your mistakes.
With many games, if you are ACTUALLY doing well, random probability is in your favor and you should get positive elo over time.
If anyone has anything else to add, post a comment! I probably forgot to mention a lot. Also post a comment if it helped, or if you are cool!

Credits/Contributors: I'll add peoples names to contributed to this in some way here.
Wu Thuong, Sunli Min[/h2]