To sum it up, I am no pro, I am no legend, nor have I been to 300 ELO. However as we approach the end of season 2, I feel a need to make a guide on not only how to leave ELO hell, but how to avoid it in general. As it stands right now, I am around 800-900 ELO after taking a dive from 1300. Most people will think nothing of it, and some will know the difference that 400 ELO makes at this stage of ranking. I had to put that out there just to say I am either a bad player, or it's the constant losses due to mostly quitters and demotivators.

This basically sums up my spot and what usually happens :
Anyways, let's get to the point. This guide will help tell you what each position in the meta does, as well as provide you with tips of how to push through those games where everyone is bringing themselves down.

And before you know it, you are in ELO hell! And yeah, as mentioned in the title, it is rather unpleasant to be in situations where your teem will usually have one quitter, one feeder, one complainer, and someone speaking a foreign language. That wasn't meant to be offensive, but when you can't understand Spanish and people try to communicate, it just doesn't work. The best way to get out of those situations where everyone is fighting, is to avoid them. This is not a GARENteed way out (oh, that's funny), such a thing does not really exist. The climb from 300-900 elo, or even 800-1500 will require changes in your playstyle, manners, and your knowledge of the game. Oh, and did I mention A LOT OF TIME?

Okay, well that is an overused quote, but it is true. In ranked games, your opponent will take advantage of your petty mistakes. You will have to make mistakes in every phase of the game. They can range from getting hooked by a Rocket Grab early game and dieing, missing your Crescendo (is that even possible?), or a misuse of smartcast with Savagery. All of those are decent examples of small mistakes that make the biggest difference in a team fight.

This is where most people that I have seen lack an understanding of the game. As soon as you hit level 30 and play your first ranked game DON'T CALL A LANE. You should be entering a ranked match willing to fill any roll needed. I have recently ended up with 10 purchased rune pages to increase my diversity of champions that I can efficiently play while trying to climb out of this mess. Play more normal games and get a fair amount experience with at least two champions of any lane. It really helps, trust me. Most of the time you will probably be supporting, but it is not as boring as people make it out to be. When you take a lane from someone, they are going to get Buttmad. That is something we want to avoid. We are at a low ELO, people will get upset quite often over the smallest things. I have started by saying in my own team chat things along "Lets try to cooperate and have a good game", or "If someone makes a mistake, just try to compensate because the mistake has already been made". When your team cooperates, these are the games you need to try your best to win.

Oh right, champion select. Why don't we start off looking at bans? Common bans among this low elo usually range from : Blitzcrank (always, unless you have first pick}, Malphite, Alistar, Shaco, Shen and the rest are usually random champions people wouldn't want to lane against. It is important at this low elo to get these champions out of the way, because Rocket Grab and Stand United will wreck your team when they don't know how to deal with it.

If you lose your lane too hard and end up feeding any champion other than Karma, you are most likely going to lose. Most of the problem can be sought through at champion select.That is why it is important that if you know your lane and you are going to be able to get countered, you should pick someone who can be diverse. If you are in the midlane and you are first pick, it is usually a bad idea to pick someone such as Kassadin or Katarina. They are easily shut down just by skillsets of other champions and should be only used as a counter themselves (not so much for Katarina). Switching lanes with top or bot should not be relied on because most people don't know the benefits or the situation you are going to be in. There are sites out there that will help you make a decision on which champion to pick against who (use google, I can't link the one I use).

Now you are in a ranked game (wooooo, try not to throw this one). At this ELO, MANNERS MATTER. Always start the game with a "gl hf" and then ramble to your team and tell them that you are confident that they will win. Morality is a huge factor in a strategy game (even war(yes like actual war)). Not only will the enemy be feeding off of your mistakes, some team mates find a need to crush everybody's hopes and dreams. Just because your level 3 Amumu couldn't solo dragon and died doesn't mean you have to rip his heart out (oh that's also funny because Amumu is depress...nyways). Keep your team motivated, it will work very nicely.

Believe it or not, a lot of people still don't know the meta this late in their League of Legends career. The main roles in the normal meta are : a solotop, an ap carry midlane, a jungler, and an ad carry and a support bot lane. Some people will want to switch lanes because they know they have been countered, if they ask you to do so and you know you can sustain against that laner, make the change. Usually the person who wants to change knows who he is going to lane against and knows how to play against him. You do not need to own your newly traded lane either, just sustain and farm. As long as you aren't feeding and are getting those last hits, you are golden Ponyboy. Easy peasy. Instead of giving a typical blurb about each lane, I am going to make separate chapters following this one. Read on summoner, read on.
Oh god, farming. Some people do not realize how important it is to get every last hit you can. If you are playing the ADC with a support, you should know that most of the time (unless you are owning the lane) GET THOSE FREAKEN' LAST HITS. If you have a choice in poking your opponent down about 65 health and miss a last hit, that is 17 gold(minimum). You just missed out on. And since you keep making the same choice to poke down whether than kill a creep, that gold will be lost. It is around 17 creep kills of an advantage that will equal out into one kill worth of gold. That is less than three waves of creeps that equal out to one dead Teemo. It is important to note those huge calculations (derp devision) and move on where we will look over what you will do as someone in the normal meta.

So you are the AP midlane (or maybe Talon but who cares) and you don't really know what to do? Well here is what you as a midlaner will do. I have randomly selected Orianna as an example build as to how AP carries are built. However, ehem (clearing of the throat noise), EVERYTHING IS SITUATIONAL! Some champions focus more around burst such as Brand and it is usually smart to include an early Hextech Revolver. Sometimes when you are running out of mana and are getting poked down, you may consider a Chalice of Harmony. Most of that kind of decision making will come with experience. Just think that early game, it is you against your lane. Once a tower goes down, whether it be in your lane or not, you need to start considering what would be best in team fights.



Oh right, the mid lane. The way I usually lane in the mid is that I focus on farm. And that's it. If I know where the enemy jungler is and I know that I am safe, I will push my lane to their turret making sure to kill all of the creeps. After that, go ahead and kill your wraiths (ask your jungler first so he doesn't cry) or if you feel daring, kill the enemy wraiths. By the time you return to lane, your minions will be pushed and ready to be farmed again. I always aim for 120-140 farm by the 20 minute mark, but at the least make the 100cs mark. While playing aggressive like so, make sure to have your bushes warded (hue).
Of course you can always ward more. The more you can see, the safer you are. Ward their wraiths, ward your wraiths, ward their nexus and their fountain. When your team is aware of where they are, your team can make aggressive moves and your jungler can make successful ganks.

Top lane is much different than the way I play mid. It is just as important to farm as much as possible, however do not push your lane. Only last hit. You should not be auto attacking or using Judgment to kill minions. When your lane is pushed, whether you are on blue or purple side, you are likely to get ganked. A bruiser is usually what I pick for top, however some people play AD carries such as Vayne or AP carries such as Ryze. Either way, let's take a look at Darius for our solotopper of the day. I built him with Greater Quint of Swiftness so that I am able to roam and gank midlane or help stealing their blue buff. Whatever it may be, those help getting around. Greater mark of desolation could very well replace what I have put down, Darius has built in armor pen which is why I have Greater Mark of Attack Damage.

If you are stuck laning against someone who can poke you down easily, (in this case Yorick can poke Darius down with ease) farm at your turret. If you are pushing your lane for any reason, having these places warded will help you keep safe.

Keeping your bush warded as well as their tribush will basically GARENtee (oh, that's still not funny) your safety.

Ganking is an important part of playing the toplane. Whether your midlane is pushed all the way and you have an opportunity to leave your lane, go freaken' do it. When ganking, always take in account where the enemy jungler last was, is, or could be at right now. A good way for your mid to force a gank is like so :

In this case, you are the red X and your mid is the red circle. As he moves to one side, the enemy will move away from him and try to avoid any snares or spells such as Brand's Sear. You can then hook them, slow them, throw a banana peel on the ground, and kill them. This is just an example of course, there are endless possibilities on what can happen inside the Summoner's Rift.

Now, I don't jungle very often and am unaware of how to really do it well. Here is how I understand it :

As someone with mana, such as Skarner or Fiddlesticks, you will start your route at blue buff. Most guides on MOBAfire have routes to follow, some champions are better at red, some champions like Shaco start a little differently. Do some reading, if you made it this far, might as well go all the way.

The way I ward is kept at a bare minimum, I buy one or two every time I go back and try to see that these main spots are covered :

(excuse the blue on blue if it's hard to see)

Also if any other spot that mid,bot, or top has not warded, ward the freaken' thing. It will only help that lane, and since you are going down to gank for them, you might as well save them a death.

As for ganking, just look for lanes who are over extended. If you can get behind your enemy from the river and land a slow, stun, or hook ; you should be able to kill them. Exhaust always helps but since you are jungling with Smite, you don't really have room for it unless you want to sacrifice a Ghost or Flash

Why does this need its own section? Because some people don't understand : ALWAYS TAKE SMITE!!!! Even if you are jungling with Warwick and you don't need it early game to down red or blue buff, the team needs it late game. They really do. I always bring up, " well wouldn't it help if we could steal a buff with it?" or sometimes "what about dragon?". They usually just laugh and we continue to have to give the enemy team the easy buffs and dragons. And anyways, in my opinion Ignite falls hard late game, so do your team a favor and take Smite.

The AD carry is the bread and butter of the game. He is where most of the sustained damage comes from in a teamfight. I chose Graves as an example of a build, most are built in the same manner. The only questionable thing here is my Greater Quint of Vampirism and Doran's Blade x2 to start off. The reason I take those as well as 3 points in Vampirism to give me a huge amount of sustain as I farm up early game. I usually tend to sell the first Doran's Blade if I need extra money for the Bloodthirster because of the lifesteal I already have and the thing has basically been rendered just a minor change in AD.

Here's how I play an ad carry : its easy. Learn to farm, and land those last hits like mentioned already ten thousand times. When 17 farm is around 300 gold, it is important you get that early lead on your enemy so when your jungler comes in for a gank, you are able to have that extra damage to take him out. Do not push your lane auto attacking minions is never accepted and is what brings good supports down. To keep a good team morality is a team effort, everybody needs to contribute, even you. Farm, farm, farm, farm, farm, and freaken farm. Let your support zone them out if he is someone strong like Alistar and if you can, deny them experience. Try not to get hit by the minions when you are standing behind them because that damage landed on you will not only hurt you, but is less damage being dealt on your minions which is keeping the lane pushed.

Make sure to talk with yoursupport as well. From champion select, to late game, seriously...do it. If you don't talk with your partner, they are going to get alienated and drift apart from your train of thought (also relationship advice to you pimp Amumus). Ask them to ward the enemy tribush or let them know when they can just B and buy their items. Ask them to stay longer for coffee... Ask them to pick Sona instead of Soraka.

Basically, my ADC consists of trying to control my lane and bursting the enemy ADC down when our jungler comes in for the gank of the centuries. Also don't be afraid to ward and do not get upset when your support misses a couple spots, compensate for it.

I am really running out of stupid subtitles. Sona is my example for this build. Most supports will focus on auras and keeping their team alive like Sona. Others will focus on CC such as Alistar and Blitzcrank. As you play support, you have to focus on getting your team fed and not taking farm from your ADC. Those are the two main rules to follow. And I'm serious, if you take your ADCs creep score, it will probably make him depressed and your little fellow Ezreal is now feeding intentionally. Great. Welcome to ELO hell. Since you don't farm, that is why I use Greater Quint of Avarice x3 and Greater Seal of Gold x3. It adds up to +4.0 gp/10 and helps you get that Philosopher's Stone and Heart of Gold made.

Since there are so many "supports", it is best to stick with the easy ones like Sona, Soraka and Taric as well as avoid hard ones like Fiddlesticks, Zyra, and Gragas.

It is important to note as well that finishing the Philosopher's Stone into a shurelya's Riverie is important to do and finishing a Heart of Gold into a Randuin's Omen is more or less optional in most of my cases.


Basically since you are playing the support, you need to keep vision in every spot possible. I usually tend to have 3-4 wards almost every time I leave the shop and I place them in various spots. Basically, I start off by buying 4 of them and use one at their wraiths as soon as I can. This ward will help us know when their jungler is doing their thing as well as protect against early mid ganks and blue buff steals.

That is basically the jungler's picture, only with the two red marks added at the tribush and a bit further towards dragon. I hard ever ward the bottom river as you can usually tell when someone is hiding in the if the other two spots are up. Also if you are against an anemy jungler such as Rammus you can see them rollin' from a mile away.


Do your team a favor, do not pick Teemo or Darius as a support. Sure it works, but when it comes to late game, it really doesn't help very much. In my opinion anyways.

Now that you have more general knowledge about how ranked is played, you may now be able to liberate yourself from ELO hell (probably not, that's why it sucks). Here is a picture of some happy face. Now go play, be supportive, be happy, be motivated, and watch the pros stream. They always have knowledge to hand down and you should be learning every time you watch a game of league.

THINGS TO ADD:
[]TEAM FIGHTS
[]EXTEND ON RANKED PLAY
[]TAKE IN CRITICISM
[]EAT DINNER