These are some tips for Olaf that made me better at playing him despite sucking so badly.

-Playing against a weak early champ without much sustain like Irelia, you can bully them off the wave and freely level up, be careful of the jungle though, most important thing is to hit level 2 before they do.

-If you're playing against someone that fights back, press Q then aa-aa-aa and press Q again (aa is auto attack.) After winning that fight it is important to get health as much as possible for when they come back if they have TP. If they don't have TP shove the wave and recall. If you didn't kill them but you both are low you still win just make sure your W is up.

-Against ranged champs, you want to proc the bone plating with q, then if q lands while bone plating is down you want to all in. Baiting with W is especially effective with ranged since they will use escape tools to go in and secure the kill on you then you can get a Q and press W. Using bushes is also great to be able to get up to ranged without taking damage.

-A good kill secure early is Q>flash>auto>E(optional E if you don't have it)

-W is an auto reset, just don't cancel your autos

-A good item combo is ult>stridebreaker. This combo lets you get in close without having the possiblity of missing your Q, also provides easy to hit Q's

-The best time to teamfight is when you have your ghost up so you are much faster and can't be blocked by minions or champs when headed for your preferred target. When ghost is down you can splitpush until it's up again.

-Olaf is one of the best 1v1 champs and early game champs

-Olaf has 645 base health at level 1 and it grows by 119 each level, Olaf is beat out by Yorick by 5 health points but Olaf has one of the higher growing coefficients being one point lower than Ksante. Kled, however, has much better scaling and base health than Olaf.

-Olaf has the 2nd highest base damage in the game tied with multiple other champs at 68. Olaf has one of the higher base damage growth at 4.7 a level being beat out by a few champs and mega gnar.

-Olaf's Q and E are very spammable if you aren't denied picking up the axe and have enough health for. Olaf's W can be used as bait when you're on low health

-Olaf's W is a great bait to use if you both are low health. It is also used as an autoreset.

Mid is a weird place to put Olaf but I believe it has potential. The main benefits are:
-Abilty to Roam and harass the jgl.
-Be at every teamfight.
-Counter gank bot and top.
-Can get back to lane quickly, reducing the want for teleport.
-Can open up mid faster than most champs if left unattended.
-If getting pushed in jungle might help you.

Now that the reasons to play midlaf is out of the way here are tips.

-Most matchups are going to be similar to fighting ranged champs, you will also see more of Yasuo and Yone which are very easy to handle.

-In mid you will be ganked more so do not be too aggresive.

-If you want an objective gank the lane closest and then grab the objective

-Olaf has good clear especially after tiamat, this can be easily used to roam if facing a champ that can't clear as fast

These are not tips to play the jungler role, these are only tips to play Olaf in the jungle.

-Jungle Olaf has the ability to invade level 1, I use this to clear the enemy's topside jungle (not golems), clear my topside, then clear my red and gank bot, gank mid, or get dragon.

-Your smite is only out damaged by a jungle cho'gath, when you E and Smite at the same time it is stronger than most junglers preventing you from getting your objectives stolen and making it easier to steal objectives.

-When farming camps you can position yourself in such a way that your axe drops at your feet and is instantly picked up, to do this you need to position yourself near (but not too close)a thick wall, press Q into the wall and if done right you won't have to go pick up your axe.