Solo-Queue is like a bag of every flavor jelly beans. Sometimes there are deliciously sweet cherry or strawberry flavored players who not only perform solidly but have positive mental outlooks on the game. Sometimes there are your quiet favorites; those green apple or lemon players. They don't talk much and they might not be the perfect players, but they aren't trying to lose. But other times, you run across those toxic booger or vomit flavored players that can put such a bad taste in your mouth that it ruins any positive swing your team might have going for it.

You may ask yourself, "How can I lower the risk of getting those players?" Well, my friend, I've got your solution! And that solution is the wonderous mode of Duo-Queue. But there are ways you have to go about Duo-ing that will save you trouble. You and your partner want to be those delicious cherry and strawberry flavors for your team, and to do that I'm going to give you some tips that will help you and your partner be the most dynamic of duos.


Tip #1: Play With Someone You Trust

Before considering champions, skill, or gameplans, you first have to pick your partner. From amongst the collection of IRL friends and solo-queue encounters on your friend list, I'm sure you've got plenty of options to consider. But before you toss that invite out, first ask yourself, "Do I trust this person?" If the answer to that question is "No," why is that? Does this person tilt easily? Do they play champions or styles that are non-optimal? Do they play the roles that complement yours? These are the questions that need answers and they all tie into your trust of them as a potential partner. If you're not comfortable with your responses to these questions, then maybe jump to the next candidate for your climbing partner. If you're dedicated to a particular person, approach them with your concerns and try to work things out! Communication is the key advantage of Duo-Queue. If you and your partner trust and rely on each other to overcome the chaos of the ranked ladder, you're setting yourselves up for success.


Tip #2: Utilize Normal/Flex-Queue

Athletes train every day in and out to be great at their craft. Be they individuals or a part of a team, practice makes perfect for game day. And it's on the practice field that rapport is established and refined for success. Normal and Flex-Queue are League of Legends' practice fields. You can visualize Normals as your in-team practice. It's here you'll work on new champions and strategies without the pressure of true failure. Visualize Flex-Queue as your scrimmage game. By the time you take a strategy to scrims, you want to be able to execute it effectively and use it to win. The pressure of success isn't the outcome here, but how well you did the things you needed to do to win. If your champ combos, communication, or strategy fall flat here, take the time to review the games and isolate where and what went wrong with your partner. Getting on the same page before diving into ranked is key. If you both know how things are supposed to go, you can both execute on that idea in unison which will give you a heavy advantage over your opponents.


Tip #3 - Play Complementing Roles

I've said it before, but communication is the key advantage of Duo-Queue. So, to better take advantage of the easier avenues of communication between you and your duo, you'll want to play roles that complement each other. Here are your complementing positions:

Top & Jungle
Mid & Jungle
Marksman & Support
Support & Jungle

With the exception of Support & Jungle, all of these lane-combos are understood to be complementing roles by the LoL community. Everyone understands the advantages of having your jungle pocket you throughout the lane phase as Top or Mid, and no one can deny the synergy between a good AD & Support.

When you look at the Support & Jungle combo, you may have some questions on the synergy between the roles. Typically, the better Support player dictates the lane, and with a jungler as your duo, one would think they'd be at a disadvantage in 2v2 lane because of this. When queuing up as this duo, instead of worrying about the synergy between Marksman and Support, we instead worry about the synergy between Jungle and Support and we make the jungler our carry. Bot Lane is usually home to the most immobile champions, and by enabling a carry or snowball-reliant jungler, we can feast off of the weaknesses in this lane and the jungler can transition their lead to map-wide pressure on the other lanes and objectives.


Tip #4 - Play Complementing Champions

Tying in with the last tip, you'll need to play champions that have good set-ups/finishers for when you make your plays together. I'll briefly tap on a few brutal combos that should be looked towards if these champions are within your duo pool.

Top & Jungle - Shen + Master Yi
 

Shen and Master Yi's harmonious relationship comes from Master Yi's ability to 1v5 and Shen's ability to protect Yi and set-up his snowball. In lane, Shen possesses a respectable amount of damage and easy set-up with his Flash + Shadow Dash which can easily secure targets for Yi to gank. With his Alpha Strike and ultimate, Highlander, Master Yi can follow up and pace out an opponent's attempts to escape. If things get hairy beyond lane phase, Master Yi's ability, Meditate, and Shen's ultimate, Stand United, can afford Master Yi the time he needs to recover and turn around disadvantageous fights in his favor.

Mid & Jungle - Yasuo + Vi
 

If you like level 6 all-ins, then this is your duo. Yasuo and Vi have obvious synergy from Vi's ability to displace her targets coupled with Yasuo's ability to follow-up with his ultimate. The power that this duo possesses at smashing an isolated target and taking them out of a teamfight is unparalleled. After a few successful ganks on mid, look to take your snowball bot with this power and dive the unsuspecting enemy there. In teamfights, you're going to want to focus the highest damage dealer amongst the enemy. With Vi's ultimate followed up by Yasuo's this is more than easily accomplished from their combo'd burst and crowd-control.

Marksman & Support - Caitlyn + Morgana
 

This was an extremely biased selection by myself. As a Morgana main, there's nothing that I love more than seeing a Caitlyn locked in alongside me in solo-queue. So naturally, I had to mention these powerful lane partners when discussing Duo-Queue powerhouses. Caitlyn-Morgana's power comes from their ability to push in and lock down a target in lane. When Morgana lands a Dark Binding onto an enemy, Caitlyn's Yordle Snap Traps are completely free follow-up and 99/100 times result in a kill. Mid to late-game, this duo excels at sieging and objective control. Caitlyn's long-range helps her destroy turrets safely and coupled with Morgana's Black Shield she's doubly safe from any sorts of sudden all-ins. Caitlyn's traps work as excellent deterrents around neutral objectives. Enemies that clear these traps are typically met with a Morgana binding shortly after which sets up for easy kills for Caitlyn/Morg's team.

Support & Jungle - Leona + Jarvan
 

As I mentioned before, in the Support & Jungler duo, the Jungler is the carry instead of the Marksman. And with this particular combo, you'll be bursting down opponents before they can type "FF" in all-chat. Leona provides a metric ton of crowd-control which easily enables Jarvan to execute his Flag-And-Drag combo. The damage from Jarvan + Leona's passive can easily secure the kill on any Marksman or Support, and the power-spike of these two champions occur early and enable their lane dominating gank synergy.


Tip #5 - Positivity and Teamwork Beats Toxicity

Bad games are going to happen and you're going to encounter toxicity. You and your duo are responsible for keeping each other on track and in focus on the main objective, winning the game. Don't be afraid to encourage each other to mute your teammates or enemies and do your best to help your duo maintain a positive outlook. Encourage positive plays and in situations where you're behind, ask each other, "What can we do to turn this?" Agree together on what the call is and do your best to support each other through that execution. You're battle-buddies through and through and, if both of you are clicking together, you can overcome any toxicity that comes your way. Teamwork and positive mental attitudes will carry you far.

TL;DR - Play with a partner you trust, utilize Normal and Flex queues for training, play complementing roles, play powerful champion duos, keep your spirits high!

Thanks for reading through! I hope you've gleaned into how to improve your duo-queue experience and good luck in your future climb!

Come watch Dignitas live on Caffeine.tv!