Hello everyone! As I begin writing articles for Team Dignitas, I thought the best approach as to what to write about would be to draw from my best League of Legends skill. After two seasons of silver 5 ranked play, I have determined the best aspect of my play is being absolutely mediocre. Now, this may seem disheartening to someone looking to this article for tips but in fact, being humble is one of the best strategies for success in low elo!

That being said, I have plenty of mediocre expertise to share but before I dive into how you should approach a bronze or silver ranked game. I would like to clarify what this article is about. I write this for the benefit of anybody, really, I think the mindset I convey can be beneficial at any level of play but the experience I draw this mindset from is of bronze and silver, so players at that level may get more out of this.

To give a general idea of what you are about to read: I will explain how to communicate with a low elo team, how to carry a low elo team and how to act in general while on a low elo team. Furthermore, this article will not give you tips on how to play better, it will not raise your skill level but what it will do is raise your success rate in ranked games by breaking down the team aspect of the game and showing how to effectively get the most out of your teammates!

The Four Pillars of Low Elo

To better illustrate my ideas, I have put them in the form of the "Four Pillars of Low Elo". In my eyes, these are the four most important qualities of a a successful low elo player.

The first pillar is Mediocre. This is not to say you should be mediocre relative to those you play with but mediocre relative to everyone who plays ranked (otherwise you wouldn't have a low elo, would you?).

The second pillar is Humble. As I said before, you should not have an air of superiority, this is off-putting and often leads to bad plays (I will explain more about this later).

The third pillar is Self Aware, a concept applying to two aspects of the game. The first aspect is self awareness in general, you are in bronze/silver for a reason. You are not better than your teammates, blaming a loss on them is futile and does nothing to improve your play. You must recognize your own mistakes. Do not blame a failed gank on your jungler, for example, ask yourself what you could have done better. The second aspect is on a very small scale and applies only to one game at a time, it is essentially whether or not you are carrying a game. If you can recognize when you are carrying the team and when you are deadweight, you will be able to make decisions accordingly. No one likes an 0/10 Katarina calling the shots and by the same token, a 10/0 katarina refusing to communicate is just as useless.

Finally, the fourth pillar is Level Headed, simply the ability to keep cool throughout the game and never raging in any respect, this should go without saying.

Applying the Pillars: Champion Select

If you have played enough games in low elo, it's sometimes easy to tell when a game is lost just by what is said in champ select chat. It is never as bad as 'mid or feed', but some players are ravenous for one position and will kick and scream until they get it, which almost never ends well. I think the best approach to this is to be able to play each role comfortably to avoid senseless arguments, but to each his own. What I am sure of, however, is that chat in champ select must be kept to a minimum. It is okay to call a role, as long as you do it politely and humbly.

Saying "I'm going top check my lolking 10 win streak" does nothing but put off your teammates. Similarly saying "Give me top, I suck at all other roles" is just as bad. Once all the champions are picked, it's okay to pump up your team a tiny bit e.g. "I think our team comp is better". However, saying, "I'm going to s**t on this Renekton" is very, very, bad, because if you lose, your teammates are going to be extremely disappointed in you (and you look like a big loser). All in all, call your role in champ select, don't whine if you don't get it, and talk minimally other than that.

Applying the Pillars: In-Game

Above all, you are in solo queue. This means you should not rely on others to make plays and instead focus on getting yourself fed. However, there is a point where the team element comes in later in the game when you start grouping up for objectives. Especially in low elo, lack of communication leads to bad fights and failed objectives. This is mostly due to multiple people trying to call the shots. From what I have experienced in my ranked games, the team will most likely listen to the member who is carrying/doing the best.

Therefore, if the team can identify this person and rally behind them, fights will be executed without hesitation and generally be more successful. Now, the one carrying may not always be you, and knowing if you are carrying or not is an incredibly valuable skill. The easiest way to tell is if you are, A) Beating your lane opponent and B) Having an impact on other lanes or C) You are super farmed, get into fights, and stomp all over the other team. Once you have identified if you are a dominant force in the game, you can begin to make decisions on how to play out the rest of the game.

As a rule of thumb, you should never criticize your teammates, all it does is put people on tilt, including yourself. However, if you are carrying and the team is looking to you for decisions (i.e. shot calling), it is sometimes okay to give small pointers, e.g. you have lost a fight and think it's because the support didn't stay back to peel, you can politely ask that he/she tries to peel harder. Most importantly, you must remember to stay level-headed. If you are carrying and you rage at someone, the whole team will break down.

In fact, dropping a quick word of encouragement does worlds to keep up morale. Contrarily, if you are not carrying, you should refrain from talking at all, and focus on either putting yourself into a position to carry or listen to the calls from someone who is carrying.

Summation and Extra Tips

The four pillars are: Mediocre, Humble, Self Aware, and Level Headed. If you adhere to these concepts, you are sure to be a paragon of low elo as you improve yourself and move on to higher ranks.

Main Points

1. Focus on getting into a carrying position (if you are support, show your ADC you can make plays and lead the team)
2. If you are carrying, call the shots and drop words of encouragment
3. If you are not carrying, focus on becoming a carry or let others carry you (have self-awareness)
4. Never blame your teammates, you always have made some misplay and can focus on your own improvement

Extra Tips

1. Don't be afraid to mute teammates or turn off all chat, it can be toxic and distracting
2. Don't talk to the other team unless it is "gl" or "gg"
3. Early GG's and other BM is unacceptable and unsportsmanlike, don't do it

Low elo is brutally disorganized, in all games you should be looking out for yourself first, become a carry and lead the team. You should stay calm and blame no one but yourself for a loss. The key to improvement is in self-awareness, the more you realize what you're doing wrong, the more you will improve. Some games you will feel like trash for not carrying and that is perfectly okay. It's just not possible all of the time. However, more often than not you will feel good for knowing you are improving and maybe even putting the team on your back. :)

Hopefully you have gathered something from this! Maybe you read it and thought, "No, this isn't for me.", and that's perfectly fine! I think everyone has their own mindset, I'm simply sharing mine and if you decide to adopt it, great! I hope you enjoyed reading my first article, there will be more to come!

- Toxiktoe