Welcome to Ranked Queue. Now what?

You are now Level 30. First of all, congratulations. Now you're looking at the Ranked Queue button and you might be wondering what lies behind it.

Queueing up for Ranked for the first time might be intimidating, and I can understand why. You are no longer playing in a casual atmosphere. Now you will be ranked based on your performance. Below follows a step-by-step introduction to what is the Ranked Queue, how it operates, and why it is different from the Normal games.

The Basics.

Click the above image for the full infographic by Riot.

How the League system works:

There are 6 Tiers: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond and Challenger. Bronze is the lowest-rated League, while Challenger is the highest. All tiers (except Challenger) are split into 5 divisions: Bronze 5 to Bronze 1, Silver 5 to Silver 1 and so on. The number 1 division of the tier is the highest rated part of that tier. When you reach it you will soon fight for a promotion to the next tier, for example Silver 1 to Gold 5.

The Tiers operate on the base of League Points, LP for short. You gain LP for wins and lose some for losses. How much you gain or lose is based on your hidden matchmaking ratio, and the ranking of your opponents/team. When you accumulate 100LP you will be in a promotion series of matches. If this is a promotion to a higher division (5 to 4, 4to 3 and etc.) you will need to win 2 out the next 3 games. If you are in a promotion series for the next Tier, you will need 3 out of 5 matches.

Now let's look at the difference in Champion Select.

The pick mode in Ranked games is called Draft Pick. While in Normal games all players pick their desired champion at the same time, things in Ranked are different. They begin with the banning phase. You team Captain (the player at the top of your screen, who also picks first) can ban 3 champions. He selects a champion from the enemy team's pick pool and bans it. This means neither you or the enemy team can use that champion for the game. After the first ban, the opposing team's captain is banning, then vice-versa until 6 champions are banned.

Now comes the Pick Phase. Whoever was the first to ban will also be the first to pick. First Ban is selected randomly by the game. Now the picks alternate the same way as the bans. Your team picks, then the enemy team picks. At all points in the Ban/Pick process, it is very recommended to communicate with your team - what you would like banned, what role you are best at. Talk about champion combos, what you would like to pick and what you would like a teammate to pick. Your team will not always listen or cooperate with you, so be prepared for that. When it's a player's turn he will choose champions, and then he or she will lock the champion in. While the player has not locked in, they still have time to change, so give them some input if you think it's needed.

After everyone on both teams has locked their champions in, you can trade champions with your team. This is the Trade Phase, which is the last part of the pre-game. Here is an example: your captain wants to go mid lane, but doesn't want to reveal his pick right away. You are 4th pick. He picks a support for you, Sona for example, and you pick Kassadin. Assuming each of you has both champions unlocked, you can trade champions with that player. Keep in mind you can't pick champions from the free-to-play pool in Ranked Queue, but only the ones you have unlocked with RP or IP.

The game has started, now what?

Now you will be playing a competitive version of the game, and while I can't give you some magic advice how not to lose a single game ever, I will give you some tips that will help you win more.

Try to be aware of the action on the map.
Watch the minimap, read the team chat, and watch your team's pings. If you see the enemy jungler going to mid, alert your mid lane teammate. Also think about what the things you see mean. If the enemy jungler is in top lane, and you are supporting your AD carry in bot lane, that means you are not in immediate danger of a gank. Lay down some pressure if possible.

Buy wards, even if you are not the support.
If you are anything other than support, you should still buy wards, but not in the same bulk quantities. As a jungler you can buy a ward or two every 5 minutes to help your team with vision, which is very important for your success. If you are top or mid, either buy one ward every few minutes, or ask the jungler to ward for you. In the late game, it is recommended at least two or three people have at least one ward with them, to avoid face-checking a bush, where a trap might be, to secure vision on and around critical objectives like Baron or Dragon.

Listen to players with more experience than you.
If someone is giving you advice, do not be quick to ignore it, even if you think that player knows less than you about the subject. Consider tips from your teammates, even if you do not agree. Ask yourself - 'why would I want to do that and how would it help'. If you don't understand what your teammate wants from you ask him to explain, or ask a friend if available.

And here is something very important:

Accept that you will make mistakes and you will lose!
Yes, you will lose eventually, no matter how good you are, or you might miss a critical ultimate in a very important fight. You might even lose because of that single mistake you did. Don't be discouraged. Ask friends for tips, read guides. If you are 'bad' at the game, that means only one thing - you can improve. Do not be angered by loses, but look at them as an opportunity to learn. Losing a game might win you more in the long term, if you learn from your mistakes (or your team's mistakes).

Why the mindset of 'I MUST win at any cost!' is wrong and why it will hurt you in the long term.

First of all, lower your expectations of yourself and your teammates. Having an unreal expectation your performance or your team's performance will lead to frustration, anger and disappointment when that expectation isn't met. While you are in Bronze or Silver, or even Gold, do not focus yourself only on winning. You can win the next game, you can win tomorrow.

What you must focus in every game while you are playing it is learning and analyzing. It is better to make a mistake once and understand why it happened, than just ignore it as a one-time thing and make it again and again. Or even worse, to tell yourself it wasn't your fault and you didn't make a mistake. As you gain more knowledge of game mechanics, champions and general tricks, you essentially ensure you make less mistakes. The fewer mistakes you make, the better your overall performance will be, and that will be what leads you to victory.

A good way to speed this process up is to read champion guides, general mechanical guides and ask some of your friends if they have more experience in the game than you, and of course, playing the game. The most important thing is to never say 'I know enough'.

A few words on 'toxic' players and how to deal with them.

In the lower Leagues you will play with people with less knowledge of the game, but they will be just as hungry for a win as someone in Diamond. The problem that arises is that some of them have way too high expectations. This is the problem I talked about above. When things go wrong, some people go to the very easy solution - blame the enemy team for being 'noobs', using 'unfair tactics' (there is no such thing really), or being 'lucky'. Or they will blame their team, of which you are a part of. The reality of toxic players is quite unfortunate, but as annoying it is, you will have to experience their flaming. It is inevitable. You will be blamed, insulted and trolled at some point while playing League of Legends. This is a fact with most online games. The bigger issue here is that League of Legends is a team game, which obviously leads to a lot of blaming and finger-pointing, even if it is uncalled for.

Here are the two basic scenarios: you made a mistake and you are being flamed for it. Apologise and just move on. If your teammates continue harassing/insulting you, mute them. This is done from the Game Score Scree (by default Tab). The mute button is on the most right part of the Score Screen. After the game you can use the red '!' button next to a player's name to report them for Spamming or Verbal Abuse.

Most of the time, people will flame each other, no matter if it was about something you have done. Just ignore it and never take part in the flaming, no matter how angry you are at someone. It is best to stay away from these kind of 'conversations' and focus on the game, because insults lead to more insults and that is not something good for you, the game you're playing and the League community in general.

While getting better at the game will not be something that happens for a day or two, working to improve yourself will pay off, you can be sure of that. It will take time and effort, but when you see the "You have been promoted to X!" screen, you will know it was worth it.

Good luck and have fun.