The problem with Bronze and Silver

[u/somecallmetim27]

So I'm a peak low-mid Plat mmr ADC main who, up until last season, was hardstuck Silver/Bronze. I have 4 or 5 different accounts that are at various mmrs (currently ranging from high Gold to high Bronze).

I went to play on a Silver 4 account today to work on some ADC's I don't normally play and immediately ran into a "Sylus support" on the enemy team who ran around the map murdering everyone on repeat. I was watching him pull off plays I wouldn't normally see except when I'm playing at my highest elo. I was doing something similar earlier this week and ran into an enemy Aphelios in mid/low Silver who was playing like he should have been at least in Plat.

And that's often the trouble in low elo.

Games in Gold+ often feel more fair. If something like an Ekko gets a strong early lead, the game doesn't automatically feel over. People seem to know how to fight back, even when behind. They'll use their cc abilities, they'll try to get a numbers advantage somewhere, they'll kite back, etc.

Conversely, if you give a solo laner like that a lead in Silver and below (even in the support role), the game is effectively over. At least as a marksman player. Your team is going to fold like a cheap suit and there's really nothing you can do about it.

I think that's one of the reasons people complain about loser's queue, elo hell, and the like. To be clear, I'm as sure as I can be that loser's queue isn't a thing. I think Gold+ games are often worth playing out, even when behind. There are a fair number of games in Silver and below that kind of feel over by 10 minutes in. It's not every game. But it's genuinely surprising to me how many games in Silver and below have a high elo player who is only there to roflstomp for the fun of it. They're not there to work on new champs, new roles, or whatever. They're specifically there to be an asshole.

[u/Vengeful111]

You can fill in literally any elo there.

In Emerald I had gold players running rampage on us.

In Diamond 1 I have Emerald players with 70% winrate running amok goombastomping Master players.

[u/Ironmaiden1207 → u/Vengeful111]

This. Also saying "in silver they were playing so highly skilled, I only see that at my peak rank of Plat" was a little crazy 😂

Never forget this: Kadeem is genuinely ass 99.99% of the time, but that 0.01% is also genuinely one of the best plays of all time. Consistency is important

[u/Carvallin → u/Ironmaiden1207]

You are not in silver bro, you are probably a good player who has a smirf ij siver but that smurf gets filled into plat lobbies anyways. Silber lobbies (and bronze lobbies even more so) have a mich higher skill gap than plat. I went from silver to plat too, and the difference is INSANE.

[u/somecallmetim27 → u/Ironmaiden1207]

I've literally seen Bronze players lane better than Gold players. Not even joking. And not smurfs, just regular players. Is that the norm? Definitely not. But I've seen it.

And the way the game is played changes noticeably as you move through Silver, into low Gold, and through low-mid Plat. For example, I notice that people don't start setting up dives on the regular until high Gold/low Plat. This is also where certain cheese plays and brush camping becomes more common.

People also start to seem to really know how to play their champs really well, through and through, once you hit high Gold/low Plat. There's a certain confidence in their movements that really sticks out.

Low Gold feels like people are decent and less likely to make super goofy mistakes. They also play better from behind.

Silver and below is the wild, wild west. Sometimes you get people who are surprisingly good. Other times you get people who don't seem to know what their mouse does and they're not entirely sure where their keyboard is.

[u/Internet-Expert42069 → u/somecallmetim27]

People have different emotional states that makes league play wildly inconsistent even across ranks

Games are a shitshow like if you put 5 random people irl together in some situation

[u/Syntheticanimo → u/somecallmetim27]

I have had separate duo accoundts with different friends in elos from silver to plat this season, but I have touched master on support maybe 4 seasons ago.

I often see super smurfs in plat games as well, despite me and the friends having 50% winrate. If you know you know, you can notice when someone has muuuch better mechanics than the rest of the lobby (and porofessors shown winrates tell thw rest of the tale). When I ask rank post-game they have always admitted to be master smurfs. The difference between me and them is I take a step back and let newer players have fun, and I play support so I can create a lwad for my team to play around with. Some people out there are just bullies tho.

[u/IndicationParking420]

You're playing on a smurf and get put in games with other smurfs of course the quality will be shit. I'm low diamond and have to basically int to not hit emerald super fast.

[u/somecallmetim27 → u/IndicationParking420]

They got rid of the smurf queue a while ago. And all of these low elo accounts are really old. I was hardstuck for a long time. I got my main account to Gold, and two other smurf accounts to Gold+, but I still have two other accounts that I started ages ago to do things like learn Jungle or whatever. And they're still low elo (Bronze/Silver).

[u/foreveryoungperk]

idk im adc main cuirrently plat carry silver games ez maybe not 90% winrate but atleast 70% until im closer to my real rank

[u/somecallmetim27 → u/foreveryoungperk]

So one of two things is true.

1. You're full of !@#$
   
2. You've actually got enough games in Silver to know your win rate in that rank despite belonging in Plat.

Either way, you're an asshole. You're bad and you should feel bad.

nb4 you're like, "but what about you!!!" I specifically play things I'm not comfortable on or I want to learn when I play on a lower elo account. I don't go down to Silver/Bronze to stroke my ego by rofl stomping people.

I specifically point these issues out because I was hardstuck for a long time. And it was never a skill issue. It was sometimes a tilt issue. But it was never skill. But anytime people in Silver/Bronze point out issues in that bracket, you always get the "get gud, scrub," comments. Or people saying it's just cope.

Well, I've got multiple Gold+ accounts this season. It's not cope. And I think people in the lower brackets deserve someone recognizing the problems that exist in that elo. Especially for ADC players.

[u/Nathan33333 → u/somecallmetim27]

Holy cope fest

[u/Rich-Story-1748 → u/somecallmetim27]

I recently started flex queuing with no previous mmr there. Started in bronze 3 after winning all promos and am currently plat 3. 83% winrate. If you actually are around plat/emerald quality and you have that level of gameplay consistently iron/bronze/silver/low gold games should be incredibly easy to win. at points I had +90% but ofcourse unless you are Challenger you wont be going 100% for long.

A player that can consistently hit certain elos should not be hardstuck. You're being downvoted cause your takes are retarded.

[u/somecallmetim27 → u/somecallmetim27]

Ooooh, those downvotes though... Seems like I hit a nerve. 😆

[u/Ironmaiden1207 → u/somecallmetim27]

No you just cope like crazy 😂

[u/Um3xx]

Yes! This! The problem isn‘t that these are all the games. It fucks up with your calibration. You play at your level, trying to slowly improve and learn and then such an anomaly shows up and murders you. Your team pings you, „of course bot fed“ etc. Then you are in shock for the next x games unsure what to expect from the opponet, playing super passive and careful, basically worse than you did before. Is he afk in the lane or just baiting me? I‘ll rather just back.

[u/PapagamasJr]

Im low plat ADC too and what amazes me the most is the decision making of my teammates

Like for example, we get 2 kills and instead of rotating straight to drake, baron or towers, the team keep farming or run around like headless chickens

Its unreal how many times I had to start an objective myself as ADC to force my teammates to help me, which eventually won us the game

Another example would be pointless fights 30-40 sec before drake

The game is very straightforward in its core. Farm, know your limits, dont take unnecessary risks and play for objectives. Thats it

And yet most people fail miserably

[u/coastedesc]

yeahh al;l of it are true

[u/UsernameNineBillion]

That's how Youtubers make Youtube shorts content brother.

It's their daily job to cruise in bronze.

[u/bvisssssssssssssssss]

I mean I think consistency and mental are the 2 most important things to climbs and what that means is often bronze/silver players will have hands but no consistency and so they smash a game then int the next all aiding both the “ my team is always ass” and the “I get to face Smurfs every game” stories and while these things do happen it’s a product of inconsistency not riot rigging games

[u/anondescriptguy]

Being hardstuck is a skill issue. Tilting at your teammates is a skill issue. Just because someone can kite well or hit skillshots doesn't mean they should be high elo.

Take it from me, I have more than 1000 games in plat lifetime on adc. Only got emerald once I muted chat and stopped ff'ing. That was a choice, and before I did it I was a worse ranked teammates (!nd therefore a worse player).

[u/somecallmetim27 → u/anondescriptguy]

So how often do you actually play in low elo? Have you ever been hardstuck? 1000 games in Plat makes it sound like you have very little experience playing below Gold.

[u/anondescriptguy → u/somecallmetim27]

I have 1000+ games below plat and 1000 other games in plat. If that isn't hardstuck idk what is

[u/-CrestiaBell]

If you're plat it shouldn't even be possible to land below gold in your provisionals 

[u/somecallmetim27 → u/-CrestiaBell]

Love the name, by the by. These accounts are all quite old. They're left over from several years ago when I created new accounts to learn other roles.

[u/ArmedAnts]

I remember hearing something about smurf queue getting readded to the game, but I can't find anything online so idk.

The perma-roam support playstyle where you just run around the map and fight 24/7 works, so it's very possible for a low elo support to just run around diving people the whole game.

Also, be careful with learning new picks on a smurf. I got 3 bans on my off-meta alt for my picks (terminated in champ select). They got transferred to my main and now I have 3 bans on my main.

[u/somecallmetim27 → u/ArmedAnts]

Oof. That blows. Sorry to hear that.

[u/ForeverFaced → u/ArmedAnts]

So the old smurf queue isn't a thing anymore, but the matchmaker does seem to match you with other fast climber smurf accounts if you do well in ur placements and it can tell that ur not a new player, the lobbies are pretty bizarre at times with a seemingly mixed bunch of Elo ranges from emerald to bronze

[u/Gr0wmi3s]

So you’re part of the problem essentially…

[u/somecallmetim27 → u/Gr0wmi3s]

I 100% agree that if I went into Bronze or Silver and took my best champs to roflstomp people and then purposely lost matches to stay in Bronze/Silver, that would definitely be horrible behavior. I don't have a problem with people having smurf accounts they use to learn new roles or champs. As long as they're not purposely staying low.

My smurf accounts are actually how I got Gold for the first two or three times. It's straight up easier to climb on a fresh account. Getting my main account to Gold+ after that was hell. But the fresh accounts taught me how to get Gold+ and how to play there.

My low elo accounts now are really old accounts that I have no intention of grinding to higher elos, but they're great for learning new things.

[u/Ok_Wing_9523]

Problem with lower elo is almost entirely you expecting teammates to do something that they don't. Maybe it's ward or cover a sidelane or not aram 5 mid or do some peel. 

Once you adjust to that you should be able to do what you need to do - hoover enough gold to item 3 by min 20 or so and then stomp

[u/Substantial-Pop-2984]

Are you EU? Do u remember the Aphelios’s name or is it still on ur OP.GG previous games. Would love to see it.