Earlier today, I got promoted to Platinum V in solo/duo queue ranked in League of Legends.
I was in Silver IV and Silver III for the longest time, so people assumed that that’s where I belonged. I decided to take League of Legends a little bit more seriously lately to demonstrate that I could very easily get myself into Platinum whenever I wanted.
It took me about a week to get from Silver IV to Gold V. This happened before my laptop broke. After I got a replacement laptop, I spent another six days playing ranked to get myself from Gold V to Platinum V. During the process, I skipped Gold IV and Gold II because the rating system thought my skill was far higher than my ranking. Overall, out of days played, it took about two weeks for me to get from Silver IV to Platinum V by playing anywhere between 1-5 games per day.
So, what’s my secret? I’ll share.
- I stopped giving up in the middle of the game. When things weren’t going my way, I was patient and kept trying my best, rather than randomly walking around the map doing nothing.
- I stopped playing purely to have fun, and started playing to win. When I wanted to do something exciting and crazy, but knew it would hurt my chances of winning the game, I refrained from doing it.
- I stopped raging at my allies. When they did things that made me unhappy, I did not express my discontent.
- I complimented my allies. When I noticed my allies did something well, I pointed it out so they knew I noticed all the hard work they’re putting into the team. This ultimately motivated them to keep performing well.
- When I didn’t get the lane I wanted (middle), I negotiated. Before, I would just pick a random champion and go to whatever lane was open, then feed and give up after ten minutes. Instead, I asked the higher-pick person who wanted to go to middle lane if there were any other lanes (s)he was able to play, and tried to negotiate to see if I could get my main role.
- I asked my allies for help. If I still wasn’t able to get middle lane, I asked my allies for advice as to what I should be doing in the other roles with which I was unfamiliar, rather than doing whatever I wanted, feeding, and giving up after ten minutes.
I ended up going almost undefeated as middle lane Zyra – I only lost one game throughout my entire journey, when I was duo queueing with Ed (Grainyrice). I still ended up losing a majority of the games where I did not go middle, but it happened a lot less frequently than normal due to my attempts at negotiating positions.
So, I think this proves two important things. First is that I was skilled enough all along to be at the very least a platinum-level player. As of right now, I’m still getting +26 LP per victory, which indicates that the rating system has low confidence in my ranking. In simpler terms, it thinks I still belong higher than I am right now, and wants to get me there as quickly as possible.
The second is that your attitude is very important in League of Legends – so important that changing my apathetic and negative attitude into something positive brought me up from silver to platinum.
If you’re having trouble getting to a league and/or division you want, try making sure your attitude is prepared to bring you there. Be patient with your allies, and don’t let their poor performance affect your positivity. Even if someone is intentionally feeding (as in, purposely running down middle lane and suiciding to the turret), stay positive. Joke around with them and try to make them your friend. I did, and I was able to carry a game that I thought was going to be a 4 vs. 6.