What is this ELO hell you speak of?

What is this ELO hell? Or alternatively, "Help, I'm stuck in Bronze league and I can't get out!"

So if you are new to Ranked play, there are a few things that are good to know.  First, let's explain what matchmaking is.  Coming from casuals you may assume that all of your matches were against completely random players.  Well they weren't.  As you win or lose, your stats and the stats of your opponents are weighed in a big algorithm, so that on your next queue the average matchmaking rating of your team is equal to that of your opponents team.  Also, if you queue as a party you are much more likely to run into other parties.  This is done so that either team has a chance to win and minimizes the chances of a blowout, close games are generally more fun than curbstomps.  You still run into player incompatibilities though.  Even with average matchmaking being the same, at the most basic level, you could run into 5 very aggressive individuals versus a team of half aggressive/half defensive.  The split team will often lose as the aggressive individuals will run in and the defensive minded folks won't go in to back them up.  There are other ways that players just won't get along and its next to impossible to try to develop an algorithm that can model and adjust for player's play style.

In casuals, your matchmaking rating is completely hidden.  It is not a number you can see or that has ever been available to see.  In Ranked however, this number is called ELO.  ELO is a system that was developed originally for Chess to determine, you guessed it, matchmaking.  Hi-Rez has kept their modifications to their ELO ratings quiet, and for good reason, as the system could be "gamed" if the specifics were made public.  ELO did need to be modified both in Smite and in other games, however, as it was originally designed for 1 on 1 matches not random groups of 5 on 5.  Many casters allow you to check your ELO on twitch with the !elo command.  Your rating is determined by your win and losses in Ranked only, and adjusted by the strength of your opponents ELOs.  This number is then compared against other players in queue to attempt to make the average ELO of both team roughly equal.

Ok, now that that is out of the way, we can finally get to the topic at hand.  The player coined term "ELO hell" is the state that you find yourself in when first entering league.  In bronze league, you will often find yourself teamed up with players with bad connections, that don't speak english, that don't use curse voice, and that generally don't understand how to play the game.  This will happen because your initial ELO is low enough that you are matched with other players with hardly any Ranked experience.  This situation can lead to unlucky streaks of large numbers of losses, leaving you to struggle in Bronze league until you get frustrated with your lack of upward movement and quit.


Now, here is the big question, is ELO hell a real thing?  Simple answer? No.  Technically, it could be if the algorithms are bad, but they are not.  If you play enough and continue to improve your game and communicate with your team you will rise out of Bronze league.  The trick here is to not get discouraged because one of your teammates is disconnected or just horrible.  The odds are that on average over many game, the other team will have just as many of these lagging, non-english speaking noobs as your team does.  The trick is to make the best plays possible and be where you are needed during the course of the match.  Know your role and be aware of what is happening across the map.

If you are on solo island, and your mid is losing lane and your jungle isn't ganking, you need to find a way to make a play for a kill in your lane so that you can rotate.  Also, if you see that others aren't rotating to mid harpies than you can clear your wave and head there and back before your next wave hits your tower.  Share as much xp with your jungler at jungle camps as you can.  One of the best ways to turn a losing game is to outfarm the other team.  Share as much farm with your jungler and support as possible as it will be a net gain of xp and gold every time.

If you are in mid, be sure to announce mid harpy timers, ask for your red buff from your jungler, share small harpy camps when ever you can.  If your opponent in mid is missing or rotating, call it and rotate after him or her.  These are called "high ELO plays," basically doing anything that increases your chance of winning.

If you have teammates that are failing, help them, don't berate them.  Don't assume your idea/plan is the best one.  If your teammates aren't communicating, try to figure out what they are doing and help them.  It is a far better strategy in ELO hell to simply help your teammates do whatever it is they think they should be doing, than to push in another direction.

The other thing you can do is to specialize.  Figure out which role/god wins you the most games.  Pick two gods for twos role and try to get them every time in the picking phase.  Get to know those gods like the back of your hand, and once you've successfully made it out of Bronze league you can start branching out.  You can even go take a look at your win percentages using Hi-Rez's tool, you may be surprised to find out that your favorite god to play only at a 30% win rate whereas the god you've only played 15 times is at 85%.

Remember to think, its not all pushing buttons at the right time, though, of course, that helps.

Have fun and don't feed the enemy!