Summary
Highlights
Assisting a struggling teammate often sets you behind without significantly helping them. In low ELO, superior players will eventually come out ahead regardless of an early setback, while weaker players will likely throw their lead. Focus on carrying yourself, as you are the consistent factor in your games.
Low ELO players often misjudge the value of kills and objectives versus minions and towers. Prioritize guaranteed gold sources like jungle camps, minion waves, and towers over risky plays for kills or objectives. This strategy consistently generates more gold per second, creating a significant lead.
Performing actions faster, such as jungle clears or wave clearing, provides a significant advantage. Optimizing clear speeds allows for more rotations, ganks, and pressure elsewhere on the map. Efficient decision-making also contributes to speed by quickly pivoting to profitable actions instead of dwelling on lost plays.
Deadtime is the period when a jungler has no camps to clear or a laner has cleared their wave and is waiting for the next one. Use this time to look for ganks or other impactful plays. Taking action during deadtime minimizes risk, as you're not sacrificing guaranteed gold or XP.
It's a common low ELO mistake to sit on large amounts of gold. Gold only translates to an advantage once spent on items to gain stat leads. Match your opponents' recalls to avoid falling behind in items, and aim to recall when you have enough gold for a meaningful item component (often around 1,000 gold).
Do not commit to a play based on what you *think* your teammates will do. Wait to see their actions before engaging. This prevents getting caught out when teammates don't follow through, as their decisions in low ELO can be unpredictable.
In team fights, avoid being the first to engage, especially as a non-tank. Being at the forefront in low ELO often means absorbing all enemy abilities and dying, relying on unreliable teammates to follow up. Instead, play slower, wait for enemies to use key cooldowns, and then engage for an easier clean-up.
Low ELO players frequently leave lanes undefended while over-committing elsewhere. Capitalize on these opportunities by pushing empty lanes to take free towers or inhibitors. This tactic is especially effective when objectives are being contested, as enemies tend to neglect side lanes.
Team fights in low ELO are often won by the team with a numbers advantage. Use the 'push into roam' tactic: push a side lane until an enemy or multiple enemies respond, then roam to create a number-advantaged fight elsewhere. If the fight becomes even, disengage quickly to reset for the next opportunity.
Attempting to take inhibitors without Baron buff is a common low ELO mistake that prolongs games. Riot designs the game to make sieging inhibitors difficult without empowered minion waves. Instead of directly pushing for inhibitors, use Baron as bait to force a winning team fight, leveraging your lead to secure the Baron and then easily take inhibitors.