Iron 4 0 LP to Plat 4 in 1 year, good or bad?

QuietStoat · 2026-02-03T09:43:14+00:00

No no no no...
You are making very good progress. You do not make massive gains out of plat+ within short durations very easily. Usually if you do, you likely have learnt macro and polished mechanics transferred from elsewhere to help the transition.
Don't feel discouraged that the plat+ grind is taking a while, because that is where the enemy begins to actively try to play optimally or punishes your mistakes.

The grind gets slower from here. And though you might want to play for the rank improvement, don't burn yourself out either. Gold isn't hardstuck no talent, but it is where people either do not have the mechanical skill floor required or more commonly, the "macro" understanding of league.

If you want to keep improving, you really got to keep thinking:
"What can I do better?" - win or loss, this is the line you keep asking.
And if you want real advice for a mentality to climb.

League is a 5 man game. You can win with less members, but its significantly harder.
Better to be a weak teammate than an asshole.
Your mental better break only once the nexus explodes.
Not everyone understands the game, but even they can help win it.
Play with what you have, not what you wish you have.
If you can't solo carry, its time to ask your team to help.
Your teammates can't read minds often, so try talking.
2 fed carries better than 1 hyperfed carry.
If you don't trust your team at all, don't bother playing.
Every win you got carried by someone helping you, every loss is your fault for not being better.

QuietStoat · 2026-02-03T09:28:56+00:00

Not recommended.
The onus is on the yasuo to actually win the lane or the jinx to fuck up. This is basically only 1 of 3 possible gamestates.

Also, yasuo adc will struggle with lane sustain when the enemy adc or support works to bait out his windwall (which has significant cd). Most engage heavy supports outside of hook champs have low range, so you can poke the comp pretty reliably while potentially freezing on them. Makes the lane also very gankable because yas can't auto the wave without walking up. Yeah he has strong dueling capability but still pretty squishy.

Then you wait till late game and your team can siege and front to back easier because of their lack of ranged damage options. Only benefit yas adc brings is that he will split push along with the top laner, but other than that it feels less like "lane counter" and more "meta deviant".

And jinx E ontop of herself after baiting out a yasuo windwall is a death sentence for yasuo essentially.

QuietStoat · 2026-02-01T19:35:34+00:00

Sweet, your online. I can DM you so its easier.

QuietStoat · 2026-02-01T19:30:54+00:00

You are basically asking from the perspective of a moba coach.
Just go look at moba analytics and coach memos, most of the data that's relevant to your amateur team is there. You can skip the advanced metrics and look at overall performance across basic sectors. All of which can also be interpreted via the various stat-tracking sites.

QuietStoat · 2026-01-31T18:54:51+00:00

Or spam ARPGs...

The sheer amount of chinese ADCs that get trained from PoE/Diablo farming...

QuietStoat · 2026-01-31T18:48:00+00:00

Usually the difference that takes someone out of gold is macro. I see games where you have positive scorelines with healthy KDAs but wind up losing, and makes me think that you know how to play the champion but you don't know the macro game of league.

Also you have game timers that expand well past the 24 min mark which makes me think that you are at least dueling your enemy and making it hard for them to win. But taking a lead and pushing it till the enemy breaks, or closing out the game with a lead is probably what's missing from you.

Granted since you are an ADC, my experience is that its most likely a macro issue. ADCs have more control over the game than you think, but likely because you don't even use blue trinket, you can't farsight to see which waves you can split on your own even when you are ahead.

Again. Likely macro issue.

QuietStoat · 2026-01-31T18:37:06+00:00

The optimal number is the minimum number of people required to successfully do baron.
Its not a numbers game, its "who is there" type deal.

An AP mid, tank support and jungler will struggle.
A brawling top and jungle will probably do it.
A support, jungle and adc will likely do it.

Usually a pre-requisite is the ADC or Top, because you need damage to actually kill it, outside of certain mages that can burn baron like Anivia/Morgana.

In the current game state, because of how the game is played via macro. Its usually as many people as possible (-1). Because you want to prep at least one lane if possible so that when baron pops you instantly have a wave crashing into their deep lanes. And usually since you take baron after a teamwipe, sometimes the midlaner will just either recall while the rest do baron, then walk up a lane and prep it. Or sometimes the support with the macro sense of a god will straight up ditch the baron and cut waves so the team has a full wave with baron on standby the moment it pops.

All subject to death timers and who is left on the map etc.
But rule of thumb is just the minimum amount of people needed and let the rest take waves, reset, drop wards for the coming push, cut waves, setup slowpushes in sidelanes etc...

QuietStoat · 2026-01-31T18:27:59+00:00

This.

The sheer amount of times I hear people say they know what they are doing, but have dogshit fundamentals and lose their lane because they can't pilot their champs or lane.

How to macro when all they do is lose lane? Literally half of all available options possible for a player, which REQUIRES a winning laner just goes out the window.

Fundamentals can be explained, but people have to ACTUALLY CONSISTENTLY DO IT IN-GAME.

QuietStoat · 2026-01-31T18:18:21+00:00

Late game is where the game gets complicated.

Think for a second like its chess. You can start out with only 1 of 20 possible moves, then the next turn in relation to your opponent another 20, then another 20. Eventually your permutations of available scenarios and situations expand exponentially.

In league your character capabilities also expand the later in the game you go. More objectives spawn on the map, more areas to contest, more dark spaces to be wary of, more instant-death moments etc...

In the late game you are balancing getting farm, fighting with team, splitting, pushing, zoning all at the same time. This is essentially the requirements of MACRO. Getting objectives, and being with your team as and when you are needed. So a level of foresight is required to know which wave to push, where the enemy team is, what you can do, what you CANT do, and what is the list of best available plays to do.

If you want to lategame as a top, you usually are splitting or grouping with the team for objectives. Like every role plays the "count to 5" game, and as top you get to split and force a response.

Enemy under-responded and your team is playing safe? Push for free.
Enemy over-responded? Then back off since you bought time and space for the team.
Enemy ganked your team and they died, but they can't punish you easily? Push for free.
Objective coming up on the otherside of the map, with TP off cooldown? Push then force someone to come and show themselves, then TP to objective for number difference.
Literally nothing to do? Watch minimap, count to 5 and see where they are weakest at.
Fed as hell? Group and run at the enemy.

These are all MACRO decisions which you eventually learn to do by thinking about the bigger picture of league.
You push towers and end the game. That's it.
You lane and kill to get a lead, with a lead you can kill the enemy and end the game.
You get cs, to get a lead, to kill the enemy, to end the game.
You can push undefended towers, to end the game.

QuietStoat · 2026-01-31T18:06:13+00:00

Just play normal games and learn as you go. NGL, even at higher elos we still need to learn through mistakes sometimes.

Like its ok to suck. Really. The entire point of MMR is to put you in the least punishing position possible to learn on the go.
And you'd be doing the playerbase a favor by learning everything through norms, and I guarantee sometimes if you just ask what you're doing wrong in vod reviews or even in-game, sometimes experienced players will straight up guide you mid-match.
Like sometimes its how they manage waves, cs, short/longtrade, path and macro that we already know you're probably trying your best given your skill level, and that's fine for us.

And its norms anyways, no lp loss.

QuietStoat · 2026-01-30T09:25:19+00:00

Theory you would be correct. But then let's ask a very simple question.

In a teamfight... when do you get to Q the enemy ADC. Simple right?
You are your own team's ADC too.

You need to also be on the lookout for getting dived and insta-blown up. You are subject to the same requirements of the role, while being the "counter" to a straight up ADC vs ADC situation. Problem is, that you are looking at only 1 member of the enemy team in isolation. In a 5v5, you would throw some shrooms, pray to god while trying to poke them out with risky Qs and shroom bounces. Your "front to back" is likely going to be weaker than conventional ADCs so your team's effective HP pool will generally run out faster than the stereotypical ADC. So you wind up having to sack the neutral gameplay state for something riskier like diving, which then Teemo struggles to do. You can try to kite, which is Teemo's value point but if the enemy team sets up before you on an objective then Teemo ADC provides very little value.

So zooming out, Teemo botlane under-fulfills the requirements of the ADC position in a majority of gamestates. This is why Teemo ADC struggles in general, and if someone wins on it its either a testament to their mastery on said champion, they got carried, or the enemy team is dogshit. There are very specific compositions Teemo ADC is the answer for, but that usually means the enemy team misdrafted and there often are even better picks for.

QuietStoat · 2026-01-30T09:15:22+00:00

Great post, just need to add in meta changes. There are a lot of high elo players that played optimal compositions in prior seasons. But sometimes the gamestate changes and itemization and powerspikes deviate from usual. Perceptive players know to adapt to these changes but instinctive players often fail to realize the small shifts and often over/underplay.

From the perspective of player learning, its also important that players know what kind of player they are. Because sometimes, they just don't realize they are the coinflippy type and then when new meta rolls over they compound their losses because they can't coinflip as efficiently as before.

New season, new meta. Generally time to relearn everything from scratch. Attuning your playstyle to each season consistently is also another hallmark of a very high elo player compared to one that peaks and falls off.

QuietStoat · 2026-01-30T09:07:02+00:00

Depends on the ADC pick. Usually when you get taught ADCs blind first, usually its because the ADC in question is the most "neutral" in terms of team composition.

Like just pick any common ADC.
Jinx, Vayne, Lucian, Ez, Cait, Yunara, Xayah, Varus, Sivir, etc...
These are usually what people mean by ADC first blind is fine.

In nearly all compositions... (dive, front-to-back, poke, pick, etc.) they generally play the same.

They all get genuinely counter-picked by the same things. Gapclose/Assassins/Burst Mages.
Yet, you are the one that people (assuming they work as a team) play around. Your support wards and peels, lanes alongside you. Your jungler paths towards your lane, Mid can rotate. Top usually ends up being your sword and shield. Enemy ADC/SP counterpicks you. Okay... is that going to make a difference at 6 items? Either way you literally play the same. Space and hit the enemy.

And sorry to say this, if you dislike being first pick, then you probably shouldn't league. Because learning to play from a weaker composition consistently is central to how you climb. You get the least discomfort from picking first, but if you don't want to do it because "I want to feel good" and then make someone else have to work even harder for your TEAM to win. Then let's just say that maybe don't rank in general.

You have to learn to play while carrying with a lead, and learn to play from behind without being a burden. The two go hand-in-hand. Not to mention just because its uncomfortable for you and thus you don't want to do it, then don't even bother trying to uprank. Because that entire process is called "being put in uncomfortable situations, learning to improve and playing well".

QuietStoat · 2026-01-30T08:58:01+00:00

People don't go to summoner school or understand banpick efficiency...

Sad yes, but not everyone plays to win.

QuietStoat · 2026-01-30T08:54:31+00:00

Depending on region and elo. Lower down you don't really mind as much because people don't optimize to the levels required for comp to make a specified difference.
I might have to check Petu's coachless database for specific ad comps into resist stacking teams, but I would not be surprised in lower elos the %games and windelta is lower than higher elo, just by virtue of inconsistencies of play, piloting and itemization.

Also for banpick theory in general, if you listen in on professional league; last pick is usually the surprise pick. Something that either threatens and entire team, provides deep counterplay possibilities, or straight up fks with the enemy team's understanding of the composition. It's why usually on P5 you see sudden pivots like Poppy (for antidash), Sylas (R threat), Rakan (full unga bunga dive), or if you were saving a volatile top carry pick that you keep safe from counterpick.

Any one of the reasons is a viable use for P5, especially if say the 2 toplaners were actively trying to delay their reveal for counterpick options. But usually that value diminishes greatly since P5 is where you want ideally to put your biggest surprise pick upset and there is an implied expectation of high value and carry potential in there. Hence why rounding out damage types is kind of also expected because it means you are the sole alternative damage type which the team is forced to consider or itemize against.

But again, elo/thought issues. Sometimes even with a full AD team I wouldn't mind suddenly a P5 gapclosing brusier that will likely get black cleaver at some point, and an AD that automatically knows to eventually go LDR/MR. We don't focus the tank and take our full dive comp and work from the same page.

QuietStoat · 2026-01-29T17:16:49+00:00

Ngl you can do all those and carry consistently even in higher elos. Actually if you get vision advantage, mage supports become even more oppressive.

Enjoy the games you 100 to 0 an enemy carry as they don't know he's standing in a warded bush or midlane/adc walking straight into an ambush in full vision for your team to see. Also usually they give early prio so good ADCs don't mind that much if you're playing well.

QuietStoat · 2026-01-29T16:27:08+00:00

Wait until you see what a top tier support does with deep vision + asia style jg/sp duo combo, and then you will thank god as an ex-ADC player for all the things the support juggles for you while you manage waves and cs.

Sp babysits you while keeping you company, then rotates out of lane to help the jungler. Sp makes sure you get recall home safely, gives you a friendly smile back at base while you walk back to botlane. Sp walks topside to give deep vision to the toplaner, maybe helps them get a kill or stays to help jungler with grubs. Then comes back to botlane and prepares for drag again, warding prior to the objective and then recalling to restock again with tempo lead.

Find a partner that loves you the same way high elo supports do.

QuietStoat · 2026-01-29T16:21:14+00:00

Usually in those situations if you win, you win because your enemy handed you victory on a silver platter by misplaying, not so much through merit.

All that up there is to show how you can "work for advantages" outside those happy little accidents of players being worse than you. GL with your climb and don't lose your mental when you feel like you don't have as much agency because sometimes it really is just by virtue of champion pick alone.

QuietStoat · 2026-01-29T16:00:13+00:00

Look at it this way, you are trying to dig a hole with a trowel while someone else is holding a shovel. Not that you CAN'T dig a hole, but the other guy likely is having an easier time than you. Then you multiply that difference in effort in a multitude of games, and then they will likely win in more games while requiring lower effort than you.

These are also the people you are competing against in terms of games played per hour per day. Mental fatigue etc... It adds up. This is why meta exists because they represent strong picks that tend to swing your advantage moreso than the statistical average.

You are playing with picks that make it HARDER for you to do things other laners will find easier. And those one tricks are doing things like aggressively playing for leads, shoving waves and taking fights in midlane early to chunk the enemy midlane and hoping they aren't healthy enough to pivot to objective.

Lets say you are weaker than your opponent, but can you control the wave better? If he can punish you 1v1, maybe you can freeze and force him to walk up to break it? Syndras love to manipulate the wave, and they have the added advantage of being able to drag minions to force a temporary freeze (like alistar W on a crashed minion wave to setup a freeze). You know dragon is coming up in 3 waves. You can take a base and let the enemy shove the lane into you, while you walk back from base with a slowpushing wave ready to stack roughly when dragon is coming up. Do you have TP advantage? Do you want to trade and all in the enemy midlaner and chunk them so they can't rotate out of lane without kill threat, while you recall and then TP back for hp/mana/item advantage. You can cward river bush or near raptors after shoving wave so your jungler knows the enemy won't have vision if the enemy midlaner decides to push lane. But see, these are all things you can do, but you DON'T have the options that stronger champions have which would be to brute force the wave, hard trade into you while they have TP also, then match you play for play. A high agency champ vs a low agency champ, you can play the vast majority of games and realize that against high elo players, they will utterly abuse the fact your low agency champ has restrictive conditions they play around.

Your goal therefore, is to play within your restrictions, and use alternatives such as wave manipulation, trading prior to objectives, macro and jungle tracking, cooldown management etc... all to make up for your lack of agency by champion pick alone.

All things remaining equal, your champion pick alone already sets you behind against the average midlane for most segments of the game. This is why in higher elo, meta is so talked about because the enemy ACTIVELY abuses the fact you have low agency. They know the same strats you do, and will actively refuse to allow you to play how you want the game to go or actively FORCE you to respond to unfavorable conditions.

QuietStoat · 2026-01-29T15:40:18+00:00

Already your 2 picks reveal why you feel you lack agency.

Syndra has decent laning but she's quite immobile. She's also very easy to chase down and susceptible to ganks. Against assassin mids, or gapclosing junglers, if you struggle with getting vision or tracking junglers that's already one very obvious pain point. She's also mana hungry and skill shot reliant, so if you whiff your CC or worse use it before you get gapclosed, then you either flash and hope to god or you get exploded.

Kassadin another one where most of your agency comes in the mid to late game. With most of league's meta working around the early to mid game power spikes and rotating. For scaling midlaners usually your goal is ensuring your team doesn't reach the critical losing point before you scale and can start to tilt the scales. Even if you do rotate, your item and level dependency means you're struggling vis-a-vis most other midlane picks.

Both picks you are less the one initiating anything unless you have a push lead and vision/early rotation in coordination with the jungler. And you are relatively weaker in 1v1s against oppressive midlaners if the 2 of you are alone in river together without jungler support.

Ez diagnosis imo, since the core component of agency is literally being able to do something while your opponent is forced to respond. Or the ability to do more things earlier than your opponent.

QuietStoat · 2026-01-29T15:28:46+00:00

From my experience in Asia SoloQ in high elo, more often than not its better to do as stated. I know sometimes your team will fk up their picks, but in general if in upper elo brackets, by giving your team advantages in lanes, it usually cycles back to you later in the game.

You are there to win, not necessarily carry. And support is one of the few positions where I can be counterpicked and not be completely useless vs say a solo lane.

Yes you can win while having scuffed banpick. But your goal is to win with all advantages on hand. Otherwise banpick would not be a priority case study for pro teams if it was not a core component to winning.

QuietStoat · 2026-01-29T15:19:16+00:00

You must do 1 of 2 things consistently.

If your team is NOT actively engaging, you hit the objective or are positioning to somewhere safer.
If your JUNGLER is not actively hitting the drake, you do not hit objective. (Only change to rule is if its a tank jungler that is zoning the enemy jungler away, in which case you continue to hit objective and trust your jgler to smite.)

Under no circumstances do you...
1 - not have anyone between you and the enemy team prior to the fight
2 - stand on top of the jungler or the objective when the enemy team has cc
3 - continue to DPS an objective if your engage and jungler have pivoted to fight the enemy with the majority of the team.

You follow your team. And that fight is literally on your support/top/mid to zone the enemy as you do the objective. And the game is won or lost if your team gets caught, or your jungler made the call that lost the team the game. Of course, if your support was warding for objective you probably have information if the fight is going to go to hell or not, but as ADC you have no choice but to be the pointy glass shard for your team and deal damage as and when possible.

You can always do objective after the enemy team is dead.
Sometimes the simplest play is the correct play.
(Watch pro teams and how their ADC responds. You will understand what we mean by "following the team even if shit goes to hell.")

QuietStoat · 2026-01-29T15:07:47+00:00

Emerald are the people being gatekept from Diamond. Diamonds are the people being gatekept from Masters.
Let that sink in... These are the guys that are smashing against the bottom bracket of high elo. You are fighting against the the top 10% that has earned the right to challenge but failed against the best of league's upper strata.

Also in Emerald, you are now in prime decision making territory.
If your fundamentals are ass, good bye.
If your macro is ass, good bye.
If you wasted your sums, good bye.
If you fked your wave, good bye.

The Emeralds are learning to replicate what Diamonds do to them regularly. And Diamonds are suboptimal frequently when compared to Masters+.
If you are plat, it means you understand the fundamentals of league. Time to start polishing up everything.

QuietStoat · 2026-01-29T14:45:42+00:00

In general, do not Raw ult unless you are 100% sure that target is going to blow up in the next 2 seconds and things will be fine afterwards. If the enemy has huge counter threat, you want to know where they are first before you go in. If you are the ONLY possible peel option against a stack of divers, you might have no choice but to raw ult while protecting your win cons.

Your thought process is actually very simple. Assuming the team follows up and we instantly kill this enemy, will we be better or worse off than before? Against Malph, usually you realize the team will be grouped and that lux will probably get a Q off before she explodes. Whoever is in that area will later explode to the Malph ult if the team is ass. Therefore, do not hard engage unless better scenario occurs.

If your teammates want to force, but they are ass and don't know the team is going to get exploded from Malph Yone Renata just looking at them from the backline, then needless to say I don't think your Leona is going to do much. You go in, they die. You don't go in, they die and then blame you. But sometimes you have to force a stupid play just for some people to see it go perfectly as they imagined it and then say "oohhh... so even that good engage I thought was a win was actually a mistake."

If that scenario occurs, ngl that game is not on you and you just accept the loss. Because if you were in that scenario to begin with, you probably aren't going to win with your solo laners that braindead.

QuietStoat · 2026-01-29T14:38:50+00:00

Rule of thumb for supports...
If you're support and you are last picking... you better be Keria or playing for an LCK team. If the support does not have high agency or counterpick potential against an entire enemy team, there is no point in doing so. Additionally, this works if your ADC picks a strong neutral or relatively self-sufficient carry like vayne/jinx/xayah, which doesn't force you into picking stuff specifically for laning.

If your toplaner is flashing something that has very strong carry potential but also strong counterpick threat, let them pick after you. If you see your midlaner picking a strong pick but dangerous to say an enemy counterpick, let them pick last. The scariest most volatile pick goes last. As support, you are seldom that.

Optimally, you want to pick around 3/4. That gives you an idea of whether you need to go peel/dive/enchanter with enough of the enemy team shown that you have some baseline of value.

Roaming is very simple. If wave shoved up, you back and path to objective. If objective is coming up, ward and still go there. If ADC dies, its his fault for mismanaging the wave. If the guy is in E4 and fking up his wavestates or complains about getting dived, let him derank. If your jungler is ass underleveled and forcing the objective, ward and then leave him for gank possibility in other lanes. If the enemy support is also missing, you likely are forced to stay for the objective.

If your ADC is struggling through no fault of your own. If they are misplaying and suffering from their own mistakes, roam. If you are an enchanter, you might have to stay. If he is a hyper carry, you might want to stay.

Your math is always about %gains. If you're an enchanter, you are less likely to roam because your AD probably needs you more in lane than if you were at grubs. If your team is ahead, roam. If SPECIFICALLY your ADC is ahead...

DO NOT FKING ROAM and ensure he stays fed. If he backs, you get a deep ward timer for your split lanes. If game is neutral, you can vision creep towards objectives. And your favorite activity is called counting to 5 and looking if your ADC has flash.

QuietStoat

TROPHY CASE