Elo Hell Is NOT Real

Competitive Discussion
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“Elo hell” is one of the worst terms i’ve created in ladder gaming. It’s the belief that one is trapped in a rank due to external factors and not their own skill.

The problem with elo is that it’s objectively not true.

Yes, in theory it’s easier to climb with DPS because they could just get picks. However, they’re people every season who rank up solo via ALL the roles (Off tank, Main tank, Damage, Main Healer, Off healer). And yes, many characters are easier to climb than others. If you’re a sick Pharah, Genji, Cree, Widow, Zarya, ML7, Sombra, Doomfist, Jjonak, Dafran, Fissure, OGE, etc, you will climb.

Even WITH meta shifts.

However, it’s beyond “gitgud.”

I use a term called “Elo Variance” because that’s what it truly is. There’s vairance and discrepancies between the ranks.

-Bronze 8%
-Silver 21%
-Gold 32%
-Plat 25%
-Diamond 10%
-Masters 3%
-GM 1%
-Top500

People forget, smurfs play more than just DPS. They’re supprot smurfs and also tank smurfs, yes they’er more rare but they still happen. You don’t notice them as much because more than likely you haven’t seen top level gameplay from all the tiers. For example, if a Rein back shatters me, I’m 90% sure it’s a smurf because it rarely ever happens in my elo.

That also being said. The variance comes from mathmatical numbers within the population.

In gold, it’s true, people start to understand the game a little bit, but most players are bad, ESPECIALLY DPS mains. I literally get gold damage as Zen at 5-6k all the time even I dip back in Gold for variance reasons, which is EXTRMELY rare.

Plat is where they’re the most mixed variation of skill because you find the most smurfs, players that were boosted and dropping to gold, players who got lucky from variance and landed in plat, and players who their mechanical skill carried them thus they placed in it. That’s why many people consider plat to be the hardest rank to climb out of, because your’e climbing to Diamond, which is top 10% of the player base, thus it has the most variance.

Variance, are the variables that are out of your control. I don’t ignore it, thus people sometimes are confused by my stances with comp. It’s your 5 other teammates, enemy team, and your own connection. ESPECIALLY in solo q, you get leavers/DCers, smurfs, 3-4dps, people who straight up don’t play roles, no tanks (especially main), no main support, boosted players, support’s who only heal tanks, feedhogs, feedvas, feedfists, feedbras, a hanzo who shoots a random arrow and kills you, throwers, bad picks etc, but the enemy team also get’s these factors as well. So for every 7 BS lose streak you, get, you can get a 7 bs win streak.

I personally do not know how often these happen per game, I think it’s around 1 in 3 games, which is STILL 66% thus you can climb. But they’re very annoying, believe me, I know.

I also believe SR is more of an average, not a true number of skill. I believe its plus or minus 100 where you probably belong. But you yourself don’t truly know.

You also learn where you belong from SR drops. I lose 200-300 SR all the time, but climb it back. I’m like Goku in space chamber flying to Namek.

I hear all the time “I couldn’t get out of x rank, next season I got played higher, then i went to Plat/Diamond(or even Masters)”.

It’s called conditioning. You PLAYED with BETTER players thus your natural skill increased. This is one of the reasons why I climbed so fast out of Gold. A few seasons back, I played PUGs with Diamonds and low Masters, people in different ranks don’t play the same. From doing so, it make Gold easier for me, and I climbed all the way to 2880. Also the best advice I ever obtained was from GM/Top500 players. I recommend listening to them to climb, not Diamond/Masters DPS players who say “gitgud , itZ abOuT u.” because its more than that.

Personally, I think there needs to be a random to rank between Plat and Diamond, because the skill gap is so extreme.

But overall, Elo hell is a myth.

-E.G.

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Yes, those are the people that work extra hard to do so. They are the minority, and therefore are not part of the equation.

Overwatch was balanced specifically so that a team is needed to kill enemies. Every hero’s damage, speed, and so forth is nerfed. We all move like turtles, and we all do potato damage because that’s how the game was built.

The minority of people can climb solo because they’re working extra hard to do so, because that’s not how OW is designed, and they’ve unfortunately accepted that tough lifestyle. It’s abnormal. So, they are abnormal people. What’s worse, is they think it’s normal and therefore expect the majority to do the same, and preach what you’re preaching now that elo hell doesn’t exist.

Pathetic.

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The game is clearly dps focused. The game is balanced around Tracer That’s proof of this. But its more than just damage. Positoning alone can make you go from silver to gold.

Damage honestly some people say is too high, i think it’s fine for how the game is. I’ve climbed from out of silver in 2 hours with 76. But from Gold to almost Diamond from playing support and tank 100% solo. And my personal goal is to make it to mid Diamond by myself without doing DPS to prove a point. Overwatch is beyond just an FPS. Things like ult usage wins games. That’s one reason why I love Zen so much.

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Ah it’s my fav forum based Zen main, still on the quest to get up into 3k… Hopefully this is the season for ya…

Peeking as your stats it looks like ya got up to mid 2.8k and then had some horrible freefall 1-11 run smashed you back to Gold. Ouch.

I’m guessing that was due to horrible team being you broke a whole lot of “don’t” rule by playing comp over this weekend. As in new event, new hero release, new patch release, still early in season and of course most of all it was the first weekend of a new event/patch/hero release… all during summer time. Yeeeeeeaaaah, not the best time to grind comp unless one is already well up into 3k range.

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2882 basiaclly 2900 if you round up, 5 games out from Diamond.

I’m back in plat, dude. It was a normal lost streak + hardware issues. But I climbed back and i’m at 2700 i’m 11 and 3 and I would be 12 but I had to make a phone call. I don’t worry about SR dips. All SR dips do is just make me better at the game.

I fotgot about the rule, dude.I keep forgetting

  1. Don’t play with events
  2. Don’t play with free weekends/discounts

it explains the smurfs/bots on my team but it happens.

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Bronze player here. With the Introduction of LFG it’s much more apparent how many throwers there are.

When queuing for comp I see ~1/3-2/3 of groups are specifically made for throwing. Not all of them are 6 stack; some are 4 and even 2 stack. These groups, from what I have observed, have a high turnover rate. They are titled things like “road to bronze” and “throw to 0 SR.”

This is only the groups.

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This is obvious sarcasm but the amount of people who actually believe this on these forums amazes me.

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Elo hell does exist.It only happens to a select Individuals who’s entire gaming career of a game is turned into brutal difficulty while others climb with ease.

This is clearly obvious when the skill of an individual is much more higher than the rest of his teammates.the individual sees the obvious observation where his teammates clearly do not belong at their rank while provided he isn’t a dinger himself.1 human 5 monkeys.

Matches become death defying as the individual has to make no mistakes and play like a god.

Quote from fosxdroplol ," you are a gnome ina room full of trolls but in order to carry solo queue you have to be an ogre".

You + Bad players Vs decent players.You must be a god.This elo hell sets an unbreakable curse which eventually will have its limits as the player reaches his max level.

The elo hell happened for me in league of legends where matches were simply about me doing all the work going all around the map until platinum.

There’s only one way elo hell can be eliminated and that is to set people to the rank they truly belong.This helps the human to be teamed with 5 other humans instead of 5 other monkeys against five other humans in which 1 or 2 of them might be smurfing which sets the difficulty standards higher.

For those who claim elo hell doesn’t exist you lack awareness and are ignorant.For you should be greatful blizzard/riot games gives you easy mode match making where all you have to do is play half heartedly with minimum effort and still win.coming into the forums telling elo hell surviving gods like me it doesn’t exist.

You have a shiny sword.Not a single dent on it and you’re at a masters.

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You just think you are better than you actually are. The enemy team is just as bad as yours most of the time, the only constant is you. The matchmaker is not the reason you are almost level 1000 and still in silver.

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I don’t think I’m better I know I’m better.
If I know your better and tell myself whatever you just said I would be an ignorant fool.

Because if I told myself ,I am the same as my teammates therefore we all suck and we will help ourselves out together.Be realistic please.we will lose all those matches.because I slacked off and played half heartedly with minimum effort.like any casual that comes into the forum spouting nonsense without experience.

I am the good player I’m doing the work I am improving I am carrying I am killing I am on the point while my teams dead.I musnt die or else my team does instantly.i must stay alive and kill the enemies.i am doing the work.I CLIMB.

Just imagine if I’m masters you wouldn’t say such a thing but because I’m silver you judged me easily.You suck get good.come back at me when you experience elo hell and carry all your matches alone.

Don’t bother most people aren’t capable of being gods.Just be a mortal and get carried.

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You know all those idiot teammates that are totally holding you back? Yeah, they think the same as you - they think they are better and you are the one holding them back. You’re not as good as you think you are, and you need to accept that. I’d be saying the same thing if you were masters crying about how you should be GM or t500.

Stop worrying about carrying and worry about contributing. If you keep treating the game as 1v6 when you have 5 others by your side, then you are going to keep staying stuck in silver.

But hey, what do I know? I’m just a guy who bottomed out at 1600 and peaked at 4000.

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Wrong, check wikipedia for the exact Definition pls.

How can something be objectivly true or untrue if it’s a completly subjective condition?

Thy for describing Elo hell, even if you call it something different.

Only works if you subscribe to the “can’t win” following of the term, which you seem to do. For the rest of us normal/sensible people getting a bs win streak is a problem too. Because winning against a troll/thrower/leaver team feels so mega good, right?

Also the variance of the people arround you got reduced, so win/win.

a random rank? pls elaborate

The thing is as I have statet before, that there are multiple types of skill to this game. A Master or GM propably as maxed them all, and a bronze lacks in all of them. But in Gold and Plat you have people with good aim but bs gamesense, people with bs aim and genius level comp building and people with medium aim, medium gamesense and medium strategy. And everyone is on each other throats for “obviously being bad” because Guy A can see that Guy B doesn’T hit anythingbut Guy B can see that Guy A is being hard countered and Guy C sits outside span and spams “group up”… THAT is Elo hell!!! The overwhelming need to murder your own teammates. Born out of this is the hope that on higher SR this would not happen → people want to climb away but continue to blame their teammates obviously.
If you claim that Elo hell is “being stuck in a rank” then you only look at the symptom of the illness and failed your medical exam.

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  1. Elo Hell - The belief they’re ranked below their skill level and can’t get out or they’re tracked in a rank via external factors.

  2. It’s not objectively true because people IN those ranks in those SAME guys and play the SAME heroes climb. And i mean SOLO Q, however they’re a bias with heroes and roles when i comes to solo climbing.

  3. No i described Elo hell.

  4. They’re games where you can’t win. Unwinable games happens, but mostly it’s a role issue. For example, let’s say its 2cp assault and your pharah can’t counter a Mei and they have no hit scan, and your Zarya can’t get grav, and no one your team focuses the shield but you as Rein keeps having your shield break. THAT’s, an unwinable game. Kabaji made a Flex only stream where he would only pick games and lost games in plat. He said the hardest role to carry is main tank, he is correct.

  5. The problem with Platnium is that platinium has the most skill variance out of any other rank because the gap in skill from Plat to Diamond is VERY extreme. It’s infested with

-Smurfs place in plat
-People with mechanical skill place in plat
-Boosted players drop to plat
-People who start to "gitgud’ out of gold get into plat and start to understand game sense
-People in Diamond with natural lose streaks end up in plat
Etc

There is no game sense in gold what so ever. Game sense STARTS in plat. I went from 2880 to 2400 to 2770 in a span of 3 days from variance. Gold and Plat are NOT the same, the DPS in Gold are bots. The off tanks are half bots. The main ranks basically don’t press W but when they do they get no back up from the DPS. People pick Ana in gold, which is basically throwing. A D’va, Widow, and 76/Cree cant kill a pharah mercy. Pharah is basically overpowered until plat.
Or you’ll have 3 dps but silver ot gold damage at like 7k… As rein.

The best way to climb is to ignore the BS

“You’re not as good as you think you are, accept it. stop treating the game like you’re carrying, gitgud, role doesn’t matter.” That’s not advice, its basically them stroking their gratification with their rank.’

If you want to climb, across all roles, positioning can make you go from silver to gold alone, and gold to plat, that’s game fundamentals such as predicting enemy ults and tellnig your team, compensation, understanding basic counters, and watching top500 players.

For example, as Rein. Back shatter enemy teams. It works.

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It’s true about plat tho. Been playing in plat this season and people genuinely feel like they’re either smurfs or boosted players from bronze only a handful of players that are actually on plat level. I placed at 2800 and dropped to almost 2500 and went back up finally I am at exactly 50% winrate at 3004sr and I’m hoping to continue on climbing as a solo queue flex player.

Considering after 100 games of so many throwers, smurfs, derankers, trolls I thought I’d be out of my mind by now but seeing that you can climb out of a certain rank means you shouldn’t always blame it on teammates but should look at yourself when you see you’re losing and try to improve. And less toxic you are the easier it will be to climb like seriously praising a team actually makes them perform even better and the exact opposite happens when you’re trash talking them…

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When did the term “elo hell” come to mean climbing with DPS?

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No. Many people falsely think that it is, but no.

That was not my point. Again, it’s not about winning. Do you even read what I write?

Thats a bit of a generalization, woudn’t you say? Then tell me whats “Gamesense” for you? Because reading the flow of battle belongs to it for me, and some of us Goldies don’t feed and try to group up and follow pushes after a secured kill.

never claimed that.

You seem to have an very hatefull view of Gold players for bashing out like this completly out of context. Weren’t we talking about Elo hell? All you talk about is how bad gold is and that it’s all about winning games when it’s not. I’m confused.

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I think this whole thing started with the wrong definition of ELO Hell.

ELO Hell is the area in rank where the QUALITY of games are diminished. This is typically due to increased uncertainty within a specific ranking area by the ELO ranking system. The uncertainty exists because of factors outside of the players control, such as griefers, leavers, disconnects, matching with unranked players, matching with players doing their preliminary matches, matching with brand new players.

Are you more likely to run into leavers in high ranks or low ranks? Are you more likely to run into smurfs at high ranks or low ranks? Are you more likely to run into griefers at high ranks or low ranks? These sorts of things tend to pile up around the same rank categories, contributing to poor quality games across that category.

The problem with this area is that winning/losing is almost entirely based on luck. Half the time you’ll have a “rank anomaly” on your team, which results in a higher chance of getting a lost. The other half, the anomaly will be on the other team, resulting in a higher chance of a win. These factors will contribute to keeping your rank stagnant.

ELO Hell exists in every game that uses an ELO style system with multiple players (The system was designed for 1v1 matches in chess tournaments). No system in the world has even 80% matchmaking certainty across all levels in team based games, though there are ways to adjust your ranking algorithm to detect bad quality games and make ELO adjustments based on them.

People here are asking for better QUALITY games.

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I used to think there was, but after I focused on actually improving specific things rather than just winning games I found I naturally gain Sr. People who believe in elo hell are stuck at a rank cos they arent improving. I used to be gold/plat then took the mindset of improving specific things and I hit gm today, its about having the correct approach to the game.

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Dude…you’re not helping…

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There’s nothing the discounts the “you got lucky” aspect of all this. Winning/Losing is determined by coin flip, there’s bound to be a subset of people who managed to get 5 or 10 heads in a row and allowed out of the mess. There will also be those who get 5 or 10 tails in a row and get buried deeper in the lower ranks.

The “I did it, so anybody can!” doesn’t actually work when the quality of games are so low. That philosophy just screams of bad fad diets and marketing for lotteries and raffles.