Stuck in Silver

[Unmanned715 2]

Anybody out there in the Storm, that can give some helpful hints on getting out of Silver League?  This seems to be like trying to ice skate uphill, I've been told to heal my way into gold, but it seems to be a never ending battle.  Much appreciated!  

[Lorebot 1]

the trench is real man...once you get in you're very unlikely to get out. Grand Master players have proven this by purposely getting placed in bronze or silver on smurf accounts and then trying to get up to plat, none of the ones that have tried it have succeeded to my knowing.

Your best chance afaik is to just wait till next season and try to place higher to start...if you place in bronze or silver you're pretty much screwed for the season.

[DehZah 1]

Hey Unmanned. I definitely know that feeling. It can feel impossible at times. but it really isn't. It's a question of figuring out common deficiencies at your rank. Work on your mechanics. Where to stand in a teamfight. What abilities to pop in what order. Stutter stepping. Keeping track of enemy CC if you can do all that your ability to carry goes way up because you start thinking ahead of the enemy and depending on the support you pick you can completely nullify a lot of what they do. Game sense is useful too. Always have an eye on what you should be doing on the map and an idea of what the enemy is currently doing. To that end, have a look at what your teammates are doing. Sometimes its better to go with the teammate making the wrong decision because then at least you're grouped and there's a chance it might end well. Versus splitting at a crucial moment and then losing the value of your correct decision because of a 4 or 3 man wipe. If you focus on these things and try to keep calm you'll get out of silver in no time.

Also watch replay analysis and streamers. Look at what they do and keep it in mind as you play.

[Unmanned715 2]

That's kinda what I figured. I'll work on the grinding until next season.  Thanks for the reply.

[xevex 41]

I got placed in Bronze 3 then got to Silver 4 now im on my demotion game on Silver 5. 
The placement method is seriously flawed people in silver dont even know what waveclearing is. Majority of them have no idea what their doing. Map awareness non-existent. I would suggest play heroes that you are good with. Tanks, Assassins can carry pretty good. Supports just cant. Atleast not in Silver. I usually play Lunara, Chromie, Hanzo and just get kills get the waveclear because your teammates wont do it they gonna be chasing teamfights and dying while you gonna be waveclearing and doing camps. Heroes that can do a lot of this stuff are good. Kelthuzad is also a good choice imo since if youre good with him you can setup 2 or even 3 kills. Actually if you want to just get out of there buy Varian and go twinblade. Silver players have no idea what to do with him. I bought Maiev maybe shell carry me :D
The funny thing is the best player i saw from Bronze 5 to Silver 4 were in Bronze 4. No idea why.

I actually saw a guy getting from bronze to GM. But that might have been a long time ago.

 

Edited February 8, 2018 by xevex

[Oblivionus 3]

I don't quite agree.

It's true that I never made it past silver, but I did work myself up to Silver 1 before I rebounded again.
So it's probably possible - in theory.

But I often play Support and from my experience a good support player can certainly save the day if the rest of the team doesn't consist of suicidal lemmings, lunatics or just plain griefers (then you will lose anyway).
Not that I want to lable myself good, or I wouldn't be in Bronze 1 at the moment, but compared to some people playing healers I think I am doing fine (for this level of play).

I am actually fed up with the solo players that think they can "carry" anything. Yeah sure they may do lots of damage or clean camps or whatever else and end up with good stats in the score screen, maybe even MVP (for what it's worth - next to nothing).
That doesn't make them good players IMO if they consistently fail to show up in time for important team fights or die at some inopportune moment because they are overextended (and alone).

[Peaches9 15]

Hi, since this is something I've been going through myself, I thought I'd share some insight here. I was gold 1 last season, then got placed silver 3 at the start of this season. At first, I was also gonna quit HL for the rest of the season, then after some prodding from friends, decided to pull myself at least into gold. I accomplished this after a couple weeks, and I'm currently gold 3.

My main revelation here was: yes, it can be done, but don't expect it to be fast. I saw a wise post on battlenet a while back: in the lower leagues, the variance between players is pretty huge, and one terrible player can doom your team. Thus, the team with the worst player is very likely to lose. All you can do is ensure that you aren't the worst player, which means there's a 5/9 chance that that player is on the other team, giving you a 55.55% win rate. Yes, this means you won't rocket upward (it takes about 45 games to gain a division at this rate), but you will rise. Indeed, my win rate was just a little higher than this over this time. I do realize that an elite player can make enough of an impact to compensate for one or even multiple terrible teammates and win more often than that, but this requires some serious skill.

As for game specifics, I make sure to pick someone with passable waveclear, no matter what role I'm in (I try to avoid support whenever I can, but this is partly personal preference). People in these leagues are slow to respond to pushes, and this gives you something to do when your team is split up/dead. My roster is something like this:

Damage: Greymane, Kael'thas

Tank: Blaze, Diablo

Bruiser: Leoric, Artanis

Spec: Nazeebo, Sylvanas

I particularly enjoy Nazeebo, since he actually rewards you for laning. The Plague of Toads build provides you with outstanding sustained damage and a surprising amount of tankiness. If you get to 20 and have your stacks completed, you can effectively carry a game from there, even if your team's other damage is poor. However, don't try to play him on every map. On Towers of Doom and Battlefield of Eternity, you can't stack effectively without putting your team at a disadvantage during objective fights.

Also, people in silver think they're a helluva lot smarter than they are. Don't worry about ignoring their drafting and decision making tips (but do stay with them, even if they make a bad move as a group). If it helps, even mute chat/pings so you don't tilt. Best of luck!

Edited February 8, 2018 by Peaches9

[Chaser 1]

I think that it is nearly impossible to get out of Silver in Hero League. However, I managed to get to Gold 5 in Team League in a team of two. In Silver players tend to pick heroes they want to play, not the ones that are necessary for good team composition. The only way to play well in Silver is to play as much as possible and hope for better placement in the next season. 

Edited February 8, 2018 by Chaser

[xevex 41]

On 2/8/2018 at 9:08 AM, Oblivionus said:

if the rest of the team doesn't consist of suicidal lemmings, lunatics or just plain griefers

thats the majority of playerbase in silver/bronze. 

On 2/8/2018 at 9:08 AM, Oblivionus said:

I am actually fed up with the solo players that think they can "carry" anything. Yeah sure they may do lots of damage or clean camps or whatever else and end up with good stats in the score screen, maybe even MVP (for what it's worth - next to nothing).
That doesn't make them good players IMO if they consistently fail to show up in time for important team fights or die at some inopportune moment because they are overextended (and alone).

I dont think you understand what "carrying" means. It means that one player carries a team to victory. If an azmodan doesnt even bother to come to objective hes not "carrying". lol Its not about stats. 

21 hours ago, Chaser said:

I think that it is nearly impossible to get out of Silver in Hero League. However, I managed to get to Gold 5 in Team League in a team of two. In Silver players tend to pick heroes they want to play, not the ones that are necessary for good team composition. The only way to play well in Silver is to play as much as possible and hope for better placement in the next season. 

Not only that. There are 1000 morons who are leveling up their 20% winrate Illidans. 

[Joeynesp 3]

On 2/6/2018 at 2:56 AM, Unmanned715 said:

Anybody out there in the Storm, that can give some helpful hints on getting out of Silver League?  This seems to be like trying to ice skate uphill, I've been told to heal my way into gold, but it seems to be a never ending battle.  Much appreciated!  

My advice is to literally lower your expectations when going into these low ELO games, do your best to back up the team and just learn interactions/mechanics also learn what skills too pick against the match up, I also found people in low ELO try and play the meta characters on the sole reason that they're "meta" but if you can play a solid character good it's better then trying characters you're not comfortable with because they're meta champs.

[Joeynesp 3]

On 2/8/2018 at 3:08 AM, Oblivionus said:

I don't quite agree.

It's true that I never made it past silver, but I did work myself up to Silver 1 before I rebounded again.
So it's probably possible - in theory.

But I often play Support and from my experience a good support player can certainly save the day if the rest of the team doesn't consist of suicidal lemmings, lunatics or just plain griefers (then you will lose anyway).
Not that I want to lable myself good, or I wouldn't be in Bronze 1 at the moment, but compared to some people playing healers I think I am doing fine (for this level of play).

I am actually fed up with the solo players that think they can "carry" anything. Yeah sure they may do lots of damage or clean camps or whatever else and end up with good stats in the score screen, maybe even MVP (for what it's worth - next to nothing).
That doesn't make them good players IMO if they consistently fail to show up in time for important team fights or die at some inopportune moment because they are overextended (and alone).

Heroes isn't exactly a game you can carry anyway the cheesy line of " you're only as strong as your weakest link" is sorta the truth for heroes, its about cooperating and taking those objectives. Strong combat skills won't bring you instant success in the nexus.

[Aasgier 36]

16 hours ago, Joeynesp said:

My advice is to literally lower your expectations when going into these low ELO games, do your best to back up the team and just learn interactions/mechanics also learn what skills too pick against the match up, I also found people in low ELO try and play the meta characters on the sole reason that they're "meta" but if you can play a solid character good it's better then trying characters you're not comfortable with because they're meta champs.

This. This can even be taken to the extreme at low ranks (and Unranked, too) - I've seen some bizarre teams just carry out wins because everybody just picked something they were comfortable with (and no one was salty about it), even if it meant that the team missed one or two crucial roles. I've seen teams without tank, DPS and support, or even two of these, just fight their to victory simply because everybody was comfortable.

This being said, I'm stuck in Bronze 5, so you can always do worse :P . I entered in Bronze 5, and so many people are just AFK/exceptionally bad there, that the question is more "which team has the least number of these players" than anything else, because you really can't carry those teams.

Edit: That being said, I'm not a good player - hell, if you say I'm bad I probably agree and if someone tells me I did this and that wrong without being an ass about it I'm inclined to accept what he says (and try not to make that mistake again). However, I do feel I'm better than at least a significant group of players that actually resides in Bronze 5.

 

Edited February 11, 2018 by Aasgier

[Morcalivan 86]

Been going between Bronze 3 and 4 for a little while now. Started Bronze 5 since I skipped Quick Match to do placement before season ended. Bad idea on my part as I was just starting out.

On top of people choosing bad role combinations, there are people who ignore objectives completely and purposely throw matches on a regular basis. So while you may get an average team and start a winning streak you then run into those players and start losing constantly. So while I found that Murky and Abathur will get me a high win streak/ratio, there are many times where the roles prevent me from going that route. Sometimes that's fine and we work well togetger and I can use a Malth on eternity or a Guldan on Spider for a huge impact, but other times ya grab something for the team due to their role choices and then they just decide to finish picks with bad roles or throw the match by ignoring objectives or creating a stream of 1v3+. 

I get that people get flanked or caught unable to run or just surprised. But sometimes it's like a train that is slowly running itself off a cliff and no one has the intelligence to unhook themselves or jump off.

Then there are the people who pick fights with each other and throw matches. Or they think your choice is bad so they give up before starting.

Kinda hard to get any kind of good win ratio when a portion of your games are sabotaged. Technically I still have it and will in time continue to advance but it takes its toll when you know it's really not up to you at all.

[VegaPl 88]

On 11.02.2018 at 6:06 PM, Aasgier said:

Edit: That being said, I'm not a good player - hell, if you say I'm bad I probably agree and if someone tells me I did this and that wrong without being an ass about it I'm inclined to accept what he says (and try not to make that mistake again). However, I do feel I'm better than at least a significant group of players that actually resides in Bronze 5.

I know the feels bro. But on the fair side, every time I think that, I go through my last loss in my head. And yes, most cases I am mechanically better than most, I'd even say that my strategic thinking is on a very decent level. I also tried playing all the characters in the game, so I know their abilities and basics. But then, there are always these moments that can throw those things off - all the single bad decisions that I sometimes take. Chasing somebody to finish them off, dying in the process, or pushing a lone tower and dying ganked for no apparent reason. I believe that this is precisely the shit that distinguishes me and "good" players. Being more patient or simply less risky, ideally both.

[Aasgier 36]

11 hours ago, VegaPl said:

I know the feels bro. But on the fair side, every time I think that, I go through my last loss in my head. And yes, most cases I am mechanically better than most, I'd even say that my strategic thinking is on a very decent level. I also tried playing all the characters in the game, so I know their abilities and basics. But then, there are always these moments that can throw those things off - all the single bad decisions that I sometimes take. Chasing somebody to finish them off, dying in the process, or pushing a lone tower and dying ganked for no apparent reason. I believe that this is precisely the shit that distinguishes me and "good" players. Being more patient or simply less risky, ideally both.

Yeah, I make those tactical mistakes quite often, especially with Assassins. That and my aim with them is just garbage.

However, that's nothing compared to "Let's go AFK because we lost a fort first" shenanigans that some players in Bronze 5 are fond of.

[Oblivionus 3]

10 hours ago, Aasgier said:

However, that's nothing compared to "Let's go AFK because we lost a fort first" shenanigans that some players in Bronze 5 are fond of.

I have seen that in Silver 5 enough to last a lifetime.

[Aasgier 36]

2 hours ago, Oblivionus said:

I have seen that in Silver 5 enough to last a lifetime.

Ew,..

I think my fellow players are the biggest reason why I enjoy playing against the AI more than PvP. Players tend to be less of an *ss in PvE. Doesn't go for Heroes of the Storm only, goes for literally all games that PvE is much more casual and friendly in general. Sometimes there's a lot of fooling around and the rare loss (only really possible against Elite AI I think) is usually laughed at.

Edited February 13, 2018 by Aasgier

[Neain2008 0]

as someone who just got out of silver I think the best advice I have (other than just keep playing and eventually you will get out) is learn when to NOT do things. Learn when to not chase (most of the time), learn when NOT to keep fighting and recall back to base (most of the time around 20% or higher hp), learn when not to do that either cause early waves are full of xp.

Yes learning specifics of things help, but the biggest thing that I feel helped me was when I made the decision to stop chasing kills and to look at the minimap before I go after things (forts, mercs, etc)

I made it out of silver after 3 seasons, I hope you do better :D

Edited March 1, 2018 by Neain2008
Capitalization

[laboitedechoco 0]

title could have been "stuck in bronze" . Ranking feel so horrible in bronze/silver (my experience, dont know how it is higher xD)

was silver1, down to bronze3, back to silver, currently in bronze1. Always the same each season

I'm average player, most of my ranking seems to be due to troll, or in my team, or in other team (dc, bad pick, troll game, very poor anticipation at key moment). May be 1on5 feels a good game with 9 other concerned players (close win/loss)

once, i lost like 10 match in a row. always something very wrong on my side..

 

DC seems to be the more often the reason of my PITA.

> I dont understand why Blizz doesn't moderate the result in this case (dc get full penality while other get a draw?) : it is sooooo frustrating

 

what bother me a lot is that i still play with troll/dc folks. i dont understand why they can't be sent in their hell. Let the fair player play against other fair players only.

[Morcalivan 86]

Now in Silver since I spent time this season in QM first. No difference in playstyle than Bronze from what I can tell. People continue to ignore everything and try to either play as if deathmatch or a single player adventure. Camps and ovjectives and xp laning are all done at all the wrong times. Constant suicide. Honestly it just isn't worth waiting and drafting when I can just QM for the same experience.

Edited April 21, 2018 by Morcalivan

[Trensicourt 5]

The suggestion is to spend a lot of time in QM and skip a season. The better you get at QM, the higher your mmr. When the next season starts, HL placements will get your placements from QM mmr.

Also, the reason why most people are in Silver Hell is that they deserve some part of it. I know a GM player who smurfed with an above 70% winrate from bronze to gold. He picked the best carry hero for the meta - Falstad, for nearly every game and got through easily.

[AbouMba 0]

Here is an advice from someone that went from bronze 2 to silver 1 in a 5 days.

When I started HL, people advised me to have at least 2 heroes in each role that i can play. So i did so(Valla genji raynor kerrigan Thrall Jaina  ETC Stitches Uther Stukov azmo sylv and some others...)

So every game I was the fill in the gap dude that says prepick and I complete. But the fact is with this mentality i was passive. If my teammate were better i won and if they weren't i lose. With a winrate around 50% I was just stuck in bronze 2 where placement games threw me.

So I just stopped HL because it wasn't fun anymore and i was just playing QM and unranked. I was just playing 3 heroes: valla, uther and a lot of genji, a lot. Now I have pretty good mechanics with genji and uther and i still need some improvement on valla.

In HL now, i just play genji unless banned or my teamates already picked assassins in which case I play uther cause with these picks, if two teams are on the same lvl of play, i know i can make the difference.

So there is my advice: take two or three heroes that is good overall and you enjoy playing , play them a lot in QM or draft until you feel like your mechanics are almost perfect then just play them in HL

Don't listen to your teammate telling you that your hero is not good against opponents or not good on the map, just play those because at low elo, the impact of draft and team composition on the game is neglected since people don't have good mechanics yet. And if they start being toxic, just shut up and show them in game cause you are better since you played your hero a lot.

I had a game where oppenent picked Cassia butcher and lili and I last picked valla. All my team was insulting me cause valla is weak against them. I just muted them and played. So the whole game butcher and cassia was focusing thrall and anub so i just stayed behind them and AA. I finished MVP with 9/7/1 and best hero damage.