Video link if you're lazy to read

ELO Hell is a topic that often comes up when players talk about climbing the ranks, especially in lower divisions. In general, players will blame losses on ELO Hell because, despite their "good" performances, they're weighed down by their teammates or other factors.

Today, I'm going to try to answer the question, "Does ELO Hell Exist? And if it does, how do I get out of it?"

Where exactly is ELO Hell?

Although the term ELO Hell is more common amongst lower-ranked players, there isn't really a set rank by which ELO Hell starts and ends.

Some say that ELO Hell ends at Gold because that's where players have a decent understanding of the game and have the aim to back it up, but I don't think that's accurate.

Others will tell you that Platinum is the true ELO Hell because that's where even the best players get stuck. If you look at any unranked to immortal video, you'll see that their ranked progression starts to slow down once they hit plat.

So where exactly is ELO Hell? To find the answer, I looked into the different problems of the lower ranks (which are Iron, Bronze, and Silver) and the Middle Ranks (which are Gold and Platinum). By looking at the problems, my goal is to pinpoint where players are going wrong and what it means to be stuck there.

In order to be as precise as possible, I watched a bunch of streamers, reviewed VODS, and interviewed players for the course of a week. Please keep in mind, that at best, this is a very informal study, and it's just my take on the whole ELO hell situation.

The Findings

I found that ELO Hell does exist, but not in the way players are thinking about it. It isn't tied to a specific rank, but a spectrum of problems that changes the higher up you go.

Now, let me explain.

In the lower ranks of Iron, Bronze, and Silver, there are a bunch of things that make climbing difficult. Here, players usually lack both the awareness and game sense to make good decisions and the mechanical skill to capitalize on enemy mistakes. When I talk about mechanical skill, I mean that most low ranked players aren't complete players. They might have great raw aim, but don't have the fundamentals down (like peeking, isolating angles, x-hair placement). Aside from that, there's the problem of rampant toxicity and smurfs.

These are big problems, but I think the biggest and most glaring problem in the lower ranks is the lack of good comms and team play. In a game like Valorant, playing as a team is essential to winning the match. Even if you have worse players, the team with better coordination will generally win more rounds.

Because of these problems, I can see why players tend to blame ELO Hell because of the coin flip nature of teammates since a lot of people just don't know what they're doing.

It gets a bit trickier when you hit Gold and Plat. Players in these ranks will have pretty decent aim but still lack game sense and good decision making. There's a saying that I think applies to these ranks specifically and that is "All Aim, No Brain." I've seen some plat players have insane aim that can rival immortals, and I'm not even joking.

However, I find that these ranks are even more toxic than the lower ones because this is where people start to build ego. To be fair, statistically, if you're in gold, you're already in the top 30% of players.

Still, the lack of good comms and teamwork can make it feel like you're fighting an uphill battle. While players are a bit more knowledgeable, it makes the experience downright unenjoyable when you have a toxic player on your team. These problems are also valid.

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The Mindset Problem

But as I interviewed more and more players that were hard stuck in their ranks, one thing remained constant: The feeling of doing well but being weighed down by teammates. Usually, this means top fragging but still not winning. Before anything, I just want to say that kills aren't everything, but the impact your kills have on the round is what's important. Getting 1 kill while being the entry for your team is a lot more valuable than 2 or 3 kills when the round is already lost. The scoreboard was never an accurate representation of your performance so the notion that you're weighed down by teammates because you're top fragging isn't always true. This also means that the notion that you're stuck in your rank solely because of your teammates isn't true as well. There are always things you can improve on.

Although having good teammates will always make it easier to climb, the fact of the matter is, you're stuck in "ELO Hell" because you're just not good enough yet.

You can make as many excuses as you want, but you can only control your own performance so there's no point blaming your teammates, especially if you're solo queuing. If you really deserved to climb out of a certain rank, then you need to be a cut above the others in terms of how you impact the match, whether that's by getting kills, good ability usage, or just being a positive voice in comms.

So how exactly do I get out of ELO Hell?

First and foremost, as I've said in the past, you need to look at your own problems first. Be humble and realize that even your best performance won't always end up in a win, and it might not be your teammates' fault.

If you're in the lower ranks, I'd suggest working on your raw aim and crosshair placement. Aim and mechanical skill can only carry you so far in Valorant, but I'm sure they're enough to get you past silver. Some people even say that you can reach Immortal with great aim only, but that's a lot harder than it sounds.

The way I improved my base mechanics was by spamming deathmatch. In deathmatch, you train your crosshair placement and raw aim, and you have way more engagements than in a real match. I forgot which pro said this (C9 Relyks?), but I'm pretty sure they said that you should be playing 3 DMs for every 1 Competitive game, which I think is a good number. Aim trainers will improve your raw aim as well. Also, it might be a good idea to thoroughly learn 1 or 2 agents and stick by them so that you can optimize your ability usage.

Now, game sense might be trickier to build up since players are so random that it's hard to predict how they'll react to things. That said, having a good framework for decision making will make it easier for you to climb as good decisions lead to favorable situations which lead to more rounds won. I previously made a post on good decision making, so feel free to check that out.

For the golds and plats, it's harder to nail down a specific solution. What I do know is that playing with your team will make the difference. Be nice and encouraging in voice chat, give helpful and short callouts. Don't be a backseat gamer. Trade-off your teammates and communicate what you plan to do. In a lot of scenarios in these ranks, your deficiencies in base mechanics and game sense can be patched up by good teamplay.

Final Thoughts

I know this post isn't the most detailed, but I just wanted to give my own commentary on the whole ELO Hell Situation and how players love to blame it for not ranking up. While ELO Hell does exist to an extent, it's not the main reason why you're stuck in a certain rank. If you deserve to rank up, then you need to consistently impact the game in a positive way.

That said, I do hope that the Valorant community becomes less toxic over time. I've had a lot of friends turn away from the game because they were scared of toxic teammates if they didn't perform well. Remember, being toxic isn't going to help anyone and will only serve to bring your team down.

Anyway, that's all from me. I'd love to hear other opinions about this topic, and I'm pretty sure I've missed a few things. Hope we can have a nice discussion! :)