Going for Gold: A Guide to Starting Ranked

I am Subzero008. I have been playing ranked since the second season. For your information, I'm in Gold Conquest, but that's not important¹.

So, you want to play ranked. But playing ranked isn't as simple as just being skilled at playing a certain god or role. There are rules and little things that you must know if you want to advance in League². This guide's purpose is to show you these things, and how.

I refuse to acknowledge the existence of Joust 1v1 League.

¹Someone is inevitably going to ask.

²You know what I mean.

This may sound obvious, but before you even click the "Enter Queue" button, you need to have a general understanding of Smite. You need to understand common game terminology, you need to reliably hit with all of your abilities and basic attacks, and you definitely need to know how to play your god.

But there are a few crunchy bits in this otherwise silky bisque of competition. (I am truly the master of metaphors.)

You must know how to play every role.

And I mean every one. It's a fact of life that you meet more bad people than good ones, and Smite's ranked queues are no different. Most of the people you will meet are complete *******s. Some call out a role and refuse to play another one. Others refuse to be flexible and use their position on the top of the ranked queue to dictate who does what. You might even meet people who know how to play one role and nothing else. In any case, you must be prepared to play multiple roles if you want to win.

I do not ask you to master all roles. But in order to survive in ranked, you must at the very least be competent as a mid, a support, a hunter, a jungler, and a solo laner. It is always better to have a guy who knows how to play his role and a guy who is playing his best role versus a guy who is playing his best role and a guy who is stuck with a role he has no clue how to play. This leads to point # Dos.

Master at least two gods in each role.

Three would be even better, but two is the absolute minimum. You never know if an enemy or ally might pick your god, especially if he/she is a pick for multiple roles. Or perhaps an enemy might select your chosen god. Your god might even be banned.

You need to be flexible in your choice of god for these reasons. Don't put all your eggs into one basket.

The meta, as much as I may dislike, is important.

Understand and consider the current meta at all times.

Why? Because the meta has been proven to work. It may not be the best solution, but it is certainly the most practical.

For example, let's say you are undecided between Sobek and Ymir support. Ymir support is viable and works no matter who tells you what, but if you are feeling uneasy about your chances of success with Ymir support, then Sobek support would also work, and more importantly, is a reliable option.

If you are ever uncertain about anything, whether it is a build, a god pick, a ban, or anything like that, remember that the meta is a good fall-back plan.

But this doesn't mean you should pick a god by reputation.

Don't pick a god just because he's normally banned or is the "meta."

I've seen so many teams lose because they pick Mercury or Zeus because someone forgot to ban them. They picked a god solely out of reputation, and end up losing because they haven't mastered the god. Never be this stupid.

The Meta is basically what the "pros" are doing, and what the "non-pros" are copying. If Cloud9 doesn't ban Zeus in the upcoming tournament, people will start banning him less, because people are insecure. Sounds cynical, but it's true.

Here's a list of the current "meta" gods.

Bans: Zeus, Zhong Kui, Geb, Thanatos.

Support Tanks: Sobek, Athena, Bacchus, Sun Wukong, Geb.

ADCs: Anything goes, or at the very least no one will throw a hissy fit if you pick Cupid over Apollo.

Mids: Ao Kuang, Agni, Zhong Kui, He Bo, Zeus.

Solo Laners: Chaac, Ra, Zhong Kui, Tyr.

Junglers: Thanatos, Fenrir, Mercury, Thor.

The thing about any MOBA, is that the importance of teamwork is directly proportional to average player skill level. As the general skill level of all players rises, teamwork becomes more important than any individual's skill.

What this means is, even if you have over 2000 masteries as a god and you have a 100% win ratio with that god, you have to work with your team. I don't care if you think you are carrying your team, that just puts more responsibility on your shoulders to be a good team player.

Be a team player.

Know your role, and its synergies with other gods. Never assume you can do a Solid Snake and lone wolf your way to victory.

The next bit is NOT optional.

Be polite.

You might think that being polite is a lot to ask for from a MOBA player, but people tend to underestimate the importance of courtesy. Teamwork is built around trust, and raging at a teammate will only help to sever that trust.

Also, rage is a huge detriment to a player's, and by extension, his team's focus. It's a simple fact of human psychology that being angry does not help you with delicate tasks, or at least for most people. You can get tunnel vision on an enemy, you might rage-type in the middle of combat, and you might even lazy back.

Let me put it this way: A tested and completely viable strategy in League of Legends Ranked is to find a struggling player on the enemy team, and say "Your [Struggling Player] is trash." Cue instant arguments and BM-ing and raging, and more often than not, a loss for the enemy team.

Lastly,

Communicate.

This sounds obvious, but you will not believe the sheer number of players in ranked queue that just don't talk. They never say anything, and what words do come out of their mouths are gibberish, a product of an alien mind.

Let your team know what you are doing. Let them know what you need, what they need, and don't hesitate to offer suggestions. If you need wards, let your team know! If you think your team should focus their Ra, say it! The difference between good communication and radio silence is the difference between snagging a gold fury after a triple kill and starting it late and dying from a vengeful team.

This is basically a list of tips that are, while not exactly necessary, tremendously useful toward helping you win.

Always call fill.

Always.

To put it simply, filling lets your less talented teammates play who they want. The more players who know how to play their chosen god/role, the better your team, and by extension, you, will be off.

Be patient in the queues.

The way Smite's ranked queues allow a limited player pool per session. So if you have a match, and half your team is toxic and/or are bad players, chances are, if you play the next game, you will be playing with those same people; maybe on your team, maybe on the enemy's.

If you don't want to take that risk, then take a break. Go eat something, go to the bathroom, whatever. Just enter the next queue. There's no rush.

For the love of God, if you have a ****ty connection, play casuals until it improves.

I completely understand when your internet ***** its pants when you just entered a ranked queue. But you have no excuse if you go into another right afterwards. Do everyone a favor and relax.

This has been a quick little thing to help those who want to start playing Ranked but aren't sure. If you have any questions about entering Ranked that this guide does not answer, please give a comment and tell what so I can answer it.

Thank you.

-Subzero008

3/6/14: Further explained the Meta, and added a list of the current meta.