Tips for hard-stuck Support main

X tier got their ranking from Ranked games, not Normal, so saying that you get matched vs Platinum in Normals is just not gonna work out.

You say your teammates are bad. How does that help you improve? From Bronze to Challenger in 30 days is a frequently streamed/video uploaded topic which proves that a skilled player can climb no matter what. Blaming team will always prevent you from climbing. Watching how other people perform will always prevent you from climbing. Wasting time and effort thinking about how other people play will always prevent you from climbing.

I know some people are gonna say that I shouldnt blame my team but blame myself for not being able to carry, but its honestly really hard to do so as a support player

I'm a support main. I main Rakan, 213 games played with him in Ranked 55% winratio and my KDA is 6.3. These numbers were even greater 3 weeks ago before Ranked queue got harder to win (season end). There are no excuses for climbing. Especially not now that support is so strong, you can't go and say that Supports are allowed to blame team.

Tried to keep their chins up

This has never worked out for me. There was a time where I would try to keep every single person on the team from tilting, but it just ended up tilting myself because I got too stressed out from involving myself into their emotions. What does work for me is to watch myself only, how well I'm playing, and improve what I see fit. I never comment on any mistakes my mates do because I don't care what they do, I'm not them and I'm here to improve myself only.

chasing for a kill they probably couldnt get, while we couldve easily taken drag/baron

It sounds like you have a lot of ideas for what you want to do, and I get that it can feel like your team is holding you back because they don't follow your great calls, but things are never that simple. There was a video I watched where the guy said that 5 people making a stupid call is better than everyone separately making a good call (meaning that 5 man going for stupid Baron is better than 1 player doing things on his own that he sees fit). Of course there are exceptions to this rule, but you gotta learn that for most of the parts you need to play with your team. Make a call for Baron if you see it's fit, but if no one comes around then you gotta go with them instead. And most of the times this will be how your games will go, playing support or anything else, you need to adapt to what the majority of your team wants to do. Everyone has to learn to do this.

Would also appreciate advice on how to play the map better

Blitzcrank is a roamer and early pressure champion, he excels at moving around the map ganking the other lanes to give them kills and a clear lead for the rest of the game. He falls off late game, but for Silver elo it doesn't necessarily have to be that way. Blitzcrank has good catch potential. Ward well and predict where your enemies will go, group up with your team and hide somewhere, then kill the enemy. Always grab the squishies and never pull the tanks. For Silver elo I suggest experimenting with full AP Blitzcrank, as bursty champions often go unpunished in that range of skill level.

Rakan is the most beautiful champion, and he has the most enjoyable kit (yup, this will be totally biased that I only play Rakan anymore). He has a weak laning phase, and often you'll want to wait for jungler to gank. Catch the enemy off-guard by staying far back, waiting for your ally to get in position, then E'ing on them and W'ing on the enemy. Sighstone not really needed in Silver, but I still recommend buying it since it is a crucial item once you hit gold and people use the map frequently. So if you want to 'prepare' for higher elo then buy it, otherwise wait for now. You can play Rakan alike a Janna, but I prefer not to. If you are the primary engager then act like one, start the fights by catching people with R+W. If you already have 2 engagers/divers, then follow up on their engages with R+W but then stick with a carry by peeling and protecting.

Lulu is really boring to play for me so I don't wanna write stuff about her, maybe someone else can help out.

how to improve teamwork in soloQ

We kind of already touched this topic already. I have mentioned that you need to adapt to your team. But please keep in mind that adapting doesn't mean you have to see what they do. There is a difference between "My team is idiotic so they won't want to Baron, which means we will do X instead" and "The majority wants to do X, and since I can't do Baron alone I will stick with them". I really cannot stress enough how much not blaming will make you a better player. People keep spamming this over and over, it's because it works. For example: Enemy jungler keeps on ganking you, and you lose bot turret at min 6.

Blaming approach: My jungler can't gank, he is bad, and my AD keeps on getting caught in these enemy jungler ganks. Now we lost turret and of course I couldn't had prevented this playing Janna.

Learning approach: The enemy jungler ganked us and we lost turret. My AD got caught, I didn't put enough wards up to give him enough vision to know where to position. Since our jungler is a passive jungler, I could've picked a greater support to predict that enemy jungler would camp bot. Rakan for example can't do much when the enemy keeps on pushing you in.

Etc, etc. What taught me how to think proactively and not "blamingly" was to counter every single time I blamed. If I thought "My jungler is so bad he keeps on dying", I would think: What about me is it that makes him able to die all the time? Is it because I don't help him invade, I don't inform him where enemy jungler will be, I haven't told him he can come gank my lane to gain advantage? Etc. Basically try to argue with yourself, eventually you'll just think immediately of how you can improve instead of just what X does to make him bad/good. Because unless you are paid to coach someone, just don't bother looking at what they do. It really is a huge waste of time.

we end up losing anyways as the enemy goes 1-3-1

How can you prevent this? I see your solution to the problem was to say "my team can't handle splitpush", but let's be proactive here. If you ward properly in your jungle/enemy jungle (depending on which tier of turret they are on), you can react to any rotations they do, and you'll be in position as a team to counter their splitpush before it even happens. That's just one example, try to come up with some of your own if you'd like to start learning how to improve yourself without blaming others. :)

i usually play dps mages like Cassiopeia and Ryze

I used to main mid. In lower elo I believe burst can make you climb hard. Like Annie and stuff. Flash and Tibbers, make them die. As I mentioned before, bursty champions often go unpunished in lower elos.

Now a personal note: I'm giving you some advice on how to climb, but personally I don't care about climbing. I believe that by having fun and playing your best, you can achieve more greatness compared to only having the goal of climb. And on the way you will improve a lot. May these inspire you.

"Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it."

"To move in one direction, you must forgo all others. To pursue one goal is to forsake a very large number of other possible goals."

/r/summonerschool Thread