You keep mentioning .....
1.) If you were destroying Aatrox top then you should never have let him get caught back up at level 7-8... Just because he gains a couple levels doesn't make him OP. I'd like to know your definition of "destroying". It should be that his turret is down and you have 2x his CS and at least a couple kills over him. If simply leveling up closes the gap between you and him then you were never destroying him. Aatrox does have good sustain but he needs to be in melee range to use it, Aatrox can actually do decent vs Yorick because he can use your ghouls to heal back up. However, I still think a good Yorick could outplay Aatrox (I don't really see an advantage to either champ, it is mostly a farm lane). The problem is I doubt you're a good Yorick.
2.) I have seen Elo hell and I believe it exists but my definition may vary slightly than others. I tend to believe the worst place to be is Silver IV & V. This is where you get a real mix of "first-time ranked" players with "super bad" players with "semi-decent" players. It's a real crapshoot. Also, Silver tier teams have duos 99% of the time. Now that I'm Gold I you see Duo teams less frequently... Maybe 75% or so. Duos can really screw with how teams work. I believe mid-Bronze is actually easier than Silver IV & V because at least everyone has settled in. In Season II my Elo got as low as 800 and I managed to climb up to 1550. I remember 800-1k elo being higher skills games then 1k-1300. Then once you get 1300+ you start to get out of "hell". My definition of hell is simply 1k-1300 elo range. The skill levels vary way too greatly, you can't reliably expect teammates & opponents to be a similar skill level then you. In most other Elo ranges you can expect the matchups to be of similar skill.
2A.) Another misconception is that games get easier as you move up the ranks. You seem to think you'll win a ton more games by being Silver or Gold... Do you not expect your enemy to have improved as well? I find it funny that you think you're "stuck" in hell yet you seem to ignore the fact that as you advance your opponents & their teamwork & communication will get much better too. If you can't beat a Bronze level player 1v1 then how do you think you'll fare against Silver & Gold players.
3.) I believe the ward counts do NOT include sightstones, which is another reason I listed stats without being on a support character, however there is another stat that is for "Wards Placed" which does include Sightstone. I used the "wards bought" stat for the above numbers.
4.) Expect to carry every game. If you don't have that mindset then you'll continually blame teammates for being unable to carry you. I go into all my games expecting to have to be the one that will carry the game. It doesn't always happen, but I never expect to get carried - although it's nice when it does happen!
4A.) STORY TIME:
Last night I played Udyr Top lane, expected to go against a Shen, however the enemy team pulled the LCS swap on me and sent their bot lane against me instead. Their Shen went bottom vs our bot lane. I was an Udyr against a Fiddle and Varus. This matchup is fucking retarded for an Udyr. I'm a melee champ and can't do shit vs them, even at my turret its damn near impossible for an Udyr to CS. I was level 3 at 5.5mins into the game. They took my turret quick, my jungler attempted to help but wasn't doing much, we couldn't secure any kills. Obviously I wasn't in a good spot. You would hope that my bot lane was being equally as successful vs their Shen, but they weren't. They were doing 0 damage to the bot turret and Shen was CS'ing just fine. One thing I avoided was dying. I made sure not to feed, I b'd like 2x within the first 5mins. I was taking some jungle camps (wolves/wraiths) and stealing cs from mid when mid was roaming, just trying to get back into the game. My bot lane was sucking ass.
I figured the game was a loss but I tried anyway, I know the power of Udyr, I could split push if necessary. Objectives are key...
I had a TF mid that was doing pretty good and our jungler was Cho Gath whom can get beefy late game. I felt like we would probably lose but it wouldnt be impossible to win... but I was really far behind. There was a key moment around mid lane where I caught Varus out and was able to secure the kill with my team, then managed to keep it rolling and I killed Fiddle and the enemy Morgana. All of a sudden I had 3 kills under my belt. It wasn't enough yet but it helped. The game dragged on.
We eventually lost 2 inhibitors. We had some team fights that we barely lost. The enemy gained Baron at one point. But I was Udyr and I had to carry, somehow. I split pushed top lane, a couple times, forcing them to split their forces, we managed to catch some of them out and somehow we held out long enough where we finally Aced them with 3 of us remaining and we pushed for a win.
The game ended with the following (42 minute game):
My team:
Top-Udyr-(me): 7/7/11 -- 13.5k -- 166CS -- 9wards
Jungle-Cho Gath: 3/7/14 -- 12.1k -- 142CS -- 0wards
Mid-Twisted Fate: 14/4/11 -- 17k -- 224CS -- 6wards
ADC-Vayne: 3/6/9 -- 14.7k -- 285CS -- 0wards
Support-Blitzcrank: 3/3/10 -- 10.7k -- 26CS -- 20wards (no SS)
30/27/55 -- 68k -- 35wards
Their team:
Top-Shen: 5/4/12 -- 12.7k -- 185CS -- 9wards (22placed / had SS)
Jungle-Zac: 5/6/8 -- 12k -- 153CS -- 0ward
Mid-Morgana: 11/3/10 -- 15.5k -- 220CS --4wards
ADC-Varus: 4/7/4 -- 12.3k -- 207CS -- 0wards
Support-Fiddlesticks: 2/10/13 -- 9.9k -- 83CS -- 5wards
27/30/47 -- 62.4k -- 18 bought (31 placed) wards
As you can see, I actually had the 2nd highest kills and 2nd highest kill participation on my team and this is AFTER being completely shut down for the first ~15+mins of the game due to the "LCS" start by the opponent. My bot lane was shit. We went to late game and Vayne still couldn't carry which is usually likely to happen if you go to late game with a vayne, just a bad vayne in general. Our Blitz was ok though - he actually had the same amount of kills and a higher kill participation then our ADC... Of course TF was the "carry", thankfully, but Morgana was doing some serious work for the other team, too, so in actuality the mids were about equal and no real advantage there.
Reason why I bring this game up is because I was actually pissed off and raged during it. I was raging at our bot lane for being stubborn and not wanting to swap lanes, yet they couldn't even handle a 2v1 lane vs a low-damage shen. We should have lost. Somehow we drug it out and I always bring a no-quit attitude and try to put games on MY shoulders. Yes, the TF was our best player, but I had to climb out from a VERY steep hole and still had 2nd best Kills/Kill Participation. Even though I was raging a bit and we had team drama, I don't just sit there expecting my team to figure shit out, I try to find ways to contribute and win. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. Yes, if we lost I would have been angry and likely blamed my bot lane for the loss, but we won, and this is one of those games that SHOULD have been a loss but somehow pulled out a win.
If you are a good player you will figure out how to pull out wins too.
