In post 2238, Psyche wrote:i feel like you're misdefining skill ceiling a little too
the assumption that other roles are played to their maximum potential isn't really part of the concept
I'm aware. I didn't say that it was. My point is that, at higher levels of play - the upper end of Challenger, say - you can safely assume that they will be. That's why they're in Challenger.
Which means that, again, the role with the highest skill ceiling - that is, the role with the most impact when played to its maximum potential - will be the determining factor in more games, and thus win more, and thus turn up more consistently on the ladder.
It's not the
definition
of skill ceiling. It's just a logical consequence of it.
Of course, this is a deliberate simplification, and there are other matters to consider, primarily when it comes to metagame. Thresh has a much higher skill ceiling than Alistar, for example, but there are times when Alistar is a more consistently powerful support pick than Thresh because of the meta. The carry potential of various roles can be expected to shift as the metagame does; sometimes top lane is a carry position, and other times it's a tankfest. Sometimes mid is utility-focused and sometimes mid is assassin-focused. And so on.
That's just really more detail than I have the time or inclination to go into when trawling the leaderboards, is all. So I gave the simple explanation.
In post 2239, Psyche wrote:yah
one other problem strongly limiting research is that highly skilled players play with totally different people than less skilled players
it might be better to ask questions about role efficacy/easiness for each tier rather than overall
Generally, I'd say that, if you're looking to carry in low-level games, go top, AD carry, or jungle, in that order. And preferably an AD damage dealer or bruiser.
Top is an island. If you work on your mechanical skill, you can basically just dumpster your opponent in the Rage In The Cage matchup, snowball the lane, and shove down towers all day. AD carry is the same thing, but slightly more team-dependent. Jungle is still more team-dependent, but can work the same way. Alternately, if you're absolutely determined not to do the carrying yourself, jungle has access to a lot of tanks or utility champions who can still absolutely wreck house in teamfights (hello, Ivern).
Mid and support tend to be more difficult to win low-level games with. Support isn't strictly harder than the other roles, but it does require an entirely different skillset and frame of mind to play effectively. Mid, meanwhile, is usually AP, and just doesn't push all that hard with most champions.
And that's the main thing. In low-level solo queue, it really doesn't matter what role you're in so long as you can push towers. Pushing wins games, and at that level, nobody really knows how to stop you from doing it. If you can reliably get two or three kills up and then just start knocking down towers, no one's really going to stop you.
Post-game ranking is pretty heavily weighted by farm. Gank-heavy junglers tend to get lower scores in that regard.
It's weird, but if I remember correctly, Riot has said that they're looking at ways to address this. Same thing for supports.
Now, whether or not they actually will, and whether or not it will actually work if they do, is another question entirely. But there you go.