5 Tips to Stop Tilting & Win More Ranked Games in League of Legends

  Let’s face it, tilting loses games. There are few things that cause our win rate to plummet faster than when metal state is off. When we tilt, we make all sorts of mistakes such as tunnel vision, missing valuable CS, or even lashing out at teammates.                      

There is an abundance of things that happen in our ranked games that make it more tempting to throw out that early /ff.

But the bottom line is that our ability to keep a cool head is entirely under our control, and our aspirations of finally getting to the next rank depend on our ability to do so.

I’m not the kind of tilter who will flame in chat, or intentionally feed, but I give up on trying to win the game. When I’m tilted, I spam the surrender vote and go on mental autopilot until the Nexus explodes. This cripples my ability to improve at League of Legends.

Because I don’t want to be stuck in the same league indefinitely, I decided to take a deeper dive into ways that I can stave off the tilt. Here are a few tips that I have found to be helpful:

Put Your Losses into Perspective

 

When you find that you’re starting to tilt even after losing only one game, it’s important to keep your losses in the right perspective:

 

Losses happen. To everyone. A lot

 

Even the best players in the game lose several matches a day. A good example is Tarzaned who, at the time of writing this, is Rank #1 on the NA server according to op.gg. A quick glance at his profile reveals that he has a 59% win rate. This means that for every ten games he plays, he loses around four of them.

 

Even the highest rank player on his server has a four in ten chance of losing his game.

 

When I think about it that way, losing one or two games in a row suddenly doesn’t feel so bad! So next time you’re feeling frustrated about a loss, chalk it up as part of the process and move on so that it doesn’t impact your next game.

 

 

Chat Only when Necessary

 

In-game chat is a breeding-ground for tilt. For many players, it is an outlet through which they can project their frustrations on to other players. It’s easy to respond to the guy who is flaming you for no reason.

Don’t get sucked into it.

Engaging with people who are on tilt or indulging your own desire to lash out is a surefire way to decrease your win rate.

League’s ping system, although simplistic on the surface, is a great way to communicate a majority of the information that your teammates may need.

When you find yourself focusing too much on the chat, or someone is being toxic, don’t be afraid to mute them and stick to pings.

 

 

Play When you’re Mentally Fresh

 

We all have adversities and responsibilities that weigh on our minds, making us more susceptible to tilt when we’re trying to climb the ladder.

If I’m playing ranked, I find it best not to play after a particularly exhausting day because I’m much more likely to perform poorly and become frustrated with myself.

 

It’s important to take on cognitively demanding tasks when you’re well rested and have taken normal steps to manage your physical and mental well-being.

 

Many people also feel that they operate more effectively during different parts of the day. Some people are night-owls and others are early-birds, so hop on the ladder when you know that you will perform best.

 

 Reclaim Control of Your Emotions

 

When tilt starts to rear its head, one trick to keep it at bay is to detach from it and simply let the emotions pass.

 

This is an idea that I picked up from Esports caster and streamer Day[9] years ago when I was laddering on Starcraft II. In one of his daily videos (the Day[9] Daily, generally geared toward analyzing the game and helping other players improve their Starcraft abilities), Sean recalls some of his memories growing up playing the game and how it impacted his life.

 

He said something that helped him deal with tilt was to remember that he is only feeling angry because there are certain chemicals being processed in his brain that cause him to feel that way. The emotions that we feel don’t have to control us because they’re just chemicals and they will pass with time.

If you’re particularly tilted after a game, sometimes it’s good to just take a step back, breathe, detach, let your brain process those chemicals, then let them go.

 

 Use a Growth Mindset

 

Just as with learning any skill, it is important to approach your improvement in League with a recognition that a loss is not a failure, but an opportunity to improve.

 

In an interesting Ted Talk, author and professor Carol Dwek talks about the difference between those who have a Fixed Mindset and a Growth Mindset.

People with a Fixed Mindset take on a task with a firm, preconceived notion of what the outcome will be. They will either succeed in the task because they are inherently smart or talented enough, or they will fail the task and dip into their arsenal of excuses to explain why they didn’t measure up.

Those with a Growth Mindset, however, approach each task as a challenge to be overcome, and failure as an opportunity to learn.

This is a powerful framework for approaching your ranked games. We must not view a loss as merely a loss, but as another steppingstone that will take us closer to our goal.

Don’t play to win, play to improve. This small change in focus will subsequently help you win more games.

 

Written By: Micheal Hill 
Micheal@Lootdelivered.com