How YOU can get better and improve your mental -- The sequel to a reply in Player Behavior

I just finished up typing this out in a Player Behavior post, but I figured that the greater community might benefit from some of the points I made. I see a lot of people that will put the blame squarely on toxic/negative/raging teammates for their losses, when not every game is affected by them. Sometimes, how you performed contributes to the loss as well. Yes, this includes me. I've been guilty of costing my team games before with bad gameplay. I'm expecting some downvotes from that statement alone, but it's a fundamental part of playing any game: You will make mistakes. However, whether you focus on improving yourself or focus on how poorly your team did will make the difference in whether you climb or not. Below, I have a few points.

1. Take breaks. It's very healthy to play ranked as if you're playing a "mini promo series." If you have the time/mental fortitude, play in sets of 5. If you don't, play in sets of 3. If you "win" your series, keep playing. If you "lose" your series, stop playing for the day. For example, if you have the time and are playing a set of 5, and your games are W-W-L-L-W, keep going. However, if they are W-L-L-L, stop playing and call it a day. You may not consciously realizing it, but losing streaks hurt your mental and will negatively affect your performance and outlook on the game.

2. Mute your team. This may depend on ELO, but this can really be applied to any rank. If your MMR is notoriously toxic, make good use of the "/mute all" function. If someone starts being toxic with spam pings, make use of the ping mute as well.

3. Playing hundreds of games is not the solution. You need to be playing with quality in mind, not quantity. Sure, you can get to diamond by throwing your face into the wall. However, you won't genuinely be improving and you won't be learning from your mistakes. At best, you'll just be reinforcing your stronger points while ignoring your weaknesses. You need to play each game while consciously thinking about the game. That sounds dumb since you're looking at the screen the whole game, but autopilot exists and it's very detrimental to your performance. I'm guilty of it myself, and there are games when I'm not truly paying attention to things (jungler's position, spawn timers, proper warding, etc). These little things can add up to you dying when you shouldn't. Paying attention and focusing is essential to succeeding in League. If you're struggling to find your own weak points and you have enough of a desire to improve, I advise investing some time and a few bucks into a coach to help you.

4. You can't control your team, but you can control you. (Maybe 3.5 instead of 4) This is a largely overlooked point, but every time I see someone moan and complain about how their team performed or what their team did, I feel the need to point out that you can't control them. You will get ragers, you will get feeders (some intentionally, some not), and you will get AFKers. Will there be games when it was your team's fault? Yes. Will it always be their fault? No. I go off of a fairly simple assumption: if the MMR in the game is relatively equal (no smurfs) and there's no hard trollers, you will lose 33% of games and win 33% of games guaranteed. This could be due to everyone else losing lanes or winning lanes, respectively. The ~34% in between is when you can make an impact and make that game a win or a loss with your performance.

In summary, you can't stop your team from throwing fits. However, you can stop yourself from letting it affect you by utilizing three key points: Take breaks, mute the negative players, and focus on the quality of your personal gameplay instead of worrying about your team. It may feel really bad to focus on your own mistakes, but it will help you improve in the long run.