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"Why no help?!"

Dr Wasabi65·10/28/2016, 8:50:44 AM·3 votes·553 views

Ok, listen up! I have been thinking about this quite a lot lately and wondered what others think about it. I am talking about that decision-making process in the game where you have the option to go into a fight to try and help a team mate who is in trouble, or you can just get yourself the hell outta there and save your own ass. I am specifically thinking about those circumstances where you know that your team mate is outnumbered and as about to die, his attackers have plenty of health and the chances of you going in and securing a kill seem unlikely.

Not too long ago, I was of the mind that you go in to try and save your buddy, or die trying; this is, after all, a team game. More recently I have been taking a different view, which is that it is better not to die and to still be alive to provide some utility elsewhere. However, when you make that decision, you are likely to get that message in chat "Why did you not help?!".

Some context: I am a support (not a great one, but nevertheless this is my chosen path), I am not an experienced or particularly skillful player and I am in low ELO.

The part of the game that I am trying to learn about is those split-second risk assessments that you need to make. Knowing that my champion is never going to have the damage output to take down champions unless they are near death themselves. My issue is that by focusing on survival (not wanting to feed the enemy), I might be sacrificing some kind of utility. I worry that my impact on the game is too low if I am constantly out of harm's way and am not there to help my team mates when they are in trouble. I don't want to be a god support, but I do want to have a positive impact on the game.

Not sure if this ramble makes much sense, sorry.

TL;DR- Go in and help dying team mate (feed) or stay back and survive (lack impact)?

6 Comments

CerealBoxOfDoom10/28/2016, 9:24:55 AM1 votes

all things are situational

In this case it really depends on the buddy

Assuming you want to win (disregard friendship, acquire ELO) there will be times to rescue and times not to. There will never be a uniform answer but there are things you'll learn to look out for.

For example

Karthus dies a lot but you are winning or almost winning teamfights that he dies in.. in this case maybe get your ass in there and FIGHT YOUR BALLS OFF

On the otherhand

Ezreal dies a lot but you are winning or almost winning teamfights that he dies in.. nope sorry this probably isn't a good sign

then there's something like

Nocturne dies a lot but you are winning or almost winning teamfights that he dies in.. saving him from himself isn't a priority if he isn't going to be the one to carry you or cant help you carry anyone else all that well

But one mistake you should never ever make is refusing to help others while being too ignorant to actually explain why. If you don't even have a vague understanding of why you are being a dick then just don't be a dick it will lose you more games than anything else will. Sure you think you're not being that bad but lets face it.. you're a gamer and probably aren't as social as you like to think you are, some of you are flatout socially inept. If you can't explain why just do the fun thing and help where reasonable and nontroll

ff4sk10/28/2016, 11:18:37 AM1 votes

Honestly I never try to save someone that gets caught out because it conditions them to think that his team will always mop up his fuck up and makes him think that he can keep playing that risky playstyle.

I'm a jungle main but play other lanes and when I see others throwing their life away and risking the game to try and save someone who just got caught out it pisses me off.

I get that it's a team game but people need to learn that just because it's a team game doesn't mean that individual effort shouldn't count.

If you're not gonna bother playing safe and expect your team to come save you in every situation then maybe this isn't the game for you that's all I'm saying.