How to Win More - 5 things you can do to make yourself (and your teammates) play better
Preface: This is mostly copy pasted from another comment I made in response to someone's question, but I figure this might be helpful to others as well.
I'm no saint and I fail to do these things plenty. But I have noticed that I do considerably better the more I apply them.
0. Don't play while hindered:
If you want to win try to take care of the little things that could distract or hamper you from playing well.
For example: a. Eat / drink something so you don't feel hungry or thirsty b. Go to the restroom so that you don't need to in the middle of play c. Get proper sleep so that you are not too tired to notice important things d. etc.
1. De-Tilt after stressful games:
Don't hit play again immediately after a stressful match. Take 5 minutes, eat a snack, re-hydrate, get some fresh air and sunlight (if available), even just take some deep breaths and try to let it go. Going into every game with a fresh state of mind can be a huge boon to not making mistakes and to playing well.
2. Reflect on your game-play:
Look for patterns and habits; if you consistently lose to certain strategies check if you are reacting to them the same way every game. If so maybe you need to try something new.
You can record games using Open Broadcasting System - OBS for short - if your computer can handle it, watching your games over again can help you find patterns that you were too focused in the moment to notice, and will help you identify consistent problems you struggle with.
3. Use positive reinforcement, not punishment.
Encourage your teammates for doing good things. And don't comment when they make mistakes (or if you comment, try to make it polite or encouraging). This will improve team morale and improve your chances of winning.
This serves two purposes; Firstly, giving them a positive experience for doing something right will make them more likely to remember that good feeling and what they did in the future. Secondly, reducing their negative experience (or at least not contributing to it) when they do something wrong will keep from distracting them with their mistake and causing them to make more mistakes because of that.
Here are some examples:
a. Your jungler fails a gank mid, but the enemy top laner is low HP and pushing. Would you rather your jungler return to farming the jungle because they are too busy feeling bad, or would your rather they be looking for the next gank and realize they could get a kill top lane for your team?
b. Your jungler ganks your lane and gets a kill for you. Telling them, "good job!" in chat will make them feel good about what they did and they will want to gank for you again.
c. Your support steals a CS. 15 seconds later the enemy jungler ganks bot lane. Would you rather the support be thinking about how best to save your team's carries, or would you rather they be too busy to notice the danger because they are upset over being told off.
4. Read guides, and not just for the champions you play.
When you lose to a champion go look up guides to see if you can find weaknesses to exploit and play-patterns to watch out for.
Knowing how an enemy's champion works helps to even the playing field and prevent them from beating you with something just because you don't know how to avoid or play around it. Plus it feels awesome to outplay an opponent because of knowing more about their character than they do.
5. Don't play the Blame-game: (This also ties into number 3 above)
When something goes wrong in your games, don't immediately look for someone to blame. Instead look for things you can do to avoid that problem in the future.
The reason for this is twofold:
First, when your teammate makes a mistake that puts you in danger, the only way to prevent consequences that impact you is to make up for their mistake with your own actions (I.E. checking minimap for MIAs, positioning well in teamfights when your teammate screws something up).
Second, when you start are thinking about who to blame you are not thinking about what is going on in game, which could lead to you missing something important or making mistakes of your own.
Here are some examples:
a. Sometimes teammates forget to call MIA. But checking the mini-map frequently can show you who is missing so you know they might be coming and can play safer. Then if your teammate forgets to call MIA and that enemy tries to gank you, you will already know and will have backed off so that you survive.
b. Your jungler tries to steal dragon but dies instead. Meanwhile a side lane is getting pushed towards your tower. If you are focused on them and their mistake you might fail to notice the pushing lane until it is too late to rotate and save the tower.
