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Ranked Anxiety - Fear of Dying - Main a Champion. I Need Help.

Ambishion·10/28/2014, 10:19:31 AM·1 votes·1,622 views

First off, Ranked Anxiety... i feel as if many people feel this, especially when they are newer, but i am not that new.. but i have always had a fear of failure in general... that really sums up everything. In some regards i can get over it.. but it's easier said than done.

I do not want to queue up for a ranked match because i am afraid of losing.. afraid of falling backwards when all i want to do is go forward. I feel as if (i know its not true i just cant help it) that by falling backwards i will never be able to go forward.. id never be able to get better if i don't play with people who know more than me and who are better in general. I know you learn from your mistakes and other's as well but i just can't seem to.. i HONESTLY don't know what i'm doing wrong, i know i am doing something wrong, i know it is equally my fault i'm stuck in the low elo, i just cannot seem to improve.. which wasn't hard to do before hand.

Next topic - I think... i THINK the reason i play so poorly is because of my anxiety and fear of dying... like dying means game over and i cannot continue, they are too far ahead and i cannot catch up, i always get this feeling even though most of the time i know its not true. i know some games are just not winnable in general but when those games happen it only fuels the fire.

Final topic - I also think if i stuck to one or two champions and get really good with them i would get farther as well, BUT... i have an awful attention span and get bored EXTREMELY easily and fast. The champion i played the most out of any in the game would be Tryndamere, i rarely play him in ranked because people shun me for it even if i prove them wrong i get shit for playing my used to be favorite and absolute best champion... also getting owned in a 1v1 vs leblanc made me feel like i do not deserve to play tryndamere anymore.

Questions 1, How do i get over the anxiety, have fun but keep a cool head and play my best? 2, How do i get over the fear of dying and defeat? as well as reminding my self in a good way a game isnt lost just because i died once. 3, how do i find a champion that i love and can play regardless of the ELO and always have a chance of winning even if the odds are stacked against me? like tryndamere... i rarely lost with him, i knew his kit in and out, i knew how to build him in certain situations and i knew how to win in general.. but he was simple and people hated that i played him and i was tired of getting shit for playing him.

and NO my name is not drxdeathdefying because i played tryndamere.

3 Comments

Wandering Wolf10/28/2014, 12:39:08 PM2 votes

Anything I say will be a bit hypocritical since I play mostly normals, but by the same token, that is evidence that I too have had ladder anxiety (and still have ladder anxiety) and that has applied to multiple competitive games throughout my life.

Anyway, you first have to realize the cause of the anxiety.

For me, I'm afraid that I will prove to myself that I am in fact "not as good as I think I am" at something that I put a crapload of effort into being good at. In my mind, I believe I could reach diamond if I simply put in enough games, I feel my skill level is there, and feel like I have the potential to at least make it to plat 1, if not D5 currently. However I am not diamond, and never will be until I play enough ranked to prove it. With that in mind, if I suddenly did spam ranked for 300+ games, the risk of me not reaching diamond is just terrifying to me. If I had that many games played without actually hitting the rank I convinced myself I belong in, then what excuse would I have left?

Basically, because I set my own personal standards so absurdly high, where I just can't be satisfied if I don't reach them, I have set myself up for a massive uphill mental battle. I just -know- (#believe) I belong one tier higher than where I am, but I also know the climb is so hard that I refuse to risk tumbling down the mountain (and as such, crash down to reality that I might not be diamond material afterall.)

Now that I know why I get ladder anxiety, what is the solution?

To stop tunneling on this idea that I deserve to be in a higher bracket, and just be happy with where I already am. If I were to ignore the "ranked" aspect of the games on ladder, I would just be playing games with teammates and opponents at my current MMR. I could just play for the sake of playing the game, you know, just like I do when I play normals, which I never have -any issue whatsoever- doing all day long. If my anxiety comes from my own desire to prove that I belong higher than I currently am, then that's where I need to focus my attack. As long as I'm aware that's what keeps me from quing up for ranked, then I can acknowledge that, and disregard it by reminding myself, "you know what, my current rank is fine... in fact I'm proud of being where I am right now, lets go play some norms, I mean ranked, same difference."

You said yourself, easier said than done, and that's precisely correct when it comes to these things. However that doesn't change the fact that the answer is just that simple... treat your ranked games like normal ones, stop focusing on your rank itself, and you will find your actual bracket of play in no time.

As for your fear of having a game losing death, or throwing a game, you shouldn't worry about that on a game to game basis. You should just use deaths as learning tools, if you died, think about why you died and try to use that knowledge to improve your play in the future. Basically think of your ladder climbing experience as an RPG (lol...) every time you die, or when you lose a dragon or baron, or when you lose a turret, or anything really, just reflect on it, think of how it could have been avoided, or more specifically, how you specifically (and not your teammates) could have influenced that scenario more positively (via not getting caught, or warding, or communicating with your team) and your "Game Knowledge" will level up. You'll never lose levels, because you never lose knowledge, it's a constant progression forward. If you look at it in this "positive" way, even a death in one game that loses you the match helped you level up your game knowledge, and you're better prepared for the next game. No reason to fear something that will help you down the road, right?

Lastly for finding champs to main, that is 100% on you man.

No one else can tell you what champ to play. Whether it's spamming Trynd, or changing it up day to day, just play what you want, and don't let others in champ select dictate what you lock in.

Torpedosheep10/28/2014, 12:05:57 PM1 votes

Hey DrxDeathDefying, I know what it feels like to have ranked anxiety. I used to always shake and have cold hands when I joined a ranked match. This might be because I'm really shy irl as well. Last season (my first ranked game season) I simply played myself from Bronze 1 to Silver 5 and immediately stopped playing ranked because of my anxiety. Back then I already knew that I could be way better than Silver but I was just too scared.

But in this season, things changed somehow. With the new season I wanted to know how good I really am. I started out in Silver 3 and made my way to Gold 1 in about 4 months and less than a hundred games.

Coming to your questions: 1: Listening to music during the game will really help you calm down and if you think you need to focus hard you just stop your song for a while.

(In rankeds I usually have some music on during champ select, If I got a hard lane where I need to focus, I turn it off. If I either have a great game or a terrible one with the hole team flaming, I turn it on on full volume to distract me from my team's bad words)

2: This one is a little tricky. I think you should always analyse if your death was worth or not. If you find yourself dying a lot, without your team getting any objectives you might wanna start recording your games and look what mistakes you often do. Also notice. You can't win every game. Don't get me wrong I'm not that "gg surrender at 20" guy. It is important that you ALWAYS stay positive during the game but don't get too upset if you can't manage to win.

3: You should just stick with your favorite champion. Even if your teams thinks it's stupid that you pick him/her. For me my favorite champion is Lux. She's not really in the meta now but It doesn't matter cause even If i have a bad lane I can usually turn it later on in the game because I just know the limits of my champion. Always try to find a champion you have fun playing with, instead of trying to force yourself into the meta.

I hope I could help a little. Feel free to ask me more questions if you want to.

-Torpedosheep