Give Up Trying To Make Me Give Up

"Winners never quit. Quitters never win."

I'm getting pretty fed up with people saying "just end it, im done" at any point in the game. Particularly after 15 minutes, but at any time, really. Let me preface this by saying I don't like League a whole lot. I play it as a timewaster. But even I'm willing to push through a rough performance for the chance at as satisfying come-from-behind victory. If you quit every time the chips are down, you'll never experience that. Every win will be handed to you, and no matter how many you get, you'll never experience satisfaction. True pride and gratification comes not from curbstomping people who are less skilled than you, but facing stronger opponents and finding a way to overcome.

Consider a UFC fighter who's been getting pummeled all fight. The fifth round starts, and everyone in the building knows he's behind on points, big time. Do you think you'd ever in a million years find a guy in that situation who would go "Just knock me out, bro. Just put me on the canvas. I'm done." That'd be absurd. Likewise, you don't see a goalie who gives up four goals in the first period throw his kit into the stands and go "THAT'S IT. Just shoot the goals and win already."

If you surrender, there's exactly one outcome. You lose. You don't even really lose, you hand them a win. You roll over and let them walk over you so you can rush into the next game, still frustrated, and play another game with your annoyance making you push too hard and make mistakes. You learn nothing. You just walk away.

If you don't, there are two outcomes: Either you have a rousing victory that feels extremely rewarding, or you suffer a loss that you've had time to observe and learn from. Between quitting and pressing on, does one not seem more logical than the other?

"But Shingetsu," I hear you say, "this is stupid. Once you get down 2-40, there's no mathematical way to win." I've seen it happen. I've been a part of it on both the winning and losing sides. The key is fairly simple: DON'T DO WHAT ISN'T WORKING. Adapt. If they have 20 kills and three levels on you, don't chase kills! This is the biggest mistake I see on a regular basis. You're defending, an opponent gets low, and three guys chase him all the way back into his own jungle trying to get that kill. Sometimes they get it, sometimes they don't, but they almost always end up ambushed and wiped.

You know how many creeps you could've cleared in the time you took chasing that one guy? Enough to make at least one and a half times the gold, and push lanes out to boot. Remember that League is a game of objectives, not kills. If you're behind, even if you ace them, it's statistically going to take so long that you'll have no meaningful time to push once you get them down. Focus on what you can do. They were pushing you, now they're retreating. Great! Push lanes. Get gold. Four of them are pushing bot. GO TOP. Don't walk right into their teeth, knowing they have every numerical advantage possible. Go do something else constructive. "Where the enemy is full, be empty. Where the enemy is empty, be full."

Eventually, you'll have an opportunity to strike back. The levels will balance out, your team will have some items, and they'll start making mistakes. That's when you teamfight. Not when you're doing by 20 kills and the enemy Yasuo has three and a half items done.

Don't give up on your game. Don't give up on your team. Give up on your strategy. If you're down by a lot, you're doing something wrong. Find out what it is and stop doing that thing. Doesn't matter if it worked in the past. It's not working now, so do something different. Grenades worked against tanks during World War 2, but when armoring technologies improved, they stopped relying on them. That's the way you need to think. Nasus outlasting you top? Buy Executioner. "But I don't build that! I'm Olaf, noob!" I don't care. The reason Nasus is beating you isn't because he has stacks, it's because his lifesteal is absurd. If you want things to change, do something different and put a stop to his lifesteal. Otherwise, you'll just keep throwing yourself into his jaws and losing more ground.

Think. Adjust. Stop thinking of rough starts as a waste of time and start seeing them as opportunities. Everyone - including you - will be better off for it.