People say you should not care about your rank, but at the end of the day you probably do care. For some people this might work, they don't care if they win or lose they just play, so sure it's harder to tilt this way. But at the end of the day, most people want to win. I've met few people in my life who enjoy losing. It's hard not to get frustrated when a single player on your team is doing something that makes winning significantly more difficult (such as going afk, intentionally feeding, being abusive in chat etc).
I wouldn't suggest "trying not to care." I think if you actually want to improve, it means you do care, so you should care. I used to tilt a lot and it would effect my games, but I feel I've improved a lot. If I had some tips, they would be the following:
- Very few games are unwinnable. It's really easy to throw a game, it happens every hour of every day, multiple times. It's ok to be behind, the game doesn't end until a nexus is destroyed.
- You, and you alone are responsible for your own play. You can't control the other players on your team, so do not try to. Simply focus on what you can be doing, and what you should be doing.
- Focus on objectives, the kill score is not everything. Did their top laner just TP bot and get a triple kill? That's not great, obviously, but if your top laner can take the tower off that, it's not the end of the world. Yes, you got the worse end of that trade, but not by as much as it may seem. That is one trade of many that will be occurring throughout the game. Keep chipping away. (This is especially true if you are the bot lane that just got killed. Sure, you got rekt, but don't let it tilt you. There's always something you can be doing to come back in a game).
- Take responsibility for your actions. You are going to make mistakes. Never blame someone else for them. Yes, it may be their fault at times, but there are always things you could be doing better. Acknowledge them and try to improve.
- Do not argue in team chat. Even if you are right. This may even mean saying sorry to some asshole who is being an idiot. But I wouldn't even say you have to do that. Just don't speak at all unless it is something positive. It's very rare for you to take a teammate off tilt by talking to them, it almost always makes things worse. Don't let them tilt you as well.
Ok those tips are mostly for general play when your team isn't being idiots (afking, etc). When someone does afk, or intentionally feed, I would suggest:
- Understand you will probably lose the game. Try to do what you can, like I said, no game is unwinnable, but more likely than not you will lose. Speaking in team chat won't make it better. Do what you can, if you lose, it's one lose. EVERYONE has had afk's in their game before. Everyone has stupid losses. In the long run, it's one loss and dwelling on it won't help you.
- Take a break from league for a bit. Take an hour or 2, or even if a day if you want away from playing ranked. Clear your head.
- Try to analyse your game after. Sure, some asshole single handedly lost you the game, and maybe ruined your promos, but you can only be responsible for yourself. What did you do well, what did you do poorly, how can you improve?
- Play a normal game with a champ you aren't very good at or have never played before. You won't expect much out of yourself, you might learn something, and it can be a fun distraction.
- Drink some water, eat some food! Making sure you're physically feeling good :p.
The salt is real and tilting sucks, but you can definitely limit it. Just focus on trying to play well and improving YOUR play. Letting the play of others effect you is lame, you're better than that! You're going to go in win streaks and you're going to go on losing streaks. Try to stay balanced when both happen.
Good luck!
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