Why I think games are lost & how to fix it.

Hey everyone!

Today I would like to talk to you about the main reason why people lose games in LoL. You have always heard the old saying "A team is only as good as it's weakest member." But what most people don't understand is "The weakest player is only as strong as his/hers team." A team loses mostly because of their inability to work together and their toxicity.

It is always easy to blame the 1/12/0 top that got destroyed in lane, but what about this. Have you ever stopped to ask why they might be doing so poorly, or do you just say oh they suck, so they should never play ever again? There are quite a few reason why someone may be doing really bad in lane. Lane match up, inexperience, and mentality are the three major reasons why someone may be having a bad laning phase. Here is the thing about this. All of these problems can be fixed and the game CAN be won. Even if you lose that game, maybe that players next game will be a win!

Lets talk about the role of the jungler for just a minute. To many people the jungler is the person who goes around farming monsters, gaining buffs, and killing enemies in lane to get fed. This, however, is only the very basics of a jungler. They have such an important role (as everyone does) in the success of their team. The jungler can push a lane to victory by killing the enemy champion over and over, they can put the other jungler behind by counter jungling, and so many other things. A jungler can also turn a losing lane, into a winning one.

Now lets talk about one way a losing lane can turn into a winning one. Lets say that there is a Heimerdinger vs Xerath mid. This is a mad match for the Heimer (generally speaking). Xerath can one shot his turrets, and bully Heimer very hard. One simple fix to this is the jungler. If the first few minutes of laning is going terrible, the jungler should go mid and help out. What is the ideal situation here is that the jungler jumps into the fight, knocks Xerath's health down so low that the Heimer gets the kill. Doing this three or four times will get the Heimer ahead in gold, items, levels, damage, and everything that he needs to turn his laning phase around (or at least even it up). Most of the time what you see here in normal games and lower level ranked games, is that the team normally gets very toxic to the losing lane and calls them a feeder, saying terrible things about them as a person, and makes them feel terrible, or makes them angry. This is the opposite of what you want to happen. This can turn a losing lane into a lost game. Now something important. IF they do not get the kill, it is okay. If the enemy has to back and gets away, DO NOT RISK GOING AFTER THEM. Them having to back gives the losing person a chance to farm and catch up a little bit.

It is not 100% the sole responsibility for a person to win their lane. If there is something another member of the team can do to help and they do not do it, then it is their fault as well. Now I am not saying that if there is a losing lane it is the junglers fault either. Normally there is at least one winning lane on each team. If the jungler is having to bounce between two lanes because they are both having a hard time in their laning phase, most people thing that the winning lane should go all out and smash their lane as hard as they can to carry the game. This concept is wrong. It is very possible for one person to carry a game, but it almost never actually happens. The winning lane at that point should try to go to the lane closest to them (when it is a good time such as they just killed their enemy laner) and help get them back up the same way as the jungler can by feeding them kills. The winning lane can even team up with the jungler to help make sure the losing laner gets a kill.

Next lets talk about inexperience. Inexperience with a champion or with the lane its self can cause a losing lane. The best thing to do is to give that person tips, tell them when to back up, engage, use a certain skill, what to build and so on. Try to give as much advice as you can. Advice alone can even turn the tides and help them win in lane. While giving them advice, if they are still losing lane, it is good to feed them kills as stated before. Just be sure to tell them what skill to use when you help comes, or ping them, or just do something to let them in on the fact that you are coming to help and that they need to try and get the kill. Inexperience is almost the easiest problem to fix, all you have to do is share information and help them learn what to do.

Mentality is another issue that causes people to lose lanes. This, however, is the hardest problem to fix. After many many many games of toxic people putting them down, losing multiple games, and many other things can cause a player to feel like they can't do well at all no matter what they do. This can cause them to be toxic themselves. To help this person, all of the steps above need to be taken. Help get them fed if they are losing lane, give them advice, and just try to boost their spirits a little by telling them GJ (Good Job) when they do good and things like that. I know it can be aggravating as hell to see someone do something stupid or play really badly, but just try your best to help them out and not put them down or be toxic.

The LoL community needs something to get it out of the toxic pit it has fallen into. Yes it is a very competitive game, but you need to help out your teammates because it is a TEAM game. Also, at the end of the day it is a game. Yelling at someone and telling them they are trash is not going to change anything or make that game result change. This toxicity is mostly taking place in lower level ranked and normal games. If we start spreading this around to everyone. Maybe this will clear up and their won't be so many Toxic Bronze players and then more people can actually climb the ranked ladder they way it was meant to be. If we get start spreading this around to the new players especially, then they will spread it to people they come in contact with and it eventually the community will be a nicer place and more noobie friendly and get more people interested in the game. I know tons of people that stopped playing after the first week just because of the way people treat them and each other.

Just remember. There is always a way to win, even if it looks impossible.

Please feel free to leave comments!

Thanks for reading!