Accepting reality
Let's start with the truth nobody wants to hear: you can't control your teammates. You can't make them stop feeding. You can't make them play better. You can't make them stop going 1v3 with no vision.
And the sooner you accept this, the sooner you'll start climbing.
The "my teams hold me back" mindset is the biggest trap in ranked. Yes, you'll have bad teammates. But the enemy team gets them too. Over the long run, the only constant variable in your games is you.
What you can actually control
Instead of spending mental energy on what your teammates are doing, focus on these things:
Your own performance
Are you farming well? Are you dying too much? Are you making good decisions? Every game is a chance to improve something, regardless of the outcome. If your top laner is 0/5, that doesn't change whether you should be hitting 8 CS per minute or not.
Your map impact
Are you helping the lane that's winning, or are you trying to save the one that already lost? This is one of the most important decisions you can make, and most players get it backwards.
Your communication
Are you using pings in helpful ways, or are you spamming "?" on top of the teammate who just died? The first helps. The second tilts.
Play around the winning lane, not the losing one
This is probably the most valuable advice in this entire article. When someone on your team is feeding, the natural instinct is to try to help them. Go to their lane, attempt ganks, spend resources trying to get them back in the game.
Wrong move.
If your bot lane is 0/4 and the enemy ADC already has two items ahead, ganking bot is extremely risky. You'll most likely just hand another kill to the fed ADC.
Instead, look at who on your team is doing well. Is your mid 3/0? Play around mid. Place vision for mid. Help them secure objectives. Make the person who's already winning, win harder.
It's counterintuitive, but it works. Amplifying an existing advantage is far more effective than trying to reverse a deficit.
When and how to mute
Muting is a tool, not a defeat. If someone is:
- Blaming others in chat
- Being toxic or negative
- Distracting you from your game
Mute them immediately. Don't waste a single second reading toxicity. You're not going to convince a tilted player to calm down with logic in chat. It simply doesn't work.
You can mute chat and keep pings, or mute everything if the pings are toxic too. Your performance will always be better without negative distractions.
Basic shotcalling that works
You don't need to be a natural leader to make useful shotcalls. Just:
- Ping objectives before they spawn. "Dragon in 30 seconds" reminds the team there's an objective to take.
- Ping the map when you have information. If you saw the enemy jungler top, ping bot so they know it's safe.
- Use danger pings when someone overextends. A well-timed danger ping can save a death.
- Ping "on my way" when roaming. So your team knows they can play more aggressively.
Keep communication simple and information-based, not emotion-based.
The statistic that should calm you down
Think about this: if you're not the one feeding, there are 4 potential "feeders" on your team and 5 on the enemy team. Statistically, over the long run, the enemy team is more likely to have the feeder than yours.
This only works if you consistently aren't that person. And that circles back to the main point: focus on your own game.
If you want to check how you've been playing lately, the Tilt Detector can give you an objective read. And if you're not sure whether you should queue up for another game, Should I Queue helps you decide.
What to do in "lost" games
Even in games that feel hopeless, you can:
- Practice mechanics in fights you normally wouldn't take
- Experiment with wave management without the pressure of it "needing" to work
- Watch the fed enemy and learn how they leverage their advantage
- Work on your mentality by staying positive until the end
Remember: the enemy team makes mistakes too. Games that seem lost get won more often than you think, especially in low and mid elo where players don't know how to close out games.
The right mindset
Next time your team is feeding, instead of asking "why do I get these teams?", ask yourself "what can I do in this game to maximize my chances of winning?" That perspective shift is the difference between a player who climbs and one who stays stuck.
You can't control your teammates. But you can control how you react, where you put your focus, and how you play. And that's more than enough to climb.