Do you have that feeling that your teammate is the reason you are not ranking up? Do you get frustrated often because of poor teammates? Then, you’ve come to the right place. After playing every genre in gaming, experiencing many types of teammates, and reaching the top 1% in many games in mostly solo queue, I think I’ve learned how to deal with bad teammates over the years.
By the way, if you are feeling like you are stuck in an ELO hell, make sure to check out How To Escape ELO Hell: How To Start Ranking Up
Today, we will go over why you feel your teammates are bad, how to deal with them and how to win more games. Let’s get started.
Why Your Teammates Are Bad?
In general, feeling as if you always get worse teammates is a cognitive bias. It is simply not true. Naturally, we tend to focus on the negative aspects of our teammates while neglecting the good ones. Statistically speaking, your teammates are at about the same level as your opponents.
Due to our nature, we focus on negative things more than positive ones to increase our survival chances. For example, we are more likely to remember not to eat a specific type of plant than we would likely to remember the great flavor of a particular plant.
Now, I am not saying you are lying, and your teammates are superb. Not at all. I am just saying that we tend to focus on the negative aspects of our teammates or, even more than that, not remember the actually good teams we often get.
That leads to frustration and the feeling as matchmaking is working against us, which is not true. You may be getting regularly good teammates but emphasizing the bad ones. You may be getting three good teammates and one bad one that may ruin your mood.
Enemy Team Is Always Better
While the enemy team may sometimes be better due to the nature of matchmaking, statistically speaking, it is not always the case. In fact, your team has the advantage because it already has a good player, you. That means your opposing team has to fill five players while yours has to fill 4. You have the advantage.
But sometimes, statistically speaking, you will get bad teammates. And they will probably be the reason for your loss. So how to deal with them? How to win games with bad teammates?
How To Win Games With Bad Teammates
First of all, before I give out any tips on how to approach bad teammates, I want to introduce the 40-20-40 concept.
40-20-40
According to the 40-20-40 rule, you win 40% of your games. It could be due to a good team, smurfs, trollers on the opposite team, etc. The other 40% of your games are lost immediately. Again, this can be due to a variety of reasons. But the remaining 20% is up to you and your performance.
The 20% of your games is where things get interesting. The 20% of your games are the games that are decided by you. These are games in which you can actually turn the tides. You win if you play well and deserve it. If you perform poorly, it is your fault, and you will lose. That’s why tilting in games is so dangerous. It means that 20% of your matches may be ruined because of a bad temper. (How To Stop Getting Tilted)
In our context, think about the 40% of your games which are lost, are lost because of bad teammates. So if you find yourself playing with a poor team, that’s okay. Because it is one of the 40% of your games, that’s a huge relief because we shouldn’t get angry. It is just pure statistics.
Now, it doesn’t mean that once you get a bad teammate, you throw the game, not at all. You have to push through and give your maximum constantly. It may be one of your 20% games. We don’t know, and that’s why you have to give out your best continually.
You Are What Important
There is a common constant in every game you’ve ever played. And that’s you. You are present in every game you’ve ever played. That means that you had some control over your game’s outcome. That means that by focusing on yourself and improving yourself, you will win more games despite the quality of your teammates.
For example, take a diamond player (no matter the game) who is put in silver. He will climb the ladder very quickly, and for a good reason. He is good and deserves to be in the diamond bracket. That’s why improving should be your number one priority. Do not focus on things that are outside of your control.
You see, the quality of your teammates is not within your control. So why bother focusing on them? It might not be fair, but it is what it is. You will generally get your deserved rank after some time on the ladder.
Start by improving yourself. Read guides. Practice more. Get good game sense and aim. Read tips and tricks and more. Here are a few materials that may help you in your process:
- Game Sense: How To Develop Pro Game Sense: Fastest Method
- Aim: The Complete Aim Training Guide: The Godlike Aim Journey
- Focus: How To Improve Your Focus While Gaming
- General: How To Get Good At Gaming FAST – By A Top 1% Player
- Setup: How To Find Your Perfect Sensitivity
I have written much more, so make sure to check out more articles if interested.
Plus, make sure you take accountability for your own performance. Many people focus so much on their teammate’s mistakes that they don’t even notice their own mistakes. They are so absorbed in their teammate’s blunders that nothing else is important. That’s another reason why focusing on yourself is critical.
In general, you can win more games with bad teammates if you put the emphasis on yourself. Make sure to focus on improving yourself and being the best teammate you can be. Placing emphasis on things outside your control, like bad teammates, will lead to frustration and dissatisfaction.
How To Deal With Bad Teammates
So you are just starting a new match—good energies, ready to rank up. But your team is just bad. Your teammates constantly die, don’t help, etc. What to do? How to deal with them?
1. Do Not Get Emotionally Invested
First of all, do not get too emotionally invested. It was proven that gaming is a cognitive sport, so you may hinder your performance by yelling at them, criticizing them, etc. So make sure to stay calm and collected (How To Stay Calm During Gaming) to improve your performance.
2. Treat Your Teammates With Respect
Yelling, flaming, or insulting your teammates in chat won’t help their performance. In fact, it will do just the opposite. They will likely get tilted, offended, and generally just playing worse or even trolling.
It may be better to encourage them, help them or even lead the team. Be the best teammate you’ve ever had and see how quickly the “bad” teammates do everything in their power to win.
3. Improve Yourself
This may seem weird to some people, but if you find yourself surrounded by teammates, you may be the bad teammate. Make sure to focus on improving yourself and being the best player you can be. Eventually, you will climb the ladder by yourself.
4. Spread Positivity
As I said before, encourage your team, spread positivity, and hype your team to ensure everyone is in a good mood. Even if you notice a toxic player, try not to get in a fight with him. He will drag you down to his level and win due to his experience. So if you notice such type of player, make sure to absorb his toxicity and spread positivity instead.
For example, a toxic player says that this team is straight garbage. Your answer can be that, yeah, we are not perfect. So let’s try to do something else. This may be extreme, but you see the point, right?
5. If Nothing Helps, Learn To Move On
Sometimes your team has one annoying player who throws the game. It happens, and nothing can be done about it. Realize it is all part of the game, and move on.
Final Words
Thank you for reading, keep slapping and I will see you next time!
