The Art of Tilt and How to Avoid It

So we've all been in that situation when the scoreboard is in a favourable state, money is plentiful and communication is good, right. Then, for some reason, everything just grinds to a halt. Shots keep missing, the enemy keeps rolling and teammates are starting to blame each other for the opponent’s surprise comeback. This is the unfortunate art of the tilt.

Step one: calm down

It is surprisingly easy to yell at your teammate for not covering your off angle, even if he was on the other side of the map. It is even easier to respond with anger when such blame falls on you. As hard as it must be, don’t. Even if a premature death your teammate suffered is by no means your fault, don’t yell at them. Say something to the effect of “Sorry mate, unlucky.” This communicates to your teammate that you are not blaming them for what happened, because that’s what they must be thinking. Most of the time when players blame someone else, it’s because they’re trying to cover the fact they themselves did something wrong. This may seem harsh, but it includes you too.

Stop trying to find an excuse

It is always the P90’s fault. No, it’s the fault of a friendly sniper for not covering you. Even better, it’s the completely nonsense position the enemy was hiding. It probably wasn’t any of those things. You got outplayed. Blaming some random element of the game for your mistake never helped anyone, so just keep in mind what went wrong and try avoiding it next round. Try to play around what you know your enemies tend to do on high tempo and use it against them.

Get rushed by SMGs every single round? Hold a more passive position or try to smoke it off. Doing the same thing over and over again will not work. If, for the fourth time, the enemy perfectly predicted your flank, you must be doing something wrong. Or did the enemy predict your flanking position a bit too perfectly?

They are not hacking

“How did he know,” I hear you cry. “People never rush palace!” Matter of fact is, they do. In this stale meta of the same old classic maps like Dust II and Mirage, the seemingly random push has been done hundreds, if not thousands of times. Sometimes, an opponent just happens to predict it. There is no avoiding it, especially if you do several times in a row, expecting something to change. And that lucky shot through mid doors that they’ve landed for a third time now was probably blind luck. Yes, there are many cheaters and smurfs in the matchmaking of today, but not everyone is one. If you find an enemy especially suspicious, report them and move on. But what if that one teammate won’t shut up about how their topfragger must be at least Supreme?

Assume a leader role

Divert your teammate’s attention from the enemy to your team. Even if you are a passive, or just not a very outspoken player, a few words of instruction might go a great length. Don’t try to sound like you are making a suggestion or giving a piece of advice, give an order. A “hey guys, how about we go A” might go overlooked, while a “let’s eco one and then rush B” will usually have a greater effect. Often times in teams of soloqueuers, nobody takes charge of the situation, so people just go wherever they please, even if it doesn’t benefit the team.

This should work even when you’re on the receiving end, so don’t try to argue with the assumed leader. Even sloppy strats are better than no strats. Of course taking the same positions every round and expecting things to work out usually does not work very well, especially if the enemy is on a win streak that has no end. In that case, work with your team to stop their tempo.

Tactical timeouts are underrated

We have seen time and time again how taking a tactical timeout can benefit professional teams greatly in times of distress. Even if it’s just to take that one minute off the opposing team’s tempo, it is usually good for something. Maybe one of your players was grumpy because they needed a toilet break, or a quick smoke.
Tactical timeouts are those valuable 75 seconds, during which you can discuss what is going wrong in your team, what position is not working out or what approaches are being pushed the most. This can give you insight into the enemy’s way of thinking, and you can start trying to come up with some sort of counter strats. Even a confusing smoke-and-shotgun hold you made on the fly can be surprisingly effective, when you have your team working together to break the enemy. Assuming, of course, that your team is willing to cooperate.

The mute button is a last resort

You might be trying to explain the reasoning behind an execute you will be doing, but the bottomfragger keeps insulting your family in an undisclosed foreign language over their booming microphone. If you find that the teammate in question gives no accurate info and keeps shouting at you when he is long gone, you might have to consider the little tempting “Block communication” button on the scoreboard. If the rest of the team join in on the decision, communicating become easier. Go ahead and also mute all the enemies while you’re at it, because they will probably just try to distract you and try to provoke a response.

Of course the moment has come. The once useless teammate gave up and became a griefer. Because his shouting now has no effect on the team, he starts rushing with a scout or throwing molotovs to key positions where your team is holding from. Maybe it’s time to end his suffering.

BOT Joe might be who you need

Enter the disobedient and fiscally irresponsible automated teammate. While the BOT might not be good enough to take on a full bombsite execute on his own, but instead decide to have a staring contest with a chicken, he is still a valuable asset. The BOT might serve as an indicator of where the enemies are, because everyone knows that knifing the enemy BOT grants you style points. In some cases, your team finds itself with an insanely good entryfragger who always dies first but takes at least one enemy with him. Keep the BOT alive and he might get another chance at cracking open a bombsite.

Countless times my team has found itself in a terrible position, eight points down and with one player less. Maybe all that is needed for the miracle comeback is to give the carry of the team another life. If, by some miracle, your team is cooperative enough, try to leave the bot to the most effective player on the team, even if that means you will be spectating some more than you wanted to. Just having the one extra life for a player on your team might give you morale boost and break the enemy.

The bottom line

Be positive. Try to work for the benefit of the team. Swallow your pride and see how teammates become more cooperative with just a few kind words. “You can do it” is significantly more effective than “clutch or kick.” Remember, there are people with pride and feelings on the other side. Admit to yourself that sometimes, even the best players in the world make silly mistakes. Stay calm and collected, and focus on your game, for that is what counts.

Get your own AKRacing Chair here and support our players, all profit goes towards the teams!