How to Conquer the Beast: Solo Queue

And so it begins

Imagine this, you join a ranked match and your mid laner dies 30 seconds into the game. Nothing new to you, you've played Solo Queue matches before, you know how this dance goes. Two minutes later he dies again. But why? Why is your Annie constantly dying to the hyper carry that is Kassadin? You hit tab and grit your teeth. She built a Vampiric Scepter and has been trolling the entire time.

Your team starts raging at one another, towers start falling, and you're stuck in top lane farming your Q on Nasus, completely away from the action. You're going to lose this match at no fault of your own, just because some Troll disguised itself as a Summoner and snuck on to the Rift.

Now, what if you found out that it was actually you who caused this scenario? What if some of your past behavior in other Solo Queue matches, had inadvertently led to this Annie trolling your match, and taking away your preciously earned League Points?

If you've ever encountered a Troll in your match or had a fellow team member Rage Quit and wondered why, this is an article for you.

Introduction

This is the first of many articles in which I plan to examine and plot against "The Beast." It is my belief that by understanding the different emotions and situations of Solo Queue, you can improve the quality of your games and enjoyment of the time you spend on the Rift. In this article you will learn what the Beast is, how it impacts you and your matches, and what you can do to sever its strangling presence in Solo Queue, at least to some degree.

I, Saru Gon, will be your guide to understanding the Beast. I am a hardened Solo Queue warrior with a grudge and I'm seeking vengance. It is my hope that by showing you the patterns of the Beast, you will do your very best to Conquer the Beast and make Solo Queue a better place.

 

What is the Beast?

Before we can hope to conquer the Beast we must know its nature. What makes the Beast strong? What is the Beast's agenda? And of course, What is the Beast?

The Beast is every negative action and feeling that resides and forms in Solo Queue. The Beast is constantly growing and forming, festering off the plethora of bad experiences and past experiences that have taken place on the Rift. Let me give you an example.

- Your bottom gives a double kill early to a hyper carry.
The Beast has struck.

- Your top laner makes a snarky comment regarding the double kill.
The Beast has bitten.

- The ADC intentionally feeds to prove a point and get back at the top laner.
The Beast has grown.

- The Jungler and Top lane duo start complaining in all chat to the other team about their bad team.
The Beast has won.

Now this is a very real example of Solo Queue and one I'm sure we can all relate to. Team members performing suboptimally while others rage at them for making a mistake, something that we all do. That's what the Beast wants you to forget. I'm sure you can remember countless times your team has performed poorly, but how many times can you remember a teammate strapping you on his back and carrying you to victory?

To further emphasize my point, next time you queue up for a ranked match examine how you feel about your team during champ select. You don't know these people nor do you have any idea what they're capable of in terms of mechanics or communication. Do you trust these people to perform well in your match? Are you willing to give up your best role for this random stranger to do his best role?

The answer to these various questions is more than likely no. And that, in essence, is the Beast. The Beast is everything wrong in Solo Queue. The snarky comments, the misplaced rage, the intentional feeding to prove a point. We are all the Beast. You, me, and every teammate you ever get are all the problems that exist within Solo Queue.

How to Conquer the Beast

Now that we have a little more insight to the Beast, we can use that knowledge to conquer it. You couldn't possibly take all the blame for the jungled mess of Solo Q, but it's an important stage in our quest to conquer the Beast, to acknowledge the fact that we are the Beast. By acknowledging that fact, and yes, it is a fact, we open ourselves to the same tools that it possesses.

The Beast has many weapons in its arsenal and I plan to diffuse them all in time, but for the sake of this article, I think we'll focus on merely one of its fangs. The power to influence people.

To give an example, think of losing streaks. The general consensus is once you start a losing streak, you should take a break and come back with a more level head before playing more matches, because more likely than not, you'll lose even more games. You come into matches with expectations of people failing, a bad attitude, and a poor perspective on the game and as a result, it happens. But why?

It's like a self-fulfilling prophecy. You think it's going to happen, so you worry about it happening, and then it happens. As you can see, how you feel, think, and approach a game is very important. What you may not realize is, how your team feels, think, and approaches the game is just as important as how you do. And you, The Beast, have all the tools you need to influence how they feel.

Imagine from the previous example, you were the adc in bottom lane and immediately after you make a mistake, your top laner says, "it's always bot lane. Fml." Think about this for a moment. How do you correctly respond to this?

Do you just quietly sit and wait for a chance for him to mess up, so you can mock him about it? Do you waste no time in pointing out it was your support/Junglers fault for not doing something correctly? Or do you just bite your tongue and try to continue the game, the best you can?

In a perfect world, you wouldn't have to make this decision. The top laner would realize that what he says does nothing useful towards winning the game. All he does is create a hostile environment with the people he's trying to win the game with. His TEAM.

But we all know, Solo Queue is no perfect world. Teams will rage, towers will fall, and players will feed. So how you correctly respond, is actually none of the above. Try to understand what this guy is going through. He's probably had a series of games that have started out precisely as this one, and no matter how "well" he did, he couldn't carry. That's a sentiment we can all relate to. "I'm sorry, i'll try to play better."

This does wonders. You've shown humility to your team, shown you're willing to be the better person and say, "I made a mistake." Even if you didn't, because sometimes, people just need someone to blame to make them feel better. Sometimes you have to be the person everyone relentlessly blames, even if it wasn't your fault.

Let's change perspectives for a moment though. What if you're the top laner? Instead of making a snarky comment, you could say, "don't worry guys, we got this. farm up, play safe." You can be the rock for your team, complimenting them when they get a kill or save someone's life, and keep their morale up when things turn sour. It's not something you always want to do and it's definitely not something you should have to do, but keeping a level head among you and your team can do wonders. Amazing comebacks never happen when people give up.

 

Conclusion

Today we took some steps in conquering the Beast, however, we've just scratched the surface. Next week we'll be taking an in-depth analysis of more of the Beast's qualities and how they impact you and your game. Hopefully you were able to take something from this article and apply it to your every day ranked life. Thank you for taking the time to read this and good luck conquering the Beast.