The Mentality You Need When Playing from Behind

We've all been there - after getting solo killed in lane, you're down 20 CS and a full level in expereince. Your opponent's advantage doesn't seem insurmountable, but things still look bleak and just a wee bit likely that you'll continue to die in lane futher. Psychologically, you're not in a great place - and you've got to be on the top of your game if you want to bring things back. Well today's article will help you do just that - I'm going to give you a few concepts to think about that'll improve your mindset and mentality when playing from behind.

The first thing you must do is forget and forgive yourself for making the mistakes that brought you to this point in the game - and for that matter, your teammates as well (if it was their mistakes that led to the disadvantage). I'm generally one to avoid speaking in absolutes - however, it's basically always unproductive to critcize yourself or your team for making a mistake while you're still playing out the match. All this does is dampen your game sense, diminish your own (and your team's) morale, and distract you from the task at hand - i.e., getting the game state back to parity and eventually grabbing the win.

Don't get too excited or go crazy if you fall behind. Stay calm, collected, reevaluate the game state, and move forward.

And this is a big one, it's a very common problem across most players - especially those who are taking the game seriously and making a genuine effort to get better. That's not to say self-criticism is unwarranted...it certainly may be; however, this should only take place following the completion of the match, when you can fully commit yourself to reflecting on the game.

Instead, when playing from behind, visualize and imagine that the game just began in the state that it's currently in. For whatever reason, your opponents started out with a bit more gold, or a bit more EXP than you, and you've got to work towards victory. Think of it as starting out a new save state in Pokemon, except on hard mode, moving up from medium. If you're not a Pokemon player, choose any single player game you'd like, but the point is that the only concern on your mind should be how to proceed forward. Don't worry about the past - focus on winning from your current position.

Your mindset should always be forward-looking: "What do I need to do here? How do I make plays and create favorable resources trades for myself and my team?" If you were playing a single player game and the enemies you're currently facing were extremely strong, you (typically, unless you missed a key item drop or something, heh) wouldn't worry about what happened beforehand - you would try and tackle the challenge with the resources at hand. Carry this same mentality over to League, and you'll find that being behind in a game actually pushes you to your limit and allows you to improve your skills beyond what you would normally accomplish if the game were at parity or if your team was ahead.

As a corollary, your playstyle really needs to be dynamic. If the game state changes, you need to adapt to these changing variables. From my experience, the primary reason a player feeds a lane repeatedly is because he or she keeps playing the same way after falling behind. After you're down a kill (or on the flipside, up a kill), the game state has changed. You need to play according to these new rules, shifting your approach. This is why your mindset needs to be dynamic - hit the reset button, start a new save game, reassess the situation - then proceed as appropriate.

Expanding on this, you can consider the flow of a League game as a series of events resulting in changes in the game state. After each major skirmish, teamfight, tower push, big item purchase, baron pickup, etc., reevaluate where you are and proceed from there. This, in a sentence, is the key to the mindset of playing from behind.

Analyze the situation (taking into account the shifting variables of the game) and ask yourself: "What do I need to do to win this game? What's my team's line of play?" Thinking in this way keeps you forward-focused, with an eye towards the future rather than being bogged down by any errors that may have brought you to this point in the game. And let me tell you, there's no greater feeling in League of Legends than a good old fashioned, skillfully executed comeback. May you expereince many of these in the future! (Though if you're always ahead there's no need for a comeback, so uh, you can do that as well.)

That's all for today, I hope you enjoyed the article. If you'd like to discuss anything League, have comments/feedback on this article, or just want to say hi, feel free to tweet me @k0nduit (with a zero instead of an 'o') and I'll get back to you.

Until next time.

konduit