Toxic Teammates - how do you deal with them?

Based on my experience up to Diamond 3, and on several accounts it matters a bit what role you are playing, what elo you are at, and what exactly the person is typing and why.

I'll give you what personally works for me and see if it works for you.

If person is raging super hard, and is on tilt (i.e. losing lane as well) then there is zero point in talking to them. They will never admit to anything or try to resolve it, and likely are simply venting. The best thing to do is simply ignore them, by this I don't mean necessarily mute them but simply avoid replying to anything they type even if they question you directly.

For those who are toxic for instance because they wanted you to do something or expected you to do something.e.g. why didn't you gank he was pushed up last 2 mins, or why are you not giving blue to mid laner, or why are you focused on bot their jungler camping top, or how are you losing with lucian against a jinx? Stuff like that, it depends on the elo. If this is plat or above then give a silly excuse or apology to diffuse the situation e.g. sorry i'm trying my best, or but those jukes are next level something like that. These players in general are likely either losing lane or even and want to win so looking around the map to see what lane should ideally be winning based on matchup or situation and trying to push that cause. They don't really intend generally to be toxic or degrading but simply care about the win too much to shut their mouths. This is why you react in a very passive way to not escalate the situation. If however this is in gold, silver or bronze then it is best to either say "i'm trying" or not reply at all. Never engage them because they likely don't know what they are talking about anyway to understand the situation and realistically their opinion is as likely to be wrong as right anyway so it is best to do what you think is going to work.

Last group of people is those people that seem to have a chip on their shoulder and act negatively in a passive-aggressive manner. To me these are the most annoying people because often reporting them doesn't get them banned e.g. the guy who constantly whines but doesn't really insult people. Something like, "man I wish our jungler was as good as theirs, you know sometimes I think I just have to play 1v9 all the time, its lucky you guys have me because otherwise this game would be so over." etc. This type of player I actually mute, because if I am genuinely trying my best the comments may get to me and may even tilt me enough or make me prefer to not win than continue to try my best. These people though I think different people react to very differently, so how you react to them is all up to you.

Last point I want to make and this is the most important one, especially to those of you who are either newer to ranked, newer to normals, or just have some anxiety about some of the raging some players do. Remember ultimately it is a game, and your rank and mmr reflect where you deserve to be. This means that generally all the players you play with and against are at about the same level as you, so forget about trying to impress them or carry them, instead focus on self-improvement in your own game play from game to game, the rank will follow after naturally.

/r/leagueoflegends Thread