There’s never a good time to have this conversation, but here it goes. As someone who plays competitive games -- yes, I’m talking to you -- it’s important that you note the worth and unavoidability of losing.
It’s called “taking an ‘L’” according to the hip lingo of modern gaming, and that ‘L’ is going to be a very strong focus of this week’s edition of OmegaLOL. Last week we talked about the crucial nature of cheesing in League of Legends, so we figured learning how to lose is the most relevant next step.
What is a Loss in LoL?
In the standard game mode of League of Legends, a game consists of two teams of five hitting the rift. Each of the team members plays a predetermined role that usually coincides with lanes. The goal of your team and your game as an individual is to grow stronger than the enemy and destroy their base.
In the very possible scenario where your opponents manage to destroy your base first, you will lose.
And don’t you fret your tiny head about it folks, you will lose. Guaranteed.
What does a Loss mean for me?!
Wins and losses in League of Legends matter in almost every scenario. If you are playing unranked, or “normals” in the playlist, you’re still earning blue essence, experience points, and champion mastery. Losing a match in normals will affect how much of these things you earn per game, as winning raises your earnings.
When it comes to ranked play, losing affects your actual points earned, which is the source of climbing or falling in ranks.
There are nine different ranks in League of Legends ranking system. Each of them have four divisions within them. Each time a player wins in their respective division, they gain League Points (or LP). When you lose, you lose LP. Normally, it’s weighted towards the loss. This means that you will, most often, lose more LP with a loss than you would gain in LP if you had won. Making the climb through ranks harder.
Upon reaching 100 LP in any given division, the player is awarded a promotion opportunity. This is reflected in a best-of-three for inner-rank divisions and a best-of-five series for promotion to a higher rank.
If you lose more than you win, you will not be promoted. If you win more than your Elo suggests you should, you may get promoted past your next available rank. Promotions matter. A lot.
Hey, you might say, so far you’ve actually just provided a bunch of really useful information. Yes, I would respond to that. Yes, I have. Thank you for noticing. That’s not necessarily why you’re here though, is it?
What a loss truly means for you is that you’re human.
Why should I be okay with losing?
Well, for one, it sucks when you get angry over an inevitability. So there’s that. Also, there’s a lot that can come out of a loss. Before we get to that latter portion though, let’s take a look at the former.
You’re not a professional League of Legends player -- unless you are, then I’d like to tell you that you're doing a great job, and we very much enjoy what you’re doing. However, chances are you are not. Competitive fans, and those that play competitive games tend to attempt to model themselves after pro players. This is why places like Curse existed. You’d be able to see what or how pros were playing certain champions.
This is where the realization comes in that you are going to lose some games. Looking at any pro players solo queue stats, you will clearly see that even the infallible pros cannot perfect this playing environment.
Let’s take a look at Doublelift. He just won his 6th North American Championship with his latest squad Team Liquid. Doublelift even won the MVP of the entire LCS Grand Finals. He’s often regarded as one of the great players in NA. Yet, on his normal account, he only has a 75% win-rate over the last 20 games.
Changing the U.GG filters to Ranked Solo, Doublelift drops to a 70% win-rate. This is one of the best AD-Carries in League of Legends history, and he lost 3 out of every 10 games. In this entire season so far, Doublelift has 109 wins, and 93 losses in solo queue. That’s a 54% total win-rate.
So if you don’t think that losing is inevitable, you better think again.
Learning to take the “L”
It’s an age-old adage in a competitive environment, but players learn far less from a win than they do from a loss. It was true the first time anyone said it, and it’s still true today. The most important experience one can have in their lives are their losses.
After Team SoloMid came back from a 0-2 deficit to beat Cloud 9 in the 2019 LCS Spring Semifinals, TSM Academy coach Peter Zhang told Bjergsen and the rest of the TSM team “It’s always important to experience the feeling when you lose. Don’t forget [the feeling] when you were behind in game 1. Don’t forget why you were losing in game 2.”
Zhang is spot on in this reminder. It’s hard to be losing, and it’s hard to have lost, but nothing means more to the drive of a real competitor than getting back up from that beat-down even stronger and surprising everyone including yourself with your new-found abilities and understanding.
“Those moments. Those feelings. They will push you to improve.” added Zhang. “Every time you feel too cocky, like next week in practice, it will be there. How you were almost eliminated from the playoffs. That’s your most important experience,” Zhang said to finish his speech.
This is true for anyone who is looking to improve. Losing is part of that journey. The pros? Well, they clamber over every inch of game footage from their matches, and losses especially so, because there isn’t as much to learn from winning.
Once you realize how important losing is to the growth of your skills and talents, then “taking the L” will become part of your process.
Don’t Give Up
*sad, but somehow inspiring music plays*
The key here is to pay close attention to your actions, your choices, and your foresight when it comes to losing, but never lose on purpose. This is obviously not the point of this article.
When a loss does come up (and they will), take them in stride. Get back up, and try to be better next time.
For now, keep getting back out there and for the love of all things good and bronze, be better.
