The Two Words That Will Boost Your MMR

[[E]Rhayne]

COORDINATION & TEAMWORK = IRRELEVANT sub 1500.

[CrimsonAdder]

I gotta be brutally honest and say this recent influx of threads on how to win games by appealing to basic psychology are extremely boring.

It's obvious, and typing a thread about it is simple, but pretty much everyone playing this game gets at least a little upset when something goes wrong, and it doesn't allow for one to be the number 1 ****-sucker of the team when it's needed. I'm not even saying it leads to rage, but in the best case scenario when one is ticked off by something bad that happens, his first instinct won't be to appeal to unite the team. That's the human mind. You can't keep a cool head 24/7, even just over the course of a few games someone who tries to keep this super mentality will become exhausted really fast.

[Katieeee]

COORDINATION & TEAMWORK = IRRELEVANT sub 1500.

In my two trips down to 1300 and back up to 1500+, those two things with a bit of leadership made games really easy. Most players down there don't carry TPs and overextend, so just being able to get a few teammates to go along and do basic ganks and pushes wins.

[[AMOG]HahaYouDied]

"Don't suck."

[[S2]Dawnbringer]

So many times have I seen threads saying "I am at XXXX ranking because of <insert scapegoat here>". It is another one of the issues I find, people don't find flaws in what they do and proceed to rage at their team. If your team is at eachothers throats you are essentially facing two hurdles instead of just one. A few encouraging words go a long way and people are far more likely to listen. You nailed it, good read.

[MasterGeese]

I came into this thread expecting to see "Good Job." I was thoroughly disappointed.

[[DiW]Doorgymguy]

Theres no way to carry yourself out. If you belong in a bracket you will be in it. Simple, Best advice i can give you to get out of lower brackets is to not start arguements within your team. Afterall you're in the same bracket with them, no need to rage at them calling them bad.

[[eNHa]Myzreal]

A funny tip for support players (which I am myself): pretend to be a girl.

Seriously. I tried this for a few times and right at the start (picking phase) I said something like "Hi guys! I'm gonna support you this game, do your best! ". Being a girl was indicated by account icon and account name (sub, not this one). Funny as it may sound, this really works as people generally would flame a girl trying to "take the man role and carry" but they are more than okay with having a girl "watch over them and take care of them" thus "doing the girly job". Yes I know this is sexist but hey, I'm not responsible for how this community works.

This of course works without pretending to being a girl too. I just find it funnier and more effective if I do so The drawback is that I can't use the voice chat (unless I cut my balls off).

[[SSBC]Balls`n`Nuts]

I came here expecting "solo mid", but yet I got a detailed and insightful guide. What gives?

Hahah right on, seems to be everyone solution to everything.

Gotta agree, obvious answer but still good read.

[Old_Ben]

I was expecting "don't feed"

[[babe]Blaity]

''99% chance he will vs another group of 5''


no

[[msry]Rkey]

Pretty much the way I feel about solo queue too, and I have played solo queue in the 1500-1600 range enough to call it an art by now.

[Jenova26]

''99% chance he will vs another group of 5''


no

So groups of 5 don't get queued against groups of 5 anymore. You know so much, tell me more.

[[EHOP]Epidemilk]

A funny tip for support players (which I am myself): pretend to be a girl.

Seriously. I tried this for a few times and right at the start (picking phase) I said something like "Hi guys! I'm gonna support you this game, do your best! ". Being a girl was indicated by account icon and account name (sub, not this one). Funny as it may sound, this really works as people generally would flame a girl trying to "take the man role and carry" but they are more than okay with having a girl "watch over them and take care of them" thus "doing the girly job". Yes I know this is sexist but hey, I'm not responsible for how this community works.

This of course works without pretending to being a girl too. I just find it funnier and more effective if I do so The drawback is that I can't use the voice chat (unless I cut my balls off).

I dunno man I would expect a mixture of "omg a girl" distraction from half the community with the other half more like "eww this is hon no girls allowed"

[Tony`]

Having low-skilled teammates in low mmr brackets is inevitable. It will keep coming frequently and consistently, the only thing you can change in the equation is yourself and team cohesiveness. Think about it, you're not going to teach them to be high-skilled players in the small amount of time you have. The best you can do is improve yourself, and appeal to basic human psyche. Sure, you can teach them a trick or two in one game, but they will be relatively the same skill level. So keeping a positive, and unifying attitude can only help your winning chances.

GJ OP.

[Gdemami]

**DISCLAIMER: This is written to appeal to 1600 MMR and below, but the content applies to all MMR levels**

As the title says, there are two simple words that WILL boost your MMR if you live by them. For the past few months that I have been frequenting this Forum and Strategy forums, I see a constant influx of "How can I win if mah team so bad," "Why my team all noobs," and "How do I get my MMR higher" threads.

Ultimately, no team is perfect by design. Especially in solo-queue. Your team will be noobs, wannabe smurfs, tryhards, failhards, "my stats so low cause I support", trolls, griefers, feeders, and butthole ninjas. True story though, so's the other team.

Until a certain point of competitive teamplay or top-tier MMR and In-House Leagues, Matchmaking games are FAR more likely to be decided by the number and extent of mistakes made than by great plays. The ability to capitalize on mistakes puts your team WAY ahead of the opposition. Allow me to reiterate, "WAAAAAY AHEAD."

That being said, the two words that WILL win you games and MMR are simply, "Communication" and "Teamwork."

Now, I understand that this has been stated over and over again ad nauseum. I understand that you all may have read this in several threads and you may be thinking, "Yea, I got it.... but mah team soooo stupid and dey no listen to meh!" If you are thinking this for even a fraction of a second, then, I regret to inform you, but you don't understand. So, allow me to explain the difference between ORDERING, LISTENING and COMMUNICATION.

Abandon all trolling, ye who enter here...

For proper communication, you need to first understand that you are not God. Your way doesn't go because you say it does. You can only effectively communicate if you understand a few things:

Your team does not play like you do
Your team does not have the same hero as you and cannot do what you can
Each teammate is NOT as skilled as you, in fact, they may be significantly MORE skilled than you
Your team does not have the same tolerance for punishment as you may. They may want to concede before the game is over
Your team may not understand English as well as you OR *GASP* they might not have sound/microphone.

ALL of these things need to be taken into consideration before you can lead your team to victory. You need to maintain a positive attitude and LEAD your team. No one plays video games to be harassed or threatened. NO ONE DOES ANYTHING TO FEEL HARASSED OR THREATENED. You speak TO your teammates, not AT them.

"I want to win" does not constitute a positive attitude. You need to be able to find the positives on your team and exploit them. Let your team know why something that seems bad is actually good. For instance, you have a Keeper of the Forest who is not helping in teamfights like he should and has been pretty much only farming for 20+ minutes. Chances are, your team will blame him for a death or a bad fight. In most regards, this may have been his fault for not being there, but how can that be seen as a positive? Answer? You have one of the tankiest, best teamfight, strongest push heroes in the game FREEFARMING. Tell your team that "It's fine. He's gonna rape lategame. Let's just pick smart fights until he's ready to push."

Let's look at what that statement just told your team: You have just assured your team that you can win lategame. You have reinforced to Keeper that he is a viable member of the team. Bottom line, you have restored hope in one simple statement. You have shed a positive light on what is generally considered a negative.

How about another scenario that we have all seen and will never cease to see (sadly): Your team has one guy who is desperately trying to support, though he may not fully know how. One of your teammates gets ganked and blames a lack of wards even though you know for a fact that your support has been warding. We all know what happens next, right? The supporter gets pissed off and doesn't want to help ward any more because he's not being appreciated for his efforts. Then, the less he wards, the more the jackass who keeps getting caught out will flame him. What do you say here? You have to keep the team unified to win, right? You have several options, you can agree with the guy that got ganked and tell the support to ward more which will only make him feel more ganged up on and he'll likely disconnect or AFK in well. You can agree with the support and tell the jackass with no awareness that he's a jackass with no awareness. OR, Option 3, you can say something along the lines of, "Hey, you probably shouldn't have been that far out without wards, but [SupportPlayer] has been warding most of the game. You should farm over here when you respawn since it's safer. I'll grab the next few wards."

Right there, you have given sound advice WITH an alternative course of action so he will be harder to gank in the future. You have reinforced that your support player is a valuable member of the team and offered to lightened his burden for a while so he can get some items and farm.

Thinking positive and relaying that attitude to your team will inspire them to work together toward a common goal. Every player looks at this game from a different perspective. Some people watch Honcast a couple times and think they are the next N0tail. Some people don't have a freaking clue what Honcast is. Whatever the case, you're all in the game together and you all want to win. Leadership isn't about knowing what to do or how to be better at something than everyone else, it's about knowing how to get your team to work together and how to use their strengths and weaknesses to the greatest extent possible to accomplish your goals.

Next time your team fails at something just remember what your father or your coaches used to say when you failed at something as a kid. They'd pat you on the back and say, "don't worry, you'll get 'em next time, buddy." Take this attitude into Newerth with you, leave the flame at the door, and watch the wins pile up.

Understand that for this to work effectively, you'll need to use your mic constantly. You need to be the loudest (in content, not volume), most consistent, most positive, and most influential voice on your team. If someone says something negative or is starting to lose hope, you need to speak up and reassure and reaffirm your team. Twist the negatives into positives and, the best part of this, after a certain point, your team will follow you without a second thought.

While I understand what you are trying to say and I agree that positive attitude is important, your train of thought is flawed.

You set an axiom that your team mates are truly bad and then follow not taking this axiom into account - that Keeper will not rape once he will get farmed, the guy lacking map awareness will not stop feeding after moving to new spot.

Second flaw is that, considering solo queue, teams are random so there is no improvement of your team mates over time - you start with each match from scratch, there is no "next time".



Even great leadership won't turn bad players into great players. Only practice will.

[Jhamin_Libre]

I sort of agree.. I win more games with positive bad players who are trying their best than with better skilled ragers who get mad at the first mistake and let that negativity spread to the whole team (sometimes im like that too )

[Jenova26]

While I understand what you are trying to say and I agree that positive attitude is important, your train of thought is flawed.

You set an axiom that your team mates are truly bad and then follow not taking this axiom into account - that Keeper will not rape once he will get farmed, the guy lacking map awareness will not stop feeding after moving to new spot.

Second flaw is that, considering solo queue, teams are random so there is no improvement of your team mates over time - you start with each match from scratch, there is no "next time".



Even great leadership won't turn bad players into great players. Only practice will.

Perhaps you misunderstood. The point isn't to make your teammates into great players, but to keep their morale high enough to want to succeed and to try and work together regardless of your team's overall skill level. And of course there is no next time, but what's important is this time. While every game may feel similar and may have the same set win conditions, no two games are ever alike.

What most people fail to realize is that any semblance of teamwork can often win games easier than being the better players. This isn't about coaching your team into greatness but deluding them into playing a step ahead of their team by cooperating. As soon as your team is working against each other and not with each other, you're likely going to lose, unless the other team is awful or their morale is even lower than yours.

However, the downside to this is that it doesn't always work. Occasionally you run into one of those players who just wants to watch the world burn and it doesn't matter what you say or do or how hard you try and reinforce your team's outlook. All it takes is one player like this to completely destroy a team. Yet, this is (believe it or not) a RARE occurance. They are out there, but it takes a special type of person to go into a game WANTING to be pissed off and lose. Even the worst ragers don't tend to come into a game wanting to lose. You have to start early and convince your team to work together, highlight the positives and keep morale up.

Simple stuff like making jokes at the beginning ("haha, OJ thinks he can carry!" is not a joke, nor is it conducive to teamplay. I've been carried by plenty of OJ/Brown players by giving them the tools to succeed and helpful tips and by not bastardizing them from the picking phase). Even making jokes when you get BLATANTLY KS'd. "Dude, y u ks meh!?!?!" will get you nowhere. It happened, get over it. If a Pyro chucks an ult on a 10HP enemy, I'll usually say something in the mic like, "Damn, Pyro! You killed the **** out of that dude!" 9/10, even if I am not made about it, my team will usually say something and I tell them that I don't care so long as their dead, I'm happy.

It's all psychology, man. You aren't trying to teach these people life-lessons or end world suffering, you're just trying to win a game, one game at a time. At the end of the day, 5 melee teams and 5 carry teams who work together for the love of the game will always beat 5 players with a proper team who are at each others' throats. Whenever I see the other team start flaming each other in all-chat, I smile cause I know my team is gonna win.

[Jenova26]

For those of you who really don't believe this works, I have taken a subaccount and applied only what I've said in this thread and tryharding on nothing other than trying to motivate my team and make them work together. I took the account from 1500 to 1650 losing only 2 or 3 games (and I did burn the +/-20MMR BEFORE doing this, for consistency, so all wins/losses were at standard +/- rates). I did not call mid every game, nor did I carry. I only picked exactly what my team needed and I laned as they wanted me to lane. Some games I did ask for mid or to carry, cause it's fun, but most of the time, I just filled whatever role we were lacking.

Then, once I hit 1650, I turned off the mic. I am now playing what the team needs, not what I want, generally. I have gone long-lane Gauntlet more times than I would like. I have been blue and supported OJ Scout. I don't use my mic other than standard communication. If people yell at me, I yell at them back. Other than the way I am communicating with my team, I am picking the same heroes, I am the same player with the same amount of skill, yet my MMR has dropped at an alarming rate to about 1550.

I don't find this to be a coincidence, nor do I find being an ***hole and losing more fun than laughing, joking and winning.

It works, you just have to change your attitude and stop getting worked up over things you can't change. Accept them and work with them and start winning games.

BTW: This experiment took about a month total (shouldn't have taken that long, but Diablo). Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to winning games and having fun doing it.

[Gdemami]

The point isn't to make your teammates into great players, but to keep their morale high enough to want to succeed and to try and work together regardless of your team's overall skill level.

I do get your point, perhaps you are not getting mine


Leadership may help your team get organized and do what is needed but then when the action comes, success or failure then is more dependent on individual player skill.

Like your Keeper example. I can keep the team organized, let the Keeper farm, play defensively with the rest of the team and try not to let the team feed till Keeper get his items. But then, once Keeper is farmed and he is supposed to join team fights, his individual skill comes to surface - he won't initiate, he focus wrong target, blindly chase, etc.

This is what bad player means and no leadership can help it.


Leadership is important but so is ones who you are supposed to lead. You are not playing with really bad team mates, you are playing with team mates that are lacking teamwork and leadership.