How do I know when to help my teammates?
Context: Yesterday I was playing soloqueue and I passed by one of my teammates fighting two enemies. I jumped in to help and because I didn't have any abilities on cooldown I happened to kill them both. He complained about me killstealing. Looking back on it he was probably right but that was not my intention, I was only trying to help. This leads to my question.
How can I tell when I should help a teammate in a fight and when I should just let them deal with it themselves?
Best Answer
If you think you can do so without getting either of you killed, and without losing major objectives (a baron, two towers, etc.) you should go help. If someone complains about killstealing, they're doing it wrong. If you're playing support, try not to get the last hit on an otherwise GUARANTEED kill. In most other cases, go ahead and kill the enemy champions. Your team gets more gold for an assist + kill than just a kill, and League of Legends is a team game.
Also, if you watch professional play, you'll notice that if a kill is anything less than certain, no one will try to "not ks." Anyways, ks stands for "kill secured" :)
Pictures about "How do I know when to help my teammates?"
How do you help your teammates?
Here are five actions you can take to become a better team collaborator, inspire your teammates, and help your team become high performing.Why is it important for team members to support each other?
It helps to build interpersonal relationships and morale, as well as reduce stress. It helps build skills. When working together as part of a team, a variety of skill sets converge to complement each other.How do you deal with teammates?
Tell your teammate what he or she has done, how you feel about those actions and why you feel that way (but remember, stay calm). Finally, be clear; don't include praise in the conversation just because you feel bad about bringing up your assertions. Just be honest and keep it straight.What do you do when a team member is not contributing?
How to Work with Someone Who Isn't a Team PlayerHow Dopa CARRIES His Feeding Teammates! | Skill Capped
More answers regarding how do I know when to help my teammates?
Answer 2
Always help your teammate unless you know it will just end up in 2 of you being killed instead of 1. In LoL KSing does not exist. Your team nets more gold in the end the more people involved in a kill so it's ALWAYS worthwhile to help in a kill. Sure if you are the support and they are a carry you can try to let them finish, but it's better to play safer and take the kill yourself since enemies can often flash out to survive or use some other sort of mobility to get out.
Now like the other guy said in his response, your teammate is saying you are KSing, then say 'Well thanks, I'm glad I can help Kill Secure the enemy!'.
Answer 3
Apeasement
Apologize for kill-stealing or kill-securing. Always apologize. This alleviates any unwanted tension caused by the indecent. Even if it was 100% your kill and they just came up and tried to take it, just apologize anyways. It will do wonders to prevent toxicity. That being said some players just want to be toxic, in these cases just mute them.
Support
Only take the kill if you have to. Assists for the ADC are better than nothing, so take the kill if it means they'll escape. However, the ADC is always going to claim that you KS'd and that they had the kill, so what do you do? Apeasement, Just apologize and do what you must. Avoid taking/securing kills unless you absolutely have to.
Jungler:
If you're ahead it is good to allow others to get the kills to help snowball their lane. Even if they suck, it will (hopefully) help. If you're behind it is considered acceptable to take the kill; however, I personally would still highly consider allowing the laner to get the kill. Never-the-less it is still good use appeasement, to apologize even if you feel you're justified taking the kill.
TL;DR:
Always apologize for taking a kill, even if you're justified in taking it. The common response to "Crap, I'm sorry I took that." is usually "It's okay."
Take the kill if you need it, otherwise leave it to others. If you get a kill on accident or someone complains about you getting the kill, just apologize. It'll help your team's cohesion, increasing your chances of winning.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Geometric Photography, RODNAE Productions, RODNAE Productions, Anastasia Shuraeva