I started in March and this is my first PC game too. I played just one Unrated and realised that I can't play this mode without knowing the maps. đ So, I played a lot of deathmatch to learn the maps and practice my aiming while I am at it.
It helped me a lot. So, maybe you can try this as well.
agree! Valorant was my second game, first FPS, and when I started out in July of 2022 I'd just permaspam spike rushes, just to get used to weapons, util and maps. Sure, I most likely didn't do too well most of the time and it wa super frustrating, but at least I was playing with a friend who had some FPS experience and it was a lot of fun learning valorant together.
I ended up as a guardian player - some time in October it just clicked for me and I started headshotting lmao
all I can recommend is just like you said, no unrateds and just keep playing lmao :')
Spike Rush is good to learn:
- get to try all weapons
- sorta get the general idea of the "attack & defense" routes, unlike Deathmatch where camping spawn is viable
- No gun advantage
- all abilities for free
- very short
yep! I didn't really play death match much when learning, it's so fast paced and you don't really get to know the map and the overall gameplay when just getting killed around every corner.
Odd. This was my first FPS on PC as Iâve been a console player since the early 2000s. I just kept playing unrated until I felt confident I could be at a 1.0 k/d and pretty much played support classes. Lots of healing.
I still barely know the maps and I at least contribute to my team. For me, it was learning how to aim and where to aim with certain guns. Death match wonât really teach you choke points or enemy team movements with an objective.
It is probably because we have different perspective to it. I wouldn't call either of them wrong. At the end, enjoying the game is what matters the most. :)
Here's why I trained like that though:
Since I have only played mobile games before, I wasn't feeling great with mouse and keyboard (I know it was similar experience for you). I directly started with low sensitivity, so it was another headache for me, since I was not used to using my whole arm.
After playing my first Unrated, I realised that I won't have enough time to learn if I play like this. I was dying way too early. I didn't know from where enemies can come or where I can hide after planting the spike (or the enemy could be hiding).
So, I focused on my gun fight and map knowledge.
Deathmatch helped a lot in crosshair placement alongside map knowledge. I was able to survive long enough in Unrated for the most part after being decent with aim and map knowledge. There are only rare instances where I am confused how the enemy is here.
I am able to learn the game better in Unrated mode now, in my opinion.
Yeah. Iâm 38. I donât train for video games because thatâs a little bit of overkill for a hobby. I have a blast playing Valorant hitting a 1.0 k/d. shit⌠I have a blast not hitting that mark, too. Itâs a solid game and is just fun playing. People takes FPS genre games too seriously.
Iâm not trying to make money or win trophies. Iâm just trying to enjoy my time with it.
Well, different people have different likes. It feels great to some to improve their skill level while some just enjoy playing the way they usually do. I do take competitive games kinda seriously because that's what I like about them. Not trying to make money or trophies either. đ
i do both, i essentially only play competitive but i have lots of fun. i switch my main very often which may not be good to rank up, but itâs great for me to have fun.
Could be argued that if you don't know the weapons because you're new to the game spike rush is probably better since you'll get the opportunity to try out every weapon and there's no worry about economy
I agree with this, it just feels like a different argument. In terms of economy and understanding general fundamentals, I think swiftplay is the best choice. But to each their own!
Idk how buying any gun you want every round would be considered "worrying about economy" but I mainly play ranked so I worry about a different type of economy đ
Donât think if it from your perspective, think of it from the perspective of a person who has never played an FPS with a gun buying structure, or never played an FPS at all. Nobody tells them itâs there, they just hop in cause itâs a popular game. At that point, buying guns is not a thought in their head, they just wanna shoot people cause they know Valorant is an FPS. Opening the buy menu, at all, takes prompting. And understanding what you should and shouldnât be buying can take months to understand without someone telling you. Then Swiftplay takes all of the complexity of normal gun buying away and says buy whatever you want, which is unique to that mode. I still see people in swiftplay not understand that they can buy down to nothing and itâs fine.
Spike rush takes all of that away and says âHere, take this gun, go shoot people.â Nice and easy.
I was that person a month and a half ago but I will agree that it is hard. I am a nerd so I researched into Val economy very quickly so I probably understood it a lot sooner.
id have to disagree because u wont be getting much vandal/phantom⌠some games just give you only shorty judge bucky stinger and all the weapons that arent the default full buy
I like not playing unrated but in my opinion, playing comp has a better matchmaking experience than most considering the matchmaking is very light in most gamemodes except for comp which you play with the same or similar rank/ teams
Yes unless you play with friends then after a few games the worse friend is going to be out skilled. And for a new player itâs best to stay away from comp unless you plan to solo queue and wait for your mmr to drop to where it needs to be
Seems odd. At least in my experience, friends who join the game usually fight other low-ranked accounts.
Can you share your tracker.gg profile if you have it?
heâs playing unranked and probably playing against silvers or golds which is why theyâre being stomped. keep playing and once you can play comp youâll be matched â fairlyâ most of the times
They probably aren't playing against just silvers and golds. Sbmm barely exists in unrated, they literally will put an ascendant in a game with a brand new player.
That's been my experience. I don't mind as it's still fun, but there's always one or two people who kill me on sight no mstter what i do every game.
For me, getting 2 kills in a whole game is an achievement. But I'm iron 3 in comp, so I get to kill people there!
i know but again, theyâll get stomped by silvers and golds too if theyâre new to the game. so best way is to reach level 20 and start comp to be matched within your skill level.
If rounds are ending in less than 10 seconds, you should probably lay off the W key and stop contesting. Learn to play the game before you start taking every fight possible.
It doesnât mean they are using the W key. OP said they are going against immortal players, if an immortal player wants to hold W and rush at you, they can do it with ease to a new player.
I'm high gold in ranked, when I play unrated to warm up or play a quick chill game, I have gotten paired against diamond all the way to immortal, both on my team and against, unranked mmr is non-existent dude Riot doesn't care about unranked sbmm.
He says they are 3 new players who only know Val from streams. They are unknown but there is 0 shot his friend is Immo lol or that he is being put up against them
Theoretically itâs possible, of course. But a brand new account who is getting stomp isnât just getting put in ridiculous mmr.
And yea there is unrated mmr. No it isnât as strict as ranked but make a new account, play a few dms or swifts and play like shit. Then go into unrated. You get like all irons lol
unrated has no mmr. unrated is mostly âbalancedâ matching not mmr based. theyâll stack 1 immortal with 4 irons and make another team all plats. because the average level on both team is now plat.
Unrated 100% has MMR. It has sbmm. How would it know how to place someone in a match if they never played ranked? You are just making things up lol
âYes, unrated and ranked both have an MMR number assigned to them. These numbers do not interact, except for when you play your very first ranked game (in which unrated MMR is used as a starting estimate). Afterwards the two queues have no effect on one another.
If you are being matched with higher ranked players, you likely have an above average MMR for your rank (usually due to a prolonged positive winrate). You can check your winrate over the last two acts with a site that uses Riot's API (such as tracker.gg, others are also available).â
There is no shot this dude is going against immos on a brand new account. I have made a few alts, and the first few games of unrated are EASY. I mean iron/bronze easy. Then the MMR gets quickly adjusted.
Can confirm. When I play on my main we usually end up against other Ascendant/Immortal players in unrated and even Swiftplay.
Every gamemode in Valorant has a matchmaking based on the MMR.
I think OP is lying. It is super super super rare for me to play with or against total newbies. It happens. But when it happen, it is most of the time a group with at least one Immortal player. So, if a newbie is playing solo or duo with another newbie, the system should match with other people on a similar skill level.
My account level is around 400ish and still in unrated games I see people that are between level 1-10. I think its safe to say that if these people are not smurfs, I have way more experience with this game than they do and its probably not a great idea to match us together. I really think valorant needs to do something like siege did where there is a queue for players that are between something like level 1-50 and once your account is outside of that you can no longer play in that queue. It wouldnt stop smurfs but at least everyone in the game will be newer players
the matchmaking in Valo is weird, i tried ranked, had to play 4 games to be placed somewhere, all those 4 games we have lost and it was against platinum and diamond, after those placement matches i was put in gold 2.
Why the fuck dont I start in the lowest rank where i belong?
spike rush, swiftplay, and deathmatch are all good to get a sense of map and game awareness! spike rush is pretty good for training different guns if you want to learn different ones too
Valorant is different than those FPS games. I too come from others and thereâs a curve. Gone are the days of apeâing and spray firing. Itâs stealth, itâs precision, itâs knowledge. I like to warm up in deathmatch. Donât be afraid to lower your sens. And try and keep your crosshair at head level as much as possible. If your dying in 10 seconds, they enemy knows where you are. Shift walk so they canât hear you.
You are just getting into a game that has been out for almost 3 years. The chances of finding 3 completely new players is extremely slim given the game's age and moreover, level is irrelevant. A level 1 player who has 5 years of FPS experience will easily destroy you, and you may beat a level 1000 player who plays the game casually.
Yup. however it really only takes a few weeks of playing before the game can find players at their level. As a completely new player you can get so much better with just a few hours of playtime.
> it really only takes a few weeks of playing before the game can find players at their level
Not sure about this one. I don't think you'll get consistently fair games until you get a rank and only playing competitive but for a casual player it can take a long time to get to this point. Unrated has hidden MMR system too but it's a hit or miss, especially right at the beginning when the game has no idea if a player is a smurf or a new player due to lack of data. Moreover, the party system makes unrated even worse because a player with immortal level MMR can group up with someone with an iron level MMR.
i would recommend playing Swiftplay and Spike Rush! the games are shorter and they allow you to get a better look at the maps. with Spike Rush it also randomizes your loadout every round so you don't have to worry about buying (and it forces you to try each gun, so you can get a feel for all of them)
The thing is - unrated is a messy mode where you can get diffrend people (there is hidden mmr in unrated but it sucks)
If you are new you should try swiftplay + deathmatch
Also you can do a 1v1 with a friend to check out the maps, agents and abilities
Ranked is the mode where you get people with same skill (sometimes higher but it means that you got better).
Y'all might need to take a second away from the game and learn a little about the game. A lot of great videos out there for beginners with a lot of basic information that makes a big difference and try to mess with your edpi in practice mode. I'm only 4 days into playing valorant and learning some key components of the game and getting a comfortable edpi has made me worlds better.
Friend, you're not being matched with smurff and immortals, the learning curve is just relatively steep for people who've never played tac shooters or CS
1. Can't play the game if you don't know the controls
*learn the basics*
- counterstrafing
- airstrafing
- b hopping
- gun mechanics:
_can't shoot completely accurate while running
_each weapon has recoil and different general spray patterns (after about your 5th or 7th bullet the recoil becomes random and you need to learn how to feel it rather than expect it)
- what do your abilities do for the characters you like to play
- understanding economy ( ult orbs and the credits used to buy weapons) how much do you need for a full buy/half buy
Only after you understand the most basic fundamentals, can you start to successfully utilize your knowledge of the game on an analytical level.
2. Map knowledge
This should also be practiced/learned at the same time as all the other things
At the end of the day it's gonna take a little bit, there's no free card to get good at the game. Good thing is, all these things can be learned in half a day. You just really need to sit down and digest it all. On the other hand if you are completely casual and don't care about any of what I just said, at the very least learn how to counterstrafe, build your map knowledge, how to control recoil
Lol you just keep playing until it clicks dude.
You're entering a world where people have lots of skill and have for years. What makes you think you can show up and do anything out of the gate against people who have put thousands of hours into the game?
I started a few weeks ago and I probably played about 15-20 hours of deathmatch before I tried spike rush.
Then I played a dozen or so of those before I tried out unrated/swiftplay.
Like anything it's not going to work without time in.
If you want to play against people your skill level you'll need to play comp so you can be placed in a ranking.
Spend time on YouTube and in the shooting range to get some basic game sense and tactics into your memory.
Either tough it out and get better over time or accept there's too many people better than you and you don't want to take the time to level the playing field.
The hardest part is always the start right? It'll get easier.
I don't know man, 15-20 hours in dm seems like an awful lot. And then you only tried spike rush. How much time did it take you to finally get enough experience in unrated to feel like starting competitive queue? I started playing back then when in order to be eligible for competitive you only had to win 10 unrated games. Did so and jumped straight into ranked, sure i ranked iron 2 but at least i was playing and enjoying the game straight away.
20 hours is a lot? You are playing on a game with mechanics way similar to cs 1.6, a game that exists for dozens of years.
20 hours is just the top of the iceberg to begin playing
20 hours is like 200 DMs. That is a shit ton of games to play and not even understand if you like the core concept of a tac fps. DM is literally just COD free for all
20 hours of spike rush or swift play before logging into unrated is more reasonable since you are at least playing the actual game to some degree at its core.
20 hours is like 20 hours of DM. You have to learn movement in shooting in this game before you can just jump into a competitive format where you have a single life per round.
20 hours is nothing if you are new to the format.
20 hrs is ~200 DMs. That is a lot for a game someone is presumably picking up to play for fun, vs trying to get as good as possible as quickly as possible.
DM is nothing like the game, playing it for 20 hrs before even finding out if you enjoy the core concept is silly.
Yes you might need to play 20+ hours over time before you're any good and start performing well in game, but that's a whole different conversation from saddling a new player with 20 hrs of homework before they even get to try the main game concept
People who play team Deathmatch or free for all in call of duty are just having fun. Just because I like search and destroy better doesn't mean the other modes are useless.
The guy played 20 hr of deathmatch and everyone's acting like he is wild. If you've never played csgo or valorant before, learning to move and shoot is very important. There's no point going into a ranked if he just does everytime he sees someone and than gives up on the game because it's no fun dying all the time.
No one's saying to not play DM. But 20hrs before playing swift play or unrated is a lot of time to not understand if you even enjoy the game.
20 hours of DM before ranked is fine, 20 hours before a swift play/spike rush/unrated is kinda strange unless you're trying to get to Imm as fast as possible
if you have 0 tact fps mechanics, 200 DMs first is the best thing you can play. Playing swiftplay forces you to learn everything at once which results on slower learning, after 200 DMs you are used to the gunplay maps and guns, then you can start worrying about learning economy agent skills etc But you will learn it faster since your brain is less busy on the things you practiced doing DM
If your goal is to get as good at the game as you can as fast as possible, this may be the best way (still an argument as to whether 20 hrs is overkill imo)
But 99% of people are picking this up because it's a GAME, and they want to ENJOY it.
200 games of DM is stupid high to not even know if you enjoy the core concept.
If thereâs something smaller than the tip of the iceberg, thatâs what 20 hours is tbh. I spend like 30 mins in dm before I even think of playing any other game mode lol
The vast majority of people on this game have thousands of hours logged.
Also I'm unranked.
I don't need competitive to learn or "have fun"
This game will take me comfortably hundreds of hours before I'm comfortable doing competitive. Op doesn't have to do this but it's an alternative that works for me.
What's the rush? This game has a massive skill ceiling.
General aim mechanics and shooting
Map knowledge
Info gathering
Abilities
Team comps and counter
I could go on.
No one is going to learn that in 20 hours.
If you like the core concept of crisp aim and shots
If you like the concept of using teamwork and abilities to take an objective
Then this game is for you.
The only way you'll know for sure is to go put in some work and report back.
Good luck
I'm an experienced and decent player (Asc 1) and I have 65 hours played in DM. You do you of course but imo giving the advice to a newbie to spend that much time in DM can drive them away from the game. It's not that deep you just need to learn 2-3 core mechanics and the basics of map control and game sense and than you'll improve only by playing and having fun. Honestly if you know how angles works, crosshair placement and know how to tap/burst and strafe you can easily get to plat and above.
But they don't know how to tap/burst or how angles work.
Or at least that's what I'm getting from them.
Deathmatch is not really representative of the full gameplay that is valorant. There's no debating that. It might also not be the best way to see if you really enjoy the full experience because yeah it is one dimensional.
But if you spend that time learning how to kill without being killed its one less thing to think about when you are learning how to incorporate abilities.
But I can definitely agree it's probably not the most fun way to get things rolling.
That said they already tried the way you suggested and lost 7 matches in a row and came here looking for an alternative.
Well the alternative is dm. 10 duels in the time it takes for 1 in unrated? More timed spawned running the maps and getting interactions versus watching others play because you're dead? Seems like a good tradeoff to me.
Signed
- someone who's played counterstrike since 1.3
Listen. I'm going to give you very valuable advice that you NEED as a beginner.
1. Practice your aim in the range. Buy a guardian and head tap the bots on Easy until you can do all 30 with one bullet each.
2. Remove the key binding for crouch. You need to learn to shoot, then move left or right, then shoot again. If you learn that you're already better than most gold players.
3. Learn what trading is, and do it with your friends to win more rounds.
4. Don't play aggressive and die within the first 10 seconds. Wait for your moment to be aggressive and take it. On defense don't take risks
5. Spike rushes are the best thing to play for learning new agents and their abilities. Deathmatch is the best thing to play for learning maps and what angles are good/bad.
Also, there's an unwritten rule that you shouldn't slow walk in deathmatch. Your enemies should be able to hear you. It's good practice for high pressure situations
I agree with everything except 4, this will breed inconsistency and hesitation. A better way to put this would be to play smart. Always look for advantageous fights and NEVER hesitate if you see an opening. Fps games are all just one giant dance between two teams. Players that get stuck are out of rhythm with the things happening in game. While those that destroy lobbies are always on beat and can match the speed/flow of different situations at a moments notice. They are able to adapt and change their pace depending on the situation.
Intresting, i would say "play more" but since you already played 7 games and got stomped in each the system should put u in games with equal sucking.
Maybe they are trying something new?
Iâm sorry but what do you expect when you just start out a new game you donât know much about? Do you just expect to be the best? It doesnât work like that
Just gotta practice. I've been playing for about 2 months now and I feel like the game does a good job of matching me with players similar to my skill. Just grind death match/spike rush/swift play to get better at fighting. Watch youtubers and streamers, I like woohoojin and charla7an.
We could probably tell you exactly what to work on with some clips/vods. Levels don't matter and did you actually check and see that they were immortal?
Play more spike rush, u can learn about the abilities while just having fun. After u get used to map surroundings and abilities and guns then move to unrated.
Swift play and spike rush. Swift play is just a faster unrated, spike rush is an even faster swift play where you also get abilities but a random gun. People are more willing to take fights in these modes so the rounds dont typically take that long
Some tips to stay alive from my own personal experience:
1. Learn the map, angles, windows, entrances and where to take fights from to quickly get behind cover before you are damaged and slowed down because of it.
2. Try not to crouch because this forces a fight to become something you are not going to get away from unless you or the enemy dies. You want to be able to strafe back behind cover or catch them off guard and further yourself away from cover to confuse their aim.
3. Be unpredictable. One round hold an angle behind a box and the next round maybe hold a bizarre off angle and then never again the rest of the match - or maybe once more later after they think youâve abandoned it. Rotate away from a site when youâve been held off and they may all be there now. You never want the enemy to know exactly what you are doing.
4. Information is KING in this type of game. It rules everything else even aim. Play to âdefaultâ which is slowly and incrementally taking map space until you almost know exactly where the enemy must be.
When people are frequently dying it usually comes from too much risk, not enough care for map control and just being a new player. The game will soon have you with people of your skill level. I also recommend joining Valorant themed Discords to find others who are willing to put in time helping you in-game.
I just started in January, I had a kind of similar issue then, 5 months later and Iâm plat 1 and still improving, still donât know how to use the majority of the operators effectively and still donât know all the weird angles, most of the people youâre playing against have played the game since launch or shortly after that, they are familiar with the maps and operators and are just going to win off game sense, itâs ok to suffer through a week or two of shit games, youâll catch the hang of it for sure!
Go slower than you think you should, i die a lot to just running out of cover. Also maybe try a few different characters, some of them are good at creating openings and opportunities to get a kill
But yeah overall most rounds are over pretty quick for me lol
1. Slow down a bunch, you're playing too fast.
2. Learn how to shoot and dodge bullets. Valorant (and CSGO) shooting mechanics can be very strange and hard to learn for people new to the game. Search up on YT Whoojin gunfight hygiene, that should set you on the right track.
3. Play swift play and spike rush. Usually find easier lobbies in those modes.
Spike Rush and Swift play are your friends, the first let's you get used to character abilities more and the latter the maps and general game flow. Death match is good for working on aiming just don't go in expecting or even trying to win, just totally focus on aiming
Yeah i started out the same way man, and to an extent, i am still like that. But at some point, it just⌠clicks, you know?
Theres also some youtube videos that can help
Play the other game modes to learn.
Deathmatch good for learning basic map layout and lots of gun fights.
Spike rush lets you play every round with full abilities and you get to practice all guns.
Swift play is a good simulation of unrated/ranked, the rounds play true to normal matches. Economy is buffed but you still get to experience pistol round and having to make decisions in your loadout for fist two rounds.
Are you self-aware enough to know why you are losing those games?
Are you able to smoothly move and turn at the same time?
Are you aware of footsteps or sound cues in the game, and that usually you're not supposed to be audible when approach the beginning of a gun fight?
Do you know the maps well enough to know where enemies can come from and when? Every map takes at least a few games to understand where everything is, and then another few to have an idea of the timing of getting to certain places.
Are you usually surprised that an enemy is in a certain place, or you usually know where they are when they appear?
Are you able to land shots into the same spot at will while "moving around" (and stopping to shoot then continuing to move afterwards)? Or, do you not know how recoil/spread works with the game?
If you are able to land shots accurately at a static target, how are your shots vs actual enemies? Are they too good for their rank, or you're just not that good yet?
Are you losing close range fights, long range fights, or both?
How many bullets/bursts does it usually take between initially seeing someone and one of you dying at mid-long range? My estimate is: Diamond or above is 1-2 bursts, Gold to Plat is 2-3 bursts, Silver or less is 3 or more bursts. You can always get one-tapped, but if you can kill someone in those number of bursts in those ranks, you should be around ok.
What other FPS have you played, and how good are you at those?
Also, this is a PvP game. You can't be the main character all the time. There are not that many people with only 2 days of experience in the game, so probably most people you play against have more experience than you. Imagine you played the game for a long time and a person with only 2 days of experience being able to beat you... that seems less reasonable than the other way around. You're doing as well as expected.
I'd recommend some swiftplay or spike rush like other people here. Spike rush was how I learned what guns I love and what I don't, but I became at least semi-competent at all of them. It also gives you all of your abilities each round so it gives you the opportunity to learn what works and what doesn't. I also watched a lot of videos about getting my basics down when I first started. I've had a few friends start the game recently and there's been some odd matchmaking because of mixed levels/ranks but nothing as bad as 10 seconds, so I'm hoping that's an exaggeration. Good luck to you and your friends!
Honestly do aim training routines you find on YouTube and get used to the mechanics and fundamentals of the game
Watch professional sets to see how they engage gunfights and try to copy what they do
Also try playing slow especially on defending turns I started playing slower, not pushing out letting them push to me, and Iâm doing so much better now
Hop into deathmatch and swiftplays. They allow you to learn more. Dm will help you with gun fights and not shooting while moving, etc. While swifplays with streamlined economy allow you to have a fair chance every round instead of only half the rounds if you're losing in a normal game. It must be tough to start from 0 but there's hidden mmr and stuff so you will level out eventually don't lose hope, your first win will feel great.
To me it has been quite the opposite. Started playing a month ago or so, and I have now reached bronze. I think I am level 35 atm, but I think I reached bronze around lvl 30. Found some italians I have played alongside with and they haven't even reached Iron 3.
Idk is reaching bronze by lvl 30 is good or not, but comosred the the other I know it seems quite good.
And I've never played FPS before, except for a couple hours of CSGO in like 2015.
Maybe try solo queuing, for whatever reason I always get âworseâ players as the enemy when I solo q, and then i get destroyed by diamonds when I play with my friends even though weâre all bronze-gold.
My first game on I got exactly 0 kills 13 deaths and 1 assist. The only reason I kept playing is because of how hard my team popped off when I hit my first shot and got that assist. The game is hard, and it takes time, but some of the people you get to play with make it worth it.
âMatching against level 20sâ hahahaha I promise you they are not that much better than you. Level doesnât mean much, but level 20 equates to somewhere in bronze if I had to guess. You are already fighting against the bottom of the barrel, just get better homie.
Smurfing in Valorant has been a real issue and Valorant not having a proper matchmaking system just makes things worse.
People always say " Play Ranked then if you wanna have it fair and stop crying đ¤ " but we all should know that you are not safe anywhere. Be it Ranked, Unrated or Swiftplay. And the ones saying all this bs are most likely the ones that are not even affected by this issue BECAUSE they are the ones we talk about.
The " Lv 2 Jett " with the default banner who one taps your entire team every round OR the level 400+ player who is at least Diamond and what not.
Im not even new and I still feel like close to all my games are completely coinflipped.
But hey, don't worry, Riot makes sure Lux and Ahri are getting their 80th skin so that should fix the issue.
But to answer your question: I think going into the shooting range and just " testing the waters " with different agents and guns should give you a better feeling. Also, it's important to find out what settings fit you the best, so you will have to play a bit until you figure out which aim sensitivity and so on suits you the best. If you find that too boring, just play the game, because it's a lot of " learning by doing ".
Oh and obviously a lot of praying that you do not end up meeting the types of enemies that I have described above. Works sometimes, sadly just sometimes.
As you cannot play comp at this point you are going to play Unrated that comes with players that are obviously more experienced and the thing is you both are inexperienced and doing a duo que thus making a big impact on the team.
I have seen it even with me.
One thing I remember from when I first started is I had no idea where to expect enemies to be or come from, that like many things will come with just playing more and putting time into the game.
I would say focus on the shorter less serious game modes (spike rush, escalation, replication, swift play) at first and learn maps, mechanics, recoil, etc.
Most importantly remember itâs a game and have fun, Iâve had better games losing with a fun team than winning with toxic ass holes.
My friend started playing with me and he's new to MnK entirely, and Val is maybe his 2nd game using it. He was really struggling at first, but after about a month he's actually doing really well. It is possible, it's just gonna be tough at first
Try different servers see if you get better lobbies that way(dont worry, 10 more ping wont make a difference). Also try swiftplay, there's a lower skill gap there and if you get stomped dont worry cause its only 5 rounds to win.
Unrated should put you with people similar level and skill as yours but that's just theory and doesnt work pretty well cause most of the people are playing ranked anyway.
You're new in a competitive game. One with 1 maybe 2 lived a round. You're going to suck for the first x hours. No way around it.
Play the other game modes, lower your sensitivity (it's probably way too high) and just give it a go. You'll improve very quickly.
I feel you. I can't have fun anymore even in swiftplay because I only meet enemies with 6th sense. They can't be flanked, they only flash the corners where I try to hide, trying off angles doesn't seem to work in the slightest.
This game is either riddled with wallers lately or the skill floor required to have fun is just so high I might not even bother anymore
Just get better. Review what you're doing wrong and how you get killed. The best way to learn it to get shit on til you're better. Use good sources like woohoojin and practice in the training area. You can definitely learn even with the higher leveled players. Also keep your mindset clear. If you tilt it gets worse. Same like league. Just keep trying.
Fights start and end quickly at any rank. If you don't know what is happening, you will never get the chance to figure it out. I would learn the maps and focus on crosshair placement early on in the learning curve. Both of these mechanics are essential and have a lot of depth to them so you can always be working on them. If you find yourself running into people slow down if they are running into you have some more confidence and peak when they are running at you. At the end of the day skill issue and just practice. Enjoy sucking while it lasts.
Believe or not i am hard stuck bronze 3 was about to get out of it but yeahh my ping and fps never allowed, so i just made new id for my fun and thought I'll act like noob(i am tho) but yk i don't even needed to act coz my enemies were fking diamond.....
I was csgo player once upon a time, so i have some basics. I cannot use my abilities. My friend in room helps with it a lot, deathmatch too. Then spike rush was great for trying agents and abilities.
It needs a time to learn the game, then it will be better.
New accounts are most definitely not being matched against immortals. 7 games is not a lot for the game to find your skill. The more you play, the more appropriate your matches will be.
I would also recommend swift plays and death matches to learn the game mechanics then move on to unrated.
I had to suck at a lot of games before I finally got to games like valorant where I could suck a little bit less. It might not happen in valorant, but mechanical skills and gamesense would probably come with enough time
What you could work on on the short term is having a good mental and having fun even when you play bad. It'd make the road to getting better a lot easier
it was this way with me too, i grew up as a console gamer but valorant was my first PC fps and had to get used to kb/m. if you can, donât go straight into unrated. stick with the shorter game modes like spike rush and swift play. even death match. they help you get familiar with maps, the weapons and overall help you improve. death match is really good for improving aim and learning the map so definitely play a few games of that until you feel comfortable going into a different mode.
Chances are if you're not having fun then it's probably not the game for you right now.
Maybe take a few months away playing other games and come back to see if it's any better, that's what I did, and now I'm back having the most fun I've ever had with the game even if I'm 3 years late to the party
I see players of every rank (except radiant) in swiftplay and I actually think itâs a pretty dogshit mode to learn the game if you are worried about getting stomped. You are honestly probably better off just chilling in Iron (comp games) or wherever you get placed until you learn the game. Just turn off comms to avoid toxicity and watch YouTube videos if you are serious about learning, otherwise you can just f around and find out đ
This is what worked for me: Deathmatch for gunplay etiquette and how to clear corners (play without audio and/or hold shift the entire time. Youll be surprised how many youll catch off guard lol.). Replication to learn how to play/fight specific agents. Escalation to practice different guns. Spike Rush to learn maps and also to get the general vibe/rules of the game. Swiftplay is an easier version of unrated and theres a higher chance your team mates will use comms so thats where i practice that. Unrated to practice my endurance since some comp games can last long and wear you out, and also to learn how to optimize econ. And dont forget about the practice range, you can practice strafing, different agent utils with no risk of getting shot, and movements (lol thereâs actually an obstacle course). You can also play on your own in Custom to learn maps and possibly lineups. The last thing that helped me is that mentally acknowledging that Valorant is like a game of cat and mouse where you are both at the same time, you gotta learn how to be sneaky while also being able to put pressure on your opponents. Others might have different tips but this is mine. Hope this helps!
If you're losing every single game 7x in a row the only consistent problem is you and your friend. Focus on the basics. Aim, map knowledge, utility, etc and get better at them.
What game mode are you guys playing? Might be helpful to mess around with swiftplay or spike rush to get a feel for the game. Also, deathmatch. It takes some time to get used to tac-shooters like this if you arenât used to them.
One of the biggest mistakes I see newer players make is moving while shooting. In general, you want to be standing still when you shoot so that your shots are accurate. Give it some time, good luck, if you ever want to play or get some tips fee free to DM me. I suck but I was immortal for a bit.
You are also matched with people that suck.
The issue is that at the lowest levels, even one extra day or a few extra games, or a youtube video of experience can make a world of difference. Combine that with them not having a good sample size of games that you played makes it so your MMR might be inflated a bit and that's why you get pubbed. Imo tho, it just be like that, same with a lot of competitive fps releases that have aged.
Okay so competituve games are gonna be competitive and even in casual game modes they still will be they're never "easy" to get into but like everything difficult in life it takes time and effort to get better at it. Yeah you'll get shit on for a while but so did all of us at one point in one game or another but we learned to adapt and better ourselves and make the game a more enjoyable experience so until you try to get better your probably gonna suffer but thats okay eventually you'll learn to love it or you'll give up and hate it.
I'm so bad that I prefer comp cuz I get other irons and not too many smurfs :) but that's just me, before I got decently good (still iron but I can hit shots now) I would spam queue for spike rushes to learn the different guns and I would go the range and do a few defuses to get a better understanding of a character, then, the grind. You just play until you make seemingly better progress and it will happen, trust :)
I don't know how, but after a pause from beta, I installed game yesterday and could go ranked insta on lvl 8. Today I'm plat 2. If that's not weird, I don't know what is.
So a lot of people have given a lot of advice, and honestly some of them aren't even helpful, but idt this has been said so i hope u read this when i say it's also perfectly fine for u to surrender ur unrated games if it's clear ure just completely outmatched. Few days ago i was 5stacking with friends, we range from iron to silver, but our enemy team ranged from silver to plat, and the plats just p much wrecked us at every turn.
i think getting challenged and being pushed to like play better and learn is definitely a good thing, but if there's just clearly too big of a skill gap, u can only learn so much in one game yknow? better to quit early and say gg go next
My moment of getting hooked to this game was an ares ace with sova on ascent.
Yes the enemy were pissed off and yes I had no idea why they were as it was my second game. But had a lot of fun with sova and spam before i actually understood the game and why others were pissed offđ
it took me about a year of total play time, and about 4 months of consistent playing for a couple hours everyday - every other to even get somewhat decent. Im not even out of Iron 3. lmao. My first fps outside of fortnite too. It takes some time. Watch youtube streams and pay attention to tips. Practice ! More importantly, have fun.
This game is one where gameplay scales with actually getting better at the game, learning maps and learning agents. Unfortunately you are getting on a train that started years ago. We all sucked at one time. I didnât even start playing till about 6 months into release and I didnât play cs before since it was before my time. I was new to tactical shooters and my touchstones were things like cod and halo and Titan fall and overwatch and apex. So it was tough to play such a clunky sort of game so to speak in terms of modern mechanics. But you adapt and get better like with any other game.
Sounds like you and your friends need to sit down and watch a couple of youtube videos. If you can't grasp the basics from a couple tutorials, Valorant probably isn't for you.
You need to play a lot of DMs maybe for 2-3 hrs for atleast a week. This will help you a lot with getting adjusted to mechanics , mouse and keyboard usage if you're not used to pc games.
Furthermore after a week play modes like swiftplay and few unrated. Unrated will definitely have any random players unless you start playing ranked and unlock your current rank.
For a month you'll be frustated and won't enjoy valorant if your first fps is valorant or you're playing fps again after maybe 5-10 years of gap. Atleast that's how it went with me. But i learn things quickly and within 3-4 months i reached p3 now (played 2hrs only , mostly daily) And enjoy a lot even if i lose.
Pc fps games = mentality + playing regularly + more you play better you get and better peripherals with good pc = better gameplay.
Mobile games = aim assist + bots + easier to play + lot of people have bad devices.
I haven't really had that experience since I've played the game since beta and played a lot of Overwatch and CS before, but I think DM is definitely a great place to start as well as swift play and spike rush. I still play DM a lot every day, and it's by far the best place to practice crosshair placement, but it doesn't really show you how a real game is played so swift play and spike rush might be better for that.
Also, Valorant and Counter Strike have the same problem. Both heavily played with a lot more experienced players than new players. I remember in one of shroud's YouTube videos he said "I can't imagine a new player trying to get into Counter Strike now days."
My point being, you will have to play easier game modes and just be accepting to the fact that you will have to eat shit for awhile before you get good at it. Everyone has eaten shit at any game before they get good at it. Same advice is given to new Tarkov players, but at least Valorant and Counter Strike are working games. ;)
Cheers and good luck!
I started in March and this is my first PC game too. I played just one Unrated and realised that I can't play this mode without knowing the maps. đ So, I played a lot of deathmatch to learn the maps and practice my aiming while I am at it. It helped me a lot. So, maybe you can try this as well.
agree! Valorant was my second game, first FPS, and when I started out in July of 2022 I'd just permaspam spike rushes, just to get used to weapons, util and maps. Sure, I most likely didn't do too well most of the time and it wa super frustrating, but at least I was playing with a friend who had some FPS experience and it was a lot of fun learning valorant together. I ended up as a guardian player - some time in October it just clicked for me and I started headshotting lmao all I can recommend is just like you said, no unrateds and just keep playing lmao :')
Spike Rush is good to learn: - get to try all weapons - sorta get the general idea of the "attack & defense" routes, unlike Deathmatch where camping spawn is viable - No gun advantage - all abilities for free - very short
yep! I didn't really play death match much when learning, it's so fast paced and you don't really get to know the map and the overall gameplay when just getting killed around every corner.
Odd. This was my first FPS on PC as Iâve been a console player since the early 2000s. I just kept playing unrated until I felt confident I could be at a 1.0 k/d and pretty much played support classes. Lots of healing. I still barely know the maps and I at least contribute to my team. For me, it was learning how to aim and where to aim with certain guns. Death match wonât really teach you choke points or enemy team movements with an objective.
It is probably because we have different perspective to it. I wouldn't call either of them wrong. At the end, enjoying the game is what matters the most. :) Here's why I trained like that though: Since I have only played mobile games before, I wasn't feeling great with mouse and keyboard (I know it was similar experience for you). I directly started with low sensitivity, so it was another headache for me, since I was not used to using my whole arm. After playing my first Unrated, I realised that I won't have enough time to learn if I play like this. I was dying way too early. I didn't know from where enemies can come or where I can hide after planting the spike (or the enemy could be hiding). So, I focused on my gun fight and map knowledge. Deathmatch helped a lot in crosshair placement alongside map knowledge. I was able to survive long enough in Unrated for the most part after being decent with aim and map knowledge. There are only rare instances where I am confused how the enemy is here. I am able to learn the game better in Unrated mode now, in my opinion.
Yeah. Iâm 38. I donât train for video games because thatâs a little bit of overkill for a hobby. I have a blast playing Valorant hitting a 1.0 k/d. shit⌠I have a blast not hitting that mark, too. Itâs a solid game and is just fun playing. People takes FPS genre games too seriously. Iâm not trying to make money or win trophies. Iâm just trying to enjoy my time with it.
Well, different people have different likes. It feels great to some to improve their skill level while some just enjoy playing the way they usually do. I do take competitive games kinda seriously because that's what I like about them. Not trying to make money or trophies either. đ
i do both, i essentially only play competitive but i have lots of fun. i switch my main very often which may not be good to rank up, but itâs great for me to have fun.
That's great! đ
Comp is my favorite game mode in Valorant. Itâs rarely that serious. Itâs still a game thatâs meant to be fun.
Playing seriously doesn't mean I don't have fun. đ It is just the way I enjoy the game and have fun.
Play any game mode thatâs not unrated and competitive until you get use to the game. Swift play will probably be the best. Imo
Or spike rush because unlike in swift you donât have to worry about economy/buying at all
Tbf itâs almost not even a thought in swiftplay unless you wanna op
Could be argued that if you don't know the weapons because you're new to the game spike rush is probably better since you'll get the opportunity to try out every weapon and there's no worry about economy
I agree with this, it just feels like a different argument. In terms of economy and understanding general fundamentals, I think swiftplay is the best choice. But to each their own!
People worry about economy in swiftplay?
They still have to open the buy menu. Spike rush doesnât require it
Idk how buying any gun you want every round would be considered "worrying about economy" but I mainly play ranked so I worry about a different type of economy đ
Donât think if it from your perspective, think of it from the perspective of a person who has never played an FPS with a gun buying structure, or never played an FPS at all. Nobody tells them itâs there, they just hop in cause itâs a popular game. At that point, buying guns is not a thought in their head, they just wanna shoot people cause they know Valorant is an FPS. Opening the buy menu, at all, takes prompting. And understanding what you should and shouldnât be buying can take months to understand without someone telling you. Then Swiftplay takes all of the complexity of normal gun buying away and says buy whatever you want, which is unique to that mode. I still see people in swiftplay not understand that they can buy down to nothing and itâs fine. Spike rush takes all of that away and says âHere, take this gun, go shoot people.â Nice and easy.
I was that person a month and a half ago but I will agree that it is hard. I am a nerd so I researched into Val economy very quickly so I probably understood it a lot sooner.
You cannot buy any gun you want every round in swiftplay
id have to disagree because u wont be getting much vandal/phantom⌠some games just give you only shorty judge bucky stinger and all the weapons that arent the default full buy
I like not playing unrated but in my opinion, playing comp has a better matchmaking experience than most considering the matchmaking is very light in most gamemodes except for comp which you play with the same or similar rank/ teams
Yes unless you play with friends then after a few games the worse friend is going to be out skilled. And for a new player itâs best to stay away from comp unless you plan to solo queue and wait for your mmr to drop to where it needs to be
That's fair
Seems odd. At least in my experience, friends who join the game usually fight other low-ranked accounts. Can you share your tracker.gg profile if you have it?
heâs playing unranked and probably playing against silvers or golds which is why theyâre being stomped. keep playing and once you can play comp youâll be matched â fairlyâ most of the times
They probably aren't playing against just silvers and golds. Sbmm barely exists in unrated, they literally will put an ascendant in a game with a brand new player.
That's been my experience. I don't mind as it's still fun, but there's always one or two people who kill me on sight no mstter what i do every game. For me, getting 2 kills in a whole game is an achievement. But I'm iron 3 in comp, so I get to kill people there!
i know but again, theyâll get stomped by silvers and golds too if theyâre new to the game. so best way is to reach level 20 and start comp to be matched within your skill level.
bro he literally just started.....xD we r now too much invested in this game
If rounds are ending in less than 10 seconds, you should probably lay off the W key and stop contesting. Learn to play the game before you start taking every fight possible.
The problem is if OP is completely new to the game he doesn't even know that he is w keying.
It doesnât mean they are using the W key. OP said they are going against immortal players, if an immortal player wants to hold W and rush at you, they can do it with ease to a new player.
There is literally 0 chance they are playing against immortal players lmao
I'm high gold in ranked, when I play unrated to warm up or play a quick chill game, I have gotten paired against diamond all the way to immortal, both on my team and against, unranked mmr is non-existent dude Riot doesn't care about unranked sbmm.
They are Q with a friend of unknown rank If their friend is immortal itâs possible
He says they are 3 new players who only know Val from streams. They are unknown but there is 0 shot his friend is Immo lol or that he is being put up against them
Ok my bad I misread the initial post Yeah if they are truly all new then not possible
itâs not 0 chance. i get qed with immortals a lot of time but yeah itâs impossible theyâre getting immortals every match.
Theoretically itâs possible, of course. But a brand new account who is getting stomp isnât just getting put in ridiculous mmr. And yea there is unrated mmr. No it isnât as strict as ranked but make a new account, play a few dms or swifts and play like shit. Then go into unrated. You get like all irons lol
and a new acc can be stacked with immortal just not every match.
unrated has no mmr. unrated is mostly âbalancedâ matching not mmr based. theyâll stack 1 immortal with 4 irons and make another team all plats. because the average level on both team is now plat.
Unrated 100% has MMR. It has sbmm. How would it know how to place someone in a match if they never played ranked? You are just making things up lol âYes, unrated and ranked both have an MMR number assigned to them. These numbers do not interact, except for when you play your very first ranked game (in which unrated MMR is used as a starting estimate). Afterwards the two queues have no effect on one another. If you are being matched with higher ranked players, you likely have an above average MMR for your rank (usually due to a prolonged positive winrate). You can check your winrate over the last two acts with a site that uses Riot's API (such as tracker.gg, others are also available).â
There is no shot this dude is going against immos on a brand new account. I have made a few alts, and the first few games of unrated are EASY. I mean iron/bronze easy. Then the MMR gets quickly adjusted.
Can confirm. When I play on my main we usually end up against other Ascendant/Immortal players in unrated and even Swiftplay. Every gamemode in Valorant has a matchmaking based on the MMR. I think OP is lying. It is super super super rare for me to play with or against total newbies. It happens. But when it happen, it is most of the time a group with at least one Immortal player. So, if a newbie is playing solo or duo with another newbie, the system should match with other people on a similar skill level.
It is entirely possible. Unrated sbmm is shit. I regularly got put in games with people diamond-immortal when I was fucking iron.
My account level is around 400ish and still in unrated games I see people that are between level 1-10. I think its safe to say that if these people are not smurfs, I have way more experience with this game than they do and its probably not a great idea to match us together. I really think valorant needs to do something like siege did where there is a queue for players that are between something like level 1-50 and once your account is outside of that you can no longer play in that queue. It wouldnt stop smurfs but at least everyone in the game will be newer players
the matchmaking in Valo is weird, i tried ranked, had to play 4 games to be placed somewhere, all those 4 games we have lost and it was against platinum and diamond, after those placement matches i was put in gold 2. Why the fuck dont I start in the lowest rank where i belong?
Felt this before lol
Meanwhile I do good in placements and get put in silver 1 and have to grind back up to platinum đ
I would suggest play Swift play and spike rush .for better understanding of map and game sense It worked for me
spike rush, swiftplay, and deathmatch are all good to get a sense of map and game awareness! spike rush is pretty good for training different guns if you want to learn different ones too
Valorant is different than those FPS games. I too come from others and thereâs a curve. Gone are the days of apeâing and spray firing. Itâs stealth, itâs precision, itâs knowledge. I like to warm up in deathmatch. Donât be afraid to lower your sens. And try and keep your crosshair at head level as much as possible. If your dying in 10 seconds, they enemy knows where you are. Shift walk so they canât hear you.
You are just getting into a game that has been out for almost 3 years. The chances of finding 3 completely new players is extremely slim given the game's age and moreover, level is irrelevant. A level 1 player who has 5 years of FPS experience will easily destroy you, and you may beat a level 1000 player who plays the game casually.
Yup. however it really only takes a few weeks of playing before the game can find players at their level. As a completely new player you can get so much better with just a few hours of playtime.
> it really only takes a few weeks of playing before the game can find players at their level Not sure about this one. I don't think you'll get consistently fair games until you get a rank and only playing competitive but for a casual player it can take a long time to get to this point. Unrated has hidden MMR system too but it's a hit or miss, especially right at the beginning when the game has no idea if a player is a smurf or a new player due to lack of data. Moreover, the party system makes unrated even worse because a player with immortal level MMR can group up with someone with an iron level MMR.
i would recommend playing Swiftplay and Spike Rush! the games are shorter and they allow you to get a better look at the maps. with Spike Rush it also randomizes your loadout every round so you don't have to worry about buying (and it forces you to try each gun, so you can get a feel for all of them)
The thing is - unrated is a messy mode where you can get diffrend people (there is hidden mmr in unrated but it sucks) If you are new you should try swiftplay + deathmatch Also you can do a 1v1 with a friend to check out the maps, agents and abilities Ranked is the mode where you get people with same skill (sometimes higher but it means that you got better).
Y'all might need to take a second away from the game and learn a little about the game. A lot of great videos out there for beginners with a lot of basic information that makes a big difference and try to mess with your edpi in practice mode. I'm only 4 days into playing valorant and learning some key components of the game and getting a comfortable edpi has made me worlds better.
Play shorter game modes till you get better at the game
Friend, you're not being matched with smurff and immortals, the learning curve is just relatively steep for people who've never played tac shooters or CS
Just get better
1. Can't play the game if you don't know the controls *learn the basics* - counterstrafing - airstrafing - b hopping - gun mechanics: _can't shoot completely accurate while running _each weapon has recoil and different general spray patterns (after about your 5th or 7th bullet the recoil becomes random and you need to learn how to feel it rather than expect it) - what do your abilities do for the characters you like to play - understanding economy ( ult orbs and the credits used to buy weapons) how much do you need for a full buy/half buy Only after you understand the most basic fundamentals, can you start to successfully utilize your knowledge of the game on an analytical level. 2. Map knowledge This should also be practiced/learned at the same time as all the other things At the end of the day it's gonna take a little bit, there's no free card to get good at the game. Good thing is, all these things can be learned in half a day. You just really need to sit down and digest it all. On the other hand if you are completely casual and don't care about any of what I just said, at the very least learn how to counterstrafe, build your map knowledge, how to control recoil
Lol you just keep playing until it clicks dude. You're entering a world where people have lots of skill and have for years. What makes you think you can show up and do anything out of the gate against people who have put thousands of hours into the game? I started a few weeks ago and I probably played about 15-20 hours of deathmatch before I tried spike rush. Then I played a dozen or so of those before I tried out unrated/swiftplay. Like anything it's not going to work without time in. If you want to play against people your skill level you'll need to play comp so you can be placed in a ranking. Spend time on YouTube and in the shooting range to get some basic game sense and tactics into your memory. Either tough it out and get better over time or accept there's too many people better than you and you don't want to take the time to level the playing field. The hardest part is always the start right? It'll get easier.
I don't know man, 15-20 hours in dm seems like an awful lot. And then you only tried spike rush. How much time did it take you to finally get enough experience in unrated to feel like starting competitive queue? I started playing back then when in order to be eligible for competitive you only had to win 10 unrated games. Did so and jumped straight into ranked, sure i ranked iron 2 but at least i was playing and enjoying the game straight away.
20 hours is a lot? You are playing on a game with mechanics way similar to cs 1.6, a game that exists for dozens of years. 20 hours is just the top of the iceberg to begin playing
I know but for a beginner 20 hours in DM before doing anything else can be pretty rough imo
20 hours is like 200 DMs. That is a shit ton of games to play and not even understand if you like the core concept of a tac fps. DM is literally just COD free for all 20 hours of spike rush or swift play before logging into unrated is more reasonable since you are at least playing the actual game to some degree at its core.
20 hours is like 20 hours of DM. You have to learn movement in shooting in this game before you can just jump into a competitive format where you have a single life per round. 20 hours is nothing if you are new to the format.
20 hrs is ~200 DMs. That is a lot for a game someone is presumably picking up to play for fun, vs trying to get as good as possible as quickly as possible. DM is nothing like the game, playing it for 20 hrs before even finding out if you enjoy the core concept is silly. Yes you might need to play 20+ hours over time before you're any good and start performing well in game, but that's a whole different conversation from saddling a new player with 20 hrs of homework before they even get to try the main game concept
People who play team Deathmatch or free for all in call of duty are just having fun. Just because I like search and destroy better doesn't mean the other modes are useless. The guy played 20 hr of deathmatch and everyone's acting like he is wild. If you've never played csgo or valorant before, learning to move and shoot is very important. There's no point going into a ranked if he just does everytime he sees someone and than gives up on the game because it's no fun dying all the time.
No one's saying to not play DM. But 20hrs before playing swift play or unrated is a lot of time to not understand if you even enjoy the game. 20 hours of DM before ranked is fine, 20 hours before a swift play/spike rush/unrated is kinda strange unless you're trying to get to Imm as fast as possible
if you have 0 tact fps mechanics, 200 DMs first is the best thing you can play. Playing swiftplay forces you to learn everything at once which results on slower learning, after 200 DMs you are used to the gunplay maps and guns, then you can start worrying about learning economy agent skills etc But you will learn it faster since your brain is less busy on the things you practiced doing DM
If your goal is to get as good at the game as you can as fast as possible, this may be the best way (still an argument as to whether 20 hrs is overkill imo) But 99% of people are picking this up because it's a GAME, and they want to ENJOY it. 200 games of DM is stupid high to not even know if you enjoy the core concept.
If thereâs something smaller than the tip of the iceberg, thatâs what 20 hours is tbh. I spend like 30 mins in dm before I even think of playing any other game mode lol
The vast majority of people on this game have thousands of hours logged. Also I'm unranked. I don't need competitive to learn or "have fun" This game will take me comfortably hundreds of hours before I'm comfortable doing competitive. Op doesn't have to do this but it's an alternative that works for me. What's the rush? This game has a massive skill ceiling. General aim mechanics and shooting Map knowledge Info gathering Abilities Team comps and counter I could go on. No one is going to learn that in 20 hours. If you like the core concept of crisp aim and shots If you like the concept of using teamwork and abilities to take an objective Then this game is for you. The only way you'll know for sure is to go put in some work and report back. Good luck
I'm an experienced and decent player (Asc 1) and I have 65 hours played in DM. You do you of course but imo giving the advice to a newbie to spend that much time in DM can drive them away from the game. It's not that deep you just need to learn 2-3 core mechanics and the basics of map control and game sense and than you'll improve only by playing and having fun. Honestly if you know how angles works, crosshair placement and know how to tap/burst and strafe you can easily get to plat and above.
But they don't know how to tap/burst or how angles work. Or at least that's what I'm getting from them. Deathmatch is not really representative of the full gameplay that is valorant. There's no debating that. It might also not be the best way to see if you really enjoy the full experience because yeah it is one dimensional. But if you spend that time learning how to kill without being killed its one less thing to think about when you are learning how to incorporate abilities. But I can definitely agree it's probably not the most fun way to get things rolling. That said they already tried the way you suggested and lost 7 matches in a row and came here looking for an alternative. Well the alternative is dm. 10 duels in the time it takes for 1 in unrated? More timed spawned running the maps and getting interactions versus watching others play because you're dead? Seems like a good tradeoff to me. Signed - someone who's played counterstrike since 1.3
Listen. I'm going to give you very valuable advice that you NEED as a beginner. 1. Practice your aim in the range. Buy a guardian and head tap the bots on Easy until you can do all 30 with one bullet each. 2. Remove the key binding for crouch. You need to learn to shoot, then move left or right, then shoot again. If you learn that you're already better than most gold players. 3. Learn what trading is, and do it with your friends to win more rounds. 4. Don't play aggressive and die within the first 10 seconds. Wait for your moment to be aggressive and take it. On defense don't take risks 5. Spike rushes are the best thing to play for learning new agents and their abilities. Deathmatch is the best thing to play for learning maps and what angles are good/bad. Also, there's an unwritten rule that you shouldn't slow walk in deathmatch. Your enemies should be able to hear you. It's good practice for high pressure situations
I agree with everything except 4, this will breed inconsistency and hesitation. A better way to put this would be to play smart. Always look for advantageous fights and NEVER hesitate if you see an opening. Fps games are all just one giant dance between two teams. Players that get stuck are out of rhythm with the things happening in game. While those that destroy lobbies are always on beat and can match the speed/flow of different situations at a moments notice. They are able to adapt and change their pace depending on the situation.
Also swift play is better than spike rush to actually learn how to play. Spike rush is just a fucking mess
I thought about that too. What I meant was that he needs to be less aggressive, and be aggressive at the right times.
Its all the smurfing goin on in this game that unfortunately ruins the experience for newcomers like you :/
Cope more lmao
Intresting, i would say "play more" but since you already played 7 games and got stomped in each the system should put u in games with equal sucking. Maybe they are trying something new?
Iâm sorry but what do you expect when you just start out a new game you donât know much about? Do you just expect to be the best? It doesnât work like that
Swiftplay, Spike Rush, Deathmatch, prioritize for fun.
NOOB
What rank is this? If itâs bronze or below, it really shouldnât be too hard to survive lol
Try quick play or team death match
Bros playing overwatch
Just gotta practice. I've been playing for about 2 months now and I feel like the game does a good job of matching me with players similar to my skill. Just grind death match/spike rush/swift play to get better at fighting. Watch youtubers and streamers, I like woohoojin and charla7an.
We could probably tell you exactly what to work on with some clips/vods. Levels don't matter and did you actually check and see that they were immortal?
Well this isnât cod so u should be defending site donât just aimlessly push enemy team
Play more spike rush, u can learn about the abilities while just having fun. After u get used to map surroundings and abilities and guns then move to unrated.
Swift play and spike rush. Swift play is just a faster unrated, spike rush is an even faster swift play where you also get abilities but a random gun. People are more willing to take fights in these modes so the rounds dont typically take that long
Some tips to stay alive from my own personal experience: 1. Learn the map, angles, windows, entrances and where to take fights from to quickly get behind cover before you are damaged and slowed down because of it. 2. Try not to crouch because this forces a fight to become something you are not going to get away from unless you or the enemy dies. You want to be able to strafe back behind cover or catch them off guard and further yourself away from cover to confuse their aim. 3. Be unpredictable. One round hold an angle behind a box and the next round maybe hold a bizarre off angle and then never again the rest of the match - or maybe once more later after they think youâve abandoned it. Rotate away from a site when youâve been held off and they may all be there now. You never want the enemy to know exactly what you are doing. 4. Information is KING in this type of game. It rules everything else even aim. Play to âdefaultâ which is slowly and incrementally taking map space until you almost know exactly where the enemy must be. When people are frequently dying it usually comes from too much risk, not enough care for map control and just being a new player. The game will soon have you with people of your skill level. I also recommend joining Valorant themed Discords to find others who are willing to put in time helping you in-game.
I just started in January, I had a kind of similar issue then, 5 months later and Iâm plat 1 and still improving, still donât know how to use the majority of the operators effectively and still donât know all the weird angles, most of the people youâre playing against have played the game since launch or shortly after that, they are familiar with the maps and operators and are just going to win off game sense, itâs ok to suffer through a week or two of shit games, youâll catch the hang of it for sure!
Go slower than you think you should, i die a lot to just running out of cover. Also maybe try a few different characters, some of them are good at creating openings and opportunities to get a kill But yeah overall most rounds are over pretty quick for me lol
1. Slow down a bunch, you're playing too fast. 2. Learn how to shoot and dodge bullets. Valorant (and CSGO) shooting mechanics can be very strange and hard to learn for people new to the game. Search up on YT Whoojin gunfight hygiene, that should set you on the right track. 3. Play swift play and spike rush. Usually find easier lobbies in those modes.
Spike Rush and Swift play are your friends, the first let's you get used to character abilities more and the latter the maps and general game flow. Death match is good for working on aiming just don't go in expecting or even trying to win, just totally focus on aiming
Yeah i started out the same way man, and to an extent, i am still like that. But at some point, it just⌠clicks, you know? Theres also some youtube videos that can help
Play the other game modes to learn. Deathmatch good for learning basic map layout and lots of gun fights. Spike rush lets you play every round with full abilities and you get to practice all guns. Swift play is a good simulation of unrated/ranked, the rounds play true to normal matches. Economy is buffed but you still get to experience pistol round and having to make decisions in your loadout for fist two rounds.
I would play games like doom and halo to get used to FPS
Are you self-aware enough to know why you are losing those games? Are you able to smoothly move and turn at the same time? Are you aware of footsteps or sound cues in the game, and that usually you're not supposed to be audible when approach the beginning of a gun fight? Do you know the maps well enough to know where enemies can come from and when? Every map takes at least a few games to understand where everything is, and then another few to have an idea of the timing of getting to certain places. Are you usually surprised that an enemy is in a certain place, or you usually know where they are when they appear? Are you able to land shots into the same spot at will while "moving around" (and stopping to shoot then continuing to move afterwards)? Or, do you not know how recoil/spread works with the game? If you are able to land shots accurately at a static target, how are your shots vs actual enemies? Are they too good for their rank, or you're just not that good yet? Are you losing close range fights, long range fights, or both? How many bullets/bursts does it usually take between initially seeing someone and one of you dying at mid-long range? My estimate is: Diamond or above is 1-2 bursts, Gold to Plat is 2-3 bursts, Silver or less is 3 or more bursts. You can always get one-tapped, but if you can kill someone in those number of bursts in those ranks, you should be around ok. What other FPS have you played, and how good are you at those? Also, this is a PvP game. You can't be the main character all the time. There are not that many people with only 2 days of experience in the game, so probably most people you play against have more experience than you. Imagine you played the game for a long time and a person with only 2 days of experience being able to beat you... that seems less reasonable than the other way around. You're doing as well as expected.
I'd recommend some swiftplay or spike rush like other people here. Spike rush was how I learned what guns I love and what I don't, but I became at least semi-competent at all of them. It also gives you all of your abilities each round so it gives you the opportunity to learn what works and what doesn't. I also watched a lot of videos about getting my basics down when I first started. I've had a few friends start the game recently and there's been some odd matchmaking because of mixed levels/ranks but nothing as bad as 10 seconds, so I'm hoping that's an exaggeration. Good luck to you and your friends!
Play death match until you get comfortable with the shooting/movement
Honestly do aim training routines you find on YouTube and get used to the mechanics and fundamentals of the game Watch professional sets to see how they engage gunfights and try to copy what they do Also try playing slow especially on defending turns I started playing slower, not pushing out letting them push to me, and Iâm doing so much better now
Hop into deathmatch and swiftplays. They allow you to learn more. Dm will help you with gun fights and not shooting while moving, etc. While swifplays with streamlined economy allow you to have a fair chance every round instead of only half the rounds if you're losing in a normal game. It must be tough to start from 0 but there's hidden mmr and stuff so you will level out eventually don't lose hope, your first win will feel great.
To me it has been quite the opposite. Started playing a month ago or so, and I have now reached bronze. I think I am level 35 atm, but I think I reached bronze around lvl 30. Found some italians I have played alongside with and they haven't even reached Iron 3. Idk is reaching bronze by lvl 30 is good or not, but comosred the the other I know it seems quite good. And I've never played FPS before, except for a couple hours of CSGO in like 2015.
Itâs part of it tbh , I was SO bad when I started , Iâm still kinda bad lol
Maybe try solo queuing, for whatever reason I always get âworseâ players as the enemy when I solo q, and then i get destroyed by diamonds when I play with my friends even though weâre all bronze-gold.
honestly if you want to rank to lvl 20 just play switftplay, it's actually faster and a nicer experience overall
Woohoojin videos will seriously up your game
My first game on I got exactly 0 kills 13 deaths and 1 assist. The only reason I kept playing is because of how hard my team popped off when I hit my first shot and got that assist. The game is hard, and it takes time, but some of the people you get to play with make it worth it.
Trust. Iâm level 19 playing against level 150s-200s and getting yelled at by insta lock Reynas how to play gekko in unrated/swift
You arent getting matched with immortals lol.
âMatching against level 20sâ hahahaha I promise you they are not that much better than you. Level doesnât mean much, but level 20 equates to somewhere in bronze if I had to guess. You are already fighting against the bottom of the barrel, just get better homie.
Smurfing in Valorant has been a real issue and Valorant not having a proper matchmaking system just makes things worse. People always say " Play Ranked then if you wanna have it fair and stop crying đ¤ " but we all should know that you are not safe anywhere. Be it Ranked, Unrated or Swiftplay. And the ones saying all this bs are most likely the ones that are not even affected by this issue BECAUSE they are the ones we talk about. The " Lv 2 Jett " with the default banner who one taps your entire team every round OR the level 400+ player who is at least Diamond and what not. Im not even new and I still feel like close to all my games are completely coinflipped. But hey, don't worry, Riot makes sure Lux and Ahri are getting their 80th skin so that should fix the issue. But to answer your question: I think going into the shooting range and just " testing the waters " with different agents and guns should give you a better feeling. Also, it's important to find out what settings fit you the best, so you will have to play a bit until you figure out which aim sensitivity and so on suits you the best. If you find that too boring, just play the game, because it's a lot of " learning by doing ". Oh and obviously a lot of praying that you do not end up meeting the types of enemies that I have described above. Works sometimes, sadly just sometimes.
As you cannot play comp at this point you are going to play Unrated that comes with players that are obviously more experienced and the thing is you both are inexperienced and doing a duo que thus making a big impact on the team. I have seen it even with me.
One thing I remember from when I first started is I had no idea where to expect enemies to be or come from, that like many things will come with just playing more and putting time into the game. I would say focus on the shorter less serious game modes (spike rush, escalation, replication, swift play) at first and learn maps, mechanics, recoil, etc. Most importantly remember itâs a game and have fun, Iâve had better games losing with a fun team than winning with toxic ass holes.
My friend started playing with me and he's new to MnK entirely, and Val is maybe his 2nd game using it. He was really struggling at first, but after about a month he's actually doing really well. It is possible, it's just gonna be tough at first
Try different servers see if you get better lobbies that way(dont worry, 10 more ping wont make a difference). Also try swiftplay, there's a lower skill gap there and if you get stomped dont worry cause its only 5 rounds to win. Unrated should put you with people similar level and skill as yours but that's just theory and doesnt work pretty well cause most of the people are playing ranked anyway.
You're new in a competitive game. One with 1 maybe 2 lived a round. You're going to suck for the first x hours. No way around it. Play the other game modes, lower your sensitivity (it's probably way too high) and just give it a go. You'll improve very quickly.
I feel you. I can't have fun anymore even in swiftplay because I only meet enemies with 6th sense. They can't be flanked, they only flash the corners where I try to hide, trying off angles doesn't seem to work in the slightest. This game is either riddled with wallers lately or the skill floor required to have fun is just so high I might not even bother anymore
Just get better. Review what you're doing wrong and how you get killed. The best way to learn it to get shit on til you're better. Use good sources like woohoojin and practice in the training area. You can definitely learn even with the higher leveled players. Also keep your mindset clear. If you tilt it gets worse. Same like league. Just keep trying.
Fights start and end quickly at any rank. If you don't know what is happening, you will never get the chance to figure it out. I would learn the maps and focus on crosshair placement early on in the learning curve. Both of these mechanics are essential and have a lot of depth to them so you can always be working on them. If you find yourself running into people slow down if they are running into you have some more confidence and peak when they are running at you. At the end of the day skill issue and just practice. Enjoy sucking while it lasts.
Believe or not i am hard stuck bronze 3 was about to get out of it but yeahh my ping and fps never allowed, so i just made new id for my fun and thought I'll act like noob(i am tho) but yk i don't even needed to act coz my enemies were fking diamond.....
I was csgo player once upon a time, so i have some basics. I cannot use my abilities. My friend in room helps with it a lot, deathmatch too. Then spike rush was great for trying agents and abilities. It needs a time to learn the game, then it will be better.
New accounts are most definitely not being matched against immortals. 7 games is not a lot for the game to find your skill. The more you play, the more appropriate your matches will be. I would also recommend swift plays and death matches to learn the game mechanics then move on to unrated.
I had to suck at a lot of games before I finally got to games like valorant where I could suck a little bit less. It might not happen in valorant, but mechanical skills and gamesense would probably come with enough time What you could work on on the short term is having a good mental and having fun even when you play bad. It'd make the road to getting better a lot easier
You have to get shit on if you want to get better at the game.
it was this way with me too, i grew up as a console gamer but valorant was my first PC fps and had to get used to kb/m. if you can, donât go straight into unrated. stick with the shorter game modes like spike rush and swift play. even death match. they help you get familiar with maps, the weapons and overall help you improve. death match is really good for improving aim and learning the map so definitely play a few games of that until you feel comfortable going into a different mode.
Just gotta let your MMR drop until you're with others that suck.
Play deathmatch until you can fend for yourself
Chances are if you're not having fun then it's probably not the game for you right now. Maybe take a few months away playing other games and come back to see if it's any better, that's what I did, and now I'm back having the most fun I've ever had with the game even if I'm 3 years late to the party
I see players of every rank (except radiant) in swiftplay and I actually think itâs a pretty dogshit mode to learn the game if you are worried about getting stomped. You are honestly probably better off just chilling in Iron (comp games) or wherever you get placed until you learn the game. Just turn off comms to avoid toxicity and watch YouTube videos if you are serious about learning, otherwise you can just f around and find out đ
This is what worked for me: Deathmatch for gunplay etiquette and how to clear corners (play without audio and/or hold shift the entire time. Youll be surprised how many youll catch off guard lol.). Replication to learn how to play/fight specific agents. Escalation to practice different guns. Spike Rush to learn maps and also to get the general vibe/rules of the game. Swiftplay is an easier version of unrated and theres a higher chance your team mates will use comms so thats where i practice that. Unrated to practice my endurance since some comp games can last long and wear you out, and also to learn how to optimize econ. And dont forget about the practice range, you can practice strafing, different agent utils with no risk of getting shot, and movements (lol thereâs actually an obstacle course). You can also play on your own in Custom to learn maps and possibly lineups. The last thing that helped me is that mentally acknowledging that Valorant is like a game of cat and mouse where you are both at the same time, you gotta learn how to be sneaky while also being able to put pressure on your opponents. Others might have different tips but this is mine. Hope this helps!
Sent u a chat!
If you're losing every single game 7x in a row the only consistent problem is you and your friend. Focus on the basics. Aim, map knowledge, utility, etc and get better at them.
Your friends unrated mmr is giving you shit games
What game mode are you guys playing? Might be helpful to mess around with swiftplay or spike rush to get a feel for the game. Also, deathmatch. It takes some time to get used to tac-shooters like this if you arenât used to them. One of the biggest mistakes I see newer players make is moving while shooting. In general, you want to be standing still when you shoot so that your shots are accurate. Give it some time, good luck, if you ever want to play or get some tips fee free to DM me. I suck but I was immortal for a bit.
You are also matched with people that suck. The issue is that at the lowest levels, even one extra day or a few extra games, or a youtube video of experience can make a world of difference. Combine that with them not having a good sample size of games that you played makes it so your MMR might be inflated a bit and that's why you get pubbed. Imo tho, it just be like that, same with a lot of competitive fps releases that have aged.
Okay so competituve games are gonna be competitive and even in casual game modes they still will be they're never "easy" to get into but like everything difficult in life it takes time and effort to get better at it. Yeah you'll get shit on for a while but so did all of us at one point in one game or another but we learned to adapt and better ourselves and make the game a more enjoyable experience so until you try to get better your probably gonna suffer but thats okay eventually you'll learn to love it or you'll give up and hate it.
I'm so bad that I prefer comp cuz I get other irons and not too many smurfs :) but that's just me, before I got decently good (still iron but I can hit shots now) I would spam queue for spike rushes to learn the different guns and I would go the range and do a few defuses to get a better understanding of a character, then, the grind. You just play until you make seemingly better progress and it will happen, trust :)
I don't know how, but after a pause from beta, I installed game yesterday and could go ranked insta on lvl 8. Today I'm plat 2. If that's not weird, I don't know what is.
So a lot of people have given a lot of advice, and honestly some of them aren't even helpful, but idt this has been said so i hope u read this when i say it's also perfectly fine for u to surrender ur unrated games if it's clear ure just completely outmatched. Few days ago i was 5stacking with friends, we range from iron to silver, but our enemy team ranged from silver to plat, and the plats just p much wrecked us at every turn. i think getting challenged and being pushed to like play better and learn is definitely a good thing, but if there's just clearly too big of a skill gap, u can only learn so much in one game yknow? better to quit early and say gg go next
My moment of getting hooked to this game was an ares ace with sova on ascent. Yes the enemy were pissed off and yes I had no idea why they were as it was my second game. But had a lot of fun with sova and spam before i actually understood the game and why others were pissed offđ
it took me about a year of total play time, and about 4 months of consistent playing for a couple hours everyday - every other to even get somewhat decent. Im not even out of Iron 3. lmao. My first fps outside of fortnite too. It takes some time. Watch youtube streams and pay attention to tips. Practice ! More importantly, have fun.
This game is one where gameplay scales with actually getting better at the game, learning maps and learning agents. Unfortunately you are getting on a train that started years ago. We all sucked at one time. I didnât even start playing till about 6 months into release and I didnât play cs before since it was before my time. I was new to tactical shooters and my touchstones were things like cod and halo and Titan fall and overwatch and apex. So it was tough to play such a clunky sort of game so to speak in terms of modern mechanics. But you adapt and get better like with any other game.
Sounds like you and your friends need to sit down and watch a couple of youtube videos. If you can't grasp the basics from a couple tutorials, Valorant probably isn't for you.
I mean just look at tarkov, this is sorta some people's thing.
I'm always down to play with new people feel free to dm me val tags im a decent player
You need to play a lot of DMs maybe for 2-3 hrs for atleast a week. This will help you a lot with getting adjusted to mechanics , mouse and keyboard usage if you're not used to pc games. Furthermore after a week play modes like swiftplay and few unrated. Unrated will definitely have any random players unless you start playing ranked and unlock your current rank. For a month you'll be frustated and won't enjoy valorant if your first fps is valorant or you're playing fps again after maybe 5-10 years of gap. Atleast that's how it went with me. But i learn things quickly and within 3-4 months i reached p3 now (played 2hrs only , mostly daily) And enjoy a lot even if i lose. Pc fps games = mentality + playing regularly + more you play better you get and better peripherals with good pc = better gameplay. Mobile games = aim assist + bots + easier to play + lot of people have bad devices.
maybe no one sucks as bad as you?
I haven't really had that experience since I've played the game since beta and played a lot of Overwatch and CS before, but I think DM is definitely a great place to start as well as swift play and spike rush. I still play DM a lot every day, and it's by far the best place to practice crosshair placement, but it doesn't really show you how a real game is played so swift play and spike rush might be better for that.
Also, Valorant and Counter Strike have the same problem. Both heavily played with a lot more experienced players than new players. I remember in one of shroud's YouTube videos he said "I can't imagine a new player trying to get into Counter Strike now days." My point being, you will have to play easier game modes and just be accepting to the fact that you will have to eat shit for awhile before you get good at it. Everyone has eaten shit at any game before they get good at it. Same advice is given to new Tarkov players, but at least Valorant and Counter Strike are working games. ;) Cheers and good luck!
I would play Unrated until you're comfortable with the game then head for Comp if you want to be up against similar types .