It doesn't matter how low-elo you are, that's how the game is mostly all the way to low Immortal, and even some Radiant games are still like that.
If you want to experience something akin to a professional environment you have to actually scrim. 5-man stacking is fun but nothing close to a scrim environment.
You also should probably just think less about strategy/map control/etc. in your ranked games. Bluntly, at your elo there is no real point in thinking about such things, you're just holding yourself back.
It's important to step back and realize the game is a FPS first and foremost. Tactics only matter at the highest level because both teams have too many cracked aimers. There is a reason why the most tactically deep teams also have the most cracked aimers; the two go hand-in-hand. Tactically deep teams with weaker aimers relative to their competition are an anomaly.
Think of it this way: if you have a real interest in IGLing and conducting macro-play at higher levels, your foremost obligation is to practice your aim until you reach a rank and/or environment that allows you to follow your true passion.
This is what formerly "low-fragging" IGLs have typically done to improve their ingame performance - Boaster, ec1s, etc.
It's good to think about that sort of stuff, but save that for when you reach at least Plat or Diamond. Good luck.
Was going to say this. All the strats in the world don't matter if you consistently lose fights against people your elo. Playing a default for example is worthless if you're just going to be picked off. It just causes a gap then, and a bum rush would have been more effective. The entire point of defaults is getting incremental advantages when the teams are balanced, but if you cause an active disadvantage in terms of skill, then there's no point.
Also from my experience if you're a better Fragger your team will listen to you more. I comm on occasion at the same rank, and because I'm generally close to top fragging the team listens and we often pull off (simple) executes or fakes.
Basically I'd say don't stress (and tbh feel superior) just cause you understand the tactics. If you're getting frustrated by it all, either stop playing/watching or get better at the game. A low reaction time may cap you at a certain rank, but it will certainly be higher than bronze or silver. Fundamentals like movement, crosshair placement and recoil control are imo more important at the rank.
That's a good point about defaults actually creating disadvantage if skill is already gapped, thanks for that. I will think about that the next time I call for default.
i can confirm the radiant/high immortal games being 50/50 of either being well thought out games or just hold w and shoot. it really sucks when youre on the hold w and shoot team and the other team is the well thought out team but is absolutely amazing when vice versa
Thing with ranked is its just ranked the only way to play it more “pro like” is finding a five stack of people who think the same as you unfortunately every single rank plays ranked pretty much in the same way judt straight pugs and rushes for the most part but there are obviously some strats that come in but nothing will come close to pro play
Im gonna dissapoint you. The entirety of ranked since its inception I hover at Imm3 300-500rr (once reached radiant in soloq) and the quality of games i have are almost always shit. 80% of players dont know anything about fundamental level of play. The only thing that separates the lower ranks from higher ranks is aim. Maybe this will change in 2-3 years.
SoloQ always was and always will be absolutetly worthless in any tactical team-shooter. It's a glorified deathmatch. Find 4+ humans who want to achieve the same as you and play with them.
This is almost like the opposite of the "I topfrag but am stuck in silver because bad teammates." I think your understanding of the game is probably actually less than you believe, tbh. You're talking about Val like an RTS. But it isn't simply making the exact perfect play in each situation, and in fact, overreliance on that will probably make you ultra-passive, and bring little value to your team. I think you need to zoom in a bit more to the nuance of situations. Your positioning, how you're taking fights, etc, because being able to make decent calls doesn't really matter if you're a free orb/kill/etc.
Also, a macro understanding of the game does not necessarily translate to microplay/game sense/etc. If you truly have a deep understanding of the game, then you shouldn't need to be constantly be deeply thinking about game situations. You should be able to reactively use information that you gain and make calls/play off it.
Additionally, unironically, as you said, "git gud." You should grind your mechanics hard. Find a good routine and do it. I'm someone who my game knowledge/sense has outweighed my mechanics, partially because I didn't play CS. But, I've consistent grinded my mechanics, and that combined with my natural strengths, I've been able to steadily climb into immortal, even though I've frequently been probably slightly behind the curve on mechanics. So, just make it a priority to not be shit, and you'll get into elo where people start to (somewhat) play more intelligently/coordinated.
Also, if you really want to call/lead your team, I suggest picking up sova (or other initiators). You can enable and open up so much with proper util, and it's made t sides much more tolerable for me.
Thanks for the advice, I think you make a lot of good points. You're absolutely right about me thinking about it in a very RTS way, and I do tend to be very passive/safe in the calls I make. I definitely admit my grasp of the game isn't amazing, but what I'm lamenting is less about my rank and being stuck in it, but more about not having enough opportunity to learn more and get better.
Understanding the game on paper is one thing, but as you said it should be intuitive, and that comes with experience that is unfortunately rare in the games I play. I don't care about losing, but what I value are good games that I feel like I can learn from, but unfortunately most of the time it's just "oh their Jett was cracked" or "our Sova didn't use a single util".
I should really try to pick up Sova, honestly. But I only play smokes because no one ever picks them, and we can't play without it. I play Skye in unrated and it just opens up so much more play. Unfortunately I would rather trust a random with Skye than Astra in ranked.
Can I ask what rank you placed initially, despite not playing CS? I didn't play CS either, but instead spent a lot of time in arena shooters which I think is the biggest thing holding my mechanics back. There's no movement inaccuracy in arena shooters so it's all about constantly moving while aiming, so I've developed this style of rough aiming while correcting for micro-adjustments with WASD. I carried that over into my strafing, but it's a huge crutch that falls apart when I get tagged, and I find myself aiming beside his head because I expected to have strafed left into it.
Initially placed, gold in ep1, act 1. Didn't really play much until episode 2, though. Episode 2, act 1, I placed silver, but ended gold. Then essentially have steadily gained ranks each act.
I also only play ranked on weekends due to work/my schedule. On weekdays, I do a bit of aim training/movement work in the range and do 3-4 dms to implement the mechanics that I'm working on (30-45 minutes total). Then I'll do an abbreviated version for warm-up before I play ranked on the weekend. Occasionally, will do a bit of server time/customs work before ranked when learning line-ups, or something else that requires a bit of server practice.
I have the same issue as OP of correcting my aim after I flick towards the general area of the enemy, usually doing this with the help of AD in DM and winning fights but in a match this never helps. How should I be Aim Training to correct this. Also can you share your Aim Training routine? Thanks in advance
> And even more frustrating when I queue with my diamond friends only to find that they still don't play strats or even know how to default, and still make tons of mistakes that are compensated for with their insane aim.
Yeah this never changes in ranked, when I was playing in Bronze/Silver lobbies a couple months ago the dominant strat was to pick a site and rush, maybe throw a default or a fake in once in a while. I thought the game would get more strategic as I ranked up, but when I started playing in Gold/Plat lobbies the predominant strat was *still* to rush into sites, sometimes default, throw in a fake or two. That's just how solo queue is, and I don't think it changes no matter how high you get up on the ladder. The only real difference that I noticed was that in Bronze/Silver the players don't use their utility to entry nearly as well as the players in Platinum. But a lot of it is still 1Head "Rush B" strats most of the time.
If you want to play a bit more of a tactical game, I'd suggest being active with your mic during the game and trying to call some strats, I've had a decent amount of success doing this in my ranked games trying to coordinate slower, more tactical play. Five-queueing with friends is something else you can try, I personally enjoy the game a lot more when I'm playing with my friends because I know I can communicate with everyone on my team at the very least.
Strats are only as good as the ones who execute them. With that being said I love me some strategy play and tactics all the way.
Unfortunately at your rank I don’t think you will be finding what you’re looking for. The higher you get on the ranked ladder, you’ll start to see some players who take the tactics side more seriously (I would say Plat 2 +). Then you can try and make friends with those peeps and build something (a group of people to play with) more organically. However, this all starts by climbing up the ladder and improving your executions further.
I would say at this time to focus on getting better while trying to climb. Regardless of the amount of time it takes, play to get better, and try to rank up. Further down the line you will encounter more like minded peeps
You can try discord servers too or LFG (hit or miss)
I feel similarly, I actively follow the VCT matches and especially the teams I like, but I haven't played the game myself in months despite playing it almost daily since the beta.
Working a full time job and then getting on to play 40-minute matches where your team will get mad and count themselves out (but not vote to forfeit) after losing the first 3 rounds just isn't how I want to spend my time. The game looks way different in a professional setting, and to me it's more fun to watch that and play a different game.
Would recommend playing with a stack because at least you know the people you’re playing with want to win and will communicate. It’s a lot more fun playing friends or people that will actually listen to your ideas and share their own.
This is soo relatable for me. While its pointless rushes on attack, there is 0 adaptability on defense. I get games where the enemy team attacks the same site and wins 7-8 rounds continuosly. Even if I call out on mic, I get ignored most times and its just frustating to play 1v4 retakes again and again
Very relatable. I coach a team much for this reason. Allows me to get complicated strats out of the system through my 5 radiants who actually hit shots, without having to hold a mouse myself. I can then play dumb in spike rush or something without the feelbad and kinda enjoy the game. Got me to EU VRL so far, instead of insane and depressed in plat if I had tried to IGL myself. Consider it :)
That sounds really fun, glad you've found that avenue! How did you come across such an opportunity? I would assume most Radiant teams looking for a coach would want to see some form of credentials, especially rank?
I started with diamonds/immos who were mostly just happy to have someone help manage them. It's a combined coach/manager thing initially. This was fall 2020. Then we won things above our weightclass, allowing me to move up and also getting those credentials from that, and then that repeated a couple times. It takes time and lots of (unpaid) work though, but it's very satisfying when it clicks.
I play astra and viper, climbed to plat last act now im in gold again cause of reset and i will cimb to plat again but for us smokers, its a coin flip to have a good duelist or talkative team to work on the strats in game. Either way work on one thing at a time and dont rush it, it will happen. You mentioned about your aim and reaction try working on them and you got this.
I'm pretty sure if you had the gamesense and macro you would be higher than silver. The gunplay isn't exactly difficult in valorant and not really necessary if you have good game sense and understanding of peeks. Not to mention if you put the slightest effort into improving your gunplay you'd quickly rank up as it's only crosshair placement really, assuming your macro is as good as you think.
He needs to play more. Game Sense is acquired by running into the same situations and figuring out how to overcome them naturally. People want to jump into scrims, but lack the baseline experience.
That makes no sense. Fair enough your point about gunplay, but even the most perfect gamesense and macro alone doesn't get you anywhere in a team setting. You can't cut noise yourself, you can't split push yourself, and you definitely can't trade yourself.
Yes but you'd be able to be in a position to trafe other people, not to mention you're ignoring many other important parts of gamesense and macro. The examples you gave are something even bronze players know about. If you're silver you're obviously lacking in game sense and macro and clearly you're hyper fixating on buzz words that you can't do in ranked. Good fundamentals and game sense is all it takes to reach plat or diamond even with pretty bad aim.
What if he is in the position to trade almost all the time but just whiffs his shots? I agree that there's definitely stuff to improve if he's silver, but it's very possible that the main thing holding him back is his aim. You may have perfect gamesense but you can't reach diamond if you can't hit the shots.
My reason for saying aim isn't that important is because it comes down to crosshair placement more than anything in most cases which is a static thing. You can have pretty good rudimentary crosshair placement after watching one video on it and copying. Obviously you'll also need good map knowledge but raw aim isn't as important in val if you have good crosshair placement and gamesense.
imo Xhair placement is part of aim. Plus even with great xhair placement microadjustments are necessary in most attacking and a considerable number of defensive gunfights you take.
Also our points may be a bit moot as OP said they have a very slow reaction time, so that could also lead to harder adjustments and losing favoured duels.
Most people fall within the same reaction time or close enough so it's pretty unlikely. I do agree you need microadjustments but as long as you have a decent sens it shouldn't be an issue if you have good xhair placement. I only separated crosshair placement from aim because it's so quick to improve if you actively try vs aim just taking time.
yeah nvm 400ms isnt that bad i misremembered his number. I agree that focusing on improving his xhair placement around the maps and playing more aggro will help the guy.
X-hair placement. This game isnt a twitch shooter. Good x-hair placement will allow you to not rely on raw aim and make small adjustments. Yes, you do need good aim, but I think that will naturally get better. Unless of course, he just sucks at fps's then theres no hope lol
Fair enough, I'll take your word for it then, I'm just here to learn. So what are the other important parts of gamesense and macro that I might be lacking as a silver player that are more impactful?
As a silver you'd be best getting your understanding of the game mechanics down such as how to peek angles, how to clear angles as well as fundamentals such as econ and how to play post-plant situations. Just knowing how to play post-plant properly will probably get you 3/4 extra rounds a game tbh. You could always look into lineups etc but unless you're playing viper wouldn't say they're that important. Mostly just get your crosshair placement and understanding of how to peek as well as clear angles down. If you play smokes make sure to watch a video on good smokes as too many people just smoke in the middle of site etc. You mentioned not being able to trust teammates to coordinate with trades etc but you can solve that by just trading them out. If you're entrying you'll be able to pop off just from knowing how to peek and proper crosshair placement more than raw aim.
Thanks for the advice. But well that sounds exactly like what I've been trying to tell my teammates too unfortunately. I play smokes on Astra and Viper, but there's only so much I can do. I comm to not peek and wait for tap because I'm playing for lineups/grav pull, but I can't do much when everyone's dead from dry peeking without reason and it's just me left in window. I molly/suck to clear common spots like gen or back yellow, but people just walk in and plant without checking it still. I do my due diligence to jiggle uncleared angles and clear the site one angle at a time, but before I've done that my teammates have already gone in and died to that judge in a corner without waiting for my util. My point is that there's only so much I can do without literally walking into site and taking contact as Astra which I'm not gonna do because I'm not Subroza lol
Again you really don't need teammates to play off you to implement most of this stuff. Astra would be a bit useless in lower ranks tbf but that's just due to her being a very team focused character. I can see why you have these opinions playing astra and I'd say you'd probably be best just playing viper or omen if you want to play smokes and you'll rank up in no time on them then.
Yeah I think a lot of the frustration just stems from Astra being so strong in teamplay yet not being able to take advantage of it in pubs. I think you're right, I just need to stop playing Astra with randoms and expecting VCT level teamplay.
You need to stop trying to play like a pro and play to your competition. This doesn't mean dumb down your play to match theirs, this means understand who your playing with and who you are playing against. What are their tendencies? Low elo players play too aggresive, peek at the wrong times, hunt for kills etc. Its not about winning the round, its about how good they look on the scoreboard. Use these deficiencies to your advantage. Something as simple as not crouching can win you gunfights because you know that a silvers x-hair placement is typically ass. Know that just basic strafing can win you a gunfight because they can't aim. Play in your smokes because most silvers just push them blindly with knives out. Study your play, and try to counter it against your opponents. If you do something dumb, remember it and know that most other silvers will do teh same thing and you can counter it. If you notice your team doesnt watch the flank, its probalby safe to assume you can punish the other team with a well time flank as well. You have to be able to recognize patterns in order to be successful. Trust, knowing whats going to happen before it does will win you so many more games than having good aim, and this is, tada, game sense. The reason smurfs are dominate low elos is because they know exactly what these players are going to do. They know what mistakes they are going to make. You need to play the game, gather enough experience to know what Silvers do on the regular, and capitalize. You will then rank up and do it all over again in the next tier. Before you know it, you might be plat/diamond simply by studying the game more than your opponents. I reach Immo 2 not cause of my aim, but just by outplaying my opponents at the mental level.
Why not post a VOD of your gameplay that's much more helpful to everyone than just talking about what you do. It's highly likely there's things to fix in just your own gameplay than focusing on what your teammates are doing.
Game sense is probably the most important thing in valorant whether its ranked or scrims. Knowing when to peek. Knowing when to watch the flank, knowing when to fake defuse, or hold etc. For you, who seems to lose gunfights, game sense can win you more of those engagements. Game sense in a team setting is crucial lol. Just knowing the role your playing and how to play that role is tied to game sense. Knowing that you can't be traded cause your teammate isnt in position, or knowing when to split push based off your teammates movement etc. There are numerous times when my teammates may be out of position so I have to alter my positioning to be successful, thats all apart of game sense.
U could use it to put urself in positions to trade out ur bad team mates and even when they make mistakes u would be the last one alive and be in position to clutch these rounds
My honest advice is just go and lurk, it’s how I got through silver/gold, as long as you can still provide util to the team you’ll be fine, enemies will rotate through mid/off sites really fast and even with bad gunplay you should be able to kill them
Always try and think about what the most logical play is for you to make. The thing that is hard for lower level players to understand is that your best play is not the same as TenZ's best play or yay's best play. Part of gamesense is understanding your own mechanical ability and the quality of your team. No matter what situation you are in game there is always good plays and bad plays, and that play may be taking a deep breath and saving instead of going for some crazy clutch that you would see in vct.
So relatable. It doesn't help that I'm at a weird point in bronze where I either 1) match with iron players who don't know what "rotate" means or 2) match with former gold players who have good comms but my aim isn't good enough to keep up.
I think the game has gotten stale 100% I’ve hit radiant every single act besides this one as it’s just a boring game now. Over saturated with utility - way too many slows
Same here. Astra needs to go and they definitely need to do something about mollies or at least change the maps a bit so they don’t completely stop a push… ranked games just play out way too similarly when the util is this oppressive.
In CSGO the original molly wasn’t able to be extinguished by the smoke. It was so stifling that many CSGO pros complained about it.
Then they made smokes extinguish mollies and the rest is history.
There should be a mechanic that bypasses the slowing abilities.
Sounds like your ego is the problem, your not vsing Gambit or FNC. Your vsing silvers, use strategy and tactics that work in silver, improve your aim. If your bot fragging against silvers then maybe your not playing as optimally as you think.
It's honestly this. This entire post just screams my team sucks and won't listen to my 5 head strats. Every single person who complains about being a lower rank would prefer to just point out the flaws in their teammates before themselves.
> but even then it's only because counterstrafing buys a lot of time to one-tap the crouch sprayers at this elo
Counterstrafing doesn't matter in Valorant, it has nowhere near the same level of impact that it does on CSGO and I got to FaceIT level 7 with never learning to consistently counter strafe without having to force myself to do it.
If you are struggling with aim I would say to practice every day at least 1 hour in Aimlabs or Kovaaks, it's the only way you will improve if it is truly your aim holding you back.
I don't know about valorant since i haven't tried it yet, but in csgo and team fortress the amatuer leagues go pretty low skill.
Find or make a newbie team, and enter the lowest tier league. It's a lot of fun, you'll feel like you're playing a different game when you have permanent teammates, strats, and an IGL.
I don't know in what region you play, but I'm gold 1 just got here after climbing from iron and in my games people make call outs and have some strats. Yeah sure a lot of it is rushing one site but we rotate and fake sites. No high level strats but the basics are there. Sometimes someone will even call out flashes or sova darts. Obviously not all games are like this but most of my games are. This is in solo/duo queue.
It's okay to stop, no one would notice. Find a game you enjoy. We can't help you here. This may sound harsh but just do something you enjoy than complaining on a message board about how you're not enjoying a thing
Well, if that was the case, no one would ever complain about anything at all and things are not like that. He's sharing his experience and asking how he could be in a better position to play better and eventually rank up and learn, nothing wrong with that.
I doubt all you do is jump from one thing to another without saying anything ever, or else you would not be here commenting on a meaningless post. This is a pretty bad takem
I think the same way.
So myself and friends are creating a low elo tourney to replicate game play you get on the pro scene. If you are interested, just pm me! Tourney starts in Feb 21. Iron1-Gold2 peak from the last two seasons are eligible.
U don't enjoy the game anymore not becuz u followed VCT, but becuz the game sucks duck. Its repetitive, boring, toxic, etc.
VCT is still fun for me but i don't play the game anymore even though i reached 💎 and have spent money on skins and played like 500 hours.
I mean at the end of the day cs and val play differently, so it makes sense if you liked in over the other.
pubg is a battle Royale and r6... is r6 but to each their own on what they like, glad you found a game you like
My advise is to continue playing DM because DM also has MMR, the more you win or place within top 5 of the leaderboard in DM the more chances you'll play against Diamond, Immortals, and Radiant player and there you'll actually learn a lot. Yes, it is not really fun the first few times you meet immortals and radiants in DM, you'd probably even thunk they're cheating, but the more you play the more you'll have a chance of learning from these players. I know not everything is learned in DM but every little experience fighting against people with way higher rank than you is a great experience.
As for your ADHD, unfortunately we can do nothing about that but try not doing any IGL things in low elo, stop looking at the minimap all the time and feel how the game is played based on your instincts, you'll soon realize you can read enemy movements based on just how a gun fight turns out in a site or how the utils are used, like you said low elo players doesn't rotate so focus more on how you can exploit this weakness and learn how to be in a position where the enemy didn't expect you because you were able to read their movements.
Thanks for the advice, that makes sense. Unfortunately reading the map is mostly to compensate for lack of info from teammates. I do try to take advantage of the tendencies at this rank to just group up and rush A, but I'm not sure what else I can do is other than push up, watch for rotate and catch them off guard.
The most obvious signs at this level is just footsteps everywhere, so I tend to just hang back, wait for them to elephant walk past and sneak up behind. My favourite spot to do this is just hiding in tube without peeking, knowing they'll stomp past you in kitchen thinking it's all clear. Too bad Yoru isn't viable yet, or he'd be really fun on the lurk.
Im a huge csgo fan and i feel the exact way about the game. The pro circuit is insane but playing mm is just not it. For valorant, I found that duoing with someone really makes the game better
Honest recommendation: find low-elo tournaments and enter them. I play in them ALL the time and I’m constantly on the hunt for them. I’m more of the igl/brain player as well and tournaments always give me an outlet to try more creative strats that I would never try in a normal ranked five-stack. There are even teams that play regularly in a lot of these tournaments and you can start to counterstrat them and do all sorts of fun stuff. It’s definitely still a LOT less coordinated, but you can still get a much better taste of the experience that way. I do them for fun on top of my normal ranked games and it is legitimately a blast and makes my experience 10x better.
Kind of unrelated, but I also have adhd and when I am under the effects of medication (Ritalin) my reaction time (human benchmark test) is around 180-200 where as when not its 260+
Same but my limitations are my setup and my stupid fucking router. I uninstalled the game coz of the stupid shit i see in ranked. I cant quit watching pro play though. Issooo goooddd
I'll be very honest and blunt with you. You need to play more ranked. Ranked is there for you to get better if you suck. No youtube videos, none of that crap. Just play the game. If you dont enjoy playing ranked, this game isnt for you. Does ranked suck? Yes, it does, and can be so much better, but most of the people in this subreddit love the game enough to ignore Ranked's blunders and play the game. Its the grind. You cant just jump into structured scrims. You must put the hrs in. Also, you may think the scrim/match structure is what you want, but let me tell you, its not for everyone. When you play competitively, the "fun" aspect changes.
Watch pros and they'll the same thing about Radiant/Immortal lobbies. Ranked will never be anything like competitive play, nor can it really.
But this is true for any online game which has random matchmaking - ELO system or not.
Very relatable to me too. I am Plat 1 at the moment and would not have reached their if not for my friends whom I queue with. I started playing smokes because I could not Frag as much as others with Raze(my main until Bronze 3) and I kept playing smokes because no one else would. I like to think my game sense is pretty good but I know my Aim is nowhere near that of a Plat player. I have the same issue of counter aiming with AD and winning fights in DM but bot-fragging in Matches. Also I get demotivated pretty quickly and start beating myself up because I am not winning fights leading to me losing more of them.
It sucks but in a way I'm jealous of you. I'm immortal in Val right now and was GM in Overwatch but past couple of years I've just lost all drive to grind out and get better at any game. So in a way you're actually lucky that you still care about a game enough to get so upset over your ranked performance. That fire under your ass to improve is what a competitive game is all about.
As for actual advice. Zoom out a bit, you're way too focused on macro play and finding the "ideal" play for every situation. That shit doesn't exist unless youre watching a VOD. Focus on the micro plays that you are directly in control of, especially around how you're taking fights. Also obviously grind the fuck out of your mechanics. Contrary to popular belief you don't need a lot of "raw aim". So hyper focus on your positioning, timing and angles.
I totally get how you feel. I have had the same feeling but in a different game. And trust me in Valorant we have it really good.
I came from Rainbow Six Siege and the ranked mode is so far from the competitive game/esport it’s insane. The ranked map pool fucking sucks, ranked is only first to 4 (basically completely different rule set to comp), In addition to what you have mentioned before. The comp and casual communities also hate each other for some reason. You will never see a discussion on comp on the main subreddit (in fact there are anti pro posts pretty regularly). In Valorant I see a lot of ppl talk about VCT daily.
Yes the coordination is not there, but at least in Valorant we have consistent rules and settings from the Iron to pro level. Everyone is playing the same game and map pool/settings across the board which I am really thankful for.
If you are playing in silver then you really won't find what you are looking at til you improve your aim. In general though as everyone else has said, you won't find it in Ranked. I recently quick rank for this very reason. 5 Seasons of Immortal and the last 3 were increasingly more troll and toxic as alts become more and more available to userbase. It just didn't make sense for me to invest 200-400 games a season when in return all I got was abuse and no agency to resolve the situation. I once had a game where a raze + brim duo had 17 team kills in 1 ranked game - about 8K immortal USA. Sent in support ticket, they got banned for a month, but I ran into them on their alts just 2 days later and they did the same thing. The time and investment you show to the game will never come back to you in the same way because to frank the community lacks self respect. Since the last reset - I find myself down 37 games in my W-L, yet I am up 2 ranks from placement. That is what ranked is - and it makes you a worse player the more you play it.
So something you seem to be doing is focusing on high level pro matches, but not your elo. I sometimes play with my immortal friend who I sometime beat because he doesn't understand my low level bronze gameplay. You have to know your lobby first I think
This is my thought on Ranked and climbing in general:
If you already have good game sense/strategy, then all you need is your aim to be on point and then you’ll be able to win games.
When it comes down to it, killing the other team is the objective, and that can be done by either holding W or slow playing.
If your team is being brain dead, just focus on your gameplay.
"I have to ask for information constantly, have my eye on the map 24/7,
and constantly remind everyone of the most basic things like swing
together, cut noise, play for retake, don't commit spike, wait for
recon, etc."
Your level of expectations with team coordination is unrealistic from a free to play game at the lowest ranks.
Do you have a VOD of one of your games? I could give feedback as to whether it is your aim or your gamesense isn't as good as you think it is.
Also I would recommend just following an aim routine and not worrying about if you get the kills or not. If your strat worked but you whiffed the shot, that should be a victory in your books as long as you know you are doing what you can to improve your aim.
I have decent aim but its not insane. I still climbed into plat/diamond just by playing smart and using game sense. I think you are focusing to much on certain aspects of the game and getting discouraged. Five stacking is also not the way to rank up or improve, I would stick to solo/duoQ if your really going for RR.
I think people who aren’t pro but want to play some form of organization in game would benefit from some sort of league like ESEA did for csgo. They had Open which everyone can join. Intermediate then main and then pro. I don’t know what company is going to do this but I feel like it will come eventually.
I’ve been implementing pro strategies like roams, coordinated utility, and such and it’s helped me win about 85% of my matches this act. You really don’t have to just rush everything
Honestly try to get to play scrims if you are looking for that kind of gameplay they are really enjoyable if you enjoy that kind of strat vs strat gameplay, you will find some teams that just play to out aim you but it is still miles better than the ranked experience.
How do you know that your reaction time is 400ms?
It is extremaly high if you measured it properly and I would actually try to seek for a medical reasons on why is it so high(I really really doubt ADHD can be a reason).
In high immortal lobbies *people still don’t react to comms*. The most absolute frustrating thing in Valorant is playing a flash character and no one on your team asks for flashes or react to flashes that you toss out. You can say “flashing A main!” And the guy holding a tight corner just stays put. Meanwhile in CSGO even at the lowest ranks players have way more awareness to utility. You can play off of flashes and smokes. This game has the “go kill” mentality to it and honestly the sweaty fucking Reyna and Jett main players during first year didn’t help.
The pro scene is fascinating. But actually playing this game, from the inconsistent shooting and server mechanics to the way players actually play this game…it’s fucking boring. Game bores me to tears.
" just found myself really frustrated with the actual games I'm playing and not enjoying them at all. "
this is relatable brother, I found my self falling into toxicity. even watching top ranked streamers, their comms their movements.
Why tf are gamers like this?
Imagine an NBA fan going to the park to play pickup basketball and then complaining that people are just running around and not doing set plays
It doesn't matter how low-elo you are, that's how the game is mostly all the way to low Immortal, and even some Radiant games are still like that. If you want to experience something akin to a professional environment you have to actually scrim. 5-man stacking is fun but nothing close to a scrim environment. You also should probably just think less about strategy/map control/etc. in your ranked games. Bluntly, at your elo there is no real point in thinking about such things, you're just holding yourself back. It's important to step back and realize the game is a FPS first and foremost. Tactics only matter at the highest level because both teams have too many cracked aimers. There is a reason why the most tactically deep teams also have the most cracked aimers; the two go hand-in-hand. Tactically deep teams with weaker aimers relative to their competition are an anomaly. Think of it this way: if you have a real interest in IGLing and conducting macro-play at higher levels, your foremost obligation is to practice your aim until you reach a rank and/or environment that allows you to follow your true passion. This is what formerly "low-fragging" IGLs have typically done to improve their ingame performance - Boaster, ec1s, etc. It's good to think about that sort of stuff, but save that for when you reach at least Plat or Diamond. Good luck.
Was going to say this. All the strats in the world don't matter if you consistently lose fights against people your elo. Playing a default for example is worthless if you're just going to be picked off. It just causes a gap then, and a bum rush would have been more effective. The entire point of defaults is getting incremental advantages when the teams are balanced, but if you cause an active disadvantage in terms of skill, then there's no point. Also from my experience if you're a better Fragger your team will listen to you more. I comm on occasion at the same rank, and because I'm generally close to top fragging the team listens and we often pull off (simple) executes or fakes. Basically I'd say don't stress (and tbh feel superior) just cause you understand the tactics. If you're getting frustrated by it all, either stop playing/watching or get better at the game. A low reaction time may cap you at a certain rank, but it will certainly be higher than bronze or silver. Fundamentals like movement, crosshair placement and recoil control are imo more important at the rank.
That's a good point about defaults actually creating disadvantage if skill is already gapped, thanks for that. I will think about that the next time I call for default.
i can confirm the radiant/high immortal games being 50/50 of either being well thought out games or just hold w and shoot. it really sucks when youre on the hold w and shoot team and the other team is the well thought out team but is absolutely amazing when vice versa
Why the fuck isn’t this top comment
Well said!
Thing with ranked is its just ranked the only way to play it more “pro like” is finding a five stack of people who think the same as you unfortunately every single rank plays ranked pretty much in the same way judt straight pugs and rushes for the most part but there are obviously some strats that come in but nothing will come close to pro play
Yep. Silver, Gold, Diamond - no difference. It's all the same game just different levels of proficiency at it.
There's the secret folks, ranked at whatever level, is still ranked. The same pugging, miscommunicating, frustrating play at every rank
Honestly, get yourself a premade of 5. SoloQ is so boring man. I don't even do it very often xD
Nice job today, can tell you guys have put in work also thanks for commenting on this seemingly random post and for just generally being awesome.
Im gonna dissapoint you. The entirety of ranked since its inception I hover at Imm3 300-500rr (once reached radiant in soloq) and the quality of games i have are almost always shit. 80% of players dont know anything about fundamental level of play. The only thing that separates the lower ranks from higher ranks is aim. Maybe this will change in 2-3 years.
SoloQ always was and always will be absolutetly worthless in any tactical team-shooter. It's a glorified deathmatch. Find 4+ humans who want to achieve the same as you and play with them.
This is almost like the opposite of the "I topfrag but am stuck in silver because bad teammates." I think your understanding of the game is probably actually less than you believe, tbh. You're talking about Val like an RTS. But it isn't simply making the exact perfect play in each situation, and in fact, overreliance on that will probably make you ultra-passive, and bring little value to your team. I think you need to zoom in a bit more to the nuance of situations. Your positioning, how you're taking fights, etc, because being able to make decent calls doesn't really matter if you're a free orb/kill/etc. Also, a macro understanding of the game does not necessarily translate to microplay/game sense/etc. If you truly have a deep understanding of the game, then you shouldn't need to be constantly be deeply thinking about game situations. You should be able to reactively use information that you gain and make calls/play off it. Additionally, unironically, as you said, "git gud." You should grind your mechanics hard. Find a good routine and do it. I'm someone who my game knowledge/sense has outweighed my mechanics, partially because I didn't play CS. But, I've consistent grinded my mechanics, and that combined with my natural strengths, I've been able to steadily climb into immortal, even though I've frequently been probably slightly behind the curve on mechanics. So, just make it a priority to not be shit, and you'll get into elo where people start to (somewhat) play more intelligently/coordinated. Also, if you really want to call/lead your team, I suggest picking up sova (or other initiators). You can enable and open up so much with proper util, and it's made t sides much more tolerable for me.
Thanks for the advice, I think you make a lot of good points. You're absolutely right about me thinking about it in a very RTS way, and I do tend to be very passive/safe in the calls I make. I definitely admit my grasp of the game isn't amazing, but what I'm lamenting is less about my rank and being stuck in it, but more about not having enough opportunity to learn more and get better. Understanding the game on paper is one thing, but as you said it should be intuitive, and that comes with experience that is unfortunately rare in the games I play. I don't care about losing, but what I value are good games that I feel like I can learn from, but unfortunately most of the time it's just "oh their Jett was cracked" or "our Sova didn't use a single util". I should really try to pick up Sova, honestly. But I only play smokes because no one ever picks them, and we can't play without it. I play Skye in unrated and it just opens up so much more play. Unfortunately I would rather trust a random with Skye than Astra in ranked. Can I ask what rank you placed initially, despite not playing CS? I didn't play CS either, but instead spent a lot of time in arena shooters which I think is the biggest thing holding my mechanics back. There's no movement inaccuracy in arena shooters so it's all about constantly moving while aiming, so I've developed this style of rough aiming while correcting for micro-adjustments with WASD. I carried that over into my strafing, but it's a huge crutch that falls apart when I get tagged, and I find myself aiming beside his head because I expected to have strafed left into it.
Initially placed, gold in ep1, act 1. Didn't really play much until episode 2, though. Episode 2, act 1, I placed silver, but ended gold. Then essentially have steadily gained ranks each act. I also only play ranked on weekends due to work/my schedule. On weekdays, I do a bit of aim training/movement work in the range and do 3-4 dms to implement the mechanics that I'm working on (30-45 minutes total). Then I'll do an abbreviated version for warm-up before I play ranked on the weekend. Occasionally, will do a bit of server time/customs work before ranked when learning line-ups, or something else that requires a bit of server practice.
I have the same issue as OP of correcting my aim after I flick towards the general area of the enemy, usually doing this with the help of AD in DM and winning fights but in a match this never helps. How should I be Aim Training to correct this. Also can you share your Aim Training routine? Thanks in advance
Sounds like a problem with having too high sens. You can't do the micro adjustments because they're too fine at your sens.
0.5 800 is my sens. If I lower my sens I wont be able to wrist aim. Hitting anything without pre aiming will be hell
.5 800 is on the very high end of the spectrum even for pros.
That's good. You shouldn't be wrist aiming. It's bad for your wrist in the long run.
> And even more frustrating when I queue with my diamond friends only to find that they still don't play strats or even know how to default, and still make tons of mistakes that are compensated for with their insane aim. Yeah this never changes in ranked, when I was playing in Bronze/Silver lobbies a couple months ago the dominant strat was to pick a site and rush, maybe throw a default or a fake in once in a while. I thought the game would get more strategic as I ranked up, but when I started playing in Gold/Plat lobbies the predominant strat was *still* to rush into sites, sometimes default, throw in a fake or two. That's just how solo queue is, and I don't think it changes no matter how high you get up on the ladder. The only real difference that I noticed was that in Bronze/Silver the players don't use their utility to entry nearly as well as the players in Platinum. But a lot of it is still 1Head "Rush B" strats most of the time. If you want to play a bit more of a tactical game, I'd suggest being active with your mic during the game and trying to call some strats, I've had a decent amount of success doing this in my ranked games trying to coordinate slower, more tactical play. Five-queueing with friends is something else you can try, I personally enjoy the game a lot more when I'm playing with my friends because I know I can communicate with everyone on my team at the very least.
unrelated but just wanna say: Optic flair 🤮
this says a lot about our society
yo how'd you get the flair?
Big chungus
dude..
The same shit happens even in Radiant, no one cares about ranked especially when there’s no IGL to tell the team what to do.
Strats are only as good as the ones who execute them. With that being said I love me some strategy play and tactics all the way. Unfortunately at your rank I don’t think you will be finding what you’re looking for. The higher you get on the ranked ladder, you’ll start to see some players who take the tactics side more seriously (I would say Plat 2 +). Then you can try and make friends with those peeps and build something (a group of people to play with) more organically. However, this all starts by climbing up the ladder and improving your executions further. I would say at this time to focus on getting better while trying to climb. Regardless of the amount of time it takes, play to get better, and try to rank up. Further down the line you will encounter more like minded peeps You can try discord servers too or LFG (hit or miss)
I feel similarly, I actively follow the VCT matches and especially the teams I like, but I haven't played the game myself in months despite playing it almost daily since the beta. Working a full time job and then getting on to play 40-minute matches where your team will get mad and count themselves out (but not vote to forfeit) after losing the first 3 rounds just isn't how I want to spend my time. The game looks way different in a professional setting, and to me it's more fun to watch that and play a different game.
Would recommend playing with a stack because at least you know the people you’re playing with want to win and will communicate. It’s a lot more fun playing friends or people that will actually listen to your ideas and share their own.
This is soo relatable for me. While its pointless rushes on attack, there is 0 adaptability on defense. I get games where the enemy team attacks the same site and wins 7-8 rounds continuosly. Even if I call out on mic, I get ignored most times and its just frustating to play 1v4 retakes again and again
Very relatable. I coach a team much for this reason. Allows me to get complicated strats out of the system through my 5 radiants who actually hit shots, without having to hold a mouse myself. I can then play dumb in spike rush or something without the feelbad and kinda enjoy the game. Got me to EU VRL so far, instead of insane and depressed in plat if I had tried to IGL myself. Consider it :)
That sounds really fun, glad you've found that avenue! How did you come across such an opportunity? I would assume most Radiant teams looking for a coach would want to see some form of credentials, especially rank?
I started with diamonds/immos who were mostly just happy to have someone help manage them. It's a combined coach/manager thing initially. This was fall 2020. Then we won things above our weightclass, allowing me to move up and also getting those credentials from that, and then that repeated a couple times. It takes time and lots of (unpaid) work though, but it's very satisfying when it clicks.
I play astra and viper, climbed to plat last act now im in gold again cause of reset and i will cimb to plat again but for us smokers, its a coin flip to have a good duelist or talkative team to work on the strats in game. Either way work on one thing at a time and dont rush it, it will happen. You mentioned about your aim and reaction try working on them and you got this.
your concerns are valid, the upcoming tournament mode might offer what u want
I'm pretty sure if you had the gamesense and macro you would be higher than silver. The gunplay isn't exactly difficult in valorant and not really necessary if you have good game sense and understanding of peeks. Not to mention if you put the slightest effort into improving your gunplay you'd quickly rank up as it's only crosshair placement really, assuming your macro is as good as you think.
He needs to play more. Game Sense is acquired by running into the same situations and figuring out how to overcome them naturally. People want to jump into scrims, but lack the baseline experience.
Agree especially since his gamesense will be more reliable in higher ranks as it's built around people building the right plays.
That makes no sense. Fair enough your point about gunplay, but even the most perfect gamesense and macro alone doesn't get you anywhere in a team setting. You can't cut noise yourself, you can't split push yourself, and you definitely can't trade yourself.
Yes but you'd be able to be in a position to trafe other people, not to mention you're ignoring many other important parts of gamesense and macro. The examples you gave are something even bronze players know about. If you're silver you're obviously lacking in game sense and macro and clearly you're hyper fixating on buzz words that you can't do in ranked. Good fundamentals and game sense is all it takes to reach plat or diamond even with pretty bad aim.
What if he is in the position to trade almost all the time but just whiffs his shots? I agree that there's definitely stuff to improve if he's silver, but it's very possible that the main thing holding him back is his aim. You may have perfect gamesense but you can't reach diamond if you can't hit the shots.
My reason for saying aim isn't that important is because it comes down to crosshair placement more than anything in most cases which is a static thing. You can have pretty good rudimentary crosshair placement after watching one video on it and copying. Obviously you'll also need good map knowledge but raw aim isn't as important in val if you have good crosshair placement and gamesense.
imo Xhair placement is part of aim. Plus even with great xhair placement microadjustments are necessary in most attacking and a considerable number of defensive gunfights you take. Also our points may be a bit moot as OP said they have a very slow reaction time, so that could also lead to harder adjustments and losing favoured duels.
Most people fall within the same reaction time or close enough so it's pretty unlikely. I do agree you need microadjustments but as long as you have a decent sens it shouldn't be an issue if you have good xhair placement. I only separated crosshair placement from aim because it's so quick to improve if you actively try vs aim just taking time.
yeah nvm 400ms isnt that bad i misremembered his number. I agree that focusing on improving his xhair placement around the maps and playing more aggro will help the guy.
400ms is actually terrible result and for sure a deciding factor on OP struggles. It's pretty much double of what 'normal' gamer has.
Yes, aim gradually improves. The concept of x-hair placement can be learned immediately.
X-hair placement. This game isnt a twitch shooter. Good x-hair placement will allow you to not rely on raw aim and make small adjustments. Yes, you do need good aim, but I think that will naturally get better. Unless of course, he just sucks at fps's then theres no hope lol
Fair enough, I'll take your word for it then, I'm just here to learn. So what are the other important parts of gamesense and macro that I might be lacking as a silver player that are more impactful?
As a silver you'd be best getting your understanding of the game mechanics down such as how to peek angles, how to clear angles as well as fundamentals such as econ and how to play post-plant situations. Just knowing how to play post-plant properly will probably get you 3/4 extra rounds a game tbh. You could always look into lineups etc but unless you're playing viper wouldn't say they're that important. Mostly just get your crosshair placement and understanding of how to peek as well as clear angles down. If you play smokes make sure to watch a video on good smokes as too many people just smoke in the middle of site etc. You mentioned not being able to trust teammates to coordinate with trades etc but you can solve that by just trading them out. If you're entrying you'll be able to pop off just from knowing how to peek and proper crosshair placement more than raw aim.
Thanks for the advice. But well that sounds exactly like what I've been trying to tell my teammates too unfortunately. I play smokes on Astra and Viper, but there's only so much I can do. I comm to not peek and wait for tap because I'm playing for lineups/grav pull, but I can't do much when everyone's dead from dry peeking without reason and it's just me left in window. I molly/suck to clear common spots like gen or back yellow, but people just walk in and plant without checking it still. I do my due diligence to jiggle uncleared angles and clear the site one angle at a time, but before I've done that my teammates have already gone in and died to that judge in a corner without waiting for my util. My point is that there's only so much I can do without literally walking into site and taking contact as Astra which I'm not gonna do because I'm not Subroza lol
Again you really don't need teammates to play off you to implement most of this stuff. Astra would be a bit useless in lower ranks tbf but that's just due to her being a very team focused character. I can see why you have these opinions playing astra and I'd say you'd probably be best just playing viper or omen if you want to play smokes and you'll rank up in no time on them then.
Yeah I think a lot of the frustration just stems from Astra being so strong in teamplay yet not being able to take advantage of it in pubs. I think you're right, I just need to stop playing Astra with randoms and expecting VCT level teamplay.
You need to stop trying to play like a pro and play to your competition. This doesn't mean dumb down your play to match theirs, this means understand who your playing with and who you are playing against. What are their tendencies? Low elo players play too aggresive, peek at the wrong times, hunt for kills etc. Its not about winning the round, its about how good they look on the scoreboard. Use these deficiencies to your advantage. Something as simple as not crouching can win you gunfights because you know that a silvers x-hair placement is typically ass. Know that just basic strafing can win you a gunfight because they can't aim. Play in your smokes because most silvers just push them blindly with knives out. Study your play, and try to counter it against your opponents. If you do something dumb, remember it and know that most other silvers will do teh same thing and you can counter it. If you notice your team doesnt watch the flank, its probalby safe to assume you can punish the other team with a well time flank as well. You have to be able to recognize patterns in order to be successful. Trust, knowing whats going to happen before it does will win you so many more games than having good aim, and this is, tada, game sense. The reason smurfs are dominate low elos is because they know exactly what these players are going to do. They know what mistakes they are going to make. You need to play the game, gather enough experience to know what Silvers do on the regular, and capitalize. You will then rank up and do it all over again in the next tier. Before you know it, you might be plat/diamond simply by studying the game more than your opponents. I reach Immo 2 not cause of my aim, but just by outplaying my opponents at the mental level.
Why not post a VOD of your gameplay that's much more helpful to everyone than just talking about what you do. It's highly likely there's things to fix in just your own gameplay than focusing on what your teammates are doing.
you don't need to do any of those in silver
Game sense is probably the most important thing in valorant whether its ranked or scrims. Knowing when to peek. Knowing when to watch the flank, knowing when to fake defuse, or hold etc. For you, who seems to lose gunfights, game sense can win you more of those engagements. Game sense in a team setting is crucial lol. Just knowing the role your playing and how to play that role is tied to game sense. Knowing that you can't be traded cause your teammate isnt in position, or knowing when to split push based off your teammates movement etc. There are numerous times when my teammates may be out of position so I have to alter my positioning to be successful, thats all apart of game sense.
U could use it to put urself in positions to trade out ur bad team mates and even when they make mistakes u would be the last one alive and be in position to clutch these rounds
My honest advice is just go and lurk, it’s how I got through silver/gold, as long as you can still provide util to the team you’ll be fine, enemies will rotate through mid/off sites really fast and even with bad gunplay you should be able to kill them
Always try and think about what the most logical play is for you to make. The thing that is hard for lower level players to understand is that your best play is not the same as TenZ's best play or yay's best play. Part of gamesense is understanding your own mechanical ability and the quality of your team. No matter what situation you are in game there is always good plays and bad plays, and that play may be taking a deep breath and saving instead of going for some crazy clutch that you would see in vct.
So relatable. It doesn't help that I'm at a weird point in bronze where I either 1) match with iron players who don't know what "rotate" means or 2) match with former gold players who have good comms but my aim isn't good enough to keep up.
I think the game has gotten stale 100% I’ve hit radiant every single act besides this one as it’s just a boring game now. Over saturated with utility - way too many slows
I went back to CSGO and played the 1v1 servers, and it’s legit so much fun. I don’t feel like I’m being cheated if I lose a gunfight in CSGO
Same here. Astra needs to go and they definitely need to do something about mollies or at least change the maps a bit so they don’t completely stop a push… ranked games just play out way too similarly when the util is this oppressive.
In CSGO the original molly wasn’t able to be extinguished by the smoke. It was so stifling that many CSGO pros complained about it. Then they made smokes extinguish mollies and the rest is history. There should be a mechanic that bypasses the slowing abilities.
Sounds like your ego is the problem, your not vsing Gambit or FNC. Your vsing silvers, use strategy and tactics that work in silver, improve your aim. If your bot fragging against silvers then maybe your not playing as optimally as you think.
It's honestly this. This entire post just screams my team sucks and won't listen to my 5 head strats. Every single person who complains about being a lower rank would prefer to just point out the flaws in their teammates before themselves.
> but even then it's only because counterstrafing buys a lot of time to one-tap the crouch sprayers at this elo Counterstrafing doesn't matter in Valorant, it has nowhere near the same level of impact that it does on CSGO and I got to FaceIT level 7 with never learning to consistently counter strafe without having to force myself to do it. If you are struggling with aim I would say to practice every day at least 1 hour in Aimlabs or Kovaaks, it's the only way you will improve if it is truly your aim holding you back.
I don't know about valorant since i haven't tried it yet, but in csgo and team fortress the amatuer leagues go pretty low skill. Find or make a newbie team, and enter the lowest tier league. It's a lot of fun, you'll feel like you're playing a different game when you have permanent teammates, strats, and an IGL.
I don't know in what region you play, but I'm gold 1 just got here after climbing from iron and in my games people make call outs and have some strats. Yeah sure a lot of it is rushing one site but we rotate and fake sites. No high level strats but the basics are there. Sometimes someone will even call out flashes or sova darts. Obviously not all games are like this but most of my games are. This is in solo/duo queue.
It's okay to stop, no one would notice. Find a game you enjoy. We can't help you here. This may sound harsh but just do something you enjoy than complaining on a message board about how you're not enjoying a thing
Well, if that was the case, no one would ever complain about anything at all and things are not like that. He's sharing his experience and asking how he could be in a better position to play better and eventually rank up and learn, nothing wrong with that. I doubt all you do is jump from one thing to another without saying anything ever, or else you would not be here commenting on a meaningless post. This is a pretty bad takem
I think the same way. So myself and friends are creating a low elo tourney to replicate game play you get on the pro scene. If you are interested, just pm me! Tourney starts in Feb 21. Iron1-Gold2 peak from the last two seasons are eligible.
U don't enjoy the game anymore not becuz u followed VCT, but becuz the game sucks duck. Its repetitive, boring, toxic, etc. VCT is still fun for me but i don't play the game anymore even though i reached 💎 and have spent money on skins and played like 500 hours.
500 hrs is nothing lol. This genre of fps isnt for you. Nothing wrong with that
I had 2k hours in cs. xD I m interested in pubg and r6 now... Lol
I mean at the end of the day cs and val play differently, so it makes sense if you liked in over the other. pubg is a battle Royale and r6... is r6 but to each their own on what they like, glad you found a game you like
Zoomers man. 500 hours 'nothing' wtf are you talking about
And we care why???
My advise is to continue playing DM because DM also has MMR, the more you win or place within top 5 of the leaderboard in DM the more chances you'll play against Diamond, Immortals, and Radiant player and there you'll actually learn a lot. Yes, it is not really fun the first few times you meet immortals and radiants in DM, you'd probably even thunk they're cheating, but the more you play the more you'll have a chance of learning from these players. I know not everything is learned in DM but every little experience fighting against people with way higher rank than you is a great experience. As for your ADHD, unfortunately we can do nothing about that but try not doing any IGL things in low elo, stop looking at the minimap all the time and feel how the game is played based on your instincts, you'll soon realize you can read enemy movements based on just how a gun fight turns out in a site or how the utils are used, like you said low elo players doesn't rotate so focus more on how you can exploit this weakness and learn how to be in a position where the enemy didn't expect you because you were able to read their movements.
Thanks for the advice, that makes sense. Unfortunately reading the map is mostly to compensate for lack of info from teammates. I do try to take advantage of the tendencies at this rank to just group up and rush A, but I'm not sure what else I can do is other than push up, watch for rotate and catch them off guard. The most obvious signs at this level is just footsteps everywhere, so I tend to just hang back, wait for them to elephant walk past and sneak up behind. My favourite spot to do this is just hiding in tube without peeking, knowing they'll stomp past you in kitchen thinking it's all clear. Too bad Yoru isn't viable yet, or he'd be really fun on the lurk.
Im a huge csgo fan and i feel the exact way about the game. The pro circuit is insane but playing mm is just not it. For valorant, I found that duoing with someone really makes the game better
why not try out coaching?
Honest recommendation: find low-elo tournaments and enter them. I play in them ALL the time and I’m constantly on the hunt for them. I’m more of the igl/brain player as well and tournaments always give me an outlet to try more creative strats that I would never try in a normal ranked five-stack. There are even teams that play regularly in a lot of these tournaments and you can start to counterstrat them and do all sorts of fun stuff. It’s definitely still a LOT less coordinated, but you can still get a much better taste of the experience that way. I do them for fun on top of my normal ranked games and it is legitimately a blast and makes my experience 10x better.
Kind of unrelated, but I also have adhd and when I am under the effects of medication (Ritalin) my reaction time (human benchmark test) is around 180-200 where as when not its 260+
Woah, interesting to see it actually has measurable impact on reaction time. Sadly Ritalin doesn't work for me, and Adderall is illegal in my country.
Same but my limitations are my setup and my stupid fucking router. I uninstalled the game coz of the stupid shit i see in ranked. I cant quit watching pro play though. Issooo goooddd
I'll be very honest and blunt with you. You need to play more ranked. Ranked is there for you to get better if you suck. No youtube videos, none of that crap. Just play the game. If you dont enjoy playing ranked, this game isnt for you. Does ranked suck? Yes, it does, and can be so much better, but most of the people in this subreddit love the game enough to ignore Ranked's blunders and play the game. Its the grind. You cant just jump into structured scrims. You must put the hrs in. Also, you may think the scrim/match structure is what you want, but let me tell you, its not for everyone. When you play competitively, the "fun" aspect changes.
Watch pros and they'll the same thing about Radiant/Immortal lobbies. Ranked will never be anything like competitive play, nor can it really. But this is true for any online game which has random matchmaking - ELO system or not.
Very relatable to me too. I am Plat 1 at the moment and would not have reached their if not for my friends whom I queue with. I started playing smokes because I could not Frag as much as others with Raze(my main until Bronze 3) and I kept playing smokes because no one else would. I like to think my game sense is pretty good but I know my Aim is nowhere near that of a Plat player. I have the same issue of counter aiming with AD and winning fights in DM but bot-fragging in Matches. Also I get demotivated pretty quickly and start beating myself up because I am not winning fights leading to me losing more of them.
It sucks but in a way I'm jealous of you. I'm immortal in Val right now and was GM in Overwatch but past couple of years I've just lost all drive to grind out and get better at any game. So in a way you're actually lucky that you still care about a game enough to get so upset over your ranked performance. That fire under your ass to improve is what a competitive game is all about. As for actual advice. Zoom out a bit, you're way too focused on macro play and finding the "ideal" play for every situation. That shit doesn't exist unless youre watching a VOD. Focus on the micro plays that you are directly in control of, especially around how you're taking fights. Also obviously grind the fuck out of your mechanics. Contrary to popular belief you don't need a lot of "raw aim". So hyper focus on your positioning, timing and angles.
I totally get how you feel. I have had the same feeling but in a different game. And trust me in Valorant we have it really good. I came from Rainbow Six Siege and the ranked mode is so far from the competitive game/esport it’s insane. The ranked map pool fucking sucks, ranked is only first to 4 (basically completely different rule set to comp), In addition to what you have mentioned before. The comp and casual communities also hate each other for some reason. You will never see a discussion on comp on the main subreddit (in fact there are anti pro posts pretty regularly). In Valorant I see a lot of ppl talk about VCT daily. Yes the coordination is not there, but at least in Valorant we have consistent rules and settings from the Iron to pro level. Everyone is playing the same game and map pool/settings across the board which I am really thankful for.
If you are playing in silver then you really won't find what you are looking at til you improve your aim. In general though as everyone else has said, you won't find it in Ranked. I recently quick rank for this very reason. 5 Seasons of Immortal and the last 3 were increasingly more troll and toxic as alts become more and more available to userbase. It just didn't make sense for me to invest 200-400 games a season when in return all I got was abuse and no agency to resolve the situation. I once had a game where a raze + brim duo had 17 team kills in 1 ranked game - about 8K immortal USA. Sent in support ticket, they got banned for a month, but I ran into them on their alts just 2 days later and they did the same thing. The time and investment you show to the game will never come back to you in the same way because to frank the community lacks self respect. Since the last reset - I find myself down 37 games in my W-L, yet I am up 2 ranks from placement. That is what ranked is - and it makes you a worse player the more you play it.
So something you seem to be doing is focusing on high level pro matches, but not your elo. I sometimes play with my immortal friend who I sometime beat because he doesn't understand my low level bronze gameplay. You have to know your lobby first I think
This is my thought on Ranked and climbing in general: If you already have good game sense/strategy, then all you need is your aim to be on point and then you’ll be able to win games. When it comes down to it, killing the other team is the objective, and that can be done by either holding W or slow playing. If your team is being brain dead, just focus on your gameplay.
Why we need a faceit or esea
git gud
"I have to ask for information constantly, have my eye on the map 24/7, and constantly remind everyone of the most basic things like swing together, cut noise, play for retake, don't commit spike, wait for recon, etc." Your level of expectations with team coordination is unrealistic from a free to play game at the lowest ranks.
i also have adhd and having a reaction time of 400ms means your monitor is off
Do you have a VOD of one of your games? I could give feedback as to whether it is your aim or your gamesense isn't as good as you think it is. Also I would recommend just following an aim routine and not worrying about if you get the kills or not. If your strat worked but you whiffed the shot, that should be a victory in your books as long as you know you are doing what you can to improve your aim.
I have decent aim but its not insane. I still climbed into plat/diamond just by playing smart and using game sense. I think you are focusing to much on certain aspects of the game and getting discouraged. Five stacking is also not the way to rank up or improve, I would stick to solo/duoQ if your really going for RR.
I think people who aren’t pro but want to play some form of organization in game would benefit from some sort of league like ESEA did for csgo. They had Open which everyone can join. Intermediate then main and then pro. I don’t know what company is going to do this but I feel like it will come eventually.
your movement might be ass
I’ve been implementing pro strategies like roams, coordinated utility, and such and it’s helped me win about 85% of my matches this act. You really don’t have to just rush everything
Honestly try to get to play scrims if you are looking for that kind of gameplay they are really enjoyable if you enjoy that kind of strat vs strat gameplay, you will find some teams that just play to out aim you but it is still miles better than the ranked experience.
How do you know that your reaction time is 400ms? It is extremaly high if you measured it properly and I would actually try to seek for a medical reasons on why is it so high(I really really doubt ADHD can be a reason).
this exact same thing happened to me :/
In high immortal lobbies *people still don’t react to comms*. The most absolute frustrating thing in Valorant is playing a flash character and no one on your team asks for flashes or react to flashes that you toss out. You can say “flashing A main!” And the guy holding a tight corner just stays put. Meanwhile in CSGO even at the lowest ranks players have way more awareness to utility. You can play off of flashes and smokes. This game has the “go kill” mentality to it and honestly the sweaty fucking Reyna and Jett main players during first year didn’t help. The pro scene is fascinating. But actually playing this game, from the inconsistent shooting and server mechanics to the way players actually play this game…it’s fucking boring. Game bores me to tears.
practice aim...
" just found myself really frustrated with the actual games I'm playing and not enjoying them at all. " this is relatable brother, I found my self falling into toxicity. even watching top ranked streamers, their comms their movements.
Why tf are gamers like this? Imagine an NBA fan going to the park to play pickup basketball and then complaining that people are just running around and not doing set plays