Question

for IMT/RAD players that didn't played another FPS before (started on val, and improved gameplay till the high level)

I have 1.286 hours of competitive + 243 hours of deathmatch. My peak was asc 1, but in most of the time a diamond player. I stopped playing for about 6 months, now I'm back and I'm stuck on plat.

How did you manage to reach the highest level in the game without having prior experience in other games? Spamming deathmatches? Aimlab? Or did it come naturally just by playing enough competitive matches?
I watch vods, I study the best uses of my agents' utilities, but I feel that what is stagnant is my ability to win more duels. I play controller/sentinel

play alot ig

Thinking about what got you killed and realising your mistakes helps a lot, if you do that and play enough games + sometimes aim train/run deathmatch then its enough ngl
Also imo watching pro players streams is rly helpful

reaching ascendant again rn is pretty easy, most of the time the game is an aim fest so basically thinking about ur positioning, setting urself up for kills and maybe recording and rewatching what got u killed can be helpful

Kirya [#3]

Thinking about what got you killed and realising your mistakes helps a lot, if you do that and play enough games + sometimes aim train/run deathmatch then its enough ngl
Also imo watching pro players streams is rly helpful

I honestly think watching pro games is the most important thing one can do to improve. Maybe watching some analysis too like TV or Lthar. You just need to learn why pros do the things they do and try to mimic and think like them.

nihso [#5]

I honestly think watching pro games is the most important thing one can do to improve. Maybe watching some analysis too like TV or Lthar. You just need to learn why pros do the things they do and try to mimic and think like them.

It depends on
I think pro games are very different from comp games and if you'll try to do what pros do in esports it'll end up really badly since you're not them, except for lineups and similar stuff tho ofc
Pro players playing ranked on stream is way more helpful imo

i came from cs but ill give u some real advice, ive peaked radiant
aimlabs is completely useless, just spam deathmatches range and some tdm
when ur playing deathmatches focus on ur PREAIM and angle slicing, i cannot stress this enough
a good preaim and crosshair placement would win u a shit ton of fights, if u have to flick ur 90% dead anyway, build ur fundamentals first
you also need a decent setup, sure there are 60hz immortals but trust me AT LEAST at least get a 144hz
2nd thing is get a good duo, someone that you can trust, and preferably a higher rank than you, this way when u win matches u would gain more rr+ a good reliable duo is very important
3rd thing is comms. having communication is literally so beneficial to the game. watch any radiant vod and you would realize they comm almost ANYTHING that is happening in game
4th thing is mental. mental is extremely important, dont tilt queue or tilt peek its not going to help and having a good mental will lead to a lot of good decision making skills. i kinda struggled with mental as sometimes i would get a lot of shitty teammates but i just learned to deal with it. and dont let ur ego get ahead of urself, if ur good for one get one get out. dont peek when the bomb is down theres no reason to, just hold the damn spike
5th thing if u really cant and want it that bad just 5 stack with silvers or and thats an easy immortal

Kirya [#6]

It depends on
I think pro games are very different from comp games and if you'll try to do what pros do in esports it'll end up really badly since you're not them, except for lineups and similar stuff tho ofc
Pro players playing ranked on stream is way more helpful imo

No I meant how they use util and play around enemies util to their advantage. Also how they play certain situations like clutches and down man advantage. Copying their set strats and plays is very bad and will end up in a bad result.

smthlikeyou11 [#7]

i came from cs but ill give u some real advice, ive peaked radiant
aimlabs is completely useless, just spam deathmatches range and some tdm
when ur playing deathmatches focus on ur PREAIM and angle slicing, i cannot stress this enough
a good preaim and crosshair placement would win u a shit ton of fights, if u have to flick ur 90% dead anyway, build ur fundamentals first
you also need a decent setup, sure there are 60hz immortals but trust me AT LEAST at least get a 144hz
2nd thing is get a good duo, someone that you can trust, and preferably a higher rank than you, this way when u win matches u would gain more rr+ a good reliable duo is very important
3rd thing is comms. having communication is literally so beneficial to the game. watch any radiant vod and you would realize they comm almost ANYTHING that is happening in game
4th thing is mental. mental is extremely important, dont tilt queue or tilt peek its not going to help and having a good mental will lead to a lot of good decision making skills. i kinda struggled with mental as sometimes i would get a lot of shitty teammates but i just learned to deal with it. and dont let ur ego get ahead of urself, if ur good for one get one get out. dont peek when the bomb is down theres no reason to, just hold the damn spike
5th thing if u really cant and want it that bad just 5 stack with silvers or and thats an easy immortal

thanks for the nice comment bro

I feel something bad about valorant deathmatch. I feel like it doesn't simulate real game situations, and sometimes I feel like it even gets me worse. I clear 1 or 2 angles, and before I can go for the third, a player spaws behind me and kills me. I spend the entire game frantically moving the mouse, being forced to revisit angles that don't make logical sense in a real game. TDM would be perfect if it used the same maps as the comp

https://www.vlr.gg/post/4064584/what-rank-you-guys-hitting-this-act
i also play senti/controller,really learn a lot from nAts and bang's POV.

If you really love the game, then learning about it should come naturally and fun. Focus on your attitude when youplay and know when to take breaks so you don't burn out. You are choosing to play/or not so own that decision. Everyone has their own learning curve so to make the most out of your grind know where you are relative to your own goals and ask for help from others with the intention of not copying their style but to implement bits and pieces to your own practice. Best of luck in your grind

im an immortal with previous fps experience. I think you should abuse 3 stacks. You can 3 stack all the way until youre immortal. It will help so much. Also like someone else already said you can abuse 5 stacks. A good strategy is to 5 stack at 0 rr or when youre a few rr away from ranking up.

Lokken [#9]

thanks for the nice comment bro

I feel something bad about valorant deathmatch. I feel like it doesn't simulate real game situations, and sometimes I feel like it even gets me worse. I clear 1 or 2 angles, and before I can go for the third, a player spaws behind me and kills me. I spend the entire game frantically moving the mouse, being forced to revisit angles that don't make logical sense in a real game. TDM would be perfect if it used the same maps as the comp

thats fine a lot of people when they play deathmatches they play for the win not to improve skill- that is wrong
if ur not like REALLY snappy then its normal to die a lot, however there are things u can do
movement: dont stomp around the map trying to clear every angle, people will just prefire you, you could go on YT and just see like tenz and whatnot just run it down running everywhere and tapping everyone, dont worry about that, just make ur goal taking one gunfight at a time and winning every single one of them
try to like gradually clear angles and have a good idea of the spawns- the point of a dm is to practice preaim for comp situations and mostly as a warmup.
unless youre a really low rank and everyone just instantly one taps you, in that case its probably better to use the range and practice target switching on the bots
a tip for the range though hard bots are basically useless if u cant consistently hit them, stick to medium the hard bots are mainly used as a benchmark of ur aim, in actual game situations u would have a good idea of where the enemy is and wouldnt have to flick across the screen for every kill, just put in practice mode and practice ur target switching
if u notice how pros play, they are extremely snappy when it comes to crosshair placement, they would almost instantly flick from one place to another, while always keeping the crosshair at head level of whereever theyre aiming, once youve mastered that you would find urself to win a lot more gunfights