Oh, where can I find them? Thanks for the suggestion!

I'm not really looking to rank up or anything, I just want to have fun playing. Solo queuing can be fun sometimes but I wanted to see if I can find a duo with a similar mindset.

Just don't want to waste too much time on VAL. I want to spend some time doing my own projects. Recently I've been playing too much VAL haha

I know this isn't the best place to post this but here we go! XD

About me:

Current rank - Plat 2

All time peak - Diamond 1

Roles - Comfortable on any role

More -

Playing since launch. Like to IGL. Decent mechanics, good util, good map understanding. Good understanding of meta, game theory. Very good sniper (Outlaw and Operator, need to practice Marshal), but usually rifle due to playing smokes/initiator. Percentage player, will drop weapons to duelist whenever possible. Learning how to use alternate weapons ATM (Odin, Judge, etc).

Looking for -

First and foremost, Players who are mature, non-toxic, and okay with losing. Not just to me, but everyone in the lobby.

Play exactly one match everyday. We can decide the time each day, I'm decently flexible with times. We can start with some warmup and end with a swiftplay.

Preferably age above 18+. I'm not looking to do anything weird, I just don't want to interact with kids.

Any rank that's eligible playing with me in competitive. I have an alt that is Silver, so if you want we can play in that too. Maybe even Premier if we can get a stack. Although I am not against Unrated either, though I would prefer playing it seriously.

Willing to learn and get better together.

Bonus -

Have a mic

Let me call rounds

Interest in other video games and game design

If you are interested, DM me! I'd prefer chatting a bit before sharing my ID so we can see if our vibes match. Peace!

With Less Dantedeu5, and mwzera

Comma after "Less" in the last paragraph, perhaps?
Great article as usual! Sad to see him go, I really started to like him. Excited to see who the heck they pick up tho.

How is Ender not here

Hmm Asuna's floor is pretty high but he's not consistent enough to utilize that strength to his advantage often enough to necessarily justify him over a consistent player. Though I still agree he's a really good player, just needs to relax a bit sometimes haha

Bang has been a top 3 controller in Americas for a while IMO, but he cannot overtake Valyn for all time. Recently for sure he's super good. And for in the world, we atleast need to see him in the big stage, but I am not against it

Ehh is Prime Cryo vs Prime Yay a competition? I'd say both are deadly players who aren't easy to play against, I would say both are equally good. Give me some argument of why Cryo is better other than "his aim is better" because there's no way to argue about it, i.e. if you believe that then I concede

I do like Molsi, and most EMEA teams need some improvement, but I don't necessarily think he's gonna be that improvement. Though could be true and I wouldn't be surprised

I do find PAC boring, but due to my own reasons. I lost interest in following PRX after Torronto, and my other favorites from PAC were GENG, old DRX and new DRX. As you can see only one of those teams is really themselves right now, so I just can't feel invested. And it still feels like there's a fundamental gap between few teams, tho that's in every region, but that means it's not more competitive regionally compared to other region.
EMEA ascension final 2024 is a top 5 valorant game oat

Who is Proxh

I think Aspas has been a top 3 player in the world for around 2-3 years. I do agree he is not in the top 5 duelists right now, his performance and playstyle either don't fit the meta or aren't good enough to make a significant difference. But legacy wise his consistency bar this year can't be dismissed, even if you don't think he's number 1

Lol

😭😭😭

Hey crayon,

I’ve been following you for the past 5 days. I’ve watched every one of your posts and supported Cloud9 through thick. My friends used to call me crazy and honestly, they still do, but I’ll never forget the C9 vs MIBR match. That team has been tattooed on my sticky—note ever since.

I fell in love with you from that moment on. Every single member who has ever been associated with this website. But there’s always been something special about you. You’ve consistently been the most talkative, charming, and joyful person I’ve ever seen on VLR threads and at public bathrooms.

I hope that one day I’ll make it out to Poland and get the chance to meet you and the amazing organization you’ve built alone. My kids will probably be supporting crayon until the very end too.

Love you crayon, have some sweet time at home now. Soon you will be having kids so better learn to take care of those future crayuppies <3 Will surely come to Poland to see them soon!

Did you come up with this??? It's hilarious 😭😭😭

Would you say NRG is? If so, I might include them. I was torn between them and NRG, but given how badly they lost to NS, and Invy's hyped addition to the team, I couldn't pass on the opportunity.

I think the commentor meant that it was such an old match that only true and old fans will remember that game, and that most newcomers and bandwagoners won't know that these two teams have a history of having played against each other!

VIT offseason -> Good
(virus -> VIT, source unknown. Perhaps T1?)

VIT k/off -> Bad
MIBR k/off -> Good

(virus -> MIBR)

MIBR k/off last 3 matches -> Bad
PRX k/off last 3 matches -> Good

(virus -> PRX)

PRX Santiago GF -> Bad

(virus -> VIT)

PRX stage 1 -> Good
MIBR stage 1 -> Good
VIT lose to BBL

(virus -> PRX)

VIT win vs FNC
PRX lose to GE

(virus -> MIBR)

MIBR lose to C9, ENVY

Addendum : So after pondering on the most common critique I got, which was the length of my posts, I wanted to try something new. This time, I tried to keep the post's main content length (excluding this addendum) as short as possible. Honestly, it has given me a lot of respect to the VLR users who manage to condense complex, intricate ideas and concepts into short posts, while preserving as much of it's original complexity and charm as possible. It was definitely harder than I expected, and I'm glad I attempted to work on the — critisism. It gave me a new perspective in the minds of the users who have actually interacted the most with my posts, and I really hope they can enjoy this one more, knowing that their critisism and advice shaped this one.

Can I request something from you?
First of all, wonderfully written. I have used a lot of AI (as part of understanding how it works, its limitations and strengths, etc.), and I can say with confidence that this was not written by AI. It is beautiful and reads poetically. Great job!
Now my request — Please add an em dash! :3

Your flair is SEN, and the reply is making fun of you by saying "Look who is talking - You have a SEN flair!"

People will also sometimes say "Flag" to a similar effect.

Welcome to VLR! Have fun and don't take anything too seriously! ^_^

Recently

Yes, I know, it is "allat". Thanks.

A lot of people have been saying "Neon is dead", and a lot of people have been replying "Neon is not dead", but I felt I haven't seen a few points mentioned that I feel are important, so I thought of making this post.

First of all, I think the Neon change is overall good for the health of the game, I don't think I need to explain why but to summarize;
In ranked, she was the only character with a constantly available high mobility option with very little counterplay, and
In the esports scene, through her mobility she was able to bypass a lot of utility and need for utility to clear areas, making her a must-pick for all teams
And she was able to do all of this uniquely, as in no other agent had the capability to do so without any utility usage.

But I also want to say that, especially for the Neon players, the Neon they used to play is no more, and even if it is for the better for the game and most of the playerbase, I think it is a loss somewhere.

I usually fill in ranked, I try to play ranked for fun and not to win, so I usually pick a variety of agents and try different playstyles. But as a result of filling, I rarely get to play duelist, which I don't mind, just a byproduct of filling. But when I heard that Neon was getting nerfed, I wanted to get an experience of playing her, both because it would be the last chance to experience her unique gameplay, and also because as a game designer I felt the need to experience her kit and learn her fully, in case I ever wanted to make something similar for myself.
What I realised was that she was absolutely busted in ranked, but it also heavily dependent on your team's ability to capitalise on the space created. But most of you already know this. What I also realise was the skill expression with the character.

I am not going to pretend she is a character who needs the highest amount of skill to play with, but she was undoubtedly the most fun agent to play. Her movement took some practise to get the hang of, and there were a lot of things I didn't even master till the end of my trial (specifically, I didn't realise that shotguns need to be used once you are settled on the ground, or are sliding, otherwise the inaccuracy is too high to get a kill consistently). By far she was the most unique, impactful, expressive and raw fun character to play with.
And the fact that not only a good subsection of VALORANT players did not get to experience her, but also will never get to experience her again is... for me, it is a bit sad.
I felt the same when Jett's dash and ultimate alt fire were changed. According to Riot, it was necessary for maintaining the competitive vision of their game, and while I would've preferred VAL to have gone more in that direction, with heavy mobility being one of the playstyles, I understand their decision. But ultimately, that decision back then cemented that VAL is not a mobility shooter, it is very much a grounded tactical shooter.

I have always advocated for bot support for VAL, and I think that alongside some sort of workshop feature could easily preserve these eras and history of the agents. Overwatch has also lost a lot of unique abilities, and that is just as much of a shame, but atleast they have the ability to bring back a lot of those broken abilities through workshops.

And while we are at it, to those who play solo queue, do you care about ranking up? I have experienced that sometimes one player could be full throwing on our team and we still win, while no one obviously carrying, just via better positioning and the opponent not playing properly, and sometimes we could be playing 5v4 and still lose horribly. I was playing K/AYO last night, and I had two of my duelist frozen in the Ascent A chokepoint in the last round. because an OP was holding it. I, as the K/AYO might I remind you, bunnyhopped through the choke point, to entry into the site. I usually have to play with comms off because if I turn them on, people will push through my defensively thrown smoke and complain to me why did I smoke, but because of that sometimes I miss out on genuinely sweet people who I'd like to be friends with. Now I am just ranting, but I would love to hear your experience. Recently I started to just play for fun, trying out different characters, and I have been having much more fun. The only gripe I have is the amount of downtime I have to face when I die. It feels like a punishment, and sometimes dying early is not even in my control. This is something much better handled in Overwatch IMO. Anyways, I hope you have a great day ♥

https://www.vlr.gg/event/stats/2863/vct-2026-emea-stage-1

Prior to week 5, RieNs was not even in the top 35 EMEA players (by rating). After week 5? Top 6, lol

Reins ranks below 35th without week 5. With week 5? 6th, lmao

Am I crazy or batujnax had a good really Deadlock?

What? He was okay no? It was like Saadhak Neon, not adding it for now

I just remember the Vyse self flash 1v1 and that was pretty funny

N4RRATE was okay on Gekko no? Not adding it for now
Is Zellsis's Sova/Fade really that bad? I'm adding it but I've never seen it being super bad

I am vetoing this :)

Was there a specific match or moment? I don't wanna count this in because I don't think he was ever a very bad Jett

Maybe they don't have to be "The worst", they could have one or two really bad memorable plays. And it must be utility based, not just someone performing badly due to lack of frags. This is just a fun list, not trying to call these players bad!
These are just from my memory, I'm sure I got some of these wrong, please feel free to give your own opinion!

Astra - Ash

Breach - Mwzera

Brimstone - something(NekoSugarGirls17)

Chamber - yay(silberfaust1)

Clove -

Cypher -

Deadlock -

Fade - Zellsis(Madouza)

Gekko -

Harbor - Bang(Linardinssssss)

Iso -

Jett - N4RRATE(mzto), POLVI(Thegreat)

KAY/O -

Killjoy -

Miks -

Neon - N4RRATE(SENfns)

Omen - Demon1(Punish3rlp)

Phoenix - Avez

Raze - Demon1

Reyna -

Sage - ardiis(senyagi), Urango(M1ssing)

Skye - Riens(HIMNIJ)

Sova - Zellsis(Madouza)

Tejo - Governor

Veto -

Viper -

Vyse - d4v4i(Catsupz)

Waylay - nAts/Francis/N4RRATE(MindGoblin1)

Yoru - Zmjjkk/Zynx/cb, Aspas(Punish3rlp)

Seika Ijichi alt? Hi ^_^

I agree, I don't think this is a hot take though, especially if you go back and look at the discussion from that time, especially from people in the scene. There are not many players who have, as you mentioned, the combination of elite aim and game sense. He also had a very likeable presence in general. There are perhaps only a few other players in the world who would be able to boast a similar dominance like him. Forsaken and Chronicle are the ones who come to mind; Very different play styles, but still posses the same capabilities. What Leo also had that not many players did was a team that was able to match his quality, with a world class duelist, flex, sentinel and IGL, and one of the best coaching staff of all time. All of that, and his peak of winning two trophies with uncontested domination, is and will be his legacy, and proof that he was an absurdly good player.

And as for glazing, I don't think there's anything wrong with it. Life isn't made fun by living by correct opinions, it is made fun by loving the things you enjoy, and that sometimes means being wrong.

1.5 now. Help.

I wanna say that while that is true, it (filtering out of fluke teams) actually is not as impactful as it appears to be.

Let's say the chance of a fluke win is 30%, pretty reasonavle IMO. That means after the first round, a third of the teams that have made will be "flukes".
So let's say out of 32 starting, you get 16 that go forward, out of which around 5-6 are flukes.

This does mean though that the other 10-11 teams are better than them.

So in the next round there will be a total of 8 teams. You might think around 30% of these (2-3 teams) will be fluke, which already is less, but that actually is less likely to be from the initial 5-6 teams, since the chance of them fluking twice in a row will be something like 10% (30% of 30%).
The other chance is that it is from the 10-11 teams (that are better than the initial disqualified 16) getting a fluke win, but they are already better, and their competition is also better, so it is unlikely that they are much worse.

(PS: I double checked it, and actually it's 9%. Pretty good guess from me I'd say!)

And with each subsequent round, it would get less and less likely.

Now there are two more arguments I can think of. One is - What if a fluke happens against a top 4 team in the first round?
To which, I would argue that is something very unlikely to being with. But yes, that is a valid concern.

And second - What if two top 4 teams meet each other in the first round?
And again, it is a valid critique of the format.

I think OP just forgot about post plants haha
Also Viper isn't a sentinel technically :P

I think that you have not considered post-plant, since all sentinels have, by design, utility that helps them fight for the space they already control. Infact, following is the general design theory of the utility possessed by the agent classes in Valorant (It is not super fleshed out as there's a lot of nuiance but for our purpose this should be fine):

Initiator : Deny/Recon space that is not under control
Sentinels : Deny/Recon space that is under control
Controllers : Sector (or 'Cut') off space (Can also be "Deny information")
Duelists : Contest space (It's different from Initiators because with initiators, you might get info or clear a corner but you don't control it, so someone can reclaim it, whereas with duelists you have to actively contest it again)

And during post plants, you as the attackers control the site, so Sentinels can use their utility to contest that space without putting bodies on the line.
Vyse : Razor Vines, Shear, Flash
Cypher : Trips, Cam, Cages
Killjoy : Alarmbot, Nanoswarms, Turret
Deadlock : Barrier mesh, Sonic sensors, Nade
Veto : Trip, Signature
Chamber : Trip

You get the idea. As for actually taking space, while you can use some abilities to clear certain corners (Cam, alarmbot, trips), I do get the point of them not feeling super useful. But the agents are designed to be played in a proper team environment, and there being able to watch flanks is extremely useful. Not having a proper flank watch creates huge holes in the attacker's controlled space, as well as reduce the flexibility of rotations, since you won't have info of which areas are not clear for rotation.

All in all, I think I disagree, both because in post plant all sentinels have extremely potent utility, and because the passive information utility allows for a better macro overall.

Agreed, not much to say since I touch upon this in my original post, although it definitely is a hot take due to his lack of mechanical skill.

Hahaha no
I mean let's see, what exactly makes a good movement player?
There are a few players I can think of when I think of good movement. Less and Asuna are the two opposite ends, and I think Ethan is neither of them.
It really depends on what you mean by "best movement player". Ethan uses movement to break crosshair a lot, while jumping through smokes or choke points to play in his teammates. If you consider that, then I can actually see an argument for that. He actually understands aiming extremely well, and knows how to drag the crosshair and create the worst possible scenario for the angle-holder to track. And his execution is flawless, but there isn't much of a high ceiling to this skill.
I genuinely don't see many players do this, so I might actually have to agree in this specific case. But when it comes to taking gunfights, there are many more players better than him, simply passing the eye-test and the empirical test of having a better K/D.
Although I do want to throw in a shoutout to Ethan, as I think he has the best map geometry, angle, and positional awareness out of any player in the world. I remember even back when he first started playing with 100T, his spams through wall-corners have always been unbelievably impressive. I think that is a skill he developed in and has carried on from his time playing CS, but it is something that most Valorant players, pro or not, don't have. Strangely Boaster sometimes does that too, but most Valorant players don't have that sort of accute awareness.

I am not very familiar with the tier 2 scene of either (and any) regions, but I will try my best to answer you.

Looking at the tier 2 talent that has made it to tier 1, I think that is a take with a lot of truth, with the likes of BBL and NS dominating their own regions, and EF looking much stronger now. But I think that those are also the top of the tier 2 scene, who were also very dominant in tier 2. That implies that they were a cut above tier 2 as well. If that's the case, there must be a lot of tier 2 teams that wouldn't be able to compete in tier 1. Examples of this can be seen in VARREL, 2G and Bleed, which despite having some great players, could not stay competitive in tier 1 for long.

There are a lot of things in tier 1 Valorant that is simply not present in tier 2, that inherently makes it an entirely different beast. Stage presence, playing against teams with fleshed out protocols, getting anti-stratted, getting read by a team of coaches during a timeout; These are things that simply won't happen in tier 2, and so the players are always going to have struggles adapting to these changes.

It might be true that 80% of tier 1 teams (which out of 10 would be 8 teams, and there are arguably 3-4 teams per region that would outperform most tier 2 teams on average in their regions) might have worse gameplay than most tier 2 teams, but the fact that tier 2 themselves are (not always, but on occassion) playing against genuinely just a group of untrained individuals playing for fun or playing much worse than the top teams, and that tier 1 players simply have more experience in playing in the vastly different environment that is tier 1, I think this is not a correct take. Although it could be correct, it is very unlikely.

As for DRX, they look pretty strong, but to make top seed they might need to go through PRX, T1 and NS (IMO the top dangers to DRX, not necessarily the top 3 teams though). I think that is extremely reasonable and possible but I think it becomes realistic when the group draws play out in their favor.

NS are in the middle of a reinvention, and while they do look pretty solid, there's always the possibility of a coach to poke holes in your playstyle when it is this new. Termi is definitely capable of doing that, and if he can find enough weakness, it'll put them squarely ahead of NS.

The PRX matchup is the most unpredictable out of the three. If PRX find their form, they will run through DRX, and there's always a non-zero chance of that happening. But recently PRX have looked a bit shaky. Although they are on the upswing, all DRX would need is a good start (or a bad start followed by a good run of things), as I think PRX is one of the teams very susceptible to tilt.

And as for T1, I included them because DRX has a few new players, and T1 is full of veterans. I actually think DRX are fundamentally better than T1, but with the experience that those players have, games can change sides very easily.

I think all DRX need right now is a strong mental, as they look very sound otherwise.

Hm. Honestly, I am not even sure what is the issue with VIT at the moment, since everything should be clicking for them. A genuinely good and smart tier 2 player, two international and a regional veteran, all three of whom have been under very good leadership previously, a decently proven coach. PROFEK is the only player who you can question, but even he was very solid last year. When I look at this roster, I think less whether or not they'll wake up, but more why aren't they already good. And honestly this time it doesn't even feel like the vibes are the problem.

I'll also mention that I am fully willing to dismiss the bad rounds around the end of Breeze, as they are just moments where the team is playing under very rough situations and high pressure.

I think when we look at MIBR, I see something similar. Very good and smart tier 2 player, multiple trophie winners, regional superstar, and a unproven but great player. They performed decently in KICK//OFF, but had a generational choke.

But now when we look at them, they look genuinely much better. I still think they need to be tested against better teams, but they look much better.

So I think VIT can definitely pull it back, and they have the pieces to do it. I think one of the most important thing for a team like this is to know how to handle tough losses, losing matches you are not "supposed" to lose.

Lastly, about winning Champions. Their contenders will be MIBR, KRU, PRX and FNC (not counting promising teams with not much international experience, like FUT, FUR, NS). Do I think they can beat all of those teams? Yes. Will they beat enough of those teams to win champs? Probably not. I think they will need a good group and uppers map veto advantage to actually win champs.

I think this is one of the hottest takes. Not impossible because VIT aren't capable of beating top teams, but very unlikely because most top teams are capable of beating VIT.

If you are supporting VIT, best of luck to them!

I am actually not sure what the take itself is, does "Boaster will fluke out" mean he will make playoffs, or that he'll miss playoffs?
I'll reply once you clear that up. Apologies for making you do the extra work!

Thanks! ^_^

I have a video on my YouTube channel, where you can see me typing the answers haha. My youtube is @SwapBrair ^_^

Thanks for the info, I was really not aware.

I am not really familiar with the Valorant scene in MENA or the logistics of a region being integrated in the VCT, but I don't have the knowledge to tell why this is a hot take. It seems pretty reasonable to me, maybe a bit too late but that could definitely happen, as MENA and Australia are some of the most isolated regions in the world especially when it comes to Esports. Unfortunately it is too out of my knowledge for me to comment anything meaningful. I hope they come into relevancy soon!

Why do you have 5 then

Hm, depends on what "Bounce back" means. They have had an extremely rough management so far, I don't have much information on their coach but doesn't seem like they are doing the best with the team, and the individual performance of some players are not upto the tier 1 standards. If we count making playoffs as a success, I think they still have a chance to make a run. If we draw the line at making champs... Well, let's see.

The main contenders for Champs IMO are MIBR, KRU, NRG and FUR (in no particular order). Out of those teams, who do we see ENVY beating, and more importantly how? ... To be honest, I don't really see many ways. I think Demon1 has to perform at his peak as an anchor, Keznit has to perform at his peak as a duelist, Eggster (I am really liking the guy slowly btw, it's a shame to see him struggle so much) has to pick up in the fragging department as well as be more comfortable with the agents he's being put on, speaking of which the coaching staff needs to figure out a better, preferably simpler composition and roles for the players to put them on their comfort agents, and Rossy has to call much, much better.

I think individually it is only Eggster who is a big issue right now, but I can see that fading away with time by the next stage. I think... unfortunately, they might need a better IGL than Rossy, or Rossy needs to massively step up his calling and in general team leading. So that is either the coaching staff and Rossy working together to figure out the macro, or a roster change.

If all of that happens, and they are able to string together a few wins, I can see them getting on a hot start in the next stage, and get an upset or two over the aforementioned teams. Still, this is probably one of the hottest takes on this thread. If you are supporting them, best of luck to ENVY!

Up until a few weeks ago, my stars were at around half in VLR, but recently it started to go up, and now it is at around 1 full star. I am not sure how the stars work, but from looking at the users, their star levels, and their posts, I connected the dots and figured that the stars must be a rating of how toxic or hateful or perhaps incorrect you are, so any tips or advice on how to reduce them back to zero would be very appreciated.
I am not even sure what I posted within the past few days was considered "toxic" or "hateful", that is contributing to the stars going up in my account. At first I assumed that it might be because I was replying to other users with 5 stars, and that communicating with users with 5 stars also somehow contributed to the hatefulness stars, but I am not sure if that is the case. I am usually a very chill person, so I would like my star rating to reflect that.
Thanks.

I am not really able to see the logic behind it; Partly because I do not follow AG or China very closely, and partly because what AG showed in Santiago was essentially that they have some really good players, but struggle a lot with macro, meta reads and on-stage performance.

I think the core is capable of making a run for a trophy, but they need an improvement in the coaching (and potentially the IGLing) department. Right now, the approach that AG (and to a degree, the whole of China except XLG (again, as far as my knowledge lends me)) is taking is just not viable for international competition, and the map pool depth and understanding of individual maps and macro of Valorant in general feels very off for AG. Can't really see it happening, but I genuinely cannot count it out, even if I will be extremely (and pleasantly) surprised if that happens. If you are supporting them, best of luck to AG!

I wholeheartedly agree, but I have a few issues - Not with the take itself but the framing and context in general.

Firstly, thanks for the detailed message.

I would say this is not much of a hot take rather than an unrecognized/underrated take. It is similar to saying "Life advice from reddit is not good". Yes, it is true, and it is pretty obvious to a lot of people, but a lot of young people just don't know better. I think we have the opportunity to help them and make them understand that this is the case, but ultimately that is how things always have been - The loud minority usually flocks towards the simplest explanations and are easily persuaded by popular opinions. The amount of videos and posts online about "How to improve your aim" (Which themselves are created not by people who want to share their knowledge to others, but who want to create a piece of content, which is not very wrong inherently, but I think you get the point of what is wrong with it) feed into the mindset of "Aim must be central to improving in Valorant". I would draw an analogy of how feminism is portrayed online, versus how it is (or atleast should be) practised. It is portrayed as this sensational, rebellious act of putting women above everything, and hating on men, when in reality it is actually just the act of being kind and empathetic towards everyone, and through that process recognize the unfairness most women face throughout their lives.

Secondly, I would like to add a few examples to what can actually improve your Valorant gameplay.

1. Reading the map is by far one of the most important things neglected by most of the players. The number of players who I see do not pick up defensive weaknesses, flanks, or keep track of how many people were spotted on one side of the map, which utility was used on which side of the map, etc. This immediately reduces the amount of comms needed (if you see a Reyna flash, or sightlines being blocked by smokes, or even your teammates falling back on the map, you can start rotating or smoking for your team), tells you the enemy setups on defense, tells you the holes in your own defense/flank, and much more.

2. Reading and managing the economy, both credits and ultimates. I am baffled by how many people don't know (or deliberately don't follow) the concepts of bonusing, saving with the team, etc. By the way, PSA to anyone reading this, please don't buy half/regen armor after winning the pistol. They are extremely fragile to all eco weapons. Anyways, playing around the enemy ultimates is the other thing regarding reading economy; If you know there is a raze ultimate, don't make a grouped up play. If there is a K/AYO ultimate (RIP K/AYO), don't play on site with your utility. If you see a Neon ultimate, play with a Judge.

3. How to hold smokes, how to smoke in general. Smoking chokepoints is fine, but the timing of smokes and specially site smokes, retake smokes, etc are very very impactful.

4. Spamming. Spam smokes as they flash. Spam smokes when you just mollied and the molly is about to run out. Spam when you think someone is on the other side of the smoke.

Lastly, I want to add an analogy to your explanation to hopefully make it better.

If Valorant is like writing English, aiming is like knowing what different words mean.

1. Without knowing any words at all, you won't be able to speak at all. It would be almost futile to try and write anything meaningful without knowing any words (or their meanings).
2. But once you know a few more words, you can start writing. You might not be able to write anything particularly useful, but you can start writing some things.
3. Eventually a time will come when a lot of basic words will be in your vocabulary, and your focus will shift slowly towards actually using those words meaningfully together - The grammar, the structure of the sentence, and how different words work in different context.
4. After a certain amount of words in your vocabulary, you will be able to write a lot of meaningful things, and pretty much cover most of your basic needs. But this is where drastic improvement can happen. You have the ability to polish your grammar, understand more complicated concepts and examples of them, like idioms, flourishes, figure of speech, etc. Here, most words will be second nature to you, and your focus will have completely moved on to different aspects of the language, while obviously you will continue to learn new words, albeit at a reduced rate than before.

In Valorant,

1. Without knowing how to aim (which mostly implies you cannot move your mouse lol), you cannot control the direction you are facing, thus cannot play. In a bit more realistic situation, you are not able to shoot any enemies in front of you, even when they are facing the other way, stunned/flashed/revealed (presumably by your teammates), etc. This simply makes Valorant a non-sensical game for you.
2. This is the level at which you can roam around the map, plant the spike, you can use a Judge or an Odin, and you can just about get a couple kills. You are also probably start to notice that there are different guns that act differently, and that sometimes you can't buy some guns because you don't have any money.
3. Eventually, you can DM your way through an Unrated game. You are able to outshoot a decent number of people in your rank, and you now very well understand the basic economy and have switched to Vandal and Phantom (or Operator). Right now, your focus has shifted towards learning different agents, maps, using your abilities and ultimates better, improving your movement, controlling your weapon (spray control), and truly improving your aim - Flicks, crosshair placement, etc.
4. Finally, your aim is at the point where the reaction speed and accuracy are on par with most of your lobby. Now, your focus should be towards making sure that the aim is never the factor that decides whether or not you win the round; Better position, better macro, better utility usage, etc. You will slowly be improving your aim (precision, micro flicks, target selection, trigger discipline), but far more you'll be focusing on other nuiances. My prior list is a good example, and to add to that; Mastering various playstyles (Lurking, anchoring, entry pathing), learning lineups, map control, etc.

Someone said this about PhD, and I will say the same about ranks;
It is not about how good you are, it is about how much time you have spent. You can have good takes even if you are bronze, since that is a rank of your ability to win games (which to begin with is not fair as you have 4 other people who influence that), not a rank of your intellect.