I don’t post often but I had a toke and wanted to share some thoughts.

Look I’m not the greatest Valorant player in the world. I was Plat 2-3 for the first 6 months the game was out (could never break diamond). Now after a long break I’ve been hanging in low gold with some of my friends who are new to the game.

I know for most newbies to the game it takes time to learn what to peak or smoke and the best way to attack a site. But if I can offer one piece of advice, don’t just sit and stare at your teammates waiting for them to do something, SUPPORT THEM.

I see too many times players watching their 1-2 teammates push out on to a site and the “support” characters like Brim, Sage, KJ, whoever don’t even attempt to help fight or take the site because they are afraid to die. Just waiting for the Dualist to make a play and if the dualist dies there is no trade and are still sitting in B-Main holding nothing and sitting scared or confused. I know this because the friends I play with are still like this and I used to be like this. This is even worse if you play a dualist and are not even attempting to help in a gunfight.

I used to only play Sage because I didn’t want a Dualist role where I’d be relied on to get kills. I then learned Brim for the same reason. I’d sit just outside of site holding bomb and use that as my reason not to support my team and take gunfights. I learned real quick you will not rank up playing this way and I know I’m not the only one who played like this. You need to take fights with your team and give your side as much advantage as possible to win that fight and take site. You may die a little more this way but if your team trades you and wins the round, who cares? I’m not saying just run in and die and tell your team to trade you, but do more than just be a bystander.

This game is intimidating when you’re just learning or aren’t so confident in your gun skill, and it can be really tough to rank up and improve because of this. But the best advice I can give is communicate with your team as much as possible, make call outs even in the lobbies where no one speaks, and take gunfights with your teammates and use your abilities as opposed to standing by and waiting for it to happen.

I know confidence is a hard thing to gain in this game, especially when you’re new to it, but if you ever want to secure more winning rounds, you need to focus on your own improvement as a teammate.

In the end if you’re not in the top 5% of players in the game you likely are just playing the game for fun. Don’t let it stress you out so much.