FYI: I'm in OCE and had played CSGO only very briefly before Valorant Launch. I currently main Omen but was a Brim main

I started Act 1 in Silver 2 and quickly made it into Gold where I stayed for quite a while until mid Act 2 where I broke into Plat 1 and promptly became hardstuck until the past month when I started to climb once and became Diamond 1. I achieved this all through SoloQ.

Some General Tips:

1. Dodge: Whenever you load into a match, give out a greeting or even just ask if anyone has a mic. If one or no players respond in 10 seconds, dodge. This has saved me from countless soulless matches when everyone is running around like a headless chicken playing a single player game.

2. Be polite and kind to foster teamwork: You ever find yourself in the situation when your team throws 3 round in a row and no one is speaking? Try and crack a joke and lighten the mood up to get everyone talking again. If people start blaming eachother, interject and pin the blame on yourself even if the Sova made a retarded play.

3. The only thing you can change is yourself: If you truly want to climb in ranks, stop automatically blaming your teammates or assuming that the enemy are all smurfs even if they are. Being mad at factors outside of your control will only make you worse so just focus on your own game.

4. Think about your plays and attempt to objectively critique them: I admittedly need to work on this but think about whether the play you made was correct and thus improve next time. Even better is to have an outside source provide feedback. I have an immortal brother and he often gives unwarranted advice that actually makes sense.

5. Don't play if you don't want to: If you aren't playing at your best, don't force yourself as you'll only enter a spiral of ELO loss. Take a break, have a shower or even an entire day to calm down and recollect yourself as at the end of the day, and as corny as it is to say, mentality is what most determines your ability.

6. Crosshair placement: Don't shoot at the nuts, shoot at the head

Good luck everyone and happy grinding.