Valorant is my first FPS game, thus this is my first year in FPS. I just want to share with everyone how I made it to Platinum 1 and my journey.

I started on Act 1 Episode 2, where I was on an extremely laggy notebook with 400kbps internet speed and a default office mouse with in-built acceleration.

Already, there were so many red flags. I started playing with my friends, but I kept disconnecting/was not able to do anything. It became very frustrating to see myself being a burden and always bottom fragging.

My breakthrough came when I got a PC for my schoolwork, so that I could edit videos on Adobe Premiere Pro with less lag. The jump from 60Hz to 144Hz was also tremendous and I was lagging less (I still have horrid internet to this day, my record on Valorant for highest ping was 2641ms just last month).

I started to main agents rather than playing a plethora of agents. I begun maining Cypher and Reyna. I started to watch YouTube videos on different setups for Cypher and how to play Reyna hyper-aggressively. My climb from Iron 1 to Silver 1 became relatively smooth, people at the lower elo fell victim to my tripwires as I made sure to craft the most unpredictable tripwires and coupled them with Cages so that it would make it hard for the enemies to shoot the trips. I also made sure that I applied the basic fundamentals for Reyna, dismissing to safety after I aggro-peaked one angle.

It was only around Silver 2 when I started having losing streaks. Things got a little more difficult and people were countering/avoiding my Cypher set-ups and I was getting one-tapped by my enemies as Reyna.

I set a goal for myself to hit Gold 1. I begun a string of training routines.

1. Aim training

Using Aim Lab, I would spend the night after my unrateds/compets with my friends to play tasks like Gridshot (flicking), Microshot (speed), Sixshot (precision) and Switchtrack (tracking). I followed ScreaM's Aim Lab routine and aspiried to be a god aimer.

My final sens I came up with/was the most comfortable with was 800dpi 0.27 (low/mid sens).

I would grind Aim Lab every single day without fail. On Aim Lab rewind, I came out to be the top 99.41% in terms of playtime and my current rank on Aim Lab is Master II. My highest score on Gridshot is 109k.

2. Crosshair placement

Using deathmatch, I always kept a mental note to put my crosshair at head level. Because I was using low sens, I cannot afford to flick up from body/feet level. I watched one of SkillCapped's videos on Crosshair Placement and there was one tip that stood out for me the most, resulting me in having an absurdly good crosshair placement.

In Valorant, boxes, details such as lines on the walls, crevices, etc. would follow the y-axis similar to that of the height of an enemy opponent. I made sure to align my crosshair according to the y-axis and surely enough, I didn't need reminders and it became a habit for me to keep my crosshair at the head level. I looked through my VODs and rarely would I need to flick at all because I pre-emptively knew where enemies would be through comms and in-game experience.

3. Change of set-ups

A standard one-two tripwire set-up became too irrelevant. It was too easily predictable. I started investing time in the custom lobbies. I found useful tripwires and watched videos from Cypher streamers of higher elo such as Peak and SpicyCurry for one-way set-ups and watched VCT and observed how a professional player would incorporate his playstyle into an agent that I used.

4. Seeking guidance

I had an Immortal friend who would constantly tell me and remind me of my mistakes. I started streaming on Twitch and I was getting guidance from him in chat. I also played unrateds with higher elo friends and they would tell me the set-ups they need from me and I would incorporate it, usually finding success in them. I also looked back at my own VODs and repeated set-ups that would work and shave off bad habits/set-ups while holding site as Cypher.

5. Playing Valorant at an enjoyable pace

I hated to play more than 4 games a day because I would get way too tired. It was my first year of FPS as well, I didn't have the stamina at all because I was thinking so much every round. Cypher is an agent that saw some nerfs through the year and is underpowered, but still saw a fair amount of play in VCT. When an agent is underpowered, you need to think more when you play. You can challenge me, but Yoru, Brimstone and Omen players definitely require a bit more brainpower. TenZ once said that the key to winning your competitive games is to have more quality games than quantity games.

Patch 2.06: Viper was buffed

My main agents slowly became Viper and Cypher. Reyna, while being a fun pick for me, was interfering in my Sentinel playstyle, being more passive than aggressive. Viper became the agent that made me rise the ranks. From Gold 2, I stopped queueing with my friends in Silver/Gold elo. I wanted to solo queue. And so I did.

I started to face full Plat lobbies with me being the only Gold. I started to see myself being more team-oriented and care lesser about my kills. After all, I was a Viper/Cypher, heavily reliant on other agents to do the fragging work while being a solid anchor on the site. But I was losing. What did I do to get out of Gold elo?

1. Lineups

Viper is very strong in post-plant positions. I started watching Viper streamers such as Jinzled and Brush to learn Viper lineups on every map. This would make sure that I would secure rounds after the spike has been planted. I also used more specific one-way smoke set-ups with Cypher and Viper to become as annoying as possible. I know that my mechanical skill is not at par with other Platinums because I lack FPS experience, so I made a vow to study more and play smarter to gain the upper hand.

2. Lurk to counter aggression

Lurking also became my friend in Gold/Plat elo. I studied how Gambit nAts, a professional Viper/Cypher player who was crazy dominant in VCT, lurked and became a thorn in the opponent's flesh. I would inform my solo queue teammates that I would be lurking 1-3 rounds in the game to seek their approval. This is important because you don't want to end up being the last person standing in a 1v5 scenario and your team starts blaming you for not pushing with them. By lurking, it forces opponents to play more passive/watch more angles preventing them from gaining too much momentum.

3. Mathematics

Yes that's right. Mathematics. Like I said, I cannot compare my reaction time/game experience/mechanical skill against other opponents. Here are some mathematics I applied in-game.

i) Experiment with timings

• It takes about 19.2 seconds to b-hop/sprint from A Site to B Site in Fracture. If I know that I am able to spend 15 seconds to buy 4.2+ seconds of time to reach the site and plant the spike before my enemies can, I will call a rotate.
• It takes a Snakebite 3 seconds to kill a full-health player in a Poison Orb, whereas it takes 8 seconds for the snakebite to disappear. I would time my snakebites in my head and count to 8 seconds before shooting out my second Snakebite to buy 16 seconds of time for my teammates to rotate/stalling time after the spike has been planted.

ii) Trajectories of abilities I did my fair bit of research and studied "How to Wing Any Lineup from Anywhere on The Map" (a Jinzled video). I kept a mental note to memorise trajectories of mollys for Brimstone/Viper/Sage/Killjoy by lining up your top UI with the Skypixel (a dot in the sky) and imagine throwing your abilities across a y-axis of different heights/distances and practised how to do it. I knew that if I could master this, hitting Plat, Diamond, maybe even Immortal someday would be easy.

Valorant is a mental game and if I cannot compensate with my mechanical ability, I must compensate with my knowledge and mental ability.

I also made sure to get ample rest after a long day in Valorant (or at least take a short break).

4. Gimmick strats/Change of pace

Should I be down 1-8 for some kind of reason I can't explain, I make sure to have a trick or two up my sleeve for every map to at least buy some mental power for myself when it works/stop enemy momentum. There are hundreds of gimmick strats you can come up with but agents from the Controller/Sentinel/Initiator class are able to do it better. This could mean a 5-men pushing out to Mid Tube in Icebox when there's an attack on A Site and send 5 people on flank. This could mean hiding in the smoke with a Judge. This would frustrate your enemies and take a step back. Once they start questioning themselves, there is still a slim chance you can comeback/lose with lesser RR deduction.

All of these tips I provided allowed me to breakthrough to the Platinum barrier in just 1 year of FPS gaming.

Was I at any point in time hardstuck? Yes sort of. But just be smarter than your opponents and be kind and forgiving to bad teammates. Toxicity can be avoided.

Did I face any smurfs? Yes. For sure. A Reyna dropping 42 kills on you? Too relatable. At Gold 3, I was also in a team full of Diamonds and I felt like I just kept getting dominated. I just made sure that when I lost those games, I would make sure I would only lose -16 RR max, and not lose -30RR. Losing less>easier climb. There are some games which you just feel helpless. Just make sure that you're still doing your job to smoke/hold sites, fall back to your team even if you can't do so, just try your best.

Also the amount of kills you get is absolutely useless. Sure, if you're a Jett/Reyna dropping 30s but still not winning games, you might need to take a step back and think, have my kills been late round frags/impactful? Maybe my 4-18 Sage is feeding/throwing, but she managed to clutch one round and you didn't. Always, always take a step back. Don't let your ego swallow you.

Though there are others here who are above Platinum, I just want to share my journey of me reaching Plat 1 from all the way in Iron 1. If I can do it, so can you. If others can do it, so can you.