EDIT: I'm by no means a god at the game, but i thought it wouldn't hurt to share some knowledge.

Hey yall, was playing some 5 stack in the Valorant 25 Holiday Tourney for Charity. Decided to help share some of my game knowledge with my teammates so i wrote this up. Thought maybe this might help whoever reads it here.

I did solo Q to immortal, and was global elite in CSGO once upon a time. Sadly never played faceit/esea. I just randomly typed out whatever came to mind so its not well written but lemme know if this was any help.

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This is more revolved around 5 stacks.

GENERAL THEORY

Objective of the game is to WIN ROUNDS.

-> How do we put ourselves into a position to win rounds?

First of all we need to understand this game is resolved around "GETTING INFORMATION" + "MAP CONTROL". GUN MECHANICS IS ONE ASPECT but if you are out mechanic'ed you can outsmart them with game sense/knowledge.

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-> Why teams have to know how to default?

Imagine everyone one of us is a security camera.

- when we are holding a spot we are basically "surveilling the spot" acquiring that part of the for our team. But once we leave that spot we have no information/vision of spots on the map therefore we always have to RECLEAR those areas. And increases the possibility of other team flanks (if they are smart they'll catch on) especially in HIGH ELO.

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This "surveillance theory" is important for both ATTACK and DEFENSE.

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ATTACK- You are holding the space for your team,

Example on BIND: 4 of us works B site from HOOKA and LONG B. One person watches our A flank from A short + showers. This creates a surveillance to the majority of the map. If we withstand initial defense aggressive, we can pushes the defending side to play very passive on sites which results them having a difficult time defending hard executes or fakes because they are playing on ZERO information. on the other hand if our A flank is being watched we are free to rotate back from B to A without worrying and re clearing angles which are dangerous(lot of 50/50 angles in the game).

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DEFENSE - Same concept except it is valuable if teams decide to coordinate and aggressive peak certain spots of the game randomly, whether if its beginning of round or mid round. This gathers information for the team to where enemies are located us which gives us a better idea of how / where / when they'll execute / push sites. For example : this is why i asked for duelists on my team to combo and force peaks on bind together. Because if we passive play on sites it is much harder to defend against no information. and also if other teams cant default well, our well coordinated aggressive peaks can catch them off guard which results to either we getting free kills and acquire new map control or disrupting their strats.

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I would say 70-80% of the game is actually played on the minimap. We are suppose to constantly checking map for information without exposing to dangerous angles of course.

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This is also why COMMUNICATION is so important. COMMs are like puzzle pieces. The more precise COMMs teammates call out -> more pieces to complete the puzzle with. But people tend to tunnel vision on themselves so it is easy to get lost in your own game play. Which is understandable.

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GENERAL GUIDELINE TO ATTACK ROUNDS

1. Default (gathering info stage)
2. Slowly work or acquire spots on the map (preferably in pairs or with team) unless you are making a play by yourself if you're confident, just remember to comm it to the team.
3. Once we acquire most parts of the map and successfully pushed the defense to play passively in site, we have free reign to gather to hard execute together or conduct fakes. Because they have little to no info they have to play to REACT to what we do. So we as attack, are in the driving seat.

Side note, when holding default you must be aware of defense aggression. Basically always assume the worse. so play with caution.

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CONDITIONING YOUR ENEMIES

EXAMPLE: As defense, you're playing omen, for lets say 3 rounds you smoke A short BIND every beginning of the round and play passive. Then 4th/5th round the enemy are expecting you to smoke short and play passive but instead you smoke short and flash peeks with teammate. They are caught off guard. Same thing applies to attack side. Learn to adapt and counter enemies default play style.

ROTATIONS

Think of the team as a whole well oiled machine, every one of us is a moving part that connects.

For example: ASCENT defense.

A site : KJ A CAT : REYNA MID: OMEN B SITE: SOVA CT B SITE : JETT

USUALLY the mid player here is the rotator MEANING

If there's heavy pressure/presence A main/CAT - > Omen immediately leaves MID to support A side with utility or fight. Simultaneously JETT or SOVA immediately covers mid. this way we don't lose ton of map control when randomly moving around the map. Think of the team moving shifting and adapting as a whole, not as individuals.

ANCHORS

Generally you have anchor per site, usually the sentinels. OMEN on A haven, KJ on C haven etc etc.

Your job as anchor is to leave the site last, low elo players love to over rotate off very little information. This is why simple fakes works wonders in low elo.

Unless you know see or know they're executing other site with the bomb or have HARD information ( multiple enemies executing ) or sees the spike, you as an anchor, should not rotate.

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COMM TIPS

1. Make your comms short and precise and repeat once or twice max unless you see your teammate not hearing your comms.
2. Comms abilities for your teammates, such as flashing or smoking, telling your teammate what your doing allows them to play off of you.
3. Make it habit to comm even the smallest details because like i said, informations are the pieces to the puzzle. The information you give could lead to an important piece of the puzzle
4. When coordinating with teammates to make plays it is EXTREMELY important to COMM your actions with your support teammates or vice versa.
5. Once again be PRECISE with what you call out or where enemies are. "One right here, one right there" does not mean shit for your teammate. You can ping the enemy and say" One on ping" instead.

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Always always try to trade.

It is almost always worth it for attack side to get an even trade against defense cuz it makes defense a lot harder with 1 less person against executes.

POST PLANTS

- Play off each other's presence/angles. When enemy hard peaks one of your teammate, you swing out another angle to hard counter, which either triggers a TRADE or a free kill on that enemy. THIS IS CALLED A CROSSFIRE.

- COMMs COMMs and COMMs,

- When they tap spike don't panic, most of the time there's no need to immediately swing to crouch spray. The point of tap is to draw attackers out, so play accordingly.

- Always be wary of flanks in this game post plant or lurkers, because the map design it makes it easy to lurk and flank.

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MENTAL

Try not to tilt- Everyone plays the game different, most teammates are not going to play rounds or do things you expect them to know. So focus on your own gameplay and mistakes, 95% of the time there's something you could've done better I promise you. Even if your teammate did a dumb play (like not smoking certain spots or bad smokes) that caused you to die, guess what? you still could've done better because that's something you can learn to be aware of. By focusing on yourself you focus on the things you can change, you have the power in your hands.<- Once you hone in on this you're tilt proof. Instead of blaming others which causes frustration and its out of your control.

End.

EDIT: I'm by no means a god at the game, but i thought this could be of help to whoever reads it.