This is for those that get high KDA and blame teammates, those that get low KDA and hate on themselves, and all those in between.

While K/D/A is an indicator of your contribution, it is one of many. Like most numbers, it can be inflated.

The bottom assumes you’re not Smurfing.

Examples of having a POSITIVE contributions with bad K/D/A:

1. If the enemy comes to your site less on defense and you’re constantly forced into bad retakes, your K/D/A will suffer... but that’s still a successful defense of a site.

2. If you’re playing sentinels, your K/D/A will suffer.. but you bring utility. Smokes / Sova / Breach also provide incredible utility (if you actually know how to smoke and flash correctly, not place the smoke outward so the enemy can use it to their advantage on retakes... don’t play omen. Just play brim). Also, enemy lurk/flank info is gold.

3. If you’re constantly entrying - and communicating when and going in after smokes to set up trades... no solo Rambo - and getting traded, your K/D/A will suffer but you’re buying space and setting up trades.

Examples of having NEGATIVE contributions with great K/D/A:

1. You get kills mainly from lurking. Lurking has its uses. If you can knock out 2+ people and the team regroups, wow, great! If you knock out the rotator while your team enters a site and they take heavy losses or fail? Your fault. Less members make takes exponentially weaker, vice versa. If you kill four in a single lurk round than die first the next two? negative asset.

2. You bait your utility teammates as a duelist. Unless your team is wildly going in first, it is YOUR job to buy space after they’ve laid down smokes and intel. If you slow down mid-push and wait on deaths for info, it’s a net loss.

3. You rotate/retake too slowly or move too slowly to ensure max safety to get kills. This is a net loss to your team. Not only are you baiting your teammates, but also you’re getting what we call “Low-Impact Kills”. Kills that often do not lead to round wins. Oh you damaged the enemies eco five times? Good job! How many of those rounds did you help the team win? None.

K/D/A is only one indicator. If you want to know how well you’re really doing, think about how many rounds on defense your site was not taken or was successfully retaken. Think about how many kills/how much space you bought for your team as you pushed together. It’s very possible to drop 20+ kills and had meaningfully impacted less than 10 rounds in a game.

Edit: some people aren’t reading. This is “one of many”. It is not an all encompassing, and I agree with most of your “KDA can matter too” replies lol.