A lot of my friends are in iron, bronze, and low silver due to things that can be easily fixed which sucks because I do not want them to be hardstuck in the rank they don't want due to these things. Since I am just a gold 3 there are obviously a lot more people with better advice than mine but what I am going to talk about will cover things that I have noticed about my friends and their habits in Valorant as well as my own which I changed to progress.

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• Communication

I put this at the top of the list because this is probably the most important. One thing that is found mostly in lower ranks is silent lobbies. I understand that sometimes you just want to play without someone else telling you what to do or where to go. If you do feel like that then hop into an unrated or play any other mode that is not competitive. You do not need to keep your mic on all the time just make some short but impactful call-outs to your team. Having good communication is crucial to your team's success since this is something that does not require much effort but will benefit your team greatly. You could have a 2-13 K/D in a game but if you give proper call-outs to your team there is a high chance your team will win that match.

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• Finding the right sensitivity

I see a lot of valorant "how to get out of ..." videos that talk about proper crosshair placement and different aiming techniques but one tip that almost none of those videos talk about is finding the right sensitivity for you. I put "for you" in bold because if you are like my past iron/bronze self then you will think "oh a pro uses this sens and they're good that means if I use it I'll be good" that is far from the truth. Sure there might be a few pros with a sens that will actually be right for you but in my opinion, it is better to try out different sensitivities for yourself to find exactly what is right for you. Go in the range and test out different sensitivities on a still target (like the floating targets in the range) and find which sens is comfortable to flick with from all directions (up, down, left, right). At this time do not put all your focus onto your aim or your shooting just focus on what feels comfortable to flick with and adjust as you go and try to get as close to the target as you can. Doing this will help build your muscle memory for that specific sens as well as make your aim and crosshair control more snappy, tight, and accurate instead of jittery and loose. What I did to find the right sensitivity was play at a high sens (around 0.6-0.8 with 900 dpi). Of course, this was too fast, so I lowered it down to around 0.2-0.3 (same dpi) and found this just slightly slower than I wanted. Using trial and error I tested various sensitivities between 0.3 and 0.6 until I found a comfortable and accurate sens at 0.408 with 900 dpi.

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• Proper crosshair placement

Now that we have talked about finding the right sens we can now talk about proper crosshair placement. One MAJOR thing that separates all the ranks is their aim. The less aiming time you require to kill your opponent the better. Good crosshair placement is a must when it comes to aiming less and killing more. If you can remove the time wasted due to having to move your crosshair from an opponent's feet to their head, it will be much easier to kill your enemy. Having good aim alone can get you to plat. One thing that I notice (and that I used to do) that leads to bad crosshair placement is having your eyes on the target but your crosshair somewhere else. E.g. you look at your opponent at the top of your screen and you start shooting while your crosshair is at their feet since your eyes are looking directly at them but you do not notice that your crosshair is well below them. Instead of aiming then shooting, you shoot with minimal aiming. One way to fix this is to keep your eyes locked onto your crosshair when you move while using your peripheral vision to spot enemies. By doing this, if your crosshair is on the ground all you will be looking at is the ground which will force you to look up. Another fix to this is to use your environment as references to where head level is. Go into a custom with a friend and let them stand at various parts of the map (it would be better if they stand at common peek angles) and use the objects behind them to determine where head level is, this technique is one that I use when I play to fix my crosshair placement. (I recommend using both techniques together)

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• Spray Control

One thing that I highly recommend especially in the lower ranks is the ability to control your gun's recoil. Almost every gun has a different recoil pattern and I suggest going to the giant target in the range (just outside the bot range area) and just holding down the left mouse button to look at the spray pattern of the weapon. Then you must learn to counter that pattern to keep the spray around head level. I highly recommend watching ethos' in-depth video on spray control https://youtu.be/Mk3lUz0iPSg (this is what helped me learn how to control my spray)

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• Moving while shooting

One thing that is VERY common in lower ranks is running, walking, or crouch walking while shooting. This will never compliment your aim, in fact, it will do the opposite. Most of the time I notice players run away from battles due to panic. Although fleeing from fights perfectly fine, especially when you know it is a fight you can not win, but trying to run away simply because your fight or flight instincts are telling you to run away in the middle of a gunfight. One thing that you can do to stop moving while shooting is practice staying mobile but not running away. In a gunfight (medium to long-range), take a few steps to the left (do not shoot during this movement) then shoot a burst of shots WHEN NOT MOVING, do the same but the other direction. Doing this will eventually lead to proper jiggle peeking accuracy. Skillcapped made an in-depth strafe shooting video which I recommend watching https://youtu.be/xBQD28v1t3k

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• Crouching while shooting

Although crouching while shooting may be a good thing since it can be used to throw off your opponent's aim and/or correct your spray control, in lower ranks, this is not something you want to do. This is since players in lower ranks tend to aim closer to the torso instead of the head. This means that when you crouch, instead of your opponent shooting at your body (causing less damage to you), they will shoot at your head, giving them an easy headshot kill. To stop this I recommend disabling your keybind(s) for crouching and play a few deathmatch games. I did this and at first, I was still pressing my crouch button, to fix this I left my pinky off the crouch button completely. The more I did it the more I got used to shooting while standing without crouching which also helped me better my spray control.

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• Shooting at long ranges

One thing that I see that is most common in lower ranks is spraying an enemy when they are at a distance greater than 15m. Spraying at an enemy that is greater than 15m will not be an effective strategy since the bullets of the gun will spread out too wide to accurately hit the target. Spraying at 15m or greater is not something that should be consistently done but with the proper spray control, you may get lucky. At a distance greater than 15 you should only shoot in single shots or 2-3 shot bursts. Before we talked about how to stay mobile while shooting, this is where that becomes most effective. Strafing left to right and taking burst shots at your opponent in between will make you a harder target to hit (refer to strafe shooting video link from earlier under the "moving while shooting" section).

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• Checking corners

One thing that people even in the higher ranks do not do is check all the corners. Don't get me wrong higher ranks do check their corners but no one is perfect and we all mess up once or twice. The main difference is that lower ranks may completely run past a corner more often than a diamond-ranked player. The fix for this is probably the easiest on this list. What I did to gain the habit of checking corners is, always be paranoid! I know this sounds sketchy but if you always think an enemy is going to be in a corner then you will always be expecting someone to be in that corner in which case, you can pre-aim (aim at where the opponent is going to be before seeing the opponent there) the corner (and in some cases pre-fire).

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Now that we talked about the major in-game mechanics and strategies that I have seen most common in lower ranks, we can now talk about some things that aren't in-game but still play a major role in your performance.

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• Playing while tilted

You must NEVER play while tilted/frustrated. If you are on a losing streak and are getting frustrated then take a break. Playing while tilted (or tilt queuing) will flood your mind with emotions fogging your decision-making thus making it much harder to think while playing. It may also make you less precise with your aim and movement. If you are ever tilted due to valorant play some other, less stressful game and come back later or take a break from games completely. Getting angry is normal for everyone but how we deal with our anger is what separates the smart from the dull, by taking breaks and letting your mind relax, you will not only save your keyboard and mouse from hulk-smash destruction, you will help yourself too. The strain that stress has on your mind will translate to your body too by giving you chest and muscle pains, an increased risk of heart attacks, and headaches. I'm not saying playing Valorant will give you a heart attack I am just saying that the stress build-up that playing tilted Valorant (or any stressful game) may give you will not benefit your mind or your body. One big mistake that kept me in bronze for a long time before moving up was getting too into the game. Getting too into the game took all the fun out of it. We all started playing valorant because it was fun to us but if you were like me then at one point you stopped seeing it as a game and started seeing it as something you need to do. This made it feel like a dead-end job to me and always ruined my mood whenever I lost. I simply took a mental-health retreat and stopped playing Valorant for a few days staying completely focused on myself and the people I love. This lifted my mood, made me happier, got me out of my room more, and even got me back on track for school. When I got back I was playing drastically better than I did before. Since then, every time I feel as if Valorant is becoming a strain on my happiness, I take a break from it for at least a day.

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*One more thing to add: MUTE TOXIC TEAMMATES THE SECOND YOU SEE/HEAR THEM (I don't think I need to explain why also, in this case, I count backseat gaming as being toxic ONLY if they are doing it in a way that is not comfortable with you)

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• Staying positive and having a good team morale

Staying positive is a major aspect of all competitive games. When you have a positive mindset you are more resilient to problems that will come to you, meaning that instead of getting angry and doing the same strategies that got you killed in the first place, instead stay positive, optimistic, and ask yourself, "what can I do to counter the enemy team?" Alongside staying positive, having good team morale will also benefit your team greatly. After a lost round saying small things like "good try" or "we got them next round don't worry" will boost the confidence of the players on your team which will in-fact make you as a team play better as well as play with synergy. The same goes for won rounds too, saying things like "nice shot" or "your aim is amazing" after a won round will boost your team's confidence even more.

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• Playing fatigued

It is very bad for your body when you play while fatigued. Since Valorant games last anywhere around 30-40 mins on average, you should rest your eyes and do a few stretches after each game to make sure you do not fatigue your body.

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• Warm-up for your comp matches

Playing without any warm-up will be detrimental to your performance. Warming up will improve your in-game performance, and if you are anything like me, take away your "first-game jitters". Warm-up in the range by shooting 100 bots and doing spike defuse/plant. I use Aim-Labs to warm up as well so I get used to my sensitivity and hone in my muscle memory.

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• Learn call-outs

Learning callouts will make it easier for you to communicate with your team which will make defending and attacking sites much easier. Learn call-outs by going into custom matches and look at the map location on the left side of your screen near the map.

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• Have game sense

In low ranks, having game sense is not something you find in players. In low ranks, the team with more game sense will determine the outcome of the entire match. There are times when people in lower ranks will hear enemy footsteps near them and will not even acknowledge it. Game sense is not something you can change in one day, it is something you learn over time so just be patient and study more about Valorant. Somethings you can do to improve game sense is watch pro players play valorant, watch how they position themselves to hold angles, watch how they peek commonly camped angles, and notice how they do not challenge fights that they do not think they will win. Watch pro players and learn when to rotate and when to push a site. Go in custom and learn the maps and their common peek angles. I will link some tutorial videos about improving game sense.

https://youtu.be/2sEKmym2Nh4

https://youtu.be/aIN9XUw1_pM

https://youtu.be/U-8tzsZYg5g

https://youtu.be/wGoK0e98BQM

https://youtu.be/FPvPhBXxEAM

https://youtu.be/ahXjZJbSiGI

https://youtu.be/KBWXYPDQxyQ

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There are many more videos on this topic so I encourage you to watch as much as you can to increase your in-game IQ.

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• Have fun

Valorant was made to be enjoyed so use it for that purpose only. If Valorant does not bring you joy when you play it then play a game that does because we are all here to have fun and get better.

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Edit: added "have game sense" section; sensitivity section

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