Communication is one of the most important aspects of the game and is beyond underrated. Information controls rotations, map control, teamwork, and overall readiness. Today, we will master how to use communication, without overcommunicating properly.
We’re going to break up communication into 5 parts, Pre-Round, Enemy Information, Attitude, Utility, and Mid-round.
Mindset
There are key psychological components for improving and mindset is one of them.
Mindset is a core factor in competing, including in ranked games. As regards to ranked games, there will always be bad teammates and unwinnable games. Understand that ultimately the goal is to improve. Rank is the result of skill, but rank is not the definition of skill. If you start viewing rank as the definition of your skill you’re holding yourself back. As soon as you let go of the ideology that your rank means everything, the sooner you can focus on improving as a player and teammate. As a result, you will find yourself climbing the ranks, while growing as a teammate and individual. This means you can barely lose a game even though you played extremely well while supporting your teammates at the same time.
Remember, The value of improvement will always outway the result of a ranked game. If you can learn from your losses, you can start to apply that knowledge to your next game.
Maintain a positive attitude. You’re playing to improve, losing is a part of the game. Focus on the things you can control and strive to identify and work on mistakes or bad habits. Be nice to your teammates, and keep the morale high, by doing so your team will perform better. We go more in-depth with this in our communication guide.
No tilt queuing. There is so much you can do if you’re in a slump or having a bad day in ranked. For example, take a break from ranked. If you want to play more consider deathmatching, VOD reviewing, playing unrated, or messing around in a custom game. Grinding it out is not* always the best move as you can maintain a negative mind space and get burnt out quickly. Make sure you are in the right mind space and ready to improve when queuing ranked.
Team Composition
Team composition will determine if you’re setting yourself up for success or failure. You could be a significantly worse team but with a much better comp, you could have the advantage. It’s usually a good idea to have at least one controller, one sentinel, one or more initiators, and one duelist. However, each map has agents and compositions that are meta and very powerful. It is beneficial to learn which maps are good for which characters to give you an edge when playing them. In further guides and master classes, we will be going over specific maps and compositions and how to play them. Consider picking up a few other roles that you can play and widening the number of agents you can play. This can be a key factor for ranking up out of the lower ranks as you can fill in the gaps in the team composition.
Teamwork and communication
Incorporating teamwork into your game is a crucial piece of ranking up. Many players shrug it off and blame bad teammates for not working together. Although that contributes to it, you are still able to use teamwork regardless. The ability to be a team player and notice when your teammates are acting without communicating is a skill that’ll let you focus on you, while also improving team play. Be aware of what your teammates are doing, are they pushing into a bombsite without calling it? Consider letting them know you are going to smoke for them and flash for them to go in. Now, you’ve turned a non-communicating teammate who is running it down, into a tool to create space and take a bombsite. Also, make sure you’re relaying all the important information that you are gathering. This is vital information that your team can use to more efficiently work together. This can be done regardless of if anyone else is talking, take the initiative yourself. We go over both of these in more depth in our Communication & teamwork guide!
Advantages
Playing the advantage can instantly help you rank up. When I say “advantage” I am referring to having more players alive. To keep it simple, if the enemy team has 4 alive and your team has 3 alive, the other team has the advantage. The same goes for if you’re the team with 4 alive and the other team has 3 alive, your team has the advantage. It’s crucial to recognize when you’re at an advantage or disadvantage. When you are up in players, there is less of a need to take risks and make a play. You’re already on track to win the round. Your job is to maintain the player advantage to secure the round. As soon as you start going for plays while already up players, you are giving the enemy team a way back into the round. If you are the one down players, this is a great time to take calculated risks to try to even it back out and make a play. Such as trying to find a timing to slip through their defenses and catch someone off guard, or trying to isolate fights.
How to Improve
Tying back into mindset, improving is the goal. There are multiple ways to improve, each having its own benefits. Creating a routine of different focuses can help keep things fun and reduce burnout while improving on all fronts. Let’s list some of the ways you can improve
- Deathmatch & Aimtraining (aimlabs)
- Custom Game – Practicing line-ups, crosshair placement, and map knowledge
- Recording your own games and watching them back to identify mistakes to focus on
- Watching pro matches with the intent of picking up the reasons they make certain decisions
Even if you are unsure what your mistakes are, there is a lot of value in watching the replay of your games. Your mistakes will be painfully obvious to you. Getting into the habit of identifying your mistakes through replays and working on them one at a time is an effective way to fix them and build good habits. Getting in the habit of reflecting on and taking responsibility for your mistakes will help you grow at a more rapid rate as you learn the game and is a great skill to develop for your future.
Within our Academy+ Subscription, we will have multiple classes going over how to review your own replays, what to look for, and how to work on certain mistakes by reviewing in real time a student’s replay (Which could be yours)! Click Here to signup for the waitlist!
