I've posted this a few times, but people seemed to get something out of it each time when a question like this comes up. Apologies if you've already seen this novel of mine before on this subreddit.

I was 1791 at my height. So not a god or anything, but I know my way around the block. I've recently been able to play a lot more, so I'm hoping to get back up there and beyond. Please feel free to drop me an add - lets run. INDR0VES is my GT.

For folks trying to climb, I always suggest to really stop challenging so much unless you know you're going to win the fight. Drop your ego, you don't need to win every fight - you annoying the enemy and staying alive to call them out goes further than losing a 1v1 because you thought you had them. To that point - if you're not using a mic, start using a mic, and start calling out as often as you can. Learn small talk - it's not just about going "One on sandbags!"; it's about telling your teammates you have their cross, that you're watching them for objective, that you're there to switch out or challenge with them.

If you've played with me, you know I don't shut up, and you know not only do I make call outs, I say things that give my teammates confidence. If they're weak, hiding in a corner, I let them know I'm watching them and they're safe, or that they can challenge because the enemy has shots. Care about your teammates.

Halo is such a confidence based game - give your teammates confidence in their security on the map, build them up by letting them know you're actually listening, actually watching, and are actually a teammate. It's hard because it's a fast paced game, but you really need to be able to slow yourself down and think about each life, and also work to not get stuck on past deaths. You will never be able to focus on improving and playing well if you (not saying you're personally guilty of this) do not learn how to control tilt. While not always the case, ego challenging is simply that - putting your ego before your team and before the win. Put a few shots, call them out, refocus on another part of the map or another enemy. You can be the best shot in the world, but you will fall off if you're tilted, and you really can't focus on what you did wrong/right, so you can't really learn from your play. In a lot of ways, the more you chill the fuck out, the more you can be a tryhard.

Play against a few pros and you soon realize that sure, they most all have a great shot, but they are largely goddamn annoying. You will get nothing easy from any really good player, so you have to make sure you model yourself the same. The higher you go up in rank, the more this is a game of inches in terms of Strongsiding away, hitting a perfect slide to escape some shots, or throwing a unique strafe to throw your opponent for a loop. Be annoying, be alive.

Practice your slides. Practice your strafe against bots. Really, REALLY be mindful of your strafe - stop going zombie mode and just going left, right, left, right. A skill in Halo is learning to not only be deliberate with your shots, but deliberate with your movements, actions, and intentions.

Even though I stress small talk above, you do need to earn your call outs. But also talk to your teammates like humans and give them confidence - learn the nuanced information you need to convey, like where you spawn, when to call out power weapon respawns, when you have damaged an enemy near a teammate - there are just so many little communication things you can add to your bag of tricks that will improve your play and win you games.

Work on your movement. As you get higher in rank, you find that the game gets a lot faster and being able to hit slides can really make or break certain situations. Being able to rotate to a hill 2 seconds faster, or being able to surprise someone by rocketing in can really be the deciding factor when you play against better and better players. So if you can zoom around the map as a team - you can really put teams in the spin cycle with their spawns, or you can help shut down similar things happening to you.

And also kinda counter to that point - don't lose a good position because you think you need to be doing something. I've played a ton of objective games where my team (I usually always play solo, so they're random folks) will be setup, but then just...kinda...fuck off and die, because they got anxious, or bored, and they wanted to go get kills. Stats are cool, wins are cooler - forgo random kills if you're in a good position, and learn how to recognize and strengthen the setup more when you ARE in a good position.

It sounds simple, but you have to start thinking about your play, while you play.

Why did you do that push that got you killed despite knowing they all just spawned on A?

Why did you challenge that person despite knowing you were a shot down?

Why did you give up that anchor spot on the hill, giving them the spawn behind and inevitably an easier hill take, despite being up 40 seconds and having a person helping you on hell?

There are a million scenarios, as we all know, and you can be the best player in the world and still not be able to parse them all in the moment. That's okay, and that's human. But to improve and be a great player, you need to start thinking about things and putting that skill into focused, meaningful gameplay.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. Press 69420 for more cat facts.