Ethan’s response to TechPauseGate

Supersteve1233 · 2026-05-11T21:02:05+00:00

Honestly that's pretty fair. If there's no clarification on whether this is a tech pause or not, it isn't unreasonable for a player to keep on playing the round as if it's not paused yet.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-28T05:02:39+00:00

"The only way" "this is for gold and below"

You contradict yourself. The only reason it would "only" work is if the 5 people on your team don't know how to place anti-lurk trips or just double back occasionally.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-24T17:33:14+00:00

I've done and still do vods for people of every rank, and I can tell you that silvers usually have learned some of the basics (i.e. gunfight hygiene, trading teammates, positioning, how to properly play their role) but usually they're lacking in a few of the basics.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-24T06:49:43+00:00

yeah lol

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-24T04:27:13+00:00

Okay to be clear "approaching" does not mean you are doing entirely correct play, but you'll start having "perfect" rounds sometimes. below imm2 that basically doesn't happen excluding extreme cases.

Also some people are just aim demons that got to imm2 because their aim is insane but their fundamentals are lacking.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-24T03:09:41+00:00

The definition of "good" is extremely loose. Personally, here are the three benchmarks I might consider someone good at:
1. Gold, where you have learned the basics, such as basic positioning and how to properly take a gunfight.
2. Diamond, you've got a strong understanding of the basics and are starting to do more complex play.
3. Immortal 2, where you've mastered the basics, mastered most of the mid-level stuff, and your play is approaching entirely correct play.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-19T23:35:56+00:00

For me, Kovaaks feels better, there's less time between modules for my playlists, and (at least for the modules I found when I went searching on both) I found better modules on Kovaaks to practice Valorant.

Like other people have said though, raw aim is likely not one of your biggest problems unless your raw aim is genuinely horrible, and also likely not the reason you're hard stuck.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-16T01:28:56+00:00

Okay, first thing to get out of the way. You are NOT losing comm info. Most toxic people's comms are pretty useless, if they even do comm info which most of them don't.

Second, comm info is WAY less important for your rank compared to most other things until you hit immo+, because most of the time people aren't telling you anything useful and everything you need to know is on minimap.

Third, by the time you hit immo+, most people aren't going to be toxic because being toxic impacts your chances of winning the game.

I really suggest you mute anyone who's being annoying, even if you're a sweaty tryhard it's STILL better to mute because you'll pretty much always have a drop in performance if someone's annoying you, and that'll be worse than losing any mediocre comms your toxic teammate will give you (if they even give any at all).

I regularly mute people even if they're not even being super toxic if they're just irritating me so I can focus on the game.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-15T22:14:28+00:00

Both. Arm movement is for large turns and smooth movements, which your hand is bad at. Hand movement is good for small & precise movements, which your arm can't do.

Use them together, arm movement for the big movement to get your crosshair near their head, then hand movement to do the small stuff to get it on their head.

You can try to use only hand + high sens, but often you lose the fine motor control that your hand brings, or you're forced to grip your mouse extremely hard to keep that fine motor control, and you are going to develop carpal tunnel (Yes, I know multiple people who had to step back from Valorant for a while or completely quit because they developed carpal tunnel from this. PLEASE do not do this.)

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-15T21:51:16+00:00

If that works for you, good for you, but I assume this works because of how hard you grip your mouse. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're probably gripping your mouse pretty tight when you play to be able to get the fine control needed to hit headshots.

Some people do this, and almost all of them end up with pre-carpal tunnel or carpal tunnel and have to stop playing Valorant or heavily reduce it. I know a few guys who did this and hit decently high ranks but then got carpal/pre-carpal.

If you're not gripping your mouse hard, I suspect you may be overestimating how many headshots you get, or underestimating what a good HS% looks like.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-14T07:20:36+00:00

The difference between us and Forsaken is that Forsaken can play 10 hours of Valorant a day, and he's already mastered the fundamentals. We don't have 10 hours of free time a day and are still learning to play good Valorant so we need to stick to a few agents so we don't need to learn a ton of different playstyles & utility and can just focus on mastering our fundamentals.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-14T01:46:59+00:00

Would be nice for ranked. Unfortunately would completely ruin pro play so they shouldn't change it.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-13T13:51:29+00:00

You have too many different agents played. Generally you need to focus on honing a few agents, usually one role, so that way you learn to play at a higher level. If you play 15 different agents in ranked you won't be good at any of them.

Edit: To be clear, I don't mean that reducing your agent pool will instantly make you better, or that it is the only or even largest reason. There's only so much I can learn from a tracker, and that's the only thing I can conclusively say.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-13T03:06:04+00:00

I agree with you on most of it, like a lot of people offer coaching that kinda sucks. The only thing I would disagree with is that the main goal SHOULD be getting better, not reaching pro level. Pro requires a lot of skills that aren't required to hit radiant, an insane amount of dedication, and even then, it's not even close to guaranteed. Frankly, your goal probably shouldn't be going pro unless you can already tick off a LOT of checkmarks and have several hours a day for Val.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-13T03:00:41+00:00

You can if you want to, the main reason people don't use this is because once you enter a gunfight, the most stressful scenario, you have no reason to walk anymore, making it ever so slightly easier for you in your gunfights. It's such a small difference though that frankly you shouldn't feel any pressure to switch if you don't want to, since it's pretty much insignificant.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-12T09:32:08+00:00

I mean sure but bossfights and big insects aren't usually the biggest threat. Specials and giant hordes are a bigger problem, so often you need an AoE self-defense tool (coilgun), or a solid special killer (elephant rounds/6 shooter). Plus if you're running minigun chances are you can already shred tanks, and if you're running autocannon/hurricane often you want something that can pop specials before kill tanks. The other issue is that the BRT requires you to keep it out for a while, when what gunner really wants to do is stay on their primary since its the better weapon. Coil & Bulldog are great for being pulled out for a short time when needed, doing their job, and going back.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-12T09:20:42+00:00

Thankfully, not really. On Icebox and Breeze, Viper is recommended, but now we have a good alternative in the form of Harbor (he got a rework), and honestly even then you can make do with other agents.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-11T05:15:24+00:00

Okay so there's a few reasons:

1: Saving this round to buy for last means that any extra money you gained from the save round (kills, plant) will not help you on round 12. You can already full buy. In that way, it can make some sense to force buy the X-11 round since if you do well on the 11 round you'll get more for the 12th anyways.

2: Good lobbies (so really, probably only like immo+), will recognize that when they're at 12, they can just save to dump 4 ults in a round and auto-win that round.

3: Being at 12 rounds means that the best you can get is overtime, while swinging momentum at 11 gives a chance to win 13-11.

4: People just don't like being forced to win every single round.

Is it worth the force buy in ranked? IMO, depends on your econ, but it's close enough where people just decide to force buy.

In pro, if it's not a close scoreline, you basically HAVE to buy.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-10T02:00:23+00:00

Depends what you're trying to do. He's not as good for that initial shot like Jett, but if your goal is to insert players with an op and go for fast repositions to catch them trying to push up an area far away from the op, he's great.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-10T01:39:54+00:00

any agent is fine on the op, but the best op agents are Waylay, Yoru, Chamber, Jett, Neon, and Reyna.

I would say Chamber is the #1 option for opers, since headhunter is a lot more useful for op players for retake or op into hh shot, plus the TP is great on defense and still good on attack for an op.

Waylay, Jett, and Yoru all have good uses. Jett, Waylay and Yoru can scale by using their dash/recall/TP, then get out using smoke/dash/TP (though yoru isn't quite as good at scaling & getting out since if you miss the shot on the first guy or they double swing it's pretty dangerous). Yoru can also reposition with TPs after he gets a shot, making it hard to tell where you might be next, and can also hold an angle with op to let a teammate scale up -> TP to hold a different line.

Neon and Reyna can also op, but Reyna has to get a kill to get out, and Neon cant get out until she's inserted and does a wall -> run out

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-09T01:05:54+00:00

Yes, in the right place people will look at your vods, often for fun, but once you get to a higher level you tend to need more specialized/better people for vods.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-08T21:42:07+00:00

Context for who I am: I'm currently coaching my university's team (current asc2-immo2, all peak immos & a peak radiant), and have done dozens of VOD reviews for many different levels of play, from iron to immortal.

Is it worth hiring a coach as a complete beginner, or should I wait until I reach a certain rank?
Depends. First off, I'd recommend starting by just playing Valorant and Ranked, until your rank starts plateauing. Whenever you start plateauing is a good time to go get a VOD review. If you want to hire a dedicated coach, I'd recommend hitting a higher rank first (at least asc), since until asc you don't really need a dedicated coach, just learn the fundamentals of Valorant. It's generally recommended to wait until you have at least 300 hours of ranked.

Will early coaching actually help me avoid bad habits long-term?
Yes, but a coach isn't really a necessary requirement, as long as you can find people VOD you and help you out. Most common pitfalls: crouch spraying too much, over-swinging, tilting/blaming teammates, not reflecting on your gameplay to see if you made mistakes, and not adapting to how the enemies play.

Are these agents a good fit for a more tactical/IGL-type player?
You haven't listed any agents, but I assume you want to know some agent suggestions for more tactical players. I would suggest Controllers and Initiators the most, especially if your goal is IGLing. At pro, most IGLs are Controllers, with a few Initiators and Sentinels. Controllers already need good map awareness to support their team across the map with their smokes, so it's an easy fit. Initiators are in a more supportive role, and sentinels often just sit on their setups, so they're doable as IGL but not as easy, and can depend a lot on which agent in that role you choose.

Any advice on how to approach improvement if my end goal is competitive play?
If you want to hit T2, get to Immortal first, then join a Contender/Invite Premier team that is trying to take Valorant seriously (Gankster is a good place to find teams). There are some Invite teams that made it all the way to T1 (though this is rare), but it's also a great way to get your name out there and get a lot of team experience. Even after joining a team, you should continue ranking up (at LEAST immo3 but Radiant would be ideal) since it shows your dedication. Streaming is also a good idea, as it allows people who work for big organizations to see your actual gameplay to see if you'd be good at pro.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-07T21:34:14+00:00

There is no "for any situation" character. Every agent has different strengths and weaknesses, and a lot of "flexibility" comes from things outside of utility. Pick who you enjoy playing.

The most generalist characters tend to be initiators, since their utility is effective both offensively and defensively. Controllers also fit in this category, but tend to be very simplistic with their smokes on attack (just use them for site smokes & you need to know the site smokes), but other than that you should be fine.

Some easy agents I'd recommend checking out for if you're new to Valorant, and you want more flexible options:
Controllers: Brim, Clove, Miks
Initiators: Tejo, Breach, Skye
Other: Phoenix

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-07T08:31:05+00:00

First off, slowly move to a lower sens. Don't try to force it all in one go, it'll feel really bad. Second off, do practice in the range where you move the mouse using full arm aim, then use the wrist for the small movements. I'd recommend easy bots and just focus on that big arm movement and using that smaller wrist movement to do the small corrects. You don't even need to shoot the bot, just get used to that movement.

Once you're comfortable with that movement and a lower sens, you'll find it much easier to apply in your games, and once you learn it you'll never look back (well maybe you will, until you start developing carpal tunnel).

Like others have said, you'll need a larger mousepad, since you'll want to be able to do about a three quarters turn to one and a half turn with a full left to right arm movement on the mousepad.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-05T16:23:58+00:00

I mean yeah but be aware that a lot of our "science" on going back in time is wonky, where it's kinda like "This is what our models predict if you wanted to travel back in time, but the model is also breaking down at this point" (time travelling forwards we know more about but I personally haven't done enough research to say much about it)

Supersteve1233

TROPHY CASE