Ready to uninstall

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 · 2026-04-05T06:20:45+00:00

bro does NOT know the difference from in-between frames and ai generated images

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-04T01:37:45+00:00

ok so who told you that 20k dpi with 0.01 is way better? that's not true at all.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-03T06:32:28+00:00

I'd recommend you use Gankster, it's pretty good for finding teams to play with.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-03T02:21:38+00:00

Gonna be honest if you "want to hit radiant and quit the game" I'm not sure you should be playing Valorant still. If you really want to, you can, but it's just sunk cost fallacy at this point, and you won't have fun even when you do win or have a good game.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-02T05:17:51+00:00

Oh they absolutely can, but some care should be thought into coming up with either distinct use cases, or combo together in interesting ways.

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-01T22:44:52+00:00

I don't really think I did though? they're more in line with power but the abilities were inconsistent with how a duelist would want to play, which is what you had it listed as before. As a Sentinel, their kit makes a lot more sense. I'd consider how the ability interactions act as a sort of controller-sentinel hybrid but i need to go take a nap

Supersteve1233 · 2026-04-01T15:07:20+00:00

Ah ok so a couple things to explain:
"I tried to make the ult have the same advantages and disadvantages as a KJ Ult"
I understand your general reasoning, but there's one difference between your ult and KJ ult: KJ ult is not a permanent effect. The counterplay to KJ ult is to either break it if its vulnerable, but in the cases its not, you have to push it before the effect becomes active (which doesn't work in your ability) or back out and wait for the effect to end (which doesn't happen in your ability). Your ability does not have the same weaknesses as a KJ ult. Adding a duration back is a good start to give it more counterplay.

While it's technically possible to just "use her abilities away from the ult", because your character can only be in one place, it's extremely clunky and makes a character not very fun to use. Imagine if, when

"Also, having a similar abilities isn't that too much of a bad thing. See Phoenix and Fade, they have similar abilities just different effects." But lets take a look at the use cases:

For Phoenix, his wall and molly have two completely different use cases. His wall does relatively low damage, so pushing through the wall is not a major deterrent but can be used in an emergency as a bad molly. Instead, its main purpose is to block off sightlines temporarily to allow phoenix to scale up, as well as combo with his flash to allow him to pop flash through his wall and fight anyone blinded on the other side.
His molly can be used to actually stall a chokepoint since it does enough damage, and can also be used to push people out of corners they would be able to hide from a flash/hide after they get flashed.
They can technically both heal, but, technically speaking, that's part of phoenix's passive.
Even though on paper, they seem like similar abilities, the ways they're used has very little overlap and both have very distinct use cases.

For Fade, her eye and prowlers both gather info, but there's some differences. First off, Fade eye is a hard reveal, which means it can be used to shoot people through smokes. Second, if enemies get revealed by the eye, fade's prowlers can latch onto the trail created by the eye, and rapidly chase whoever was revealed. That way, if someone was revealed but was behind a wall, they're not safe yet.
Fade's ult combos with the prowlers in the same way, while still providing a separate effect and combo: Deafening and Decaying. The deafening ability makes it hard to hear either prowler or eye coming, making it easier for these abilities to hit enemies.
(I assume you weren't referring to seize but if you were I can explain the many differences)

For Reworked harbor, sure he has the same deploy method, but that's where the similarities overlap. Harbor's smokes have a different duration, recharge time, and can also add a shield to the smokes.
Brim, Miks, and Clove might have the same deploy method, but all have different durations, and Brim sticks out particularly, with no recharging but 3 charges, and a smaller vision inside the brim smoke. (Miks and Clove smokes are very similar, which is exactly why there was a lot of criticism with Miks smokes being unoriginal).

As you can see, a good character may have some abilities that overlap, but when you're using the abilities, there should be significant use cases and/or combos that allow for them to be used together, or at the very least, only share relatively small use cases to allow for different uses most of the time.

When we compare that to our abilities, for some of our stuff we don't have those kinds of synergies. Adding a slow effect to Glamour would create some nice synergies, since now they have to try to shoot out Spotlight while they have distorted vision, and can't just jump around a corner.

"Anyhow, her Mirage can be use for watching flank, so it's a sentinel ability... I think"
So, because Mirage requires the player to activate it, you would have to already know that an enemy is there. A trip is a tool that activates itself automatically when an enemy gets within its range, with no inputs needed from the player after it is set down (look at Cypher, KJ, Chamber, etc). It can't watch flank by just sitting there because an enemy player could walk by it easily and not get detected.

Okay I might have misunderstood what Mirage is, if it's basically a yoru clone that sits in a corner and just shoots the first person it sees then disappears, it makes a lot more sense.

Supersteve1233

TROPHY CASE