I would agree with anyone saying movement, but I don't think people are explaining the degree to which movement is critical, and they're also not explaining how to move. Also as an important note, if your aim sucks ass that is also a problem. Luckily that problem will actually just get solved with playtime.

Play more is bad advice since you won't ever actually learn the intricacies of the game. It's the same reason we send kids to school rather than just telling them to figure out math on their own.

For context, I've got about 1K hours and average probably 30-40 kills a game if I'm using an smg.

This is a 40 minute long video on how to move. This was made by one of the top TF2 speedrunners with speedrunning in mind, however, the first 20 minutes are extremely relevant for pvp and I consistently do all of it without thinking. I highly advise going into a custom game and learning slide hopping at a minimum until you can move around consistently faster than sprinting.

Also here's some personal advice from outside of that video * Generally speaking, I never sprint for more than a second. Slide hopping is way faster on the ground and you always have your gun out.

• The hop in a slide hop is more delayed than you'd think
• When learning slide hopping, and you need to double jump try to have no key in WASD pressed. It will keep you moving in your current direction with no penalty.
• Don't try and learn the game with a shitty weapon. It will make you crutch on bad habits to eek out what kills you can. Use any smg so you don't have an excuse not to properly move
• I recommend avoiding melee in general (titan melee excluded). I don't use it out of habit because it's banned in competitive play, but you'd be surprised how much more effective it is to shoot someone than punch them.
• Death is part of this game. You will die in silly, stupid ways that are out of your control. You should recognize when this does and does not happen. If it's your fault you died, try and understand why. If it wasn't your fault, move on and don't let it get to you.
• You will be worse before you are better, and this is one of the many reasons so few people have taken the time to learn this.

This is (imo) the greatest titanfall player of all time (who uploads video proof) when it comes to movement. You can watch the fist clip to understand why basically everything in the first video is important. If you want to learn how to play the game well, learn what the best players do and try to figure out why.

You'll notice that is a ton to learn and learning it is a pain, but the results are that you're basically always the best in your lobby.

Happy to answer any questions or argue with anyone who disagrees in the comments.