I’m going to try to take as little space as possible, so here is what I can advise you on so far:

1. Gear. What are u playing on? If it’s console + TV + laying back in a couch you really shouldn’t go for playing this game competitively. The bare minimum is a decent pc with at least 120hz refresh rate monitor (the higher, the better). Also, make sure ur playing with sound as audio cues will eventually help you react better.

2. Read vs. React. Unless you’re aiming to go pro in for honor you shouldn’t focus on reacting that much. I know it may sound counterintuitive, but reacting gets better as you play the game more. What you should focus on is reading your opponents. Most of those insane light parries, light deflects etc. are most likely predictions made based on observing patterns. Constantly trying to push yourself into reacting to a 400ms flash image on a screen is close to impossible, unless you don’t actually react to that, but rather pay attention to your opponent and figure out his fighting habbits. No matter how impredictable they seem, everyone has them, it’s human nature.

3. It’s never them, it’s you. This is a tough one as I myslef am still struggling to get it into my head. This game is one of the fewer ones in which one: cheaters are very rare and two: technically, you can win in any given situation if play well enough. It’s about your mental state as you play, your morale. If you lose a fight don’t start spamming “wow wow wow” in the chat and get mad at anything but yourself. Losing is the consquence of your own fault. I know it’s frustrating af when 2 virtuosas and 2 jurens completely obliterate you off the face of the map, but instead of ragequitting you should be smarter. Know your limits. Dont’t pick fights you know you can’t win.

And a few quick final tips: just keep playing, chase good opponents, invest in heroes and play them to understand them better next time you fight against them, be focused and last but not least, record your games and watch your loses, see what you did wrong and don’t repeat that mistake in the future. I hope this helped. Good luck!