I spent 2 years climbing from silver to GM, ask me anything (1.6k+ Views)(100+ reply)

Competitive Discussion
41

There’s not really a average ELO that I stay in. Most recently that I can remember is that I was stuck 3900 - 3950. And before that is 3700~.

1 Like
42

This is no longer true. Groups and Matchmaking in Overwatch

2 Likes
43

LeaF, i congratulate and applaud your efforts in seeking to improve day after day, season upon season and year after year.

I am certain that many would appreciate the insight which only a player such as yourself can offer.

Also, and more importantly, given the dedication, work ethic, mental resilience and analytical thought which you have displayed and applied in your climb to Grandmaster Tier; i believe that these values would go a long way in making your life outside of the game a very good one as well.

44

MB then. Sorry I don’t really Duo queue or stack. Sorry!

45

Even if that’s true, getting out of silver, gold, plat, and diamond as a tank only isn’t easy at all. Once you get to Masters the DPS are good enough that you can play tank and climb. What I’m saying is in all probability you played with people who helped you rank through very large portions of this. If you were to buy a new account and solo queue as a tank you might not make it past plat.

46

Thanks man! you made my day :smiley:

1 Like
47

Does it help to stick to one role like barrier tank or main support?

48

You are welcome, sir.

This old man just says it as it is. =)

49

I was a genji main season 1&2. I was a pharah main season 3&4. I was a support main (Ana&Lucio) season 5. Season 6 I started to flex. Until season 10 I decided to mainly play main tank. All the hours (genji, pharah, rein, ana, lucio) can be seen on my career profile. I didn’t one trick main tank into GM. That’s also why I have less hours on Winston and especially Orisa
If you really want it I can sent you some screenshots of my career profile comp seasons. Even better, you can add me if you want, so you can see it.

2 Likes
50

This used to explicitly be true. I can provide references if you’d like but I really should do other things.

Now, it’s either explicitly not true or inferred to be no longer the case, I can’t remember which. The change, if any, was unannounced but Kaa and I noticed the discrepancy in official statements after the LFG system came into being.

It’s not at all clear when they stopped using the “synergy bonus” or, as I called it, the “Grouping Penalty”, but it was far too late, IMO.

51

Well, I think playing heros that are in the same role are helpful because they might share the mechanical and game sense. But I encourage playing at least 2 roles. I can play main tank, every healer, and pharah at a decent level (I’m 2000 rank pharah on overbuff I don’t know if that means anything…). But having the flexibility is essential to climb the ladder

1 Like
52

LeaF, pardon the questions but i am asking them for the sake of debunking or maybe reinforcing certain preconceptions which many may have:

  1. Your age, if it is alright to ask? (many believe or disbelieve that age plays a crucial factor. I am one of those who believe that age does matter because if it does not, then Manu Ginobilli would not have just announced his retirement and John Stockton would still be playing)

  2. Your occupation and daily hours devoted (i know that you spared 430 hours of your past 2 years improving yourself but how does that break down to hours per day and if you are working, how did you manage your time)

  3. Your equipment used i.e. Monitor, PC, Mouse, Keyboard and sensitivity (many believe that to be in the Top Tier, a blazing fast PC with Top GPU and at least a 144mhz monitor is a requirement. Personally i do not think so, a 60mhz with a mid-range GPU would be fine although i admit that a low latency is imperative)

I may have more questions later, so bear with me, yeah? I am typing this while on work breaks.

53

P.S. Congratulations to achieving 4000+ SR. Well done, young sir =)

54

I am a Winston main finding it hard to climb out of silver. I feel like I do well every game but my team doesn’t. I know that sounds REAAALLLY typical for a silver player, but I climbed out of <500 into silver with Winston. Any tips or is Winston just a bad hero for lower ranks? I play a flanker/aggressive style of Winston.

55

It’s not that hard to climb I recently started playing playing if yk what I mean where as b4 i’ve played for fun and to mess around with friends. I was in silver yesterday morning and got to plat got three DC’s and then climbed back after getting knocked back to low gold from the DC’s i’m talking about 2050 and then climbed back to plat all in a matter of hours without losing one games other than the DC’s which i obviously can’t help. The point is that if people truly care about getting better then they will be able to if they don’t and they just wanna mess around then that’s fine but if they’re trying to and they don’t really really want to or they r eally really want to but they’re just not trying then that’s why you have to put in the effort then it becomes really easy there’s challenges along the way and it’s not going to be a cake walk but if you put in a lot of effort quickly you’re going to see a lot of result quickly. I’ve seen a lot of people go from bronze to diamond or silver to masters etc. big jumps in ranks mainly in a matter of 1 or 2 days just because they started to try and put in effort and/or started to notice their mistakes. Some people it’s a case of finding the right hero(es) like my case I didn’t play long yesterday that’s why I only was able to get 500 SR(essentially 900 SR) that and the DC’s. next season I’m gonna try for diamond. The heroes that I found for me were some DPS like tracer reaper, off-tanks, and supports because I’ve always been a very aware person and had good game sense once I learn the game. But, I come from a console background and only started play PC this year so I’m not very aim heavy I was when all i played was console I was almost masters at one point. So, I picked heroes that aren’t extremely aim dependent except for ana, zen, and mccree because that’s who I am I’m a shotcaller and a person who likes to know what’s going on. That’s why when I swapped to tank main and support secondary and playing reaper pharah tracer and mccree whenever no one plays dps (which, let’s be honest hardly happens) I started to climb without losing.

MORAL IT’S NOT HARD TO CLIMB IF YOU DROP THE EGO AND PICK HEROES THAT FIT WHO YOU ARE. IF YOU’RE MECHANICALLY SKILLED BUT HAVE BAD AWARENESS PICK REAPER OR DOOMFIST WHO HAVE A LOT OF HEALTH AND KILL POTENTIAL SO ARE VERY RARELY PUNISHED. PEOPLE WHO ARE EXTREMELY TALENTED IN BOTH ASPECTS SHOULD PICK PEOPLE LIKE GENJI TRACER MCCREE WIDOW AND PRETTY MUCH ANYONE IN THE GAME PEOPLE WHO ARE AVERAGE IN BOTH MAYBE PICK REIN OR ANA OR ZEN MAYBE SOLDIER HEROES LIKE THAT AND I PROMISE %90 OF YOU WILL GET TO MASTER OR GM.

56

The discrepancy in the statement was a typo and fixed within the day.

57

Sure.
I’m in high school and I started playing during 8th grade.
My hourly spent on playing started slow and increased over the time since I started taking it more seriously. Right now on the weekends I can play up to 5-7 hours a day, but I might stop if I’m on a horrible lossing streak.
Yes I do have a 144 monitor, I did climb to diamond playing on a Mac though, with 30 fps cap on the lowest settings. I don’t know much of the details since my friend built me it so sorry for that. My set up is around 800-900$ total. Ping is around 20-30 ms usually
sorry it took me a while to respond >~<

1 Like
58

Thanks so much for replying, Leaf. Much appreciated. =)

Ok so in summary:

Age = 14-15 (wow, dude, you are old enough to be my son! heh. my daughter who is also playing is 13)

Play timetable = typically only on weekends (Saturdays & Sundays) = avg. 6 hours unless on bad losing streak. Weekdays, maybe no playing time. So in terms of daily practise, not much if any at all.

Equipment = 144mhz monitor but was on 30fps from silver to diamond+ low to mid-range rig now. Latency is low at 20-30ms

So this may debunk the myth that age does not matter and that equipment is a must as well as having to play daily to keep in practise. Latency has to be relatively low though. That myth is not a myth but a fact.

59

First place add some commas so it’s easier to read.
Second, you have to take in account that you were almost master on counsel. Mechanical skill isn’t everything. The knowledge you have of the game is essential when playing competitive. Just because you were messing around with friends doesn’t mean you weren’t improving little by little. that’s completely different from being completely new to the game and try to climb from there.

60

(reply spam bot don’t mind me)