👑 Top 500 Coach - AMA

I made a thread like this and most of the respones were about if a tree falls in a forest ,does it make a sound

I have a question. I can only play for a couple hours after work and on weekends.

Is it better for me to focus on a single hero (Ana) even if it means I lose some games because a role goes unfilled?

I don’t think I will ever be able to climb if I try and learn several heroes well, I don’t have the time.

If I don’t climb, I won’t learn how to play better. I’ll just keep learning how to play different heroes at my current rank.

Yes. It’s much better to be GM on two or three heroes in a role than to be Diamond on twelve across every role. Filling is one of the biggest reasons people feel hardstuck but they ironically point it out as a sign they should be climbing.

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I lost nearly 600 SR last season. What percentage of that do you think was due to sheer incompetence, and what percentage do you believe was bad luck with matchmaking?

EDIT: Please note I’m on console (XBOX) with that mentioned question 2- What is your opinion on the smurfing/boosting/mouse and keyboard users on XBOX

I notice when I come back to Comp after a break it takes 1-2 rounds or games before I stop feeding my brains out on any hero. Is there a way to prevent this other than focusing on positioning to the exclusion of all else?

Follow-up question, can you give me an idea of what you track in game, like specific cooldowns etc, so I have an idea of what I need to improve on?

Last question, callouts. I usually call targets, cooldowns, telegraphed (heavily) ults and flankers when I can. Too much, too little or just enough coms? If too much what to reduce, if too little what to add?

Thanks in advance, and sorry you have to deal with off-topic questions.
You’re a champ bro.

When it comes to losing that much SR in a season there are very few reasons for it. Why is that? Because it’s such a large amount of SR and over such an extended period of time that basically everything is accounted for.

It wasn’t matchmaking because there’s no way you would get put with “bad” teams frequently enough to violently throw you down that far.

I also don’t think it was due to sheer incompetence on your part. I had to immediately check what level you were and I was glad to see you’re not a new player/account because they tend to fluctuate a ton.

If I were you I would ask myself what changed. Something about your playstyle got you to X rank and then something (or several somethings) happened to make your sr X-600. Why wasn’t it X-200? Why wasn’t it X-2,000? Think about that for a while and then once you think you’ve figured it out try and fix it/use it in your gameplay in the future to see if you climb back up.

For example: If I bought a 144hz monitor and shot up 200sr I would then stay there for as long as I had that monitor and wasn’t improving. Say I then go out of town for an extended period of time where I can still play OW but not at 144hz, instead at 60hz. I would drop 200sr and think that it was something outside of me. In this particular example it happens to be outside of the player’s control but most of the time it is part of their gameplay.

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I think a big part was due to flexing to Rein/Zarya as I’m a really good Orisa, but probably just a decent Rein/Zarya. As you can see in my stats for last season my winrate on Orisa was the only one I kept positive.

But I do feel like last season was really bad in terms of players trying to play with the team/join team chat on console, and there were many smurfs, but that’s beside the point, maybe.

Would you rather play in a higher SR with a smaller hero pool or a lower SR with a bigger hero pool?

About how much sr do you gain/lose each match?

Career Silver player here. Need feedback on my 3 mains, anyone really :slight_smile:

I have the same problem but with my aim instead. I take an abnormally long time to warm up, in the scope of hours sometimes. The same applies for me in reverse for gamesense. I can’t say what your problem is for sure because I don’t have a lot to go off of, but my guess is that you are overwhelmed by everything happening in game and you need to get used to thinking a lot faster than you do during work, school, or downtime. I get this because I sometimes just lose my crosshair when I first start playing. It takes me a little bit before I can pay attention to everything at once again.

My suggestion, since you seem fine on aim warmups, is to play a custom game like Ana paintball, Mercy paintball, Widow lobbies (HS only doesn’t matter), or just QP. You need to get your brain used to reacting quickly and making quick decisions. You’ll feed your brains out still but it will be in a custom game mode or QP where it matters a lot less than in competitive.

Keep in mind that if you go this route you can’t just hop into these games mindlessly. Your goal is to stretch your brain legs out before going on a 10k run. Walking to the fridge isn’t going to do you any good. You need to take the warmup seriously and try your best to get used to the flow of information again. It’s a long and winded explanation but there’s a lot to warming up. I’d rather over-explain than just say “Play some QP bro.”

Of course I can. I track my ammo count on heroes with small clips like Doomfist, Pharah, McCree, and Widowmaker. I track escape and offense cooldowns separately depending on the situation. I manage my Blinks as Tracer a hell of a lot more closely than I watch my Venom Mine cooldown. That said, I also play around my cooldowns timing-wise. If I need to relocate as Widow I’ll do so to a place that I will certainly be safe for the next 10 years while my grapple comes off cooldown.

Outside of my own cooldowns and ammo I’ll also watch my ult charge once I get past 50% or so. Doing this lets me plan out how I’ll get my ult and then where I’ll go from there. If I have 80% of Blade as Genji, for example, I would plan out how I’ll get that extra 20% and then how my blade will go from there. 9 times out of 10 this makes my Blades much more impactful because I force myself to think them through. I seldom end up just running around without a Dash or someone in range of my slashes.

Good callouts: Targets, and flankers.
Bad callouts: Obvious targets, heavily telegraphed ults, menial cooldowns.
Additions: Targets and their HP, Ults that are going to be used next fight and abilities that matter to your team.

I’ll elaborate a bit.

Calling targets is nice and all but just saying who to kill isn’t very valuable to your team. The important thing to remember with callouts is that your team are also in the same game as you. They see the same killfeed as you. They can press tab to see the same menus as you. Calling out someone who is low is information that your team may or may not have. Being redundant with that information is fine because it’s crucial and can win fights. Better to say it one too many times rather than one too few.

Calling out cooldowns can be incredibly annoying. Only call them out when they are key elements to a play you’re going to make. if you’re Genji and your Zarya wants to Grav but you don’t have Dash up yet for the engage then you need to tell her that as well as when you get it back up. When you’re playing Ana don’t shout all the time that you have no sleep. Only call it out when your team looks like they’re going to leave you in a position where you’ll be vulnerable and might need your sleep.

Calling out obvious ults is the same idea as cooldowns. If their Rein is landing tons of Firestrikes then you should always be on the lookout for his Shatter. You should tell your team that before the next fight (Where he’s likely to Shatter) even comes up. This way they can play around the fact that he has it rather than trying to scatter like sheep when he’s mid-animation.

Aside from being as quick, clear, and accurate as possible with comms you also need to not be overwhelming. Don’t go ham on your mic and make people mute you because you’re constantly spouting obvious stuff at them. Think of call outs in the same way as you would being in a duo with a friend who’s sitting next to you. You want to tell him what’s going on in your world but you also don’t want to distract him from his own game.

Avoid saying things like “What? How did he land that?” or “That was BS, X should have happened,” etc. To make your team trust you as a communicator you need to show them that everything you say is important to them and not just to you. Everyone hears everything so make sure that as many people benefit from it as possible.

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This is the biggest sign ever that you should:

  1. Stick to Orisa in comp almost entirely.
  2. Work on your other heroes that fill a more diverse role but you also show promise on.

Doing those two things will ensure that your SR stays accurate and high while also letting you work on your flexibility in the background. If you’re a GM Orisa but a Silver Rein you should stay GM with Orisa while you practice Rein against other GM MMR players in QP, scrims, etc. Once Rein is up to par with your Orisa then you’ll benefit from having two heroes in your pool that you can play to the same level.

Console is rough but lack of communication makes you a better solo player. I strictly only solo queue in comp. It makes me rely less on a party member or large constant group and has forced me to learn how to both work with a team and emphasize my own strengths in pretty much every game scenario possible.

Also, this statement bothers me to no end for one major reason: 99% of the time the people who complain about not having a team in comms aren’t providing effective communication anyway. If you yourself aren’t providing game winning callouts to your team then why are you mad if they aren’t in there? Chances are that there’s not going to be someone else who will fill that role. If callouts aren’t helpful there’s no need for them. Casual conversations before the match starts are pretty much all that happens in teamchat in anything below Diamond (From my personal experience at least, and from the VODs of my students.)

Communication is essential in higher ranks but even still not absolutely mandatory. I tilt easily and have played my fair share of games out of teamchat for me and my team’s own good. I can still win. It’s an adaptation and playstyle shift between having and missing comms, that’s it. Having them won’t suddenly make you a much better player.

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I would much rather play at a high SR with a smaller hero pool because that would be more reflective of my skill and allow for improvement much more than the alternative.

I said it earlier but I think it’s much better to be GM on two or three heroes in a role than to be Diamond at 4 heroes from every single role. The GM is the better player in my eyes. I don’t recommend or condone one tricking because it puts your team at an active detriment if your hero is taken by someone else, is countered, or is poor on the given map.

The sweet spot for me is between 2-4 heroes in a role that you can play to the best of your ability. If you’re at the lower end then those two heroes need to fill different niches in a team. Hanzo/Widow seems like they would fill the same role but they are also not countered by the same heroes. Playing Hanzo/Widow is a better combination than playing Soldier/McCree if we want to go to an extreme.

I mentioned that playing at a higher SR allows for faster improvement. I figured I should touch on that some more. By playing a few select heroes at a very unforgiving SR you are forced to innovate your playstyle to climb and to improve. You’re playing the best of the best so if you think of one thing it can take you a long way. If you’re playing at a lower SR with more heroes then you’re more tempted to switch heroes when a situation isn’t going your way then figuring out a way to solve the problem via your gameplay alone.

Think of it this way: There’s a player who is playing Tracer. They are also “comfortable” on Widowmaker as well as lots of other heroes. Suppose they’re being destroyed by a McCree on the other team. The player would most likely just switch to Widowmaker to outrange the McCree and continue playing the game.

If that player stuck on Tracer long enough they would figure out how to outplay a McCree and thus feel more comfortable against him. The player that switches heroes is still a decent player for recognizing the need to switch but the player who can consistently outplay their counter is the truly better player in my eyes.

The day you become uncounterable is the day you stop losing games. The more heroes you’re uncounterable on the higher and faster you’ll climb.

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I typically gain between 15-20sr per game and lose 25-30sr.

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And is that good/bad or

Because I normally gain 23-27 and lose 21-24 per game

SR gains diminish in relation to your losses as you approach the highest rank of 5000sr. I haven’t actually talked to many friends about it extensively but that’s about average for my rank. For Diamond and above personal performance isn’t factored into your games so the SR gains/losses are more consistent. For Diamond and below it can be more all over the place.

Gaining/losing more/less than 24 is good. 24 seems to be the average SR change for someone at their MMR/SR equivalence point. I’d say you’re in a good spot.

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I’m more than happy to help but it would be disingenuous of me to offer advice based off a simple career profile. If you want anything from me that’s more in depth than a basic YT guide you’ll have to be a bit more specific.

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I think your previous responses have answered most of my questions thanks!

Maybe switching to Oreo milkshakes is the push I need to break into GM.

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you are sadly wrong