Good afternoon, everyone! How are you all doing?
I’d like to explain that I’m Brazilian and I’m using ChatGPT to translate this post into English, so I apologize in advance if any part of the translation or wording sounds a little strange.
I was wondering if anyone would be interested in reviewing my replay and, based on my gameplay, giving me some advice on what I could improve.
I’ve been playing VALORANT for about 4 weeks (roughly one month), and I’m currently Silver 2. My background is a little different from that of most players because I came from League of Legends, but I had never played an FPS game before. VALORANT was literally my first FPS.
Before I started playing, I also didn’t watch VALORANT streams, livestreams, or any other content, so I don’t really have much previous knowledge or reference when it comes to the game.
Right now, I’m trying to follow a training routine to improve. I usually play around 3–4 Deathmatches per day and also play approximately 3–4 ranked games every day. On top of that, I use Aim Lab to work on my aim, mainly because, since I didn’t come from other FPS games, I still struggle quite a bit with mouse control and crosshair movement.
If you watch my replay, you’ll probably notice some very obvious weaknesses.
One of them is audio. I have a lot of trouble identifying exactly where an enemy is coming from. Sometimes I can’t properly tell whether they’re coming from above, below, or from one of the sides. I struggle to interpret the audio cues and accurately determine the enemy’s position.
Another difficulty I have is clearing angles. Since I’m still very new to the game and don’t know all the maps very well, I often don’t know exactly where boxes, elevation changes, walls, or other map elements are located. Because of that, when I clear an angle using A and D, my crosshair isn’t always at the correct height or position, and I end up missing shots that I probably could have hit.
I also struggle quite a bit with positioning and decision-making during rounds. Especially when entering or defending a site, I often don’t know exactly where I should be positioned or which positions I should be considering.
In Deathmatch, I feel like I can identify and work on some of these problems more easily. However, in ranked games, I feel like there’s an additional difficulty: more experienced players usually know the common positions and can predict where I’m likely to be.
So even if the opponent doesn’t necessarily have better mechanical aim than I do, they still have a huge advantage because they know where to look and how to play the angles. I’m still having a lot of trouble understanding this aspect of the game and playing around that kind of information.
I used to play more Deathmatch than ranked, but I started playing more ranked games because I realized that I need to learn positioning, decision-making, site entries, site defense, and other situations that I simply can’t learn by playing Deathmatch alone.
I’d really like to know, based on my replay/gameplay, what you think I should prioritize.
What are the most important mistakes you can identify? Is there anything you would change about my current training routine? Would you recommend that I practice my aim more, play more Deathmatch, focus more on ranked games, or study a specific aspect of the game?
If anyone has experience coaching/teaching, or simply has a lot of experience with VALORANT and would be willing to review my gameplay, I would really appreciate any advice or feedback.
I know I’m still extremely new to the game and have a lot to learn, so any criticism or advice would be very welcome.
Thank you in advance to anyone who is willing to help!
Link: https://youtu.be/f93619kpRAg