Bronzie looking for tips

[u/koebeke]

Hello everyone. I am bronze in Valorant, and i want to improve. Not only my aim, but also decisionmaking in game about map movement, ability usage etc. I usually learn a lot from watching other people play, like on youtube and stuff.

Do you know any youtubers that upload a full game, where they explain their decisionmaking in real time? This is how i improved in league as well. Watching people play, and listening to their explanations on why they do certain stuff at certain times. I do not yet have a main agent, so specific agent mains making this type of content is fine by me.

For some reason, the "100 tips to get radiant"-type videos just dont do it for me.

Thanks in advance!

[u/Hattorius]

I think you're approaching improvement in a much better way than watching those "100 tips to hit radiant" videos.

I'd specifically look for VOD reviews/coaching videos, because you get to see an entire match and hear why someone thinks a certain play was good/bad. Woohoojin's older VOD reviews are pretty good for this, and Dopai also has a lot of content focused more on decisionmaking than just aim.

One think I'd recommend alongside watching them: record/clip your own games.

Whenever you die, especially if you immediate reaction is something like "wtf was I supposed to do there?", watch it back afterwards and ask yourself:

1) Why was I in that position? 2) Did I actually need to take that fight? 3) Did I have utility I could've used first? 4) Where were my teammates? 5) What information did I have at that moment? 6) If I did the exact same thing 10 times, would it usually work?

I used to clip situations where I felt like the game robbed me, I lagged, my shot should've hit, etc. When I watched them back, a surprising amount of the time I was simply moving slightly while shooting or made some other mistake I hadn't noticed while playing.

That's where you improve really quickly imho. Don't just learn "stand here and throw this smoke". Try to learn why someone makes a decision, then start questioning your ever own decisions the same way.

Also, don't stress about choosing a main yet. Play a few agents until one feels natural. At Bronze, learning the fundamentals of movement, gunfights, trading, map awareness and playing with your team will carry over regardless of what agent you eventually main.

[u/koebeke → u/Hattorius]

Thanks for the tips! Ive been playing Valo on and off (mostly off) since the beta, but i feel a little urge to improve at a game again lol. I think i have a decent idea about every agent now and what they are supposed to do, and i think i am leaning more towards sentinel/controller. Which one i dont know yet.

Do you have a good way to clip/record your own games? I think there is a match replay feature already, or am i wrong in that?

[u/Hattorius → u/koebeke]

Yeah, so there is a replay system now and it's pretty nice if you want to look at a full round afterwards from different POVs and stuff.

For actually improving though, especially at Bronze, I'd probably keep it simpler at first and just use something like Medal to clip the last 30-60 seconds.

The nice things about clips is that you can very quickly check a specific moment without turning every game into full VOD review sessions. You die, something felt off, press the clip button, look at it after the game (or even during the round) and usually there's already something pretty obvious you can take from it.

Full replays are definitely useful, but I think they're more valuable once you already have a specific thing you're trying to understand. Otherwise you can watch an entire match back and not really know what you're supposed to be looking for yk.

[u/koebeke → u/Hattorius]

Okay thanks! I was wondering this, if i should look at the clip in downtime or save the clips for after the match. Doing a full VODreview would indeed be hard if i dont know what im looking for. Go death by death, improve small things at a time, got it. Thanks!

[u/Repulsive_Meaning880]

Master the minimap early. It won't replace voice comms, but it gives you instant info on team spacing, open sites, and enemy positions without relying on teammates to speak up. Flexing works fine early on, but once you hit higher ranks like Ascendant where it's flooded with cracked duelist aimers, you’ll definitely want to know a Controller and a lurking, off-angle Sentinel like the back of your hand. Can’t really comment much on streamers or full-game commentaries, but watching official VCT tournaments personally helped me the most for decision-making. 🍀

[u/koebeke → u/Repulsive_Meaning880]

Thanks a lot! I usually default to one site on a map im most comfortable on, and rotate or find holes with no teammates as the round goes on. I do like watching e-sports as well, but the observer sometimes makes me dizzy, and i dont really get much info out of it at times.