Map Awareness

One of the biggest things you can attribute any progress in skill to in Splatoon 3, is awareness. Whether you're aware of your weapons flaws, other teams kit, ecetera. In this guide, I'll be explaining how to improve your Map Awareness. But first of all...

What Is Map Awareness?
My definition of Map Awareness is knowing and understanding where each player is, who is alive, dead, or re-spawning, who has specials and who has the tide of battle. This is crucial when planning fights and pushes, deciding when to use your special, and when pushing objective. Most lost fights can be attributed to simply not being aware of other players, and therefore the map by extension. Here is some tips to raise your Map Awareness

• Check the Map Frequently

After each death, before each fight, preparing push with your team, or simply just waiting to regroup, check your map! If you aren't new to Splatoon, you'll know that the map gets updated in real time. That means you can find out where some of your opponents are just by watching where enemy ink is being laid down on the map. Not only that, but if they touch your color, their icon will appear for a short time.

Not only this, it's a great way to see who has Map control, and make a plan on how to turn the tides in your favor. Without map control, the odds of you winning a fight are slim to none. Team up with your utility and set to getting picks and painting that map!

• Pay Attention to the Team Indicator on the Top of the Screen

The team indicator shows you who's alive, who has special, and who's dead. By checking the indicator whenever you can, you can get a feel for how the game is going and when you can push. You can also known when players are just re-spawning, if you pay enough attention! Are either teams spawns de-synced, leaving space available to pick off valuable players and push? Do either team have specials, leaving the other side having to play more carefully to avoid having them unleashed on them all at once? You can determine these things by watching that indicator.

• Listen to your Backline!

Your Backline is going to essentially have visuals on the entire map, and will call out enemy positions as they see them in most cases. Sometimes, they may even call out who has specials, who's re-spawning, Beakon placements, and other valuable information. And because of this, it's also in your best interest to keep your Backline alive! If they go down, not only are you down a valuable player, but also their valuable info.

• Don't Superjump without Evaluating the Situation!

The biggest mistake you can make is superjumping into a bad situation after respawning, because you're out of play for twice as long. And a simple way to avoid jumping into certain death is to 1. Check the map thoroughly before jumping. Where is enemy ink appearing? Is it close to where you want to jump? And 2: Check the Indicator. Who's alive on your team? And on the Enemy team? Do they outnumber you? Do they have a special they could use to kill you as soon as you land?

Okay...But how do I make this Routine?
There's a good handful of ways you can go about incorporating this into how you play. When playing, ask yourself: Where is (XYZ) player? How can I find out? Check your peripherals, your map, and your indicator. Try and keep track of both one teammate and one enemy during the course of a turf war game. Try playing a few games where you pick your fights based on those two elements alone. Do it often enough, and it'll become second nature.

In Conclusion...
These inclusions are vital to how you play in higher ranks, and I feel most mistakes I see in Solo Queue could be avoided by using the tips mentioned before. If you have any other thoughts, feel free to share, and I hope this helps anyone to improve their gameplay!