How do you mentally deal with lag when playing a close range weapon?

[bae95]

I play inkbrush. That means I need to have a pretty consistent state of game on my field (like no teleporting players, bullets hitting people where you see them on screen, low ping, bullets are visible, etc.) to play the game. Otherwise I can't dodge shots, I can't safely take out people without making trades due to dying a second later, and basically my opponents get to take pot shots at me on the field whereas I would be behind cover on my side (because my position information hasn't correctly updated on their end).

But inevitably there are plenty of times where I have no choice.Especially in SendouQ where region-based pairing has no priority in matchmaking. Lag can be huge.

Had a game where for the first time I was audibly tilted when playing Sendou with my team. I don't want to keep up like this. Any advice?

I struggle to think of ways I would ever have an advantage when playing the close range weapon in a lag scenario.

 

[youre_a_squib_now]

You can't control the other players. Instead of getting upset about their internet, weapon choice, etc., think about what you can do differently. This applies in the match and outside of it.

The first (and admittedly most obvious) part of this is to check your internet quality. If you don't have a wired connection, try to make sure you're close to your router and there are no major obstacles in the way. You can't control the other players' internet connections, but you can control your own. Also, in soloq, internet quality is one of the factors used in matchmaking, so the better and more consistent your own Internet is, the more likely you are to be paired with players who also have more consistent internet, to an extent. But in sendouq you really can't control it.

In a match, take note of who is lagging. If you think it would be helpful for your teammates to know, tell them on comms. You're not complaining about it, you're telling them helpful information. But once you tell them, leave it at that.
I don't play inkbrush, and I rarely run into issues with lag. But treat it like a learning experience. If someone used a strategy against you that you hadn't seen before, and you died a lot to it, you would go back, look at what they did, and think about what you could do to counter that strategy. You should do the same for lag. Although in this specific case you shouldn't be attempting to emulate their strategy, you can still analyze the match afterwards and think about how to play around the lag. Ask yourself what the problem is and what you can do about it. Did you notice which players specifically were lagging? When you died, would you still have died without the lag? (Watching the replay from your opponent's perspective can help. Also see this short.) Either way, how can you avoid it next time? Did you tilt and go for things you wouldn't have otherwise? What patterns do you notice in lagging players and how can you play around them? And other questions.

Basically, treat lag like any other obstacle. Instead of blaming the lag for your loss, analyze it, figure out what you can do about it, and try those things. and then repeat.

 

[bae95]

But as the original question goes, what do you do to deal with it in the match? I can't visibly or confidently approach a guy who's teleporting on the field. I can't use regular judgement anymore. I can't tell something like "that splatana is in range to direct on me" or " hey there a was a bucket near my location" because the positioning and normal cues no longer show up on my screen. Maybe with a regular shooter weapon I could just "take another shot" but when playing a weapon like brush, you really only have one chance.

Also, contrary to what the video says, sometimes you have to disrespect a charger's line of sight and hide behind cover on the whim of a dime. This weapon rewards using erratic movements and avoiding shots to gain advantage (example: https://fxtwitter.com/UltimateAbsol/status/1761819287403278657) -- which is completely thrown away when someone is able to hit you through a wall because their game client is a second behind yours.

Yet when it actually comes to the game I don't know how I appear on the opponent's screen due to lag and internet boundaries. Is there anything I can interpret about my own positioning/hitboxes to the lagged opponent that I could use?

 

[youre_a_squib_now]

You also mentioned the mental aspect and tilting, and I do believe I answered that part of the question.


As I said, I almost never play inkbrush or encounter severe lag issues, but I'll see what I can come up with for the mechanical side of things.

If your movements are erratic, they will be erratic on your opponent's screen as well. They won't get extra time to react to your movements, your movements will simply happen later from their perspective. Dashing from one piece of cover to another in front of a charger shouldn't be much more difficult.
Reacting to opponents, like in the clip, would be next to impossible though, but it depends on if everyone is lagging or just a specific player, as well as how bad the lag is.

I can't tell something like "that splatana is in range to direct on me" or " hey there a was a bucket near my location" because the positioning and normal cues no longer show up on my screen.

There are two possible situations here. One is that your awareness is off. Lag might make this harder, but it could still be an issue. Gem released a good video about camera control recently that should be helpful if you think this is a possibility. The other possibility is that the lag really is just that bad. Consider that if you have this hard of a time keeping track of your opponents, they probably have a similarly hard time keeping track of you. As a weapon that benefits from opponents not knowing where you are, this could be helpful. Maybe sneaking up on people will be more effective?

However, the only advice I can really give is to just try things out. The next few times you encounter a lagging player, do what you normally would and see how well it works. Does it work better or worse than normal? See if you can figure out why. The ideas I've mentioned here will hopefully be helpful, but you will have to be the one to figure out what works best.

 

[Cephalobro]

Also, it's a good idea to be adaptable, this will help you deal with a laggy match.

But to fix the lag, my advice is to try reconnecting to your network, I remember doing this and it fixed the lag on my end most of the time. The Switch sometimes does this strange thing in which it tries to stay connected when the system is powered on, but it only barely keeps the connection, leading to lag in multiplayer games in general.