Wow lol, didn't expect this much advice, thanks!
But I'd also recommend you watch videos on YouTube. In particular, I'd recommend Fowskate's "S-rank adventure" series on YouTube where he goes from C- to S. He's a very experienced and skilled gamer. You can learn a lot from watching a skilled player, getting a feel for how they play.
Ech, I don't have that much time to watch vids (I don't have too much time to play splatoon alone), but at least I have this resource I can go back on. Are there any shorter guides I can take a quick glance at that would help?
A couple a things worth noting. As you go up in rank the gameplay gets faster—meaning, the players will surprise you and splat you faster and just overall play faster. You need to be able to act and react faster. Also, a really great thing to be aware of is being careful of 'overextending' yourself in situations you can't handle. And be very aware of where enemy ink is—don't just go charging through enemy ink and not expect to be splatted. Inking up enemy ink can be really useful for you and your team. And also, if you don't already, try and have a general plan for how to approach situations that benefit your team. Going into a fight head-on can be useful but pulling off a good flank can be game deciding
I've been doing that already, I just think I need to work on it more. I keep on underestimating the range and power of rollers and that get's me killed a lot. And Blasters eat me alive in tower control. Well in general, but mostly in tower control.
What was I doing before I got splatted? What that such a good idea? Did that lead to my death?
Yeah, I ask myself that a lot, but sometimes it's hard to tell how much of it was bad decision making and how much was it user error, if the exchange was actually worth it, or if the opponent was just smart and outplayed me.
How are my teammates acting? Can I play around with how they're acting? Can I work around it?
I think I have a tendency to over-rely on my teammates. Sometimes I dive in expecting that they'll cover my right side and then misread the situation and get flanked killing at least one of us. I get lots of kills in many games and sometimes low deaths, but I still lose quite often, making me believe I probably have bad teamwork.
Was this a good weapon to use on this map?
I've actually been wondering. Is it better to simply stick to one weapon? Sometimes I get the feeling that certain weapons are just objectively worse than others on certain maps/modes. This is probably not the best example, but I can usually make the tri-slosher work on tower control, but e-liters are substantially more difficult to use since you have to constantly be moving and e-liters don't exactly have the best charge up time. But I wonder how much of that is me just coming up with excuses.
Of course, as Jsilva said, looking up guides and videos will help out greatly.
Do you have any you'd personally recommend?
In short, don't expect ranking up to be a cake walk. You really have to work to earn it.
Oh trust me, I don't expect it to be a cake walk (especially w/ my experience with other comp. games). I only came here because I felt I wasn't improving at all, and I thought I'd probably learn a thing or to by asking.
Thanks!
4.) In unorganized, it is almost always going to be optimal to pick a shooter. Because of the random matching, playing roller or charger is more likely to end with you having a bad team comp with multiples of either. Shooter is the only class where having more than one will consistently work out.
Oh. I'm probably still going to stick with the bucket and my snipers.
Back in the B+ days, I started increasing my sensitivity, and due to that, my playstyle became more aggressive due to my increase in confidence. That may help you on the battlefield, if your reaction time is slow.
Never actually thought of trying that, will experiment.
It doesn't actually sound like you're doing all that bad to me. It took me close to one and a half months to get out of B range alone, let alone everything before that. And I know a few people who took even longer than that or are still there. Just keep on playing and experiencing, and skills will come with time. (Especially things like map knowledge and recognizing others' play styles based on weapon choice, etc.)
Thanks for the encouragement. Like I said before, I know that practice makes perfect, but I felt I hit a block and needed to find answers.
The Sploosh has such short range that you never want to engage an enemy until you're right on top of them and it's too late for them to react. Playing a Sploosh forces you to be very aware of enemy positioning so that you can find the most efficient and stealthy path towards them while also watching for any of their teammates who might catch you. I played the Sploosh for a bit and during that time my map awareness increased drastically, so even if it's not a weapon you're interested in using extensively I would still highly recommend using it for a bit to increase this ability.
This is actually amazing advice, thanks. I'll probably use the Splash-o-matic though; it feels more natural and it pretty much has about the same range too. I'm probably going to grind it out in Turf Wars.
The other part of map awareness involves paying more attention to the minimap so you can get a general idea of what the field looks like, as well as watch for where enemy ink is moving so you can locate advancing opponents. It's also good to know exactly where your teammates are and what they're doing, as well as to watch for beacons from both your own team and your opponents. Paying attention to the minimap sounds like a simple thing to do, and it is, but too many players neglect it far more than they should.
Yeah, I definitely learned the importance of the minimap after playing in Arowana Mall a lot, but I should probably look at it more on different maps. Thanks.
Being able to use a variety of weapons is a good skill to have, but I think you should focus on using only one weapon for now. Pick the one that you like the most, or are best with, and keep playing with that one. If you try to spread out too much in the beginning, I think you'll be overwhelmed by the completely different mechanics and play style of each weapon. By focusing on one weapon (or weapon type), I think you'll be able to advance much faster, since you'll get a lot better much sooner with one weapon rather than taking forever to get good with every weapon.
I thought about focusing on one weapon too, but I found myself just burning out a lot. I used an e-liter 3k scope for a long time, but I'd occasionally get bad losing streaks. Switching to the tri-slosher or the custom jet squelcher occasionally brings me back on to my feet. It might also be a case of map inexperience or just map disadvantage, so there's that too. I pretty much stay away from rollers and brushes for the reasons you've stated.
Survival is a MUST in Ranked, the less you get splatted, the better. One way to help improve your play is knowing what battles you can win and which ones you can't. You mentioned that the Jet and Dual Squelcher are your mains so I'll be using those to illustrate my point (I main the Dual Squelcher and have a fair amount of experience with it). Also note, this is generally speaking. Many other factors come into play when choosing your battles like the map, team composition, and the skill of the enemy.
Is surviving always a must? Or are exchanges usually not worth it? Sometimes I can't tell in the heat of the game.
In regards to team situations, and playing the numbers game. If you are really confident in your ability to manipulate obstacles and blindspots, than go ahead and try to pull a 2v1. It is not always ideal, and I will just ignorantly assume that a player of your rank shouldn't be attempting these kinds of things, so I would simply say to avoid situations in which you are prone to getting double teamed. Think about the different areas/positions around you which make 2vs1s easier to pull off (trapping you) for the enemy, and avoid them as much as possible
Yeah, I know not to run into 2v1 (usually because my weapons don't generally favor close quarters combat) unless I have a bucket and can catch both my surprise from a vantage point. The problem is that sometimes I don't know when I'm getting in a 2v1 and that often kills me.
P.S: As a 3k scope user, I feel it was far easier to develop the abuse of enemy thought processes, game mechanics,ink control and obstacles as you are usually observing what is going on during the match and picking your time to strike, instead of being in the heat of fire as the non charger weapons are. (Pattern recognition would thus be easier as it is seen more often) Also finding creative ways to escape as a charger has paid off greatly in my movement with other weapons, but the same may be said from experienced blasters and rollers. I can't speak on behalf of other weapon users and their thoughts on this, so this idea could be pretty invalid. Just a thought I felt like sharing.
Thanks for the advice. I always use 3k scope since
A. the scope helps me aim better. I've seen people do crazy videos using a regular 3k sniping the **** out of everyone and I've tried to replicate it but I just couldn't, and I'm often far more accurate and sometimes even faster with the scope.
B. Burst bombs are immensely helpful for escaping close quarters fights and slipping through enemy ink. In fact they're so helpful that I can't go back to the custom e-liter because I'm so used to burst bombs (though I've heard that beacons are useful for tower control since they can act also as shields)
C. Echolocator is helpful for preventing flanks, and it also helps my teammates (I imagine to a helpful degree). I miss Kraken sometimes from the custom set, but the burst bombs make it worth it.
I switch to the kelp splatterscope in certain maps in splat zones because bomb rush helps for taking back enemy ground and it often helps to be a bit more mobile in sacrifice for range. I've had minimal experience with the squiffer and I'm giving it a shot in turf wars and see what I can make of it.
First, please don't savescum. It only makes the game worse for others, and in a way, worse for yourself too. You'd just be cheating yourself, as some coach I had in middle school would say, or something
I will never, ever savescum to get better ranks since that really just defeats the point of improving in the first place.
However, I do consider savescumming equipment because **** RNG roulettes. I'd rather not have to either wait for another splatfest or grind for money just to get ****ed over by RNG for the hundredth time.
Thanks for the advice guys! I sort of skimmed through some parts since it's really late, so I'll give it another read once I'm not swamped with work. Thanks once again guys!
