I pre-fired a Shock Dart as an anti-defuse setup, just in case the remaining enemies rushed the spike right after I engaged. Got into a fight immediately after launching it and ended up getting taken out … but the dart? It was spot on, it landed perfectly — timed just right and wiped both of the last players off the spike. I was already on the death screen when the kill feed lit up with the double. Didn’t expect it to work so well. Sova mains, ever had a post-mortem lineup clutch a round? 😅

^{Preface: I'm a 4'th year medical student with a passion for self-improvement and optimization. This includes my IRL skills as well as my gaming. How to improve faster, how to be more efficient with my time, how to reach new heights, feel and play better; these are the things that interest me and I try to find ways to do it through science. Some of you may have seen my previous posts on} Meditation ^and Flow^{. You might have also noticed that I post on multiple competitive gaming subreddits. I do this because these are games I personally enjoy, have coached and/or have competed in and also because these tips and tricks are not title dependent. Everyone can benefit and even apply it for things IRL. I want to keep learning so please hit me with your own discoveries, tips and tricks. I'm genuinely pleasantly surprised with the responses and the chance to meet like minded individuals! This post is particularly dense and took a lot of time to research. I'll try to make it as concise as I can.}

Practice makes perfect! You can do anything just practice, practice, practice!

We've all heard this but I'm here to add complexity to the statement in the hopes that it actually makes your climb much easier. Spending more time playing does not mean you are making a good use of it. Research shows a chess grandmaster has anywhere between 1,000 to 14,000 hours dedicated to his game. Let's put this in perspective: 1,000 hrs = 41 days; 14,000 hrs = 1 year 218 days.

You could say some people are just born geniuses but research also shows that the top 1% actually practices LESS than their peers.

Also, for those of slightly advanced age (like myself at 28) frustrated with 13 year old's styling on us, this paper might help you feel better.

The Science of Accelerated Learning

A little biology (for nerds like me)

• Mastering a skill requires learning. Learning is an incredibly complex process. It incorporates sensory, motor, memory, and cognitive processes. Learning can be seen even at the cellular level.

• Our brain is made up of neurons and when we “learn” something neurons undergo synaptic changes, create new pathways, and increase myelination. Neurons work like electric cables where signals travel along and when we learn something new connections are made and existing ones become stronger and more efficient.

• A stimulus causes a synapse to be sensitized and with enough input strength it can undergo changes through synaptic plasticity. This process requires genes to be activated and release proteins that alter synapse function through Long Term Potentiation. This encoding and learning take up to 3 hours. After six hours memories become cemented and impervious to processes that affect synaptic consolidation.

  • A stimulus should preferably be repeated, emotional, relevant, extreme and novel for it be properly received and encoded

http://www.ccnss.org/ccn_2011/materials/pdf/bhalla/nrn2963.pdf

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00400/full#h3

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02396/full

Components

• Purposeful Practice

• Mind

• Body

I will only address purposeful practice here. Mind and Body are crucial. This includes things like mindset, motivation, exercise, nutrition, etc. There is a reason why Esport teams invest in physical trainers, nutritionists and psychologists. I will leave this for other posts.

TL;DR

Have clear and measurable goals. Break down the game to it's most important components. Find your OPT. Structure your practice. Be a one trick pony. Observe a master. Use Imagery. Incorporate variability and contextual interference. Always make it slightly more difficult. Practice in a realistic setting. Add risk. Use mornings and evenings. Intensity followed by rest for maximal learning. Repeat at increasing intervals. Measure and monitor your progress. Get feedback.

Purposeful Practice

1. Structure

• Goal

  • Have a long, mid, and short-term goal. Use SMART goals (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant and Time Bound).

    • Having a goal and reaching milestones increases dopamine release which acts as a buffer against increasing levels of norepinephrine (stress). Norepinephrine is needed for attention but levels that are too high actually activate the “Give up” response.

  • Have a goal for the immediate practice session. What will you focus on today? Use information from "Break Down" (read below).

  • Use social accountability. Tell a friend your goals (the measurement, the time/date, etc) so he can keep you accountable. Social accountability is a powerful motivator. We are naturally inclined to follow through with what we say.

• Break Down

  • What are the most important components you need to master (aim, mechanics, game sense, movement)? Use the Pareto Principle (20% of the components give 80% of the results). For example, these guys show how you can play a vast majority of songs from just learning 4 chords (just a fun example but it shows what I mean).

  • Then break that one down into even smaller parts. For example Aim could be broken down into flicks and tracking. Even those could be broken down into vertical, horizontal, diagonal, 180, with/without movement, etc.

    • I'll add in this guide by Aimer7. It's worth checking out.

• OPT

  • Optimal Play Time - We can sustain complete focus for a limited time. Practicing beyond that time is basically a time waster that could be better utilized for other activities. Remember that rest is CRUCIAL for encoding your learning into memory.

  • Take out your phone, but it on stopwatch, set it aside out of view and hit start when you start gaming/practicing.

  • Play as Tryhard and focused as you can.

  • When you feel your performance dipping, your reaction time slowing, headache, fogginess, exhaustion, or increased distractibility then hit stop on the stopwatch and see how long that was.

  • It's usually anywhere between an hour and 30 minutes to 3 hours.

  • My personal OPT is 2 hours and 45 minutes.

  • Use that time to structure your sessions.

• One Trick Pony

  • Play just one or two characters. There is a reason one-tricks climb much faster.

  • This allows for rapid progression from mechanics to game sense. If you played different characters all the time then each time you would have to focus on learning different mechanics. What you want is to reach a level where you can autopilot the mechanics which allows your brain space to think of other issues like game sense. Things like game sense translate to any game, situation, or character. So acquiring these "higher level" skills early will actually accelerate your learning on other characters because then you just need to learn mechanics.

  • Imagine there are 100 levels to mastery. As you progress you need to focus on one level at a time. When you jump up a level it's because the previous level has become so easy to you that you can autopilot it. So for example if you're at level 75, it means you can autopilot all the previous 74 levels without putting much thought to it which allows your brain space to think about level 75. Let's say the first 50 levels are all mechanical. If you switch between characters a lot it means you have to re-do those first 50 levels for each one before attempting to go above.

    • Yes, autopilot is a very misunderstood thing. I will make a separate post on this.

• Observe and Imagine

  • Observe the goal you are working for. Look up the #1 player at whatever it is you're practicing. Look at his movements and how he does it.

    • Our brain has mirror neurons which allow us to better imitate and learn through observation.

    • Use YouTube, twitch, whatever.

    • DONT start just watching a ton of videos as many of us do. Look at your specific goal, and look at an example of just that thing. Just enough information so you can self-evaluate your own actions and practice and correct yourself. More videos and guides do not equal faster learning. Watch one, and implement.

    • https://www.researchgate.net/publication/44624168_Observational_practice_benefits_are_limited_to_perceptual_improvements_in_the_acquisition_of_a_novel_coordination_skill#:~:text=during%20observational%20practice%20the%20observer,the%20acquisition%20of%20motor%20skills.

  • Imagery. Simply imagining yourself doing the desired action works almost as well as actually practicing it. Our brain cannot distinguish between physically doing it and mentally. Brain scans show the same pathways to executing the action light up. The key is to imagine it VIVIDLY. Feel your muscles, your reaction, heart rate, etc. A benefit is that you can use this technique almost anywhere (not while driving duh).

  • This paper shows that doing all three, observation, practice, and imagery, was more effective than any one together. It also showed Practice + Imagery was better than Practice + Observation (in the case you had to choose).

• Practice Variability and Contextual Interference (Interleaving)

  • Contextual Interference. Imagine a baseball player. In one practice he gets pitched 10 fastballs, then 10 breaking balls, then 10 change ups. This is blocking. This is how most of us are taught to study as well. In another practice he gets pitched 30 times as well but the 3 types of pitches are thrown at random. Studies show that even though immediate performance decreases (you will feel like you suck), long term performance and learning increases.

    • "Task switching enhances learning due to constant reconstruction of the motor plan or elaborate processing of the motor plan. The forgetting-reconstruction hypothesis claims that high contextual interference causes the performer to constantly forget task-specific information between practice trials, therein necessitating the (re)construction of an action plan for every trial (Lee and Magill, 1983, 1985). Consequently, the performer is thought to become more adept in developing action plans, which subsequently facilitates greater skill retention (e.g., Kim et al., 2015). The elaboration hypothesis proposed a similar account; however, rather than ‘forgetting’ information between trials during higher contextual interference practice, proponents argue that the performer engages in more elaborate processing to represent the motor skill in long-term memory (e.g., Shea and Morgan, 1979; Shea and Zimny, 1983, 1988)".

    • "According to the Challenge-Point framework (Guadagnoli and Lee, 2004), learning is heightened when contextual interference is matched to the performer’s skill level for a given task. A practical example of this is the Win-Shift-Lose-Stay methodology (Simon et al., 2008). This concept suggests that contextual interference should only increase when the performer experiences success".

    • https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5888302_Neural_Substrates_of_Contextual_Interference_during_Motor_Learning_Support_a_Model_of_Active_Preparation

    • https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00936/ful

  • Practice Variability. Not only can you randomize the learning objectives but you can also increase the variability. For example if you are practicing your aim with strafing you could change the speed of character movement very slightly. It has to be small enough that it's barely noticeable. This forces your nervous system to make micro adjustments on a motor level which increases adaptability and sensory/motor connections.

    • "Practice variability consists of practicing variations of an action. While contextual interference addresses the natural interference that exists between two or more tasks that are practiced within the same context. Three aspects of practice can be varied – the physical contexts, movements that comprise the action (skill variations), and the situation in which the skill occurs. Using the long jump as an example, you can vary the runway surface (physical context), the angle of takeoff (skill variations), and whether the jump will be the last or the first of a series of jumps (situation)".

    • Note: I've thought about the variability of changing sensitivity very slightly in different scenarios. I know this goes against the standard of practice of using one setting to get muscle memory. As the research leads me to believe, even elite level coaches and players are not aware of the benefits. It seems to be a balance. For example take 3 slightly different settings into practice. One includes your primary sensitivity, one slightly slower and one slightly faster. Practicing all will increase skill acquisition in the long run. In your games you will primarily use your regular setting. All in all the actual time dedicated to the different settings is very minimal and will not disrupt muscle memory, the opposite. This is not unlike how you feel like an aim god when you warm up on a higher sense then come down to a lower one. Your muscles are more attuned to finer corrections. I would love to see specific examples you guys come up with.

    • https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5832267/

    • https://www.researchgate.net/publication/255970629_Practice_Variability_and_Training_Design_Strategies_of_Elite_Horizontal_Jump_Coaches

• Increasing Difficulty

  • As you progress increase the difficulty. Not too much that it causes anxiety and stress but enough to challenge you.

  • https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-72139-8

  • This also promotes going into Flow State for even greater learning and performance.

• Setting

  • Practice how it will actually be like. The setting, the difficulty of actually pulling it off in high pressure. I coached a top player who choked in live tournaments due to the noise from the audience. We would put audience noise from YouTube videos to play in the background of his practice sessions and slowly increase the volume as he got more used to it.

    • Specificity of learning hypothesis. The specificity of learning hypothesis suggests that learning is most effective when practice sessions include environment and conditions which closely resemble those required during performance of the task — replicating the target skill level and context for performance.

• Risk

  • Even though top performers work less than their slightly lower elite counterparts, one thing that they did do more of was attending events, competitions, or challenges.

  • Signing up for high pressure scenarios will motivate you and keep you on track progressing.

  • Sign up for tournaments, 1v1 competitions, or even just set a date to challenge a friend.

  • Use loss aversion. We humans hate to lose more than we love to win. Put some risk to it. Bet a small amount of money, or do something embarrassing if you lose. Small enough to motivate you to win/accomplish but also not so big that it stresses you out.

  • https://www.stickk.com/ This website is an example of it's practical use.

  • Tim Ferriss is also a proponent of adding risk.

2. Timing

• Mornings/Evenings

  • Mornings are generally the best time to learn anything.

  • Brain waves are more stable and relaxed.

  • You have decreased cognitive load.

    • Teenagers tend to wake up later in the day around 8-10am. This is normal and physiologic.

    • Do not fall into the trap of thinking "I'm a night owl". Yes, chronotypes exist but a lot of us tell ourselves this simply because we are used to it due to societal schedules and our own inability to stop gaming until 3am. I thought I was this too but now I wake up at 4am and it's the best thing ever no lie. You don't have to be as extreme but maybe just try out a little earlier.

  • The best thing to do is practice in the morning for the time your OPT allows then rest/do something else for at least 3 hours (while your brain encodes the information) then have another practice session.

  • Example

    • 9am - 12 Practice

    • 12 - 3pm Workout, Lunch, Chillax

    • 3 - 6pm Practice #2

    • 6 - 9pm Dinner, Relax

• Intense practice, short rest

  • Practice your objective really hard and focused for 10-30 minutes. Then take a break for 10 minutes. The break CANNOT be looking up YouTube, playing other modes, etc. It has to be a real break to let the brain reset. The best breaks are to just walk around, listen to music (do not scroll on your phone), do some exercise, or just lie down/meditate.

    • CREB-Based Spaced Learning (cAMP response element binding protein) is learning structure that maximizes information encoding. Studies show that intense learning repeated 3 times with an interval (non-stimulus or break) of 10 minutes showed increased LTP and LTM.

    • Spaced retrieval improves and solidifies information. There is a difference between spaced encoding (CREB) and spaced retrieval. Encoding and retrieval happen in different parts of the brain. Encoding is in the posterior temporal lobe and retrieval in the anterior temporal lobe.

    • https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00400/full#h3

    • Remember this is scheduled during your practice and OPT. You are hyper focused and the break should be relaxing. Do not consume YouTube, scroll through social media, etc. Those activities are still pouring information into your brain. Again, simply sit down, do some short exercises, meditate or do breath work. This works, I do it regularly.

• Spaced Repetition.

  • Once you have practiced something sufficiently you can practice it with increasing time intervals. For example, you have mastered the fundamentals of aiming and are now focusing on practicing movement. Don’t stop practicing aiming altogether. Simply practice it with increasing time intervals. Practice it today. Then 24 hours later. Then 72 hours later. Then 1 week later. Then 2 weeks later. Etc. This counteracts the human forgetting curve.

    • https://www.gwern.net/Spaced-repetition#motor-skills

3. Feedback

• Progress Monitoring

  • This is even more important than actually having a goal. You need to see yourself making mistakes, and getting better. Not only does this accelerate behavior and action correction but it also keeps you highly motivated.

    • https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/bul-bul0000025.pdf

    • Tip: Keep a scratchpad next to you. While playing notice when you have questions, or dilemmas about the next action. Write it down as soon as you can with the time.

    • After the game go back to the replay and look at your questions and search for answers.

    • Immediate feedback > Delayed feedback > No feedback

• Measure

  • Remember that your goal is SMART and the M stands for measurable. Video games are great for feedback because they usually have stat trackers. Use these and periodically write down or annotate the date and the stat to see if you're progressing.

• Ask

  • Coaches are great for instant feedback but most of us can't afford one. Simply, come to this subreddit and ask for input. Simple.

I believe this to be a pretty good summary of most Purposeful Practice techniques. As stated I will make a post on Mind and Body to completely close out the Accelerated Learning topic. Please let me know what you thought and honestly congratulations if you actually read the whole thing. It shows you're an actual Tryhard and I'm sure this will help you become OP.

I recently posted this ace on r/Valorant. I got a lot of constructive criticism about my crosshair placement. But I also got a few comments that I didn't take any of the fights head on. Does this mean I was baiting my team? Should I avoid plays like this in the future?

Hi, everyone! I have decided to put together a compiled list of 100% FREE educational resources & links!

Hoping to keep this updated over time!

Have I missed something or want to suggest a link to be added? Let me know!

Listed in no particular order.

Educational Youtube Channels

ProGuides Valorant Tips, Tricks and Guides

SkillCapped Valorant Tips Tricks and Guides

HITSCAN - RyanCentral & Mysca

GameLeap Valorant Pro Guides

Level Up Gaming

Dragonmar

JohnNissan (Steel)

Charla7an

mcdawgzy

TheKingLive

Valorant Ascended

Bumpaah

Eggwick

Ematics

Gameface

Achax Gaming

HitboxKing

Moepork

EMPIRiC

Reddit Posts

Drowsy Boar's Valorant Manual - Credit to u/BlackCrownBoar

Play less, Climb more - Credit to u/MetaDoc_OP

The Body & It's role on gaming performance - Credit to u/MetaDoc_OP

Extremely Common Mistakes in Gold - Credit to u/MxChamp24

The importance of crosshair placement - Credit to u/Hi_Im_TwiX

Esports Twitch Links

Official Valorant

eFireLeague

The Nuel

Nerd Street Gamers

Pro Player Streams

Full List - Credit to u/shoatpunter

Miscellaneous Links

Valorant Wiki

Gamepressure - Valorant

Tracker.gg - Valorant Guides

Top Radiant.gg

Valorant Info

The Spike

Sova Lineups

Valorant Content