Just like every other sport, coaching is one of the most fundamental aspects to ensuring that a team has what it takes to win. Although coaching is seen as essential to a team’s success, it is still a fairly new concept within esports and therefore widely debated on its importance. I decided to put this to the test and hired a professional coach to watch my Valorant game and see how it feels or if it would help me improve in any way. I found Lucavario on Fiverr who also does professional coaching for other teams and has a great deal of experience in FPS. I got a one-hour session with him so we could review one game. For some background I am a Gold/Silver player, usually ending the season in Gold.

The Basics

The map we got was Ascent, which is a map I am comfortable with. The first thing I asked Lucavario was if there is an agent I should main to help me improve. He stated that I should choose one agent I feel connected to and like the playstyle of. This would help me learn that agent inside-and-out as well as make it a goal to improve my muscle memory with that agent. You should always have a backup agent or two just in case your main gets locked in.

I decided to lock in Raze since she is my go-to agent when I want to do well. The first thing Lucavario brought to my attention is that Ascent is a more of an attacking centric map, especially in higher Elo. In Silver/Gold, everyone views defending as the easier side on almost every map because it takes far less coordination than attacking. The first issue that Lucavario noticed was that almost all of us were wasting our abilities in the beginning of the round and not saving them for later. For example, I would use my grenade early in the game in the hopes of causing enough damage for my benefit.

By listening to Lucavario’s advice and waiting a few more seconds before throwing my grenade, I was able to damage almost half their team. Another piece of advice that was offered was when I used my Boom Bot early in the game whenever I heard footsteps. He suggested that I should save my Boom Bot for a later game where we are planting or trying to defuse the spike. I know many other Raze mains use their Boom Bot as a way to locate enemy positioning. However, it is important to remember that is not your job as the duelist. Leave that to Agents like Cypher or Sova or agent with blinds, who would be able to blind and peek.

Never Turn Your Back on Your Enemy

Another common issue that Lucavario noticed was when we would be rotating from Site A to Site B or vice versa and our back would always be exposed to the enemy. You instead should rotate while still looking toward where the enemy could appear from. In our game, I died a few times when trying to rotate because I turned my back on the angle I was holding and got shot a few seconds after. For example if you are trying to rotate from B to A, the first picture shown is the wrong way of doing it. You should never have your back facing the enemy. You should instead face where the enemy can peek you from while rotating. If they hear footsteps they will assume you are rotating and might peek to get a free kill. By facing toward the enemy, you make it hard for them to get that.

Good Ability Usage vs Good Aim

One of the questions I asked Lucavario was how far could you up the rank ladder with just good aim and bad ability usage? He told me as a coach, one of the biggest issues he’s seen involves CS:GO players playing Valorant and just heavily focusing on their aim and thereby not utilizing their abilities to their fullest extent. They can still reach the higher ranks from their good aim but if they want to reach higher ranks such as Diamond, Immortal or Radiant, they will need to be able to use their abilities efficiently while having good aim. You cannot just rely on one over the other.

Smokes and Blinds

Whenever I died, we would observe the other players in my team. He mentioned that many smokers use their smoke way too early in the round and usually waste all their smokes within the same time frame instead of saving one or two for mid/late game. For an example, smokes would be used to fake a push, but nothing would be done with them and it just ends up being a waste of an ability and money. It is better to tell your team what you want them to do with the smoke, whether it is pushing a site, rotating, or covering a peek angle so at least everyone is on the same page.

Wasting all your blinds in the same place is also a very bad habit that I and many other players do as well. Many times people will use a blind, peek then go back and use another blind again in the exact same spot. If you use a blind, it is best to commit to it and peak to see if you can get a kill. There are many situations in which double blinding is useful, but there is no point of retreating and using a flash or blind again. Another issue brought to my attention was when two agents used blinds at the same place and same time. This is not necessary; you only need one person to use it and the rest of the team can make a move with that.

Ability Usage

When evaluating most of my deaths and my teams, we noticed that there was an issue with using our abilities (non flash or blinding abilities) and then peeking a few seconds after. To give an example of this, if Reyna kills someone and uses her heal orb while it is in the open or she knows it is visible to the enemy, she should not dry peek after getting her heal orb. The enemy will be holding the angle and know her exact position making it risky to peek. Same thing would apply to Raze’s Boom Bot, if you were to use it, it’s best not to dry peek especially if you are pushing a site, since the enemy again will be holding that angle now. The picture below is a common thing many Raze mains will do. Use their Boom Bots then peek it right after, even if it does not go off. In such a case, someone could easily be far away waiting for you to peek it for a free kill.

Rotations

When we were in the position of defending, another common issue was that everyone was rotating to a certain site because they only saw 2-3 people pushing that site. For all we know, it could have been a fake push or they could have rotated back to the other site. Unless you are certain they are fully pushing a certain site, it's good to have one player stay back just in case. The only time it should be a full rotation is if you have vision of spike after killing an enemy and can easily defend that spike and stop enemies from reclaiming it. Even then, someone should hold flanks so they cannot come from behind. Rotating too late is also an issue where if your teammates call out that, they are trying to plant or use abilities to set up a plant. You should start rotating right away, before they get a plant off.

A similar aspect applies to when you are attacking and trying to rotate sites. Many people try rotating from site to site when attacking and will eventually try to walk onto another site. Lucavario told me in times where its 2v2 or something similar and you are trying to rotate, it’s better to go as fast as you can so you can get to the site before the enemy and get a plant. If you try walking there, the enemy will get there before you and will be able to defend the site.

Positive Mindset

Lucavario advocated the importance of having a positive mindset and not being discouraged or negative when playing since It significantly affects your gameplay. If you go into a game with the mindset that you are going to lose, you will most likely end up playing poorly. He told me that if you get on a two loss streak, it's best to take a 30 – 60 min break. If you lose 4 games in a row, it’s best to stop playing competitive for the day. You could do deathmatch or spike rush, but you should stay away from competitive because at this point you will be too discouraged and go into every game with a negative attitude.

My Thoughts on Having a Coach

At first, I was not sure about hiring a coach to view my games and critiquing my game play. Many players know it can sometimes be difficult to handle criticism and can usually lead to a toxic game, however Lucavario was very friendly and never made me feel bad for any mistakes that were made. He would always explain his reasonings which was useful in allowing me to see more opportunities that I normally would have missed. I also believed that I already knew all my mistakes. However with all the information he told me, I was shocked because it was things I never thought about or even saw as mistakes. If you want to improve in the game very quickly, I would highly suggest getting a coach so they can point out your mistakes and help you improve at a faster rate. There is a lot of stigma in esports about coaching, but just like any other competitive sport, a coach can help you improve greatly.

After our game was done, I decided to do a little Q&A with him. I tried to ask questions many people would have liked to asked.

Q: What made you want to be a coach instead of a pro player?

A: “I always preferred teaching and being helpful to the community, I find teaching more natural to me and have a good understanding of macro, micro, and team play. I also like strategizing and planning and thinking of different ways to push sites and how to use abilities. Which make me better fit for being a coach”

Q: Does everyone need a coach?

A: “Everyone needs coaching and this just does not mean hiring a coach—it can start from self-coaching and by watching VODs and reviewing your games. Once you stop seeing your mistakes or cannot find any other way to improve then you need a coach to help you understand what you can do to improve. Also when finding a coach make sure you find a good coach and not a good player. What I mean by this is a good player may not understand what makes him good or what he is good at if it comes to him naturally. Therefore, they won't be able to teach you properly or tell you how to improve. I was once told that the best coaches are failed players since they know why they failed and know their mistakes.”

Q: Why be a coach for Valorant and no other games?

A: I really like Riot as a company, they listen and care about the community. The esports scene will grow and start snowballing for Valorant so I want to be able to grow with the game.

Q: What is one global tip that you would want everyone to know

A: “Always take a moment to think about what the enemies want to do—if you can figure out what they want to do and what they want you to do it becomes a lot easier to play against their wishes and disrupt their win conditions. The more we can do that the more fights, rounds, and eventually games we will win.”

If you want a book a lesson with Lucavario you can find him at Fiverr by searching his name or following this link.