Let's face it, you've had your up and downs in the Overwatch ladder, you know you can do better, and you even think you shouldn't be in your current rank. This guide won't help you develop your individual skills, it is aimed to help you grow as a teammate and minimize bad days on the ladder.

Know Yourself

The first step to rank up is recognizing what your skill level is and what is holding you down. Chances are that your teammates aren't actually the problem. There are several aspects to consider, and you have to be self-aware and realize what errors you are committing; we will talk about some of them in future articles, like positioning and exercises to improve your aim. Once you understand what things you have to work on, it is important to actually address those problems. Spending time away from ranked games may sound counterintuitive, but it can be the most efficient way to practice and improve your skills. Let's talk now about some of them.

Teamwork

As you know, Overwatch is a team-based game, coordinating with your teammates is essential, but it often happens that you aren't playing together nor calling anything on voice chat. Having game awareness and a good grasp of the current state of the game are some of the most important features of a good player, and you can put them to good use by becoming the shot caller, leading the team to victory. Most of the time, in regular ranked games, just having a cohesive strategy, even if it is far from being a good one, will be better than no strategy at all. It is common, particularly in lower ranks, that several players aren't in voice chat. Try to kindly ask them to join because coordination will highly increase your odds.

Attitude

This is one of the key aspects to master. If you are shot-calling, it is imperative you talk happy, even if you have to fake it. This way your team will be happy, you will no longer have to pretend, and you all will perform much better. A bad attitude or a sad/pessimistic tone can lead to poor teamwork and unintentionally spread your mood to your teammates, even if you are not being toxic. Playing frustrated, angry or tilted will only result in committing errors you wouldn't do otherwise, you will lose focus over the actual objectives of the game and you will likely enter in a losing spree. If you find yourself in this situation, I recommend you stop playing the game and take a break, because even if it is a competitive game, it is still supposed to be for fun.

Heroes.

You probably have a main or at least a role you play much more than the rest, but if you don't use the role queue feature, it is essential that you are open to play every single role. Maybe you picked your hero before anyone else, let's say DPS, but two or three other players did the same; if respectful talk doesn't work, change your role, even if it isn't your fault there are so many DPS. Winning is the goal and negotiating with stubborn teammates can be hard and lead to toxicity, so just give up your role and play what the team needs before the team atmosphere degrades. Because of this, it is very important that you are able to perform at a high level on several other heroes and you don't focus so much on just a few of them.

Master several heroes in every category, so you aren't forced into playing a hero you don't know.

Managing Toxic Players

I don't have to tell you, you will encounter a ton of extremely toxic people on the ladder, and the last thing you want to do is fall into the same behavior as them. Above all, don't ever be disrespectful to your teammates, whatever they say. Try to get people to focus on the thing that actually matters, the objective, and away from blaming on the other players, a lot of situations are solvable and you can lead them to normality if you do it right. Sadly, it is often the case that obstinate people won't stop badmouthing you or someone else, the moment you realize your kind efforts won't yield any results, simply stop wasting your attention on them and use the mute feature. You can't, under no circumstance, give in to their toxicity, as you are guaranteed to lose and your mood and mental health will suffer.

Friends

This is probably the most important point in this guide. Solo queueing can be hard in a game as competitive as Overwatch, especially on your mood. The absolute best way to consistently have fun while playing a long gaming session is by playing with a friend or two. You will be more likely to game with the appropriate attitude and, on top of that, you will gain invaluable synergy that will make you all perform better than playing separately. Besides, playing with a friend makes it less likely to have a troll on your team.

If you don't have IRL friends in your rank or with the same competitive mentality as you, don't worry, a great way to find similar people is by engaging with the online community. Chances are that if you are reading this article, you watch several streams on Twitch; you will find incredible friends in your favorite streamer's community or in the Team Dignitas' Discord, with the same enthusiasm and will to improve. In addition, the role queue feature is a great place to meet similar players, and hero composition won't be a problem.

Conclusion

You won't rank up a thousand SR in a day, not even in a week. This is a season-long job. Going up the ladder is a slow process, and the higher you get, the better the enemies and the better you become. You will have to put in hard work in order to improve, and I hope this guide helps you become a better teammate and you are able to minimize bad days on the ladder because of it.