While mistakes are inevitable and learning to adapt to them as they occur will make you a better player, there are a few that are especially egregious in when you're solo queuing. Anytime you're in comms with your teammates, established rotation rules are less binding as any deviations can be communicated and adapted to. However, a huge factor of success when you're solo queuing is being able to predict how your team will respond to every game play situation, and that they are able to predict your decisions. These mistakes are those that are common even at high levels, and you should endeavor to erase them from your gameplay.

1. Positioning.

We've all been in the situation. The ball is floating in the air near the side of the pitch and your opponent is already on the wall for a massive clear or shot. Driving up the wall would be the best way to conserve boost, but you're too far behind for that. Your only choice to contest the shot is to aerial for an intercept lane and pray that you predicted the trajectory of your opponent's strike just right.

If it sounds hopeless, that's because it is. At the end of the whole exchange, you'll just find yourself out of position and out of the boost required to get you back in position nine times out of ten. The reason this mistake is so common is because the best solution most of the time feels so unnatural.

The best response for this encounter is generally to let your opponent do his worst. If you're last man back, get into a position to dump any potential shot into a corner and let your defense sort it out from there. If your teammates are already back, position yourself forward enough to be able to challenge if your opponent chooses to slow play, but also back enough to be able to retreat to net quickly.

2. Everyone is susceptible to the drive for revenge.

Letting those emotions get to you when you're in ranked inevitably leads to one or a combination of the following consequences:

- Broken rotations
- Wasted boost
- Weak offensive pressure
- Porous defense

Demos are a key part of the game, but they should only be used with the same strategic thought as other aspects of the game. Common strategic ways to demo opponents are when rotating through the opponents’ goal to steal boost. You might as well try to clear out the goalie. While transitioning back to defense, if an opponent is in the middle looking for a pass, try for the bump to relieve the pressure.

If a person demolished you earlier and you want to get him back so you look for ways to demo him for revenge, that's just going to hurt your team. The opponent you're hunting loves it when they goad people into revenge demos. It means they didn't just hurt your team for the three seconds you were off the pitch, they also managed to recruit you to break up your team's rotations and defuse your own team effectiveness. You've now made your opponent far more successful than he ever hoped to be. Simple rule for demos: If it isn't helping your team in the current play, it's hurting your team.

3. Timing.

Another mistake that is common especially in the high Diamond and low Champion ranks is waiting too long for a pass. These players are only recently becoming aware of effective passing lanes and how to position for an outlet or infield passing play to quickly change the current pressure paradigm. And in their enthusiasm (and optimism), they often wait too long for a pass to come, leaving their teammate(s) in a no-win situation. While becoming aware of how and where passes are successful adds a whole new and exciting dimension to the game, that dimension comes with a learning curve and that curve is aggravated when you’re solo queuing and cannot communicate with your teammates. And waiting too long for a pass comes with even worse consequences when solo queuing because you can’t inform your teammates where you’re out of position.

To manage this, you need to be aware that even if you’re positioned correctly for a pass, you also need to be able to read the positioning of the rest of the field and the amount of traffic around where a pass will come from. The consequences of waiting too long for a pass can be your team losing ground during unbalanced plays or getting yourself demolished for loitering in the open. Honing your passing game is essential for continuing to climb through the ranks, but if the pass doesn't come within a couple of seconds, you need to work yourself back into the regular rotations.

4. Wall play is exciting.

So when you're on the wall and you kick the ball out toward midfield, it's natural to want to leap off and chase it for a sick follow-up that will give the ball 5% more power. Wait... 5%?

Yeah, following up for a second touch off the wall probably isn't going to help your team much. For one, when solo-queuing, your teammate is probably up to contest the same ball you're leaping for, because he thought the first touch was the pass. And secondly, even if you didn't have a teammate to get the first touch, second touches from the wall often come late enough that it's nearly impossible for a teammate without comms to read and react to in time to take a meaningful shot. As a general rule, if you have a teammate ready, let them take care of it after popping it off the wall. If you are sure your teammates aren't in position to contest, the feel free to chase after but do so with the knowledge that it will likely just be for the sake of stalling to allow your team to reset for continued pressure.

Like our content? Support us by getting our merchandise in our shop