Since the offseason is practically non-existent this time around (it’s only two hours long), we’re all entering Season 14 carrying pretty much the same momentum we had towards the end of the last one. With that in mind, what would you do if you’ve been stuck in the same rank for some time now? Here are a few general tips that may help!

LEARN A NEW HERO (OR ROLE)

Almost everyone out there has their few go-to picks, and I’m sure a lot of us have a couple of these for each role. In some cases, this can lead to you just completely burning out, and you might find yourself in a slump and start losing games despite how good you are with your heroes of choice. Once you notice that your rank has become stagnant, maybe you just need to try out something new.

Whether it’s a new hero or role, a breath of fresh air may help you start winning more. Expanding your hero pool can help you be more flexible and synergize better with whatever compositions you stumble upon. In general, it also lets you break from the monotony of playing the exact same thing over and over again, even just for a bit. Though it may not work for everyone, there’s a chance that you have some untapped potential there, and it could very well just skyrocket your skill rating.

Every now and then, Blizzard drastically changes heroes too, which could render them less favorable or even completely unviable in most situations. If you’re unfortunate enough to have your favorites hit with huge nerfs, it’s probably time you move on to something else, at least for the meantime. Dramatic shifts in the meta are fairly uncommon, and it is pretty diverse as of writing this, but it helps to be prepared.

FIND A PARTNER/TEAM

If you’re a solo player, you’ll just have to accept that there will be a lot of things out of your control, such as your teammates. Now I’m not saying that your teammates are the reason you’re losing, but there’ll be times where you just won’t be on the same page as everyone, which can easily result in a quick loss.

The best way you can avoid this is by finding a group of like-minded individuals and climb together. Obviously that’s easier said than done, but there are a lot of websites and even subreddits out there dedicated to forming teams, and of course, there’s the in-game LFG feature and the option to stay as a team after a competitive match (and based on personal experience, staying as a team with a bunch of other solo players can potentially give you a slight SR boost if you really meshed well together).

Even getting a single friend to climb with you can help you get over a plateau. A duo with great synergy can be very impactful, and there are a lot of two-hero combinations that work very well together (I wrote an article about this in the past, and most of these team-ups are still relevant if you’re playing with PUGs). For example, with the current popularity of GOATS, a well-coordinated DPS (someone with burst damage like Pharah or Widow) + support (Mercy/Zen for damage amplification or Ana to negate group healing) duo can be a pretty devastating counter.

CHECK YOUR OWN GAMEPLAY

As hard as it is to admit sometimes, the reason you could be in a plateau is because of your own mistakes or lack of improvement. If you believe that’s the case, just stay calm and start paying more attention to everything going on in your games. For example, let’s say that you’re a healer who frequently dies in or even before teamfights. Take a step back and reflect on each death. Was it because you or a teammate were out of position? Maybe your teammates never peel? If so, was it because they had tunnel vision and/or you didn’t let them know that you needed help?

Once you start noticing little things such as these, you can start taking steps towards fixing them. Start talking more if you aren’t, glance around more often instead of staring directly at your crosshair, and learn to predict ally/enemy movement and cooldowns.

If you’re really serious about improving your gameplay, you can also try recording your games from start to finish. You’d be surprised at how many small mistakes you’ll notice when you watch them back, and they don’t even necessarily have to be yours. I personally do this from time to time, especially when I lose a game-deciding fight at one point, and I’ve seen things that range from hilariously lucky moments to embarrassing miscalculations.

If all else fails, maybe you just need to take a quick break from the ladder. If you lose around 2-3 games in a row, consider calling it a day because tilting will only make your SR plummet. You could even spend a week playing some arcade modes to sharpen up on your mechanical skills if that’s what’s holding you back. At the end of the day, you have to maintain a positive mindset if you want to figure out what’s holding you back and getting frustrated could just make it worse.

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