If your match history looks like the image below, then you must be spiraling from being tilted, in a slump, or just burnt out. Together, we can isolate the problem and do our best to manage it, so that our match history can stop looking like this:

Identifying a Slump

There are two different slumps that players can come across. The first type is a mindset slump, where we can become tilted or jaded from the game. The second type of slump is a gameplay slump, this is where we cannot hit our shots or make the right decisions during the game. Both types of slumps can result in you and your team playing poorly.

What Causes a Slump?

Slumps can be caused by being oblivious to mistakes and bad habits forming. Players can start tilting because of frustrations due to these mistakes made by you or your teammates. Typically, a player remedies these frustrations by doing a “mental reset” where they change their crosshair or mouse sensitivity settings. This can result in even poorer gameplay due to the micro adjustments that need to be made for the new settings. This is a band-aid fix for a slump starting to take place.

Identifying the Difference Between a Slump and Being Burnt Out

A slump, whether it is a mindset slump or a gameplay slump, is a string of bad games where you do not perform as well as you normally expect. Being burnt out is when you begin to be desensitized to wins, losses, or bad gameplay. To identify this, ask yourself, “Am I not enjoying the match(es) or the gameplay itself?”

How to Manage Mindset and Gameplay Slumps

Mindset slumps typically require shorter breaks which makes for a shorter recovery time since it is an emotional reaction toward the game. Being hard on yourself and your teammates does a disservice to everyone, so it is best to step away from the game for a short period of time. Take the day off from the game and do something you like. I like to watch films, or do something creative like drawing, writing, or taking photographs. Another great way to reset your mental is by exercising. According to Sharma, Madaan, and Petty, the health benefits from regular exercise include an improvement of mood, stress relief, and reduced tiredness that can increase mental alertness, which ultimately helps you in-game (and in life).

Gameplay slumps may require a slightly longer break and more attention since it is something that needs to be fixed mechanically. The best thing to do is after dying in the round, ask yourself, “What could I have done to play that better?” This does require you to be honest with yourself, but learning about how you play and how the opposition reacts to that is the best way at getting better. Gameplay slumps can happen if you are too tired to play or if you keep repeating the same mistakes round after round. If it gets overwhelming and the defeats start to stack up, it is sometimes best to take a long break from the game to reset any bad habits that you picked up from your recent string of games. Anywhere from a few days to a week-long break helps remedy this type of slump.

How to Manage Burnout and Fatigue

Unlike mindset slumps and gameplay slumps, being burnt out and feeling fatigued comes from not how you play, but how much you play. You can have some great matches gameplay-wise, but once you start feeling desensitized to kills, wins, or losses, it might be time to take a long break. Not feeling enjoyment from a game defeats the purpose of playing! Instead of watching numbers go up or down, whether it be kills, rounds played, wins, or losses, you should be feeling the thrill of actually playing. Some people do not even realize they are burnt out, because it is simply the absence of feeling. Jaded gameplay can sometimes hurt your team as well. If you don’t care and you play like you don’t, that’s not fair for your teammates who are working hard towards the common goal of winning.

The best thing to do when feeling burnt out from the game is the obvious thing to do. Take a break, touch some grass for a few days, and only return when you feel rejuvenated and excited to play again. Sometimes these breaks can last a week to a month, or even indefinitely. Adding different games to your rotation can also lead you to missing Valorant and returning again with a fresh outlook towards the matches. Like the remedies for slumps, doing things you enjoy and exercising also help you with feeling burnt out and fatigued (this is also true, not just in Valorant, but in life).

What if I Get Rusty During My Break?

If you are worried about returning back to Valorant with a fresh outlook only to be mechanically woeful, there are still things you can do to keep your mechanics from degrading. The first thing you can do is play an aim trainer such as AimLabs. Instead of worrying about the aspects of Valorant’s multi-faceted gameplay, you can just focus on getting your aim better or stop it from degrading using AimLabs. This is especially useful for gameplay slumps where you cannot manage to hit your shots.

If you still want to play Valorant, but you need that break because you are in a mechanical slump, load up the game mode Deathmatch. Here you can focus on fragging and only fragging. Work on your mechanical gameplay deficiencies. Are you bad at people swinging you? Only let people swing at you in DM. Do you have a low headshot accuracy? Only use the Guardian and Sheriff. There are many ways to play DM without aiming to win it.

If you want to stay away from Valorant entirely, playing another FPS helps to keep your skills feeling raw. I personally play Fortnite when I feel a Valorant burn out creeping up. It helps me stay clicking heads while giving me something fresh and new to play to keep my mental up.

Conclusion

It is okay to feel down (or nothing at all) when playing Valorant. It is not okay to take it out on yourself or your teammates. Touching grass (exercise) will actually improve your gameplay and life as well as giving your body and mind the rest it needs! A break will help you get better at the game as well as reflecting on yourself and how you play. Slumps in Valorant and in life is a guarantee, but you don’t have to let them drag you down. So go back out there (or not and give yourself a break) so you can start racking up those victories!