Are you constantly getting traded do you suck at holding bomb? Positioning is one of the most important skills in Valorant and that's why in this guide I'll go over all the positioning tips and tricks you need to know to help you climb the ranks to reach your desired rank of Immortal and Radiant. I'll also be going over the different levels of being unpredictable how to win more post plan situations.
ALWAYS Have a Plan
First I'll go over all the positioning fundamentals that you need to master when it comes to positioning one of the most fundamental concepts is always having a solid plan and being able to fall back quickly or escape the situation if the enemy team pressures you the crucial point is that you need to have every little thing planned out before you play in that position so this obviously includes you knowing where to fall back if you miss your shots or need to reload but one important yet overlooked aspect is considering the enemy's utility you always have to consider enemy utility consider the enemy team and what agents they are playing for example if you want to play on top of a double boxes on ascent look up to see if they have a Reyna, Sova or Phoenix etc you can ask your teammates to be ready or destroy the drone or play anti flash.
RETAKE Instead of Dying Solo
Risky position also if the enemy likes to 5 man push with 2000 flashes and 500 solo drones then most of the time it'll be better to retake with your team instead of dying on site by yourself because if you die inside by yourself you contribute almost no value while on a retake you'll be able to get info be able to communicate and time your utility with a team and retake the bomb site altogether whatever the reason is if you're the solo site player your goal is to get a kill and more importantly stay alive because if you die and they take the sights and plant the bomb the round is practically over.
Playing a Bit Aggressive
Another decent strategy if you're a solo bombsite player is to be a bit aggressive and gain some space for your team for example if you're solo on B Bind and know that all the enemies are on A then you can push up and hold for the rotation if you die in this case as a solo your team has enough time to rotate so the enemy doesn't get a free plant but remember that this can be risky especially if you aren't a Jett or Reyna because it will be easy for the enemies to trade you so if you're playing like omen or any support character it may be better to just play back and retake with your team so always remember to have a concrete plan in mind and please don't die inside by yourself this brings me to
Play Crossfires w/ Teammates
This so I won't go too depth on explaining it but a crossfire is essentially a setup of you and your teammate in which an enemy picks both of you at the exact same time this will force the enemy into choosing to fight either one of you giving the other the opportunity to secure the kill if your team wants to play a little bit more aggressive on the other hand you can time each other's flashes and decide when each person beats the enemy always remember that positioning with your teammates is always better than positioning by yourself.
Peeking Off Contact
Consistently put yourself in a situation where you can play off a teammate this is known as picking off contact the idea is that you hide and cover pre-aiming the angle while your teammate is holding from a different position once you hear your teammate shooting you peak and basically have a crossfire on the enemy netting you guys free kills but you may think I’m silver and my teammates are dog water and don't listen to anything I say it's common to be in a solo queue situation where no one is giving comms at every rank in the game which can seem frustrating but this doesn't mean you can't apply this knowledge to your games in most cases your teammates who decide to not use their mics or play as a team are players who are generally more tilted and play more aggressively this can be used to your advantage because if they're constantly taking first peak that allows you to play off them instead of peeking first. May sound a bit toxic but will improve your KDA haha.
Angle Perception Advantage
This is the concept illustrated in the image of this post. Players don't understand or acknowledge is the concept of angle perception advantage essentially you want to be farther from the angle or the wall than your enemy the closer you are to the wall the earlier the enemy will see you and vice versa this happens because the way the camera works in Valorant so if you're hugging a wall you won't see the enemy but they'll be able to see your shoulder putting you at a pretty big disadvantage.
Never Play in Corners
So a big low Elo mistake that I see is players sitting in corners and it always hurts me because corners are always cleared by enemies and at the same time you have nowhere to escape and will get traded if you aren't yet convinced when you're in a corner you're at an angle perception disadvantage since your body is touching the wall making the enemy see you first instead you should be always playing a bit away from the corner to catch the enemies off guard and gain an angle perception advantage on the opponents so in valorant.
The 2 Ways to Hold Angles
Two main ways to hold an angle through a standard common angle or with an off-angle so the issue I see with most players especially below diamond or plat is that they don't really know when's the right time to use each one first let's go over what standard angles are and the possible issues that come with using them so a standard angle is
Standard / Common Angles
An angle that is very commonly played because it gives the player the ability to quickly escape or get behind cover the problem is that since these angles are so common to your opponents they will be already pre-aiming you and will have their crosshair lined up in your head giving them an easy kill the other problem with standard angles is the issue of peekers advantage. Peekers advantage basically means that due to human reaction time ping difference and server tick rate the person peaking has roughly a 70 millisecond advantage of seeing the opponent first this means that if an enemy swings you they'll be able to kill you before you can react making it look like they're still running on your screen despite these inconsistencies standard angles can actually help you win more games if you're playing them correctly the main idea you should focus on is not holding static angles I see countless lower ranked players who like to hold angles while standing completely still but doing this puts you at an extremely unfavourable position as the enemy already has their crosshair on your head when they peek out this is where the importance of a peeking and repeeking comes in the idea is that if you're playing on a standard angle or you don't have any advantage you should constantly be peaking and on peaking every three to five seconds if you're constantly peeking out and repeeking you can catch the enemies on the moment they already cleared you and they started clearing the next position this puts the enemies in a really uncomfortable spot as you can peek them even after they've cleared you giving you an edge over your opponent remember how I said all these advantages the opponent has while peaking well you can forget about that since by peeking on peaking you're back in the driver's seat and are actually having peak advantage on your side a quick tip is to play angles where enemies have to peak with w. When players speak with w they are vulnerable and are easy to kill so using the peaking and unpicking tactic with this trick can net you some easy kills just remember to do it at random time intervals so that the enemies cannot predict when you'll peak them.
Off Angles (2 Types)
On to off angles the main question people ask is when should I be playing off angles and this is an important question to consider the simplest way to look at it is that less enemy players there are on the map the more off angles you should be playing this is because you're less likely to get traded by an enemy teammate and gives you more room and chances to escape the situation safely more specifically there's actually two main types of off angles a one and done and a protected off angle an example of a one and done angle is where you are holding an off-angle mid to catch the enemies off guard rotating out of market no one will swing pre-aiming you giving you an element of surprise on the opponent however you are in the open and have nowhere to go if multiple enemies swing you unless of course you're a jett or reyna so this position is fairly decent if played correctly. Protected off angles and these are generally the best angles you should try to position yourself in a situation of the enemies rotating through the market they will most likely check left and half clear outside of market but once they pass a certain point you'll see them while they won't be looking at you giving you a chance to get a kill and run back into cave or lurk around fountain so just remember to play more off angles when there are less opponents alive and preferably play protected off-angles as they provide you with the most value.