Raze | Ascent | Diamond 2

[gilded harness]

Tracker: https://tracker.gg/valorant/profile/riot/Exiled%23booop/overview?playlist=competitive&seasonId=03dfd004-45d4-ebfd-ab0a-948ce780dac4
Match ValoPlant: https://valoplant.gg/match/Kit-85bdd92c-7ce7-40ee-8b12-eabc26d2d6b1/14
Match Tracker: https://tracker.gg/valorant/match/85bdd92c-7ce7-40ee-8b12-eabc26d2d6b1
VOD Link: https://youtu.be/IhHpgcvMWN4
Additional Notes: Sadly I don't qualify to submit an official vod since I'm currently below the fill rate. However I'm wanting to swap from initator to duelist because I want to be a lot more aggressive than the initiator role allows me to be. For this game I did make a good amount of plays, and the team followed, but other times I just felt desynced from people. We lost the attack rounds a lot and I really want to know what I'm doing wrong. I usually end up having a low K/D because I take fights but I'm either not confident enough or I misplay it. Also when I entry onto site I feel like I'm just not as effective as I would like to be at gaining space. I do understand that playing initiator is what got me to diamond in the first place, but I'd genuinely like to play better at this role and I really like Raze as a one trick.

Tbh I think my positioning is pretty awful since I die a good amount of times and I think "Why am I there?" or I just take a fight/spam a smoke when I should just be telling my team I want to go in and take space.

Overall when I play I feel like I'm just not having enough of an impact other than when I ask for plays. I mainly want to ask if I'm messing up because of my gunfight hygiene, or agent knowledge. Or if It's something else. Am I doing my job correctly? I'm really lost as to why I always feel like I'm not having much impact.

(Sidenote: VOD Is still uploading, I did a quick vod review and I was also pretty lost on what to do attack half)

[covert canyon]

Round 1: The comms are good but I wouldn't be calling to hold. It's not super likely the enemy is just going to push on pistol and your team comp has a very very strong fast execute with double entry and Breach. You want to be executing much faster than playing the slow control game. Their comp also has triple duelist and no sentinel so they really can't hold sites well.

Also need some more situational awareness if you're calling plays, you didn't notice spike wasn't there yet and Jett had to call it. The nade on site also doesn't really serve a purpose if you're looking at position of your teammates. There's not really any real objective you're aiming for here with the nade heaven.

Round 2: The nade to lane doesn't make sense either since you have two people there and can just trade Jett. It would be a lot stronger to nade stairs or CT to prevent the peek as you entry. I'm watching it now and Reyna just peeked from stairs. You also shouldn't hesitate on the entry (looks like you were trying to satchel in but not confident so understandable). You also shouldn't just go hold back site. Your whole team is basically up and the only way you would accomplish anything backsite is if your whole team there dies, which is already a super good eco for the enemy. You're also on Spectre so opting into a long range fight isn't good. The rank isn't super high but if these guys had more awareness and cleared, they would just sit there and not peek and let you die to bomb. It's a weak force since you lose so much eco from that. They could also play for exits and make it hard for you guys.

Round 3: Buying full armor when you have 12 is a huge waste of money. You're already not likely to win this round so you're committing 1000 creds in a low EV play. You're at a gun disadvantage so you should at most buy light since it's only 400 and call a rush here with 5 to get guns and win or at least hurt eco. You make a call so at least props for that but you guys are super strong and mobile with Breach stun and flashes and if it hits, they're dead with you and Jett being mobile. Your bomb is also still in spawn when you start attack.

7:38 you should not be peeking like this and have xhair on the ground. The Omen has you covered in that there's nobody there but it's still bad discipline if you want to get to the next level.

The call is also to do something crazy but you're just playing a very default split with mid smoked off. You throw a roomba and then sit in smoke and spray a little. There's nothing surprising about this. The Omen kill is good though but on Phx, you should just tuck behind gen and apply pressure. Phx needs to worry about you and the people main so if he peeks main, you just minimap trade or just kill him since you're close.

Round 4: Honestly a bit unlucky but you also do know the Omen has a one way here. I can't really tell if this is a mistake or not and would need someone better to say.

Round 5: You have to be more assertive. Ask the Jett for their gun and let them use knives. You want to get everyone on a full load out and just fast execute with Breach ult. You're going to make the attack half very hard if you lose this round since they have so much money so you really can't lose any rounds afterwards.

The enemy team honestly had a nice setup so kind of unlucky. When you're 1:19 in the round though, you can't really hesitate you just have to go. The enemy should know where you are so if they're decent then they just take map control. You kind of just have to go here right away and not wait so long. Later in the round you die to the Sova but he wouldn't be CT because that would be an insanely slow rotate since Omen could get there when he probably played A again this round. Sova would probably be flanking and going through garage since he's taking so long to show up on the map.

Round 6: You could turn the Omen one way into a contact explode where you wait it out, walk up to entrance, and just pop out with an execute. Once you miss the jump though, they have info and you're on a timer.

You also just need to follow the drone and go. This is where the high elo people not clearing wine and getting 4K comes in. You've already committed drone and they have info on Breach and you since they hear his util and saw you. You need to just instantly go there and not hold wine. Nobody decent will ever peek since they're getting one at most so you have to either spend time clearing or just gamble they're not there.

You dying here is actually kind of unlucky since your speed is actually fine but your team is just too slow. You should take a sec for the smokes at least though or just call it off.

Round 7: You guys really shouldn't be playing slow and basically defaulting on an eco. You have eco disadvantage across the board. They have 4 ults so you should try to get them off the map and really try to play super fast into plant and then Sova ult for post plant and snag an eco.

Enemy throws this eco round by pushing but you guys capitalize. You shouldn't peek the Yoru like that, it's a huge disadvantage for you with the angle plus you're not tradeable easily. You can just tuck there and look to trade your team or help them fight after Yoru takes a fight with them. Your team almost throws it though because everyone peeks for no reason other than to peek.

Round 8: You want to get out from cat after some shots at Reyna. You're exposed to two angles so it's hard for your to cover and Phx really should have killed you. You also kind of rush and just double satchel into mid for no reason and info on one hp. It's still a 3v4 so try to maybe lurk a bit, walk around the map, get a timing since you have a whole 1:20 left to play with. You die to any body shot (actually died to a leg) and that's just super low value for your life.

Round 9: I don't hate the call necessarily but people are going to screw this up and peek for no reason (Omen) and then the plan fails. It's much easier to just counter her push by asking for a Breach stun as she's pushing and you kill her that way. The strat you're calling needs the enemy to be bad and your team to not mess up and that's not likely to work in soloq. The mechs are pretty solid though. The Yoru probably wasn't Roza, he just flanked around probably. The Breach was playing way too slowly.

Round 10: Yeah this call is much better to deal with the Reyna. It's a lot more clear on what you guys are doing instead of last round everyone bunching up and kind of just being lost. There's a lot of disconnect that's not really your fault but your Breach ults with only you up, spike is in spawn, and Jett isn't close. You also need to be more aware on enemy positions because once I saw the satchel I was worried about Reyna having crossed and then there she was.

The enemy is playing the defense actually pretty intelligently to push for space and contest before you guys can set up because their site util sucks so they're contesting space hard. You need to use util and not think of it as a waste but rather to get enough space to get to the execute part. You guys can barely get on site so you need to fight more for space before the execute.

Round 11: You having a stinger and then just backing up doesn't really make much sense either. You're kind of just waffling between what to do instead of committing. You're on eco so you really should just be calling full on rushes with Raze and Omen ult and then trying to play post plant with Sova. Really nice satchel there though to distract the Phx and then your guy just kills him.

20:29 is actually so sad because you're right on the timing but your team is just too slow. The best way to get them to come is legit just yell "GO GO GO" and get people moving.

Round 12: Good call and we actually got the punish. The problem is once you kill Reyna, you should be in instant go mode. You're still chilling even though there's at most 2 (one on site, usually Yoru and one market Omen probably so he can smoke both sides) and you guys have 3 with Jett slightly late. You should instantly be just going here.

The entry is the right idea but a little scuffed because you satchel too far but you can always work on that in customs.

Round 13: You seem so much more confident on defense so it really seems like you kind of didn't really know how to attack in general. Not singling you out personally but people like to blame entry a lot but once you play it you kind of see the other side. It's a lot harder actually being the one taking the risk and going in. You used to play Jett but maybe haven't played entry in a while so you need some time to get into it.

Round 14: This nade makes no sense unless you're going to take space with it. You just chuck a nade and jiggle but if you were just going to do this, just save the nade for somewhere else. Ok the sound is really quiet so I couldn't hear the footsteps here so if there were then it makes a lot more sense.

Round 16: The shorty is good into their buy but you really should be playing closer instead of gen. They can just go up cat and clear you and you're at a huge disadvantage.

The defense is overall fine but you need to switch up sites and play more aggressive. You can't just play Raze like you're a sentinel and holding site. I think you started the defense rounds on A main every single round.

Overall it seems like you what you need to work on. You need to be more assertive on what you're trying to do and ask the team for util and to just play with you. Also I think you need to understand what the wincons or core objectives are for the rounds and find ways to achieve that. Your gunfight hygiene is overall fine although xhair placement gets somewhat lazy but you don't understand the ranges on the guns and where you're advantage or disadvantage. You overall lack just the fundamental understanding of attack and how you as entry try to attack.

[gilded harness]

Thank you so much! Yeah that actually tracks very well, I just swapped from initiator into duelist and the playbooks changed a lot, especially because I swapped from a flash initiator to a non flash entry fragger so the concept of taking space feels really weird to me right now. (Idrk why I chose a flashless duelist but I really want to get good at Raze lol)

I'm gonna work more on figuring out my role on attack and switching things up on defense. Overall right now I'm definitely getting used to entry fragger again because the way I get space with raze is VERY different from how I gained space with Jett when I first played duelist.

Also would I just gain understanding of attack as I play more duelist and watch/emulate more Jingg?

Or is there something I can actively do right now to make it better?

[covert canyon]

Overall for understanding of the attack I would say start with the simplest, most childish objective. You're trying to get the bomb down. It's very kind of simplistic but will help orient how you approach things. Smokes cover sight lines, flashes stop enemies from shooting you, dog to clear angles and again stop them from shooting you, and etc. Your Raze nade clears angles or stops them from shooting you as they need to run from the nade. The roomba serves a similar objective. Start from this base idea that's simple but actually very deep and attacking gets more clear. The purpose of all of this util is to just get your team's bodies onto the site and then eventually onto site. You need to get the team through the choke point and then fan out into site and get control.

This is what you can do right now and kind of find failings where you don't capitalize on those opportunities and kind of figure out why you're not. So right now just go fast honestly, get on an alt if you don't want to do it on your main but like on round 6, it's a pretty obvious time to just W key and go. The issue when you're attacking right now is you're burning resources (util + time) but your space gained from the start of the round to now is very minimal. Your team is also there so all of your resources are concentrated there but they're not being converted into the simple objective (getting bomb down). So you had spent util + time + bodies but you're not close to the objective. The enemy is gathering more power (rotates) and have less pressure since if both sides don't do anything and afk, defenders win by default.

There are some rounds when I'm saying the entry is good but it's unlucky (Round 11 because you pop ult and go in correctly) but your team is too bad to follow up. They can't see the opportunity to go in and achieve the very basic objective I was talking about, plant the bomb.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kk_AYT0ydQ

This was just a random vod on Ascent but if you want to learn from Jingg, it's really difficult since his level is just way beyond yours or even mine understanding. So you want to learn general models like what is he looking for when he entries, what conditions are being met, etc and try to emulate that. You can compare his round 2 where he does what you do, go A main and jiggle with nade, but then immediately rotates to mid and jiggles mid. He then helps the KJ fight and trades 1 for 1 on an eco which is a net positive. If you want impact, you have to read the map better and be much more proactive trying to do things instead of letting things happen to you especially since duelists have poor site holding util.

You can also see the enemies attack like on round 4, they pick the Reyna (similar to round 12) but they're crossing the doorway of site at 1:30. They get a kill at 1:35 and they're at the orb and they're on site at 1:30. We get a kill at 1:10 in game and we cross the site at 1:00. So if you really look at the patterns, you can see what's going on and try to emulate a faster pace even though you can't fully match it.

[gilded harness]

Your advice is lit... I never really thought of how fast I can move as raze before ngl

https://youtu.be/48-71qIKreA?si=YJvi0meqJsybGbtr

Now just gotta do it consistently

[covert canyon]

Yeah I've only skimmed the first two rounds of attack and that's looking a lot lot better. This is much closer to Asc speed at least.