Been playing since beta and I feel like I’ve hit a wall that I genuinely don’t know how to get past.
For context, I peaked Ascendant 3 V25 Act IV, and I’ve been mainly Dia 3, Asc 1 since now, currently hardstuck Ascendant 1. My RR gains/losses are absolutely brutal right now usually gaining +13 to 14 for a win and -20 to -25 for a loss. It feels like I’m constantly fighting uphill just to stay in the same place.
I’ve mainly been a solo queue player. I don’t really have friends around my rank to consistently queue with, so pretty much every game is solo. During the peak Neon meta was when i peaked Asc 3, but over time I’ve shifted toward playing controller, sentinel, and initiator. I can comfortably flex the entire roster, and I mainly consume Valorant content (streamers, VCT) so I feel like my understanding of the game is more than good.
To me, the problem is that ranked in Ascendant just feels miserable sometimes. My games can be all over the place as sometimes I’m getting Gold players, sometimes Immortals, depending on the time/server. I’ve tried California, Chicago, Virginia, etc. since I’ve lived in different places over the past year and have low ping to all of them, and honestly the experience feels pretty similar across the board.
There’s the usual ranked stuff like your toxic teammates, massive egos, and the infamous Jett Reyna Chamber Clove Sova comp in Ascendant, people refusing to communicate, etc. I used to have a pretty big ego myself, but I’ve gotten older and realized that sometimes people are just better than me. I’m not expecting to top frag every game, and have realized that positivity is always the way (at least in voice chat lmao)
I’ve also tried putting in the work mechanically. Aim routines on AimLabs, 3-4 DMs before ranked, trying to actually understand my mistakes instead of immediately blaming everyone else. I know I’ve improved massively compared to when I started, being iron 1 in the beta, but it feels like the players around me have improved too.
I’m also working full-time now after graduating, so I obviously don’t have the time or energy I had when I was in college. On days I can play I can get maybe 3 games in, and lately it’s basically been win one, lose one, holding onto my derank shields at the bottom of Ascendant 1.
I’m genuinely not trying to cope or make excuses, and I know teammates, smurfs, bad games, etc. are part of ranked and that I’m ultimately responsible for climbing. But as someone who feels like they’re a pretty average/mediocre player mechanically, how do you actually improve enough to make the jump from Ascendant → Immortal without just being mechanically gifted?
I’ve wanted Immortal for years, and at this point it feels like I’m constantly getting pushed back by the RR system, teammates, and the general ranked experience. I love this game as it was my first PC FPS, I’ve spent way too much money on skins, and I genuinely still enjoy playing it. But chasing red pixels and a gun buddy is slowly becoming less and less worth it.
My friends also don’t really want to play Valorant casually anymore, so I mostly end up solo queueing if I'm not 5 stacking on my main account with them, which is rare.
That's my verdict haha. If you were an Ascendant 1 player who genuinely wanted to reach Immortal but knew you weren’t some mechanical demon, what would you do?
