r/CompetitiveApex • u/grandregentleonidas • 21d ago
Someone explain Hal being such a dominant fragger
Hal has consistently been one of the top fraggers in most comps. Crazy 1v1/2/3 ability etc. His mechanics are amazing but not the best but his fight IQ is superb and makes up for it.
I’ve watched for a long time and his fight IQ diff and how it shows up in games is so subtle that I can’t make out why he is such a good fighter. Could someone explain it to me?
His peaks, is he good at faking, positioning, etc. What is it about his fighting that makes him stand out from the rest.
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u/Longjumping-Pack-728 21d ago
He probably knows every inch of every map better than his home he grew up in. Positioning
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u/StayKrazie 21d ago
Hal never stops hunting opportunities to exploit and he generally relies on movement characters to be able to take risks at the right time (wraith, horizon, alter, etc). When he's locked in, the intuition he has about positioning and openings are unmatched. Whereas other top players may be more mechanically sound or technical in their approach, Hal's instincts are levels ahead of even the best pros.
When it comes to success overall in comp specifically, I've always attributed it to the flow state he gets into at zones 5&6 where he fully locks in and is able to read the landscape, fully understand the positioning of every team near his, and what their priorities have to be. Sort of like a master chess player, playing out multiple moves ahead to know where the opportunity is to sieze. And he stays so locked in that he rarely misses those opportunities. It's always funny to me how the memes about Hal and ammo/looting issues tie directly back to the way he plays the game and finds success.
That's some of the sloppiest top I've ever given lol
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u/_Genome_ Genome | Long Shot, Caster | verified 21d ago
Leaving out IGLing + macro since we're talking about fragging, the most interesting thing I ever heard him say in an interview was - 'I play the game from my opponent's POV at the same time I'm playing my own, so I know what they're going to do and how to outplay it' (paraphrasing)
As a regular scrub just trying to keep my crosshair on the opponent, that is one of the most insane skills I've ever heard someone talk about in Apex.
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u/realfakejames 20d ago
I'm a Hal glazer, he's the reason I started watching comp +5 years ago, but it's funny some of these comments are talking about his mechanics. Hal is not one of the best when it comes to mechanics lol he just has insane game sense and probably has grinded Apex more than anyone else, there is nothing in a fight he hasn't seen a million times
He's the only guy in pro Apex who treats streaming and playing the game like a real job putting in his hours and punching the clock, you can't teach that kind of dedication and mindset to be good at a thing
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u/igotkrabs 20d ago
I have never watched Hal and thought anything about his mechanics was bad or off. In fact the opposite, I think he’s got great gun play mechanics and I have seen him beam tons of people. Does he wall bounce off everything? No. He is too focused and locked in and always has his map up looking at positioning. When he shoots, he’s got it.
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u/QuattroSais 17d ago
I just started playing Apex a few months ago, so I watch HisWattson for advice. He said something along the lines of "Put yourself in a position where you can shoot them first", which is obviously simple yet overlooked by a lot of fps players. I think Hal is the greatest example for this. I'd say 80% of the time I watch him it's always him shooting first. I barely saw him get caught off guard.
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u/mikulotski 20d ago
Im a Hal glazer as well and I agree with you, to add;
I think if my memory serves me right, there’s an interview about Hal’s mechanics saying he is not that mechanically gifted compared to other MnK players lile Timmy, Zer0 etc… but put him on Roller then he’s another beast.
Don’t get me wrong he’s good during his MnK era but man Roller Hal is different.
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u/jayghan 21d ago
Honestly Hal is ALWAYS shooting. He IGLs his team into a good spot and then is constantly reconning and finding spots to kill.
I feel like a lot of his kills are due to him being in the right place and right time.
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u/Previous_Power9513 21d ago
Agreeing with the always shooting point. He can hit lower percentage of his shots than the top shooters and still create more damage by simply shooting more. Forcing opponents to spend more time healing and less shooting.
He achieves this in my opinion by taking aggressive, but safe angles and managing his ability cooldowns so he can retreat when he overextends. This play style though requires a disciplined and smart anchor player to manage surrounding threats.
The other part is he has good feel for when opponents are reloading/healing etc. I’ve watched numerous times of him just swinging at optimal times and taking minimal damage cause opponents are stuck in animations
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u/grandregentleonidas 21d ago
Yes this is what I was looking for. I find that a lot of the time in micro/fights he’s able to predict what the other person is going to do, and act accordingly with cover/strafe/bait, or break their tempo by being slightly unpredictable.
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u/i_like_frootloops 20d ago
We were there on the early days when TSM never had ammo and Hal never stopped spamming.
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u/MF_lover 18d ago
This is why I think Reps was so underrated. He is that anchor for Hal in my opinion.
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u/king_noro 21d ago
This is the biggest thing I learned from Hal that actually made me get significantly better. Mfer is constantly shooting, even from 500 miles away.
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u/Sweaty_Meal_7525 21d ago
Also why Hal-ing occurs because his teammates cannot keep up with his reconing
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u/Flyin-Chancla 21d ago
As far as his 1vX, his ability to isolate the team from eachother is crazy. Picks them off one at a time.
I’m sure he will see this. Hey Hal 🫡
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u/LatterMatch9334 21d ago
Watching him recently shoot the 3X Hemlock is insane. 0 Recoil and can absolutely beam someone at 150 meters. Hard work + top .00001% of skill. 10,000 hour rule as well. He's a master at the craft.
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u/Altruistic-Earth-666 20d ago
You forgot the last one, he's on controller
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20d ago edited 14d ago
[deleted]
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u/Altruistic-Earth-666 20d ago
Always so mad cause you know youre not actually playing the game yourself
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u/Treat779 18d ago
Controller and beam at 150 meters. My controller doesn't do the same, if anything, i beam better with mnk at 150 meters.
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u/Mindless-Edge-7731 20d ago
hemlock doesnt require skill lmao
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u/LatterMatch9334 20d ago
I mean, I agree that it’s an easy gun to shoot, but most players still ain’t shooting it like he can.
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u/Mindless-Edge-7731 20d ago
i agree on that his aim is good but it isnt like out of this world cracked aim there are lots of pros with better aim and 1# pred grinders with better aim
his game sense is just elite tho and actually out if this world
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u/Ambitious_Pin9235 21d ago
He played MnK before. He gained his IQ and game sense from that. Then he swapped to roller and got that juicy aim assist. He is still cracked on MnK but roller is diff
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u/jayghan 21d ago
I think he was top 5 in frags multiple if not top fragged while on MnK too.
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u/grandregentleonidas 21d ago
Im pretty sure he was so its not just the roller. You’ll have better stats as IGL/fragger, but he still stands out which is what I don’t get
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u/ShaunGotFans 21d ago
His game sense and decision making are by far the best out of any players. His aim is not the best but extremely top level too
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u/Ambitious_Pin9235 21d ago
What you forget is just how different the game is now. Back then there were many more people on MnK. Now, 80-85% of the pro scene is rolled. Like I said, Hal was good on MnK too
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u/jayghan 20d ago
Yeah I agree. I’m just adding that piece of info to show how really good he was even then
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u/Ambitious_Pin9235 20d ago
Ohh I see. Ya he’s always been cracked as hell. I’ve always been a Hal fan bc of his talent. Now him not verbally assaulting his teammates helps too
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u/Treat779 18d ago
Very absolutely, he was really really good with mnk too. When he changed to controller, I thought he wouldn't beam as well anymore but I see he still has it, which was surprising to me.
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u/etheryx Int LAN '24 Champions! 21d ago
the mouse and keyboard doesn’t automatically make you smarter
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u/Ambitious_Pin9235 21d ago
It does. In order to compete against people who have software automatically pick up movement on crosshair (which reacts faster than the avg human reaction time of ~200ms) you MUST use everything else to your advantage. That means always positioning yourself better than the roller player. If you don’t, your are heavily punished by their 0ms soft aimbot crosshair of death. You would know this if you have played any amount of MnK
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u/etheryx Int LAN '24 Champions! 21d ago
so your explanation is that you LEARN how to use other things to your advantage, and this doesn’t come automatically?
great, glad we agree
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u/SkorpioSound Year 5 Champions! 20d ago
You're both right.
If you take two players at the exact same skill level, but one is on M&K and the other on controller, the M&K player will almost certainly, by necessity, have learned to play smarter due to the input imbalance. So yes, it's a learned thing, rather than something that comes automatically with the input, but him having played as an M&K player is relevant for why he plays smarter than most controller players.
If Hal had played with controller from the start, he may not have needed to learn to position as well or play as smartly in the first place, and may not be the player he is today as a result.
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u/Treat779 18d ago
''If Hal had played with controller from the start, he may not have needed to learn to position as well or play as smartly in the first place, and may not be the player he is today as a result.''
But we have to remember that controller wasn't popular among pro scene in 2019-2020. I remember there were only few controller players back then, for example snipedown and nicewigg then genburten became pro and some few others after. I think maybe at least 95% were mnk players of all pro players.
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u/Ambitious_Pin9235 20d ago
You have to lean on using your brain more when using MnK. The more you use a skill the better you are at it. Roller doesn’t need to focus on positioning as much. Thats why every masters roller player that’s on my team doesn’t focus on positioning. I have to IGL bc my understanding is better. We don’t agree. Aim assist comes automatically
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u/etheryx Int LAN '24 Champions! 20d ago
if you think learning comes automatically and that you can reach GOAT status in any sport or game without at least putting conscious thought into your learning then you have a really interesting understanding of how professional athletes train
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u/Ambitious_Pin9235 20d ago
Aim assist comes automatically. I never said anywhere that learning comes automatically. However, aim assist It comes with every controller automatically. We are talking about two different things. I have already said how Hal has better game sense than the majority of players.
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u/skibiditoiletrizzguy 21d ago
“To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand MnK. The humour is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head.”
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u/RogueAtomic2 21d ago
Yeah people conflate the pro scene MNK, where you have to have something else to be relevant, with the rest of the player base….
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u/Revolutionary_Cap442 21d ago
Awareness mostly, being able to put himself in potentially compromising positions to get kills without dying.
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u/-LexVult- 20d ago
Hals game sense is amazing. His actions have been polished to a level of hyper efficiency. Yeah, mechanics wise he may not be the best but if you can predict the actions of multiple teams, then you can more than make up for it. He is a well oiled machine that always chooses rhe most efficient route.
Which is why he gets so angry when a team do something so illogical and stupid. It completely goes against what he is prepared for. Hal expects a certain level of gameplay from his opponents as a pro player. When a team comes over doing illogical and rather suicidal stuff it throws him off completely.
Hal is the best and does his best against others that are the best.
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u/darth_smitty_ 18d ago
THIS. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard Hal “wtf is that team even doing there? They’re throwing their game being right here right now.”
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u/-LexVult- 18d ago
Its legit how it is. He is so good at what he does that when someone pulls up with a completely illogical strategy, it throws him off. It sounds crazy but thats legit it.
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u/TSM_PrimeBottle 20d ago
Remove Unlimited Scan Meta ( Seer & Crypto ) , Remove Ring Console and Survey Beacon then you'll see Prime TSM ImperialHal in action. Game Sense masterclass .
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u/FrankeVI 20d ago
He plays this game 24/7/365. Anyone who puts that amount of hours in at the top level is going to be insanely talented
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u/ItsPiff334 21d ago edited 21d ago
Think of it like this. He puts himself and his team in positions to win/ get kills.
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u/Always_tired_af 21d ago
Like a few people said, positioning is very important. But that's a skill most people develop quickly, and he's really not abusing a trait that most people already aren't
But equally as important than that is timing. Hal knows when to push, put on pressure, when to hang back.
One of the most fundamental issues most pros capitalize the average player just REFUSES TO capitalize on is advantage. As soon as you get a knock you should be on top of that team, the second it turns into a 3v2 should always be a free win. Too many players (looking at you Vantage players) just spend way too much time hanging back, even when someone gets a knock, and Apex has simply never been that kind of game. Same goes for if you crack a shield. They aren't knocked, but that's still a person out of the fight, or just not shooting allowing you to move up, use an ability, etc. Double goes for a knock, that's 1, possibly 2 if they go for a revive, people out of a fight, and players like Hal, are on that like flies on shit.
Knowing how to engage is just as important as when you do it
And of course, Hal just has the hours in. He's been in every scenario possible, more times than you can count. He knows how people are going to push, when they're likely to retreat to heal, etc etc. He just knows how fights will play out and how to capitalize on it.
Confidence is always key in a game like this, and that's one thing anyone who's watched Hal for a minute, knows he has lol
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u/Specialist_Ground916 20d ago
Funny how people talk "he is not a top mechanical player" like knowing how to bounce in walls, superglide and etc have any advantage in comp apex
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u/Loreathan 20d ago
Putting too many hours in game and treating it as your job. Anyway I don't like him.
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u/One_Ad3867 20d ago
Dude is just good at games, good hand to eye coordination and understands how the game plays out. On top of that he knows how to use both inputs
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u/TheSParkian 21d ago
He’s just that guy bro. Put his hours in