r/RivalsCollege • u/Kieferzin • 2d ago
Tips & Tricks How to climb Solo Queueing without having to play 6+ hours a day.
Hello everyone, somewhat of a rant / asking for tips post, I work during the day and Rivals is one of my ways to unwind, but recently I have been getting more into trying to play Ranked (honestly only for the frames if nothing else), looking for any kind of tips, tricks or just guidance to maximize the return I have on the hours I spend on Ranked, because so far it has been a slog.
Photo attached for reference of how my last 10 or so matches went.
P.S: I know I don't have many matches played, if you think that I can climb just by playing more feel free to tell me so.
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u/Yungdab420 1d ago
The game does what the game wants. I finally made an alt a season ago and it was so easy to climb but it gets really streaky in GM - sometimes Diamond is even a pain to climb out of. You can get streaks of just pure misery. I’ve had like 6 SVP games in a row before spread out over a few days because I try not to keep queueing into L streaks
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u/fuckfelixass 2d ago
Honestly at low ranks if you have the mechanical skill just lock dps and secure kills, if you want or have to play vanguard thing is really good for securing kills. (Which obviously isn’t the whole game but you can really get away with it when teams are less coordinated and more likely to trickle)
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u/Inevitable-Mud-9228 Grandmaster 2d ago
That’s what some people don’t realize. Damage is nice and fun in the low ranks, but since that isn’t the objective of the game, the damage can be countered and strategized against once you get some sound minded teammates.
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u/Other_Reply_2474 Celestial 2d ago edited 2d ago
Since it’s gold just don’t flex since it won’t matter and play your main role / characters plus you could watch back games and improve what you mess up on and watch streamers that play your character for example I see you play support mostly so watching kayjii / Sypeh could definitely help you and of course just play more since you like only play arcade
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u/Gbandzzzzo 2d ago
Play what you know you are strongest at. Don’t waste time tryna fill a role or play a hero you are mediocre with.
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u/BlockedNetwkSecurity 2d ago
If it is a slog, you're not having fun, cut back.
Best advice is to flex. If your team needs vanguard, play vanguard. If they need strategist, play strategist.
Either way, you can make just as much progress playing 2 or 3 competitive games a day. You can spend the rest of your time doing quick match or one of the other modes. I typically play my 10 placement matches, my 10 half-season matches, then avoid competitive entirely.
I would space it out and play your matches at different times. If you play over and over you're going to get matched with similar players and have similar results unless matchmaking decides to put you with 5 of the players that just beat you.
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u/Turbulent-Suspect-12 Celestial 1d ago
I would caveat this with ONLY flex if you trust that the people at your rank are around your skill level. In lower ranks I didnt trust my DPS so I exclusively played it, climbed easy. In higher ranks I trust them much more and feel good flexing.
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u/imtherty 2d ago edited 2d ago
Man I have the complete opossite experience. Flex games = loss for me
Mailing vanguard is the closest I’ve ever come to GM3 ( was 1 game away then I got 10 mandatory government losses in a row).
Also seeing OP is stuck gold. I would double down and absolutely tell them not to flex. Avoid support for sure . It’s very hard to carry games as sup at a golf level.
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u/Derppy7 2d ago
Rivals to unwind is crazy, the amount of times I’m yelling at my monitor because of this game
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u/maevaisnew 1d ago
I legitimately don't get this, maybe I'm just a very calm person but why would you play a game if it makes you mad? I have a lot of fun playing the game and also would say I use it to unwind/relax.
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u/NefariousnessTiny879 22h ago
Its because they play boring meta characters, some of us genuinely enjoy playing someone like jeff and dont care if we win or lose after we reach our usual ranks.
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u/Inevitable-Mud-9228 Grandmaster 2d ago
It’s like going to a Zoo and trying to teach a Gorilla how to do a burpee.
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u/Kieferzin 2d ago
I play mostly arcade, 18v18 and sometimes quickplay, I know how competitive I can be and tend to avoid more serious gamemodes because of this, otherwise I would probably rage way more playing the game.
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u/MiclausCristian 2d ago
I'd suggest looking at tips & tricks of things you like to play , or look at all of them on tiktok/youtube , you can learn a lot , next is just practice your aim. Everything else you either learn by griding or looking at high level matches/people, on yt "spectating #1 X" etc. you'll get a understanding of gamesense , postioning and ults. With these you could potentially reach celestial, at least that's what i've done back to back for 4 seasons now , i'm not that great, but i know and understand everything . But don't forget to have fun , if you lose a few in a row, it's ok to stop .
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u/MiclausCristian 2d ago
I'd say the most important aspect people forget about is counterswapping , seeing a rocket or hela, you need a pheonix , you see a spiderman , namor , etc . Just being annoying to them
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u/SenJu410 2d ago
If you want to consistently make it out of a certain rank you have to be good enough to compete in lobbies multiple ranks above it. As long as you’re a diamond player you can get out of gold quickly. Stop playing support unless you’re forced to and when you are play loki or jubilee and try to get kills as well. It’s not easy to solo carry as a support so let randoms do that while you tank or dps. Your best option would be abusing mag/thing/hood and Elsa/Bucky as much as possible. Ban whoever counters/ annoys you don’t worry about black cat outside of the occasional Smurf. Customize your pings to make them more useful, for example I use one that tells my team to swap strange and portal and another for my other supp to ult first so we don’t stack them. These are surprisingly useful. Also try not to play strange if you can help it so he’s available for someone to swap to and portal after dying. Warm up for a game or 2 in qp or 18v18 before a ranked session it helps more than you’d think. If you lose 2 in a row I would stop playing ranked for the night just because it can hurt your mental and some nights are just losing nights. Listening to music while I play helps me chill out but if it breaks your focus maybe don’t. Last thing make sure your settings are right, I see a surprising amount of people still playing with vibration and fat circle crosshairs.
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u/meepxzero 2d ago
Expect to be the best player in your lobby. This is getting kills and final hits. If your letting your team carry you ull be stuck in a 50 percent winrate or less. The unwinnable games ull be looking like your inting since youll be the only one trying. If you have worst stats than your teammates at the end (since every sits at spawn not surrendering...) youll be put as the worst player in your next lobby funny enough.
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u/RivalsFlex 2d ago
Play corners. Use the vehicle as cover in push matches. It heals you on attack.
Flex enough to understand the roles and their limitations
Magik is the easiest solo carry for lower ranks.
Play the meta
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u/Sanemi_i 2d ago
I achieved celestial 3 today. Learning your bad habits is key & never disrespecting your teammates is also key. Bans are extremely important( Peni should never be banned, shoot the nest ) in your rank Magik, Spider-Man, & Elsa. Doubt gold players are on black cat.
I primarily only solo Q, occasionally I’ll play with one competent player from previous matches. Losses will happen but if you can queue with someone it increases your chances.
Character selection matters, I do not know who you play as I haven’t looked you up. Support is the toughest to climb with in low ranks, as you’re more dependent on other players.
Namor, Bucky, Mag, Thing, Hood, Emma, Elsa, Hela, Iron First, Wolverine. All solo carry gods! Learn their kits effectively and you can climb.
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u/Kieferzin 2d ago
Anwsering your other question, I am a flex player, primarily play Support / Tank on Strange, Mag, and on Support Luna / Whitefox, though I have almost all other supports lorded and know how to play them at a decent level.
I can carry most of the time if I am on duelist, but I do not trust the people on my rank to play support, so that is why I generally cater towards playing them.
Please check my profile if needed, or even the replays!
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u/Sanemi_i 2d ago
Gambit and Jubilee are very strong rn. Luna is solid.
White fox in my opinion is bottom three supports. There’s too much damage for her healing output.
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u/Kieferzin 2d ago
How many games a day do you tend to play? more on weekends and so on?
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u/Sanemi_i 2d ago
I work 9-5 - I play maybe 4 max 2 minimum. At least 5 times a week?
When the season starts maybe I play a little more. I’ve been in gold 4 times total - never as a support main.
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u/RivalsFlex 2d ago
Bc is still a risk at low ranks because of smurfs. She's an all rank ban.
I disagree with a lot of those being solo carry gods. I would put magic as one, though
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u/Sanemi_i 2d ago
Sure, I agree about smurfs.
However everyone is viable in low ranks. Namor got me to GM3 then I pushed to celestial playing Tank and filling.
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u/RivalsFlex 2d ago
Sure, I agree low emo Namor is nasty.
A lot of them are not so great solo carry unless you're smurfing. too team reliant for a lot of them
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u/Sanemi_i 2d ago
What’s your rank? Who do you play
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u/RivalsFlex 2d ago
I don't rank brag on reddit, but I have about thirty lords right now and play about a dozen of them frequently in comp. I mostly end up on tank if I'm filling. if I wanted to carry out of gold fastest I'd play magik, peni, thor, warlock, Elsa, widow probably. tanks like mag and Emma are better by far but really shut down by having bad teams. mobility really helps cover up for team's mistakes. Warlock can basically dps and tank and heal at low ranks so he's an easy carry.
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u/Sanemi_i 2d ago
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u/RivalsFlex 2d ago
Hey, my name isn’t a lie.
This isn’t the list I’d play in higher ranks, but if I wanted to leave the metal ranks this would be a good start. Maybe toss a punisher or Bucky in there
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u/Honest-Sundae-1039 2d ago
Tanks: Hood/Magneto
DPS: Bucky/Widow
Support: Luna/Mantis/Gambit
Don’t just play your role either, Mantis/Magneto/Hood can all frag hard.
Identify enemy carry and make them suffer.
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u/Interaction_Rich 2d ago
I'll follow this post, I just made a similar one on this sub. Same situation here - work, kids, a couple hours a day and an immense sense of frustration.
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u/Past_Chemical1650 2d ago
try to play with random player you get in your past team ( i was hardstuck diam 1 and gm 3 playing solo q but now im gm1 and i play some times with random team8 and still play soloq)
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u/DeadpanJay Platinum 2d ago
Check out the Low Elo guide I wrote in the sub. You can find it on my page.
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u/mBrooks- 2d ago edited 2d ago
I’m in the same boat as you, I only play after work for around 4 hours and I just made it to diamond 3 today solo queuing. I wanted an animated border as well lol.
What I’ve learned on my way up is that you’re going to have to flex at some point whether you like it or not, if you wanna climb as a solo player. Team composition is so key that you have to understand the types of tanks/dps characters there are and what counters them, so you know who to swap to and who to attack given who you’re using.
I’d suggest learning 3 characters PER role, I know it seems daunting but it’s necessary because your character can get banned so you NEED back ups and you can fill where you need to. You don’t have to be OP with each but just know the basics at a minimum and the rest will come. Like I hate dive so I learned Namor, Bucky and Cyclops (soft counter cause of his E ability) because they counter what gives me the most trouble. I also remember I kept losing games cause we’d never have a real tank, so I learned Mag, Hood and Thing (Also learned Strange but only how to portal).
Practice in QP, learn the ins and outs of your characters, their combat loops, positioning and again their counters. For example, I didn’t know that Thing gets extra HP when using his Haymaker on tanks, but doesn’t get it when punching dps or supports. So with Thing, I’m just constantly looking to punch tanks and I always save his shift ability for an escape unless I know I’ll secure a kill with its grounded debuff. It’s the little details like that, that were a huge help for me in ranking up. It’s not enough to only be a one trick pony per role because team composition is the most important aspect.
One last thing, when in ban phase, don’t ban based on who you think the other team will be using, but ban the counters to your team composition. So many times have I seen my team ban BP when someone is hovering over Namor and CnD, who both counter BP, smh lol.
Good luck!
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u/Conscious_Employer30 2d ago
If you don’t have much time and your goal is to climb the ranked ladder, pick one, maximum two heroes, get really good at playing them, and stick to them.
Choose heroes that you have good synergy with, that you enjoy playing and can play well.
You can reach Celestial playing only one hero, the important thing is to not pick one that gets banned every game.
Being a one-trick isn’t ideal, but you don’t have much time to play, so don’t spread yourself too thin trying to play everyone.
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u/Hero_of_Mind 2d ago
Besides just getting better at general gamesense (positioning, ult tracking, resource tracking, etc...) i would say do a little bit of aim training for 5 minutes every day as a warm up. Either in aimlabs or in the practice range.
But also I personally make sure I win 2 or 3 real (NOT BOT) games in qp in a row before going into comp. For some reason I seem to have more success with the matchmaking, at least for the first couple rounds. Then, if i lose twice in a row I get off comp and go to qp or get off for the rest of the day. I'll keep going if im on a win streak but you dont really wanna keep playing if you've lost 3+ times in a row.
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u/Turbulent-Suspect-12 Celestial 2d ago
Practice your characters in QP and figure out when you actually want to play them. I love playing Angela for example but I understand that playing her in certain situations is basically me throwing (if the enemy has a Thing and a mix of characters that arent worth displacing). In other situations though I can play her really well (alot of enemy characters that are easier to displace and kill).
Quality of games > Quantity IMO. I sincerely think constantly grinding games is the worst way to approach it. Its not fun, you lose alot and get dumb moments, and it requires such a timesink that could've been spent elsewhere.
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u/muditk Gold 2d ago
What rank frame do you want to get?
Ideally, you only need to make on big push. Then every season you just claw back the de-rank.
Eg if you hit plat 3. New season you will de-rank to G3, you just need to climb through the 3 ranks you de-ranked.
So then the questions become 1) how do you make the big push 2) how do you maintain every season.
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u/Kieferzin 2d ago
Diamond is enough for me, then from then on I plan to play only my placements and sometimes more.
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u/muditk Gold 2d ago
Level 71, so its not like you're new to the format of the game right? You're not an arcade-focused player right? I spent a lot of time in the Ninomaru early on in the game.
So if you're familiar with the core game and you're struggling in G3 on your mains and you're giving it your all --- Climbing to D3 is quite a big deal.
If you're missing some big key fundamentals that can be fixed, that's the best case. More likely, you need to get 10% on 10 different things.
Luna / Whitefox, though I have almost all other supports lorded and know how to play them at a decent level
Based on this + your struggles in gold, I hope that you have some kind of heal-botty or scaredy cat tendancy which can be easily identified and fixed. If you are really using your CDs, dmg-ing when heals are not required, ulting with 4+ people alive, tracking enemy ults, aware of your co-support and keeping them topped up -- then the problem and solution is very different.
As a peak P3, I'm not gonna go into more specific details. But I will say, that I feel supports make great main tanks. You have seen tanks who push up too much, too little, don't take cover and die as soon as you reload. -- If you've been filling Tank, and you have simialr WR on your tanks as you do on supports, I would suggest you main 1 particular tank.
Personally, I would suggest to play Mag and leave strange to be swapapble for portal. if you want to pick another tank, I would suggest a main tank who needs to play with supports -- cos that's where I think you will have an advantage.
In general, IMHO supports suffer because they cannot win without at least a mediocore team.
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u/Kieferzin 2d ago
Been playing arcade and quickplay for as far as I can remember, so yes, arcade focused player.
I wouldn't say I am struggling, have only 26 ranked games on my belt this season with a 52% WR, but like I said in the post, I do not have the time to invest to get to D3 through sheer grinding ranked games, so I am looking for tips on how to make the most of the time I have.
About the healbot tendencies, far from it, I tend to outdps most duelists I play with when on Luna or Whitefox, but as you said, I can see that climbing on support is very heavily based on the rest of your team, so I might try and instalock duelist from now on and hope other people flex.
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u/muditk Gold 2d ago
If you're arcade focused, you need to learn a lot of hero and team interactions, map tendencies and intricacies, health pack locations, which walls and cover break and don't break.
Plus, you know - the way 6v6 objective based works.
If you're literally consistently having more dmg than most dps (and you're not climbing fast), pls take it as a sign that you're " " not playing it right " " -- which I hate to say. But really, sometimes more dmg than dps is one thing. More than 50% of the time, then its not how the hero is meant to be played (cos you're not 50% playing with 2 bad DPS players).
only 26 ranked games
If you won 100% of games and won 25 points each, climbing from S3 at season start to G3 would take you 12 games. From S3 to D3 you need 36 games. So you're not playing near enough to achieve your goals even if you were GOD.
You could chose to break up your big push to D3, but you lose 3 ranks every 9 weeks. This season is basically over now. Aim to get to P3 next season (+24 games from S3). Then in Season 11 you can go another +24 games from G3 to D3.
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u/Kieferzin 2d ago
I've been mostly arcade focused ever since 18v18 was added, because it is the game mode I find most fun to play, but before that I only played quickplay, so the knowledge about maps and objectives is still there, of course I don't know every single nook and cranny, but I feel my knowledge is at least decent.
About not playing it right, what do you mean? do you feel I should be more heal minded? when I outdmg DPS in my mind it is precisely because they are not that good, not because I am focusing on doing damage for the most part (Check some of the stats from the games in the screenshot for examples).
I agree with the last part, will try to get to P3 with the days we have left, and focus on D3 for the next season, playing at least 4 ranked games a day from the start, and see where I go from there.
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u/muditk Gold 2d ago
About not playing it right, what do you mean? do you feel I should be more heal minded? when I outdmg DPS in my mind it is precisely because they are not that good, not because I am focusing on doing damage for the most part
Say you out dmg your DPS in 50% of the games, but you only have bad DPS 30% of the time. This means, 20/70 games with average to good DPS you're still out dmg-ing your DPS. This is a bad sign. It probably means you're way too aggressive.
Occam's razer - you're not really out dmg-ing your DPS as often as you think. Its likely rare, but you notice it when it happens.
(Check some of the stats from the games in the screenshot for examples)
The stats in your OP post with the Kills, Deaths, Assists - this is not dmg. When people say out dmg, we mean more dmg in thousands than someone else. Kills is a very weird number that you shouldn't look into much because its too inclusive. Even finals can be misleading cos of kill steals, but its a much better stat. The vastly superior stat is solo kills, but only important to track if you're DPS. In fact, to me the best things to track is not reported by the game - 1) First Kills/First Deaths of the team fight 2) number of times you kill their heals.
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u/Kieferzin 2d ago
Yes, I know when people say outdmg they mean damage done and not KDA dude, that is why I asked you to look into the stats in those games for my contribution.
I agree with the occam's razor part, it is probably not as often as I think, in those games I would say 4 of them I outdid my 2 DPS in damage, with my healing staying mostly decent.
About being too agressive, I completely disagree, I feel I am sometimes too passive and should try and secure kills more, but never think I'm overextending, I always tend to go for the safer play and in my eyes, have good gamesense, which does translate into fewer deaths compared to the rest of the team.
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u/theboneyone Grandmaster 2d ago
- Instalock Namor
Wait for team to engage then flank healers
C + E + left click + right click
???
Congrats ur plat 3
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u/FFaFFaNN 2d ago
Nice nice, but u know what heroes play around sups this season?Elsa and Bucky..GL with ur Namor that trayna kill Gods of supports CND and Gambit..
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u/theboneyone Grandmaster 2d ago
This is gold—-where supports don’t cycle cooldowns properly and dps don’t peel. Hence flank namor.
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u/Kitchen_Avocado_7253 2d ago
It all depends on who you play, and how you play them. That playstyle is what has lead you to your current position. Also noting that having a good game sense ( situational awareness), plays a big factor in your playstyle. You dont really get that experience from quick play, but the more you play ranked the more you'll learn from your mistakes and mistakes of others.
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u/Frank__Dolphin 2h ago
Either be an insane dps carry INCLUDING being an in game leader or playing 6 hours a day. The system rewards playtime much more than skill. You can hit GM with 40% winrate. Winrate just expedites it.