Overwatch’s Season 2 is now in full swing, and many players have begun the long and arduous journey of climbing the Competitive Ladder. Perhaps you’ve had an unfortunate placement series and are looking to climb to a higher tier, or maybe you placed well, but find yourself struggling to maintain your rank. Worry no longer - the GosuCrew has you covered. Welcome to Git Gud, a series on improving your Overwatch gameplay.
All too often, players seeking advice as they try to improve at the game receive the same answers: “use your mic”, “be positive”, “just play a lot”. While given with good intention and not necessarily wrong, these answers lack concrete steps, and therefore are not all that helpful to the player. Our intention with this series is to provide tangible, step-by-step solutions to the problems that many players face as they try to climb the ladder. Join us in the coming weeks as we discuss and analyze methods that we believe will take your game to the next level.
Git Gud: Learning by watching the Pros
The first method of improvement that we’ll be covering in this series - improving by watching and learning from the replays of professional players - is one that is often recommended but poorly explained. A VOD (Video on Demand) of a professional match or a player POV demo is a treasure chest full of useful game knowledge, and in this article, we’ll break down how to effectively utilize these replays to their fullest extent.
Step 1: Find quality replays
We all love watching insane Overwatch, and Mendo Highlights Week #3 is a great way to satisfy that desire, but let’s be real - such videos are not the the best way to actually learn the game. The nature of a highlight reel removes the context of the play being made. Amazing ultimate wombo-combos are beautiful to watch, but the real value is in the set of decisions a pro player makes in order to lead up to that moment of glory. With this being said, the kinds of replays that provide the most learning value for your time are full-length replays - replays that show an entire game from match start to match end. These replays are the best to study, because they provide the entire decision making process from start to finish.
Of these full length replays, there are generally two types - Player Point of Views (POV’s) and Professional Matches. Each offer great opportunities to learn more about the game, depending on what you’re looking for:
- Player POV’s: These replays are the best way to improve at playing as, with, or against a certain hero because they give you first-hand footage of a specific hero being played at its highest level. These replays also offer great insight into a professional player’s decision making process. Here is a list of Pro Player POV replays that we recommend:
- Professional Matches: These replays are a great way to learn effective map movement, team composition strategies, and ultimate economy strategies. Here is a list of Professional Matches we recommend from our GosuGamers Overwatch YouTube Channel:
Fortunately for us, there is no shortage of quality gameplay, as many professional players and tournaments stream regularly. Treat these channels like your Overwatch library, and consider supporting the Overwatch professional scene while you’re at it!
Step 2: Improve through imitation
There is an infinite amount of information in each replay. The challenge, then, is to figure out what is most beneficial to pay attention to. The best way to do this is by asking yourself questions, and by looking for patterns.
Asking questions
One of the best ways to understand a pro player’s decision making process is by continuously asking questions about each decision the player makes. For example:
- Why did he charge as Reinhardt in that situation?
- Why did he pick Zarya over Roadhog on that map?
- What position does he favor playing in on Gibraltar first point defense?
- Where is he placing his crosshair at any given moment?
Then, try to come up with the answer to these questions yourself. This involved method of learning forces you to push the limit of your own decision making process as you actively learn to imitate the best players in Overwatch. Continue to have the internal dialogue as the replay progresses and see if by the end of the video, you are able to come away with answers:
- Reinhardt’s best option was to charge in because his barrier was about to break and he had no ultimate and no cover to hide behind.
- Comboing a Zarya with a Winston is very hard for the enemy team to deal with and this synergy is much more effective than a Roadhog-Winston combination would have been.
- Controlling the server room on Gibraltar’s first point with Junkrat seemed to be his primary objective and it was able to stall the Payload’s progress for a long time.
- His crosshair is pre-aimed at the entrance of the door so that he doesn’t have to move his mouse as far if an enemy comes through.
Answering your own questions forces you to challenge your way of thinking. Hopefully, this, with the guidance of the replay you’re watching, will allow you to break bad habits and replace them with good ones.
Identifying Patterns
The strategy of asking questions becomes even more powerful when combined with the strategy of identifying patterns within a pro player’s gameplay. The resulting inner dialogue such as the example below demonstrates the value of watching replays in this manner:
- Q: Why does Taimou use his Fan-the-Hammer, Roll, Fan-the-Hammer combo so frequently when he plays as McCree against an enemy Reinhardt?
- A: Taimou does this because it’s the quickest way to break the enemy Reinhardt’s shield, and he knows that if his team has the Reinhardt shield advantage, it forces the rest of the enemy team to play more passively. This play stalls the enemy’s progress for up to 30 seconds at a time. Perhaps instead of going for solo-flank kills as McCree the next time I play, I should focus more on breaking the enemy Reinhardt’s shield.
Going through this exercise allows you to accelerate your improvement because it forces you to not only identify your own mistakes, but also gives you a solution to them.
Step 3: Profit
That’s really all there is to it! Improving your gameplay by watching pro replays isn’t all that complicated, but it does take some dedication and patience. For those looking to get started with this method for the first time, our advice is to take it slow - focus on one or two things per replay, such as positioning and/or ultimate usage, and go from there. The great thing about this method is that no matter how great of a player you are, you can always get better, and being able to identify your mistakes is an incredibly valuable skill for those looking to improve. Have fun with it, but also remember that watching replays never replaces playing the game itself, so don’t get so caught up with it that you stop playing Overwatch altogether (that would be counterproductive)!
We’ll leave you with one last example of what putting this all together looks like at its fullest extent. Check out this GosuGamers spotlight article on Flame’s VOD Analysis of a professional match. His in-depth analysis does a great job in showing how much one can learn from a single replay.
That’s all we have for now! We hope you’ve enjoyed this first article, and we plan to continue the series in the coming weeks. Our challenge to you is to apply what you’ve learned to your own play this week - pick a hero you want to improve at, find a good replay, and get to work!
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Next week on Git Gud: Improve your aim, improve your game!
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