The book of game sense

Recognize in-game patterns, and make the best possible play in the given game
scenario.

The patterns do you need to learn in valorant:

1. Mechanical Patterns
a. Angle advantages, how enemies tend to peak/hold different angles,
etc…
2. Economy Patterns
a. When to buy/save, depending on ult/credit econ, what patterns to
expect
3. Positioning Patterns
a. Teammate and enemy positioning patterns so you can position
yourself (rotation patterns)
4. Utility Patterns
a. Teammate and enemy util patterns to abuse and to be wary about (util
combinations available on each team)
5. Mindset Patterns
a. Getting used to how you, your teammates, and enemies think while
playing the game.

NOEL BURCH - 4 STAGES OF COMPETENCE

Hierarchy of competence

1. Unconscious Competence - RIGHT INTUITION

The skill is “second nature” and can be performed easily.
Can teach to others.

2. Conscious Competence - RIGHT ANALYSIS

Understands and knows how to do something.
Heavy conscious involvement in executing the new skill.

3. Conscious Incompetence - WRONG ANALYSIS

Recognizes the deficit and sees value in new skills.
Doesn’t yet know how to do the new skill.
 4. Unconscious Incompetence - WRONG INTUITION
Does not necessarily recognize the deficit.
May deny the usefulness of the skill.

MECHANICAL PATTERNS

Stop PEEKING Like This.... VALORANT

ECONOMY

Why pay attention to econ?

Helps us plan ahead

● Let’s us know what your team and the enemies can buy
● Gives us indication of how enemies might try to play out the round
depending on:
○ Eco (pistols, marshall or spectre ecc…)
○ Half buy (two or three buy rifle other spectre or other)
○ Full buy (rifle + full shield)

Snowball the lead

● Only need to win 13 rounds to win the game, and it is very easy to snowball
the lead with good econ management
● Worth it to force but in situations where you can completely shut down
enemy econ

Important numbers

● Lose 1 round - Gain 1900 Creds

● Lose 2 rounds - Gain 2400 Creds
● Lose 3 rounds - Gain 2900 Creds
● Won round - Gain 3000 Creds
● Every kill - Gain 200 Creds
● Bomb plant - Gain 300 Creds for everyone
ECON META

Pistol

● duelist: ghost + utility / sheriff

● supports: priorities utility + light shield/ghost

Win pistol

2nd round
● Full shield + spectre
● duelist keep sheriffs
3rd round
● bonus (use what u buy last round or buy to can full buy next round)
● buy rifles if ults ready soon
4th round
● should be up in econ regardless of win/loss

Lost pistol

● Force round with spectre + light shield or full armor with sherifs, if bomb got
planted 1st round
● GOAL - kill as many enemies as possible to lessen their lead

Half or full buy

● During a save, pay attention to minimum credits next round and try to
have at least 4300 - 4500 available for a full buy
● If 3 of your teammates can full buy, worth it for the other 2 teammates to
also force up with rifle + light shield (3300) or guardian + full armor
(3250)
● Supports always prioritize util

When save weapon?

(When you save weapon game give you only 1000 creds)

● Saving can allow your whole team still have a full buy even after losing a
round
● Saving can sometimes take away guns that you don’t want to deal with from
your enemies
 ● Saving can also incite the enemy team to chase after you leading to some
exit kills and free econ damage

Tips to save

● Save only weapon is = or > to 2900 creds

● with oder weapon try to do a econ damage
● if u are in a bad situations don’t give free kill to enemy try die with bomb
explosion if u are in def

ULT POINT ECON META

Who gets priority?

● Always important to identify the win condition for your team’s composition
● If your team has trouble during retakes, you want to prioritize feeding orbs
and defuses to agents like Breach instead of Reyna

Less impactful ults

● Reyna ult is probably the worst in the game right now

● Priorities Jett knives if she can get early knives, but sort of falls off compared
to other ults with crowd control
● Raze ult is expensive and very low conversion rate

Keep track or sets

● Whatever ults are available often telegraph which sites enemies will try to
attack
● If you see that an enemy attacking team’s phoenix is at ⅚ ult points, you
better know his team is going to fight for orb control
● Set up traps based on these reads

MAP CONTROL - Macro positioning

MINIMAP

When to use

● Before the round starts

● When you see the kill-feed pop up
● When you’re rotating or flanking
● Everytime comms are made and you aren’t expecting an immediate gunfights
● When you’re for contact from your teammate or utility
● When in cover after using utility or while you’re reloading

Flanks/rotations

● If there are 3-4 enemies spotted including the sentinel and smokes, then it’s
probably a 5 man rush. In this case, pushing their flank to contain them is
ideal or fast rotating to help your teammates if you’re nearby
● If you see only 1 and it’s the sentinel or smokes then it’s most likely just a lurk
and the real hit is on the other side of the map
● If u fought a guy on C and now he’s spotted at A, the enemies are most likely
hit the A site

Timing util

● Using the information on the minimap like your teammate’s positions and
sight lines to decide where and when to use your utility or when to peek the
enemy
● This becomes more obvious when you’re waiting behind cover or sitting in a
smoke and you can use that time to look at the minimap to help time your
plays

MAP CONTROL - macro level

What is map control?

● Map control is all about vision

○ Vision that you and your teammates have with vision cones
○ Vision and barriers that your util provides
● You and your teammates must rotate to establish as much map control
Why map control?

● The more map control that you and your team has, the more information you
have on the enemy team
● Having all parts of the map covered on CT side lets your team avoid leaving
gaps in your defense and pinched
● Having more parts of the map covered on T side lets your team avoid getting
flanked by enemies if a 4-5 man hit doesn’t work out

HOW TO CONTROL THE MAP

Zones of control

● Opening zones
○ Space that’s contested 3 seconds into spawn barrier dropping
● Intermediate Zones
○ Space between opening zones and the site
● FInal zone, aka site
○ Front, mid, back, off-site

PHASE OF THE ROUND

Phase zero

● This is the planning stage

● Attackers
○ Figure out split push (0-3-2), 5 man push, 4-0-1, fake, etc…
○ Predict defender setup
● Defenders
○ Decide playing for stall, isolating duelists, delaying plant, retake on
tap, etc…

Phase one

● Fighting for opening zones and info, key to understanding why certain parts
of the map are more important to contest
● Defaults are great to hold chokes together with teammates to 1° gain info, 2°
bait util, 3° get picks
Phase two

● Making decisions around gathered information

● Attackers
○ Weak side, strong side?
○ Which util is up? Down?
● Defenders
○ Which side of the map did we notice activity?
○ Early rotate? Anchor? Push out?

DEFAULTS FOR ATTACKERS

Why default?

● Gain info
● Bait util
● Get picks
● Great for countering
○ Aggressive defender plays
○ Stacked sites on eco
○ Failed 5 man pushes

Default setups

● 1/0/4 - As a precaution, set up sentinel utility on opposite side of the map

that your team will fast hit so you know if enemies are flanking
● 1/3/1 - Great for split pushing towards any site
● 2/1/2 - Most amount of info and safest against aggro plays

Common mistakes

● Prioritizing picks and dying alone

○ Solution: if you’re going for picks, have one person with you (2/1/2)
● Stage 0 and 1 are fine, but lack of initiative during stage 2
○ Solution: identify weak side/strong side, and call your team to rotate
DEFENDER SETUPS

Pushing the zones

● High risk, high reward: countering stacked executes

○ 1/1/3 - 1/3/1 - 3/1/1 stack towards one opening zone
● Weak side plays retake/yield the zone in case attackers don’t push stacked
side
● If enemies are not there, flank as 2, leave the third to watch a mid push/lurk

Holding the zones

● Most common: 2/1/2 to cover all chokes of the map that enemies can enter
through
○ Most amount of info and safest against aggro plays
● 3/0/2 or 2/0/3 with sentinel utility holding mid allows stronger site holds

Yielding the zones

● Priority as defenders
○ Kill 2 and die
○ Kill 1 and play retake
○ Kill 0 but be a cockroach
● Generally want to contest opening zones to condition attackers into
committing utility
○ However you need to know when to play it safe and give up some
map control

MAP CONTROL - Micro positioning

MICRO POSITIONING

Relative positioning

● Spacing - where you’re standing around teammates

○ Too close = get collated
○ Too far = can’t trade/pinch enemies
● Angle isolation - using angle advantages and cover around the map around
the map to isolate fights
 ● Crossfires - 1st and 2nd contact

Used for site control

● Good relative positioning, allows your team to establish more site control
● More site control: easier trades for your team, more angles to clear for enemy
team → increased difficulty for clearing angles → more pressure on the clock

How to control sites

● Very similar concepts between holding positions (defending site/bomb) and

pushing positions (attacking the site, retaking the site)
● Main theme is to cover each other’s backs while exposing yourself to the
least amount of angles as possible

CONTROL THE SITE

Holding scenarios

● Defending - You should always have a teammate who can rotate quickly to
help you hold the same choke or a plan to fall back if there isn’t
● Defending the spike - Spread out throughout the site, hold every choke
possible, be ready to trade your team instantly

Pushing scenarios

● Attacking - Spread out throughout the site evenly in pairs to cover as many
angles and trade each other. If you go too fast, your teammates can’t trade
you out
● Defusing the spike - Try to come in from as many chokes/sides as possible to
clear as much space

Key takeaways

● Pay very close attention to how far away you are from your teammate and
whether you are close enough to peek with your teammates to get the trade
● Communication is extremely important to set up good positioning
● Util will make it a lot easier to isolate angles
POSITIONING

Vision/info control

● Was I in a spot where I’m able to safely gather information and still get out if I
need to?
● Was it worth it for me to push up to gain information versus using my utility?
● How much map control did my team have during that round, and what could
I have done differently to establish more control safely?

Bomb site control

● Did my team cover all parts of the site smoothly together as we were entering
the site?
● Did we cover the most amount of angles that we can as we were
defending/retaking/attacking/holding a site based on our position?
● Were we sitting up good crossfire positions when holding a choke position?

Relative positioning

● Was I in a good position to trade out my teammate?

● Was I too far away or too close to my teammate?
● What angles are my teammates and I exposed to?
● Did I overextend myself where my teammates couldn’t help me?
● Should I have known that the enemy could’ve been coming from that
direction?