The typical mistakes of each tier

This chapter lists the most common mistakes of each tier, each with its fix. It is not a list to memorize: it is a mirror. Read your tier's mistakes and ask which ones you make too. Then read the tier below: often one is left over.

Pick one, the most frequent, and work only on that for a few matches. When you no longer make it without thinking, move to the next. The chapter on moving up a tier explains why each tier has a different limit.

• Crosshair pointing at the floor or the sky. Fix: always keep it at head height, even while walking.
• Shooting while running. Fix: stop, then shoot. Movement makes your shots inaccurate.
• Running everywhere. Fix: walk near enemies; running makes noise and gets you there exposed.
• Peeking angles an enemy has already seen you at. Fix: after a duel, change angle or wait.
• Ignoring the minimap. Fix: look at it after every kill and every death.
• Buying at random. Fix: follow the team, learn the basics of the economy.

• Playing alone. Fix: stay close to a teammate for the trade.
• Not saying what you see. Fix: every enemy seen or heard, called in three words.
• Using utility for yourself. Fix: a flash is for whoever goes in, a smoke is for the team.
• Rotating on the first sound. Fix: rotate on a number or utility seen, not on a footstep.
• Chasing kills. Fix: after a kill, go back to position instead of hunting another.
• Agent picked without looking at the team. Fix: check what is missing before choosing.

• Deciding late. Fix: use the five seconds method; a good decision at fifty seconds beats the perfect one at fifteen.
• Disconnected utility. Fix: smokes, flashes and information at the same moment, agreed.
• Half plan changes. Fix: either everyone switches, or everyone commits.
• Disorganized post-plant. Fix: different positions, utility kept for the defuse, no duels sought.
• Ignoring time. Fix: on attack always keep time to plant; on defense use time in your favor.
• Knowing maps poorly. Fix: win condition, rotations and defaults of the maps you play.

• Being predictable. Fix: vary positions, tempo and sites before the enemy reads you.
• Not reading the enemy. Fix: watch their patterns and use them in the rounds that matter.
• Low consistency. Fix: routines, rules for stopping, handling tilt.
• Reviewing too little. Fix: one methodical review a week.
• Comms that run too long. Fix: short information, decisions from a single voice.

Reading a list is not enough: we do not see many of our own mistakes. Three ways to find them:

• the ten questions after lost rounds: the sentences that repeat point to the recurring mistake;
• a review of a match, looking mostly at the moments before your deaths;
• asking a teammate you trust: "what do I do that looks wrong to you?". They often see in a minute what you do not see in a month.

Once you have found the mistake, write it down somewhere and reread it before playing. It sounds like little, but remembering it at the start of the match is already half the fix.

Besides tier mistakes there are role mistakes, found at every level:

• the duelist goes in without waiting for utility, or never goes in at all;
• the initiator uses utility for themselves instead of for whoever goes in, or uses it too late;
• the controller spends every smoke in the default, or places them where they block teammates' vision;
• the sentinel dies next to their gadgets, instead of letting them work.

The chapter on the four roles explains what is expected of each.

Some mistakes show up at every level, even among the best players:

• playing tired or tense: everyone's level drops;
• blaming teammates: it does not improve the round and makes the next one worse;
• changing too many things at once: you improve one thing at a time;
• not asking why you lost a round.

These are the mistakes even pros work on. The good news is that they get fixed without better aim: better habits are enough.