After being stuck in Diamond 3/4 for the past few seasons, I almost gave up hope of being able to solo queue my way to Masters.
I gave myself the one rule to not party up with anyone – I like the challenge to do it solo. In the first split, I made it to Masters with 1 week to spare, and in the second split there was about 3 weeks to spare (19 days).
General notes:
– Climbing ranks is much easier in the midpoint in the season, when more people enter the diamond 3 pool (Masters/Predator lobbies). In fact, right now, lobbies are significantly easier than a few weeks ago because of this
It was never a linear path climbing up ranks, constantly de-ranking or spending time stuck around a certain point (like upper D2/low D1)
Mic was not mandatory to win, although it did help. In fact, the smoothest and best games were usually a good duo who were in party chat coordinating and pinging. Usually the worst were mic'd teammates who did not ping/coordinate.
PLAYSTYLE: In Diamond 4 and lower lobbies, you can afford to be more aggressive and take the chance to win fights against third parties. In D3 and above, it is almost impossible. You have to take a more passive role to not push fights, and if a 2 team fight you’re in is taking too long, you should back off and rotate, or finish it quickly. DO NOT play for too many early game kills, having 1-2 KP when you enter ring 3 is quite acceptable if you can hold out to the last 2-3 squads and get assists/kills in the last circles. Basically, early game fights to net some kills, mid-game avoid long fights, and aim for the max KP at the end of the game.
Wraith’s in a team more often are successful in being able to get to the last squads by being able to reposition to cover when the circles get small.
GUNS: G7 Scout and Prowler as main, or hemlok/R99 as secondary. Swap out the G7 or Hemlok only if the ring in round 6+ is without a lot of close quarters.
Kings Canyon split:
Mained Bloodhound, with Wraith as secondary
I had the most success with BH with the smaller map as you can more easily catch solo or duos on the run and rats in corners to get yourself up to 5 kills/assists
Bloodhound’s ultimate allows for very good getaways, and given the complex terrain of the map, it is much easier to get out of the line of sight of chasing teams. I favoured using it as a get-out tool when my team started to get overwhelmed by a third party or if the other team had downed 1/2 teammates with no good opportunity to win the fight. The long duration of the ultimate means that the speed boost will put a lot of distance between you and the team behind.
BH’s scan is an excellent way to get assists to push up your KP if your team gets a knock. Many solo’s and duos will move out of position if you scan them, which can get you an easy kill, or pick them off for a kill if they go out in the open.
World’s Edge split
Mained Caustic, Revenant second, or Wraith if no one picked her
Switch main legend this split as the larger map doesn’t allow for getaways like Bloodhound’s ultimate. Caustic is great for the end game and covering your back/locking down a building until you can rotate, push a team, or defend against attackers.
Caustic gas traps & ultimates are excellent ways to counter Revenant’s ultimate, by reducing the effectiveness of pushing and being able to kill shadows. This came after Revenant’s buff in the split and was a main reason why I switched.
Revenant’s ultimate is extremely powerful and was a huge factor in climbing to Masters. Playing Caustic really helps repel Revenant ultimate pushes, as gas slows down shadows, and discourages secondary pushes if they’re sent back.
