You are playing in Warzone. You are pub stomping the lobby and you are just wiping teams out one by one. You are a beast. You are the king of the lobby. You queue for another match, ready to demolish. Just to get destroyed while looting. Can’t hit your shots. Missing easy kills.
It can be very frustrating. It happens to the best of us. Just yesterday, I hopped in for a few Warzone matches and I felt like I was the worst player in the lobby. I was shooting and the bullets went everywhere. I contributed nothing to the squad. It happens. But first of all. What is consistency?
What Is Consistency?
According to Google, consistency is conformity in the application of something, typically that which is necessary for the sake of logic, accuracy, or fairness. Basically, consistency is the ability to perform at peak levels over the course of a long length of time. But, consistency is just a dream. We all strive to be consistent 100% of the time. But even the best players in the world make some stupid mistakes and miss the easiest shots. It happens. But how can we minimize it?
No One Is Perfect
Before we begin, I want to emphasise that no one is perfect. Knowing that no one is perfect and bad days are inevitable is a huge relief by itself. Even the best players in the world have bad days. It happens and it is natural. We are humans, after all. Realize that we have some good days and we have some bad days.
If you notice that it is not your day today, take a break. Focus on something else. You should play the game only when you are in the right state of mind. Don’t let anger, frustration and disappointment get in your way.
Now, let’s go over the causes of these inconsistencies. I would say, that most of your inconsistencies come from external factors. I really think being consistent is more of a psychology issue rather than a gaming issue. Buying a new mouse, or starting to aim train will not cut it.
Mental
Are you getting frustrated when you lose? Do you get tilted often? Do you expect yourself to play better? All of these are things that may impact your mental state, and therefore hurt your in-game performance. This needs to be taken care of. Mental state while gaming is very important. You are probably inconsistent due to lack of focus. This can be because of lack of sleep, bad food, stress at work, etc. There are many reasons why you might not be focused while you play, and it all comes down to your mental state.
- Are you drinking enough water?
- Are you eating healthy food?
- Are you getting 8+ hours of sleep?
- Are you done with the homework / work assignments for today?
- Are you exercising regularly?
All of these factors, or any combination of them, could be causing consistency issues and making it harder to be focused. Do not under-estimate the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Do you think that professional players who are competing are really sleep-deprived? Eating junk food before a tournament? So make sure you nail the healthy lifestyle stuff and that your mental state is on point. Now let’s hop into some game action:
- You Might Be Burned Out – Sometimes, all you need is a break. Don’t play too many competitive games in a row. Take some breaks in between. Breathe some air. Touch some grass. Do something else for a while.
- You Might Be Not Focused While Gaming – What I mean by that, is, are you really focusing on what happens in-game? Do you adapt to enemies counter-play? Do you learn your enemies patterns? Do you look at the gas and prepare your route? Don’t play on auto pilot. Take notice of what happens in-game.
- You Might Be Just Facing Greatter Opponents – Sometimes you play against opponents that are better than you. Or just opponents with different strategies and they manage to counter-play you every round. It happens. Learn to adapt, learn from mistakes, and move on.
Again, I can’t stress enough the importance of a good mental state while gaming. A hit on your mental state will hurt your performance more than you can imagine. So make sure you are not getting tilted, frustrated and disappointed during gaming. Make sure you live a healthy lifestyle, sleep well, exercise and eat healthy.
Now, that nothing external is hurting your performance, let’s see what we can change in-game.
Warm Up
Make sure you are warmed up before you start playing. I really hate rushing into a game just because my friends say that warm-ups are useless (Good friends uh?). Think about CS:GO and Valorant, for example. The first round is the pistol round and it is the most important round in the match. Do you really want to come cold and unprepared for it?
Warm-up will do wonders for you. It will provide the consistency you need, and will prepare you for the match. Rushing to play without warming-up just puts you at a disadvantage as most of the people in the lobby are probably warmed up.
Even if you play for a couple hours, you need to rewarm-up. Why is that? Games like Siege, Valorant and CS:GO, have a lot of downtime. Waiting for matches, spectating teammates while you are dead or just holding angles while nothing happens. You will need to rewarm up. So make sure you hop into a deathmatch every now and then. It will keep your aim warm and sharp.
I am working right now on a warm-up guide, but for now, if you are playing a game with deathmatch, it should be enough. Use custom matches with bots if you don’t have a deathmatch or you can warm-up in Kovaaks like I do.
Play With A Full Team
Playing with randoms is a roller coaster of emotions. Sometimes your team synergy is perfect and sometimes you are lacking basic team coordination and you lose. You really can’t have a consistent game every ranked if you are playing with randoms. You will never get it. Everyone plays different roles, with various skill levels and tactics, and there are knowledge gaps between teammates.
Instead, you should focus on yourself. Focus on every aspect you can control. Focus on being the best player on the team. Make sure you nail down everything that you can control:
- Map Knowledge
- Meta Knowledge
- Crosshair Placement
- Smokes And Flashes
- Callouts
- Angles
And there are many more. Once you focus on yourself, you will be the best player you can.
When I play Warzone with randoms, it is such a cluster****, some people just sit in a corner and expect me to sit with them. Some people just rush squads without any information. I can go 20 kills in a match and then get destroyed in the next one because we have no team coordination.
But, when I play with my duo-partner (Shoutout to Dennis V, my boi). We have been playing together for a long time. Therefore, our team synergy is on point. We land at the same spot. We know every tactic available, every maneuver, and we are coordinated. We are both consistent because we’ve done the same thing for months. We have the back of each other and most of the time we win the match.
Get A Good Setup
A bad setup can have a significant impact on your consistency. For example, playing with a low-quality mouse that can’t properly track your movement or even playing on a monitor that is not easy on your eyes. I highly suggest investing in high-quality peripherals as they can help with consistency and performance.
I recommend getting Logitech G Pro (review) and BenQ Zowie XL2456K. The rest are less a concern but nailing your monitor and mouse is a must.
Practice More
This is a no-brainer, but you have to practice more. Bad days are inevitable. You should expect them. But focus more on improving. On aim training. On game sense. You will become a better player overall and you will reduce the impact of those bad days.
I know you don’t want to hear this, but practice makes permenant. So make sure you put in the time, you learn tactics, improve your aim, etc. Practicing more and practicing effectively is the solution to many problems in the gaming community.
Conclusion
So, how to be more consistent while gaming? The number one priority should be your mental state. Most of the inconsistencies come from external factors. Make sure you are healthy, hydrated and well rested. Make sure you are not angry, or frustrated with the game, as it will hurt your focus and will cause you to be more inconsistent as a result. Make sure you have a warm-up routine and always try to play with a full team.
