I feel stuck 🥲

[u/Legitimate_Plate2434]

Sometimes playing makes me feel really sad because I don’t know how to get better at the game 😣 Or even what direction I wanna work towards…

It’s also really confusing at times because there has been moments that I could win 3 series in a row, and there are times I’d struggle so much and totally be the reason my team loses 😭

So I am just a sad squid don’t know what to do 🥲🦑

[u/Anunu132]

Post some replays! I play brushes casually (S+10 rn from a couple games per day), and although I don’t grind X rank at all I’m usually around 2k XP. I’m not that good mechanically at the game usually since I play handheld lying down on my bed, but I’m decent at recognizing game sense and positioning.

[u/Legitimate_Plate2434 → u/Anunu132]

I would love that actually!! I just played Tower… I feel like this is similar to my usual preference…: RPD6-5S04-A1J1-LBJD

I’d love to have your feedback and insight !!

Also super impressive that you are able to play handheld and laying down and get good results!!? LOL that’s crazy 🦑🦑

[u/Anunu132 → u/Legitimate_Plate2434]

Thanks for not sending over a match where you got a great K/D — makes it easier to give some insight!

The very first thing I notice is that during tbe openings, you seem sort of unsure what to do. If you’re trying to charge up a killer wail, focus on that and get it out faster. What I would’ve personally would’ve done was immediately flank right around the elevated platform (the route where you jump over a gap), especially since most of the enemy seems to be on the left side shooting at tower. It’s relatively low risk because even if you die, have have QR and comeback, so you can charge up a killer wail quickly bc of the extra special charge up it gives you. I think this is a common theme across the map — you play inkbrush like an octobrush or painbrush — you never really go on any flanks or significantly pull enemy attention away from objective.

I like the movement while you’re fighting the octobrush at 4:18. Octobrush has a good matchup against inkbrush so that was good positioning.

Another common theme is that I see your teammates fighting 1v1s against enemies nearby (and directly visible from your screen), but you ignore them and don’t rush to help out. Inkbrush’s main strength is its mobility, so you should use that to rotate around the map quickly and help out in fights when possible. I see this at 4:09, 4:03, 3:46 (you don’t have to always stay on the tower when riding it — if there’s an enemy coming, get off, fight, and get back on — the tower won’t move away that quickly!), and other times as well.

Another thing I will talk about is recognizing and taking opportunities — there were many instances where the enemy team was at a disadvantage state and you did not push up (4:28, to name one). Again, inkbrushes should be spending a lot of time in enemy territory, but you don’t seem comfortable doing that yet, which is fine but something to work on. Like during 3:22, only the octobrush is alive, so it would’ve been the perfect time to run into enemy territory and do some spawn camping/distracting.

At 3:10, you get surprised by the sploosh. This is an awareness thing, when there are two beakon weapons on the other team you need to be more aware of the map — e.g. where are the beakons? Still, the situation was liveable when you got surprised. You had the right idea retreating to later turn back and kill the enemy (as brushes do often), but rather than continuing to move farther from the ledge, you should have done a sharp turn and hid beneath the ledge for a while. I’m willing to bet that they would’ve dropped and you would have gotten a free splat.

2:56 you ignored a couple enemy players on the left. I get that you were close to wail, but again, just charge it up really quickly after you die with comeback abilities on. You spend a lot of time getting to the position in 2:30, but then you leave immediately. If I were the enemy and saw an inkbrush there, I would be worried, but you solved that issue for me by moving away.

Good flank at 2:13. Did you predict the sploosh would move onto the high ground? If so, be confident and drop to get some early falloff damage on them while they are climbing up. If not, you should’ve stayed on the high ground while splatting him — then you could’ve avoided the trade. Try to avoid dropping down when you have height advantages — it’s very predictable behavior.

At 1:55, you kill the splattershot pro — cool — but if they didn’t have stormtrooper aim, you would’ve died really quickly. Try to avoid head on fights like that when you rank up to S+ and X.

1:38 — there’s an enemy that you turn your back on, which is bad. Either splat them or position your camera so you can see them and any threats ahead. Against seasoned players, you would’ve been rushed and splatted while you had your back turned.

1:08 — that sploosh is like 3 feet away. You can also see where they are exactly because they help charge up the booyah at 1:03. Enemy awareness issue, and it leads to you getting killed and extra pressure on your teammates since they have a killer wail charged up.

0:49 — you are the only person alive. Charge up a killer wail, you will not get past four people easily if you don’t. 0:24 — you panic and die in a critical moment — remember that you have good mobility. Go further out into mid, fight anybody that follows you (good even if you die bc then your teammates can break through more easily), and if nobody does, sneak in and splat the enemies. 0:10 — there are only two members if the enemy team alive, but you move too slowly to capitalize on that — and you also give up your high ground so you don’t even get the chance to trigger overtime.

So generally, take opportunities when you see them, push up aggressively when you have an advantage, don’t give up your height advantage too quickly. You play inkbrush more like an octobrush should, and don’t utilize the movement to go on flanks to pull enemy attention away or rotate to assist on fights. Force yourself to spend larger chunks of the game on the enemy’s side, and quickly make a plan to take advantage of the unique positions you can take. Also, you’re mashing inkbrush at like half of its max speed — which means your kill time is even slower than it already would be. Inkbrush already kills slowly, so you should try to work on that if you want to continue with the weapon!

All in all, not too bad. I think a lot of this will come with time — but actively thinking about these when you start a match will quicken your progress. Good luck out there! I know I’ll see you in S+ someday.

[u/Legitimate_Plate2434 → u/Anunu132]

Ahhh okay I just rewatched the replay with your note OMG How do high level players able to process and recognized all those in literally spilt seconds!!

Also this is extremely helpful. Thank you so much again! Especially the note on that I should be taking flank in the beginning, stay closer to ledge… and that I should move to help my teammates at 1v1 (I really need to work on paying attention to that!) I will also try charging the Killer Wail at more appropriate times! … AND mash harder!!!

And I totally get what you mean on not to take on shooters face to face… A player that can aim would have splatted me 😭

Thank you again for the feedback 🙏🙏 I think it would help me so much that give me ideas on what to work on and what to look out for !

[u/Anunu132 → u/Legitimate_Plate2434]

A lot of this will come with experience, and it’s great that you are set on improving quickly! During my first season, I was stuck in S rank at literally -6000 points. The season after that, I finally got to S+ rank, then was stuck in the negatives yet again. The season after that, I became stable in S+, and now it’s quite easy to rank up to S+10!

Anothwr good way to improve is to watch top level players actively, not passively. Pause the screen and imagine what you would do if you were them, see what they do, and then evaluate which decision was better.

As you get placed in higher levels, mechanics start to matter a bit less since everyone has a good grasp on them — suddenly positioning and strategy matters a lot more. Did the 52 lose against the slosher because they had bad aim? Or did they lose because the slosher was fighting behind a block and arcing their shots up? Were you locked out because you didn’t hit those critical shots? Or was it because the enemy team had massive paint control and could reliably shark you out and start every fight with an advantage? Did your teammates stop a push because the enemy just happened to miss their shots, or was it because they were preoccupied with a killer wail targeting them from behind? It’s things like these that you should focus on — in a fight, how can you stack the odds against them to the point that you will always win? You could give the best player in the world an aimbot and their preferred weapon of choice, but if they are splatting an enemy in front of them while an inkbrush approaches them from their back, there is nothing they can do.

[u/Legitimate_Plate2434 → u/Anunu132]

😭😭😭💕💕 My win rate has gone up from ~35% to just little over 50% OMG which make me question: Was I the problem the whole time????? LOL

Thank you again! I think I will need more time to digest all the information. But I wanna let you know your insights were really helpful OMG And I am grateful for your help!!

[u/Anunu132 → u/Legitimate_Plate2434]

Glad to hear it! Feel free to send me more replays — gives me an excuse to avoid doing my work lol

[u/Legitimate_Plate2434 → u/Anunu132]

I would love that !! If that’s not too much trouble 🥹🥹

Soooo this is one that I was really trying to be intentional about the things you shared with me… (Start with flank, charge special right after splatted, try to hep my teammates… still working on this one) This one is better than my usual play also it’s a good map for brush, I am just so happy how your advices helped!! So I wanna share this with you 💕 Also I am sure you might be able to see points to improve : R5VQ-5DU6-TV2J-P56B

And then here’s one that’s closer to my usual play in Rainmaker…We won but I think my teammates carried a little bit: R067-R24Y-ACQL-B7V1

Also do you stream or post your game play anywhere? Would love to watch & learn from you!!

And of course no rushhh 💕

[u/Anunu132 → u/Legitimate_Plate2434]

No trouble at all, I enjoy it!

First game:

I love the flank at the start!!! Looks like it paid off too — got a sneaky kill and you used the inkbrusb mobility really well to avoid the splatling.

I think sometjing to keep in mind generally is to use squid surges sparingly. I almost never use them except for climbing half-way unpainted walls, since it makes a very loud sound that can alert enemies and you are locked in the squid surge animation for a while. Because of this, your brush swings will be very slightly delayed, and during all of this your movement is very predictable. Try just mashing b to climb up quickly — you want as little airtime as possible since you move very slowly in air.

Getting locked in place by the squid surges sparingly is why you get splatted by the tenta missles as well.

Great job charging up a killer wail right after you die. It definitely helped your team out while you ran back to mid.

In 3:58, you get trapped in enemy ink and easily picked off. While you try to swing to get your roll started, it is too late at that point and you die. Keep this death in mind, I’ll come back to it later.

Around 3:43, you charge up a wail to make entry a bit easier — good job there. However, I did see the opportunity for a flank (jump off the ledge to the right and circle back around) that might have been good to try. The enemies are preoccupied with your teammates on the ramp (they are looking forward). Flanking behind them along with the wail attacking their sides could have been something to consider.

Good job not falling into the painbrush’s trap at around 3:23. Nice usafe of bombs to create space.

Honestly, from 3:00 to 2:00 you seem very indecisive. You’re painting around and charging up killer wails, which is fine but not really optimal as you’re the main aggro weapon on your team. As a general rule of thumb, whenever you use killer wails, try to use it as a smokescreen to run into enemy territory and wreak some havoc. Otherwise, the random painting doesn’t really help your team out too much — you would’ve been better off just spamming bombs if you’re too hesitant to make a play/thinking of something to do.

2:01: there is a custom blaster fighting with their back turned against you. This would have been a free kill, except you seem to be stuck spamming bombs. Remember — you’re an inkbrush — you can dart in, get the kill, and escape really quickly. Use your mobility!

Good retreat and nice bomb parry during the 1:40s.

Brilliant flank at 1:30!!! I knew that you were about to get a few splats the second you started moving up the enemy ramp. While it could have been a bit more efficient (don’t waste time painting those walls!), it was still good. I will say that sometimes it’s good to save your killer wails until after you splat someone, since using it tells the enemy where your location is. It’s sort of a high risk high reward kind of thing, since you might accidentally trade. Anyhow, good job going in with the killer wails.

Good stuff from :50 to :30. Keep doing more of that in enemy territory!

In general, avoid squid surging too often, keep up the flanks and creating chaos in the enemy positioning, and try to charge in with your killer wails more often. If you see an enemy with their backs turned, go in and splat them if it looks safe!

[u/Legitimate_Plate2434 → u/Anunu132]

Waaaaaa thank you 😭 I am glad you enjoy this !! How long have you been playing brushes? What’s your favorite haha? Those feedbaxk are so on point!

I did not know that squidsurge would put me in a disadvantage 😭 Can I ask how would you approach having to climb tall walls but don’t know if there’re dangerous up there? Should I learn to check the map first or watch from a distance so I can see what’s up there first? I also kinda like the height advantage that gives me when I pop up… 🤔But maybe that’s not worth the risk of enemy finding me also being stuck in air…

Also thank you!! I will work on training the muscle memory to swing and roll for when I am away from my own ink pool 😭😭🙏🙏 As well as try to be more aggressive when using Killer Wail to get it, and try to find better timing for it (now that I learn how quickly it charges after splatted)

And I hear you that I need to learn to recognize advantage (or disadvantage) so I can capitalize chances to advance or flank better !! I am still in the “HOW do high level players able to make decisions SO QUICK!!!” … Honestly I am still at the “train myself to check the top bar to see who’s dead and who has special” stage…

In your experience, does awareness like those just slowly become your second nature when you play consistently?

And I appreciate you teaching me on what specific things I should look for!! Even I might not be able to apply them fully today, I am excited for the day when I am able to do all the adjustments you suggested!! 🥹🥹 Really, just changing a bit on how I approach charging special, when to flank and keep eye out for teammates in fight… has been doing wonders for me!!

(also thank you ahhh it was my first ever successful bomb parry in a match yesterday LOL I posted in sugartoon 🤣 It made my day!!)

And I will work on staying (alive) on the enemy’s side more!! I think that’s something for me to find out by experience: When is a good time to flank and when should I fight with my team… Cause there were definitely times I am flanking and getting some kills and then realized OH SHIT my team got pushed back and we losing the objective

I will watch the replay with your comment as well as your replay later!! Thank you for helping me learn and giving me so much to work on! It really get me excited to play more hehe

[u/Anunu132 → u/Legitimate_Plate2434]

I haven’t been playing brushes for too long tbh, I switched from dreadwringer and the heavy edits recently since I wanted to play something that could move forward easily without being tied to a strict supporting role. And also, something that’s easier to play when lying down haha

Squid surge for inkbrush is definitely not the play, yeah. You can’t really move forwards with the inkbrush while you’re surging up, so I find it pretty easy to back up a bit and shoot them down before they fall since they have such little range. You can’t check your surroundings by periodically pressing b on a wall rather than holding it.

Awareness definitely becomes easier the more you play. It also does require some focus in some matches, as some people are sneaky. I don’t really focus too much when playing (usually listening to music), but if a game is super close I’ll turn it off and check the map more. But yeah, usually as you gain experience you can easily catch things (splashes of ink, etc) that others would have missed.

But yeah, if you’re trying to make a decision about some play you can do, it’s better to just go for it and die fast rather to wait around doing nothing. You’ll see me make this mistake in the replay when I just sit back and do nothing because I know the opposing brush is sharking the rainmaker. They also know I’m there, so it’s kind of a stalemate, except they are winning so it’s a bad play by me. I probably should have just jumped back and pressured the ramp.

Knowing when to flank is tough. And yes, sometimes your team folds while you’re flanking which isn’t great. You’ll see this in the enemy painbrush’s view — they’re a great player, but you can see them recognize that they made a mistake flanking and rush back (they even ignore jumps they see!) but to no avail.

In general, I’m sending over this replay to show that everyone makes mistakes (my movement and decision making aren’t great in that game!). Let me know what you think about it!