Hey, I am Awkward. I am a Champion 1 Support, have been a Rank 1 player many times, and also Champion on all roles. This is a list of the 12 most common mistakes that we've seen from thousands of coaching sessions at Rank Up Academy and fixing them were the biggest game changers in our members ranking up.

1. Playing more passive than you can get away with - Being careful is fine, but being too careful means you never actually do anything that matters. Think of a kid in dodgeball who just hides at the back to avoid getting hit - they never get out, sure, but they never win the game for their team either.

2. Fighting enemies who are looking at you - If someone is already staring at you, they're ready for you. Shoot the people who aren't paying attention. The reason why my Unranked To GM's look easy, is because I rarely take "fair fights". I almost always get the first shot in.

3. Not shooting the tank - Poking the enemy tank forces them to back up. When they back up, your tank walks forward. When your tank walks forward, the enemies focus on them - and suddenly their DPS/Supports are wide open. Poke the tank first. Everything else follows. You aren't supposed to shoot the tank all game, just enough to create an opportunity for you.

4. Thinking high ground is always good - High grounds work because they creates an angle that is unreachable by half of the heroes in the game. However, that is only true if the fight is right under. If your high ground has no ability to properly eliminate the enemies, or puts you in danger by mobile heroes - Move away from there.

5. Counter Swapping - The hard parts about a hero are exactly where you learn. Every time you switch a hero when things get hard, you take away the opportunity to improve. You gamble on a short term win to sacrifice a lot of long term wins (and ranking up).

6. Playing like a turret - A lot of players have a habit of not moving enough. Frequently switching your position helps you catch the enemies off guard in the middle of the teamfight, and more importantly makes it very difficult to set up to kill you (yes, that's how you play Ana vs Dive).

7. Holding your abilities forever Your abilities exist to be used in fights, not saved for some perfect moment that never comes. Sitting on them all game is like carrying an umbrella every single day and never opening it when it's actually raining. This includes your Ultimate

8. Burning abilities before the fight starts Using your cooldowns before anything is happening is just as bad as never using them. You'll have nothing left when it actually matters. If you use cooldowns too early, you will have nothing when the enemies commit.

9. Using your ultimate just because they used theirs The enemy pressing Q is not a reason for you to press Q. See if you can disengage first, let their ultimate run out, and then go in with yours. Enemy Kiriko used Kitsune? Try to disengage, if you manage to you will use yours when they overextend and won't have anything to defend against it.

10. Chasing kills - Just because an enemy is low HP, doesn't mean that you have to go for the kill no matter what. Don't put yourself at high risk for it. Rarely in a game of Overwatch exchanging your life for for a life is worth it. Don't be greedy and remind yourself that it's okay to let go.

11. Engaging too early - The biggest game changer with anyone that I have ever worked with, whether it's a metal rank player, or a pro player. The timing of your engagement is based on how busy the enemies are. Not busy enemies = You don't commit - You poke and wait.

12. Healing teammates who don't need it yet (Support) - Just because your tank lost 100 HP, doesn't mean that you should necessarily heal them. How many times you found yourself healing to still see your teammates die at the end? Healing doesn't stop your teammates from taking damage, it just fixes it after the fact. The better play is to do damage yourself and force the enemy to back off before your teammate is even in danger. Heal when they genuinely need it - use the rest of your time making sure they don't end up in that situation to begin with.

Hey, I am Awkward. I am a Champion 1 Support, have been a Rank 1 player many times, and also Champion on all roles. This is a list of the 12 most common mistakes that we've seen from thousands of coaching sessions at Rank Up Academy and fixing them were the biggest game changers in our members ranking up.

1. Playing more passive than you can get away with - Being careful is fine, but being too careful means you never actually do anything that matters. Think of a kid in dodgeball who just hides at the back to avoid getting hit - they never get out, sure, but they never win the game for their team either.

2. Fighting enemies who are looking at you - If someone is already staring at you, they're ready for you. Shoot the people who aren't paying attention. The reason why my Unranked To GM's look easy, is because I rarely take "fair fights". I almost always get the first shot in.

3. Not shooting the tank - Poking the enemy tank forces them to back up. When they back up, your tank walks forward. When your tank walks forward, the enemies focus on them - and suddenly their DPS/Supports are wide open. Poke the tank first. Everything else follows. You aren't supposed to shoot the tank all game, just enough to create an opportunity for you.

4. Thinking high ground is always good - High grounds work because they creates an angle that is unreachable by half of the heroes in the game. However, that is only true if the fight is right under. If your high ground has no ability to properly eliminate the enemies, or puts you in danger by mobile heroes - Move away from there.

5. Counter Swapping - The hard parts about a hero are exactly where you learn. Every time you switch a hero when things get hard, you take away the opportunity to improve. You gamble on a short term win to sacrifice a lot of long term wins (and ranking up).

6. Playing like a turret - A lot of players have a habit of not moving enough. Frequently switching your position helps you catch the enemies off guard in the middle of the teamfight, and more importantly makes it very difficult to set up to kill you (yes, that's how you play Ana vs Dive).

7. Holding your abilities forever Your abilities exist to be used in fights, not saved for some perfect moment that never comes. Sitting on them all game is like carrying an umbrella every single day and never opening it when it's actually raining. This includes your Ultimate

8. Burning abilities before the fight starts Using your cooldowns before anything is happening is just as bad as never using them. You'll have nothing left when it actually matters. If you use cooldowns too early, you will have nothing when the enemies commit.

9. Using your ultimate just because they used theirs The enemy pressing Q is not a reason for you to press Q. See if you can disengage first, let their ultimate run out, and then go in with yours. Enemy Kiriko used Kitsune? Try to disengage, if you manage to you will use yours when they overextend and won't have anything to defend against it.

10. Chasing kills - Just because an enemy is low HP, doesn't mean that you have to go for the kill no matter what. Don't put yourself at high risk for it. Rarely in a game of Overwatch exchanging your life for for a life is worth it. Don't be greedy and remind yourself that it's okay to let go.

11. Engaging too early - The biggest game changer with anyone that I have ever worked with, whether it's a metal rank player, or a pro player. The timing of your engagement is based on how busy the enemies are. Not busy enemies = You don't commit - You poke and wait.

12. Healing teammates who don't need it yet (Support) - Just because your tank lost 100 HP, doesn't mean that you should necessarily heal them. How many times you found yourself healing to still see your teammates die at the end? Healing doesn't stop your teammates from taking damage, it just fixes it after the fact. The better play is to do damage yourself and force the enemy to back off before your teammate is even in danger. Heal when they genuinely need it - use the rest of your time making sure they don't end up in that situation to begin with.