Thought I would grind from Bronze IV to at least Diamond this season. I finally reached Diamond tonight. I will say the grind through Platinum was absolutely brutal at times. I came with in 30RP of diamond numerous times only to have strings of bad luck eliminate 200-300RP. I literally played non-stop for 26 hours trying to go from 6800RP to 7200, often times coming with in 30RP of Diamond. Got some rest woke up played a few warm up then won the match. I only played 3-4 matches with a friend from AHQ, but I made it through Platinum I entirely on my own, with nothing but random teammates. Often times hard stuck Platinum IV teammates. I did it playing nothing but Wattson, unless teammates picked her (which is rare). The key to this grind is knowing when to run and camp your way to minimal RP losses or positive RP. You are going to get teammates who are having bad rounds or simply don't have the skill set. The hardest part is making it out of Platinum IV and Platinum III. It's easy to camp up into Platinum IV, but Platinum IV is where you start bumping into people who are going to one clip you. Who can shot you off of jump towers and out of the sky. So camping to RP is difficult, toss in that the RP gains from a top 5 placement hardly cover the cost of a match, so you have to be getting KP fairly frequently. You can make it up to Diamond too. Just play with a pre-made and play smart. Play into your teams legends strengths. Play for positioning because in the Platinum+ lobbies there are more than likely going to be 5-6 squads in final rings. If you don't have early positioning in those final rings you're going to be trying to run through open areas with multiple teams shooting at you who do have cover and positioning.

I would argue slightly above average is Gold III. Platinum, with the percentage who play it, is comfortably above average.But Diamond is like 6% of the player base, so while you are definitely a good player if you are even a Platinum IV, Diamond is probably the lowest rank you can swing around and say you are one of the best. Not THE best, but up there. Even though if you are Platinum III+ you could say the same thing because you're basically a Diamond that didn't make it yet.There is a big difference to getting to Diamond Solo Q though. That is much harder, and speaks to personal knowledge of the game, plus compensating for things way beyond your control, like how badly other players can play.Someone solo-q'd to Masters, tho. That person has way thick skin. I'll tip my hat to Diamond IVs, solo q or not, and say you've done enough :D

Rather than making a new thread, I'll just post my soloQ journey to diamond here.I hate that I love Apex right nowI hate that I’m so addicted to Apex right now even though there’s no content for the whole month of March. I’ve finally reached Diamond after playing 2-3 hours a day for a week and a half from Bronze IV. I’ve been to diamond thrice already but this is the first time that I exclusively played alone (Solo queue) to diamond. Here are some take aways:I should not be hereI don’t belong in Bronze-Gold lobbies. These lobbies should exclusively be for new players or players that are below average. There should be a system that should stop me from deranking too low to these lobbies. Every game is a 2k game or a minimum 1600 damage game for me. I can’t see how a new player can enjoy their games where there are players at the same level as me or there are smurfs.SmurfingSmurfs are everywhere. In my opinion, smurfing is not a problem in pubs since they’re quickly put into harder lobbies after a few games but in rank this is a problem. I’m trying to view this smurfing problem in the eyes of a new player. The tutorial is bad, the amount of information you have to learn as a new player in apex is outstanding, and you get wrecked by smurfs. Not a friendly game for beginners. Ranked games is how the game should be playedI’m not saying that pubs is not good anymore, but 3 teams left at the end of round 1 kinda annoys me. It’s either you hotdrop with 3-5 other squads or the game becomes a walking simulator ESPECIALLY IN STORM POINT! SP is the worst map for pubs. Also, I love that no one insta-quits when they're downed.OlympusProbably one of the biggest factor why I had the will to grind this split was because of the map. Olympus is still my 2nd favorite map after WE. The loot in this map should be the standard for all other maps in this game. The POIs are amazing too except for the whole waterfalls-Hammond Labs area. Hate fighting there. Cooldown post rank gamesI just wish there was some type of mode where I can chill after a stressful game session of rank. Maybe a mode where you can respawn or have objectives where you have to capture a small area of the map.What gun to use in rank?The Rampage. It’s so strong or broken (if you want to call it that) so use it! Use everything to gain an advantage except for cheating of course. The alternator saved me a lot of times especially early game. What legend to use?Any legend that you can maximize their abilities. Not just knowing what their abilities do, but a deeper understanding of how the legend abilities work and its interactions with other legend abilities. I suggest sticking to one legend. For be it’s Gibby. There was a game where a Rampart carried us to victory. PingDidn’t talk to anyone other than saying thanks and GG to my fellow Japanese teammates. Had one teammate who is a kid (maybe 13 y/o) on the mic while you can clearly hear his dad giving him tips by his side. Wholesome moment for sure. RANTSGOD I HATE FIGHTING OTHER GIBBYS! LMAO! You need at least 5 magazines to kill one especially late game where everyone has purple/red shields. Horizon mains are scary for some reason. Been experiencing no audio footsteps which was annoying.ConclusionsThe core gameplay of apex is amazing. I just wish that the monetization side of things and the slow fixes could be better/faster. Rank saved me from the content drought this month. I’ve been extremely busy last month and the first half of March. As much as I love playing games, being an adult with a job takes most of my/our time. I now have a problem of buying games but not playing them especially when they’re on sale. LOL. Glad that control is coming back in a few hours and there’s no way I’m touching Kings Canyon rank.

In the simplest form: Congratz, I do know your pain and what you probably feeling now. Simply well done!

@DarthValtrex Nice job, I have made it to Diamond solo q the last few splits with Wattson too, I didn’t know you used her. Even won a Diamond game solo q last night as well so it’s definitely possible with randoms. The RP changes have helped me in some scenarios where I have no choice but to rat but for the most part yeah you’re not climbing up unless you are a Diamond skill player already, so good stuff!

@DarthValtrex Well done. I did not use Wattson, my old favorite, because I would have lost my mind. I solo-q'd to Diamond as well and regardless of strategy, yes, it involves maintaining your cool and minimizing frustrations during the game and with point losses, knowing you are in it for the long haul. A 8,9, or 7th place with no kills is bad, but remembering it is far better than a 14th or lower placement is critical. And every now and then you get the 3,2, or 1st place finish with kills that pushes you on. My point of view at least.I do play Wattson now that I am in Diamond, mostly because it's fun, and no way am I grinding to Masters alone. I'm an adult with time commitments! 😉 (Seriously, if you have a day job and solo q to masters, you are incredible). I do play to win, but I find a lot of people in Diamond IV 'throw' as hard as Plat IV or Gold IV. They are still charging into fights 1v3 and getting killed. I don't want to have to worry about how bad that is, so I play along with whatever is going on.Again, good job. You earned it.

I made it to Diamond with nothing but randoms

37 Replies

Zkepz
4 years ago
In the simplest form: Congratz, I do know your pain and what you probably feeling now. Simply well done!
DarthValtrex
Hero (Retired)
4 years ago
@Zkepz Yeah it was a challenge unlike no other. Definitely improved my skill in the game. Super frustrating at times. Can't wait for that dive trail.
MadameRose66
4 years ago
@DarthValtrex I feel you mate I also reached plat on my own but due to crashes (without any error) I stopped at plat 4 even though I could reach Dia ☹️
DarthValtrex
Hero (Retired)
4 years ago
@MadameRose66 what platform are you on? Ranked just feels slow-mo to me and has. The movement just seems off especially compared to PUB's
MadameRose66
4 years ago
@DarthValtrexI am on Steam since season 7 so I never had those crashes besides season 10 and now it's back again since 1-2 weeks ago where I had no troubles at all.
DarthValtrex
Hero (Retired)
4 years ago
@MadameRose66 humm I'm not hugely familiar with PC. Perhaps this is a good one for E9 to chime in on. I don't know if they are having issues on PC with crashing or not.

Console PUB's runs great for the most part. But ranked is another story. I don't get crashes, but I get these insane random lag spikes up to 500-700 ping then it just goes back down to 11.
Zkepz
4 years ago
We had quite a bit of crash problems in the start of season, they had reconnect dialed in though so I didnt get punished more then once hehe, but I havent crashed in a good while now. Seems like they fixed those issues, now it would be good to get the server latency issues fixed and better detection on servers that partially hung that give you some interesting experiences hehe.
XvArawnvX
4 years ago
@DarthValtrex Congrats I feel your pain I’m currently working on that as well I’m in plat w about 200 from plat 1 complete random all the way, and it’s frustrating to get a squad that wants to drop with 4 other squads off gate like come in man, watch the count from the beginning if there are hardly anyone dropping at the beginning drop first half of map sometimes everyone drops at the beginning so go second half of map it’s not rocket science but land close enough to another team to try and get into a fight early and get your points then play smart back out of a fight when the time is getting close to ring close or if the fight is taking too long, anyway it’s frustrating but I do enjoy the level of play you get out of ranked hopefully I’ll make it before the split it’s just a huge mental grind as well, congratulations again
MyName1sNotJohn
4 years ago
@DarthValtrex Nice job, I have made it to Diamond solo q the last few splits with Wattson too, I didn’t know you used her. Even won a Diamond game solo q last night as well so it’s definitely possible with randoms. The RP changes have helped me in some scenarios where I have no choice but to rat but for the most part yeah you’re not climbing up unless you are a Diamond skill player already, so good stuff!
KelRiever
4 years ago
@DarthValtrex Well done. I did not use Wattson, my old favorite, because I would have lost my mind. I solo-q'd to Diamond as well and regardless of strategy, yes, it involves maintaining your cool and minimizing frustrations during the game and with point losses, knowing you are in it for the long haul. A 8,9, or 7th place with no kills is bad, but remembering it is far better than a 14th or lower placement is critical. And every now and then you get the 3,2, or 1st place finish with kills that pushes you on. My point of view at least.
I do play Wattson now that I am in Diamond, mostly because it's fun, and no way am I grinding to Masters alone. I'm an adult with time commitments! 😉 (Seriously, if you have a day job and solo q to masters, you are incredible). I do play to win, but I find a lot of people in Diamond IV 'throw' as hard as Plat IV or Gold IV. They are still charging into fights 1v3 and getting killed. I don't want to have to worry about how bad that is, so I play along with whatever is going on.
Again, good job. You earned it.