TACTICS IN-GAME 1. Engage when teammates engage. Deal damage when they do. 2. Play on same side of map as teammates (don't flank). 3. Play near cover. If you are losing a gunfight, return to cover. 4. Use abilities with intent. Don't waste them. 5. Use radar and sound queues to track enemy team. (Learn to use radar! - it tells you the number of, direction of, and elevation of your enemy) 6. Buy time for your team when you are outnumbered 1v2. Attack with your teammates when in a 2v1. 7. Trade “aggro” often / teamshoot. Get an enemy weak and then back off for your teammate to get the kill while you recover. Even if you lose the gunfight, this tactic still works. 8. If possible, don't use same piece of cover as teammate. Use seperate cover down same lane. 9. Throw grenades from left side of cover, melees from right side of cover, and shoot from left side of cover whenever possible. 10. Control the area of the map with the most angles. This allows you to be unpredictable, teamshoot more easily, and generally force the other team to push you. 11. Inspect enemy loadouts often / understand what they are using. SOLO PREP WORK 12. Use consistent guns and abilities. The tighter the match, the tighter the nerves. Consistency trumps all else. (You will have to farm PVE for some good PVP stuff) 13. Use proper armor and armor mods. Max out Revovery, and then max out Mobility if Hunter or Resilience if Titan. Use targeting mods. Use dexterity mods. Use unflinching mods. 14. Learn all the weapon types and their viable ranges. 15. Learn the maps (angles on map, common lanes, distances, call-outs, zone locations, heavy location, spawns, etc.) TEAM PREP WORK 16. Play with a dedicated team or friends you are familiar with. 17. Discuss call-outs, loadouts, and general strategy beforehand.

Some big things imo are. Learning lanes: a lot of the skill gap is map knowledge. Those lanes you get killed from in trials or comp that make you just go "huh?". Use those, learn from ppl using angles you aren't used to and just steal them. Information: I'm very much a sound *******. Rebalance your audio in crucible so you can hear the sfx above everything else. Gunfire across a map is as good as a radar ping, and a hunter loudly going invis behind you around a corner is just them giving their position away. Take every shot: if you can deal damage without putting yourself in a bad position do it. Idc if you have a sidearm and they're 40m out, dealing damage no matter how small helps your team bu weakening and distracting opponents. Mods: have a holster mod for your primary and special and tailor your handling and targeting mods to your guns.

What platform, what input, and what are your preferred playstyles / strengths / weaknesses?

Good to hear someone wants to improve in PvP, I’m pretty much like you 37 with a 9 months daughter, I do have less time to play now, sadly don’t have much time on weekends to play trials, we’ll tbh prefer to expend it with my family more, also depends on the loot and map, anyway here are some topics that help me develop more skill over the years. 1 - Use the 5 seconds rule, at the beginning is a bit weird to keep counting but once you get use to it is key, basically try to move your position every 5 seconds to a new one, this will help you be less predictable and also not tunnel vision. 2 - Avoid plays in the open and use cover more efficiently, applying this plus the one above is a huge improvement, in game modes like trials in case you die being in a good spot is key to help your team secure the res . 3 - Play around your teammates and be aware of their position, I usually apply it with the 5 seconds rule, once I try to switch positions look at your teammates location and try to not get too far, I know some cases are really hard as blues just go straight to dead, but shitte happens. 4 - Practice peak shooting, I normally like you do, practice my shots in pve, an example I did the whole last campaign with an igneous hammer with incandescent it was hella fun and the improvement was real. Imo 120s are good for practicing hc shoots 5 - The hardware you use makes a difference, a good monitor for sure with 120Hz, and to me switching to a control with rear pads made a big difference as it allowed me to have more freedom on my movement, I use jump on the right paddle and crouch / slide in the left one. 6 - This is a personal one, use what you feel comfortable with, don’t go for metas if possible, crutching on an easy loadout is not going to make you better and tbh is not fun nor rewarding, I really like trying new setups. 7 - Most important one have fun, if you are getting frustrated take a break, the whole idea of the game is to have fun, even more now that time is limited. I would gladly do some 1v1s and try to help you, just send me a friend request if you are interested, I’m not the greatest but have been playing since D1.

Be brave. If teammate pushes, push with them.

1). Learn maps, you don't need to know every nook and cranny, just learn the high risk lanes. 2). Reevaluate builds. Hunters can be build like a glass canon so resilience is a bit less important. However on titan and warlock, mobility is pretty pointless. If you are not in the mood to let the guns talk, try to find a Subclass and synergise your weapon choices to it with fragments to compliment. 3). Play near cover, most good players never leave themselves too exposed. Is a gunfight not favorable? (Be it outnumbered, or you are way behind on the ttk battle(you didnt land first shot or got ambushed)) reposition. 4). Loadout, there are meta loadouts. There are casual loadouts, there are loadouts that are made it 4 lines of coke. Every weapon you choose, is made with a choice and intention to use and compliment a playstyle. Running double primary? Don't use an auto rifle like a shotgun (unless it's cerberus). Yesterday I had someone run double primary, have an smg and when the opponent was in optimal range of the smg, they refused to use it in favor of a pulse. Make choices, weigh their pros and cons (some weapons don't have pros in crucible, just a list of cons (looking at you rocket assisted sidearms)) 5). There is a difference between projectile and hit scan. But projectile weapons have a fast ttk (but anyone with a bit of rabies will just dodge it). 6). Learn basic ttks, this will help you measure their forgiveness vs yours. Basic rule of thumb, the closer you have to be for optimal ttk, the quicker the ttk. A sidearm, although a primary, is excellent for complimenting a scout for example. 7). Armor mods can help out a lot in crucible, from surges to unflinching. Try to make them compliment your weapon of choice. And the resistances, don't work in crucible. 8). Choosing to use a broom instead of a pool cue is a decision. The enemy of superblack hunters with their estocs, will run their estocs. Crucible has no honor. Choosing to use meta or no meta is entirely up to you, but meta will always be more optimal to lower a skill gap than a non meta loadout. 9). 1v3? Don't fret. Some are very hungry. Just see if you can force a 1v1 against a 1v3 by relocating. Revive control is also very important in modes like trials (control is holding an angle on the revive where the opponent can't revive their fallen teammates) sometimes you just can't help it. 1v3's are just hard to win. 10). Play crucible because you enjoy it, a free mind is more willing to adapt and play than someone who forces themselves through something. In quickplay, screw performance if you are experimenting, screw the meta, screw everything. Grab a loadout and enjoy yourself. -blam!- everything. And if you like the build, use loadout slots to save them. This will help you quick swap to favor certain maps and modes. Hope this helps

Here are some tips that helped me (I’m 35 - no kids yet…) 1. Mindset - play every game with as much focus / concentration as you can (family permitting). Sounds obvious but not just running into a group of players, thinking of your positioning, reticle placement, where your team is etc. For every encounter. 2. Use the meta or anti meta set ups. There are plenty of clickbait videos as of writing this the best weapons with low or high usage in my opinion are: 120 and 140 handcannons, lightweight and heavy burst pulses, khovostov auto rifle, rapid scouts with precision instrument and Le Monarch. For specials - fusion rifles. 3. Out of these weapons use one you’re comfortable with. If you can’t hit headshots then don’t use a handcannon - lots of great players use these but if they aren’t for you then don’t use them. 4. Have a short/medium/long range loadout for certain maps or know them well enough so you know the areas your loadout will be effective. 5. Use external media: crucible radio is a podcast that ended years ago but was mainly about mindset and improving - if you can find them then they would still be applicable. There are youtubers with content based around improving - patttcakes and shadow destiny have some good videos.

I am older man, and more kids. I’ve spent like 2k hours to try to improve, but still just barely positive in trials. That said tho the process has been fun, and pvp in general is more fun than pve for me. I play only stompee solar hunter and Tstep voidwalker, with handcannon and slug. GL fellow old gamer! Practice makes perfect 👌

Play another game this one caters to cheaters and sweats.

Find what is most comfortable for you, and build into that.

I'm a tad younger (31) and on Console but my philosophy since Halo 2 has been: [b][i]Don't blame anyone else. Don't rely on anyone else. (unless teamshooting). Own my errors and faults, reflect and think on how I can better improve for future encounters. Develop confidence but don't grow an ego.[/i][/b] [spoiler]Oddly enough this also worked for me growing up... If you minus the teamshooting part that is. [/spoiler] All this being said PvP on here has become rather stale to me, so I only play these days if I really want to or to get the weekly featured Trials weapon. Other than that I'm on other games - Still, if this helps it's there.

If you have a couple friends load up some private matches and try out new techniques and make sure you move a lot so you are harder to shoot

Happy to see players wanting to get better. Other than playing in private matches or public match, I just recommend watching over your own gameplay and watching some of the top players gameplay. Start zoning in on their game sense and slowly start to copy it. Look at what they are using and what counters what. Learn when you should use a super or hold it longer. When to peek or not, or back up when they die and leave you in a 1 or 2v3. And then watch more and more and find any flaws you might see and incorporate the fixes. Now ofc this all won't help over night, but I can guarantee you'll be better than you are now in a few weeks to a month after doing just this.

Playing pms helps ensure your mechanics are solid

Screw pvp. Time better spent with your daughter.

Don't die

My KD is a bit rough because I often play careless, or doze off into music and forget what im doing lol... But that being said, Im a strong 2.0 plus if I play to potential. And there are some very big things you need to know and learn to cross that threshhold. It mostly comes down to movement. Movement wins 9 out of 10 engagements. and paired with that is having a pro controller, fast console, and an actual gaming moniter. NOT a big -blam!- TV. Oh... and a hand cannon if you really wanna clear out the room. I'M bored as hell with this game. I can give you one on one tutering if you want

First off.. don't play Trials... ever. Play as much Iron Banner as you can when it's around cos it's good for practice. It's probably the least toxic of the PvP variants.

Just kill the other guy. Knock his block off

I'm fairly mediocre at best. But if there is one thing that helps me - then it's "watch where your teammates are and stay close to them". Don't be a one man army, learn the layout of the map, watch your team and position yourself accordingly. That's what got me from being a completely shitty player to atleast a mediocre one. Sometimes.

I started by having fun with one of my friends and stealing her kills by following her then shooting over her shoulder. I play trials a lot and you can learn maps and paths to take by following the "fast teammate". That repetition helps in that regard. using meta weapons helps but you also have to have go to weapons that work for you. Yeah Redrix is king but I also have had good success with blast furnace and or Rose w/explosive payload. I tend to practice on fallen, helps trying to land headshots. My last tip would be, hey I'm not the fastest around the map, so I'm better letting the opponent peak around the corner so I can land the first shot, landing the first shot is key for me. If I can get there before them great, but there's some fast players out there.