How to improve your KD

Are you struggling to maintain a K/D > 1? Frustrated by players constantly shooting you first? Are you winning only about half the time? If you’re still an average player after years of playing it may be time to have a retrospective.

I have been playing FPS games for over 24 years and reached the top tier in several online multiplayer games (Half-Life and FarCry 3). In this 4-part series, I’m going to share how I did it and what I’ve learned over this decades long journey. Because there are some simple shifts you may be missing that can improve your K/D.

In this series, we covered:

• Part 1: Game Prep & Mindset
• Part 2: Gaming Habits
• Part 3: Aim & Aim Trainers
• Part 4: From Good to Elite (this page)

Part 4: From Good to Elite

In this final section we’re going discuss methods to keep track of your progress and to hold yourself accountable for improvements. Secondly, we’re going to emphasize the importance of losing and playing people better than yourself.

Monitor Your Progress

On average, your K/D (Kill / Death) ratio is the most important metric of an individual player with the exception of class based modes found in games like Overwatch or Team Fortress.

K/D does matter

You’re average K/D exactly expresses how good you are against the average set of players–this is critical for measuring your skill.

My K/D in Titanfall 2 is currently 2.3. But this is over 100k frags. In the last 100 games or my K/D is over 3. It’s important to know that I’m still improving on my average but what I really want to know is if my K/D is plateauing.

A running graph of this data would be very helpful; however, few games provide such details. It’s up to you to track your own data and use that to know your trajectory and make adjustments as needed. Also, if you play private matches against other good players (and you should) then expect a much lower K/D. In some cases just breaking 1.0 is a good thing.

Track your data

Take 10 game chunks. Write them down. Plot that over 100 games, then 1000. You’ll have hundreds of data points and you can create a graph. If you start to plateau then you know you need to make adjustments. Making adjustments is the key to getting better.

Diversify your learning

It’s also important to understand that sometimes you’ll be trying new ways of playing that may regress your K/D–and you should definitely do this. Perhaps you’re trying a disadvantaged loadout in an attempt to gain skill in a particular area. This is a great way to learn, but factor these out of your overall K/D or perhaps keep separate K/D graphs for different loadouts, classes and perhaps even different game modes.

When the odds are against you

At some point you will find yourself out gunned or out skilled or out numbered. You can’t win every game and there are games that you just can’t win for a variety of factors. The difference between a good player and a great player sometimes comes down to effort. In some situations that may feel hopeless, a win can still be achieved if you dig deep enough, focus intensely and perhaps get a little lucky. Those are probably the most satisfying games you’ll play.

If the situation is truly hopeless, then just try to control what you can to make the most of learning. Just set a new goal of making your team less embarrassed or keeping your K/D as high as you can. Try to get the top score among all players in the game, even on the losing team. Not every goal needs to be winning outright.

Skill vs Luck.

Its also important to be humble when you win. Don’t assume because you won a close game that you have more skill than the other team. Sometimes it does just come down to luck and that goes both ways. The more skills you develop, the more chances you’ll have at winning more games. Basing your skill off only a single game or small set of games is somewhat arbitrary. Don’t get caught up in losing close games because the more skill you have, the higher your win probability will be over the long run. If you get totally demolished in a match, then it’s a good time to pause and reflect, perhaps get some rest, so you can be a more focused and formidable opponent the next time you play those players.

Make losing about improving

If a player is just owning you over and over, then it’s up to you to adjust your pattern or predict theirs. Make the adjustment, make it deliberate, and things will likely turn out differently.

Don’t overestimate your opponent, even if you’re winning. Sure, sometimes they are just really bad and you can play very casually and still crush the other team, but plenty of times its closer than you realize and one or two key situations can make or break a game. Plenty of games come down to just one mistake. The less careless you are, the less times you will die and the less mistakes you will make. It takes an incredible amount of focus to be that precise throughout the entire game, but that can be the difference between winning losing.

Play good players

When you start to feel like you’re winning more, and playing much better than the average player, then you won’t be improving much in public games. This is when you need to specialize and focus on playing other top players. Playing private matches and pushing your skills is going to be the key to improving when you’re already a good player. The players I have seen reach the upper echelon always played a lot of private matches against other top players. This is also a great space to improve even if you’re not at that level. You just have to set your expectations lower and enter each match with a learning mindset. If you find yourself nervous in a 1v1, do it more and more until it feels familiar. The fastest way to improve is by playing people better than you.

The bigger picture

When you get better, you can do more in parallel. Thinking about a second target while fighting the first or keeping tract of how opponents are moving, or spawning around you. If you’re already thinking about your next move then you can attack more targets with higher frequency. The top players can dispatch multiple average players very quickly in part because they are able to concentrate on multiple things at the same time. In truth it’s just that each task takes less relative time to think through, so they can switch very rapidly from action to action. They do this because the movement, aim, and patterns have become second nature and they don’t have to process those actions which frees up cognitive cycles for higher level strategy such as thinking about the bigger picture of the game. Better players can think broadly and plan better.

Final thoughts

Everyone starts out as bad, but the difference between staying average and reaching the top 1% is about embracing the challenge, setting up goals and working towards those goals. Get your average K/D to 1.5, then try 1.6, etc. Top players are above 3 and in some cases 4.

You’ll have up games and down games, but pay attention to the average. Sometimes you may not die in a game and other times you struggle. It’s important to focus on the average because no two games are the same.

Know that not all data is captured in K/D. There are subtleties in games, setting up an assist for a teammate or distracting an enemy while your teammate flanks. This is the nuance you learn along the way that can only be taught through experience. If you maintain a growth mindset, you’ll learn faster and you might even learn some techniques no one else even knows. Have fun!