Hi all!

I've been playing apex since day one on the origin launcher, and I just hit 1,000 hours officially on steam. I have maybe 60 hours in Titanfall 2, and about 300 in Team Fortress 2, where in both I can consistently mid score in pubs. So when Apex came out, I was so hyped, and jumped at the opportunity to sink hours and hours in. This game is amazing, I'm addicted and nothing compares.

That being said, in Apex I die as soon as I look at anyone. For the past two weeks I've been grinding kovaaks, the firing range, and mix tape to try to gain some ground with my skill. I play with a cracked friend who consistently kills squads by herself, I've been practicing all the tech for the new rev and really enjoying all the shenanigans I can get up to with getting out and into fights.

And I'm still the first one down. This girl has less than half of my hours, and about 4x my skill. I break my falls with ziplines, I make callouts, I position, I ping, I shield swap, I tapstrafe, and have airstrafed since the game came out. I do all the stuff that should make me good on paper, but as soon as we take an engagement from the high ground some default skin with 2 hours peaks and downs me and then his team pushes and we're back at the lobby screen and it's all my fault.

I feel like I'm about to go crazy, because I want nothing more than to be the cracked player in my group, making crazy plays, but I'm the laughing stock of my friends. I have to get an actual job soon, and I won't really have time to play Apex all day like I have been recently, and the thought of not playing as much after this burst of interest and not gaining any tangible skill is soul crushing.

Is there some hidden trick I'm missing? What isn't clicking in my brain? I've been sinking hours of my life into making even a little progress and have found none. Thanks for reading and good luck in your games... <3