How to read a fight before it starts

Most lost fights are lost before the first cooldown. The read is the part you can practice without a new aim routine.

Name the win condition

Before you step in, finish this sentence: “We win this fight if ___.” If you cannot finish it, you do not have a plan. You have a habit.

A win condition is specific. “We kill their healer before their tank turns” is a plan. “We play better” is a wish.

Spend the first cooldown on purpose

The first important cooldown should match the win condition. If the plan is to remove a healer, the first cooldown should threaten that healer. If you open on the nearest body, you have already changed the plan.

This is the same idea on PC and on mobile. The buttons are different. The order of decisions is not.

Leave when the condition is gone

If the player you needed is gone, or the cooldown you needed was used on someone else, the fight you planned is over. Staying because you already started is how a small loss becomes a wipe.

Say the leave condition out loud once in a custom or a scrim. It sounds awkward. It also makes the next live match quieter.

Review one fight

After the session, pick one fight. Ask only two questions:

1. Did you name a win condition before it started?
2. Did the first cooldown match it?

If the answer to either is no, that is the next session. Do not collect five lessons from one loss.