Aim or Utility? Why Asuna and Sean Gares Give Different Advice About Climbing
Asuna says shoot. Sean Gares says utility is the trump card. Both are right, about different games. Here is how to tell which one applies to your solo queue lobby.
The short answer: both camps are right, about different games. Asuna was talking about solo queue, where you cannot count on four strangers. Sean Gares was talking about the top of pro play, where five prepared players coordinate every ability. The useful question for your rank is not “aim or utility?” It is “what can my team actually finish this round?”
- A flash is worth nothing if nobody peeks while it lasts. Utility needs a second player ready at the same moment.
- In solo queue, pick the simplest action your current team can complete, then add complexity.
- Build one reliable ability-into-fight combo with a duo before importing pro executes.
“Pros say utility wins games, so stop worrying about aim and learn lineups.” Or the reverse: “Pros say just hit your shots, utility doesn’t matter in ranked.”
✕ Verdict: Half trueNeither pro said the other skill is useless. Asuna’s point was that utility is hard to use alone. Gares’s point was that at the top of pro play, where everyone aims well, utility separates players. The skill that pays depends on who is beside you. Every ability that sets up a fight needs:
2 playersthe one who throws it and the one who uses it, at the same momentWhat the Pros Actually Said
In DBLTAP’s 2022 interviews, several pros answered the same question: should newer players prioritise utility or raw aim to climb?
| Player | Position | The condition behind it |
|---|---|---|
| Asuna (100 Thieves) | Aim first | Utility is hard to use solo unless you have a duo partner |
| aproto (Ghost) | Aim first | Aim-heavy agents let you climb without heavy utility |
| Derrek (100 Thieves) | Aim, but not raw aim | Crosshair placement, positioning and crossfires with your team |
| babybay (FaZe) | Utility and positioning | Everyone aims well at his level; it depends on using it together |
| Sean Gares (100T coach) | Utility is the trump card | At top pro level, where utility usage is excellent |
Read the third column, not the second. Every answer is conditional on the environment. And in 2026, FNATIC’s Boaster answered a ranked question in a team AMA by saying leading a ranked team is very hard because most people just want to play, so you play around that and support with utility. That is a world-champion IGL describing solo queue’s limits, not dismissing utility.
The Cost of Execution
Think of every plan as having a cost: how many people must do the right thing at the right time for it to work.
- Cost 1: you peek a single angle with your crosshair ready. Only you need to execute.
- Cost 2: you flash, your duo swings while it is still blinding. Two people, one timing.
- Cost 5: a full site execute with smokes, flashes, a drone and a planned entry. Five people, five timings.
Solo queue makes high-cost plans unreliable, not worthless. A cost-2 plan you can repeat every round is often worth more than a cost-5 plan that works one time in four. That is the real content of Asuna’s advice.
Two Rounds, Same Flash
Round 6. Your flash pops perfectly on the defender. Your Jett is still behind cover, reloading. The flash ends, she peeks into a ready crosshair and dies. You did nothing wrong mechanically. Throwing the same flash more accurately next round fixes nothing.
Round 7. You type “flash on 3, swing with it”. She answers. You count, throw, she swings while the defender is blind and gets the kill. Less impressive on paper. Far more useful in the match.
| Moment | Round 6: no follow-up | Round 7: synced |
|---|---|---|
| Before the throw | Nobody told the duelist | “Flash on 3, swing with it” |
| Flash pops | Duelist reloading behind cover | Duelist already moving |
| Flash ends | Duelist peeks a recovered defender | Defender already dead |
| Value | Zero | A free kill |
If your teammate cannot or will not follow, pick an action that fits that reality: use the flash for yourself, or hold it for a retake. Do not run a five-player idea in a two-player conversation.
A Weak Baseline Hides a Good Plan
The other direction matters too. If you cannot win the duel the flash sets up, the utility looks useless and you conclude it does not work in ranked. Derrek’s version is the honest middle: raw aim only gets you so far, and crosshair placement plus crossfires decide what your aim is worth.
So check both halves. If your fights are clean and you still lose, utility and timing are your next skill. If your fights are messy, our 10-death audit shows whether aim or setup is the leak.
Utility is useless in solo queue.
Utility you can use yourself, or with one ready teammate, works fine. It is five-player coordination that becomes unreliable.
Just hit your shots and you will climb.
It works for a while on aim-heavy agents. Derrek’s point is that positioning and crossfires decide how far.
A duo partner makes utility far stronger.
Asuna said exactly that: utility is hard solo unless you have a duo.
Build Your Playbook One Combo at a Time
Pick the three situations you meet most: entering a site, holding a retake, clearing a choke. For each, write down one ability-into-fight combo that needs at most one teammate. Practise it until it works under pressure. Only then add the next layer.
Your perfectly timed flash keeps going to waste because nobody swings. What is the best fix?
- Learn a harder lineup
- Call the timing so one teammate swings with it
- Stop using utility in ranked
The throw was fine. The missing piece is the second player at the same moment.
The cheapest cost-2 plan is a reliable duo. Our duo boost pairs you with a high-rank player who swings off your utility and calls their own, and coaching helps you build the combos yourself.
FAQ
Is aim or game sense more important in Valorant ranked?
It depends on your environment. Solo queue rewards actions you can finish alone or with one teammate, which favours aim and simple utility. Coordinated teams get more from complex utility.
Should I learn lineups to climb?
Learn a few that you can use without anyone else, or with one ready teammate. A lineup nobody follows up on is worth little.
What did Sean Gares say about utility?
That at the top professional level, where utility usage is excellent, utility is the trump card, and top-level controllers and sentinels are in higher demand than duelists.
What did Asuna say about climbing?
That utility is hard to use solo unless you have a duo partner, so newer ranked players should focus on hitting their shots and learn utility as they go.
- DBLTAP: Valorant pros explain what players should improve to climb ranked (2022): Asuna, aproto, Derrek, babybay, Sean Gares.
- FNATIC Valorant team AMA (June 2026): Boaster on leading a ranked team.
- Execution-cost framing and round comparison: our own analysis, illustrative rather than recorded. The pros quoted have not endorsed this article.
- Change log: checked against V26 Act 6, patch 13.08, October 2026.
