Art of 1v1

Joseph tilted his head to face Mona and explained to her who was shocked beyond words : "To explain it in technical terms, your client receives the packets of my position from the server much later due to the latency. To compensate for this latency, there is also an interpolation of my position when moving , thus, when your holding an angle you will receive my information and see me appearing much later." Mona who wasn't accustomed to such terms was clueless after Joseph's explanation, Joseph realized this fact and ceased his intricate explanation and basically said : "Basically, when I peek an angle, the one that is holding that angle will always see me much later than I." Joseph persisted his barrage of information and continued : "This is called the peeker's advantage which every player exploit to win their duels. Since the damage model of this game is forgiving enough for a headshot, it is not that severe if you get peeked." Mona struggled to obliterate her confusion away, she wore a mask of curiosity and asked : "So this means that if I peek someone, I will always be able to react first and get the first shot?" Joseph agreed with her conclusion and instructed her to practice clearing angles by counter-strafing. "Counter-strafing if timed correctly stops our movement completely as we peek an angle, allowing our shots to be accurate which fully exploits the peeker's advantage."

Mona practiced with Joseph repetitively before such concepts were embedded in her mind. Joseph continued to show her how to use peeker's advantage to win a duel as he explained : "If you find a cover such as a wall , a box or whatever that is blocking between you and the opponent, use them to peek out and you will always be able to shoot your opponents first. Most of the time you will win this duel." After Joseph was satisfied with Mona's understanding and usage, he went over to the trio that are playing ranked games intensively. "NOW! Danny follow me." Ellie shouted with urgency. Joseph observed their current game behind Danny's PC till it was over and naturally, their attentions shifted over to Joseph. Joseph requested the three of them : "Lets do some 1v1s." With the exception of Ellie who gave a reasonable explanation : "Melee against ranged weapons in a 1v1 map is practically useless.", they quickly went to setup a custom game after they agreed and Joseph asked Mona to spectate him in game, she joined the same custom game and could listen in on what Joseph is saying through the voice chat. They agreed beforehand not to use any utilities and only use weapons.

Danny went first, "This is not your game Joseph!" he informed everyone energetically as the duel started. They were playing on a custom map meant for a 1v1 duel, the map contained boxes that were spaced irregularly and they filled up the entire map. On the extreme ends of the map are where both players would spawn on either side, this area is empty and players would approach each other by entering the area filled with boxes ahead of them. The textures for the map were simple, they were colored orange and have white lines on them forming a grid-like pattern spanning across the entire map. Danny held a 'Taker' that he rarely ever bought whereas Joseph got a 'X-523', a similar model to the 'Taker' which deals higher damage with lesser fire-rate.

Danny started off aggressively, he ran to his left hoping to surprise Joseph with his aggression. Danny made plenty of noise as he ran through the gaps in between the boxes that surrounded him, he was cutting in towards the center and expecting Joseph to be around that area. Joseph spoke at this time : "Mona listen carefully, in a 1v1, any information that you can get is vital, I can hear him going to the center of the map right now. What do you think I should do?" Joseph was hiding behind one of the boxes near the center of the map, he could hear Danny's footstep approaching him on his right side. Mona told Joseph : "Peek him?" Joseph agreed with her answer and Mona elaborated further to affirm her answer : "So that you can exploit peeker's advantage as you told me earlier?"

Joseph explained : "Right, even if Danny's crosshair placement is on my head as I peek, he can never react first. This is even assuming that he is looking in my direction, if he isn't, I would have already won without much difficulty." Joseph counter-strafed out from behind the box as he timed Danny's approach perfectly, Danny who was still sprinting at the center of the map had two choices when he saw Joseph appear a little to his left. He could take the fight that Joseph will have an initiative in or continue sprinting off to his right, intending to take cover behind one of the boxes while sustaining damage.

Danny chose the former as he reminded himself that he had a tank character that can deal with the damage that Joseph will deal first. Joseph did not miss his shots and landed multiple shots on Danny's head while Danny retaliated back similarly. Bullets pelted both character's head as blood splattered on the area surrounding them, they were both damaged severely with Danny being at a lower health than Joseph. Joseph pulled back after realizing he might potentially lose in a straight duel despite having the initiative and immediately rotated to the other side of his cover while Danny noticing this chased after him, Danny could hear Joseph's loud footstep moving to the other end and he decided to not follow behind Joseph but rather cut him off at the other end of the cover.

Danny who was fully convinced Joseph would be behind the box as he approached jumped out and started spraying, he was surprised to see that Joseph wasn't behind the box and before he knew it, Joseph's figure appeared on the opposite end of the box as he peeked out and shot the helpless Danny mid-air. Joseph had unexpectedly faked moving to the other side using his footsteps and went to take cover while waiting for Danny to peek out. Joseph told Mona as he explained his victory : "If you can predict what your opponent will do, or where your opponent will be, you can control the duel and take initiative by using peeker's advantage." Mona understood further on how to use peeker's advantage and learned a valuable lesson on how to win a 1v1. Danny did not take the duel to heart and congratulated Joseph on his win by coming over, they both laughed about the duel and Luna was next.

Luna who have heard of all sorts of stories about the Dark Knight was really excited to be able to get a chance to duel the man himself. Luna did not deviate from Danny's loadout and used a 'Taker' as well while Joseph similarly retained his 'X-523'. Luna in contrast to Danny's playstyle is much more reserved and approached the center of the map while being careful not to make any sound. She walked to the area at the right side of the center of the map stealthily while always looking at the angles to her left.

Out of the blue, Joseph's jumping figure could be seen from afar on her left and Luna could only make out his upper body coming out from a box for a split second. Luna could not react to that and she was now aware that Joseph knew where she is from that jump maneuver. Joseph learnt this from watching tutorials yesterday where by performing a bunny-hop and strafing in air, his upper body would be exposed for a split second and this is enough for him to get valuable information. Luna is forced to move away from her position to avoid being peeked and sought cover at one of the boxes near the center of the map. Joseph did not hesitate and closed in on Luna. Luna who was aware of Joseph approaching shifted her position away from the box and held the angle ahead of her where Joseph will appear. She stood at an angle that is not too close from the box she is taking cover from and also distanced enough away from it to catch Joseph by surprise when he peeks towards where she was taking cover from originally.

Joseph communicated to Mona as he was about to peek out : "Luna is an experienced player, she would not hold angles that would allow her to be peeked so easily, so my intuition is telling me that she is holding an off-angle, she should be at a position that is very weird and if I peek towards the back of this box, I would have to flick to her." Mona questioned with curiosity as she asked Joseph : "How would you deal with this?" Joseph did not reply and chose to demonstrate to Mona instead, he peeked out towards the direction away from the back of the box and Mona was at a loss on what he was doing. Initially when Joseph did so, it seemed silly as there was just empty space as Joseph counter-strafed. Before Joseph fully stopped moving, Luna's figure appeared unexpectedly to the surprise of Mona, Mona could not believe that her sister was actually holding this angle from that spot. Joseph once again had the initiative in the gunfight as he fully committed to the fight, Luna reacted slower of course thanks to the concept of peeker's advantage as they both sprayed each other down. The disadvantage behind holding an off-angle is that often times they are at places where there are no cover, Luna knew this fact and could only commit to the fight, hoping that Joseph would miss.

Unfortunately for Luna, Joseph did not miss at all, Ellie and Danny were expecting a 'freeze' to occur from Joseph and they would have to reboot him somehow but throughout the entire time such situation did not occur for him. Joseph came out victorious against Luna and Danny who were both veterans of the game, he took off his headphones after the duel ended and faced Mona who was impressed by his performance. Joseph told Mona : "Just by applying what I have shown you, you can control your duels and win."