 Hello, and welcome to Enter the Combat League, a video series where we take you, the player, through the different ranks of Combat League and offer our tips for how to progress through those ranks to go from a new combatant all the way up to the godly ranks of the top. In this video, we're going to focus on the lowest three ranks of Combat League, as this is where everybody starts with each new season and is obviously where you'll start your journey if you're playing Combat League for the first time. First things first, it's important to remember how Combat League actually works as you play it. Combat League will attempt to find you a similarly ranked opponent and once it matches you with somebody you'll then play a best of three set, which is the first player to win two full matches. The winner will have to stick with their character and the loser will be given the chance to change character. The stage will be randomised every time. Getting a set will award you points, which will eventually lead to a rank up, and in these first three ranks you lose absolutely nothing if you lose a set, so make sure to always play until the very end. Each rank will progressively change the amount of points that you earn for a win and, eventually, how much you'll drop for losing, with the early ranks being very forgiving and the higher ranks raising the stakes significantly. The higher you rank up, the more points you'll need to reach the next one. Combat League is Mortal Kombat 11's highest form of online competition. It mirrors the competitive rule set that you'll see at tournaments and it offers exclusive rewards for players who will complete challenges to obtain certain ranks. This can sometimes result in the player feeling overwhelmed going into it. If you hadn't played ranked before and stuck to the more casual playlists, the chance to now play something more competitive can sometimes lead to players feeling more nervous than usual, despite it still at its core being just PvP gameplay. This is actually more common than you'd think, but we urge you to give Combat League a try all the same. Every other player is in the exact same situation as you, especially at the lower ranks where everybody is finding their footing and beginning their ranked journeys. Competitive players have the same feeling when entering tournaments for the first time and most will tell you that the best way to get over this nervous feeling is to just dive in and play until you realize that it's still just playing the same game. Once you get over this barrier, you'll find it much easier to get stuck in and start grinding. Going into Combat League, it is highly recommended that you understand the basic mechanics of MK11. If you have any doubts, make sure to check the in-game tutorial modes which explain all of the mechanics that you'll see in a match to match basis. Chances are high that your opponents will know this too, so you'll want to get yourself as prepared as possible, knowing how to pull off your combos, how to use facial or crushing blows correctly, how the wake-up system works and, especially when to block, are all things that will be essential information for progressing through those ranks. As you play Combat League, you'll notice yourself fighting all sorts of different characters. This is where your own character choice has to be factored in, and we don't mean how strong your character is competitively, we're suggesting that you go with what's comfortable for you and sticking to it. It's easy to feel the need to play many characters and constantly change them, but if you're trying to get used to playing in this first to two setting and having to play differently than you normally do in the first place, it's far easier to adjust if you're playing just one or two characters that you're truly comfortable with, as opposed to spreading yourself thin by playing many more. Now we have some of that initial information out of the way. I want to go over the initial ranks and the kind of players you can grow to expect as you enter these ranks of the league. Apprentice is possibly the largest mixed bag, as everybody at this stage has just started their Combat League journey. There is always a possibility that a higher level player has started late and is simply making the climb later on in the league. Should you encounter somebody of this level here, don't be discouraged. It's an experience to see what the later stages of Combat League could actually look like for you, and it's a great chance to get gameplay versus someone who really knows how to play MK11. Use this as a chance to compare your level of progress, how you fare against them at the beginning, versus how you may fare against them later down the line. That said, this rank is often mostly inhabited by players just like you, ones dipping their toes into the world of competitive and seeing how they fare versus the rest of the world. As long as you have an understanding of how to play your character of choice, simply do your best. Look out for obvious player habits as certain players at this rank may have one strategy that works versus the AI and for better or worse will be applied to human players too. Look for key factors such as combo ability. If a player at this stage doesn't really perform many combos against you, there's no need to break away for example, letting you save your meter for other options. The first round is often enough time to gauge the level of experience that your opponent has. Pay attention to how they react to the buttons that you press, what they tend to do once knocked down, and especially once fatal blow is available. It's not uncommon that newer players will try and fatal blow as often as possible thanks to its damage and ease of execution. Combatant is in many ways simply an extension of what we've described in Apprentice. The difference here, your chances of being matched up against a player perhaps a few more steps above you. There is a chance that should you encounter a player of higher rank while in combatant position, you'll have to keep your wits about you to come out on top. You have the added security here of not having to worry too much about your point count as we've already established, losing doesn't really punish you at all at these ranks, yet a victory will give you so much more. This is a great chance to gain competitive experience whilst having much to gain from a successful performance. Ranks from combatant and beyond are more likely to contain players that at least know the core basics of the game, expect a few more breakaways, wake up options and maybe slightly better combo execution. At this stage however, there is still a chance that opponents may not be versed in character matchups. As a noob cybot player, I always noticed that players that fought against seeing double at this stage took a while to realise that you could make a ghost ball miss by not blocking and crouching, allowing me some free damage that I otherwise wouldn't be able to obtain at higher levels. Warrior will begin to display players that may have a slightly broader understanding of the game's system and mechanics. This is where you'll potentially start seeing players change to other characters in between games as well. When swapping characters, there's usually some telltale signs of what your opponent is trying to adapt to. Look for key tools that these new picks may have if you know of them and decide quickly what the next matchup might involve. Going back to my noob cybot pick, it was common at this rank that a player would swap characters after losing the first game, selecting characters such as Scorpion thanks to the teleport or Sub-Zero thanks to the slide. These key options are direct answers for projectile happy players such as myself, and the strategy is quite obvious if you're in tune with the opponent's immediate move set. Look out for these choices early on to maintain the advantage. Finally, these ranks contain players that likely understand the element of the mixup game. If a character has the chance to do multiple options off a certain combo string or special move, you may find your defense being tested by it for the first time. It may be overwhelming at first, but an added dynamic of warrior and beyond is that a mixup may be unsafe in one direction. A lot of these are in Mortal Kombat 11. Don't be discouraged if you get mixed up by players in the opening rounds, because if you focus and look out for it later, this mixup option may be the death of them. There's a reason a lot of skin deep mixups are used sparingly by the pros. Hopefully these tips can help you as you begin your adventures in combat league and make sure to tune in next time when we go a step above and talk about levelling up to the next ranks. Thank you all for watching and we'll see you on the next episode of Enter the Combat League.