From hypothetical standpoint I cn be very helpful, but trying to put your plans into action usually leaves out the factor of luck (or msfortune in most cases). My plans do not account for hackers, or bad luck events such as fatal and unexpected fall damage, being cleaned up, etc.
But I can give some tips. The first is to play defensively. If you can't take somebody out in melee combat, simply run away. If they chase you, do not engage unless you're absolutely certain you will beat them. If you are in fact forced into a swordfight with said person who you can't beat, use your secondaries to the maximum. If you have a fishing rod, it is your friend. Keep them at arm's length's distance and don't ever change into an offensive mindset. Many a time have I been running from somebody, then went too offensively after thinking I had the upper-hand. Remember that when you are running from somebody, you have the upper hand. You decide when you two will turn and fight, it's you who decides where you two go. The only downside about running is that you are probably low or undergeared meaning that a fight would most likely mean death for you. That's why you try to have your opponent chase you into someone else, in hopes of distracting them off of you, to give you time to regenerate and clean up if you can.
This works hypothetically, however I have probably the worse luck on the whole network, and manage to pull 30+ game losing streaks almost consistently. Wins for me are rare nowadays ;_;
The most important thing I can say, is try to keep track of how low your opponent is. I don't do this, and most of my games are losses in deathmatch, and the other person will kill me while one hit from death because I turned away from the fight too soon and allowed him to hit me once or twice finishing me off.
