1. Practice, Practice, Practice
Execution, timing, muscle memory. These are all massive contributions to increasing your accuracy especially once already at a very high level. These consistent movements and decisions get banked up in our short term memory which imprints on your brain subconsciously. Upping playtime will have more positive impact on your aim, than if you were to take a long break or play another game and come back weeks or months later.
2. Learn about crosshair placement
The idea of good cross hair placement, stems from the philosophies around minimal wasted movement. Crosshair placement is all about learning the in-game player heights relative to the map locations and positions you move around in or post up (hold still watching an angle). If you can achieve a high level of minimal wasted movement you will notice not only does your accuracy become higher but your reactions appear faster. The shots already lined up beforehand so you can concentrate more on just pulling the trigger rather than attempting to adjust onto a players head height.
3. Pick a sensitivity and DPI that feels right for you
Sensitivity and DPI is very subjective and personal preference. The ideal DPI settings are between 400 and 1600 DPI. If you’re playing on any higher than that it could be affecting your aim creating a shaky like appearance. Players from higher levels of pro play like to keep the consistency of their aim across all games (where movement isn’t a big priority). They will look for things like the distance measurements in order to perform an in-game 360 mouse rotation. As a general rule, medium-high sensitivity is better for movement and flick shots, while medium-slow sensitivity is better for tracking and shorter aim movements. Players also have mixed feelings on acceleration and there are many variations of acceleration which could be worth investigating if you still don’t feel like you’re reaching your full potential.
4. Practice on Aim Trainers
There are many aim trainers now some free some cost a little fee. Since this is a subjective piece I will promote ones I’ve heard the most about which are both on steam: Kovaak’s and Aim Lab. These will allow you to recreate simulated environments of different aim movements and generate good diverse feedback to help you improve. These are also excellent for learning about aiming techniques and practicing general aim. In-game practice is generally always better for you as games now vary so much from slow to fast aim movements. However, there can be some scenarios where aim trainers will definitely improve your accuracy and are a lot of fun in the process.
5. Reduce incoming damage
I’ve spoken about this before specifically related to in-game dodging. The art of movement and using the environment within the game or the games movement mechanics to reduce incoming damage. However, this can also relate to playstyle. Aggressive play, although can sometimes work, is often easy to predict and setup for your opponent. Players quickly blame their accuracy or aim for not winning in a situation. Instead there could be adjustments made to their decisions, movement or positioning. When players learn how to balance a defensive and aggressive play style is when they truly open up their full potential. Creating a consistent level of behavioural uncertainty that makes their opponents re-think about their plan or strategy.
6. Try different gear
Many players do not get the opportunity to try all the different mice and mouse pads out in the market today. It’s because of this that players can often be paired up with a bad fit. If you’re consistently having problems on your current setup maybe try a friends or family members gear. Alternatively just search around online about what products are improvements for the problems you are currently having. There is a plethora of options today and we hate to see a good gamer held down by bad gear.
7. Stop thinking about it
If you’ve ever read Zen and the art of <insert anything>. You’ll know that overthinking or over analysing can sometimes be very harmful to one’s improvement or consistency. The act of getting in our own way is seen to show itself the harder we concentrate on something like aim. Instead focus on something else, improving decisions or improving survivability. This will allow you to concentrate more on what is actually happening in the game and not just an accuracy number on the scoreboard. Once you start to concentrate more about players positions, specific situations, spatial awareness and other points on this list. You will eventually forget you ever had any aim problems to begin with.
8. Improve your positioning
Similar to ‘reduce incoming damage’ just this time with the addition that can also be geared towards an aggressive playstyle. Watch other players and what they do. Learn about the nuances of the game such as which positions are strong/weak and why that is. Once you start to turn your attention away from things such as “your bad aim”, you’ll realise by putting yourself in better positions you will just naturally get more frags and have more impact in the game. These newly found frags will make you feel good about your game and your aim will slowly improve along with these new behaviours.
9. Learn from others
The gaming world we live in today is riddled with countless video evidence of what is achievable at the highest possible level of play. The easiest way to get yourself fast tracked in either a sport or video game is … drum roll please… to have access to higher levels of information that other people either can’t obtain or figure out for themselves. In anything you ever do there are levels to it. You might already know this and think you have capped out. But we both know that isn’t true. What information are you missing? What are other better players doing differently than or better than you? If somebody mentions you shouldn’t be doing this x y z behaviour in-game, well, consider that they could be right and try out their ideas in your own time.
10. Don’t rush the process
We all want instant gratification in everything we do. How can I get to my desired end-goal as fast as possible? Why? Because it feels good to be good at things and even better to win. Consistent winning comes from being a better player and being a better player takes time. There’s no shortcuts to being the best you can be. The process of playing, learning, winning, losing and repeating must be respected. It hardens and grounds us for the moments of success later down the track. This is also not to say grinding 8 hours a day every day non-stop to catch up will get you there quicker either. Some things will come with time, experience and short breaks. Contrary to popular belief sometimes a small break can help refresh your mind on what you’re doing wrong and allow your subconscious to catch up on memories of past events.