The speed and accuracy of your aim in any competitive shooter are incredibly important factors when it comes to playing multiplayer — especially in the ranked scene. While each game is going to have its own nuances, here are some general tip🐠s you can carry with you from tit🉐le to title in order to improve your performance.
Set A Consistent Sensitivity Between Games
Let us stress the fact that your aiming should be consistent. You want to make sure that you develop a powerful and consistent muscle memory that will allow you to make the same adjustments in yo🌃ur aim effortlessly and precisely.
Conseq🦂uently, you should h𒀰ave the same sensitivity (if possible!) for every shooter you play because that is one of the best ways to develop perfect muscle memory.
Setting Your DPI
Decide on your mouse's DPI (Dots per Inch) setting. Anything from 400 to 3000 should be fine. However, keep in mind that extremely low numbers make the moving image of your screen rather jittery. Extre🍃mely high numbers result in the mouse being overly sensitive to the slightest of movements. Theoretically, the higher your resoluti🧔on, the higher your DPI should be. Play with your DPI settings to find what's comfortable for you.
Important: Make sure that your FOV is the same number in every game.
One last crucial thing you can do is simple. Get a ruler! Basically, you want your mouse to travel the same centimeters on the mousepad for a 360-deg♔ree turn of the character in every game. Let's break it down step by step.
- Load in your desired game. Place your mouse on the leftmost part of the mousepad, aiming at a specific dot in the game.
- Place the ruler under the mouse and align its zero with the leftmost part of the mousepad.
- Now move your mouse horizontally to perform a 360-degree turn of your character in the game, which means your crosshair should be back at the same dot.
- The number on the ruler that the leftmost part of the mouse is on right now is your cm/360 sensitivity.
You should try to adjust your in-game sensitivity to the exact number in every game. For example, if we were to go with a sensitivity of 30cm/❀360, we would attempt to adjust our sensitivity while repeating thওe above process until a 360 turn of our character equals 30cm of mouse movement. There are online sensitivity calculators that ask for your DPI and cm/360 to calculate your in-game sensitivity. However, it is always reassuring to do it yourself and be certain of its accuracy.
Get The Right Peripherals And Equipment
Practice and skill are key, but peripherals can be just as important. Of course, your computer components and monitor matter — but in fo🔯cusing on improving your aim specifically, we need to talk about the most꧑ definitive piece of hardware when it comes to your aim — your mouse.
Mouse
You should make sure that you choose the right mouse for yourself. Many factors are influential in your choice of the right mouse, includi🥂ng:
- Your hand size and the way you grip the mouse.
- The weight — generally, the lighter the mouse, the easier it is to move around, which can make your aiming quicker and more precise.
- Wired or wireless mouse.
Although, with wireless technology advancements, there is no conceivable latency between your command and its registration in newer gaming mice. Consequently, it is much easier to aim with a wireless mouse, for the absence of cable drag allows you to aim more quickly. You should also ensure that all of the mouse's minor details, such as the sensor and button switches, are in line with your competitive requirements. But keep in mind that the shape of the mouse is the most crucial factor.
- You need to find the form that fits your hand size.
- Feels the most comfortable.
- helps you realize your aim potential the most.
Aiming is entirely feel-based, meaning that whatever equipment you find comfortable is the one to go with. You may want to exper𓂃i🍸ment with different mice as the general suggestions regarding the choice of a mouse are not set in stone.
Mousepads Are Actually Important
The other important component in the quality of your aim is the mousepad. This often-overlooked item actually plays an essential role in the precision and quickness of your aim. Don't forget that the friction between your mouse and the mousepad unquestionably affects your aim.
There are three major types of mousepads:
- Cloth Mousepads: These are a soft surface type. Cloth pads offer more friction and, as a result, more control in your aim at the cost of speed. The amount of friction varies among the cloth pads, catering to the needs of different gamers.
- Hard surface mousepads: These pads are made out of plastic and apply much less friction to your mouse feet, providing a smoother and quicker glide at the cost of some control. Keep in mind that the number of players who play on hard surface pads is much lower than cloth pad users.
- Hybrid mousepads: The texture of these mousepads is made up of a mixture of cloth and other harder materials. As a result, they strike a balance between the cloth pads and hard surface pads in speed and control.
Gripping The Mouse
The wඣay you hold your mouse is referred to as your grip. There are three major styles of gripping the m༺ouse.
Palm Grip
The first and most prevalent form is called Palm Grip. In this grip, you rest your palm on the mouse and your thumb on the side. Where you place your ring and pinky fingers is entirely up to your preference. It is worth𓆉 noting that with this grip, you use bigger muscles of your wrist (and even bigger muscles of the arm if you play with low sensitivities) to adjust the mouse.
Some argue that this grip is slower and less accurate in quick flicks due to the less delicate muscles it utilizes. The upside, however, is that this gripping style is generally considered to be less fatiguing during long sessions of gaming.
Most people con🦩sider it the best all-around grip for both gaming and interacting with the OS interface.
Claw Grip
Most players opt for the claw grip due to its precision and versatility. You basically claw the mouse, letting the lower part of your palm touch the lower part of the mouse, while your index and ꧒middle finger are slightly bent on the left and right buttons.
What sets this grip apart from the last one is how your fingertips, rather than the entirety of your fingers, are used for clicking the buttons. It supposedly helps with faster reaction time and less delay between instances of pressing the mouse.
Fingertip Grip
The least common among players, the Fingertip Grip boasts higher flicking speeds. With this grip, you hold the mouse purely by the tip of your fingers, hence the name fingertip.
You use the delicate muscles of your fingers for micro-adjustments. Some players think it renders your aim more precise. This grip style is usually combined with relatively higher sensitivity and a hard surface pad, which accounts for its effectiveness in quick flicksও.
The downside of this grip is that it is considered to be the most fatiguing of the three.
Some Final Tips
You should keep in mind that the height of your chair relative to the height of your desk has an effect on your aim. For maximum aim potential, you want to adjust the height of your chair so that your aiming arm falls loosཧely on the desk. If the height is higher or lower, your arm is going to feel uncomfortable, and your aim will su🔥ffer as a result of it.
Some people don't like the friction between their arm and the mousepad. As a result, they wear a thin sleeve to let their arm rub against the mousepad much more effortlessly while they aim. It is one of the minor fact👍ors, but you could give it a try.
Last but not least, warming up your hands and your aim would go a long way. So feel free to stretch෴ your hands and get a little bit of aim practice in applications like Aim Lab or practicing modes inside the games.