Arm aiming vs wrist aiming

Wrist aiming swings the mouse by bending your wrist while your forearm stays still; arm aiming slides your whole forearm, moved from the elbow and shoulder. Which one you need depends mostly on your sensitivity: the further the mouse travels for a full turn in the game (your cm/360), the more of each turn has to come from the arm. You don't have to pick one: use the arm for big turns and the wrist for the small correction at the end.

Measure your wrist sweep

1. Rest your forearm on the desk where it lies when you play, with the mouse in the middle of the pad.
2. Keep the forearm still and move the mouse with your wrist as far to the left as feels easy. Mark the spot, or note it against a ruler.
3. Move it as far to the right as feels easy and mark again. The distance between the marks is your wrist sweep. The turn shown above is for that whole sweep; a flick from where your hand rests uses only the part on one side, about half of it.
4. Don't know your cm/360? A ruler finds that too: measure your turn by hand.

Wrist aiming

Your forearm rests on the desk and the wrist swings the mouse from side to side, with the fingers adding the smallest touches. Short moves start and stop quickly and need little room on the desk. To make big turns from the wrist you need a higher sensitivity, and then every small shake of the hand turns the view further too: at 20 cm a full turn, 1 mm of movement turns you 1.8°; at 40 cm, 0.9°.

Arm aiming

Your forearm slides across the pad, moved from the elbow and shoulder, and the wrist stays fairly straight. Because the arm covers more distance, you can play at a lower sensitivity, so a small slip of the hand turns the view less: that helps when you track a moving target or hold an angle. It needs room: a pad wide enough for your longest sweep and space for your elbow to move.

Using both

Most fights mix big and small moves. For a target far from your crosshair, let the arm carry the mouse most of the way and finish with the wrist; for one close to it, use the wrist alone. Practice the change from one to the other with the flick drill in the 3D aim trainer and with target switching.

Which one to use

• Start from your sensitivity, not a style. Use a cm/360 you can aim with, then check above how much of a turn your wrist covers. Whatever it cannot cover is the arm's job.
• Want steadier small corrections? Lower your sensitivity a little and let the arm take the big turns. Check first that your pad is wide enough.
• Little room on the desk? A higher sensitivity and more wrist is the practical choice.
• Change in small steps. After changing your sensitivity, give your hand a few sessions before you judge it, and compare on the same drill in the aim trainer.
• Your grip plays a part. A palm grip moves the mouse with the arm and wrist; claw and fingertip grips add the fingers. See mouse grips compared.

Keep it comfortable

OSHA's workstation advice is to keep your wrists straight and in line with your forearms. Wrist aiming bends the wrist from side to side by design, so keep each sweep within the range that feels easy rather than at its limit. Keep the mouse close to the keyboard, so you don't reach for it, and don't rest your forearm or wrist on a hard desk edge: the pressure can irritate nerves and make the fingers tingle or go numb. Take a five-minute break every hour. If pain keeps coming back, stop and see a doctor or physiotherapist rather than playing through it.

The turn is our own arithmetic from the two numbers you enter. Comfort: US Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Computer Workstations eTool: Keyboards.