How to get better aim
Better aim comes from three things, in this order: a setup that stays the same from day to day, crosshair placement that leaves you less to correct, and a short warm-up of the three moves every shooter uses: flicks, target switching and tracking. Fix the setup once, then warm up for ten minutes each time you play.
Start the warm-up in the aim trainer
Fix your setup first
- Pick one sensitivity and keep it. Your hand learns how far to move for each turn, and every change starts that learning again. Choose a DPI (the best DPI for gaming), then change the game's sensitivity only in small steps and give each change a few days.
- Turn off mouse acceleration. With it on, the same distance turns the view further when you move faster, so a flick never lands in the same place twice (how to turn it off, or test it).
- Make sure your mouse pad is wide enough. If the mouse hits the edge in the middle of a turn, you have to lift it and you lose your aim (the width you need).
- Hold the mouse loosely. A tight grip makes small corrections jerky (mouse grips compared).
- Check that the picture keeps up. A monitor left at 60 Hz when it can do more, or a lagging mouse, makes aim feel late (refresh rate test, input lag).
Crosshair placement
Crosshair placement means keeping your crosshair where an opponent's head will appear, before you see them: at head height, on the edge of the corner, door or cover they would come from. Much of good aim is not moving the mouse faster but having less distance to move. As you walk, keep the crosshair at head height, following the ground up and down stairs and slopes, and slide it along each edge as you check it, one angle at a time.
Where you aim also depends on the weapon: one that hits the instant you fire needs the crosshair on the target, one that fires a projectile needs it ahead (hitscan vs projectile).
A ten-minute warm-up
Do it before you play, with the same target size and drill length every time, so your runs compare. The aim trainer runs in your browser with your desktop pointer, not your game's sensitivity: it warms up your hand and eyes, and the last two minutes in your own game tune them to its sensitivity.
- Minutes 0 to 2, accuracy: static targets at a calm pace. Aim for no misses.
- Minutes 2 to 4, flicks: the flicks drill, where each new target is the same distance from the last in a new direction.
- Minutes 4 to 6, switching: the target switching drill. Stop just short and correct rather than fly past (how to switch targets).
- Minutes 6 to 8, tracking: the tracking drill. Stay on the moving target with smooth, even movement.
- Minutes 8 to 10, in your game: its practice range or a warm-up match, with your real sensitivity, keeping your crosshair placement as you move.
Accuracy first, then speed
Speed you cannot control turns into misses. Play the first runs of each drill slowly enough to hit almost everything, then speed up until the misses start to climb, and settle just below that pace. If your accuracy falls apart, slow down again rather than pushing on.
Measure progress over weeks
One run says little: a good day and a bad day can differ more than a month of practice. The aim trainer keeps your runs in this browser, so compare your average for the same drill, target size and length week by week. If it rises while your misses stay low, the practice is working.
For a score you can compare week by week, take the aim test: the same course of targets, at the same size, for the same 30 seconds, every run.
Habits that hold your aim back
- Changing your sensitivity after every bad game.
- Only ever playing at full speed.
- Walking with your crosshair on the floor, then flicking up to the head.
- Warming up for so long that your hand is tired before the first match.
- Gripping the mouse harder when a fight goes badly.
Moving to another game? Match the mouse distance for a full turn as shown on the eDPI calculator page, so your practice carries over.