0 PWD

 Recently, I've been anxious more than ever. When I try to sit on it, it becomes quite apparent: -news of my boss, potentially retiring (job security) -moving into a new place (good, but also - stress of rent / money) -moving out of my current place (good, but also - a TON of moving crap) -ongoing visa situation -my school deciding to close down in the coming semester (tied to ongoing visa situation) -uncertainty about my future / what I want to do -personal add problems (you know)  All of these, when written down, help me to organize my thoughts (just a tiny bit). All that I want is this: to find stable ground , where I know, to an extent, what I have , what is to come , and what is safe.  Trying to juggle multiple thoughts in one is what's driving me up the wall of uncertainty.

 Yesterday, I realized that I was in a terrible mood ever since the morning time. A feeling of sluggishness - where, it felt as though my life was going nowhere.  Later, I realized that this feeling of discontent was triggered by the news that my coworker will be enlisting into the army by the end of this month. Normally, this is no great "news". Thank you for choosing to serve! But I believe that the "pinch point" was (A) who it was, and (B) how it compared to me. I know that comparison is the thief of joy. But here's why it stung more.  A is not any normal coworker - he was one that I often compared myself to. Partly because, the girl that I had been interested in, had fallen for him the first day that she began working here (in secret). (The whole explanation is a bit too long to compress). Long story short - she left the company, and (might be) still meeting with him. Talk about a sting to the heart.  Second - it felt as though some of us had plans for the f...

 It's almost the end of the act (V26A1) and so I thought i'd do a quick review of things I've been working on: 1-heavy emphasis on counterstrafing, deadzoning, and drive-by techniques using noted's model 2-working much more on positioning + slicing individual angles at a time  2A-along with angle slicing, working on intentional  crosshair placement. With every peek, expecting  someone to be there. (Helps with "priming" myself to actually shoot) 3-more macro studies  In VOD reviewing my own gameplay, I realized that I often play passively - waiting for the other team to do something  before taking action. I feel that this is the biggest detriment to my gameplay. Rather, I'm trying to be more proactive in making a micro plan before the start of each round, and adjusting my plans based on what happens in the midround. Easier said than done, however. 

 Time..does..fly.  Currently Plat 1. Whoo hoo! To think that we started in Iron 3 is quite amazing. Just goes to show, how much (A) great friends (B) great advice (C) great resources (D) continued efforts can take you.  Current Sens: Hovering anywhere between 0.155 and 0.175 @ 1600  Occasionally (dependent on day) can pay on 0.24. I think that's my "minmax".  Raw Accel: Linear Mode Acceleration: 0.095 Mode: Output X/Y Locked Output Limit: 3-3.5 Offset: 25-40  I'm starting to get a "feel" for what to do w/ my sens. As you can see, the sens range is quite high. I don't mind. I will say, however, that the "butter-y" sens is right on 0.175, dubbed "the GOAT" sens by Slime (as of writing this)  Biggest Lessons Learned (Simplified)  that I feel was the most pertinent to making it to Plat, thus far:  Less excuses / blaming the team Mechanics == always will be important. BUT, decision making => good positions and good positions => bette...

  I feel that in many of my practice(s), I often work on   speed  and not enough on technique.  Lots of wasted movements in the flick.  This drill below is specifically for isolating the movements, in order to have the smoothest and most efficient aim.  Efficient = shortest path to target. AKA, straightest line.  No micro-corrections (are ideal). Just smooth to target, smooth to click and confirm. This, done, quickly, ends up being a proper flick.  1) Slow.  Work on straight lines; focus on slowing down before target.  Try not to overshoot. Confirm kill before click. 2) Slow. After straight line drill, work on click-timing so that you can click w/o slowing down.  If the overall movement needs to be slow, it's fine. But make it one smooth motion to click. 3) Slow. Combined straight lines + click timing. Build up speed from here. // IF: A) You begin to overshoot or are not going in straight lines Repeat step 1 B) You are straight...

The problem with static bots is that..  your enemies are (almost) never static.  It's imperative that you get the feeling & visual recognition of a moving target, so that you are able to anticipate the movements of the target and your enemies.  Here's a way to work on that in the Range.  Range Warmup Pick DeadLock  hit F3 and turn on strafing, as well as armor = ON ult one of the bots.  Perceived Velocity Go to the farthest right hand side of the range wall.  The bots will still be strafing as if you're forward, and so the velocity (relative) to your position will be near zero.  Get used to the feeling of microadjusting, based on this position.  Start moving the angle until you're perpendicular to the bot's movements. 

 I wouldn't be so quick to call myself hardstuck, but I've been bobbing up and down from my Silver 2/3 rank for the longest time.  I'm frustrated more than ever, now that I'm starting to get the hang of how the game is supposed to be played + my mechanics are slowly improving.  Slowly is the key word here. While I'm doing much, much better in DMs now, I still find myself "caught off guard" in key moments in Comp where the fundamentals go out the door.  Now, I'm trying to focus exclusively on crosshair placement and timings.  Breaking Down DMs into 2 categories Apart from "Classic Only" and "Sheriff Only" DMs, let's try and work on:  1) Holding Angles  2) Trace-Only  And see where we end up.  

 sens: 0.105 @ 1600 DPI Raw Accel has been quite an interesting journey.  For the most part, this has allowed me to play @ a much lower sensitivity than I usually play at.  On the other hand, I've also noticed that I tend to overflick my targets due to the rapid accel that is applied whenever I move my mouse too quickly.  After watching a video from Viscose, I think that it's about time that I try and spend some time off of Raw Accel - and to simply work on fine tuning my mechanics without this additional boost.  Trying to find a consistent sens will be my next challenge. I believe that my eDPI prior to raw accel was around 287.. which is quite drastic when compared against my 168 eDPI that I've been using. 

 I recently came across Raw Accel and its (possible) benefits. It intrigues me for sure. Still not sure as to whether it will be something permanent, but it seems to be holding up quite well when used sparingly.  The idea is this: in Valorant, there is a strong emphasis on microadjustments  and smaller, finer movements. For this, a lower sens seems to be the way to go.  The downside to this, however, is that you are unable to move (turn) as easily as one would like to. In instances where you are flicking, your entire arm has to flick for that to happen.  With my sens currently being around 200-250 eDPI, I have to break up a 180 degree turn into segments.  With the help of raw accel, I'm able to achieve two things simultaneously: 1) I am able to stay at my "normal sens" when I'm engaging people (since the mouse movement is little) 2) When  I need to turn quickly (i.e. satcheling, clearing corners) I can rely on the faster, accelerated mouse speed to acc...

 In recent days, I feel like I've been doing very poorly in terms of my personal shooting mechanics.  I can't seem to really wrap my head around it.  Although I know that raw shooting isn't everything, my performance is bothering me due to the fact that even in DM, I am quite nearly bot fragging on every match. I know that I could do better.  Although I tried adjusting my sens (and a laundry list of other things), I know that it has to do with my actual gameplay. So I'm trying to narrow down on a list of possible improvements.  -Crosshair placement: I know that I should maintain head height at all times. Perhaps drilling this idea (of having head height even on knife) can be beneficial  -Timing / movement of peeks: Right now, I'm not really "peeking" but rather reacting to what's being thrown at me. When I see someone like Tayco play, I notice that (A) he isn't "out to get" people (but that the people seem to "come to him"), (B)...

 One of the biggest struggles I have is in target confirmation, or the act of actually checking  to see that your crosshair is on the target's head before firing.  I have a tendency to flick and pull the trigger instinctively, which often leads to a missed first-shot.  This first shot accuracy is especially important in games such as Valorant, where the second shot can be too late (or miss due to recoil).  Although it has significantly slowed down my speed  in which I can flick, I can already see the benefits in-game where, in the context of a 1v1 gunfight, the opposing team is also whiffing and trying to get their crosshair on target.  In having this extra layer of practice under my belt, I feel that the concept of calm aim  is one step closer.  It's not that there's "plenty" of time to shoot, but that a confirmed shot is far more valuable than a stray whiff that's relying solely on muscle memory.  The context changes dynamically. You a...

 Phew! I haven't updated this blog in a while. There has been quite a number of changes since I've last written on here. To start, here are my current sens:  0.13 @ 2400 DPI ( 312 eDPI) As for warmups and aim training has been going, I've spent significantly less time on KovaaKs and have been pouring in more time in the Range. The reason is simply due to the fact that I'm trying to master the art of deadzoning-which requires movement to do.  But on Kovaaks, I've been narrowing down my scenarios to just a handful: Gridshot Ultimate: General Practice. Not necessarily for any translation into Valorant. I simply work on flicking quickly but also getting a feel for how far my mouse moves with each flick.  Microshot (Any Scenario): I work on micro shots where the targets are much smaller. This is where I focus on maintaining a smooth line from target to target, all the while making sure to get a hit confirmation prior to clicking. Smooth Tracking: This is lesser in terms ...

I'm beginning to understand the purpose and reason as to why the over aiming routine by Woohoojin is so popular. I'm going to drill this in the Range until it can be as smooth and responsive as it could be.   Over aim Warmup (1) Do the aim routine in slow segments Over Aim, Move, Confirm, Shoot  (2) Combine the over aim and movement but slow on the confirming. Then shoot (3) Gradually increase speed to real-time.  If at any point you begin to slip from the rhythm, go back one step.  If you are going at game speed but seem to be flick-missing, slow down just the confirming part. If you are still not flicking correctly and/or moving sufficiently, go back down to step 1 and do it in slow segments. 

Continuing to practice Woohoojin's overshoot drill. One thing that I learned is that when I flick, I tend to overshoot quite a bit.  Having stronger mouse control and snapping to a smaller distance from the head seems to result in a much, much quicker response time, and when the movement is nearly  caught up to the speed of the flick, then it should feel like one fluid motion where the flick and strafe happens simultaneously.  This leads to the "snappiest" flicks, so hopefully I could continue this drill to the point where it becomes second nature.  It's also worth mentioning that this strafe movement isn't applicable in all  circumstances. Simply holding angles do not require this movement, however a continuous strafing back and forth is never a bad option when holding angles. Perhaps I just need to play more DM to try the variations out. 

 Trying to really focus on WoohooJin's overshoot drill. Really want to master the mechanics until it's perfect (or close to perfect).  The hard part about this drill is trying to remember   it  when it's time for actual playing time. When there's a multitude of factors that enter the game, it's quickly brushed to the side I'm afraid. So I suppose it will be imperative that I drill this into my head until it becomes automatic; then I can focus on other gameplay mechanics and not focus too hard on the mechanics side. 

 Current Sens: 0.287 @ 1000 DPI. Translates to 287 eDPI 10/18/24  Updated to 0.3000 @ 1000 DPI, or 300 eDPI. I've been seeing good progress in this sens, at least in the context of KoovaKs and Valorant DM. We will see if we stay at this sens. 

I like to review my performance (it's very similar to film review during my basketball days), and so I will be doing my best to log all of my Comp matches to see if I could learn something from them. I am trying to record my gameplay whenever I have the chance (although the audio is cheeks at the moment) so that I can at least review the context of what was going on.  I don't know. Maybe this is overkill, but my brain always functions better when I drill things down to a set of simplified rules. I have yet to organize such rules in this game, so I'm looking forward to reviewing my games (whether they are W's or Ls) and try to extrapolate at least a handful of things I could have done better, and what I did do correctly. Hopefully this has a good turnout. 

 1) In the Range, practice moving the crosshair minimally. Understand the flick distance, understand @ what point you overshoot the target, then focus on either (A) hitting the target square or (B) coming up slightly short of the target.  This is ideal, so that you can simply follow the direction of the aiming with your strafe to correct your shots. Overshooting means that you need to strafe in the opposite direction to microadjust your shot. 2) In Comp settings, try and pick apart the other team's tendencies. Look for emerging patterns and positioning. For example, in the Lotus match yesterday-I noticed that whenever KJ had setup her turret in B main, that the rest of the team would heavy push A.  Mo made a terrific read when we switched sides as well. His tip was that in the maps where there are three sites, that we should avoid taking on a particular site (such as C) and only go after the two other ones.  When it is a critical round that we need to win, we heavy p...

 

S/O to Shniller for making the time to train me. Great guy, 10/10 would recommend! Most of our time in custom match was spent working on strafing & counter strafing. Here's a rundown of things that I should work on:  1) Strafe and tap the opposite key to come to a complete stop. When stopped, shoot-almost instantaneously. Work on counter strafing against a wall or with bots.  Eventually, you want it to be one, fluid motion. You should be able to strafe and hit the same target (center) while moving back and forth.  2) Preaim the expected head level prior to the swing. That way, all that's needed is a quick tap, or a very small microadjustment to get your crosshair on their head.  3) Don't worry about "cutting the pie" when clearing angles for now. Swing that thing with confidence . Given his great advice, here is a warmup routine that I've developed (and will most likely adjust and tweak over time): --- The Range Static Shots - Duration: Until Comfortable...