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  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 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...

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. 

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...

 I am still working on my movement / shooting while stationary, and it's beginning to dawn on me as to just how important this is.  Although I'm beginning to steadily improve on my strafe shooting / counter strafing in the range, it's proving to be a very difficult skill to master when it comes time for DM. The window in which I could  (1) identify the target  (2) stop strafing and  (3) aim for head height is a lot to take in, especially when the other party is firing at you.  In order to make the range practice more effective in DM, I think that I'll have to work on utilizing good angles while always maintaining a steady back and forth motion (strafing). Additionally, keeping my crosshair at head height at all times will be a must.  My goal for now is to simply get into the rhythm of C.Strafing, so that I could shoot when I hit velocity 0. Once this becomes automatic, I'm sure that this will help tremendously. 

 Although the crosshair placement has been doing much better, I have found a flaw in my shooting technique that seems to be a BIG problem! In using the "shooting error" window that populates the right side of my screen, I am able to see just when I am shooting while moving (blue bars) and when my shots are stationary (yellow). All of my shots (except for spray and pray) should be a solid yellow, signifying the fact that I am standing still.  This is the most important aspect of shooting in Valorant. If I cannot stand still, the first bullet will go all over the place.  I have a strong feeling that once I master the art of counter strafing / stopping in place to shoot, this will be a HUGE buff to my performance.. 

Dates : 8/5/24: First Swift Match 8/31/24: My first competitive game On Sensitivity: I train on 1000 DPI, 0.54 sens (Valorant). To transfer to 800 DPI, convert Valo to 0.675 To transfer to 1200 DPI, convert Valo to 0.45 On Pre-Aiming / Priming: I find that much of my "aim success" occurs when I am mentally prepared for a particular encounter, and my focus is placed on the expected encounter/outcome. Even if it's a situation where I'm ratting out in a corner, I find much more success when the hiding is intentional, and it is backed by a particular reason.    One thing I could work on (in-game) is to actively keep my focus on these "hot spots" and/or areas of the map, where I am expecting  a fight. This will train my focus to be on/off at a moments notice, allowing me to be more passive in less-urgent situations and locked in for others. This, of course, takes time-but I think that with more time playing, I will soon have a list of places and angles that I cou...

Although I knew the importance of warming up before any matches are played, I didn't expect this big of a shift from my playing / focus until now. I did a handful of Koovak's freeplay, as well as the new CS-oriented playlist that I found online. When I hopped into DM afterwards, I found that everything seemed to line up FAR more efficiently than I would have been normally, without any sort of aim training prior. I felt much more ready to take on gunfights, and I believe that this "flow state" was due to several things in conjunction:  1) I was much more prepped and ready to move around with my sensitivity, since I just finished a round of training.  2) Even though I'm playing w/o sound cues, I am ready for possible contact because I am lining up the crosshair before the engagement . I think that this is huge, and I'll have to play continuously to naturally get the feel for where "head level" is on each map.  3) Cutting out angles and trying my best t...

 I noticed a significant dropoff in my performance when I did not get my normal AimLabs / Koovak training in. The inability to hold still / focus on the crosshair was so great that in many matches, I simply whiffed and bottom fragged in every match.  I think that there's a strong need to develop a short, concise routine, and a separate workout routine where I focus on improvement. Perhaps I could use the sens randomizer during the training period, and turn it off during the light warmup. 

  I'm currently trying to reflect more upon my aiming / difficulties, so that I could begin to reinforce and narrow down my weak points. Here are several things I've noticed: -I could spend more time working on "distance covered" using mere estimates / muscle memory. In many cases, I often overshoot the target when flicking. This shows that I don't need to throw my mouse as far as I do now.  I could work on being  slower  when aiming for precise targets, to reinforce the wrist/arm mechanism. I could slowly correct my flicks in this way, too, so that my flicks are closer and closer to the target.  I think that this practice above  is paired very well with a microadjustment drill, where I  only  work on small adjustments using my wrist. Since the whole idea of click-aiming is "arm/wrist movement to the target,  then  micro-adjust", the two can be reinforced together IMO.  The goal is to make the directional aiming + micro adjustm...

 So I have placed as Iron 3 in my ranking on Valorant. Although I really wanted to push into Bronze 1 or 2, I think that this placement is pretty spot-on in terms of my playing style at this time.  This doesn't take anything away from the fact that I only started playing FPS games at the start of August-which means that it's only been one month since playing!  To be even more specific, I only started taking my games seriously when I was introduced to my current Discord pals-and that was a mere 14 days ago. So... maybe I should give myself a pat on the back?  -- As far as my aim training / improvement in the game goes, I can finally say with confidence that things are beginning to move. I find myself placing higher in DM, as well as in becoming more fluent and coordinated when moving around. My focus is most definitely becoming more fine-tuned, with much more emphasis on crosshair placement and pre aiming.  I've taken a break from the SensRandomizer for now, sinc...

I've started implementing a "sensitivity randomizer" into my AimLabs / Kovaak's training, which is founded on the concept of Differential Learning (DL). What this program does is simply alter the sensitivity at random, using very minute (but very noticeable) changes with each movement of the mouse. As I am trying to challenge, stimulate, and train my motor nervous system / muscle memory, this has been a huge curveball that I've been quite grateful for.  What typically happens, is that you begin to fall into a habit of "gazing away, flicking away" without paying much attention to the target OR crosshair itself. But with the addition of DL, you are quite literally forced  to drag your crosshair to the target, which results in a heightened awareness and concentration on both the target and the distance (needed to cover). This is quite the challenge, as it is reflected in my scores across the board (compared to when I am at one sens for a long period of time...

 As I continue on this journey of getting a better aim, I can't help but to reflect on my performance thus far. It is very, very easy for me to disregard any progress that I've made, and to only see myself as a glass half empty. But given the fact that it's only been one month since I've started playing FPS games, I should really stop and think for a moment.  At first, I didn't know what sensitivity was, and how it would impact the playing. I didn't even bother to change anything from the default settings. But as the time began to unfold, I found myself in a rabbit hole that keeps on getting deeper and deeper.  My aim has significantly improved with the help of AimLabs and KoovaK's (though I definitely spent more time on the former than the latter). Simply getting the bare-bone mechanics of aiming down is something that needs to be practiced time and time again.  Here is my warmup routine as of 08/27/24: AimLabs I like to start w/ AimLabs to get the general ...