Valorant, like many other first-person shooters, relies on gunplay to gain the upper hand. This makes aiming one of the core skills you need to work on to improve and rank up in the game.
Luckily, improving aim isn’t as hard as it seems. With careful consideration and practice, you can improve your aim in Valorant to give yourself a fighting chance.
Also read: Valorant error code 59: Quick Fix
Crosshair placement
The first and perhaps the most important thing when working on your aim is crosshair placement. If you’re walking around looking at the ground or in random places, every time an enemy peaks the corner, you’re going to have to swipe the mouse over to the enemy before you can start shooting. In the few seconds you lose during that mouse movement, the gunfight can be over.
The best practice is to keep your crosshair at head height and the edge of a corner as you’re moving around the map. This ensures that you have to move your mouse the smallest distance possible when an enemy appears and that you can start shooting as soon as possible.
This takes a lot of practice and map knowledge, so don’t be disheartened if you can’t get it right. Note where the enemies are peeking most often from, and keep your crosshair ready. Alternatively, you can also watch pro matches and carefully note their crosshair position to try and emulate it in your gameplay.
Crosshair customisation
Another crosshair-related tweak is crosshair customisation. The default crosshair in Valorant may or may not be the ideal one for you and that’s why, like most other FPS games, Valorant allows you to tweak your crosshair as you like.
For example, if you play other FPS games like Counter-Strike 2, you can even copy over your existing crosshair to ensure better skill transfer and visibility. Alternatively, you can always experiment with the in-game crosshair settings to get the right crosshair for you.
Also read: How to fix Valorant network problem?
Movement
It’s common knowledge that if you’re moving, you’re not nearly as accurate as you’re going to be when standing still. Even if you know the weapon’s spray pattern, moving while shooting means that your bullets move unpredictably, making it extremely hard to aim them at a particular spot.
So the next time you get in a gunfight, make sure you’re completely standing still before you start shooting. You can try learning counter-strafing to stop yourself quicker and start shooting faster. Many players also instinctively start moving as soon as they see an enemy peek a corner. Slow down, wait a moment, and then shoot. You might lose a lot of gunfights when practising this, but in the long run, as your gun control and spray patterns get better, you’ll land a lot more damage to your enemies than you used to before.
Learn spray patterns
Speaking of spray patterns, it’s easy to hold down the left mouse button and pray that you end up fragging the enemy — something we call “spray and pray” in FPS games. As you can probably guess, it’s better to take matters into your own hands than pray for bullets to magically hit the target.
Each gun in Valorant has its unique spray pattern, but generally speaking, the first few bullets you spray go in an upward direction courtesy of a gun’s recoil. The best way to control this is to note the tracers you’re shooting and adjust accordingly. You can also reference the hundreds of guides on spray patterns of various guns on the internet and practice them to ensure your bullets hit the target and not the wall behind them.
Know your guns
As an extension to the last point, it’s also a good idea to be aware of the gun you’re using. Have an SMG? Don’t engage in long-distance fights. On the contrary, if you have an Operator, don’t rush headfirst into a bomb site.
Each weapon in Valorant is made for a specific kind of situation. Rifles work in most situations, SMGs are better for close-quarter combat, snipers let you take out enemies from a distance, and pistols are pistols.
Be aware of your weapon and the situation to ensure you give yourself the best chances to win each gunfight. Even if your aim isn’t top-notch, if you play to your gun’s advantage, there’s a good chance you’ll end up winning.
Knowing your operator abilities
Another situational awareness tip that doesn’t have anything to do with your aim but does give you an advantage is your operator’s abilities. Do you have smokes left to use? Are you playing Omen and can teleport behind your enemies? All these things can make up for what you lack in aiming expertise and give you an upper hand in each gunfight you take.
Eye that DPI
Last but not least, it’s important to ensure that you’re playing with the optimal mouse DPI and in-game sensitivity. If your DPI or sensitivity is too high, you’ll often overshoot your targets, and if not, you’ll often scramble to reach them.
Most people play around the 800 to 1000 DPI mark. However, it’s best to experiment with mouse DPI and sensitivity on your own to figure out what’s best for you. There are no hard rules as to what DPI you should use, but if you’re just starting, something around 800 DPI and an in-game sensitivity of around 0.7 to 0.9 should be a good starting point. Once again, it’s best if you experiment yourself, as dialing down your DPI and mouse sensitivity can take a while.
Also read: Is Valorant cross-platform?Â
