What’s the most infuriating thing you experience when you play an FPS game?
For us, it’s matching up against players who move a lot. Those who run, jump, and crouch so frequently it looks like they’re just prancing around the map, mocking you for not being able to hit them.
You know what we’re talking about! Those pesky opponents you can’t kill because of how well they move.
These opponents really annoy the crap out of us because they’re also usually the players who win, just because we can’t kill them.
We suffered from these players for quite some time, especially when we were just starting out in the FPS genre.
But the more hours we log in to the game, the better our reflexes got and the better our aims became. This helped us nail these sneaky bastards once and for all. And who knew that by improving our aim and reflexes, we would be winning more games?
Based on our own experiences, these are the best ways to improve your aim and reflexes in FPS games so you can kill more opponents and win more matches.
Table of Contents
Play with the right equipment
We can’t emphasize this enough. Your aim and accuracy are heavily influenced by the peripherals you use when you play.
Having the right mouse and mousepad will drastically improve how you move and how you perform in the game that’s why it’s important to invest in these before you start practicing.
Moreover, if it’s in your budget, having the right gaming chair would also work wonders in keeping you comfortable and relaxed, so you can aim more accurately.
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Your mouse
Your mouse is an extension of your weapon. It’s what you use to aim your gun at your opponents. If you don’t have the right mouse, you can experience delays in your movement, which would cause a lot of inaccurate shots.
We suggest that you invest in a good gaming mouse with adjustable DPI and a good polling rate. These two settings will help you greatly improve your aim accuracy because of how smooth it makes your movements.
Moreover, choose a mouse that’s ergonomic for your hands. You’d want to choose a gaming mouse where your hands can rest properly. Size-wise it should not be too big nor too small that you’ll have a hard time controlling it.
Lastly, It should also be lightweight and easy to move around, so it doesn’t slow your reaction down.
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Mousepad
It might seem negligible to invest in a proper mousepad, but did you know that not all mousepads react well with optical gaming mice. Some would delay the pick-up of the movement, causing a slight reaction from your pointer.
Moreover, other mousepads would have a drag in them, that slows down your movement. This can ultimately delay your reaction time which could mean winning or losing. So avoid the cheap mousepads made out of slippery and glossy materials. Opt for those designed specifically for gamers.
Finally, get a mousepad large enough to cover your desk or at least a large part of it. The last thing you want is to run out of mouse space in the middle of a close fight. Personally, this is the reason why we opt for putting a full-size mouse pad on our desk, compared to a little square mousepad.
Have the proper settings
When playing FPS games, make sure your mouse settings are well-calibrated. You’d want your mouse to follow your hand’s movement as accurately as possible because this would increase your accuracy.
Moreover, you’d need to have pinpoint pixel accuracy with your cursor, or else, you might over or undershoot your mark, missing them by only a pixel or two.
Calibrating your mouse is a technical process, so check out our full guide here to learn how to calibrate your mouse like a pro.
Get a grip
How you hold your mouse also affects how accurate you are and how fast you can react. Most gamers suggest that both the claw and palm grips are excellent for aim tracking. This means that either grip would help you follow targets easily.
But, if you’re using an automatic weapon, you’d be better of playing with a claw grip because it’s better for tracking (shooting while following your opponent). Conversely, if you’re wielding a semi-automatic/sniper, a palm grip would help you perform flick shots better.
Ultimately, it’s up to you where you’re most comfortable with.
Use your wrist and arms
Most amateur players aim with their finger and their hands. This means that they’re moving their mouse using their hands alone. This limits the range of movement you have.
What you need to do is to start getting comfortable with using your arms or your wrists to control the mouse and aim your shots because this helps you develop muscle memory which helps you in the long run.
Proper crosshair positioning
When we were beginners, our crosshairs would be all over the place. Sometimes it’s positioned on the ground, sometimes it’s on the sky, oftentimes it’s just in front of us. This made us have a slower reaction time, resulting in more deaths and fewer kills.
But as we gained experience, we discovered that your crosshairs should always be strategically positioned. What you’d want to do is to position it at body height, ready to fire at any time.
More importantly, though, you’d want to aim your crosshairs at spots where enemies might pop out like doors, windows, portals, etc. This increases your chance of catching them off guard.
Remember: Be intentional with where you point your crosshairs.
Get better at predicting
90% of the time, your opponents will be moving around the map. They’ll be running, jumping, zigzagging, and generally avoiding getting shot. You can’t expect them to stand still and wait for you to aim at their heads before they start moving.
This is why it’s important that you get better at predicting movement patterns and where your opponents will go next. This is something you don’t get to read a lot about because everyone plays differently, so there’s no one answer to get better at predicting your opponents.
What you need to do is to play a lot of games so you’ll understand how people react when certain things happen and how people move around the game.
Crouch and walk, don’t run and jump
It sounds counterintuitive to move slower on the battlefield where everyone’s shooting at you. But hear us out.
By moving slower, you’re making it easier for you to aim at your opponents. Moreover, these two mechanics would also reduce your weapon’s bullet spread and recoil, making your shots more accurate.
We do this when we spot an enemy. Crouching once we see them, gives us an aim advantage because we’re able to position and stabilize our characters immediately. Moreover, since our character is lower, their initial instinct of aiming for the head/upper body will result in a miss.
Tap it, don’t spray it
Most amateur players play like Rambo once they’re on the battlefield. Once they see an enemy, they would start spraying them with bullets, thinking that one of the bullets should make its way to the target.
But this is the total opposite. See, if you press your trigger for too long, your aim suffers because of a bullet spread. This is why tapping and hitting your enemy with one to two bullets at a time is a much more effective way of killing your opponents.
Moreover, you don’t want to end up with an empty magazine while your opponent double taps you in the head.
Practice with an aim trainer
Aim training software is everywhere. These programs have specialized game modes that’ll help you improve your aim, tracking, and accuracy, as well as your reflexes. Play these games regularly to improve your skills.
Just a caveat that just because you do well with an aim trainer, doesn’t mean it’ll apply in-game. Getting your reps in the actual game is still the best kind of training.
Warm-up before you play
One of the best things we did to improve our aim and reflexes was to hop on a custom game for 30 minutes we start playing matched games. This helped us warm up our aiming muscles and get them ready for battle.
Start a custom game against a couple of bots just to get your momentum going before hopping on a game. This technique will help you tons when you start doing this consistently.
Watch your games
Your aim, your reflex, and your skills will progress if you dedicate enough time to play and watch your games after. So make sure you record every game and watch them regularly to evaluate what you’re doing wrong.
Ask yourself if your mistakes are mechanical: bad crosshair positioning, spraying, etc., or decision making: predictions, gun use, etc. This would help you correct them in future games.
Bonus Tip: If you have the option to, customize your crosshairs. Try to make it a little more distinct and visible so it won’t get lost easily.
Getting better at anything takes time. Just keep practicing and playing the right way and everything will follow. If you want to make leaps and bounds to your gaming skills, check out our other guides.
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