I probably wouldn't get past level 1! Despite playing FPS for decades at this point I've never been able to develop super accurate aiming. I'm good enough for vs CPU games (usually) but against humans I end up with around 5-10% accuracy.

Oh well!

I used to have this problem, thinking I just can't get accurate in FPS's. Then I read that your mouse sensitivity should generally be around 30-60 cm movement to do a 360 rotation.

Mine was more in the area of 5-10 cm for a single rotation (so that I could use just my wrist for movements), which is almost impossible to properly aim with.

The idea is to do movements with your whole arm and micro-adjustments with your wrist. It's annoying and weird at first, but after getting used to it your accuracy gets an order of magnitude better.

Not sure if that's your case, but thought I'd share if others had this problem.

^ It's absolutely this.

I always thought I played normal, but I needed this to be pointed out to me.

If no one has ever seen an e-sports player's physical movements, They have very light mice (under 75g), a mouse pad about 1m (3ft) long and move their whole arm left and right to turn their character 180 degrees while using just their wrist and flexing their fingers to fine tune the cursor onto the head for a headshot.

Here's how to improve:

First, start reducing your mouse sensitivity by 1.5 total percent each day. This is so the change is gradual enough that you can keep playing games like normal, but you'll have brought your sensitivity down to a more manageable level. This will also give your body time to build new muscles in your arm that you'll be using for holding your arm out and moving your mouse (you don't tend to use these muscles in anything else during the day. Don't try to skip to the end even if you're fit, because you'll over exert some specific muscles in your arms that you don't use because they're hidden under other muscles).

Once you're at the point where you comfortably need to move your mouse about 60cm (2ft) to perform a 180 in-game, you should start looking at aim-training. There are aim-training games that will teach you how to flick, track, etc... (If you're not exactly sure what these are, you will learn by watching some in-trainer tutorial videos) Aim-trainers are a lot more focused and intense specifically on aiming compared to regular games which means you build up specific skills in them much faster than regular games.

Spend about 10-15 minutes a day in the aim trainer right before playing your games. This will train you, but also warm you up so you're already playing well when you move to an actual game. The aim-trainer will track your performance and you'll notice it gradually trend upwards bit by bit for about 6 weeks.

By this point, you're probably better in some ways than the average player. But you're still going to get demolished by a few specific people you'll run into online.

To start facing those players, you'll be able to go into your aim-trainer (which has recorded all of your stats so far) and see which specific skills you need to practice.

Does the game provide a button when you actually need to turn around, or do you have to pick up the mouse three times since the mouse pad is not 2 feet wide?

Players do not have a button to turn around, they need to pick up the mouse quickly. Here's why that ends up being better:

There are two options:

1. Have one wide arm movement that turns the player 180 degrees, meaning that when the mouse is centred, the player can turn left or right by 90 degrees without lifting their mouse.

2. Have one wide arm movement that turns the player 360 degrees, meaning that when the mouse is centred, the player can turn left or right by 180 degrees without lifting their mouse.

Different players test each option and all available statistics are measured.

Turns out that option 1 performs much better than option 2.

For FFA (Free for all) games, having a reduced turn, also means that the player is more accurate. In a one on one fight, players with reduced-turn are able to consistently get more headshots (which deal much more damage then other shots) leading to winning more fights. This allows them to charge forwards into and out of fights, as it is unlikely for an enemy to be behind them since they had just cleared that area of enemies by previously charging into it.

For Team games, having a reduced turn still gives you the greater accuracy, but you're less likely to charge in since an enemy team can surround you and hit you in the back. This leads to teams of reduced-turn players remaining near each other in formation. If an enemy enters any player's field of view, they are able to kill that enemy faster since they can consistently get more headshots, protecting the whole team. If an entire enemy team appears together, the reduced turn team will still win because they can still get more headshots consistently. This tends to result in the enemy team breaking formation, allowing the reduced turn team to also break formation charging each enemy. The reduced turn team will then form back up into formation when they enemy team is close to regrouping.

Serious players buy 2 feet wide mouse pads I'm not joking (no there is not a turn around button). Yes you will see people pick up there mice sometimes. Most people setup up their sensitivity so that they can do a single 360 going from left to right edge of mouse pad and then buy large pads. Keep in mind in game you're using WASD movement in a correspondingly twitchy way and are actively avoiding putting yourself in a situation where you need to 180 quickly. It's part of the meta.

This also helped me improve quite a lot. Though there are two types of aim which benefit from different sensitivities. Tracking aim, which is what you’d use with weapons which require multiple hits to kill like SMGs or beam weapons. You’re tracking the player with your aim as you move. Lower sensitivity really helps here. Flick aiming is typically used for sniper rifles with one hit kill capabilities. You’re not really aiming so much as relying on your reflexes and experience to snap off an instant shot. Think of those crazy 360 no scope shots. These can benefit from a higher sensitivity than tracking.

Unless you’re playing a game where you’re literally just using a beam weapon, you’ll likely switch between these aim modes frequently and naturally throughout a game and having multiple sensitivities that you switch between can really fuck up your “intuitive” feel when aiming. In those cases I try to find a happy medium. Something a bit higher than optimal for tracking but usable for flicking.

People use different sensitivity. I remember downloading some famous players configs back on 1.6 and some of them had a tiny one and it was basically impossible to do a 180 haha. Some of them were way too extreme imo. But yeah lower sensitivity is a good improvement

Honestly aim only goes so far. A lot of it's knowing crosshair placement (ie: aiming where someone would be around the corner) and comfort with moving.

It helps to know rough timings for where conflicts first happen. You can filter out a lot of this posturing by having a sense of where the other team should be, given timing

For example, in B-tunnels on dust2 in CS:GO and 2. With a decent spawn point, the opposing teams meet at the stairs - favoring whoever was slightly closer. It may be best to simply post up, or push through

I've always been a mediocre shot compared to my peers, but my gamesense and calm nature has made me super useful on invitational teams

If you're into it, just work on consistency - the rest will follow

Another pro move is to aim on the wall where you crosshair will meet the target after you straff. So you aim at the wall, move left and now you’re aiming at the correct position without having had to move your crosshair, then move your crosshair again to the wall, rinse and repeat.

Indeed, a key part of this crosshair placement is 'prefiring' - knowing you're about to shoot before peeking.

The time-to-kill is rather low, the victor is [usually] who prepared the most - not who has the best natural aim.

I decide where I go each round by my spawn point - that's one of the easiest advantages you can have; knowing which allows you to beat the other team to a position/setup.

Once that initial fun is over, it's mostly about keeping a mental model of where the other team 'should be', and preparing for that.

Public games are a wild animal, you lose a lot of this 'reasoning' when it's no longer 5v5 or some reasonable number.

You generally assume a 2-1-2 split on the left/mid/right 'lanes' of the map; but some teams may stack when economically challenged. Many pistols beat one/two rifles, and can turn the round around!

aiming in this game is very precise due to the movement constraints

not that I know what other games you've enjoyed

But mastering movement is paramount to having good accuracy

Agree with these points, but at 1.5 I'd insert: intimate knowledge of the maps. "Holding angles" is such a profound advantage, and requires knowing the maps inside-and-out.

To me this fits under the game sense category. I don’t think these are really a linear progression. It’s absolutely possible to get much better at “game sense” as a way of compensating for aim that isn’t that great. At high levels, you’ll see pros who can take out cheaters with an aim bot because they know enough about the maps and angles and game mechanics to overcome perfect aim and reaction time.

You can get there by just playing really slow. Always wait for your opponent, don’t push, etc.

This is why I'm glad they added per-map ranks in competitive.

sometimes it's stuff that's just weird esoteric game mechanics - like for a very long time the distance you stand from a corner while peeking will determine if the enemy can see you before you see them. You will never learn that unless someone just tells you.

absolutely! some nuances are hard to learn