Valorant: how to improve your aim, training, accuracy, recoil pattern, crosshair placement
Improving your aim demands dedication and lots of practice - there are no shortcuts. It requires you to select a specific mouse sensitivity that you find comfortable, and develop the muscle memory while using it.
Types of aim
There are two types of aim: Flicking and Tracking.
Flicking is moving your mouse to get your crosshair on top of the target as quickly as you physically can.
Flicking is used when you have to change your crosshair position from one area to another as quickly as possible in order to increase your chances of survival.
Tracking means your crosshair is already on the target, but the target is moving and you need to keep your crosshair on it throughout the process.
Tracking is used primarily when an enemy is moving around and trying to dodge your bullets, or when you have to move short distances between multiple enemies who are standing close to each other.
Practice modes
In order to improve your aim, you must train your flicking and tracking skills. Fortunately, Valorant offers a great in-house area to practice and develop your aim: the Shooting Range in the Practice mode.
You have a “Blinking Bots” mode that spawns 30 enemies, one at a time, in a random location in the provided area. It holds them in place momentarily, and then makes the enemy disappear; a moment will pass and the next enemy will appear until all 30 have processed.
Depending on what difficulty you set this mode to, it will change the amount of time that bots are present, and the amount of downtime between bots. This mode tracks how many of the 30 bots you successfully killed.
The next mode is a timed mode I call “Speed-Run” where you kill a set amount of bots (either 50 or 100) as quickly as you can. The bots will spawn one at a time, and will appear in a random location in the provided area.
The area is much larger than the Blinking mode, so be sure to check it entirely when you can’t see the bot. Your score will be how many seconds it took for you to kill all of the bots. The lower the score the better.
Horizontal and vertical aim
You need to make keeping crosshair at head-height a habit, and if you don’t keep it at that level, you need to change it ASAP!
This is single-handedly the best aiming tip you can possibly get for a tactical FPS like Valorant.
The only time you adjust the vertical height of your crosshair is when you are compensating for recoil, or when you are aiming at a location that is not on the same level of ground as you are.
Wrong and correct crosshair placement
This Sage player’s crosshair placement is wrong.
If the enemies are coming around that box, or from the hall in front of her, she is going to have to pull off a big flick to survive the encounter.
More info is outlined in the image below.
The red line is the head height of the enemies who could walk right out from behind the double boxes.
The yellow line is the head height of the enemies who could be walking around the corner from the right of the hallway further ahead.
The green circle represents the ideal crosshair placement if you suspect an enemy is currently behind the boxes to the left.
The blue circle is the ideal crosshair placement if you suspect an enemy may be coming from the right side.
Note: The further away enemies are, the lower you must adjust your crosshair.
Now look at this side by side comparison.
The image on the left shows the wrong crosshair placement, while the right one highlights the correct spot.
Even if the enemy doesn’t come from the left side of the boxes as our Sage player had suspected, they can still turn and kill the enemy faster than the Sage on the left.
The player on the right side is far more likely to survive and kill the opponent, thanks to a proper crosshair placement.
Aim and crosshair placement from high ground
Check out this example of being on an elevated surface above your opponent.
This is where aiming and crosshair placement becomes slightly more complex.
This same principle applies to any situation where you and your opponent are not on the same level of ground.
The height of your crosshair placement must be adjusted based on the distance between you and the enemy. If you and your opponent are on different levels of ground, no matter how slight it may be, you must be prepared for it.
The coloured lines represent the head height of each of the three players in this picture.
The circles represent the actual heads of the three agents.
Notice the horizontal and vertical distance of the blue circle compared to the red one. Both characters are on the same even ground, but because you are not, you must adjust and plan accordingly.
Aim training exercises
First of all, as a beginner, you must know that the head, body, and legs take different amounts of damage from each weapon.
The head is the most vital part of the body, and all weapons inflict increased damage against it. Many weapons can even kill an enemy with one shot, which is known as one-tap.
The legs take less damage than the body, so it is never a good idea to shoot them, unless you have no other option.
Aim training for new PC and FPS gamers
If you are brand new to FPS games or PC gaming in general, I highly recommend starting off with Speed Run.
Set the bots to 50, buy a Guardian or Vandal, stand centered in front of the podium, and shoot the start button. Be sure to stand still throughout the exercise.
Your goal is not to get a good score. Take your time, and as slowly and smoothly as possible aim towards the heads of the bots, actively and mindfully feeling what it’s like to move the center of your crosshair right to the middle of the enemies’ forehead. Then click MB1 (mouse button 1) one time, move to the next bot, and do the same thing.
Rinse and repeat until you have killed all 50, being mindful of how your arm and wrist move, and how it feels. Do this again, but actively restrain yourself from clicking until you are matched right on their heads.
Once you feel comfortable and you feel ready for the next step: do it again. This time, however, time yourself with the scoreboard at the top of the Shooting Range.
Keep repeating until you can kill all 50 bots in under 125 seconds. This allows 2.5 seconds to kill each bot with a headshot. Once you feel comfortable and happy with this you can move on to the Beginner Training.
Aim training for beginner players
As a beginner, the Blinking Bots mode is the most useful. If you would like, before you perform this training routine, you can warm your fingers up by doing the previous exercise.
When you are ready, set the difficulty to easy, purchase a Guardian or Vandal, shoot the start button, and get ready to practice. During this practice session your goal should be to be able to kill as many enemies as possible with one-tap head shots.
I want you to start every round of this training by centering your crosshair on the middle of the wooden beam in the back of the shooting range, at head height. We will refer to this as the “Resting Point”.
As bots appear, move your crosshair in a straight line from the resting point to the bots head, kill them, then move back to the resting point. Repeat this for all 30 bots.
Try to do this and score as high as possible. If you continually get a score of 30 you can increase the difficulty by using the Classic sidearm, which cannot one-tap.
Practice this for 15 minutes when you first log in, and in between each unrated/rated/spike rush match. If it is still too easy, try medium difficulty.
Valorant Shooting Range available in Practice mode.
Accuracy in Valorant
Levels of accuracy
Crouching is the most accurate and reduces spread slightly on most weapons.
Standing still offers exactly no benefit or disadvantage. It is used as a baseline for weapon accuracy.
Shift+walking while shooting decreases accuracy by a very slight amount.
Running is terrible for your accuracy, and if you are jumping or flying through the air, you are the least accurate you can be.
Weapon accuracy
In Valorant, your accuracy varies from weapon to weapon. Certain weapons require you to be scoped in and immobile while you shoot them, and others couldn’t care less if you are Jett, flying at mach speeds.
Guns that shoot quickly often have less accuracy: the more slow and controlled it is (aside from shotguns) the less spread you must deal with. The only exceptions to this rule are Phantom and Vandal, which have great fire rates and manageable spread.
Although almost all weapons suffer from “running and gunning”, there are some weapons that require you to be completely immobile: Operator, Sheriff, Marshal, Ares, and Odin are all practically useless if you are moving and shooting at the same time.
Recoil pattern
Finally, we will talk about one of the most discussed and often confusing concepts in Valorant: the recoil pattern.
Recoil is when you hold down MB1 with an automatic weapon (this is called spraying a weapon) and the bullets travel upwards above your crosshair, and start to sway left and right throughout the spray.
Valorant has a semi-random recoil pattern for every single weapon. This means that the first few shots are the same exact pattern every time, instead, the remaining shots are set to travel along a path, but will randomly sway left and right throughout the rest of the magazine.
How to control recoil
To counter aim in order to control recoil is a simple concept, but it is not very easy to master.
If the gun you are spraying recoils upwards for 8 shots, and then sways to the left and right, you simply need to do the opposite. Pull your crosshair downwards at the same pace until you shoot 8 shots, and then you sway the mouse to the right, and then left.
Each weapon has its own recoil pattern, so it is highly recommended that you choose one and master it, before moving on to others.
When your weapon has begun to spray randomly, you will notice that the tip of your barrel will sway left and right as well. The barrel leads the recoil pattern, so you must learn to watch for this out of the corner of your eye. When the barrel sways left, you sway right, when it sways right, you sway left.
The following image is an example of recoil, and how to counter aim to control it.
Wall bang
Another aspect to accuracy is the ability to shoot through walls, better known as a “Wall Bang”. With well timed and placed shots, a player can wall bang another without the enemy even being able to fight back.
What is and is not wall bangable depends on your weapon, the material type, and the thickness of the material. Almost all weapons have medium to low Wall Penetration, however, some weapons can pierce even thick metal, allowing flushing and easy picks against targets who think they are safely hidden.
Below, a chart made by Quarkwy that explains every single weapon, and its wall penetration, at what distances, and much more.
