Valorant Aim Guide: Tips & How to Improve

Although Valorant is a game that blends tactical elements with mechanical ones, having precise aim has always remained a pivotal recipe to success.

Even if you use your abilities correctly, the harsh truth is that in order to escape the lowest elos in Valorant, you simply have to invest in improving your mechanics.

This means improving the consistency of your aim and crosshair placement as success in Valorant hinges on your ability to consistently land headshots and out-aim your opponents.

Simplify the aiming process

For a complete newcomer to Valorant or FPS games in general, aiming can often feel very overwhelming even though it should be simple on paper.

This overwhelming feeling causes panic which results in missed shots, inaccurate sprays, and unfortunate outcomes. In order to prevent this, your #1 goal should be to simplify the aiming process which leads to easier execution.

When aiming, you should focus on 3 key steps:

• Spot the enemy
• Stop your movement
• Shoot the enemy

Even though it might sound redundant, narrowing down your combat as a beginner to these 3 simple steps will result in much more clarity in complex in-game scenarios that would otherwise confuse you.

Control your spray

Beginners and players who have played other FPS games in the past often have a difficult time adapting to Valorant spray patterns.

This is because spraying in Valorant is generally very inefficient and inaccurate, especially if you’re aiming down your sights.

Practically speaking, the more bullets you fire, the harder your gun is to control and aim at enemies.

For this reason, you should prioritize small bursts and tap fires instead of holding down your LMB as they’re much more precise and lethal, given that they’re more likely to result in a headshot.

Keep your crosshair at head level

Headshots are an essential aspect of Valorant and every opponent you encounter will attempt to get the upper hand by landing a few quick headshots.

This is because headshots provide you with the largest burst of damage in the shortest time span, which is why you should prioritize them when aiming.

If you want to headshot enemies consistently, it's recommended to consistently keep your crosshair at head level as you won't need to drag your mouse across the target to line up a headshot.

By training yourself to hold your crosshair at a consistent head level, you'll increase your likelihood of landing quick headshots and increase your overall lethality.

Train and warm up

Getting better at a certain skill requires continuous practice and aiming in Valorant is no different.

Whether it’s shooting down bots in the shooting range or utilizing third-party software designed to help you practice aim, constantly practicing your aim is paramount.

This is often best done right before jumping into a match as a part of a warmup routine.

Almost every high elo Valorant player adheres to a certain warm-up routine that tests and improves aim before hopping in ranked.

For example, speedramping is a common aiming practice in which you slowly commence targeting the bots’ heads and you gradually increase your firing speed as you progress further, which improves your accuracy and stability.

If you’re looking for more practice routines, the following video delves deep into some of the best aiming practices you can use to take your aim to the next level.

VIDEO AIM GUIDE

Focus on the opponent rather than your crosshair

If you’re a beginner, consistent crosshair placement can be a massive obstacle in terms of the learning curve as it takes time to adapt to the movements and behavior of in-game opponents.

Additionally, controlling your crosshair might seem difficult at first as it takes time to learn to coordinate your hand movements with what you see on the screen.

For this reason, when you’re starting out in Valorant, you can increase your gun control by simply practicing to track your opponent’s movements rather than your crosshair.

Instead of focusing on your crosshair’s current position, you should always keep your eyes on the opponent which will develop an instinctive aiming style.

This will also help you in situations where you’re holding a corner and your opponent moves rapidly, breaking your crosshair placement and forcing you to re-adjust swiftly.

Avoid fighting in enemy utility

A common mistake new players tend to make is to try shooting opponents while being blinded or smoked out by their opponent’s utility.

Even though you instinctively might be tempted to try and gun down your opponent, the chances of that happening are very slim as you cannot aim properly.

Instead of trying to fight in a situation where you literally cannot aim, you should try to temporarily back off before re-engaging.

This will allow you to continue fighting from a more favorable spot as you’ll be able to see your enemies rather than spraying and praying.

Reset your mouse

The fast-paced, dynamic nature of Valorant constantly forces you to do mouse flicks across your screen when trying to aim at an opponent that is rapidly moving or in clutch teamfight situations where you have multiple targets.

Performing complicated flicks like these is much easier if your default mouse position is in an optimal spot which reduces the time needed to adjust aim.

This optimal default spot is exactly in the middle of your screen. Practically speaking, when you imagine yourself trying to aim at an opponent, you would start aiming from the middle onwards.

Once you habitually start resetting your mouse to the middle of the screen when out of combat, you'll increase your precision when aiming by reducing the time needed to drag your mouse to the designated target.

Improve your pre-aiming

When you look at some of the top-notch pros such as Tenz or Demon1, their mechanical skills seem flawless and their aim impeccable.

While this is true, half of the job these players do lies in effectively pre-aiming at angles before they engage in combat.

In practice, when you know an opponent is behind a certain angle, you should adjust your crosshair to match their potential position by pre-aiming through the wall.

That way, when you see the opponent for the first time, you’ll be able to eliminate them without making any massive adjustments to your current crosshair position. 

Practice predictive aiming

Predictive aiming is an advanced aiming method that abandons traditional tracking in favor of predicting opponents’ movements ahead of time.

Rather than continuously following the opponent’s current position, you will try to anticipate the next movement of your opponent and aim ahead of time accordingly.

That being said, predictive aiming is a skill that takes time to develop as the best practice involves grinding out matches and getting familiar with the most common in-game movement patterns.

Keep in mind that this method is somewhat ineffective in low elo where rookie players often have erratic and unpredictable movements.

Pick a suitable crosshair

In Valorant, your crosshair is more than just the tool you use to aim at your enemies. It is a defining element of your gameplay experience that is thoroughly customizable to fit your preference.

A well-chosen crosshair that suits your playstyle can significantly improve your accuracy as you’ll have an easier time aligning your aim with your targets.

For this reason, it’s important to follow some basic guidelines such as choosing a cyan/green/red colored crosshair that’s cross-shaped or dot-shaped.

If you need further assistance in the process of crosshair selection, don’t hesitate to click on this helpful video that suggests some of the best crosshair options you can use.

CROSSHAIR GUIDE VIDEO

Aim before firing

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take is a proverb that doesn’t apply to Valorant at all given the game’s spray patterns and one-shot tendencies.

Practically speaking, missing four or five shots before dragging your crosshair to the target is much worse than dragging your crosshair first before making the decisive shot.

If you start shooting aimlessly without having your target in your sights first, you’ll simply reduce your accuracy and lethality as you’ll most likely be hitting the wall behind or body shots at best.

This is because your loose shots that aren’t aimed at the target waste time on the spraying animation, slowing down the aiming process which reduces your accuracy as a result.

Taking your time instead of panicking and slowly adjusting your crosshair before making that crucial shot will go a long way when it comes to improving your Valorant aim.

Aim around corners effectively

When aiming down a corner and waiting for an opponent to move by, instead of holding your crosshair right next to the corner peek, move it slightly to the side.

This is because, in practice, your enemies won’t stop at that designated spot as they’ll naturally keep walking in their direction.

This sudden movement forces you to re-adjust your crosshair that was previously aimed at the exact corner which can result in some easy shots that end up completely whiffed.

By holding your crosshair slightly to the side of the corner you’re holding and aiming, you’ll have an easier time adapting your crosshair to the moving target which can often surprise you and catch you off guard.

Improve your mouse grip

Although it may seem like a minor detail when it comes to your aim, the way in which you hold your mouse heavily impacts your overall accuracy.

The Radiant-approved method of mouse gripping known as claw grip improves your overall control of the mouse when aiming.

You should use your thumb and either ring finger or thumb as anchors that you'll drag across your mousepad, allowing you to have an increased sense of sensitivity when aiming.

Additionally, instead of firmly gripping your mouse, leaving some space between your palm and the mouse will allow you greater mobility when flicking up and down and better spray control.

By holding your hand in an elevated position, you set up your fingertips directly above your LMB and RMB which allows for smooth aim control.

Predict counter strafing

If you're unfamiliar with counter strafing, it refers to tapping the opposite key of the direction you're headed at, which resets your recoil and instantly stops your movement.

An essential aspect of winning 1v1s is predicting your opponent's counter-strafing and swiftly reacting with your aim.

This requires quick reflexes and anticipation though as you need to closely observe your opponent's movements.

You can also directly counter this by pre-aiming the spot where you predict your opponent will move next.

Additionally, unless you're in an advantageous corner, a common method of countering this is to strafe with your opponent in the same direction while maintaining the crosshair aim at their head level.