Hey there everyone. Today as part of my efforts to enlighten the community and my first one for Team Dignitas, I will be bringing you an advanced guide that you can follow to enhance your aim and be more consistent in popping those heads in matchmaking.

Well before we start, the reason why I am starting with the advanced guide is because I presume many out there already know how to aim but are willing to take it to the next step. Since I believe you know the basics, I will be discussing the things you need to do to further enhance your aiming. But before we start, here are some definitions that surprisingly many get wrong and as a result don’t even know how to improve them.

Aim = Reflex + Accuracy + Reaction Time

Accuracy: How precise you are when you move your crosshair on someone. In CS:GO accuracy can be defined as shooting the head only, nothing less!

Reaction Time: How soon you react when someone appears before you. An average reaction time of pros is less than 200 milliseconds.

Reflex: Muscle Memory (degree of movement that your hand remembers or moves when someone appears to you or tries to take you off-guard) OR How much your hand remembers angles when you move your mouse from one point to another and from that point to another point.

Practicing on all these things together is rather difficult and will take you ages. It is best if you can practice on them separately. Consider it this way; aiming effortlessly thinking you will get better at aiming on deathmatch will get you nowhere. However, spending 15mins on each of these 3 will be like getting 500 frags because you will be stressing your muscles to get better at this.

So without further delay, let’s get our aim straight.

How to Practice

Accuracy: A good way to improve your accuracy is by playing the practice maps. Some good ones are mentioned a bit below.

Reflex: Play muscle memory maps. Try to aim on dots end to end. Try it in different angles and do it frequently. Also, another way of warming up before a match is to try muscle memory on default maps in which you are going to have a battle. For example, if you are on A short on dust2, try to move your mouse end to end from long to all the way to the short and then back again. Keep doing it on different angles.

Reaction Time: Something you will only improve with time and you have to stress yourself a lot to get better at this. A good example is getting players from Dust 2 mid double doors (open area) then trying to hit them through double door woods.

Good Aim Training Maps

There are probably a ton of maps that you can use to improve your aim. But what are the perfect maps to do that? So why not follow the professional players in this aspect as well. Among the popular aim training maps there are some that lie above the rest as they have been preferred by a lot of pros and you can actively seem them play these on live streams as well. It’s good if you already know about them however, if this is new stuff for you then consider your past trainings in vain.

Accuracy and Reflex Training: Fast Aim v3.1

Training: Bot Aim V5D

Reaction Time Training: Training_aim_csgo2 or everyone’s favorite aim400kg

There's a Thing Called Perfect Practice. Do That

You probably would be playing DM prior to entering matchmaking to get into the flow and warming up your muscles. However, what many players don’t understand is the true importance of DM and how much they can actually achieve through proper DM. Speaking of that, there is like a long list of things that you can improve through DM if you put your mind to it. While it may require a separate guide to show you the advantages of proper DM, here I will jot down some of the things that you should keep in mind next time you enter DM.

Defending

DM gives you all the opportunities in the world to practice almost anything that you need to improve you aim. Whether you are a dedicated AWPer or more of an entry fragger, you can scrim anything as much as you like.

Ever wanted to practice defending the B bombsite? You can do that in DM as well. Just walk in with your desired weapon and try to stay alive for as long as possible. The good thing about defending in DM is you would be using a lot of cover and focusing entirely on your aim to kill the enemies rather than relying on some flashy nades or spraying your way through a smoked tunnel.

Entry Fragging

So you want to be the entry fragger for the team, but don’t know how to improve? Crosshair placement is one of the most important things you should be perfect at if you want to be a good entry fragger., but how do you actually practice it? Same as before, you can improve a lot as an entry fragger through proper practice in DM. Now, instead of holding a site, try and run through routes that you would go as an entry fragger in matchmaking. Each and every time you try, you will find opponents in different places and different numbers making you aware of all the possibilities so that next time you won’t be an angle short of getting a kill and opening up a bombsite.

So How Much DM Do I Need?

The answer greatly depends on how quickly you want to improve. Considering the case of professionals, they generally do 2-3 hours of training every day which expands to 4-5 hours before tournaments. So you can basically compare how much efforts you are currently putting and what the pros do to maintain their aim consistency. This is still a lot to ask and hence I suggest that you put in at least an hour a day just to improve your aim (this does not include practice maps as described above). Don’t go into a Deathmatch with the “Spray and Pray” mentality nor thinking to be the highest fragger on the map. There is a very good quote regarding practice and it perfectly fits to CS as well.

If you are having fun doing it, you are doing it wrong (editor note: it's okay to enjoy practice!)



Practice isn’t meant to be fun and if you are enjoying it, then you aren’t practicing at all. Pro players stand in front of a wall practicing spray patterns for countless hours. This is how they improved and this is how they got to the point they are now. Adil "ScreaM" Benrlitom wasn’t born with a sick aim, it was his practice and efforts that turned him into a head hunting machine.

Decision Making

Now that we are through from training, there comes a much more difficult part known as decision making. A lot in CS:GO actually comes down to a single moment, that single fraction of a second where you decide if you need a tap, a burst or a spray to take out the enemy. Knowing when to tap and when not to is something that comes as second nature if you have been going through it a lot. Many players, in hopes of being better at aiming, tend to practice a lot of tapping and take the same mentality in match making as well. This bites back when you are trying to tap the enemy lurking near you with a Tec-9 showing you his moves like Jagger. We all have been there once and didn’t know what could be the perfect reaction. Similar is the case if you are left in a clutch 1v2 situation as a T with the bomb planted. As described earlier, if you tend to keep putting yourself in similar situations every day then you won’t have to think about that aiming aspect in matchmaking.

Sticking to the Plan

The road to getting better in CS:GO is straight. However, this road is quite lengthy and many give up half way through. There are a lot of aspects that one has to keep in mind to improve, but the problem lies in not knowing them. Take one step at a time and improve one part of your aim before hopping on to the next one. New players who think they are good tend to take all trainings together which ends up giving them nothing but frustration. If you are making up your mind to be good at defending then after your initial run in aim improvement maps, put as much time as you can in defending bombsites as described above. Same goes for lurking and entry fraggers. Don’t hop in a DM wishing to be good at everything. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund. Make targets, keep them in mind and, as per the tips described above, work on them one by one.

Conclusion

I hope the guide would be helpful in improving your aim and more importantly will make you a better performer in competitive matchmaking. Provide your feedback on the article and any suggestions that you would want me to add in the upcoming guides.

Get your own AKRacing Chair here and support our players, all profit goes towards the teams!