Section 12.) Aim

So, as you probably know, the Ambassador is a weapon that needs aim and practice. You also should develop good aim with the other primary weapons.Now aim may all be about practicing, yes that is true, but you must also choose your ideal sensitivity, crosshair and sometimes, if it helps, you can choose your scripts and HUDs to help your aim. Another thing you can do is select a better and more comfortable mouse if you are not comfortable with your current mouse.Watsyurdeal, a well-known spy has many guides related to aim and sensitivity tweaking and he has granted me permission to place one of his guides here. (with a bit of removing unnecessary parts.)Spy Guide: Learning to AimBy WatsyurdealWhat is Aim?IntroductionHello there, if you're reading this it's likely you are a new or beginner player who wants to improve their aim, or you are an experienced or veteran player looking to perfect various aspects of your play. Whatever reason you are here, you came here to learn dammit, so let's get started.I. The Process of AimingAim is broken down into 4 equally important partsTwitchTwitch is quick flicking motions on your mouse used to respond to immediate threats or an urgent scenario where an accurate is shot is needed. Such example is if an enemy surprises you and you need to put out damage accurately and quickly to put him or her down.TrackingTracking is slow precise movement with your mouse, tracing the enemy in a sense to maintain accuracy. This is generally used if you're at a safe distance or have the luxury of time to ensure your crosshair lines up with your desired target.StrafeStrafe is two things, one, aiming head or chest or level and strafing into the enemy to land a hit, or mirroring their movement to make it easier to aim at targets who are in constant motion. Scouts for example use this heavily to land their meatshots, but it's not just Scouts, any class can find it useful, and it's an absolute necessity as players gets better and become more challenging to kill.PredictionPrediction is simply fore sight, an educated guess of where the target will be within a certain period of time. Useful not only for lining up your shots, but ambushing people as well for a stab or to get a quick shot on them before they have time to react.Each of these aspects are important for you to learn if you want your aim to be above average. So your next logical step is striving to improve these aspects through practice. Which brings me to the next chapter.II. Practice makes perfect, or at least close to itTo improve your aim, there's really no better training other than simply playing. But there is two separate ways to practice, offline and online, offline is good for general practice, but to really get better you will need online practice as it's testing your aim in real situations. Consider offline studying for the test, and online being the test itself.Offline practicetr_walkway - The basic map for improvement, regardless of class or weapon. Just spawn bots and try to aim at them, then after a few minutes, change their movement pattern, speed, class, whatever. The goal is to keep challenging yourself, don't practice the same thing over and over, keep changing it up and allow your abilities to adapt naturally.tr_aim_training - This map has two major purposes, the moving bullseye, and the muscle memory room. The bullseye is a constantly moving target which only registers a hit when you hit it dead center, and it's a test of all aspects of your aiming, strafe, prediction, twitch, and tracking. The muscle memory room is solely for improving twitch, it's designed to help you find the perfect sensitivity for your aiming style, and allow you to perfect it by giving you a safe environment to test it out in.Online practiceMGE - MGE is a deathmatch mod that puts two players against one another on various maps. It's not the absolute best way to practice, but it IS helpful. The classes that I'd recommend most are Scout and Soldier. Scout will vastly improve your strafe and tracking, while Soldier will improve twitch and prediction. Your goal is not necessarily to win in MGE, but to work and improve, to do a little better each time. The more you do it, the more improvements you will see in your aim. However, in TF2, you're rarely in 1v1 situations like you are in MGE, so the next form of practice is pubbing.Pubbing - Each class has its own uses for improving your aim, but the general idea is the same, you can off class to work on certain aspects without getting frustrated (like you would if you were playing Spy). The classes I recommend most for pubbing are Gunslinger Engineer (with a pistol for tracking practice), Shotgun Pyro, Rifle Sniper (excellent for prediction and tracking) and Scout (of course). By pubbing with these classes you'll still gain play time to help you improve, but since you aren't playing your main you won't develop bad habits or get frustrated because of poor play. Plus it's a nice refreshing break to clear your mind before going back to shaking people.Let's get right to how to handle combat.1. Pick your fights; don't let the enemy pick them for you.Use your cloak to get yourself into a good position, and use your gun to either finish someone off, or just outright kill them if a backstab isn't a smart option. As I said before, as a Spy you have the first shot advantage, meaning most of the time you will have the luxury of shooting first, this can win you a lot fights provided you're smart and have your gun out most of the time. You only need your knife out if you are certain of a backstab.If you're in a spot where you know you can't win a fight, run, don't keep trying, just run before the situation gets worse. Either use an illusion, or feign if you have Dead Ringer.2. Know your weaponThe Revolver is close range gun, Amby is a long range gun, and the L'etranger is an escape artist's gun. Keep in mind what the strengths of your gun are, don't purposefully try to fight in scenarios where your gun doesn't excel at. For example, don't try to get in a close range firefight with Scouts when using the Amby, and don't try to get in a firefight with a Heavy when using the Revolver. Just understand what your gun is good at and have your combat style evolve around it.3. Have your gun out instead of your knifeOnly have your knife out when you are certain of a stab, otherwise have your gun out so you can shoot any immediate threats or finish people off. Keep all this in mind and you generally should do just fine, now before I close this little guide out, let's talk about some common questions about sensitivity.IV. But Teacher!1. Should I change my sensitivity?Honestly, no. Here's the thing, sensitivity is all about preference, there is no right or wrong sensitivity. However, there are some things you can do perfect it if you feel you are having trouble.First of all, use this, it's a sensitivity calculator. It allows you to find the right sensitivity for whatever setup you are using. Next, go to Windows>Control Panel>Hardware and Sound>Mouse, turn off "enhance point precision" and be sure the pointer speed is 6/11. Another thing is to go to Control Panel>Ease of Access Center>Make the keyboard easier to use>Set Up Mouse Keys, turn acceleration all the way down, as well as top speed. You do not need either of these. And finally, go back to TF2, type m_rawinput "1" into the console. All of these things should result in a more responsive mouse.. - To be continued on the next section-