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Here are some tips to help you to gain more information in games and aim better! These techniques may sound trivial but you need to understand them and practice them to actually get better.
Choosing a crosshair for Overwatch
Let’s talk about the very basics how you should aim. Before everything else, you need to choose a crosshair that fits your playstyle and aim. You can choose a crosshair into your settings and customize it for every hero. Or use the same for all of them. Our tip is to use a bright color that can be seen in any environment. Avoid using black n’ white. Just make sure that it’s visible and countable for you.
The recommended crosshair shape is either the dot or the small rectangle dot for most characters (short crosshairs). The goal is to have a crosshair that is not covering a lot of screen space and gives you the ability to aim precisely.
We recommend to keep the bloom of the reticle off as it will transform your crosshair when you’re shooting with some characters. We’re looking for consistency in every aspect of our aim, so let’s keep the crosshair the same. Also, some characters can benefit from using the default crosshair, because they are additional helpers on screen. Figure out what works for you and then stick to it.
A lot of players don’t think about how they are acquiring a target. You either focus on your crosshair and bring the target under it or on your environment and bring your crosshair to the focused point. There’s not really a huge difference in the result as you will still hit your target regardless.
Let’s examine the two types of target acquisition. Starting with focusing on the crosshair. This type of aiming is when your site is mostly on your crosshair and you navigate the game like that. New players tend to aim like this. It’s like when having your in a fixed position, not on a fixed point.
You can focus more on the point where you are fixing your eyes at, and less on everything else going on around you. It is easier to concentrate on aiming with this method as you don’t have to deal with extra information. It makes it easier to place your crosshair well.
However, due to the lack of information around you, this is not a recommended way to aim. If you’re moving around in a game like this, you’re missing a lot of intel about what exactly is happening around you. So let’s see the other type and you’ll understand why it’s the go-two way of aiming.
Focusing on your target rather than your crosshair gives you much more to work with. Your eye can wonder on the screen and when you acquire a target you bring crosshair over it essentially looking at the target through the crosshair. This not only gives you more information about your environment but by fixing your sight on the center you can ensure look at other parts of the screen. This way also helps you to memorize different distances on the screen. That’s allowing you to develop your muscle memory for small shots. This is how good players do their shots. Their hand knows exactly how much it needs to move to score a headshot from any position on the screen. So if you’re looking at how pro players track their target with their eyes, you’ll see that they are using this technique.
If you’ve been using the eye fixed on the crosshair technique, it’s time for you to change. It will take some time to get used to the new one, but the improvement will be noticeable after a few games.
Crosshair placement in Overwatch
It’s actually very simple. Keep your crosshair at head level at all times. By doing that, you’re making sure that you can hit the initial shots for the critical damage with DPS. It’s important to deliberately pay attention to this if you want to improve and make it a habit. Even when you’re just wondering around on the map, have your crosshair placed at a high level. Stop looking at the ground or high up in the sky. After a while, it will come naturally to place crosshair at a high level at all times, but until then you need to keep it in mind and adjust every time you catch yourself not doing it.
Predictive crosshair placement
This is the habit of not only keeping your crosshair at head level but at the exact place where you can expect the target to appear in the next seconds. You will need to know the map to be able to do this. It helps to know the common positions and paths enemies take.
As we are always checking the nearest visible space, it shouldn’t be an issue of missing anything or not getting to the target quick enough.
A special case with the aim prediction is when you’re waiting for an enemy to appear at some place. Place your vertical to a high level to a small distance of the spot you are expecting the enemy from. Always think of what the enemy wants to do and aim your crosshair accordingly.
Crosshair placement when moving and dodging
You are going to have to pay attention to several things at the same time. During a live game, you will need to move around a lot, dodge shots and different abilities. Therefore it’s necessary to learn how to compensate your aim.
You need to know how to keep the crosshair at the exact same spot while moving around. A real live example is trying to fix your eyes on a spot and keep moving around while keeping your gaze on that point continuously. This can also be done when you’re dodging. You’re doing short movement changes and you need to compensate sharply with a mouse to keep on the target or the spot you’re aiming at. Again, you’ll need practice, but it’s well worthy effort.
Practicing the mentioned techniques in Overwatch
If you really want to integrate all these techniques into your game, we recommend doing them at once. Changing a crosshair is a one-time thing, but the other need practice. This means that your next few games should be solely about practicing these concepts with a hero. Make sure to do it for a few days, and it will come naturally.
All in all, these are small changes to your gameplay. Make sure to pay attention to these and practice it a lot. You won’t notice it growing into a habit, but that’s what we want to achieve. You will surely see an improvement in accuracy and game awareness.
