MeinMMO editor Dariusz Müller is an extremely ambitious shooter player. To improve, he played an aim trainer for over 100 hours in 2023 and trained for 50 consecutive days. But does that really help to become better at shooters?
One of the most important characteristics that players need to be good at shooters is aim – that is, the ability to aim precisely at the opponent with your crosshair. While there are other important aspects, such as crosshair placement, movement, or positioning, good aim is often the key to success.
I am a pretty ambitious player with a healthy sportsmanship and enjoy competitive shooters a lot. I am motivated to compete with other players. I always have the drive to win and want to keep getting better.
But in the past few months, various opponents have shown me the limits of my skill, my aim – especially in Valorant, the shooter I want to play in the coming years. So I decided to start Aimlabs again and train – this time with a precise plan and a somewhat fixed routine. I had already played a few hours some time ago, but without really knowing what I was doing. Now the goal is clear: I want to get better, and for that, I will shoot for hours at blue balls, if necessary.
After over 100 hours in Aimlabs, I can say: Yes, aim trainers definitely bring some improvement. I want to explain to you how I came to this conclusion.
The first rounds show initial successes
In the first rounds of Aimlab, I immediately noticed that I am currently not in shape – if that’s how you can describe it. I was slow and precision also left a lot to be desired.
I therefore started with simple exercises like the “grid shot” and the “spider shot”. Both exercises are available in a special “precision” variant, which I played because I wanted to improve my precision in particular. For that, I had to train my muscle memory, so the correct execution of the exercises was my top priority.
I aimed slowly at the blue balls and ensured that I hit as many shots as possible. I deliberately ignored the score I achieved. I didn’t want to develop bad habits in my aim routine by playing quickly and hastily for high scores.
I knew that my results would therefore be below my old values, in which I tried to achieve as many points as possible and accepted reductions in precision. But that didn’t matter.
After just a few hours, I noticed that my method was indeed successful. It became much easier for me to hit the blue balls. Not that it was difficult before, but the movement towards the ball became simply smoother through the training.
This in turn led to me becoming faster again and soon already reaching my old high scores – this time, however, with noticeably better precision. Even now, I could already see a slight improvement in shooters like Valorant, but I was still far from my goal.
I chose an exercise called Sixshot, where the targets to hit are significantly smaller. I now spent most of my Aimlab time there and varied only occasionally with similar exercises.
The perfect exercise to perfect precision
Sixshot proved to be the perfect method for me to increase my precision. Since the targets were truly very small, even a tiny inaccuracy made a difference. It was important that I took my time to aim precisely at the target.
Especially my ability to flick at small targets improved significantly through Sixshot. Again, I could see particularly in Valorant that I was consistently hitting my opponents’ heads. If I had previously occasionally shot 1-2 millimeters beside the head and therefore lost a gunfight, my shots now hit the target.
The routine helped me get used to “proper” aiming
In addition to Sixshot, I played a lot of the exercises “VCT LATAM – Kingg” and “Static Click”. The balls to shoot there were noticeably larger than in Sixshot, but the balls were also further apart and distributed over a larger area on the monitor. I was therefore forced to use my arm more when aiming than I had done before.
By using my arm more, my aim improved significantly. Additionally, I finally managed to truly get used to aiming with my whole arm. However, I noticed not only that I became more precise, but also that my sensitivity was too high. Shortly afterwards, a process began in which I repeatedly lowered my sensitivity in small increments. The better I became at aiming with my whole arm, the lower my sensitivity had to be.
After a few days, I reached a point where I didn’t need to reduce my sensitivity any further and could once again focus on perfecting my aim with the new sensitivity.
Competitions with friends demanded me to get even better
After about 30 days, I was sure that I wouldn’t make any major leaps anymore. I wasn’t stagnating, but my improvement was significantly less than in the first week.
Now it was a matter of sticking to the blue ball and continuing to practice consistently. This was much easier for me since some friends were also playing Aimlabs and we tried to outperform each other.
The competition with my friends and the desire to rise in the leaderboards provided the perfect motivation not to let my training slip. It was always necessary for me to give my best – I couldn’t be worse than my teammates.
An increase in all shooters
Of course, I also played other shooters during this entire time. I noticed that I hit my opponents better in every single game. My aim has simply become much more consistent through the training.
In Overwatch, it was easier for me to hit also agile heroes like Tracer or Lúcio. In Rainbow Six: Siege, the Ash mains were no longer safe from me, and in fast shooters like CoD: MW3 or The Finals, my shots now hit their target more frequently.
However, I noticed the biggest difference in CS2 and Valorant. Especially at greater distances, where the heads of my opponents looked terribly small, I no longer shot past by a millimeter without realizing it. I was now the necessary little bit better to win more gunfights.
By the way, I still play Aimlabs, even if sometimes it’s only 5-10 minutes a day. Before I go into a proper shooter, I stick to my routine. Nevertheless, I currently spend most of my time in The Finals. Because for me, that is the best shooter of the year:
The Finals is the best shooter of the year 2023, because it is a game that is simply fun
