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How to Aim in CS2 | How to Get Better at Aiming

If you are wondering how to improve your aim in CS2, then you have come to just the right place. Take note that it can take years for a regular CS2 player to improve his or her aim. However, we can offer you five quick tips that will ultimately improve your game. Stay tuned to this tutorial, and your aim will be better in no time.

Pay Maximum Attention to Crosshair Settings & Sensitivity

Your CS2 crosshair is probably the most important thing when it comes to aiming. This means that you need to create your own custom crosshair that suits you the best. Don’t just copy a crosshair from some pro player because that might not work for you. We recommend using the static version of the crosshair instead of the dynamic one because it is better and more reliable in so many ways. To keep this short, more than 95% of pro players use the static crosshair, and they know why.

Unfortunately, we can’t give you any more tips like size or color because the rest is up to your own preferences. Every crosshair needs to be a perfect setting for the individual who is using it. Therefore you will need to adjust your own CS crosshair settings. If you don’t know where to start, you can borrow a crosshair from a professional and adapt it a little to suit your own style. Just download Crosshair Generator v3, a custom map with lots of different crosshairs and adjustment tools.

Be warned; the sensitivity requires its own tutorial. But you can make a good start if you keep in mind one simple rule: “the lower the sensitivity, the higher the precision. However, if you go too low, you won’t be able to do anything. Watch the guide below, which will help you determine the perfect sensitivity for your mouse and mousepad.

Find a Perfect Crosshair Placement

After you have successfully created your personalized crosshair, it is time to learn how to use it properly. Every new player who has never played a FPS game before makes the same mistake. They tend to wander around and explore the map with their crosshairs aiming at the floor or in the sky.

Tip: your crosshair must always be set at the headshot level. This will minimize your reaction time, and you will be much more likely to hit a headshot. So, find the headshot level and do not move your crosshair up and down. Just drag it to the left and right. Of course, you will sometimes have to move it a little bit up or down if the headshot level changes due to the map terrain. That’s why it would be good to study all the best CS maps and learn the headshot level on all locations across the maps.

In addition to that, make sure to pre-aim all the typical spots on those maps to minimize your reaction time. You can also pre-fire some common areas, but only if you are confident that the enemy is there.

If you want to improve your overall gameplay as well, make sure to check out CS tips for beginners.

Improve Shooting Techniques

CS2 is a unique game that has three different shooting techniques. You can either tap, burst, or spray. And yes, you should master all three of them because they are used in different situations, and knowing only one will hold you back.

Tapping

Tapping is the most uncomplicated technique to master as it requires you to fire only one bullet at a time. So, aim at the head and shoot one shot. If you miss, shoot another one, simple as that. Keep in mind that you should only use this technique in medium and long-range fights. It won’t do you any good in close-range fights because there are more efficient techniques to use. The main benefits of using this technique are high mobility, low ammo usage and rarer weapon reloads.

Bursting

This shooting technique is used in mid-range fights. It is something between tapping and spraying. You should fire 3-4 bullets at a time and repeat the process until the enemy is down. Bursting is relatively easy to control because within the first few bullets the recoil is minimal, almost close to none. Therefore, you will maintain precision as long as you don’t fire more than five bullets in one spray burst.

Spraying

Spraying is probably the most challenging shooting technique to master in CS2. However, you can’t fight in short-range battles without this technique. It is also helpful in situations where you have to fight multiple enemies at the same time. This game has a different spray pattern for every weapon, and you will have to learn them separately for all the weapons you are using. It is not easy, and it would be best if you start by learning to control the first ten bullets with each weapon. The recoil for the first ten bullets is similar for all guns in this game, and you just have to move your mouse down. After mastering that, you can start practicing the pattern of the following five bullets and so on.

Aim Training

No one is born with such a talent to be perfect at this game on the first try. Even professionals have to train every day to maintain their consistency. If you are wondering how to get better at aiming, practice is the answer. You will need to implement some kind of CS2 aim training into your daily routine. There are many community-made maps just for that. You can either download some of these training maps where you can practice against bots or just join the community headshot-only Deathmatch server to train with real players. You can’t make a mistake; whatever you do, your aim will undoubtedly improve after practice.

Keep in mind that only playing competitive will improve your game-sense, but your aim won’t improve as much because you can’t train in a competitive mode.

To save your time, here are the best maps to practice shooting techniques in CS2:

Fast Aim / Reflex Training

The best community-made map to train tapping. This map will spawn an infinite amount of bots for you to practice on. The bots will just run at you with a knife in their hand, and they can’t kill you as you are separated from them. It truly is the perfect map to train your taps. On top of that, you can choose all the weapons from both teams and even train flick shoots with the AWP.

Recoil Master - Spray Training

The map you should definitely try out is “Recoil Master”. This map allows you to study recoil patterns and train sprays with every weapon. Just start with AK-47 spray; once you learn that, you won’t have problems with any other weapons.

Training_aim_csgo2

Probably the best map to train your reflexes on. It is not easy, and it will take a lot of time to improve your reaction time. Basically, you need to embed certain moves into your muscle memory, so it comes naturally. The fastest way to do so is by training on a community map training_aim_csgo2 created back in 2014. This map allows you to try different weapons from varying distances, and it will constantly spawn a red dot within your viewpoint for you to shoot. You can measure the time for each try to see your improvement.

You can find out more about the best aim training maps in CS2 on DMarket.

Know Your Weapons

You should familiarize yourself with every CS2 weapon available. Why is that? Well, different kinds of weapons have different advantages and disadvantages. For example, you need to stand still while firing a rifle to maintain precision. If you are running and firing with the rifle simultaneously, you will miss every bullet. On the other hand, weapons like SMGs and pistols can be used while running, and your precision will still be decent enough to hit the target. Like we’ve already mentioned, every weapon has a different spray pattern, so you will have to choose your favorite weapons and learn the patterns.

csgo skin

Good Choice for Beginners

The best choice for beginners are SMGs and Shotguns. They are relatively easy to control, and you can shoot while running without any significant problems. The downside of these weapons is the relatively small damage they inflict. SMGs are only good against unarmed opponents that have no kevlar and helmet. It is the perfect weapon for anti-eco rounds. When it comes to Shotguns, they inflict a heavy amount of damage in close fights but are completely useless if the opponent is more than 5 meters away.

The Most Effective Weapon

The most effective weapons in this game are the primary ones used by professionals, AWP, M4A4 or M4A1-S, and AK-47. AWP has no recoil, but you can’t move while shooting. You need to stand still, and your bullet will go exactly where you aim. It is quite expensive, but this one-shot-kill weapon is very useful for defending sites and so-called “long” entrances. AK-47 and both M4’s are the first weapons you should master because you will use them the most. They are indeed the holy grail of this game.

The Most Difficult to Aim

When something is hard to learn, it does not necessarily mean it is the best. At least, it is the case in Counter-Strike. Negev and M249 are, without any doubt, the most complicated weapons to master, and it’s just not worth it in some cases. Usually, CS2 players use them to suppress opponents and prevent them from rushing to some areas. We recommend you avoid using these weapons in any competitive gameplay.


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Eugene Bozhenko image
Eugene Bozhenko
Eugene Bozhenko is an enthusiastic gamer and professional gaming journalist with 14 years of writing experience. Since 2007 he has been a member of the Ukrainian National Union of Journalists. Eugene has experience writing about culture, sports, modern technology and politics but gaming remains his long-term favorite topic.
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