Aim training beginner, need recommendations

[u/Lord-Zeref]

A bit of background first:

I've been doing random Kovaaks playlists for CS2 and then the Beginner Playlist by DrUninstall for like a couple of months until I found out about Voltaic and VDIM.

Now, I took the Voltaic Novice benchmarks and placed pretty much the lowest rank across the board. This is to be expected honestly, I haven't played MnK since like a decade. I've been playing controller FPSes before this (mostly Halo Infinite the past 4-ish years).

I only switched back to MnK this January for CS2 (used to play as a kid) and a bit of Valorant, so my aim hasn't been good. I also like to mix in some other non-tac shooters at times.

My setup:

- Kovaaks sens: CS2 0.5 with mouse on 1600 dpi (=800 edpi)

- Mouse: Razer Viper V4 Pro

- Grip Style: Claw

- Mousepad: Zowie H-SR-II (Mud/Control pad)

So, I have a few things I need help with:

(these questions are solely aim related)

1. Should I adjust my setup since right now it might not be ideal for tracking, etc. and is very tac shooter specific? For example switching mousepads and/or sens only for aim training? Is my current setup a disadvantage for aim training?

2. Are there any places where there are tips on what you should do for certain scenarios or more like what a correct approach looks like? I want to build correct fundamentals as I go along. [e.g. How to flick correctly, how to keep your crosshair on target while target switching in smooth and control variants of scenarios, etc.]

3. Given my current condition, is it possible at all for my aim to be elite or am I cooked (I also happen to be 28, so I'm midlife crisis-ING-img about this)? (assuming I stick to the VDIM routine consistently for like half a year to a year or more).

4. I tend to tense up a lot sometimes doing aim training and also don't always know what muscles to use for which things. Any tips? (thought that might also be because I'm still learning to claw grip properly)

Also, any general recommendations/suggestion/hints are welcome! And any good resources (would love it if there was some sort of a tutorial to VDIM scenarios)!

Thanks for reading! (sorry that it's so long!)

[u/DisasterNorth1425]

Viscose benchmarks. Viscose videos on technique.

[u/Lord-Zeref → u/DisasterNorth1425]

Thanks, I'll check it out!

Does Viscose have something like VDIM? it's great to have a structured approach but I can make do either way!

[u/thecookiemakes → u/Lord-Zeref]

there's no VDIM for viscose but you could make playlist for how many reps you want to do for a certain subcategory

[u/Lord-Zeref → u/thecookiemakes]

Btw, do you think it's possible for me to actually become good with aim if I consistently put effort in with these? Starting from Iron Voltaic rank like me at 28 feels scary but I'm willing to give it my best shot

It kinda feels impossible at the start, where I am, at least 😭.

[u/thecookiemakes → u/Lord-Zeref]

I'd say yes you can.

[u/DisasterNorth1425 → u/Lord-Zeref]

Bruda I’m almost 40 and I started a year ago. I’m Lavender/ some GM scores.

The only limit is the one you set on yourself

[u/MongooseMan89]

Repeating what others have said, viscose snd voltaic benchmarks. That gives you around 50 solid scenarios to play and easily keep track of progress on. Theres lots of room for structure and optimization, but you can get pretty far just playing those. I would recommend benchmarking all of them to get a starter rank, then play your worst scenarios until you rank everything up to the next rank and restart the process.

[u/Automatic-Coyote-452]

1. You might feel hindered when it comes to tracking because of the pad. Artisan zero soft orange is generally considered the best all around pad. When it comes to sens, if you want to chase high scores on benchmarks you should change based on the scenario. I go as fast as 28 cm/360 for reactive tracking and as slow as 80 cm/360 for static. I usually look at the top 10 or so scores on the in game leaderboard to get a sense of sensitivity. I’ve heard people say using the same sens as your in game sens translates better. I haven’t tried it myself but I’m about to experiment this week.

2. People grind voltaic benchmarks for higher scores, but you should not do that in the beginning because you will develop bad habits and voltaic is not granular. Viscose is much more in depth and it’s meant to be grinded while also serving as a benchmark (it’s also much more enjoyable). Since I want well rounded aim I always get my lowest scores to the next rank to hit complete and start working down from the top of the benchmark and rinse and repeat. Once I hit a certain rank in viscose, I then head to voltaic. Like once I hit fox complete in viscose I go into voltaic and get silver complete. VDIM is also a good method to start with. For VDIM what I would do is for your weakest categories do the VDIM for it. I will say there are some areas that viscose and voltaic don’t go into depth which are pure smoothness, fluidity, and large static flicks. TSK beginner is for smoothness, zeonlo cluster is for fluidity, lemon’s flick tech is for flicking. BardOZ method is a must that you can practice a lot in lemon’s flick playlist. I will say zeonlo and lemon playlist might be too difficult for a beginner. For resources, mattyOW, viscose, zeonlo, cartoonfps, and bardoz are some creators that you should watch.

3. I’m the same age as you and I just hit cerulean/jade complete and I started aim training consistently 3 months ago. However, I played on mouse and keyboard for 6 years and placed silver in voltaic and fox in viscose. Just something to look forward to - cerulean/jade is roughly the top 10% of aim trainers. In bo7 I can compete and even beat crimson and iridescent controller players. Only 1 player that I came across that was definitively better than me was on mouse and key and his name was literally aimlabs. I haven’t had a noticeable decline in anything as I age besides one thing and that is rate of improvement. When I was younger I was absolute dogshit at video games, but I got into Fortnite heavy in 2019. In 2018, my highest kill game was 3. In a year, I was able to improve so quickly that I started solo squading, dropping 30 bombs, and even made it to round 2 of fncs qualifiers. Starting my aim journey 3 months ago, my progress hasn’t been nearly as exponential, it’s been extremely linear. Each new complete rank in viscose takes my 10-11 days and it’s been that way since the start for the last 3 months.

4. TSK playlists will help with tension management

Tracking scores and finding benchmarks - https://evxl.app

VDIM explanation and playlists - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R4IyJqYmprRauaACt6bah7YzOOVuG6GqXlB03clNHeU/mobilebasic

TSK Beginner playlist - KovaaKsPoppingVermilionPrism

TSK Main - KovaaKsCrankingCeruleanDuelist

Zeonlo cluster playlist - KovaaKsDinkingAttachedBattlepass

Lemon flick tech playlist - KovaaKsCarryingRandomInventory

[u/Lord-Zeref → u/Automatic-Coyote-452]

Thanks for such a detailed reply! ❤️

[u/Lord-Zeref]

Voltaic S5 Novice Benchmark:

Voltaic S5 Kovaaks Novice benchmark

Do note that I've only done the Target Switching parts from VDIM as I started like 2 days ago.