Crosshair Placement: The Key To Winning Gunfights
Crosshair placement is a huge deal when it comes down to improving your aim.
When it comes down to being consistent with headshots, crosshair placement is a must. Newer people (and often intermediate players) will tend to aim at the ground. This leads to having to readjust your crosshair every time you cross paths with an enemy or, even worse, shoot at the legs. This article will teach you how to get used to aiming at head height, peeking corners, and taking sites.
AIMING HEAD HEIGHT
The key to hitting headshots with ease is aiming at head height. This allows for you to only have to compensate horizontally rather than vertically to hit headshots. If you were to be in a 1v1 and you both have an AK, who would win? The person aiming at the head, or the person aiming at the waist or knees? To practice, start by playing deathmatch and aim at a teammate's head and try to keep your crosshair at that level. When you see someone you will realize that it is easier to compensate for only horizontal movement. At first it will feel very unnatural but, with time, your crosshair will automatically be at head level. The way I practiced this during competitive was to aim at my team's head during freeze time and keep my crosshair there. Another great way to practice crosshair placement is to play pistol Deathmatch. To do this simply hit "Play", "Browse Community Servers", and in the search bar type in "pistol" and choose one with low ping. When you join, practice aiming at the head and not looking at the ground. If you keep your aim at head level, it should become a habit within a few days orweeks. It might take a bit of getting used to, but it definitely improved my game.
PEEKING CORNERS
Another important part of crosshair placement is peeking corners. This is more advanced and should be learned while you are still practicing head height to make it a habit and give you the upper hand. When you peek corners, your crosshair should always be "glued" to the wall. This means that your crosshair should always be stuck to the wall. If you were to peek a corner to your left your crosshair should be right next to the edge of the wall. This allows for you to see your enemy and be already locked onto his head. This should usually guarantee that you have the upper hand. To better explain this, I will link a video that Liquid Adren made explaining having your crosshair glued to the wall.
TAKING SITES
When you take a site, you want to have your crosshair where you know people will usually play. Let's say you were to be taking B site on Cache. Players will tend to sit at Headshot Box, so your crosshair should be where the enemy would be when you peek that angle. You want your crosshair to be glued to the walls so if an enemy peeks you, you will land shots on him quicker. This goes for all sites in the game (for example, Car on Dust II, Spools on Inferno, etc). To become good at this, try playing retake servers. To play retake servers, you will browse community servers and in the search bar type in "retake". This will bring you into a regular casual match except for the fact that you only retake a site. When you play this, try your best to keep your crosshair head level and imagine where players will be at.
For example, when coming out of A-Ramp on Mirage, you should clear CT first or better yet smoke it off, then your crosshair should be at head level under Palace as players like to play that position. As for the retake server, it will train you to check those positions in an actual competitive match. This will greatly give you the upper hand in most situations. The other biggest part of taking a site on the Terrorist side is smoking off key positions. Smokes will block off the Counter-Terrorists from pushing site or getting an easy shot on you. Your team should always smoke off the most important positions. For example on Mirage, you should smoke off CT, Jungle, and Stairs, while others are optional. Your team should try to get the bomb down as quickly as possible to run down the time for the Counter-Terrorists. Molotovs can also be of great help when taking a site. For example, on Inferno, you would molly off New Box, Dark, and Spools. Although not necessary, molotovs will benefit your T side half.
OTHER TIPS AND TRICKS
Although crosshair placement is mostly reliant on aim, you will want a crosshair that suits you and you are comfortable with. Some players prefer a small gap while others may prefer a simple dot. To find a crosshair that fits you, download "Crashz' Crosshair Generator" on the Steam community workshop.
Another thing to practice is spray control. Although most people understand the basics of spray control, you should always memorize where your crosshair should lead. This is a key in winning gunfights. You may also want to experiment with left handed and right handed. To get a left-handed viewmodel just type in console "cl_righthand 0" and for right handed "cl_righthand 1" Although you may think this doesn't make a difference, I tend to do better with rifles with a left-handed viewmodel. The final tip is to practice your aim and find the correct sensitivity. Once you find your correct sensitivity, try to stick with it unless you decide to change it later on. Now that you have learned these tips, go ahead and practice and you will be more consistent with headshots. In conclusion, to become a better Counter-Strike player you should practice a few things, such as crosshair placement, retaking sites on CT side, taking site on a T side, and learning spray control. If you follow these tips and practice your aim, you will notice that you are slowly improving and becoming a better teammate.
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