How to improve tracking aim?
What is tracking aim?
Tracking aim is the skill that you need to effectively trace and follow the silhouette of a moving enemy with your crosshair. If you ignore all of the art, animations and effects this is a good description of the actual action being performed. For instance, an enemy can A-D strafe back and forth moving or running in a straight line, or jump up and down, or fall from higher ground to lower ground with a parabolic movement through the air.
All these movements are actually more predictable and simpler that you might think. The key benefit from practicing tracking is to acquire the ability to match your crosshair speed to the speed at which your enemy is moving on screen. This means having controlled speed of your tracking which should be smooth and without any jerky movements. Tracking practice will fix jittery and shaky aim in all competitive FPS games - for example, it is a crucial part of the Apex aim training!
How to train tracking aim?
In tracking you have four subskills: precision, smoothness, speed and reactivity. Try unlocking each subskill in the order they’re in. Every subskill in tracking is more about the behavior of the targets, how they move and dodge in particular.
In the tracking subskill we introduce a new mechanic:
- To zoom or not to zoom:
Once you bump into the target ADS shield you will immediately recognize it. The target lights up and is immune to damage until you are in the right view (hip, ads). This means there are a few exercises where learning to swap between them whilst tracking is the goal.
Tracking Precision
PrecisionPrecision tracking is about easy to learn target behavior and slowly ramping up their speed. In essence, it’s all about slowly making targets more difficult to track whilst maintaining your precision.
Noticeable Verified levels
1. Precision Basic Level 2
1Cap Small ADS – Mid Long D. - Circle is the first level where the ADS shield gets introduced. Every level in tracking and target switching that includes ADS in its name has this feature.
2. Precision Intermediate Level 3
1T Small – Vert. Close Long D. 125% is type of level specifically designed to teach you vertical tracking. A skill that is hard to master and not useful for all games, but when it comes handy o boy will this exercise help you out.
Tracking Smoothness
SmoothnessNoticeable Tracking Smoothness levels:
In smoothness all the exercises are designed to teach you how to keep your aim steady and concise whilst tracking a target. This subskill is mandatory if you want to be become good at tracking.
1. Smoothness Basic Level 1
1Cap Micro – Cont. Pattern – Plan is the perfect level to give as an example of what smoothness is about. The target has a really predictable pattern with no variation in speed. All you have to focus on here is making sure your crosshair tracks as stable as possible back and forth.
2. Smoothness Basic Level 9
1T Micro – Jet Slow Long D. – Sphere is the final level of smoothness and by this time you should be good at smoothly tracking a small target that is unpredictable in its movement. Vertical and horizontal smooth tracking + reaction speed and aim correction is the game here.
Tracking Speed
SpeedNoticeable Tracking Speed Levels
Speed tracking is more about learning how to track fast moving, short dodging targets. In other words it’s about being as accurate as possible on more close range, fast dodging targets. This enemy behavior gradually becomes more unpredictable as you progress through the exercises.
1. Speed Intermediate Level 5
1Cap ADS – Mix Mix D. – M-Layer – Caps is a level that will train how fast you can track and destroy targets that dodge fast, but predictable. This all on constantly different angles and elevation. ADS in the title again means you will have to swap between zooming and not zooming.
2. Speed Advanced Level 8
1T – Jet Mix D. 125% - Wall is a great benchmark to test how good your speed tracking is once you’ve put in some training time already. It tests everything you to know on how to master this subskill. The target flies fast, unpredictable and in all directions.
Tracking Reactivity
ReactivityReactivity, as the name suggests, is about training your reaction on unpredictable, fast-dodging targets.
Noticeable Tracking Reactivity Levels
You will notice straight from the get-go that targets have very fast acceleration compared to the targets from other subskills. This means you’ll have to react even faster to stay on target and maintain your tracking accurate.
1. Reactivity Intermediate Level 1
1Bot – Close Short D. – Box 180 is the bread and butter of reactivity training. A single target in close range, jumping, dodging constantly. This level in itself is a great stepping stone for everything to come and mastering it will already show immediate benefit in your upcoming matches.
2. Reactivity Intermediate Level 8
1Bot ADS – Varied Mix D. – M-layers is an exercise where all the different parts of tracking come together for reactivity training. Just like the previous exercise the target is jumping and dodging, but instead here it switches between short and long dodges and the ADS shield pops up randomly. If you can keep your crosshair on target here you’re becoming exceptionally good at tracking.
In what games do you need good tracking aim the most?
Tracking aim training is good for your aim in every game with high time-to-kill enemies, like Apex Legends, Fortnite, Overwatch 2, Quake to name a few. Those are games where you need to shoot at the enemies for a prolonged period of time before you kill them. Normally they are not just going to stand still so you can shoot them. This is where tracking their movement while shooting becomes important.
