---
title: 'An Updated Aim Guide for 2026'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=mbOF_85YdEM'
video_id: 'mbOF_85YdEM'
date: 2026-08-03
duration_sec: 836
---

# An Updated Aim Guide for 2026

> Source: [An Updated Aim Guide for 2026](https://youtube.com/watch?v=mbOF_85YdEM)

## Summary

This video provides a comprehensive guide to improving aim in Valorant, structured around four fundamental pillars: precise flicking, crosshair placement, dead zoning, and moving while aiming. It includes specific drills, coaching tips, and advanced mechanics like spray control and transfers, aimed at helping players top frag in 2026.

### Key Points

- **Four Pillars of Aim** [00:02] — The video introduces four fundamental pillars for aim: precise flicking, shooting, synchronizing aim with movement, and additional mechanics like spray control. Each pillar is covered in detail.
- **Flicking Basics** [00:44] — Flicking is simple but difficult to do consistently on moving targets. The key is the initial flick followed by micro-corrections to ensure the shot lands. Many players skip micro-adjustments, leading to misses.
- **Flicking Drill Level 0** [01:24] — Coach Cell demonstrates a drill: stand near practice bots, focus on two bots, flick to the second with a single continuous movement, micro-adjust, and shoot. Repeat to build consistency.
- **Flicking Levels 1-3** [02:06] — Use easy, medium, and hard bots with a Vandal. Level 1: easy bots, aim for 30/30. Level 2: medium bots, aim for 25/30. Level 3: hard bots, aim for 20/30. Focus on horizontal movement and micro-adjustments.
- **Deathmatch for Realistic Flicking** [02:46] — Deathmatches are essential for practicing flicking on moving enemies. They force you to adjust to enemy movement, which is the most valuable aim skill in Valorant.
- **Second Pillar: Crosshair Placement** [03:54] — Crosshair placement is pre-aiming at head level where enemies are likely to appear. Good placement reduces mouse movement, leading to faster reactions and more headshots.
- **Training Crosshair Placement** [04:21] — If you aim at the ground, use a timer that beeps every 15 seconds to remind you to keep crosshair at head level. This is a fast way to fix bad habits.
- **Three Key Aspects of Crosshair Placement** [05:16] — 1. Watch pros like Yay to see how they clear sights. 2. Copy their pre-aiming (placing crosshair inside walls before peeking). 3. Train tracking by running around the range with different weapons.
- **Advanced Crosshair Placement** [06:21] — Adjust for terrain features and elevations. For example, on Sunset, adjust aim for back site. Learn map-specific head levels through trial and error.
- **Third Pillar: Dead Zoning** [06:48] — Valorant requires you to be stationary to shoot accurately. Dead zoning involves mastering movement stops and direction changes to shoot accurately while moving.
- **Dead Zoning Drill** [07:30] — In the range, move left, stop, shoot, and repeat. Use the error graph to ensure you only see orange bars (meaning you're shooting when still).
- **Counter-Strafe Technique** [07:58] — You don't need to fully stop; your velocity hits zero when changing directions. Tap the opposite key to momentarily have zero velocity and shoot accurately. This is advanced but effective.
- **Dead Zoning Levels** [08:25] — Level 1: move laterally without moving mouse, shoot when stopped. Level 2: half the distance. Level 3: half of that. Level 4: track a target while strafing. Avoid tiny strafes; build up speed before changing direction.
- **Fourth Pillar: Moving While Aiming** [09:05] — This pillar focuses on adjusting your aim while staying mobile, minimizing time as a stationary target. Prioritize movement and aim, only stop when crosshair is close to the target.
- **Training Moving and Aiming** [09:59] — In deathmatch, practice staying mobile longer before shooting. Use positioning to isolate fights, like using the central box on Sunset Mid to reposition based on audio cues.
- **Advanced Mechanics** [10:23] — Once pillars are mastered, learn spray control, spray transfers, and gun mechanics. Riot changed recoil patterns in 2026, making first 10 bullets easier to control.
- **Spray Control and Transfers** [11:01] — Train spray control on the range target at 20 meters with Vandal/Phantom. Spray transfers involve smoothly transitioning spray between targets without resetting, useful in clutches.
- **Gun Mechanics** [11:26] — Different guns have different reset times. Spamming with pistols can be inconsistent; rifles require discipline to stop before shooting. SMGs are effective for running and gunning at close range.
- **Focus on Weaknesses** [12:52] — Training all aspects at once is ineffective. Focus on your weak areas with specific drills to see incredible improvement.

### Conclusion

Mastering the four pillars of aim—flicking, crosshair placement, dead zoning, and moving while aiming—along with advanced mechanics like spray control, will significantly improve your Valorant performance. Consistent practice with targeted drills is key to ranking up.

## Transcript

four fundamental pillars that every player's [music] must. Precise flicking, shooting, and synchronizing your aim with your movement. Each aspect deserves its own video, but I'll compress all the information you need into this one
pillars, there are additional mechanics such as spray control and spray great ones. I've coached thousands of players in their aim, and I've hit video, I'll teach you how to improve your aim so you can top frag your games
in 2026. Also, for 2026, I want you guys to get to know the amazing coaches working with me inside my coaching program. So, in this video, Coach Cell aim. Now, let's start off with the first pillar, precise flicking. Flicking
complicated. It's just difficult to flick consistently on real moving enemies in game. But how do we actually flick accurately to our targets? The first step is the initial flick, where you quickly move your crosshair from the
[music] enemy pops up. And the second, often overlooked step is the micro corrections to ensure your shot actually lands on the target. Many players can flick quickly, but they miss because they skip the micro adjustment step or
they are too [music] slow at micro adjusting. So, Coach Cell will show you exactly how to train your precise flicking in Valerant. Hi guys, Coach First, let's take our classic, go past the box, and stand a couple feet away
from the normal practice bots. Then, we want to focus on two bots at a time, and though it won't die with one hit. After our first head shot, click to the second bot quickly with a single continuous movement. Stop as close to the target's
micro adjust your crosshair before shooting one bullet. Now, flick back to [music] the first spot and micro adjust on his head to finish up the second bot your time to micro adjust. During this simple drill, we want to make sure we're
possible. That's how you develop consistent and reliable flicks. Now, this was level zero. To speed it up, we need a time constraint. And luckily, we have easy, medium, and hard bots to help us get faster. Pick a Vandal and start
with easy bots for level one. Click to the bot spawning as fast as you can and make sure your crosshair movement stays as horizontal as possible. Then micro adjust, tap the bot, and keep going with [music] the other 29 bots. When you hit
on to level two, medium bots. The practice stays the same. Click, stop, micro adjust, and so on until you're able to hit 25 out of 30. Level three, this will be much more difficult. You should try to aim for 20 out of 30 hard
bots here. You'll really need to speed things up. And don't get me wrong, technique isn't easy. But even if we reach that level, we're still aiming at stationary targets. This is not that realistic in a regular game. For that
reason, it's time to move to death matches. In DMs, you'll almost always adjusted [music] on the enemy's head. But this time, you have to take into enemies. DMs are where you will likely die often, but they force you to
and place your crosshair where they are actually moving. We don't really have a way to replicate enemy movement accurately outside of death matches and effort, but this is likely the most valuable aim skill in all of Valerant.
already pretty good, but you're still stuck in the lower ranks, my team of gradient and BCT coaches can give you feedback inside our premium 10week immortal road map program. Our average student gains 500 RR in just 10 weeks.
our students have to say about us. We offer 100 plus hours of personalized coaching with one-on- ones, hands-on mechanical drills, and coach facilitated scrims. We're so confident in our coaching that if you don't rank up 500
RR in 10 weeks, we'll give you a full refund. So, use the link down below in the description to book a free call with me or one of our coaches where we'll go goals and see if we'd be a good fit. Now, spending time in death matches and
thing you can do for your aim and val. mechanic. And let's move on to the second pillar, crosser placement. crosser placement a million times already. Simply put, it's the practice
and pre- aimed at positions where enemies are likely to appear. Good flicking and mouse movements required, which means faster reaction times and more headsh shot. Even if you think your cross placement is good, [music] trust
Training your cross placement definitely depends on your skill level, if your cross placement really sucks, you're probably often aiming at the ground the case, open up this YouTube video here while you play a couple of death
matches. It's simply a timer that goes off every 15 seconds. You'll hate it, crosshair at head level. I know it's a bit harsh, but I think it's the fastest the ground. But that's just the bare bones basic. What makes crosser
requires constant adjustment as you move your crosshair at head level compared to the [music] ground. You need to adjust it based on corners, elevation changes, and likely enemy positions. This is
also fail. They maintain good crosshair placement in straight corridors, but miss the necessary adjustments when navigating complex spaces. So, to fix Valerant, Coach Cell will show you three key aspects you need to focus on. First,
you got to watch how pros clear sights. It will help you see where they usually hold and clear. Yay is a great example of someone who's still the goat at crosshair placement. So, I would try to watch him to learn how to place your
crosshair like a robot. You should try copying Yay's crosshair placement in DMs or even in custom games as you review his gameplay. You'll notice he pre- aims a lot before peeking, which means he places the crosshair inside the wall
before peeking [music] out, ensuring it will land exactly at head level when peaked out without him needing to adjust his mouse in the first place. Third, you need to train your tracking. Tracking is a skill you're using when you're usually
angles. You're placing your crosshair on one angle, trying to track that spot, crosshair going all over the place. the train tracking. Go into the range and running around it with different weapons. This will help you mechanically
when scaling and clearing angles, and it will help improve your stability with your crosshair placement. Now, the final level of crosshair placement is terrain features different kinds of elevations, and the maps are never one
to one. For example, if you're pushing aside on sunset, you'll need to adjust aim back sight. And yeah, boxes around the map help you see where head level thinking about map indicators all the time. They learn to fix their crosser
through trial and error across every map. Now, if you followed the first two good. Flicks and crosser placement are part of aiming already, but if you're just standing still and aiming, you're
Valerant's core shooting mechanic is built on a simple rule. You must be stationary to shoot accurately. But that doesn't mean that you can't move and be elusive. So, for that reason, this third pillar focuses on mastering dead zoning,
direction changes. The key concept here is understanding your character's gradually increases [music] from, let's say, 0 to 100 over about one or two trying to change directions in movement, it goes from 100 to zero pretty quickly
after releasing the key. So shooting exactly when we've entirely stopped and be the [music] key here. Training the base level in this case is fairly simple. Go into the range, pick up the vandal, and move closer to the center
the pillar and move left before stopping completely and shooting. After that, sure you're not shooting more than two to three bullets at a time. To check if you're actually shooting only when standing still, activate your air graph
you're only seeing orange bars in the graph. And you can speed up the stopping shots and movement correctly. But make sure you're only seeing orange bars. But what if I told you that I lied earlier? You don't actually need to stop for a
think about it, your shots are accurate when your velocity goes to zero. And your velocity goes to zero when you're changing from one direction of movement to the opposite. So if you're moving left with your A key and tap and move
right by pressing D, your velocity will be zero at some point. So shooting one your shot will be accurate. This can be really hard for beginners, but don't train this from level one all the way to level four. Go into this section of the
distance. These will be your reference points. For level one, you'll need to move laterally without moving your mouse or crosshair and only shooting when able to do that consistently and accurately, you can do it in half the
distance for level two, then half the distance of that for level three, and this drill on the pillar while tracking and keeping your crosshair [music] at critical mistake you might be making here. Newer players do tiny strafes that
don't build up enough speed, which means they're easier to hit. So, when you're reaching your top velocity before you change direction to shoot. This not only makes you harder to hit, but also trains your muscle memory for realistic in-game
taught you to shoot in between your movement changes, Coach Cell will show us how Pillar 4 is about what happens between those shots, specifically how to adjust your aim while staying mobile. Valerant rewards players who can
placement and preparing for their next engagement. This is especially critical when you're caught in an unexpected fight or need to engage multiple enemies. The theory here is about minimizing your time as a stationary
peeking into an unfavorable position, many players panic, stop, and attempt to easy kill. Instead, you should prioritize continued movement while crosshair toward the threat. Only commit to stopping and shooting once your
crosshair is close to the target. So, how do you train moving and aiming at the same time? Once again, deathmatch is the perfect environment for skills like this because it constantly puts you in chaotic angle fights. When you spawn in
stopping and shooting at the first enemy you see, practice staying mobile longer. the threat, only stop once you've properly aimed. In this context, you can
also practice isolating fights through positioning and movement. Example, on Sunset Mid, use the central box to navigate around it based on audio and visual cue. This teaches you to adjust your aim while repositioning. A skill
situations and sight holds where enemies try to overwhelm you with numbers. That leads us to the final bit. Once you've mastered the four pillars, advanced mechanics become essential. These include spray control, spray transfers,
general gun mechanics, and knowing when to tap, burst, or spray to make your aim well-rounded. Let's go over each advanced aim mechanic quickly. Spray recoil pattern and compensating for it during extended fights. It's worth
training in 2026 because Riot changed recoil patterns, making them a little bit easier to control now for those first 10 or so bullets. I would train spray control using the target in the range at 20 or so meters, focusing on
the main guns you would use in the game, like the Vandal Phantom. However, don't opportunity where you can practice more than just those two weapons, feel free. The next concept, spray transfers are about smoothly transitioning your spray
from one target to another without resetting. This helps a lot in clutch situations and looks really cool when you get it down. The primary way you have to train this valant is by practicing on standing or moving
easiest skill to train, but it can be very useful and pretty cool to pull off in game. Gun mechanics require an entire video on its own. You can check out Compcky's video about one tip for every gun or watch his 46inute video where he
VOR. But if you're not going to watch those videos, I'll give you a TLDDR. more for the gun to reset, so spamming shots with guns like the classic Ghost or the Sheriff can be inconsistent. However, there will be times if you're
close enough in range where running and gunning can apply. Speaking of running and gunning, SMGs are extremely effective at close range when doing this concept. So, don't feel limited by holding an angle with a Spectre or a
stinger. And unlike the SMGs, our rifles like the Phantom, the Vandal, and the Guardian require much more discipline to make sure you stop before you shoot. A key part of these primary rifles is the difference in when you need to tap and
spray and/or burst at these different distances. With sniper rifles, it's a going to shoot at the body for the kill. However, there are some instances where with weapons like the Marshall or the Outlaw because of what the enemy buy
not going to be able to kill them one hit in the body. However, if you want to understand what that means. So, look at the damage for these weapons to see how much impact that's going to have versus going for the head shot. Finally,
training all aspects of your aim at the same time is not the most effective crosshair placement or your micro adjustments. Focus on what you're weak at with the drills both Compi and I have
incredible improvement. Thank you guys for watching the video to this point. I just want to reintroduce myself. I am a coach at IRP for sure. I've hit Radiant multiple times over 700R in the Radiant. I am also a coach at Cumberland
University for the Valorant team and I was a player in the fall. I love IRP and everything it's done for me, everything I've been able to do for my students at IRP and for my students at Cumberland University. It's really put me in a
position that I can only dream of. So, I can't thank Keki enough for featuring me on the channel and letting me coach for as long as I have. I've almost coached upwards of a thousand students over my three years of coaching. So, leave a
favorite part was, and if you learned something new today as well. Thank you guys for watching. We'll see you next time.