Practice routine and warm-up

Playing matches is the most complete way to improve, but also the slowest for aim: in a match you take maybe thirty real duels, each one different. In ten minutes of focused practice you take hundreds, all on the same skill.

Practice therefore does two different things:

• the warm-up, before playing, so you start your first match with your hand already loose;
• training, during the week, to improve one specific weakness.

An example of a simple, effective warm-up:

1. Range, 3-4 minutes: static targets at different distances, single shots to the head. Goal: precision, not speed.
2. Range, 3-4 minutes: moving targets, stopping before every shot (counter-strafe).
3. Deathmatch, one match (about 8-9 minutes): focus on one thing, for example keeping your crosshair at head height (crosshair placement). Ignore the score.

Short on time? A Deathmatch with a clear goal is enough. What matters is not starting your first match "cold": the pistol round is the very first round.

To really improve you need to train one weakness at a time, for a few weeks. Some examples:

Many players also use aim trainers outside the game. They can help, especially with mouse precision, but remember that in VALORANT stopping and hitting the head matters far more than tracking fast targets.

A solo custom game is the most underrated practice tool. You can:

• walk a map and learn the callouts;
• try your agent's abilities: where they land, how long they last, how to throw them;
• practice lineups and post-plant positions with no pressure;
• with a friend, practice duels on a specific angle, swapping roles.

Ten minutes in a custom game before playing a new map are worth more than three matches spent getting lost.

To make "little and often" concrete, here is an example week for someone who plays a few evenings and wants to improve one specific thing (in this case first-shot accuracy).

It is not a plan to follow to the letter: it is an example of how to spread practice, play and reflection. What matters is that each day has a goal and that rest is part of it.

To know whether practice works you need something to measure, but match scores are too noisy. Simple, repeatable measures are better:

• in the range: headshots out of twenty, at the same distance with the same gun;
• in Deathmatch: not kills, but how often you catch your crosshair in the wrong place;
• in matches: how many duels you lost because you were still moving when you fired (you can see it by reviewing a few rounds).

Write the number down once a week. If nothing has changed after a month, change the drill or ask someone more experienced: you may be training the wrong thing.

Repetitive practice can get boring, and boring practice gets dropped. Some ideas to keep it fresh:

• switch drills now and then while keeping the same goal;
• challenge yourself with concrete numbers (twenty headshots, then twenty-two);
• practice with a friend: duels on one angle in a custom game are useful and fun;
• keep it short: fifteen minutes done well beat an hour done half-heartedly.

And remember why you do it: to enjoy playing more, because winning duels is more fun than losing them.

A few rules make the difference between practicing and "killing time":

• little and often: 20 minutes a day is worth far more than three hours once a week;
• one goal per drill: practicing "a bit of everything" improves nothing;
• accuracy before speed: precise first, fast later. Repeating a wrong movement quickly teaches you the wrong movement;
• stop when you are tired: practicing tired teaches you to play tired;
• check your progress every few weeks, not every day.