Like most gamers, you’re probably always looking for ways to improve your gaming skills. You want to know how you can better frag your enemies and dominate in online multiplayer games. It doesn’t matter whether you’re into MOBAs, FPSs, fighters or some other game, upgrading your gaming skills requires the right approach.
But how are you supposed to do that? That’s the topic we look at in this post. We take a look at some deliberate tactics you can use to improve your skills and really become a master in the games that you love.
Practice deliberately
The first thing you’ll want to do is practice your skills deliberately. If you are just practicing piecemeal here and there, you’ll never improve to the point where you can really succeed. Most gamers who want to get really good at a game aim to practice on it for between 15 and 60 minutes a day. That might not sound like a lot, but it’s actually the optimal length of time you need, especially in MOBAs and fighters.
Whenever you’re practicing, always make sure you’re playing against better opponents. Don’t try to just win easy games. Go up against the best in your category and see if you can beat them. View it as a challenge and not as a reflection of your own skills. When you go up against high-ranked players, you’ll be getting killed a lot fairly early on, but it will force you to adapt and it will expose your weaknesses. You’ll be able to see what you’re getting wrong.
If you can take this to the next stage, record all of your games, and then perform reviews – see where you got killed and what you could have done better. Once you have an overall view of the battlefield or the state of the game, you can see how you could have behaved differently in a particular circumstance.
Optimize your setup
Another thing you can do is optimise your setup. It might sound basic, but improving your gaming systems can make it easier to perform well, especially online.
Make sure you start with a mouse and keyboard designed for gaming. These have low latencies, meaning that there’s less time between your input and the time that your character reacts on the screen.
Also, if you can go for a high refresh rate monitor of 144Hz or more, that gives you more clarity about where other players are. Fast screens are about more than pretty visuals; they’re about dominating on the battlefield.
Another thing you might want to do is test the sensitivity of your equipment. Playing around with how fast you can aim is critical for shooters. You might be a player that prefers a slower aim cadence because you’re not as twitchy. Alternatively, you might prefer to move around quickly, especially if you’re engaging in close quarters combat.
Learn from the best
Another pro priest of advice is to just learn from the best. If you can watch professional gamers on YouTube and Twitch, you can see what they do and then emulate their tactics. What you’ll notice is that their positioning decisions and rotations are probably different from yours. They have a fundamentally different view of the battlefield and perhaps even how to play the game. You might see that you’re missing a trip by assuming that you need to play in one particular way when another approach would be more effective.
Top games will sometimes produce guides that you can use to tell you how to play more effectively and efficiently. These appear on places like Reddit and game FAQs, or you can go on wikis to learn more. Once you have this information, it provides you with more context, telling you how to play the game and what you can do to improve your approach. Sometimes, pro players are any better than you because they know something that you don’t.
Build your mental and physical edge
Becoming really good at video games also requires building your mental and physical edge.
On the physical side, you’ll want to get the usual 8 hours sleep and make sure that you’re exercising. Before you start playing a game, ensure that your hands and wrists are warm. If they’re cold, then it can reduce your reaction time. You also want to eat clean and stay hydrated, even though it’s popular for gamers to have big gulps next to them for plenty of sugar and loads of caffeine. It’s not always effective long-term, especially if you’re practicing.
Also, if you’re interested in optimizing your physical ability to play games, make sure you engage in a warm-up aim drill. Practice the movements before deploying them in a real match.
On the mental side, you’ll also need to think carefully. So, for example, you might set a goal that says you’re going to shoot with 80% accuracy today or that you’re going to take breaks every hour so you can consolidate what you’ve learned. These strategies are just as important if you’re playing solitaire compared to Call of Duty.
Join a community
Finally, you could join a community to upgrade your skills.
- Getting involved in Reddit groups and Discord servers can make a massive difference to how you play.
- You could also join local clubs that meet up regularly for LAN parties.
Many gamers like to join a squad. This gives them a social reason to play but also encourages some healthy competition. If you are pitting your skills against other people or you are responsible for their survival, you are more likely to perform.
Some gamers compete in tournaments just for fun. They want to see how well they’ll do on the real stage and practice under pressure. It’s not necessarily about winning, especially the first time that you do it, but it’s about seeing what the experience is like and how it affects you.
So there you have it, some of the strategies you can use to upgrade your gaming skills. Try one or two of these and see which works for you.