Coach Twix - Valorant Aim Training Guide

Foreword

The post below is copied verbatim from this reddit post, with the explicit permission of Coach Twix himself.

We haven’t touched the wording, to remain authentic to the source. Some of the wording references the sub-reddit it was posted in.

We have changed the formatting in places where a webpage can offer a few more features than a reddit post.

Here is Coach Twix's Valorant Aiming.pro Playlist

Thank you Twix for creating this great routine and for allowing us to post it here. And thank you Pauer for porting it to Aiming.pro.

Introduction
Kovaak's Routine
AimLab Playlist
Aiming.pro Playlist
In-game Training Routine
Social Links

Introduction

Hey guys, It's Twix again, the sub's dedicated Valorant coach and guide creator. This post is an update to my original extended analysis and aim-training guide. I have added a couple of new maps which I believe are useful for training Valorant mechanics specifically, and I have also changed existing maps into more "suitable" variants. Thanks to my server moderator Pauer#9861 for helping with recreating kovaak's maps into better versions of themselves + porting my playlist over into Aiming.Pro through their map creation tool!

Special Thanks ^

For those of you that don't know me, I am a previously competitive CS player and top 1% aim trainer grinder with numerous achievements across multiple FPS games including top 500 in Apex, that focuses mainly on the mechanical components of coaching in FPS games. I have been dedicating my entire coaching schedule to Valorant since the game was in closed beta, and have worked with people ranking from iron to immortal, playing with friends or on teams, all with unanimously positive feedback. If you are interested in finding out more about my coaching services, or want to chat with a friendly, improvement / training oriented FPS community make sure to join my Discord server here: discord.gg/6ZYVZ6x

I have recently completed and uploaded a full game guide for Valorant on google drive which also includes information concerning optimal gear, agent functions, map tactics, bad habits, and finally, a daily routine to help you develop your mechanics in Valorant. The same information can be found through my posts in a more readable manner, so if you haven't checked out my reddit posts in this sub, I advise you to do so before reading further.

Kovaak's Routine

In this section, I will be breaking down the importance of each map subset, and splitting them into categories depending on what aspect of aim they train, and their general difficulty. (Novice - Intermediate players [Below Diamond in Valorant / Platinum in Sparky benchmarks] should stick to the easier maps).

Maps tagged with an asterisk (\) are maps which are "crucial" to Valorant aim-training.*

Maps with a (small) option have a default vs. small variant, your choice on which to play.

Novice - Intermediate Click-timing Training

1 wall 2 targets horizontal - 10m
Valorant small flicks \ - 10m*
Wide wall 6 targets (small) \- 10m*
Valorant Peek Training ( MCA-9 ) - 10m

Advanced Click-timing Training

1w6ts reload v2 ( only play this if your technique on 1w6ts / ww6ts is on point ) - 10m
Floating heads timing 400% fixed \ - 10m*
Pasu small reload horizontal - 10m

Reasoning behind map choice:

This set of maps is meant to train your general mouse control in relation to "click-timing", click timing is what the general playerbase calls "flick aim", it is your ability to make a movement or adjust your crosshair to click on a target that isn't centered on your screen, and your ability to time your clicks, being able to click at the correct time depending on when your target aligns with your crosshair. Click timing is the most important aspect of aiming in Valorant. Technically, the most important part of aiming in Valorant is "Crosshair placement" but that isn't really aiming, and not really something you can isolate / directly train. In Valorant, since there isn't much added verticality, your ability to "aim" well is heavily reliant on your horizontal click-timing skill. The maps chosen above, are all maps which prioritize horizontal movements over vertical ones, and for all maps (with the exception of WW6T) you'll usually only need to make a horizontal movement to adjust from one target to the next.

Novice - Intermediate Micro-adjustment Training

1 wall 6 targets adjust \ - 10m*
Micro flick - 10m

Advanced Micro-Adjustment Training

1 wall 2 targets small reload - 10m
reflex micro++ flick - 10m
Valorant small horizontal flicks \ - 10m*

Reasoning behind map choice:

This set of maps is meant to train your mouse control in relation to "micro-adjustments", micro-adjustments are an aspect of click timing which is pretty straightforward, your ability to make minimal adjustments precisely, and in rapid succession. Now, most people may think, "well the smaller the mouse movement, the easier it is to hit a target", however, that isn't true for the majority of players. A lot of the time, making a very short movement requires a lot more control / precision, and relies on muscle groups that you aren't too experienced in utilizing, e.g. I may move my wrist / arm to adjust for a wider flick, but if my crosshair is off just by a couple of pixels, the adjustment is so small that it would require me to use my fingers in order to make the adjustment. Most players (especially tac fps players) aren't experienced in making micro-adjustments, even though it's a crucial skill. In games like Valorant, your goal is to have such good / consistent crosshair placement, that you rarely need to adjust it in order to land a headshot, however, even the best players will be put in situations where their crosshair is slightly off, but not by enough of a distance to warrant a wide flick (usually happens if you're clearing an angle and you move your crosshair past an enemy you didn't see fast enough), and in those instances making a micro-adjustment accurately enough to correct your crosshair placement can be what saves your life. Here is an example of a micro-adjustment map, consistency is more important than speed, beat my scores and get a cookie:

Played on Val settings alt

The maps chosen above, are a great place to start with training your micro-adjustment aim. These maps don't solely rely on horizontal movements due to the fact that if your crosshair needs to be corrected, it can be a mixture of both horizontal but also vertical misplacement. (valorant small horizontal flicks is a great map for this, but difficult to play as a novice, your choice on this one)

Novice - Intermediate Target Switching Training

ValTarget switch - 10m
PatTarget switch (small) no reload \ - 10m*

Advanced Target Switching Training

KinTargetSwitch - 10m
DevTarget Switch - 10m

Reasoning behind map choice:

This set of maps is meant to train your mouse control in relation to "target switching", target switching is your ability to make a fluid and fast movement from one target onto another. When target switching, you should be doing so in a single movement, rather than overshooting and then correcting, and the movement should be rapid, so more of a flick rather than simply moving your crosshair as if you were clearing an angle. Target switching is important in Valorant because even the best players with excellent positioning will find themselves in situations where they're open to multiple LOS (line of sight) and can be potentially peeked by more than one player simultaneously, in these situations it's crucial that the player is able to eliminate the first target, and then flick onto the other in a single movement. Good target switching will save your ass in these situations, due to the fact that this concept may be harder to visualize than click timing / micro adjustment as it's more situation reliant.

In the maps included above in the "novice - intermediate" section, you will be mainly training horizontal target switching, as it's what's most important in a game like Valorant that has such minimal vertical deviation in player model movement. For those of you that want to train target switching further in a map format that doesn't only lay emphasis on horizontal movements, you can go for the "advanced" map recommendations as well. Most of these maps will also train your micro-tracking (since they're low ttk but not instantaneous) which is also beneficial for instances where you're spraying a moving target. When you're playing target switching maps, make sure to keep your LMB held down for the duration of the challenge, otherwise you're not really training your target switching.

Smoothness Training

Centering I 90 no strafes \ - 10m*
Smoothness Training Sphere 30 - 10m

Reasoning behind map choice:

This set of maps is meant to train your mouse control in relation to your "smoothness". In relation to aim, smoothness is simply your ability to make mouse movements in fluid motions without unwarranted micro-adjustments or jitter. Most of you (with the exception of kovaak's grinders / AFPS players) will notice that when making a movement, you're unable to maintain a set speed and your aim slightly "jitters". Although smoothness is an aspect of aim which is far more important in games that rely more heavily on tracking (ow/apex/etc.) it's also important in Valorant as a lack of it can lead to sub-optimal angle clearing. If you're clearing an angle, and you can't maintain a smooth motion throughout, it can increase the chance of your crosshair placement being slightly off, which in turn forces you to make unnecessary adjustments to your aim in order to land your shots on the target. The maps included above will focus on training your smoothness in large horizontal movements (the same type of movement required while clearing angles in any tac fps). There isn't a novice vs. advanced discrepancy in this section, as smoothness training doesn't vary as much in difficulty, and the maps included will definitely suffice for getting your mouse control to a decent enough level for Valorant.

Recommended time split

30 mins of Kovaaks pre-game ( 5 mins of each map ) and 30 mins of Kovaaks when you're done playing for the day

"But Twix, why not play the routine in one go?"

If you want to complete the routine in one go (60m) rather than split it into two segments (30m+30m) that's perfectly fine, and it's up to you. The reasons I personally suggest playing the routines in a split structure are the following:

Burn-out / Exhaustion is very real, and due to both cognitive and psychological factors, after a certain amount of time of continuous training, you will hit a point of exhaustion / diminishing returns. Informational intake after you've hit this point will not happen at the same rate as if you were at your optimal state. The average time a human can spend processing new information continuously without hitting that point of diminishing returns is around 60m total, but since it's subjective, it's easier to just play it safe and split the training in 30m segments. Here is a graph that may help you visualize this concept:
The \"Law of diminishing Returns\" Visualized
Difference in mentality / reason for training. This is my personal theory, and I am not making an ultimate statement about this applying to every individual, as once again, it's subjective, but I've discussed this with multiple coaching clients and they have agreed that it applies to them. My theory is, that the way you train prior to a game session, and the way you train after a game session may vary. When playing kovaak's pre-game a lot of people tend to use it as a warmup tool more than a long-term mouse control training tool, and therefore don't focus on optimal training methods while playing through a playlist, as they just care about their short-term performance in the game they'll play after kovaak's. When playing kovaak's as a cooldown, you're already warmed up (don't play if exhausted however) from the day, plus you aren't training with a set short-term gain in mind. This theory is based on psychological effects mainly, which (once again) are very subjective to the individual, so take it with a grain of salt.
Optimal learning time differs from person to person, this also holds true with training. Some people process new information better at night, some people process new information better throughout the day, either way, the concept here is pretty clear. Do what works best for you, however, if you aren't sure about if you're a "day-time learner" or "night-time learner" you can just play it safe through splitting your routine as suggested. One thing to note is that it is scientifically proven that a smaller time frame between the time of informational intake and sleeping, may improve the consolidation of new information and memory recall, basically meaning that some individuals retain information better if they sleep shortly after training.
Final reason: boredom. A lot of people find aim-training boring, and therefore it's torture to them to train for an hour non-stop. For these people, training for 30 minutes and then switching to a more enjoyable task (gaming) before completing the other half of their daily routine, can be optimal. If you're completely bored and it feels like aim-training is torture, chances are, you wont be in a mental state that enhances growth / progress.

My Custom AimLab Playlist ( Kovaak's alternative #1 )

Read First:

In it's current state, I don't believe "AimLab" is a viable aim trainer, especially in regards to more competitively oriented players. I have made an informative post here that explains why Kovaak's is far better currently as an aim-training tool, and also explains the potential AimLab holds in future updates. Regardless, for those of you that for whatever reason cannot / will not play Kovaak's, I have created a custom playlist for Valorant, available in the AimLab workshop.

AimLab Training Routine

How to access my custom AimLab Playlist:

Launch AimLab and go to the "Custom" tab
Select the "workshop" option
Filter by "Playlist" in the search options and type "val routine by twix"
Play through the routine (30/60m) enjoy!

Note: You can also search for my custom tasks individually, AimLab doesn't currently allow you to skip from task to task within a playlist and playing for 60m consecutively is exhausting. I have spoken to the developer team about this and they're working on a fix.

My Custom Aiming.pro Playlist ( Kovaak's alternative #2 )

What is Aiming.pro?

Aiming.pro is a browser based aim-trainer, meaning you can enjoy the benefits of working on isolated aspects of your mechanics without having to download or pay anything. The tool is 100% free to use ( there is a "plus" subscription for map creation tools etc. ) and is honestly extremely well functioning for a browser-based tool, and arguably the only viable one out there. The reason Aiming.pro is actually viable as an online tool for aim-training, is due to the fact that the map creator allows for the crucial Kovaak's scenarios to be "ported" over, basically cloned as tasks. Obviously there are some down-sides, e.g. customization parameters and bot behavior / AI functionality is quite limited at the moment, but I've been in contact with their team and they're working towards upgrading their tool constantly with a correct order of priorities.

Once again, I want to thank my server moderator Pauer#9861 for taking the time to clone the Kovaak's scenarios included in my playlist into the most accurate copy within the Aiming.Pro map creator tool. We appreciate you Pauer.

P.S. Congrats on hitting GM scores in the Sparky benchmarks, stay cracked.

Link to my aiming.pro playlist: https://aiming.pro/#/training/playlists/282

This is the playlist, you may need to log in to view the page

I won't go too in depth in relation to explaining the map content, as they are pretty much the same maps I assigned in my Kovaak's section. The maps are not 100% 1:1 representations of the Kovaak's maps, but they're the closest thing possibly recreated within the tool's map creator.

In-game Training Routine

Valorant DM

Valorant currently offers its own deathmatch mode. The mode is far from perfect as the map design isn't well suited for deathmatch gameplay, and the fact that you're shown on the mini-map makes for a lot of clunky gameplay where people are holding corners based on sound / map awareness, rather than actually focusing on training their mechanics. The in-game DM is still the best option in terms of training game-specific aspects such as map-based crosshair placement, spraying, peeking flow, etc. so make sure to play a couple of these daily just to keep your in-game skills sharp.

Firing Range

Wide angle horizontal click-timing - 5 minutes - Use a ghost, focus on tapping the bot furthest to the left then furthest to the right, repeat
Strafe peeking practice - 5 minutes -Use a ghost, place a sage wall and focus on eliminating bots whilst counterstrafing, move in the direction you're peeking from, and press LMB the moment you hit the directional key opposite to your current directional movement
Spray control practice - 5 minutes - Toggle infinite ammo "off" and try to kill as many targets as you can while using a single clip [vandal/phantom]
CH placement practice - 10 minutes - Take the portal to the "spike defuse" part of the firing range, set difficulty to "hard" and focus on clearing the map <10s

Social Links

Discord: https://discord.gg/6ZYVZ6x

Twitter: Twitter.com/twix_v2

Twitch: Coming soon... (?)

Hope you all enjoy reading through my content, I definitely enjoy writing up these guides and informative posts in order to help the community structure their improvement. Keep training, stay cracked.