How to improve target switching aim?
What is target switching?
Target switching is the ability to quickly and calmly evaluate situations involving multiple enemies in a short period of time where you need to focus your attention on each one of them and then quickly move on to the next. It is a special skill that combines with many of the other skills but is demonstrated in stressful situations with multiple enemies and high level of dynamism, open area maps or claustrophobic spaces where inevitably players are forced into each other.
It mainly relies on aim mechanics like flick accuracy, stability, target selection and additionally on your target direction reading skills in High TTK games. Obviously, given you successfully switch between enemies, you’ll also be expected to smoothly track the target after acquiring it, which we cover in details in the page for Aim Tracking tips. See how all of these skills are starting to glue together?
How to train target switching?
Target switching is the aim skill that will allow you to smoothly transition from one target to another. Being good at target switching almost guarantees you getting some insane multi-frags in real matches.
To train switching you have static and dynamic subskills. Starting with static you’ll be getting used to switching between targets easily. Once that is done, we go to dynamic and make everything move and dodge.
In the target switching training we introduce new mechanics:
- Regeneration:
In target switching you will notice some levels have the tag “Regen” in their name. This indicates that certain targets will start regenerating health after not being hit for a certain amount of time. In other words, timing your shots/burst is being trained.
- They have guns?
This is also the subskill where some targets will start shooting back. This will make sure you practice switching to the target that is the direct threat first. Don’t be fooled, every target can shoot. Look for the keyword ‘Active’ in exercises to find these.
Static Target Switching
StaticAs mentioned above, static target switching is the first stepping stone in becoming great at this particular aiming skill. The targets are standing still and so it’s everything about reaction speed, accuracy and timing.
Noticeable Static Target Switching levels
1. Static Basic Level 8
6 Heads – Circle 90 is a great exercise for those moments in a match where you pop up behind the enemy and you got have to take them out as fast as possible. Everything is head height and requires a small burst to execute.
2. Static Intermediate Level 6
4T Small Regen – Wide Wall is a level with the ‘regen’ tag. Here you will train on short and very wide switching. Getting proficient at perfectly timing the duration of a burst and then swapping to a target an entire screen away makes for some awesome replays. This is the perfect exercise to get those.
Dynamic Target Switching
DynamicNoticeable Dynamic levels:
Dynamic target switching will test all your switching skills and really take them next level. Multiple moving targets, regen, dodging... It won’t be easy, but improving here will result in an immediate improvement in your main game.
1. Dynamic Basic Level 4
3 Cap – 1G – Wall is a level that is great for learning how to switch between vertical moving targets. It also trains your cognitive ability to track multiple moving targets at once. Timing your bursts is necessary to optimize your performance.
2. Dynamic Basic Level 10
3T Active Small Regen – Long D. is a level with a bunch of different keywords. The spheres will regen if not shot and shoot back. So timing the length of your bursts and prioritizing the shooting target are a must. Targets are slower moving in predictable patterns to compensate.
In what games do you need good target switching aim the most?
Target switching is good for every game with multiple enemies, or more bluntly - every game that isn't 1on1, like Overwatch 2, Valorant, CS2, Apex Legends. This is a highly versatile skill to master because you can reap the benefits on both high TTK and low TTK games. In lower TTK games with lots of enemies on screen at a time like COD, Target Switching and flicking is the go-to combo, but if you play games like Apex with higher TTK and a lot of movement, your direction reading and tracking skills will be needed a lot more if you want to win battles. Imagine you are playing, an enemy appears and you know a couple more are en route while you’re using a tracking gun like R-99 or other SMGs. You’ll need to kill each enemy quickly and prepare to immediately reposition your crosshair on the next target in the queue. Having the ability to quickly acquire a target and eliminate them in as few shots as possible is going to give you a competitive edge in FPS games over players who do not practice this skill.
