Optimal Sensitivity and Mouse-sensitivity users

[darkheart46]

We are always looking for optimal conversions, viewspeed, monitor distance 75%, 56.25%, 0% etc, but  maybe we could make some research in optimal sensitivity to use in games, we know that in fast paced games high sensitivitys are more common like overwtch where 28-30cm360 its more common, or games like cs where 47-60cm360 are very used. also in theory high sensitivity provides fastest response to unexpected enemys and usually best movement, in the other part low sensitivity its normally more consistent because a little mouse movement its not a big movement in game crosshair, so you can be no that accurate and still make the hit.

But if you have to use a sensitivity that works well in fast paced games like quake, overwatch, tf2 and games like cs go, pubg etc, what do you think is the sweet spot in cm360 that can be used in both game styles.

maybe we can arrive to some conclusions, knowing that its personal preference and we dont have the same wrist, arm etc

 

[MuntyYy]

I used to have 104 cm in 360 degrees. I was very consistent but often unable to turn fast enough to kill enemies once they passed me.

Since then, I use 52 cm in  360, rebuilt the muscle memory I had and pretty much do everything i could / couldn't do before.

[espe89]

I used probably the widest sensitivity range you could imagine

top fragging with 30cm/360,  top fragging with 115cm/360 and then.... I started asking myself, what sensitivity is the best ?

I'm since lost in the nether, changing sensitivity after one missed kill, changing sensitivity after 1 day because why not ... etc.

If you look at CSGO pro scene, the top players are using in average 2.2 @ 400dpi... I think this is the sweet spot, because you can aim pretty good, good movements and turn easy 180. You are not the best on 1 thing, but you can do pretty much everything.

This is exactly what I want because I really enjoy switching games

 

[Bryjoe]

41cm 360 is one that I always go back to, in CSGO the most common sensitivity is in the low 50s and I always have felt that to be too slow for a lot of FPS games. 41CM 360 is slow enough for precision and fast enough for twitch games, but with a little more focus on precision, which is usually really helpful in games. There is only one game where it might be a little slow and that is Quake, if you use a monitor match at Quake's default of 130 it becomes 25-35 cm 360, which actually happens to be what most "pro" Quake players use. I think it makes a lot of sense as it's a game with both a really high natural FOV and tons of movement so you need to move a little faster. I still think 40-45cm works for every game, just perhaps not the "ideal" range.

 

[Drimzi]

< 50 cm/360 at 73.74 vfov is fine for pretty much everything. By the time 50 cm or more is reached, a lot of speed has been sacrificed to gain ease of accuracy, and speed will become a weakness in fast-paced games. I wouldn't go too far past this point, aiming just becomes easier, everything is still possible with a faster sensitivity.

30 cm is probably the middle point, where speed and accuracy are balanced. Speed is a lot less important than ease of accuracy though, I personally like a sensitivity between 35 - 50 cm/360, and use higher FOVs if I can for fast-paced games.

I would start at 30 cm and practice from there. If you are good at mouse control you can lower it, probably wouldn't go below 25 cm at 73.74 vfov. If you want 'free' accuracy without practicing, you can lower it but I wouldn't exceed 50 cm if you are using monitor match or viewspeed, as you will struggle in a lot of low fov games.

Edited May 15, 2018 by Drimzi

[darkheart46]

Thats a nice debate about sensitivitys, im in the same boat, i tried very low sensitivity like 76cm360 and feel very consistent with it, but in the crosshair location is not perfect, or if someone hit me from the back im plain dead, 30cm 360 feel amazing movement wise and for me 45-55cm feels a good compromise, but always thinking about that, keep rolling the poll, and your opinions comrades!

[potato psoas]

Keep in mind this question depends on your FOV. E.g. 25cm at 120 FOV is going to be slow but too fast at 90 FOV. I'm assuming the question is asking for 90 FOV 16:9 in Hdeg 4:3.

My answer to this problem is that you should pick a sensitivity that allows you to comfortably acquire small targets, i.e. 20 pixels wide. Trying to shoot anything smaller than that is just too picky. If you have to shoot anything smaller then you should just avoid the gunfight/use a higher zoom weapon.

I also believe your grip style plays a big part in how high a sensitivity you can use. And your own anatomy. People with longer arms will find it more difficult to control their accuracy, so they would have to lower their sensitivity. And there's no doubt you should be rotating from the elbow because rotating from the wrist can put you at risk for carpal tunnel syndrome.

But a lot of it comes down to practice - developing your dexterity and muscle memory. If you aren't going too extreme, you really can use anything. To me, personally, don't go too high, but generally higher is better. I recommend maximum of 800 DPI, which is about 15cm/360 at 90 FOV, converted using 0% MM. I use 25cm/360 @ 90 FOV 16:9 in Hdeg 4:3.

Overall, I'd say 30cm/360 is about the sweet spot.

Edited April 11, 2018 by potato psoas
Changed my sensitivity settings

[Bryjoe]

14 hours ago, potato psoas said:

Keep in mind this question depends on your FOV and how far away you sit from your monitor. E.g. 25cm at 120 FOV is going to be slow but too fast at 90 FOV. I'm assuming the question is asking for 90 FOV 16:9 in Hdeg 4:3. And the closer you sit to the monitor, the faster your sensitivity will feel and the further away from your monitor the slower your sensitivity will feel.

My answer to this problem is that you should pick a sensitivity that allows you to comfortably acquire small targets, i.e. 20 pixels wide. Trying to shoot anything smaller than that is just too picky. If you have to shoot anything smaller then you should just avoid the gunfight/use a higher zoom weapon.

I also believe your grip style plays a big part in how high a sensitivity you can use. And your own anatomy. People with longer arms will find it more difficult to control their accuracy, so they would have to lower their sensitivity. And there's no doubt you should be rotating from the elbow because rotating from the wrist can put you at risk for carpal tunnel syndrome.

But a lot of it comes down to practice - developing your dexterity and muscle memory. If you aren't going too extreme, you really can use anything. To me, personally, don't go too high, but generally higher is better. I recommend maximum of 800 DPI, which is about 15cm/360 at 90 FOV, converted using 0% MM. I use 21cm/360 @ 16:10.

Again simply using renowned great players for reference, I wouldn't recommend <20 for any game. You should try aiming with your whole arm rather than your wrist and see if your aim improves at a little bit of a slower sensitivity. Maybe bump it up to about 30CM/360 and see how that feels. 30 Cm/360 is generally what a "fast" sensitivity would be in the competitive pro scene. There are outliers that use insane sensitivities, but if we were to rank the top 20 CSGO players in the world none of them use less than 25cm/360. Even in Quake most pros don't go under 20/cm 360.

[Drimzi]

*All these numbers are using 90 4:3 horizontal fov, 73.74 vertical fov*

Some people can be really good with <20, but it is not common. I'd say most people I've met in Call of Duty use a value close to 15 cm in the beginning, and these people generally unaware about sensitivity but also those who are extremely good. Over the years most of the good players have gone up to 22-28 cm. As people become aware of what sensitivity is, they do decrease it and the trend I see is generally toward the 25 - 30 cm region, which seems like the most popular sensitivity outside Counter-Strike.

You can argue that Aim Down Sights provides a band aid that masks the problem with their higher sensitivity, but I think the problem is resolved once you approach the 25 cm mark. The entire arm can be used for manoeuvring the mouse, and not just the wrist.

I would consider 20 cm the minimum value that is viable for most games for the average person. However, with CS:GO being as popular as it is, and the extreme demand for precision, it would be rare for anyone to be able to compete at their best with a sensitivity faster than 30 cm, as they can't rely on Aim Down Sights, and so suggesting someone to start off with 15 cm is a bit pointless.

Being able to aim competitively with a high sensitivity requires a lot of practice and a high degree of fine motor skills. People love shortcuts, so the easiest way to get better at aiming is to simply reduce the sensitivity. 50 cm would be my recommended cut-off point where speed (and often recoil) becomes too much of an issue to be viable in all situations and all games.

If anyone was to choose a starting point with sensitivity, I would highly suggest 30 cm, and then tune it to what value feels most natural with your hand movement and hand-eye coordination (don't lie to yourself), which will most likely be a slower sensitivity, but could be faster if you already have extremely good mechanics / motor skills. Just try not to go too low as you may just need to put in the time and practice instead of lowering it. After all, the best aimers I have ever seen have been with sensitivities faster than 40 cm. Think of Shroud in PUBG, or on the extremely high side, Relaaa and Neoninja.

Edited May 15, 2018 by Drimzi

[potato psoas]

Well whatever sensitivity I use doesn't matter, what does matter is the principles you use to get to it.

Just keep in mind that people don't always migrate to what is best, as there is still the herd mentality idea behind a lot of this. IMO you can use whatever sensitivity you want as long as it's not too high and not too slow. But my principle is to pick the highest sensitivity you can comfortably hit the smallest targets with (~20 pixels).

Although I should say, I originally decided on my sensitivity because I was going to use two - one for hipfire and one for ADS... along the way I forgot about using ADS and just started using it as both. I may have to revisit how much precision I have because I honestly can't be bothered using two sensitivities.

[CaptaPraelium]

The answer is: The distance your mouse travels when you rotate your arm through a 90 degree arc. More than this is bad for your body (over-rotates the shoulder), less than this is bad for your accuracy (lower sensitivity makes for higher accuracy) and your body (over-stresses the wrist).

[Bryjoe]

On 3/24/2018 at 4:10 PM, Drimzi said:

*All these numbers are using 90 4:3 horizontal fov, 73.74 vertical fov*

Some people can be really good with <20, but it is not common. I'd say most people I've met in Call of Duty use a value close to 15 cm in the beginning, and these people generally unaware about sensitivity but also those who are extremely good. Over the years most of the good players have gone up to 22-28 cm. As people become aware of what sensitivity is, they do decrease it and the trend I see is generally toward the 25 cm region, which seems like the most popular sensitivity outside Counter-Strike.

You can argue that Aim Down Sights provides a band aid that masks the problem with their higher sensitivity, but I think the problem is resolved once you approach the 25 cm mark. The entire arm can be used for manoeuvring the mouse, and not just the wrist.

I would consider 20 cm the minimum value that is viable for most games for the average person. However, with CS:GO being as popular as it is, and the extreme demand for precision, it would be rare for anyone to be able to compete at their best with a sensitivity faster than 30 cm, as they can't rely on Aim Down Sights, and so suggesting someone to start off with 15 cm is a bit pointless.

Being able to aim competitively with a high sensitivity requires a lot of practice and a high degree of fine motor skills. People love shortcuts, so the easiest way to get better at aiming is to simply reduce the sensitivity. 50 cm would be my recommended cut-off point where speed (and often recoil) becomes too much of an issue to be viable in all situations and games.

If anyone was to choose a starting point with sensitivity, I would highly suggest 25 cm, and then tune it to what value feels most natural with your hand movement and hand-eye coordination (don't lie to yourself), which will most likely be a slower sensitivity, but could be faster if you already have extremely good mechanics / motor skills. Just try not to go too low as you may just need to put in the time and practice instead of lowering it. After all, the best aimers I have ever seen have been with sensitivities faster than 40 cm. Think of Shroud in PUBG, or on the extremely high side, Relaaa and Neoninja.

People that play with 20cm most likely do so because it is the most "natural". When you are navigating your desktop, you typically use a DPI above 800 and would never want to lift your arm to navigate. This causes this philosophy to be transferred in games. They pick a sensitivity that allows them to aim solely with their wrist because it's comfortable when you are used to navigating the desktop. I would argue that even the best players using a sensitivity like that would be better off lowering it, but how do you write off a decade of muscle memory? ADS definitely masks the problem significantly, one of the best battlefield players/streamers uses an unreal sensitivity of like 5 or 6cm/360 and I am confident he is only accurate because ADS exists, it is impossible as a human to be pixel accurate with a sensitivity that high.

When it comes to pure aim, lower is better. Even in a game like COD I would argue the versatility of being able to do a 180 slightly faster would never save you against a good player, the TTK is too fast, it's only in games like Quake that have a long TTK and are movement focused where a twitch sensitivity like that would be beneficial. We are also talking about the best of the best here, your average player or new player should use at least 25cm/360. I would argue they should start at 30cm as that is plenty fast for anything and would at least give you a fighting chance in CS or slower games. The players that are actually good with sensitivities in the 30s in CS are outliers and definitely not the norm.

Shroud uses 52CM/360 in CS, not sure what he does in pubg

Dev!ce uses 54

Olofmeister 57

Coldzera 47

KennyS 47

 

You get the picture.

[cchhqq]

On 2018/3/24 at 4:10 PM, Drimzi said:

After all, the best aimers I have ever seen have been with sensitivities faster than 40 cm. Think of Shroud in PUBG, or on the extremely high side, Relaaa and Neoninja.

But does their choice related to their style to hold the mouse? shroud, relaaa, neoninja all use claw grip. I heard that claw grip can help people to aim better with higher sens. What if some people use palm grip? I dont see a lot players with palm grip has relatively high sensitivity.

[cchhqq]

On 2018/3/26 at 12:29 PM, Bryjoe said:

Shroud uses 52CM/360 in CS, not sure what he does in pubg

shroud use 55 400dpi in pubg which is 30cm, also similar sens in ow. He uses different sens for different games. Seems like most games other than csgo, he uses sens around 30cm.

[DPI Wizard]

I put the poll on the front page so more people see it.

[SteveMeli]

I play Overwatch at 60cm/360, and I have a very large mousing surface so I have never had any trouble making a giant flick to people behind me. Perhaps I might see a benefit being able to do a full 360 without repositioning the mouse, but if a tracer keeps dancing around me I can just flick back the other way to see her.

[Drimzi]

35 minutes ago, SteveMeli said:

I play Overwatch at 60cm/360, and I have a very large mousing surface so I have never had any trouble making a giant flick to people behind me. Perhaps I might see a benefit being able to do a full 360 without repositioning the mouse, but if a tracer keeps dancing around me I can just flick back the other way to see her.

Yup that is a good technique. If you have to track all the way in one direction, it is very easy to just rotate in the opposite direction to reset the mouse position instead of lifting.

[Pukas]

I use ~43cm/360 400dpi 500hz polling rate for all games. Kudos to DPI Wizard  

[Fiddlywiddly]

I always fall back to using either 38cm or 41-43cm at 74 vertical FOV, these are all good middle ground sensitivities that you can perform well with on all games. You might perform a bit better with either slower/faster depending on the game but at these cm/360s you'll still have good performance and everything feels comfortable. I could see my wrist and arm suffering long term at <25cm/360 or >50cm 360

Edited April 11, 2018 by Fiddlywiddly

[CopperCn]

When I play Battlefield, as a representative of fast moving / low TTK / FOV adjustable game, it is hard to kill enemies pass me with such sens higher than 37cm/360, which I find out to be the least sens to flick-shot accurately in CS:GO. Therefore, for some personal preference, I use 1.56*400(about 67cm/360) in CS:GO, and 30cm/360 in every other game.

Edited April 16, 2018 by CopperCn

[cchhqq]

On 3/24/2018 at 9:41 AM, potato psoas said:

I also believe your grip style plays a big part in how high a sensitivity you can use.

So how does the grip style affect the sensitivity people choose? like palm grip will use lower sensitivity when claw can use finger to do more micro adjustment?

[potato psoas]

5 hours ago, cchhqq said:

So how does the grip style affect the sensitivity people choose? like palm grip will use lower sensitivity when claw can use finger to do more micro adjustment?

Well I don't mean grip as in palm, claw, finger, I mean it in the sense that if you grip the mouse a certain way you get more control over your aim. Some people have less control than others, some people have more. That will further influence what sensitivity you play with.

[Famatic]

On 3/24/2018 at 10:10 PM, Drimzi said:

If anyone was to choose a starting point with sensitivity, I would highly suggest 30 cm, and then tune it to what value feels most natural with your hand movement and hand-eye coordination (don't lie to yourself), which will most likely be a slower sensitivity, but could be faster if you already have extremely good mechanics / motor skills. Just try not to go too low as you may just need to put in the time and practice instead of lowering it. After all, the best aimers I have ever seen have been with sensitivities faster than 40 cm. Think of Shroud in PUBG, or on the extremely high side, Relaaa and Neoninja.

Someone should give ELI5 on hand-eye coordination .  I've been for very long being unable to settle on sensitivity so I might be switching it up after a week or after 2 months. I've been lately trying to practice following targets with my eyes rather than with my crosshair. However to me it seems like when I do this my hand doesn't really follow my eye movements. Not to mention I keep switching mice cause I start to feel uncomfortable with them after a while and same goes for mousepads. On top of that I even ended up switching grip styles.

 

I personally can play like maybe 50-60 cm /360 in CS:GO but in Overwatch I can not. I mean I did play around 70cm/360 in overwatch for couple months, but problem is that my aim and movements are slow. I'm not sure is this my "aiming style" but I can't move my hand fast. If I try to force it, it's like something hits breaks on my whole arm. Also swiping really fast and re-centering I can not do without being conscious of it.  Cause of all of this I've completely just forgotten and lost my own signature. I dont know am I flicker or tracker . Flicking makes my hand tire out really fast... while tracking feels like I can never be 100% on the target  and due to my slow aiming it feels like I cant turn 180 fast enough with lower sensitivities. 

 

Currently I've been playing with 32.55 cm /360 For about a month or so.. I have switched it from 28 to 30 to 32 during this time  and still can't really settle. I don't know how it seems so hard to figure out a sensitivity that feels right. Have been trying out these videos that tell you "your PERFECT sensitivity " I'm sure you have also heard of this method.  I guess Im just trying to look for a way to find one that would suit me.

 

3000 hours APB:Reloaded  (Quit the game due to the amount of cheaters)

3500 hours CS:GO  (Was supreme for a long time and now I've pretty much stoped playing CS and my MM floats around MGE)

1700 hours Overwatch  (2 games away from masters, then started dropping every season until I got stuck to high platinum and right now struggling staying at Diamond with 3100 SR)

I'm still trash.    I guess where I'm going with this is that I'd just like some help regarding my sensitivity.. as well as my addiction of buying mice and mousepads in hopes of finding that "one" . Any help or tips/tricks regarding this would be greatly appreciated.

[Niki9984]

20 minutes ago, Famatic said:

Someone should give ELI5 on hand-eye coordination .  I've been for very long being unable to settle on sensitivity so I might be switching it up after a week or after 2 months. I've been lately trying to practice following targets with my eyes rather than with my crosshair. However to me it seems like when I do this my hand doesn't really follow my eye movements. Not to mention I keep switching mice cause I start to feel uncomfortable with them after a while and same goes for mousepads. On top of that I even ended up switching grip styles.

 

I personally can play like maybe 50-60 cm /360 in CS:GO but in Overwatch I can not. I mean I did play around 70cm/360 in overwatch for couple months, but problem is that my aim and movements are slow. I'm not sure is this my "aiming style" but I can't move my hand fast. If I try to force it, it's like something hits breaks on my whole arm. Also swiping really fast and re-centering I can not do without being conscious of it.  Cause of all of this I've completely just forgotten and lost my own signature. I dont know am I flicker or tracker . Flicking makes my hand tire out really fast... while tracking feels like I can never be 100% on the target  and due to my slow aiming it feels like I cant turn 180 fast enough with lower sensitivities. 

 

Currently I've been playing with 32.55 cm /360 For about a month or so.. I have switched it from 28 to 30 to 32 during this time  and still can't really settle. I don't know how it seems so hard to figure out a sensitivity that feels right. Have been trying out these videos that tell you "your PERFECT sensitivity " I'm sure you have also heard of this method.  I guess Im just trying to look for a way to find one that would suit me.

 

3000 hours APB:Reloaded  (Quit the game due to the amount of cheaters)

3500 hours CS:GO  (Was supreme for a long time and now I've pretty much stoped playing CS and my MM floats around MGE)

1700 hours Overwatch  (2 games away from masters, then started dropping every season until I got stuck to high platinum and right now struggling staying at Diamond with 3100 SR)

I'm still trash.    I guess where I'm going with this is that I'd just like some help regarding my sensitivity.. as well as my addiction of buying mice and mousepads in hopes of finding that "one" . Any help or tips/tricks regarding this would be greatly appreciated.

You're not alone, can confirm everything you just said xd sucks tbh.. changing sens is like a drug, addictive af... and no, those "perfect sensitivity" videos are bullshit, for me at least. tracking a frozen bot i can do with any sens, but once the target moves its different. And when you've got a "decent" tracing sens, the problem starts with flickshots and sure this is where muscle memory comes in play but that wouldnt matter too much if you're wayyyyy off your "natural" sensitivity.. because no matter how much you play and practice that sensitivity, your muscle memory will only develop to a certain grade.. but what do i know, that's just my theory altought i was a veryyy good aimer before i started to change sens every day xD

[MuntyYy]

That's not entirely true.You can perform at your best with any sensitivity, given the time and dedication. Don't worry about this, worry instead about the conversion method. Use 00% and you will improve faster and be consistent in the long run, as opposed to ANY other conversion method.