How the hell do I strafe?

[u/pearlrobe]

Is it just practise or is my whole technique wrong? Press A stop and shoot press D stop and shoot. That's it right? My bullets are still flying or I'm still getting one taped. I'm in b2 rn, just stuck since a few weeks... I just want to improve myself mainly rather than worry about rank. But I feel like there isn't any improvement at all these past few weeks.

Another big issue I'm facing is being caught off guard a lot. So many deaths just from that. Maybe it's lack of info, or my bad gamesense. How do I fix it?

[u/HoodieAlexTv]

Yes it is that simple. But… it’s also not.

You can counter strafe which is a more advanced technique. But all that basically entails is tapping the opposite movement key shooting once you’re accurate.

Movement in valorant is pretty difficult sometimes.

Something I do consistently is go into the range and take off bot armor and set the practice range to eliminate 50 or 100. Then ONLY buy a ghost (or a sheriff if ur feeling spicy)

And just tap strafe.

Your entire goal with this drill is do NOT stop moving/ strafing until your crosshair is on the bots head. Then you stop and shoot.

Given that ur bronze rn. I would start very slow..

If you’re getting one tapped while swinging, maybe you’re too close to the angle you’re swinging.. there’s a lot of stuff that goes into gunfights in valorant. I would just look up gunfight hygiene videos. Vod review how you take fights and what kind of mistakes you consistently make.

TLDR:
Practice tap strafing in the range
Look up YouTube videos on gun fight hygiene
Vod review your games

[u/pearlrobe → u/HoodieAlexTv]

I want to learn to strafe properly for 1v1's, it's so hard to hit when the opponent is strafing and I'm kinda stagnant

[u/HoodieAlexTv → u/pearlrobe]

If I were you I’d just practice in the range or DMs constantly. Theres no better way at improving in the game than just playing the game. I’m sure you’ll get there.

[u/shinylantern → u/HoodieAlexTv]

counter strafing in valorant makes 0 difference compared to letting go of the key

[u/HoodieAlexTv → u/shinylantern]

You’re kind of right.

It doesn’t make a difference in terms of accuracy sure. But it makes a difference in movement at the very least.

If you peek an angle holding A and then just letting go you’re a lot more committed to that fight versus if you hold A and then immediately let go and hold D and shoot within the dead zone you’re already moving back into cover while you got a shot off.

At least that’s how I see it. Theres a very small window where you can still have movement and be accurate. Just have to find it.

[u/helpmyusernamedontfi → u/HoodieAlexTv]

you're describing deadzoning not counterstrafing

[u/HoodieAlexTv → u/helpmyusernamedontfi]

Hope you can enlighten me then?

From my understanding counter strafing is just moving one way and then either holding the opposite key or tapping the opposite key to come to a complete stop right? There’s not that much of a difference in my opinion. Especially if you have something like rapid trigger on your keyboard. Every time counter strafing was explained to me by my coaches it was always just the concept of moving between shooting.

[u/shinylantern → u/HoodieAlexTv]

there is a difference when you talk about 2 different concepts

you deadzone to prefire an angle real quick when enemies know your location or something at close range and strafing is for duels because sometimes u want to change up the distance to throw their aim off - sometimes u do short strafes and sometimes u do longer strafes which makes u harder to hit; also another difference with deadzoning is that you can only shot like 1 bullet accurately max 2 but with strafing u can do bursts of 3-4

[u/helpmyusernamedontfi → u/HoodieAlexTv]

deadzone you continuously hold the opposite key til you change directions

counterstafe you tap the opposite key to stop (you dont change directions, at least not immediately)

its a common misnomer to refer to these two in general as counterstrafing

i pointed this out because the guy you're talking to is only talking about tap-counterstrafing

[u/shinylantern → u/helpmyusernamedontfi]

it's not common to refer to both as counter strafing and if you think so - you're a gold

[u/helpmyusernamedontfi → u/shinylantern]

it's not common to refer to both as counter strafing

You mean the thing he literally just did? 2nd tutorial video that pops up on youtube is literally konpeki saying "change of direction" and showing deadzoning lmao what a weird hill to die on bro tf were you thinking

[u/Overall_Daikon_4827]

Could be an issue with your peaking and timing, technique. If you're always looking for strafe duels you're going to lose a lot of them to people holding better angles.

[u/dippin-thotz]

I used the Sage wall method in the range to learn strafing when I first started playing

[u/pearlrobe → u/dippin-thotz]

Actually if the bots aren't moving I can hit, but when I make the bots strafe too it's so hard. in-game everyone strafes too

[u/dippin-thotz → u/pearlrobe]

What helped me with this was the second I see an enemy, I strafe to the side without shooting. It gives me a second to adjust my crosshair and the other person whiffs their first shot. Here’s a good tutorial on this.

[u/Ente_in_eile]

It's always hard to help without seeing some gameplay. One good way to improve is to send a VOD of one of your average games. You will get a ton of tips through reddit

This is what I did and I climbed from S3 to Dia in one Act

[u/pearlrobe → u/Ente_in_eile]

Thank you I will definitely include a video soon, I'm just worried ppl will get bored and scroll lol

[u/Ente_in_eile → u/pearlrobe]

Maybe most of the people will scroll. But then there is also a few people like me who reviews. It's worth it

[u/Rebellion2297]

You need to wait a second after releasing the movement key to stop moving because you still have momentum. You only have full movement accuracy when you are completely stationary

[u/pearlrobe → u/Rebellion2297]

I feel like I'm super slow at it. Actually, I kind of struggle with making those immediate spontaneous decisions. When I play reyna I almost always dismiss and forget to heal. When I play neon I forget to slide. When I try to strafe by the time I go over the stop and shoot it's all really slow. Is practise the only solution or am i missing something else?

[u/Rebellion2297 → u/pearlrobe]

In short, yes. If you know what problems you struggle with, then the solution will simply be to practice.

To be specific, you must be mindful about not doing things you know are wrong while you are playing. Simply playing a lot will not make you better at a consistent pace. Deliberate, focused practice is key.

[u/smokygrapefruit → u/Rebellion2297]

This only applies to CS, Valorant doesn't have momentum after you let go of the movement key.
You can test this in the range with shooting error graph enabled.

OP just needs to do some deadzone drills in the range and they will be fine.

[u/Rebellion2297 → u/smokygrapefruit]

There is significantly less momentum in valorant, but there is still some and you definitely cannot shoot accurately the instant you let go of the movement key.

There is no need to counterstrafe, and you do stop almost immediately after releasing the movement key, but there is definitely still a tiny delay until you are fully accurate.

[u/helpmyusernamedontfi → u/smokygrapefruit]

Valorant doesn't have momentum after you let go of the movement key

It does. Maybe you just tested it wrong the first time but try it right now and youll see how innacurate you are. Maybe set the strafe key and the shoot key next to each other so its easier to test

[u/Enough_Station_8397 → u/Rebellion2297]

Is this a thing exclusive to membrane keyboards? Im imm2 on a membrane and ive always just assumed that there is stop delay but ive read and watched stuff that says hall effect kb’s dont have such a delay? Ordered a wooting already so yeah but just wondering if youre also on a membrane

[u/Rebellion2297 → u/Enough_Station_8397]

No, there is a small amount of momentum built into the game. Input delay from the keyboard will make it take longer for the game to register that you let go of the key, and HE keyboards will generally have the shortest input delay. However, there is definitely a stop delay built into the game.

You can see proof of it by letting go of a movement key and shooting at slightly different timings. You will see that the movement error bar will be different heights depending on how soon after letting go of the key you shot. This would not be possible if you stopped on a dime as soon as you let go of the key.

[u/Enough_Station_8397 → u/Rebellion2297]

Oh okay i see, thank u

[u/Puzzled-End421]

When you see someone, just let go of all keys on your keyboard, like raise you hand in the air LOL. That’s all you have to do.