My problem with aiming?

[TheCactusDuck]

Hello, I got Splatoon 2 the day after it's release and I've been playing it fairly casually (150 hours) and I would like to get into playing it a bit more. I've found that I've been having a pretty big problem (according to most things I've read) with aiming and I can't seem to break my habit.

First of all, back when I was new, I didn't play motion controls and couldn't aim... like at all. After doing some research, I found that it was best to play with motion controls and I switched to doing that. I still wasn't great at aiming but I kept practicing and became... slightly better... but I was developing a bad habit which I didn't realize until later.

Around November, I still wasn't great at aiming, I had jumped from the Tri-Slosher to the Octobrush when the Tri-Slosher was nerfed and was realizing that I should probably start practicing something that wasn't really easy and over-powered. I decided that I would try to figure out how to aim and in doing so I realized that I was essentially just using the motion controls and wasn't using the stick at all. I decided that I should try and stop that by practicing on the dummies although I ended out just going back to full motion controls in games.

Now I'm here, I've actually gotten half-decent at aiming with just motion controls but I don't think I would be able to improve any further without using the stick in combination with it. I was wondering if there was anything that I should try to quit doing this or if it's somehow okay to do what I'm doing (although everything I've ever read has said that, when using motion controls, it's best to use a combination of the stick and motion). I hope that eventually I can get out of A but I can't see it happening with what I currently have going on. Thanks!

 

[RelicRaider]

Well if you’re mastering motion controls that’s a good thing! Yes, it is better to use the stick so you can reposition more easily, but if you had to choose between all motion and all stick, all stick is better, definitely.

Firstly, check your sensitivity, whilst it’s different for different people, see if you can push it all the way up to +5, especially if you want to focus on just motion controls, because then you can get the most movement out of your motions.

The good thing about this game is you can set your stick sensitivity and your motion controls sensitivity to different levels, so you could always play about with low stick sensitivities to make yourself feel comfortable with it without changing the motion controls.

As for weapons I’d recommend to get you used to a combination of stick and motion, I’d say rollers for one, because often times jumping into combat with the vertical flick requires you to rapidly change your aim angle as the foe moves, so you can Splat them directly, and often times that requires a movement of the sticks as well as motion.

I’d also say the Vanilla, or Luna Blaster as a kind of tough love strategy, because often times you catch someone in your peripheral vision and have to move the stick to focus on them before shooting, and as a blaster is often a one shot, if you miss, you’re dead. Tough strategy and it may not work for everyone but if you want to force yourself to learn, this is a good way.

I guess the Jr would be a good weapon to practice the stick controls too because you don’t have to be too accurate, at least shooterwise, just close, so as long as you move stick wise to the general direction of the enemy, your motion controls can do the rest to get the kill.


Hope this helps.

 

[Jayy]

To build off this post, I have a question.

I too was struggling with motions initially because this is the first game I’ve played that heavily relied on it. So as I became better it got much more smoothe.

My only concern now is my habit to often times overshoot/undershoot my target when attempting to snap my reticle to the target. As in I’ll whip the aimer to their position but I’ll either not quite get there or overcompensate and whip past them.

Is there something I can practice for this? Do I need to alter my sensitivity a bit? Or is this just a byproduct of a moving target and a motion based aim?

 

[zzmorg82]

My only concern now is my habit to often times overshoot/undershoot my target when attempting to snap my reticle to the target. As in I’ll whip the aimer to their position but I’ll either not quite get there or overcompensate and whip past them.

Is there something I can practice for this? Do I need to alter my sensitivity a bit? Or is this just a byproduct of a moving target and a motion based aim?

It’s definitely a sensitivity situation; try lowering it a notch or two.

 

[Kidnacho]

From my personal experience, I feel the best way to aim is only motion for up and down and mostly if not only stick for left and right. Splatoon is the first shooter I've ever played and I used motion from the beginning. However, back then, on the Wii U, -5 sensitivity was the best I could aim with since any and everything above was too fast for me. But that didn't slow me down and I quickly got really good at the game with decent aim. So definitely start off with slow sensitivity. Because of Splatoon 1 I can now play on +3 or 4 in Splatoon 2.
For the stick, because it's below the buttons, I just position my thumb so that I can easily press ABXY while hovering over the R stick to turn the camera left and right. Coming to Splatoon 2 being used to the Splatoon 1 controls, I wasn't sure how I was going to make it work, but it surprisingly felt natural to hover my thumb over the R stick and turn the camera it if and when I need to with little to no thought. Plus, it doesn't hurt.
Admittedly, these controls might not be for everyone, but it's what works for me. And it didn't take me long to get used to.