When aim practice does not show up in your matches
You can track moving targets better in the Firing Range. Your recoil control at medium range has improved, too. Yet when you look at your match results, your damage is still lower than you expected.
Before adding another drill for even more distant targets, take a look at what you were doing during the match. You search for enemies, run toward gunfire, and arrive after the fight has ended. When you finally start shooting, you take heavy damage, and a teammate goes down while you are healing. That leaves very little time to use the aim you have practiced.
This article focuses on playing with a squad in battle royale: how you reach a fight, and what you do once you are involved. It is not a suggestion to stop checking where enemies are. It is an exercise in using the information you have to choose your next position with a realistic opportunity to shoot.
Damage is not the only way to contribute, either. Sometimes your squad needs to rotate to protect its placement, heal, revive someone, or provide covering fire for a retreat. Running off without your teammates to increase a number can undermine the very squad fights you were trying to improve.
Before damage, look at shooting opportunities and time spent in the fight
When reviewing your damage in a match, separate the opportunities to encounter enemies, the time you spend in positions where you can shoot, the shots you actually land, and whether you survive to attack again.
A phrase such as “time with enemies in view × accuracy” is easy to remember, but it is not a formula for calculating damage in the game. Weapons, range, hit location, and the opponent's condition also matter. Treat these as review points, not a calculation.
For example, perhaps you had only about 20 seconds of opportunities to shoot enemies in one match, while in another you repeatedly found useful sightlines. If you call both results “bad aim” without considering that difference, you will not know what to change. Shooting for longer does not guarantee a win, but you can distinguish too few opportunities from failing to land shots when opportunities were there.
Keep practicing long-range tracking and adjusting your aim-down-sights sensitivity if that helps. Alongside that practice, ask whether you were in a position to use it during the match.
Chasing gunfire, but always arriving late
You look for enemies. Spot them and run over. By the time you arrive, they have moved. You start searching again. Somehow, you are spending more time commuting to fights than actually fighting.
In matches like this, look beyond the current position of an enemy you spotted in the distance. Consider a route into the Ring, the way out of a building, or a bridge leading into the next area. Places the enemy might pass through can become options for your own next move.
It is risky to decide that an enemy will definitely take a particular route, though. They may choose another path, or a different squad may already be occupying the position. Check gunfire, visible enemies, pings, and the Ring as you move, and choose a route you can change if your prediction proves wrong.
Reading enemy movement does not mean rushing in without knowing where anyone is, or waiting on one road forever. It means using the information you have to develop your next options, then updating them along the way.
Use information from the drop and the opening moments to plan your first move
EA's official Ranked guide describes different drop systems. Use the information you can actually gather during the drop or the opening moments, according to the system in your match. When you have a chance to look around, check nearby squads as well as your landing spot. “One squad in the town on the right.” “Two farther back.” “I did not spot anyone dropping on the left.” Even that much gives your squad something to discuss at the start.
The important distinction is between “I did not see anyone” and “there is nobody there.” Information from the drop or the opening moments is incomplete, and opponents keep moving afterward. Remembering a number and a location does not make that information reliable indefinitely.
If your squad has gathered supplies in relative safety, consider whether to check the neighboring squad or take a position inside the Ring first. Even if a fight breaks out nearby, you can choose not to go if you lack ammo or healing supplies, your teammates are far away, or the route is dangerous.
Use pings or brief callouts to share what you saw and where you want to go. “I want to check the squad that landed on the right from this cover.” Explaining what you want to check, rather than only naming a destination, makes it easier for your teammates to move with you.
Set a cue to reassess looting. Ninety seconds is one practice example
You would prefer a weapon that feels a little better to use. You want a 2x optic. A little more ammo, a few more heals. Keep adding “just a little more,” and an opponent you could have fought nearby may be gone by the time you are ready.
As an exercise, choose a checkpoint, such as about 90 seconds after you start looting, and briefly consider your next action. Ninety seconds is neither an official standard nor a deadline that forces you to leave. It is a cue to reassess before looting stretches on without a deliberate decision.
Do you have a usable weapon and ammo? Can you heal? How much health and shield do you currently have? Are your teammates ready? Consider whether you have two weapons as part of checking whether you can join the fight you are considering at its likely range. You do not need to start a fight just because a timer says so when you are still unprepared.
Then decide whether to keep looking for supplies, check what is happening nearby, or rotate toward the Ring. The point is not to make looting the villain. It is to separate necessary preparation from wandering around looking for things out of habit.
Look at exits and retreat routes, not only the center of the gunfire
You hear gunfire and run straight toward it. When you arrive, the winning squad has finished healing, and another squad has already joined in. Your team ends up being the last uninvited guest at the party.
Before moving, consider not just where the fighting squads are, but where they could go afterward. A building exit, the far end of a zipline, a route toward the Ring, or a position overlooking the area from high ground: is there somewhere you can observe and shoot without running into the middle?
An exit or a high-ground position is not automatically advantageous. It may be difficult to use if you get shot while crossing to it, another squad is behind you, or you end up too far from your teammates. Plan the position you want to watch from together with the route your squad can use to retreat.
The same applies when you want to third-party a fight between other squads. Do not commit only because you heard shots. Check whether you can still arrive in time, whether your teammates can get there with you, and whether you can pull out if the fight drags on.
Reaching a position inside the Ring early does not automatically make it good
Getting to a position early where you can watch enemies coming in from outside the Ring is one way to create shooting opportunities without running around searching for opponents.
But if that position lacks cover, is exposed from several directions, or leaves your next rotation vulnerable to being blocked, waiting there can become uncomfortable. Look beyond whether you are inside the current Ring. Consider the area you can defend and the route you will use next.
If no enemies arrive, reconsider whether to keep waiting or move. A clear view is not the same as a position you can hold for a long time. Rather than choosing a spot simply because it is high up or inside the Ring, decide what you will watch from it and where you will go if it becomes dangerous.
If your squad's priority is placement, letting an opponent pass without shooting may also be a reasonable choice. Taking the opportunity to deal damage comes with the cost of revealing your position.
Before you shoot, choose the cover you will return to
As soon as an enemy appears, it is tempting to put your crosshair on them. First, check where you can retreat if they fire back. A rock, a wall, the corner of a building: even having a place nearby where you can break line of sight changes how you can take the fight.
Shoot, return to cover, check the enemy and your teammates, then reposition if necessary before looking again. Break the fight into these smaller steps. Compared with firing continuously in the open, taking heavy damage, and hiding for a long time, this can make it easier to create another opportunity to attack.
If you repeatedly peek the same window or the same side of a rock, an opponent may start holding that angle. Consider whether you can change your angle using another window, a nearby rock, or the other side of a door while keeping a route back.
This is not a fixed rule such as “move five meters after dealing 100 damage.” If the new spot is also being watched, or you expose yourself while moving, the change can be more dangerous. Even an angle you think the enemy is not watching offers no guarantee against return fire. Losing your escape route in the hunt for “free damage” is a poor trade.
Can you see the same enemy as your teammates? An off-angle can turn into isolation
Your teammate is shooting, but you are still moving. Or you have lost sight of the enemy and do not know where to aim. In these situations, there may be more to review about your position for joining the fight than about your individual accuracy.
You do not need to stack on exactly the same spot as your teammates. Viewing the same opponent from a slightly different angle can make it harder for them to hide behind a single piece of cover. But a wide flank that leaves you alone and beyond help can have the opposite effect.
This does not mean “a teammate is shooting, so I must shoot immediately.” If you are healing, out of ammo, or halfway through a dangerous crossing, communicate that. Sharing when you can rejoin makes it easier to coordinate the next move than forcing a peek and getting knocked.
EA's beginner guide also explains using pings to share enemy locations and movement plans. Keep it short: “I'm watching from here.” “Healing for a moment.” “Falling back to this cover.” Preparing to attack as a squad includes communicating what you can do right now, not just pinging enemies.
Do not cut back on healing. Plan how you will rejoin
Are you spending a long time hiding after every exchange? That is worth reviewing. But do not conclude that you should skip needed healing to increase your damage. If you go down, you lose future shooting opportunities and put more pressure on your teammates.
EA's practice guide also recommends using cover and healing. Alongside your remaining health and shield, check whether the enemy is closing in, whether you have cover, and whether a teammate can help. With the same health and shield remaining, one situation may let you heal safely while another makes staying where you are dangerous in itself.
- After taking heavy damage, break line of sight and return to a place where you can heal.
- If enemies are closing in, consider calling it out, moving, or buying time with available equipment and abilities.
- Even after taking only a little damage, do not force another peek from the same spot if an enemy is aiming at you.
- When a teammate creates an advantage, check that you are in a condition to join them before following up.
- If you are isolated, look for a way to regroup before getting greedy for one more shot.
Your opponents may reset while you heal, but they do not necessarily heal to full at the same time you do. What matters is not mechanically reducing how often you heal. It is reducing the damage you take beforehand and planning where you will rejoin afterward.
No 2x optic? Build around the range at which you can see clearly
Without a 2x optic, tracking distant enemies can be difficult. That does not mean you have to keep trading shots at a distance where you struggle to see them.
At what range can you track an opponent with your current weapon and sight? Can you use cover to get that close? Or would it be better to watch the route they might take from a different position rather than closing the gap? First, look for ways to change where and at what distance you fight.
Of course, distance is not the only possible reason for poor visibility. In-game display settings and how familiar you are with the view can also affect how it feels. If you experiment with settings, avoid changing many at once. Use the Firing Range or a similar practice setting to check whether you can keep track of both your target and your surroundings. There is no single field of view or sensitivity that suits everyone.
It is too early to assume that an external zoom tool will solve the problem. Start by checking the visual adjustments available in the game, using resources such as EA's PC settings guide. Different ways of magnifying the image can also change what you see around it, so a larger enemy in the center should not be your only criterion.
Add just four notes beside your match results
When reviewing your next match, jot down a few notes alongside your total damage. You do not need to fill out a detailed spreadsheet every time. Whatever you remember is enough.
- How long did it take before you first got involved in a fight?
- How many times did you actually participate in an exchange of fire?
- What were you doing while your teammates were shooting?
- Was your time without shooting spent on necessary healing and movement, or on hesitation and losing track of enemies?
A first engagement after three to five minutes, or only one or two exchanges, does not by itself make a match bad. It depends on your landing location, your squad's situation, and your goals for the match. But if, under similar conditions, you keep finding that you looted for a long time and never encountered anyone, you can experiment with thinking about your next move earlier.
Conversely, if you repeatedly get to shoot from favorable positions but cannot land your shots, that is a reason to work on your aim or your choice of engagement range. Do not count necessary healing as wasted time. Choose one situation you might be able to change.
Try one focus per match across three matches
Changing everything at once can leave you overloaded during a fight. For practice, try the following three exercises in separate matches. This is a small routine for getting used to reviewing your play, not a test that proves improvement in three matches.
Match one: Use drop or opening information in one discussion about where to move
One squad on the right, two farther back, nobody spotted on the left. Remember what you could actually confirm with the drop system in your match, and share it with your teammates. Before the next move, check whether that information still seems useful and consider your options. The goal is to separate what you know from what remains unknown, rather than forcing yourself to identify three locations.
Match two: Give your opening loot phase a review point
At around 90 seconds, for example, ask: “What are we still missing?” “Can my teammates move?” “Where should we check next?” Keep looting if you are not ready; move earlier if staying is dangerous. Review whether you chose your next action deliberately, rather than whether you obeyed the timer.
Match three: Before moving toward gunfire, choose a viewing position and a retreat route
Consider a building exit, a path toward the Ring, or high ground, and check whether you can reach it safely and arrive at the same time as your teammates. Do not define success simply as reaching an exit first. Deciding not to approach when the situation is poor belongs in the exercise, too.
Afterward, ask: “Did I create one opportunity to shoot?” “Did I skip any healing I actually needed?” “Did I get too far from my teammates?” Even if your damage does not increase, knowing where you missed an opportunity gives you something concrete to try next.
Turn long explanations into short in-game cues
You cannot reread this article from the top in the middle of a match. A few short reminders are enough.
- Do not just chase gunfire; look at the next route.
- Before shooting, choose your cover to return to.
- Take another angle, but stay within reach of help.
- Without a 2x, work with the range you can see clearly.
- Review damage taken and how you rejoin, rather than cutting healing.
If you use a motto such as “Don't chase enemies; get in their path,” do not take it to mean you should stop scouting. Confirm where enemies are and use that information to choose your next position. Remember the whole idea, not just the slogan.
More time to shoot starts with what you do before and after
Sometimes aim really is the reason your damage is low. But if you find enemies without reaching a position to shoot, spend a long time out of the fight after taking damage, or cannot join your teammates in time, there is room to improve elsewhere as well.
Use opening information. Pause to think during looting. Look at exits as well as the center of the gunfire. Keep somewhere to return to after shooting. Coordinate when you join the fight with your teammates.
These habits are not about forcing yourself to keep firing. They are about creating more situations where you can shoot when needed and survive to make the next decision.
In your next match, before adjusting your sensitivity one more time, look for just one moment when you missed a chance to shoot. Start there, and give the aim you developed in practice more time to work.
