Daily Warmup – Season 2Daily Warmup – Season 2▋

Elevate your aim to the next level with Season 2 of The Aimbow Method™! Building upon the foundation of Season 1, this intermediate-level warmup helps to further enhance your precision, speed, and consistency in VALORANT, Counter-Strike & other precision-based tactical shooters.

A Quick Disclaimer

First off: The Aimbow Method™ is not magic. It will not instantly, magically upgrade your aim to professional levels. Improving your aim— like any skill— takes dedication, effort, consistent practice, and, most importantly: lots of time.

Second: My story is the exception, not the rule. Most people will not improve as fast as me, even if they follow the exact same routine. I was able to improve much quicker than average thanks to my prior experience in VALORANT and improved hand-eye coordination from years of tinkering with tech and IRL range practice with real firearms. Most of you reading this will either be brand new to VALORANT or have little experience, and thus will naturally take longer to improve.

Third: Your results will vary. There are many factors that contribute to the speed at which you improve and your maximum skill ceiling, including fine motor control, hand-eye coordination and average reaction time, just to name a few. The Aimbow Method™ is simply a tool to help guide your practice and provide structure to your warmup routine so you can achieve your goals more quickly.

Before You Begin

Before diving into the warmup routine, it's crucial to set yourself up for success. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• 🗓️ Consistency is key: To achieve the best possible results, complete this warmup routine every day, and always before every VALORANT session, even if you don't plan on playing ranked. Regular practice is essential for improvement.
• 📓 Track your progress: Consider keeping a journal or using an app to keep track of your raw scenario scores and any changes you notice in your aim. This can help you stay motivated by showing how far you've come over time.
• 👂 Listen to your body: Some mild discomfort is normal during the Breathing & Stretches portion of the warmup, especially when you're just starting out, but if you feel pain at any point during steps 3 through 5 or during actual gameplay, stop immediately and contact a healthcare professional.

Optional: Reaction Time

Remember: A cup of coffee (75–115mg caffeine) can decrease your reaction time by up to 40ms, and a good night's sleep can shave off an additional 30ms, but building healthy sleep habits and a maintaining a consistent sleep-wake cycle will improve not only your reaction time, but also your processing speed, cognitive function, and overall mental & physical well-being, all of which are crucial for improving your skills.

If you want to optimize your reaction time for an important match, make sure to get a good night's sleep and consider stepping outside for at least a few minutes and having a cup of coffee about half an hour before you start your warmup.

Step 1: Eye Tracking

This first step helps to warm up your eye muscles and improve your ability to quickly detect, switch to and track targets.

Hint: Play the video at regular (1x) speed; Try not to move your head during the exercise, like a field sobriety test.

Step 2: Breathing & Stretches

This step helps to relax your body and mind, increase blood flow to your muscles, and improve your overall focus and mental state before you start training your aim.

1. Eye Resting (20s)
   • Close your eyes
   • Take deep, rapid breaths in through your nose, out through your mouth— almost like hyperventilating
2. Blinking (20s)
   • Blink rapidly (3x-4x/sec)
3. Wrist Lock Rotation (15s)
   • Lock your wrists in front of you, fingers interlaced
   • Rotate wrists in all directions
4. Lumbric Stretch (20s)
   • Curve fingers down, tips of fingers touching top of palm
   • Apply extra pressure with other hand
   • Repeat for both hands, dominant hand first
5. Wrist Extensor Stretch
   • Step 1 (10s)
     • Extend arm, make a fist
     • Move fist up and down like ASL "yes"
   • Step 2 (20s)
     • Extend arm, make a flat fist pointed at yourself
     • Gently pull on back of palm with other hand
   • Repeat for both hands, dominant hand first

Step 3: Aim Training

Now for the fun part! Click the link below to download the Daily Warmup playlist for your preferred aim trainer, then get to work!

• Open in KovaaK’s Aim Trainer (coming soon)
• Open in AimLabs (Steam Workshop)

(psst. I recommend using KovaaK’s over AimLabs for a multitude of reasons, but using AimLabs won’t hurt your progression if you don’t have KovaaK’s yet or just prefer team teal.)

Step 4: The Range

Once you’ve completed the aim trainer playlist, open up VALORANT and head into the range. Don't queue up yet!

1. Jett Knives (2m30s)
   • Select Jett
   • Turn on Practice Bots with shields on and strafing off
   • Jump up onto the slightly elevated wooden surface on top of the bot controls
   • Repeatedly press and hold your jump key to jump up and glide down in place
   • Shoot the bots' heads (avoid hitting bodies or lower extremities) with your ultimate while gliding
   • Expect to be able to kill 2–3 bots per glide when first starting out, then work your way up to 6.
   • Important! Make sure you have at least one of your Jump binds set to spacebar (or another keyboard key), as you won't be able to glide with your scroll wheel
2. Iso Shield (2m30s)
   • Switch to Iso
   • Turn on Practice Bots with shields on and strafing off.
   • Go into the pit and position yourself on the left side (opposite the stairs)
   • Activate Double Tap (shield/condom/signature), then establish a rhythm of alternating between shooting bots and orbs in between small strafes
   • Around the 2 minute mark, start making your way around the front of the pit and over to the right side— while maintaining your rhythm— so you finish under the alcove when the timer ends (you set a timer, right?)

Step 5: Deathmatches

You’re in the home stretch! Before you hop into Competitive (or Swiftplay, I’m not here to judge), you’re going to get into the rhythm by warming up against real flesh-and-blood humans* in three or four Deathmatches, using a different weapon each game. This is where the isolated aim mechanics you just worked on— tapping, flicking, switching, micro-adjustments and tracking— come together to help you land clean shots on unpredictable moving targets that shoot back. Don’t stress about your placement; the goal here is reps and rhythm, not the scoreboard.

Deathmatch: Vandal-only

First up is (almost) everybody’s go-to pick on full-buy rounds. The Vandal is a great all-around rifle with decent first-shot accuracy,

Deathmatch: Phantom-only

Next up is the Vandal’s suppressor-equipped sibling, and the better teacher for everything that happens after the first bullet. The Phantom’s increased fire rate and less intense recoil make it the spray transfer queen— so this is the Deathmatch where you stop treating every kill as the end of the engagement.

Head-taps only! Don’t spray-n-pray.

Deathmatch: SMG-only (optional)

This one’s optional. If you have extra time or feel like you need some SMG practice, queue up Deathmatch #3 and buy a Spectre or Stinger (whichever you tend to use more) and, as with your first two Deathmatches, a backup Sheriff.

Burst it, don't spray it. Practice tapping and bursting in-between strafes from all distances, prioritizing aiming for the head over center-mass or lower extremities. (And maybe go for the occasional closeup run-n-gun if you feel like pissing off everyone in the lobby.) Both SMG options currently available, while best for short- to medium-range gunfights, can work as long-range weapons on light-buy rounds, but it takes practice, and you need to learn to prioritize tapping and bursting heads rather than spraying bodies if you want to counter a rifle.

Be prepared to bot-frag. Let’s face it: Unless you get super-duper-uber-wicked-lucky and land a Deathmatch where you can convince everyone else to agree to go SMG-only with you, you’re going to be facing off against Vandals, Phantoms, and the occasional Sheriff, Operator or Odin. Expect to finish 9th place or lower. If you find that you're getting tilted by seeing yourself at the bottom of the leaderboard, turn off the game UI or unbind your scoreboard key for the rest of the match.

Deathmatch: Sheriff-only

IMPORTANT: Even though Sheriff-only Deathmatches usually suck, don’t skip this one!

Lots of coaches and pro players will tell you something along the lines of “once you know your way around a Sheriff, you know every gun in the game”. And they’re right! (For the most part, at least.) Once you've achieved mastery over the Sheriff, you'll have a much easier time mastering VALORANT’s other sidearms and ranged weapons.

Aim for ze head! If you struggle with hitting head-taps, watch some Sheriff guides on "the YouTubes” and try the tips and tricks they suggest. Don't give up! It may take weeks or months to see results, but as long as you keep practicing, you will get better eventually!

Expect to bottom-frag. As with the optional SMG-only Deathmatch, unless you get super-duper-uber-wicked-lucky and land a lobby where you can convince everyone else to agree to go pistol-only, you’re going to be facing off against mostly Vandals and Phantoms (and the occasional ragebaiter on Odin). Expect to finish 9th place or lower. If you find that you're getting tilted by seeing yourself at the bottom of the leaderboard, turn off the game UI or unbind your scoreboard key for the rest of the match.