What’re yours? I’m looking to try a new set up because I’d like to be able to play more dps but I tried jumping in with the same settings on supports and yeeeeah it didn’t end great.
I’ll also take some crosshairs settings for Ashe, Tracer, and Sombra in particular but any are welcome
what settings do u need for anyone?
my ashe, tracer, and som are all small dots but you could always use a small crosshair too
Optimal settings probably depend a lot on what you’re used to and which characters you like to play, particularly for choosing sensitivity curve. Linear is usually more intuitive for target tracking, but has less fine control for small changes at a given sensitivity setting than the “exponential” (it’s really quadratic, I’m 99% sure, x^2).
Lately I’ve been sitting on 69 sensitivity, I’ve variously used up to about 72 regularly. Widow and Ana have a higher than default zoom aim ratio, I don’t recall with certainty where I left it. Ashe I’m not sure what I did with her ratio if anything.
0 aim ease in, “exponential” curve.
100 aim assist, 0 window size, 100 aim assist ease in.
For projectile characters I sometimes cut the aim assist down to 90, so I don’t have to fight the assist as hard when leading shots.
Biggest thing is just going to be practicing something until you’re used to it; if you’re changing things a lot mid match or between matches to search for an “optimal” setting, odds are you’ll never quite settle into a comfortable groove.
On console I always have 100/100, with a variation of Hop3ful’s aim assist. The only difference is that I have my aim assist window at 80%.
As SupremeComm says, it’s important that you try a setting out for a reasonable time before changing it again. Nothing ever feels right immediately. Only make one change at a time, and give it at least a couple of hours before making another change.
Also, remember that it’s all highly subjective; your thumbs are not my thumbs. A setting which works for one person won’t work for another. It’s best to learn what each setting does and means, and figure out what will suit you best yourself, rather than just copying what someone else uses.
Sensitivity and ramp are the two most important settings, and they’re interactive; you might like one ramp with a low sensitivity and another ramp with a high sensitivity.
I recommend you try the different ramps first. They’re listed under “aim technique”.
Dual Zone is the default ramp and essentially gives you a simple two-speed arrangement, with slow turning for aim and then quite suddenly switching to fast turning for movement. This is similar to most other first-person and third-person console games. It’s particularly good for people who have trouble with fine motor control, though some people will find it is a bit limiting.
Exponential is the original OW ramp. It’s a hand-drawn curve created under advisement from one of the CoD teams. It is very similar to how CoD games handled about 10 years ago. The idea behind it is similar to Dual Zone, but the change from the slow to fast turning is more gradual. It’s a good all-rounder with no particular advantages or disadvantages. I recommend everyone start by testing this ramp first.
Linear ramp was added… well, pretty much just for me and other older players like me, who grew up used to console shooters before such things as input ramps and aim assist. I literally detailed it to Jeff himself, back on the old forums, and after a little back-and-forth, it was put into the game exactly as I requested. (Yeah, I’m quite proud of it.) It’s is exactly what the name says; a direct 1:1 control, just like old (up until early PS2) console shooters had and basically just like a PC mouse input is. The maximum and minimum speeds are technically the same as the other two ramps, but there is no switch or build-up between one and the other, which makes it feel faster. It’s a totally direct feel. This is great for oldies like me who grew up with it, and for ‘twitchy’ aimers who want the most responsive sticks for flick shots and the most accurate tracking. It does require the finest control, though, and most people will find it clumsy.
I recommend trying higher sensitivity settings with Dual Zone and Exponential, and low settings with Linear.
Horizontal & vertical sensitivity should be the same, if you want the most accurate and consistent tracking. The Overwatch default (and the default of most console shooters) is to make vertical movement slower than horizontal, but this will make it harder to aim at heroes like Pharah and Echo, and it makes diagonal movements really uneven. There’s not really any benefit to having different vertical and horizontal sensitivities.
Aim Ease In adjusts the deadzone and turns your input ramp into a more exponential ramp, making small stick movements less and less responsive. This is mostly useful to basically craft a custom ramp when used with the Linear Ramp input, if you like a direct feel but find the dead zone isn’t small enough. With the Dual Zone or Exponential ramps there’s not much point increasing the Aim Ease In, because those ramps are already much less responsive for the first half of the stick’s movement. I recommend starting with this setting on 0 and only increase it if you feel the dead zone isn’t large enough.
Aim assist strength is entirely personal taste. I like it turned off entirely; I find it actually makes my aim worse, as I like to ‘lead’ my shots while aim assist drags me backwards. Aim assist also causes your turning to slow down, which as a fan of direct input, I also do not like. Other people, however, can’t imagine ever playing a console shooter without aim assist at maximum. There’s no right or wrong, just whatever you feel you need. I recommend starting with it set to 50 and adjust from there.
Aim Assist Window size should almost always be set very low. A large window has a hard time following an individual target, and is more likely to shift back-and-forth between close targets. A small window means your aim assist won’t seem to kick in as often, but when it does kick in it’ll be more accurately locked-on to the target you want. I recommend starting with it at 20% and consider lowering it further. Increasing it anywhere beyond 50% is only recommended if you exclusively play characters who need to just spam areas indiscriminately, like lower-ranked Junkrat, Pharah, and Bastion. 50% is the same as Overwatch originally launched with. (When there was no setting to change it.)
Aim Assist Legacy Mode changes how the aim assist kicks in. With it off, the game will evaluate how well you are tracking a target, and not apply the aim assist slow-down or stickiness if you’re already tracking well manually. It will only apply aim assist if you’re being inconsistent. With Legacy Mode on, it will apply the slow-down any time your crosshairs are over an enemy, even if your stick inputs are already tracking perfectly well. Again, this is a matter of taste. Some people feel the Legacy style is more consistent because you always get the slow-down; other people feel the new style is more consistent because you don’t get any slow-down until you really need it. Try both for a day or two each.
Aim Assist Ease In simply alters how quickly the aim assist slow-down and stickiness kicks in. With Legacy Mode on it doesn’t make much difference; without Legacy, it defines how bad your manual tracking has to be before the game helps you out. Again, there’s no better or worse setting for this. Start at 50% and adjust from there.
Aim Smoothing takes your stick inputs from across a couple of frames and averages them out. A higher setting will make your aim wobble less, but it will make sudden inputs less responsive. Start with this on 0 and only increase it if you find you can’t smoothly look left, right, up and down. As long as you can at least do the basic four directions smoothly, there’s no need to delay your inputs with aim smoothing.
All the other settings are self-explanatory, inverting directions and accommodating left-handed players.
I don’t recommend having different settings for different characters, because consistency is the key to reliable aim and reactions.
I hope that understanding what the options do will help you work out your optimal settings.