How do you stay consistent with Widowmaker?

General Discussion
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(Wow someone actually using the forums for what it’s intended for…)

Anyways, she’s one of my worst performing heroes. My ashe is decent as I was able to get out of gold with her. But with Widow, I’m lucky to hit a bodyshot, if that. I do widow FFAs but that only gets you so far. I just want to be that forum Widow everyone complains about.

Some of my settings, if it matters:

1200 DPI, 4 sensitivity
Zoom sensitivity is 30
Grapple hook is 70.

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I’m like you I played widow off an on for awhile but when Ashe came out I quit her cold turkey entirely.

Maybe you just better suited to ashe like I am. I could never really pop-off and won a below average amount of widow duels.

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I struggle with it myself. Sometimes you have a great game and feel like a god, and the other times, you feel like you couldn’t hit a Roadhog standing still. Different things enter into your thought processes, someone else has your number, you just get out of the proper mindset.

I think it’s best to slow it down, recognize what’s working and what’s not. Or maybe to just relax and let go of the analysis is better. Just…play. Let reflexes do what they do.

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  • Hitscan aim is more about your reflexes and reaction time, along with muscle memory. You have to be practicing a lot to build that muscle memory.
  • Always have your vision focused on enemies rather than your crosshairs.
  • Don’t let your conscience interfere with your subconscious aim. Think of it like catching a ball: you will have much more success catching it through natrual reflexes than trying to calculate its trajectory with your brain in the moment. The moment you start thinking consciously about how to land shots, you will notice your aim going down the gutter.
  • Since hitscan aim is about your natrual reflexes, your body has to be in top state if you want to perform the best you could. This includes quality sleep, nutrition, hydration, and body salts level. You should be laying off the inhibiting drugs like alcohol, and go easy on stimulants like caffiene (coffee or energy drinks) and nicotine (tobacco or vapes).
  • Realize that no matter how good you are, you just won’t hit every shot. Not even OWL pro Widows do. Getting hung up on that easy shot that you missed or the other one that could have won the teamfight will just ruin your mojo and things will only go downhill from there. Just forget about it and move on.
  • As with the above point, avoid playing when tilted at all costs. Usually your first sign is frustration. Stop there before you reach the point of screaming at your monitor, as it will eventually happen if you continue to play at this state.
1 Like
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not my coffee!!

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If you’re that consistently worse at widowmaker than ashe, it might be movement that’s getting to you. For starters, people will react differently to an ashe or a widow. They might even notice you earlier and start moving differently because of it. I personally find it almost impossible to hit someone who doesn’t know I’m there.

It could also be your own movement. Never underestimate how much you might rely on a certain pattern of movement to land shots. For example, many mccree players only fire at the end of one side of their a/d spam. The fact that you move so slowly, if at all, while scoped in might be what causes you to miss more shots. It’s not as likely, but it’s possible.

It could also be the relative zoom. I don’t know what the exact numbers are, but setting your relative zoom sens to something that’s as close to your normal sens might help. From what I know, since ashe zooms less, her relative zoom sens doesn’t have to change as drastically to be closer to your normal sens.

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My Ashe’s zoom is set to 51. I noticed I don’t miss shots as much vs 60. So thats a start.

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Well, I’m also an aspiring Widowmaker (I’m a 4k Genji main but this meta has me looking for new heros), and I’m not an expert, so don’t take my word as gospel, but I can give you a few tips.

  1. Don’t think it as solely an aim problem. Maybe your positioning isn’t allowing you to hit easy shots.
  2. Accept the fact that you’re going to be inconsistent. Fight through that time where you feel like you can’t aim, that’s where you’ll be doing learning.
  3. Play a lot of Widowmaker. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Don’t rely on Widow HS to make you good at Widow. If you really want to practice, do Aim FFA where there’s many characters for you to practice on, and it won’t build bad habits like only going for headshots. Otherwise, the best way to learn is with a good night’s sleep, plenty of practice on the ladder, and a follow up good night sleep.
  4. Aim comes naturally. There’s no shortcuts to it. If you become a better player, you will also a become a better aimer. Focus on other parts of your game, and it will come to you.
  5. Check out ioStux on YouTube. He has the best guide to learning aiming, in a series of videos that’s about 20 long.
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I’ve seen one of his videos before. I’ll revisit.