How to overcome panic attacks in OW?

I thought this post fits best in this forum: I have recently climbed to Diamond from 2700 SR mainly using Ashe as I have been enjoying her as a replacement of my old main Soldier. I feel like I am doing great with her landing good dynamites and hitting great shots, but an issue I have is panic which makes me miss a lot of easy shots in a period of time while panic moving.

An example of this is earlier today I was defending Rialto first point and stood on the high ground as Ashe, I did not know why but I kept panicking completely during the first part of that point where I kept missing shots, after respawning I noticed my accuracy was at 13% . My accuracy went back up to around 40% shortly after. We stopped the enemies right after second point. On attack it went pretty good and we got the payload to the point and won the game.

I am not sure if I still have that replay saved/available from earlier today, as I played quite a lot of Mystery Heroes and a few comp matches. But I would love to go back and record it if is still available.

My question is: Is there ways to overcome panic attacks like the one mentioned in the beginning of that match? It hits me quite frequently where I just completely loose control of my aim/thinking and just panic.

Here is a post + VOD I did a month ago when I was Platinum at 2700 SR, hope it can give you an idea of what I am talking about.

I remember watching your VOD and following your thread. Someone who is willing to post VODs got the right mindset for climbing so happy to see you made it to diamond!

People will probably say that it just comes with time and the more you play the more you get used to it. I’d say that the single most important thing and also the hardest thing is to just slow down your shots. When you feel the pressure and especially after you have missed a shot - tell yourself to wait just a split second before you take the next shot and focus on what you want to shot instead of just pulling the trigger.

I play a fair bit of KovaaK and find myself all the time missing 2 shots in a row simply because there seems to be some strange wiring in the brain that makes, after missing one shot, automatically try and correct the mistake but taking another shot straight after - which very often just misses as well.

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That is an honor to me! Thank you very much! =]

Everything you are describing here is On Point! Exactly the issue I am having where I miss a couple of shots start panicking and rushing shots which lead to even more misses. I will try my best to take it slower when that happens.

I do use Kovaak’s Aim Trainer as well, but I only have around 9 hours so far, I just dont find much time to use it when I can only get around 2 hours a day for gaming sadly =[

Thanks for the tips! =]

ya chew gum sounds dumb but you will be amazed at how much it calms you down in tense moments.

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That sounds very interesting. Will try that out!

Xanax

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sounds like a good way to guarantee i don’t care if i win or lose lol

Xanax and other benzos will slow you down considerably.

If someone has serious issues with a panic disorder, they should also consider a beta blocker, like propranolol

Prepare for the nightmares though. Jesus christ they come on strong.

or you could just try some good green but im biased.

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I lucked out and never got any real side effects from the propranolol. No dreams at least.

I did have some issues with dizziness at first, whenever I adjusted my dosage

That’s never been enough for me. It helps a bit, but just a bit

Good god man, meditate. Really. Meditate. Drop CBD, something.

Those are unhealthy stuff. Just do something psychoactive and use it as a tool for growth. CBD is non-psychoactive, legal in most states, and melts away anxiety.

I kid i truly don’t believe everyone should smoke. glad your beta blocker experience was okay though, ive heard of some scary side effects for a few.

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Like that one time I accidentally took two and my heart rate dropped to 35

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Oh yeah, you gotta be careful with dosages. I never really reached a dosage that truly fixed my anxiety issues because I couldn’t go past 200mg without being dizzy all day

had some heart rate scares in my life not fun. but hey at least your not stuck running your heart at like 120 on adderall every day, like some widows i’ve seen about to have their hearts pop ahah.

Go reeeeee and flame ur team, works for me

I suggest warming up with Aim Arena (a workshop mode, https://workshop.elohell.gg/QwyunVmhE/) or death match until your aim and movement feels locked in.