Tips for a new PC player?

Hi, I just started playing on PC instead of console, and it’s really hard to get used to the game. Does anyone have some useful tips? It feels like I need to learn to walk all over again.

The transition can feel awkward, no doubt there. I transitioned to PC games by first playing Minecraft honestly (this was back in 2013). Its a game that is low-pressure but uses a similar key mapping system to that of Overwatch.

  • In the meantime, try to keep everything at default settings first (including mouse sensativity). As you become familar, try changing controls to more comfortable controls. In general I like to have Left Shift (Ability 1) binded to my wheel/middle click button, and I have Melee binded to Mouse 4 (the upper thumb button for most gaming mice). I swapped both X and V as I found I would spam my voice line button when I try to walk backwards. If a hero doesn’t have a right click, try binding the most logical ability or their Melee to it as well.
  • When using WASD, think of A as side stepping left and D for side stepping right rather than moving right or moving left. You dictate direction primary through your mouse and in time it will become natural to make turns left and right using a combination of A, W, and D while also turning your mouse at the same time. This is what makes keyboard and mouse more fluent in controls versus that of gamepads.
  • Make sure you are using a very adequate mouse pad, the bigger the better. I use the really cool full desk mouse pads, like the Hearthstone and BlizzCon pads found on the Blizzard Gear Store.
  • In time, think about slowly lowering your sensitivity on your mouse, but don’t do this in sudden intervals. The lower the sensitivity, the more accurate you can control your aim. This is done in a combination of lowering the in-game sensitivity and the DPI setting of your mouse.

There are advanced tips in my technical performance guide here as well:

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WASD is the most difficult part, it takes some weeks to get used to it. The mouse aiming is better than the console and adaptation is faster, just need to find a good mouse sensitivity for your arm/wrist aim that fits your mousepad and a good crosshead.

Also bind the E and Shift abilities to the mouse wheel. Winston, for example, I get my bubble on scroll backwards and jump on scroll forward, it feels better than pressing E or Shift on your keyboard, at least until you learn WASD.

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get use to ur settings, like mouse sens. see if u move ur arm more (arm player-temd to have lower sens) or wrist (wrist player-tend to have higher sens.)

and i think the biggest factor that is unspoken a lot of the time is getting use/finding a comfortable position on ur desk and chair. like when ever i play on anything on someone else’s setup or when i moved my PC (new table and all) i immediately did a lot worse.

Well, it basically is since you’re lacking the muscle memory. This will only improve over time and a lot of matches played.

However, to give some advices a bit out of the ordinary, especially for movement:

-Start an empty lobby, swap to Lucio and just wallride around. At first, try to stick to walls as long as possible, while traversing over the map. After you get that done consistently, try to keep your momentum as long as possible.

Can be done on any map, but Route 66, Junkertown or Numbani are great to practice this.

-Join a custom Hanamura parkour lobby. You not only practice your basic mechanics, but specific hero mechanics on pc as well.

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Get familiar with the setup and controlls

Goofing around can help you without having to fight.

Ai can help too.
But i’d recommend custom games. Or practice range.

Edit: some custom games help you practice specific things later, like already mentioned parcours. Aim arena or more aim practice areas,

Workshops can help you try really specific things, like how exactly shatter behaves etc.

Friends help a ton.
Like, ask your friends to go hitscan and you try to deflect.
Just a example.

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WyomingMist recommends Minecraft, but I’d suggest using a fast paced single-player FPS as your training wheels. 2016’s DOOM is a good place to start - it encourages you to keep moving as you fight, so you’ll adapt to the basics of keyboard and mouse controls pretty fast. (A good, cheaper alternative is one of the Unreal Tournament titles through Good Old Games.)

Once you’ve started to build up your muscle memory and jumped back into Overwatch, you can try playing some of the less mechanically-demanding heroes that will still make use of your console-based gamesense: Reinhardt, Winston, Junkrat, etc.

Check sensibility of your mouse first when your confortable to aim, it’s the first thing you must do. Test it in practice room or versus bot.

144 hz monitor doo it

Thank you all! I’ll keep practicing my movement, and try to improve little by little :slight_smile: