How to Perfect Your Aiming Technique in Third-Person Shooters

Let’s be real for a second. We’ve all been there—your character is locked in combat, you’re aiming down sights, but somehow you can’t seem to land that perfect shot. Your enemies are dancing around you like it’s the world’s most frustrating game of tag, and no matter how much you adjust your aim, it feels like you’re always just a little bit off. It’s enough to make you want to throw your controller through the TV. But trust me, you can get better at this, and with a few tweaks to your aiming technique, you’ll go from “I swear this game is rigged” to “I’m the one they fear now.”

In this article, I’ll walk you through my personal journey of learning how to aim in third-person shooters. Along the way, I’ll share some tricks that really helped me dial in my aim and, hopefully, save you from the headaches I’ve gone through. So, let’s dive in.

1. Understanding the Basics: Third-Person vs. First-Person Aiming

At first, I was like most people who played FPS games before jumping into third-person shooters. I was used to lining up my sights and firing, no sweat. But when I switched to games like Gears of War or The Division, the transition was rough. In third-person shooters, your perspective shifts significantly. Instead of aiming directly from the character’s eyes, you’re working with a camera positioned behind the character, which means a few things change in how you aim and position yourself.

The most noticeable difference? The angle of attack. In third-person shooters, you’re more likely to be peeking around corners or using cover, so you’re not always lining up shots in the way you might expect. This was a major adjustment for me. For example, in The Last of Us, there were so many moments where I had to quickly switch between peeking and firing, and it felt like the aiming system wasn’t quite as intuitive at first.

Tip: Don’t forget the importance of cover. Aiming while behind cover often requires you to adjust your camera angle to peek around corners. Make sure you’re always in a position where you have the best angle and range to hit your target.

2. Get Comfortable with the Camera

One of the biggest mistakes I made early on was neglecting the camera controls. In third-person shooters, the camera is your best friend (or worst enemy). When the camera’s not in the right place, it’s incredibly hard to line up shots, and you might end up getting shot from angles you didn’t even see coming. You can spend all day tweaking your aim sensitivity settings, but if your camera isn’t aligned well, you’re already starting off behind the eight ball.

It took me way too long to realize that I needed to spend time getting comfortable with how the camera moves, not just how I aim. The right camera angle can give you that extra edge when spotting enemies who might otherwise be out of view.

Tip: Play around with camera sensitivity settings. I personally found that a slightly lower camera sensitivity (around 30-40%) helped me make smaller, more controlled adjustments while aiming, especially when moving around tight spaces. This let me track enemies more easily.

3. Aim Assist: Friend or Foe?

When I first started playing Fortnite or Apex Legends, I didn’t even know aim assist was a thing. I was just shooting at whatever target popped up, and honestly, it wasn’t going well. After a while, I noticed that some of the better players seemed to get those “lucky” headshots all the time. Turns out, it wasn’t luck. It was aim assist.

For those of you who may not know, aim assist is a setting that slightly helps to correct your aim when targeting an enemy, making it easier to hit shots, especially on consoles. Now, don’t get me wrong—I’m not saying aim assist is a cheat or something. But it took me a little while to learn how to use it to my advantage.

Tip: Play around with the settings to see how much aim assist works for you. In Apex Legends, for instance, I found that a small amount of aim assist worked wonders when I was trying to land shots on moving targets. But on higher difficulty settings, I backed it off to increase the challenge.

4. Mastering Your Movement

Here’s a lesson I learned the hard way: you’re not a stationary target, so don’t act like one. I remember my first few hours in Gears of War, I’d run around like a headless chicken and wonder why I kept getting mowed down by players who were moving in and out of cover. I thought aiming was all about staying still and focusing on your reticle.

Big mistake. Your movement is just as important as your aiming.

What helped me was learning to incorporate movement with aiming. Instead of just running into open areas and firing at a stationary target, I started practicing things like strafing and shooting from cover. That way, I wasn’t just standing still like a sitting duck.

Tip: Get comfortable with shooting while moving. In Fortnite, I learned that I could often catch players off guard by strafing while firing, which made it harder for them to land shots on me.

5. Practice Your Tracking and Flick Shots

This is where I truly started to see improvement in my gameplay. As I got better at managing my camera angles and movements, I realized I needed to refine my precision. Tracking and flick shots became my main focus.

Tracking is the ability to follow a moving target, while flick shots are quick, precise movements to land a hit when an enemy suddenly appears. For a while, I was getting frustrated because I just couldn’t hit anything when enemies popped in and out of cover, or when they were darting around. What finally helped me was breaking down each situation and practicing individual techniques.

Tip: Try to practice tracking moving targets in a safe space (like Apex Legends‘ training area). Work on keeping your crosshair aimed just ahead of the target, and gradually reduce the amount of time it takes to track the target. For flick shots, start by targeting stationary objects, then slowly build up to moving targets.

6. Adjust Your Sensitivity Settings

Here’s something I messed up for far too long: I was stuck in “auto-pilot” mode with my sensitivity settings. I would set everything to max, thinking the faster I could turn and shoot, the better my aim would be. Spoiler alert: That’s not how it works.

The truth is, you don’t want your sensitivity to be so high that you’re constantly overcorrecting, but you also don’t want it to be so low that you’re sluggish with your shots. I found that a mid-range sensitivity (between 40-60%) worked best for me, giving me enough control without feeling too slow.

Tip: If you’re not sure about your sensitivity settings, lower it and gradually increase until it feels comfortable. Sometimes it’s about fine-tuning the little things.

7. Don’t Forget to Use the Environment

Here’s something that helped me make my shots way more accurate: using the environment around me. In games like The Division 2, cover is key. But I started noticing how I could use the geometry of the map to my advantage when aiming. By taking cover near obstacles or standing in higher ground, I was able to shoot more precisely, especially when enemies were trying to flank me.

Tip: Use environmental features like ledges or buildings to your advantage. Not only will they provide better protection, but they can also give you a better vantage point to line up shots more accurately.

Conclusion

Perfecting your aiming technique in third-person shooters isn’t a quick fix, but if you commit to refining your skills, you’ll start seeing results. There are a lot of factors to consider—from adjusting your camera angle to practicing your movement—but each of them contributes to making you a more formidable player.

I’m still working on it, but the progress I’ve made so far has been incredible. Remember: practice makes perfect, but smart practice makes the difference. Keep tweaking, stay patient, and eventually, you’ll see your aim go from “meh” to “spot on.”

Good luck out there! Keep grinding.

Quick Reference Table: Aiming Tips Recap

Tools for Practicing Aiming