Routines

A routine is the specific set of scenarios you run in a session, in some order, for some length of time. This page covers how to assemble one.

• Warm up first. Start on easier, slower versions of your usual scenarios.
• Build the focus block around your weakest subcategory. Pick it from a benchmark or your own results, not a feeling.
• End with a review. A replay or stat screen turns reps into feedback.
• Change it when it stops teaching you. Not on a fixed schedule.

Practice Principles covers why deliberate, weakness-targeted practice beats just logging hours.

Explanation¶

Warm-up. Repetitive mouse movement and a long static posture accumulate strain on the same joints and tendons over a session.

Aimlabs argues a short stretch or warm-up belongs inside the routine itself, rather than sitting outside it.¹

In practice, start on an easier, slower version of your usual scenarios, instead of jumping straight into your hardest setting cold.

Focus block. This is the main part of the session. Pick scenarios because Benchmarks or your own results point to them as your current weakest subcategory.

Run them at a difficulty where your technique holds up, not one you can barely survive. See Practice Principles.

Review. Close a session by looking back at what happened: a replay, a stat screen, or a couple of minutes of honest self-assessment. That turns a session into feedback you can act on, instead of just more repetitions.

Voltaic calls this self-critical review the "Learning Zone". It sets that against the "Performance Zone", the focused state you want when trying to perform. You can prioritize the Learning Zone whenever you are not performing, though some find switching between them inefficient.²

Session length. There's no single correct length. General motor-learning research favors several shorter sessions with real rest over one marathon session.

That holds both for how well a skill sticks and for how fatigue affects performance while training. See Practice Principles.

Aimlabs puts a solid daily playlist at 30 to 40 minutes, with warm-ups no longer than 10 to 15. Past that, it says, time in your own game does more for you.³

If your accuracy drops late in a session and stays down the next day, end sooner rather than push through.

Choosing scenarios for your weaknesses¶

Your weakest area is whichever Clicking, Tracking, or Switching subcategory scores lowest relative to the others on a benchmark. That's not necessarily the one that feels hardest in the moment. See Benchmarks.

Your own matches are the other place to look. Go back through fights you lost in replays or clips, and ask whether a decision or your mechanics lost each one. When it was mechanics, that tells you what to train in your next focus block.⁴

Build your focus block from scenarios in that subcategory. Keep at least a little time on the others, so a fixed weakness doesn't become a new one unnoticed. That's the variety-over-repetition point in Practice Principles.

Sometimes nothing in the subcategory isolates the exact thing you are losing. Making Your Own Scenario covers building one out of a scenario that already exists.

Using existing playlists¶

You don't need to build a routine from nothing. Both Voltaic and Revosect publish ready-made routines.

Voltaic splits its routines three ways:

• fundamental routines for general mouse control
• game-specific routines for the aiming your particular game relies on most
• weakness-specific routines, added to whichever of those you're already running⁵

Revosect covers similar ground: foundational and weakness-specific routines, plus separate game-specific playlists for a wide range of shooters.

Starting from one of these and adjusting it as you learn your weak points is a reasonable default. It works better than guessing at scenario selection from scratch.

How often to change a routine¶

Change a routine when it's stopped teaching you anything, not on a fixed schedule.

If you consistently hit a scenario cleanly at its current difficulty, raise the difficulty or use a harder scenario for the same weakness. Don't keep repeating a level you've already mastered. That's the progression logic in Practice Principles.

If a re-run benchmark shows your former weak subcategory has caught up with the others, rebuild the routine. Build it around whatever is now your lowest score.

Common mistakes¶

• Skipping the warm-up and going straight into your hardest scenarios. You then blame a rough start on lack of skill instead of a cold session.
• Building a routine entirely around scenarios you already enjoy or are already good at. That's the same score-chasing problem covered in Practice Principles.
• Never revisiting the routine once it's built, so it keeps targeting a weakness you've already fixed.

Do this next. Start from a ready-made routine by Voltaic or Revosect, and point its focus block at your weakest subcategory.

Related¶

• Practice Principles: the deliberate-practice reasoning behind focus blocks and session length.
• Benchmarks: how to find which subcategory to build a routine around.
• Aim Trainers: the software a routine runs in, and choosing one.
• Making Your Own Scenario: what to do when no existing scenario fits the weakness a routine targets.
• Testing a Scenario: where a scenario you built earns its place in a session.

Resources¶

• Voltaic: fundamental, game-specific, and weakness-specific routine library.
• Revosect: foundational and weakness-specific routines plus game-specific playlists.
• Guides: guides on building and running routines.

References¶