The Importance of Finding a Perfect Sensitivity
It would be quite an understatement to say that sensitivity is an important factor in CS2. In fact, it’s the key factor that makes or breaks your aim. While you could just find a comfortable enough sensitivity and stick to it, there is a better, more optimal way of finding your perfect sens.
A perfect sensitivity makes aiming more natural to you. It fits your muscle memory, making even tiny adjustments feel easy. On top of that, the perfect sensitivity will bear the fruits of your aim training quickly.
With that said, how does one find their perfect sens? Well, there is a tried and tested method, used by many pros and gamers to find their ideal sensitivity. In this article, we will be going over this method and helping you find your perfect sensitivity in CS2.
Introduction to Sensitivity and eDPI
Most people, if not all, are familiar with what sensitivity is. It’s a part of all shooters and has been an integral factor in your aim. But, before we go into depth on finding your perfect sens, let’s review some key concepts on what sensitivity and, more importantly, eDPI are.
Sensitivity
To put it simply, sensitivity refers to how quickly your crosshair moves in-game in response to your mouse movement. A higher sens would mean your crosshair will move very quickly across the screen with even the slightest mouse movement. It would be the reverse for lower sensitivity.
For CS2, there are two key sensitivities that you should be aware of— in-game sensitivity and Windows sensitivity.
In-game sensitivity, as the name suggests, is the sensitivity slider in your CS2’s settings. This is the one we will be tinkering with to find a sensitivity for you. On the other hand, Windows sensitivity is the sensitivity slider in Windows Settings. Ideally, it should be set to six (drag the slider to the start and then press the right arrow key six times) with Enhance Pointer Precision Box unchecked.
eDPI
DPI (Dots per inch) is quite a common term that’s thrown around in the gaming world. It’s basically a measurement of how sensitive your mouse is. Most gaming mice allow you to change your DPI with a button on the mouse or through its software. However, DPI does not take into account CS2’s in-game sensitivity. For this purpose, eDPI (Effective Dots per inch) is used. It’s a standard way of comparing sensitivities among players. Here is how you can calculate your eDPI.
eDPI = Mouse DPI x in-game sensitivity
For example, if we use 800 dpi and 0.5 in-game sens, the eDPI will be 400. Consider another sensitivity: 0.33 in-game and 1200 DPI; the eDPI will be 400 as well. This proves that even if the DPI and in-game sens are different, if the eDPI is the same the sensitivity is also the same.
Determining Your Base Sensitivity
Finding the perfect sensitivity takes a lot of trial and error. However, we can make this a tad bit faster by choosing a good base sensitivity and then tweaking it to our preference. In this case, when it comes to a good foundational sensitivity, the pros are the first choice.
After research and some calculations, the average pro eDPI lies in-between 600-1200. If we average that out it comes down to 900. This is what you can use as a base sensitivity, it’s a good balance of high and low sensitivity and we can further tweak it.
The problem is you can’t just input eDPI into CS2, there is no option for that. First, you have to convert it into an in-game sens. To do this, all you need is your mouse’s DPI. Divide the eDPI (900) with your mouse DPI and you will get an in-game sensitivity.
In-game sens = eDPI / Mouse DPI
For the sake of this example, we will be using 1.125 in-game sensitivity with 800 DPI. Further calculations will be based on this sensitivity. We recommend using this same sensitivity, as it’s close to the average pro sens. However, if you already have good sensitivity, you can use that as well.
Steps to Finding Your Perfect Sensitivity
Most players reading this, already have a good sensitivity. However, if you are here chances are you think that it can be tweaked more. This is what this step is all about. First, pick a base sensitivity, we chose 1.125, feel free to choose your current sens as this.
Step 0: Calculating the High, Low, and Mid Sensitivities
From the base sensitivity (1.125), two new sensitivities are calculated, a high sens and a low sens. The high sensitivity is calculated by multiplying the base sensitivity (1.125) by 1.5. For the lower sensitivity, you divide the base by 2. The following are the mathematical formulas for this.
Lower Sensitivity = Base Sensitivity x 0.5
High Sensitivity = Base Sensitivity x 1.5
After this, you will have exactly three sensitivities, a base, a lower and a higher. From this point, the process of elimination begins. Let’s use our calculated base sensitivity as an example and follow the process.
| Low | Base | High |
|---|---|---|
| 0.5625 | 1.125 | 1.6875 |
Step 1: How to Test the Sensitivities
The next thing you need to do is test the three sensitivities and eliminate one. The testing procedure is comprised of three factors, flicks, tracking, and 180°movement.
First, hop into an aim training workshop map like AimBotz, for example. Here you will test the sensitivities for these factors. For flicks, it’s simple; just try to flick to the head of the bots. For tracking, put the crosshair on the bot’s head and then strafe left and right while keeping the crosshair there. Finally, for the 180°movement, try to turn around as fast as you can.
After performing these tests, you will naturally have one sens that you don’t like. This is a personal preference of course.
Step 2: Elimination and Calculating the New Sens
Once you have found the sensitivity you don’t like out of the three, you will remove it. After that, you will have two sensitivities. We will repeat the process of calculating the sensitivities again.
To do this, we will first add the remaining two sensitivities and then divide them by two. In our example, we removed the low sense. We will use the above process to calculate the new third sens. The process goes as (1.125 + 1.6876)/2 which gives us 1.4063, this will be our base sens now.
| Low | Base | High |
|---|---|---|
| 0.5625 | 1.125 | 1.6875 |
Step 3: Repetition
The steps to calculate the sensitivities remain the same from here on. You test the sensitivities, eliminate one, and then calculate again. It will take a few iterations for you to find the sens that you like. Moreover, as you keep repeating the low, base, and high sensitivities, they will get closer to each other. That’s the range where your perfect sensitivity lies.
Fine-Tuning Your Sensitivity
If you like your newfound sensitivity, then you can start practicing and playing with it. On the other hand, if it still does not feel quite there yet, you can increase or decrease it by a few decimals too. After all, sensitivity is a personal preference thing. Just make sure to stick to your sensitivity when you find it.
It’s tempting to keep trying different sensitivities. The funny thing is, it sometimes works too, you will start aiming better one day on a different sens and another day on a completely different sensitivity. However, this is not recommended as it will ruin your consistency in aiming. While slight tweaking is fine, do not make huge changes to your sensitivity unless you have a good reason to do so.
How to Get Used to Your New Sensitivity
After finding your perfect sensitivity, it’s time to get used to it. Because of the process of elimination, the sens should already feel comfortable for you. However, that does not mean that your aim will magically become good. Aim takes training and practice to improve, and no sensitivity can remove that step.
The simplest thing to do is start an AimBotzz training routine, it’s the easiest way to get used to the new sensitivity. Deathmatch is also a great way to improve your aim, it’s quick and quite fun too.
However, for those serious about CS2, we recommend a proper aim training program. Our Metronome Aim training program is a great starting point. It improves your aim through progressive overload, as you go through the course the tasks and routines become more difficult.
At the end of the day, good aim is only part of becoming a good CS2 player. There are a lot of factors that come into play as well, with movement and gamesense being some of them. However, having a good aim makes the journey to the higher ranks easier. And, a comfortable sens will help you improve your aim more efficiently.
