The truth behind the debate about whether crouching is good or not, and why it's so important.
Whether crouching is good or not is an everlasting debate that has been going on for a long time.
In a game like CSGO, crouching to spray was a pretty common thing to do in lower medals, and after almost 2 years of Valorant release it's safe to say that it's a method inherited from the rival FPS game.
In this article we will try to cover all the pros and cons of crouching and a final remark deciding if it's good, or not.
What do we gain or lose from crouching ?
Pros:
- Increased accuracy when shooting, which is more noticeable in longer range.
- You become a smaller target, effectively making you harder to hit.
Cons:
- It takes time for the accuracy to kick in, as crouching is not instant and has a small delay.
- Crouching makes you slower, which reduces possible actions when in a gunfight, and possibly making you stay in a fixed position.
- You can't shoulder peek while crouching.
Explanation behind this debate
When summing up everything, we can see that crouching, even thought at first, seems like a good thing to do, it isn't really that effective.
The majority of the players in Valorant aren't high rank, which is the same as in every other multiplayer game. Lower to medium rank players, or in Valorant terms, everything from Iron, and up to Gold, rarely have their aim set up high to go for the headshot when peaking or expecting someone from a corner.
So, if you are lower rank, you should probably crouch less, but as you progress in MMR and get better players you should start crouching because their aim will be at the right place and higher than the others.
The one thing that is guaranteed when crouching is the increase in accuracy, which is very highly noticeable on longer distances and will hit targets you would otherwise almost completely miss when standing. Still, the gains from the accuracy can be nullified if considered that crouching basically locks you up in a position, since you are a lot slower than when standing, and getting up from crouching takes at least a second.
The crouching mechanic
Since we agreed that crouching is a negative thing to do, let's talk about using this feature as an advantage, and begin to crouch in a smarter way.
If you're crouching mindlessly every fight without giving a thought to it, then unbinding the key and just practicing your shooting while standing is a good start.
Crouching as a mechanic is a vital thing to learn, and when mastered you will easily see a difference in your play style. To achieve this, you have to play smart, and start using crouching as a way to get INTO an angle or position that will suit u for that given moment.
Shooting a person who's moving can sometimes be tempting and hard to control, and we often times find ourself shooting way above their head trying to aim for that sweet one tap headshot.
After that initial round of missed bullets, it's totally okay to crouch to gain that relative accuracy boost in order to hit your shots.