Paintball Like a Pro: 5 Tactical Tips

Paintballers gear up for a match. (Credit: Adventure Sports UK)

Remember What's Important: We know about some of the flashy paintball gear out on the market, and although some of it is undeniably cool -- looks don't make a great paintballer. No matter how badass you look on the battlefield, nothing trumps a skillful performance. Read on for five tactical tips to consider, so you can learn to paintball like a pro. Shop Paintball Guns on Amazon 1. Maintain Your Equipment Properly You definitely don't want things like dirt and broken paintballs to hurt your performance. A damaged or leaking paintball in the barrel of your gun can cause a major decrease in your shooting accuracy; and that's if you're lucky -- it could prevent your gun from firing at all! Keeping your hopper dry, clean, and free of paint can help a great deal with preventing gun jams and other malfunctions. It's best to have a look after each game or practice session. 2. Be Aware of the Battlefield Always know where the nearest cover is located. You don't want to be caught unprepared and out in the open. Many of the tactics that apply to a real-life combat scenario can apply here as well. Military tactics aren't a bad thing to study if you want to improve your presence on the battlefield, avoid being a target, and really paintball like a pro. Likewise, you should try to be aware of your teammates' locations at all times. Friendly fire is not something you want to be known for. 3. Choose Your Paintball Headwear Wisely This can be a matter of personal preference, but it can sometimes also be a matter of combat effectiveness. You want to find a workable balance between protecting yourself (a hit in the back of the head or neck can be very painful) and allowing your head to breathe. Sweating too much can cause your eye protection to mist up and affect your shooting performance and situational awareness. A dark or neutral colored hoodie is a popular choice, as it can be taken up or down easily, and the space between the material and body can lessen an impact to the back of the neck reasonably well. 4. Consider Your Firing Speed Most paintball guns are semi-automatic, meaning the trigger must return to the forward position before it can fire a second time. Rapidly pulling the trigger and firing in a burst can take some of the guesswork out of timing your shot. On the flip-side, there is no point in launching a barrage of paintballs at your target if none of them connect. Although rapid-firing can look very intimidating to an opposing team, it is a bit more difficult. Finding a balance is best done through practice, and learned through experience -- but both methods are perfectly valid and have their pros and cons. 5. Communicate Effectively It is important to have a commonly understood method of communicating with your teammates. If you're playing a pick-up game (or with strangers) it should be enough to simply shout out directions, or shout for help as needed. If you are playing in a tournament or in a more advanced setting with regular teammates, you may want to get creative and begin using code words for different maneuvers, or even hand signals! Just make sure everyone is on the same page and understands -- you don't want to cause confusion just for the sake of looking cool. Shop for Paintball Equipment on Amazon Back to Master Paintball Club Home