What’s the best way to strafe?

I'm starting to practice strafing and finding it somewhat effective, but not as much as I'd like. But definitely have saved me some fights in diamond.

I'm just not sure which form of strafing is the best.

There's two types I do, short fast strafes and longer slower type strafes. Both seem a little inconsistent or maybe situational?

I get the most ankle breaking out of short fast strafes, it just totally mind fucks some people and they just can't hit me. But at the same time, I get merked the most hitting short fast strafes because my center mass doesn't really change that much. If you keep aiming straight you're still gonna land most of your bullets. So this form is like both extremes, but is harder for me to aim at other people while doing it.

I don't break ankles doing the longer strafes, but it is effective sometimes and it's much easier for me to aim at other people. Longer strafes don't really mind fuck people and they can catch up their aim in the direction you go. But it's so much easier to aim and shoot back at them. Feels more like the middle ground vs the faster strafe. Another downside is sometimes you eat a free 3 bullets when you strafe in the other direction since their aim is slightly behind you.

What's the best variation in your opinion?

I've gotten down dropshottinf which is pretty effective IF used correctly. If not, at higher levels of game play, you just give other people free headshots. Here's my tip for that: wait to use it. Don't use it early. Wait for them to hit their sweetspot of recoil control, then use it. It'll force them to aim again and they'll miss most of their shots. If you do it too early, their recoil control hasn't hit yet so they can easily and quickly change their aim if they have to. Don't do it too late either, or their recoil control will just laser you by the time you crouch.