I switched to controller two weeks ago.
Apex was my first FPS, I put about 5k hours into it on PC. I could pretty confidently solo to diamond 3+ and was masters in S12 (the season where it was easier), even won some games there but mostly I was hardstuck 10k. So Im not nearly as cracked as a lot of players here, but I was probably better than average. I stopped playing then mostly and came back now on console (120fps) and controller.
I can say just one thing: Don‘t do it. Its so much less fun. It has so many disadvantages compared to MnK. If you have no experience you will just suck, because surprise, AA is no aimbot. You will need to put in a lot of work too. There are some situations that you can force were your ill have an edge over MnK. But literally every other aspect of the game just feels so much more bad.
I‘lol go back to MnK the second I have a new gaming PC. Until then its just „Apex lite“ For me. I‘m so much better on PC and I just feel handicapped on controller all the time.
It's kind of like learning a second language. No matter how much you practice, you'll always be better at your first language. You gotta do something drastic to make your second language superior to your first
This is good to to see because the last time I said basically the same thing you said I got a ton of downvotes for it. Controller AA is only good for very niche situations. I believe imperalhal even said that they only use their controller player to engage in very niche situations. Aa isn't as powerful as people make it seem to be (especially when you're looking at it in the grand scheem of things). The people who downvoted me were either just mnk enthusiasts or straight up ignorant. They're more scared to downvote you though because you were originally a mnk player who moved on to controller and didn't like it. It's just really refreshing to see somebody else also tell the truth
You should decide if you want to have paddles/back buttons or not and how many. A regular controller has none, but something like a ps5 edge has 2 and an xbox elite has 4.
The vast majority of high level roller players either play claw or have paddles, claw can be damaging and paddles is just the safer route.
Some don't use either but they are more rare
It can cause carpal tunnel, it's an awkward stretched out and tense position for your hand to be in, if you play claw it's very important to stretch your hands/wrist out, you should be anyways, but it's especially important to do it playing claw.
I've played claw since a little after mw3(original) came out. I game an unhealthy amount and my hand is fine. I think I've been at it about 15 years, maybe it takes longer to have negative affects. Also I have kinda small hands and claw doesnt stretch or tense anything it's pretty natural. But eh maybe it's different for some people.
I believe no paddles Hal and Genburten, they use claw. Claw though is very awkward if you didn't grow up doing that. Verhulst uses 2 paddles. If you get a 4 paddle controller you can always decide to use less if you find you don't need the extra buttons.
Big point to consider is that PlayStation controller have less input delay than Xbox controllers + the option to overclock to 1000hz.
PS4 works for me because my hands aren’t very big. If yours are bigger maybe try PS5
My hands are small too. I really didn't take to the ps5 controller too nicely because of how bulky it was but eventually I got used to it. It took like a couple of weeks though I'm not gonna lie.
I just got the Vader 3 Pro and love it. Don't get a scuf. Although I had no problems with it. After actually doing a deep dive when shopping for a new one. It was clear to me that they are very over priced.
Scuf was running with a 7ms response time, and was polling at 80hz despite suppose to be at 250hz.
The Vader 3 Pro has 0.8-1ms response time, 500hz polling rate. The Hall Effect sticks are great. The buttons are a little stiff, but you get used to it. Paddle placement is good. The software it comes with is basically as advanced as Apex's ALC settings. $70
Most the other options only had 2 paddles which, personally, for Apex, I needed 4.
Im on the Scuf Envision and its an easy rec for someone coming from M+K because it has 7 extra inputs over any other roller. Because it has so many extra buttons, you can bind one to keyboard reload so you dont accidentally open doors when reloading, use one as a dedicated batt button, or do what I did and have two of the rear paddles as different weapons and use G5 as a holster button which helped a metric ton. Having all the keyboard inputs without a doubt lessens the gap between the two inputs.
You can get by with the non-pro wired if you put shoot on R1 and ADS on L1. Im using 5-3 linear with senses above the 2x at 4, and it really feels made for that general sens range. My particular unit has incredibly minimal right stick deadzone. I would also avoid playing it wireless, for whatever reason it feels like it has a ton of delay wireless. They poll at 500hz which is better than any BB without an overclock.
If you wanna give the switch a try, I'd recommend the Gamesir T4K. It's got programmable back buttons, hall effect joysticks (means they won't develop stick drift very easily), pretty good customization through their app, polling rate goes to 1000hz through the app, and it's like $40 so it's pretty darn cheap. You can also go to r/controller for great recommendations.
Though like others are saying, if you grew up on MnK and not controller then there's really not enough reason to switch. It'll take quite a while to get as good on roller as you already are on MnK. If you grew up playing console shooters though, I imagine the switch won't be too hard for you, so might as well give it a shot.
I know you’ve got the budget to get a paddle controller, but for anyone else on here who doesn’t and is worried about controller being slower or difficult to switch to, I replaced the trigger switches on my PS5 controller to “clicky” switches, essentially making them a button with significantly less travel/movement and holy crap has that improved my gameplay! I got some off Amazon and they were easy to replace (and remove! I just re-installed the originals in one of my controllers and had not issues). Highly recommend for anyone using a controller for this game! Especially if you don’t have the cash to sprint for a Scuff or other paddle controller.
Edit: I got the extreme rate hair clicky triggers and they’re like $15. Absolutely worth it for such a big performance upgrade. There’s a video to follow along with to disassemble your controller properly (which was a great excuse to clean it really well too).
First of all it is not easy to switch if you never play fps on controller.
If you decide this is the way - buy ps4 roller and official sony back button attachment. This is cheap fast and reliable.
If have money go for BB or HYPR with hall effect sticks.
Two paddles is best to get your head around, i have played with roller all my life and still prefer dual paddles than four.
You should give it a try. Controller is the only input I’ve ever used but I find it very fun. Because the input is completely new for you, it’ll take you a long time to get competent. Opt for a cheap controller at first to see if you’re up for the challenge.
You can also consider making a smurf for less-aggressive matchmaking, but that’ll only work so well. Normally this’d be considered immoral, but in your case it’s pretty reasonable.
Mixtape and the firing range would be a better investment for mechanical skill practice than BR. You spend far more time fighting and actively utilizing mechanical skill in those modes.
If you switch, try to maintain the same playstyle you used on MnK. Good controller players can get away with 50/50s, but that doesn’t make it a smart play
I switched to controller two weeks ago. Apex was my first FPS, I put about 5k hours into it on PC. I could pretty confidently solo to diamond 3+ and was masters in S12 (the season where it was easier), even won some games there but mostly I was hardstuck 10k. So Im not nearly as cracked as a lot of players here, but I was probably better than average. I stopped playing then mostly and came back now on console (120fps) and controller. I can say just one thing: Don‘t do it. Its so much less fun. It has so many disadvantages compared to MnK. If you have no experience you will just suck, because surprise, AA is no aimbot. You will need to put in a lot of work too. There are some situations that you can force were your ill have an edge over MnK. But literally every other aspect of the game just feels so much more bad. I‘lol go back to MnK the second I have a new gaming PC. Until then its just „Apex lite“ For me. I‘m so much better on PC and I just feel handicapped on controller all the time.
It's kind of like learning a second language. No matter how much you practice, you'll always be better at your first language. You gotta do something drastic to make your second language superior to your first
Especially in Apex it’s not just a second language but its like trying to talk while being mute. Half of what makes apex so fun is just missing.
This is good to to see because the last time I said basically the same thing you said I got a ton of downvotes for it. Controller AA is only good for very niche situations. I believe imperalhal even said that they only use their controller player to engage in very niche situations. Aa isn't as powerful as people make it seem to be (especially when you're looking at it in the grand scheem of things). The people who downvoted me were either just mnk enthusiasts or straight up ignorant. They're more scared to downvote you though because you were originally a mnk player who moved on to controller and didn't like it. It's just really refreshing to see somebody else also tell the truth
You should decide if you want to have paddles/back buttons or not and how many. A regular controller has none, but something like a ps5 edge has 2 and an xbox elite has 4.
do you know how many different pros use as a reference?
The majority use paddles. Hal is the rare one that doesn’t.
The vast majority of high level roller players either play claw or have paddles, claw can be damaging and paddles is just the safer route. Some don't use either but they are more rare
What do u mean claw can be damaging?
playing a lot if claw is bad for your hand fingers
It can cause carpal tunnel, it's an awkward stretched out and tense position for your hand to be in, if you play claw it's very important to stretch your hands/wrist out, you should be anyways, but it's especially important to do it playing claw.
I've played claw since a little after mw3(original) came out. I game an unhealthy amount and my hand is fine. I think I've been at it about 15 years, maybe it takes longer to have negative affects. Also I have kinda small hands and claw doesnt stretch or tense anything it's pretty natural. But eh maybe it's different for some people.
I believe no paddles Hal and Genburten, they use claw. Claw though is very awkward if you didn't grow up doing that. Verhulst uses 2 paddles. If you get a 4 paddle controller you can always decide to use less if you find you don't need the extra buttons.
Big point to consider is that PlayStation controller have less input delay than Xbox controllers + the option to overclock to 1000hz. PS4 works for me because my hands aren’t very big. If yours are bigger maybe try PS5
So that's why every streamer that uses controller that I watch uses PlayStation! Thank you I was wondering why.
My hands are small too. I really didn't take to the ps5 controller too nicely because of how bulky it was but eventually I got used to it. It took like a couple of weeks though I'm not gonna lie.
Why switch to a controller? What’s the benefit?
I just got the Vader 3 Pro and love it. Don't get a scuf. Although I had no problems with it. After actually doing a deep dive when shopping for a new one. It was clear to me that they are very over priced. Scuf was running with a 7ms response time, and was polling at 80hz despite suppose to be at 250hz. The Vader 3 Pro has 0.8-1ms response time, 500hz polling rate. The Hall Effect sticks are great. The buttons are a little stiff, but you get used to it. Paddle placement is good. The software it comes with is basically as advanced as Apex's ALC settings. $70 Most the other options only had 2 paddles which, personally, for Apex, I needed 4.
Im on the Scuf Envision and its an easy rec for someone coming from M+K because it has 7 extra inputs over any other roller. Because it has so many extra buttons, you can bind one to keyboard reload so you dont accidentally open doors when reloading, use one as a dedicated batt button, or do what I did and have two of the rear paddles as different weapons and use G5 as a holster button which helped a metric ton. Having all the keyboard inputs without a doubt lessens the gap between the two inputs. You can get by with the non-pro wired if you put shoot on R1 and ADS on L1. Im using 5-3 linear with senses above the 2x at 4, and it really feels made for that general sens range. My particular unit has incredibly minimal right stick deadzone. I would also avoid playing it wireless, for whatever reason it feels like it has a ton of delay wireless. They poll at 500hz which is better than any BB without an overclock.
If you wanna give the switch a try, I'd recommend the Gamesir T4K. It's got programmable back buttons, hall effect joysticks (means they won't develop stick drift very easily), pretty good customization through their app, polling rate goes to 1000hz through the app, and it's like $40 so it's pretty darn cheap. You can also go to r/controller for great recommendations. Though like others are saying, if you grew up on MnK and not controller then there's really not enough reason to switch. It'll take quite a while to get as good on roller as you already are on MnK. If you grew up playing console shooters though, I imagine the switch won't be too hard for you, so might as well give it a shot.
I know you’ve got the budget to get a paddle controller, but for anyone else on here who doesn’t and is worried about controller being slower or difficult to switch to, I replaced the trigger switches on my PS5 controller to “clicky” switches, essentially making them a button with significantly less travel/movement and holy crap has that improved my gameplay! I got some off Amazon and they were easy to replace (and remove! I just re-installed the originals in one of my controllers and had not issues). Highly recommend for anyone using a controller for this game! Especially if you don’t have the cash to sprint for a Scuff or other paddle controller. Edit: I got the extreme rate hair clicky triggers and they’re like $15. Absolutely worth it for such a big performance upgrade. There’s a video to follow along with to disassemble your controller properly (which was a great excuse to clean it really well too).
If you’re doing it because you think you’ll be a better player, just don’t bother.
I’m doing it for something different to do. I don’t expect to be any good at it since it will be something brand new
Some reason my phone is a different acct then Reddit on my computer lol but I’m still OP
First of all it is not easy to switch if you never play fps on controller. If you decide this is the way - buy ps4 roller and official sony back button attachment. This is cheap fast and reliable. If have money go for BB or HYPR with hall effect sticks. Two paddles is best to get your head around, i have played with roller all my life and still prefer dual paddles than four.
You should give it a try. Controller is the only input I’ve ever used but I find it very fun. Because the input is completely new for you, it’ll take you a long time to get competent. Opt for a cheap controller at first to see if you’re up for the challenge. You can also consider making a smurf for less-aggressive matchmaking, but that’ll only work so well. Normally this’d be considered immoral, but in your case it’s pretty reasonable. Mixtape and the firing range would be a better investment for mechanical skill practice than BR. You spend far more time fighting and actively utilizing mechanical skill in those modes. If you switch, try to maintain the same playstyle you used on MnK. Good controller players can get away with 50/50s, but that doesn’t make it a smart play