Best Mouse Grips for FPS Games: Mouse Grip is one of the important factors in gaming performance. By having a stable grip on the mouse while playing games you have a better chance of playing with more accuracy. In the FPS genre game, for example, which requires fast movement and fast AIM when you are in the game.
https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/625437467008174134/If you want to try one of the best and most popular grip methods in playing FPS games that can improve your movement accuracy and aim. Then Palm Grip is one of the best grip methods for playing FPS.
Mouse with Palm Grip grip type is here to fill casual users who often place almost all parts of the hand through the device. This type is usually a popular choice among users, not limited to gamers, but also users in general.
The point is, the Palm Grip is specifically for users who want a relaxed mouse shape, where your hand grip on the mouse can rest completely. What’s more, the hands can be more relaxed when navigating or can rest on the mouse, and it’s very comfortable.
Let’s discuss some methods of gripping the mouse for playing FPS. Are palm grips really the best to use? Or is there another mouse grip that is more suitable for you?
WHAT’S THE BEST MOUSE GRIP FOR YOU?
When it comes to choosing the best gaming mouse for you based on shape, size, weight and other attributes, no single mouse can satisfy everyone’s needs.
We believe that everyone’s best gaming mouse is different, which means it’s subjective, but subjective choices can be met objectively. Therefore, gaming mice are uniquely designed by considering different ways of holding the mouse or mouse grip, which are used for different types of games.
Until now, there are three commonly used mouse grips palm grip, claw grip, and tip grip.
Palm grip
This is the most used way of holding the mouse, reaching 50% of existing mouse users. It feels very natural and relaxed where almost the entire palm rests on the mouse with the thumb resting gently on one side and the little finger resting on the other. Most of the movement is done with your arms, perfect for gliding.
A gaming mouse that is suitable for palm grip is a mouse that chooses a large and wide size to provide comfort in the palm of the hand, such as a gaming mouse that has a thumb-rest so that your thumb can rest comfortably.
Advantages: more relaxed position, has better control for gliding motion.
Disadvantages: not suitable for games that require speed or repetitive movements because they are less agile.
Claw grip
As the name implies, claw grip is done by resting your palm on the back of the mouse and only your fingertips resting on the mouse, just like a Kung Fu Master! Like a tiger ready to attack, the claw grip is suitable for movements that require quick reactions and more precision. Although not as popular as the palm grip, the claw grip is more popular among gamers who like to play RTS (real-time strategy) genre games which have recently become increasingly popular as well.
A gaming mouse that is suitable for claw grip is a gaming mouse that has a lighter and smaller size, but not so small that your palm can’t rest on it.
Advantages: fast gliding motion, better stability and precision.
Disadvantages: tired faster, less relaxed, can cause faster stretching of the fingers.
Tip / Fingertip Grip
You could say it’s the most extreme way to hold a gaming mouse because it only relies on your fingertips to move. The mouse can move much faster because the palms and wrists are no longer a drag.
A gaming mouse that is suitable for tip grip is of course a small and light gaming mouse.
Advantages: Fast and Furious, has the highest speed.
Weaknesses: Not suitable for games that require agility.
FPS AIMING TIPS ON PC: GRIP STYLE, AIM STYLE, TRAINING, UNTIL HOW TO CHOOSE THE MOUSE
First-Person Shooter is a genre of shooting games from a first-person perspective. This genre offers an immersive experience, as you are transported into the game world
Along with the times and technology, this genre has shifted. Starting as a single-player game, now most FPS like Counter-Strike are multiplayer games that focus on the competitive aspect. In the single-player realm, FPS games can still be played casually. The opponent is only AI, whose ability is determined by the level of difficulty.
In the realm of multiplayer? Don’t expect any mercy. Your opponents are other players who no matter who the opponent is, will still play to the best of their ability. If your opponent is very good, you may have died before you could see the shape of the enemy’s character.
The feeling of facing such an opponent was certainly intimidating. This may also be the reason why some people get discouraged when playing competitive FPS. But this is also the reason why some people are addicted, because of the adrenaline when competing and the satisfaction of being better than other players. Moreover, coupled with the development of esports from time to time, making the pursuit of playing skills even more competitive than before — even for those who don’t plan to enter the professional scene.
If you have fallen, and feel that there is no progress in terms of aiming ability, don’t worry, many people may feel the same feeling. The fault may not be from you, nor from the hardware you have. It could be that the fault is in the way you train yourself.
Before going to the discussion, maybe it’s a good idea to explain first how my process came to like competitive FPS games. I honestly admit, I’m not the best at FPS games. Often I missed the shootout, which also made me irritated and frustrated. I actually just got into FPS a few moments after Playerunknown’s Battleground appeared on Steam (around 2017’s).
But since then I’ve been addicted to learning to get better at competitive FPS games, because there’s a sense of satisfaction when winning a crosshairs, and so that fellow gamers don’t tease potato aims… Hehe. Plus, lately I’ve also been addicted to FPS games on PC (Yes, that’s right, VALORANT), which makes me go back to the addictive process of learning to be better.
So in this article, I try to share some knowledge about how to get better at playing FPS games. I have compiled this information from various sources, combined with my own experience. To make it easier for you, I’ve also listed the things you need to know from the most basic to the advanced level. Without intending to be patronizing, let’s learn together, and hopefully this article can be a place to learn together.
Choose the most comfortable way to hold and move the mouse
One of the misconceptions that often occurs when playing competitive FPS games is, blaming bad aim on sensitivity settings, mouse selection, mousepad, and all other hardware quirks. Even though the bad aim is your own fault, that’s right, YOU OWN.
This may be a harsh reality, but it is a reality that you have to accept to be better. Because in my opinion, the biggest factor in the ability to aim for FPS games comes from the motor skills of the hand in holding and moving the mouse and its coordination with your eyes. Only a few others come from mouse selection, monitor, mousepad, DPI settings, in-game sensitivity, crosshair, and so on.
Therefore, first of all, train and get used to the motor skills of your hand muscles in holding and controlling a computer mouse first. Like when you want to hold your crush’s hand, you have to get to know him first… Eh, I mean, recognize how to hold a mouse. The technique of holding and controlling the mouse is also known as Grip Style and Aiming Style.
Grip Style is divided into three types, namely Palm Grip, Fingertip Grip, and Claw Grip. Palm Grip means holding the mouse with your entire palm. Fingertip Grip means holding the mouse with only the tip of the finger. While the Claw Grip is a combination of the two, your palm remains on the mouse, but your finger bends and leaves only your fingertips on the left and right click buttons.
Next up, Aiming Style is how you control your mouse to target enemies. In general, there are two shooting styles, namely Arm Style and Wrist Style. Arm Style means moving the mouse with your entire arm. While Wrist Style means moving the mouse only with the wrist.
Each Grip and Aiming Style has its own function. Quoting from Cnet’s discussion, the Palm Grip can be said to be the most common way of holding the mouse and not only used for playing games. This way of holding is usually combined with the Arm Aiming Style. With this combination, you like the mouse as an extension of your hand. The combination of the Palm Grip with Arm Aiming tends to make your movements slower, but gives you sharper shooting precision in moving the mouse.
Then next there are Claw and Fingertip Grip, both of which can be said to be similar. The two Grip Styles are usually combined with the Wrist Aiming Style, because this style prioritizes speed over accuracy. The Claw Grip and Wrist Aiming Style allow you to move the cursor from one point to another very quickly, but the drawback is that this style is limited to the angle of motion of the human wrist.
After understanding the types of Grip and Aiming Style, the first thing you should do is find the most comfortable one. Use what I describe as a guide only. If you have your own Grip and Aiming Style that are more comfortable for your hands, just use that style, then get used to it until it becomes Muscle Memory (I will discuss this in the next subsection). However, if your hands become sore, and your aiming skills aren’t improving, it can’t hurt to try the movement examples listed above.
As additional information, apart from the characteristics, Wrist and Arm Aiming Style also has its own impact on your hand muscles. Both of them have the same risk of injury, because the movements made by FPS players tend to be repetitive, in a long duration.
However, Wrist Aiming has a greater risk of injury. Wrist Aiming in the long term can increase your risk of developing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. This disease, which is common among gamers, can cause your palms to go numb, and it hurts when you move them. Therefore, stretching the wrist, moving the wrist every game session, are things that are no less important for you to do, to reduce the risk of injury.
After understanding how to hold and control the mouse. The next stage is to do the habituation.
Practice Eye-Hand Coordination and Build Muscle Memory Ability
After finding the most comfortable Grip and Aiming Style, the next step is to train hand-eye coordination to be in sync. In theory, this exercise is similar to passing practice for soccer players. This needs to be done every day, because maybe even a Cristiano Ronaldo has experienced times, when his kicks are not on target because of eye coordination with out of sync motor muscles.
Therefore, at this phase, you must feel at home doing repetitive actions. What is the function of this exercise? Why do I have to repeat the movement to get better? The answer is to build Muscle Memory.
What is Muscle Memory? Instead of being too complicated to explain about Myelin and other neuroscience terms, I’d better explain it using an analogy. The simplest analogy for understanding the concept of Muscle Memory is like learning to ride a bicycle.
At the beginning of riding a bicycle, your body must feel unsteady. Let alone the road, just balancing the bike is already difficult. You’ll fall a lot at first, but the longer you ride, the more natural the activity becomes, like walking. You may even be able to do it with your eyes closed (don’t do it, it’s dangerous), or without your hands.
Therefore, there are several applications that can help you get used to hand-eye coordination. One of them is the rhythm game osu! OK, you can start laughing at me for using osu! For aiming practice. But this application is the only way I get used to eye-hand coordination in controlling the mouse, when I play PUBG (Steam) in 2017; who not only had no training mode but was also laggy and had a bad gaming experience at the time.
Use osu! as a means of aiming practice is indeed a debate in the FPS game community. The reason is simple, because osu! are 2-dimensional games, while FPS games are 3-dimensional. This is even a separate discussion on the osu! because there was a player who asked about the song osu! best for practicing aim.
I slightly agree with this opinion. But in my opinion, the purpose of playing osu! It’s not really to practice aiming at the FPS game being played (CS:GO, Overwatch, PUBG, VALORANT or whatever), but to get used to the Grip and Aiming Style you use, as well as to measure how far your hand movement needs to click one target to another. other targets.
Back to the bicycle analogy, it’s true that riding a bicycle on ramps will not help you become proficient at BMX bicycle tricks. But in the beginning, you still have to be able to ride a bicycle first, right? Therefore, I think training at osu! So the most basic way, to build raw skills in aiming, is like you learn to ride a bicycle until you can walk first.
Besides osu!, there is also a tool for practicing web-based aiming called Aibooster. In Aibooster, your task is simple. Click the targets that appear on the screen one by one. Initially targets appear one by one in a slow time lag. Over time the target will appear faster and faster, which forces you to move the mouse and respond even faster. Don’t believe in the usefulness of Aimbooster? Shroud uses this training tool too.
Okay after OSU! and Aibooster then what? You can start transferring your Grip and Aiming Style habits into the game you’re playing. Modern FPS games usually have their own practice room, while in CS:GO you can download community-made practice maps. Therefore, let’s move on to the next stage of practice.
Learn the Mechanics of the FPS Game You Play
Practicing using the in-game Training Mode I deliberately put in the third stage. Why? Because in my opinion, at this stage what you need to learn is not only how to aim, but also the mechanics of the game you are playing.
What does mechanic mean? The most basic of FPS games is the Recoil Pattern. Like shooting in the real world, shooting in FPS games is also subject to the laws of physics. This means that the rifle will bounce upwards when you shoot continuously with automatic weapons. In competitive FPS games, rifle bounce or recoil usually has a pattern.
Therefore, the purpose of practicing using the in-game Training Mode is to familiarize your Grip and Aim Style with the internal mechanics in the game. In the case of the VALORANT, what I did was fire automatically, then let the rifle bounce naturally. From there you can understand, how the recoil pattern of a rifle, where it will bounce, and at which point the bounce will stop.
Understanding the Recoil Pattern will help keep your shots on target, even if you’re shooting in a row with an automatic rifle. For example, Vandal weapon recoil in VALORANT. The recoil of the weapon will jump quite significantly on the third or fourth bullet. If you understand the pattern, then you can get ready to drag the mouse from head to toe so that the bullets from the rifle still hit the body or head, and produce maximum damage.
Honestly, I’m actually not that diligent in trying to recoil all weapons one by one in training mode. Even when I started playing, I immediately took to the field in matchmaking…Hehe. But for those of you who are really serious, you have to be more diligent in studying the elements of the game one by one, especially if you want to dive into the realm of FPS esports.
After recoil, then you learn the advanced mechanics of the FPS game you are playing. In addition to aiming, spatial ability is another skill that you need to learn in FPS games. This ability is actually outside of aiming, but it’s something you need to master as well.
If you use a soccer analogy, aiming is the ability to process the most basic ball, dribbling, passing, and shooting. Meanwhile, spatial ability is the ability of the footballer to understand every centimeter of the field, understand which places will be empty if he moves to a place, and which areas are suitable for passing through.
In FPS games, spatial ability involves understanding the ins and outs of a map and the terrain in which you play. The way to practice this is to play in real matches. But one thing to note is, you have to focus, don’t play just because you want to shoot.
For example I’m back to using VALORANT. For example, if you want to study the Ascent map, keep retrying the path you want to learn, while doing some analysis. For example, you want to learn to attack the B-site, keep repeating your way through the B Lobby, until you know the direction of the enemy threat. Understanding through play is a way of Micro-Game spatial training (what you see when attacking the B Ascent area).
Your spatial abilities will be more complete if you can understand the Macro-Game (the map as a whole). You can learn this section outside of the game, either by reading tips on a map, watching a map discussion video, or studying the map itself.
While learning the ins and outs of maps and developing your spatial abilities, you can also practice Crosshair Placement. This technique is a way of placing your aim so that you are always ready to face the enemy. This technique is important to master because in competitive FPS games, because who shoots first and gets hit, he is the winner. The Crosshair Placement technique involves several aspects, such as always placing the crosshair in the area where the enemy’s head is estimated to be, always aiming at the wall when checking corners, and also aiming in the direction where the enemy is usually located.
Like practicing your spatial abilities, you can only practice the Crosshair Placement technique by jumping directly into the battlefield. But like I said before, you have to play more AWARELY, not just playing and wanting to argue.
In the context of VALORANT, this aiming ability is also the reason why you don’t have to think about who the best Agents are. Basically VALORANT is a tactical FPS, you can still win even if it’s just a shootout. If necessary, while studying, don’t buy skills while playing. Just focus on studying the map, and shooting the right one, without having to worry too much about what skills to use.
If you have gone through the three stages above, then we can move on to the next stage.
It’s Mistake Time! Choose the Mouse, Mousepad, and Monitor Most Suitable for You
I deliberately put this section at the end of the article, because the level of urgency is much lower than practicing your hand motor skills. It’s like football, why don’t you wear Nike Mercurial shoes for millions of Rupiah, even though you only play soccer for inter-village level competitions? Yes, if it’s a hobby and have excess funds, it’s okay, if not? Just practice your skills first.
If you have to explain in detail, choosing a mouse can actually be an article in itself because I need to explain also about the DPI, polling rate, shape, and weight of the right mouse for you. Therefore, in this section I will only briefly explain how to choose a mouse, based on its general characteristics.
If quoting from howtogeek.com, there are at least three types of the most common mouse. The three types are Shooter Mouse, which looks like a mouse in general, “MOBA” Mouse which has many buttons on the sides, and Ambidextrous Mouse which is symmetrical for left-handed gamers.
I myself quite agree with the article, that the mouse with a minimalist form is the Shooter Mouse. This is because, the comfort of holding the mouse is everything in playing FPS games. Therefore, you don’t need a gaming mouse that has a lot of gimmicks, such as an “ergonomic” shape, or too many additional buttons. Even so, one that is also important to consider is the switch used for left and right clicks (such as the optical switch used by the Razer Basilisk V2) — because usually gaming mice tend to be prone to double click disease. Unless you are willing to buy a new gaming mouse every 3 months.
Next, back to how your Grip and Aiming Style type. If you are using the Arm Aiming Style type or the Control type, then you will need a slightly heavier mouse. If you are a Wrist Aiming Style or Speed type player, then you need a mouse that is lightweight, so it doesn’t weigh too much on your wrist.
Mouse Pad selection is also important. If you are a Control type, you can usually use a mouse pad with a cloth surface. Meanwhile, if you are the Speed type, then you will probably need a mouse pad with a hard surface or a Hard-Surface type. What you also need to know is, changing the mouse and mouse pad means having to adapt. So don’t worry if after changing your gaming gear, your abilities will decrease slightly. Also most importantly, comfort remains the main thing.
In addition to the mouse, if the Grip and Aiming Style motor skills have been trained, the next thing you need to learn is the sensitivity settings in the game. In general, Arm Aiming Style players usually need low sensitivity, so that the mouse movement matches the arm movement. While Wrist Aiming Style players usually require high sensitivity, to compensate for the limited angle of wrist motion.
The monitor is also another important element that is no less important in FPS games. A high refresh rate, like that of the BenQ Zowie XL2746s, has become a mandatory element. In addition, what may be equally important is the monitor’s ability to produce color. You can listen to the discussion from techguided.com which discusses different LCD monitor panels, ranging from TN, IPS, and VA to understand what the advantages and disadvantages of each type of panel are. However, since monitors with a 144Hz refresh rate tend to be more expensive, this might be the last thing to fulfill, especially if your budget is limited.
Moreover, the frame rate of a game is also determined from the specifications of your computer. If your computer specifications are still mediocre, buying a monitor with a 144Hz refresh rate capability is actually just a waste of money.
Hopefully after reading this article you will have a purpose again, because you will learn the right way to practice to become better at playing FPS games. I myself am still practicing and continuing to practice so that I can play more FPS games. Certainly not to be an esports player. But if I get better, at least the time I spend playing VALORANT can be interesting content for other players to see… Hahaha.
Conclusion
In fact, the palm grip is one of the most commonly used mouse grips when playing FPS games but it’s not necessarily the best for everyone. But there’s nothing wrong if you try the palm grip when you play games.
Everyone has their own techniques and methods that are suitable to use. We cannot force a technique to be used by everyone. Human hands are certainly different in the world. Therefore, trying to combine different grip techniques when playing fps is the right choice, until you find the grip that is most suitable for you.
One important thing you should remember, that all fps games have different mechanics. Not all fps games have fast mechanics like CSGO and Valorant. When playing PUBG, for example, the pattern we do is different when playing CSGO and Valorant. This is also an important thing, learn the mechanics of the fps game you are playing.
Then, the type of monitor, type of mouse, mousepad, and a good headset is a determining factor for your game in fps games. For example, listening to the enemy’s steps when playing PUBG is very crucial, as well as accuracy and delay on the monitor.
Therefore we recommend that you practice using the same mouse, headset, monitor, and mousepad for a long time until you get used to it. After you are good at playing, that’s the mouse grip that you find for yourself and is suitable for your character!
