Your Fancy Gaming Mouse Won’t Make You a Better Gamer

So, you dropped big money on a gaming mouse but find that you’re just as bad with it as with that $20 rodent from your local Walmart. I hear you. Turns out, what really makes a gaming mouse great isn’t the price tag—it’s how well it fits you. Allow me to explain.

Your Mouse’s Shape and Weight Matter More Than Price

By far, the most important aspect of a gaming mouse has nothing to do with its DPI, polling rate, sensor, optical switches, or any other mouse-related buzzword. While it’s nice to have a polling rate above 1000Hz and the latest, most precise sensor, even cheap mice have come a long way in those areas.

These days, if you’re spending $150 on a mouse, you’re mostly just getting the satisfaction of knowing your mouse has cutting-edge tech, a better warranty, and maybe slightly better software.

Credit: Tim Rattray / How-To Geek

The simple truth is that what matters more than anything is the mouse’s shape—or more precisely, how that shape feels in your hand.

If you bought a mouse based on a friend’s or YouTuber’s recommendation, there’s always a possibility that what works for them, and might be objectively a good mouse, just doesn’t work for you. Perhaps you use a palm or claw grip, but the mouse is designed to be used only with a fingertip grip. Or maybe you have a preference for taller, ergonomic mice, and the one you got is flat, round, and tiny.

As someone who’s used to the shape of the Logitech G502, I could never understand the hype around the Logitech G PRO X Superlight or the Razer DeathAdder.

Credit: Logitech

I guess I’m just not a fan of ambidextrous designs (even though I’m left-handed, I use my mouse right-handed) because they feel uncomfortable to me. The Logitech G PRO X Superlight 2 DEX looks like it’d be far more comfortable to use since it has an ergonomic, angled shape that reduces wrist strain. However, when I saw the spicy price of that mouse, I decided to buy something else entirely.

This leads me to my next point. My Logitech G502 is a nice mouse that I’ve been using for years, but one thing that’s always bothered me is its weight. Mouse weight is subjective, but most people agree that lighter mice tend to feel better, especially in faster games. The lighter your mouse, the easier it is to make quick, precise movements. With less mass, it moves more freely and stops exactly where you want it.

An ultralight mouse with a weight of around or below 60g is generally light enough for most people. If you bought a chunky mouse over 100g and mostly play shooters or MOBAs, you should strongly consider switching to something lighter.

Credit: Goran Damnjanovic / How-To Geek

If you can’t return your current mouse, do what I did and pick up a budget ultralight model from a Chinese brand, like my Ajazz AJ179 Pro, for online games, and keep the heavier, fancier one for single-player or general desktop use.

While it’s impossible to know how a mouse will feel without trying it, you can use mouse shape comparison tools like EloShapes and RTING’s Mice 3D Shape Compare Tool to compare shapes you’ve tried and find similar mice, or something that’s in-between. While RTINGS’ tool is impressive, it only includes some of the most popular models on the market, whereas EloShapes features many more shapes, including those from lesser-known and Chinese brands.

One idea is to visit a store that has display models, pick up a few mice to see how they feel, and take note of what you like and dislike. Then, go home and base your research on that. You might even find a cheap clone of a mouse you like and save some money.

Some Simple Upgrades Can Improve Any Mouse

Credit: Tim Rattray / How-To Geek

If you already like the shape and weight of your mouse, but it still doesn’t feel good to use for some reason, it could be your mouse’s skates (also called feet and glides). This is because even high-end mice still often come with cheap black plastic skates that lose their low-friction properties after a couple of weeks. Even good skates slow down after about a year (quicker on a hard pad), so you’ll need to replace them regularly if you want the best performance.

Fortunately, you can grab pure PTFE (white) skates for most mice models for just a few bucks on online stores like Amazon and AliExpress. Alternatively, you could get universal dots and use them on any mouse. This is a major upgrade for any mouse that doesn’t come with white skates out of the box, as your mouse will glide smoothly and predictably, without the edges catching on your mousepad’s surface or gathering dust.

Credit: Ismar Hrnjicevic / How-To Geek

Another simple mouse mod to consider is grip tape. If your mouse starts to feel slippery after a couple of hours of heavy gaming, and you notice your grip slipping or your aim feeling off, it might be worth it to get some high-end grip tape like Pulsar Supergrip and apply it to the areas where your fingers rest on the mouse.

But what if you’re not happy with how your mouse’s left and right buttons feel? If you’re handy with a soldering iron and willing to take your mouse apart, that’s a relatively cheap and easy mod too.

If your mouse uses mechanical switches rather than optical ones, you can replace them fairly easily with any other compatible switch type, like the TTC Gold 80M. Optical switches are much harder to replace, so I don’t recommend doing that. In either case, you can reduce pre-travel (if present) to make the mouse feel more responsive by adding a bit of aluminum tape underneath the buttons’ plungers.

Maybe It’s Your Setup

Credit: Ismar Hrnjicevic / How-To Geek

If it’s not the mouse that’s the problem, maybe it’s its surroundings that are affecting your aim. One of the most important parts is your mousepad. You really do need a nice mousepad if you want to be competitive in online games. While a basic mousepad can get the job done, upgrading to a fancy, slick mousepad optimized for maximum mouse glide will make a meaningful difference.

The ARTISAN Zero is a popular option, but it’s also rather expensive. A cheaper but still high-end alternative is my SteelSeries QcK XL Performance Speed (which I received for free from SteelSeries). If you want to go the extra mile and have the maximum gliding performance, you could even consider a glass mousepad.

Brand

SteelSeries

Material

Polycarbonate

The SteelSeries QcK XL Performance Speed is a large, high-performance mousepad optimized for maximum gliding speed. The 3.5 mm-thick neoprene rubber base ensures the mousepad never slides around on your desk, while the low-profile edge stitching protects the mousepad from fraying without digging into your wrists.

You don’t have to pick a brand-name mousepad, though. If you’re on a tight budget, just make sure that the mousepad is relatively thick and large enough so that you have all the space you need to move your mouse and avoid hitting your keyboard during quick mouse flicks.

Another component that could affect your aim is your monitor. The higher the refresh rate and the lower the response time, the less ghosting and blur you’ll have, and the smoother the motion will be. This also means your aim will feel smoother, which helps you aim better.

Credit: Ismar Hrnjicevic / How-To Geek

On a more general level, the ergonomics of your desk also play a role. Your desk and chair armrests should be at the right height to anchor your elbow securely and allow you to aim with your whole arm. Make sure your keyboard isn’t in the way of your mouse.

Another thing to check is your DPI and sensitivity settings. While it can be tempting to use an extremely low sensitivity that you saw pros using, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right fit for you.

I’m guilty of making this mistake myself. I set the sensitivity so low that I couldn’t land a single sniper shot. Controlling recoil was outright impossible. So, while a low sensitivity can be great for accuracy, you shouldn’t go so low that you can’t consistently move your mouse fast enough to reach where you want it.

Practice Still Matters Most

Credit: Lucas Gouveia / How-To Geek | Steam

At the end of the day, there’s only so much you can do to your hardware to improve your aim. Regular practice in dedicated aim trainers like Aimlabs and in the games you play most will have the biggest impact.

You might think that just playing the game will naturally improve your aim over time. While there’s some truth to that, how much time do you actually spend shooting and aiming in a match?

In battle royales and round-based modes popular in Valorant and Counter-Strike 2, it’s probably only a few minutes per match, which isn’t enough to make your aim better. Games like Battlefield 6 and Marvel Rivals have you shooting more often, but it’s still nothing compared to dedicated practice modes.

In aim trainers and practice mode, you’re spending all your time practicing your aim, with no other distractions pulling your focus. It’s hard to learn recoil patterns or bullet drop when you’re also trying to dodge bullets, heal, cast spells, take objectives, watch the timer, or deal with whatever other gameplay elements your favorite shooter throws at you. Even fifteen minutes of daily training can make all the difference.

Don’t be distraught if your new mouse doesn’t feel as good as you expected. Assuming the shape and weight work for you, there’s a good chance you just need to dial in a few settings, maybe replace the mouse skates, and practice more often. Once you get your Excalibur dialed in and your aim ready, nothing will stop you from climbing the ranked ladder.