Best Apex Legends Controller Settings (2023 Guide)

Apex Legends gives players a wide array of controller settings that allows them to fine-tune movement, aim, and more. Finding your best combination of settings is essential to improving as a player, and changing settings too often could stunt your development. This guide will detail the best controller settings for Apex Legends so that you can start moving and aiming like the pros.

Best controller settings for Apex Legends

The controller settings you choose are often a personal preference, but there are some settings professional players use to make life easier and provide a competitive advantage. Here are the best controller settings for Apex Legends:

• Button Layout: Button Puncher
• Stick Layout: Default
• Interact/Reload Button: Tap to Use and Reload
• Crouch Button: Toggle
• Aim Button: Hold
• Survival Slot Button: On
• Trigger Deadzones: Default

The Button Puncher button layout swaps the Melee and Crouch controls so players can change their stance and slide without taking their thumb off the right stick. Movement is king in Apex Legends, so performing advanced movement mechanics while keeping a thumb on the right aiming stick is crucial for winning gunfights.

The best Interact/Reload Button setup for Apex Legends is Tap to Use and Reload because it’s the quickest method for looting and reloading. If you find yourself in a situation with an interact prompt while you need to reload, tapping will reload, and holding the interact button will perform actions like reviving a teammate.

We recommend using Toggle for the Crouch Button setting to make it easier to aim while crouching. Some players prefer to use Hold for the Crouch Button, so they can quickly spam crouch during fights, which can be an effective tactic in Apex Legends.

The Survival Slot Button setting you choose will depend on whether or not you want to quickly inspect weapons and heirloom items. Turning the Survival Slot Button On will make it easy to access survival slot items like heat shields with a press of the D-Pad. Turn the Survival Slot Button Off if you can’t control the urge to constantly inspect that beautiful heirloom item.

The Trigger Deadzone setting allows players to make their trigger pulls more or less sensitive. Default is the best Trigger Deadzone setting for most players and controllers, and we don’t recommend increasing the deadzone unless there is a problem with your controller.

• Look Sensitivity: High (4)
• Look Sensitivity (ADS): Default (3)
• Per Optic ADS Sensitivity: Off

The Look Sensitivity settings you choose will significantly impact your ability to aim and track targets effectively. A Look Sensitivity of High (4) and ADS Sensitivity of Default (3) are average and will work well for most players. We set the ADS sensitivity to one less than the look sensitivity for more control when aiming down sights.

Apex Legends allows players to customize their ADS sensitivity based on the optic they are using. We prefer to keep this off for consistency, but feel free to customize these values if any optics feel like they need tuning.

• Look Deadzone: Small
• Movement Deadzone: Small
• Inverted Look: Off
• Vibration: Off

The Look and Movement Deadzone settings dictate how far the controller stick can move from a neutral position without registering input. The primary purpose of the deadzone settings is to eliminate controller stick drift. Setting the Look and Movement Deadzones to Small will work for most controllers–increase this setting if you are still experiencing stick drift with your controller.

Set the Inverted Look setting to Off unless inverted aiming is standard practice on the planet you arrived from. Turning controller vibration off is often preferred by professional Apex Legends players to help improve aim. Keep the vibration on for a more immersive experience.

The best response curve for Apex Legends

Classic is the best response curve in Apex Legends because it balances snappy player acquisition and finely-tuned aiming adjustments.

Response Curve is one of the best Apex Legends settings you can tweak to improve aiming and movement. The Response Curve setting you choose will determine how your controller stick responds to input, and there are five modes to choose from, Classic, Steady, Fine Aim, High Velocity, and Linear.

The Classic response curve in Apex Legends maps the stick input like an s-curve, where your character aims and moves faster the further the controller stick travels.

Best advanced look control (ALC) settings for Apex Legends

ALC is a set of advanced look controls that give players increased customization options for movement and aiming. We can’t recommend copying our ALC settings exactly; the ALC settings you choose should be a way to further customize your own personal preferences in Apex Legends.

• Deadzone: 5%
• Outer Threshold: 2%
• Response Curve: 8

The Deadzone setting you choose should be just high enough to eliminate stick drift from your controller. Try starting with your deadzone at 0 and increase by increments of 1 until you no longer experience any stick drift.

The Outer Threshold setting provides a buffer area where no input is registered at the outer limit of the controller stick. Most controllers can keep this setting low at 1-2%.

The Response Curve value you choose will affect how sensitive the controller stick is across its range of movement. A value of 0 will create a more dynamic curve, similar to the Classic setting, while a maximum value will create a linear response curve with one-to-one raw input.

• Yaw Speed: 320
• Pitch Speed: 260
• Turning Extra Yaw: 0
• Turning Extra Pitch: 0
• Turning Ramp-up Time: 0%
• Turning Ramp-up Delay: 0%

The next set of ALC settings affects your character’s movement sensitivity. Yaw Speed is how fast you move left and right, while Pitch Speed is how fast you move up and down. It’s best to set Pitch Speed lower than Yaw Speed because there are more instances where you need to track a target horizontally than vertically.

The Turning Extra Yaw and Pitch settings control the speed your character moves when the stick is in the maximum input position. Increasing the Turning Extra settings will provide snappier movement without sacrificing fine control. We keep Turning Extra at 0 for consistent sensitivity–increase these if your movement feels too slow and unresponsive.

Turning Ramp-up Time is the time it takes Extra Yaw and Pitch to reach full strength when stick input is at maximum. Turning Ramp-up Delay is the time it takes before Extra Yaw and Pitch are applied. Most players set the Turning Ramp-up Time and Delay to 0 for instant transitions between sensitivities.

• ADS Yaw Speed: 130
• ADS Pitch Speed: 110
• ADS Turning Extra Yaw: 0
• ADS Turning Extra Pitch: 0
• ADS Turning Ramp-up Time: 0%
• ADS Turning Ramp-up Delay: 0%

The ADS settings function the same as those mentioned above, but while aiming down sight. Most players mirror their ADS and standard settings with lower values in the ADS categories.

• Target Compensation: On
• Melee Target Compensation: On

The Target Compensation and Melee Target Compensation settings are essentially your aim assist in Apex Legends. Always keep these settings enabled, or risk putting yourself at a major disadvantage when tracking targets.

How to test your Apex Legends controller settings

Apex Legends offers the Firing Range, where players can adjust their controller settings and practice mechanics in a controlled environment. The Firing Range has a full array of weapons and attachments, with multiple targets, so you can ensure your settings are perfect before jumping into a real game.

When adjusting any Apex Legends controller settings, it’s always best to make small incremental changes. Give yourself time to acclimate to new settings–even the pros can take months to become comfortable with a new sensitivity or controller setup.