If you are searching for mice in the market, you will find loads of options with varying numbers of buttons on them. Some models come with 11 buttons, while some generic variants come with only three. The button count is completely independent of pricing. Some extra cheap mice might have a truckload of buttons on them while an ultra-expensive mouse might come with three buttons. So, the question is: how many buttons do you need for gaming? Let us find out in this article.
The Ideal Mouse Button Count for Gaming
Gaming mice come with a variety of buttons on them. But, to triumph in most titles, you do not need a bunch of buttons to click on. We recommend you get a quality mouse that comes with these six necessary buttons on them:
- Left click
- Right click
- Middle mouse button and scroll wheel
- DPI switch
- Upper thumb button
- Lower thumb button
These buttons are essential for gaming. Let us break down the specific uses of these buttons.
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Left and Right clicks
Left and right clicks are extremely necessary for all tasks. Their use-case is pretty well-defined and we will not dive deep into it.
Middle mouse button and scroll wheel
While it is hard to find mice without a middle mouse button and scroll wheel these days, several models from the late 1990s used to come without them. Games these days creatively use this button in several scenarios like zooming in scopes, etc. Thus, this button is highly recommended and is almost a necessity.
DPI Switch
A DPI Switch is a highly recommended button on gaming mice. Switching DPI on the fly can give you a competitive edge in games. The mouse needs to have much lower sensitivity when you scope in compared to when you are rushing through the map. Find out the best mouse sensitivity for gaming mice.
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Thumb Buttons
Thumb buttons can give you a competitive edge in several games. You can map these buttons to some repetitive tasks like building a wall in Fortnite or reloading in Call of Duty: Warzone to react much faster than usual during tense combat situations. We highly recommend players choose mice with thumb buttons.
These six buttons are the most important ones you will need in video games. While extra buttons can give you unique advantages, this combination will solve 95% of use-cases.