Can’t stop playing Call of Duty®? We’re right there with you! We haven’t been able to pull ourselves away. Whether you’re grinding Black Ops Cold War, Modern Warfare, or Warzone, Call of Duty® has our full attention. This week, we are stanning two fantastic YouTube videos from TheXclusiveAce and WhosImmortal that have been helping us up our game with Black Ops Cold War. We’re breaking them both down for you here so you can get the maximum benefits from these two Call of Duty® experts.

First, let’s tackle those controller settings. XclusiveAce highlights some of the default settings that may be holding gamers back from maximum performance. While these controller settings work well for him, you may need to play around to find your optimal arrangement. Here are a few pro tips to get you started:

Sensitivity Settings

XclusiveAce has sensitivity settings at:

• Horizontal stick: 8
• Vertical stick: 8
• ADS Stick Sensitivity: .7

If ADS sensitivity is too high, you lose precision, so he recommends keeping it somewhere below 1. This combo of settings allows XclusiveAce to spin quickly but still have precision when aiming down sight. These are completely up to personal preference, so play around until you find what works for you.

Vibration Off

While we all love some good haptic feedback, XclusiveAce recommends turning vibration off. It’s fun in story-based modes but can be a distraction and limit performance in FPS.

Deadzone Settings

These are labeled as “Min Input Threshold” in Black Ops Cold War. By default, these are set at 20, which XclusiveAce says is way too high. At this high level, if you try to make a fine adjustment with the analog stick, a little movement with the stick won’t use your aim at all. If you drop the value, you will likely notice improvement over the aim.

To do this, you need to reduce “Min Input Threshold” to the lowest possible value you can achieve without stick drift (stick drift = when you take your finger off the controller point of aim moves away because dead zone setting is too low). Here’s how to adjust:

1. Reduce “Min Input Threshold” to zero
2. Check and see if you have stick drift (you most likely will at zero, but this varies controller to controller)
3. If you have stick drift, bump up the “Min Input Threshold” by one
4. Each time you bump it up, check the stick drift
5. Keep increasing by 1 until you get NO STICK DRIFT!
6. Once there’s no stick drift, voila, you have your settings

While Min Input Threshold goes as low as possible, leave Max Input Threshold for both sticks at 99 or 100 - this allows you to get maximum range of motion out of the thumbstick.

*KF Pro Tip: for even more range of motion and specificity in aim, try our Performance Thumbsticks™. We even have the perfect ones for Black Ops Cold War.

Turn on “Sprint Cancels Reload”

This is turned off by default, and XclusiveAce recommends turning on. If this setting is off, there’s an unnecessary animation after the gun is reloaded that takes up time. With “Sprint Cancels Reload” turned on, you can reload and the moment you see the magazine full, you can sprint, which cancels the reload animation.

TL;DR: turning on “Sprint Cancels Reload” means you don’t have to wait for the unnecessary animation to complete before getting back in the game.

WhosImmortal also has some fantastic tips. While he also touches on some setting adjustments, he’s primarily focused on some solid tips for muscle memory. Here are the top tips:

Learn recoil patterns

Every time you shoot a weapon, it behaves in the same way. WhosImmortal recommends paying attention to the patterns and learning where your gun goes when it recoils.

To practice this, go into a private match, find a wall, and shoot into it to observe where your recoil goes.

Warm up against bots

Load up a custom games match against some bots on a smaller map (he suggests Checkmate, Moscow, or Nuke Town). Custom Map - set up some bots, and WhosImmortal suggests setting bots as recruits so you can focus on just shooting them.

Use KontrolFreeks

WhosImmortal has been working with us for quite some time, but he’s been a KontrolFreek fan for longer, so he’s a big proponent of how much Performance Thumbsticks can help your game. They increase range of motion, giving you more control over your aim and movement. He plugs the Black Ops Cold War Performance Thumbsticks, and there are many more to check out.

Settings

Like XclusiveAce, WhosImmortal recommends adjusting sensitivity settings. He’s typically got his between 6 and 9 for horizontal and vertical, and ADS sensitivity around .8. He also adjusts his Deadzone.

Finally, WhosImmortal recommends recoil-reducing attachments - grips and muzzles can reduce horizontal and vertical recoils.

Well, there you have it, team! Let us know how it goes, and maybe even grab one of our Black Ops Cold War Performance Thumbsticks. Happy Gaming!