Can You Play Valorant With A Controller?

Valorant is a 5v5 tactical FPS developed by Riot Games. Some people call it a love-child of CS:GO and Overwatch, and there is some undoubted credibility to that. Due to its slow yet precise shooting mechanics, Valorant requires micro-adjustments in your aim to connect headshots accurately.

However, unlike other shooters that run better with a controller, like Fortnite, Valorant is designed for a mouse and keyboard playstyle. With that said, this should not stop enthusiasts from whipping out a gamepad and having a go at it. So, is it at all possible to play Valorant with a controller?

READ NOW: Is Valorant on PS4, PS5 and Nintendo Switch? 

Can You Use A Controller To Play Valorant?

The short answer is, yes, it is possible to play Valorant with a controller. However, it isn’t as simple as a plug-n-play mechanism like in most games.

Valorant is intended to play with a mouse and keyboard inherently by design. Therefore, there is no native support by Riot Games to enable controller settings in-game. In simpler words, this means that you can’t map your keys to the controller and can barely register any inputs. However, a third-party controller emulator can help enable controller input mapping in Valorant.

Third-Party Support For Controller

A third-party emulator like reWASD can be used to override the default keyboard and mouse key binds in Valorant to your controller. It is a paid software with a 7-day free trial, but by far, it is the most convenient one. While there are other alternatives like JoyXoff and QJoyPad, however, they can be a little tricky to use.

Here’s how you can hook up your controller to play Valorant using reWASD:

• Go to reWASD and download and install the program
• Launch reWASD and create a profile for Valorant
• Remap all the controls to your liking
• Launch the game and try it out

Warning: DO NOT set multi-key binds or key combo macros in Valorant. It is bannable in the game, and you could get your account permanently revoked.

Should You Use A Controller In Valorant?

Valorant has quite unique movement and shooting mechanics than other fast-paced FPS games like Call of Duty and Apex Legends. Unlike those games, using a gamepad in Valorant actually puts you at a disadvantage. A joystick can’t give you as precise control over your aim at a micro-level as a mouse that other players would be using.

Furthermore, Riot’s anti-cheat software, Vanguard, can potentially block any third-party software. It can net you a ban if it inaccurately flags your account for cheating. Riot awards permanent IP and hardware ban to the cheaters, creating a plethora of problems for you. What this means is that you won’t be able to play with your current system, even if you decide to make a new account. Therefore, extreme caution should be taken before using any third-party software.

Although it is possible to use a controller to play Valorant, we recommend you do it with extreme caution and at your own discretion. The risk of possibly losing your account is not worth a further downgrade in your aim. That said, players like Dasnerth have made a name for themselves by reaching high ranks only using a gamepad the entire time.

Final Thoughts

Now you know that using a controller to play Valorant, albeit difficult, is actually possible. If you still feel daring and want to plug in that old gamepad from your shelf to queue up a ranked match, we recommend using a Judge. If you’re going to perform terribly, at least do so by tilting the enemies. Find more guides in our Guides tab, where we answer similar queries that you might have!

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