Best controller settings in Black Ops 6: Sensitivity, Dead zones, Omnimovement, more

Brad Norton
Black Ops 6 characters aiming guns at the sky

With the Black Ops 6 Beta now in focus, here’s the full rundown on the very best controller settings so you can quickly jump into the action. From optimal sensitivity to a look at mobility assists, here’s everything you need.

No different from previous years, Black Ops 6 gives players dozens of settings to tweak. While it allows for a very fine-tuned experience, tailored to your exact preferences, it can often be overwhelming to figure out what’s best.

With dozens of options to pick and choose from, there’s a great deal to wrap your head around. Whether it’s FOV sliders, motion blur, your UI, even just how you aim, you’ve got plenty of tricks at your fingertips to really make the most of the settings.

So if you’re playing on controller and looking to get a leg-up on your competition, here’s our breakdown of the very best settings in Black Ops 6.

Black Ops 6 Warzone loadout
Optimizing your controller settings should be the first thing you do when booting up Black Ops 6.

Best Black Ops 6 controller settings

How to find and test your controller settings in Black Ops 6

Firstly, you need to know where to look to change your controller settings. Simply tap the start/pause button on your controller to bring up a secondary menu on the right-hand side of your screen. From here, tab over to the settings cog and you’ll find the Controller option two spaces down.

Press X on PlayStation or A on Xbox to select the Controller settings menu and you’re off to the races.

Inputs

First up we have Input settings, which for the most part, are personal preferences. If you’ve been playing FPS games a certain way for years now, there’s no need to change now. But if you’re looking for a clean slate, we’ve got some strong options.

Kicking it off is the Tactical Button Layout Preset. In short, this swaps the inputs for crouching and melee. This means you can slide or even go prone without having to move your thumb away from the aiming analog stick, an all-important change. 

Next we recommend flipping L1/R1 or LB/RB with L2/R2 or LT/RT. While it can feel more tactile using the proper triggers, if your goal is to be as competitive as possible, tapping the shorter buttons makes things much easier. It reduces the overall input time, as rather than dragging a trigger down, you’re quickly tapping a simple button.

Next is to disable both the Trigger Effect and Controller Vibration. While it’s a nifty gimmick for campaign play, having resistance in your triggers for multiplayer or Zombies is completely unviable. This won’t come into play if you followed our previous step, however. And as for vibration, it can be a little distracting with all that’s going on in any given match, so turning it off can keep you focused on the game.

Black Ops 6 controller settings
Finding the right sensitivity can take some time as you experiement and get comfortable.

When it comes to sensitivity, it really is down to personal preference here. Some pro players use a higher setting to quickly turn around and snap onto targets, while others go for a lower setting to maintain accuracy over all else. Picking somewhere in the middle is often best, so we recommend anywhere between 4-6 for your Horizontal and Vertical Stick Sensitivity.

  • Button Layout Preset: Tactical
  • Horizontal Stick Sensitivity: 4-6
  • Vertical Stick Sensitivity: 4-6
  • Simplified Controls: Off
  • Bumper Ping: Off
  • Flip L1/R1 or LB/RB with L2/R2 or LT/RT: On
  • Stick Layout Preset: Default
  • Controller Vibration: Off
  • Trigger Effect: Off

Dead Zone Input

Dead Zones essentially change how much movement on an analog stick is required before the game reacts. AKA, a higher Dead Zone setting means you’ll have to move your analog stick more to see your character move in-game. Vice versa, the lower a Dead Zone setting, the quicker you’ll move in game.

Therefore, the best idea is to lower these settings as much as possible until you’re comfortable. In most cases, getting these to zero is optimal, as to completely remove any delay between your reactions and what you see on screen.

If your controller is being finicky, however, especially with stick drift, you should raise your Dead Zone settings until it no longer moves on its own.

Dead Zone Input

  • Left Stick Min: 0
  • Left Stick Max: 0.99
  • Right Stick Min: 0
  • Right Stick Max: 0.99
  • L2 Button: 0
  • R2 Button: 0

Aiming

  • ADS Sensitivity Multiplier: 0.90
  • Sensitivity Multiplier:
    • Third Person Sensitivity Multiplier: 1.00
    • Ground Vehicles: 1.00
    • Air Killstreak: 1.00
    • Tablet: 1.00
  • Verticle Aim Axis:
    • On Foot: Standard
  • Advanced
    • ADS Sensitivity Transition Timing: Instant
    • Aim Response Curve Type: Dynamic
  • ADS Sensitivity Multiplier (Focus): 0.90
  • ADS Sensitivity Transition Timing: Instant
  • Custom Sensitivity Per Zoom: Off

Aim Assist

  • Target Aim Assist: On

Motion Sensor

  • Motion Sensor Behavior: Off

Movement

  • Sprint Assist: Off
  • Mantle Assist: Off
  • Crouch Assist: Off
  • Automatic Airborne Mantle: Off
  • Slide/Dive Behavior: Slide Only
  • Auto Door Peek: Off
  • Advanced
    • Sprint/Tactical Sprint Behaviour: Toggle
    • Auto Move Forward: Off
    • Sprint Restore: On
    • Slide Maintains Sprint: On
    • Tactical Sprint Behaviour: Single Tap Sprint
    • Plunging Underwater: Free
    • Sprinting Door Bash: On

Combat Behaviors

  • Aim Down Sight Behavior: Hold
  • Weapon Mount Activation: ADS + Melee
  • Equipment Behavior: Hold
  • Quick C4 Detonation: Grouped
  • Manual Fire Behavior: Press
  • Advanced
    • Change Up Directional Behaviour: Ping
    • Change Zoom Activation: Sprint/Tactical Sprint/Focus
    • Weapon Mount Exit: Short Delay
    • Interact/reload Behaviour: Tap to Interact
    • Sprint Cancels Reload: Off
    • ADS Stick Swap: Off
    • Depleted Ammo Weapon Switch: On
    • Scorestreak Reordering: Numerical Order
    • Dedicated Melee Weapon Behaviour: Hold Melee
    • Swap Body Shield and Execution Behaviour: Off

Vehicle Behaviors

  • Vehicle Camera Recenter: Short Delay
  • Camera Initial Position: Free Look
  • Lean-Out Activation: Melee

Overlays Behavior

  • Ping Wheel Delay: Moderate
  • Double Tap Danger Ping Delay: Moderate
  • Wheels Behavior: Hold

Best FOV settings

Last but not least comes the all-important FOV setting. The higher you make your FOV setting, the more you’re able to see on screen. Lowering this setting zooms in your field of view, meaning you’re closer to your gun, but see less of the map at any given moment.

Thus, a higher FOV is always going to be optimal, but raising it too high for your setup can have some negative effects. If you’re playing on a big screen, raising FOV too high can make it tricky to even see enemies in the distance. Try to strike a middle ground of around 110 in the FOV settings.

Call of Duty Black Ops 6.
The higher your FOV setting, the more you’ll see on screen.

So that’s how you can optimize your controller settings in Black Ops 6. But before you jump into a match and get torn to shreds, be sure to brush up on some of our best Loadout guides for the Beta so you can hang with the competition.