Call of Duty Vanguard: Best Controller Settings

There are a lot of different settings in Call of Duty: Vanguard covering all aspects of the game. Fine-tuning them can increase your gameplay performance significantly, but with so many options to tamper with, it can be confusing and overwhelming. Fortunately, we’ve put together a guide on the best controller settings in Call of Duty: Vanguard. This guide covers basic controls, advanced controls, weapon & equipment, movement and action behaviour settings.

Best Basic Control Settings in Call of Duty: Vanguard

• Horizontal Stick Sensitivity: 5-6
• Vertical Stick Sensitivity: 5-6
• Ground Vehicles Sensitivity Multiplier: 1.00
• Air Vehicles Sensitivity Multiplier: 1.00
• ADS Sensitivity Multiplier: 0.90-0.80
• Custom Sensitivity Per Zoom: Off
• Button Layout Preset: Personal preference
• Vertical Aim (On Foot): Standard
• Vertical Aim (Ground Vehicles): Standard
• Vertical Aim (Air Vehicles): Standard
• Aim Response Curve Type: Standard
• Controller Vibration: Personal preference
• Trigger Effect: Personal preference
• Weapon Fire Threshold: Personal preference

Sensitivity is the most important setting in Call of Duty: Vanguard, and one that requires the most fine-tuning. In our experience, 5-6 Horizontal and Vertical sensitivity is the sweet spot. It allows faster movement without being completely inaccurate. Start on 4 and work your way up between games to figure out what works best for your playstyle. Default sensitivity for Air and Ground Vehicles is perfectly fine, but feel free to increase or decrease as you see fit.

For ADS Sensitivity, which is the sensitivity when aiming your weapon, we found that 0.90 allowed us to shoot accurately, without sacrificing too much speed. Much like stick sensitivity, the best ADS sensitivity for you can be completely different to someone else. Work your way down and assess how well your accuracy is, as well as how fast you are to aim before you can shoot. You can use Custom Sensitivity Per Zoom to adjust the sensitivity of different zoom distances once you’ve gotten used to adjusting sensitivity, but we recommend keeping this off for now.

Vertical Aim on Ground, Air and Foot are best left on ‘Standard’, but if you’re used to inverted controls, feel free to change them. Controller Vibration is completely down to personal preference, but can be useful for weapon feedback.

Trigger Effect is a PS5-only feature that aims to make it feel like you’re really pulling the trigger of the gun you’re firing; having it on or off doesn’t particularly affect your performance. Weapon Fire Threshold will simulate a gun’s trigger in-game, firing when pushed past a certain threshold. This can be useful for preparing to fire when turned on, but turning it off can also result in instant and faster firing. We recommend trying both options before determining which to choose.

Finally, Aim Responsive Curve Type is usually best left on ‘standard for most players. If you play other first-person shooters and find that you prefer Linear or Dynamic curves, feel free to select them.

Advanced Controls

• ADS Sensitivity Transition Timing: Instant
• ADS Sens. Multiplier (Steady Aim): 1
• Stick Layout Preset: Default
• Controller Orientation: Up
• ADS Stick Swap: Off
• Left Trigger Min Input Deadzone: 5
• Right Trigger Min Input Deadzone: 5
• Left Stick Min Input Deadzone: 10
• Right Stick Min Input Deadzone: 10
• Left Stick Max Input Deadzone: 99
• Right Stick Max Input Deadzone: 99

Most Advanced Control options are optimal by default and can be left alone, other than the Left and Right Trigger Min Input Deadzone. Lowering this setting can be beneficial, especially with older controllers and stiff thumbsticks, as it lowers the amount of movement needed for an input to be carried out in-game.

Best Weapon & Equipment Settings in Call of Duty: Vanguard

• Target Aim Assist: On
• Target Aim Assist Mode: Default
• ADS Aim Assist: On
• Weapon Mount Activation: ADS + Melee
• Weapon Mount Movement Exit: On
• Depleted Ammo Weapon Switch: On
• Blind Fire: Personal preference

Similarly to Advanced Controls, default settings are perfectly optimal. If you are used to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War‘s aim assist, you can change Target Aim Assist Mode, which can be found as a sub-option under ‘Target Aim Assist’, to ‘Black Ops’. Focusing can also help players that are new to using controllers for first-person shooters, but should be switched to Default eventually. Finally, keeping Blind Fire on or off comes down to personal preference. It allows you to shoot at enemies while hidden behind objects, with the tradeoff of having obstructed vision.

Movement

• Automatic Airborne Mantle: Partial
• Mantle Stance Queueing: On
• Automatic Sprint: Off or Automatic Tactical Sprint
• Auto Move Forward: Off
• Sprint Cancels Reload: On
• Sprinting Door Bash: On

Choosing whether you want to use Automatic Sprint or not is the only option you have to worry about when it comes to movement. If you’d prefer to always sprint when you move forward, choose ‘Automatic Tactical Sprint’. If you prefer more control over when you sprint, leave it as the default option.

Action Behavior

• Slide Behavior: Tap
• Sprint/Tactical Sprint Behavior: Toggle
• Aim Down SIte Behaviour: Hold (Locked if you chose Automatic Tactical Sprint)
• Equipment Behavior: Hold
• Steady Aim Behavior: Hold
• Automatic Weapon Fire Behavior: Hold
• Interact/Reload Behavior: Tap to Reload
• Scoreboard Behavior: Toggle

The only option you need to behave in Action Behavior is Slide Behavior. Changing it from Hold to Tap will allow you to slide much faster. The faster you can slide, the faster you can make tactical movements to avoid death or land fast kills.

That wraps it up for our guide on the best controller settings in Call of Duty: Vanguard. It’s important to remember to try different settings out to see what suits you the best. Everyone has a different gameplay style and controllers themselves can even differ.

If you’re looking for a great weapon to use, check out our STG44 Loadout Guide, a solid and versatile assault rifle to use in multiplayer.

You can also find more useful guides on our Call of Duty: Vanguard tag page.

Call of Duty: Vanguard is out now for PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series S/X, and PC via Battle.net.