Struggling to pick out the best DPI for League of Legends? Follow along as we show you a few of our top tips on picking out the perfect range.
It’s no secret that your mouse movement is just as important a factor as your champion is in any MOBA game like League of Legends.
The fast-paced matches and incredibly dynamic playstyles you’ll see in LoL need fast and precise mouse-clicks, especially when compared to many other slower game types that rely solely on the WASD keys for placing and moving your character.
However, in League of Legends – the movement of your champion is not the only aspect that is impacted by your mouse position.
How you place your mouse is also important in regards to where your attacks are directed and where they land. And on top of this, another thing to consider is what type of playstyle you have.
This can help you determine the best DPI for League of Legends that works for you. To do this, you will need to hunker down and play around with different setups to optimize your mouse settings in order to find something that fits like a glove.
But, should you really spend the time to tinker with your DPI? Of course – having your DPI set at the right level for you will give you a huge performance boost in-game, making you a better League player right then and there.
We get it – change can be terrifying, especially when it comes to playing around with in-game settings that you’ve never messed around with before.
“What if I change something in the settings and now it’s impossible for me to play the game!” or “I’ve changed the in-game DPI setting, now everything is so slow!” are probably some things that may run through your mind.
Not to worry, summoner!
We’re here to save the day with a detailed step-by-step guide to help you find the best DPI for League of Legends.
What Is DPI?
Before we dive into the meat and bones of the question at hand – let’s take a second to talk about DPI itself.
What is it? What does it do? How does it work?
Keep reading to get answers to these questions and get a solid grasp on how mouse movement works altogether.
First thing’s first – DPI stands for “Dots Per Inch”.
Each movement of your mouse covers a certain amount of pixels. DPI is what determines that number. Or in other words, your DPI setting dictates how much effort you need to put in to move your mouse from point A to point B across your screen.
What’s The Difference Between High & Low DPI?
For example, someone with a lower DPI of 400 may need to move the mouse right across the mousepad. Whereas, someone with a higher DPI of 1200 may only need to flick the mouse a mere fraction of that to move the same distance.
Having been given that example, logic would then dictate that the highest DPI is the best choice, right?
It means you would have to move the mouse less to cover more ground. A lower DPI would be the complete opposite with more effort required.
Unfortunately, DPI settings aren’t all that black and white. In this guide, we will take you through all the pros and cons of each common DPI setting and give you the low-down on how to find the right one for yourself.
Step 1: Turn Windows Mouse Acceleration Off
Before doing anything else, this is an important first step. Your mouse acceleration is probably on if you’ve never changed your computer’s mouse settings before.
Mouse acceleration changes how your mouse behaves every time you move it. If you like control over where you point and click, you will definitely want to switch this off.
Turning this setting off will stop Windows from taking control of your mouse and overshooting or not quite reaching the spot you intended to click on.
In turn, this will help you develop better muscle memory to improve your aim and accuracy. This also means that any hits (or misses) will be on you, not the computer.
So why is this setting included in Windows anyway?
Windows had the good intentions of helping you be more precise with your pointing and clicking. This may be the case when it comes to surfing the internet or playing a stationary hidden object game but this can be detrimental to your game of LoL.
How To Turn Off Mouse Acceleration In Windows 10
- Navigate to Windows Settings.
- Click on the Devices menu and then select the Mouse menu.
- Click on the “Additional Mouse Options” link.
- Open the “Pointer Options” tab.
- Uncheck the “Enhance Pointer Precision” setting to turn off Mouse Acceleration.
- Click Apply and then OK to save the setting and close the menu.
How To Find The Best DPI For League Of Legends
Now that we’re a bit more up close and personal with the concept of DPI and we’ve got all the prerequisites down – let’s get back to the question at hand.
Below, we’ll help you figure out the best DPI for League of Legends based on your playstyle and preference.
Low DPI (400 to 800) – The Precision Master
As mentioned earlier, having a lower DPI requires more effort to move your mouse across your screen, and as such – your character across the map.
How a champion plays in the game is dependent on its abilities – much like any sports player. Where you might not be able to dodge an attack quickly because of low DPI, you do have the advantage of being very precise with your abilities. This advantage is put to good use with champions that rely heavily on skillshots. And if you’re wondering about pulling off precision-dependent mechanics like how to freeze lane in LoL – having a comfortably low sensitivity plays a huge role.
While accuracy and precision are great things during a battle, what’s the catch?
Having a low DPI setting ranging between 400 and 800 will ultimately make your journey from point A to point B take longer. You could also lag with all the movements you need to make with your mouse to keep up with League’s pace.
High DPI (1800 to 3200) – The Damage Dodger
The range for this DPI setting is between 1800 and 3200. Anything over 3000 is actually pushing it.
After knowing what we know about low DPI in terms of movement speed, having a high LoL DPI should mean the opposite, right? Yup!
A higher DPI lets you move across the map faster with less arm movement. This is also great for dodging attacks. Therefore, you would be getting more kills and clearing more objectives if you aren’t getting hit by said attacks.
Sadly, less effort also means less accuracy and precision in your attacks. This means practice and lots of it before you can reap the rewards of the advantages that having a high DPI set can bring you.
Medium DPI (800 to 1800) – The Middle Ground
Usually being in the middle hints at the idea of having “the best of both worlds”. However, when it comes to competitive gaming and precision control – that’s not quite the case.
Much like mixing black and white paint, this whole thing just doesn’t come out looking pretty. At the end of the day, setting your DPI into the middle zone will usually have you end up with another proverbial can of “bleh” paint. The range of medium DPI covers the little gray zone between roughly 800 and 1800 dots per inch.
It’s not uncontrollably fast, and it’s not snail-speed either – so what’s the problem?
First off, your precision just won’t be as accurate as it would be with low DPI. But you also won’t have the reaction time to dodge fast-moving abilities and skillshots, unless you’ve got a huge mousepad to swipe across. And that’s kind of harsh – you’re essentially stuck right between a rock and a hard place, with very little evident benefit to speak of right out of the gate.
So, in the end, while going with the middle DPI range isn’t exactly the worst possible choice per se – it’s mostly a sub-par range to be in.
So What Is The Best DPI For League?
At the end of the day, finding a good DPI for League depends on what type of player you are. You’ll need to take the time to evaluate what champions you like playing the most, and where on the spectrum your playstyle really fits. This will more or less dictate your needs when it comes to figuring out what sensitivity your mouse should be at.
Are you a fast-paced playmaker? Or someone that likes to take their time with what they’re doing?
In a more practical example – slower-paced champions with point and click skills may need a low to medium DPI range to be at their most effective. Some examples of these champions could be Taric, Soraka, Janna, Leona, Alistar, and many other Support or tankier Bruiser champions.
On the other hand, champions like Ekko and Zed, among other assassins can benefit from a higher DPI setting allowing them to really blossom thanks to their dynamic kit and superb mobility.
But, at the end of the day – that’s just a guideline. The only real way to figure out what DPI setting is best for you is to hop in-game and test things out on your favorite champions until you find something that works best.
How To Change Your Mouse Sensitivity (LoL DPI) In Windows?
To change the mouse sensitivity inside of your operating system’s settings menu – you’ll need to go back to the same place we unchecked Mouse Acceleration at. Here, you’ll want to tinker with the “pointer speed” setting to change your DPI.
Here’s a quick overview of the steps involved:
- Open up Windows Settings and go to the Devices screen.
- Find Mouse settings and jump over to the Additional Mouse Options link.
- Find the Pointer Options tab, and there scroll down to the Motion section.
- Set your pointer speed according to your preference.
- Click Apply and OK to save your changes.
For a more detailed version of the different ways you can change your DPI in Windows 10 – check out this guide by SoftwareKeep.
Should You Change In-Game Sensitivity?
We’ve now discussed the best DPI settings for League of Legends. But did you know that League has it’s own in-game sensitivity setting as well?
Now, it might be tempting to change these – we’d recommend you steer clear of it.
The in-game sensitivity you set will actually override the Windows DPI settings you set up earlier (and turning pesky Mouse Acceleration back on), totally nulling out your hard work.
A Note On Gaming Mice
While it’s not hard to change your DPI inside of the Windows settings menu – some gaming mice actually have their own software that allows you to really get in-depth with your mouse movement settings.
We particularly recommend that you opt for a gaming mouse with buttons as those will allow you to set up several DPI ranges that you can use across different games, or different activities on your PC altogether. This means you won’t have to tinker with the settings each and every time you want to go do something new.
Closing Thoughts
And there you have it – our quick and easy guide on picking out the best DPI for League of Legends.
If you’ve kept up with us this far into the guide, you’ve now got a solid understanding of how mouse movement works, as well as the best way to set up the best DPI for LoL according to your personal playstyle.
As always, best of luck on the Rift, summoner! Let us know what DPI range you went with in the comments below.
