What Are The Side Buttons On A Gaming Mouse Used For?

The side buttons are one of the most noticeable differences between gaming mice and ordinary mouse. With the Logitech G502 and Roccat Nyth gaming mouse, these buttons may be found.

New PC gamers and those who have just purchased a gaming mouse may wonder: Why do gaming mice have so many additional buttons, and what do these side buttons accomplish?

These side buttons and other buttons on a gaming mouse will be discussed in this article.

What Do The Side Buttons On A Gaming Mouse Do?

The customizable buttons on gaming mice are the ones on the left and right sides. With the click of a button, players may carry out in-game actions without having to remember complicated hotkeys. Various game actions may be given to each button individually.

The video below shows you how to utilise the side buttons on your gaming mouse in Fortnite:

When playing a first-person shooter (FPS), such as Battlefield or Call of Duty, you may designate side buttons for fast fire, reloading, scopes, and other functions.

In massively multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft and Diablo 3, the side buttons may be utilised for a variety of functions.

In most games, the additional side buttons are used for some of the following:

• Quick weapon switching
• Melee attacks
• Reloading
• Throwing grenades
• Scoping
• Healing/health boost
• Casting spells
• Activating voice chat
• Adjusting camera angles
• Movement:
• Crouching
• Taking a prone position
• leaning 
• Sprinting
• Stealth
• Sliding under objects
• Peeking in/out
• Jumping

You have the ability to build up macros in addition to giving direct instructions to the side buttons. Macros

enable you to swiftly do repetitive or difficult activities by allowing you to replay a sequence of events, such as mouse clicks, keystrokes, and delays, with the push of a single button. This allows you to save time while completing the chores.

For instance, combination strikes in fighting games such as Tekken 7 may be carried out with the use of macros. You can avoid having to try to memorise all of the different hotkeys by recording a series of actions and then binding them to a single button instead.

You can get an advantage over your opponent in shooter games by using macros to do quick fire, which gives you a competitive edge. If you like playing games against other people, you should familiarise yourself with the regulations before you configure the side buttons.

This is due to the fact that using macros is seen as cheating in games like Fortnite, and doing so might result in a ban from the game.

Are The Side Buttons On A Gaming Mouse Only Useful For Gaming?

Aside from its usage in gaming, the mouse’s side buttons also have applications in the workplace, where they may help users become more efficient and save time. For instance, the side buttons may be programmed to carry out a variety of mundane and repetitive chores, such as the following:

• Cut, copy, and paste
• Undo
• Launch any program
• Next/previous track (for media playback)
• Simulate any keystroke or combination of keystrokes
• media functions (next track, previous track,play/pause)
• Volume control; up, down, and mute
• Minimize and close windows

• Zoom in/out
• Moving up/down when browsing 

How Many Buttons Should A Gaming Mouse Have?

A gaming mouse need to have no less than six buttons at the very least. They consist of the standard left click (M1), the right click (M2), the click on the centre mouse wheel (M3), as well as two side buttons and a button that toggles between DPI and CPI. On the other hand, the games you play and your own preferences may dictate that you require more than six buttons on your controller.

For example, if you are playing a first-person shooter game like CS: GO, you can get by just fine with a gaming mouse that has six buttons on it. On the other hand, if you are participating in a fast-paced multiplayer online battle arena game like League of Legends, you will discover that having more than six side buttons is useful.

When playing MOBA and MMO games, having additional buttons gives you the ability to assign certain character actions, abilities, skills, and in-game instructions to a specific button on your mouse. This makes it easier to access these features quickly.

The amount of keybinds that a game requires you to generate is the determining factor in the number of buttons that a gaming mouse should have.

How To Configure Gaming Mouse Buttons

There is not much you can do with the additional buttons after you take them out of the package. It is up to you to set them in a way that makes them suitable for your purposes. Gaming mice manufactured by respectable firms like Logitech, Razer, and Corsair all come along with their own unique piece of software that enables the buttons to be customised to your liking.

In addition to assigning keys for usage inside the game, you have the ability to establish several user profiles, each of which may be linked to a certain game or software.

Some of the software, such as Logitech’s G Hub, can automatically recognise games that have been loaded on your personal computer and build up profiles that may then be customised by the user. Other examples of gaming mouse software include the iCUE software from Corsair and the Synapse programme from Razer.

It is imperative that you bear in mind that the software that comes preinstalled on gaming mice is proprietary, which means that it can only be used with other goods manufactured by the same company. Avoid obtaining a generic gaming mouse since it will be difficult to configure without using software. This is the main reason why.

Although there are additional programmes available, such as X-mouse, Mouse Manager, and HydraMouse, that may be used to customise mouse buttons, these applications are only able to programme a maximum of five buttons at a time.

This is due to the fact that rather than being created for gamers, they are geared more toward those who want to utilise the side buttons to boost their overall efficiency.

What Gaming Mouse Has The Most Buttons?

The Logitech G 600 gaming mouse features the most buttons of any mouse currently available. Because it contains 18 mechanical buttons in addition to 20 programmable inputs, it is ideal for massively multiplayer online gaming.

What Does The DPI/CPI Button On A Gaming Mouse Do?

You may alter the sensitivity of your mouse on the fly without having to go into the mouse settings dashboard by using the button that is referred to as the DPI (Dots Per Inch) button. This button is also known as the CPI (Counts Per Inch) button.

Decreasing your mouse’s DPI to a high value works great for games with a quick pace, but when accuracy is required, setting the DPI to a lower value often delivers better results. The DPI button is useful for situations in which you need to quickly switch between high and low DPI settings.

Conclusion

The side buttons found on gaming mice provide you the ability to conduct a variety of in-game activities without requiring you to utilise the keyboard or commit hotkeys to memory. Outside of the realm of video games, the usage of side buttons may boost productivity and cut down on the amount of time spent on activities that are just repetitious.

The amount of side buttons that are necessary for you to have on a gaming mouse will ultimately be determined by the kind of games that you play as well as your own personal choice. Avoid purchasing generic gaming mouse that do not come with their own software if at all possible, since this will make configuring the side buttons more difficult.