The ongoing debate between mouse and keyboard and controller in Apex Legends has continued to rage on, with the community split in their opinions. However, at the highest level of competition, more and more pros continue to trend towards controller, with some of the biggest voices thinking about making the switch.
Mac “Albralelie” Beckwith, pro player for North America’s LANimals and former member of TSM, posted his thoughts today on the effect the two inputs have in a competitive environment, and his possible switch during the off-season between Split Two’s regular season and the North America Last Chance Qualifier.
Albralelie and LANimals narrowly missed the chance to qualify for the Split Two Playoffs, coming in 14th place during the regular season. They were three circuit points behind Luminosity Gaming in 11th place, the cut-off for what could have been Albralelie’s first international appearance in the 2023 season. With two months between LANimals’ next ALGS event, Albralelie’s switch looks more feasible than ever, having more than enough time to practice controller for the NA LCQ.
While controller players are unable to move while looting death boxes, utilize full keybind options, or use tap-strafing like mouse and keyboard players, pros overwhelmingly prefer it for the powerful aim assist provided in close quarters engagements, allowing them to take fights with near-perfect accuracy and little room for error even against the fastest movement techniques in Apex.
The debate between controller and mouse and keyboard has raged on in all competitive circles of Apex, with more and more pros leaning towards controllers with each year of the ALGS goes on. ImperialHal famously became the first dual-input pro player to have won an international tournament earlier this year, leading TSM to their Split One Playoffs win alongside individually winning the MVP award for the tournament.
ImperialHal and Albralelie are not the only ones to have considered the switch, as pros from all regions have contributed to the input migration. During Split One, the top five kill leaders in each region featured two or more controller players, with all of North America’s top five using controllers. Split One’s Playoffs had four of the top ten using controller, making up 37 percent of the players attending the event.
In Split Two, three of the five major regions featured controller players as the number one player in individual stats. For the first time in North American ALGS history, controller players make up the majority of the player base, with the region feauring 55 percent of the players using the input, and two-thirds of their Split Two top 20 leaderboard owned by controller.
Albralelie has used mouse and keyboard for his entire competitive Apex career since 2019, and the switch to controller could mark another shift in the public opinion of the input worldwide. As more and more regions gradually adopt to what they consider is the best performing option, controller could be the dominant input for Split Two’s Playoffs and beyond.
