Update: Razer’s DeathAdder Elite gets a new eSports-grade sensor, allowing it to slip straight in at slot #1.
PC gamers have never had it so good. While the eSports scene is ramping up to enjoy unprecedented popularity, powerful graphics cards are becoming more affordable than ever, finally making PC gaming a viable alternative to consoles.
Whether you aspire to be the next League of Legends superstar or, more likely, just enjoy a few rounds of Overwatch, you’ll assuredly find yourself at a disadvantage if you skimp on a competent gaming mouse. Assuming you’ve already shelled out the dough for a robust gaming rig straight out of science fiction, there’s no excuse for being stingy on control inputs.
How to choose the best gaming mouse
Your choice of mouse depends very much on your gaming preferences: if you’re into first-person shooters, finding the right balance of sensitivity and responsiveness is vital. If real-time strategy, MMOs or MOBAs are more your beat, you’ll want to find a mouse that supports custom macros.
Below we’ve picked the 10 best gaming mice around. Whatever your gaming preferences or needs, one of these is certain to complete your ultimate PC or Mac gaming setup.
You know what you’re getting with a Razer DeathAdder mouse, and this year’s Elite model is one of the most responsive yet thanks to a new eSports-grade sensor that makes it easier than ever to keep enemies firmly in the center of your crosshair.
Razer’s refreshed rodent features the same right-handed ergonomic design as its predecessor that moulds into your hand, all while adding two new buttons beneath the mouse’s scroll wheel to change DPI (or dots-per-inch) on-the-fly.
While the DeathAdder Elite misses out on more advanced features such as the free-spinning scroll wheel that you’ll find on Logitech’s Proteus Core, the Razer’s pretty RGB lighting (customizable lighting with 16.8 million color options through Razer’s synapse software), big and accessible left-mounted buttons and grippable scroll wheel make it the best mice available in the price tier below.
SteelSeries has ventured where few gaming mouse makers dare by adding a black-and-white OLED display to its Rival 700. It can either be a useful tool for three currently supported games – Dota 2, Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Minecraft – or can instead be used to loop animated GIFs. There’s a high level of customization on offer here thanks to the Rival 700’s modularity. Users can snap covers on and off and even switch between a three- or six-foot cable. Tactile alerts are also in place, which trigger vibrations to indicate when health, mana and other in-game resources are replenished in the aforementioned games. Overall, a distinct piece of equipment.
Wireless gaming mice have a bad reputation, but the Logitech G900 Chaos Spectrum will completely change your mind. With DPI scaling between 200 and 12,000 and no perceptible lag, this gaming mouse is ready for everything from your next game of Hearthstone to tournament level Heroes of the Storm. The ambidextrous design is a rarity these days and better yet, Logitech has implemented magnetic buttons that you can simply swap out for a black spacer depending on your handiness.
Few gaming mice manage to squeeze in as many features as the M65 Pro RGB while remaining comfortable during long gaming sessions. Corsair’s incredibly well-built gaming mouse fits the hand like a glove and its huge 12,000 DPI sensors allows for silky smooth gliding in any game. Once you’ve navigated the sometimes confusing mass of options in Corsair’s CUE software, the M65 Pro RGB can display some impressive and subtle lighting effects. Other features are novel yet welcome: a sniper button positioned on the left-hand edge, three-point weight customization and a DPI switcher that lights up all the colors of the rainbow. Well: blue, green, yellow, white and red, anyway.
Logitech’s gaming mouse makes heavy-handedness seem like a good thing. Its hexagonal core can be customized with up to six 3.6 gram weights, giving you a lighter or heavier mouse to wield. Adjusting the mass and balance isn’t the G502’s only trick: its surface-turnable gaming sensor packs Logitech’s Delta Zero tech, which lets you use it on a wide variety of surfaces beyond your regular mouse mat.
Clicking a middle mouse button lets the G502’s scroll wheel spin freely, which helps prevent knuckle strain when navigating long webpages and forms. Add to that 11 customizable buttons including four on the left-hand side, a three-speed DPI shift under the scroll wheel and a logo that lights up 16.8 million colours in the dark using RGB backlighting, and you have one attractive, tech-stuffed gaming mouse.
Razer’s refreshed Naga Hex gaming mouse has once again been refreshed, this time with MOBA and MMO players in mind. If you need your mouse to do the job when it comes to timely spellcasting, it could be a great addition to your setup. The Naga Hex 2 positions a thumb grip alongside seven quick-access buttons arranged in a circle that, with a bit of muscle memory training, allow you to fire off spells and perform other actions in a snap. There’s also two buttons along the top for adjusting dots-per-inch (DPI) sensitivity on-the-fly, accompanied by two rubber plates on the sides help with grip. In addition to offering a wealth of different buttons, the Naga Hex V2 is lightweight and looks great thanks to Chroma RGB lighting that adds a dash of color to the side-mounted buttons, mouse wheel and Razer logo. Lighting behaviour is configured using Razer’s Synapse software, and you can jump right into the action by downloading its League of legends and DOTA 2 profiles.
The Speedlink Omnivi is one of the more affordable mice to feature removable weights, which can be used to give this red rodent a bit more heft in the hand. It features an ergonomic shape and 10 buttons, alongside an optical sensor with a resolution of up to 5,000 DPI (or dots-inch-inch) which can be changed on-the-fly. Despite its affordable price tag, the Omnivi isn’t short on features, which include customisable LEDs with seven colors, a macro editor, five profiles with separate buttons sensor and colour configurations for use in different games, a USB polling rate configurable to 1,000Hz and a soft-touch rubberised finish. If you’re looking for a comfortable gaming mouse that does just as much as its competitors for less, the Omnivi will do the trick.
Another impressive mouse from Corsair, the Sabre is comparatively stripped down compared to the M65 Pro leaving just the essentials for a reasonable price. The first thing you notice is how light the mouse is. Its lightweight body combines excellently with its fast and accurate optical sensor to feel like a durable mouse you can wield in your hand for playing games of any genre. Corsair’s CUE software is a little fiddly to get to grips with, but once figured out can be programmed to cycle colors around the Sabre’s four RGB-lit zones.
Some gaming mice forego comfort in the name of features, which can’t be said for the RipJaw MX780. It boast a number of features designed to make your hand grip feel just right, including a height-adjustable palm rest, ambidextrous and interchangeable side grips and adjustable weights. It all adds up to make one of the most comfortable gaming mouses we’ve tried in some time, and it’s responsive to boot thanks to an onboard 8,200 dpi laser sensors that supports on-the-fly DPI switching.
SteelSeries peripherals have a huge following among the professional gaming community, and many pros swear by the Sensei. With 11,400DPI sensitivity and a handy eight macro buttons, it comfortably straddles the first-person shooter/MMO/MOBA divide. Meanwhile, underneath its deceptively conventional looks, it’s precision-engineered for all the precision and sensitivity you could desire. And it even lets you customise its “lift distance” – so whatever surface you use it on, you can get it performing perfectly. We can’t vouch for your general level of talent, but the SteelSeries Sensei will at least put you on a par with the pros in terms of equipment.
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