Your keyboard and mouse are essential when it comes to playing CS:GO and CS2. Without them, you wouldn’t be able to move around, aim at targets, nor communicate efficiently with teammates. For some, playing with a horizontal keyboard has become second nature. However, if you’ve ever witnessed a professional match, you’ll notice a common trait amongst players is that they have a “tilted keyboard”. This means that instead of lying parallel to the monitor, the keyboard will be placed at an angle, often at about 45 degrees. So why do many players prefer this different layout? And does it provide any competitive advantage?
Extra Mouse Space
One of the common reasons players opt in for a tilted keyboard is to create extra mouse space. This means players are able to use a lower sensitivity on their mouse allowing for more precise movements, and therefore making them more accurate.
Without the extra mouse space, they’d have to pick up and reposition the mouse when they had run out of room. This is also important at professional matches and LAN tournaments - here many players are crammed into small spaces, where even the slightest increase in mouse space can make all the difference.
Rest Forearm and Elbow
In addition to allowing for more mouse space, tilting the keyboard can give some space to rest a player’s forearm and elbow. This is dependent on whether the player finds it more comfortable or not, and varies from person to person. If you’re happy with how your arms currently rest, you probably don’t need to make this change! That said, some players play for hours and hours, so it's easy to see how one might become fatigued without somewhere to rest their arm.
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