What is an inner deadzone?
The inner deadzone is a circle around center inside which the game treats the stick as untouched. Its only job is to hide resting noise and drift. Every percent you add is a percent of fine movement you lose, so the right value is the smallest that covers your stick's resting offset. Measure it with the Controller drift test: the recommended value is the largest resting deviation plus a two-point margin. A healthy stick lands at 3 to 5%; most games default to 10 to 20%, which is why fresh controllers feel sluggish near center until you lower it.
What is an outer deadzone?
The outer deadzone is the opposite: the game treats the stick as fully pushed before it physically hits the rim. Worn sticks and some magnetic modules cannot reach 100%, so sprint or full turn speed never triggers. Setting the outer deadzone to 95% fixes that. The calibration tool on the home page shows the raw value at the rim; if it reads 0.93, set the outer deadzone at or below 93%.
Deadzone shape: radial, axial or hybrid
A radial deadzone is a circle, so diagonals and straight pushes behave the same; that is what most modern games use. An axial or square deadzone applies the threshold to each axis separately, which snaps small diagonal movements to straight lines and makes gentle diagonals feel notchy. Rocket League and many fighting games offer a choice; pick radial unless you specifically want the snap.
What do response curves do?
A curve changes how stick travel maps to output between the deadzones. Linear is one to one. A curve above linear (often called classic, precision or aggressive) makes the first half of travel gentler for fine aim and the second half faster. A curve below linear does the reverse. Curves do not hide drift; they only reshape the usable range. Try the curve slider in the calibration tool to feel the difference before changing it in a game.
Deadzone settings game by game
- Fortnite: Settings → Controller → Sensitivity → Look and Move deadzone. Default 0.25 on older builds; set to your measured value, often 0.05 to 0.10.
- Rocket League: Controls → Controller deadzone (default 0.5) and Dodge deadzone. Competitive players run 0.05 to 0.10; needs a healthy stick.
- Call of Duty: Controller → Stick deadzone min and max, per stick. Min is the inner deadzone, max the outer.
- Apex Legends: Movement/Look → Deadzone, plus the Outer threshold under advanced look controls.
- Steam Input: Settings → Controller → Calibration & Advanced Settings sets inner and outer per stick for every Steam game, and overrides the game's own setting if the game reads through Steam.
Frequently asked questions
Is a 0 deadzone good?
Only with a perfect stick. Any resting noise above zero becomes movement. Measure first; 3 to 5% is usually the practical minimum.
Should both sticks have the same deadzone?
No. Set each from its own measurement. The left stick often needs more because it wears faster.
Does the Steam deadzone stack with the game deadzone?
Yes if both are set; the stick must pass Steam's first, then the game's. Set one and leave the other at minimum.