There are a lot of things that are involved in gaming, from keyboards, gaming mice, processors, monitors, gaming graphics cards, and many more things, but when it comes to the actual gaming experience, the mice and the type of grip that you use certainly play a huge part. You do not have to be a professional gamer to enjoy games, all you need is a decent computer and some basic hand-eye coordination skills, and you have got everything covered.
This article will discuss the different aspects of a gaming mouse and the types of grips that most gamers use on a gaming mouse during gameplay. While there is no specific style for gamers, there are three types of grips that are used by most gamers. Moreover, some gamers combine different grip styles to invent their style of using a gaming mouse.
Out of the three types of gaming grip styles, claw grip, palm grip, and fingertip grip, the type of grips you use will significantly affect your gaming skills in agility, comfort, and reaction time.
You may ask if there is a perfect way to hold a gaming mouse, but the truth is there is no perfect grip for all. The comfort of a grip depends on the player playing the game. It is more about YOU than the actual grip style you use, and hence it is all about personal preference. Nonetheless, each of the grip styles has their own set of drawbacks that might ruin the gameplay and advantages which the user may employ to gain an advantage during intense gaming sessions.
Other factors that decide the type of grip style you use while gaming include the genre of the game, the feel, ergonomics, physical weight of the mouse, the form factor of the mouse, and the size of the mouse your palms and hands.
What are the Best Mouse Grips for Gaming?
Before we continue, here is a piece of advice. We recommend having a gentle grip on your mouse while keeping a straight wrist, and the arms are kept parallel to the rest of your body. Taking a 15 to 20-minute break is recommended after every hour of gameplay; otherwise, there is the risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome, which leads to numbness and weakness in the wrists and hands.
Palm Grip
The palm grip is more popular among typical desktop users and gamers. This type of grip style provides maximum comfort and ease to use during long strenuous hours of productivity tasks and intense gaming. With this grip, your entire palm rests on top of the mouse while the fingers lie flat on the left and right mouse buttons. When it is not about gaming, the palm grip is typically the most used grip style among PC users.
All five fingers in hand wrap around the mouse while the index and the middle finger stay on top of the primary mouse buttons. About three-fourth of the hand’s entire surface remains in contact with the surface of the mouse in this case.
When it comes to gaming, since there is way too much contact between the hands and the mouse, the palm grip hinders the gamer’s ability to respond quickly, resulting in poor reaction time. Agility and mobility also suffer since the user has less control over their wrists as they grip the mouse with most of their hand, and therefore this type of mouse grip is not recommended if you are a fan of mouse flicking and flick aiming in games. If you employ shoulder and elbow aiming in first-person shooters or other such games, the palm grip might give you an edge over the other grips since your elbow, forearm and shoulders remain relaxed in this style. In games where you need a slow and controlled movement of the mouse, this might be the grip that is perfect for you.
As we said earlier, the palm grip is not limited to gaming and gamers and is also used by most people who work with computers. The popularity of this type of grip style is understandable because of its comfort as it allows the wrist to stay relaxed in a natural position. Palm grip users should look for mice with a steeper back curve or an arch shape with a wider top surface as they provide maximum contact.
The Logitech G Pro Wireless is our choice for the best mouse for a palm grip since it has all the features that a user who uses this type of grip style might want. Weighing in just at 80 grams along with customizable weight, the mouse features a wireless connectivity option as well as a total of 8 mouse buttons, including four customizable and programmable buttons on the sides. Equipped with the HERO sensor from Logitech, the mouse has excellent tracking speeds and sports an ergonomic design with a gradual arched back that palm grip users will surely enjoy while gaming. To top it all off, they also incorporated RGB lighting behind the logo and included a battery that lasts up to 48 hours.
The downside to using the palm grip includes less control over quick, sharp movements and micro-adjustments. Although this type of low tension grip style is good for tracking, rapid clicking, and tap firing, it is a big hassle, therefore sacrificing speed in return for maximum comfort. The Corsair IronClaw and both the Logitech G403 Hero and the Logitech G502 SE Hero are ideal palm grip mouse choices for palm grip users. They have a wide build and sport an ergonomic design that lets you easily rest your entire palm upon them and grab it for the best grip possible. Overall speaking, if you have big hands and all you need is accuracy and comfort for low sensitivity games, then this is the grip style that you should go for.
Fingertip Grip
The complete opposite of the Palm grip style is the fingertip grip or the tip grip. This type of grip style is mostly used by gamers and is popular among fast-paced gamers as it allows freedom of movement. Just like the name sounds, tip grip users place their two fingers on top of the mouse on the two primary left and right buttons while the rest of the hand and palm stay off of the mouse surface. Since there is a considerable amount of space between your palm and the mouse’s surface, it is easier to lift the mouse and drag it across quickly while using this type of grip style.
The fingertip grip is preferred by gamers who look for quicker movements and wrist flicks and flick shots in gaming. These can be easily carried out using this style since your wrist is more comfortable than the palm grip style, where it’s more stiff.
Fingertip grip users should look for a mouse that is pretty light in weight, and that sports a low-profile design and smaller build or structure. Generally, a mouse weighing less than 100 grams is considered the perfect option for users who prefer this grip style over the other ones.
Gamers using this style maintain a very light touch with their mouse, and hence it is important that the mouse you plan to buy is not oversized or bulkier than necessary as every fraction of a gram is critical. It counts when it comes to professional gaming. These mice are mostly made out of lightweight plastic and have a very flat-arched back. We consider tip grip to be the most aggressive grip style among the three types as it involves quick sharp movements with the least contact between the palm and mouse, allowing you to move, fire, and aim rapidly with the smallest movement of the entire arm.
The HyperX Pulsefire Raid is a great choice if you are looking for the perfect mouse for fingertip grip users. Housing the Pixart 3389 Sensor, the mouse is equipped with 11 programmable buttons, a braided wire/USB cable, and has an amazing build quality and a plethora of customizable options. Honestly, you can not get a better deal than with this mouse for just $60. The ergonomics are on point, and the mouse also has RGB lighting to elevate the aesthetics of your gaming setup.
On the other side, the BenQ Zowie EC2 is hands down the best gaming mouse for all-hands of different sizes. The device is extremely light in weight but lacks customization options and has a smaller DPI range than other mice at this price point.
Speed and agility are the main focus of the people who use the fingertip grip style during gameplay.
You can consider this type of grip as a low tension grip, but it requires a slightly firmer grip compared to the palm grip style. Due to the excessive use of the wrist, consistency is the only thing that suffers. Unfortunately, when it comes to slow tracking or places where you need very precise gliding movements and delicate control over the mouse pointer, this type of grip style does not excel in most cases. Moreover, the wrist’s excessive use for flick movements and quick dragging may stain your wrists and tire out your entire hand, which can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome. We recommend taking short breaks of 10 minutes to stretch and relax your hand muscles after each gaming session to not develop any injuries of the wrist.
Claw Grip
The claw grip is a hybrid of both the grip styles, the palm grip, and the fingertip grip. It takes some of the good aspects of both the grip styles and combines them to offer a different gaming experience. Here the user’s hand rests on top of the mouse, the fingers curl inside, and the tip of the fingers sits on the mouse’s primary buttons while the back or bottom of the user’s palm rests on the back of the mouse along the curve.
Even the hand placement description in a claw grip should be enough to understand that this type of grip style offers much more freedom when it comes down to wrist movement and mobility compared to the palm grip. Compared to the fingertip grip, the claw grip offers much more control over fine movements and precise tracking, and thereby one can remain consistent with it in first-person shooter games. Thus, we can say that this grip style combines both the other styles, and the claw grip is considered the most popular grip for a gaming mouse.
The claw grip style is very similar to a palm grip, but with lesser contact between the hand and the mouse as the fingers barely touch the buttons. Only the last knuckle of each finger does. The base of the palm just barely rests on the back of the mouse while the middle portion of the palm remains raised, thereby decreasing the overall contact between the mouse and the hand and resulting in that claw shape.
The palm grip’s stability and precision combined with the sharp and quick wrist movements of the tip grip result in a style that can turn into a formidable weapon in any gamers arsenal irrespective of the genre of games they play.
When it comes to the mouse that should be used, an ideal claw grip mouse should always be lighter than a palm grip mouse as a claw grip user wants the same comfort level but with greater agility. In terms of the form factor or the mouse’s actual size, it should be smaller than a palm grip mouse but a bit larger than a fingertip grip mouse to allow the user to secure a firm claw grip.
Are you searching for the best mouse for a claw grip? We have got you covered.
The Razer DeathAdder V2 is one hell of a performer when placed in the hands of a claw grip gamer. Razer has always been famous for its top-notch build quality, so there is certainly no doubt about build quality as it also features Razer’s SpeedFlex braided cable. With eight programmable buttons, a high back, a wide-body, and an ergonomic design, gaming never felt better. With this, Razer uses its own focus + Optical Sensor that promises faster and reliable tracking and also mindblowing precision.
Overall speaking, the claw grip is far less popular than the palm grip. Still, with the grip style gaining popularity among gamers and other players worldwide, it is quickly becoming a staple when it comes to Real-time strategy games. Since the hand stays arched up, resembling a claw shape, claw grip mice have a smaller chassis and feature a meek back arch compared to tip grip mice. A claw grip mouse is also more suitable for controlled and smooth glides.
Wrapping It Up
In this article, we pretty much covered all the basics about the different types of mouse grip styles you need to know about before buying a mouse that fits your style and the one you find the most comfortable to play games with.
The palm grip is generally geared towards first-person shooter gamers who need precise control over their aim and shooting. Apart from gaming, people who spend a lot of their time in front of computers for editing or other productivity tasks also prefer a palm grip over other grips since it is the most comfortable out of the three and prevents or minimizes the chances of injuring their hand by straining it out.
The fingertip grip is pretty easy to learn but hard to remain consistent with since it easily strains your hands out due to the quick and sharp wrist movements you have to make with it during gameplay. Nonetheless, this type of grip gives you great freedom of movement, agility, and mobility compared to the other grip styles.
The claw grip is the most famous among gamers worldwide and is slowly but steadily gaining more and more popularity. The grip brings together the best things about the palm grip and the fingertip grip, thereby allowing the user or the gamer to achieve the same degree of wrist movement and agility of a fingertip grip while maintaining the same comfort level palm grip.
There is no perfect grip style. In all honesty, it is a matter of personal preference, and it is necessary that you find your comfort zone and pick one or go with your new style. The genre of game that you play and the ones you are good at also play a factor in deciding the most useful grip style.
