Guide

Mouse Acceleration for Gaming: The Complete Guide

Mouse acceleration has a bad reputation in FPS games, mostly because of the version built into Windows. A curve designed for aiming is a different tool. Here is how it works and how to decide if it is for you.

Updated · Ergo Engineering

What is mouse acceleration?

Without acceleration, your sensitivity is one fixed number: move the mouse 5 cm and the crosshair turns the same amount whether you moved slowly or fast. With acceleration, sensitivity depends on how fast you move. Slow movements get a lower sensitivity and fast movements get a higher one. The rule that maps hand speed to sensitivity is called the acceleration curve.

That is the whole idea. Acceleration is not aim assist: it does not know where targets are and never moves the crosshair on its own. It only changes how far a movement you make takes you, based on how fast you made it.

The problem it solves

Every FPS player runs into the same trade-off. A low sensitivity is precise: small corrections, steady tracking, easy headshot placement. But a low sensitivity needs a big mousepad and big arm movements to turn around. A high sensitivity turns fast, but small corrections get twitchy.

A good curve gives you both. Your slow, careful aim stays at the low sensitivity you trust, and only fast movements, like flicks and 180s, get boosted. That is why players on smaller mousepads, low-sensitivity players who struggle with fast turns, and players of fast games with lots of turning are the ones who benefit most.

Why Windows acceleration is bad for games

The acceleration most players are told to turn off is the Windows setting "Enhance pointer precision". It was designed to make a desktop pointer easier to use, not to aim:

  • It is tied to the Windows pointer speed slider and to your display settings, so the same movement can feel different on different setups.
  • It has no cap made for games, so very fast movements can overshoot.
  • You cannot shape it. You cannot say where the speed-up should start or how strong it should be.
  • Modern games that read raw input (CS2, Valorant and many others) ignore it entirely, so it does not even reach them.

So the advice "turn off mouse acceleration" is really "turn off Windows acceleration". It says nothing about a curve designed for aiming. Here is how to turn Enhance pointer precision off.

How a custom acceleration curve works

A curve made for games is defined by a few simple things:

  • Base (slow) sensitivity: the sensitivity for slow movements. Set it to the sensitivity you already aim with, so nothing changes for small corrections.
  • Where the speed-up starts: the hand speed at which sensitivity begins to rise. Put it just above your normal adjustment speed.
  • Flick (fast) sensitivity, the cap: the highest sensitivity the curve reaches. A cap keeps very fast movements predictable.
  • The shape in between: how gently or sharply the curve rises from slow to fast.

The curve is applied the same way to every movement, every time. That is what makes it learnable: a given hand movement at a given speed always produces the same turn.

Acceleration in raw-input games

Games like CS2 and Valorant read raw input: the movement straight from the mouse, before Windows applies its pointer settings. That is why Windows acceleration never reaches them, and why most of these games have no acceleration option either.

To use a curve in these games, it has to be applied in the mouse driver, below the game. AimStation applies its curve inside a small, open-source mouse filter driver signed by Microsoft, so the game receives the curved movement as if it came straight from the mouse. AimStation never reads or changes game files or memory. See the guides for CS2 and Valorant.

Should you use mouse acceleration?

It is a preference. A curve tends to help if:

  • You like a low sensitivity for aim but run out of mousepad on fast turns.
  • You play games with a lot of turning: arena shooters, battle royales, hero shooters, movement-heavy games.
  • You keep switching between a "tracking" sensitivity and a "flicking" sensitivity and wish you had both.

It is less useful if you already play a high sensitivity with no trouble on fast turns, or if a game's rules forbid input software. Expect a few sessions to adapt, and compare against 1:1 honestly.

How to set up a curve that fits you

The hard part of acceleration has always been the numbers. Most tools hand you a blank graph and leave you guessing for weeks. AimStation starts from your own aim instead:

  1. Record: press Record and play normally. AimStation measures how fast your slow aim is, how fast your flicks are, and how often you make each.
  2. Tune: it builds a curve around those speeds. Adjust it with plain-language sliders (slow aim sensitivity, flick sensitivity, where the speed-up starts) and test it on your mouse before you save.
  3. Apply: apply it everywhere, or give each game its own curve with Pro. Ctrl + Alt + F10 switches back to 1:1 instantly.

Before you start, note your current sensitivity in cm/360, so you can keep the slow end of the curve where your muscle memory already is.

Mouse acceleration FAQ

Is mouse acceleration bad for gaming?

Windows acceleration ("Enhance pointer precision") is a poor fit for games: it was designed for desktop pointing, has no useful cap and is tied to the pointer speed slider. A custom acceleration curve made for games is different: it is predictable, capped, and applied the same way every time, so you can build muscle memory with it.

Do pro players use mouse acceleration?

Most professional FPS players use a flat 1:1 sensitivity, but acceleration has a long history in arena shooters such as Quake, and a growing number of players in tactical and battle royale games use a custom acceleration curve. It is a preference, not a rule.

Does mouse acceleration ruin muscle memory?

Unpredictable acceleration does. A fixed curve does not: the same hand movement at the same speed always produces the same turn, so it can be learned like any sensitivity. Expect a few sessions to adapt.

How do I get mouse acceleration in games that do not have it?

Apply it at the mouse driver, before the game reads input. That works even in raw-input games such as CS2 and Valorant, which ignore Windows acceleration. AimStation does this with a Microsoft-signed mouse filter driver.

What is a good mouse acceleration curve?

One built around your own speeds: the slow end equal to the sensitivity you already aim with, a speed-up that starts just above your normal adjustment speed, and a cap at the sensitivity your fastest flicks and turns need. AimStation measures those speeds from a recording and builds the curve for you.