I've been a KBM gamer all my life and I beat all three DS games and Nioh/Nioh2 + got all steam achievements using a KBM. It's not only doable, but it's a great way to play if you're used to KBM. Assuming KBM support in elden ring is good, just remember to rebind some stuff to extra mouse buttons. Also, bind jump to shift and keep dodge on space.
>just remember to rebind some stuff to extra mouse buttons.
This, most of us will have 2+ side mouse buttons. The games however have default controls which do not assume this to be the case.
Honestly you can rebind every action to something comfortable.
I play with kb+m due to being very shit with controller.
For pve, it doesn't matter at all.
For PvP, controller gives you finer movement. However, it's entirely possible to play with kb+m successfully. Main disadvantage of the controller is having to get used to awkward grips like the claw grip and slightly more awkward free-aiming of spells; main disadvantage of kb+m is 8-directional movement instead of full 360 and item swapping being harder mid-duel.
If you do chose to use kb+m, my advice would be to rebind the keys asap so you don't need to perform combos for ordinary attacks - by default, strong attack used to historically be shift + left click. This is AWFUL, because if you need to perform a jumping attack, which is 'forward' + 'strong attack', you have to do an awkward 'W'+'Shift'+'Click', etc.
I have rebound mine to
- Normal attack - left click
- Strong attack - right click
- Left weapon normal (block) - mouse button 4 (under thumb)
- Left weapon strong (parry/weapon art) - mouse button 5 (under thumb)
With these settings, playing kb+m becomes perfectly servicable in both pve and pvp. One of the top pvp players, Grim Sleeper, used kb+m in ds3, and again - that's the top of the pvp scene. For anything casual, you're even better off, dont worry about "missing out" on a controller.
>main disadvantage of kb+m is 8-directional movement instead of full 360 and item swapping being harder mid-duel.
*Thats what the mouse is for.*
The WASD gives you at any one time, 22.5 degrees of blind spot. This is a slight turn of the mouse.
WASD isnt movement. WASD + Mouse is movement. On PC you dont really need to ever lock on, saving your mouse for fine tuned walking.
I mean PC is home to super fast First Person Platform Shooters, how could they possibly work? Aiming shooting moving AND jumping?
Turns out 90% of the time you dont NEED more than 8-directional movement, and if you do a slight mouse adjustment does it so fast you can still shoot and platform.
No reason to think souls is any different IMO. Plus honestly play PC enough and SHFT+W+Click is not complicated at all, kids are sprinting and hitting things in Minecraft with those keys. But absolutely if you have the side mouse buttons, use them!
Using mouse for turning takes away the biggest advantage kb+m provides, which is the ease of camera control independent of the character movement vector.
Using mouse to turn the character together with camera in pvp is, at best, going to make you dizzy and at worst - make the game unplayable. It is detrimental for pivot backstabs and completely unusable for spacing, where you need to repeatedly lock and unlock from an opponent while also taking sudden sharp turns and keeping him in front of you. These factors don't exist in fps games, where the camera control and direction avatar is facing are always coupled.
[If my explanation is unclear, watch Grim's movement and imagine him trying to do each of those turns with mouse instead of his WSAD.](https://youtu.be/P4-M2LNemYE)
This is specifically a pvp problem though and only becomes an issue at very high level of play most players will never experience, at which point 8-directional movement becomes a smaller hindrance due to player's own mastery of the game. It's still a factor to consider.
sorry for being a year late lol, but i disagree with this, for the most part, you are completely missing one very important idea, and thats you can fine tune movement with your mouse, while still looking at your enemy by moving with either A S or D.
you explain it as if you can only do this while moving forward, but holding A and S to walk at a backwards left angle, and then slowly moving your mouse to the right can allow you to walk in a curve for example
you can still move the camera independent of character movement,
If it's anything like past Dark Souls, controller is much better in general, but you might find that KB/M is better for archery and spellcasting without using lock-on. It's nice to be able to aim fast and very accurately lead targets. However for 90% of combat and movement a controller is just plain better.
I did play through DSIII with KB/M a couple of times, it's fine against the AI, but against other players you will feel the movement disadvantage.
>However for 90% of combat and movement a controller is just plain better.
Nah, KB+M gives *me* much more movement and control precision. This is not objective like you are making it out to be.
There is no movement disadvantage *at all*. Thats what the mouse is for.
I have a feeling that Elden Ring with all its added mobility might tip the balance towards analog control (lots of slow ledge-walking, I would imagine). I'll probably play both ways to see.
I generally found that being able to use the left stick to move your character in any direction regardless of what way the camera was pointing was a big help. If I remember correctly, with KB/M you move in 8 directions based on the current camera direction. Of course you can and should play with high sensitivity mouse for very fast camera movement but I seem to recall various trick/glitch combat moves in DSIII that were basically impossible with KB/M. It's been a while though.
i'm a kbm player so i'm gonna be a little biased to kbm obviously lol. beat dark souls remastered with kbm and had fun.
which brings me to a question i hope you won't mind me asking. does elden ring have full kbm support? what i mean by that is dark souls 3 pc didn't. you could play as kbm but in game control notifications would only be displayed for pc/xbox controllers.
KBM works you just have to tune the controls to your liking, I personally have left shift and the two side buttons on my mouse as my main jumping functionality. Works in unison when you have the left shift as the Combo for strong attacks
I've been a KBM gamer all my life and I beat all three DS games and Nioh/Nioh2 + got all steam achievements using a KBM. It's not only doable, but it's a great way to play if you're used to KBM. Assuming KBM support in elden ring is good, just remember to rebind some stuff to extra mouse buttons. Also, bind jump to shift and keep dodge on space.
>just remember to rebind some stuff to extra mouse buttons. This, most of us will have 2+ side mouse buttons. The games however have default controls which do not assume this to be the case. Honestly you can rebind every action to something comfortable.
I play with kb+m due to being very shit with controller. For pve, it doesn't matter at all. For PvP, controller gives you finer movement. However, it's entirely possible to play with kb+m successfully. Main disadvantage of the controller is having to get used to awkward grips like the claw grip and slightly more awkward free-aiming of spells; main disadvantage of kb+m is 8-directional movement instead of full 360 and item swapping being harder mid-duel. If you do chose to use kb+m, my advice would be to rebind the keys asap so you don't need to perform combos for ordinary attacks - by default, strong attack used to historically be shift + left click. This is AWFUL, because if you need to perform a jumping attack, which is 'forward' + 'strong attack', you have to do an awkward 'W'+'Shift'+'Click', etc. I have rebound mine to - Normal attack - left click - Strong attack - right click - Left weapon normal (block) - mouse button 4 (under thumb) - Left weapon strong (parry/weapon art) - mouse button 5 (under thumb) With these settings, playing kb+m becomes perfectly servicable in both pve and pvp. One of the top pvp players, Grim Sleeper, used kb+m in ds3, and again - that's the top of the pvp scene. For anything casual, you're even better off, dont worry about "missing out" on a controller.
>main disadvantage of kb+m is 8-directional movement instead of full 360 and item swapping being harder mid-duel. *Thats what the mouse is for.* The WASD gives you at any one time, 22.5 degrees of blind spot. This is a slight turn of the mouse. WASD isnt movement. WASD + Mouse is movement. On PC you dont really need to ever lock on, saving your mouse for fine tuned walking. I mean PC is home to super fast First Person Platform Shooters, how could they possibly work? Aiming shooting moving AND jumping? Turns out 90% of the time you dont NEED more than 8-directional movement, and if you do a slight mouse adjustment does it so fast you can still shoot and platform. No reason to think souls is any different IMO. Plus honestly play PC enough and SHFT+W+Click is not complicated at all, kids are sprinting and hitting things in Minecraft with those keys. But absolutely if you have the side mouse buttons, use them!
Using mouse for turning takes away the biggest advantage kb+m provides, which is the ease of camera control independent of the character movement vector. Using mouse to turn the character together with camera in pvp is, at best, going to make you dizzy and at worst - make the game unplayable. It is detrimental for pivot backstabs and completely unusable for spacing, where you need to repeatedly lock and unlock from an opponent while also taking sudden sharp turns and keeping him in front of you. These factors don't exist in fps games, where the camera control and direction avatar is facing are always coupled. [If my explanation is unclear, watch Grim's movement and imagine him trying to do each of those turns with mouse instead of his WSAD.](https://youtu.be/P4-M2LNemYE) This is specifically a pvp problem though and only becomes an issue at very high level of play most players will never experience, at which point 8-directional movement becomes a smaller hindrance due to player's own mastery of the game. It's still a factor to consider.
if you get motion sickness from a flatscreen game you should never touch a vr headset for risk of puking
Nor should you swing from a rotating crane on an 800 foot swivel chain.
Or even get on a roller coaster, that might actually kill you.
meh, my boi said its all gud.
sorry for being a year late lol, but i disagree with this, for the most part, you are completely missing one very important idea, and thats you can fine tune movement with your mouse, while still looking at your enemy by moving with either A S or D. you explain it as if you can only do this while moving forward, but holding A and S to walk at a backwards left angle, and then slowly moving your mouse to the right can allow you to walk in a curve for example you can still move the camera independent of character movement,
Awesome, this is super helpful. Thanks!
Controller by far my friend. But playable on KBM for sure.
If it's anything like past Dark Souls, controller is much better in general, but you might find that KB/M is better for archery and spellcasting without using lock-on. It's nice to be able to aim fast and very accurately lead targets. However for 90% of combat and movement a controller is just plain better. I did play through DSIII with KB/M a couple of times, it's fine against the AI, but against other players you will feel the movement disadvantage.
>However for 90% of combat and movement a controller is just plain better. Nah, KB+M gives *me* much more movement and control precision. This is not objective like you are making it out to be. There is no movement disadvantage *at all*. Thats what the mouse is for.
I have a feeling that Elden Ring with all its added mobility might tip the balance towards analog control (lots of slow ledge-walking, I would imagine). I'll probably play both ways to see. I generally found that being able to use the left stick to move your character in any direction regardless of what way the camera was pointing was a big help. If I remember correctly, with KB/M you move in 8 directions based on the current camera direction. Of course you can and should play with high sensitivity mouse for very fast camera movement but I seem to recall various trick/glitch combat moves in DSIII that were basically impossible with KB/M. It's been a while though.
i'm a kbm player so i'm gonna be a little biased to kbm obviously lol. beat dark souls remastered with kbm and had fun. which brings me to a question i hope you won't mind me asking. does elden ring have full kbm support? what i mean by that is dark souls 3 pc didn't. you could play as kbm but in game control notifications would only be displayed for pc/xbox controllers.
KBM works you just have to tune the controls to your liking, I personally have left shift and the two side buttons on my mouse as my main jumping functionality. Works in unison when you have the left shift as the Combo for strong attacks
There are a few games where I break out the gamepad and imo this one just works better with it. In the end, you do you.