Best Xbox Elite 2 Controller Setup For Modern Warfare

Are you an Xbox Elite Series 2 controller user and a fan of Call of Duty Modern Warfare? If you are, we are happy to greet you and offer you a way to efficiently configure your Elite 2 controller for the game. Who are we? A team of like-minded gamers who enjoy gaming so much that many years ago we opened a company and established a brand Mega Modz that produces modded and custom gaming controllers for Xbox and PlayStation. First-person shooters have always been our special area of interest, and due to the nature of this gaming genre where a speed of reaction and maneuvering is everything, we are always looking for ways to improve the user experience when it comes to a game controller usage.

The main idea is to be able to execute game actions as fast as possible applying minimum effort, and we are happy to share the experience of a passionate gamer Frank Sparapani with our readers. Frank has had his fair share of experiments with settings and will cover how to set up the Xbox Elite 2 controller to perform your best in Modern Warfare in this article.

His suggested configuration will include both the hardware and the software so that you will be able to customize the controller and change the settings in the Xbox Accessories App and in the game itself.

The product is a great tool for advancing your skills and can be fine-tuned for games of absolutely any genre. Check out Best Fortnite Settings for Xbox Elite Series 2 Controller to master Battle Royale titles!

THE THUMBSTICKS

I am going to start with the front of the controller and focus on setting up the two thumbsticks. Elite 2 controller stick customization has stepped up compared to the Elite 1 version and now offers three tension levels. To adjust the tension of the thumbsticks, I take off the sticks and use a metal key provided in the box. In the center of the sticks there are slots the key is going to sit into, and by rotating all the way to the left you get to the least tense, and by doing one click to the right you get medium tension, and if you keep rotating clockwise you get the most tension setting.

As for the choice of the sticks themselves, much like in the Elite 1 controller package, we have a selection of three sets that are held on by magnets which makes it very easy to swap them out. There are the concave shortest ones that are very similar to the standard Xbox One controller style sticks, they come with the smallest surface area out of all three. The middle height ones replicate the design of the Xbox 360 ones and come with the largest surface area. The third set consists of the tallest concave one with a surface area identical to the shortest ones and a domed convex stick which is the best for keeping your thumb on it due to its edgy surface.

Here is my best thumbstick setup for Modern Warfare and Warzone:

For my Left Stick, I am going to use the least tense setting and use the largest surface area shape stick. This setup will allow me to have plenty of movement while not straining my thumb muscles plus offer lots of grip surface for my thumb, and I am not going to slide off.

For the Right Stick, I am going to select the medium tension. It will still give me great movement while allowing me to have that fine-tuned maneuvering when I am already aiming and locked on to the target. This tension setting will keep me where I want to be without over-rotating. I have selected a domed stick for the right stick just because I feel a lot better using this type of surface. It allows me to be more accurate and just by rotating my thumb around it, the surface allows me to fine-tune my aiming so I can pick off that headshot and be that more precise. This is an important adjustment you need to make to come on top in medium to long-range gunfights.

THE D-PAD

Now let's work on the front of the controller starting with the d-pad. The winner here is a standard model, as I am not really a fan of the faced one. In COD we don’t do diagonal d-pad movements, it is a left-right-up-or-down-type-of-movement game, so I go with a conventional, traditional style one. It delivers the required functionality plus I can feel it a lot better.

ELITE 2 TRIGGER LOCKS

Elite 2 controller comes with the ability to change the trigger locks offering three levels of lock distances. There is really not much debate about what trigger lock configuration works better when it comes to playing Modern Warfare or Warzone or any FPS in general. I am going to set them to the shortest distance which is the lowest button position. It will make your trigger response almost instant once engaged, which will allow you to be as quick as possible when aiming and shooting. But if you want a pro tip from me, I always swap my bumpers and triggers, where I aim and shoot with the bumpers. They do function as an on/off switch, and you can’t get quicker than that.

XBOX ACCESSORIES APP

You will use it to remap the paddles, create user profiles, and make some other adjustments to finish your perfect setup for MW and Warzone. You can also swap bumpers and triggers, but if you do want to play with the Flipped configuration, I highly suggest keeping the controller layout to Default and only flipping the in-game Call of Duty button layout to Default Flipped which makes the best way to play the flipped configuration.

ELITE 2 PADDLES CONFIGURATION

Let’s start with the most popular component on the controller which is located on the back - the programmable paddles. It is worth mentioning that if you previously owned the Elite 1 controller, you can utilize your old paddles as they are compatible with the Elite Series 2 controller. It’s all about customizing your personal experience, and if you find the shape and length of the old paddles better fit for your gaming needs then go ahead and use it.

One of the Elite Series 2 biggest features is the fact that you now have a Shift key functionality which can give you an edge in a variety of gaming situations. This is definitely something you want to take advantage of when playing shooters and Modern Warfare and Warzone in particular. The Shift key functionality means you can give every controller button a secondary function once the Shift button is pressed.

I use all four paddles while in-game, as both of my thumbs are planted on the two thumbsticks, I am always in full control of my character and all of my fingers have a job to do. I am going to give you two types of paddle setup, you are welcome to use the one that fits your style the most.

Elite 2 Paddle setup involving the Shift Button:

The setup is pretty simple and can be easily done through the Accessories App. My best go-to is changing the sticks Sensitivity Curve to fit certain situations in the game by pressing the Shift key. For example, when aiming down sight, it’s better to have a Smooth Sensitivity Curve, so that you can assign that function to the Shift button and utilize the key while aiming down sight. This way you will be able to move your sight slower and smoother for better precision. With the Shift key taking one paddle out, you still have three left to be assigned, but the further setup will depend on your gaming style. One of the common paddle setups I find useful involves using the Shift key functionality while having the other one configured to crouch/pron for drop shooting. This setup only utilizes 2 paddles.

Here is the Elite 2 Paddle setup that doesn’t involve the Shift Button to keep things simple:

For the top paddles, I am going to assign the Upper Right Paddle to Y, and the Upper Left Paddle to X, which will allow me to quickly reload my weapons in the situations that are hot and heavy and do not leave me time to reload; and quickly change my secondary weapon when I am not able to reload and need to be ready for the next gunfight.

For the bottom paddles, I will set the Lower Right Paddle to B and the Lower Left paddle to A. This configuration will allow me to quickly do the drop shots, the jump shots, slide around the corner with ease, and gain a drop over our opponent.

STICKS SOFTWARE SETUP

The stick menu comes with a number of options that we are leaving on the Default setting as it works surprisingly well in Modern Warfare and Warzone. I went ahead and tested out all available options for Sensitivity Curve, and while this option leaves some room for experimenting, the Default option works the best for my playstyle and ultimately for the best controller setup. In case you want to experiment with sensitivity curves, then my second best would be the Left Stick configured to the “Instant” setting. It will help you to make your in-game movement as reactive as possible.

The Calculation is a parameter that does calculations when you're moving the thumbstick, and it bases those calculations on how far it is actually moved from its default resting place. I have tried all three settings for the Calculation - Radial, the Axis Independent, and True Diagonals and opted for Radial, as this will allow me to have even movement on our stick regardless of the direction I am aiming at, which is optimal for Modern Warfare.

TRIGGERS

Here we are able to adjust the dead zones by moving a slider bar. For the Left Trigger, I strongly suggest keeping this to 0 just to make triggers super reactive and eliminate the slightest chance of the controller not pressing them as quickly as you need.

VIBRATION AND BRIGHTNESS

The Vibration menu allows adjusting the vibration tensity on the controller. Since the controller will vibrate every time you get shot or you are shooting, your thumbs will try to compensate for that vibration and your mind will focus on it as well instead of being on point. You don’t need this type of additional distraction, therefore, for better accuracy, my choice is having no vibration at all when playing MW or Warzone. I went ahead and dragged the slider bars all the way to the left-hand side, which signifies the vibration has been turned off.

Since I always play wired, I do not mind keeping it at max brightness, but if you are playing wirelessly with the controller, you might want to turn down that brightness to save battery.

That's pretty much everything we need to change within the Xbox Accessories App itself. Once you've got these settings done, make sure to save it to your profiles.

WRAPPING UP

These are my Xbox Elite 2 controller settings for Modern Warfare and Warzone that help me to improve and step up my gameplay to the next level. For your convenience, here is a quick summary of the setup.

The Left stick has been changed to the larger surface area one which will allow your thumb to stay planted on it even when rotating around fairly quickly, the tension is set to the least setting. For the Right Stick, I use the domed surface and medium tension setting one which allows us to be more accurate when locking on to a target while keeping that fine precise movement to really pick off your enemy or a headshot at a long-distance or pick off those headshots.

Traditional D-pad works the best for MW and Warzone, triggers locks are set to the min to be able to aim and shoot as quickly as possible (do not forget about my pro tip).

Vibration is set to off to get rid of that vibration motion that you are trying to compensate for and that is affecting our ability to be accurate and precise on target.

For the paddles, you can go with a setup where one of the paddles is assigned to the Shift button and the others are mapped as per your gaming needs. Or use the setting with the top two paddles assigned to Y and X for more efficient reloading and weapon swapping, and the bottom ones mapped to B and A buttons for an easier jump shot and drop shots.

I truly appreciate you taking the time reading about my optimal MW and Warzone Elite 2 setup, I would love to know yours, let’s share our expertise in the comment section of the video review!