Best controller settings for Warzone Caldera

Liam Mackay
Warzone Caldera Operator

Call of Duty: Warzone Caldera offers players many controller settings to fine-tune, such as Aim Assist and movement. We’ve put together a guide to help you find the best settings to use in Warzone Caldera.

Warzone Caldera remains a free-to-play battle royale title following the release of Warzone 2. While Resurgence maps Fortune’s Keep and Rebirth Island were removed from Warzone Caldera, players can still take to the game’s original Caldera map in a fight for survival.

Aim and movement remain the most important mechanics to master, so you’ll need the best settings in order to dominate. Whether you play with a controller on PC or consoles, here are the best Warzone controller settings to improve your accuracy and movement in Warzone Caldera.

Best Warzone Caldera controller settings

warzone pacific caldera artWarzone Caldera offers an entirely separate experience from Warzone 2.

General

  • BR Button Layout: Tactical flipped
  • Stick Layout Preset: Default
  • Invert Vertical Look: Disabled
  • Deadzone: 0 (then increase as required)
  • Horizontal Stick Sensitivity: 7
  • Vertical Stick Sensitivity: 7
  • ADS Sensitivity Multiplier (Low Zoom): 0.75
  • ADS Sensitivity Multiplier (High Zoom): 0.85
  • Aim Response Curve Type: Standard/Dynamic
  • Controller Vibration: Disabled

For your button layout, Tactical is the best choice. When playing Warzone Caldera, you’ll constantly be crouching, slide canceling, and going prone. Tactical maps your crouch/slide button to the thumbstick, so you don’t need to move your thumb and can be as quick as possible when using the best Warzone controller settings.

You also want Deadzone to be as low as possible for maximum response time while aiming. Start with your Deadzone set to 0 and keep increasing it until you no longer have any stick drift. This depends entirely on how old your controller is.

warzone pacific season 5 friends list bug

Weapons

  • Aim Assist: Precision
  • Scale Aim Assist with FOV: Enabled
  • Weapon Mount Activation: ADS + Melee
  • Weapon Mount Movement Exit: Enabled
  • Aim Down Sight Behavior: Hold
  • Equipment Behavior: Hold
  • Use/Reload Behavior: Tap to use
  • Depleted Ammo Weapon Switch: Enabled
  • Armor Plate Behavior: Apply One

Tap to use is a godsend. Your game will prioritize whether you reload or interact based on your situation. You’ll be able to instantly open crates and reload, making it a vital setting to enable.

Warzone Caldera is full of iconic POIs.

Movement

  • Slide Behavior: Hold
  • Auto Move Forward: Disabled
  • Automatic Sprint: Auto Tactical Sprint
  • Vehicle Camera Recenter: Enabled
  • Parachute Auto-Deploy: Disabled

When using Parachute Auto-Deploy, you want to get comfortable with having it Disabled. You’ll be able to pull your chute lower to the ground, meaning you can reach the ground as fast as possible. It can be daunting knowing there’s no safeguard, but pulling your chute close to the ground is extremely worthwhile.

Best Warzone Caldera Aim Response Curve

Warzone Season 5 Peak

Warzone Caldera has separate Aim Response Curves, so you can fine-tune your aim to something you’re comfortable with. Their titles can be confusing, so we’ll break down exactly what they mean and what’s best for you.

  • Standard: Standard curve from aim stick to aim rate. When you initially aim, there will be a slight delay in speed when the stick is pressed all the way in a specific direction.
  • Linear: Removes initial speed delay when the stick is pressed all the way in a direction. More for aggressive, fast movements at the cost of precision.
  • Dynamic: Hybrid system between linear and standard. Your aim will speed up slightly when initially moving the stick.

The majority of players use Standard. Whether you’re new to Call of Duty or a returning player, this will feel the most natural to you.

If you’re confident in your aim and can transition between targets quickly, we’d recommend using Dynamic. Many of the top players use this response curve because of the fine aim rate control it provides.

Best Warzone Caldera Aim Assist Type

Warzone Season 5 Operators

Warzone Caldera offers four Aim Assist types, so you can find what comes most naturally to you. We would never recommend turning Aim Assist off, but here’s a breakdown of the options available to controller players when it comes to the best Warzone controller settings.

  • Disabled: You will have no Aim Assist.
  • Standard: Traditional aim slowdown near the target. A wider area where your aim will slow around an opponent. Best for regular Call of Duty players who want some extra time to lock on the target.
  • Precision: Strong aim assist slowdown that only kicks in when close to an enemy player. Only use this option if you’re a skilled and accurate player. The slowdown area is minimal and casual players will not like this.
  • Focusing: Strong aim slowdown that kicks in when narrowly missing targets. If you’re new to Call of Duty, this is your best bet to improve on a controller.

The majority of players should use Standard Aim assist. It provides the perfect aim slowdown near targets while still allowing for precise adjustments if you need to make them.

If you’re new to FPS games and aren’t used to aiming with a controller yet, you should use Focusing until you feel the Aim Assist is stronger than you need, then use Standard.

Best Aim Assist for Sniping in Warzone Caldera

warzone calderaPlayers who enjoyed Caldera still have a chance to dive into the map following Warzone 2’s launch.

Some of the Warzone community believe that to be an accurate sniper you need to play on a mouse and keyboard. This isn’t true, as with the right settings, you can down players from miles away and quickscoping with precision up-close.

For your Aim Response Curve, you should use Dynamic. You’ll be able to have finer control over how fast your crosshair is moving, allowing for easier flick shots and tracking far-off players.

For your Aim Assist Type, it’s the same situation as any other weapon. If you’re a confident player and need to make micro-adjustments to hit sniper headshots, you should use Precision. And if you’re comfortable with your aim and don’t have an issue sniping with Aim Assist, Standard will be the perfect choice.

You should also check out our ranked list of the best snipers to use in Warzone Caldera.

Does FOV affect Aim Assist?

Warzone PC players have the option to adjust the game’s field of view. Unfortunately, console players don’t have this option.

Warzone FOV sliderWarzone’s FOV settings are a major key to success.

Increasing your FOV allows you to see much more of what’s in front of you. Console’s FOV is set to around 80 by default, while PC players can crank that value all the way up to 120. This gives PC players a major advantage in seeing more players off to the side of their screen.

Using such as high FOV will stretch and shrink everything in front of you, which can throw off your Aim Assist.

Activision has added a setting to combat this, which is well worth using if you play Warzone Caldera with a high FOV on a controller. It would be best if you had Scale Aim Assist with FOV set to Enabled, as this will keep your Aim Assist consistent, no matter your field of view.

How to find the best Warzone Caldera controller settings

Although we’ve provided the best Warzone Caldera controller settings you should try, there’s no setting that works perfectly for everyone. It’s tempting to find your favorite pro player or content creator and copy their settings, but they might not be the best for you.

Shoothouse map Modern WarfareSmall maps like Shoot House are perfect for target practice.

We’d recommend jumping into a Custom Game of Modern Warfare and testing out some different controller settings to find the best Warzone Caldera controller settings for you, as they both use the same engine. If you don’t own MW, then any other respawn battle royale game mode will work well.

To maximize your time while testing out the settings, here’s what we’d recommend:

  • Map: Shoot House
  • Mode: Free-for-All
  • Rules:
    • Time limit: Unlimited
    • Score limit: Unlimited
  • Bots and players:
    • Number of bots: 6
    • Bot difficulty: Recruit

With these custom game settings, you’ll be able to practice shooting for as long as you like. Shoothouse is small enough that you’ll be able to fight constantly, and the Recruit level bots will hardly shoot back at you.

While you’re in this private mode, you should also try getting your Minimum Input Thresholds as low as they’ll go. Start at 0, and move it up one until you no longer receive stick drift.


For more in-depth guides, check out some of our Warzone 2 content:

Best guns in Warzone 2 | Best Warzone 2 controller settingsBest Warzon 2 PC settings | How to ping enemies in Warzone 2 | How to use Proximity Chat in Warzone 2 | How to get a nuke in Warzone 2 |  | Best Assault Rifles in Warzone 2 | Does Warzone 2 have crossplay?

Image Credit: Activision / Raven Software / Sledgehammer Games

About The Author

Liam is CharlieIntel's Editor who focuses on Call of Duty but also plays lots of fantasy RPGs or anything else in his massive gaming backlog. After graduating in Journalism from Edinburgh Napier University, Liam freelanced in games journalism before joining CharlieIntel in November 2020. You can contact Liam at [email protected].