I basically can’t game without some kind of thumbstick extender or cover on my DualShock 4. What started out as a way to cover up the rubber that would deteriorate on the early DualShock 4s turned into a need to have longer thumbsticks with better grips. KontrolFreek has sent me a number of performance thumbsticks over the years, but the ones I’ve latched onto the most are the Destiny 2 Ghost thumbsticks. I find they offer an optimum level of comfort, grip, and control. When KontrolFreek issued a combat directive to take their new Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 performance thumbsticks into the firefight, I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to go thumbs-on with their latest.
Where my favorite Ghost thumbsticks are mid-height (8.6mm), the Black Ops 4 ones are high-rise (11.8 mm). By simple laws of physics, this means that it’s easier to precisely aim, particularly at long distances, using the Black Ops 4 performance thu. After being used to the shorter thumbsticks, moving to a taller extender was a jarring experience, and continues to be each time I pick up the controller. As a traditionally “get right in the fray and mess some stuff up” kind of player, toying around with precision aiming has allowed me to explore other play styles I may not have otherwise. I’m not quite a master sniper yet, but my aim has definitely improved at range in various games (I usually use Destiny/Destiny 2 as my benchmark for first-person aiming and shooting)....