Palm Grip vs Claw Grip vs Fingertip Grip – Comparison

Out of all computer peripherals, the gaming mouse is undoubtedly the most important one when it comes to gaming. But deciding between the mouse types, considering the new ergonomic mice, is a new dimension for most gamers. Many factors predominately affect purchasing, but mouse grip tops the list if you want a comfortable experience with solid performance.

Everyone has a different preference for mouse grip due to their hand size, nature of use, drag clicking, and type of games they play. Therefore settling for a perfect mouse requires you to understand your grip and playing style first. You need to identify your grip and the types of functionality you want to get from the mouse.

This article will take an in-depth look at why there are three different types of mouse grips. We will discuss each grip one by one to help you better decide which type of mouse grip will offer the most comfort for you. We understand that there is no right way to hold a mouse, but choosing a type that offers you respite from carpal tunnel syndrome is important. Hence, you feel as comfortable as possible when operating your computer on a day-to-day basis.

Related: Best Fingertip Grip Mouse

Types of Mouse Grips

The three types of mouse grip have different shape that provides practical functionality, but what’s the best grip for you to choose? Answering this question can be tricky because people have varied tastes and needs. However, you might approach your answer by exploring in detail the three mouse grips and comparing them to determine which is best suited to your taste. Our experts have laid down all you need to know about palm grip vs claw grip vs fingertip grip, and selecting mouse for 2022.

1) Palm Grip

The palm mouse grip is extremely popular because it allows the hand to become relaxed across the mouse. It is one of the most natural ways for a person to hold a mouse and support your wrist and arm. Even amongst gamers and typical PC users, the palm grip remains one of the most widely used grips.

When holding your mouse, the main part of your hand will rest on the mouse while your fingers wrap around it. Most people who use a mouse have a normal grip designed to fit with how you hold your hand. This type of grip is usually comfortable for most, if not all, users.

Using Palm Grip And Its Benefits

Palm grip provides a good and precise movement of the cursor with the extension of the arm. Although the movements seem slower, the smooth and accurate movement of the cursor compensates this well.

Doing palm grip is easier than most people think. It involves following steps

• Ensure a complete positioning of your palm on the mouse.
• Stretch the fingers and glide them naturally over the buttons.
• Once you have taken a proper form with your fingers and palm, make sure there is no space between your palm and mouse body.
• The fingers and pam need to grip the mouse perfectly.
• Keep practicing to master the grip style.

2) Claw Grip

The claw mouse grip is a popular method of using a computer mouse but is one of the least comfortable ways to hold a pointing device as it places too much pressure on the user’s hand and wrist. Most gamers use this grip which allows them to be extremely agile when gaming, which may not necessarily translate into everyday use.

Using Claw Grip Benefits

Your fingers are in an open “C” position, resting at the edges of the mouse with the palm of your hand in a gently sloping area that is not touching either surface. This position gives you more tracking control than fingertips alone and better comfort than the palm grip as it allows for wrist movement. Use a shorter ambidextrous mouse with rounded edges and sits higher on your desk than normal for best results.

Here are the steps to perform claw grip efficiently.

• Place the hand on the mouse that your palm has less contact with the mouse surface.
• Try to place the fingers underneath the mouse knuckles.
• Use your index finger to control the left side button of the mouse.
• Place them on the left side to get more control over the movements.
• Use middle finger to control other buttons or scroll wheel of the mouse.
• On the right side of the mouse, use a pinky finger to achieve a good grip.

3) Fingertip Grip

Fingertip grip style places just the tips of your fingers on the mouse, keeping your palm completely clear and off the mouse. It gives you full control over where and how you lift the mouse to make fast and precise moves, making it helpful when you’re playing games. Because of this, a smaller yes lightweight device is preferred for fingertip users so that they can take full advantage of all the dexterity afforded by their particular grip setup.

During the last year or two, virtually every major gaming mouse brand has come out with a line of ultralight models. I like how HyperX PulseFire and Roccat Kone Pro support the fingertip grip. Besides these wired choices, I like Glorious Model O Wireless, a true definition of lightweight design and innovation for fingertip grip.

Using Fingertip Grip Benefits

Fingertip grip is a great solution if you’re looking for speed and precision in your actions. This grip relies solely on your fingers, making it the simplest to use while still being very effective. It can come in handy when gaming since the most difficult obstacles often test your abilities as a gamer which you can overcome with quick aiming.

Perfecting fingertip grip involves following steps.

• Find the mouse that fits your need as you have to use only fingertips to achieve the grip.
• Keep the hand relaxed.
• Place your index finger to control left click, middle finger on scroll, and ring finger on right mouse click.
• Use curl action for the thumb and pinky finger with the thumb on the left and pinky on the right side.
• Keep your palm away from the mouse surface.

Palm Grip Vs Claw Grip Vs Fingertip Grip Comparison

Different types of mice grips may share a few things in common, but their differences are significant. Be that as it may, you need to choose a mouse grip that will fit your manner of working or gaming style. You can switch between these grips with freedom unless you suffer from problems such as arthritis in the fingers.

Here is the comparison table to understand the real difference between claw grip vs palm grip vs fingertip grip.

Factors	Palm Grip	Claw Grip	Fingertip
Positioning	Full hand grip and control	Curled finger position with palm on the mouse	Lacks palm contact, only fingertip contact
Feature	A better control	Allows more dexterity	Less control and more dexterity
Best for	Control and scroll wheels	Rapid click action	Allows precision and speed
Control	Arm and elbow control	Wrist control	Finger control
Gaming Attributes	Best for tracking	Best for flicking	Best rapid movements
Aim Assist	Arm aim	Wrist aim	Finger and wrist aim
DPI Comparison	Support lower DPI better	Supports higher DPI	Supports higher DPI

Palm Grip: Who Can Use it?

Gamers serious about winning will choose palm grip. One of its biggest advantages is that it provides an ergonomic comfort benefit, especially to those who require a higher amount of player sensitivity and tend to use longer movements.

These players typically occupy the sniper position in team-based games such as CSGO. As this type of gamer aims at more distant targets, they are usually willing to trade-off either their mouse’s DPI for a greater degree of control and precision.

Using the arm and shoulder to control your movements may still result in strain or fatigue for those who are not used to a palm grip. Therefore many players tend to switch to the higher sensitivity and DPI for better control with more wrist action.

While you will certainly be able to use palm grip better with your hands, you might also find that it’s easier to move the mouse around when you grab it. Some players will like this because it gives them more precision for smaller movements, but other players might find it causes them to miss their mark too much clumsily.

It is the “casual” choice for gamers, requiring fewer movements and more control. However, pro competitors like Pine have taken advantage of palm grip, showing its place in the high-intensity competition.

Claw Grip: Who Can Use it?

Claw grip is a great alternative to the palm grip for gamers who play games that require fast flicking movement and rapid clicks. It is a hybrid of palm and fingertip grip and gives you the middle ground to take advantage of both worlds.

Your hand placement in claw grip gives you added precision and control while your fingers remain flexed, a ‘spring-loaded’ position that makes wrist rotation and pivots much more natural. CSGO sniper players who require swift yet precise movements tend to use claw grips to optimize their roles.

While palm grip is good for a more comfortable and slower playing style, claw grip is required if you need to make constant adjustments with your fingers and wrist at a very high DPI. While that may be more practical and beneficial for some games, for other games, the claw grip might be harmful to your body over time as it can lead to pain in the joints.

Fingertip Grip: Who Can Use it?

If you have big hands as I do, you may be familiar with the fingertip grip. For most gamers who like higher DPI settings, fingertip grip provides better dexterity with controlled action. Using fingertip grip only requires tips of the fingers to grip the mouse while the palm remains free from any action. It provides faster counter grips and control with the help of thumb, pinky, and ring fingers.

Fingertip grip is an ideal technique when you need to aim exactly at something, and there’s little time to spare. It supports higher DPI settings for faster action and to tackle the in-game clutches. Of course, fingertip grip is so quick that it has been accused of being an “aimlock” hack. It’s super comfy in your hand too! It works especially well with lighter mice, but be careful because they might make your hand feel strained or tired if they are heavy.

Palm, Claw, or Fingertip Better For FPS Games?

The choice of grip depends on your playstyle and the best gaming mouse you choose for playing. Under normal circumstances, the palm gripper requires entire arm movement compared to the wrist and fingertips movement in claw and fingertip grips, respectively.

The grip style also requires you to analyze your role in FPS games. The choice of weapons greatly influences what grip style you need to adjust for better gameplay. If you are using Assault rifles in PUBG, you may prefer claw and fingertip grips, while snipper action with Kar98 or m24 requires you to choose a palm grip. In the end, it all comes to preference, and you can use multiple grips for each game or weapon choice.

What Mouse Grips Do Pro Players Use?

Palm and claw grips in gaming are very common. To find out how professional players use them, we analyzed a few of the best in the business to see what grip they use that makes them so good at their game.

Shroud

Shroud is a big name in the eSport industry for competitive FPS games like CSGO and PUBG. He is famous as one of the kings of CSGO due to his extraordinary ability to aim and adaptability. He is currently retired from full-time streaming. However, we can see him in action playing battle royale games, including PUBG.

The Shroud’s aiming abilities and his consistency are in a claw grip. He uses Logitech G Pro X Superlight to make his claw grip game near to perfection. It feels natural to utilize the claw grip with a slightly unconventional ring finger and middle finger position for the mouse grip and clicking.

Carpe

Carpe is another claw grip player with a different gaming preference than Shroud. He is Korean Overwatch and DPS Hitscan player famous for playing for Philadelphia Fusion. Carpe does not tweak the mouse setting much and prefers the sensitivity settings near to stock when playing with the Logitech G903 gaming mouse.

However, Carpe uses 3.12 sensitivity and 900 DPI when using Logitech G Pro Wireless for playing Overwatch. He is a claw gripper but prefers the comfort and needs in balance to achieve supremacy.

ScreaM

ScreaM is a Belgian gamer known for his incredible headshot rate. In a 2015 match between Team Envy, ScreaM shot a headshot outstanding 95% of the time, leading to an absurdly high score. CSGO is the game he plays professionally and with good reason, too – it turns out the odds are in his favor on almost every occasion.

What makes ScreaM a super hitman and aim-bot is its extraordinary accuracy with the fingertip grip. He uses 1000 DPI in combination with the fingertip grip to achieve higher rates of headshots in CSGO. The impressive aiming techniques of ScreaM comes paired with Finalmouse Classic Ergo gaming mouse, which he still shows in his Valorant gameplay after retiring from CSGO.

Sinatraa

Sinatraa is one of the top Valorant and Overwatch players. He has switched grips several times during his career, depending on the character he played. When playing Overwatch with DPS characters, he has chosen palm grip for the Soldier. However, the choice turned to the hybrid grip for Tracer and Doomfist. He also uses claw grip for Windowmaker to achieve wonders in the game.

He uses Logitech G Pro Wireless with multiple sensitivity depending on the characters and gaming needs. For DPI, he settles for 800 PDI to play effective gaming rounds with an excellent technique for handling the characters at each sensitivity.

Is Hybrid Grip Worth It?

There are three main mouse grips: palm, claw, and fingertip. These have been around for quite some time now and are very much guidelines instead of rules. If your grip lies closer to the claw or fingertip, that’s a personal choice, but it may vary from one gamer to another depending on your hand size and whether you use a long or short mouse cord.

There are plenty of different ways to play your mouse, depending on where specific players want their hands to fall, and you shouldn’t feel restricted to playing with just one type of grip. A technically advanced CSGO player like Swag – a retired Team Liquid player – even played with a cross-grip hybridized layout that incorporated elements of the “Palm” and “Claw” grips into his gaming style.

You can choose the hybrid grip style if you feel comfortable utilizing it for the next gaming adventure, depending on the need and handling of perfection.

Final Words

Palm, claw, and fingertip grips may look very similar, but each come with their advantages and disadvantages. For example, it is not advisable to utilize a palm grip when executing a specific skill needed to shoot targets accurately depending on wrist flicking.

Fingertip grip may not seem like an obvious method, but somehow it works. You can do a lot with experience, which is vital when it comes to aiming. What’s important is comfortability and the right technique, since different people have different personal preferences.

Gaming is meant to be fun, and it’s clear that not having the right mouse grip can limit your ability to play. The best way to get a perfect grip and get more practical on your mouse grip is to practice more.