LoL WASD Controls: How to Enable Keyboard Input in League
LoL WASD controls are an official input option in League of Legends: press Esc in game, open Hotkeys and switch the input from Mouse (Point & Click) to Keyboard (WASD). Movement goes on W, A, S and D, abilities move to right-click, Shift, E and R, and since patch 26.9 (April 29, 2026) the scheme works in every queue, Ranked and Clash included.
What are LoL WASD controls?
Keyboard (WASD) is Riot’s name for the second input scheme in League. In Riot’s own words, it is “an alternative way you can play League of Legends by using your keyboard to control your champion’s movement as well as other in-game actions that would otherwise require a mouse.” Instead of right-clicking a spot on the ground, you hold W to walk up, A to go left, S down and D right, exactly like a shooter or an action RPG.
The classic scheme did not go anywhere. Point & Click stays the default for every account, new or old, and Riot’s FAQ answers the obvious newcomer question with a flat “Nope”: you don’t have to use WASD, you can enable it whenever you like, even in the Tutorial. Both schemes live side by side, with separate hotkey settings, and you pick per game.
Why add it at all, sixteen years in? Riot says it’s there “to help new players better integrate into the game by using controls they might already be familiar with in other games”, and to give existing players a different way to enjoy the same champions. That second part is the one most people underestimate until they try a melee bruiser on keys. Try Garen first.
How do you enable LoL WASD controls?
Inside a match, not in the client lobby. The toggle lives in the in-game Options, so the cleanest way to set it up is a Practice Tool game where nothing is on the line.
- Start a Practice Tool game (or any game, but Practice Tool is free of consequences).
- Press Esc to open Options, then open the Hotkeys menu.
- At the top, change the input from Mouse (Point & Click) to Keyboard (WASD).
- Check the default binds in the table below and change anything that feels wrong for the champion you’re on.
- Save. Riot’s FAQ confirms that “saving your settings will keep the customization for all your future games.”
Two things happen automatically the first time. The game switches your camera to Dynamic Camera so your champion always stays on screen, and it turns on Scout Ahead for the middle mouse button. The Camera menu turns both off again. Dynamic Camera also has a speed slider if it swings around too much, and thing is, most players who hate WASD on day one actually hate the default camera speed, so try the slider before you give up.
You set hotkeys globally for the input or per champion, and the two inputs keep independent settings. You can have one key open the shop in Point & Click and a different one in Keyboard (WASD) without them fighting each other. Our best LoL settings guide covers the rest of the Options menu, from frame caps to the HUD.
What are the default keybinds for Keyboard (WASD)?
The movement keys are the obvious four. Everything else shuffles, because Q, W, E and R are no longer free. These are Riot’s defaults for the WASD input.
| Key | Action in Keyboard (WASD) |
|---|---|
| W, A, S, D | Move up, left, down, right |
| MB1 (left-click) | Confirm Cast / attack |
| MB2 (right-click) | Ability 1 (old Q) |
| Shift | Ability 2 (old W) |
| E | Ability 3 |
| R | Ultimate |
| Q | Summoner Spell 1 (old D) |
| F | Summoner Spell 2 |
| C | Cancel Cast |
| M3 (middle mouse) | Scout Ahead (look further across the map) |
So your first ability sits on the right mouse button and your second on Shift, which is the part that takes a few games to stop feeling backwards. E and R stay where they always were. There’s also an optional setting that snaps movement to 45-degree angles when you press any movement key, which lines your walking up with the diagonal lanes of Summoner’s Rift, handy mid lane and odd in the jungle.
How do attacks and targeting work with WASD?
Sure, your mouse still matters. Riot’s answer to “can I throw away my mouse?” is “not necessarily”: in the Keyboard (WASD) input you still left-click to attack, aim skillshots with the cursor, and use the middle button to Scout Ahead. You can bind keys to those actions too if you want to go further, but the default setup is keyboard for legs, mouse for hands.
In practice that means a game of Keyboard (WASD) looks like this: hold D to walk to lane, left-click the caster minion to attack it, right-click to throw your first ability toward the cursor, Shift for the second, tap S to step back out of range. Kiting as a marksman becomes a rhythm of a movement key and a left-click rather than two different clicks, and that’s the single biggest feel change.
Does it work with quick cast? Yes, the cast settings are separate from the input scheme, so quick cast, quick cast with indicator and normal cast all behave the same on Keyboard (WASD), except the key that fires them is different.
Can you use LoL WASD controls in Ranked?
Yes. The 26.9 patch notes state it directly: “Shortly after patch 26.9 is available, WASD will be enabled for Ranked, including Clash.” That patch went out on April 29, 2026 with the start of Season 2, and the FAQ now lists Keyboard (WASD) as “available across all game modes (including the Practice Tool)”. ARAM, Arena, Swiftplay, Clash, Solo/Duo, Flex: all of them. No exceptions.
Before 26.9 the scheme was limited to non-ranked queues while Riot tested it. Real talk, the Ranked switch was quiet: 26.9 itself lists only one WASD fix, for mouse macros such as a keyboard key bound to the scroll wheel, and the rest of the scheme was already in place.
If you’re planning to climb on keys, check the LoL season dates page first. A full input switch two weeks before a rank reset is a bad idea; a switch in week one of a new season gives you the whole split to relearn.
What is the 10-minute input lock?
You have to settle on an input within the first 10 minutes of a match. Riot calls this Input Selection Lockdown: “you need to lock the input settings you’ll be using during the game within the first 10 minutes of the match. Afterward, the system automatically locks the latest input, and you’ll be using it until the end of the game.”
Put simply, you can toggle back and forth while you’re still in lane, then whatever you have selected at 10:00 is what you play with until the nexus falls. No swapping to Point & Click for a late teamfight. The rule exists so a player cannot cherry-pick inputs per situation, and it’s also why the FAQ pushes you to set up your binds in the Practice Tool rather than in a live game. You can’t change the settings from the client lobby, only in a match. Practice Tool it is.
Is WASD better than Point & Click?
Riot’s position is that neither input should give a competitive advantage, and it only allowed Keyboard (WASD) into Ranked once it was comfortable with that. What changes is the feel. Movement keys make constant small repositioning cheap: you never misclick a minion while trying to walk, and holding a direction while you watch the fight is natural. On the other hand, long-distance pathing (click once, walk across the map while you type) is gone, and champions whose play is all about cursor-positioned movement still want a mouse.
Who benefits most, to be fair? People coming from shooters and action games, players who have never liked click-to-move, and anyone with wrist pain from thousands of right-clicks a game. Who should probably stay on Point & Click? Players with years of muscle memory on champions like Riven or Lee Sin, where the mouse does a lot of the dance. Riot even lets each champion keep its own keybinding profile precisely because, in its words, “each champion can have its own keybinding profile, giving the possibility to experiment which setting suits the best for the current game.”
Honestly, the right answer is to try five Practice Tool minutes per champion and keep whatever feels faster. Look, nobody gets LP for loyalty to an input.
Do LoL WASD controls work on a new account?
Yes, from the first minute. Keyboard (WASD) is available in the Tutorial, so a brand-new account can start on keys without ever learning click-to-move, which is the exact audience Riot built it for. If you’d rather skip the levelling and start Ranked straight away, our level 30 LoL accounts arrive with the Options menu untouched, so your first job is a Practice Tool game to set the input.
And if something breaks (a bind that won’t register, a camera that stops following), Riot asks for bug reports through the Report a Bug button in the bottom right of the client rather than a support ticket. Riot Support hosts the full Keyboard (WASD) FAQ, updated May 2026, and the LoL WASD controls table above follows it line by line.
FAQ
How do you turn on WASD in League of Legends?
In a match, press Esc, open Options, then Hotkeys, and change the input from Mouse (Point & Click) to Keyboard (WASD). Save, and the setting carries to future games.
Are LoL WASD controls allowed in Ranked?
Yes. Riot enabled Keyboard (WASD) for Ranked, including Clash, shortly after patch 26.9 on April 29, 2026. It is available in all game modes.
What do you press for abilities with WASD in LoL?
By default: right-click for Ability 1, Shift for Ability 2, E for Ability 3, R for the ultimate, Q and F for summoner spells, C to cancel a cast, and left-click to confirm a cast or attack.
Can you switch between WASD and mouse during a game?
Only in the first 10 minutes. After that the game locks whichever input is selected, and you keep it until the match ends.
Do you still need a mouse with WASD in League?
Yes, by default. You left-click to attack, aim skillshots with the cursor and use the middle button to Scout Ahead, although those actions can also be bound to keys.
Does WASD change the camera in League?
The first time you enable Keyboard (WASD) the game turns on Dynamic Camera, which keeps your champion on screen. You can slow it with the speed slider or disable it in the Camera menu.
