Best Settings for Modern Warfare 3 - Call of Duty: MW3 Guide - IGN (2025)

Selecting the right settings for a competitive shooter can be crucial to your success, as slight tweaks to key settings, such as your Aim Assist option and field of view, can drastically improve your overall gameplay experience. This settings guide for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will help you select the best multiplayer settings and Zombies Mode settings often hidden within the menu system.

Please note that this guide was originally written for our Modern Warfare 2 Settings Guide and has since been updated for Modern Warfare 3.

Best Settings for Modern Warfare 3

Looking to adjust a particular type of setting in MW3? Click the links below to jump to...

• Best Controller Settings for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC
• Best Aim Assist Settings for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC
• Best Gameplay Settings to Change and Adjust
• Best Graphic Settings to Change and Adjust
• Best Audio Settings to Change and Adjust
• Best Interface Settings to Change and Adjust
• Best Network Settings to Change and Adjust

Best Controller Settings for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC

• Button Layout Preset - Tactical Preset Recommended

Beyond the default layout, you'll find 13 different button layout options. These layout options change the button mapping for weapon fire, aim down sight, melee, tactical and lethal equipment use, and more. While it will ultimately come down to preference and your playstyle, one of the most popular options is Tactical, which swaps your Melee and Stance buttons, offering a much better gameplay experience.

Again, if these don't work for you, consider trying out the other options available to see what best works for you.

• Controller Vibration - OFF

We recommend turningoff Controller Vibration. It will save you battery life, and the vibrations can often throw off your movement and act as a distraction.

• Trigger Effects - OFF

For those with PlayStation 5 controllers, we highly recommend turning off Trigger Effects. Turning off this feature will help prevent any resistance or vibration when pressing L2 and R2. In addition, playing with Trigger Effects can significantly impact your performance from a competitive standpoint, as reflex time will be vital in winning many encounters.

Best Aim Assist Settings for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC

Here's where things get juicy, as you'll find several helpful settings nestled within the Aiming settings for the Controller menu. To access the Aiming settings, press RT/R1 when using the Controller Settings menu.

• Horizontal and Vertical Stick Sensitivity - Sensitivity Between 6 to 8 is Recommended.

Like most settings in this category, Horizontal and Vertical Stick Sensitivity comes down to personal preference. While there's no one setting to fit all, we recommend that you test out several different sensitivity options. Adjusting your stick sensitivity is one of those minor tweaks that can greatly impact your gameplay, so much so that it could be the difference between hitting your targets before your enemy.

The game defaults at four, and while it will take a little while to get used to, we recommend running your sensitivity somewhere between 6 to 10; however, it's not uncommon to see some players using settings as high as 12. While moving at a much higher sensitivity will feel strange initially, try to give each option at least a few games.

• ADS Sensitivity Multiplayer - Sensitivity 0.7 to 1.10 is Recommended

To help further improve your accuracy, you'll want to adjust your ADS sensitivity to somewhere between 0.7 and 1.10. Adjusting the sensitivity to suit your playstyle will increase your accuracy, making your shots while Aiming Down Sights much easier to control and hit on target, especially at longer range distances.

• Aim Response Curve Type - Linear or Dynamic

For the best results when it comes to your aiming response curve, you'll want to switch to either Linear or Dynamic. While it comes down to preference, our recommended setting would be Dynamic, as it offers fast starting movement that slows down to the aiming rate, allowing you to be much more accurate when aiming down sights.

• Target Aim Assist - ON

Having Target Aim Assist set to on will allow the camera to slow down when the crosshair is about to move over an enemy.

• Aim Assist Type - Recommend Testing All Options

If you're new to aiming on consoles or not typically a fan of the traditional aim slowdown used in Modern Warfare games, you may want to consider testing all the different options available within this setting.

• Here are all the available Aim Assist Types:
  • Default - Traditional aim slowdown near target used in Modern Warfare games.
  • Precision - Strong aim slowdown that only kicks in when aiming closer to target. Best for accurate players.
  • Focusing - Strong aim slowdown that also kicks in when narrowly missing target. Best for players new to analog aiming.
  • Black Ops - Traditional aim slowdown near target used in Black Ops games. If you're a classic Black Ops player, this may be the best option for you - this is our personal favorite.

Again, this will all come down to personal preference.

• Inputs Deadzone - Recommend Testing Different Values

TryloweringtheLeft/Right Stick Min Input Deadzoneto prevent your character from drifting and moving unwantedly. While the setting defaults to 0.10, we recommend changing this to somewhere between 0.1 and 0.5 if you're looking for your analog sticks to be more responsive on touch.

However, this will depend entirely on your controller and if it's currently experiencing any drift.

Best Gameplay Settings to Change and Adjust

• Automatic Sprint - Automatic Tactical Sprint

We recommend running Automatic Tactical Sprint, which allows your character to sprint automatically when moving. This reduces the need to press other buttons to toggle sprinting, increasing your reaction time during encounters.

• Interact/Reload Behaviors - Prioritize Reload

There are many things to interact with in Modern Warfare 3, whether it be picking up weapons or opening doors. To avoid any accidents, we recommend selecting the option to Prioritize Reload. This means that if reload and interact are available simultaneously, tap to reload and hold to interact.

Alternatively, if you're playing game modes such as Search and Destroy, you may want to opt for Prioritize Interact, as it'll make interacting with objectives much more accessible.

• Grounded Mantle - OFF

There are plenty of opportunities available to mantle objects in Modern Warfare 3, which can create some rather interesting tactics and strategies. However, sometimes it's easy to get caught in the mantling process when you're simply trying to peek over walls and objects.

For this reason, we recommend turning Grounded Mantle off, which means the Jump button won't make you mantle while on the ground. Instead, you must first tap to jump, then tap again to begin mantling. While it's an extra button tap, we found it outweighs the gameplay advantages.

• Quick C4 Detonation - ON

Given the relatively quick pace in some of Modern Warfare 3's maps, we recommend that you turn Quick C4 Detonation on. This means pressing the Lethal Equipment button will detonate any C4 on the map before throwing another.

However, if you like to plant several C4 bombs at once, you'll want to keep this off.

• Armor Plate Behavior - Apply All

While armor plates don't exist in the MW3 multiplayer, selecting Apply All is recommended for Zombies Mode. This setting will simplify the need to press and hold each plate to apply them one by one; instead, the process will be automatic after the initial press and hold action.

Best Graphic Settings to Change and Adjust

• World Motion Blur and Weapon Motion Blur - OFF

Be sure toturn off World Motion BlurandWeapon Motion Blur. While this setting is mostly designed for a more cinematic experience, you'll find it makes the environment and your weapon very blurry and significantly more challenging to see what's happening around you. Obviously, this is not ideal if you're looking to play competitively and win encounters.

• Film Grain - Set to 0

Much like the motion blur settings, film grain is essentially the filter that applies visual noise to your game. Again, you'll want to set this to 0 to ensure the game is as crisp as possible.

• Depth of Field - OFF

We recommend setting Depth of Field to off as it'll make any out-of-focus regions appear blurry. With this setting left on, you'll be playing at a disadvantage.

• FideliftyFX CAS - ON

As mentioned above, you'll want to utilize the AMD technology by turning this feature on to ensure your game runs as sharply as possible. While we have ours set to 40, it all comes down to personal preference, so be sure to give a few different values a try.

• Field of View - Set Between 100 to 110

Set to 80 by default, we recommend adjusting your FOV to somewhere between 100 and 110. While we found 120 to be a little too high for our liking, we believe 100 to 110 offers a nice sweet spot and still provides plenty of extra screen space. Remember, as you increase your Field of View, you'll also increase your chances of experiencing a lowered frame rate and graphical artifacts.

• 1st Person Camera Movement - Least (50%)

To help alleviate any unnecessary camera movement or shaking, you'll want to select Least (50%) as this will help improve accuracy.

Best Audio Settings to Change and Adjust

• Music Volume - Between 0 to 50 Recommended

Lower your music volume to ensure you never miss a footstep or incoming enemy. While some may set theirs to 0, we found somewhere around 30 was a nice balance.

Best Interface Settings to Change and Adjust

• Telemetry - Server Latency and Packet Loss to ON

You may want to turn on your Telemetry settings if you're struggling with lag issues and framerate drops. This will allow you to display your Server Latency, Connection Meter, Packet Loss, and more on-screen.

Best Network Settings to Change and Adjust

• Crossplay - Off

If you would prefer to only play against those using your platform of choice, consider turning Crossplay off, as this will allow you to only match against those playing on your current platform.