Cover-Credits:
TSM India’s professional Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) player, Harsh “AquaNox” Rao, is known for his unique three-finger control setup that does not rely on the use of his thumbs. In the recent episode of ASKTSM, AquaNox revealed the story behind this unique control setup while responding to a question. AquaNox explained that his past gaming experience led him to rely on his fingers and neglect his thumbs, resulting in slow thumb usage. As a result, he decided to use a three-finger control setup without using thumbs for BGMI, which has proven to be successful for him. He also explained the problems he had to face while adapting to this unique control setup.
AquaNox reveals the story behind his control setup and the problems he faced while adapting to it
AquaNox first uploaded a video of his unique control setup in December 2019, but it only came into the limelight during the first-ever BGMI LAN event, NODWIN Loco All-Stars Invitational. Notably, TSM India ended up winning the tournament, following which the setup gained even more attention in the community.
TSM India’s coach, Shubham “Mayavi” Chawla, asked AquaNox how he began playing BGMI using a claw setup without using his thumbs and whether it came naturally or tried to be unique with his control setup. Responding to this question, AquaNox explained that he mostly played games on his PC and iPad, which led him to rely more on his fingers and made his thumb relatively slow. “I didn’t use my thumb at all for whatever games I played. So I got used to using my fingers, and my thumb became very slow like it was weak. My thumb is still weak. So I thought I would play this game (BGMI) with my fingers too, and it went well for me,” he said.
AquaNox revealed that he copied the three-finger control setup of Bigetron Red Alien’s (BTR) professional PUBG Mobile players Made “Zuxxy” Pramudita and Made “Luxxy” Prabaswara. Following this, he stuck with the same control setup and got used to it.
However, adapting this unique control setup wasn’t exactly easy for Aquanox. “The control setup was very difficult to use. At first, I wasn’t sure how to control it properly, and the phone was slipping very often. But slowly, with practice, I got used to this setup. I don’t think other players will be able to adapt to this setup easily. Only the ones that are used to such setups will be able to adapt to it,” he said.
Although AquaNox has a unique control setup which is difficult to use, it has not hindered him from becoming one of the best players in India. He has won three MVP titles at the OR Championship, THUG Invitational, and 7Sea Invitational using this setup. He also demonstrated strong performances in several tournaments including the Nodwin x Loco All-Stars Invitational and Skyesports Mobile Open, leading his team to victory.
