Star Wars: Squadrons controls and keybindings, explained

Star Wars: Squadrons seems like a fairly simple game on the surface. Fly around and shoot bad dudes, and you’ll do alright. But, high-level multiplayer requires that you be able to do several different things at the same time. You’ll want to be able to reroute power on a moment’s notice, while also calling out targets for your teammates. Even in single-player, getting friendlies pointed in the right direction can mean the difference between failing a mission and racking up in-game achievements on the first try.

Here’s how to fight and win with every peripheral — including keyboard and mouse, controller, and flight sticks, throttles, rudder pedals, and full HOTAS setups.

A few caveats, however. The campaign uses a system for giving orders that doesn’t have much use in multiplayer. Instead, when playing in Fleet Battles especially, rely on the ping and acknowledge ping commands to assign and accept targets. It’s especially helpful when choosing between which of the smaller capital ships to attack, or when targeting subsystems on an Imperial Star Destroyer or a New Republic MC75.

If you’re using a HOTAS and/or pedals, also be aware that you’ll need to go into the menus to select which input is which. Squadrons allows for three such peripherals at any one time, and automatically recognizes most name-brands. Go in and select joystick one to be your stick, joystick two to be your throttle, and joystick three as your pedals if you have them. Once you do, setting up the rest of your keybinds will be a lot easier.

Finally, be aware that while the controls give you several ways to target enemy starfighters, it’s also helpful to automatically target the next closest enemy once you kill the one you’re currently shooting at. To do that, head to the options menu, select the gameplay tab, and turn on Auto-Target Next.

Here’s all the default keybindings that ship with the game:

Keyboard and mouse

These controls are always accessible on Windows PC, even if you’re using a controller or a joystick. You may need to hold down the left mouse button to access them, however.