Wolverine V3 Pro Might Be As Good As Controller Can Be

I’ve been using the Wolverine V3 Pro, Razer’s newest esports-focused game pad and its first-ever wireless Xbox controller, for about a week now, and ever since I first laid hands on it one question has stuck in my mind: ༒is it even possibl𝕴e to make a better controller than this?

The controller design arms race has been defined by microscopic changes imperceptible to all but the most hardcore gaming crowds. I’ve watched the evolution of pro controllers ever since Mad Catz invented the turbo button, and while I’ve certainly seen controllers that do more, I don’t think there’s a controller that does it better than this one, or if🌠 there ever will be.

I’ve been a fan of the Wolverine series since V1, but I haven’t had much use for a wired controller in recent years. I’m not competitive enough to care about super-ultra fast polling rates. As long as I can’t detect input lag, I’m happy. I like the design 🍷and feel of the Wolverine controllers a lot, but it’s easier for me to keep a wireless controller on standby, so I do.

The Razer Kitsune Fighter's Edition: Akuma leverless controller.

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The V3 Pro is a wireless controller, which is the main new feature that caught my eye, but not the only one. With a small USB adapter, the V3 Pro offers a low-latency 2.4 GHz connection, which has been flawless for me. If you’re an esports legend that can&rsqu♕o;t afford to make any sacrifices, you can still plug it in with the included 10m USB-C cable and get the full 100Hz polling rate experience. Of course, then you can’t blame the controller when your reaction time is too slow, which is an essential part of my gaming exp🎃erience.

Coming from the Wolverine V2, there’s a lot of little evolutions to appreciate that make a huge difference. I’m a big advocate for controllers with customizable back butt🌸ons, a feature that can greatly benefit anyone, not just pros. Manufacturers, Razer included, have been pretty indecisive about the placement of back buttons over the years. I’ve got a dozen pro controllers with the back buttons in a dozen💃 different positions, and most of them just feel wrong. The Wolverine V3 Pro back buttons are low on the grips where my fingers naturally wrest, and gently wrap around them for the easiest press possible. They give the controller a perfect fit feeling in my palms that is incomparable to any other pro controller I’ve used.

Most of the other features are things we’ve come to expect from the Wolverine line. The face buttons are Razer’s mecha-tactile action buttons, which have the instant feed and sound of a mouse click followed by the cushion of a rubber membrane - an important feature both for the comfort of your hands and the life of the controller if yo꧂u’re a real button masher like me. The d-pad is free-floating with eight-directional mouse click action - a must-have for f💯ighting games - and you get the trigger locks to eliminate travel for when you need to press the triggers super fast. The trigger locks on the V3 Pro give the triggers a mouse click with zero travel distance, which is something I’ve never seen on a pro controller before - another impressive little detail.

You can customize most of the controller’s features without having to use any software, which I liked a lot. This includes programming the six extra buttons (four paddles and bumpers for claw grip sickos), and adjusting the intensity of the rumble, volume, and RGB settings. You really only need to use the software to remap the regular buttons or adjust the sensitivity and dead zones on the sticks. My only concern is that the inputs require multiple buttons to be pressed simultaneously and it's going to be hard to remember all the shortcuts, so I’ll have to keep the instruction manual handy.

I’m still trying to figure out what more I could want from a pro controller. It wouldn’t mind if it was a bit lighter - though it weighs almost exactly as much as a standard Xbox controller.𝄹 More color options would be nice, or even customizable colors like Xbox’s design lab. That wouldn’t make the controller any better though, just prettier. Unless Razer invents a battery with infinite life or a wireless system that doesn’t require a USB dongle I’m likely to lose or break, I don’t see how a controller could possibly get better than this. That’s great news for players, and potentially terrible news for Razer, who I imagine will be keen to sell a Wolverine V4 in a few years. I can see myself sticking with the Wolverine V3 Pro for a long, long time.