Lever Modding

"Improving" your stick.

The only real way to get good with a lever is to put in the time. No mod will substitute for practice. That said, understanding what the parts do can help you avoid making things worse and find a setup that feels right for you.

Modding Options

This is a list of some of the common mods you can do to a lever. More popular brands (like Sanwa) will have more options. Keep these in mind as you play around with the interactive widgets.

Mod	Effect
Stiffer spring / grommet	Increases spring strength, may increase friction
Teflon/steel pivots	Reduces friction
Smaller actuator	Increases deadzone
Larger actuator	Reduces deadzone
Heavier ball/battop	Increases mass
Lighter ball/battop	Reduces mass
Aluminum/titanium lever	Reduces mass
Different gate shape	Changes bounceback angles and switch active areas

Gate Shape + Actuator Size

Gate shape is mostly personal preference and will change how the lever feels in your hand. Square gates make it easy to find the corners, which helps with diagonal inputs. Circle gates are easy to ride the edge of and always bounce the lever back toward center, making them popular for 3D fighters that rely on quick dashes. Octagonal gates are a hybrid of the two, offering slight corner detents without the hard stop of a square.

This interactive widget shows how gate shape and actuator size/shape are co-dependent.

Lever + Square actuator style (Korean, Seimitsu, iL/Eurostick)

Pin-plunger style lever (Sanwa JLF/JLX)

Actuator Size:

0.28

On a Sanwa-style lever, the microswitches are point contacts at the cardinal positions. The circular actuator triggers a switch when it gets close enough, so the activation boundary is an arc rather than a straight line. The values in the widget above are approximate, meant to show the effect of pin plungers and round actuators.

Return to Neutral

This interactive widget shows how different factors change how the stick behaves when you release it. A reliable lever will return into the deadzone as fast as possible without oscillating so far it triggers the opposite side.

Friction (damping):		1.00
Spring Strength:		7.0
Mass:		0.50
Deadzone:		0.50

Tuning Tips

As you can see, many common mods are the worst things you can do for performance. Stiffer springs, large actuators, changing your gate, and heavy balltops are likely to throw the balance off. The only aspect that universally improves performance is reducing the lever mass.

The best thing you can do is find a good starting point lever that matches with the style of play you have in mind, and put in the time. If you want to play Mishimas maybe get the lever of a Mishima pro and stick with it. They will be far more experienced tuning a lever than you will be initially.

Most Popular Levers

Pin plunger + square gate + medium actuator. Probably the most common lever used for 2D fighting games. The square gate and the pin plunger style negate each other's weaknesses.

Lever switches/square actuator + octagonal gate + large actuator. This creates a sensitive stick which is good for shmups.

Lever switches/square actuator + circle gate + medium actuator. The most popular lever for 3D fighting games that often need instant dash inputs. A circle gate will always bounce the lever back towards the center of the stick.

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