Explainer
WoW Forever controller support: play with a gamepad, dungeons and healing included
WoW Forever supports controllers out of the box, built with help from the Diablo team. Blizzard says you can level, tank, heal and run dungeons on a gamepad. The client adds gamepad targeting and a ping system Classic Era doesn't have.
Oct 22, 2026Checked against build 1.60.1.704502 min read
WoW Forever supports controllers out of the box. You can level on the couch, and Blizzard’s own team says dungeons work too: “Tanking, healing, DPSing in a dungeon, you can do it.” ▶ 58:52
Built with the Diablo team
On the Oct 22 podcast, lead software engineer Ana Resendez said the team had help from the Diablo team, whose games are made for a controller. ▶ 57:10 Whether controllers went on the BlizzCon demo stations was decided “all the way to the top of Blizzard”. They did, and players lined up at a signing to talk about it. ▶ 57:10
Some on the team didn’t believe in it at first. Resendez now plays every playtest on a controller, raids included, and says players wrote in because a mouse and keyboard had kept them out of WoW for years.
▶ 55:08What’s new in the client
Classic Era’s client already has the basic gamepad functions, the ones addons like ConsolePort build on. WoW Forever’s client (build 1.60.1.70450) adds seven functions of its own:
- gamepad targeting (
C_GamepadTargeting), switched on and off by the game, with a filter for what it picks; - a preferred interact target for the gamepad, the unit your interact button goes to;
- an option to keep mouseover working while you steer the camera freely;
IsUsingGamepad, which addons can check.
Blizzard hasn’t documented how targeting picks a unit, so we won’t guess. What matters: you don’t need an addon to play on a controller in WoW Forever.
How to get used to it
The podcast’s host has played on a controller since day one, and his advice is to give it 30 to 60 minutes to get past the awkward start. A new character from level 1 is the easiest way in.
▶ 58:07 ▶ 1:00:07If you use addons on a controller, the BoF Guide, Bind on Forever’s free WoW Forever in-game leveling guide, puts your next step in a window with an arrow to it, so you don’t need the mouse to find your way.
Pings and speech for groups
The ping system comes from the modern game: mark an add to attack, or one to leave alone, without voice chat. Five of its six functions are new in Forever’s client. ▶ 1:32:31 Text-to-speech and speech-to-text are there for accessibility, so a player who can’t be on voice can still follow a fight. ▶ 1:33:15
What else changed for addons, and which ones work, is on WoW Forever addons. The rest of the episode is in our podcast 5 recap.
Questions
Does WoW Forever have controller support?
Yes. WoW Forever supports gamepads natively. Blizzard built it with help from the Diablo team and had controllers on the BlizzCon demo stations.
Can you do dungeons with a controller in WoW Forever?
Yes. Blizzard's team says tanking, healing and damage in dungeons all work on a controller, and some of its developers played the whole beta that way, raid tests included.
Do I need an addon like ConsolePort to use a controller in WoW Forever?
No. Gamepad play is built in. Classic Era's client has the basic gamepad functions that addons build on; Forever adds gamepad targeting and a gamepad interact target of its own.
Does WoW Forever have a ping system?
Yes. The ping system comes from the modern game, so you can mark a target or a spot for your group without voice chat. Five of its six functions are new in Forever's client.