Game

Path of Exile on a Mac with a controller

The Path of Exile layout is built into InputConfig, free on the Mac App Store. You don't have to make an account, there are no subscriptions, and nothing is locked. Optimized for Apple silicon.

On a Mac: Path of Exile runs natively on macOS, and Steam lists a Mac version with full controller support. Path of Exile 2 is Windows only there.

Yes, Path of Exile plays on a Mac with a controller. Steam lists full controller support, so if your pad works in the game, try that first. This layout is for the pad it does not see, and for players who want the mouse targeting of the keyboard game with a controller in their hands. With WASD movement turned on, the keyboard game becomes twin-stick: move with the left stick, point with the right, skills on the fingers, flasks on the D-pad.

On this page

1. The layout, control by control
2. First, turn on WASD movement
3. How the layout thinks
4. Tune it
5. If the game sees your pad
6. Path of Exile controller support: controller or keyboard
7. If your controller is not working in Path of Exile
8. Get it in two clicks
9. Path of Exile controls: every button and the key it sends
10. Questions

The layout, control by control

First, turn on WASD movement

• You: Open the game's options, find the input settings, and turn on WASD movement.
• InputConfig: Sends W, A, S and D from the left stick, which the game now reads as walking.
• Check: Push the left stick. If your character walks, you are set. If a skill fires instead, WASD movement is still off.

Everything in this layout assumes WASD movement is on, and without it the left stick casts.

How the layout thinks

• Move and target. The left stick moves and the right stick moves the targeting cursor.
• Skills. The right trigger casts the left mouse button skill at the cursor, the left trigger the right mouse button skill. The bottom face button is the movement or utility skill (Space), the right Q, the left the middle mouse button skill, and the top E. The bumpers are R and T.
• Flasks. The D-pad is flasks 1 to 4 and the left stick click flask 5.
• Loot and menus. The right stick click holds Left Option (Alt), which highlights items on the ground. Back opens the inventory and Options is Escape.

Flasks are the D-pad, so you drink without taking a thumb off the movement stick.

Tune it

• Cursor speed. Targeting needs a quick pointer that still lands. Try the Aggressive curve on the right stick rows: small pushes stay fine, full pushes cross the screen.
• Loot labels that stay on. Set the right stick click row to Toggles on and off, and the labels stay up until you press it again.
• Flasks on paddles. On a DualSense Edge or Xbox Elite, put the two flasks you drink most on the back paddles. One press, one flask.
• Path of Exile 2. It has its own entry in the Smart Preset Maker, but it is Windows only on Steam, so on a Mac it is a stream from a PC you own.

The Aggressive curve gives you a fine cursor and a fast one on the same stick.

If the game sees your pad

When the game reads the controller on its own, its own scheme works, and running this layout as well makes every press arrive twice. Pick one. Use the game's pad support or this layout, never both at once.

Path of Exile controller support: controller or keyboard

Steam's store page lists full controller support for Path of Exile, so the game was made to be played on a controller, menus included. A keyboard and mouse work as well, and the choice is yours.

From Steam's listing, checked in October 2026. Every game's listing is in Mac games with controller support.

If your controller is not working in Path of Exile

When Path of Exile does not react to your controller on a Mac, check these in order:

1. Check that the Mac sees the controller. Open the gamepad tester and press a button. If nothing lights up there, the problem is the connection, and a controller that is connected but not working covers that first.
2. Check the Steam Input setting for Path of Exile. In Steam, open Path of Exile, Properties, Controller, and change the Steam Input override. A controller that works in Steam but not in the game goes through each choice.
3. Play it from keys. If Path of Exile still ignores the pad, activate this layout. It sends the keyboard and mouse controls Path of Exile already reads. Turn the game's own controller option off while it runs, or a press can arrive twice. The layout works whether or not Path of Exile ever sees the controller.

Get it in two clicks

1. Open InputConfig and click Smart Preset Maker on the welcome screen.
2. Search for Path of Exile and pick it. The layout is created as a preset in your sidebar, named and ready.
3. Press Activate. Every row can be changed afterwards: the editor's Scan button rebinds any control the moment you touch it.

Path of Exile controls: every button and the key it sends

The Sends column is Path of Exile's default keyboard and mouse controls, as this layout expects them. If you changed a key in the game's settings, change the same row in InputConfig.

Names follow the editor's Xbox / PlayStation pair, and a Switch pad fires by position.

Questions

Related

• Deadzones and calibration
• Controller macros, turbo, and toggle on a Mac

Open source on GitHub.

Updated October 28, 2026