If you are new to the peripheral hobby, there might be one part of the mouse you are overlooking or never really thought about: the mouse skates.

If you're not familiar with this term, it's the plastic strips on the bottom of a mouse that help the mouse glide easier on your mousepad.

Over time, these skates wear down, causing them to slow down and feel scratchy.

Some skates that come preinstalled with your mouse might even feel like this right out of the box.

So when it comes time to replace them, you might be a bit confused with all the different options that are present in the market currently.

Ranging from different shapes to different materials and some that are designed for a specific surface, it can be hard for someone that is picking up their first pair of aftermarket skates.

Shapes

Skates come in two different shapes, the first being dot skates. The second being full-size skates, which are pretty much 1 to 1 replacements for the stock skates that come preinstalled on the mouse.

Dot skates have really shot up in popularity over the past year or so. Mostly because they are universally compatible with every mouse and also the price. For the price of a set of full-sized replacement skates, you can get 40 dots that you can put on any mouse you own, so you aren’t restricted to just a single mouse that those skates can go onto.

Full sized skates are the other option that are pretty much exact replacements for the pre existing skates on your mouse. Great for a less experimental and consistent experience.

But should you go with full size skates or some dot skates. It’s all subjective and really comes down to the user, but personally, it all comes down to what kind of pad and mouse pad you are using.

Material

As for skate material, they pretty much fall into three different categories:

• PTFE
• Hardened PTFE
• Exotic Material based Skates

Most, if not all, stock skates are made from PTFE, and a lot of the aftermarket skates as well are made from this material.

Hardened PTFE is used for the more glass focused specified skates, such as the Xraypad Obsidian Skates and the Ghostglides Cyclone dots.

And then you have all your exotic materials, which include skates like the TJX Plastix Skates and the nTech aluminum skates.

For most people, I just recommend picking up either PTFE or hardened PTFE skates depending on what surface you plan on using them with.

For most people that use a cloth pad. Normal PTFE skates will be perfect, like the Xraypad Jade skates or the Corepad skates. Even though these fall under one category of materials, they do tend to range in the speed you get from them. For example, Corepads are on the more controlled, slower end when compared to Xraypad Jade or Tiger Ice skates, which feel faster.

For glass, hardened PTFE is the go-to. As you are getting a material that was pretty much made for glass. Benefits of these are that you are getting added durability when compared to normal PTFE skates. These will wear down way slower than normal PTFE on glass. Usually these are also quieter on glass compared to PTFE.

Really, the only drawback with this material is that they aren’t really the best on cloth pads, causing them to feel pretty slow. And there is the chance of them damaging the mousepad over time due to the hard material, especially on softer feeling mousepads.

The final option are all the exotic skates that are made from a material that isn't PTFE.

Such as the TJX Plastix that is made of a plastic material and some of the nTech skates that feature materials such as aluminum and nylon.

These are for people that either really want to experience how different materials play or they want something with really good durability, A skate that won't wear down too fast.

Choosing the Right Skate for You

But what skates should you choose?

Well, it mostly comes down to four key things to consider when purchasing some new skates:

• The weight of your mouse
• The type of game you play or even what hero/character you choose in the game can influence your decision.
• Pad surface (control, speed,hybrid, glass, cloth)
• pad hardness (Extra Soft, Soft, Mid)

The first thing to consider is the weight of your mouse, which might come as a surprise to some.

A lot of mice these days fall under the 50-60 gram mark, with a lot of mice also coming in at around the 20-30 gram mark as well. With a lot of people still using mice that fall into the 75-90 gram range

But how does the weight of the mouse affect what skates to look into.

Well, for example, if you have a light-weight mouse and think you have no control at all because of how light it is, a pair of slower skates would compliment an issue like that.

Or you have a heavier mouse and want to get some more speed, then you would probably be looking at some faster skates to gain some speed out of a slower-feeling mouse.

The second thing to consider is what types of games you play or even the character or hero you play in those games.

If you mostly play tac shooters like Valorant or CS2 you might be after a skate that gives you more control, such as the Corepads or even the TJX Plastix XACT on cloth. Or if you are someone who struggles with micro corrections and smaller movements, then a faster skate might be perfect for you.

On the other hand, if you play games that are pretty heavy tracking-based, then faster skates will be for you. Games like Apex Legends and Overwatch really take advantage of a faster feeling mouse and skate combo.

Or maybe you just have one main character in, for example, Overwatch. If you main a pretty heavy tracking-based character such as Soldier 76, then you might want a skate that can keep up with the fast tracking, so you might gravitate towards a faster skate.

These days, it's also important to look at what kind of surface you are pairing with the skates.

Are you going to be using these skates with glass or perhaps cloth? As some skates are made with the focus of them being used on glass, such as the:

• Xraypad Obsidian
• Ghostglide Cyclones
• TJX Plastix
• Unusual Way Sports Silver Fox

And for cloth these are some of the most popular choices:

• Xraypad Jade
• Corepads
• Esptiger Ice
• Unusual Way Sports Magic Ice

You could use the glass skates on cloth and vice versa for the cloth focused skates. But then you aren't experiencing the true qualities the skate offers.

For example, the Xraypad Jade skates are good on glass but way down faster than the glass-focused alternative, the Xraypad Obsidians.

Another deciding factor whether to use full size skates or dot skates, is going to be the softness of your mousepad.

I personally think that dot skates on a Xsoft mousepad is a big no-go for most people. Especially if you are someone who tends to dig into their mousepad a ton during tense interactions in games. While you do get more control when you push down, with dot skates you get a bit too much control, resulting in a unstable and stuck feeling.

For softer pads, especially xsoft ones. I recommend just sticking to full size skates.

For pads that fall into the soft to mid category, dot skates are a great choice. As they can make a mousepad feel completely different, which can be a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it. Most people go for dot skates with these types of pads to bring out more speed from the pad. For example, taking something very slow like the Jupiter Pro from lethal gaming gear and using them with Xraypad Jade or the Unusual Way Sports Magic Ice can take that slow muddy pad and make it feel way faster and less locked in.

Which some people might not like as it takes away from what the mousepad surface was indented to feel like. Which is why you go with full size skates then. You get to retain the feeling of the original mousepad, and as well, you don't have to worry about getting that much friction/control when you press into the pad when compared to dot skates.

If you are someone who is confused by all the choices on the market, as there are a ton. Highly recommend looking into the Corepad skates. They are the safest skates to get adjusted to, as they are not too slow or too fast, and overall, just a good baseline skate to start off with. The Corepad skates also give you the best value by providing you two pairs of full size skates for $10 USD. Corepads also makes three different versions of theirs skates including the original that are just named Corepads and then you have the Air which provide a faster glide and the CTRL variant which provide even more control compared to the originals

Another popular option is the Esports Tiger Ice Skates. There are faster than the Corepad skates, so they will be perfect if you are using a control pad and want a bit more speed. You do only get one pair of these skates in the box, and compared to some newer releases like the Xraypad Jade skates they do fall behind a bit. Esports Tiger also do make some other skates such as the Arc 1 and Arc 2 which are good for people that don't want that much speed and a more controlled feeling.

My current setup currently is the OP1 8K with the Unusual Magic Ice skates on top of the Artisan Raiden Mid Speed mousepad. So my setup is pretty much focused all towards a speed experience with the faster skates and the faster mousepad

While the owner of Potent Gaming is using the complete opposite of what I use. He is using the Finalmouse ULX with the Corepad CTRL skates on top of the Kurosun Samurai Mousepad. So a light weight mouse with control skates on top of a balanced mousepad. Going for a fast but yet very controllable experience.

Hopefully this guide helped you guys out with finding your next set of skates to purchase for your mouse!