Controls

Use keyboard and mouse, a gamepad or touch controls to move, aim and use items. You can change action bindings in Settings.

Bindings

Movement and aiming are fixed controls. The other actions can be rebound in Settings. The table shows the default bindings and uses the action names shown there.

Action	Keyboard and mouse	Gamepad
Move	W A S D	Left stick or D-pad
Aim	Mouse	Right stick
Use item	Left mouse button	Right trigger
Secondary use	Right mouse button	Left trigger
Damage own structures	Shift	Left stick press
Auto attack	E	Y
Quick slots	Number keys	Not set
Previous slot	Not set	Left bumper
Next slot	Not set	Right bumper
Open chat	Enter	Back
Main menu	Escape	Start

Hotbar

Click or tap an item to equip it, or press its displayed shortcut key. Shortcuts follow the visible order and skip empty slots. Previous slot and Next slot cycle through occupied positions, wrapping around at either end.

In Arrange inventory, select an item and choose Move earlier or Move later. Check the displayed shortcut after rearranging. Read inventory and hotbar for item replacement and cooldowns.

Attacks

Hold Use item (left mouse button or right trigger by default) to keep swinging or firing. Auto attack (E or Y by default) keeps melee attacks or shots repeating without holding Use item. It stays on while you chat, open the main menu or a panel, or switch away from the tab, and it carries into your next life. Only pressing it again or losing your connection turns it off. You still control the aim. Auto attack does not place structures or perform Secondary use. Select a build item and use its placement control to build. See combat for more on attacks.

Hold Damage own structures (Shift or left stick press by default) while using a melee weapon to damage your own or your group’s structures. Read building for demolition rules and explosives.

Touch

Touch devices have no hotbar. Use the movement joystick with your left thumb and drag the Attack control with your right thumb to aim independently. The Attack label changes with your held item.

Tool buttons

Round tool buttons sit on rings around Attack. Each button stands for one inventory category: weapons, bows and shields, walls, spikes, turrets, miners, pads (with TNT and mines) and honeycomb. Tap the button for a tool you own to equip it. Buttons for tools you do not own yet are hidden by default, so a new life shows only the starter tools.

The backpack in the bottom row opens the full inventory, where you can pick any item you own. Arrange buttons in that panel opens Settings at Touch layout.

Action controls

The bottom row to the left of Attack holds the other touch controls.

Control	Gesture or availability
Attack	Hold to attack; drag to aim
Aim	Shown while holding a shield; drag to turn
Place	Drag to aim; release to attempt placement
Throw	Shown for throwable build items; drag to aim and release to throw
Cancel	Release Place or Throw over this area to cancel
Auto attack	Toggle while holding a melee or ranged weapon
Demolish	Toggle friendly-structure damage while holding a melee weapon
Backpack	Opens the full inventory

With Auto attack enabled, movement turns your aim toward your movement direction unless you are aiming with the action control. Demolish turns off when you switch items. Opening a panel or chat, rotating to portrait, or leaving the game tab stops the touch controls and turns off Demolish, while Auto attack keeps running. Resume play in landscape with chat and panels closed to use the controls again. Throw is the touch control for Secondary use and appears only for throwable build items.

Touch layout

On touch devices, Settings shows a Touch layout tab in place of the Controls tab. Buttons sit around Attack in the order shown there. Select a button, then choose Move earlier, Move later or Remove button. Add a button brings back a category you removed, and Restore default layout resets the arrangement. Hide tools you don’t own is on by default; turn it off to show greyed-out buttons for tools you have not unlocked yet. The layout is saved in this browser when it allows saved settings. Only as many buttons as fit on the rings are shown, taken in layout order.

Interface

Open chat (Enter or Back by default) opens the message field. On touch, tap the chat button. Type your message, then press Enter or choose Send. The / key also opens chat with a slash in an empty draft unless you bind / to another action. Escape cancels your draft. See chat for message behavior.

Main menu (Escape or Start by default) opens the main menu while you are alive and Settings before you spawn. Escape also closes an open panel. The Menu button on the HUD opens the game menu, whose first entry is Main menu; on touch devices, that is the way to reach it.

With a gamepad, use the following controls inside panels; the bumpers switch panels instead of selecting hotbar items while navigating.

Panel action	Gamepad
Move focus	Left stick or D-pad
Activate or edit	A
Back	B
Previous panel	Left bumper
Next panel	Right bumper
Delete text	X in the controller keyboard
Finish text entry	B or Start

Activate a text field with A to open the controller keyboard. Choose characters with the stick or D-pad and type them with A. B or Start closes that keyboard; use Submit or the form’s Send button to send the message. Panel switching is blocked while editing a field or waiting for a rebind.

Main menu

During a life, the main menu is the spawn screen shown over the running game, with its Servers, Shop, Leaderboards, Group and Settings buttons and your profile card. Your character stays alive but stands still, with held movement and attack buttons released, and the HUD is hidden. Auto attack stays on and keeps attacking. Servers is disabled because you can switch servers only between lives. The play button reads Click to continue playing, or Tap to continue playing on touch devices.

Press Escape or Start again, use the play button, or click the darkened world to return to the game without respawning. If you die while the main menu is open, the death screen appears.

Panels

An open panel darkens the screen and blocks clicks and taps on the HUD, the spawn screen buttons and the world beneath it. Click or tap outside the panel to close it. On desktop, the Market and Character panels open at the side without a backdrop, so you can keep using the world and HUD.

Rebinding

On desktop, Settings has Keyboard & mouse and Controller views under Controls. Binding changes are saved in this browser when it allows saved settings. After selecting a binding, you have 8 seconds to choose a replacement and confirm any conflict.

1. Open Settings and select Controls, then choose Keyboard & mouse or Controller.
2. Select the key or button beside the action. For an empty binding, choose Add key, Add click or Add button. The mouse option is available for Use item and Secondary use.
3. Press the replacement key or button. With a gamepad, release the button used to select the binding before pressing the replacement. A binding without a conflict applies immediately.
4. If the input already belongs to another action on that device, choose Replace binding to move it to the selected action. The other action loses that binding. Cancel keeps the original bindings.

Escape, gamepad B and the Cancel button cancel a pending rebind without changing either action. To restore the default bindings, choose Reset to defaults and then Confirm reset. This resets bindings across the device views, so check any customized quick-slot keys before returning to play.

Next steps

Follow Getting started for a first life, or use inventory and hotbar to check how upgrades replace items.