Jonathan has changed the way he plays BGMI. After years on a two-finger setup, the Team Apex Gaming founder revealed on a live stream that he has moved to a three-finger control layout, and said the main reason is to sharpen his shotgun fights.
It is a bigger deal than it sounds. Jonathan built his reputation, and a YouTube channel that just passed 8 million subscribers, on the two-finger style. Changing it now means relearning movements he has done thousands of times without thinking.
Shotguns are the reason for the switch
Jonathan told viewers that the new layout is mainly about close-range play. Shotgun fights in BGMI are decided in fractions of a second, and they ask a lot of your hands at once. You need to move, aim, jump or crouch and fire, often while peeking a corner.
On two fingers, both thumbs are busy. The left thumb moves and the right thumb aims, so firing or jumping means briefly lifting one of them off its job. A third finger, usually the index finger on top of the screen, takes over one of those actions. That lets a player keep aiming while they shoot, which is exactly what close-range fights reward.
| Setup | Fingers used | Typical trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Two-finger | Both thumbs | Simple to learn, but movement or aim pauses when you fire or jump |
| Three-finger | Both thumbs plus one index finger | Can aim, move and fire at once, but takes time to build new muscle memory |
Muscle memory will take time, and Jonathan knows it
Jonathan was upfront that the switch will not pay off straight away. He said it will take time before he can use the new layout properly, because he has to build fresh muscle memory and get comfortable with where everything now sits on the screen.
Anyone who has changed control layouts knows the feeling. Buttons you used to hit without looking are suddenly in the wrong place, and your old habits keep pulling you back. For a while, a player can feel worse with the new setup than the old one, even if it has a higher ceiling in the long run.
Why it matters for his fans
Jonathan is one of the most-watched BGMI players in India, and a lot of younger players copy his settings. A switch from someone with his following could push more of them to try three fingers, or at least rethink their own layout.
It also says something about where he is at. With Team Apex Gaming now his own organisation and his channel bigger than ever, he still has no problem going back to basics to get better at one part of his game. If you want to try the same thing, KRAFTON India’s official BGMI site has the latest game updates, and the custom layout editor in the game’s settings lets you move fire and scope buttons to the top of the screen.
When will we see the new layout pay off?
Jonathan did not put a timeline on it. For now, his streams are the best place to watch the change happen in real time, mistakes and all. If the shotgun fights start going his way more often in the coming weeks, it will be a sign the three-finger switch is working.
