Questions

Can you play Hearthstone with a controller on a Mac?

Not through the game itself: Hearthstone on the Mac, which runs natively through the Battle.net app, has no controller support. But Hearthstone is a game of pointing at a card, dragging it to the board, and pointing at a target, and a controller is good at that once InputConfig, the free mapper I make, turns its stick into a mouse.

Card games are some of the most comfortable things to play from a pad, and Hearthstone is one of the gentlest, because nothing in it is timed to the millisecond.

On this page: 9 sections
  1. Steps
  2. Know how it works
  3. Build the layout
  4. Make it comfortable
  5. Turn it on with the game
  6. If the pointer misbehaves
  7. What it cannot do
  8. The short version
  9. Questions

Steps

  1. Pair the controller with the Mac.
  2. In InputConfig, make a new preset and choose Automatically insert available inputs.
  3. Give the sticks pointer movement, the right trigger the left mouse button, and the left trigger a right click.
  4. Add Hearthstone to the preset's auto-switch list and press Activate.

Know how it works

InputConfig reads the controller and sends mouse movement, clicks and keys to the Mac. Hearthstone sees an ordinary mouse. Nothing is installed in the game, nothing touches Battle.net, and the same layout works in every mode, because they are all the same mouse.

Download InputConfig on the Mac App StoreInputConfig is free on the Mac App Store. macOS 14 or later, no account, no tracking, open source.

Build the layout

ControllerSendsWhy
Left stickPointer, slowLands on a card or a minion
Right stickPointer, fastCrosses the board, reaches End Turn
Right triggerLeft button, held while pulledDrag a card, attack, target
A / CrossLeft clickQuick clicks in menus
Left triggerRight clickCancel a target
B / CircleEscapeMenu and back
  • You: Make a new preset in InputConfig, choose Automatically insert available inputs, and give these rows their outputs; the sticks are four pointer rows each, slow on the left and fast on the right. Or duplicate the built-in Mouse + Scroll preset and change what you need.
  • InputConfig: Holds the left button for as long as the right trigger is pulled.
  • Check: Pull and hold the right trigger on a card, steer it with a stick, and let go over the board or the target.

Dragging is a held click while the pointer moves, which is exactly what a held trigger row does.

Make it comfortable

  • Ramp-up. Turn it on for the slow stick's rows. A small push creeps onto the edge of a minion, a held push sweeps across.
  • End Turn. It is a button on the board, and the fast stick gets you there in a flick. I have not found a keyboard shortcut for it I could confirm, so this layout points and clicks like a mouse would.
  • Emotes and chat. Typing needs a keyboard, or macOS's Accessibility Keyboard on screen, driven by the pointer.
  • A shaky hand. Raise the inner deadzone on the slow stick so a resting thumb does not drift off a card.

Hearthstone never punishes taking your time.

Turn it on with the game

  • You: In the preset's Automation & Gaming Utilities section, add Hearthstone under Activate when these apps are in front, and turn on Switch presets when the front app changes in Settings, Advanced.
  • InputConfig: Turns the layout on when Hearthstone comes to the front and steps aside when you leave.
  • Check: Switch away from the game, and the pad goes back to whatever it did before.

Set it once, and the layout is there every time the game is.

If the pointer misbehaves

Climb this ladder, smallest step first:

  1. Activate the preset. Nothing moves until it runs.
  2. Allow Accessibility. InputConfig needs it to move the pointer and click. The menu bar icon turns orange when a running preset needs it.
  3. Raise the deadzone. If the pointer creeps off a card, open Adjust live on a slow stick row and widen the deadzone.
  4. Lower the speed. If it overshoots, drag Pointer speed on the preset's page to the left.

A creeping pointer needs a deadzone, not a slower speed.

What it cannot do

InputConfig sends ordinary mouse and keyboard events to macOS, one action per press, and does not touch the game or Battle.net. It does not play for you. Read Blizzard's terms yourself; what I can tell you is what the software does.

The short version

  • Pointer. Slow on the left stick, fast on the right.
  • Drag. Hold the right trigger, steer, let go.
  • Cancel and back. Left trigger and B.

A card game you can play lying back, one held trigger at a time.

Questions

Does Hearthstone support controllers on PC or Mac?

No. The desktop game is played with a mouse. A mapper such as InputConfig turns a controller into that mouse, so the game never needs to support a pad.

Is this allowed?

InputConfig sends ordinary mouse and keyboard events to macOS, one action per press, and does not touch the game or Battle.net. It does not play for you. Read Blizzard's terms yourself; what I can tell you is what the software does.

Which controller works best?

Any the Mac can connect to. A DualSense adds a touchpad, which can also be a trackpad: using the PS5 touchpad as a trackpad.

Download InputConfig on the Mac App StoreFree. macOS 14 or later. No account, nothing leaves your Mac. Open source on GitHub.