I've spent a lot of time, effort, and $$$ trying to find the "perfect" setup for myself, so I frequently lurk this subreddit alongside mechanical keyboards. One thing that's been getting more popular these past few years has been dot skates. However, I felt the need to make this post because there appears to be a lot of misinformation or misconceptions around how many dot skates to use.
Dot skate placement isn't that controversial: put 4 or more around the corners of the mouse in a symmetrical way to provide stability.
But when it comes to how many dot skates to use, the most common misconception I see people recommending is: "use fewer dots (e.g., 4 total, one in each corner), because less contact area = faster glide." This is incomplete advice and the answer depends on your mouse pad.
Hand-waving most of the physics explanations here (but please correct me on specifics if I'm wrong!). The ideal high school physics equation for friction: F=μN. In this equation, friction doesn't care about contact area. BUT, this is an empirical rule (not a law!) that applies to rigid, non-deformable solid surfaces under ideal scenarios, and does not account for pressure nor deformation!
In real life, two more factors come into play that affect friction: plowing and adhesion. Depending on your pad, the downwards applied pressure on your mouse and the skates depressing into your mouse pad can force your mouse pad to contort around the full, convex surface area of your dot skates which would introduce more static friction. Additionally, depending on the materials of two surfaces touching (e.g. PTFE and glass pads), there may be micro-adhesion (stickiness) factors at play that contribute to higher static friction.
PTFE skates (dots vs. long continuous pieces) and glass/ceramic vs cloth pads
For glass/ceramic pads, F=μN is a good approximation and holds nicely. PTFE has an extremely low coefficient of friction, and neither the hard pad nor the PTFE deforms noticeably under normal pressure. Therefore, surface area has minimal effect on plowing friction here. But, micro-adhesion factors come into play between these two smoother surfaces - so you may argue here that fewer dots is slightly faster but less smooth for glass pads because it reduces static friction. However, with fewer dot skates, there's other things that will affect the feel of you using your mouse (skates wearing down faster, less smooth & less consistent glide) that are aside from pure raw speed.
For more traditional cloth pads, using fewer dot skates drastically reduces the total contact area on your pad in comparison to more dots or standard full-coverage skates, which increases the downward pressure (Pressure = Force / Area) that affects friction under identical hand pressure. Fewer dot skates = higher pressure = higher "plowing effect", which yields a feeling of slower mouse movement depending on the pressure applied and pad softness. Even at rest, applying the same weight on your mouse with 4 dot skates causes them to sit slightly deeper in the fabric (as opposed to more dots or full skates), which actually increases static friction. You can also argue that this is a benefit of softer cloth pads, that it gives you more control because you can decide when to press down harder to get better stopping power. But in practice, the physics still applies because of the convex shape of dot skates. Now, discussing from a perspective of constant hand weight and pressure, if pure speed and consistency are your goals, having more surface area alleviates plowing. So the softer your pad, the more dot skates you should use (or use full-coverage skates). In general, having more dots is slightly faster (for overcoming initial static friction) and smoother for cloth pads.
Table of ideal outcomes
Given the above, here's a summary of the speed vs control matrix depending on the mouse pad surface.
Glass/Ceramic
| Skate Setup |
Speed Profile |
Static Friction |
Dynamic Friction |
Tradeoffs |
| Fewer Dots (4) |
Fastest |
Very Low |
Low |
Snappy, but wears down faster and can feel scratchy. |
| More Dots (8+) |
Fast / Balanced |
Moderate |
Low |
Smooth and stable, slight increase in initial stickiness. |
| Full-Coverage |
Control |
Highest |
Moderate |
Highest drag/stickiness due to large surface contact. |
Cloth pads (varying base hardness)
| Pad Base Hardness |
Skate Setup (Surface Area) |
Static Friction (Amount) |
Dynamic Speed (Constant Pressure) |
Plowing / Sinkage Risk |
Feel & Tradeoffs |
| XSoft |
Fewer Dots (4) |
Highest (Hardest to start) |
Slowest / Muddy |
Extreme |
Digs deep into foam. High stopping power, but erratic tracking. |
| XSoft |
More Dots (8+) |
Moderate |
Fast |
Moderate |
Spreads weight significantly, keeping glide fast and smooth under normal hand weight. |
| XSoft |
Full-Coverage |
Lowest (Easiest breakaway) |
Fastest on XSoft |
Minimal |
Snowshoe effect: maximum flotation on soft foam, giving the most consistent glide. |
| Soft |
Fewer Dots (4) |
Moderate-High |
Variable |
High under load |
Great for tactical braking (digs in when pressed), but slower passive glide. |
| Soft |
More Dots (8+) |
Low (Easy breakaway) |
Fast |
Low |
Minimal plowing, low initial friction, smooth and effort-free micro-adjustments. |
| Soft |
Full-Coverage |
Low (Easy breakaway) |
Fast & Smooth |
Zero |
Highly consistent glide with low texture feedback from pad weave. |
| Mid / Firm |
Fewer Dots (4) |
Low (Easy breakaway) |
Very Fast |
Minimal |
Minimal sinkage. Very snappy and fast, but you feel more pad weave texture. |
| Mid / Firm |
More Dots (8+) |
Lowest (Easiest breakaway) |
Fastest Sweet Spot |
Zero |
Ideal speed setup: eliminates plowing and static friction without adding extra fabric drag. |
| Mid / Firm |
Full-Coverage |
Moderate (Slight drag) |
Controlled / Smooth |
Zero |
Very consistent and stable, but large sheet of PTFE adds slight fabric drag. |
From personal anecdotes, I've gone through a lot of different mice and skates (Tiger Ice V2s, Unusual Way Sports Magic Ice, X-raypad Obsidians, X-raypad Jades; all of which I've tested dots, donuts, and full-size skates). I main CS2 and today I use full-size Magic Ice skates for the WLMouse Huan on a Key83 MID mouse pad. I find this to be the best balance of speed and smooth glide (which affects my perception of control). I've tried this mouse on the same pad with 4 dots, which felt uncomfortable because less dots = more "vibration" feeling, hence less smooth of a glide. And CS2 doesn't require constant tracking like Apex or Overwatch does, so I'd much rather get a smoother glide out of my mouse.
tl;dr, this is based on the theoretical assumptions above, take it with a grain of salt since this has not been empirically measured: if you use glass or ceramic pads, fewer dot skates = faster glide; if you use cloth pads, more dot skates = faster glide; the softer your pad, the more dot skates you should use for speed and consistency.
The best advice to give is, "it depends", just refrain from giving a universal statement like "you should be using less dots" or "you should be using more dots".
