With over 15 million units sold since its launch, the Razer Deathadder tops our best gaming mice guide (opens in new tab) and is a member of the best gaming mice hall of fame. There have been many variations of this legendary mouse, and even with the latest Deathadder V3 Pro, Razer has not tampered with the winning formula. In fact, Razer has further enhanced all of the Deathadder's namesake's superior ergonomics and pro-level performance.

Razer took the Deathadder to the gym and created a lean, mean, and clicky machine that will help you lose fat, lose weight, and tone your muscles. The design changes are subtle in their own way, but enough to anger some Deathadder enthusiasts. Gone are the large overhanging mouse buttons and smooth shell, in favor of a slimmer, less aggressive profile.

Thanks to the slanted curve of the mouse hump, it is still a right-handed mouse. The shell has a new micro-textured coating instead of smooth plastic. This keeps the mouse, which now weighs 63 grams (25% less than the previous Deathadder (open in new tab)), from jumping out of your hand during combat.

The large PTFE skates on the bottom allow the Deathadder to glide gracefully across the surface like Natasha Romanoff a.k.a. Black Widow. Even with my unscrupulous habit of not using a mousepad, the V3 Pro worked beautifully on my desk, and according to Razer, it will work equally well with modern glass mousepads as long as they are at least 4 mm thick.

As a clicker aimed at esports' finest professionals, Razer has included only the best technology in the V3 Pro. First, it has the fastest sensor in Razer's history. The new Focus Pro 30K Optical sensor boasts an acceleration of 70G and a top speed of 750 inches per second with 99.8% accuracy. No one will play with such a ludicrous DPI, but combined with a few tricks like asymmetrical cutoff, motion sync, and smart tracking, you'll never claim to have lost a game because of your mouse. Deathadder has a 0.2ms response time and 90 million clicks, and features third-generation Razer optical mouse switches that boast a long lifespan of 90 million clicks.

Of course, such features are meaningless if the connection to the game is poor. Enter Razer HyperSpeed, the de facto gold standard in wireless protocols; just ask TUV SUD PSB, a globally recognized certification body that says HyperSpeed wireless is three times faster than any other wireless technology.

The reason V3 Pro is so expensive is probably to cover the cost of its certification. Anyway, to me, there is no outstanding difference between using the V3 Pro wirelessly or wired. If in doubt, however, Razer has a special 4,000Hz Hyperpolling dongle that can be purchased as an add-on, but I think most people will simply use the included Speedflex USB cable to eliminate any delay concerns.

Like its predecessor, the new Deathadder has only five buttons, laughably few compared to the 11 on the Basilisk V3 (opens in new tab). I like that the side buttons are very chunky and easy to use, as I don't have to awkwardly bend my thumb to use them. However, I don't find the scroll wheel very appealing. Sure it's tactile and great for switching between weapons in a game, but doing a lot of scrolling with this mouse is very cumbersome.

Razer's new Hyperscroll Tilt wheel would have been welcome here as well. These little things and the simplicity of the button configuration are great for FPS gamers, but not so great for other game genres and tasks. There are probably more gamers like me. They need a mouse that they can use to both slay doom and manipulate dense Excel sheets. But if your job is to play twitch shooters, this is just perfect.

But there is no denying that such simplicity has its advantages, most obviously with regard to the Deathadder V3 Pro's battery life; Razer claims 90 hours, but I've only charged it once since I opened it about three weeks ago. I use this as my primary mouse for at least 8 hours a day. So I have no complaints. The charging is USB type and you can continue to use the wired mouse while charging.

The new Deathadder V3 Pro is a worthy successor to its namesake. It's fast, comfortable, has good battery life, and is very deadly when used right. But very few gamers can get their hands on one. For many of us, the $149 asking price for the Deathadder V3 Pro is too high. Still, if you fancy yourself an esports pro and need a no nonsense, hyper-focused killing machine, the V3 Pro will live up to its former legend.