DAS and ARR: The Timings Behind Holding a Direction

Two numbers control how a held key moves a piece, and they change how the game feels more than any other setting.

Hold a direction key and the piece moves once, pauses, then repeats rapidly. The two numbers controlling that are DAS and ARR.

What they are

DAS, Delayed Auto Shift, is the pause between the initial move and the start of the repeat. Around 125 milliseconds in TETERI.

ARR, Auto Repeat Rate, is the interval between repeats once it starts. Around 28 milliseconds, so roughly thirty-five cells per second.

Together they mean: tap for one cell, hold for a slide.

Why the delay exists at all

Without DAS, a brief press would send the piece flying across the well. The delay separates two distinct intentions, "move one cell" and "move a long way", using the same key.

Set DAS too short and precise single-cell adjustments become impossible. Too long and crossing the well feels sluggish. The window of good values is narrower than you would think.

Why the repeat rate matters

ARR determines the top speed of horizontal movement, and at high levels that becomes the binding constraint. If gravity gives you 200 milliseconds and your ARR is 50, you can move four cells. If your ARR is 25, you can move eight.

Competitive players often set ARR as low as their game allows, sometimes to zero, which teleports the piece to the wall. TETERI uses a fixed, fast value rather than exposing it, because instant movement makes precise mid-well placement harder, not easier.

Touch is different

A finger tap easily lasts 150 milliseconds, which is longer than the keyboard DAS. Using the same timings for on-screen buttons means every tap registers as two moves, a genuinely maddening bug that TETERI had at one point.

The fix is separate timings: touch holds use a longer delay and a slower repeat, so a tap is exactly one cell and holding still slides.

What to take away

If your pieces overshoot by one cell constantly, you are fighting DAS: you are holding slightly too long. Tap deliberately for small adjustments and hold only when crossing real distance. That single change fixes more misplacements than any amount of practice at going faster.