Drone Defense 2 Controls

Drone Defense 2 inherits the Solver Games tower-defense hand: one set of keys in the lobby, another set the moment you leave an elevator. Players bounce between those two modes every match, then wonder why CODES! will not open when they mash 1. This page is the bind sheet. Pair it with Getting Started for the first Easy loop, and with how to redeem codes when the panel itself is the problem.

The Roblox description does not print a control card. Community lists for the original Drone Defense still apply as a starting point, but the sequel moved the codes button and swapped the ability shop for perks. Confirm anything that feels dead in Settings after a patch. Solver Games does not always ship a patch note.

Lobby binds

You are in the lobby when shops, quest NPCs, and the CODES! button on the left are visible. You are not in a match.

Input	Action
Shift	Sprint around the shared lobby
Ctrl	Shift-lock (camera lock)

Sprint exists so you can reach Ducky N, Scuba Tessa, or the codes panel without walking the full Copper-9 loop. Shift-lock is optional. Neither bind places a drone. Neither bind redeems SECRET_01.

If you came from the original game, stop looking at the bottom-left for Codes. In Drone Defense 2 the button is left side. Taking an elevator with the codes panel still open is the usual way people “lose” a string they just copied.

Match binds

Once the elevator loads a map, Oil exists and hotkeys mean towers.

Input	Action
1–5	Unit / tower hotkeys for the loadout slots you actually filled
Q or X	Cancel a placement ghost
E	Upgrade the selected unit (spends Oil)
X	Sell the selected unit

Empty loadout slots still occupy a number. That is why the loadout planner asks you to write eco, hold, and backline before you vote. Pressing 4 when slot 4 is empty does not summon a trophy unit. It does nothing useful while a leak walks the last tile.

X doing two jobs (cancel and sell) is the bind people fight. Cancel while a ghost is out. Sell only when a placed unit is selected. If you sell the eco by accident on wave 2, leave. Restarting Easy is cheaper than playing a Medium with no income. See upgrade tiers before you replace that unit with a fresh summon.

Mobile and console players tap the same actions on the HUD. The names stay: place, cancel, upgrade, sell. If a patch rebound a key, Settings wins over this table.

What is not a hotkey

• CODES! is a lobby UI button, not 6, not C, not Enter in chat.
• Chat does not redeem codes.
• Perks are bought in the lobby vendor, then they apply in the match. There is no original-game ability bar to keybind. Read perks before you dump Keybugs into a shop you used in Drone Defense 1.
• Gamepasses do not add extra hotkeys. VIP can add lobby convenience (sprint / teleports on that pass); it does not give you a sixth tower slot.

A clean input loop

1. Lobby: Shift to CODES!, redeem the live list, close the panel.
2. Fill three slots you own. Empty means “summon later,” not “copy a six-unit screenshot.”
3. Elevator. Vote Easy until it is a stomp — maps.
4. Place eco first with 1. Cancel with Q if the ghost sits on a bad tile.
5. Hold with 2 when the first leaky wave is visible. Upgrade eco with E when Oil allows.
6. Backline last. Do not sell eco to afford a flex name.

If Medium still deletes you with perfect hotkeys, the problem is tiers and wallets, not “need a script to auto-press E.” The scripts hub will not bind keys for you, and we still have no verified public auto-farm paste.

Co-op on a 20-player server does not change the binds. It changes who is allowed to waste Oil. Agree who places eco before the elevator door opens. Two people hitting 1 on the same tile is how Easy leaks.

After a patch

The 28 August 2026 stamp and the 5 September 2026 Void window can retune UI without a blog. If 1–5 stop selecting units, open Settings before you assume the wiki is lying. Then check updates and Discord (discord.gg/dronedefense). Do not import original-game Solver/Null keycards as if they were sequel hotkeys — that kit lives on another place ID. See original Drone Defense.

Print this table once. Play Easy twice with it. Then forget the keys exist and watch the path, not your keyboard.