Breakfast Topic: Key bindings
by Eliah Hecht 
Feb 7th 2007 at 8:00AM
I hate my mouse. Really, I do. I try to do as much as possible from the keyboard, both in and out of WoW. I have key bindings for just about everything, either in WoW's key bindings interface or using Bongo Bars. If I'm not going to have a key bound to a button, I don't usually bother making it, because I know I'm not going to mouse all the way over to click it. It's much easier to just type "/cast mind blast" than it is to figure out which is the mind blast button, move my hand to my mouse, position the cursor over the button, and click.But that's just me -- I know a lot of people who play very well clicking all of their spells. I can't imagine it, but apparently it goes on anyway. However, clickers, you are not the subject of this breakfast topic. My question for you today: what are your favorite key bindings? What are the first hotkeys you set up when you first roll on a new realm -- or do you just go with the defaults? My first hotkeys are always "\" for run-lock (because my laptop keyboard doesn't have an easy num lock) and "B" for whatever bag mod I'm using, or for open all bags if I'm not using one.
[thanks, Dr. Funbags, for this suggestion, even if I'm pretty sure you just sent it in to see if I would really write "thanks, Dr. Funbags"]
Filed under: Tips, Breakfast Topics, Features
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Lenny Feb 7th 2007 8:18AM
One thing I can't live without is having my panic button be the ~ key. I usually put iceblock there but now that I have a Paladin I have my bubble there. Since I am always using some sort of bag mod and don't need to open my bags individually I assign the F9-F12 keys to raid icons. I'm usually made group leader because I can pickup and tag MOBs fast. Frostnova, mark, poly, run circles around the tank until he takes aggro...
-Lenny
Chris Hammond Feb 7th 2007 8:34AM
I generally use the number row for combat spells, and the number pad for healing. Utility spells are usually bound to useful spots, ~ is my vent key, f is entangling roots, v is cyclone, z and x are trinkets and shifted to water and maybe something I can't remember. Who thought it was a good idea making num lock the default binding for autorun, that's just silly.
Twinny Feb 7th 2007 8:43AM
Warlock bindings :P
1 my "Iwin" macro
/castsequence reset=target/combat curse of agony, corruption, immolate
other buttons:
q - life tap
` - deathcoil (ala the oh shit button)
e - drain soul
f - shadow burn
x - drain life
z - summon dreadsteed
2- shadow bolt
3 - incinerate
4 - soulfire
Twinny Feb 7th 2007 8:45AM
oh and
[CTRL] + 1 curse of agony
[CTRL] + 2 corruption
[CTRL] + 3 immolate.
multikast Feb 7th 2007 8:47AM
I always set up the following keys:
(nurfed action bars, btw)
bottom row
1 through 6, t, R, f, g, F, G
second row
shift-1 through shift-6, T, W, B
Since i use only my left hand for key bindings, 7 through = just doesn't work. and any other buttons that i rarely use, i have set up in bars that i simply click on.
also, ` is always attack and b is open all bags. auto-run is middle mouse button. i think everything else is just standard bindings.
Brad Feb 7th 2007 9:10AM
I find my warrior to be extremely button intenisve, especially in PVP. (and then throw in stance dancing...)
I have a very unusual UI set up using trinity bars that I basically adapted to my playing style. I have numbers 1-6 bound and QWERTY bound as well. These are my basic action buttons. Then I have some of the Function keys for shouts and what not. One of these days I will make the transition to my N52, but I am lazy.
Anyone else find that getting the most out of a warrior requires a lot of action buttons at your finger tips? I certainly do.
kerni Feb 7th 2007 9:08AM
I'm a clicker, through and through however I do use my key bindings.
1 = Flash of Light
2 = Flash of Light (Max Rank)
3 = Holy Light (Max Rank)
F = Crusader Strike
V = Judgement
F1 = Divine Shield
F2 = Blessing of Protection
F3 = Avenging Wrath
T = Trinket Menu Top
Y = Trinket Menu Bottom
Del = Mount
I also have extra mouse buttons (Razer Copperhead). One is for a /target self, Blessing of Freedom and the other is for a /target self, Holy Light. The mouse buttons are excellent for PvP.
Sylythn Feb 7th 2007 9:09AM
I swap B and Shift-B immediately for opening of all bags. And while I used to get rid of the auto-attack button, on my Pally I now have it as 1 on the first bar (I've found myself standing around doing nothing out of combat far too many times after casting some buffs or spells).
- and = get dark pact and life tap...those buttons tend to get my most used or biggest emergency buttons. In keeping with that theme F11 and F12 tend to have extremely useful items too. ` used to be my "oh crap" button (with Vanish on my rogue), but I haven't used it all that much recently. Oh and I try and group the F keys like they are on the keyboard (for my lock F1-F4 are Fear-related items, F5-F8 are curses, F9-F12 are Healing-related items).
I do all my moving/looking with a combination of my mouse and the wasd keys. I do a lot of clicking though - macros, pally healing, pet management - those are all on the un-hot-keyed bars (default Blizz UI). I just make sure the stuff I'm going to need to hit without thinking are on bar 1 or 2, or the F bar.
Seper Feb 7th 2007 9:31AM
I use the default hot keys for all my stuff and dont make new ones. But I set my bar up with 1-5/6 being attacks that need to be launched in a milliseconds notice. Then I have heals from 7-10 and all my buffs in the bar right above. Its worked out great!
Elbows Feb 7th 2007 10:06AM
I'm a lefty, and have always used my left hand for the mouse. This mean that using the traditional aswd setup doesn't work for me. I use the number pad on the right hand side for all of my hotkeys along with the arrow pad and insert, home, etc. buttons. I feel that I don't really have as many hotkeys as people who use the mouse in their right hand but I do pretty well considering. The only problem I ever run into is that sometimes I accidentally hit my numlock button, which temporarily changed half of my key bindings. That sucks.
braydn Feb 7th 2007 7:06PM
i am a lvl64 warlock on Icecrown....the bindings i use most are the default ones, but i am a clicker 99% of the time...the one binding i do use constantly is "CTRL+1" to send in my pet to attack because it is easy for my left hand, i click all other spells with my right hand, and i also use "W" and "S" for moving forward and back because that comes in handy when trying to find the longest range for casting spells, but for most regular moving i use the mouse...i also use "esc" to get to the main blizz menus for vid/gui/etc settings and to log out etc...but that's about it. i used to use the 1 through + keys when i bought the game 2 years ago, but that was in the early levels and i did not have so many spells to have to manage. as it is now, i have two rows of Bongos bars that have my spells in them (things i need instantly for casting/fighting), and two rows of things that are for calling pets, summoning ppl, eye of kilrogg, professions, dreadsteed, armor buffs, etc (things i dont use in battle that i can slowly click at my leisure). so when i click with mouse during that most important of times (in battle) the two rows of main spells are all right next to each other in groups that i can just click pne by one from right to left which means moving the mouse VERY LITTLE and i can do it really fast too. i use W and S sometimes though when i need to move around in battle because some of the warlock spells (curses and shadowburn) can be cast while moving so i use my left hand to move with WSAD and cast if i have to in a pinch, but other spells (immolate, shadow bolt, soulfire) can not be cast while moving so they are better just clicked since they have long cast times. but overall i use the mouse almost all the time, and some minor left handed keys on the board to support the situational stuff....
Ben Feb 7th 2007 10:20AM
I have just about everything bound to my number pad, 1-9 for the first 9 buttons on the primary action bar, then /, *, - for 10-12. Bar 2 is Shift + the key (except 5...WoW won't let you bind anything to Shift+NumPad 5 for some reason). Bars 3 and 4 are for lesser used abilities and since patch 2.0 for mouseover macros - those correspond with Shift A,S,D,F and Shift+Q,W,E,R. The 3 key from the top row is my Vent key because it just feels natural to me. I always bind First Aid to Shift+NumPad + because the plus sign is like a first aid cross. Shift+NumPad 0 is usually an emergency button (Desperate Prayer, Evocation, Lay on Hands). As I try to explain it here I realize how absolutely insane my bindings are, but they've just kind of evolved to meet my needs and I don't think I could play any other way.
Kabira-Fenris Feb 7th 2007 10:36AM
My tilde is my decurse/depoison/demagic button. Whichever character I'm on can either cast a cleansing spell or use a Jungle Remedy from tilde. :D
Zone99 Feb 7th 2007 10:54AM
My first binding is usually for Hunters Mark followed by pet attack.
After that, I really don't have any. I have all my shot keys arranged on my number line in the shot rotation order I like to use for most fighting.
I've also had macros that has run down the entire shot rotation which is useful when there's no real lag to speak of.
The only other binds (and on occassion I use another device besides the keyboard) is one for Vent and a button for a Feign Death macro that puts the pet on passive and FDs.
Hegon Feb 7th 2007 10:39AM
The only things I use a mouse for are,
Looting, Gathering, fishing, and Quest dialogs
Brand new install, always map
Autorun, movement, turn, sit, strafe
to q,w,a,s,d,z,x,c
I try to put my Cool downs and deliberate skills (Stuff you don't what to hit accidently) where I can reach them while steering with my left hand..
E Battle Stance
R Defensive Stance
T Beserk Stance.
F Intemidating Shout.
V Peircing Howl
I use the numpad for my right hand.
Numpad 0 Next Monster,
Numpad + Flip camera,
Numpad . last attacker.
numpad 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,/,*,-
are main bar 1-12.
Ctrl + Numpad 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,/,*,-
are bottom left bar 1-12.
alt + Numpad 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,/,*,-
are bottom right bar 1-12.
The position works out so that I can leave my thumb on the Numpad 0 (next monster) at all times, and just lean my hand over the mouse to loot.
My left hand pinky and thumb can rest on the ctrl and alt keys.(other 3 on ASD).
It was the most number of binds I could get within easy reach in mid combat Finger Fumble madness.
FadedReality Feb 7th 2007 10:48AM
for my shadow priest I have it set up like so:
(only the important ones mind you)
` - Silence
2 - Shadow Word: Death
3 - /cast [nochanneling:mind flay] mind flay
5 - Mind Blast
E - /castsequence reset=combat,10 vampiric touch, vampiric embrace, shadow word: pain, vengeance of the illidari
Q - Psychic Scream
F - Power Word: Shield
G - Mount
Z - /cast Inner Focus
/stopcasting
/cast Devouring Plague
My rogue is the one I'm particularly proud of. At level 20 I've got a nice little spam macro
E - /cast [nostealth,nocombat] stealth
/cast [nocombat,stealth] ambush
/castsequence reset=combat,target gouge, backstab, snister strike, eviscerate
(in case I get surprised) Q - /castsequence reset=combat sinister strike, sinister strike, sinister strike, eviscerate
Keire Feb 7th 2007 11:06AM
I, too have to go nuts with keybindings. Trinity Bars, although still a bit buggy, makes rearranging my keybindings very easy.
` - Scorch
~ - Arcane Blast
1 - Cone of Cold
2 - Fireball
3 - Arcane Missiles
4 - Fireblast
5 - Frost Nova
Tab - Pyroblast :P
Q - Blink
E - Counterspell
Shift-E - Ice Lance
R - Blastwave
T - Combustion
F - Assist Target
Shift-F - Fire Ward
Shift-G - Frost Ward
Z - Polymorph
Shift-Z - Spellsteal
X - Flamestrike
Shift-X - Rank 1 Blizzard
C - Arcane Explosion
Shift-C - Rank 1 Arcane Explosion
V - Frostbolt
Shift-V - Rank 1 Frostbolt
Mouse Button (Back thumb) - Grenades
Mouse Button (forward thumb) - Wand
Middle Mouse - Dragon's Breath
If its cooldown is less than 3 minutes, it's keybound, or it's not used.
Aladek Feb 7th 2007 11:14AM
I love the fact that I'm not the only one into key maping. some of my favorites
R = Autorun, back from EQ
` = target closest enemy
Alt-Space = Silence... feels good to drop a thumb on the other casters out there
W = wand, just for that emergency damage
Alt-W = water, gets hit alot
Alt-, = Fav Trinket 1
Alt-. = Fav Trinket 2 - both a nice thumb drop
Alt-F = for that lazy autofollow
basicly if I find that I'm using my mouse for something, I'm doing something wrong
only thing I use the mouse for is looking around
Monigote Feb 7th 2007 11:12AM
I'm a healer.... all my damage spells are 1-7 etc....
and all my healing is done around my wasd config... But either way, any clickheal mod helps a lot... I usually use some clickbindings for things like remove disease or dispel... But I am confident I could play a good healer with my left hand and no mouse...
Kahja Feb 7th 2007 11:14AM
Since I've always clicked I don't have the problem where I have to find my buttons (unless I change interface set up, but that takes like a week to get used to at the most)
The only things I can make note of is that I use the qweasd keys as their default movements and use 12345 of my main action bar.
I also use ` for various things depending on class. Other than that I use the mouse. I don't have to think about where my buttons are anymore I just know.