Keybindings and Hotbar Setup for Paladin — Dawntrail 7.3

Hotbar setups, as in any MMO, are largely personal preference. This page is intended to act as a guideline and give an idea of which actions are more important to have on easy-to-reach keys, as well as see an example setup to start building your own. If the given setups work for you, though, feel free to use them 1:1.

2.

Paladin Hotbar Setup

Controller Keyboard and Mouse

For our controller suggestion, we have tried to place combo actions and other GCDs on face buttons, as they will get the most usage out of your entire kit and should be easily accessible. Hotbars 1 and 2 are intended for single target scenarios, with hotbar 2 being the Expanded XHB (LT → RT and RT → LT). Hotbar 3 can be hard-switched to for AoE situations. Sprint can be placed on a left/right stick macro for ease of use as well as staying constant between jobs.

Controller setups for Paladin tend to be challenging due to the sheer number of different actions that need to be bound. If this setup does not work for you, shuffle things around until they do!

The Star macro icon represents where you can bind your Tincture of Strength. The LT Intervention button, one of the Cover buttons, and the Shirk button should be macroed to target your cotank, typically the second member of your party list.

Paladin has a large set of abilities for single target, aoe, and defensive scenarios. This example hotbar aims to place commonly used GCDs and abilities on unmodified keys that are reachable from WASD, with the thumb pressing Z, X, C, V, and B.

This setup uses only the SHIFT modifier key, and can be changed to use fewer hard-to-reach keys (6, G, B, V) by using an additional modifier key like CTRL.

This setup also has a few duplicate keys, such as two macros each for Intervention and Cover, one that targets your co-tank, and one that targets whatever your mouse is over.

1. Keep similar actions on the same buttons across all jobs. This may not always be possible, but you'll find most classes in this game can be set up in a very similar fashion. This includes, but is not limited to:
   • Basic combo buttons on easy to reach mappings or controller face buttons. Most melee jobs spend most of their time with combos, so make sure Fast Blade is comfortable to reach and keep Riot Blade and Royal Authority nearby for convenience
   • Place similar skills on the same buttons across jobs. For instance, Intervene can use the same button as your gap-closer on other jobs. This is particularly true of role actions like Rampart, Arm's Length, etc. or general actions like Limit Break and Sprint.
2. Keep your hotbars and other important information (like the party list, your buffs/debuffs, your target's buffs/debuffs and their castbar, etc.) closer to the center of your screen, so that it's easier to keep them in view when focusing on movement for encounter mechanics. The target buff/debuffs and cast bar can be separated from the HP bar in HUD layout settings.
3. Keep commonly used buttons (like damaging GCDs and oGCDs) on easy-to-reach buttons, preferably ones that do not use modifier keys. Actions that are more situational, or have longer cooldowns, like Hallowed Ground, Clemency, or Interject, can be relegated to harder-to-reach buttons.
4. Paladin is notorious for having a lot of actions to bind. If you are struggling to fit everything, you can feel free to omit some rarely used actions, such as Shield Bash (only useful in low level content and Deep Dungeons), Low Blow, Cover, and Clemency.