Keybinds!

[Deafmetalman 0]

Hello everyone. Second topic here.

 

Just a question regarding keybinds. I've been a long time clicker, still am. I'm destro at the moment, and have been feeling my dps has plateaued recently. Just wondering whether keybinds will improve it or not? (Once I get used to it of course)....

 

Just curious who out there uses keybinds, or whether you're a clicker like me? And whether you think it's beneficial or not. Also, if it's not too trouble, a quick run down of what sort of binds you have.

Edited December 18, 2013 by Deafmetalman

[Marco 51]

I always play with keybinds, which is not surprising, as I mostly do PvP. It will improve your reaction time significantly, no matter what class you play. This may or may not increase your DPS, depending on your "clicking style", but generally, the downtime between skills and especially when you are moving will be lower, unless you are keyboard-turning and still manage to face the enemy while clicking your skills at the exact time. 

 

I can not give you Warlock-specific advice on keybinds, as I do not play one (Heresy! How can he post here?!), but you should definitely try to use SHIFT and maybe CTRL, bind Q, E, R, F, C, T, G, V, maybe X, 1, 2, 3... whatever is reachable and comfortable for you. Personally, I use a Logitech G600 (A mouse with 12 buttons on the side) and a Belkin n52te gamepad (It is a bit older already, Razer is selling a similar product currently).

[Zagam 1,982]

E - Incinerate

2 - Immolate

3 - Conflagrate

4 - Chaos Bolt

5 - Shadowburn (also bound to 5 on my mouse, where thumb rests)

6 - Fear (thumb to the right)

8 - Doomguard (move thumb on mouse down one row)

7 - Twilight Ward (move thumb on mouse down, to the left)

9 - Soulshatter (move thum on mouse down, to the right)

Shift-E - Rain of Fire

Q - Dark Soul (macro'd with Blood Fury)

Shift-Q - Potion of the Jade Serpent

X - Healthstone

C - Unending Resolve

T - Command Demon (Shadow Bulwark/Interrupt with GoSac)

Y - Gateway

F - Havoc

Shift-F - Banish

F1 - Dark Intent

F2 - Soulwell

F3 - Summoning Portal

 

Covers pretty much all you'll need for Destruction.  You'll be pressing E, 2, 3, 4, and 5 most often with all in reach with ease.  Situationally, you'll move your index finger around for defensives.  You'll get used to it as you do it.  If you REALLY want to learn keybinds, most UIs have an option to not allow clicking...it makes your bars unclickable, forcing you to use binds.  This is the path I recommend while learning. 

 

Your DPS might not skyrocket, but your situational awareness will.  Your level of comfort with the game will blow up as well because you'll actually enjoy watching your character instead of honing in on what button your mouse is over.  Your movement will be more free and flowing as well because your mouse won't be tied to your action bars.  It'll be easier to select targets by clicking them.  Best of all - your right hand won't hurt at the end of the night from spam clicking like in Diablo or moving your mouse so much from the bottom of your screen with your action bars to the middle of the screen with your targets.

[Lockybalboa 618]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826153125

 

http://gaming.logitech.com/en-us/product/g13-advanced-gameboard

 

Ask Santa for these, bind everything, never click again, become a boss.

 

Like Zag said, your DPS won't go BOOM over night but it will make a HUGE difference in your gameplay. After you get used to the set up and such.

[Storm 426]

The gameboard is overkill for wow in my opinion. Start with the Naga, and use Bartender to customize your UI, then in addition to your normal action bars make a 3x4 grid for the naga so you have an easy visual of where your buttons are on the naga.

 

I have a few shift/cntrl mods (also I'm a dk), but basically have 1-5 on my keyboard for my rotation, shift mods turn 3 of them into different situational dps abilities. and then on my naga I have all 12 keys bound to cooldowns, potions, healthstones, etc. and they all fit.

 

Like everyone has said, it won't make your dps skyrocket, but you'll find eventually your abilities are so ingrained in your brain you don't even need to have the game up in front of you to know what abilities are on what buttons.

[Cataylst 0]

I lose my mind if I have more then 5 or 6 buttons on my main bar. I use bartender to postion all my CD's near my toon's feet. For me my keybinds are:

1 Immolate

2 Incinerate

3 Conflagurate

4Chaos Bolt

5 Shadowburn

6 Havoc

F Fire and Brimstone

Mouse thumb button Rain of FIre

 

The worst spell for a clicker is Rain of Fire because of the apparent reason of it taking 2 clicks plus a mouse drag to cast it.

[Strife 6]

Imho you'll always plateau with clicking vs keybinds because I really don't think it's possible to react fast enough to everything you need to do and keep up with 1s GCD.

 

The faster you can recognize and react in a situation the better you'll be. It's obvious that reacting to an interrupt, or a defensive cooldown, or a proc or something is going to be faster when you instantly press a keybind compared to moving your mouse around trying to click on a button, especially when there's a bunch of stuff going on, you're using mouseover macros to be efficient with things like havoc/shadowburn cleaving, etc. I'm not a fan of MMO mice mainly because I didn't grow up with them and played a bunch of competitive FPS growing up with Quake/CS/TFC so prefer FPS mice like the MX518, but if MMO mice work for you then go for it.

 

I try to keep the same general groupings across classes for muscle memory, like my interrupts and stuns are always on QW, defensive cooldowns are on alt modifiers, offensive cooldowns are on R and R-modifiers, etc.

 

This for example is my destro setup:

Movement is EADF (FPS thing, gives you more quick access keybinds with QWR and easier to hit 1-6)
(General dps rotational skills and always have my heal on 5, I keep 6 as my agro dump button or some kind of emergency spell across various classes, feign death, etc.)
1 - Incinerate
2 - Immolate
3 - Conflag
4 - Havoc (use a mouseover macro)
5 - Healthstone
6 - SoulShatter
Shift Modifier + (AoE stuff and other class specific spells)
1 - Chaos Bolt
2 - RoF
3 - Shadowburn (use a mouseover macro)
4 - Fel Flame
5 - Soulstone (mouseover macro)
Alt Modifier + (Defensive and Misc stuff)
1 - Unending Resolve
2 - Twilight Ward + SacPact macro
3 - Burning Rush
4 - Fear
5 - Focus Macro (basically focus on your mouseover, otherwise creates a focus on your current target if you have no mouseover, clears your focus with no target/mouseover)
Other:
Q - Shadowfury or Mortal Coil
Sh+Q - Howl of terror
W - Pet specific skill (i.e. your interrupt with Observer/GoSac)
Sh+W - Teleport
R - Dark Soul Macro
Sh+R - Ember Tap
Alt+R - Potion
Back Mouse Button - Mumble/Vent PTT
Forward Mouse Button - FnB toggle
Sh + Fwd Mouse - Curse
Mouse Wheel Click - Pet Attack/Stop Attack macro
Sh + Mouse W. Click - Whatever the spell is that re-summons your pet for a ember (used this alot more on demo where it's pet ability 2 for Fel Storm, never really use it on destro) For Affliction it's curse of exhaustion
Alt + Mouse W. Click - Doomguard

 

Basically you want to setup keybinds that don't require much movement. All of mine never cause me to move my hands while still being able to have full control of my movement keys, my mouse for camera look and clicking on nameplates, and the ability to hit any keybinds. Things that you aren't really going to be using in combat and don't require fast reactions I just have on my bartender bar for clicking i.e. soulwell, summoning stone, buffs, etc.

Edited December 18, 2013 by Strife

[Zagam 1,982]

Guess this is hand dependent.  I'm 5'11'' and not sure my hands are much bigger than average, and hitting 1 is obnoxious to me.  I couldn't make 1 my primary filler button. 

[Omaric 246]

I like modifiers with the mouse wheel, it's really convenient.  Generally I like to map all of my CD's to them.  Shift/Alt/Ctrl individually with mouse scroll up/down/click adds up to 9 easy to press keys.

[Storm 426]

Guess this is hand dependent.  I'm 5'11'' and not sure my hands are much bigger than average, and hitting 1 is obnoxious to me.  I couldn't make 1 my primary filler button. 

 

1 is kind of weird, but I guess I've just gotten too used to it to change it. Sometimes in the heat of the moment I'll left+right click to move so I don't have to hit W and 1 or 2 at the same time though.

[Strife 6]

Not to mention how would a warlock clicker even be efficient with shadowburn sniping and mouseover macros?

 

I mean the main difference between a good and subpar destro is ability to havoc optimally. The general rotation for destro is cake, and if you have addons to react to trinket procs for C. Bolt you're doing pretty well, but to really get the most out of the class you need to get those havoc shadowburns and just quick shadowburns in general down.

 

If you're clicking your shadowburn that means you have to click on a mob, go down and press havoc with your mouse, go click on a mob that's in execute phase, go down and press shadowburn with your mouse, etc. I can't ever see that being efficient on any boss where Destro is good because of all of the shadowburns i.e. Sha, Galakras, Nazgrim, etc. Keybinds let you hover over a nameplate, hit your havoc keybind, and then just spam your mouseover shadowburn macro on any nameplates that are in execute phase. I use tidyplates and have enemy health bars green >20% and red <=20% so it makes it easy just to spam Shift+3 while hovering over nameplates with my mouse, you don't even need to click or use unreliable tab targeting when there's a bunch of mobs and nameplates on screen which means you're shadowburn sniping and getting havoc up on primary targets immediately, the only thing slowing you down is the 1s GCD.

 

This is especially apparent in raids where multiple people are competing for execute snipes, I run 10 man so it's not as huge as maybe a 25 man. For example in last weeks H Sha of Pride fight I had 29 shadowburns vs 12 from a pug warlock since we're currently missing a 10th person ~_~

 

If there was a clicker warlock in my group he would probably never get shadowburns on low health adds that die in 1 execute just because you can't physically react fast enough by clicking.

Edited December 18, 2013 by Strife

[Strife 6]

Guess this is hand dependent.  I'm 5'11'' and not sure my hands are much bigger than average, and hitting 1 is obnoxious to me.  I couldn't make 1 my primary filler button. 

 

For sure, everyone has slightly different setups that work for them and hand sizes. As long as you can hit all the keybinds that are required quickly and without much movement it shouldn't really matter anyways, end goal is the same.

[Lockybalboa 618]

Guess this is hand dependent.  I'm 5'11'' and not sure my hands are much bigger than average, and hitting 1 is obnoxious to me.  I couldn't make 1 my primary filler button. 

 

 

This is why I love my game pad. I can make use of a lot more key binds that are a lot more comfy for me to use with the pad Vs. a keyboard. My fingers just rest on the four main keys that I need and then I only have to move very slightly for anything else.

[Oldtrout 7]

From the games I've played in the past I'm very used to ctrl and shift modifiers and the F-keys, so I've built mine a lot around them. My most common skills all go onto 1-6, T, R, G, X, Z and 2 mouse buttons, and for the rest I try to group certain sets of abilities (utility + survival / DPS cooldowns / interrupts, shorter cooldowns and boss-specific macros) to those particular modifiers. 

 

It's probably not the best but it works for me. Even if I do sometimes look at my action bar and think "why the fuck have I put doomguard on ctrl+5?"

[Soulzar 42]

I was a clicker for years and now just about everything is bound.  I think i fared fairly well as a clicker back in vanilla, you had so much time between casts for a rotation, it was easy to chain cast... but then haste came along and there is no way you can keep up with bindings by clicking anymore.  I watched an old vid I did of Archimond.. and cringed when I watched myself click my way to victory.

 

I started my migration gradually.  First by binding my main filler only and clicking the rest. as I became more comfortable i added more and more bindings to where I am today.  As Strife mentioned, its very helpful to organize bindings by group and keep it similar between toons.  R is always my AoE, Shift-E Interrupts, Shift-C DRs, 2 dps cooldowns.. they all share the same key binding between toons.  This way you are never fighting your muscle reflex.  

 

The most important thing when setting up keybindings is having your high use abilites on bindings that are easy and natural to do that do not detract from your ability to move, strafe, adjust camera angle effectively.  For example, if you are using 1-4 for a primary ability, chances are you will need to use one of your WSAD fingers to hit it.... so using this binding while moving may be harder. 

 

I highly highly suggest a gaming mouse, it allows you to bind a ton of spells and keeps the work load off the hand responsible for character movement.  I am not sure I could find use for 16 buttons in a 1.5 square inch space, my mouse only has 4 and takes care of 12 bindings.  I make very heavy use of modifier macros, almost every one of my bindings can do 3 functions with shift and alt.  Example, Shadowbolt on mouse button, alt modifier for soulfire.  You are still spamming the same button, but press alt to burn your MC procs.

[Typecast 16]

It's always interesting seeing how people bind and how they group offensive/defensive abilities.  My 3 Bar Setup, bar1 have all my nomod/ctrl/shift macro'd abilities, bar2 hold the mod:alt abilities (for quickly swapping out talent changes, wish talents were morphable). Bar 3 are F1-F4 and focus bind, unbound food/flask/invis pot

 

Keybind: No Mod || +Alt || +Ctrl || +Shift

CapsLock: Push To Talk

Mousewheel Up: Incinerate || Chaos Bolt || Pet Attack (Mouseover>Focus>Boss5>B4>B3>B2>B1>Target)

Mousewheel Down: Shadowburn (Mouseover) || Ember Tap || Pet Passive

Middle Mouse Button: DC: Teleport || DC: Summon || Target Switch macro

`: Soulstone (Mouseover/Dead > Target/Dead) || Soulstone (@someone for wipe recovery) || Soulstone (Self) || Mass Res

1: Elements || Unending Resolve || Enfeeblement

2: Immolate || Tier 45 Talent || Immolate (Mouseover)

3: Conflag || Tier 60 Talent

4: Chaos Bolt || Twilight Ward || Doomguard/Infernal

5: Rain of Fire || Dark Regen

6: Fear (focus > target) || Banish (Mouseover > focus) || Howl of Terror

Q: Fire and Brimstone || Tier 30 Talent || Soulshatter

E: Havoc || Havoc (Mouseover) || Havoc (Focus)

R: ExtraActionButton1 || ExtraActionButton1 (Mouseover) || World Marker (Blue)

T: Every Man for Himself || Tier 75 Talent

F: Focus || Clearfocus || Target Focus

G: Command Demon/Pet Ability Macro || Pet Swap Macro

V: Drain Life || Health Funnel

F1: Healthstone || Symbiosis: Rejuv || Drums of Rage

F2: Potion 

F3: Strange Glowing Mushrooms

F4: Dark Soul

W: Run Forward

A: Strafe Left

D: Strafe Right

S: Fel Flame

 

(All opie rings have a default action if tapped)

G9: OpieRing Dark Intent/Create Healthstone/Soulwell/Summoning

G10: Autorun

G11: OpieRing Raid Marker Manager

G12: OpieRing Flames of Xoroth/Pets

G13: OpieRing Mounts

G14: OpieRing World Marker Manager

Edited December 19, 2013 by Typecast

[Liquidsteel 279]

My keybinds are shit but I've had them for so long that they work for me.

 

The main ones I'd get rid of are the alt modifiers, and I also use Shift 1 for Mount and Shift 2 for Curse of Elements which has become redundant in 25 man. Mount is just from habit. 

 

1 - Chaos Bolt

2 - Incinerate

3 - Immolate

4 - Conflag

Q - Ember Tap

E - Shadowburn Macro

F - Command Demon

T - Portal

G - Doomguard/Potion/All Cooldowns Macro

 

Alt 1 - Rain of Fire                  (I think alt is shitty modifier but I cba changing it)

Alt 2 - Havoc Macro

Alt 3 - FnB

Alt 4 - Dark Soul Macro

 

Shift Q - Burning Rush

Shift E - Healthstone

Shift F - Shadowfury

Shift G - Rocket Boots

Shift R - Defensive

Shift C - Demo opener macro, nothing for destro

 

F1 - Soulshatter

F2 - Potion (Never use this because it's macrod into doomguard on G and even if I used doomie on pull it still procs it)

F3 - Infernal

F4 - Doomguard on his own

 

Side Mouse Button (thumb rests) - Fel Flame

Shift Side Mouse Button - Engi Gloves (Macrod into incinerate so pointless macro)

 

Oh and I also use Shift Scroll Mousewheel up and down for /petattack and /passive

Edited December 18, 2013 by Liquidsteel

[Deafmetalman 0]

So much information... Thanks guys. I definitely think a gaming mouse is the way to go. I think trying to handle movement and 1, 2, 3 Etc wouldn't work too well for me. It's interesting to see how people bind...

 

Also, on the Shadowburn sniping issue. I find it difficult on some bosses anyway. Due to me being Australian, so with a 190 - 200ms. It's often Dead or close to dead before it even allows me to shadowburn. Being in a 25 man can't help that either...

 

I think I use the GCD to my advantage most of the time. Using the time to take my mouse from screen, to Rain of fire or similar then back to mid screen. Same with changing targets... If I'm on Target A, I'll cast a Conflag or something similar, then during the GCD, I'll change targets and line up my next spell. This, however, is open to slip-ups and misclicks. Which is why I started this thread.

 

So, thanks guys. I'll start small, someone suggested just binding my filler first, then introducing other spells. So I'll begin with that :D.

[Liquidsteel 279]

If you haven't already, swap A and D from turn left and right to strafe left and right. Makes a world of difference.

 

Much easier to be hitting your filler spells on 2 and 3 and strafing with A and D at the same time for small movement adjustments.

[Deafmetalman 0]

Now, that would take some getting used to. 6 or 7 or more long years of using E and Q for strafing, then just to change it. Nothing I couldn't get used to though.

[Muoric 3]

I also thought it'd take me ages to get used to a and d strafing. But it really didn't, a few weeks at max and now I'm totally lost if they actually turn me around.

So far I've found it surprisingly easy to change keybinds for stuff. It always feels like it would be impossible, but then it only takes a week or two. And thats because I'm way too lazy to sit in front of a dummy just to learn binds unless it's a major overhaul like I plan on doing for next expansion.

[Soulzar 42]

Yeah def A and D strafing .... turn is not needed ever when using strafe and right mouse button.  This frees up Q and E, which are excellent and easily accessible keys for bindings.

 

Q - Elements

Alt Q - Enfeeblement

Shift Q - Exhaustion

 

E - Pet Special (Felstorm, Dispell, Spell Lock)

Alt E - Pet Special 2 (Axe Toss, Singe Magic)

Shift E - Teleport

 

Ton of abilities, two keys.

[kitsu 55]

i rebound R, T, F, and G to Shift + <that letter> so it would be easy to remember what buttons they used to be. Then i bound them all to abilities i need to hit fast because my pointer finger is very capable & quick.

 

one of my favorites is to macro extra action button 1 to T on all my toons. anything from feather on jikun to kicking shells on tortos is easy that way.

[Cataylst 0]

Also, I play like to play alts somewhat so my bindings and bars are all almost identical from class to class. Even when switching specs I try to keep things in the same place like DS or Doomguard,  However, warlocks just have a ton of abilities and spells, so my lock as more bindings then any others.

[Zagam 1,982]

Also, I play like to play alts somewhat so my bindings and bars are all almost identical from class to class. Even when switching specs I try to keep things in the same place like DS or Doomguard,  However, warlocks just have a ton of abilities and spells, so my lock as more bindings then any others.

This is why my bindings are set up the way they are.  1 main and 10 alts at 90 makes for confusing binds unless you use the same ones.

 

Spam button - E (incinerate, sinister strike, crusader strike, cobra shot, etc)

2nd button, usually a DoT - 2 (immolate, serpent sting, flame shock, revealing strike)

3rd button - 3

4th button - 4

execute button - 5

primary cooldown - q (dark soul, adrenaline rush, rapid fire, ascendance)

secondary cooldown - shift-q

primary defensive cd - t (unending resolve, cloak of shadows, deterrence, shamanistic rage)

secondary defensive cd - c

healthstone - x

AoE ability - shift-e (rain of fire, fan of knives, multishot, chain lightning)

interrupt - f

 

This kinda set up makes switching between alts a breeze.  Same function, same button, different animation, different damage.