Keybind 101 (Tips and Tricks)

[ern815]

Hi all,

Not a newcomer but thought this would be a good place to post.

Any Keybind tips for a mouse clicker like me in order to increase DPS output?

[Rongway]

Do you mean that you want keybind tips so you can stop being a clicky player, or so that you can be a more efficient clicky player? If you want to continue using a mouse, you can bind chords with mouse keys: sh-alt-middleClick or ctrl-alt-leftClick, for example.

However, the biggest increase to efficiency is to move to a keyboard-only scheme, because the greatest time consumption in a control scheme will be from moving hands from one manipulandum to another (e.g., from keyboard to mouse), which will require not just the actual moving of the hand to the mouse but also could take a few seconds to orient yourself (finding the mouse pointer if it has disappeared).

Bind movement keys to both QWES and arrow keys so that you can move with either hand. Camera left/right on AD. With your left thumb on ALT, you should be able to reach 1-5 comfortably unless you have small hands, and your left hand over the arrow keys should have comfortable access to shift and ctrl. Even if you want to save one of those modifiers for a PTT key, that still leaves convenient chording for 20 actions: 1-5, rightShift 1-5, leftAlt 1-5, and rightShift-leftAlt 1-5. If you use two 2x6 bars, that also leaves button 6 for less-often-used actions. Don't put things you use often in 6 though; Fitts's Law says the difficulty of pressing a button increases with distance.

The keys close to your left hand's resting position should be used for keybinds you'll use often. Again, Fitts's Law. Things like "Target Nearest Enemy" and "Target Nearest NPC/Object" should be keys like G and V.

Movement related actions like Sprint, backsteps, and gap closers should also be conveniently placed, to increase their activation speed in a pinch. For this reason it can be helpful to map a hotbar to the Ins/Del cluster. The right hand over the arrow keys should then be able to hit those keys quickly with minimal thought.


Whatever you do, whether you take these recommendations or not, the big thing is Fitts's Law. The buttons closest to your hand's resting position will be the easiest to press, so those keys should be used for your most frequently used actions and actions you want to be able to activate quickly under stress.

[Canadane]

Investing in an mmo mouse helped me.
My keyboard is a gigantic old 1980's Model M though, so it wasn't great for gaming in the first place.