Guild Wars 2

In it’s default position I am constantly, accidentally pressing weapon swap mid battle with me Thief, causing me to put away D/D and get out my bow, this is no good as it ruins the flow of combat and now there’s a cool down on my weapon swap so I have to get out of combat and switch to ranged till the cool down is finished.

I’m not only new to this game but it’s really the first came I’ve really had to use keys so I have to look down or I’m gonna hit the wrong skills on that top bar, messing up hitting heart seek instead of of a regular attack however is nothing compared to being left with a bow in my hands then end up flat on my back as number 3 failed to send me over the top of their heads like usual, it’s happened way to many times now…. any suggestions for a re-bind please, does anyone else move it?

Of course a gaming mouse is the way for ward but I can’t afford one right now, I just have to make do with mouse3 rolls (mouse 3 weapon swap would also be cool but it’s better for rolling)

What’s the default?

Mine is on Q. I very rarely press it by accident there, mostly because I’m not really paying attention to begin with.

I put my weapon swap on the ~ key and hit it with my little finger. On my keyboard it’s to the left of the 1 key and convenient to my left hand which is resting on the movement keys.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

I put my weapon swap on the ~ key and hit it with my little finger. On my keyboard it’s to the left of the 1 key and convenient to my left hand which is resting on the movement keys.

I do that too~!

Rauderi.8706:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

I put my weapon swap on the ~ key and hit it with my little finger. On my keyboard it’s to the left of the 1 key and convenient to my left hand which is resting on the movement keys.

I do that too~!

Of course, it doesn’t stop me from getting excited in big fights and hitting the control key instead, AND THEN TYPING IN ALL CAPS IN MAP CHAT AFTERWARDS. lol.

I use C because it’s really close and convenient.

Given your other comment about having to look down to make sure you’re hitting the right skills I’d actually suggest something more extensive than just moving that one key.

A lot of people will completely change their keybindings to make keys easier to reach or remember or simply to be more comfortable for them. Not just in GW2 either, it seems to go for all PC games.

There’s no right (or wrong) way to do it, the important thing is what works for you. But the general idea is to reduce how much you have to move your hand around the keyboard so there’s less risk of losing where you are and pressing the wrong button.

Here’s some common ideas I’ve seen mentioned:

Using shift/ctrl

Instead of 1-0 put your skills on 1-5 and shift+1-5. That means your hand doesn’t need to move as much so you’re less likely to press other keys by mistake. (I’m not quite sure how you reach shift if you’re right handed, but that might be because I’m not so trying to do any kind of manoeuvre like that feels weird to me.)

Skill Circle

Move the movement keys 1 row over to E, S, D, F and then put the skills around them, on Q, W, R, T, A, G, Z, X, C and V. Then things like weapon swap or your F1-4 skills could go on the number pad.

Number pad

This is what I do. I moved all of my attack skills to the number pad. 1-5 as normal, 6 on the 0 (it’s a double width key, I think of it as my panic button), utility and elite skills on 6-9, F1-4 across the top and weapon swap and dodge on enter and +. Oh and take target on the decimal. Then I use my thumb on the arrow keys to move.

I use Caps Lock, easier and natural reach. AZE or QWE are set for movement.

I use TFGH instead of WASD giving access to more buttons, 45678 instead of 12345. Lets you play with better access and I use D as my weapon swap.

There are some less expensive gaming mice (?!) like logitech that have 4 thumb buttons so it is not overly complex but still gives you a few extra places to bind important stuff. Weapon swap (and dodge roll) feel a much more a fluid part of combat when bound to the mouse for me anyways.

I use the mouse button just under the scroll wheel. If you have one it may be an option.

I use TAB for weapon swap, but then all of my keys are completely different. I move with W,E,R. E is forwared, R and W are strafe. Q is my heal, weapons are 12345 and utilities are ASDFG. T is interact and Y is area loot. XCVB are hit with my thumb for profession skills.

Just get more comfortable with the keyboard. You should be able to use it without looking.

I use a mouse with 4 buttons for the thumb. weapon swap is the bottom one (down) on the base of the mouse.

q and e are good options if you don’t strafe with them.
z, x, and c are also excellent options if you dont use them for anything else.

Huh, what is the default key anyway? I thought it was ~ and that’s certainly what I’ve used all along in both GW2 and TESO.

Donari.5237:

Huh, what is the default key anyway? I thought it was ~ and that’s certainly what I’ve used all along in both GW2 and TESO.

Default is the key to the left of 1, on my keyboard that’s ` but it might be different on non-UK keyboards.

Nope, that is ` / ~ — I was just confused by people saying they use that as an answer to the OP not liking “default.”

Mine is Q as I use WASD movement and EXCV for my attunements. E is my burst when I play Warrior which I play most, so it’s easiest for me.

Mouse button 3. That would be when u click the mouse scroll.

I have mine set to X. Not hard to reach, and if you do it fast enough it doesn’t interrupt anything.

I have a naga mmo mouse. I just personally like having more buttons. But my scroll wheel has buttons for pushing left and right. So I assign left to wep swap and right to run. This has worked for me.