Q:
Pineapples rule
Key Binds
Nemain The Eyeless · [JOY] · Tarnished Coast · http://tcwvw.com
(edited by ASP.8093)
The strength of heart to face oneself has been made manifest. The persona Carighan has appeared.
I am sharing the system I use because it might help other players, but to be absolutely clear there are definite negatives and positives to it. It won’t work for everyone but if it helps to draw some inspiration from then all is good.
Important note to be aware of before you read anything I post below:
I use combat mode to avoid RSI with holding right click (medical reasons – my fingers are quite sensitive) which has one serious flaw – About Face does not work while combat mode is active.
There is a work around as you’ll see below, but in any case more accurately I haven’t found an easy key combination to About Face yet. This directly impacts the ability to forward phase retreat.
Fortunately I don’t use staff nowadays so haven’t bothered to sort it out. But if you do use staff, then what I use may work for you if you can figure out the problem of About Face. If you have excellent wrist technique, you can of course manually flick the camera around 180 degrees, which is quite simple when you don’t have to hold right click.
For everything else I have found work arounds, as you’ll see below.
The most important keybind when using combat mode is Toggle On/Off. It is absolutely essential – you cannot play properly without being fluent with Toggle On/Off because it is crucial for ground targeted abilities and manual targeting as well as sometimes camera panning (although I have an alternate solution for that as well).
I should also say I made a small edit to the autohotkey file to enable two keybinds for Toggle On/Off – this simply allows me to have one button on the keyboard and one on the mouse – because you’ll be using it fairly frequently and I like to distribute the load between both hands to avoid any strain.
In addition to this I also swapped Caps Lock and LCtrl keys (mapped them to each other) while in game, and assigned “F” to “Pause” – because “F” is my primary Toggle On/Off button which means I cannot use it in chat – before I did this I had a big problem typing words with the letter “F” in them!
Now that that is all said, on to the keybinds. These keybinds are mesmer specific and I change certain keys if playing a different class:
Toggle combat mode on/off – F and Mouse4 (Back Thumb Mouse Button)
Weapon skills
1 -> Left Click (5)
2 -> Right Click (6)
3 -> Shift+Left Click (E) – I almost always press E
4 -> Shift+Right Click ( R) – I almost always press R
5 -> Shift+Mouse5 (Forward Thumb Mouse Button)
Heal -> Q
Utils:
7 -> Mouse5 (Forward Thumb Mouse Button) – This is almost always Blink
8 -> Shift+E – usually condition removal, portal, veil etc
9 -> Shift+R – always Decoy
Elite -> Shift+F
Shatters -> 1, 2, 3, 4
Targeting:
Nearest Enemy -> X
Next Enemy -> Shift+X
Previous Enemy -> Shift+Z (don’t need to use this too often anyway)
Call Target -> V
Take Target -> Shift+Mouse4 (Back Thumb Mouse Button)
Lock Autotarget -> C – this is really a Drop Target button!
Movement:
Forward/Back/StrafeLeft/StrafeRight -> WSAD
Dodge -> Spacebar
Jump -> LCtrl (remember this is in Caps Lock position because I swap them)
Auto Run -> Shift + Spacebar
Swim Up -> Spacebar
Swim Down -> LCtrl
Dodge Underwater -> G (I don’t like this and will change it – but I rarely need to use it anyway).
Misc:
Interact -> Tab
Map -> T
Stow weapon -> Z and ` (button to the left of 1). I stow/unstow a lot so like having two options to stretch the fingers.
Free Camera -> Shift and Alt (two separate binds). I can hold either shift or alt to pan the camera around while combat mode is active.
Mouse wheel binds if combat mode is On:
Scroll Forward -> Swap Weapon
Scroll Backward -> Swap Weapon
Shift + Scroll Forward -> Zoom Camera In
Shift + Scroll Backward -> Zoom Camera Out
Middle Mouse Button -> Swap Weapon
Mouse wheel binds if combat mode is Off:
Scroll Forward -> Zoom Camera In
Scroll Backward -> Zoom Camera Out
Middle Mouse Button -> Swap Weapon
That should cover all the important ones (continued in next post)…
A note on playing, because I know this might not make much sense how it can work:
Ground Targeting
To Blink:
1. Toggle Off combat mode (cursor appears in exactly the same position every time – in the centre of the screen)
2. Move cursor and hold Mouse5
3. Release and Toggle On combat mode.
At speed it is “F” -> move cursor, press mouse5 -> "F.
Sounds clunky but it really is very smooth and easy after a while. Same applies for all ground targeted abilities that you don’t want to cast near to you.
Alternatively sometimes it is easier to simply move the crosshair to position for ground targeting and press the button without toggling On/Off – depends on the situation and terrain (ie if you’re looking up towards a blink spot or looking down at the ground).
You can see why for some classes (engis, necros) this might not be a good way to play because of the quantity of ground targeted abilities – those are the only two classes I have barely played so can’t comment on them.
I can say this works for all of the remaining 6 classes, though some are easier than others depending on the amount of ground targeted abilities in your build.
Enemy Targeting
Hit X and then hold shift and press X, X, X… until you cycle to what you want. Z if you go to far.
Alternatively hit Toggle Off and use left click to select target, then Toggle On.
Use C to drop target! Incredibly useful button. I play with promote target and most of the time auto target – because I don’t use any skills in my builds that require auto target to be off for mobility (I said I rarely use staff anymore) – for example ranger or warrior leaps. If I’m playing a build or class that needs that I’ll turn auto target off – and I do do this with melee ranger for example.
About Face
As you can see I don’t have a keybind for about face, because I haven’t used staff for a while and couldn’t be kittened to think about which key to use.
If you want to try to forward phase retreat, the best method I thought of using this is
1. Toggle Off combat mode
2. Do the about turn routine
3. Toggle On combat mode
This is pretty clunky, but who knows – you might figure out a fantastic keybind for it.
Alternatively simply flick the mouse to 180 the camera and hit right click – requires good wrist action and is not as accurate as using about face, but still useable.
Camera panning
Simply hold either shift or alt (depends which finger you feel like using at the time) and move the camera. If combat mode is On, your character will snap to the new direction once you release Free Camera (because right click is held).
Finally, I know this is a tl;dr type of post, but I wanted to share it because I don’t think I know anyone who uses this kind of system, and it might help players who hate holding right click. There are obvious downsides, which is what balances out this method – but I believe I have been able to salvage enough from using it to play skillfully and still have the main positive benefit – no finger strain from right click. I would rather quit the game than be forced to play by holding right click anymore.
“I control time and space; you can’t break free.~”
“Maybe I was the illusion all along!”
“Maybe I was the illusion all along!”
(edited by Daishi.6027)