On my druid (resto) cow form

1/5 - Lifebloom, Rejuvenation, Abolish Poison, Remover Curse and lower ranked Regrowth
Ctrl+1/5 - Stance changing/Form changing
Shift+1/4 - Entangling roots, Cyclone, Hibernate and Innervate
Q/E - Healing Touch and Regrowth
Shift+Q/E - Nature’s Swiftness
Ctrl+Q/E - Natures Grasp and Barkskin
A/S - Changed this to strafe, I always use my mouse to make turns.
Shift+A/S/D - Moonfire, War Stomp, Fearie Fire
F/G = First and second trinket

Don’t know if any of you have the same feeling but I find my middlemouse button quite annoying/hard to push.

Guess I have to play around with the settings to get a camera setting that actually works because right now I do need the zoom function. I never bothered with that before, I just thought this was how it was for everyone… =)

Well I guess it shows that no matter how much time you invested in the game or what you’ve been able to achieve, you still might have overlooked some of the basics. Thanks for clarifying this to me

One thing confuses me though. Binding to your mouse wheel. I feel that I NEED that for controlling the camera.

Is it some clever setting I have missed?
Are the arenas better designed than dungeons? (I mostly PvE)
Am I just to anal about always scrolling out to the max?

Any thoughts/guesses on this would be apriciated.

The system I’ve used since I first ran out of the 1 thru = keys revolves around my mouse’s scroll wheel. So I’ve got:

Shift + Middle Mouse Click = Blink
Shift + Mouse Wheel Up = Blast Wave
Shift + Mouse Wheel Down = Arcane Explosion
Alt + MMC = Counterspell
Alt + MWU = Dragon’s Breath
Alt + MWD = Invisibility
Ctrl + MMC = Fire Blast

and so on using every combination of Shift, Alt, Ctrl, Shift+Alt, Shift+Ctrl, Ctrl+Alt, Ctrl+Alt+Shift, plus MMC, MWU, MWD. It allw for a total of 21 binds, and with that plus the 1-5 keys (and 6 thru = for rarely used spells) there’s almost nothing I have to click. Plus I get to keep stuff like C for character pane, V for nameplates, et cetera. What I really like about this setup is that it’s blazing fast, no single bind is “farther” away than any other (though Shift+Ctrl+Alt is the province of stuff like Arcane Torrent and my mount), and there’s no better way to spam an ability for immediate use than to spin the mouse wheel like crazy (never miss a shatter combo: Alt+Shift+MWU for Ice Lance means that as the Frostbolt nears completion, holt Alt+Shift and push your mouse wheel up and it’s guaranteed to go off as soon as it possibly could have).

While this setup has worked neatly for me leveling and I kick respectable amounts of ass in BGs, I’m wondering if it will severely limit me in max level PvP. Are there any tricksy movement+ability combinations that can’t be pulled off due to the need to hold (rather than tap) Ctrl, Alt, Shift, or some combinations thereof? (besides the Jump Shot, I can pull that off …)

You can attack and move in the same time with W,A,S,D just as easily as with your setup. Frankly, I don’t see the difference, except yours is pretty unorthodox.
If I got this right, you’re using one hand to move and the other to attack. I believe the missing piece of the puzzle is you should always have one hand on your mouse and use it to target, turn and even move when necessary (by holding both L and R mouse buttons). By turning with a mouse, you only need one (middle) finger on “W” and the rest can be used to cast spells.

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@Zinelia

Thanks for sharing, I’m sure it will help someone. I should try to get used to Shift+R for reply like you, “R” is too good to pass.

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@Eddie

By holding a right mouse button, your character and camera should both move - I believe that’s with default settings. If you camera moves along with your mouse movement, check the game settings perhaps you changed something.

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@Corey

No guide will ever tell you all the ins and outs about keybinding. As I already said, it’s just a starter guide to show you how me and others worked this out so you have some sort of an idea how it should work in the end. You just have to be persistent and patient and figure out how it works best for you. You won’t turn back once you get used to it for sure.

I’ve switched for weeks at a time to being a mouse turner, and I always found myself totally lost and disoriented when my mouse changed my view to be towards the ground or the sky, making me unable to even run after others in PVP. Is there a setting to make it so that mouse movements don’t effect your camera and only turn your character?

Here goes my set-up on my Rogue, doing this at work and its difficult to remember what keys are where, its such a habit now that I don’t even think about keys.

C - Slice and Dice
X - Evasion
Z - Sprint
F - Kick
F (In Stealth) - Garotte
V - Macro for Mouse over Blind
Shift V - Current Target Blind
R - Gouge
Shift R - Reply
Q - Deadly Throw
Shift Q - Shiv
E- Kidney Shot
T - Vanish
G - Cloak of Shadows
Shift Spacebar - PVP Trinket
Mouse Wheel Up - Shadowstep
Mouse Wheel Down - Stealth
Mouse Wheel Down (In Stealth) - Premeditation
Mouse Thumb Forward - Hemo
Mouse Thumb Forward (In stealth) - Cheap Shot
Mouse Thumb Back - Eviscerate/Rupture
Mouse Thumb Back (In stealth) - Sap
1 - Haste Trinket
2 - AP Trinket
3 - Health Pot
4 - Bandage
Shift 4 - Macro Blind/Bandage
Y - Open all bags
H - Character Screen
~ - Autorun

Wow, that was harder to remember then I thought it was going to be. I’m sure I missed something, but…

Hope that helps someone.

Great article, defenitely helped me understand the keybinding system better.

I have been considered switching my current system for a more traditional keybinding system, such as this but I have one reservation. Currently I use my 10 keys for my attacks/spells and my insert, home, page up/down keys for totem macros/heroism/trinkets and my directional arrows (which means that yes, I am a keyboard turner but im not a clicker) for movement. The advantage that I see to my system is that I can move and attack simultaneously whereas (as I see it) your system as the attacks/movements are done with the same hand, liimiting this. Too many ppl that, I am sure know more than I about this use the system you have just described.

So what is the piece of the puzzle I am missing?

Anyway, I do dis agree with one thing you have said here, and the difference is probably PvP vs PvE. You have indicated taht Q and E are good keybinds. From a PvE perspective I don’t want to overwrite the strafing binds.

Strafing is the quickes way to get out of the fire while still facing the boss and being able to cast.

Anyway, just my two cents. Good post.

Some people use the scroll wheel for autorun & reverse; I’m not that coordinated.

However, the advantage is I have WASD available for keybinds. I use 1-6, A-H, Z-N. On my hunter, I also use F1-F5 (although with my Logitech G15 kbd, the F5 is a bit awkward).

Great post; hopefully, more people will discover the joy of alternate keybinds!

I don’t have big hands yet still bind keys up to “J”. Some I forget to list, and some others are so ridiculous I’ll just confuse people if I list that. I even have binds on numpad (potions, food, and a couple of R1 spells).

I guess I should of been more clear about this in the post: this is in no way a rule or the best setup you can have. It’s just an example of how it works for me, and everyone should modify it according to their own needs. Take it as a guideline of some sort on where to start.

“5, T, G, V” are in fact easily accessible as you said yourself, but when writing this I had in mind players without any binds whatsoever, and I still stand by the fact you should take it slowly, therefore I mentioned the “green keys” as easily accessible and a good place to start.

As for “Z,X,C”, I works for me fine but I understand why it might take a bit more practice than F, G, V, … By combining autorun (middle mouse click for me, easy) or even clicking both mouse buttons, you can easily run without the need for your left hand.

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@Ivan256
You answered your own questions; I believe I mentioned keyboard turning is bad
However, you can also strafe by clicking your right mouse button and holding “W” and “A/D”, which I don’t think is that bad either. It doesn’t have to be perfect, as long as it works.

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On another note, I talked to a clicker friend a couple of days ago in hopes of convincing him (again) to try and bind some spells, and realized a horrible fact: he uses his index finger to move (”W” - move forward) - that alone makes it almost impossible to have any decent bindings. If there’s someone else out there doing the same thing, that is the first thing you should learn to do, ALWAYS press “W” with your middle finger.

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Also, I do encourage all of you to post your own setups, that’s what comments are for. Don’t just tell me why my binds are bad, tell me why yours are better. I’ll be the happiest cow in all of Mulgore if you tell me how to improve my binds, honestly.

Mouse turning can’t come close in those situations (Yes, mouse turning is indispensable in other situations). You essentially get two instant, flawless 90 degree turns for free with the strafe buttons. Plus your mouse is still free to move the camera around.

Binding is this btw:
r - Autorun / Autorun
f - Cloak of Shadows / Drain Life
v - Shiv / Fear
g - Slice and Dice / Death Coil

Most posts I have seen on this topic are “here’s mine, love or lump it”.

This one has it all!

GJ

I have my most used keys on 1 to =, then click the rest of my spells on my actionbars. Works great for me since im a warlock and just spam sbolt in raids(WANT WRATH TO HIT SO I CAN BE DEMONOLOGY AGAIN! I MISS MY FELGUARD!!!)

I must say, I LOVE keybinds. I remember when I first started playing WoW, I was a clicker. I’m glad I’ve come so far. I’m never turning back.

I assign the keybinds in Bongos since it’s totally noob-friendly: click on the Bongos icon on the minimap, select “Bindings” tab in the window that pops, and simply move your mouse over any spell on your bars and press a key to which you’d like it binded to. Takes 5 times longer to write this than do it ingame, really.

Pretty much all action bar addons have some sort of support for bindings, but I mentioned Bongos since I personally use it for over a year and love it.
It has great support for stances, you can lock your icons so you don’t accidentally drag them away from the bars, you can fully customize the size of the bars, scaling, position, etc.

I forgot to link it in the post so here it is if you want to download.

Also you show Bongos but is this also where you assign your keybinds or are you using the default UI system?

Thanks you for the post.

When writing this one I felt it was the king of unwanted guides. I’m really glad it helped you, hopefully you’re not the only one.

I suppose its pretty dang lazy of me but its true. Wanted to read a guide on it rather then experiment. Thanks for the post. And the keyboard layout is a perfect illustration.