Quick Beginner's Guide to Keybinding

[Televators]

[Keybinding is important if you're interested in taking your game to the next level. It's important not only for hardcore players and PvP nuts, but also for casual players as well. If you're interesting trying it, but unsure how to begin, I'd like to quickly share the method I used to teach myself 4 years ago.]

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A: Start Slowly
Do not overwhelm yourself initially

Choose 2 abilities to keybind initially. Begin with either the two most often used abilities or reactionary spells. For instance, if you're an Arcane Mage you could choose Arcane Blast/Arcane Missiles or Blink/Counterspell. If you're a DK, you could choose Icy Touch/Plague Strike or your strike abilites, etc.

B: Where to Begin Binding
Keep in mind hand placement

The idea of a keybind is not only to avoid searching for and clicking a spell on screen, but also to be able to easily string abilities together with a sensible layout. This guide assumes you use ASWD for movement. The most easily accessible keybinds that do not require searching for keys are 1, 2, 3, R, F, C, X, Z and G. Choose two of these keys for your initial choices. Head to the target dummy and practice your rotation using these two keybinds until they begin to feel an afterthought. This shouldn't take longer than 15-20 minutes, but this will vary of course.

Alternatively, if you have a mouse with extra buttons that you can bind, it's an excellent place to bind reactionary spells. Choose one of these bindings for your first if you feel comfortable doing so.

C: Adding Subsequent Bindings
It gets easier and easier

Once you're feeling comfortable with your initial bindings, add at least 2 more at a time and head either back to the target dummies or just farm some easy mobs to form muscle memory on your new bindings. Don't overwhelm yourself by trying to remember 10 new bindings at once. If you dedicate just a couple of hours to this, you could find yourself with dozens of keybindings in your first session anyway. Once you begin using your keybinds in earnest, you'll begin loathing when you have to click one of your non-bound abilities and the urge to add more will become grow exponentially.

D: Test Your Bindings Ergonomically
Try different combinations

It may initially seem like a good idea to bind an ability to say the number 7. This is fine if it's a non-reactionary spell, but keep in mind that in the heat of battle, if Counterspell, Kick or Psychic Scream is bound to 7, it's not going to be something you can quickly and accurately find without looking at the keyboard 100% of the time. Stick long duration, non-combat spells in these places. Finally, remember that even if two keybinds are close to AWSD, they still may be hard to use in succession. For instance, you want to be able to easily use some spells back to back, so keep these abilities quite close and easy to reach if this is the case.

Thanks for reading. There are far more comprehensive guides around and I suggest you hit one of these if you want really in depth guidance. Please feel free to ask any questions here and I'm more than happy to answer them or find the answer for you.

[Herecius]

A cool and smart guide. It's amazing how many players get all the way to level 80 without even exploring the fact that they can bind their spells to new keys, instead of just going across the numbers and then having to click the remainder. These are often the same players that don't realize that just because a gem slot is a certain color doesn't mean you're required to find a gem that matches the color.

These players shouldn't be ridiculed, they should be helped.

[ItachiZaku]

Right hand on mouse for movement and left hand fingers resting over 1-4.

I could never understand how people use the keys to move (not arrow keys the letters).

[Savarea]

These players shouldn't be ridiculed, they should be helped.

QFT. There isn't enough help going on in WoW lately, at least from my pov.

[Charak]

1234567890-=
qwertyuiop[]
asdfg
shift-1,2,3
shift-q,w,e
ctrl-q,w,e (123+ are pet bars so dont use if you have a pet)

ins, home, pg up
del, end, pg dwn

F1, F2, F3, F4


keybind any of those.

[Insomnium]

However don't put an Alt-modified
acro on F4 :P.

And use B for all bags, or F12 for that matter and you can use F8-F11/12 aswell (In tbc I usex the Fx's for marking fast, now I use Baud Mark though).