help with rogue pvp keybinds / castsequence macros

[Gladria]

Just as the title says. I've been playing for 5 years as a clicker since I mostly play at work where It's just easier I guess. Anyways, I was looking at upping my game in the pvp environment but have absolutely zero experience with keybinds. Anyone out there capable of offering some helpful beginner tips for keybinding such as what abilities to bind etc. *I have to play on a laptop so using the ctrl and alt are really difficult to use as modifiers.

Also, could anyone explain exactly how castsequence macros work, and possibly provide an example of what one would look like for a rogue?

[Zik3l]

Don't worry yourself with Cast Sequence Macros, as a rogue I have never needed them and they are very temperamental depending on Ping etc anyway.

As for keybindings there are a few things you can try. Using 1-2-3-4-5 is generally done, if you have giant hands you may wish to go further. Also unbinding your q-e-s-r-f-c-x-z-t-g-v buttons is quite common. This also helps stop you from keyboard turning and force you to use your mouse to turn. People also use Modifier keys. Modifier keys are keys you press with a keybinding to make a new keybinding. For example 1 could be Sinister Strike. However Alt+1 could be Eviscerate.

Moving away from clicking to keybindings is very painful to begin with but is guaranteed to increase your speed, and play style eventually, it's just training your hands to get used to it.

If you are seriously looking to up your game, the best thing I can personally suggest (incoming fanboy flame) is the Razer Naga and the Razer Nostromo.

Putting these 2 together makes things very easy for keybindings and I personally can't play without them now - they are pretty self explanatory. The Naga allows you to put 12+ keybindings on your mouse alone that mimics your 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0---= keys or your Numb pad keys depending. The Nostromo is a little less important however allows you to ergonomically control the left side of your keyboard, as well as allowing you to keybind every button to something else which in turn could save you keybindings.

I.e. my TeamSpeak/Ventrillo button is in the place of CapsLock on the Nostromo, however I keybinded this to ] as I never use it because constantly toggling my CapsLock was really annoying.

http://store.razerzone.com/store/raz...ctID.221675100

http://au.razerzone.com/razer-naga

[Deleted]

If you're playing on a laptop, you'd do good to have modifier keys, such as control, shift or alt. You simply wont have enough keys without it, save maybe if you get used to controlling with ESDF, wich leaves an extra set of keys for your pinky finger - what you place where, is totally up to you.

As was said above, don't bother with cast sequence macros as a rogue, especially not in a pvp environment for various reasons such as; you can't be sure of your combo point generation, your points needs to be spent according to how the situation develops and macros cannot decide anythign for you, only follow a set pattern; and you cant be sure of your positioning wich is vital for a rogue, and castsequence macros need to reset by some event that might, or might not be beneficial in your given situation. You CAN use them, sure, but I'd say you'd be shooting yourself in the foot by doing so.

If you want an example:
#showtooltip (this makes sure the tooltip of the skill is always shown. Can be modified to show a given skill always by following with the name of the skill)
/castsequence reset=time/skill/combat (this determins what resets your macro to its starting point. Time is measured in seconds, skill is the name of the skill that resets it, and combat is..well.. leaving combat.)

So basically...
This macro would cast hemorrhage 5 times, and then follow with an eviscerate, resetting to start casting hemo again. Problem with the below is, it doesn't account for combo points. If you build 3 CPs with this macro and use them on slice and dice, you'd still cast eviscerate as the 6th ability, making it only a 2 cp finisher, wich would be a waste.

#showtooltip Hemorrhage
/castsequence reset=eviscerate hemorrhage, hemorrhage, hemorrhage, hemorrhage, hemorrhage, eviscerate

Personally I use only modifier macros to save space, for instance combined Evis/rupture and combined Blind/dismantle and a combined stealth/vanish. I'll put them below..

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift]rupture; eviscerate (this casts eviscerate, unless I hold shift, then it ruptures)

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift]dismantle; blind (same deal...blind unless shift is pressed > dismantle)

#showtooltip
/cast [combat]vanish; stealth (this casts/cancels stealth if I'm not in combat and casts vanish if I AM in combat)

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift]Recuperate; Slice and dice (Casts SnD unless shift > recuperate)..

Sure you get the picture

Another thing you can do is use your space bar, like shift+space, and unbind your S key as backpedaling is just noobish so might as well keep it free for abilities. Mine has Shiv on it. And as the poster above.. I highly recommend the Razr Naga. It's awesome. A little small for my hands that are fairly large, but I got used to it. It has over 9000 buttons for you to bind. (12 on the side, but close to 9000).

[Krimson]

Start transitioning slowly. I think too many people who want to make the click->keybind transition try to do it all at once, fail miserably, and then go back to clicking.

Start off by putting your main spam abilities and finishers around 1-5, and shift 1-5. Put gouge and kick on nice "twitch" keys (such as F for Kick). Continue to "click" everything else for now.

As an example for sub:
1 - Backstab
2 - Hemo
3 - Evis
Shift 1 - SnD
Shift 2 - Recup
Shift 3 - Kidney
F - Kick
` - Gouge

Then just slowly work your up, moving more and more stuff to keybinds and eliminating your need to ever click anything.

[cdtcpl]

Start transitioning slowly. I think too many people who want to make the click->keybind transition try to do it all at once, fail miserably, and then go back to clicking.

Start off by putting your main spam abilities and finishers around 1-5, and shift 1-5. Put gouge and kick on nice "twitch" keys (such as F for Kick). Continue to "click" everything else for now.

As an example for sub:
1 - Backstab
2 - Hemo
3 - Evis
Shift 1 - SnD
Shift 2 - Recup
Shift 3 - Kidney
F - Kick
` - Gouge

Then just slowly work your up, moving more and more stuff to keybinds and eliminating your need to ever click anything.

I agree with this. Start small, and it helps if you start with moves you use the most. Start with 5 or so keybinds, then slowly introduce more.

[Evolixe]

Honestly.., you should bind everything but sinister strike and evenom. And opposing to what the previous posters suggested i prefer taking a dive for the deep and bind it all at once. That is the quickest way to pick it up. Sure, you will have issues for the next few days depending on how fast you learn. But it is definitely worth doing.

I think the macro's are explained pretty well already but should you have problems don't be shy asking again or sending me a PM

[Krimson]

Well, I guess if you are determined and dedicated, then dive in. I have seen too many people who are clickers try to make the transition all at once, they just get overwhelmed and frustrated about not playing well and bail out.

I will also suggest that some of those macros are really unneccesary. Rogues have a pretty manageable number of keybinds and relying on cast sequences is just going to hurt your overall performance. Bind all your abilities separately and use them when the appropriate situation arises.

A lot of those modifiers are also unneccesary. Why not just put the abilities in different slots and assign the hotkey to the slot to Shift-[?] instead of using a modifier macro. It'll give you more flexibility, you can monitor cooldowns separately, and it will help prevent you from getting into macro hell everytime you want to make adjustments to your layout.

[Evolixe]

Because, Krimson, actionbar space is limited
And i don't know about you, but i am using it all even with lots of modifiers.

[Krimson]

Well, if you are using standard UI bars, then that is fair enough. Bartender or other bar addons however should give you more space then you'll ever need for a rogue.

The problem with using modifiers for stuff like a dismantle/blind combo hotkey is that it then complicates things if you want to start using "focus blind" type modifier keys. I'm sure you could make it work though.

[Evolixe]

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:alt] dismantle; [mod:shift, @focus] blind; blind

Dismantles target with alt.
Blinds focus with shift.
Blinds target.

Something like that?
And even though i do use default bars i would welcome more slots.
Im sure i could fill everything bartender has to offer but then a new problem arrises:

Not enough macro slots

[Icpie]

Start small or start big if you want; either way, new bindings always feel weird/awkward. Personally, I just bind everything I can and run a bunch of BGs until I get used to them. Eventually, you'll start remembering where everything is and all is fine and dandy. Just don't get too crazy with your bindings where it would require you to take your hand off of the keyboard, that's just negating the whole point of binding your keys in the first place. (Then it's just a matter of knowing everybody else's abilities and how to fight against it)

[Tomia]

I'll give you what you want but This is considered a cheat ^,..,^Not everyone knows how to propery use macro and not everyone knows its possible. Blizzard might nerf the macro if too many learn about it. Nobody wants to be lazy and blizzard itself dont like the idea of spaming one button and it does it all. But since Im raging at the ban they gave me on this acount I'll tell you this.

#showtooltip [mod] Hemorrhage
/cast [mod] Hemorrhage
/castsequence [nomod] reset=30 Eviscerate, Dismantle, Shadow Dance, Shadowstep, Ambush, Ambush, Kidney Shot, Ambush, Hemorrhage, Rupture

This next one is the opener and its up to you which one you pick
Best one is:
#showtooltip Cheap Shot
/cast Premeditation
/cast Cheap Shot

2nd for caster specialy blingkers and healers
#showtooltip Garrote
/cast Premeditation
/cast Garrote

Choose the best opener on the situation, then spam the castsequence macro. Theres a 1sec window for the enemy to do something and that part is where the 2 ambush are on the sequence. They die before you even finish the macro. If there alive and low hp go backstab them. If they got alot of HP still then run away and wait for cd. Rogues dont fight face to face. We play dirty.

Tips on that 1 sec window on the castsequence:
1st tip is use recuperate and make sure your talented to it. Meaning you regen energy and that will lower the window by half to .5 sec
2nd tip is slow, since its pvp use slow poison (cripling). Doesnt matter if theres a 1 sec window they cant do anything when there slowed. Right?
3rd tip which is not recomended on pvp is the 2x T13 proc. It will Completely remove the 1 sec window. and if you have 4 piece T13 you can even add one more ambush and believe it or not your energy can handle that one bonus ambush. You can ignor the 3rd tip since pve gear is not supose to be used on pvp.
If ever your using T13 for some reason then delete the hemorage and rapture at the end and replace Both with ambush.
To tell you the truth removing hemo+rapture and replacing it with one ambush does more damage. But wheres the fun in that? we are rogue and we love to anoy our enemy. We place Dots on them and we run away to go invi again. we dont care if they call us a chicken for it. As long as we kill them and we live.
4th tip which is the best thing you can do is use cloak. why did I say its the best? Heres a enemy mentality: cast fear, cast stun, cast fear, cast stun...right? ^,..,^ and he realy will cast fear or stuns and they will be able to on that 1 sec window.

That 1 sec window is the weakness of this macro.Theres no other adjustment that will remove that weakness and at the same time do maximum burst and proper usage of cd. Becoming a clicker or keybinding is too complicated and too much work. This macro will do everything and is calculated on your energy regen at lvl 85. I'm not saying its bad, but can you realy handle all those skills with your finger (eyes and finger coordination)?? Can you realy even manage to execute the best rotation with all those buttons? can you execute the rotation perfectly not wasting energy with the wrong skill? If thats a no then castsequence is the solution to that.

The Macro resets at 30 sec without using it. Pressing a modifier (shift, ctrl,alt) will make the macro use Hemorage. Not presing any modifier will make it use the castsequence. The macro CAN ONLY BE USED every 1 (one) minute. Why? cause all your skills will be on cd for 1 min. If you want to use the macro again then wait for 1 min. Over Powered right?? well we are rogues, and we dont care if its dirty strategy. We use the macro, we vanish, we wait for 1 min, we do the same thing again. While where invi we gain points that we can use for Recuperate. Blood DK? Prot warior? piece of cake this macro makes them drop 15-30% and they already used all there cd on the process. Heres the point there defensive cd is LONG. while rogues do it every 1 min. Such a dirty class.

They said castsequence is bad on subt. Why? they generate combo point on all crits. Heres the point. Where talking about PvP here and the enemy wont stand there and let you do what you want to do. The 1 sec window is enough prob for the rogues so all we need to do is BURST them and kill them before they even get out of stun.

You notice theres dismantle in it.
Will it be a waste since you open with cheapshot? No.
Why? Cause heres what hapen in the sequence.
Cheap shot> cheap shot run out you got no points for kidney shot > Dismantle making them useless and unable to use weapon dependent skills> Get combo points > kidney shot.
Can i just replace it? Yeh but its the same as telling them "Ok your free to go since my stun ended and I got no points for Kidney shot"

What My UI look like? I only use 4 buttons, most of the time I just spam number 3 and Im proud of being called lazzy cause of it.
1 = kick, (shift) gauge, (ctrl) blind
2 = smoke, (shift) Evasion+Combat rediness, (ctrl) Cloak
3 =My macro (castsequence), (shift) Hemo, (ctrl) Backstab
4 =Vanish, (shift) Preparation, (ctrl) Recuperate, (alt) sprint
Curious how I move thingking theres ctrl, shift, and alt which seems imposible?
I use mouse not arow keys. 1st of all ctrl and shift is easy to use even if your doing side steps with "A" and "D"
How About alt? Well Im gana run away if ever im gana use sprint so I use mouse to run while I press alt+4

[Evolixe]

@Tomia

That only works if your opponent doesn't do anything about you. But any warrior, paladin, rogue, death knight, hunter, druid and even enhc shaman can prevent you completing this macro. Oh and all casters. Because they don't really care about having a weapon or not. Basically, every class can counter it when they know what is going on.

Im not saying it is bad, but what you are doing is basically what i do without castsequence when i feel the situation is appropriate. Oh and you should be able to fit 5 ambushes into 1 dance along with another evis. So the maximum damage potential is far from reached using that macro. There are many more better ways to start a fight though, and that method will not work when the people you fight have good knowledge about their class.

[Eazy]

I don't have any special keybinds.
Everything I have is in from "1" to "=" and also from "F1" to "F12". Others abilities are in "Shift" + "1...5".
I don't have any special problems with reaching the keys.
Macros:
I have only PvP macros, like Focus Blind, Focus Gouge, Shiv, etc.

[Tomia]

The one I posted is called the stun locked sequence. Im guesing you havent heard about that. Everything in wow can be countered Since stun locked sequence have been there since rogue existed in the game. Sure use your 5 ambush to max out damage. Hope you can do that with the enemy runing around. The one I mention I repeat is called Stun Lock. Which is popular in the game for a LONG TIME. Its common, its all the same, the only diference is if your gana use bleeds or not. New to rogue?

BASIC: (which ALL the old rogues who have knowledge about stun locked knows)
/castsequence [nomod] reset=30 Premeditation, Ambush, Eviscerate, Dismantle, Shadow Dance, Shadowstep, Ambush, Ambush, Kidney Shot, Ambush, Ambush
My Own Version:
/castsequence [nomod] reset=30 Premeditation, Ambush, Eviscerate, Dismantle, Shadow Dance, Shadowstep, Ambush, Ambush, Kidney Shot, Ambush, Hemorrhage, Rupture

See the Diference?? Yes theres 5 ambush in it. Your sugesting No kidney shot and fill in with one more Ambush WHILE on shadowdance? Have you even heard of "your supose to use kidneyshot on PvP"? The Basic sequence is what all the EXPIRIENCED rogue does, With or Without using a macro. Since its the only sequence you can do and you got no other choice. is there any?

Whats the diference between sequence macro and manualy clicking it? You can do it faster and perfectly..Duh

Heres what hapen in the macro:
Cheapshot > Cheapshot run out you got no energy/points for Kidneyshot use dismantle as safety precaution > Dismantle to prevent defensive cd or any weapon required skills > Finaly got energy and points: Use kidneyshot

4 sec stun > 1 sec enemy is free and you need points+energy > 6 sec kidneyshot (4+6-diminishing return=8 sec stun)

This is the explanation of the macro. Yes, Dismantle is useless to alot of classes but since the rotation is no diferent from a rotation without dismantle why not just place it in one sequence macro and use it on ALL classes? get the point?
Your gana say energy from dismantle used in damage skill instead? Then what do you supose will hapen on that 1 sec between cheapshot and kidneyshot? Dismantle did NOT take the energy that will be used on kidneyshot. Its the points that you are waiting for. There is no sequence that makes you max out the uptime of stuns to 100% without lossing alot of damage. If there is one then post it here. Dont talk about my macro. Make your own post with your own macro. Since the guy is asking for a macro? if ever you havent heard.

Theres alot of ways to counter it and everyone knows that. Nothing is perfect on wow. Blink on kidneyshot or cheapshot, trink+heroic leap out (will not work on later patches since there placing a target requirement for it), iceblock, paly buble, hunter deterance or the warior version for it. Is there any other? None. You have cloak of shadow for a reason and cripling poison for slows so they wont get away. Dismantle so they cant use weapon required skills which is comonly defensive cd, or offensive like bladestorm.

[Deleted]

the stun locked sequence. Im guesing you havent heard about that. Everything in wow can be countered Since stun locked sequence have been there since rogue existed in the game. The one I mention I repeat is called Stun Lock. Which is popular in the game for a LONG TIME. Its common, its all the same, the only diference is if your gana use bleeds or not. New to rogue?BASIC: (which ALL the old rogues who have knowledge about stun locked knows)The Basic sequence is what all the EXPIRIENCED rogue does, With or Without using a macro. Since its the only sequence you can do and you got no other choice. is there any? Your gana say energy from dismantle used in damage skill instead? Then what do you supose will hapen on that 1 sec between cheapshot and kidneyshot? Dismantle did NOT take the energy that will be used on kidneyshot. Its the points that you are waiting for. There is no sequence that makes you max out the uptime of stuns to 100% without lossing alot of damage. If there is one then post it here. Dont talk about my macro. Make your own post with your own macro. Since the guy is asking for a macro? if ever you havent heard.Theres alot of ways to counter it and everyone knows that. Nothing is perfect on wow. Blink on kidneyshot or cheapshot, trink+heroic leap out (will not work on later patches since there placing a target requirement for it), iceblock, paly buble, hunter deterance or the warior version for it. Is there any other? None. You have cloak of shadow for a reason and cripling poison for slows so they wont get away. Dismantle so they cant use weapon required skills which is comonly defensive cd, or offensive like bladestorm.

I can't help baiting. If you really are serious, i'll say i'm an experienced rogue who has played for a very long time; and you're making zero sense.

[PowerGamez]

Tomia is going for the long troll.

Mod Edit: User was infracted for the post.

[Kelticfox]

I agree with Jlopez707.

Using /castsequence is a very poor way to do pvp as it's too linear. If you play in arenas you'll present yourself a ceiling as once you start to hit good adaptive players your castsequence will mean nothing.

PvP is about the ability to adapt to the situation, and if you treat each fight as unique you'll succeed a lot more at PvP.

Have your macros set for focus targets (focus blind, focus gouge etc). That way you can effectively fight two targets (well fight one and CC another) if you so preferred.

[Fagnut]

as the above posters have said, starting slowly is best and cast sequence macros from experience as rogue, all i can say is just dont do it. you'd be handicapping yourself and its annoying.

[Evolixe]

I agree with Jlopez707.

Using /castsequence is a very poor way to do pvp as it's too linear. If you play in arenas you'll present yourself a ceiling as once you start to hit good adaptive players your castsequence will mean nothing.

PvP is about the ability to adapt to the situation, and if you treat each fight as unique you'll succeed a lot more at PvP.

Have your macros set for focus targets (focus blind, focus gouge etc). That way you can effectively fight two targets (well fight one and CC another) if you so preferred.

You can configure them in such a way you don't have to complete the full cycle.
They can be very useful if you keep it to 1 or 2 followup spells. Ill just link you this:

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3225373977

Look at the castsequence section. They aren't as bad as you make them out to be.