I know everyone has heard it said: "Key bindings are better than clicking." If that statement is true then why do so many people still insist on clicking? It has to be one or more of a couple of reasons. They either disagree, are unsure how to make and use proper key bindings, or are too lazy to get around to doing it.
I am not going to spend a lot of time trying to convince you that using key bindings is a superior way to do things. If you disagree and actually need to be convinced of the truth then you are in the wrong place. If you are too lazy to get around to it then get motivated somehow. Call it personal betterment or do it for the other people that you play with, because they deserve the best that you can give them. If you don't know how, then this guide is for you.
The Encouragement
Almost everyone starts out by clicking. It is a natural way to start using your abilities, especially the ones that you put on an action bar other than bar #1. So we start out clicking away. It works. We get used to it. We get comfortable with it. Then someone comes along and tells us about key bindings. We either convince ourselves that what we are already doing is good enough, or we try a key binding or two and it feels odd and uncomfortable; so we go back to clicking. Here is the obligatory "you can do it". It will feel weird at first. You are basically retraining yourself on exactly how you interface with the game. It will feel odd. You will make mistakes (pushing 'E' instead of 'Q' and using the wrong ability). You will want to just go back to clicking everything, back to being comfortable. I am here to say "you can do it", and it's true. You can do it. Trust yourself. You will get used to it. It will stop feeling odd and start becoming comfortable. And when it does you will wonder how you were ever a clicker before... this is just so much better!
Binding Your Keys
The Nuts and Bolts
Hit the esc key to bring up the game's menu and select the Key Bindings option.
This is the Key Bindings menu.
From here you will be able to bind specific functions to a key, bind a slot on an action bar to a key (regardless of what abilities you swap in and out of that slot), revert something to its default option, check what the current bindings are set to, and unbind a function or bar slot completely. In addition, you can bind two different keys to the same function. This is shown by the Key 1 and Key 2 columns.
Notice the check box in the upper right corner of the menu labeled "Character Specific Key Bindings". You will want this box checked for 99.9% of all the key bindings that you do.
To show you the step-by-step of how to create a key binding I will bind the 'Follow Target' function to Num Pad 5 on my keyboard. First locate 'Follow Target' in the functions listing on the left side of the menu. Now click on the red button in the Key 1 column that says 'Not Bound'
Notice the notification area at the bottom of the menu now says "Press Key to Bind to Command -> Follow Target". From here, the very next key that you press will be bound to that function. Press the Num Pad 5 button on your keyboard. The button will now say 'Num Pad 5'.
No two different functions can be bound to the same key at the same time. Num Pad 5 was originally the 'Exit Vehicle' button. When we bound it to be the 'Follow Target' button the game unbound it from 'Exit Vehicle' for us. Just in case you were unaware that you unbound a previous function from a key the menu's notification area will warn you of it.
Because of this notification, it is easy to catch mistakes and accidental unbindings. You can always change things back. Click on the 'Okay' button to close the menu and save the key binding that we just made. Congratulations. You just bound your first key. Lets go try it out. Find someone that is moving around. Now target them and push the Num Pad 5 button on your keyboard. You should start auto-following them.
The Setup
If you have been playing WoW for any length of time you have heard the term 'keyboard turner'. This is a derogatory term used to describe someone who uses either their arrow keys or the 'A' and 'D' keys to turn their character left and right. Why do people use this term to make fun of others? Why is keyboard turning bad?
Simply put, it is slow. Often times in WoW we need to move, and move quickly. Run out of the fire in a raid, jump-shot kite that rogue in PvP, and many more. Using the keyboard to turn your character left and right is too slow in almost every situation. You can test the difference in speed yourself by using the keyboard to turn and then using your mouse. To turn with the mouse place the cursor somewhere in your field of view and hold down the right mouse button. Now while holding down that mouse button move your mouse left and right. Notice how your character spins around quite quickly. In fact, while using the keyboard to turn has a set speed (that is dirt slow), the speed of turning with your mouse is limited only by how fast you can physically move the mouse across the mouse pad.
Turning with the mouse is a major advantage in playing WoW. Not only is it the fastest way to orient your character, but it also makes strafing much easier as well as helps you to learn to use key bindings. If you are turning with your mouse then you can't use it to click, so you have to use key bindings. To bring this full circle we need to help ourselves learn to always mouse turn by making it impossible to turn with the keyboard.
Go to the key binding menu and deselect the 'Character Specific Key Bindings' check box.
This is one of the only changes that you want to be across the board on every character. Now bind the 'Strafe Left' function to the 'A' key and the 'Strafe Right' function to the 'D' key. This will unbind them from 'Turn Left' and 'Turn Right' respectively. The 'Movement Keys' section of your key bindings menu should now look like this.
This is going to be one of the more difficult things to get used to. It will take anywhere from three days to a week of play to really get comfortable with it. Trust me when I say that it is worth it. It also lays the foundation for the rest of what we are going to do.
Binding Your Keys
Which Keys to Bind
Okay, we have covered the "how to" and set up the foundation. What now? Now we need to know which keys are good for what bindings. While playing, your hands should generally be resting on the mouse and W-A-S-D keys. We don't really want to have to move them very far.
Moving my hand away from the W-A-S-D position takes time. Then it takes more time to move it back. When seconds count, that is time that you cannot afford. So the goal is to use keys that are easily reachable without having to move where my hand is resting. This is what I will call the "Combat Key Bindings Area".
Every key within the combat key bindings area is easily reachable by an average sized hand without having to either stretch for it or move the hand. This is where you need to bind abilities that are used regularly in combat, like your normal rotation. A few major cool downs can be bound here as well.
The next area of the keyboard I will call the "Non-combat Key Bindings Area". I know what you're thinking... I spent a lot of time on the nomenclature here. Nifty, isn't it.
The last area is what I will call the "Cool Down Key Bindings Area". It is pretty much just the num pad.
This is a free-for-all area. You can bind functions here (I use it to key bind the placement of raid target icons like the skull and square) or you can do what a lot of people do and bind major cool downs here (such as Shield Wall or Metamorphosis). I personally don't like to bind cool downs here, but a lot of people enjoy that option. This area would actually be used by the right hand, letting go of the mouse temporarily.
Which Abilities to Bind
First off, let me state that you do not have to bind everything. In fact it would be pretty ludicrous if you tried. Just think about how many abilities you have, do you have that many keys? And how the hell would we remember all of that.... mind boggling. No, you just want to bind the most used abilities.
For a Prot Warrior that might be as many as Shield Slam, Revenge, Devastate, Heroic Strike, Concussion Blow, Shock Wave, Thunder Clap, Demoralizing Shout, Shield Bash, and Taunt. Maybe throw a Last Stand or Shield Wall key bind in there and you are all set. For an Elemental Shaman it might be as simple as Flame Shock, Lava Burst, Lightning Bolt, Thunderstorm, and one button for Call of the Elements to drop your totems.
What you need to do is think about the abilities that you use all of the time. Key bind those. Make sure that you place abilities in your main rotation (or simply your most used heals if you're a healer) in slots 1-4 on action bar #1. Those slots are already bound to number keys 1-4 respectively.
What Not to Do
- Do not change the bindings for your movement keys.
- Do not bind your abilities in such a manner as to force weird hand motions to use them. (ie. pressing the #1 key for the first ability and then having to twist your hand to reach the 'Z' key for the second ability. Use your common sense.)
- Do not bind anything to 'Tab'.
- Do not bind anything to 'Esc'.
- Do not leave button number 1 as the default, auto-attack, on your action bar. Use that slot for an actual ability.
Pretty short list. One of the cool things about this is that you can bind what feels right for you.
A Few Warnings
Make sure you pay attention to the notification area of the key bindings menu. When It tells you that you have unbound something important, don't freak out. You can either undo the change you just made, or you can simply bind the important function elsewhere. Remember, the buttons in your Combat Key Bindings Area are for combat abilities. Anything else bound there is living on something else's property.
Double and triple check that the 'Character Specific Key Bindings' box is checked. It really sucks to bind a bunch of keys only to find out that in doing so you screwed up the bindings for every other toon you have.
Test each key binding out as you make them. Sometimes when you are binding 'Right Action Button 6' to 'Shift-E' what you meant to do is bind 'Right ActionBar 2 Button 6' to 'Shift-E'.
A Note on Addons
Addon Key Bindings
A lot of addons out there have functions that you can bind to a key in WoW's key binding menu. When you install the addon it adds an extra section to the key binding menu for itself. Common addons like Bagnon, Omen, and Recount all have functions that can be bound to a key. Check out your Key Bindings menu when you are fiddling with a new mod and see what you can do.
Bartender 4
Bartender 4 has a key binding function that simplifies the process of binding the action bar slots. You will not be able to use it for binding the various functions of addons or WoW itself, but for binding the action bars it is really useful.
Once you have installed Bartender 4 you will need to set up the bars as you like them. This is a very powerful addon with a lot of options and going through them all is a different guide entirely. You can easily set the bars into WoW's default configuration if that is what you like, but I highly recommend learning this addon.
Once you have the bars placed where you want them and locked in place type '/kb' into your chat frame and hit 'enter'. This window will appear.
As you can see, there is a 'Character Specific Key Bindings' check box here as well. This is checked by default, but it won't hurt to ensure that it is before you begin.
Now mouse over the abilities on your action bar. A tooltip with some important info will appear.
Here you can see which Bartender bar and slot you are moused over, what keys are already bound to it, and instructions for how to clear the key bindings from this slot. Hint: press 'Esc'.
While moused over the ability, adding a key binding is as simple as hitting the key on your keyboard. As you hit more keys it does not remove the bindings already associated with that ability slot. Instead it just keeps binding more keys to that same slot. Here I have added both the 'Q' and 'E' keys to the slot.
When you hit the escape key it will clear every binding on the slot, not just the most recently placed one. An unbound slot will look like this.
That is it. It is that simple.