How do you avoid running out of hotkeys for certain builds?

[jiansonz]

How do you avoid running out of hotkeys for certain builds?

I´m sometimes having problems deciding what skills to leave out of the hotkeys for certain builds. This happens when I play Barbarians, Martial Arts Assassins and Necromancers.

For Example, my Melee/Poisonmancer in the Exposure tourney really wants to hotkey 19-20 skills, and he doesn´t even have any summons! For him, I solved it in the following way:

- Took away the keys for Confuse and Iron Maiden. I decided to use Attract instead of Confuse. They are both sort of 'chancy' curses, but I feel Attract is less chancy than Confuse. And Iron Maiden will probably be used only a couple of times in the whole game - against hard hitters with low life. I do not have a golem or any other summon, so the only targets IMed monsters can hit are me, Bone Walls/Prisons and Attracted monsters.

- I can select Poison Dagger on the left button by picking it manually when I hold my dagger. Once that is done, I can still have it ready on the weapon switch if it´s selected there. I can follow the same principle for Attack with my main 'big damage weapon', for Throw with my javelins and for Teleport for the times I hold a staff with TP charges on the switch (although I need to remember to refresh the selection of Teleport if I start a new game). But the latter is not a good thing, since if I screw up and happen to press a hotkey while I hold the staff, I can´t switch back to Teleport quickly (which may be needed in a sticky situation).


What skills do you generally kick out of the '16 buttons' list with builds like these? Which of the 'skills' Attack, Throw, Town Portal and Unsummon do you generally have hotkeyed for the different builds?

 

[Brak]

Re: How do you avoid running out of hotkeys for certain builds?

I usually max out at 17 hotkeys:
qwerty
asdfgh
zxcv
space bar
b is weapon switch

I don't know why but I've gotten used to "e" being my get out of danger key. So sorc teleport, barb leap attack, pali vigor/salvation, necro terror, amazon decoy, sin CoS/mind blast, and druid raven/twister.

asdfv (primaries on fv) and sometimes g are primary attack skills. qw/rty are buffs and or summons. and i put less used auras/aoe skills on the bottom. Space bar is always TP.

If I do ever run out of hotkeys, which really only happens with necros and palis sometimes barbs in my hands due to curses and utility auras, a dedicated & buffed switch for certain set and forget skills is an option. Or like you mentioned an emergency switch for danger situations like salvation when convicted for palis can work.

 

[helvete1]

Re: How do you avoid running out of hotkeys for certain builds?

I only play power builds, so F1-F6 usually covers it

 

[Snowfade]

Re: How do you avoid running out of hotkeys for certain builds?

I use a good amount of binds myself:

` weapon switch
qwert
asdfg - Skills
zxcvb

F1 - F4 for long buffs that don't require refreshing after damage (Sorc armors, Fade/BoS, Holy Shield)

Mouse wheel down - primary left click attack
Mouse wheel up - secondary left click attack
Middle mouse - toggle run/walk

If you have a multi button mouse that's 5 or so more binds for you to use, I've never really had a build that required more than 30 buttons myself so those should cover all the possibilities.

Edit: Ah you're talking about the hard cap for binds, you could use your switch to have 2 unbound abilities on the right/left click to use for less commonly used spells I suppose. I usually make due on my Necros with only 1 crowd control curse and leave out extremely situational curses such as iron maiden like you said and skills such as poison explosion.

 

[omgwtfbbqpwned]

Re: How do you avoid running out of hotkeys for certain builds?

I use qwerasdfghzxcvb for skills... that's 15... more than I'll ever need per character.

[edit] H5 Snowfade, we have identical skill hotkeys.

[edit2] Wait no, I have 't' set for toggling weapons. :<

[edit3] And I use h.

 

[Snowfade]

Re: How do you avoid running out of hotkeys for certain builds?

^ I use y, h, n for skills screen/LCS/quest log ;D

e: keyboard fail

e2: What do you think about the 7 active skills cap that DIII is going to have, jiansonz?

 

[smips]

Re: How do you avoid running out of hotkeys for certain builds?

I use:
Cnrl, Shift, Z,X,C,V,A,S,D,F,Q,W,E,R and ` for weapon switch.

Shift is usually my main skill so that I can Shift+potion for my merc.

 

[LeWoVoc]

Re: How do you avoid running out of hotkeys for certain builds?

I use F, V, G, H, X, Z (z/x are Battle Command/Orders), D. I've never needed more, even on my more obscure builds. I'm quite good at hitting S + Clicking, though.

 

[nurman]

Re: How do you avoid running out of hotkeys for certain builds?

f1-f10 (f8,9,10 BC BO SHOUT) and 6-9 (left-hand side skills and static / curses go here)

 

[jdkerr]

Re: How do you avoid running out of hotkeys for certain builds?

We're kind of off topic now, but I'll chime in...

My left hand rests in a modified "home" position while I play (shift-s-d-f); my right hand is (obviously) on the mouse. From the top of the keyboard down:

F1-F5 are various view functions: char screen, inventory, party, merc, and quest.
"~" is my automap. I don't typically use 1-5, but those are extra skill slots.
"Tab" shows my belt, and "q-w-e-r" are my belt slots. "t" is my weapon switch.
"Caps" is the walk/run key, and "a-s-d-f-g" are skills.
"Shift" is the stand key, and "z-x-c-v-b" are skills.
"Alt" is show items, but I usually use a side mouse button for that. "Space" is a skill (usually TP scroll).

 

[skiffcz]

Re: How do you avoid running out of hotkeys for certain builds?

Lol. Ok, my solution.

I always wanted to play a guitar, but heck, it has 6 strings?!?!! How on earth I fret on something with 6 strings? I dont know about you people, but I was born with measly 5 fingers on my left hand. So what did I do? Bought an ukulele, thats what.

 

[Greebo]

Re: How do you avoid running out of hotkeys for certain builds?

Wow, skiffcz. That's an impressive OT .

I've never had a need for Unsummon, Normal , Throw or Town Portal to be on the hotkeys.

(1) Unsummon: you only use this in a calmer moment in my experience. I have skill selection thingy mapped to G, so it's not that hard to select.
(2) Normal Attack: there are very very few attacks that don't automatically revert to Normal Attack if you don't have Mana. The only one where it bothers me enough to map Normal Attack, is WW.
(3) Throw: I'm not sure what build you're playing, but there are only a few where I would even consider using them past Act 3 Normal (throwing potions is pretty good in the early game)
(4) Town Portal: if you're playing HC and really want to have it ready, just put it on your belt. Otherwise, you can keep TP book in the left top corner of your backpack.

As for curses: some of them are kind of mutually exclusive. You won't be using Amp Damage and Decrep simultaneously. One will be used most of the time, the few times when you need the other one, just select the skill by mouse. Having the skill selection key mapped somewhere to the left of the keyboard helps with that.

--Greebo

 

[skipjack]

Re: How do you avoid running out of hotkeys for certain builds?

I tend to play with a FPS configuration. It looks something like:

Q W E
A S D
Z X
Spacebar

W,A,S,D are the primary hotkeys. Q,E are the utility hotkeys. Z,X are only used if a CtA is equipped. Spacebar is weapon switch. I also have the character and skill screens mapped to other, unimportant buttons.

I'm fairly comfortable with this setup. Since I play games other than D2 on my PC, I prefer having a common control scheme for as many of them as possible, even if the same buttons do serve different functions. Some people probably cannot stand having just 6-8 hotkeys, but I find 6-8 hotkeys to be adequate; my current Classic Orb Sorc only uses 3 hotkeys, while my last Javazon used none. The only time I recall needing more hotkeys was when I built a Ghost; I believe I was two hotkeys short, although I'm sure they were unnecessary.

I agree with Greebo's assessment of those skills.

 

[CorruptedMollusk]

Re: How do you avoid running out of hotkeys for certain builds?

Lol. Ok, my solution.

I always wanted to play a guitar, but heck, it has 6 strings?!?!! How on earth I fret on something with 6 strings? I dont know about you people, but I was born with measly 5 fingers on my left hand. So what did I do? Bought an ukulele, thats what.

:thumbup: LOL Excellent.

I use ASDF for my primary skills - attacks/taunt/MB etc. QWER are my "support" skills - Fade/BO/auras etc. XCV is other skills - find item/TK. I use T for red pots, G for Blue ones, Z is always TP scrolls, and 1 is purple pots. In HC, I do change Z to 3 for more purples. I've had a couple of issues with not enough hotkeys - MA sin was tricky - but I usually manage to trim down to a manageable number of keys to work with. My brain can't handle more, and I have shortish fingers, so I can't comfortably and accurately reach more keys.

And I'm still chuckling about skiff's comment.

 

[IfGodWasAcokeIdDrinkHim]

Re: How do you avoid running out of hotkeys for certain builds?

How do you make the mouse scroll a hokey?!? I have tried for so many years with no succsess....

On topic- I always used the function keys, and the button below the escape key is very handy for tele or such scary moment skills. (` that one, whatever it is)

 

[Nightfish]

Re: How do you avoid running out of hotkeys for certain builds?

Even my MA sins only ever used 14 or 16 skills, that's covered by the Q to V 4x4 Grid of Keys.

I usually ran with similar setups on everything, though. Q through R are hurty things, A through F are crowd control things and Y through V are buffs and utility.

What I never did, is hotkey unsummon. If I wanted to not have something, I wouldn't have summoned it.

Honestly, though, most builds, even the more esoteric ones, run fine with 8 hotkeys tops. In my 50+ guardians I had maybe 3 that really needed more than 12. If I take my necro, for example, he could do well having just Amp Damage and CE hotkeyed. Everything else I could live without having it on a hotkey, to be honest, based on how infrequently it's needed.