Key setup

[SirName]

I'm braking away from something that has worked for twenty years: F1 - F4 for combat skills, F5 for TP, 5-6 for various shields, F6 and onwards for various pre battle skills and other non essentials.

Why? Mainly for ergonomic reasons. Using keyes lower on the keyboard means my hand is resting against the table.

I have already moved away the default functions from Q, W, A and S and learned the new positions for those. I tried setting my main skills from F1 - F4 to Q - R. But I was not quite sold. I find the skills adequately well but potion drinking disrupts combat. This is most likely due to having gone downward from the F keyes for pots for so long. With that in mind I tried setting ASDF for pots and it feels is even worse.

I know any setup is learnable with time. But I'm certain some are easier to learn and more efficient than others. So before I commit I would like to know:

What is your setup?

Spoiler: A side note

I own a Razer Nostromo which I would like to put to use. The biggest issue with it D2 wise is the lack of number key row. Before using it I also need to rebind a few keyes on it which is doable but not as straightforward on Linux. Namely I want to switch Tab to ESC and Caps to Tab. Got to have an ESC key for running in D2.

 

[D2DC]

F1-F4 Char, Merc, Party, Quest Screens
1234 - Secondary/Summon/Buff Skills
QWER - Primary/Attack Skills
ASDF - Belt
ZXCV - Overflow skills (rarely use)

This is my main key "block". I want my fingers always resting on belt/pots. Its easier for me to reach upward, so primary skills are QWER. The farther you have to move from "home keys", the less important/urgent it should be.

~ show belt
Tab - show map
Caps - cant remember
Shift - stand still
Alt - toggle R/W
Space - show items
B - wep swap
G - inventory screen
T - skill screen

These are my "perimeter" keys, mostly show/toggles. But, I find these easy enough to reach, especially Space, G and T which I use all the time.

It took me a good month or two to get used to this setup. But, once I did, I was glad that I did. Now, the entire left side of my keyboard looks old and worn, while the right side still looks brand new..

 

[CaseyJones]

I left the potion keys alone so 1-4
Q is toggle weapon
W,E,R - primary skills
S,D,F - primary skills
X,C,V - secondary/prebuff skills
A is character screen
T for skill trees
G toggles run/walk
I or B for inventory
L for quest log
Alt for show items which my thumb rides on often
Shift to stand while casting/attacking

It has worked well and was fairly quick to adapt though I don't claim it to be any sort of optimal...with some of those non essential keys so close to the rest.

 

[SirName]

Thanks @D2DC for confirming ASDF for pots is not insane, or atleast I am not alone. Also I didn't realize 1 - 4 and F1 - F4 were open for new functions if that this is my route to come.

Thanks @CaseyJones for giving new ideas aswell. You went outside my 4 skill keys per row "box".

I think I will put weapon switch to Caps. I have it set to mouse3 now and its not really good. I like wheelup, wheeldown and mouse3 for switching skills for left click.

 

[b1ur]

F1-F2 - Main prebuff/summon skills. Shiver Armor, Holy Shield, Clay Golem etc.
F3-F4 - BO/BC on any character
W - Weapon Switch (Default)
C - LCS (Default)
R - Toggle Run/Walk (Default)
T - Skill Tree (Default)
1-4 - Belt
Alt - Show Items
Space - Clear/Close

Main Skills:
QE
ASDF
ZXV
Q - Secondary skill (CoS/Frost Nova/Charge (on Hammerdin)
E - Teleport/Other mobility skill (Dragon Flight)
A - Often used Secondary skill (Static Field/Not main Curse etc.)
S - Rarely used Secondary skill
D - Main/Secondary skill depending on build
F - Main Skill/Main Curse depending on build
Z/X - Very rarely used skills
V - Main Skill

Examples:
Blizzard Sorceress

Spoiler

F1 Shiver Armor
F2 Telekenisis (Way too used to it to switch it to a more comfy key...)
F3 Battle Command
F4 Battle Orders
Q Frost Nova
E Teleport
A Static Field
S - unused
D - Glacial Spike
F - Ice Blast
Z/X - unused
V - Blizzard

Hammerdin

Spoiler

F1 Holy Shield
F2 unused
F3 Battle Command
F4 Battle Orders
Q LMB Charge
E Teleport
A - unused
S - unused
D - LMB Blessed Hammer
F - Vigor
Z/X - unused
V - Concentration

My hotkey style means I always have my hand positioned on Q/A - E - V keys so I don't have to move at all to switch between them. And both my index and ring fingers are very close to the belt. I would love to switch my Show Items key to Space but I use the clear function non stop so that's not possible.

 

[DariusTriplet]

Defaults for me! After ~25 years of putting spells and skills on F1-F8, it's too hard to change.

I do keep LMB skills on F1-F4 and RMB on F5-F8, since it makes it mentally easier for me to know what goes where.

 

[Luhkoh]

I use 1-4 pots
Q bc, W bo, ER other buffing skills
A teleport, S primary skill, D secondary skill, F tertiary skill (but always telekinesis on sorc)
G weapon swap
Z-V overflow skills (V always static on sorc)
B town portal.
Space bar for show items ofc (this crucial for me).

Probably not too helpful for you since you said you don’t like the lower buttons for the skills, but I like this setup a lot. I tried running caps lock as weapon swap quite a while (I think gripphon does this) and didn’t like it all. Got the G idea from pharphis I think, and I haven’t looked back.

 

[SirName]

Thank you all for your (key) inputs.

Process is still ongoing but this setup feels good for now.

1234 inventory, merc, char, skills
QWE(R) main skills (ie Blizzard, static, teleport, telekinesis)
ASDF belt
ZXCV pre battle skills
T townportal
G quest
Caps run/walk
Tab map
Space show items
Ctrl weaponswap
Shift stand still

Wheeldown, Wheelup, Mouse3: lmb skills
There are still some buttons left on mouse if more are needed at some point.

Thoughts:
- I might switch up the functionalities of 1234 and ZXCV
- G for weaponswap might be a good idea, I have no need for in combat swap at the moment, but Ctrl feels is a bit far for that.
- There is that button between Shift and Z which could be put to use.
- Oh how I wish telekinesis would be available on lmb.
- Do not equip Oculus while trying to learn new keyes. It is hard enough without random teleports.

 

[Pijus]

This is interesting.

Character, inventory, merc screen and skill tree are on
UIOP

Tab is map
Ctrl or middle mouse button is weapon switch
Shift or Alt are for showing items
Space is for standing still

My potions are on
1234

My skill hotkeys are
QWERT
ASDFG
ZXCVB

For sorceress, A is usually Telekinesis, S teleport.
For a paladin, the top row is usually for auras, the middle row is attack skills. S zeal, D smite, F charge.
For a necromancer, A is amp damage, D is decrepify, F is corpse explosion. Summons on the bottom row, bone skills on the top row.
For a barbarian, ZXCV is buffing warcries, QWERT is other warcires, ASD combat skills, F leap, G find item.
For a zon, ASDF main attack skills, E for decoy. V for valkyrie.

 

[DaveWThe2nd]

Interesting to see different key setups. I may try a couple of the suggestions here.

 

[SirName]

A recent post about keys in the Anything Goes D2 Lounge by Jamie reminded me that I had made this thread and I noticed I hadn't updated the setup I ended up with. I have had this for several months now and it works well for me.

1234 - prebuff / shield skills / whatever
5 - Townportal
QWER - main skills (ie Blizzard, static, teleport, telekinesis)
T - some skill if needed
ASDF - belt
G - quest (to have close for double tap)
ZXCV - char, skills, inventory, merc
Tab - map
Caps lock - run/walk
Space - show items
Shift - stand still
L - weapon switch (this is not used on keyboard, I have L bound to a mouse thumb button)

Mouse:
Wheeldown, Wheelup, Mouse3 - primary, secondary and tertiary LMB skills

 

[maxicek]

F1-F6 Inventory, Skill Tree, Quests etc.
1-4 Belt
H Town Portal if I carry a Tome (H for Home)
QWERT Buff Skills - BO, Holy Shield, Fade, Shadow Master etc. Stuff normally cast from switch
ASDF Secondary skills - CoS, Bone Wall etc.
Z - Primary attack for RMB
X - Teleport / Main skill used when moving (e.g. Fireclaws, Frenzy) on RMB
Y - Secondary attack
Z - Tertiary attack

So for a WW/Trapper it looks like:
Q BC
W Shadow
E BO
R Fade
T Blade Shield
A CoS
S BoS
D Death Sentry
F WoF
Z WW
X Teleport
C MB
V LS

 

[Serdash]

Everything is default except I have skills hotkeys on D, F, G. Need another skill? I've got X. Need ANOTHER skill? Select it manually because that's all you get.

 

[saracen85]

F1-F5: LCS/RCS/Merc/Quests etc
Tab: Show Map
~: Show Belt
1-4: Belt
QWERT: LMB Skills + Normal Attack/Throw
ASDFG: Primary RMB Skills/Auras
ZXCVB: Prebuffs/Summons
N: Tome of TP
Shift: Switch Weapon
Ctrl: Run/Walk
Alt: Show Items
Space: Stand Still

Default keys that don't overlap remains as an alternate.

 

[teddeeboy]

It is interesting to see your skills key mapping
So I use zxcv asdf qwe for skiils 1 - 11

Typically the most active skills are on asdf then zxcv

pre buff is F1 - F4 , and one on F12 only used TP tomes
weapon swap is Tab
toggle map is `
space is drink potion fast

I deactivate skill toggle

I use custom keys for character display also

Other keys are the defaults I think

In old classic versions with only 8 skill keys available I drop the qwe and F1 - F4