Loading ...Once you’re comfortable, Overwhelm yourself
At some point in time as tanks, we all hit this point where tanking is so instinctual, so second nature that it’s hard to even describe what we do, how we do it or why we are even doing things the way that we are doing them. We’re comfortable.
Being comfortable is great for confidence and for reacting to situations. After all, you basically always have a plan. The problem with being comfortable is it’s impossible to really grow. In fact, someone suggesting you do something outside of your comfort zone is often shunned and considered incorrect. You know the feeling I’m talking about if you’ve ever had someone from another guild suggest a different way of killing a boss after you’ve just wiped using your guild’s farm strat.
We aren’t worried about encounters here though, we’re worried about tanking. So, how do we get out of our comfort zone?
Overwhelm Yourself
I want you to try to do all of these things simultaneously.
a) The Standard Threat System
Shield Slam > Revenge > Concussion Blow > Shockwave > Devastate
b) Spam Heroic Strike
Basically, get in a high rage situation so you’re able to do your threat system and keep Heroic Strike going.
c) Strafe
So while generating maximum threat utilizing #1 and #2, move sideways continuing to do that maximum threat.
d) Talk on Ventrilo
While doing #1, #2 and #3, have a conversation with people on vent.
I am Overwhelmed!
I know the feeling! It’s something of a dirty, little secret of mine that through all of The Burning Crusade even in Sunwell, I was a clicker. When Wrath of the Lich King was released, I knew that the only way I was going to be able to respond to Sword and Board procs (among other things) properly was to switch to keybindings. It was bloody overwhelming, but I started it by really thinking through and mapping out how I was going to handle the situation I just described to you above. Here’s how I handle it now:
a) The Standard Threat System
[2] Shield Slam
[Shift-2] Shockwave
[3] Revenge
[Shift-3] Concussion Blow
[4] Devastate
b) Heroic Strike Spam
I wheel up on my mouse to use Heroic Strike.
c) Strafe
[Q] Strafe Left
[E] Strafe Right
d) Talk on Ventrilo
I hold down the thumb button on the left side of my mouse. I bought a new mouse for this very reason.
How is this working out?
Well if you mimic everything I’ve described just by placing your hands in the appropriate positions, you’ll learn with a little testing that I can do A, B and D easily. C is the kicker. I can only do half of that with ease which is to say, I can do A, B, C and D if I’m strafing left, but it takes a lot more work if I’m strafing right. When I’m going right, I have to jump just before I need to press the 4 key (to Devastate). I do this because if you jump while you’re strafing, release the strafe key (E) to hit the devastate button (4) then hold the strafe key down again before you land… you won’t lose any of your speed.
That doesn’t sound Ideal
Nope, it’s not, but it works and as you may have guessed, I favour strafing left whenever I get the chance, but as you also may have guessed, I’m in a lot better situation now than I was back in The Burning Crusade. So, I bet you’re wondering if I wanted to shake myself out of my current comfort zone to something else, what would I do?
1. Move Strafe keys
[Q] stays at [Q] for Strafe left, but [E] would go to [W] for Strafe right.
2. Move the Standard Threat System
[2][3][4] would become [3][4][5] along with all [Shift] keybinds as well.
This would allow my pinky to still sit nicely on the shift key for whenever I needed to use Shockwave and Concussion Blow in my Standard Threat system. It would allow my 4th finger to handle Strafe left while my 3rd and Index finger hovered over 3, 4 and 5. Most importantly though, it’d allow my 3rd finger to handle Strafe right while my Index finger hovered over 3, 4 and 5 when needing to move right.
The Implications of Moving
It’s not all sunshine, of course, otherwise I’d have already done just what I described. In order to do the above, I’d have to remap what I had on my 5 button as well as what I’ve got on my W button. The 5 button which houses my Shield Block could easily make the shift back to the 2 key and the W key which was my Move Forward button would become my E key. What’s most destructive to my comfortableness though is that instead of my fingers hovering over 234 most of the time, they’d be hovering over 345 and as a result, I’d have to re-learn how to hit keys like A,D,R,F and G. Not a minor change by any means.
Whatever, you can do it!
True, I could and I will eventually. The reality is like many of you when I’m online, I’m raiding and I’m really not a huge fan of sucking in a raid. So, how I handle it like you should is I plan for what I’m going to do and when the opportunity presents itself that I know that I’ll have a significant amount of time to make the transition. I’m ready and I do it. Which is to say:
if your guild is taking a break from raiding…
if you are between guilds…
if all you guys do is farm content…
NOW IS YOUR CHANCE!
Don’t waste it. Overwhelm yourself and grow.
May 1st, 2009 at 10:07 am
I find myself doing this in Naxx, and I also did it in Kara. Pull more than you think you can handle and let your healers impress you. I am a strong proponent of a ESDF setup. It just makes sense. Get on the home keys, that’s what the little bump on the F is for. It opens up so many more options. Bind HS to a mouse button so your left hand doesn’t have to worry about it.
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May 1st, 2009 at 10:19 am
I use ESDF keybindings as well although S and F are set up to strafe, if we’re honest there’s no need to ever keyboard turn. Using ESDF also allows for SS, rev and dev to be bound to A \ and Z allowing you to use them with the little finger and without taking your hand away from the movement keys. Mousewheel HS sounds like a good idea I’ll try that.
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Chet reply on May 2, 2009 7:54 am:
I personally like to have my turn keys still bound, mostly because you can’t strafe in a vehicle and while yes, you can mouse turn, and I do, I just feel funny if my fingers don’t have something to do when moving.
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May 1st, 2009 at 10:35 am
Once i thinked why doesnt i use my thumb on my left hand other than jumping with space. There have come i use for my standart rotation the X C V B buttons, and 2 3 since those can be used while moving. Then i still have a whole lot of buttons with 0 1 4 and the F keys 1-6, with 0 and F1 F4 being emergency buttons (those are easy to snap on)
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May 1st, 2009 at 11:13 am
Although I’m a prot pally, I’m fairly familiar with the 5-button tanking overload while trying to move and talk on vent (though I don’t have to suffer heroic strike; I’d probably bind that to mousewheel, as you have).
I actually use the FRT keys for my most common actions, rather than 234… I can hit all of them with my index finger, and thanks to the GCD, I can’t really hit more than one ability at once. You will find that hitting “Shift-T” while strafing left is a little bit of a stretch, but it’s usually quite do-able. (shift + Q + T)
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May 1st, 2009 at 11:36 am
I think i’m the only person I know that strafes by holding down my right mouse button and pressing A or D (turn left, turn right respectively). This allows me to strafe left and continue at least a partial rotation with 3,4,5,E and talk on vent (mouse thumb). It also allows for effective strafe-turning. My biggest issue with keybinds is setting up heroic strike; I use the mousewheel for camera zoom, and use it very often.
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Zayden reply on May 1, 2009 12:23 pm:
I strafe exclusively using my right mouse button as well. My abilities are also bound similiar to Vene (skill, SHIFT+skill) but not to the number keys. E, Q, C, X and my 2 right mouse buttons (HS to wheel up). I can keep my threat rotation going, strafe if i have to, and talk on vent with no issues at all.
BTW, great site, Vene!
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May 1st, 2009 at 11:50 am
One thing I’ve always done is use CTRL instead of SHIFT or ALT for the most part. Don’t get me wrong, I use those modifiers, too. However, the great thing about CTRL is that (when using the left hand) you can place the side of your palm down on the CTRL key and still have your other fingers to push buttons (for example using the pinkie finger to backpedal, etc. Of course, I do use standard typing homerow for movement (ASDF) instead of WADS, but the palm-press is quite handy.
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Rav reply on May 4, 2009 5:08 am:
I’ve been a keybinder since I started gaming, and I’ve always found that leaning on Ctrl with the heel of your hand as your main “modifier” frees up a finger.
So my main attacks are 1-5 and Ctrl1-5. My thumb is then clear for the Alt modifier for Alt-1-4 (5 is too much of a stretch), and my pinkie is free for either the Tab or the ‘ key (below Escape) which I’ve mapped to my Vent key.
I see the sense of the ESDF, but I’ve just got too many years of ingrained muscle memory to beat down. Instead I’ve found that I can strafe right (E) and use 1-3 with my middle finger, but it still takes out 4 and 5.. Which for me are Taunt & Revenge, so I can survive without them while strafing 99% of the time.
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Vivilros reply on May 6, 2009 4:53 am:
You either have tiny hands, or you put your hand in some weird way that makes it harder to move your fingers
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Morrick reply on July 24, 2009 3:32 am:
Actully if you angle your hand rather than being straight on this “leaning” thing can actully work qutie well.
May 1st, 2009 at 12:04 pm
First of all, LOVE YOUR SITE always have.
If you really want to overwhelm yourself try this. As the MT in a raiding guild for 3 years I have been tanking without the use of a mouse. I learned early in my tanking development that tanking requires you to be able to react while in motion and aware of your surroundings. The only way I could do this was to set up my motion and stance dancing keys to my left hand and all my abilities on my right hand. I have a special keyboard that has enough keys on the keypad that I don’t even need to use shift or cntl keys. As a person who types very fast I find by doing this I am able to immediately hit what i need without fail when I need it.
Advantages. Very comfortable way to tank, makes me feel more immersed in the character since i’m not clicking things with my mouse, i can spam A,B,C,D very easily. My favorite is going Alt-Z and tanking an entire instance without ever seeing any keys on my screen.
Negatives. I can’t turn 180 degrees instantly. And I have to very good at tab targetting with my right thumb which can be problematic at times.
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Machus reply on May 1, 2009 8:35 pm:
Yup, I play like this too.
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Sam reply on May 4, 2009 10:53 am:
I started out being a clicker, then I experimented using modifiers on the standard number keys + F-keys, but nothing is as fast or reactive as the keypad where I can reach around 15 different abilities instantly. Top row above the number is all long cooldowns, 456 are bread n’ butter abilities (SS, HS, Revenge).
I also have problems tab targeting and instant turning, but I don’t find the turning to ever be a problem. I’ve been considering writing a macro to help with the tab targeting so it has some intelligence behind it.
This is also a very good setup for PvP because you’re quicker to get that crucial stun off before the other guy and you don’t hamper your movement fingers with abilities while trying to do the crazy melee PvP dance.
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May 1st, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Good god Zenn. He said overwhelm yourself, not handicap yourself 0_0
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Zenndor reply on May 1, 2009 6:12 pm:
You have much to learn Darrax!!! Lulz
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May 1st, 2009 at 1:04 pm
This is something I have been doing for a while now and I rarely use the number keys
1 = shield slam
E = revenge
Shift+t = Shockwave
T = concblow
middle mouse = T. Clap
R = devestate
Q = Heroic Strike
Shift+c = Rage
X = Spell Reflect
F = intervene
~ = Vent button
I move entirely with my mouse and WASD and can strafe. It’s all about finding your fingers comfort zone :). For people not used to using a shift macro set something with a fairly long cooldown to start - get in the hang of using it when it’s up. Train your fingers and it will become tons easier.
Great post!
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Bihn reply on May 3, 2009 12:03 pm:
I think it’s better to only use shift+button combos for nonessential abilities.
I used to have Shockwave and Conc. Blow bound to Shift+5 and Shift+3, respectively, and I would run into a situation (particularly on Patchwerk) where, in the process of spamming either of these buttons, I’d miss 1 or more heroic strikes because it wasn’t bound to a shift key.
This is really only an issue in min/max settings.
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May 1st, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Theres no point using Q and E as strafe buttons since in reality you never use A and D to turn. So map A and D as strafe which gives you Q and E for other bindings.
I personally don’t really like shift that much, its just somehow cumbersome for me.
Anyway, my bindings:
1=HS
2=Taunt
3=Devastate
4=Revenge
5=Conc Blow
Q=Charge
Alt+Q=Intervene
R=Bloodrage
T=Thunderclap
C=Shield Bash
E=Shield Slam
F=Shockwave
G=Shoot ranged (very rarely used nowadays but yeah)
~=Shield Block
alt+~=Heroic Throw
Ctrl+C=Commanding shout
Ctrl+Q=Demo shout
Mousewheel down=Cleave
Alt+Mousewheel down=Spell Refelct
Alt+Mousewheel up=Challenging shout
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Veneretio reply on May 1, 2009 3:46 pm:
See, I use A and D for different buttons (Demoralizing shout and Heroic Throw to be exact) and find that Strafe is better as Q and E since it’s closer to my primary abilites. (234)
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May 1st, 2009 at 8:33 pm
The keyboard is your friend! Long live the keyboard!
O = Shield Slam
P = Revenge, ALT-P = Spell Reflect
[ = Devastate, ALT-[ = Shield Bash
] = Heroic Strike
K = Charge, ALT-K = Intervene
L = Taunt, ALT-L = Concussion Blow
; = Thunder Clap, ALT-; = Shockwave (; is next to L on my keyboard)
Q = Strafe left
R = Strafe Right
Mouse? What mouse?
Now, what I miss is a key binding to loot the nearest body, and another to turn 180 degrees…
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KingHarbromm reply on May 3, 2009 3:56 pm:
This is a great way to do it, though mine is just slightly different. Instead of using the right hand on the normal spot, I move it to the number pad. I have the hot bar 1-9 on the number pad with the hot bar spaces 10-12 as Numpad 0, period, and enter.
I turn on all hotbars so scrolling through hot bars is really more of a toggle since there are only two. Therefore, scroll hot bars is my right arrow key.
Hot bar 3 is my Shift+Numpad.
Hot bar 4 is my Control+Numpad
Stances and potions are my home, pgdown, pgup, etc.
Healing mats are my numpad astrisk, minus, & plus.
Foods are my F16-F19 buttons (I’m on a Mac keyboard)
All in all, I have MORE than enough buttons to use every warrior ability out there in every stance and all are readily available. I even hot key things like my hearthstone (F19) & my mount (down arrow) because I have tons of buttons to mash. Once you get used to it, it’s awesome.
Left hand is as normal.
And I concur, I really need a “loot mob” button. As for spinning 360, I find that walking backwards through the mob works just as good. If not, do a backward walk/turn & it will keep the mob as much in front of you as possible.
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May 1st, 2009 at 9:33 pm
wow, I must say, all of you keyboard players amaze me. I stick with the normal set up: WASD, right click and strafe, 3, 4, 5, for skills, the usual. Though Vene made a great point .. its VERY hard to keep heroic strike uptime with this setup. I use my mousewheel for camera movements, but I will definently have to see if I can do without that (keep max camera distance always) so I can bind heroic strike there.
Thanks again Vene! Way to up our tanking
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Harbinger reply on May 2, 2009 7:08 am:
You can easily bind shift/alt/control + mousewheel up/down. I’m using shift+mousewheel myself and works fine.
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May 2nd, 2009 at 2:21 am
TBH I’ve always done this. It’s the only way to be the most effective tank you can be, and I think that alot of Tanks have already discovered this.
Still it can be a great wakeup call to those that aren’t already doing this^^.
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May 2nd, 2009 at 5:42 am
I do the jump thingie you mentioned on my priest
Also I use right mousebutton + A/D for strafe.
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May 2nd, 2009 at 10:15 am
Awesome post!
Still can’t believe you were a clicker in tbc.
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May 2nd, 2009 at 1:19 pm
nice post. Although I’d hardly say tanking is 2nd nature to me, I can see how I’m getting complacent in “current” content (guild hasn’t gotten into ulduar yet), and you gave some great ideas about things I can do to get better. I think when I spec back to tank (trying to learn all aspects of my class) I’ll probably rethink my keybinds. I particularly liked the QW strafing idea. My problem is that I have taunt bound to ~ so that would be difficult while strafing with those keys. I might try TR, which leaves my thumb to another suggestion in the comments. I can bind ZXCV and maybe even B to some abilities. I don’t have a special mouse, so only 5 buttons (L,R,M,WU,WD) for that, but WU and WD have been priceless when it comes to wrath tanking.
My biggest problem then would be my vent key. Right now it’s Ctrl, and T + ~ + Ctrl is pretty much an impossible stretch. Maybe I could use one of those thumb bindings, like C or V so I can still roll my thumb onto spacebar.
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May 2nd, 2009 at 1:54 pm
I smiled reading this one… I was a clicker through all of The Burning Crusade as well, and did fairly good. Recently, when I got back to the game, I decided to change bad habits and a) redesign my horrible UI and b) start the keybinding and mouse-turning thing. Already I feel I have way better control in instances because of the improved viewing options you have when you’re able to use your mouse for camera movement, and the speed you can pull off some spicy moves.
Ran into the same problem, not being able to strafe well while maintaining a standard rotation… might try your recommendations, they use to be very useful!
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May 2nd, 2009 at 2:54 pm
There is no keyboard in the world which will be even close to what I am using (I have Reclusa at the moment, will be replaced with Sidewinder X6 to get rid of numeric keypad, but that is just to save space on desk)
Microsoft Strategic Commander is a KING!
+ Dominos addon to make it more intuitative
27 keybinds + all the movement without moving my fingers off the buttons
equals win!
(I was a clicker in TBC, transition period to keybinds on Stat Commander felt like quiting smoking for me. All the things I previously clicked by my right hand suddenly needed to be pressed by left. My brain was in pain that time :D)
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May 2nd, 2009 at 2:58 pm
I have just recently keybinded everything in my tanking, and my personal tanking has improved termendously. Don’t worry, it may look like you got worse, but give it a couple weeks and you’ll be rockin.
My KB’s from what I can remember (not on my PC o.O)
strafe left/right: A and D
camera control all through the right mouse button
auto-run: SHIFT+ Mouse button 5 (top thumb button)
super-uber charge macro: C
Bloodrage: x
Commanding shout: SHIFT+X
Shield Slam: Mouse button 4 (bottom thumb button)
Hstrike: Mouse button 5 (top thumb button)
Vent: Mouse wheel click
Revenge: F
Shockwave: SHIFT+F
Thunerclap: R
Demo shout: SHIFT+R
Last Stand: Q
Shield Wall: SHIFT+Q
Enraged regen is macro’ed to Last Stand
Conc Blow: SHIFT+B
Shield Block: B
Taunt: Z
Challenging shout: SHIFT+Z
Shield Bash: SHIFT+E
Devestate: E
Heroic Throw: G
Shattering Throw: SHIFT+G
Cleave: CTR+Mouse Button 5 (top thumb button)
and that concludes my KB’s
For a note: I do use Power Arua’s to display everything hat is up and avaliable, including Survival CD’s and Durations, health and rage, and about everything that I just listed.
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May 2nd, 2009 at 3:05 pm
As a warrior tank who’s just recently changed to healing due to our guild having too many tanks and too few healers, I find this interesting. (I was on over half the raids healing on my shaman “alt” already so the jump wasn’t that big to start with.)
This is the kind of level of “overwhelm” I was trying to achieve just before said change of perspective happened to me. Trying to find just how can I do the four aforementioned things at the same time. Didn’t quite get there before the change, but I bet I would have with the help of this article if I was still tanking progressively. Good writing
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Aorkus reply on May 2, 2009 3:43 pm:
Warriors cant heal unless you Bandage someone.
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Aorkus reply on May 2, 2009 3:44 pm:
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Morrick reply on July 24, 2009 3:47 am:
I also thought that till i read the shaman bit ^^
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May 2nd, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Alt is a much better modifier for me than shift. My hand simply doesn’t fall correctly to use shift and 2,3,4.
I have removed the left window key from my keyboard after missing alt and hitting it one too many times in Karazhan.
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May 3rd, 2009 at 9:26 am
I have the priority order mapped to keys 1-5 (in order), with heroic strike mapped to the “~” key. When I really need to mash a ton of heroic strikes I simply slide my hand over one key such that my pinkey is on the “~” button, otherwise, my pinkey is on the “1″ key for shield slam (pinkey is #1 in priority order). My strafe keys are still Q and E and I use my thumb to hit those keys… so I can do the priority order and strafe both ways with minimal discomfort (however, I rarely do this). My vent-talk button is the “thumb” button on my G5 mouse, which works pretty well.
Though I have the priority order keybound, I still find myself clicking a good bit (thunderclap, cleave, demo shout, ‘Charge/intercept/intervene’ macro button, are not keybound) and I also sometimes click the ability and the keybinding, just to make sure that it happens (probably a waste of effort). Also, when I really want to spam HS, I’ll both spam the keybind and spam-click… Again, probably a waste of effort.
Considering I have devastate bound to the 5 key (the key I press the least), I realize I don’t press it enough and get enough PROCs from sword and board. I’m working on that…
I feel like this works ok for threat generation, but I never feel like I’m maxing my dps (usually in the 1200 range with about 1700 on patchwerk 10). I guess I’m writing all of this here in the hopes of getting some feedback/suggestions… Sorry for the long post.
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May 3rd, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Just to reiterate a point I made in an earlier reply:
I’m a fan of keybinds, but try to use modifier+keybinds sparingly, for ‘OH SHIT’ occasions and things that don’t take you out of the rotation.
Binding any of the main threat/utility abilities (SW, CB, Dev, Rev, SS, HS, TC, Shouts, etc.) to a button+modifier is problematic. If you’re slamming out a rotation, you run the risk of being thrown out of the groove. If you’re trying to max HS uptime, you run the risk of letting one or two white hits slip through while you’re holding down shift, alt, or ctrl (i.e. HS is bound to 2, not shift+2, so you can’t spam a shift+ability and HS at the same time).
Of course, you could bind HS to the modifiers as well, but that seems like a waste of valuable keybind space.
(for anyone who is curious:
~ - Charge, 1 - Taunt, 2 - Heroic Strike, 3 - Devestate, 4 - Revenge, 5 - Thunder Clap, 6 - Shield Slam, 7 -Trinket + Shield Block, T -Shockwave, R - Concussion Blow, F - Bloodrage, G(+shift) - Commanding/(Battle), H - Demo Shout,
Shift+2 - Heroic Throw, Shift+3 - Spell Reflect or Shield Bash as needed, Shift +5 Last Stand, Shift+T - Last Stand)
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Bihn reply on May 3, 2009 12:16 pm:
Shift+T is actually Shield Wall.
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May 4th, 2009 at 2:37 am
y well Im not a fancy tank - Im not frinds with officers
dont get to MT bosses often.
But I keep up Thunderclap, Demo shout, sunder, Commanding shout,
peel mobs off healers and Dps
always with camera tilted 180degress checking incoming pats adds etc.
Been MT since pre BC, what I overwhelm myself with is raid awarness
taunting adds just the moment they start running to raid while I tank other adds -
while ofc I keep an eye to my healt - cause i get the nub healers so cds are normally always in use.
Checking my fellow tanks to see if they are tanking what they should and are alive.
dont focus on high tps but I get as much control as possible.
love hit rate - keeps my taunt sharp
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May 4th, 2009 at 3:22 am
my mouse hand (right) is always busy to spot and select adds and mobs,
tilt camera, keeping my mouse close in visual to be able to click on survival bar that I have close to center off screen to easy and fast access, laststand shieldwall pots etc-
while i with my left hand spam
devastate heroicStrike shieldSlam concBlow heroicThrow Shockwave
using only 3 keys for that - so I dont have to fucus on it -
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May 4th, 2009 at 7:21 am
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826169019&Tpk=n52
I use the hatswitch for HS, Taunt, TC and Rev. The thumb button is Vent, the orange one is LS, and wheel is SW.
Using a razor mouse as logitech always go nuts on me where I lose control for a few seconds as the pointer goes all over the screen.
Strafe, jump, backward and map buttons are ont he N52 keys. I was never one to have to hit two buttons to do something.
I still click dev and CB so thanks for the post maybe it will get me to improve things that I’ve been putting off for far to long because I’m comfortable.
Logetich has a new game board that looks interesting
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/gaming/pc_gaming/mice_keyboards/devices/5123&cl=us,en
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May 4th, 2009 at 9:32 am
I believe I have everything keybound but find myself clicking a few things because the key is just not convenient to hit at times which makes me wonder - do I really need s (move backwards), a(turn left) and d(turn right) for anything?? or to take it a step further do you need w(forward)??? You can walk forward or back by strafing and all turning is better done with the mouse. That would free up 4 of the most centrally located keys for something more useful. Adjusting to it will take some time though.
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May 4th, 2009 at 10:24 am
I used to be a standard keybinder on the standard keyboard, clicking at most 5-6 spells (I’ve never been a keyboard turner tho!).
Then I purchased an N52te (AKA Nostromo Speed Pad) by Belkin. It has forever changed the way I play WoW.
The biggest revelation is the number of fingers I used to move. Using the default set-up I was using 3 fingers (1-2 at any given moment) to strafe & move my character. The speedpad has a “Directional D-Pad”; similar to a console dpad, in the thumb location. Now I only EVER use my thumb to move.(which previously was reserved only for jumping!). This freed my other fingers to only hit spells. Combo that with 14 buttons (plus modifiers like alt and shift) and a 2nd mouse wheel and you have all the keybinds you need.
Not only did it increase my reaction time on those rarely used spells like reflect and challenging roar, but it allowed be to bind multiple macro’s in addition.
One of the nicest things about the N52te is the software; it’s very easy to use and intuitive to set-up.
While it took almost a month ( a very long month) to adjust to the new hardware it probably increased my reaction time by 10-15% and made strafing a million times easier.
I challenge anyone who’s looking for something beyond the keyboard to try this product. I almost threw it out after my first raid (i wiped us on sarth 3d all night!) but after a month I couldn’t live without it.
The n52te gets mad props from me. Plus it glows in the dark!
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May 4th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Strafing was always a problem because of my bindings to A & D with all my abilities appropriately moved around those keys. When I had to buy a new mouse, I made sure I had one with multiple buttons but then I realized that not only could I click down the wheel button for vent, but it also had a pivot button on each side. So now I have D for the backward key and I move with my mouse pushing the scroll wheel to the left or right to strafe in the appropriate direction. I rarely backup anymore anyways so I’m thinking of removing that key altogether becuase if I need to kite something I normally just turn sideways and strafe that direction. Now my four fingers hover over WERT and can easily reach 1-5 or the home row keys and my thumb can roam the keybinds on the row above the space bar.
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May 4th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
As a left hander I have had to totally re-think key bindings. I find this works because each row represents a different tactic so I can visualise the grouping in my head. I can do my main rotation without looking while AOE with the mouse wheel and then ready to click my Oh crap buttons if needed. Strafing at the same time would be tricky but I do move holding both mouse buttons down. This is what I have got.
Move
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k - Heroic throw
l - Strafe left
; - Move forward or using both mouse buttons
‘ - Strafe right
middle mouse - backwards
mouse - direction
enter - charge/intercept/intervene/ zerc rage
Main rotation
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This is where the main rotation with most of my fingers spamming these keys.
i - HS
o - SS/SB macro with startattack
p - rev
[ - dev
] - Concussion Blow
\ - cleave
AOE
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Mouse wheel up - SW
Mouse wheel down - TC
Debuffs/interrupts
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This line is just above main rotation for mod debuffs/interrupts
9 - Spell Refelct
0 - Shield bash
- - Disarm
= - demo shout
backspace = taunt
Oh crap buttons
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These buttons are big and in the middle of the screen just under my character.
Last Stand
Shield Wall
Enraged rege
Health pot
Fear
I’m also thinking of a spamable macro on del to blow all my Oh crap buttons.
Buffs
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Buffs just under move
, - battle shout
. - commanding shout
/ - vig
Misc
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m - fly mount
j - land mount
Shift/Enter - chat
Thumb on space and alt for mods
space - jump
This is still work in progress, Any feedback welcome.
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Cornfedhick reply on May 5, 2009 2:36 pm:
Ever since I started using macros I have used one to summon both flying and ground mount with the alt/ctrl/shift modifier. Its easy and convenient than having to key binds for mounts.
/cast [modifier:alt] (flying mount); (ground mount)
I used to have a different macro that would automatically use the flying mount in Outlands and ground mount in Azeroth with the option to use the ground mount whenever you wanted by holding down one of the modifier keys but that macro stopped working when WotLK came out.
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Grido reply on May 6, 2009 10:46 am:
I only just recently got the money to get an epic mount and I don’t think I will need the land mount again (it was worth every penny). Where as the normal flying was about as fast as as my land mount so I would use both. Thanks for the tip, I think I will add that macro when I go to old world.
Side note: I really like having the middle mouse move backwards because it leaves my right hand just for spells and my mouse can do all the positioning (except strafe).
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May 6th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Just wanted to add some words of encouragement for tanks who decide to remap their keybinds, or in fact make any major change to their playstyle: You will get worse before you get better! As Vene mentions, it will take some time to adjust and this is best done away from progression raids. I recently made a complete overhaul of my UI, including certain keybinds that had evolved in not-so-logical positions. The result after tanking a couple of heroics, was depressing. My tps had dropped, I didn’t feel that ‘comfortable’ feeling but instead felt in a constant state of disorientation. I switched back to my old setup immediately. After a couple of days I tried again with the revamp, making a few changes at a time, and solo grinding until I felt comfortable with the new positioning, before getting back into heroics and raids. Anyway to cut a long story short, I now feel like I’m a much better tank than I ever was, and the new screen layout / keybinds have made me more efficient. eg. I waste less time looking around the screen, as all the information is right where I need it. I lose less TPS while strafing now, as my normal rotation keys are in more logical positions. So the moral is, stick with it. Unlearning something you have been doing for months, can often take longer than learning something new. Keep up the great work Vene, love this site.
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Grido reply on May 6, 2009 10:52 am:
I totally agree. I find I have time now to look at all the mobs to make sure they have aggro. I like the new treat system in wow where you can see the treat of a mob by the glow around their health bar. If I see one going yellow I click on it and throw SS/Dev to get them back.
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May 7th, 2009 at 6:40 am
Ok, my keybinds have evolved from FPS gaming - I am a twitch gamer, I gotta have things fast fast fast.
W,S - Forward Back ; A,D - Strafe Left & Right (I have my arrow keys bound as turn left, turn right, but I never use them, just use the mouse to steer)
Q - Berserker Rage ; Shift + Q - Commanding Shout (or Battle Shout, I move whichever one I am not doing to a nearby unbound button and swap when necessary)
E - Concussion Blow ; Shift + E - Shield Slam
R - Piercing Howl ; Shift + R - Bloodrage
T - Enraged Regeneration ; Shift + T - Last Stand
F - Heroic Strike ; Shift + F - Shoot
C - Shockwave ; Shift + C - Cleave
X - Devastate ; Shift + X - Mocking Blow
Z - Taunt ; Shift + Z - Intervene/Intercept Macro
V - Ventrilo push-to-talk key
Spacebar - jump
1 - Revenge ; Shift + 1 - Demoralizing Shout
2 - Charge ; Shift + 2 - Thunder Clap
3 - Rend ; Shift + 3 - Shield Wall
4 - Spell Reflect ; Shift + 4 - Shield Block
5 - Shield Bash ; Shift + 5 - Intimidating Shout
Ctrl + 1 - Battle Stance
Ctrl + 2 - Defensive Stance
Ctrl + 3 - Berserker Stance
Ctrl + 4 - Vigilance
Ctrl + F - Heroic Throw
Things I am considering:
1. Using a mouse button for Heroic Strike - I have a Razer Diamondback, so I have 2 thumb buttons and 2 pinky buttons. The pinky buttons are pretty difficult to put consistent pressure on, but the thumb buttons are great. I currently just use them for autorun toggle and open all bags toggle. Kind of a waste I know.
2. Changing to ESDF movement keys - I’ve heard that it opens up a lot more of the keyboard. I used to use G, Shift+G, H, and Shift+H, but they seemed so far away from my WASD comfort zone. By switching to ESDF I could bring these keys back into the fold and still use everything else.
3. Using a device such as Belkin’s n52te and then using Thumb for movement. This would be a huge shift, but it would be the most efficient by far. There is no real need to make 3 fingers required for movement. Freeing those fingers up allows them to be much more reactive to other keys. I just purchased a device, so we’ll see how it turns out. I’m so used to using my thumb for jump and Vent though, it is going to be tough to re-train myself.
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Grido reply on May 7, 2009 8:35 am:
Your normal tanking rotation looks tricky,
Shield Slam (S-E) > Revenge (1) > Concussion Blow (E) > Shockwave (C) > Devastate (X) > Heroic Strike (F).
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Veneretio reply on May 7, 2009 8:48 am:
Ya gotta agree. It’s pretty crazy to be using Shift + E for your most important move then jumping to 1 for the next most important and finally having to move down to X for your last move.
It really feels like your setup could use an overhaul with a real focus on streamlining the priority system for threat.
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Ruce reply on May 8, 2009 7:19 am:
I left one out: G for my Orc racial Blood Fury. Also, Shift+4 is a macro that does Shield Block, activates Lavanthor’s Talisman if equipped, and uses Shield Slam.
Yes, it is crazy. I am really trying to overhaul my setup, but I’m just so button-happy it’s going to be hard to get used to not moving all over the keyboard.
My rotation for a raid boss usually goes something like this:
2, shift+R, shift+4, shift+2, E, C, 1, shift+E, Q, X, shift+E, X, 1, X, shift+E, X, 1, X, 1, shift+E, shift+1, 1, X, shift+E, G, 1, E, C, shift+4, X, 1, shift+E… you get the idea. All the while I am trying frantically to hit F every 1.6 seconds. I’ve been using this setup for at least 6 months now. It was even worse before that.
Drae reply on May 17, 2009 8:30 am:
Like I mentioned, the n52te is great, movement being controlled with your thumb (which is used for jump, relatively un-critical keybind) is one of the best features. I don’t have strafe or back / forwards bound anywhere but the d pad, mouse to turn (obviously).
Personally i use the top left most button for vent on the n52, ive bound my next attack to the thumb mouse buttons, meaning i only use the n52 for CGD attacks, makes it super easy to spam heroic / cleave.
It does take awhile to get used to, but is supremely efficient; it greatly increases your reaction time.
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May 7th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Wanted to second the notion of using the Mouse Wheel more thoroughly . I abuse the wheel mouse. With a a single modifier it has 6 actions. Mouse Wheel Up, Mouse Wheel Down, and Mouse Wheel Click.
My current MW Setup:
MW Up - Commanding Shout
Shift MW UP - Bloodrage
MW Down - Demo Shout
Shift MW Down - for the life me I can’t currently remember
MW Click - TC
Shift MW Click - Shockwave
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May 11th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Thanks for the topic Vene. Its great to pick up some good ideas. Using the side mouse button is something i had never thought of for Vent.
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May 12th, 2009 at 4:41 am
Currently I have many of my abilities distributed across numerous buttons and modifiers in both my keys and mouse buttons.
MAIN BAR
1 - Auto attack
2 - Devastate
3 - Shield Slam
4 - Revenge
5 - Shield Reflect
6 - Shield Bash
` - Taunt
MOUSE
Middle Button - Bloodrage
Button 3 - Heroic Strike
SHIFT-MODIFIER
S-1 - Repelling Charge (Health Trink)
S-2 - Last Stand
S-3 - Health Pot
S-4 - Healthstone
S-5 - Enraged Regeneration
S-R - Heart of Iron (Avoidance Trink)
S-T - Shield Wall
S-D - Every Man for Himself (Human Racial)
S-R - Berserker Rage
S-G - Shield Block
S-E - Shockwave
S-Mousewheel Up - Commanding Shout or Piercing Howl, depending on which prot spec I’m in.
S-Mousewheel Down - Demoralizing Shout
S-Mouse Button 3 - Thunderclap
S-` - Mocking Blow
PTT Button - CTRL
This setup groups the bread-and-butter tanking abilities all onto the main bar, but moves Heroic Strike to Mouse Button 3. This lets me spam Heroic Strike while using other key threat abilities without having to press an extra keyboard button.
Survival trinkets and abilities are grouped into the SHIFT block. S1-S5 are all abilities or trinkets which boost health through any method. S-R and S-T are actions which reduces damage taken one way or another. Finally, S-D and S-F are abilities which lets me regain control of my toon.
Abilities which are less commonly used but extremely important nonetheless also take their place in the SHIFT block. Shield Block has a much longer CD than it used to Pre-3.0, so it’s been relegated to a position which is more out of the way, but still easily accessible (however, S-G puts Shield Block on the same row as the fear/stun breaker CDs, which results in an inconsistency. I need to fix this).
SMB3 is Thunderclap, which is a staple tanking utility in both MT and OT situations. S-MW DOWN is Demo Shout, which I find myself applying frequently throughout nearly all fights. Likewise, S-MW UP is Commanding Shout, as I frequently refresh this is well, particularly when I am MT. This however, is changed to Piercing Howl in my Add-Tanking spec, as I find the ability to be much more important than Commanding Shout in that situation.
Bloodrage is bound to S-Middle Button, which I am decently happy with. It allows me to use BR without interrupting my access to my usual threat abilities. This means that if I find myself low on rage for whatever reason but am in a pinch for threat, I can use BR and follow it up with a Shield Slam, and have those two abilities be cast at practically the same instant. However, my mouse has sensitivity control buttons located directly below the Middle button, which sometimes results in me hitting the “Low Sensitivity” button. I need to find some way to fix this, probably by just getting a better mouse.
Shockwave is currently bound to S-E, and is probably the most glaring problem with my set up. I only recently added this to my SHIFT block because I find myself add-tanking in Ulduar more often than I did in Naxx. The ‘E’ key is directly below the 1-5 keys, so I have pretty easy access to Shockwave. However, the positioning is entirely inconsistent, and is right next to my S-R key (avoidance trinket), which is pretty idiotic. I also end up sometimes accidentally using Shockwave when I meant to strafe with the ‘E’ key. I NEED to fix this, and will probably do so by getting myself a gaming mouse with more buttons and binding Shockwave to one of them.
Finally, the ` button and its SHIFT counterpart are both aggro-pullers. They are somewhat out of the way so that I don’t inadvertently hit them, but close enough that I can hit them reliably when the situation requires. I don’t lose aggro often on single-target, so I usually only use this when there is A) a tank rotation or B) when an add gets away while I OT.
UNBOUND ABILITIES
Concussion Blow us currently not bound. This is because I use CB more when something NEEDS to be stunned, and this is not a situation that I encounter often. If it IS one of those situations, I’ll know about it beforehand and will be ready to hit it when then time requires.
Challenging Shout is also not bound. This is because it has a rather long cooldown and I don’t use it often anyway. Like with CB, I will know when a situation will require its usage and will be ready to use it well in advance.
Disarm is unbound as well. See ‘Challenging Shout’.
Heroic Throw is unbound. This needs to change soon. If there is a freshly spawned add running after a healer, I don’t want to have myself take a whopping three seconds to reach over and hit HT with my cursor, nor do I want to burn my Taunt CD. Again, this is a situation that I did not encounter in Naxx often, and only used HT as a pulling mechanism. However, the situation has changed in Ulduar, and so my bindings will have to change as well.
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Tritainia reply on May 12, 2009 4:56 am:
Oh, and I forgot about Cleave. It’s currently unbound–that needs to change as well.
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May 12th, 2009 at 7:51 am
I read this thorough quickly, and im still trying to find the benefits of strafe, can some1 direkt me of where to read it
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Veneretio reply on May 12, 2009 8:24 am:
http://www.tankingtips.com/2009/03/23/attacking-on-the-run-strafing/
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Roffe reply on May 12, 2009 10:04 am:
Ah, thought you ment that strafing would improve your threat or survival somehow and not that it was ment for helping to improve specific encounters,
Ive bonded strafing on a and d and all my important abilities such as shieldslam on 2345 and s2345 etc, also have binded abilities on Q and E since my fingers are pretty fucked up i manage to do all theese things anyhow, also when strafing jjust left to right im using my right hand to help press the right attacks, (i suppose its impossible if you have a to small keyboard or to big hands
on my mouse scroll i’ve binded devastate on scroll left and heroic strike on scroll right, and just as you i have “push to talk” on my thumb button,
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May 12th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
a-d works for me fine (sometimes) but lately I recognized that I tend to forget to push the push-to-talk button or forget to let it go…
I was really overwhelmed by tanking yogg in p1 as there I do mostly not strafe but run backwards and have a look at all those ***** green clouds… maybe I should remap my back-run-key (I avoid strafing because those mobs are sometimes awfully slow and my lowered runspeed from walking backwards helps avoiding the clouds)
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September 29th, 2009 at 8:40 am
For all games that I play, I remap the keys so that my left hand rests in the standard typing position. This means my standard movement keys are not WASD(QE) but rather ESDF(WR).
I do not use 1 through = for spells, i use QWRTY, AGH, ZXCVBN. Additionally, in WOW, I use ALT for “hidden” keys, rather than SHIFT, as the only other thing I use my thumb for is Spacebar. (This does make for awkward use of the bottom row of keys.) 1 through about 6 are bound to things like potions, bandages, racials, trinkets, long cooldowns, etc. I make use of my Logitech G15 (or G11), for some of these functions also, but otherwise I would likely just extend them out from 7 to =.
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January 11th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
Hello,
first of all, i have to say i like your site very much and it is helping me a lot with tanking.
I am still not 80 (76 atm), but i lvl a lot in instances (it’s very fast for a tank to find a group via the new cross realm LFG system).
Here’s how my abilities are bind:
Q - shield slam
E - devastate
R - TC
F - taunt
V - shockwave
C - HS
X - revenge
Y - cleave
1 - shield bash (my former character is a rogue, which i playd few years, and i have always had kick on 1, so i am used to it:)
2 - mocking blow
3 - rend (actually i used rend on bosses sometimes till i read here, that it is not worth it; on the other hand, i almost all the time clicked this button, because its hard to me to push 3 correctly (with my fingers laying on WSAD))
4 - shield block
B - Concussion Blow (i binded this just a while ago, after i read here that i should use this; i was using it before, but not with high priority (just for the stun effect) and never on bosses (cause they are immune to stun) - i just didnt know, it causes any extra threat; the same is shockwave, i was using it a lot, but only on thrash)
You can say, that it is a bit messy to have bound all these keys, but trust me, that it is not, because (with a few changes) i am using it from lvl 1 like that, and i was just adding more and more, so i had a lot of time to learn it.
My ventrilo button is on mouse (got 1 extra button there), so when i push it with my right hand thumb, i can still do all the other things.
I click the rest (actually i think, i will be clicking concussion blow to, with 30 sec cooldown, it is just not worth to have a keybind).
I really recommend all to start using the “letter keys” instead of the number keys, because i just dont see any point in using the number keys. The letter keys are close to WSAD, there is a lot of them, etc., they are just better.
I dont have strafe bound to any key, i strafe with A or D and right mouse button pushed > same effect and you save 2 keys.
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Btw did i get right the stuff about Concussion Blow and Shockwave? Should i really use it not just for the stun effect but especially for the threat effect? I am asking, because there is nothing written on their labels about additional theat (on the other hand, it is written for example on TC or HS label, so i would expect it here aswell).
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I hope you still read replys to this old thread.:)
Thanks for all the advices on this site and pls excuse my bad english.
F.
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