[Guide] Introduction to Keybinds

If you’re one of those players wishing to become better adapt to mastering AION, this guide may prove helpful to your improvement. Keybinds are a key part of AION’s gameplay despite the hit or miss appeal to many players.

You may ask why use keybinds when you can just click? Well having a skill/consumable binded to a key allows you to use skills on the move, faster triggering on reactive skills and most importantly free the mouse for camera movement. Everyone have their own adaptation to what set of keys to choose depending on keyboard structure, hand size and positioning. Nevertheless there is still a consensus on general positioning for keybinds.

(This guide is aimed more towards Lumiel players as Siel often get too many skills to allocate to binds).

KEYBOARD

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Before we start off changing the keys in the options. Lets review the area around your default movement keys as they’ll present a general idea on what keys to change.

A standard QWERTY keyboard will look like this:

(I’ve only coloured that general area of the keyboard because it will be difficult for some to reach for keys further than those in most situation. However you’re always free to go beyond what I’ve mentioned. This is targeted towards Right Handed people.)

The movement keys are as highlighted in RED: W A S D SPACEBAR
Around these keys, highlighted in YELLOW are: Q E R T F G Z X C V ` 1 2 3 4 5 CAPSLOCK
The conjunction keys in GREEN (used in combination with another key) are: SHIFT, ALT, CTRL
Function Keys are in BLUE: F1 F2 F3 F4
Numpad in ORANGE.
BLACK keys are to be avoided as binds and have unfavourable consequences if accidentally pressed.

RED
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These movement keys (WASD) and jump/glide key (SPACEBAR) should remain default. They’re positioned to be familiar with other games which also use WASD for forward/side/backward movements and SPACEBAR to jump.

*While holding the W key to move forward, you can also hold the Mouse Right Click to change directions instead of A/D.

YELLOW​

All these highlighted keybinds are important because they’re directly next to your WASD movement keys and are often associate to skills that can be used on the move or need to be quickly accessed.

You may recognize some of the Yellow keys overlap with existing in-game functions. However it should be noted that many of the existing functions are also redundant during PvPvE gameplay.

• Q and E - Strafe Left/Right
  Replaceable, same function as using Right Click + A/D
• R and F – Rise/Fall during Flight
  Replaceable, same function as doing Mouse Camera + W/S
• G and V – Legion and Friend List respectively
  Replaceable to other keys like L for Legion. (L is default for Leagues, which is hardly used except during Sieges).
• C and X – Chat/Attack and Draw Weapon respectively
  Depends, they can be replaced but Chat/Attack is an important key for weaving, if changed, it should be rebinded to another easily accessed key.
• Capslock – Due to its positioning right below TAB, Capslock would be a great key to use for ‘Select Nearest Enemy PC’ (Key Mapping -> Combat options).

*Dont fret too much if you've overrode a window menu shortcut. Some of these have a secondary shortcut such as Alt+V still opens Friends List if V is used for another function.

GREEN
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They’re known as the conjunction keys for the keyboard. They can be used for additional layer of binding for the same key and hence saving you from reaching far down the keyboard. Examples include Shift+R or Alt+1.

Depending on player preference, some keys combinations like Ctrl+ or Alt+ may be difficult to use whilst moving with WASD, hence I recommend you to reserve them for stationary skills. And don't choose difficult combinations like Ctrl+6 if you have small hands.

BLUE
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By default, the Select Group Member keys. Useful in most cases, however they’re viable options to be switched out for other keybinds, especially for certain classes which does not need group support gameplay. (E.g. Rangers, Assassin, Gladiators, Gunslingers). Though they’re positioned a bit further than the other keys, hence might be more suitable for buff type skills.

*A dummy note is do not use the Function keys in conjunction with the Ctrl, Alt and Shift keys. Some of these combinations might bring unwanted Windows default actions. An example is Alt+F4, which is the Windows shortcut to close the current program window.

ORANGE
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While all the other coloured keys were designed for the Left Hand use. These are particular since it’s located on the right side of the keyboard for the Right Hand. Most of the time, your right hand will be occupied on the mouse. However it doesn’t mean you can’t use them. Num0, Num+ and Num- are worthy mentions as they’re usually big keys.

*Be careful if using these keys as you can sometimes accidentally bump the NumEnter which will bring up the Chat Window.

MOUSE

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As a last note, having a Gaming Mouse or simply any Mouse with side programmable keys helps a lot. A worthy mention is the Razer Naga mouse which has 12 additional keys allocated on the side of the mouse for quick access using the thumb, making it great for keybind learning and usage. A cheaper alternative might consider the Logitech G500 with about 5 keys on the side of the mouse.

In the Keyboard section, I've mentioned using the WASD keys as the default moving keys. There is an option to enable mouse for movement too. Enabling this option allows clicking the ground for movements whilst reaching for certain keys. Although I do not recommend it to beginners.

The option is located under the Game Options tab -> Controls and Camera by the 'Disable Click-to-Move' Box

OPTIONS

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Lets start off by presenting the Options window where you can set/change your keyboard keys to your needs. First off, you'll need to enable ALL the Quickbars if you haven't done it already. The floating quickbars is useful because they can be arranged in any shape or form depending on preference.



Next, under the Key Mapping and Quickbar selection is where you can change the shortcuts allocated to the Quickbars.

A good method is stand by a Training Dummy as you start allocating keybinds. That way you can practise getting familiar with them and using attack/buff skills while moving. Friendly duels is another alternative to adapt to the new style. Duels are only practice and you usually don't lose anything for giving it a try.

Trial and error is the best approach to getting used to the keys. If you've find a particular combination of keys difficult to access, change it and adjust accordingly, it is simply a learning process.



As mentioned previously, allocating certain keys to the quickbar might override default/existing shortcut functions. It is important you go back and review the other selections for any vital key that needs to be redone, they'll be indicated in a red font "RESET".

EXAMPLES

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Here are some example keybinds that players use. As I’ve mentioned previously, take it as a general idea of learning, copying the keybinds directly generally doesn’t help.

This is a great layout I found of a retail sorcerer player. He/She has the keys set out very neatly in a manner which mirrors the keyboard structure for easy sight reference. The consumables are allocated to the Numpad, possibly the player is using the Razer Naga mouse and bound the mouse keys for that.




Here’s an example of keybinds on my Chanter. Mine isn’t as neatly arranged on visual logic like the previous example. I like putting Skill Chains near the WASD keys and other attack skills around the 123 area. While long cooldown buffs are positioned further away, with the exception of Remove Shock (E), Debuffs Removal (T's) and Self Heals (Q), which is vital for quick access. I use a Razer Taipan mouse and it has 2 programmable keys on both sides of the mouse. Hence the [ and ] along with Shift+[ and Shift+], are my mouse keys.




Last example is our fellow forum member, Grrr, taken from his Gladiator Guide.

Thanks Grrr (since I linked it without telling him xD)

Razor's Sorcerer: http://forum.gameznetwork.com/f64/[guide]-introduction-keybinds-160977/#post1706576
Hoppy's Examples: http://forum.gameznetwork.com/f64/[guide]-introduction-keybinds-160977/#post1706576
Regiix3's Examples: http://forum.gameznetwork.com/f64/[guide]-introduction-keybinds-160977/index2.html#post1706641

Conclusion
Finally, Practice, Practice, Practice. There's nothing wrong with clicking every now and then, till you get the hang of it. Keybinds takes some time getting used to but eventually it'll pay off success to some fights.

If you have any class keybinds to request, simply ask. I can post them for referencing. Anyone else with examples they want to post to assist, feel free. Thank you all for posting your skillbar in advance.

 

I suppose it wouldn't hurt if I shared mine.



switching the bars with ctrl~ and ctrl1
no side bar, uncomfortable
unnatural keybinds for lumiel's wrath and pandae focus

Edit: Shoutout to Momo about his WASD keybinding and LMB+RMB movement.

 

Doesn't show my keybinds on the left but it guess it's okay like that, i got scrolls keybound ALT 1-3

Can someone guess how i walk?

Edit:

screw you Alex D:

 

Best sorc lumiel <3

 

i only figured out how to run with the mouse after you wrote it like a month ago LMAO give me an anti-noob scroll plox

 

Maybe I should include 'Enable Click to Move' in the guide =O

 

C2M is a bad idea for Gamez since you will always click on the enemies by mistake, only good for 1v1 imo : o

 

Only good for melees too ....for keeping on your opponents ass lol.

 

imo: LMB+RMB > C2M > WASD

 

Ive only found C2M useful on melees >_> templars and glads in particular...otherwise its mouse all the way...unless im using the mouse skills in which case im using wasd cus i suck at holding down the buttons while hitting the side buttons but idk thats just me.

 

Shift+w=remove shock or Caps lock,Shift+q=debuff pots,Q for reliable chain damage,E for heal,
1,2,3,4 instant only
-my keybind but still nid a good ping :annoyed:

 

Am I guessing right that you look behind you with scroll wheel click?

 

Doesnt everyone

 

I don't - I turn my camera around with left click (need to enable that in options, too).

 

If running away from a zerg, I hold W, Shift + Right click and drag mouse to turn.

 

why make it so complicated...lol

 

Because wheel click requires you to click again to revert. If I let go of the button it turns back to normal.

 

one more thing...when u rebind keys like I,P,O,L that has some function in game you can still acess that shortcuts by ALT+[that keys] <- if u dont have that binded too somewhere xD .... so u no need click menu->option each time xD

 

I've played for 4 years and I never knew that, y'learn something new everyday huh?
Shift + Z is weapon switch btw, super handy if you don't have enough room to drag weapon icons to your skillbar. Apparently weap switching is slower than clicking though? I'm not sure.

I hope it's okay to show off my trash skillbars as well
Look they even have names






I'm more of a clicker and because I know I always hit/forget to hit certain keys, I don't bind my pots (Too late now, 4 years use to clicking...)
Mandatory to bind instant shit like remove shock and instant teleports because oh my god, they number of times it's saved my life.
Apart from my cleric, I like categorised and isolated clusters just because OCD senses tickle me and it's easier to identify hell ya

Surely I'm not the only one who enjoys looking at others' skillbars? Haha

 

All these pretty pictures....

lol @ bad bard, cancerous cleric + shitty sorcerer.

Also Aki i'm gonna sue you for copyright infringement, gon get me sum credits hoe.