Vanguard at 18 - my keymap and skills rotation

[Chazcon]

KEYMAP

 

This is the keymap I use currently.

 

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/1091/vanguardkeymap02chazcon.png

 

Seems like as I level and try things, I tend to pull skills out of rotation and then later put some back in. Until 50 it's a work in progress. But I try to not make too many changes for my fingers to re-learn. Skills with strikeout I haven't gotten yet, but I have keys reserved for them.

 

A lot of this is basically the same setup I've have been using since Asheron's Call in 2001 and through LOTRO (dating myself lol). I have always played a tank.

 

My core theory on computer game combat is this: ** Don't move your hands off the keyboard in combat **

 

If I could, I would map EVERYTHING to the keyboard and throw away the mouse. In some games you can. SWTOR doesn't have very many available keybinds really, compared to LOTRO for instance. I have used macro keyboards forever, and software etc to remap but still you need the binds in the game. So I keybind all I can, try to minimize the use of the mouse.

 

Why? Couple things. After some time (takes about two frustrating weeks at first) your fingers learn the keys. It's kinda like playing a guitar. One day just *snap* and you 'have it in your fingers''. After that you don't have to look down (or very little) when you're in combat. Your movement and combat skills become instinctive and while it may not make you a rockstar, it does make you much more effective. You don't have to look down or think, you just do it. The other thing is, in a wild fight with all kinds of graphical **** going on, it's damn near impossible to visually acquire the mouse pointer on the screen and move it to where you want. Just moving your hand from the keyboard over to the mouse causes a delay. If you're scrambling to acquire the pointer, select a target and get a skill off that delay can (and will) get you killed. And if you're the tank like me, many times getting killed gets your whole group killed.

 

A lot of people swear by keyboard + mouse (I think those with a FPS background), some are 'clickers' (mouse only). To each his own, this is how I play.

 

 

I am using a G110 keyboard that has 12 macro keys for triggering programs or key combos. A quick rundown of what I have macroed for those who care:

 

First let me say I don't have combat skills macroed. I still want to actually play the game, and live or die I want it all to be on me.

 

ASSIST: Assist I am still messing with, in LOTRO this macro key would select my fellow member (the designated TA), hit target assist and run me to my target's target. Here I just want to Target Party Member and Acquire Target's Target but ATT it doesn't seem to be working for me for some reason.

 

camera UP / camera DOWN: I wrote a short Lua script for camera up and down, very handy while running about and especially up and down slopes, most games have keybinds for that. A click of either replicates a right-click on the mouse and dragging up or down a small amount. Hoping they will add those at some point.

 

strafe LEFT / strafe RIGHT: I have always had LeftAlt = Strafe Left and RightAlt = Strafe Right and SWTOR doesn't support that. It's driving me crazy but I mapped them to 2 macro keys for now. I hope they allow us to map the alt keys (and map LeftAlt and RightAlt separately) at some point. Not gonna re-learn my strafes lol. The good thing is I find that I don't need to strafe much in SWTOR like other games, where positioning seemed to be more important.

 

combat gear / town clothes: I always have a couple buttons that switch me to combat and town gear. This is an old, old habit from a game (Asheron's Call) where your combat gear burned mana whenever it was being worn, we'd switch to town clothes when not fighting. Anymore it's just my little bit of roleplaying I guess lol.

 

use item corpse: Since we can't Select Item and Use Item with keys, I wrote a little Lua script that moves the mouse to a spot just under my character's right fingertips when he is in peace mode. Then it right-clicks there to use an item or loot a corpse. So you will see me run up to a corpse, I am placing my right fingertips on it, then 'click' and I loot it lol.

 

emotes: I typically only use this handful of emotes and like to have them macroed.

 

 

SKILLS ROTATION

 

Note I don't PvP, never have, probably never will except for a spar here and there for kicks. Just not my thing.

 

Groups of trash mobs (solo with a companion)

 

- usually it's a run and gun situation, whacking mobs quickly and moving on to the next, and so from range (as I run up):

- Sticky Grenade / High Impact Bolt / Hammer Shot / Hammer Shot (dead) on a mob in the middle of the group

- by then the grenade will have gone off and knocked down the mobs, and my first target is dead

- stand at range spamming Hammer Shot / Explosive Round and some Full Auto and let melees charge me

- if they charge stand my ground and use Ion Pulse as they get in range (10m), Pulse Cannon when they are on me and then spam Stock Strike / Ion Pulse or Hammer Shot

- if no melees charge I will usually charge and do just the same thing on them, fire Ion Pulse as I run in, then a Pulse Cannon and Stock Strike, then spam Ion Pulse / Stock Strike / Hammer Shot

- I love Pulse Cannon but you can't fire it while moving, it's one of the few.

- I rarely use a Sticky Grenade more than once in this kind of fight, it's over before the CD is off anyway

- sometimes I'll stop and use Mortar Volley for my first attack for kicks but I think you take down the whole group faster the other way, plus I save Mortar Volley for bosses

- I don't use Full Auto much, but it is handy sometimes and it will stun adds

- unlike a lot of folks who wring their hands over ammo issues, I don't worry if I run low or out because Hammer Shot along with my companion does an effective job in this kind of fast fight

 

Group of trash mobs with a boss (solo with a companion)

 

- stop, take a breath, use an Endurance stim, make sure I'm max health & ammo, and Fortification is on, and Guard is on my companion

- I try to kill all adds first

- with a boss I almost always stop and Mortar Volley first

- Cyro Grenade on the boss

- Sticky Grenade on an add followed by HIB / Hammer Shot (1 down)

- sometimes I will Sticky Grenade the boss. The blast will knock down all the adds and hurt them, plus they have been hurt by the mortars, so you and your companion can whack them all pretty fast, leaving only the boss

- this all happens fast as you know, by now it's just the boss but I am down some on ammo & health, if I fear for my life I'll hit Reactive Shield and No Retreat, and a heal or ammo if I need it

- spam Hammer Shot / Explosive Round from range on the boss until dead. Heal and or ammo when needed.

- sometimes I will spam Explosive Round until I'm out of ammo, then rush the boss, using an ammo clip on the way, then use my close in rotation like above (Ion Pulse/Pulse Cannon/Stock Strike). The thing to remember is that THEY have close in skills too, some bosses won't charge you but will use them when you get close, if you had stayed at range you'd be better off. Trial and error here.

- If the fight is long I sure as hell will use my 2 grenades again if they come off CD. Note that No Retreat will finish the CD on Cyro Grenade.

 

Group with multiple bosses or a big boss (solo can be a challenge, usually get a group for this)

 

- /t Exitwound, bro what are you doing, I got a problem here

- lol same as above except my companion and me will not be enough firepower usually, I'll need help. I'll group up with a pal. Then it's real tank mode for me, I do the same attacks but I rotate targets to keep aggro on me. I use a taunt when needed to pull mobs off my pal.

- we will have a quick strategy discussion, my pal is a Trooper Commando so DPS, he is always the TA or Target Assist, i.e. he designates the targets. It will be like "cyro the side bosses, you take left, first target is that add then middle boss" Sometimes we'll target mark especially if fighting with others that we don't fight with much.

- it's a common mistake to have the tank designate targets, don't do it and perpetuate this foolish concept for God's sake. All DPS party members stay on the TA's target, burn down one at a time, except the tank who must switch targets in order to maintain all aggro.

- one thing I do while tanking is sidestep a little (strafe) to separate me from the party, so I can see if the incoming shots are all coming to me or going to someone else. Then get aggro back accordingly. I keep the whole party on my screen to one side so I can keep track of people. It's weird range tanking but I'm getting used to it. Running in like LOTRO or other games and turning them does not work, that's body bag time.

- this is a friend's tactic, make the companions attack first to draw aggro and give us an advantage in health and ammo, we have won several hard fights this way, it works. I will always let a companion die if it wins us the fight, they are handy but expendable.

- in fact I will die (vs. run etc) if the fight is close, and my pal is still alive with a little health. I have watched my pal finish off many a boss from my dead glassy eyes on the floor lol. Trust me, if I die I have used every skill in my toolbox AND thrown the empty toolbox at them. I always die with every skill and pot on CD, and with my cold dead fingers around the mob's throat. A win is a win regardless of friendly casualties.

 

Anyway, wall o' text and my 2 credits.

Edited December 26, 2011 by Chazcon

[pezit]

You can maneuver the camera and your character much more efficiently with a mouse and that's just fact, and having good awareness of your surroundings is extremely important in both PvE and PvP. I can manage all binds just fine with one hand on the keyboard by smart usage of shift.

 

You can play however you want, I like to sit sideways with my feet up on my desk but I would certainly play better if I sat up straight.

[Chazcon]

Nice comment, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed?

 

Everyone does things differently, I am sharing my way, and not trying to convince anyone that my way is the only way or a better way. It's just information. Maybe someone takes away one little thing that is useful, that is cool. We're all Vanguards who come here for community and the sharing of information.

 

This is an open forum, discussion is welcome but being rude and immature is never cool.

[aRtFuL]

Just I thing I'm not sure a lot of people are aware - hammer shot is by default automatically mapped with the LMB, so there is reallyt not much point in mapping a key for it.

 

I think thats why if you look at Taugrim's trooper pvp videos, he has no hammer shot mapped anywhere in his interface (his key 1 is grenade)

[JasonSavo]

I'm not going to put up a fancy chart but the way I think about my abilities are two in one. You know how in FPS's you have a weapon with a main function then an alt function? That's how I think about my abilities. Maybe you will understand when I list my binds

 

2 Center Bars- Mainly used to track cooldowns, I have it set up Guild Wars 2 style (first half of bar combat, other half utilities). All CC/Interrupts/Secondary Crap is on the bottom bar

---------------------------------

 

My Character Portrait--------------Enemy Portrait

Slots 1-6 Action Abilities----------Slots 7-12 Utilities

 

(Gap Closer)

Q- Storm

(Alt)- Harpoon

 

(Single Target Melee)

2- Stockstrike

(Alt)- Riot Strike (Interrupt)

 

(Grenades)

3- Sticky Grenade

(Alt) Cryo Grenade (CC)

 

(Conditional Abilities)

4- High Impact Bolt

(Alt) Blitz (Melee Version, useless...)

 

<Mapped on Naga>

 

(Melee Range)

0- Energy Blast

(Alt) Smoke Grenade (Melee Evasion)

 

(Melee Multi Target)

-- Pulse Cannon

(Alt) Neural Surge (CC)

 

Slot 7-12 Utilities

 

7- Purposely left blank, when my eyes look at the bar I automatically know utilities follow

R- Mortar Fire (easy for me to spot, middle of the bar with a empty slot above it)

 

(Threat Modifiers)

E- Neural Jolt

(Alt) Guard

 

(Threat Mod+Self Buff)

Shift E- Sonic Round

Shift +- Tech Override

 

(Resource Altering Abilities)

+- Recharge Cells

(Alt)- Reserve Powercell

 

(Oh $h*1! Abilities)

MB5- Reactive Shield

(Alt) Tenacity

 

(Oh $h*1! Heals)

MB4- Potion

(Alt) Adrenaline Rush

 

Left Bar- Combat Abilities that don't have cooldowns

 

(Continued from Melee Range Series)

Shift 0- Ion Pulse

 

(Continued from Multi Target Series)

Shift --Explosive Surge

 

9- Explosive Round

 

(Single Target Ranged)

1- Hammer Shot

(Alt) Full Auto- The only cooldown ability, I rarely use it but it's easy to spot on the bar)

 

Right Bar-- Out of Combat junk with the exception of No Retreat at the very bottom

 

Organized, simple, easy to follow.

Edited December 28, 2011 by JasonSavo

[WLpride]

I'm sorry but most of your advice wouldn't work at all in pvp or fast paced warzones.

 

cheers

 

btw, this is how I play:

 

run=E, look l-mouse+drag, turn l-mouse+tap r-mouse(or hold r-mouse)

 

while running to use other keys or abilities: switch from holding E to holding both mouse buttons (or just l-mouse). If you do this properly you can smoothly move and/or use any ability by switching between mouse and keyboard like driving a standard car switches between clutch and gears. You will also be able to use both hands to separate things while still doing anything you want to.

 

hope that makes sense

Edited December 28, 2011 by WLpride