FFXIV Keybinds & Hotbar Layout Guide for Beginners

[@Jolsn]

A lot of you are asking for updated keybinds for Dawntrail! I will post these as soon as I have leveled all my jobs.

[@shadowrigg]

lol literally came here to ask about updated DRG suggestions. Looking forward to it

[@zenfrodo]

Yay! Looking forward to that vid -- your keybinds helped me tremendously with my PLD, once I got used to the new layout. MUCH easier on the hands and sped up my reaction times. Hopefully you'll do PCT and VPR before doing a full vid on everything else, please?

[@pachi1014]

thank you based goobbue enjoyer :D

[@aRoamerr]

yay! cant wait for that, idk if i'd be playing this game without ur keybinds. (kinda sad yea lol) the help has been tremendous! :)

[@jango6783]

Literally just getting back into the game and was going to ask for this since I've had this video saved for years! You're awesome!! :D

[@UnidentifiedRob]

The biggest change I ever made in this game in terms of control settings was binding the side buttons on my mouse to ctrl and alt, so that I could use those as modifiers for my skills. That way I never really have to stretch and press two buttons at the same time with the same hand while also moving around with WASD. It was a huge game-changer for me.

[@234bokoy]

Thats the solution i used i even used the clicker for the mouse scroll so i can use alt , shift and ctrl

[@3dreamsequence]

Genius. I plan on doing this today

[@astrid2432]

that is genius I put 2 most important skills, where I need to use it quickly in emergency on my 2 side buttons on my Zelotes, but your idea doesn't sound so bad

[@Manudyne]

I use a mouse on PS5 but can't assign those buttons???

[@liteknight]

@@Manudyne time to join the PC master race

[@NekoJanz]

I started off playing the game with the default keybinds and just clicking the farthest abilities from 12345 with the mouse, and this vid finally gave me the motivation to set up proper keybinds for everything I used in the game. a month later, content plays so much more smoothly for me with the new keybind setup, and I really have this vid to thank for getting me to finally play smarter. for a tip, if you have trouble hitting Ctrl for certain casts (hand injury, pinky can't reach easily, or you just really don't like having to hit Ctrl for your third hotbar) and you play on a keyboard that allows you to remap individual keys (custom mechanical keyboards, a USB translator that can remap your keys on a non-customizable keyboard, etc), rebind Caps Lock to Ctrl. it will allow you to cast your Ctrl abilities without having to pretzel your pinky to do so. This was a great QoL change for me when I was setting up my keybinds, and I never use Caps Lock very often either, so nothing was lost for my use case.

[@ClydeLombardi]

This helped a lot, recently got back into the game and I can't believe I never thought of this. Except I'm swapping it to where the number keys are on the end.

[@true538]

Been playing ffxiv for three years now and I had no idea you could modify a keybind for the 3rd hotbar. I use the mmo mouse and it's extremely convenient.

[@asciiavatar]

This is why I used a 12-button MMO mouse and organize the keybinds on the screen in the same 3x4 grid as the mouse. I have 3 of these 3x4 grids (normal, +shift, +ctrl).

[@Primu]

A tip you didn't mention: You can switch Hotbar 1 to other hotbars, you can bind this behaviour to keys under System, the bindings "Switch to Hotbar 1" and whichever other "Switch to Hotbar X" that you'll use to replace Hotbar 1. I personally have Hotbar 1 with single target skills, and Hotbar 10 with AoE skills, so while I'm fighting a boss I have Hotbar 1 active, and then when there's a pack of mobs I can switch my Hotbar 1 to Hotbar 10. This allows you to use the same keybindings for 2 hotbars. I personally use & would recommend Logitech G600 (that you pictured in this video). Not only does it have 12 side buttons, it has a 3rd click button that you can use like a modifier key, effectively making it 24 side buttons.

[@ML1800]

some MMO mice also only have the buttons 1-9 and if you use these i recoment to change the last 3 with Q-E-R, been doing this for years and they are great "OH SHIT" buttons depending on what MMO u play XD

[@mrbastos]

I use something similar, 1-5, QERTFG with 5TG being buttons I use less often since they are more of stretch. I have a Sensei 310 and changed the buttons near my thumb to be control and the other to be shift, so now I have control and shift easily and have 3 hotbars no problem. if I need a 4th I'll have to figure something else out.

[@KaguyaEne]

Once upon a time my pea sized brain couldn't make mouse+keyboard work so I used strictly keyboard and was miserable. Switched to controller, still felt bad since i couldn't make hotbars flow together well. A few years later the brain grew and became shiny smooth and I thought, "movement with controller is much easier and the cross bar is good when I don't have to swap it, so why don't I just click my buttons?" Now I use left side controller with 8 cross bar buttons (L1+DPad and L2+DPad) for defensive cooldowns, dashes, and specific weaves for DPS/Tanks and macro ST healing for healers and click all my offensive buttons on hotbars arranged in combo order, opener and some even/odd burst windows. Does it look absolutely messy with 5-8 skill bars full of stuff like 10 Bootshines and Dragon Kicks everywhere? Yes, but it means I can just click left to right then snake back on the next hotbar line. And ever since then my brain has become so smooth it slides across the ground with no friction.

[@AzyPProductions]

The joys of the mmo mouse.

[@yeetswan117]

I hope you end up updating your hotbars for dawntrail, ive been shamelessly ripping off your hotbars since they're so intuitive, and frankly have too smol brain to make my own with the new actions and picto/viper. Thanks for the video!

[@Skaryys]

I feel you. My pictomancer bar is such a mess haha

[@crisfast]

Would be also cool to see your layout for DoH/DoL

[@q.marybee]

I came back to this video to comment this so I'll just thumbs OP notices and adds it to Postimages album that I SHAMLESSLY have bookmarked. (Which came in handy actually just this week because my hotbars decided to spoof on me out of nowhere and had to redo every single one of them. So thank you OP! ❤

[@aRoamerr]

Yessss we need an updated version!

[@aRoamerr]

Hmmmm… :(

[@Brendedn]

I have the corsair scimitar(mmo mouse) but for anyone out there I strongly advise every so many levels just going to a dummy and completely redoing your keybinds and playing around with them until you find them comfortable. Doing it on the fly has never been as comfortable for me as breaking down what I want grouped together, to be the most accessible, the most comfortable and have a pretty comfortable flow between combos and buffs or ranged pulls, aoes, and mitigation. Even looking at the setups other people use online initially always felt weird and served little more than a reference for what I found to be best for myself.

[@shinkakida]

100% Try getting a MMO Mouse to help with button pressing.

[@evacody1249]

I also use an MMO mouse I have one from Razer. I find it even helps in none MMO games mostly RPGs.

[@Sporkekw]

My friend borrowed me an mmo mouse for a month but I never really got the hang of it… My right hand fingers have learnt, that there are just 5 buttons and I could not deal with more 🤣

[@liteknight]

That's a great idea but it gets a little confusing when going back to old content and not having most of my skills and the ones I can use are all over the place... I do play on controller though.

[@trystanreadman1764]

i actually bind every ability for the entire class before i even unlock them so i can get a feel for how it will slot together

[@Blast69]

Shamelessly copied your hotbars since I found this video, hopefully you add Viper and Picto to the list!

[@lerenardroux]

As someone who just started playing the game 2 weeks ago this video couldn't have come at a better time. Thanks so much for providing resources like this to new players!!

[@Ravenleaf182]

hey, we started the same time! hope your journey is as fun as mine is being o/

[@Midnightgamer00]

I would also suggest if you have a little extra money to buy a gaming mouse that has multiple keys on the side. I am using the logitech G600 which has 12 buttons on the side which I just set up to hit keys 1 through =. The only downside I had was that the mouse I received wasn't preprogrammed when I got it so I had to use a second mouse to bring up the software to program it before the left and right click would work. They are not too terribly expansive anymore with most ranging from $25-60

[@LameMule]

@@Midnightgamer00 Best mouse by far

[@cm5274]

Coming into this game w a 12 button mouse thinking its gonna b ok but i found out it didnt work 4 me and soon as saw this it made sense and copied all ur keybinds lol. Ty

[@Hira-lit]

started playing 4 days ago on controller currently level 80 and using samurai and since there's so many abilities I kinda swapped off controller and wanna use mnk

[@bigzonks4393]

As a controller player I was mostly watching this because I was curious what playing on keyboard was like. I didn’t get a whole lot out of this except for noticing you’ve set up Shirk as a macro. That’s a really great idea, I can’t believe I’ve been manually selecting my cotank from the party list this whole time.

[@crowshroud]

I use an MMO mouse so any advice I have isn't as applicable if you're trying to set up a mostly keyboard hotbar, but early on I made sprint bound to the mouse scroll wheel click and I can never go back to any other setup without it. I happened by chance to realize one day I could bind something to it and idk if other people have realized too! I have it on a shared 'non-combat clickables' hotbar where I keep teleport/return or ghysal greens so it doesn't clog up my regular job hotbars, and just set that one slot to mouse scroll wheel click so it's there regardless of job. It's great for quick use and takes hardly any work to build up muscle memory for because the mouse is already so tied to movement anyway!

[@klabence]

I originally bound it to assist target, but I have never been using it that much...

[@Deluxery]

We need the Viper/Picto update please!

[@holden_tld]

remap your caps lock to to be a ctrl key, and ctrl modifier is infinitely better to use.. takes a simple registry edit in windows.

[@vegronica9006]

I'm hoping that you'll make an update to this when Dawntrail comes out for the job changes! I still reference the hotbars album often for setting up alts. 🙏

[@OriahVinree]

@jolsyn pleeeeease update your postimages with viper and pictomancer! I use all your layouts!

[@301SO]

I recently tried controller because my hands started to hurt from all the clicking and holding shift/ctrl down with my pinky. While there's some negatives with controller too. The cross-hotbar system is a godsend! It makes weaving and doing long chains of abilities so much more intuitive!

[@GardrexArts]

Opposite for me. I just went from controller to k/m (after playing ff14 for the last year on controller, whew). What made k/m work for me was getting an mmo mouse and binding shift control and alt to the mouse buttons. I can now play so much more smoothly, even better than I could on controller. Also, no finger pain! Don't forget to stretch your hands and forearms after playing!

[@alchemi8085]

Yep, controllers are ace. I'll never go back to kb/m.

[@JayBigDadyCy]

I can see the advantage of a controller. But as primarily a PC gamer I'd have a hard time swapping. Plus, for some reason, the PS4 controllers always dig into my hand in one spot after a while. As a drummer my hands and wrists never really get tired on a keyboard. I play PoE a lot too and I remember back when you hand to piano your flasks all the time. I was one of the very few people who actually liked doing that lol

[@Banana_Cognac]

The biggest game changer for me was purchasing an MMO mouse. Went with the Logitech G600. Definitely worth the money. Align my abilities in 3 3x4 groups and modifying the 2nd and 3rd groups with ctrl and shift respectively. Took a little while to get used to, but now I'd be lost without it.

[@OzixiThrill]

While I haven't rebound my keys quite yet, I do want to suggest something extra heretical - Rebind your movement keys from WASD to ESDF. This will shift your fingers' position so that you have more readily available buttons (the lowest row of keys can be very awkward to use) without really limiting your accessible keys.

[@trystanreadman1764]

they're out of line, they're right, but they're out of line.

[@TimeEdits]

This was reassuring for me as a new player in their first mmo, I was wondering if my layout made any sense and now realizing that I already had it setup almost identical to yours solidified my decisions. I use 1-5 QERTFGV, then I use a program called X-Mouse Button Control to turn my 2 side mouse buttons into my CTRL & ALT modifiers. I keep all my oGCD on the same buttons for all classes so it’s second nature when changing classes.

[@3dreamsequence]

I have 2 side mouse buttons. Can i not just bind those to shift and ctrl for the sake of making using the other 2 hotbars easier?

[@TimeEdits]

@@3dreamsequence yes this is exactly what I did

[@samuelriccio5337]

For people who started with the standard keybinds and became clickers i can say that while the setup in this video is probably more comfortable, you can still play optimally by clicking your skills in savage and ultimate content and parse 90-99. Your personal skills are more important than your setup and if you struggle to change or you find yourself comfortable with clicking then you can stay the way you are without influencing your performance.

[@lunaticmode638]

yeah, people are on some mad copium if they think the game isnt 100% clickproof. The combat is slow enough that you only really need to keybind your main rotation and main ogcds. Clicking the 60s-120s stuff is totally fine, nooone needs to keybind their 2min cd lol

[@eldenarmortem975]

@@lunaticmode638 I mean, oshit coldown like benection would be useless without bind, or just higher chance you push it late. Dunno how fast is experienced clicker.

[@eggo5559]

Im actually much better when I just click tbh especially with my small hands that can't reach ctrl or shift + other key at the same time. And it's not like I look at the hotbar for the entire time. I actually don't and have very good awareness of whats happening. I can look at my hotbar AND my surroundings at the same time. And like the person above said, the combat is slow enough and a lot of spells have a high cooldown. I played wow as a clicker and let me tell you it's much harder

[@mouse5235]

Its too late for me but save yourselves. I have 2.5k hours and have always played by clicking all skills except 1-4 and shift 1-4 (shift is assigned to an extra mouse button). I dont find it a major issue for myself as i have completed savage and ultimate content this way and it just feels natural to me now, but i do wish that i had formed better habits earlier. :)

[@eruantien9932]

BLM main; I use 4 hotbars, but I don't use every slot on all of them. The reason being that this lets me put all my Fires and Blizzards (and both Thunders for that matter) on single keys, switching between them with the modifier keys - alongside this, I can have all my AoEs on the same modifier key.

[@keanubredenkamp3776]

I used a similar layout when I first started and I used to click with mouse for stuff like buffs and defense, but after getting an MMO mouse, my life has been so much better. If anyone is inclined to try an MMO mouse, I highly recommend it. ( A tip for what I do is I fashion my hotbars into 3 square so that it mimics my mouse button layout, and then I use SHIFT and CTRL as modifiers :3 )

[@commandopengi]

I did exactly the same! 3x4 hot bars, LCTRL/Shift for modifiers.

[@keanubredenkamp3776]

@@commandopengi yep xD

[@chrisanderson7820]

I'd like to suggest a next step to your suggested layout. I played a lot of Black Desert and obviously in an action combat PVP game keybinds are mega important. The way Black Desert sets up its keybinds is like how you do it but they also put keys in place that are logical. Examples: the Space key is normally Jump which is a form of movement so when you bind Shift+Space you make this another movement skill, something like a forward leap/engage skill (Tank leap, a dragoon jump, ninja teleport etc), you could also do Shift+W as a "forward" skill, either a movement skill or a ranged attack. A heal and a shield are both anti-damage so if you put a shield skill on Q, you put the next step after a shield (a heal) on Shift+Q. If E and R are attack skills then Shift+E and Shift+R should be augmented versions of those attacks (example the AoE version of those skills or the follow-on combos skills off those skills). What they are basically doing is to try and relate the binding to the natural use of the keys so for example when playing a particular class in BDO that had a "forward torpedo" attack where your character forward rolled through the enemy and often used this to dodge due to invuln frames this was bound to Shift+W because it was a natural extension of forward movement with W. So when you're binding keys don't just base it on finger distance but also create a sort of keyboard mnemonic, it makes gaining muscle memory 100x easier.

[@belxander293]

Very good video! I think it's very important, especially for new players to directly have a good setting with keybinds and hotbar, and placement for skills I also use 1 2 3 4 5, Q, E, R, T, F, G, Z X, V! and all of them with Shift. It's pleny enough to be good! I just use 5 T G B (and with Shift too) for long cd (90 seconds and more), because they are far away. And i use also Shift + W A S D for some very specific skills. (Shift + W in Mages and Healres is for the instant cast, and otherwise it's my "attack buff", and Shift+S is the opposite, the "defense buff") But i never use Ctrl+ something, because i struggle to hit Ctrl. (yes i have little fingers, but of course if you can use Ctrl too, you can have more options, or just not use 5 T G B, and just the closest binds only with Ctrl too) And, it's pretty rare to see video speaking about which skills/spells put where! But yes, i think it's very important to have the "almost same abilities" on the same keybinds! I have almost the same settings than you, Jolsn. Using Q for the ranged attack, and E R F and 2 3 4 for 2 differents combos (for exemple the 2 combos of the Samuraï. And for the "only 1 touch", it's on V). 1 is most of the time a charge/dash. I have also the knockout/stun on Shift+C. All the AoE are on Shift. For exemple, the "AoE combo" is simply on Shift+E, Shift+R, Shift+F OR, depending of some classes, on Shift+2, Shift+3. (for the Bard for example) Same for healers (i don't play tank), my heal skills are always on the same configuration between every jobs! F is my damage AoE (with White Mage it's so useful for trash mobs), Shift+F is my Healing AoE. Q my main attack (Earth/Ruin), E the DoT, 3 the main heal, 2 the "little heal". C the HoT mono-target, Shift+C the HoT for the party. etc... It's so good because you can easily switch jobs and you just have to use the same keybinds! You always know what it will do! (in the past, when you have more DoT, my DoT was on C or V/Shift+V etc) The only thing you have to remember is the specificity of your job, and that's all. But it's more easy to remember it like that! I starting MMOs with Aion, and i directly try to find a good system to handle so many skills, and i naturally did that. And i use this system since then! (2008) I used it in SWTOR too (Shift+C was my interrupt, and it's fun because with the Jedi it's also a high turn kick, like for the melee class in FF XIV), Tera (even if you had less skills to put in your hotbars), WoW (when i finally played this game for Mist of Pandaria), etc... And i ALWAYS asked myself... why the default setting is not using a system like that? It's so good, more intuitive, more fun to use. Why 1 to 0, on top of your keyboard... It's so stupid. No one can use 7, 8, or 9 easily in a fight! It will force new players to become "mouse clickers"... When with a good setup, it's so much fun to use keybinds! (and yes, of course you can setup your hotbars to visually have your "almost same" skills on the same column, it can help a lot, at least at the beginning! i don't do that really, but i understand it ;) )

[@Batterydennis]

I have played MMOs for decades now with a similar setup to what you described. The only tweak that I have made is this: I have 2 button on the L side of my mouse, I have rebound these buttons to Shift & Ctrl. This allows me to stop using my L pinky to awkwardly hit L-Ctrl. Instead I am using my R-Thumb to push Shift & Ctrl. This has been a game changer for my playstyle. Thanks for the video.

[@Ktjnn]

Don't know if this has been mentioned, but if you are going to use Legacy controls, the A/D = Strafe is even more important, because the normal Legacy movement actually makes a curve instead of going in a straight line. Also, Legacy has a slight advantage over default for moving away and attacking; Default will kind of make your character stutter step backwards but Legacy you just keep moving normally. This small change can be huge in content like solo Deep Dungeon because you can kite while using your ranged attacks without getting drawn backwards, but it can also let you greed mechanics more often without getting hit.

[@livinglegond]

I just recently started playing this game again. I've had it for over 4 years but only last night did I get my first Soul Stone. I got White Mage and Pali and both due to watching so many other FF14 videos in the last month and me playing MMOs for probably 15+ yaers I'm glad to know that I have a very similar layout by deafault that you do. My mitigation is all on C top row, Shift 2nd row is mostly for heals and other support actions, and Bottom row is obviously instants and default combos. I'm gonna have to show my friend this video because he's new to MMOs only ever playing SWOTR and it physically hurt me to see how he ended up laying out his hotbars accross his screen. He tunred them into 6x2s and put about an inch between each one and placed them across the bottom of his screen like a trifold for a presentation. But seeing as though he was level 1-10 he had like 5-6 skills all smooshed up on the far left 6x2 and was individually clicking most of the skills.

[@WarMonkeyPlays]

I fully endorse this setup...it also helps that I use almost an exact keybind set up, so I feel validated :D Only thing I do differently is I use "v" instead of "t". Going even further, I bind non-combat commands like soothe, beckon, mount, potions to my F keys, and I go even further and have the various panes spearate into 3 different groups that I assign by rows: row 1: t,y,u,i,o,p - "info" panes like map, abilities, logs. Row 2: g,h,j,k,l,; - "social" panes like duty finder, party, free clan. Row 3: b,n,m,",","." - "item" panes like bag, character, collections. Yeah...I went a bit nuts but it all makes sense.

[@alex140i3]

that is honestly not a bad idea as this setup in the video gets rid of c for character gona try this out do you happen to have a full list of the changes so i can copy and fine tune?

[@WarMonkeyPlays]

I'm sorry, I don't. If I was a content creator, I'd probably put together a spreadsheet. Thank you for the compliment though@@alex140i3

[@alex140i3]

@@WarMonkeyPlays its all good i chose to use a macro hotbar menu setup and mix your idea into it i just started playing 3 days ago so its best to learn early

[@TheBenzooh]

i main a healer and im happy with my keybinds, but i am not happy with my keybinds as dps. i want to play all roles but im going crazy figuring out where and what i want things.

[@YaoiKillerProduction]

I'm using a mouse that has 2 thumb buttons (which most mice have nowadays) and a dps control button. I usually map Ctrl and Shift on those buttons while the tab targeting function to the dps button, which to me is easier to press compared to pressing them on your keyboard. You just have to make sure that your mouse is compatible with mapping keyboard keys to its buttons.

[@qcklu]

also nice about mapping the mouse 4 and mouse 5 buttons to modifier keys is that u can easily press them together with any keyboard key (so no need to worry about hitting CTRL+T for example) and on most mice they are easy to press together for the 4th hotbar to set up ur bars in a more convenient way or to not need as many keyboard keys (like if u dont like having to use zxc or t, those abilities could be moved to the 4th bar instead)

[@adrianreichelt7057]

Mine's the usual MMO Mouse (Corsair) with 12 Buttons. I do the same thing, I have the two buttons (5 & 8) that are closest to what the double thumb button combo would be set to be Shift and Alt Modifiers, which means it's a lot easier for me to just use those keybinds without ever having to worry about reaching them on my keyboard for any of my keyboard-based binds. And because the 12 buttons set up has other great easily accessible thumb buttons, it also provides me with more than just modifiers to bind, I've effectively gained a third of the viable binds I can comfortably use on keyboard as extra buttons I can use for binding.

[@GaleonGuitar]

Can you explain the logic you used for melee DPS keybinds? Because your *T/F/C/X* are really mixed up in terms of muscle memory and I'm having a hard time. Check your Ninja, Dragoon and Monk screenshots and compare the T/F/C/X keys to see what i'm talking about, it's really confusing for a returning player. For example it seems you have *X and Shift+X for healing* spells on Monk and Dragoon, but your Ninja got healing spells on *Shift+C and Shift+F.* Your Monk and Ninja got their *stun on C* but your Dragoon got their *stun on Shift+C.* Can you explain why it's like that? Stuns have to be consistent in my opinion. The role skill "Arm's Length" has a different keybind for Dragoon (shift+F), Monk (shift+T) and Ninja (ctrl+T).

[@akashiseijuro2255]

Thank you my kind sir I'm making the switch from the controller, and I was LOST for Mouse and Keyboard binding.

[@gr4mas144]

Alt modifier is the best for me, ctrl only with Q and E , my friend click everything via mouse for low lvl activities it's OK but 60+ I dunno sounds like pain to me.

[@1bossofbosses]

Im stil la clicker even doign hard content with clicking and my timing got good it has its handicap with cam like you said but I'm so used to it. I may end up getting am ouse cuz i can't do keyboard outside of the moves and it would be a training thing for me and a whole restart.

[@benmorrow1701]

One of the biggest things I miss from WOW is that the macro system is super robust, as opposed to the system in FF14 which is nearly useless in combat. In WOW, one can macro default, shift, alt, ctrl functions into one keybind - there’s no latency added, and the graphic on the key-bind changes to whatever move corresponds to the shift/alt/ctrl function, WITH it’s associated cooldown if on cd, and WITH the tooltip that explains the move when mousing over it. IDK why the FF14 macro system is like, an afterthought, or maybe even a simple carryover from FF11 that they didn’t bother to update in any way shape or form so the player is required to have these monstrosities of cluttered key-binds taking up three times the needed screen real estate.

[@zackmx1]

I have nerve damage in my right arm and cannot feel my thumb making an MMO mouse unusable. Great way to keep all the buttons on my left hand!

[@chestercorwell]

I've been playing FF14 for almost 10 years now and although I'm playing on Controller - and I think I've mastered it - I still learn something new every single day. This video is very informative! Keep the good work up! 👏

[@kayn9651]

Everyone ends up eventually forming habits in their key binds. - Like a friend of mine has his movement re-bound from WASD to ESDF so he can put an extra three key binds between movement and shift. - He has big hands, so it's no big deal, but really, you gotta adapt this to your particular setup. Best advice for me is just to put your fingers on Shift, A, W and D like you would in a "ready" position, and see which keys on the keyboard you can reach without lifting more than one finger off those keys at a time. I can reach all the way to T and G comfortably with my index finger, while I still have my hand on Shift, A and W. And same for the 5 key. And my thumb can comfortably reach to the B key. - So that's a whole half a keyboard I have easy access to. Your hands will likely be different, or maybe you have a different keyboard layout, maybe you've got more spacing there, or you hold your keyboard at a slightly different angle. - If your mid and index finger are a bit longer, then your WASD position will come from a slightly different angle that might make it hard to even reach C with your thumb, or maybe you got longer fingers and can reach all the way to 6 Y and H. Feel around for what key combos you can comfortably reach by just making subtle motions of your fingers, while your hand is at rest, and work from there. Come up with the setup that feels best to you.

[@zirael2077]

Thank you! I'm new to the game and have been using the default keybinds for all of the 230h I have on the game, needless to say this has made playing much easier and comfortable! It is a bit confusing at first since my muscle memory still presses some of the old keybinds but it's an amazing and needed change, thanks!

[@metaphorium1328]

One of the best guides for keybinds, logical and practical. Very intuitive for keyboard players who don’t have an mmo mouse

[@derand57]

Can you share a video with some of your setups for various jobs? that would be really helpful. So far though, I love this setup and even created a profile on my side-button mmo mouse for some of the alt-X keys (mostly CDs for me, with that bar highest on my four bars, so it is the closest to the action, so I can see when they come back up). Seriously, this was a major boon. Perhaps I can actually start nailing rotations.

[@derand57]

(Just realized you have a link to them... so thanks for that too, you anticipated an obvious question, and I appreciate that so much)

[@TheYambino]

A simple mmo mouse is very comfortable. I wasn't used to using one, and at first couldn't think of ways to use it. But I gradually moved skills that were even the slightest bit uncomfortable to it. This also eased up how much my left hand was working. Can't imagine playing without it.

[@g1Chikumo]

Funny thing to counter one of your first points, you can turn the camera without the mouse, it's helping me in fights plenty of time to use A&D to rotate while using Q&E to strafe

[@SekiberiusWelkesh]

Yeah, I also find that keeping certain types of abilities bound to the same grouping helps with remembering. Me personally, I like to bind my AOE abilities to T, F or G and I like to bind my sprint to Ctrl R. I also usually bind my long cooldown abilities to my number keys, whilst using Q E and R for the combos and abilities I use most in rotation.

[@phoenixruin6640]

I agree that when you said that just the thought gives you carpal tunnel. When I first started playing 14, I was mouse and keyboard, but I found it rough and moved to controller. I would like to get into the RP seen, but having to move with my controller, set it down and go to my key bord to type out my response, I just find that to be the reason I don't...

[@onlytwogenders420]

I 100 recommend the mmo mouse. Also a pro tip, change your hotbar to the 3x4. It puts it in the same way it is set up on the mouse, giving you a visual cue where to put your finger.

[@Redline20t]

Using “1 to =“ and “shift 1 to =“ on a Logitech G600 MMO mouse. And I’m running out of space for all the skills. Probably gonna have to add one more modifier.

[@i_am_caprico]

Just get a 2nd mouse

[@penguinvader7057]

Personally I only use shift as a modifier, 2 of my bars are the same as yours (aside from assigning the mouse side buttons to different keys to free up 1-4 for targeting party members), but one has Q,E,R,F and 2 mouse wheel directions (or you could just go with 2 more keyboard keys), plus their shift versions. These 6 are the most comfy for me and I prefer using some extra keys over having to assign ctrl/alt, which are a bit awkward for me to hit.

[@Ghost88o9]

As a brand new sprout this video is like music to my ears ❤🎉

[@tindalen5106]

I have been running this style of set up for many years. Long enough I am getting arthritis in my fingers and carpel tunnel. I tried the MMO mice, but my hands are simply too big for them to work. So I went with a standard mouse with two thumb buttons I use for my control and shift. This gives me everything I need and all three rows are just as accessible as any of the others. You could also add a fourth row if you wanted to. Shift on your keyboard, ctrl and alt+ctrl on your mouse. I would highly recommend switching to the modifiers on your mouse and keyboard for all the functions.

[@Inferiis]

My hand is either too small or too big, but I find ctrl easier than shift. I just place my side of palm on it, and I can comfrotably reach 0-5 (I have 0 before 1, Hungarian keyboard layout). So my bars look like 0-5, ctrl 0-5, alt 0-5. That's 18 skills, more than anough at my level (just about to finish HW)

[@Jolsn]

Whatever works for you is fine, remember that you could also use a button on the side of your mouse as modifier key

[@Inferiis]

@@Jolsn never used those as modifiers, but I may give that a try, because now that I tried DRG and SMR 5 buttons aren't enough for a single rotation

[@KVAR42]

Sir, Excuse plz, Is it more efficient to have the hotbars numbered from the Bottom being 1 then 2 and 3 on the top. Sorry, new to FF14. Thank you very much for all your informative videos and help! Edit: I now find this configuration of having Bar 1 on the lowest bar or the bottom and 2 and 3 ascending. I was able to pick up intuitive muscle memory, switching through the 3 bars rather easily!!

[@Jolsn]

That's up to what you prefer the most

[@KVAR42]

@@Jolsn Thank you Sir, I thought that may be the case. I'm new and was wondering if there was an advantage. Used to be a clicker, hope to become more efficient. Thank you for your time. Wishing you and yours all the best.

[@Just_Call_Me_Tim]

I had this on in the background as something to listen to while working. I’m going to _have to_ sit down and _watch_ it. It’s giving me some good ideas, but it’s definitely a thing that needs to be seen. My brother just started playing, and I think it’s his first MMO although not his first FF game. I’ll definitely share this with him.

[@maskless]

I pretty much use the same binds as you. I have shift on mb4 and ctrl on mb5 which removes all strain doing modifiers with my left hand.

[@hamzahussain7794]

Thank you so much for these! Are the settings in the description made on lvl 90 all jobs?

[@Jolsn]

Yes, all my jobs are maxed out and the screenshots were taken with the setup that I used at the time of reaching level 90

[@hamzahussain7794]

@@Jolsn Thanks!

[@i_am_caprico]

I see you've finished the video before the Mirage Dive changes. Where'd you put it in your hotbar? Ctrl+4?

[@zherato6741]

i am a clicker, i press my standard combo on my KB, if i dont feel comftorble hitting any key with my finger i switch to clicking them, and i click the rest (as a drg). I dont look 90% of the time on my hotbar, and even so i cant think of a single fight that i did was a problem for me when it comes to hitting my buttons. Its purely about what feels good for you imo and i personally couldnt change to a full KB layout for my skills.

[@DS-ox9ku]

I use ALT as a modifier instead of CTRL because I can rest my thumb on it, making it really easy to use. My hands are small so I have trouble reaching CTRL as well

[@thrashinuva]

I use `(~ for the sake of clarity) through 5 plus modifiers. Modifier buttons are on my mouse. My 123 combo is still my 123 combo, but I can place a frequently used attack to the left of 1. This is 2 full hotbars. I use zxc plus modifiers for a 3rd hotbar. I use R plus modifiers for the universal actions (auto run, sprint, limit break, and mount). F is for focus target stuff which admittedly I barely use anymore. The 5 key is certainly the worst of these buttons to reach, but considering the amount of infrequently used buttons there are this is hardly a problem. Additionally any combo with a 4th step I can easily set to ~, such as Atonement. I've set up a 4th hotbar for just some job specific things that I really don't care to have a button for, namely pet glamour macros, blue spellbook, and so on.

[@pcallycat9043]

I have the tartarus v2 keypad and the corsair scimitar, 4 full hotbars worth of keybinds in use, never have to move my hands or think. Not as cheap a solution as intelligent keybinds on a keyboard, but, once you've played this way, it's hard to imagine doing it any other way.

[@leegale1397]

I really need to learn to use my Tartarus. I’ve played around with it but not really put the effort in. I recently tried controller but I just can’t get to grips with it…

[@pcallycat9043]

@@leegale1397 I convinced a friend to try it out when he asked about it. Took him about a week to get used to it, figure out how to map keybinds that made sense and felt natural, now, claims he can never go back. I'll admit no controller in the world is for everyone, but... this is the one razer product I can say I like (though i've been using it since it was called an n52 10 years ago lol)

[@leegale1397]

@@pcallycat9043 Yeah, I’ve looked at them for years but only bought one last year. Time to give it a proper go this time

[@fulmetalmage]

Played wow back in the day, started ff14 a few weeks back, our layouts are freakishly similar, and for similar reasons. I extend to 5, but keep t for target of target, and I use alt instead of control. But due to weaving I might put those actions on my mouse.

[@rypart8087]

It seems obvious to put all tank mitigation spells on the same row but somehow it didnt occur to me. It's been very helpful so far. Thanks a lot.

[@clearskyy]

I've played this game for years and years, this will probably make my life a lot better. I had recently adjusted to clicking certain actions and adding more hotbars for lv90s, like click the hotbar and place the thing down for healing for example. I'm not sure why I was so afraid of making these changes, they make a lot of sense. I personally like my tank aoe buttons on Q and E since I think that's comfy, but that's just personal choice lol. I know dps aoe is probably going to have to be shift 123 or something I'll have to check your link. I do like the templates you gave but I definitely will be toying with it for my perfect fit, I thank you for your time and tips.

[@tngdragon]

I'm a clicker. Thanks for this video. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to change, but this is the most clear, understandable tutorial I've seen. I've listed as a fave - thanks again.

[@magpiefirefly]

Sent this to some friends who are just starting, I love how concise this is, and also the mention of having similar buttons between classes to help with muscle memory. Really great video, thank you!

[@yuki_musha]

"You need your mouse to move the camera around". No. Completely doable on keyboard. You can play on keyboard without a mouse as you can bind camera controls on keys. It allows you to have an easy access to all numbers and, most important of all, to have your most used abilities ounder your right hand while your left one is responsible for movements (WASD) and less used abilities. It's great because it's less taxing on your left hand and you don't have to bend it when moving and attacking at the same time (or at least, far less often than when you put everything under it). And if you doubt about the usability of such a layout at high level, I've cleared an ultimate with it. Last but not least: the alt modifier key is far more accessible than ctrl and arguably more than shift (depends on what you prefer to use between your thumb and your pinky).

[@AzuriteTV]

Cute Au Ra... oh and great video!

[@reverserebirth-bd3fg]

Hey Mr. Jolsn. Thanks so much for posting this critical advice. I honestly believe your layout should be instituted as a selectable option in FFXIV by the developers and they should sell or explain that the player can put learning stickers on each of the corresponding keys/keyboard switches to aid learning this layout! After playing since 2019 with an MMO mouse I'm tired of leaving all the work to my single thumb. Also, I have switch to being left-hand dominant (practically speaking) and my left thumb after redoing 2.0 to 4.0 completely, my left thumb is too taxed to continue. Thus, I've chosen to use your keybinds as it divdes the workload across five fingers and also allows the use of the default WASD and most importantly keyboard switches with keycaps are so much more easier to press, they fit the surface area of each of my fingers pads and the pound/inches squared overall feels less and is spread across a bigger surface area. Keyboards all the way for hotbar keybinds! Unpopular opinion, but never again with mmo's mouses, there's too taxing on the thumb! Thank you!

[@w0wn]

What I did is, I keybined the two side buttons of my mouse into CTRL and SHIFT, and I use the exact same hotbar keybinds that you showed in the video, I find it more comfortable to press these two through my mouse side buttons rather than pressing them on the keyboard, and is actually faster.

[@michaelmoore2679]

What is sticking with me most is that I should probably pick a main job. Right now I’m trying to level everything together. And sometimes my muscle memory has betrayed me when I switch to a job I haven’t used in a while. Still, great to hear many of my ideas about hotbar setup are shared by even more experienced players!

[@Jolsn]

Honestly, I don't have a main job either. There's a few jobs I've played a lot that I hover between right now. Interestingly switching between jobs makes you understand the game better and actually helps me memorize rotations and so on faster. Something about taking a break and coming back to it just makes it stick way more. So if you want to play well, I would actually recommend a few main jobs rather than just a single one. But that's just a theory I have :)

[@SirPhysics]

It might be better to get every job to 90 before deciding on your main job(s). You get to learn them all somewhat, figure out what you like, then you can knuckle down and build the muscle memory.

[@jonasbaert]

I'm only using keyboard in battle, and use the whole numpad and the 6 buttons (ins to pgdn) for important abilities, turn my camera with scrlk and pause keys and move with my arrow keys. Less important keys that I use only once during battle I assign to the symbols on the left side of my keyboard. I also use right ctrl + numpad keys for aoe attacks recently, it's better to get muscle memory.

[@Richardnetor]

I usually go for: Forward: E Left: S Right: F With that I got keys near my fingers: Q, W, R T, A, D, G Plus with Modifiers: Shift + Q, Shift + W, Shift + E, Shift + R, Shift + T, Shift + A, Shift + S, Shift + D, Shift + F, Shift + G And numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4 also include a Gaming Mouse other 12 buttons, and I'm ready

[@PeterEnis69]

"strafe" is definitely my preferred way to move left/right

[@dra6o0n]

1 2 3 4 Q E R F Shift + 1/2/3/4/Q/E/R/F Ctrl + 1/2/3/Q/E/R/F/Z/X/C M4/M5 Shift+M4/M5 Ctrl+M4/M5 ALT+1/2/3/q/e/r/f/Z/x/c All keybind easily used with left hand and fwd or back mouse buttons.

[@Boppo68]

Fc members were shocked that I have played for 10 years clicking my hotbars I do extream and savage content like this lol I just got used to using my peripheral vision

[@edersantos3397]

Hey, just saw that the link for hotbars on the description isn't available anymore, but I'm sure it was last week. Does that mean you're close to releasing the updated one for Dawntrail?

[@realpeterm]

I remember having bound all my mouse buttons to different abilities when I played Classic WoW for a while, so I only used the keyboard for movement. Was quite easy honestly. Though it was nothing compared to the sheer volume of abilites in FFXIV

[@stephanierichards150]

I have a 15 button mouse, and I do something similar, except ... I only move with my mouse. I have strafe L/R bound to my buttons 4 & 5 and back up 6. I bind 1 to things like interrupts, 2 is generally often used combat CDs, and 3 is my damage CD. 7 tends to be my mitigation buff, or for healers, my power healing major buff. 12 is my mount button :) Then for my keybinds, I have a QWERTY keyboard, and I've rebound bars 1 & 2, changed the orientation so that it's 6X2 instead of 12X1, into the left hand side of the keyboard. So bar 1 is: ASDFGHZXCVBN; and bar 2 is: 123456QWERTY. Lastly, I have a ctrl modifier of my side mouse buttons for less frequently used skills. I have been doing this for about 13 years, since I went from clicking to button mashing. I could never get into WASD moving. I've double mapped strafes and back up to the arrow keys if I need them for something, when the mouse doesn't work (chocobo racing for example).

[@KooriGraywolf]

For my keybinds I use F1-F6, 1-5, Q E F Z X C V, and shift/alt modifiers for the letters including WASD. I can hit Alt comfortably with my thumb. The only catch is that Shift/Alt WASD don't work well with skills that have a cast time (if I move accidentally, it gets interrupted), so I only put instant casts in there. F5 and F6 I tend to use for rarely used abilities like tank stances or Quickcast on F5 and Revive on F6. I use 1-5 for single target rotations and Z X C V for AoE rotations. It's easy to move and spam. I dont use R, Shift+R, T and Shift+T for battle, because I have those for toggle Run, Sprint, Mount and Teleport respectively. Glad to see some of my reasonings for keybinds were mentioned here as well. Also I see other people are mentioning using the mouse side buttons for modifiers, which sounds like a good idea, but I like having one of those for select nearest enemy, and the other for selecting the 2nd party member (the tank when I'm healing). I'm already pretty comfortable with my current setup.

[@BalasielVOD]

Oh shit, didn't know you're german too! Anyways, thanks for the content from a sprout, it's really helpfull

[@andrewbernard8211]

Good video. Maybe another comment also suggested this but, consider 1) I prefer ESDF for movement over WASD, it is a more natural position (ie how they teach in keyboarding class) and gives you reach on more keys in the center, though this does admittedly make the CTRL key harder to hit, and 2) if you can turn quickly, why do you need a reverse button? If you insist on WASD movement, set S to forward movement instead of backwards, and turn sideways if you need to run backwards. Walking backwards is so slow as to be not useful... but does take some getting used to. But the other advantage is it gives you a whole row of keys to line up with a hotbar, instead of having to skip over W in your example.

[@yolkling7687]

I'm so programmed to press things like C and ctrl+C for character and currency, what are you using in that place?

[@flouretelionheart7594]

Very neat concept, however I have my own method for dealing with ability clutter. I do use R, F, T, G for some abilities but most of those buttons have class resource related abilities on them (Shelton for instance). I do have another method on top of those 4 keys. For combo type abilities, I place them on multiple hotbars and have macros for each of them. So for Paladin, fast blade is always on 1 for all hotbars, riot blade 2 is on hotbar 1 and royal authority is 2 on hotbar 3 (since 2 is where I have my buffs for instance) and my Paladin attack spells are on hotbar 4 I have macros for each combo ability so fast blade always brings me to hotbar 1, and riot blade will bring me to hotbar 3 and royal authority will bring me to hotbar 4 for my Paladin spells. Fast blade is always on 1 to bring me back to hotbar 1 and restart the combo. Granted this method isn’t perfect. It takes lots of space in my macros to macro each ability but this is what has worked for me so far.

[@maxkaddell]

I just started playing Arcanist on a F2P account. In ESO, we can hit the Tilde button and switch bars. In WoW, when we switch specs to the role we want to play, it switches our bar setup. In FF14, is there a way that I can have a specific setup for soloing, then maybe just hit one button and switch to a healing bar setup for group play?

[@Macfierce1]

New to FFXIV here. This is how i use to play WoW with one exception. I use ESDF to move instead of WSAD. I still use the Shift key for bar 2 modifier, but on bar three i map one of my two thumb buttons on the side of my mouse. It works pretty well. I do agree that this game runs well with a PS4 or PS5 controller. However, you can't beat Keyboard and Mouse. Being able to readily type and navigate menus on a M&KB cannot be replicated on a controller, even if the combat (amazingly) can.

[@TheValiantBob]

What do you rebind sheathe/unsheathe, autorun, character menu, and hide player/minion names to? Because while I'm fine with remapping Q and E because I never use the strafe buttons since I'm on legacy controls, I use Z, X, C, and R a lot while doing non-dungeon stuff.

[@den2k885]

I did the very same thing yesterday, and I watched the video today 🤣 but I'm also an experienced player (stardet in 1992) with no MMO experience and no WASD, since I used arrow keys and custom bound Canc, End, PgDown, Ins, Home PgUp, Num0, Num1, Num2 and Num4. Also, at 3:08 my mind slipped, I forgot I was watching a video and I pressed 'A' to dodge thr AoE. Maybe I'm playing too much.

[@blitz3391]

I bought a 12 buttons mouse because i couldn't manage to use the numbers on my keyboard and using MAJ/CTRL with keys around my left hand was weird. That's one of the best changes i've made; 12 basic buttons with only my thumb, each able to be mapped to CTRl, ALT and MAJ. 36 possibilities.

[@Spika94]

I use 123456, QERFXCV, F1, F2, F3, F4, Mouse 4, Mouse 5, and Middle Click. I don't use shift, and I don't use ctrl. I have set up a macro that when I click Mouse 5 it changes my main hotbar to hotbar 2, and again from hotbar 2 to 3. and then 3 back to 1. I can comfortably hit every single ability in the game. It takes a bit getting used to, but once you have it down, goodbye carpal tunnel or any kind of hand pain. And best of all, I can play like a lazy sod and still play optimally. With WHM, 1 is both single target heal and single target damage. 4 is both AoE heal and AoE damage, and so on. With RPR I basically shift between a single target stance to an AoE stance by changing between hotbar 1 and 2.

[@arcanine_enjoyer]

I have 1-4 and shift, and CTRL Q+E and Shift CTRL Q+E as Hotbar 1, and flank it with Alt Numpad and Numpad respectively for left and right. I use arrow keys to turn my camera. It's unorthodox or even insane, but it's very intuitive for me as a visual player. I use F1-12 to select party members, Tab/Shift+Tab for targeting (I'll go out of my way to click if necessary). Numpad is reserved for main rotation and Alt Numpad is filled with OGCDs. Usually Hotbar 1 is my abilities that need to be constantly played (such as Draw, Play, and basic MIT). NUM0, NUM., NUM Enter are all reserved for specials like Salted Earth, Peloton, Lucid Dreaming, etc. actions that are nice to be in a bigger key than the others for ease of use. Usually the numpad slots look more like little Among Us characters since NUM. is rarely used. I'd argue this is easier to remember than three bars that look chaotic and need lots of muscle memory.

[@redgeoblaze3752]

I kept trying to find a different arrangement for my hotbar because I just wasn't used to using a shift modifier for anything in my main rotation. I came from WoW where there's like 8 buttons in your main rotation max for most classes. The layout I used then was 1234QERFZXCV plus shift and ctrl modifiers. It's the one I still use, but for a while I tried 123456QERFTGZXCVBN. It sounds good on paper, but I never hit anything consistently. Especially as a healer. Having to accurately reach that far to put excog on someone was just uncomfortable, and I was prone to missing. Now I'm consistently good at using Ctrl and Shift for modifiers. For example, I always have Surecast/Arms Length on Ctrl+R, and I've gotten so good at it that I've even used it on reflex a couple times.

[@SarahLament]

I noticed I had been looking at my hotbar way too much and was missing mechs in raids, so this was extremely helpful! Only suggestion I might make is using alt instead of ctrl as it's far easier to hit by just moving your thumb from space

[@DearestRabbit]

do you think you'll update your hotbars for dawntrail? because I LOVE and always use your hotbar stuff LOL.

[@hikarih9859]

instead of Z or [Y on a QWERTY] i use actually V instead of Z because my fingers are short i have same layout but dont use SHIFT or CTRL [STRG] my keybinds are usually 1234 Q E R F V C and the same with ALT+Variations including middle mouse button, which makes around 21 skills just using left hand without using shift or ctrl, cuz i feel uncomfy using shift or ctrl, my base middle button for examble is always sprint as a emergency "run to safety" XD i can play rdm without the use of my mouse reason im rdm main i can one hand play it on legacy mode :D tho SHIFT+C opens up my character menu XD and base tilt summons mount, thwe only time i "mouse click" skills are usually buffs like bloodbath, true north, embolden manafication, stuff that usually have bigger cooldowns, thats fine to click