Okay, so you've booted Warframe for the first time, and you're going through the tutorial. It's time to learn parkour and get moving!
Except it's really hard to press shift and control at the same time while also moving to the left, jumping, and using an ability at the same time because you're left-handed and your right hand just isn't designed for that nonsense. Or you go to switch weapons and accidentally place a waypoint and now you can't get rid of it.
There are a lot of buttons in Warframe, and the tutorial doesn't really do all that great a job of explaining most of them.
Don't worry, friends, I'm here to help!
The number one problem with keybindings in a game you've never played before is that you don't know which buttons are the most important unless you've played the game before, and in some cases you don't even know what some of the buttons mean.
For example, the phrase "place marker" probably doesn't mean anything to someone who's new to the game. And while you might have an idea of what it means if you've played Skyrim or Fallout or whatever, you've never played Warframe. How important is the ability to mark things? You don't know.
Or the button for Secondary Fire. Or the difference between Quick Melee and Melee. Or Inspect. Or Reverse Camera. Which of these buttons will you be pressing on a regular basis, and which buttons will you press rarely if ever?
So let's just run down the list of keys, which ones you'll ACTUALLY be using, and where I strongly suggest you rebind them to if, like me, you happen to be left handed, though your mileage may vary.
Spoiler
Key Binding Name (Default) [Where I put it] - is this button used?
Open Menu (Esc) [Esc] - You'll use this fairly frequently, more often while not in a mission. You cannot rebind this button.
Jump (Space) [Space] - I shouldn't need to tell you that this is used A LOT. I press this with my thumb, the same way a right-handed player would.
Move Forward (W) - This is the most-frequently pressed button in the entire game.
Move Left (A) [J] - I backflip more often than I move backward, but this button is part of the "do a flip" key combo. More on those later.
Move Back (S) [K] - Used to dodge-roll, so fairly frequently.
Move Right (D) [L] - Used to dodge-roll, so fairly frequently.
Move Up AW (Space) [Space] - Used exactly as often as the other five directional keys in AW - a lot.
Move Down AW (Left Ctrl) [;] - Used exactly as often as the other five directional keys in AW - a lot.
Fire Weapon (Mouse 1) [Mouse 1] - You'll be doing a lot of shooting.
Aim/Zoom (Mouse 2) [Mouse 2] - You probably won't be using this button to aim, but you will most certainly be using it to aim-glide. More on that later.
Secondary/Alternate Fire (Mouse 3) [O] - On the weapons that have an Alt Fire this button is indispensable. This also controls the Zoom level on Sniper Rifles.
Reload (R) [P] - You'll be reloading constantly, which is why I turned "Context Action Includes Reload" (CAIR) on, essentially giving me two reload buttons
Toggle Crouch (V) [.] - Don't use this button. Hold Crouch exists, and it's really hard to slide if you have to press a button twice. The only reason I bound this button at all is because I had to.
Hold to Crouch (Left Ctrl) [;] - You're going to be hitting this button a lot. Stealth is a core mechanic, as is the parkour system. More on that later.
Sprint/Roll (Shift) [N] - After Move Forward and Fire Weapon, this is the most-used button on my keyboard. Hold to Sprint, tap to Roll. More on this later.
Use (X) [H] - This key was poorly named. "Context Action" is the most appropriate, as you'll get contextual pop-ups when this button will do something. Turning on CAIR will also allow you to press this button to reload so long as you have no other context actions available.
Quick Melee (E)* - The button you press when you want to melee smack something without putting your gun away.
Melee(E)* - The button you mash when you're in melee mode and want to slice things up.
Melee Block (Mouse 2) [Mouse 2] - Whether it's to reduce incoming damage or perform a melee combo, you'll use the right mouse button a lot.
Melee Channel (Mouse 1) [Mouse 1]* - Channeling energy into your weapon will increase its damage and make a cool sound. Channeling while blocking will reflect damage. All told, however, I don't use this button all that often. I have better things to do with my energy. Like heal people.
Switch Weapon (F) ['] - Want to get out your pistol? Tap this. Want to get out your melee? Hold this. Want to put those away and get your primary weapon again? Tap this.
Item Popup (Q) [Y] - Your Gear Wheel is an indispensable tool, but locks you out of other actions while open. I am able to press Y with ease from my setup, but your mileage may vary. Put this somewhere you won't open by accident but won't have to scramble for when you need it, either. You can also bind individual Gear Slots to the Numpad, and I strongly suggest you do so.
Chat (T) [Left Ctrl] - Open the text chat. You can't do stuff while in this, so don't press it by accident. To close the chat, either click outside of it or press Esc.
Power A (1) [7] - You will be using your Warframe's Abilities all the time.
Power B (2) [8] - You will be using your Warframe's Abilities all the time.
Power C (3) [9] - You will be using your Warframe's Abilities all the time.
Power D (4) [0] - You will be using your Warframe's Abilities all the time.
Power E (5) [-] - You'll be using this button all the time after you finish The Second Dream.
Next Power (Mouse 3 Up) [Mouse 3 Up] - The ability to cycle through your power menu instead of using individual buttons is more of a console feature, but you may find this useful.
Previous Power (Mouse 3 Down) [Mouse 3 Down] - The ability to cycle through your power menu instead of using individual buttons is more of a console feature, but you may find this useful.
Use Selected Power (Mouse 5) [Mouse 3] - The ability to cycle through your power menu instead of using individual buttons is more of a console feature, but you may find this useful. If your mouse doesn't have a fifth button, you'll need to rebind this somewhere else.
Place Marker (G) [[] (yes, that's the [ key) - This is your Waypoint button. Pressing it will place a waypoint that all players in your squad can see. If that waypoint is placed over the top of an item, the item name will be displayed instead of your number (each player in a squad has a number to distinguish between whose waypoint is where). If you tag an entity, the word "ally" or "enemy" will appear instead, along with a change in the marker's color. To move a waypoint, simply press the button again on the new target point. To cancel a waypoint, aim at the existing waypoint and press the button again. To cancel a waypoint that is out of your line of sight, aim somewhere random and press the button twice.
Reverse Camera (H) [G] - By default, the camera is looking over your right shoulder. Pressing this button will toggle to look over your left shoulder instead. While not too terribly useful in normal gameplay, this can be a lifesaver in stealth-based missions like Spy.
Spectate Previous Player (O) [] - I actually don't know what I bound this to. Take that as evidence of how often this key gets used.
Show Player List (Z) [Z] - You know how you get a list of your party members and their respective health values in other MMOs? This is the toggle button for that list. You can also set the list to be displayed by default in your menu.
Push To Talk (C) [C] - Warframe has a built-in VOIP service. Just push to speak. Your squadmates may have the VOIP muted, though, so I suggest learning to type first - text chat is permanent until squad dissolution, which makes it a better way to communicate, especially if someone goes AFK.
Inspect (I) [\] - This allows you to look at a player's Profile by mousing over them. Don't press this during a mission - you'll invariably end up getting yourself killed.
Show Level Map (M) [A] - I personally don't use this key. You may, depending on whether you like the minimap in the corner or seeing the whole map overlayed on your screen.
Show Mission Progress (P) [Numpad +] - This button toggles the progress screen, which shows you all the XP and items you've collected over the course of the mission, as well as how many kills you've racked up. I personally don't find this button to be useful, which is why I bound it so far away from everything else.
Quick Progress View (Tab) [Tab] - Press and hold this button to show the progress screen. As you're usually checking the progress screen for no more than two seconds at a time, it makes sense to use the hold-to-view option rather than a toggled one.
*You may wish to switch these two buttons, as you will be pressing the melee attack button a lot more than you'll be pressing the channel button.
Okay, so that's the buttons. But what about all those places where I said "more on that later"? Well, this is later.
Combos
Key combos are an integral part of the movement system. Warframe's Parkour takes a little while to master, but once you have, you'll be flying around at the speed of sound running around quite fast. Half of going fast in Warframe is the ability to use the parkour system and kill enemies in your direct path. The other half is knowing the tilesets inside and out, and that will come with experience.
Spoiler
Sprinting - Sprinting is sprinting. I don't think I need to explain this. to sprint, press and hold the sprint button while moving.
Aim-Gliding - When you press and hold the Aim (or Melee Block) key while you're in midair, you'll go into an aim-glide. Your momentum is conserved, but now you're falling in slow-motion, allowing you to stay in the air for longer and cover more distance with your jumps. Remember, your momentum is conserved, so aim-gliding after jumping from a standstill will cause you to float straight down.
Rolling - Rolling is the basic dodge maneuver. To roll, tap the sprint key. You will roll forward.
Dodge-rolling - Sidespringing is like rolling, but you're going sideways instead. To do this, tap the sprint key while already holding a directional key and the aim button. With some practice you'll be able to press both at the same time, but for starters just hold aim, then press the side key just before you press the sprint key.
Backflipping - Again like rolling, but this time you're going backward. To do this, you do the same thing as a dodge-roll, but you press the back key. The best way I've found to reliably do this is to press and hold the aim key before tapping the back and sprint keys in rapid succession. With some practice, you'll find a method that works for you.
Crouching - Your hitbox gets smaller while you do this - I don't really need to explain what it does, do I?
Sliding - If you press and hold crouch while moving, you'll slide.
Divekicking - If you press and hold crouch as if to do a slide while you're in midair, you'll do a midair slide. This is called a Divekick.
Jumping - Jump. Jump. Jump. You know what this is.
Double-Jumping - You also know what this is. You can jump in midair exactly once, but it doesn't matter how you got into the air.
Bullet-Jumping - This is the staple of Warframe's movement. To bullet jump, press the jump button while crouched. You can also bullet-jump as your double jump by pressing the crouch and jump buttons simultaneously, as long as you didn't bullet jump to get into the air.
Chaining - You can chain mobility moves together to move faster. The general order is: Bullet Jump -> Double Jump -> Aim Glide -> Divekick/Slide -> Bullet Jump etc. To do this, start by Sprinting, then once you're up to speed, Bullet Jump forward. At the peak of your Bullet Jump, Double Jump. (You can also press the jump button immediately upon bullet-jumping to perform a slightly-longer-than-normal forward double-jump if you're close to a doorway). Aim-glide down immediately, conserving your momentum while maximizing air time. When you're about to hit the ground, go into a Divekick, then release the aim button just before you hit the ground to go into a slide, and after you've slid for about a meter (~.1 seconds), Bullet Jump again.
Spoiler
If you're going to rebind your buttons, DO THEM IN THIS ORDER OR ELSE CHAOS WILL ENSUE. I don't care if you're left-handed or not. If you are going to rebind any of your buttons, unbind them all, set them somewhere FAR away from your setup, and move one button at a time into the new configuration. Add them in this order, trust me.
I could have chosen practically anywhere on the keyboard to place my 'new' WASD, so why IJKL? To be honest, I don't know. I just chose it, and now that I have I can say with certainty that it's perfect.
Now, the defaults for Crouch and Sprint are Left Ctrl and Shift. So if we reflect that over to our IJKL, that would be... / and Right Alt. Hmm. That doesn't really work too well. Let's try something else.
Crouch being bound to ; makes sense in more ways than one. First of all, it's still your pinky that hits the key, so we're preserving at least the same general formula for which finger does which key. It also binds crouch to the home line instead of the space line, which means that it's in a much more natural position for your finger to be in, and as it's a frequently-struck button, this is more ergonomic.
The trouble now is binding Sprint. For a right-handed player, you can press both crouch and sprint at the same time with the same finger. But how often are you really doing that in Warframe? Actually, rather a lot. You're going to be Sprinting pretty much every time you move anywhere, and sliding is the beginning of the movement combo. Pressing both of these buttons is fairly easy, but because of where we've placed our keys, you'll be pressing more than two keys whenever you do this if you bind Sprint near Crouch. So don't.
I chose to bind Sprint to N as a test, just to see if it was feasible to Sprint with my index finger while moving with my middle finger, crouching with my pinky, and jumping with my thumb. And also sometimes pressing my Ult with my ring finger. More on that in a sec.
It worked, so I stuck with it. Play around with this until you find a good place for your Sprint button.
Now that we've got movement covered, we need bindings for our Powers. They default to the Number Line above WASD, so putting them in the same place makes sense. The numbers above IJKL are 7890, so that's where we'll put them. There we go - quick and dirty. Power E was added to Warframe with The Second Dream, so I just continued down the line and bound that to -, making the default 12345 bound to 7890-.
Before binding anything else, get used to using your powers while moving. It's an intrinsic skill and you'll need to be able to do it without thinking.
Next, we need to bind weapons and actions. Well, shooting is still the Mouse, so there's no reason to change that. Aiming is also the Mouse, so we're good to go. Next is Melee.
The reflection of the default E is U, and I find this to be perfect. You're hitting the button with the same finger as your right-handed counterparts, and the default keybindings were in fact tested by the Devs to find optimal positioning, so don't argue with science. Quick Melee is therefore bound to U.
Regular Melee is also U, while Melee Channeling is Mouse 1. Some players find this to be awkward, as they're used to attacking with Mouse 1 regardless of weapon. If that's you, just switch the two - there's nothing wrong with using Mouse 1 to melee attack in melee mode, so long as you remember that your Quick Melee button is still U because you can't bind it to Mouse 1 - that's Shoot.
Alternate fire is tricky, so we'll skip that for now and come back to it a little later.
The ability to Reload your weapon is massively important, so bind this close to hand. The default is R, which reflects to Y. Unfortunately, Y is too far away to be a good Reload button, so let's try P instead. This works beautifully, especially if you turn on CAIR.
Use is, as I said, poorly named. What this really is is the Generic Context Action Button we have in literally every first-person shooter ever. In most FPS games on PC, though, that's E. Now it's X because E is Melee and combat is integral to Warframe. So we can put this wherever we want, really. The reflection of X is M, but that's not going to work because if we have to press M, then our index finger is colliding with our middle finger, which is holding down I to move forward. So let's try H instead. It's generic, easy to access, and you should never have to press it while Sprinting. As with every other button, feel free to mess around with positioning until you find what works for you. This button can also be used as a second Reload button if you turn on CAIR and you have no other context actions available. This is ALSO the button you press and hold to revive a fallen comrade, so that's all the more reason to have it close to hand.
Switch Weapon defaults to F. The reflection of F is H, but that's already bound. G is too far to press, especially for something as frequently used as the Switch Weapons button. What about the ' key, then? It's still on the home line, you can hit it with your pinky without having to move it far away from its resting position, AND you can hit it while also holding down the ; button to stay Crouched. If that won't work, though, that's okay. The only reason I bound Toggle Crouch to . instead of somewhere way out on the left side of the board is because it's close enough to normal Crouch that I can hit it without having to look down if for some reason I need to move my entire hand - to stretch, for example - and I need to remain crouched. What this also means is that for you, if you need to press ' but you're afraid you'll break crouch, you can flick the . button before and after hitting ' and your problem will be solved until you get more practice at hitting ; and ' at the same time. So Switch Weapon is now bound to '.
Item Popup is your Gear Wheel, and you absolutely do NOT want to press this by accident. By the same token, though, you REALLY don't want to have to reach far to get to it when you need it. I chose Y for this because it's still easily accessible for my long fingers, but as with everything else, your mileage may vary, so play around with it until you find a place you like.
Chat. Well, this is where it gets interesting, because the default is T. And that's not actually a horrible place for it. However, in previous games I've played, it ended up getting bound to Left Ctrl. So I just bound it there for consistency's sake, but obviously that's not going to be the same for all of you, so just drop it somewhere. Perhaps Enter or /? That wouldn't be horrible.
Push To Talk is about as useful as you'd expect it to be - utterly useless in public matchmaking and barely useful in private matchmaking outside of Raids, where it becomes so indispensable that - you're using a third-party VOIP with a voice-activated mic feature anyway aren't you. Either way, leave it bound to C.
Place Marker. You're going to be using Waypoints fairly regularly when things that drop are important, but other than that you won't be using it at all. So find a button that's close to the spread, but don't worry if it's farther away than other buttons. If you're putting down a Waypoint then you're generally not under any threat - that is to say, if you're under threat, you should be dealing with the threat instead of placing a marker. I chose [ for this because it's accessible to the pinky while being far enough out of the way that I won't press it by accident.
Show Mission Progress/Quick Progress View. You will never be pressing this by accident. That is a fact, because you've bound these buttons far enough away from your grid that you won't ever press them without moving your entire hand. I had to move the default P because that's my Reload button. I chose Add (the + on the NumPad) because it's REALLY far away. Never will I ever press that button, by accident or otherwise. I left the Quick Progress View at the default of Tab because that's a perfect place for it. One could argue that it would be better placed at Tab's reflection of \, however, and I won't dispute that if that's where you want to put it for faster access.
Alternate Fire needs to be bound now. This button doesn't see much use when you're not using weapons that require it, but you'll be using it a lot when you find ones that do, so you'll need to bind it somewhere close to hand that hasn't been taken by something more important. Oh, look. I've still got O unbound. Perfect. Alt Fire binds to O.
Now, wait a minute. The default binding for Alternate Fire is Mouse 3. What's wrong with that? Well, to be honest, nothing. It's just that it wasn't always Alternate Fire. Mouse 3 used to be the Use Selected Power button - you could scroll through the list of powers with it and then click it to cast an ability. I didn't ever use that feature, but I'm so used to having that be what Mouse 3 does that making it do anything else just doesn't make any sense to me. If you like Alt Fire bound to the mouse so that everything that has to do with shooting is bound to the mouse, go for it. It probably makes more sense that way anyway.
Reverse Camera is situationally useful, but if you press this in the thick of combat you're going to panic because all of a sudden the screen looks VASTLY different and you're going to think someone in the graphics department just dropped acid. At least, that's what I thought had happened the first time I pressed this by accident. I bound it farther away from my grid after that. Let's just reflect its default button from H to G.
Show Player List is one of those buttons that really doesn't need to be a button. You're literally never going to toggle this during a mission - you're just going to set the default in Settings and never worry about it again. Leave this bound to Z.
Show Level Map is the button that brings up a humongous, translucent map over the top of your screen. You don't really need this once you master the minimap, but sometimes it's helpful for learning and/or navigating new tilesets, like the Kuva Fortress (finish the War Within to see that tileset). I have it bound to A, but I also never press this button. If it's something you would use, maybe you can bind this to Enter or /.
Inspect is also misleadingly named. You will never use this during a mission. You probably won't use it ever. The only time you will ever even CONSIDER using this is if you're in a Relay and you want to look at someone's Profile without finding them in the chat and right-clicking their name. And even then, it will only save you a few seconds of time, and if you're in a Relay, you have plenty of time. I think I bound this to \ because I didn't know what it did when I bound it, and since I don't have anything better to put on that button, there it stays.
Spectate Previous Player. I just looked it up and I have this bound to Q. Let that sink in for a minute I had to look up what this was bound to. That means that, because I'm at work, I had to text my brother (who doesn't have school today because of the PSATs - he's a senior in HS) and ASK HIM TO BOOT UP WARFRAME AND LOOK UP WHAT I HAD THIS BOUND TO. That should really tell you everything you need to know about how important this button is. But if you want to know what it does, I do at least remember that much. When you're dead - and out of revives, your screen will change to spectating a player in your squad who is still alive. You press this button to switch which player you're watching. And that explains why it's bound to Q. Because this is the one button that I can say with reasonable certainty that you will never, ever press, no matter what happens.
Hopefully this has given you an idea of what all those buttons do, and if you're left-handed, hopefully this gave you some helpful advice about where to rebind your buttons to.
Have fun and be safe, Tenno.
Edited by Yzjdriel does anyone know why half this text keeps getting underlined??
Question
Yzjdriel
Okay, so you've booted Warframe for the first time, and you're going through the tutorial. It's time to learn parkour and get moving!
Except it's really hard to press shift and control at the same time while also moving to the left, jumping, and using an ability at the same time because you're left-handed and your right hand just isn't designed for that nonsense. Or you go to switch weapons and accidentally place a waypoint and now you can't get rid of it.
There are a lot of buttons in Warframe, and the tutorial doesn't really do all that great a job of explaining most of them.
Don't worry, friends, I'm here to help!
The number one problem with keybindings in a game you've never played before is that you don't know which buttons are the most important unless you've played the game before, and in some cases you don't even know what some of the buttons mean.
For example, the phrase "place marker" probably doesn't mean anything to someone who's new to the game. And while you might have an idea of what it means if you've played Skyrim or Fallout or whatever, you've never played Warframe. How important is the ability to mark things? You don't know.
Or the button for Secondary Fire. Or the difference between Quick Melee and Melee. Or Inspect. Or Reverse Camera. Which of these buttons will you be pressing on a regular basis, and which buttons will you press rarely if ever?
So let's just run down the list of keys, which ones you'll ACTUALLY be using, and where I strongly suggest you rebind them to if, like me, you happen to be left handed, though your mileage may vary.
Melee(E)* - The button you mash when you're in melee mode and want to slice things up.
Melee Block (Mouse 2) [Mouse 2] - Whether it's to reduce incoming damage or perform a melee combo, you'll use the right mouse button a lot.
Melee Channel (Mouse 1) [Mouse 1]* - Channeling energy into your weapon will increase its damage and make a cool sound. Channeling while blocking will reflect damage. All told, however, I don't use this button all that often. I have better things to do with my energy. Like heal people.
Switch Weapon (F) ['] - Want to get out your pistol? Tap this. Want to get out your melee? Hold this. Want to put those away and get your primary weapon again? Tap this.
Item Popup (Q) [Y] - Your Gear Wheel is an indispensable tool, but locks you out of other actions while open. I am able to press Y with ease from my setup, but your mileage may vary. Put this somewhere you won't open by accident but won't have to scramble for when you need it, either. You can also bind individual Gear Slots to the Numpad, and I strongly suggest you do so.
Chat (T) [Left Ctrl] - Open the text chat. You can't do stuff while in this, so don't press it by accident. To close the chat, either click outside of it or press Esc.
Power A (1) [7] - You will be using your Warframe's Abilities all the time.
Power B (2) [8] - You will be using your Warframe's Abilities all the time.
Power C (3) [9] - You will be using your Warframe's Abilities all the time.
Power D (4) [0] - You will be using your Warframe's Abilities all the time.
Power E (5) [-] - You'll be using this button all the time after you finish The Second Dream.
Next Power (Mouse 3 Up) [Mouse 3 Up] - The ability to cycle through your power menu instead of using individual buttons is more of a console feature, but you may find this useful.
Previous Power (Mouse 3 Down) [Mouse 3 Down] - The ability to cycle through your power menu instead of using individual buttons is more of a console feature, but you may find this useful.
Use Selected Power (Mouse 5) [Mouse 3] - The ability to cycle through your power menu instead of using individual buttons is more of a console feature, but you may find this useful. If your mouse doesn't have a fifth button, you'll need to rebind this somewhere else.
Place Marker (G) [[] (yes, that's the [ key) - This is your Waypoint button. Pressing it will place a waypoint that all players in your squad can see. If that waypoint is placed over the top of an item, the item name will be displayed instead of your number (each player in a squad has a number to distinguish between whose waypoint is where). If you tag an entity, the word "ally" or "enemy" will appear instead, along with a change in the marker's color. To move a waypoint, simply press the button again on the new target point. To cancel a waypoint, aim at the existing waypoint and press the button again. To cancel a waypoint that is out of your line of sight, aim somewhere random and press the button twice.
Reverse Camera (H) [G] - By default, the camera is looking over your right shoulder. Pressing this button will toggle to look over your left shoulder instead. While not too terribly useful in normal gameplay, this can be a lifesaver in stealth-based missions like Spy.
Spectate Previous Player (O) [] - I actually don't know what I bound this to. Take that as evidence of how often this key gets used.
Show Player List (Z) [Z] - You know how you get a list of your party members and their respective health values in other MMOs? This is the toggle button for that list. You can also set the list to be displayed by default in your menu.
Push To Talk (C) [C] - Warframe has a built-in VOIP service. Just push to speak. Your squadmates may have the VOIP muted, though, so I suggest learning to type first - text chat is permanent until squad dissolution, which makes it a better way to communicate, especially if someone goes AFK.
Inspect (I) [\] - This allows you to look at a player's Profile by mousing over them. Don't press this during a mission - you'll invariably end up getting yourself killed.
Show Level Map (M) [A] - I personally don't use this key. You may, depending on whether you like the minimap in the corner or seeing the whole map overlayed on your screen.
Show Mission Progress (P) [Numpad +] - This button toggles the progress screen, which shows you all the XP and items you've collected over the course of the mission, as well as how many kills you've racked up. I personally don't find this button to be useful, which is why I bound it so far away from everything else.
Quick Progress View (Tab) [Tab] - Press and hold this button to show the progress screen. As you're usually checking the progress screen for no more than two seconds at a time, it makes sense to use the hold-to-view option rather than a toggled one.
*You may wish to switch these two buttons, as you will be pressing the melee attack button a lot more than you'll be pressing the channel button.
Okay, so that's the buttons. But what about all those places where I said "more on that later"? Well, this is later.
Combos
Key combos are an integral part of the movement system. Warframe's Parkour takes a little while to master, but once you have, you'll be
flying around at the speed of soundrunning around quite fast. Half of going fast in Warframe is the ability to use the parkour system and kill enemies in your direct path. The other half is knowing the tilesets inside and out, and that will come with experience.Sprinting - Sprinting is sprinting. I don't think I need to explain this. to sprint, press and hold the sprint button while moving.
Aim-Gliding - When you press and hold the Aim (or Melee Block) key while you're in midair, you'll go into an aim-glide. Your momentum is conserved, but now you're falling in slow-motion, allowing you to stay in the air for longer and cover more distance with your jumps. Remember, your momentum is conserved, so aim-gliding after jumping from a standstill will cause you to float straight down.
Rolling - Rolling is the basic dodge maneuver. To roll, tap the sprint key. You will roll forward.
Dodge-rolling - Sidespringing is like rolling, but you're going sideways instead. To do this, tap the sprint key while already holding a directional key and the aim button. With some practice you'll be able to press both at the same time, but for starters just hold aim, then press the side key just before you press the sprint key.
Backflipping - Again like rolling, but this time you're going backward. To do this, you do the same thing as a dodge-roll, but you press the back key. The best way I've found to reliably do this is to press and hold the aim key before tapping the back and sprint keys in rapid succession. With some practice, you'll find a method that works for you.
Crouching - Your hitbox gets smaller while you do this - I don't really need to explain what it does, do I?
Sliding - If you press and hold crouch while moving, you'll slide.
Divekicking - If you press and hold crouch as if to do a slide while you're in midair, you'll do a midair slide. This is called a Divekick.
Jumping - Jump. Jump. Jump. You know what this is.
Double-Jumping - You also know what this is. You can jump in midair exactly once, but it doesn't matter how you got into the air.
Bullet-Jumping - This is the staple of Warframe's movement. To bullet jump, press the jump button while crouched. You can also bullet-jump as your double jump by pressing the crouch and jump buttons simultaneously, as long as you didn't bullet jump to get into the air.
Chaining - You can chain mobility moves together to move faster. The general order is: Bullet Jump -> Double Jump -> Aim Glide -> Divekick/Slide -> Bullet Jump etc. To do this, start by Sprinting, then once you're up to speed, Bullet Jump forward. At the peak of your Bullet Jump, Double Jump. (You can also press the jump button immediately upon bullet-jumping to perform a slightly-longer-than-normal forward double-jump if you're close to a doorway). Aim-glide down immediately, conserving your momentum while maximizing air time. When you're about to hit the ground, go into a Divekick, then release the aim button just before you hit the ground to go into a slide, and after you've slid for about a meter (~.1 seconds), Bullet Jump again.
If you're going to rebind your buttons, DO THEM IN THIS ORDER OR ELSE CHAOS WILL ENSUE. I don't care if you're left-handed or not. If you are going to rebind any of your buttons, unbind them all, set them somewhere FAR away from your setup, and move one button at a time into the new configuration. Add them in this order, trust me.
I could have chosen practically anywhere on the keyboard to place my 'new' WASD, so why IJKL? To be honest, I don't know. I just chose it, and now that I have I can say with certainty that it's perfect.
Now, the defaults for Crouch and Sprint are Left Ctrl and Shift. So if we reflect that over to our IJKL, that would be... / and Right Alt. Hmm. That doesn't really work too well. Let's try something else.
Crouch being bound to ; makes sense in more ways than one. First of all, it's still your pinky that hits the key, so we're preserving at least the same general formula for which finger does which key. It also binds crouch to the home line instead of the space line, which means that it's in a much more natural position for your finger to be in, and as it's a frequently-struck button, this is more ergonomic.
The trouble now is binding Sprint. For a right-handed player, you can press both crouch and sprint at the same time with the same finger. But how often are you really doing that in Warframe? Actually, rather a lot. You're going to be Sprinting pretty much every time you move anywhere, and sliding is the beginning of the movement combo. Pressing both of these buttons is fairly easy, but because of where we've placed our keys, you'll be pressing more than two keys whenever you do this if you bind Sprint near Crouch. So don't.
I chose to bind Sprint to N as a test, just to see if it was feasible to Sprint with my index finger while moving with my middle finger, crouching with my pinky, and jumping with my thumb. And also sometimes pressing my Ult with my ring finger. More on that in a sec.
It worked, so I stuck with it. Play around with this until you find a good place for your Sprint button.
Now that we've got movement covered, we need bindings for our Powers. They default to the Number Line above WASD, so putting them in the same place makes sense. The numbers above IJKL are 7890, so that's where we'll put them. There we go - quick and dirty. Power E was added to Warframe with The Second Dream, so I just continued down the line and bound that to -, making the default 12345 bound to 7890-.
Before binding anything else, get used to using your powers while moving. It's an intrinsic skill and you'll need to be able to do it without thinking.
Next, we need to bind weapons and actions. Well, shooting is still the Mouse, so there's no reason to change that. Aiming is also the Mouse, so we're good to go. Next is Melee.
The reflection of the default E is U, and I find this to be perfect. You're hitting the button with the same finger as your right-handed counterparts, and the default keybindings were in fact tested by the Devs to find optimal positioning, so don't argue with science. Quick Melee is therefore bound to U.
Regular Melee is also U, while Melee Channeling is Mouse 1. Some players find this to be awkward, as they're used to attacking with Mouse 1 regardless of weapon. If that's you, just switch the two - there's nothing wrong with using Mouse 1 to melee attack in melee mode, so long as you remember that your Quick Melee button is still U because you can't bind it to Mouse 1 - that's Shoot.
Alternate fire is tricky, so we'll skip that for now and come back to it a little later.
The ability to Reload your weapon is massively important, so bind this close to hand. The default is R, which reflects to Y. Unfortunately, Y is too far away to be a good Reload button, so let's try P instead. This works beautifully, especially if you turn on CAIR.
Use is, as I said, poorly named. What this really is is the Generic Context Action Button we have in literally every first-person shooter ever. In most FPS games on PC, though, that's E. Now it's X because E is Melee and combat is integral to Warframe. So we can put this wherever we want, really. The reflection of X is M, but that's not going to work because if we have to press M, then our index finger is colliding with our middle finger, which is holding down I to move forward. So let's try H instead. It's generic, easy to access, and you should never have to press it while Sprinting. As with every other button, feel free to mess around with positioning until you find what works for you. This button can also be used as a second Reload button if you turn on CAIR and you have no other context actions available. This is ALSO the button you press and hold to revive a fallen comrade, so that's all the more reason to have it close to hand.
Switch Weapon defaults to F. The reflection of F is H, but that's already bound. G is too far to press, especially for something as frequently used as the Switch Weapons button. What about the ' key, then? It's still on the home line, you can hit it with your pinky without having to move it far away from its resting position, AND you can hit it while also holding down the ; button to stay Crouched. If that won't work, though, that's okay. The only reason I bound Toggle Crouch to . instead of somewhere way out on the left side of the board is because it's close enough to normal Crouch that I can hit it without having to look down if for some reason I need to move my entire hand - to stretch, for example - and I need to remain crouched. What this also means is that for you, if you need to press ' but you're afraid you'll break crouch, you can flick the . button before and after hitting ' and your problem will be solved until you get more practice at hitting ; and ' at the same time. So Switch Weapon is now bound to '.
Item Popup is your Gear Wheel, and you absolutely do NOT want to press this by accident. By the same token, though, you REALLY don't want to have to reach far to get to it when you need it. I chose Y for this because it's still easily accessible for my long fingers, but as with everything else, your mileage may vary, so play around with it until you find a place you like.
Chat. Well, this is where it gets interesting, because the default is T. And that's not actually a horrible place for it. However, in previous games I've played, it ended up getting bound to Left Ctrl. So I just bound it there for consistency's sake, but obviously that's not going to be the same for all of you, so just drop it somewhere. Perhaps Enter or /? That wouldn't be horrible.
Push To Talk is about as useful as you'd expect it to be - utterly useless in public matchmaking and barely useful in private matchmaking outside of Raids, where it becomes so indispensable that - you're using a third-party VOIP with a voice-activated mic feature anyway aren't you. Either way, leave it bound to C.
Place Marker. You're going to be using Waypoints fairly regularly when things that drop are important, but other than that you won't be using it at all. So find a button that's close to the spread, but don't worry if it's farther away than other buttons. If you're putting down a Waypoint then you're generally not under any threat - that is to say, if you're under threat, you should be dealing with the threat instead of placing a marker. I chose [ for this because it's accessible to the pinky while being far enough out of the way that I won't press it by accident.
Show Mission Progress/Quick Progress View. You will never be pressing this by accident. That is a fact, because you've bound these buttons far enough away from your grid that you won't ever press them without moving your entire hand. I had to move the default P because that's my Reload button. I chose Add (the + on the NumPad) because it's REALLY far away. Never will I ever press that button, by accident or otherwise. I left the Quick Progress View at the default of Tab because that's a perfect place for it. One could argue that it would be better placed at Tab's reflection of \, however, and I won't dispute that if that's where you want to put it for faster access.
Alternate Fire needs to be bound now. This button doesn't see much use when you're not using weapons that require it, but you'll be using it a lot when you find ones that do, so you'll need to bind it somewhere close to hand that hasn't been taken by something more important. Oh, look. I've still got O unbound. Perfect. Alt Fire binds to O.
Now, wait a minute. The default binding for Alternate Fire is Mouse 3. What's wrong with that? Well, to be honest, nothing. It's just that it wasn't always Alternate Fire. Mouse 3 used to be the Use Selected Power button - you could scroll through the list of powers with it and then click it to cast an ability. I didn't ever use that feature, but I'm so used to having that be what Mouse 3 does that making it do anything else just doesn't make any sense to me. If you like Alt Fire bound to the mouse so that everything that has to do with shooting is bound to the mouse, go for it. It probably makes more sense that way anyway.
Reverse Camera is situationally useful, but if you press this in the thick of combat you're going to panic because all of a sudden the screen looks VASTLY different and you're going to think someone in the graphics department just dropped acid. At least, that's what I thought had happened the first time I pressed this by accident. I bound it farther away from my grid after that. Let's just reflect its default button from H to G.
Show Player List is one of those buttons that really doesn't need to be a button. You're literally never going to toggle this during a mission - you're just going to set the default in Settings and never worry about it again. Leave this bound to Z.
Show Level Map is the button that brings up a humongous, translucent map over the top of your screen. You don't really need this once you master the minimap, but sometimes it's helpful for learning and/or navigating new tilesets, like the Kuva Fortress (finish the War Within to see that tileset). I have it bound to A, but I also never press this button. If it's something you would use, maybe you can bind this to Enter or /.
Inspect is also misleadingly named. You will never use this during a mission. You probably won't use it ever. The only time you will ever even CONSIDER using this is if you're in a Relay and you want to look at someone's Profile without finding them in the chat and right-clicking their name. And even then, it will only save you a few seconds of time, and if you're in a Relay, you have plenty of time. I think I bound this to \ because I didn't know what it did when I bound it, and since I don't have anything better to put on that button, there it stays.
Spectate Previous Player. I just looked it up and I have this bound to Q. Let that sink in for a minute I had to look up what this was bound to. That means that, because I'm at work, I had to text my brother (who doesn't have school today because of the PSATs - he's a senior in HS) and ASK HIM TO BOOT UP WARFRAME AND LOOK UP WHAT I HAD THIS BOUND TO. That should really tell you everything you need to know about how important this button is. But if you want to know what it does, I do at least remember that much. When you're dead - and out of revives, your screen will change to spectating a player in your squad who is still alive. You press this button to switch which player you're watching. And that explains why it's bound to Q. Because this is the one button that I can say with reasonable certainty that you will never, ever press, no matter what happens.
Hopefully this has given you an idea of what all those buttons do, and if you're left-handed, hopefully this gave you some helpful advice about where to rebind your buttons to.
Have fun and be safe, Tenno.
Edited by Yzjdrieldoes anyone know why half this text keeps getting underlined??
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