Minipost: Using keybind letters in your Weakauras


Through a recent string of unexpected events, Fabulor might be trying his hand at some tanking soon, something I never thought would happen. Fortunately, the process of building his tank set hasn't been that difficult - it helps when you already have quite a few Siege of Orgrimmar LFR/Flex tanking pieces because you've been collecting them for transmog.

One of the biggest obstacles, however, was a complete lack of familiarity with the Protection abilities. I often use Weak Auras to set up color-coded dots or icons to guide me, but I couldn't do that this time - I didn't know any of the spells, and they all look the same! People always joke about Paladin abilities all sounding the same, but look at all this yellow!


So what I did instead was create a few Weak Auras that would let me still execute the Protection rotation without having the slightest idea what abilities I was actually using. Instead of spell icons, I just used letters - the letters I had each Protection ability keybound to.


The top row is the most important, with Shift-W (Crusader Strike) and Shift-E (Judgment).
Next is Shift-R for SHIELD THROWY THING (Avenger's Shield).
And lastly, we've got Shift-S for SPIN HIT (Holy Wrath) and Shift-D for Consecration.

It's hard to properly describe exactly HOW EASY this makes learning a new role's rotation/priority system. If you can look up a spec's priority lineup on Noxxic or Icy-Veins, you can set up a series of auras to hold your hand as you learn.


I mean, look at this. PRESS W. THEN R. THEN D. If you know the letters on a keyboard and can read, you can pull off this rotation.

Obviously there's more to Protection (or any spec) than this, but I think this will help me a lot in the next little while. I don't plan on using these AURAS FOR DUMMIES forever, but honestly, learning tanking is going to be hard enough without learning a handful of new abilities at the same time. I'll use these for now and after I get used to the actual spells and their combat roles, I'll be able to come back and clean them up at my leisure.

5 Responses Subscribe to comments

  1. gravatar
    Anonymous

    Lol, that's so true about paladin spells.

    If you play multiple classes with spells that do pretty much the same thing, it's easier to keybind similar spells in the same spot. Good luck!

    November 25, 2013 at 4:06 AM

  2. gravatar
    Anonymous

    For fun, make a weak aura that says "PRESS THE YELLOW BUTTON" haha

    I've set up "press this" weak auras for specs I wasn't familiar with and they really helped. Once you learn which buttons to press in which situations, you'll realize the Weak Auras are cluttering your screen and you'll get rid of them.

    Good luck with being the most beautiful meat shield, Fabulor. :)

    November 25, 2013 at 4:08 AM

  3. gravatar
    Anonymous

    Could you please post what fonts you used in your Weak Auras, and how you created them with the cool down timers?

    November 26, 2013 at 8:38 PM

  4. gravatar
    Anonymous

    Will he wear a helmet to protect his fabulous face? :o

    November 27, 2013 at 2:39 PM

  5. gravatar
    Matty

    Wow - this is awesome! Thank you so much - though I still feel I shall derp, and derp boldly, if I ever get brave enough to tank again.

    November 29, 2013 at 6:38 PM