There are over 50 Hotkeys spread across the keyboard in WC3, and with the Default Hotkeys Setup each race is different. The main ones are the Spell & Action Commands in the bottom corner like: A for Attack, B for Build, F for farm, P for Peon, M for Move, and many more for each unit and spell. Other Hotkeys include Unit # Grouping Modifiers (Ctrl, shift, tab, etc), and the Inventory Items (on the Numpad).
The more you move the mouse to click those Command icons, the less your focusing on your Unit Micro. This guide will help improve your APM (Actions Per Minute) accuracy and efficiency with Customkeys.txt and AHK! This is NOT considered cheating or hacking
Example image ----> http://imgur.com/ahwjW8T
- Spell & Action Commands -
In the example image above, you can see how my Improved Hotkeys differ from other common setups. Most people know the Grid Align Setup but, I do not like those because it sets the spells to ZXCV. I fixed it around so the spells are now QWER, Attack/Stop/Hide remain A/S/D and move is Z (for Zurround!) its the same for every race, hero and units, great for playing random! This way is more like LoL or HotS with unit spells closer to the # keys, and it works great with inventory item switcher too
You can get my Customkeys.txt here from the Download button on Pastebin between raw and embed, right-click choose Save As make sure to place it in your Documents\Warcraft III\CustomKeyBindings\ folder -OR- C:\Program Files\Warcraft III\ depending on your version, and in the WC3 game Options menu click Enable Custom Keyboard Shortcuts
¤ English QWEASZ: https://pastebin.com/Tb26sPXQ
¤ German QWEASY: https://pastebin.com/PQz9zQ7v
¤ French AZEQSW: https://pastebin.com/EYRT4isr
I can add a dvorak keyboard not sure about other languages though, any requests?
Compatibility with Custom Games might not be 100% but DotA should be fine
- Inventory Items & Other Hotkeys -
Since WC3 is a bit older, some of the Hotkeys were ignored and left out from Customkeys so you have to use something like AutoHotkey for Inventory Items, its the same as Warkey but lets you swap ANY key, set the inventory item hotkeys so T= TownPortal G= Potion etc, also disables WinKey or Alt+QQ from closing game, and NumLock pauses the Script on/off for chat. *Read instructions carefully:
Install AHK from Autohotkey.com its quick and easy. Copy my TXT script over to a new AHK file -OR- download and rename to .AHK instead of .TXT then place it in your WC3 folder and create shortcut on desktop, right-click on shortcut properties to Run as Admin. You should probably get Customkeys.txt first
¤ You can find my .AHK script for TYGHBN here: https://pastebin.com/r6qgGUPs
¤ Or alternative InvenKeys set to Alt+QWEASD: https://pastebin.com/PzYXuUDr
AHK can do a lot of cool things like swap mouse buttons too, helps if you have a multi-button mouse. My favorite is to swap Ctrl with Spacebar, I left this as optional incase some people didn't want it, but you just have to go to the bottom of the AHK script and edit the following lines:
¤ Xbutton2::Numpad7 <--(extra mouse button)
¤ MButton::Tab <--(middle mouse button)
¤ Space::Ctrl (just read the last few lines of the script)
¤ Theres even some "QuickChat" msgs if you press the Numpad #s in game
- Tips on Unit Group Formations & More -
Positioning techniques are vital to winning battles. Microing in small narrow areas is not easy, if Ranged units are infront or blocking Melee units, you could lose to a weaker army. Auto-Formation (Alt+F) can be switched Off/On. Most players keep Formation Off so units move faster across the map. If you have Formation On you will not be able to retreat as quickly, but Formation is helpful at certain points of attack. Its better to attack creeps from a distance, pull them back to reduce HP loss and prevent creepjacks.
You must manually set your Group #keys using Ctrl. Always add units and buildings to a # when constructing them. You can use the building #s to train units while attacking or creeping, without moving the screen back to your base. Every player Groups their units differently. Some people use the F1-F3 keys to select their heros, other players set their heros to a #. Here are some common methods for # Groups:
¤ 1= Melee
¤ 2= Range/Air
¤ 3= Caster/siege
¤ 4= Workers(militia/burrow,etc)
¤ 5= Tier1buildings
¤ 6= Tier2/3 bldg
¤ 0= Altar
¤ Backspace = Town hall (s)
Thats just a general idea, use what you feel comfortable with. With over 12 in one group, move some or change it up depending on strat and army size. Try different variations, but never mix melee with siege. You can also use 4 as Air and 5 as Siege, but thats a lot of keys and you probably don't need that many groups.
Also ~ =Idle worker, Tab=Choose selected units within group, and Space=Centerview on recent actions
- Extras -
To complete the set, a list of all other hotkeys http://wc3azeroth.boards.net/thread/212
Heres a detailed guide on the basics for beginners https://youtube.com/watch?v=VnFIaYGimoY
Collection of good practice and competitive maps https://mediafire.com/file/ye29hbse5nan32h
And for fun, the history of WarCraft https://youtube.com/watch?v=RCByQKn1Zjo
If you have any questions please ask me and I'll try to help, I know some people don't like switching hotkeys but, just give it a few days of practice to sink in I hope these help glhf
Alternate Download Mirror (incase other links dont work) https://mediafire.com/file/e6mwph182gl1ij7
*Last edited: May 26, 2017