01: Dark Blast

25%32%12%

01: Twilight Grasp

57%23%23%10%

02: Gloom

25%25%

04: Tar Patch

30%10%10%

06: Hasten

38%

08: Shadow Fall

35%14%15%23%

10: Darkest Night

38%

12: Recall Friend

19%

14: Super Speed

19%

16: Howling Twilight

19%

Here are some general percentages you can reach with only uncommon (and maybe one rare) recipies at the market. You can probably reach better results than I did with rares here and there, but I wanted this to be a completely realistic build that anyone could use.

At this point, you have good attack power, the extremely useful Tar Patch and the all-powerful Darkest Night. Though I don't keep Super Speed in my final build, I have it at low levels because the Stealth procs for Sprint are too expensive at this level. With Super Speed and Shadow Fall, you'll have full invisibility so you can do the awesome Sneak and TP combo (for faster mission and TF completion).

There's very little point to worrying about IO set bonuses this early into the build. Just focus on raw numbers and deal with bonuses later.

Play tips

• You will run out of endurance quite quickly so remember to turn off Super Speed before battles and only use Shadow Fall when sneaking or fighting things that use Energy, Negative Energy, or Psionics.
• Because you're attacks are quite weak, use Tar Patch a lot. It makes your attacks far more powerful and slows enemies too.
• Always use Darkest Night on bosses or large groups of enemies to lower their accuracy and damage. Don't forget that if you lay a Tar Patch then use Darkest Night to pull the enemies, they'll bunch up on the patch which means they'll all be debuffed.

Bind variables

By putting these special variables in your binds that involve chat or talking, the variable will be replaced with some information (depending which variable you use).

• $target

  The name of your current target. This could be someone on your team, an enemy, or an object (anything that can be targeted).

  /bind f8 team "Look out guys, there's a $target over there."

  This bind will call out your current target to the team. This is very important if you find a problem enemy or just want to play around. As with all chat binds, don't over-use it or you get annoying.

• $name – Your name.

  /bind f7 "local The great $name is ready for battle!$$team Ready!"

  This works if your character is the kind to speak in third person. I always replace the F7 "ready" bind with custom text of my own. I found that it was both confusing and annoying to say your custom text in the team chat, but you need to keep the game standard "READY" so you don't confuse people. This bind does both by saying some custom text in local chat which people can still see, but can ignore while still saying "READY" in the team chat channel like normal.

• $level – Your current level (not affected by exemplaring or sidekicking).

  /bind + "request Level $level stone/fire tank LFT"

  Sends "Level 38 stone/fire tank LFT" to the request channel (if you were level 38).

Okay, okay, i think you get the point. The rest are:

• $archetype – Brute, Defender, etc.
• $origin – Magic, Technology, Mutation etc.
• $battlecry – Your battlecry which is set in the same screen as your story. I don't often use this one.

So one more to bring it together

SHIFT+ENTER "beginchat "/send "freedom badges" [$name $level $archetype] ""

This is a channel bind that loads my chat box with "/send "freedom badges" [$name $level $archetype] " and puts the cursor at the end waiting for my text. When I hit ENTER, something like this shows up in the "freedom badges" channel:

	@Jordan Yen: [Screaming Gale 50 Defender] Anyone know if Kraken is out? @Jordan Yen: [Screaming Gale 50 Defender] Anyone? @randomdude: Blob sighted south PP

The main advantage of doing this is that normally when you talk in channels, all you see is the global chat name which doesn't tell you anything about the character they're currently playing. Doing it this way, you broadcast your current character's name level and type which is far more useful when forming teams and such.

Targeting

There are some seriously specific target binds available to help you target exactly what you want. I can't list everything here, so I'll just cover some examples that I use so you get the idea.

v "target_custom_next friend defeated$$powexec_name Fallout"
B "targetcustomnext friend alive$$powexec_name speed boost"

One of these makes a hard to use power simple by putting it on a bind. All you have to do is make sure that there is a dead teammate in your view. Then press the V key first to target said dead teammate and again to launch the power. It won't launch both at once, but at least you don't have to use two different keys.

The other works the same way first targeting a teammate and then hitting them with Speed Boost. This bind is very useful for powers like shields or buffs that you have to apply to your team one at a time.

Powers

/bind lshift powexecname teleport

Binds the left shift key to the telport power. It's far faster and more efficient to teleport using a keybind rather than to click the power, click your target location, and back and forth.

/bind f12 "team $target, come here$$powexecname recall friend"

Tells your team that you're going to teleport someone. This is useful so they know they're about to be teleported, but also as a way to signal to others who have recall friend not to bother trying to TP the same target as you.

/bind v "target_custom_next friend defeated$$powexec_name Vengeance"

Just like the above two examples, this takes two key presses to work, but is still faster and easier than trying to target the dead guy manually and then launch the power in the middle of battle.

Other references

Jeremy's Awesome CoH/V Binds Guide

1. How Binds Work
2. Bind Rotation
3. Mini Bind Reference
4. Jeremy's Bind Files Technique
5. Advanced Costuming

Ok, that aside, here are a set of bindfiles that I use. At the end, I'll show you how to combine them all together for supercool bind awesomeness.

c:\binds\base_binds.txt

These are my basic binds that I use for each character. Of course I change the specific things they say and the emotes that go with them based on the character, but the basic idea is the same for everyone

ENTER "afk Thinking…$$startchat"
CTRL+ENTER "beginchat "/send "gameamp.com" [$name $level $archetype] ""
` cc 0
f1 cc 1
f2 cc 2
f3 cc 3
f4 cc 4
F5 "team Welcome$$em bow"
F6 "local GRATZ! $$ emote clap"
F7 "local Let's do it!$$team READY!$$em alakazam"
F8 "team There's a $target"
F9 "nop"
F10 "nop"
T "beginchat /bind f targetname "
\ follow
pageup powexecname Force of Nature$$powexecname Geas of the Kind Ones
pagedown powexecname Demonic Aura$$powexecname Eye of the Magus
home powexecname Mission Teleporter
end powexecname self destruct

• 

  See my nifty 'think bubble'?
  ENTER "afk Thinking…$$startchat"

  If you press ENTER to put the cursor in the chat box so you can start typing (as most people do), adding this bind to your enter key will do the same thing, but set your status to AFK with a custom message. When you see people who have the grey thought-bubble things over their head while they're typing, this is how it's done.

• CTRL+ENTER "beginchat "/send "gameamp.com" [$name $level $archetype] ""

  This is a combo bind that requires two key presses at once to activate (CONTROL and ENTER). When you do, it puts the cursor in the chat box like normal, but by using the "beginchat" command instead of "startchat", it writes "/send "gameamp.com" [myname mylevel myarchetype] " and puts the cursor at the end.

  The cool thing about doing it this way is that all I have to do is type a message and hit ENTER. As soon as I do, it sends my message along with some information about my character to the channel I chose (where "gameamp.com" is a global channel I want all my characters to be able to quickly send chat to).

• ` cc 0

  Also f1-f4 and cc 1 through 4. These are simple binds that change between the original costume and the next 4 (which you have to unlock). Note that you can do a LOT more here like custom text, costume change emotes (new with the magic and superscience packs), but I'll save that for a little later (see the Advanced Costuming guide)

  One more thing. If you can't see the character very well, it's the backtick (which is also the tilde character). I used to use the 1-5 number keys, but I found that when dual-accounting, it's best to leave the number keys for powers.

• F5 "team Welcome$$em bow"

  The F5-F8 keys are very simple binds that say a little text and use an emote animation. There's not much more to say there.

• F9 "nop"

  The "nop" command stands for "No Operation" and clears a keybind. Because F9 and F10 have default commands when you start a new character or reset the keybinds, I use this to clear them. I need F9 and F10 to be cleared so that the utility I use for screencaptures and video work properly.

• T "beginchat /bind f targetname "
  

  The bind works well as a macro too.
  

  This is a seek bind. What it does is start the chatbox with the first half of a bind so I don't have to type it over and over. As soon as I press "T", my chat box is loaded with "/bind F targetname ". All I have to do is type a name or part of a name and hit ENTER. Once I do, the F key is bound with a command that targets anything where the name is a full or partial match to whatever I typed.

  In case you haven't made the connection yet, this is a great way to find special enemies or objects. Things like sappers (which everyone hates), crates, hostages, or named bosses.

• \ follow

  The F key is follow by default, but I use F for my seek bind (listed below) because of how easy it is to tap the F key while running around. Also, since I dual-account, it useful having the follow key one of the larger, easy-to-find keys on the keyboard. Backslash has worked great.

• pageup powexecname Force of Nature$$powexecname Geas of the Kind Ones

  This power launches an accolade power that I sometimes forget is there. Binding it to a key makes it far easier to use in battle. Note that this tries launching two powers at once which should always fail, but because one is the hero version and one the villain, it will work for any of my characters (since the other power will be ignored).

• pagedown powexecname Demonic Aura$$powexecname Eye of the Magus

  Even more than the last one, I'm am constantly forgetting to use this power. What this does is give me great resistance and defense and works like a "holy crap!" save-you-butt move. The problem is finding the power in your tray before it's too late. That's why using the keyboard is way better. Also, this power lowers your attack power in return for increasing defense while the Geas/FoN above does the opposite. Thus, Page Up to increase battle strength, Page Down to lower it. It's easy to remember which key does what that way.

• home powexecname Mission Teleporter

  Granted, you can only get this power by buying the Mac Edition addon pack, but I love this power for the time it save (which I have precious little of). I bound it to the "home" key because I often use missions as a way to set "home" locations for day jobs. In other words, play a mission or two then set my "home" mission that I only keep because it's in a zone where I want a day job badge, teleport there then log out.

  This works especially well for zones that are normally hard to get to (like Cimerora).

• end powexecname self destruction

  Again, an addon pack is required for this power (Cyborg), but since I have it, I want to be able to use this cool power. Not only does it provide some cool travel capabilities, but it does a lot of damage to nearby enemies in exchange for your life. The key here is that you get no debt even if they kill you before you're done self destructing as long as you start the power before you hit 0 life.

  Considering that, you can use self destruct as a get-out-of-debt-free card as well as thumbing your nose at the enemies that tried to kill you by blowing them up. But none of that is possible if you can't remember which tray you stuck the power in and can't find it with your mouse in time. So instead, I bound it to the "end" key (because it's the end for you, wa ha ha).

c:\binds\triumph.txt

SHIFT+ENTER "beginchat "/send "triumph watch 2.0" [$name $level $archetype] ""
ALT+ENTER "beginchat "/send "triumph watch 2.1" [$name $level $archetype] ""

These two are channel binds, but just for my characters that play on the Triumph server. I have one of these files for every server that I play on and load them as needed.

c:\binds\pow\veng.txt

V "target_custom_next friend defeated$$powexec_name Vengeance

Due to timing issues, this doesn't work in a single button press. You have to press it once to target the next defeated ally and then again to actually launch the power. This is very useful to quickly launch Vengeance during battle since it can take some effort to manually target their body versus just tapping the V key twice.

Note the very useful and interesting "target_custom_next" command. It can do a lot of things and will be very useful to you for various powers (like Vengeance) that are normally harder to use manually.

By the way, I have a bunch of binds for specific powers that are normally hard to use like this in the \pow subfolder. For now, I'll just show this one because I'm going somewhere with all of this.

c:\binds\numbers.txt

1 "powexec_slot 1"
2 "powexec_slot 2"
3 "powexec_slot 3"
4 "powexec_slot 4"
5 "powexec_slot 5"
6 "powexec_slot 6"
7 "powexec_slot 7"
8 "powexec_slot 8"
9 "powexec_slot 9"
0 "powexec_slot 10"

This resets the number keys to launch powers 1-10 in your main power tray (remember what I said before, with two accounts it becomes important for speed reasons to keep certain powers at certain numbers where I don't have to use a mouse to launch them). Why bother resetting this? You'll see in a sec.

	Above this point are bind files that I use for all my characters, but the magic comes next! After this point, the bind files are customized by character which in this case (for the sake of demonstration) will be Doctor Kev, my Necro/Dark Mastermind.

c:\binds\kev\kev_binds.txt

ENTER "afk Be patient, death comes for you soon enough$$beginchat "
SHIFT+NUMPADENTER "e stop$$petcom_all Follow Passive$$petsay_all YessssMaster…"
f1 "local The darkness consumes!$$cc 1"
F5 "petsay_pow Z <em welcome>$$petsay_pow G <em bow>$$petsay_pow L <em fancybow>Your presence is appreciated"
F6 "local GRATZ!$$petsay_all <em thumbsup>"
F7 bind_load_file c:\binds\kev\ready1.txt F8 "team A $target. Dissection is in order…"
F12 "team $target I demand your presence!$$powexec_name Recall Friend"

Though I use the same keys, this file over-rides many of the binds that say stuff with text custom to Doctor Kev (shortened to kev in the file structure to keep the path short). As a villain, he says dark, evil sounding things that are relevant to his particular story. You'll also notice that I've introduced something new which is the ability to make your pets participate in your binds, but that's for a different guide a different day.

You'll notice that on the F7 bind, it loads a file called ready1.txt. There's also a ready2 and 3 (an example of a rotating bind). Also beware that while some of my long commands wrap here, they shouldn't in your files. Binds must be one per line.

c:\binds\kev.txt

1 bindloadfile c:\binds\base_binds.txt
2 bindloadfile c:\binds\triumph.txt
3 bindloadfile c:\binds\pow\veng1.txt
4 bindloadfile c:\binds\kev\kev_binds.txt
5 bind_load_file c:\binds\mm\all.txt
6 bind_load_file c:\binds\mm\necro.txt
7 bind_load_file c:\binds\kev\all_attack1.txt
8 bindloadfile c:\binds\numbers.txt

This is it! This is what brings it ALL together. Pay close attention now and I'll go through these in order. Say I just created Doctor Kev OR somehow the binds got messed up (it happens sometimes). I do this in the following order:

1. I type "/bindloadfile c:\binds\kev\kev.txt". The above file loads.
2. I press the number 1. The base binds file loads with the binds that all my characters share.
3. I press the number 2. The Triumph server specific binds load (related to global channels and such).
4. I press the number 3. A power specific bind loads that Kev uses (because he has Vengeance).
5. I press the number 4. The Doctor Kev specific binds load over-riding some of my base binds (only the ones that had text attached to them).
6. I press the number 5, 6, and 7. The custom bind files for Necro Masterminds load (that's a WHOLE other guide so I'm not going to explain them here).
7. I press the number 8 and all the numbers reset to powers. Viola!

So essentially, I set these up one time and then I can set or rest the binds on any character by pressing the number keys from 1 to 5 or 8 or however many of my pre-built bind files I need for that character.

Best of all, the only bindfiles that aren't shared are the ones that list the bindfiles to load (charname.txt) and the one that lists the custom text binds (charname_binds.txt). All others are used in various combinations by all my characters and I never have to type them again.

As Paris Hilton would say, "That's HOT!"

Jeremy's Awesome CoH/V Binds Guide

1. How Binds Work
2. Bind Rotation
3. Mini Bind Reference
4. Jeremy's Bind Files Technique
5. Advanced Costuming

One of the commands you can use in a bind string is to load another bind file. I experimented with a lot of different ways to describe what I'm about to show you, and nothing makes sense so I'll just show you. Hold on to your hat:

Gettin' r' done

1. Create a folder called "binds" in your C: drive
2. Create a subfolder for your character in the "binds" folder. Since my character is Screaming Gale (in this case), I'll use "gale". Keep your file names short! There's a limit to how long a bind can be.
3. Create two files, "gale_ls1.txt" and "gale_ls2.txt".

4. Put bind commands in each file as follows

   In gale_ls1.txt

   0 "l WHEE! LOK AT THE PERTY CLUOD!$$powexecname lightning storm$$bindloadfile c:\binds\gale\gale_ls2.txt"

   In gale_ls1.txt

   0 "l LOOK! I MADE A FLUFFY CLOD$$powexecname lightning storm$$bindloadfile c:\binds\gale\gale_ls1.txt"

5. In your chat window, type "/bindloadfile c:\binds\gale\gale_ls1.txt"

OMG!!! What did I make you do!!!?

Relax. I'll explain…

What that crap all means

Starting with #5, what you've done is executed a command that loads a bind file. Inside the bind file is a list of key and command pairs. You should have noticed by now that you don't put /bind in front of the binds in a bindfile because it's assumed.

SO now that you've loaded "gale_ls1.txt", the 0 key has automatically been bound to this command:

"l WHEE! LOK AT THE PERTY CLUOD!$$powexecname lightning storm$$bindloadfile c:\binds\gale\gale_ls2.txt"

Let's break it down…

• l WHEE! LOK AT THE PERTY CLUOD!

  A lowercase l followed by a space works exactly the same as typing the full word for "local". I do that only to save space due to the whole bind length limit, but you don't have to. In either case, this simply says something in local chat.

• $$

  Command separator. This has to be between all command combinations.

• powexecname lightning storm

  Activates the lightning storm power. You may have noticed that in the last page, I used "powexec_name" and now I'm using "powexecname" without the underscore. Here's another tip that will come in handy: the bind commands don't care if you use underscores or not. Getting rid of them saves space, keeping them makes them more readable. Use as desired.

• $$

  Command separator again.

• bindloadfile c:\binds\gale\gale_ls2.txt

  This is not complicated, but important so pay attention!

  What this does is simply load a new bind file. If you followed my instructions, the only bind command in that file will be this:

  0 "l LOOK! I MADE A FLUFFY CLOD$$powexecname lightning storm$$bindloadfile c:\binds\gale\gale_ls1.txt"

  So, NOW, the 0 key is bound to a different command string.

In English

6 binds for Placate

Ok, so when you used "bindloadfile" to load the "gale_ls1.txt" file, it bound a command to the 0 key that would do the following:

• Say some text in local chat
• Execute the lightning storm power
• Load a new bind for the number 0 (gale_ls2.txt)

Because the final command in each file is to load the other file, every time you hit 0, the commands will toggle back and forth, back and forth. If you really do understand all this, that you'll quickly realize that it would be easy to add a 3rd or 4th or 5th file in the mix by just having the last line of each command load the next bind file in order.

Using this technique, you can have the same power bound to the same button, but have the text rotate between however many bindfiles you care to create. For example, my stalker has the "P" key bound to a string of files that rotates through all of the Jedi Mind trick quotes from the Starwars movies before using the placate power.

Look at the rotation in the chat window

On the right, you can see her placating a Longbow over and over to demonstrated the bind rotation. In the chat window above, you can see it mention "Keybinds file loaded" and you can see it rotate up in numbers and back to 1.

Jeremy's Awesome CoH/V Binds Guide

1. How Binds Work
2. Bind Rotation
3. Mini Bind Reference
4. Jeremy's Bind Files Technique
5. Advanced Costuming