Hotbar Layout Explination

[DAL_9000]

As you may know, MCSG has always been a game about strategy, and in such games organization is key. Yes, some may argue that organizing your inventory is more important, but over my near-year and a half of playing this game, I've come to the realization that having a good hot-bar layout comes first. There's no perfect layout, as everyone has a different play style, keyboard, and mouse; and some have more programmable buttons than others. In this thread, I'm going to show you my hot-bar layout and explain the reasoning behind it. Feel free to give me a few tips on how to improve, or post your own hot-bar layouts with your own reasoning

-Primary & Secondary Weapons-

As you can see, my primary and secondaries are pretty generically placed. My sword is in my first slot because my mouse has a button that I can click which sends me to that slot, making it easy to always hit with my sword instead of mis-scrolling and attacking with my bow. I keep my bow directly to the right of my sword, making it easily accessible for bow-stuns or quick shots if the enemy decides to make a run for it. I like to use flint & steels as common as possible, so I keep them close to my empty slot so they're just one scroll away.

-Food Items-

Food is a pretty easy thing to come across in MCSG nowadays, so I don't like to clutter my bar with multiple foods like some people I've seen. I like my foods to occupy no more than 3 slots. One slot is for a low saturation food which I use when I'm exploring a map or looking for players to end the game. The next slot over is for a high saturation food, used when I'm about to go into a fight or when I need to do a bit of running. Finally, I always keep my golden apple in the same place, which corresponds to the number '8' key. This is because in emergencies it's easier to tap the '8' key than have to scroll around for it.

-The Fishing Rod-

The fishing rod is pretty much a must-have in modern MCSG. Getting used to performing rod-stuns is something you'll have to do in order to beat most of the higher competition. To make this a little easier, I've kept my fishing rod on the far right of my hot-bar. This allows for a single scroll-up to get to it, allowing for quick and rapid stuns, followed by a scroll-down (if you don't have a macro mouse) to equip your sword and begin attacking.

-The Middle Slot-

Most of you out there who have managed to find me in a game and fight me have noticed something a little bit odd. During your fight with me you may notice that if I'm not swinging my sword or shooting my bow, my hand is empty. That is because I always keep my middle slot empty. There is reason behind this. Firstly, it creates the illusion that I have no weapon upon first glance, which makes most people more bold to fight me. It also leaves my hand open for an Enderpearl sponsor if one were to occur, which makes for easy escapes, or alternatively, easy chases. Lastly, it serves for more visibility. Holding a sword in your hand blocks an entire right portion of your screen, while a hand, despite it being a bit wider, allows you to see your right flank a little easier.

 

[Fox]

:O

 

[Mooclan]

Actually not bad. Most hot bar explanation thingies are bad, but this one actually had screenshots and enough explanations.
I don't take into account the enderpearl thing, but I might use that when I'm in a team.

I do the empty hand thing too, but I usually hold food or something. I'm not too worried about the visibility, but good idea!

Personally, I do
1-Sword, 2-Bow, 3-fishing rod, 4-golden apples, 5-high-saturation food, 4-9-Flint n' steels, (If I have 4. If I only have 1, it goes in the 9th slot, 2 go into 8 and 9, 3 goes into 7, 8, and 9. If I have more, they go in my inventory, in a line starting from the bottom left. If I have less than 4 FNS's. then I fill the rest of my hotbar with food.)

 

[chockadlad]

Doesn't really matter if you hotkey

 

[DAL_9000]

Doesn't really matter if you hotkey

T'is true. I know a lot of people who hotkey, but even then you should have an organized bar, otherwise you'd be counting slots in order to press the correct button on the keyboard. And even if you're good at counting, it's sometimes difficult to see which slot your sword is in, then press the corresponding button while you're in the heat of the moment. It's much easier to have an organized bar so you can always rely on your sword to be where you want it to be, instead of scrambling around to equip it.

 

[chockadlad]

T'is true. I know a lot of people who hotkey, but even then you should have an organized bar, otherwise you'd be counting slots in order to press the correct button on the keyboard. And even if you're good at counting, it's sometimes difficult to see which slot your sword is in, then press the corresponding button while you're in the heat of the moment. It's much easier to have an organized bar so you can always rely on your sword to be where you want it to be, instead of scrambling around to equip it.

True that, but hotkeying helps a lot in pvp anyways I usually go 1- Sword -2 Rod 3- Bow 4- FnS food all the way to number 8 number 9- arrows

 

[le quack]

I go 1. Sword 2.Bow 3. Rod 4. Fns <food> 8.Arrows 9.Gold apples

P.S this is a good layout for Nagas(the mouse I use)

 

[SirCumstances]

I have a similar layout, except for the last slot. I put arrows here because there have been plenty of situations where my opponent got a few extra hits on me because I did not realize I had no arrows. Fns is 3 for me fishing rod on 4. I have a deathadder and 1 and 2 are easy to hotkey to.