Guide: Keyboard Layouts

Last updated: December 23, 2024

UI

By the time you reach level 200 in MapleStory, nearly every character seems to have an overwhelming amount of attacks, buffs, and items to use in battle and not enough room on the keyboard to fit all of them. When switching to other characters for weekly bossing, it can be easy to forget which sets of keys are used for damaging bosses, culling groups of enemies, preparing your burst, or supporting your party members.

To avoid confusion and aid memory, it helps to set some ground rules:

  • Place all direct combat skills on nearby keys so you can access them as fast as possible after reacting to enemy attacks and other dangers.
    • For a resting hand position on WASD or ASDF, the closest keys would be QWERT, ASDFG, ZXCVB, Shift, Ctrl, Alt, and Spacebar.
  • Use number keys 1-7 for buffs.
  • Use function keys F1-F8 for buffs, toggles, or frequently-accessed UIs such as Familiars.
    • [note] Summon Familiars is a skill found in the Beginner tab (before 1st job) of your skill UI.
keyboard layout

Try to use the same key on all characters for:

  • Inventory (I)
  • Equipment (U)
  • origin skill
  • Hero's Will/Erda's Will
  • iframe (invulnerability skill)
  • combo key

If you still feel overwhelmed, understand that MapleStory is a 20-year-old game still in the process of modernizing. And some people have been playing for decades to get as good as you see them in videos. There's no shame in taking weeks, months, or years to find what works best for your hands and your keyboard. Part of the fun is feeling a sense of improvement each week as you challenge yourself in a variety of content. Lastly, the developers of MapleStory are aware of the problem and have been working on features to alleviate it, such as the combo key released in 2024. We might get something even better in 2025...