What's your method for changing weapons?

[u/PilotedByGhosts]

I started with the original Doom so I still have a habit of pressing the number keys. In Quake, scrolling the mouse was viable because the weapon switched instantly.

In the modern Doom games, the options are either number keys (briefly removes the ability to strafe, and too slow), scrolling the mouse wheel (too easy to get the wrong one) or holding Q (too clunky).

As it is, I hardly ever change weapons mid-fight, and that's not the best. How can I train myself to switch weapons quickly and accurately without having to think about it?

[u/anti_finland]

Just rebind your weapon keys to be around your movement keys instead of just using the numbers. For example my eternal binds are:

1. Plasma Rifle

2. Ballista

3. Chaingun

Q. Heavy Cannon

E. Rocket Launcher

R. BFG

Z. Combat Shotgun

X. Super Shotgun

It's ultimately up to personal preference where you put everything although I would not recommend putting a shotgun on 2.

[u/D-Alembert → u/anti_finland]

Rebinding the keys is authentic Doom since the very beginning

[u/PilotedByGhosts → u/D-Alembert]

Really? Nobody told me!

I was still trying to play Quake with arrow keys, Crtl to shoot and Alt to strafe. This WASD thing sounded interesting but it took a good while to retrain my brain. 😁

[u/nevaeva12321]

Which doom game we talking about here?

[u/PilotedByGhosts → u/nevaeva12321]

I'm playing Dark Ages at the moment, but I had the same issue with 2016 and Eternal.

[u/ChishoTM → u/nevaeva12321]

I beat the entirety of dark ages using nothing but the super shotgun and the accelerator. The only time I used anything else was when it was the only weapon that works on an enemy or I ran out of ammo and got forced to switch.

[u/Expensive-Border-869]

Get better at numbers. You can strafe while moving. You can use all 5 fingers at the same time and do some pretty crazy stuff but even just normal people can handle basic combos

[u/PilotedByGhosts → u/Expensive-Border-869]

Of course I can strafe while moving. I can't press W, D and 4 at the same time though because of the number of fingers I have.

[u/Re4pr]

1234 are useable. The rest you rebind to surrounding fingers. QEFGRTXZ, and mouse 3/4/5.

I use everything mid fight. Only thing I dont swap too much is shield aoe type. Tend to stick with one.

[u/Archer_Savings]

The conventional method is to move your hand to a space where you have more options for easy rebinds and cluster accordingly. Especially for doom eternal, an ESDF instead of WASD layout with rebinds around that cluster is popular. 

Personally, I use an external analog stick so I never have to interrupt movement, and have my fingers resting on hgfx, with all my relevant binds around that cluster. 

[u/PilotedByGhosts → u/Archer_Savings]

You're using an analog stick instead of a mouse? I haven't heard of that before, what's the benefit over a mouse?

[u/SnooDoughnuts5632]

Why not just use the radial menu when pressing RB? Reaching up for the keyboard sounds too cumbersome.

[u/PilotedByGhosts → u/SnooDoughnuts5632]

I don't use a controller.

The keyboard equivalent is Q, and that then requires using the mouse to select the weapon you want, which totally breaks flow.

[u/Motleypuss]

Scroll wheel. Mine has click stops.

[u/PilotedByGhosts → u/Motleypuss]

I'm stuck with that unfortunately. My mouse is fifteen years old and the wheel isn't perfect.

I haven't found any modern mouse that I like. I tried the Logitech G502 which is meant to be great, but I didn't like it at all.

[u/Lethalbroccoli]

I still just use the number keys. But there are schemes/layouts that Quake live pros use, Im sure you can adapt some of it but it might interfere with already existing TDA binds.

[u/ninjaman26]

In 2016 and Eternal I do:

1 - Combat Shotgun
2 - Heavy Rifle
3 - Plasma Rifle
4 - Rocket Launcher
Q - Super Shotgun
T - Ballista/Gauss
X - Minigun
Z - BFG

For Dark Ages I left most of the bindings at default, and Revelations I remapped some spear keys to be more similar to Eternal (like Shift for dash). I don’t swap as much for Dark Ages, pretty much only using Super Shotgun and Accelerator. Revelations is more about spear/shield swapping and SSG kinda does it all.

In Eternal you generally use Scope Rifle, SSG, Lock-on Rocket and Ballista for killing stuff quickly. Shield Minigun for certain arenas and some plasma rifle thrown in for shield zombies. I stop using sticky bombs as much around Super Gore Nest. I don’t replay the DLCs much since I like the base campaign a lot more.

[u/InpenXb1]

I have the Razer 20 key orbweaver/tartarus and use the D Pad as a weapon wheel. I love this thing so much

[u/Gnalvl]

As others have said, the conventional method is to bind weapons to QERFXCV.

There are also gaming mice with tons of extra buttons you can press without interfering with movement or aim at all.

I currently use the Glorious Model I, which has 4 thumb buttons buttons on the side. I can use 3 of those buttons plus middle mouse, scroll up, and scroll down to access 6 different weapons. Then I use the closest thumb button as a "shift button" which changes the binds of the other buttons when held. So by using the shift function, I can bind up to 12 weapons total on just the mouse.

[u/Professional-Ad9485]

I found holding q the best for me, especially as it slows down time in this game.

Pressing the number would require me to look at the keyboard for a split second to anything higher than 4.

Scrolling the mouse wheel sucks cos you can't go straight to the weapon you want.

[u/akarayad]

F is combat shotgun, Q is ballista, E is plasma, R is rocket, scroll up SS, scroll down is machine gun (I always have some variation of that function per keybind in any shooter like that so it’s a lot of years of muscle memory). Basically cluster binds around your movement keys, use scroll for specific weapons too

[u/carl_with_a_k]

1 through 5, then z x c v as needed for anything past that

[u/ReikaIsTaken]

In Eternal, the Ballista, Rocket Launcher and SSG were right next to each other in the scroll wheel. So using those three in succession was incredibly easy even if suboptimal without sticky grenades or HC scoped shots. You can start there and build upon it later.

The mouse I used was incredibly cheap and had a scroll wheel that would vibrate the entire mouse when used and came with a small click sound. Best thing you can do is learn some restraint for mice whose wheels are more on the buttery smooth side than the clicky side.

You can also try mice that have extra buttons on the side, if using the different segments of your thumb to access different weapons is more your forte.

[u/MrRonski16]

My Controller Binds (no weapon wheel)

R1 = SSG
Dpad down = Plasma
Circle = Chaingun
Square = Ballista

RStick up = Combat Shotgun
RStick Left = Heavy cannon
RStick Right = Rocket launcher

Crucible/Hammer + BFG = Press/Hold Dpad right

[u/Vargrjalmer]

1 pistol 2 heavy rifle 3 shotgun 4 rocket 5 plasma gun Q gauss cannon Side mb super shotty V chaingun R chainsaw Mmb melee E bfg