How to: Skill hotkeys and weapon swapping

[Blerrger19]

You can equip two weapon sets from your inventory. Then simply press 'x' to instantly switch between them. This is known as hot-swapping. Hot-swapping also allows you to instantly switch between skill sets so long as you have them properly assigned. However, Path of Exile (for whatever stupid reason) makes this a bit tricky so you may be having some difficulty keeping the skills you want while swapping between weapon sets. This is because your skill hotkeys are affected by where you affix your skill gems.

If you affix a skill gem to a piece of armor, then that skill's icon will always appear in the hotkey slot you assigned it to as well as OVERRIDE any other skill assigned there so long as you have that armor equipped. It will simply appear greyed out and you will be unable to use it if it requires a speific weapon type that does not match your currently equipped weapon.
If you affix a skill gem to a weapon, the icon will only appear in your skill bar if you have that weapon equipped and will disappear without overriding other skills assigned to the same slot if the weapon is removed. This allows you to hotswap between skills as well as weapons so long as you affix your skill gems according to which skills you want to be shared between weapon sets and which skills you would like to have change when you hotswap.

Skills affixed to weapons do not persist when you hot-swap. Skills that are affixed to armor do. In other words, the skills affixed to your weapons will change when you hot-swap, and the skills you have affixed to your armor will not. If any of your skills are affixed to armor they will override any other skill occupying the same slot in your hot bar. Bear this in mind while setting up your weapon sets and skill sets.

If you want to keep your skills assigned where they are, then affix them to your armor. However, its far more likely you want your skills to change when you hot-swap especially if you're using different weapon types. In order to achieve this make sure you affix the skills you want to change to your weapons and the skills you want to remain unchanged to your armor.
If you want ALL of your skills to change, then make sure your weapons have a TON of skill slots. While this might be ideal, I don't have the gameplay experience to definitively say whether this is possible or not...

Now that you understand how skill hotkeys behave you can custom tailor your weapon sets with dedicated skill sets and assign them according to whatever suits you.

I recommend you affix weapon-specific skills to the corresponding weapon if possible, and assign those skills to your mouse buttons. Personally I feel this makes the most sense. Also, assign your shared skills to 'qwert' and affix them to your armor. This ensures that 'qwert' will not change when you hot-swap and that your mouse skills will change according to which weapon you have equipped. However, depending on your skills/preference you may want a couple skills on 'qwert' to change when you swap weapon sets...or hell maybe you don't want your mouse buttons to change for whatever reason. I leave it up to you to decide what works best FOR YOU. Make sure your weapon-specific skills are slotted on your weapons though, otherwise you'll just wind up with a useless greyed-out skill when you swap.

TL;DR
Apparently skills behave the same way as the equipment they're slotted in. Sklls affixed to your weapons change when you hot-swap with 'x' but skills affixed to your armor persist (since armor is not swapped). An annoying and frustrating little detail to keep in mind when setting up different skill sets for different weapon sets.

Note: Don't ask me why hotkeys behave this way. Its nice that the devs put in this level of detail, but its overcomplicated if you ask me =/

[jamesc70]

The reason so many of us love this game, is because it isn't dumbed down. Swapping weapon sets and setting up hotkeys gives a level of control an advanced player needs.

Most people put a cull on their second weapon set. I use bear trap + item rarity; get a rare/boss down to a sliver of health, switch weapon sets to make that available, and get the kill with 50+ extra magic find.

Gems level in both weapon sets also, so I always have some gems like item rarity, unused but gaining experience in off weapon sets.

Auras work different with hotkeys also, allowing you to set a hotkey to an aura, use it, then change that hotkey, and you keep the aura (effectively allowing 8 skills + as many auras as you want).

[Blerrger19]

Dumbed down? You do realize you're playing a rip-off of Diablo 3, right?
I play Skyrim. Believe me when I say I've heard plenty of 'dumbed down' arguments already. Please, spare me the headache, and honestly this game is already dumbed down enough. In the first place you shouldn't have a second weapon set AT ALL or at the very least you shouldn't be able to swap between them instantly (but so many games do this nowadays that's a moot point), and how about those potions? They magically refill themselves as you kill enemies. Because that makes sense. Also, you can knock them back like a college freshman inhales cheap beer--IN THE MIDDLE OF COMBAT--WITHOUT INTERRUPTING YOUR ATTACKS.
Not to mention all of your skill points go into passives...

Anyway, back to my original point. This system is just plain counterintuitive. Where you slot your skill gems shouldn't govern how your hotkeys function. So long as you have them equipped, your skills should be yours to assign however you like. Rather you should have two exclusive sets of skills when swapping between weapon sets so you don't have to struggle against the system.
If anything this bogus system is TAKING AWAY control from the player since it forces you to take into consideration an extra level of detail that simply doesn't need to be there. Its unnecessarily restrictive. Swapping weapon sets--good. Setting up hotkeys--also good. However, making your hotkeys function this way overcomplicates things and that's bad. I can understand where the devs are coming from on this, but its still stupidly counterintuitive.
Its on the same level as a levelling system that effectively weakens the PC by having enemy scaling that far outstrips the player character's stat gains on level-up. I'm looking at you Oblivion -_-

Also, that's a pretty common farm strategy, but some people actually want to fully utilize BOTH weapon sets and have a custom skill loadout for each. I made this post to help people realize that.

[klaus_bast]

This system makes no effing sense, but I thank you for the information. (Also, it is the 13th of August, 2017. This nonsensical system is still in place.)