Dark Souls Keyboard Use and Setup

For those of you who have not yet gotten a controller or do not want one this is a quick guide to give you a run down of how the keyboard works, and some recommended bindings to change.

Why Keyboard/Mouse?

Cause you can, I am 900 hours+ in on dark souls PC version using exclusively keyboard and mouse. I didnt want to buy a controller didnt want to mess with setting it up and have played a variety of different console ports just fine on keyboard and mouse. Whatever your reason may be, you are using the keyboard and its a little wonkey so I intend to give you a basic run down on the in game buttons to corresponding keys etc.

The Keys

Dark Souls is a pretty bare bones port and still has the xbox buttons showing up in the tips/ques for the game which sucks but heres the basic rundown.

A = Q: or whatever you would have your action button bound to (A also refers to Enter in the menus)
B = Backspace: this button is actually split with Space which is your dodge/sprint button but backspace is used exclusively for backing out of menues.
X = Delete: this is used to cycle info on items in your menu as well as quickly remove peices of gear in your equipment menu.
Y = Insert: this is used to cycle through objects that may be stacked up on the ground, it also lets you cycle information in your menus either the opposite way X does or some other info depending on the menu.
Select = G: As far as ive seen this is only for the gesture menu and in the stats menu to give you expanded excplanations of what all the stuff in there is.

Start = End = your menu key, brings up the menu options from left to right they are , inventory, equipment, stats, settings/options.

Page up and page down cycle through the different menus if you have one open.

Also I suppose I should mention that the left mouse button is normal attack and the right mouse button is strong attack, this doesnt show up in the key bindings but is intuitive though I figured I would mention it.

Bindings

I highly recommend you rebind some stuff in order to make it easier to play some of the bindings make no sense.

O for instance is the default binding for lock on/ center camera. This is way out of line cause your left hand should be on WASD and your right hand should be on the mouse. I rebound this function to the X key, its easy for me to hit quickly. If you are as I am a well traveled PC gamer you will already have your preferences for bindings that your fingers are comfortable reaching so just set those keys which would be out of the way for you into closer proximity to your left hand as you see fit.

Here are screen shots of my bindings, I didnt have to change too much.

Mouse stuff

Mouse controls for this game are a mixed bag some people really have a hard time with it, perhaps it is SUPER sensitive, for those people the dark souls community has bestowed upon thou the dsmfix, easy to use and set up. I dont know much about it because I had no trouble with my mouse/camera on day one it worked well enough sometimes its a bit sticky but no big deal as i use the X key to center/lock on all the time.

A big note to new players moving the camera while locked on will tell the game you want to cycle targets, DO NOT MOVE THE MOUSE WHILE LOCKED ON if you dont intend to cycle targets. For me having a track ball mouse makes this extremely easy, i dont know how you heathen gamers will make due with your clicky draggy mouses but more power to you.

Problems

There are some flaws to the keyboard control its a little more clunky and less precise because you are essentially using a Dpad instead of a stick so moving at precise angles isnt easy. Also its been a while since ive held a controller but you may have trouble doing more advanced maneuvers for pvp such as the raviolli step or the reverse roll. I dont like to backstab in pvp so it doesnt matter to me but just keep all that in mind. Happy hunting!

Video Records

This is part of a video series I am doing for my other guide but it shows me playing on keyboard killing havel in 13 minutes.

[Ginseng]

its the same inputs as for a controler which is forward(W) and light attack (Left click) by default.

[bgm.1]

ketboard /mouse control for kicking .

[Ginseng]

right button? Left click i think give me some context on where you are seeing a right button prompt.

[evil]

whats the RB key?

[Ginseng]

I'm fairly certain there is a way however i'd have to delete a character to be able to tell you which I've got a full roster atm that i like so i'm pretty reluctant to do that. Try experimenting.

[MeetTheResident]

First of all thank you for the guide. in general i have no problems with the controls as they are but i would like to know how to rotate your character at the customization screen, if there's a way.

[Ginseng]

Enjoy dark souls, if you have any questions feel free to ask.

[survival P]

thank you really much

[SaltHound]

praise the sun

[Ginseng]

you're welcome, enjoy dark souls my friend.