[Guide] SCH / SMN Cross Hotbar Setup

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If you don't have a MMO mouse, I would strongly recommend playing this game with a controller, as you will find yourself quickly being overwhelmed by the amount of skills your classes receive. Specifically to SCH/SMN, good SCH/SMN players pride themselves on having excellent control over their pets. Trying to create accessible hotkeys for every single class skill as well as pet skill will quickly become an insurmountable task.

This is meant as a guide to help you get the maximum amount of utility out of the powerful combinations you can create using a controller.

Step 1: Settings
Before we can get started, you need to configure a few settings. Go to Character Configuration -> Hotbar Settings -> Cross, and configure it like so:

ffxiv_03112015_171304.png ffxiv_03112015_171318.png

The areas the arrow is pointing at are the two important areas, anything else is personal preference. You want Bar #7 to be revealed when you press the triggers, and different sides of bar 7 to be revealed when you press the triggers in different order. You'll see why in a minute.


Step 2: Macros
There are a few important macros you'll need to maximise the effectiveness of these settings.

Common:

Code:
/micon "Resurrection"
/ac "Swiftcast" <me>
/wait 0.5
/p Your spiritbond with the floor is now complete. Converting <t> into materia...
/ac "Resurrection" <t>

SMN:

Garuda-Egi
Code:
/macroicon "Summon"
/ac "Swiftcast" <me>
/wait 1
/ac "Summon" <me>
/chotbar pet "Shockwave" "Garuda-Egi" 7 RA2
/chotbar pet "Contagion" "Garuda-Egi" 7 RA3
/chotbar pet "Aerial Slash" "Garuda-Egi" 7 RA4
/wait 8
/pac "Obey"

Titan-Egi
Code:
/macroicon "Summon II"
/ac "Swiftcast" <me>
/wait 1
/ac "Summon II" <me>
/chotbar remove 7 RA1
/chotbar remove 7 RA2
/chotbar remove 7 RA3
/chotbar remove 7 RA4
/wait 8
/pac "Sic"

Ifrit-Egi
Code:
/macroicon "Summon III"
/ac "Swiftcast" <me>
/wait 1
/ac "Summon III" <me>
/chotbar remove RA1
/chotbar pet "Flaming Crush" "Ifrit-Egi" 7 RA2
/chotbar pet "Radiant Shield" "Ifrit-Egi" 7 RA3
/chotbar pet "Crimson Cyclone" "Ifrit-Egi" 7 RA4
/wait 8
/pac "Obey"

SCH:

Eos
Code:
/macroicon "Summon"
/ac "Swiftcast" <me>
/wait 1
/ac "Summon" <me>
/chotbar pet "Embrace" eos 7 RA1
/chotbar pet "Fey Illumination" eos 7 RA2
/chotbar pet "Fey Covenant" eos 7 RA3
/chotbar pet "Whispering Dawn" eos 7 RA4
/wait 8
/pac "Obey"

Selene
Code:
/macroicon "Summon II"
/ac "Swiftcast" <me>
/wait 1
/ac "Summon II" <me>
/chotbar pet "Embrace" selene 7 RA1
/chotbar pet "Fey Wind" selene 7 RA2
/chotbar pet "Silent Dusk" selene 7 RA3
/chotbar pet "Fey Caress" selene 7 RA4
/wait 8
/pac "Obey"

A few notes:
  1. The "chotbar" commands will auto-set your right side face buttons on Cross Hotbar 7 to the correct skills for this pet
  2. The "pac" command will ensure only Titan-Egi is allowed to roam free, all other pets will be set to Obey so you can control their skills


Step 3: Out Of Combat Hotbar

SMN:

ffxiv_03112015_171723.png

The most important thing you need to do when creating your setup is to keep your most used skills accessible. Your DoTs and Ruin are your bread and butter, so you want them on the face buttons so you can always easily access them, even while running (e.g. holding the left analogue stick).

Your Aetherflow-costing skills are also highly important. For instance, if you're chased by a bunch of mobs, having Painflare on a face button can save your life. Miasma II is good for tagging mobs in a fate, but not great for normal DPS in a dungeon, so we put it accessible but slightly more out of the way.

Tri-Disaster can be a good initiator, so we made it accessible on Bar 1.

SCH:

ffxiv_03112015_171930.png

There's nothing much to say here, pretty much all healing spells will fit on this bar.


Step 4: In-Combat Hotbar

SMN:

ffxiv_03112015_171758.png

Here we see the addition of Tri-Bind and Dreadwyrm Trance.
Unless you have auto-sheathe on, it's highly unlikely you'll ever find yourself out of combat with 3 stacks of Aethertrail Attunement and no time to cast any of your initiators before they expire, so DWT doesn't need to be displayed out of combat.
Tri-Bind should really only be used when there's more than 7 mobs, so we can stuff this out of the way.

SCH:

ffxiv_03112015_171933.png

Virus and Eye for an Eye are heavy cooldowns, and you probably don't need to initiate with any of them, so they can also be put out of the way for the time being.


Step 5: Alternate In-Combat Hotbar
Remember how we made it so pressing the right shoulder button switches between 2 hotbars (2 and 3) while in combat in step 1? This is where that comes into play.

SMN:

ffxiv_03112015_171800.png

You should only switch to this bar when you are in Dreadwyrm Trance! Here, we've re-arranged the layout slightly to account for the differences in priority. Ruin III is the primary spell to cast, and Ruin II can be used to squeeze a bit of extra DPS out of DWT if you find yourself with 2 seconds left so you can't cast another Ruin III. Deathflare is the finisher, and Tri-Disaster should be used to refresh your DoT's (alongside Garuda-Egi's Contagion). We give all these skills the premium spot on the right side face buttons, for maximum ease of use while moving with the left analogue stick.

The normal DoTs should not be hardcast unless you somehow screwed up and they have all dropped off, so we've relegated them to less accessible positions.

SCH:

ffxiv_03112015_172006.png

This is your DPS bar, with Physick added just in case the tank is about to crumble randomly due to forgetting he's not playing as DRG in this dungeon. You'll want to switch the positions of Broil and Ruin when you're level synced.


Step 6: Trigger Combination Bar

SMN:

ffxiv_03112015_171804.png

We relegated Virus and Eye for an Eye down here, since they are more situational than your normal spells. The Resurrection, as you can see, is macro'd to Swiftcast and a party notification. Sustain is added mostly for solo content in the world, as I've observed the Chocobo will not heal your Titan-Egi no matter how dire it gets.
You should use the various summon macros found in Step 2 to summon your Egis.
Enkindle is there for obvious reasons.
This half will be accessed when you press Left Trigger followed by Right Trigger, then hold both.

The arrow buttons host your various pet control and pet DPS boost skills, not much to explain there.
The face buttons will be automatically set by your summoning macro, so you don't have to worry about these.
This half will be accessed when you press Right Trigger followed by Left Trigger, then hold both.

SCH:

ffxiv_03112015_172157.png

Because it's more important to tell when your SC is off cooldown as a SCH, we've added it to our bar here.
The Resurrection macro is the same, and Protect & Stoneskin are pretty self-explanatory as well.
You should use the various summon macros found in Step 2 to summon your fairies.



If you've followed this guide, you'll now have a setup that lets you quickly and easily access all your important skills, with no loss of DPS from having to macro your main skills.
 
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