Tips for Settings

Basics

Essential settings

General Options

User Interface

• Show All Enemy Names: Checked ✔
• Show Skill Recharge: Checked ✔
• Thick Party Health Bars + Always Show Party Health Bars: Checked ✔ - makes it so much easier to see how your teammates are doing, which is especially useful when playing support
• Show Simple Condition Floater: Checked ✔ - less visual clutter

Camera

• Rotation Speed: Maximum - anything below max is just a handicap, and the default speed is really bad
• Field of View: Maximum - adjust your camera the way you please, but there's no reason to artifically deny yourself the option to zoom out in combat when necessary
• Disable Player Camera Shake: Checked ✔
• Use Free Camera: Checked ✔

Combat and Movement

• Ground Targeting: Fast with range indicator - best of both worlds. You get to position the skill as long as you're holding the button, and cast it the moment you release it. If you don't need extra aiming and want the skill to go off as soon as possible just let go immediately. Efficient and easy to use.
• Double-Tap to Evade: Unchecked - accidentally wasting dodges should be avoided, bind dodge to a key instead
• Disable Area of Effect Rings: Unchecked
• Autotargeting: Unchecked - this setting is notoriously bad when it comes to certain mobility skills, for instance if you'd like to disengage from a fight with Rush autotageting could change your direction and take you right to the threat you wanted to run away from
• Promote Skill Target: Unchecked
• Melee Attack Assist: Unchecked - clunky and counter productive
• Lock Ground Target At Maximum Range: Checked ✔ - let's say you want to use Infiltrator's Arrow for mobility. With this option you can just fling that skill away and always get maximum value (maximum distance) without having to worry about where to click
• Snap Ground Target To Current Target: Unchecked - this one would only make it harder to get value out of your skills
• Allow Skill Retargeting: Checked ✔ - arguably somewhat unimportant most of the time, we still felt the need to highlight this one (this is mainly for PvP). There are certain skills like Chronomancer's Deja Vu where this option is rather important - if the target dodges or goes invulnerable at the end of Deja Vu, the phantasm won't be summoned. Usually you should be able to just stow your weapon and cancel the skill (more about that below), but that does not apply here. Cancelling Deja Vu sends the skill on max CD and interrupts the blocking, which is basically worse than not reacting at all. However, if you have skill retargeting enabled it's possible to select another target for this skill in the middle of the channeling and summon the phantasm on the new target. Another example would be mind games with Prime Light Beam, a skill which roots you in place and turns you towards the target - cast the skill facing target A, potentially even baiting out a dodge, then swap to target B (your real target) at the last moment, catching them off-guard.

Competitive

• Standard Enemy Models: Checked ✔ - you don't want to handicap yourself vs players who are playing Asura
• Disable PvP Teammate Health bars: Unchecked
• WvW Simple Nameplates: Enemies only
• Disable WvW Territory Overlay: Unchecked

Control Options (Keybinds)

Movement

• About face - quite useful for many professions with mobility skills that require rapid 180 turns in order to move "forward" such as Mesmer's Phase Retreat, Ranger's Hornet Sting, or Deadeye's Death's Retreat. Beyond that it has other niche uses in PvP like fake-jumping off a cliff to bait enemies into going down by pressing about face in the air right after jumping off.

Skills

• Clicking your skills is awfully inefficient and not something that you should ever do. Setting up and getting used to easily accessible keybinds is the key to success!
• We recommend that you set up new binds for skills 7-10, the Special action key, and if your fingers are shorter, even 6 and F1-5. Bind these skills to easier to reach places like the E key or Mouse 5.

Targeting

• Call Target and Take Target are bound by default and they should be fine where they are, we'd just like to reiterate that these are quite useful features in any gamemode.

Miscellaneous

• Stow/draw weapon - a key feature when it comes to PvP. There's no option to bind "cancel cast", so this is the next best thing. There are many reasons for weapon stowing:

1. To save CDs in case the skill wouldn't land because you've either been blinded or the target broke line of sight/moved out of range/is dodging/went invulnerable/etc.
2. To cancel aftercasts on certain skills
3. To bait dodges in PvP by casting skills with obvious and lengthy animations such as Chaotic Release or "Chilled to the Bone!" without intending to finish the channel

Everything else

Less important or advanced settings that weren't covered in the Basic section

General Options

User Interface

• In-game clock: Local time - many important things are on a timer, having this in your screen can keep you on schedule
• Content Guide: Default - helps you track objectives, default is fine but this one is entirely subjective
• Ignore Previously Completed Objectives: Checked ✔ - this prevents the content guide from directing you towards hearts and hero challenges that have already been completed
• AoE loot on interact: Checked ✔
• Autoloot - Autopickup: Checked ✔
• Autoloot - Quick Interact: Checked ✔
• Show All Enemy Names: Checked ✔
• Show All NPC Names: Checked ✔
• Show All Player Names: Checked ✔
• Show All Usable Object Names: Checked ✔
• Always Show My Name: Optional - this doesn't matter, entirely up to your own preferences
• Disable Closing Windows with ESC: Unchecked
• Show Target Health Percent: Checked ✔
• Disable Inventory Compact Option: Optional - if you're accidentally clicking Deposit materials at the top right if your inventory screen and want to put an end to it then check this, otherwise it doesn't matter
• Automatically Expand LFG Preview: Checked ✔
• Hide Optional Announcements: Unchecked
• Thick Squad Health Bars: Unchecked
• Always Show Squad Health Bars: Checked ✔
• Enable Playtime Reminders: Optional - the game will send you hourly notifications to take a break, nice bit of GW1 nostalgia but not very useful

Dynamic HUD

• Menu Bar: Show only out of combat - sometimes when you use a ranged skill such as a teleport and your cursor hovers over the menu at the top left when you cast the skill, it'll go on full CD and do nothing. This is a very rare thing and a niche use for this function, but by disabling the menu bar (Mail, Trading post, etc.) while in combat you can prevent this from ever happening.
• Leave everything else on default settings, they are fine as is.

Camera

• Horizontal Position: Middle
• Vertical Position Near: Minimum (all the way to the left)
• Vertical Position Far: Middle
• Collision Sensitivity: Optional - experiment and see what works for you
• Zoom Sensitivity: Maximum (all the way to the right)
• Invert Camera Y-Axis: Unchecked
• Enable Camera Teleportation: Unchecked - easily makes you dizzy
• Use either mouse button to change direction: Unchecked
• Enable First-Person Camera: Checked ✔ - lets you zoom all the way in in case you'd like to take screenshots and such
• Adjust Camera to Character Height: Unchecked

Combat and Movement

• Double-Click to Attack/Interact: Optional - never going to be used so it doesn't matter
• Right-Click to Attack/Interact: Checked ✔ - if you're within range of both a downed ally and a downed enemy the game offers either the stomp or the rez option (based on who's closer), but if you're not offered the right choice then you'll have to manually select the target you want to interact with - this option saves you a button press as you won't have to do anything after selecting the right target
• Stop Auto-Attacking on Target Change: Unchecked

Competitive

• Team Colors: Checked ✔
• Standard Friendly Models: Optional - nowhere near as important as standard enemy models, yet if you're aiming for maximum visual clarity or just hate obnoxious auras/legendary effects then definitely check this

Streaming

• Content Streaming: Optional - depends on how good your connection is

Groups

• Show All Commander Tags: Checked ✔ in WvW, Optional elsewhere, checking this makes it easier to group up or track allied movements, but has no real use in places like the PvP lobby
• Simple Party UI: Checked ✔ if you want the party window to take up less space in WvW/PvE, but it's not mandatory
• Clear All Squad Markers: Optional - this is for seasoned squad commanders

Mounts

• Disable Conditional Mount Movement Ability Input: Checked ✔ - prevents mounts from automatically using their movement ability, allowing for the use of regular jumps
• Mount: Enable Camera Roll: Optional - can cause motion sickness

Control Options (Keybinds)

Targeting

• Nearest Enemy: bound
• Stow Weapon: bound

Squad

• New players can just skip this section, but anyone who wants to get into squad commanding should bind the markers.