Keybindings and Hotbar Setup for Bard — Endwalker 6.58

This example controller layout imagines a left trigger preference. Some players prefer not having different LT -> RT and RT -> LT bars. But here the latter serves as redundant access to two-minute buffs. The overall goal is to have as many skills as possible accessible on face buttons, because it can be impractical to use d-pad skills while moving.

Because The Wanderer's Minuet turns into Pitch Perfect, it is grouped with other core damage skills. Otherwise, skills are grouped roughly by type. The main LT and RT bars have the most commonly used skills on face, with important cooldowns or opener skills on the d-pad. AoE, movement skills, and defensives each have a face button set, with rarer skills (and damage potion) accessible on combination d-pads.

Once again, this is only an example. You can and should try out different setups to find what you like best. Remember that you can access various cross-hotbar related settings in Character Menu -> Hotbar -> Custom.

As there are many different mouse and even keyboard / keypad options, no one example is going to apply to very many players. So in this case, I will use my own setup. My dexterity is limited, so I have fewer keybinds / mouse buttons than most - which means this should be a good example in terms of skill prioritization.

In this setup, movement is done with QWES, rather than WASD. The easiest keys for me to hit, and therefore the most important skills, are on `1234 and RC. ADF and Shift+R Shift+F are also available. Everything else on the main hotbars is mouse-clicked. The gaps help ease mouse accuracy to keep slow clicks and misclicks to a minimum.

Duty actions are on X/Shift+X, while three extra mouse keys handle mouseover The Warden's Paean, Repelling Shot and Arm's Length. Those three are not used often, but may be needed quickly and/or while moving.

You may notice Pitch Perfect has its own button here. You can assign a normally un-assignable skill via the macro / text command:
/hotbar action "Pitch Perfect" 1 5
The "1 5" means this will put it in hotbar 1, slot 5, for example.