Kal Online hides a lot of its usability behind keybinds. Nothing on screen tells you that the map, your quest log and your skill window all have single-key shortcuts, so here is the set worth learning in your first hour.
Sources:
https://gameagit.com/kalonline/Control
https://gameagit.com/kalonline/Interface
https://gameagit.com/kalonline/Skills
https://gameagit.com/kalonline/chatting
Keys you will use constantly
- Q opens the quest window
- S opens your skill window
- I opens the inventory
- C shows character information
- P handles the party window
- 1 to 0 fire whatever sits in that quick slot, and Ctrl+1 to Ctrl+0 switch between quick slot pages
- F12 takes a screenshot, saved to the screenshot folder inside your KalOnline folder
- F1 is the help key, F2 to F12 are your macros
- M opens the navigator, and the comma key opens the world map
- T opens your private shop, G opens guild, F opens community, V shows honor points
- H is the ancient animal transformation
- Z is run, X is rest, and the period key saves your location
- Alt+V toggles character names on and off
- The bracket keys handle chat macro setup and chat window setup
Reading the interface
The layout numbers the elements in a fixed order: job or class, level, nickname, MP, HP, the target info window, the menu window, quick slots, the message window, the chat window, the EXP bar, and the ancient animal slot. Two of those deserve attention early. The message window colours messages by situation, so a colour you have not seen before usually means a different event type rather than an error. The chat window shows normal chat in white and whispers in blue, and it groups chat options separately.
The EXP bar works in two layers. Each time the lower gauge fills, the upper gauge gains one box, and ten boxes is a level. Seeing ten filled boxes is a level-up waiting to happen, not a stuck bar.
Pressing Esc opens the options menu, and every menu in the game is reachable from there.
Combat basics
- Left click a target to attack it.
- Tab aims at the nearest target. Tab again changes target during a fight, and Esc cancels the aim.
- The backtick key, next to the 1 on your keyboard, performs the Attack action.
- Number keys use the skills you placed in the quick slots.
Two settings change how much clicking you do. Automatic Skill lets you use a skill with its number key without clicking first. Automatic Attack switches you from skill attacks to a normal attack once your MP runs out. The guide adds a caveat with that second one: Magician and Archer cannot use automatic attack, and some Knight and Thief skills do not apply either.
Skills
When you reach the right level, you learn skills from the master NPC in Narootuh, the starting village. A skill has to be at least level 1 before you can use it. Open the skill window with the icon in the upper right of the screen or with S, drag a skill onto a quick slot, then press its number. For soul skills you can select the number and right click to cast.
After you complete a quest
Auto navigation only works once a quest is finished, not while you are still working on it. The button sits at the lower left of the quest mission table, and clicking it walks your character to the NPC for you. It is the fastest way to hand in a chain of quests without memorising the map.
Chat commands
The chat window has a Chat Command button that opens the full command help. Picking a command from that list registers it in the chat window, so you do not have to type it from scratch.