City of Heroes · archetype

Defender macros

The dedicated support archetype, with the strongest versions of every buff and debuff set. Defenders make the difference between a team that clears a mission and a team that wipes to it.

17 macros

Announce Before You Teleport Someone
General
```
/macro Recall "team Teleporting $target - hold still$$powexec_name Recall Friend"
```
Recall Friend drops the target on top of you with no warning, which is startling mid-fight. Announcing first is basic courtesy and this makes it automatic.
Bind a Command to a Key
General
```
/bind p "powexec_name Fire Shield"
```
Attaches a command to a keyboard key rather than a tray slot. Binds cost you no tray space at all, which is why serious builds end up almost entirely bound rather than macroed.
Chain Commands with $$
General
```
/macro TP "team Bringing $target to me!$$powexec_name Recall Friend"
```
The $$ separator runs several commands from one press. Everything except power activation stacks freely, so you can target, announce and fire in a single keystroke.
Costume Change with an Emote
General
```
/macro CC "cc_e 1 ccburn"
```
Switches to a numbered costume slot with an animation rather than a plain pop. Purely cosmetic and completely essential to the way people play this game.
Eat an Inspiration by Name
General
```
/bind f1 "inspexecname Respite"
/bind f2 "inspexecname Luck"
```
Uses the first matching inspiration in your tray without hunting for it. Bind the three you actually care about and you never open the tray in combat again.
Follow and Announce
General
```
/macro Foll "follow$$team Following $target"
```
Follows your current target and tells the team what you are doing. $target expands to whoever you have selected when the macro fires.
Heal the Most Hurt Teammate
Defender
```
/macro Heal "targetcustomnext alive teammate$$powexec_name Heal Other"
```
Finds an injured living teammate and heals them without you clicking a health bar. The closest thing City of Heroes has to a mouseover heal.
Macro With a Proper Icon
General
```
/macro_image "Teleport_LongRangeTeleport" "TP" "powexec_name Teleport"
```
The same thing as /macro but with a real power icon instead of a text label, which matters once you have a tray full of them. The icon name comes from the game files and tab-completes in chat.
Make Your First Macro
General
```
/macro Sprint "powexec_name Sprint"
```
Creates a tray button labelled with the first argument that runs the quoted command. Drag it wherever you want on your trays. This one command is the foundation of everything else in this library.
One-Key Travel Power
General
```
/macro Fly "powexec_toggleoff Sprint$$powexec_toggleon Fly"
```
Turns your travel power on and turns Sprint off so the two do not fight over your endurance bar. A small saving that adds up over a long mission.
Open a Custom Pop-Up Menu
General
```
/macro_image "Teleport_LongRangeTeleport" "Ports" "popmenu Teleports"
```
popmenu opens a menu you have defined in a .mnu text file in your data folder. This is how players get around the 255-character macro limit — the menu holds the long lists, the macro just opens it.
Release a Bound Key
General
```
/unbind p
```
Hands a key back to its default behaviour. Worth knowing before you experiment, because a bind on a movement key that you cannot remember making is genuinely disruptive.
Resurrect and Announce
Defender
```
/macro Rez "targetcustomnext defeated teammate$$team Rezzing $target$$powexec_name Resuscitate"
```
Targets a defeated teammate, announces the resurrection so nobody else spends theirs, and casts it. Three actions that always happen together.
Save and Restore Your Binds
General
```
/bind_save_file binds.txt
/bind_load_file binds.txt
```
Writes every current bind to a text file and reads it back. Keep one file per character concept and a new alt is fully set up in a single command.
Target the Nearest Enemy
General
```
/bind t "targetcustomnear enemy alive$$powexec_name Brawl"
```
Picks up the closest living enemy and immediately attacks it. Worth binding on every character, because the default tab targeting wanders more than you would like.
Target the Right Ally Automatically
General
```
/macro Rez "targetcustomnext defeated teammate$$powexec_name Resuscitate"
```
targetcustomnext searches by criteria rather than by name — alive teammates, defeated ones, or enemies with a given attribute. This is what makes one-key support macros possible.
Toggle Powers Predictably
General
```
/macro Armor "powexec_toggleon Tough$$powexec_toggleon Weave"
```
powexec_name flips a toggle, which means a macro that runs it twice turns your armour off. powexec_toggleon and powexec_toggleoff are explicit and never surprise you.

Other City of Heroes archetypes

Every archetype shares the same macro syntax, so a good idea usually ports across.