Curse

Lord Ertihan · Jul 14, 2006, 03:55 PM // 15:55

Kiting is an extremely important part of high-level PvP (GvG specifically, although it can be useful in any arena). And, while most people know the basics of kiting, some people may not be aware of the more advanced tactics.

One of the biggest mistakes I see being made is the lack of the use of the keyboard. Similar to how the number hotkeys makes following spikes MUCH easier (as opposed to actually clicking on the casting button), the movement keys are critical to kiting, and are among the first of the advanced topics.

The importance of the wsad keys cannot be stressed enough. These keys allow strafing (left and right, the a and d keys), and backwards motion (the s key). Strafing is highly important, as it allows you to evade high-arc arrows (such as fired from archers in GvG), and certain spells (like Lighting Orb). Walking backwards (as opposed to turning tail and running) allows you to kite a warrior without every hit being a critical; although there are indeed situations where turning tail would be the best option.

Another important concept is pre-kiting. An important note: when not casting in GvG, be in constant motion! Strafe left and right, run around, but never stand still. A moving target is not a target people prefer to target first, since your unpredictible motion might bring you away from the enemy team (which, at the first sign of significant danger, it should). This is especially relevent to casters, since their soft bodies can't stand up to much damage, and pre-kiting can save your life if you're being targeted.

The x key is your friend! The x key causes an about face (aka you turn 180 degrees). If you're being spiked, but the spike is slow (the best example would be the Soul Barbs spike), press x and run! This is MUCH faster than clicking behind you (which is a bit awkward, especially in combat, plus you can't see behind you so you can't click far) or spinning the screen (which takes a bit of time). This key will instantly cause an about face, perfect for a total retreat.

Another important concept to remember is when to retreat. In my opinion retreating is a form of kiting; namely, kiting damage that is not incoming just yet but almost certainly will be. The perfect example would be a warrior; keep an eye on the locations of your monks. Make sure they are not more than 1.2 aggro circles away, since any further than that and to heal you they may have to run through your midline (or worse, your frontline), which is not what you want. If you find yourself over-extending, don't stay there long! And if you're being hurt, run! Don't stand there shouting for heals. Of course, by run, I mean, fall back enough to get within healing range, not run all the way back into the backline. As a warrior it's your responsibility to maintain the front line, and that line will collapse if you simply retreat all the way.

Watch the minimap. Some people even make the minimap larger (use the Interface Editor to do this), so that it is much easier to see the blue and red dots. By watching the minimap it is very easy to see where your team is (the blue dots), and where your enemy is (the red dots). Safety is easy to ensure; if there are no red dots in your white aggro bubble, you're relatively safe from harm. In addition, if you find red dots way inside a cloud of blue dots, you can tell that this enemy has heavily over-extended (and it's usually easy to see this on the minimap, whereas it's not so easy on the main screen). When it comes to determining position, the minimap is your friend. Learn to watch it.

Watch the players on observer mode. High level guilds will display most if not all the tactics explained here. Notice how the entire team is in near-constant motion; almost nobody is standing stock still, especially when battle is joined. Standing still is a bad idea, there is no good reason to stand there doing nothing. If you're not casting, or healing, or heck even wanding, then start moving. Otherwise, the enemy team will easily pick you out and target you.

You may ask, "What kind of idiot stands and doesn't do anything?" Here are some examples:
Bad: Mesmer interrupter standing stock still, targeting a monk, waiting for him to cast something so he can interrupt.
Good: Mesmer interrupter moving around with the wsad keys, targeting a monk, occasionally using some other skills (Diversion, perhaps? Or Guilt?), and getting in a good interrupt every now and again.

Bad: (although this build is now defunct with the new update the idea remains the same) Me/E Fast Cast Air stands completely still, waiting for a target to be called and the count to begin before pressing "t" and his number keys.
Good: Me/E Fast Cast Air strafes using mouse clicking and the wsad keys, keeping in constant motion while watching the minimap to ensure his aggro bubble encloses the other blue dots (thus ensuring he's 90% probable to be in casting range of the called target since he's so close to the other spikers), and only pressing "t" and readying his fingers over the skill hotkeys when he hears over TS/Vent, "Spike in 3, 2, 1..."

Bad: Monk standing completely still, spamming heals every so often but otherwise just waiting for damage, looking at nothing but the red health bars.
Good: Monk strafes using mouse clicking and the wsad keys, keeping in constant motion while watching the minimap to ensure his aggro bubble encloses the other blue dots (thus ensuring everyone is within heal range), and only stops to heal when someone is being targeted (if someone is at 70% hp but isn't taking any damage, a light heal is probably all that's neccessary, such as a Signet of Devotion. In high-level GvG, no heals might be neccessary, since many characters bring self-heals for such situations. The most famous example are Warriors, in high-level GvG warriors use Healing Signet so often that the only time monks heal warriors is when they're being the target of heavy attacks). There are articles about how to be a good monk, and not over-healing etc. but I'm not qualified to talk about that so I won't.

As you can see, simply keeping in constant motion when not doing anything else of importance is enough to elevate from decent to good. Watching the minimap and understanding how to read it in combat elevates from good to great. And while it may seem like common sense to you (duh! Why would I just stand there?) you would be surprised how many times I have seen opponents in GvG simply stand there, stock still, even when warriors are striking them (this is especially true of Distortion mesmers. For some reason a large number of them feel that Distortion qualifies them to tank. It doesn't. Distortion's purpose is to mitigate damage as you run).

While I do not feel myself to be any sort of expert, I do believe that it is important for people to understand and practice these basic in-combat movement techniques. And remember: the keyboard is your best friend. While the most remains the simplest way to do basic movement, use the keyboard extensively for things that need quick reflexes, such as about face (x) or skill useage.

TheOneMephisto · Jul 14, 2006, 04:10 PM // 16:10

Just to say, it is much faster to use your mouse for turning etc. When in combat, I almost always hold the right mosue button down, allowing me to turn easily and to start moving just by hitting wasd or clicking.

Zui · Jul 14, 2006, 09:09 PM // 21:09

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...3041944&page=1

Red Locust · Jul 15, 2006, 12:04 AM // 00:04

Mouse clicking is also an extremely good way of moving around, it allows you to "run forward" instantly, rather than strafe which is slower than running. WASD isn't a necessity for good movement (in fact it's probably slightly inferior), people use it in FPS because it allows you to keep facing the target, but the direction you're facing in GW has very little meaning.

H2BH · Jul 17, 2006, 08:37 PM // 20:37

I dont agree...wasd is the only way you can even hope to be agile enough to dodge incoming attacks. The only time the mouse click is > than wasd is in a kiting situation while running backwards IE you are already fleeing and being chased, and need to cast a root type spell or degen or whatever and there are alot fo people around so autotarget key commands dont help. Due to the camera contastly trying to adjust over your shoulder, running away form people and targetting them can be a pain. So you can clikc way ahead of yourself and swivle the camera with the mouse to target while running....thats it.

I STRONGLY disagree with locust the mouse is in no way superior when used as movement control and it matters BIG TIME which way you are facing. Due to the camera you can see alot farther one way than the other, and in the 1/2 to 1 second it takes to flip your screen around with the mouse you can get jacked, loose orientation, put your mouse cursor to far away from health bars to effectivly heal...etc etc. Sure in 1 or 2 cases mousing for movement may be faster than WASD. Like when you cast frozen bust, with WASD hitting forward will not let you move until the spell animation has ended, where as the mouse will move u right away. BUT and its a big BUT, for most classes its alot more important who you're targetting, and often you need more percision than "closest target" and "next target" that the keyboard can provide and more speed than cycling through multiple people. This ESPECIALY holds true for healers who have to primarily use the mouse to select who ever is getting injured. So why nerf your main tool for selecting who you're attacking/healing by trying to use it doubly for movement?

As a warrior I can see the advantages to moving with the mouse...sorta but for most classes......

But if you really wanna get down to it this game does give you some nice FPS like movement options. The strafe keys when timed well, and when you're far enough away, can be used to dodge jsut about every wand attack/arrow shot at you, the mouse cannot do that. If you hit "A" right as the wand animation is about to loose an attack, it will go flying side ways to compensate for your lateral accelration, then all you have to do is let go, and its a complete miss, and you havent even moved.....how can you do that with a mouse?

wasd FTW!!!!

JR · Jul 17, 2006, 08:49 PM // 20:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by H2BH

I dont agree...wasd is the only way you can even hope to be agile enough to dodge incoming attacks. The only time the mouse click is > than wasd is in a kiting situation while running backwards. Due to the camera contastly trying to adjust over your shoulder, running away form people and targetting them can be a pain.

I STRONGLY disagree with locust the mouse is in no way superior when used as movement control and it matters BIG TIME which way you are facing. Due to the camera you can see alot farther one way than the other, and in the 1/2 to 1 second it takes to flip your screen around with the mouse you can get jacked, loose orientation, put your mouse cursor to far away from health bars to effectivly heal...etc etc. Sure in 1 or 2 cases mousing for movement may be faster than WASD. Like when you cast frozen bust, with WASD hitting forward will not let you move until the spell animation has ended, where as the mouse will move u right away. BUT and its a big BUT, for most classes its alot more important who you're targetting, and often you need more percision than "closest target" and "next target" that the keyboard can provide and more speed than cycling through multiple people. This ESPECFIAL holds true for healers who have to primarily use the mouse to select who ever is getting injured.

As a warrior I can see the advantages to moving with the mouse...sorta but for most classes......

But if you really wanna get down to it this game does give you some nice FPS like movement options. The strafe keys when timed well, and when you're far enough away, can be used to dodge jsut about every wand attack/arrow shot at you, the mouse cannot do that. If you hit "A" right as the wand animation is about to loose an attack, it will go flying side ways to compensate for your lateral accelration, then all you have to do is let go, and its a complete miss, and you havent even moved.....how can you do that with a mouse?

wasd FTW!!!!

http://guildwarsguru.com/forum/showt...eball+kunt0 r

Watch and learn.

TheOneMephisto · Jul 17, 2006, 09:41 PM // 21:41

I was not talking about mosue clicking for movement...

I was talking about always holding the right mouse button down. Then you can use a and d for strafing, and to move forward you just click the left mosue button (aka holding both mice buttons down).

Holding both mouse buttons down allows you to do maneuvers that are impossible for wasd, like crazy fast turns and swivels.

Kriegar · Jul 17, 2006, 11:40 PM // 23:40

Mouse movement registers instantly with the server as movement, moving with WASD takes slightly longer to register movement and changes in direction.

I personally prefer using a combination of both, WASD for general positioning in battle, and mouse movement for longer range movement and strafing.

jktstance · Jul 19, 2006, 02:19 PM // 14:19

When I first started playing, I always kept the right mouse button pressed, allowing me to move the camera and my movement with the mouse. I almost never use a and d. I actually haven't even rebound my a and d keys to be strafe; they're still bound as character rotation

Anyone know which method is superior? I'm afraid I'm far too used to using the mouse, but it does allow me to rotate quickly and precisely.

Jetdoc · Jul 19, 2006, 04:14 PM // 16:14

Here's a very stupid question....

Does running around in a circle accomplish the same kiting effects and strafing effects as using WASD?

I know it doesn't help against AoE effects...

Warskull · Jul 23, 2006, 05:13 AM // 05:13

While moving you need both W, A, S, D and the mouse. The mouse can perform sharp turns and snaps that aren't available using the W, A, S, D controls. These tend to be very useful while dodging projections. In addition mouse movement holds the screen fairly steady.

W, A, S, D movement frees up your mouse so you can select an enemy and prepare to unleash your skills on them as soon as you break the warriors or see an opening.

I end up playing a good deal of mesmer in GvG and draw a good deal of hate my way. You have to be able to keep your eyes on the enemy monks and prep your actions while you kite to be most effective.

Force the enemy to dedicate a warrior to chasing you around all match if they want to stop you.