Granted we just started AQ, but the last time I remember using strafing was in ZG at bloodlord, so at what bosses (if at all) do you strafe?
This is also related to the other thread called "Clickers" http://forums.elitistjerks.com/viewt...hp?id=8562&p=8 about moving with the mouse rather then using wasd: as I am experimenting that, I wonder if it's not best to use the mouse mainly to turn and W&S to advance/back-up (plus Q&E for strafing)?
You don't need strafe-keys when not a clicker, just hold right-button down and use the good old A-D if using wasd.
And to you first question, always strafing when moving on fights, so you have your front towards whatever you're tanking (parry/block) and maintain full speed.
Sartura (constant repositioning), Emps (caster), ouro (dodge rice crispies), c'thun (heaps of stuff), anub'rekhan (kiting), Noth (sometimes strafing is the shortest route to him), Grobbulus (dragging slimes around to avoid pulling them through caster pack). Havn't killed gluth or gothik yet, but assume I'll be strafing a bunch there too.
Oh and, you should be strafing when you fight ossirian and razorgore wtf.
Heigan (speed phase), and Thaddius when we get there to trigger location checks.
Ossirian, Grobbulus, When kiting and needing to move quickly
Beyond that, it's not important for tanks to strafe if they have 440 Defense, iirc they'll be immune to daze (unless hit while affected by aspect of the cheetah)
Razorgore? Do you run around with him in phase2 or something?
Anyway yea, there's not a single time you should be turning with your keyboard if you're a warrior imo, use mouselook. And using mouselook+turning keys=strafe, so you're always strafing pretty much. The only time I won't strafe is when positionning stuff while walking backwards. Since it's slower, it's usually better to find a perfect spot, or move jut a slight bit so the mob takes a step forward and stuff like that. Also on ossirian, I would only strafe when I'd need to go to a far away crystal. Rest of the time I'd just walk backwards, gives healers more time to catch up/position correctly for heals, and you're not knockbacked 100yards away from everything if your healers are already up there.
Razorgore? Do you run around with him in phase2 or something?
We still kite razorgore p1 (old habits die hard).
If you strafe, you still get the benefit of block and avoidance. You'd be crazy to let mobs just hit you in the back, 440 def or no.
Oh also, on issue of strafing, you have a 180 degree arc from which you can intercept. The practical effect of this is that to help stun lock something (say, tentacles in c'thun phase 2, or sartura, etc) the fastest way to move to intercept range is to just strafe from a position infront of the mob and spam your intercept key till you are at the min range for it.
The only 40 man boss that springs to mind where I specifically strafe is heigan, where having to move with the mouse would I imagine prohibit me from being able to see what's going on around me quite so well and might cause confusions as to when I need to move him.
The big advertisment for strafing as far as I'm concerned though is Ossirian. I've watched so many tanks on this fight just stand still and tank him, then turn around and run for the next crystal. If you constantly strafe away from him, then you can still jump and spin, getting off a shield slam and a herioc strike if you're quick, without slowing down at all. Plus, if you're lucky with the positioning of the next crystal then you can turn into him slightly as you run, meaning that you keep him in your frontal arc and allowing blocks and parries.
I never use keys to turn (i.e. I always strafe or right-click while moving). I use ESDF instead of WASD, and S and F are bound to strafe left/right. I keep left/right arrows bound to turn left/right because it's fun to spin while casting portals, hearth, dancing, crafting, whatever.
I probably do things this way because I come from an FPS background where you would be the biggest newb in the world if you ever turned with a button. That, and it's faster...you get where you're going more quickly if you turn with right-click mouse movement.
Strafe as in walk sideways, 90 degrees to the mob, or as in using my mouse to turn?
Ossirian is the only one I regularly and deliberatly walk sideways to the boss, but there are many fights I use the mouse for faster turning/response and have my bars set up so I can reach the skills I need in those fights from WASD while still moving etc.
Anub is the main tricky one, Sartura of course too and C'thun. There are plenty of others I use situationally too I guess :)
Beyond that, it's not important for tanks to strafe if they have 440 Defense, iirc they'll be immune to daze (unless hit while affected by aspect of the cheetah)
How exactly does defense help against daze? I've never heard of this before, so I'd very much like to know. My memory sometimes reverts to a goldfish-like state, but I seem to remember getting dazed by Ossirian, the only move-while-tanking fight I've done as a warrior. There were a couple of times I had to dodge a pillar and a tornado at the same time, and I ended up having my rear molested by Ossirian.
Aspect of the /Pack/ is the party speed buff btw. :)
Beyond that, it's not important for tanks to strafe if they have 440 Defense, iirc they'll be immune to daze (unless hit while affected by aspect of the cheetah)
How exactly does defense help against daze? I've never heard of this before, so I'd very much like to know. My memory sometimes reverts to a goldfish-like state, but I seem to remember getting dazed by Ossirian, the only move-while-tanking fight I've done as a warrior. There were a couple of times I had to dodge a pillar and a tornado at the same time, and I ended up having my rear molested by Ossirian.
Aspect of the /Pack/ is the party speed buff btw. :)
I can't really tell you more than "Defense reduces your chance to get dazed"
I always wear my tanking gear when mounted; I even survived a nearly-unfortunate incident with the twilight marauders that rather surprised the mage who was running in to freeze them and save my ass (he was awe-struck at my escape skills, heh :D )
I don't know what to say except that "defense prevents daze." See this thread for more: http://forums.elitistjerks.com/viewtopic.php?id=7806
I can't say if 440 defense prevents all daze against an x level mob, but at the very least it makes dazes very rare.
So what are the reasons to use strafe. I'm not a warrior, but I've encouraged them strafing on certain fights like Ossirian, because I had heard that it keeps you from getting dazed. Back when we were trying Shaman kiting on Razorgore, I encouraged the shammies to strafe as well. Are there any other pros?
Originally Posted by Caniki
Hey guys, I heard that Blizzard puts out these things called "patches" that contain "content"
I don't remember ever intentionally using the keyboard strafe keys other than to trigger my mount showing the full speed running forward animtion while running backward. That always entertained me.
On trash mobs and 20 man bosses, I have no issues with running with my back to them and jump 360 sundering them. When doing that, I use A to move forward so I can grab the screen with the mouse for the quick spin.
As for running in a direction I am not facing my camera, I do that constantly. Anub'Rekhan is the only boss I really have to move top speed for but he also doesn't hit too hard. I'll tank him with my arse for 5 seconds if I find his LS timing to be suspect that night.
On Anub I just have the camera looking at my face, from his back. When LS comes up I do the right click + left click thing to spin around instantly, running full speed.
I strafe moving Grobbulus, moving Heigan on the slow parts, dancing on Heigan, C'Thun for the lolglare obviously, repositioning on Thaddius (we use the 90 degree strat so I use a combo of strafing + mouse rotation), Ossirian, Razorgore kiting, turning Nef on rogue calls when it doesn't bug.. You know, pretty much any time I have to move a mob while tanking it, or any time I'm kiting something.
I always wear my tanking gear when mounted; I even survived a nearly-unfortunate incident with the twilight marauders that rather surprised the mage who was running in to freeze them and save my ass (he was awe-struck at my escape skills, heh :D )
When you strafe, you can still shield block, shield slam, sunder, HS, revenge while moving the mob. Again, you'd be nuts to turn your back and let them hit you.
Additionally, the reduced chance to daze from levels (and hence defense) was introduced in 1.2. I can't believe so many people are oblivious to it.
I play this game like a FPS'er... I'm always strafing and using it to get the best field of view without losing forward momentum. On every encounter in the game that requires your two little feet to move, strafing is well, better... which is read: Almost every encounter.
Every key and macro I use it hotkeyed within range of my left hand, which is 36 hotkeys (shift and control work just fine).
I'd say its invaluable for fast response time.
No clicking speed will compare to pushing a button when it is time to last stand, shield wall, lifegiving gem, or pop that GFPP when you're at 20% HP on mograine. Trust me - I've died from trying... speed is everything sometimes. Not to mention, as a warrior, it is physically impossible to use your GFPP with your shield block and demo all in the same instance - whereas on a keyboard this is easily doable.
You can still do most of your moves while strafing. Some you can do with your back turned (shield slam)... and sometimes you wanna position a mob without losing forward momentum (thaddius). You move out, jump, spin 180, do your revenge or shield block or whatever, spin 180, land and keep going. Works well on thaddius, grobbulus, heigan, etc etc etc.
My answer in short: all the time. But like I said, I play the game like a FPS'er, and I originally started online gaming as a serious FPS gamer. Don't see why I should lose control, speed, and options just to dumb down my game.
I would learn it. One other fun fact - you're less likely to be dazed while strafing than keyboard moving. Our best shaman kiters are rarely dazed anymore due to strafe movement.
I know this sounds arrogant, but the point is simple - it may be more difficult, but its more control and more valuable in the end. Unless you find this game tedious like driving to work, I don't think a main tank needs an automatic here.
A few more points...
It goes without saying the people on these forums are going to know what I mean by this so I won't bother explaining what a hypotenuse is... But goldeneye strafing doesn't work in this game like it did in EQ and ... goldeneye, as well as many other FPS engines. You don't gain speed from it... but you definitely can gain vision and quick lateral movement. Once you're in motion however, theres no point not to simply quick-flick your camera into place w/your right hand and move forward. Often times raid leaders will be the strafer types cause they want to sometimes watch the action over here or there as well. My mouse is only really used to move the camera around - or click those names that I'm not going to bother typing.
At the end of the day its what works for the individual - but I believe fps setup with no "clickers"... and having everything bound is simply superior in every aspect - then again, so are protection tanks at times, and so are fire mages. No one thing is going to stop you from killing KT - and having clickers and keyboard turners in your raid will still net you a 4H kill... I doubt "is it ok" was the point of your post though. Yes, its better to be a strafer.
On Anub I just have the camera looking at my face, from his back. When LS comes up I do the right click + left click thing to spin around instantly, running full speed.
Yeah this is a great example of proper camera and strafing technique - Because a right click will always face you the way the camera is facing you get an instant 360 which would take 2 or more seconds by hand... easily stacking or netting a few locust swarms.
I classify this under strafing cause its the right click hold that puts you into this style of play.
A lot of warriors will blame their hunters for getting locust swarm... the reality is a warrior can get away from the swarm entirely on his own even with a very very late aspect by simply being fast. The ball is in the warrior's court on Anub...
...but I believe fps setup with no "clickers"... and having everything bound is simply superior in every aspect...
I agree completely. I've always advocated having your abilities keybound instead of clicking, but I also used to play FPS games a lot. I don't have everything bound to the degree that you do Quigon, but I can use every ability in my spellbook plus some extra macros without having to click at all. I actually had a discussion the other morning with one of our warlocks about his warrior alt, he insisted that he could click to change stances just as fast as I can hit my keybinds, each person has their own preference. The only time I know of this becoming an issue with actual performance was on Thaddius, some of the "clickers" just don't move as fast on this encounter, and there were some suggestions made.
Just tried Thaddius the first time last night and there doesn't seem to be a problem moving with the mouse, counter wise when polarity changes...Do you guys strafe at him then? B/c I wonder though if strafing won't be more useful at his sub boss Stalagg?
BTW I am trying to use strafe as to avoid getting crushed by Stalagg (besides having shield block up), will this work?
Also can I just keep one strafe key(A or D) pressed, move with the mouse while pressing a second key at the same time (i.e. for shield block or other abilities)? Have to try it out, but for some reason, I was under the impression that one needs to alternate strafing with both keys in order to avoid getting hit; would one key strafing have the same effect though?
09/29/06, 10:44 AM
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