Strafing

Strafing is an absolutely essential skill in combat and can be the difference between you winning or losing the fight.

What is strafing?
Strafing is any movement to avoid shots. You probably already utilize a basic strafe without knowing it, however I am going to help you improve your technique.

The golden rule of strafing is to ALWAYS MIX UP YOUR MOVEMENTS. If your doing the exact same strafe every time you enter a combat your opponent is going to know exactly where your going to be at next and you might as well just stand still.

How do I strafe?
There are many different movement patterns and tricks you can add into a strafe.

Left/Right movements: This is a very simple strafe, it involves taking a few steps to the left and then a few to the right, ect. It is one of the most common that I see and it is great for beginners. However, after you make one short right movement and one short left movement, avoid doing the exact same thing again. Think of this: Your opponent will now be expecting your next move to be to the right and if you surprise him by continuing left you will have a second or two advantage which is crucial.

Circling: This is by far the worst tactic you can use in a strafe. This is when in a fight you move in a circular motion around each other just firing at each other. It is pointless and retarded and you might as well just stand still because it is so easy for the enemy to lead his shots a little in your circle pattern and get a 4-shot kill.

Moving forward/Moving back: This is only effective in mid-long range fights and should not be utilized in short range fights. 90% of players aim right for the head with the battle rifle so this can easily cause them to miss shots and combined with the left/right movement strafe it is very deadly.

Jumping: Too often I see people just leaping around in a BR fight and that is not effective at ALL. Jumping, however is one of the most crucial elements in the strafe. When do you jump? When you are nearly dead. Right before you are blinking red. This is extremely useful for several reasons: It will cause your opponent to land a body shot rather than a head shot which will NOT kill you. The reason you should only do this while you're almost dead is until your bar is blinking red, a shot to the head and a shot to the body with the BR will do the exact same amount of damage. Dont believe me? Try it out for yourself. Thats why there is the famous 3 body 1 head shot combo. The higher up you are the easier it is to score headshots. Want to test this out for yourself? Try throwing down a grav lift before engaging in combat and then start shooting at your opponent from the sky and on your way down. You will have a 1-3 shot advantage on your opponent I can guarantee you.

Crouching: Crouching works on the principal that just about everyone aims for the head when engaged in a BR fight. If they are shooting for your head and you crouch down, you can cause them to miss 1 shot completely, and then if you have really good timing you can pop back up at just the right time and force a body shot, which the average opponent will then take the split second to re-align their reticule to your head. Try it out, its a great fight stopper. Only problem is if you are crouched and they throw a nade' , you can say goodnight.


For a video from MLG Pro NEXY on strafing please check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOXXreOXlVI

Remember to take all these techniques, and mix them up a bit and see what works for you.
Always being unpredictable is the key to a good strafe.