I need to learn how to Dodge

(watsyurdeal) #1

Where is Piccolo?

But seriously, one of my weaknesses when I play is ability to dodge enemy bullets. I don’t mix up my movement enough, and end up taking more bullets than I should.

Does anyone have advice on how to get better at this?

(everlovestruck) #2

[quote=“watsyurdeal;d-36049”][/quote]

if you can’t dodge then try pumping up your aim
I’m serious, if you minimize ttk by shooting precisely you won’t have to dodge anything, because the opponent would be taken care of and fast :blush:

(watsyurdeal) #3

if you can’t dodge then try pumping up your aim
I’m serious, if you minimize ttk by shooting precisely you won’t have to dodge anything, because the opponent would be taken care of and fast :blush: [/quote]

For the sake of argument let’s say my aim is good as is, I can win most of my fights, but my problem is after that.

So I kill one or two guys cool, but I die shortly after cause I am low on hp.

Learning how to dodge better would allow me to win basically every fight and last a little longer overall.

(nokiII) #4

Just do what everyone else does, go on a server with at least 400 ping and play aura to be an unhittable shitlord.

On a serious note, you can’t really be helped without posting gameplay, otherwise every suggestion is just a shot in the dark.

(Szakalot) #5

yes: there are several ways of dodging, depending on engagement distance, purpose, your own and enemy aim. ill try to give a rundown:

  • simple aadadd spam - this is your autopilot dodge: you see an opponent, you both engage and spam adad at varying intervals to throw the opponent off
  • short adad spam - this is best against shotguns, snipers and maybe burst rifles: you shorten the time between changing direction, this will make your character look like they are riverdancing.
    ideally you go the other way just before the opponent has the next big shot lined up, causing them to miss. usually not effective against automatic fire, as most of the shots will hit you ‘in the middle’ of the dodge. can be effective if your movement is very restricted and you dont have space for more elaborate dodging
  • jumping - this is risky and only really effective at close range. you jump to one of the sides. its generally a good idea to jump in the opposite direction than the one you were just dodging towards. jump will reck your aim, so try not to use it at the beginning of a duel, while your accuracy is still good.
    jumping will prolong the fight: if you have lots of hp and opponent little, jumping will almost guarantee a win, as the opponent is unlikely to align multiple headshots for a surprise takedown. its a bad idea to jump with low hp as you will definitely take some bodyshots, better focus on aim and hope to kill them before they kill you
  • walljump: similarly to jumping, its risky and only good in cqc. however, if you noticed before a particular player is using very low sens, some walljumps can completely throw them off and allow you to dodge a lot of hits. ideally you move one way, jump the other, than walljump the original way for uber dodging
  • crouch : if you are fighting against good players, its generally worthwhile to throw in random crouch mid-fight to dodge lined-up headshots. can also be used mid-jump for a ‘yoga jump’, looks esp. hilarious on blishlok aura. many good players crouch just before changing direction : its a very good way to completely dodge opponent’s fire, but vulnerable if you make a habit of it
    Also important to note never to crouch-dodge against bad players : their crosshair is usually aimed at the body and you will just eat lead with your face
  • crouch spam: basically tapping crouch quickly(not too quickly though as it will interrupt the animation) , very effective at protecting your head from pesky snipers during long-range fight. also the last resort when completely immobilized by flash. finally, the only way to dodge with rhino when using minigun
  • hail mary wall spam : basically spamming jumps around/next to walls for completely random movement; only really effective when nothing else is a better option, or if youre cooking a nade witb fragger

finally: be unpredictable. its very easy to acquire dodging habits, which will be used by the opponent to your disadvantage, once they play against you for a while.
try to throw them off with unpredictable movement : jumping too much? keep your feet on the ground. adad doesnt seem to work?, try going aaa-pause–aaaa (this is a very satisfying way to win a duel, if the opponent suddenly shoots in the completely opposite direction)

finally-finally : dont rely on dodging to win fights. nobody won a duel by focusing on dodging alone, your primary focus should always be ‘kill them before they kill me’

(watsyurdeal) #6

[quote=“hjfarnsworth;c-224496”]
On a serious note, you can’t really be helped without posting gameplay, otherwise every suggestion is just a shot in the dark.[/quote]

Yea I know, I haven’t really had much time to play. Check my profile if you don’t believe me

(Amerika) #7

You’ve created muscle memory in how you shoot. You zone in on something and you want maximum accuracy but it leaves you open to being hit. I know how that goes because I’ve had the problem too since I came from games that didn’t use the technique as much originally.

You need to try and force yourself into the habit of randomly hitting your strafe/movement keys and throw in a duck every now and then. Don’t worry about accuracy. You’ll lose accuracy while doing this for sure because it’s going to F with your muscle memory but eventually it will come back. Move left longer than you normally would…but not too long. Then, in the same fight go back to the right. Then stop. Then go left again but then go right again. Throw in a jump if you are near a reload and not near a kill. Throw in a crouch too at some point (but don’t start spamming it or you leave yourself open).

So if you can get your muscle memory to get you into the habit of random or at least enough variation to be random enough you’ll be fine. Just try not to zone in and try to secure a kill while walking in a straight line. And definitely don’t start strafing back and forth in a predictable pattern in a small area.

Oddly, one of the best things you can do is go get pretty good at CS. That’s probably the best game to force yourself to learn unpredictable strafing/mind games. Once you start playing and beating godlike players in CS then you’re probably good to go.

(GatoCommodore) #8

Spam Crouch

while i never try it, some people did threw me off 1 or 2 burst and ended up killing me first.

Wall Jumping on highspeed is pretty profitable tho since your enemy gets hard time aiming your head and end up shooting lower half of your body

(Amerika) #9

[quote=“GatoCommodore;c-224500”]Spam Crouch

while i never try it, some people did threw me off 1 or 2 burst and ended up killing me first.

Wall Jumping on highspeed is pretty profitable tho since your enemy gets hard time aiming your head and end up shooting lower half of your body[/quote]

Definitely don’t spam crouch. Anybody I see doing this always gets shots fired at the neck area and they take headshots they shouldn’t be taking and die nearly instantly. Spamming crouch is the poor man’s fix for the issue and you’ll hit a skill brick wall against good players who understand how to easily counter it. It’s why when I played against mid-tier players they looked like they were total scrubs despite not actually being total scrubs. Most of them had poor evasion habits and one of the most common was spamming crouch. Even some really good players also have this habit and it makes them much easier to kill than they should be.

(pumpkinmeerkat) #10

There’s a strafe, crouch combo some (good) players have mastered that I find particular difficult to aim at/play against.

(nokiII) #11

[quote=“watsyurdeal;c-224498”][quote=“hjfarnsworth;c-224496”]
On a serious note, you can’t really be helped without posting gameplay, otherwise every suggestion is just a shot in the dark.[/quote]

Yea I know, I haven’t really had much time to play. Check my profile if you don’t believe me

[/quote]
I don’t mean the profile / hours played whatever, I meant actual gameplay footage. Dodging aswell as aiming and every other directly “physical” thing has so many nuances to it, that trying to tell people how to get better is really hard without having an idea on how they play.

For example, my aim was pretty unstable for the longest time and I couldn’t figure out why. Recently I was at a friends house playing some shooter there with him and he asked why I don’t rest my arm on my desk, but have it more or less free floating off the table. Now I use my forearm/elbow area as a pivot point on the table and my aim got alot more stable. I’m quite a bit slower now due to the increased friction and having to relearn muscle memory, but I can already see an improvement.

The point of this example is, that the tiniest detail can make a huge difference and trying to find that detail is really hard without reference.

(watsyurdeal) #12

[quote=“hjfarnsworth;c-224504”][quote=“watsyurdeal;c-224498”][quote=“hjfarnsworth;c-224496”]
On a serious note, you can’t really be helped without posting gameplay, otherwise every suggestion is just a shot in the dark.[/quote]

Yea I know, I haven’t really had much time to play. Check my profile if you don’t believe me

[/quote]
I don’t mean the profile / hours played whatever, I meant actual gameplay footage. Dodging aswell as aiming and every other directly “physical” thing has so many nuances to it, that trying to tell people how to get better is really hard without having an idea on how they play.

For example, my aim was pretty unstable for the longest time and I couldn’t figure out why. Recently I was at a friends house playing some shooter there with him and he asked why I don’t rest my arm on my desk, but have it more or less free floating off the table. Now I use my forearm/elbow area as a pivot point on the table and my aim got alot more stable. I’m quite a bit slower now due to the increased friction and having to relearn muscle memory, but I can already see an improvement.

The point of this example is, that the tiniest detail can make a huge difference and trying to find that detail is really hard without reference.[/quote]

I get your point, but mine is that I simply do not have time to play. I work 72 hours a week between two jobs, I only have saturday off and my friends typically want to hang out that day. So forgive me for lacking the ability to get footage, I’ll see what I can grab from my drive.

(K1X455) #13

If you’re using tanking mercs like Fragger, Nader, Thunder or Rhino, your dodging skills will be at minimum because tanks.

If you’re using mercs like Kira, Sparks, Proxy or Aura, then your dodging skills will be at max because movement speed.

You cannot be tank and have superior dodging skills as well if your latency is not optimal against someone who has better latency.

(Szakalot) #14

@K1X455 primary reason to dodge is to avoid getting shot in the head, and maybe cause the enemy to miss a few times;
this is the same for any mercs you use

(watsyurdeal) #15

@hjfarnsworth

Here you go, some gameplay for ya

(Chilled Sanity) #16

Wall jumping to Mach 25 (30K kmph) is a nice way to confuse your opponents

Works dandy fine with flying pig and a 12 pellet sniper rifle too

(henki000) #17

Best way to learn dodge is to play with sparks. Shoot couple rounds of MP-400, run, hide, heal, ambush and repeat. You have to know your enemy, does he have high/low sensitivy? What directions/tactics he prefer? You will learn to quess their plans. That’s your best dodge. I usually do adadcad but I have seen that dacdacd is probably better. Maybe best way is to mix them randomly and even jump sometimes. I see sense now with binding crouch to mouse.

(Xenithos) #18

@watsyurdeal I may be able to give some tips… But not necessarily along the lines of aiming and dodging at the same time. The are more living tips.

Um… I don’t necessarily view myself as an elite player, but as a Medic main survivability is kinda my thing, and I’ve definitely learned some things…

First off, it’s not always your learning how to dodge, It’s also picking your fights wiser, and keeping an eye on the spawn timer. You’ve already got decent smooth ad-ad movement, though it’s very focused and it reminds me of Amerika’s. And I don’t want you to lose the aim you’ve achieved, that video shows some decent things about you. First off, BACK OFF an engagement if there are more than 2 enemies, and only one of you. Especially if they just spawned or they are acutely aware of where you are.

On picking fights better, I see you like to facetank usually. It goes with your aim and your gait, but you still have to pick your fights, and flanking is very high reward if you get better at timing and picking them. Remember target priority, kill the medic first then the other units, or engineer. If they have their backs turned to you, kill the people with the best awareness. Usually the ones that turn around before you even shoot. NOW, if you know someone has great aim in the game, that’s giving you a tough time. Change your focus from living to killing that person, I’ve done this and ended up wiping entire teams because once I realize and continuously put down the enemy teams best unit when the opportunity arises – it’s easy pickings, yes, even as a medic.

Also, walljumping is under-rated. Rather than bunny hopping or using no skill movements similar to that, such as crouch spamming. Try crouching while going a different direction, bouncing off the wall deliberately to put you either closer to the enemy, or away for a retreat. It’s easier said and done using slightly faster characters and low spread weapons. Hochfir, mp400 on Sparks or Vassili and the Blishlok (usually) I will continously shoot IN MID-AIR because I can still aim while flying. And there is nothing scarier than a medic that knows how to aim while flying at you and finishing you the moment he lands.

If you’re using either Bursts, Dreiss or a K-121 or a Grandeur, wait on the ground just a split second before continuing to shoot, as the max spread you reached when jumping resets much faster on these 5 weapons than on others, but changing the distance in a firefight between you and an opponent will often throw off their aim.

I’ve also noticed that you stay in the same general areas when killing people. Not always bad if you have a great defending team and a decent healer/etc. However, move positions sometimes. Time your attacks if you can. Also, as Redeye, don’t always throw the smoke and use it, sometimes throw it off to the side and cast suspicion. If you can manage to get enemies to shoot at nothing you will be far more victorious than them shooting at you.

Anything else I have would probably not in any way be helpful to you based on seeing your footage. As the only other thing I would say is aim with the mouse less and use Ad-ad rapidly to track instead. But that’s a skill I wouldn’t recommend learning because honestly, your mouse-point aim is incredible, and thought learning the ad-ad movement is great for some, it’s detrimental to others. Keep enjoying yourself when you can watsyurdeal. I know you’re usually busy.

I don’t recommend engaging any heavier hitpointed characters while you are low on hp even if the opportunity is there. Retreating in DB isn’t a bad thing, and hiding isn’t either.

I hope I’ve been somewhat helpful to you, and anyone else wondering.

(Xyfurion) #19

Bookmarking this thread. I can see good stuff here.

I too suffer from the issue of having pretty decent aim (albeit my high sensitivity) but not as good survivability, so @Xenithos 's comment was damn well-loaded with advice!

(Terminal_6) #20

Based on your playstyle I’d recommend the fallback-and-bait strategy, which sort of negates dodging. But are you looking for advice specifically on being evasive in engagements you can’t run from, or general tactics to avoid being hit?