Auto Attacking

[Raoull]

I think I'm doing something wrong.... I've tried the various options to enable auto-attack that I've found, but it just doesn't seem to work. I only attack when I hit the "E" key (or click the mouse, but I've been using keyboard more). I tried doubleclicking (since one of the checkboxes involved doubleclicking for autoattack) but that didn't seem to work either.

Is there any way to not have to bang on the keyboard to fight? Preferably some option where I continue to attack the guy I'm beating on unless I do something else, plus a "if a guy attacks me, attack back".

Seems simple enough that I think it must exist, but I can't figure it out.

Anyone know what step I'm missing?


Thanks

[Chai]

Single right click and hold on the mouse...

[Raoull]

Hmmm... while an option, it is less than ideal. So far I've been playing with my hands on the keyboard and only using the mouse when I wanted to look up and down.

Is that the only way to not have to mash buttons? If I need to fight with one hand on the arrow keys and one hand on the mouse, it's hard to heal. (I'm playing a battle cleric type character.)

[Chai]

You can go into the options and bind any key you want to auto attack, or most of the other functions of the game for that matter. The same screen that has the log out button on it has an options button on it.

[hydra_ex]

Auto-attack does not chase and hard-target mobs for you. All it does is attack an enemy you have hard-targeted (ie clicked on/tabbed on) when it is in rage. Since stuff moves, auto-attack is only useful for stationary targets and ranged combat (which does not include spells).

[Nuralanya]

I had problems getting this to work right, too. What I eventually did was drag the icon for 'attack' from the feat list into an unused hotbar, mapped a key to that slot, and now I just hit that key when I want to toggle auto-attack. Works perfectly!

edit after seeing previous responses... I tried assigning a key to auto-attack via the menu, but that just never seemed to work quite right. How I have it now definitely works for me, but yes you do need to hard-target your enemy (and be close enough if meleeing!).

And never, ever have auto-attack enabled if you're holding a bow and tabbing through possible targets...

[Raoull]

Thanks for the info. I'll give it a try the next time I'm playing.

I think I interpreted the Auto-Attack hotkey as a toggle, not a use each fight. I'll try it that way. The fact that they move around is fine, since I play with one hand on the arrow keys and the other hand to hit other keys....

I won't know for sure until I test it, but this does sound like what I'm looking for. Thanks to all those who helped.

[Raoull]

Bonus points to Hydra. I had found what had been confusing me most... when I managed to get auto-attack turned on before, I wasn't targetting anything. Tab did the trick. (Looks like ` may also be handy for that.)

As an extension, is there a way to auto-target? I'm sure I would want it on often, but I was in a fight with a bunch of things moving all about, and targetting and facing the same mob was a bit tough.

[ReaperAlexEU]

you can fight with one hand on WASD and the other hand on the mouse and still heal while in mouse look. the key is getting those heal buttons close to your fingers. eg 1-4 are easy to reach with your left hand. you can also map your side mouse buttons to the quickbar, i have mine mapped to slot 7 and 8. so you put the important spells close to your fingers and the less important stuff else where.

you can also do similar out of mouse look. you use WASD to turn and face the enemy and the mouse to click on your spells and party members or right click to attack.

mess about with the 3 default keymap settings to see which one feels more natural

auto-attack can be useful, but it can also get you in trouble or waste lots of swinging time as mobs hop round behind you. its better in the long run to learn a control style that doesnt use auto-attack. its also better if you can move with mouse look on for some tricky jumps, but general combat is down to the personal preference with regards to mouse look

[Sneakee]

Also - if you use ranged weapons, be careful about leaving auto attack on...

Can lead to some unwanted aggro if you accidentally target a mob before you're ready...

[tihocan]

Auto-attack can be ok at first, but better learn to live without it. Especially when you start fighting teleporting monsters at higher levels, it is not really practical.

[Raoull]

Thanks for the advice on a better mousing style, but my wrists would rather I stick to just keyboard for the most part. I'll see how far I can get with just keyboard for now.

I've already been messing pretty heavily with my mappings. I unmapped wasd so I could use those buttons for other things (s for search, a for toggling auto-attack). I do like how heavily you can customize your mappings.

A "hit what is in front of me" toggle would be good. Then I would only need to worry about what I was facing. But I think the ` key may end up being close enough... I'll find out.

[Emili]

I do not use auto attack... You're in less control and is less efficeint in killing. Fact is I do not target mobs... when in a group of them am more often hitting two or three that way (even with twf and not thf). I just hold down the mouse button.