How do you target enemies?

[KaizenSoze]

One of my frustrations with melee combat is targeting.

 

I still love melee combat, but once you have a scrum around and you're trying to get that key mob targeted. It's frustrating.

 

Trying to click is problematic, tabbing seems to always take forever and I seem to hit TAB one too many times.

 

Do you just use the default TAB targeting? I know you can change it. If you change it, what do you use?

 

I am not asking about custom "name" targeting, just general play targeting.

 

https://hcwiki.cityofheroes.dev/wiki/Category:Targeting_Commands

 

 

[Li_Sensei]

For melee?

 

My setup is:

 

Target nearest bound to Tab

Follow mob bound to F

Target next bound to T

Target previous bound to Y

 

In melee, Tab, F, attack.

 

Or, if I can't be bothered, then double tap any attack to select the nearest target and start hitting.

 

Cycle through targets with T and Y, or if I spot a particular priority target, then I'll click with the mouse.

 

If you want to make click targeting a little easier, then dig through your options and turn off screen shake.

[EmmySky]

Target nearest enemy is a bind on my numpad right above my arrows but I only is it if the target next enemy which is tab fails me.

[BjorJlen]

   Personally i made my own keybind for melee targeting that when i hit the tab key it not only targets the nearest rnemy, it also activates follow as well. Its actually a simple bind that is quite useful and is very fast so you'll be a quick melee killing machine. 🙂

 

   i am at work atm so i can't paste my bind here atm, sorry. But i will when i get home, unless someone else here can write up that specific bind before then.

 

   in addition, i expanded it recently to also include targeting quantum's and such in threat order in case i team up with any Peacebringers or Warshades. I will post that one to later in case you want it too. 🙂

[tidge]

All my characters use, via keybinds:

• target 'nearest alive enemy'
• TAB to 'next alive enemy' (default) <- I'll use this after 'nearest' to set up cone attacks, or to get to a 'more important' target
• target nearest alive "quantum" (and I will add other specific keywords to it as I think of it, for specific content)

The only variants I use (for non-attacks) are:

• for some specific buffs/heals, I have a keybind to target nearest ally (I run up to them before application)
• for some placed AoE 'patch' effects, I use a macro to drop the patch 5 units directly in front of me.

[Shred Monkey]

I have a target next button.. a target nearest button, a follow button, a target previous button (that is my least used one, but it's handy if you tab past that one you want).  And I have this wonderful bind:

 

/bind alt+PageDown beginchat /bind PageDown targetcustomnext enemy alive 

 

Note there is a space behind the end of that line that is important.   What that bind does it it starts a command in chat of "/bind PageDown targetcustomnext enemy alive " and leaves your cursor 1 space after the alive so you can type a quick "Cyclops <enter>" and just that quickly you've created a keybind to target Cyclops.... Use that alt+<key> again type the new target and you've overwritten that bind with a new target.  This makes for very quick updating of targets.  I actually have 2 quick alt-key binds set up  So I can swap to targeting, for example "Surg" without losing my bind for "Gen" in the 3rd ITF mission.

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Shred Monkey

[Sovera]

Most of the time I don't care what I am hitting and will just spam my attacks. Once something is dead the spam will choose a new target for me and I'll just keep on wailing. This is not optimal in the sense it is better to hit on a boss than on a minion that will die in my next AoE volley anyway, but I will click on the enemies I want to hit because trying to tab target one mob in a ball of mobs is not going to work well.

 

Perhaps we will have the devs finding a way to add a 'boss' tag that we can use to tab with bosses taking precedence, then lieutenants. That would be a (small) dream come true.

 

 

Edit: Clicking on a boss is much easier if we turn on the names and HP bar for enemies in options.

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Sovera

[Li_Sensei]

55 minutes ago, tidge said:

• target nearest alive "quantum" (and I will add other specific keywords to it as I think of it, for specific content)

 

 

A variant of that which I've seen mentioned is something like "/bind <key1> beginchat "/bind <key2> target_custom_next ""

 

Press <key1>, type something to use for a select filter, like archon, quantum, galaxy or whatever mob is annoying you, then hit enter (notice the trailing space in the bind).  then, whenever you press <key2> you'll target that specific thing.

 

You may need to play around with quotes and tweak it to get things working smoothly, but that's the gist of it.

[Nemu]

I use ERTF for movement so I have the surrounding keys available for binds and shift+binds. I have target next enemy bound to Y and target closest bound to A. I find that's sufficient. On occasion I'll click problem mobs that need my attention. To make it easier I hop next to mobs I want to kill and hit A, it gets the job done.

[iBot]

I use a multi button gaming mouse so all my targeting is done with buttons on it that are bound to mapped keyboard keys in CoH.  It boils down to target nearest and target farthest depending on if I'm on melee or ranged.  I also use the follow trick in case the mob starts to run or knocked around a bit.  Beyond that I don't really bother with targeting specific mobs in a group since the nasty ones are usually high on teammates hit lists and there is a good chance the mob will be dead before I even get there so I tend to look for the outliers on the edge of spawns for my attention.

[SaintD]

Tab for nearest and just mash myself into the preferred target.

[Shenanigunner]

The two basic targeting binds, for me, are:

bind F "follow"
bind G "target_enemy_next$$follow"

 

F to follow is pretty basic, but "G for Grapple" has always been the melee alt's best friend. In the middle of the mess, when a foe goes down or moves out of range, whack G to lock onto the next available client for your attentions.

 

Targeting itself is pretty inherent; just whack any attack power twice. Then F if you want to, or G to select and follow (grapple, lock on, whatever).

[Vulpoid]

I use
/bind F "follow$$target_enemy_near"
on Scrappers and Brutes. You follow the nearest target until it is dead.

[Senbonbanana]

1 hour ago, Sovera said:

Quote

 

Perhaps we will have the devs finding a way to add a 'boss' tag that we can use to tab with bosses taking precedence, then lieutenants. That would be a (small) dream come true.

 

 

This may be the #1 thing I want.  GM--AV--EB--B--LT--M priority targeting.  

 

[siolfir]

I don't bother with the follow bind, I just have one for targetenemynear (X), targetenemynext (C), and targetenemyprev (Z) and then scroll in either direction from nearest.

[Soyuz]

target_enemy_near is bound to the ` key, which on a UK keyboard is just above TAB and to the left of 1 (and possibly on others too? I don't know). That gives me an option when the scrum becomes too much to see through. Other than that, I keep targeting pretty standard. F to follow is very useful on melee characters, not so much on ranged ones.

 

I also swap the "turn" and "strafe" keys with each other, just because I prefer them that way, and I disable the default binds on function keys F5 and above, mainly because they prevent me from using said keys to change volume levels on my laptop.

[Luminara]

Staff Melee.  Two cones and a PBAoE.  Guarded Spin -> Innocuous Strikes -> Guarded Spin -> Toe of the Camel -> repeat.  No need to Tab, just stick to the chain.  Its's like shoving bad guys into a Cuisinart.

[Sovera]

4 minutes ago, Luminara said:

Staff Melee.  Two cones and a PBAoE.  Guarded Spin -> Innocuous Strikes -> Guarded Spin -> Toe of the Camel -> repeat.  No need to Tab, just stick to the chain.  Its's like shoving bad guys into a Cuisinart.

 

And then gently sanding their HP down.

[Luminara]

1 minute ago, Sovera said:

And then gently sanding their HP down.

 

I'm not worried that I might be seen as less of a <whatever> because I'm not one-shotting everything in sight.  That's not what I base my self-worth on.

[Sovera]

1 minute ago, Luminara said:

 

I'm not worried that I might be seen as less of a <whatever> because I'm not one-shotting everything in sight.  That's not what I base my self-worth on.

 

...it wasn't an attack on you or your self worth, Lumi -_-

[Luminara]

1 minute ago, Sovera said:

 

...it wasn't an attack on you or your self worth, Lumi -_-

 

Nor did I construe it as such.  We're good.

[RikOz]

I just have my TAB key set to "Target Nearest", and that seems to serve me well in "general" combat scenarios. The main place this is less than ideal is when I specifically want to attack a Lieutenant first, because, apparently by design, Lieutenants almost always seem to be positioned behind their attached Minions. But for many enemy groups, I have priority targets that are usually higher than Lieutenants. You know the ones - Sky Raider Engineers, Malta Sappers, Carnival Master Illusionists. On Circle of Thorns maps, I'll prioritize the various ghosts/daemons to eliminate their -ToHit debuffs as quickly as possible. So I'll click to target those priority targets.

 

I originally made the switch to "Target Nearest" because the default setting had that bad habit of picking targets on the other side of the room, which doesn't work very well when I'm playing a melee AT.

[Xenosone]

21 replies and not a single

 

Quickly. 

 

Son, I am dissapoint.

[Snarky]

I use a Razer Taterus left hand setup and a mouse right hand.  I am semi ambidextrous, depending on task and mood.  I have a dedicated side button for tab nearest on the Tarterus.  That is my go to.  Since i run Brutes 90% time I rarely need anything besides tab nearest.  I chest bump the next dance partner, tab nearest and wail away.

 

Sometimes I do use mouse targeting, That is more precise....until the screen is a mish mash of enemies and special effects.  Then, back to chest bump and hope for the right target.  Wrong one?  Hit it anyways and chest bump its neighbor.  That AV is around here somewhere....I think....Cant see a damn thing

Edited April 13, 2021 by Snarky

[Grindingsucks]

For the most part, I target like RikOz does.  I do sometimes make targeting macros for specific things like Sappers, Cimmeroran Surgeons, or whatever.  Bosses and the like, I typically just click on them or if it's a particularly hectic fight I'll jump/teleport near them and start spamming AOE attacks (or fire them from a distance if I'm playing ranged).