Kiting 101

No matter how much hitpoints you have or high damage you do, I believe that kiting monsters especially champion packs become an invaluable skill to be learned by ranged classes. If you don’t have the slightest idea of what I’m talking about, then reading this post will give you the answer.

Kiting is basically a hit-and-run technique used by players who are more often than not ranged classes. One basically hits the monster once, maybe twice or as many times so long as the monster is still at a distance. When the monster starts closing the gap between it and the player, the player simply walks away again and repeats the process. The advantage of using this technique against champion mobs is that it allows the ranged character class to minimize the damage the champion mobs and minions to do them while still dealing damage and eventually killing the whole monster group without really taking lethal hits or deaths.

In Diablo 3, all monsters can be kited (yes even ranged monsters can be although it would be more challenging since you need to dodge projectiles while kiting). As such it is advantageous for ranged classes especially those who are in higher difficulties (nightmare, hell, inferno) to learn kiting as they naturally have lower survivability in terms of total hitpoints and armor.

In order to kite successfully, there are five things that you would probably want to consider or need in the battle against the hordes of monsters from the burning hells.

 1 – Movement impairing ability (i.e. traps for demon hunters)

Movement impairing abilities can help ranged classes kite easier because the slower the enemy moves; the easier it is to hit and run away from them. This is especially true for mobs that don’t have the fast affix. 

2 – Distance widening ability (i.e. teleport for wizards)

Distance widening abilities can make kiting more successful as they instantly widen the gap between the monsters and the ranged class, as such when something goes wrong (even internet connection issues), the player can still kite like a boss. Combining distance widening abilities and movement impairing abilities will make kiting definitely easy for newbies and veterans a like.

3 – Movement speed increase from equipment or skills (i.e. spirit walk for witch doctors)

If the player moves faster than the enemy, hit and running would be easier.

4 – Obstacles (i.e. rock formations)

If the player is kiting monsters especially those that move quite fast, finding obstacles would allow the ranged classes to temporarily slow the enemy for a second or so and this is all the time you need to run farther. Since monsters generally chase you in a straight line, having obstacles breaks this pathing hence making them a bit slow. Sometimes going around obstacles again and again would help against fast monsters. Take a little care and caution when using obstacles in kiting as they can potentially work against the player too.

5 – Awareness (i.e. kiting monsters to “safe” places)

Having awareness is important when kiting as the player does not want to go in bad places such as dead ends or areas that are not yet explored. Getting stuck in a corner or drawing more monster aggression to the player while kiting will more or less make matters worse for the player and could ultimately lead to their deaths. 

Note that the first four things can be optional to some, but for many if not all, it would be a requirement to kite easier, safer and more successfully. Do share other tips with regards to kiting in the comments below. Have fun and happy kiting.