Positional attacks, model size and how they relate?

I've been leveling MNK and I'm curious what target hit boxes really look like in terms of Positioning requirements. On smaller enemies it's not so big a deal, but the large enemy models make jumping between directly beside and directly behind quite time consuming. So how much leeway is there exactly?

The ring on the ground below the enemy shows you where the back and side ends.

If you don't have a ring on a ground, activate it in the options menu. Under control -> target -> target ring.

http://i.imgur.com/HVP2IBW.jpg
It's the same either way. You only have to move back and forth passed the edge where the mob's circle breaks.

Dont look at the enemy's model look at the symbol beneath it (looks like an almost complete circle sans the back part when you select an enemy). The idea is to stay just at the end of the border (almost on the backside but still count as lateral) for lateral hits then move to the borderless part for backside atack. Unlesss the tank is moving the enemy switching from back to side and viceversa can be done by a single lateral step instead of wasting time moving extra distance.

Also remember that some enemies have a full circle when selected which means that every side counts as optimal position, so feel free to land moves as you want

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Originally Posted by Trespar

The ring on the ground below the enemy shows you where the back and side ends.

If you don't have a ring on a ground, activate it in the options menu. Under control -> target -> target ring.

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I assume you are refering to the ring indicating which way the targets facing. That's not really what I'm asking for. I'm asking how much leeway there is for a skill to determine it's in the correct position. For instance if the targets flank is 180 or 0 degrees and the targets rear is 270 degrees does being at 220 or 320 degrees count as Rear or does it count as Flank? can I side step to 230 degrees and count as Flanking or do I have to be closer to/exactly at 180?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Caraway

It's the same either way. You only have to move back and forth passed the edge where the mob's circle breaks.

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Ah thanks, that's actually very helpful.

One more thing to add to this discussion is that the hitbox itself is relative. The rear and flank is determined at your targets epicenter; the center of the targeting ring. You could stand inside the hitbox and still get land your positionals correctly while mitigating movement even further. This is useful for targets with large models, such as Behemoths, Cerberus, the various Dragon-type mobs, ect.

Another thing to add is all attacks are directional as well. So when you auto attack or use a single target weaponskill it will extend 3y directly in front of you. So in some fights were movement can be tight because of mechanics, and the boss is big enough you can just rotate the direction your character is facing to hit flank or rear without actually moving your locaiton. These times are pretty rare, but can help you get a positional off when you might not be able to actually step over to the right position. Example of a fight like this would be Kaliya (Turn 11). It has ground AoE that will cut you off from certain positions for a small period of time, however, since it has a huge hit box if you stand by the flank/rear interchange you can just turn your character to the left/right and get your positional attack off.