The Monk Temple Reborn

[PROBOUND]

^ This. If using a controller, It may also help you if you re-assign the Lock-Target feature to the Right-Joystick instead of the left.

[Ricdeau]

i'm a fresh new monk...i've hard time when i lock the target and try to escape from an AOE. Often skill hit me. so my question is...do you use lock target or not?
(with lock it's very easy to move rear or flank but difficult to master when AOE)

You'll find a large mixture people that use it and those that don't. More often people with controllers are using it and those with keyboard/mouse are not, but that's not to say you won't find people that use controller with no lock-on and keyboard/mouse players that do. There is no best here, and it's a matter of preference. Same goes with legacy style controls which might aid in your getting out of mechanics quicker. Just remember that with legacy style controls it's easier to lose auto attacks when not locked on.

My advice is to test out different control schemes and see what fits you best. While I understand lock-on helps you with swapping flank and rear locations please remember that you should be riding the rear/flank line anyway so hitting either one should only take your character a step or two to either side. I personally use standard controls, and no lock-on with keyboard/mouse. I've never really spent much time playing this game with a controller so I've never developed a preference on that side of things.

[SunnyHirose]

You can disengage the lock well before you have to dodge, or disengage the mob (which will unlock for you).

I don't lock on very often outside of FCoB; due to its peculiar AoE style, it's the only set of fights where doing circular motion around a mob is the best plan.

[Dervy]

it's the only set of fights where doing circular motion around a mob is the best plan.

So, that's the whole of FCOB then? :P I use Lock-On exclusively in FCOB for all turns and take it off whenever mechanics demand it, such as Earth Shakers, Blue Fire, targeted for Wild Charge, etc.

[SunnyHirose]

T10: The puddle. Waddling around that stupid, stupid puddle at the very least.
T11: I hope I don't have to explain this one.
T12: Blackfire placement, at least how my group has done it. Last phase Bennu alignment, perhaps. If you are on Fountain duty it is probably for the best.
T13: Megaflare and Earthshaker require some drastic lateral motion to stay on Bahamut.

In the vast majority of fights you can just chill on that rear/flank line inside the mob (due to how angles work, facing is more lenient the closer you are; FCoB messed with that too), and when the target spins it's more expedient to go directly to a positional than to try circling around to it. Always restore facing after moving--you can hook back, and you can /facetarget (default keybind F, can be set to an analog stick click), and sometimes an attack ability will be available in time (don't rely entirely on that, it could take a whole GCD!).

With legacy controls, what you don't want to do in terms of auto-attacks is move tangent to the mob for any significant period. Some people make a big deal out of locking on / standard controls as if you "lose" autoattacks for using legacy... nah, because of auto-attack being a cooldown in nature, on melee DPS it's pretty insignificant if you understand how to handle the facing properly. Except in FCoB.

[Dervy]

Legacy feels SO much nicer to run around/dodge mechanics also. Standard/Action means you end up back peddling, unless you turn your entire camera around and personally, that causes unnecessary strain when dealing with reflex-based mechanics (AOEs mainly like Titan Plumes, T11 Lazers etc).

It does mean I have to end up using an additional button on my mouse to enable/disable lock-on, but it makes manoeuvring around your target for Megaflares and other similar mechanics like what Sunny said, completely brain-dead.

[Ricdeau]

To each their own. I have no issues with standard and no lock on. In fact I actually dislike legacy controls outright, but that's just my personal opinion (I'm used to the standard controls from just about every other MMO I've ever played of this nature). However, there's no reason to back pedal ever unless that's what you are intending to do. Also you'd use strafing as your GTFO movement.

[Dervy]

Exactly dude, it's all down to personal preference. As you stated before, you need to adjust your settings and see what works best for you.

[Thrustie]

I play on ps4 and click in and out of lock-on constantly. I taught myself to do it at the beginning of SCOB when I was unsatisfied with my DPS numbers and convinced lost auto-attacks was the culprit. It was a painful learning curve but well worth it. Eventually it just becomes muscle memory like everything else. If you use a controller, I highly recommend teaching yourself. Don't let the mess ups dissuade you. Mnk as a job is about playing aggressively to optimize your DPS. Lock-on is really just an extension of that.

[Craiger]

The thing I don't understand with using lock-on, is that you don't really move around much anyways when there are no mechanics... You simply move one or two steps left/right to hit the positions needed, and when there is a mechanic that you need to dodge or something, you don't have to disable the lock-on every time. Using strafe to constantly face the target is really simple too. Maybe with controller (haven't played with one), but I just think I can react much faster without using lock-on. Guess everyone is different.

I use Legacy controls with strafe bound to A and D. That way I get the strafe that is mandatory, but I can still dodge instantly backwards. If I need to back pedal, I just press A, S and D at the same time. Dodging by strafing isn't hard after a while either, and I dodge using both ways without even thinking about it.