Dr. Espers guide to hitting positionals with MS paint

[Esperacchius]

Hello, my name is Esper and I have a problem. I play Dragoon.

I've noticed many people commenting on the difficulty of hitting the positional requirements of melee DPS. This, I think, is a common misconception held by people who don't fully understand the anatomy of NPC hit boxes. I've taken the time this morning to illustrate (via MS paint) the safest and most efficient method to hitting positionals.

"But Esssspers!" you say with your typical pubescent whine "You're a loldrg! Why should we listen to you!?" Honestly? You probably shouldn't but I took the time to write this so just shut your mouth and pay attention.

First, lets take a look at what not to do:


This is wrong for two reasons. It creates extra amount of space for you to travel between your GCD's and it exposes you to rear cleaves, like the one Cerberus has.

[Esperacchius]

If you pay attention to the bottom of a mob, you'll notice a little red ring (it's yellow in the following picture, but most of the time it will be red... or purple... shut up) around them. This is actually their hitbox!



Notice how it's not a complete ring? That's not a graphical error, that's actually where you need to stand to hit the rear.



As you can see, SE has given us a very clear visual illustration of where we should be standing to pull off our fat dps.

If you train yourself to stand here for flanks:


And here for rear hits:


You'll have a much easier time transitioning for your ability's.

[Esperacchius]

This lets you move as little as possible and still pull off incredibly accurate positionals.

A monk rotation would look something like this;
Bootshine,
Step to the right.
Twinsnakes,
Step to the left.
Demolish.

You literally only need to take a single step to hit everyone of your positionals.

Thank you for taking the time to read my incoherent guide. Please feel free to send all your gils to Esperacchius Skybreak on Lamia. Have a nice day.

Edit: Dervy brought this up which I forgot to mention.

The positional counts at the point of ability activation, not animation.


You can be running circles around the boss and activate Chaos Thrust right as you hit the rear, ending up at the flank during animation cast, but you'll get the Rear Bonus. Useful tip for those trying to hit positional whilst avoiding AOE's.

Thanks Dervy. He throws out some solid DRG discussion/theory crafting on his youtube channel here.

TL;DR: Positionals aren't that hard, yo.

[treuhavik]

I like you.

[Dervy]

You should probably add that the positional counts at the point of ability activation, not animation.

You can be running circles around the boss and activate Chaos Thrust right as you hit the rear, ending up at the flank during animation cast, but you'll get the Rear Bonus. Useful tip for those trying to hit positional whilst avoiding AOE's.

[Esperacchius]

You should probably add that the positional counts at the point of ability activation, not animation.

Okay! Will do.

[Seikon]

Also, about those pesky mobs where you can't really tell where they are facing since they don't really turn and they look like they have a butt for a head; you'll most likely see a full circle as their hit box. That means positionals do not matter.

- Just your typical scumbag bard making your guide better.

[MercuryD]

This whole thread made me giggle :3 Great points! Maybe I'll need to refer some people here...

[Tex_Mex]

Hello, my name is Esper and I have a problem. I play Dragoon.

"But Esssspers!" you say with your typical pubescent whine "You're a loldrg! Why should we listen to you!?" Honestly? You probably shouldn't but I took the time to write this so just shut your mouth and pay attention.

Love it lol. Thanks for the laugh

[RiceisNice]

Needs a MS paint guide to back-hit kraken and demon wall.

And putting up with spin top bosses like Masculine in T7.