Microscend
Stutter Step
Kite a melee swarm, wherever the fight puts you.
Stutter stepping, or kiting, is the first micro skill of any RTS: ranged units that fire, step back while they reload and fire again beat melee units that would win a straight fight. This drill asks for it round after round: in the open, in a corner, surrounded.
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What it trains
Kiting is timing. Step away too early and the volley never goes out; too late and the enemy is on you. Each round sends a fresh squad of riflemen against infantry that win a straight fight but walk slower, then adds what makes kiting hard in a real game: riders that cannot be outrun, archers that shoot back, sappers that blow up, a wall at your back, enemies on every side. The three versions differ in the margin: the faster the infantry, the less room a late click leaves you.
Rated in Micro, the one skill it uses.
Three versions
Each version is named by the ranks it measures. Start on the first; once your best is at the top of its range, the next one carries on from there.
Bronze – Platinum
PlayKite a melee swarm, wherever the fight puts you.
The situation
A fresh squad each round, somewhere new: the open, riders behind, archers, two sides, a sapper, a corner, a heavy rider, surrounded. The infantry win a straight fight but walk slower than you.
Scoring
Every enemy killed pays its cost (infantry 60, archer 50, rider 100), -1 per hit point lost, paid when a round is cleared. A squad down to less than half is pulled out and its round starts again.
How to play it
- Shoot, right-click away while the rifles reload, attack-move back when they are ready.
- Step where there is room; archers reach less far than you, so stay out of their reach.
- Riders and sappers cannot be outrun: shoot them as they come.
Your best Not played yet
Bronze – Master
PlayKite infantry almost as fast as you.
The situation
The infantry walk almost as fast as your riflemen: a late click is ground never won back. New rounds: heavy riders, archers behind the infantry, sappers on the flanks, a ring you may not leave.
Scoring
Every enemy killed pays its cost, -1 per hit point lost and -30 a second outside a ring you may not leave, paid when a round is cleared. A squad down to less than half is pulled out and its round starts again.
How to play it
- Step back the moment the volley is out; shoot the moment the rifles are ready.
- Sappers: shoot them first, or spread the squad so a blast takes few.
- In a ring you may not leave, kite round in a circle inside it.
Your best Not played yet
Obsidian – Pro
PlayKite on a knife-edge, two squads at once.
The situation
The infantry are barely slower than your riflemen. New rounds: two squads in two rings, sappers from every side, archers with riders, a catapult that shells whoever stands still.
Scoring
Every enemy killed pays its cost, -1 per hit point lost and -30 a second outside a ring you may not leave, paid when a round is cleared. A squad down to less than half is pulled out and its round starts again.
How to play it
- Two squads: one on each of your groups, each kiting round inside its own ring.
- Spread from sappers and shoot them as they come; under the catapult, never stop twice in one place.
- The infantry are barely slower than you: no click late, no step too long.
Your best Not played yet
In your games
It is the skill of stutter stepping marines and kiting stalkers in StarCraft II, of kiting with archers and cavalry archers in Age of Empires, and of every ranged unit that has to fight melee ones. The controls are the same: right-click to step, attack-move to shoot, on your own hotkeys.