Cynik
Platinum
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2013
- Messages
- 49
- Reaction score
- 36
Hello everybody! Cynik/Squeeger here,
I just felt like sharing what I've noticed after countless hours of playing MCSG. I consider myself to be strong with the bow, and I try to avoid melee fights unless I know I can afford to trade hits and win. I wanted to share a list of tips to help with bow fighting.
1. Dodging is half the battle
I often see players who are new to MCSG or Minecraft PVP who just stand still and fire arrows, or move in one constant direction, pausing to fire shot after shot. My #1 tip to people trying to fight with the bow is to move around, and be unpredictable. Usually, your opponent will expect you to either trade bowshots with them, or run away. What I try to do is strafe side to side while running in "circles", go into third person view, wait until my opponent has his bow fully pulled back, and then turn toward him and fire a medium charge arrow his direction. Usually, the opponent will not have enough time to adjust his shot and hit you, and as long as you rinse and repeat this process, you will land some hits before your opponent can react.
2. Fully charged shots are not always necessary
Another tip that I have for newer players is that you don't need to fully charge every shot you take. The medium shot does a decent amount of damage, and gives you an extra fraction of a second, which can be crucial to dodging your enemy's shots. I usually keep an eye on the charge of my opponent's bow, and when it is almost full, I fire my shot, regardless of the charge. In doing this, I can jump out of the way of his shot, while still landing a shot of my own. Usually, you can land 3-5 medium charge shots before your opponent is able to counter the strategy, which is a good deal of damage. I would also recommend medium charged shots when trying to bow people back while they chase you, or when they are at close range.
3. Prediction is key
This is a fairly simple rule, but in Minecraft, arrows have drop and travel time. It is essential to aim your shots to where you expect your opponent will be when it lands. I tend to look for patterns in my opponents movements. For example, some players tend to dodge left more than they dodge right, and other players use the same strafing pattern while running no matter what. To become good with the bow, you have to be good at reading other players movements.
4. Arrows do more damage than you think
A fully charged bowshot against full iron does 2 damage. This may seem insignificant, but you need to think that you only need to hit someone 5-6 times (accounting for regeneration) to kill them, even in full armor. Engaging in melee fights can leave a lot to chance, as in whoever gets the better knockback or critical hit could win, but in bow battles, you can really calculate your advantage, and how many more shots you need to land. Believe me, I have nothing against melee fights, but I think of bow battles as a safer way of engaging enemies.
5. Use the bow to initiate melee fights
The most common use for the bow, at least in MCSG, is to finish off a running player after a melee battle. Instead of only relying on the bow to finish battles, I urge players to try to land a single fully charged bowshot on someone right before they start to fight you. This will give you a two heart advantage, and usually players don't back off after being hit by a single arrow. This is an especially good strategy when fighting players with more armor/better weapons than yourself, as they will be more confident in their ability to beat you, and won't worry about a single arrow shot, or even two.
6. Know where to find arrows
I recommend this for anybody trying to play MCSG, and it doesn't just apply to bow fights. Memorization of maps is extremely important, and chest routes really divide the new players and the experienced players. I would recommend that people take time to memorize where all of the tier 1 and 2 chests are on their favorite map, and then start working through the other maps. Map knowledge can be the difference between life and death. Tier 1 chests are amazing for arrow supply - they can contain arrows in groups of five, or flint, feathers, and sticks. I recommend having at least 10 arrows before trying to bow somebody to death, and double that if you are fighting an experienced player who knows how to dodge.
7. High ground is always better
No matter what situation you find yourself in, high ground always wins in bow vs bow combat. It is difficult to put into words the advantages that high ground gives, but the feeling of firing arrows down at someone is much more smooth than trying to fire up at someone. Three concrete advantages are that you have much more range and visibility, as well as the possibility of knocking your opponent down, and dealing fall damage to them. One last advantage of high ground is that when you're ready, you can always charge down at a player to finish them off.
8. Keeping track of your own armor and hearts
Like I said before, arrows do more damage than you think. If you have 7.5 or more armor bars, arrows will do no more than two hearts of damage per hit. However, if you have less than 7.5 bars of armor, arrows will start doing 2.5-4.5 damage per hit, depending on your level of protection. If you are fighting in leather armor, 3-4 arrows will kill you. If you have around 5 bars of armor, arrows will do 3-3.5 damage per hit, which can be devastating. Make sure to keep an eye on your hearts, and get good at strafing in irregular patterns to avoid incoming arrows.
Thats all I could think of for now, feel free to add your own tips and suggestions in the replies. Thanks for reading this, and I hope it helped a few of you learn the ins and outs of bow battles.
-Cynik/Squeeger
P.S. My new ingame name is Cynik if you want to find me - Waiting for a name change on the forums.
I just felt like sharing what I've noticed after countless hours of playing MCSG. I consider myself to be strong with the bow, and I try to avoid melee fights unless I know I can afford to trade hits and win. I wanted to share a list of tips to help with bow fighting.
1. Dodging is half the battle
I often see players who are new to MCSG or Minecraft PVP who just stand still and fire arrows, or move in one constant direction, pausing to fire shot after shot. My #1 tip to people trying to fight with the bow is to move around, and be unpredictable. Usually, your opponent will expect you to either trade bowshots with them, or run away. What I try to do is strafe side to side while running in "circles", go into third person view, wait until my opponent has his bow fully pulled back, and then turn toward him and fire a medium charge arrow his direction. Usually, the opponent will not have enough time to adjust his shot and hit you, and as long as you rinse and repeat this process, you will land some hits before your opponent can react.
2. Fully charged shots are not always necessary
Another tip that I have for newer players is that you don't need to fully charge every shot you take. The medium shot does a decent amount of damage, and gives you an extra fraction of a second, which can be crucial to dodging your enemy's shots. I usually keep an eye on the charge of my opponent's bow, and when it is almost full, I fire my shot, regardless of the charge. In doing this, I can jump out of the way of his shot, while still landing a shot of my own. Usually, you can land 3-5 medium charge shots before your opponent is able to counter the strategy, which is a good deal of damage. I would also recommend medium charged shots when trying to bow people back while they chase you, or when they are at close range.
3. Prediction is key
This is a fairly simple rule, but in Minecraft, arrows have drop and travel time. It is essential to aim your shots to where you expect your opponent will be when it lands. I tend to look for patterns in my opponents movements. For example, some players tend to dodge left more than they dodge right, and other players use the same strafing pattern while running no matter what. To become good with the bow, you have to be good at reading other players movements.
4. Arrows do more damage than you think
A fully charged bowshot against full iron does 2 damage. This may seem insignificant, but you need to think that you only need to hit someone 5-6 times (accounting for regeneration) to kill them, even in full armor. Engaging in melee fights can leave a lot to chance, as in whoever gets the better knockback or critical hit could win, but in bow battles, you can really calculate your advantage, and how many more shots you need to land. Believe me, I have nothing against melee fights, but I think of bow battles as a safer way of engaging enemies.
5. Use the bow to initiate melee fights
The most common use for the bow, at least in MCSG, is to finish off a running player after a melee battle. Instead of only relying on the bow to finish battles, I urge players to try to land a single fully charged bowshot on someone right before they start to fight you. This will give you a two heart advantage, and usually players don't back off after being hit by a single arrow. This is an especially good strategy when fighting players with more armor/better weapons than yourself, as they will be more confident in their ability to beat you, and won't worry about a single arrow shot, or even two.
6. Know where to find arrows
I recommend this for anybody trying to play MCSG, and it doesn't just apply to bow fights. Memorization of maps is extremely important, and chest routes really divide the new players and the experienced players. I would recommend that people take time to memorize where all of the tier 1 and 2 chests are on their favorite map, and then start working through the other maps. Map knowledge can be the difference between life and death. Tier 1 chests are amazing for arrow supply - they can contain arrows in groups of five, or flint, feathers, and sticks. I recommend having at least 10 arrows before trying to bow somebody to death, and double that if you are fighting an experienced player who knows how to dodge.
7. High ground is always better
No matter what situation you find yourself in, high ground always wins in bow vs bow combat. It is difficult to put into words the advantages that high ground gives, but the feeling of firing arrows down at someone is much more smooth than trying to fire up at someone. Three concrete advantages are that you have much more range and visibility, as well as the possibility of knocking your opponent down, and dealing fall damage to them. One last advantage of high ground is that when you're ready, you can always charge down at a player to finish them off.
8. Keeping track of your own armor and hearts
Like I said before, arrows do more damage than you think. If you have 7.5 or more armor bars, arrows will do no more than two hearts of damage per hit. However, if you have less than 7.5 bars of armor, arrows will start doing 2.5-4.5 damage per hit, depending on your level of protection. If you are fighting in leather armor, 3-4 arrows will kill you. If you have around 5 bars of armor, arrows will do 3-3.5 damage per hit, which can be devastating. Make sure to keep an eye on your hearts, and get good at strafing in irregular patterns to avoid incoming arrows.
Thats all I could think of for now, feel free to add your own tips and suggestions in the replies. Thanks for reading this, and I hope it helped a few of you learn the ins and outs of bow battles.
-Cynik/Squeeger
P.S. My new ingame name is Cynik if you want to find me - Waiting for a name change on the forums.
