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Xornn summoned up a mystical shield about himself and looked over at the tents in the distance.  Kobolds wandered in and out, from tent to tent, grumbling to themselves in their own barking language.  Beside him, the short gnome fidgetted, and Xornn called upon magics to become a gnome--at least by appearance--himself.

"I'm ready, Master Xornn," said Bigglewiggins.

Xornn sighed and turned to face his young apprentice.  "If I were concerned with your state of readiness, you would know it."  The gnome shrank, comically so given his diminutive stature.  "Enchanting is not--will never be--about being ready."  With that Xornn cast a spell of evocation, and one of the kobolds dropped dead as it's mind warped into pudding.  As the rest began to charge in aid of their fallen brethren, the teacher turned to face Bigglewiggins and sat down.

"Control them now, Apprentice."


Controlling your enchanter is just as important as what spells you memorize, what tactics you use, and how quickly to commit to action and carry your plans to fruition.   The longer it takes you to move, cast and target with your enchanter, the less room you have for mistakes, for lag, and for bolts of lightning.  The first thing to cover is the keyboard setup:

Q - Auto-Attack
W - Consider
E - Forward
R - Reply
T - Tell
I - Inventory

CAPS - Target Nearest PC
A - Target Nearest NPC
S - Turn Left
D - Backward
F - Turn Right
G - Hail

Z - Spells
X - Toggle Fullscreen
C - Sit
V - Crouch
B - Recenter View

Space - Jump

Z allows you to quickly get to the spellbook without using up a valuable slot in your hotboxes.  X allows you to leave your spellbook without standing (post 35 you have automeditate, and don't need to keep your face in the spellbook).  C allows you to quickly sit/stand without using Hotkey slots, and V let's you crouch.  Crouching is very important, as it is a 100% effective way to stop casting a spell.  If you are crouching when a spell completes it's casting, you will not finish the spell--guaranteed.   You also will not interrupt either, plus you don't have to run around like mad trying to stop a spell.  B will recenter your view, as I highly use the "strafing" by holding the right mouse button down while pressing left and right to sidestep.  Combined with a little mouse-looking, I can sidestep around a group of mobs without ever losing sight of them.

In order to use mouselooking and strafing effectively, you need to be able to control most of your character from the left hand, and without having to mouseclick often (such as casting).  This is why the top 6 boxes of every hotkey bank I have are spell slots in the order they are memorized.  (1 is Slot 1, 2 is Slot 2, etc).  Slot 7 is always Tash or some spell I don't need to cast in the thick of getting hit, and 8 is always my swap slot.  The end result is being able to effectively move about the battlefield, keep all mobs in sight, quickly get about and have access to targetting and casting buttons without having to pause for moving the mouse pointer.

Running
Now, there might come a time when you need to run, and you don't have Spirit of Wolf.  In these cases, you can "strafe-run" to get away from the mob, by strafing left or right, and forward at the same time.  This will cause you to run diagonal, and might just be the difference between you living and dying.

Targetting
This is one of the most difficult things to do as an enchanter.  Everyone else can just use /assist to target the mob they need to be attacking, but the enchanter has to target everthing else.  The best ways to target are as follows:

Target Nearest NPC
Strafing and circling till the mob in question is closest is usually faster than trying to left click with the mouse.  On a two pull, it is usually easiest to stand behind the tanks, and target nearest, as they will push mobs back, leaving the unattacked mob closest to you.  When using target nearest after getting your target fire off your mez, and watch the mob's health during casting.  If it should drop at all, crouch out fast to stop you spell.  You haven't wasted any time really, because you needed that much time to find a target.

Flashing Names
Your current target's name will flash.  This is especially useful with same-name mobs, and you just have to left click the mess trying to see a flashing name change (target nearest works also).  This is really a pain in the butt, and involes left clicking accurately, but sometimes (especially when you have some time to get mez landed) this is a good way to target, or especially after an AoE mez, trying to get mobs Rooted.

PB Stunning
This is a tad less tactical method of targetting; clear your target window (Escape) and PB stun then step back.  The mob that rushes you isn't fighting anything else typically.

Turning
This might come off as a tad simplistic, but it's the difference between getting interrupted all the times while moving, and casting spells cleanly.  Right before you cast any spell, turn just a little.  If you have any forward or backward momentum, it stops the instant you turn.  You can use the mouse-look feature or keyboard to do this, just turn a fraction before any cast where you might have moved at all.  Get into the habit, and when it's time to PB stun, backpedal and cast a spell, you will turn at the end of the backpedal without thinking about it, and cast your spell instead of interrupting.

Learning to control your enchanter quickly and effectively is just as important as understanding how to manipulate everyone around you the best.