Circle Strafing

One of the fundamental techniques you should learn is the circle strafe. Circle strafing is the skill of circling around your opponent while keeping him in your sights the entire time. The purpose of this maneuver is to be able to keep the sights on your opponent and shoot at him while dodging around in a circle. In order to execute the circle strafe, you must be strafing in one direction while turning your mouse in the opposite direction. The key to executing this maneuver successfully is to use smooth and continuous movements, especially when it comes to keeping your aim on the enemy. Although it's very unlikely that the enemy will stand still and allow you to circle around him, you can adapt your movements based on where he moves to keep him in your sights. A good way to practice your circle strafing technique is to find a pillar in one of the maps and circle strafe around it. Using a weapon that has a continuous rate of fire, such as the Super Nailgun, keep your aim on the pillar while circle strafing around it.

Avoid Patterns in Movement

Good players will pick up your dodging and strafing patterns. If you tend to strafe right a lot more than you strafe left, you will find yourself losing many more battles as you play. The best way to keep your opponent on his toes is to mix up your strafing tendencies. Start off by strafing left more often than you strafe right. Then, a few minutes into the game, switch and do the opposite. A few minutes afterward, start strafing left and right equally. By avoiding patterns in your movement, you will make yourself an extremely difficult target to track and hit.

Using Forward/Backwards While Strafing

By using forward and backward while dodging, you are forcing the enemy to not only adjust his aim horizontally, but also to adjust his aim vertically for varying distances. Additionally, the closer you are to your opponent, the more drastic your movements appear to be. Thus, if you are moving forward, backward, and side to side, it will make you that much more difficult to hit, and your opponent may panic and blast the floor right in front of his feet, hurting himself in the process. If you find yourself in an extremely close-range rocket battle, move backwards right after you fire (while still strafing). If you do it correctly, you will be able to hit him and move out of his field of view, causing a good amount of panic, and hopefully a free shot for you to finish him off.

Use the Backwards Key

As simple as it may sound, running backwards is a skill that should not and cannot be overlooked. Many people can run backwards, but not all of those people can run backwards well. One of the advantages of being able to run backwards well is that you can still shoot at your opponent even while running away. Additionally, if you know your opponent is somewhere behind you, you can essentially watch your back the entire time (by running backwards) and not have to worry about him sneaking up behind you. There are some disadvantages to running backwards, though. One disadvantage is that you have to know the levels extremely well in order to run backwards fluidly, since you cannot see ahead of time where the corridor turns. You must also remember that while running backwards, turning left will make you walk right, and vice versa. Being able to switch from running forward to running backward quickly is also a good skill to have. While running forward, do a quick 180-degree turn, simultaneously switching from hitting the forward key to the backward key. If you do it correctly, you will have switched from running forward to running backward without ever slowing down or veering off course.

Next: Advanced Techniques