I'm beginning with kiting for two reasons: my non-WoW-playing D&D group members didn't know what the term meant, and I learned how to do it way back in vanilla WoW, in Upper Blackrock Spire.
So, to start, what is kiting? Kiting is getting a mob's attention, and then moving away from it to control its actions, generally to move it.
Why would you want to kite something? Different mobs are kited for different reasons:
- As a form of crowd control, by drawing its attention to keep it from hitting other players
- To move it out of bad stuff (poison/fire/etc.)
- To prevent it from using an ability or spell it only does while not moving
- Because it periodically fixates on someone
Kiting as Crowd Control
The first two are the most frequently occurring reasons; for example, the original kiting fight I learned involved kiting General Drakkisath from his room to, usually, the Beast's room, although when you got better at it, you could often get him all the way to Rend's room before he'd run back. Normally this was done by a ranged class, usually a hunter. This tactic let the two tanks in the group pick up Drakkisath's two minions and let the raid kill them before having to deal with the general himself. At the time the strategy wasn't complicated: distracting shot, concussive shot, run. It occasionally got interesting if you fell off one of the bridges into Lower Blackrock Spire. (Ahem.)
This kind of kiting can be used to effectively lock down a mob that can't otherwise be crowd controlled through traditional methods like trapping or sheeping. Many classes have a slowing effect - concussive shot, the Slow spell, hamstring, crippling poison, frost shock, frost bolt, and so forth. If a group you're in asks you to kite something, it's probably either because you can handle the damage it's going to do to you, or because you can effectively slow it down and run away. So find your slowing abilities if you're not familiar with them and get ready to run!
Another reason you might find yourself kiting something you can't sheep or trap is because your tank died. Maybe you're just kiting long enough to get a battle resurrection for the tank; maybe you're kiting to finish off the fight. In this case, keeping your distance from the mob while maintaining threat is often the most important part. You might not be able to slow it, so if you have anything that can increase your speed (sprint, blink, rocket boots), they're your new best friend.
Kiting for positioning
If a mob needs to be kited to regularly move it out of bad stuff, this is probably being done by the tank who's tanking it, or maybe via a tank swap in a larger group. This version of kiting is often done by backing slowly around the fight area, in order to get the mob out of a puddle of poison, fire, or some other deadly substance so that melee players can actually hit it. Or, the puddle may provide a buff to the mob, so moving it out of the area will weaken it. This is something to watch out for more if you're tanking.
Kiting as an interrupt
Occasionally you'll want to kite something to keep it from casting or using an ability. An example of this is Garnia, a rare-spawn elemental on the Timeless Isle. Garnia's ruby bolt hits hard, so it's best to keep her from casting it when possible. Besides interrupting it, if you can keep her moving, she won't do it. You may or may not need to slow a mob in this situation, but you definitely need to do whatever your class needs to in order to do damage on the move.
Kiting as a mob's focused target
The last common reason for kiting (that I can think of right now) is because a mob periodically focuses on and chases one of the people fighting it. Generally when this happens, your group with have a designated place for running to; in some cases this may simply be "don't run it through the raid," or you may need to get the mob to a specific spot in the room. Thok the Bloodthirsty is the most recent example of a boss who will try to chase you down and eat you, but there are others.
Sometimes if you're kiting something that has focused you, it may not be a mob, but a beam of fire, a moving line of spikes, or some other ability which is linear/trail based. In this case, you need to keep moving, but you don't have to worry about killing the thing chasing you; you just have to keep it from hitting your group or perhaps avoid dragging it across a puddle of something on the floor (don't set the oil on fire!).
Successful kiting can take some practice; you have to be comfortable hitting your slowing ability on demand when needed and then run before you get smooshed. Other kinds of it can be picked up fairly quickly - running away from your group with a beam of fire and such. If a group needs a kiter and you're new to it, just make sure you know where to take the mob and if you need to do anything special to it while you've got its attention, and it will probably be okay!
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