Kiting

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Kiting is a basic tactic used to kill monsters while avoiding engaging in melee. Kiting involves running away from a monster, before it can attack you, in order to gain some advantage:

• Speed/Distance: If you are faster than a monster, then you'll gain distance as you run away. Combine that with a form of ranged or reaching attack, and you can damage (eventually kill) melee monsters with 100% safety. Back away from the monster whenever it gets close to you; when you are far enough away, hit it with a ranged or reaching attack. Repeat until the monster is dead.

If you have some other means of creating distance, you can use that to kite. Hopping between different sets of stairs, or effects like Passage of Golubria and Borgnjor's Vile Clutch, can create distance, thus allowing you to kite same-speed foes.

• Damage over time: Kiting can be used with damage over time effects, such as poison, Sticky Flame, or Freezing Cloud. You can inflict poison, retreat a few tiles, and repeat. If you can't create distance, you can't kite indefinitely, but you can still inflict significant damage.
• Regeneration: If you miscast Magic Dart, you've used up 1 MP. So long as you aren't in melee range yet, you can back off, recover that 1 MP, and try to fight again.

Notes

• Before kiting, make sure you actually have room to back up.
  • Kiting is related to pillar dancing; a large "pillar" lets you kite enemies in a circle. If the pillar has an irregular shape, the enemy may forget about you, allowing you to reengage with more ranged attacks.
• If you aren't faster than the monster, you should always keep at least 1 tile of distance away, to avoid attacks of opportunity.
• It's best to kite around a reasonably known area. If you kite with unexplored area nearby, new monsters can show up, which can make kiting impossible. E.g. you won't be kiting a hydra when a torpor snail is slowing you down.
• You can also kite ranged enemies that are slower than you. Enemies cannot attack you from outside your LOS. So long as you keep the enemy at the edge of LOS, and have space to retreat, you'll have the option to back off. This forces the enemy outside LOS, thus forcing it to move (and not attack).