Who do you target first? How do you choose your target?

drzycki_ESO

I play with two scary looking males and I am the prissy dressed female. I seem to ALWAYS be the first target so I spend a lot of time face down in the dirt. Am I chosen as first target because I am perceived as being weaker, because of my pvp rank, or another reason? Should I recreate my character as a bulky, scary looking guy to stand a chance? Please share with me how you choose your target when running into a group and any advice you can give me.

Thank you,

Anela

Faded

Are you a healer, or the only one of the three carrying a staff? Healers die first.

Is your health significantly lower than theirs? Or is there another indicator - class, spec, low CP - that suggests you'll go down quicker than they will? You're first.

Are you a magsorc or magcro and neither of your friends are? You're first.

That's just me, but I doubt your character's sex, outfit, or lack of scary-looking-ness are it, especially if it's consistent.

baselesschart

I look at who is obviously doing the most amount of burst while also being relatively squishy. NBs and magsorcs will be the ones that typically fall in that category. Also pay attention to how people position themselves from their group, if they stray too far and are isolated, go for them. Another variable I try and look for is if people are confident and know how to play the game, if they are forgetting their buffs and will run away from you if its 1v1 they are likely an easy kill.

drzycki_ESO

Faded wrote: »

Are you a healer, or the only one of the three carrying a staff? Healers die first.

Is your health significantly lower than theirs? Or is there another indicator - class, spec, low CP - that suggests you'll go down quicker than they will? You're first.

Are you a magsorc or magcro and neither of your friends are? You're first.

That's just me, but I doubt your character's sex, outfit, or lack of scary-looking-ness are it, especially if it's consistent.

Sorry, I should have said. I am a Stamina Warden with 924 CP (we play in no-cp). My health is higher than my teammates who are a stamina Necro and a stamina Sorc.

Thank you for responding.

Anela

danthemann5

I target whomever has the lowest health, in general. Also, healers.

I couldn't care less about what you look like, what you're wearing, or your alliance rank. Putting enemies out of the fight as efficiently as possible is all that matters.

Araneae6537

Edit: Deleted my post — I know even less than I thought! It’s been quite interesting reading through the replies and a lot of insights I’d not considered.

jaws343

For me, I target low health and low CP first. Or even known names. If I recognize the name and know I can drop them quick, I am taking them out first.

And then it is class and role dependent. With healers being priority.

And then it really is just situational. Is the player distracted by a teammate, or in execute. Are they dishing out tons of damage. Are they eating burst damage but not putting out too much damage in return.

If you are being targeted first in the group most of the time players are recognizing previous encounters and knowing they can take you down first or that they should take you down first to make the fight easier.

THEDKEXPERIENCE

drzycki_ESO wrote: »

I play with two scary looking males and I am the prissy dressed female. I seem to ALWAYS be the first target so I spend a lot of time face down in the dirt. Am I chosen as first target because I am perceived as being weaker, because of my pvp rank, or another reason? Should I recreate my character as a bulky, scary looking guy to stand a chance? Please share with me how you choose your target when running into a group and any advice you can give me.

Thank you,

Anela

Only 3 choices for me.

1 - if you’re a healer and I know it you’re getting taken out first.

2 - since it’s really hard to determine who is or isn’t a healer in the heat of battle, if all else is equal I’m going to try to kill the player with the lowest CP first to get the numbers into my favor.

3 - if your friend is a tank then I’ll shoot you instead.

Essentially the lower your CP and HP is the more likely I’m hunting you first. If you also happen to be a healer, I’m definitely hunting you first.

What your toon looks like has 100% nothing to do with it at all.

THEDKEXPERIENCE

Faded wrote: »

Are you a healer, or the only one of the three carrying a staff? Healers die first.

Is your health significantly lower than theirs? Or is there another indicator - class, spec, low CP - that suggests you'll go down quicker than they will? You're first.

Are you a magsorc or magcro and neither of your friends are? You're first.

That's just me, but I doubt your character's sex, outfit, or lack of scary-looking-ness are it, especially if it's consistent.

Haha .. yes, 100% this.

Joy_Division

Whoever I think is easiest to kill. Has nothing to do with what they look like, what class they play, or even necessarily how much CP. If I attack them and they 1) either react in a way that indicates inexperience or 2) takes a lot of damage, they are getting tab targetted and focused.

Also, another big tell for me are people standing still using lightning heavy attacks.

Waffennacht

Squishy. It all depends on how much damage an attack deals.

If a single attack moves ur health bar a decent amount; im putting on the pressure.

If I hit you and ur health hardly moves; to the bottom of the list for you

Goregrinder

It depends on which toon I'm playing but on my Gankblade basically my priority is usually:

1st) Squishiest target, usually wearing light armor and only has maybe 20-25k max HP. If they appear to not be doing any real damage to anyone that's even better. These are easy kills, and ezpz is the goal.

2nd) Targets in execute range. Even if they stack high health and probably have high resists, if they are below 50%, I will try to go for a combo and execute.

3rd) Targets my teammates are hitting. I try to focus fire as often as I can even when playing solo, so if I see one or two people beating on someone I will try to help uninstall that target from the server.

4th) Healers if they look like they won't be able to break stuns or out heal my burst from an ult etc. Competent healers are hard, especially if they are a Magden or something. But I will target them before I target a tank. If they are competent but they are doing too well of a job healing their team then I will go in and try to at least pull them off healing duties to instead force them to focus only on healing themselves.That means their team is now getting less heals.

5th) Anyone over 35k HP, or anyone that is apparently running a lot of resists and can turtle, make it to the bottom of my priority list. I only go for them when other people are hitting them and can get stuns or CC off on them, or if they are alone and I have my ulti up. Otherwise, it's a waste of resources usually on most of my builds.

Kartalin

I target the one that doesn’t seem to recover as well from my damage, or is taking more damage due to lower mitigation.

Fawn4287

For me I Firstly look for any who are not diligently healing or spamming something like snipe, sitting on half health or spamming 1 skill Is usually an easy person to pick off, secondly look for the healer, anyone using a resto spamming a morph of regen is usually a good pick next. After you deal with those 2 types you go for the squishiest, bows and restos instead of sword and board, low health pool, high damage numbers indicating low resists and work your way up towards tanks. Thats if I have the liberty to pick someone off of course, usually its trying to land a dawny on a choke point to hit as many as possible then attempt to finish anyone close to execute.

kingsirdrmr

My order for all PvP:
attacking me > low HP > hard CC'd > mounted > stuck in siege AoE > people on siege > cloaked players I spot (reveal on all my builds) > anyone my poke does too much damage to

Pauwer

I honestly can't even see what the characters look like. Sometimes it's hard to see what my teammates look like. Usually our group leader says who to focus on and then we do. Try to pick healers first.

But when i play solo, i try to just pick the lowest health one or who has already taken some damage. And if the target is a lame tank, i just move to another. I dont wanna play with lame tanks.

My experience on people attacking me is that when i'm on my 5 star char, i always get minimum of 20 people on me. I don't really play the char much anymore. I get less peeps on me all at once on lower ranked chars. And i always play cute bosmer gals with nice outfits lol

Thraben

drzycki_ESO wrote: »

I play with two scary looking males and I am the prissy dressed female. I seem to ALWAYS be the first target so I spend a lot of time face down in the dirt. Am I chosen as first target because I am perceived as being weaker, because of my pvp rank, or another reason? Should I recreate my character as a bulky, scary looking guy to stand a chance? Please share with me how you choose your target when running into a group and any advice you can give me.

Thank you,

Anela

1. First targets are bow users in general if they happen to be in range. This is because they typically lack the defense for solo play outside of ganking.
If you have a bow, be a StamSorc or perma-dodge roll, or keep your distance.

2. Second targets are melee players with no working defensive strategy - an experienced group leader can see that from miles away.
If you must play melee, try to imitate the typical movements and skills of troll builds, so that people assume that you ARE a troll build, e.g. always keep up your self heals, run around trees and rocks, and use shield ulti or mist form just to make a statement.

3. Third targets are isolated players if they have no troll build
Always make sure that you and allies have a local superiority of numbers. That does not automatically mean that you need to be more than the others, just more powerful given the enemy player's combat range. If you watch 1vsX videos, you will see that they are not really 1vs X, but multiple 1vs1 situations where the other enemy players are just not in effective combat range.

Alternatively, follow the golden rule of zerg- surfing:

Never be the first to join a fight, and
never be the last to leave it

4. Fourth targets are people who have already received substantial damage.
Never fall below 60% health in a zerg situation. Every experienced MagSorc could spot you through a sea of other players just to get the last hit and kill on you.


5. Fifth targets are healers IF there are no other healers around.
Refuse to be the only healer in groups. Never group up with Stamblades as a healer, or with multiple troll tanks.

NO-TARGETS:

A) Troll builds, Life Leech builds
B ) StamSorcs
C) Small Scalers
D) PortSorcs


(They could also be all four at the same time


DOES APPEARANCE MATTER?

As a general rule, no. The exception are Stamblade gankers; they indeed have the tendency to attack seemingly squishy targets. That's why some MagPlars intentionally wear a robe, just to attract some Stamblades who are stupid enough to attack them, and that's why healer players should indeed wear no robe.

drzycki_ESO wrote: »

Sorry, I should have said. I am a Stamina Warden with 924 CP (we play in no-cp). My health is higher than my teammates who are a stamina Necro and a stamina Sorc.

Thank you for responding.

Anela

Remember the thing about experienced players and their ability to recognize certain skill setups?

In your case, the group member most likely to die is YOU, and you are also assumed to be the critical player of the group. Your main problem is that you are playing with 2 players who are automatically assumed to be on a troll build, and that you are the only one who can heal them, and also the most dangerous DD. The Stamsorc is assumed to streak away, and the Necro is probably even tankier than you.

Here some quick fixes:

1) Play with your Ice shield. Its visuals alone deter most ranged players. And its absence on a warden encourages them.

2) If a StamSorc is in your group, "Nature's Embrace" is a must. The other players expect you to be the main "healer"/ DD anyways, so show them how great your classes healing power truely is. They will give up quickly. And if they don't, just port behind your streaking Sorc with that skill.

3) You have to work on your co-players' low damage - it is not threatening enough. Of course, they will claim that their damage is great and their build is great and blablablabla, and after that you 3 equip harmonious jewelry, put down 2-3 Grave Robber synergies, a Lightning Flood, a SubAssault, maybe 2 Orb synergies, and a Blast Bones, and everyone who tried to focus you will change the side of the street and won't be back until you invade Akavir.

And if that is not enough, the Skythe skill increases the StamSorc's Heavy Overload attack by 40%; the StamSorc adds a source of the Empower buff, and BAM!

4) You can also work on yourself: Before you do anything, throw one or two cliff racers onto the target; if its health goes down from that, it is soft enough for a melee charge. Heavy Bow/ Frost Staff (Frost Staff Backbar is best, even better than Sword and Shield, in your case) attack thereafter, and the target is stunned and most likely isolated.

Raeyleigh

drzycki_ESO wrote: »

Sorry, I should have said. I am a Stamina Warden with 924 CP (we play in no-cp). My health is higher than my teammates who are a stamina Necro and a stamina Sorc.

It actually makes some sense that you die first.
The focus will probably be on the stamsorc first, because it is the squishiest class out of the 3. But focusing a good stamsorc who kites well is difficult, so if he proves to be too hard to pin down the focus will probably switch towards you and the stamcro. Stamden and stamcro are comparable in tankiness, but a good necro can potentially stall out atleast 20secs longer with clownform, and everybody knows it. Which leaves you as the preferred target in the end.

If you often face off against the same players this pattern is reinforced, as they remember what happened last time and what already worked once.

L_Nici

Bows and Staffs first. People who lead the attacking force get ignored they are usually the tanks you are supposed to attack while Bows and Staffs try to murder you from range. The healthpool is just a secondary thing to look at for me.

Galarthor

I probe for who is the weakest link.

1. eliminate the target that is the most immediate threat to me (survival first!)
2. if nobody sticks out threat-wise -> check behavior
3. if there is no obvious difference in skill level -> I put some pressure on them in an attempt to find the weakest link
   • here I tend to start with ppl in dresses / light armor b/c it is the worst of the 3 armor types. It has the least amount of passive mitigation and relies heavily on active mitigation, which means it has a higher skill cap and provides a higher chance for the enemy to slip up. With ZOS' recent lazy attempt alleviate the issue of LA underperformance by turning LA armor builds into perma-rollers, this might change depending on enemy skill level. Heavy Armor is last, b/c ... well proc-crap meta of the past couple of years and unkillable high DPS tank builds ... you are not gonna kill them faster than their LA or MA buddies. And even with the current, much better cyro meta, they are still tanky but don't deal too much damage either. So they are usually not the greatest threat.

drzycki_ESO

Thank you all for taking the time to respond and give me some very useful advice! I see some changes that I will be making that will help me.

Thanks again!

Anela

THEDKEXPERIENCE

Joy_Division wrote: »

Whoever I think is easiest to kill. Has nothing to do with what they look like, what class they play, or even necessarily how much CP. If I attack them and they 1) either react in a way that indicates inexperience or 2) takes a lot of damage, they are getting tab targetted and focused.

Also, another big tell for me are people standing still using lightning heavy attacks.

I feel attacked. 🤣

For the record my lightning heavy attacks are just to build up my ultimate from 30 yards out.

On a real note though, yes, don’t stand still. If you’re not moving in Cyrodiil nearly 100% of the time then you’re throwing out a huge red flag about inexperience. Not unlike how two boxers will circle each other, if you are not actively attacking forward or retreating backwards you should be moving laterally while attacking at all times even if there is no reason to do so.

Also, and I know this is unpopular, but jumping costs no stamina. A well timed jump is sometimes better than a roll dodge.

THEDKEXPERIENCE

@Thraben

Great post. Let me add to your part about a deceptive look.

My name is THEDKEXPERIENCE. My main is not a dragon knight. I don’t even have a dragon knight above level 50. Most people assume I’m a dragon knight when I speak to them for the first time. Some of these people I’ve played with or against for half a decade.

I use invisibility potions a lot. People have in the past asked me the set up on my night blade. My main is not a night blade.

I wear light armor and have 50k magic. I’m not a sorc.

My main is a Magplar that sometimes dresses in only a towel and a skin that makes me look like an argonian vampire without a tail. My character is neither an argonian nor a vampire.

In the grand scheme of this 99% of the time none of this matters, but 1% of the time you end up fooling opponents just long enough to take them out.

Even my character name on my main is set up to cause a small amount of confusion. All of it adds up. His name is Iamdk Iamnotadk.

Because I am DK. It’s my initials and the same nickname I’ve had since the 1990s. But I am not a DK.

THEDKEXPERIENCE

L_Nici wrote: »

Bows and Staffs first. People who lead the attacking force get ignored they are usually the tanks you are supposed to attack while Bows and Staffs try to murder you from range. The healthpool is just a secondary thing to look at for me.

So I’m not supposed to yolo into 35 yellows in a doorway on Allessia Bridge in light armor running two staves? But it works so well!

Joy_Division

Thraben wrote: »

drzycki_ESO wrote: »

I play with two scary looking males and I am the prissy dressed female. I seem to ALWAYS be the first target so I spend a lot of time face down in the dirt. Am I chosen as first target because I am perceived as being weaker, because of my pvp rank, or another reason? Should I recreate my character as a bulky, scary looking guy to stand a chance? Please share with me how you choose your target when running into a group and any advice you can give me.

Thank you,

Anela

1. First targets are bow users in general if they happen to be in range. This is because they typically lack the defense for solo play outside of ganking.
If you have a bow, be a StamSorc or perma-dodge roll, or keep your distance.

2. Second targets are melee players with no working defensive strategy - an experienced group leader can see that from miles away.
If you must play melee, try to imitate the typical movements and skills of troll builds, so that people assume that you ARE a troll build, e.g. always keep up your self heals, run around trees and rocks, and use shield ulti or mist form just to make a statement.

3. Third targets are isolated players if they have no troll build
Always make sure that you and allies have a local superiority of numbers. That does not automatically mean that you need to be more than the others, just more powerful given the enemy player's combat range. If you watch 1vsX videos, you will see that they are not really 1vs X, but multiple 1vs1 situations where the other enemy players are just not in effective combat range.

Alternatively, follow the golden rule of zerg- surfing:

Never be the first to join a fight, and
never be the last to leave it

4. Fourth targets are people who have already received substantial damage.
Never fall below 60% health in a zerg situation. Every experienced MagSorc could spot you through a sea of other players just to get the last hit and kill on you.


5. Fifth targets are healers IF there are no other healers around.
Refuse to be the only healer in groups. Never group up with Stamblades as a healer, or with multiple troll tanks.

NO-TARGETS:

A) Troll builds, Life Leech builds
B ) StamSorcs
C) Small Scalers
D) PortSorcs


(They could also be all four at the same time


DOES APPEARANCE MATTER?

As a general rule, no. The exception are Stamblade gankers; they indeed have the tendency to attack seemingly squishy targets. That's why some MagPlars intentionally wear a robe, just to attract some Stamblades who are stupid enough to attack them, and that's why healer players should indeed wear no robe.

drzycki_ESO wrote: »

Sorry, I should have said. I am a Stamina Warden with 924 CP (we play in no-cp). My health is higher than my teammates who are a stamina Necro and a stamina Sorc.

Thank you for responding.

Anela

Remember the thing about experienced players and their ability to recognize certain skill setups?

In your case, the group member most likely to die is YOU, and you are also assumed to be the critical player of the group. Your main problem is that you are playing with 2 players who are automatically assumed to be on a troll build, and that you are the only one who can heal them, and also the most dangerous DD. The Stamsorc is assumed to streak away, and the Necro is probably even tankier than you.

Here some quick fixes:

1) Play with your Ice shield. Its visuals alone deter most ranged players. And its absence on a warden encourages them.

2) If a StamSorc is in your group, "Nature's Embrace" is a must. The other players expect you to be the main "healer"/ DD anyways, so show them how great your classes healing power truely is. They will give up quickly. And if they don't, just port behind your streaking Sorc with that skill.

3) You have to work on your co-players' low damage - it is not threatening enough. Of course, they will claim that their damage is great and their build is great and blablablabla, and after that you 3 equip harmonious jewelry, put down 2-3 Grave Robber synergies, a Lightning Flood, a SubAssault, maybe 2 Orb synergies, and a Blast Bones, and everyone who tried to focus you will change the side of the street and won't be back until you invade Akavir.

And if that is not enough, the Skythe skill increases the StamSorc's Heavy Overload attack by 40%; the StamSorc adds a source of the Empower buff, and BAM!

4) You can also work on yourself: Before you do anything, throw one or two cliff racers onto the target; if its health goes down from that, it is soft enough for a melee charge. Heavy Bow/ Frost Staff (Frost Staff Backbar is best, even better than Sword and Shield, in your case) attack thereafter, and the target is stunned and most likely isolated.

Just want to point out this is a insightful post that has much wisdom for people who may be wondering why they seemingly get singled out while amidst other players.

And it;s quite clear @Thraben is a fan of "troll" builds I too make it a point to avoid what even looks like a defensive oriented build (DK with spiked armor showing with 1H/shield, Wardens using Vines and Artic Wind, Necros holding block, etc.).

Conversely, I do tend to target players using what I think are poor/inefficient skills as this generally indicates either a lack of experience or someone who may not be familiar with how much the game has changed over time.

Princess249

I don't think appearance has anything do with target choosing, those do choose their target only by looking have less experiance and skill. But a low hp bar always makes you an easy target.

JayKwellen

Joy_Division wrote: »

Conversely, I do tend to target players using what I think are poor/inefficient skills as this generally indicates either a lack of experience or someone who may not be familiar with how much the game has changed over time.

Sometimes though, it's a trap.

Used to be I'd focus on wardens lugging around their bear because more often than not it usually meant it was some dude who just wandered in from PvE. Then one day I saw someone who I knew was quite good on a warden with the bear out. Apparently he had the same idea and was using at as a lure, and also as a portable body-blocker. Lot of people got smushed before they figured out what was happening. Outside of trolly stuff like this though yeah, focusing on the people using poor skills is the right decision 99% of the time. Even if 1% of the time it's actually some beast purposely doing something off-meta that's still a risk worth taking imo.

But I gotta say, this patch has been kinda weird in this regard. In particular I'm seeing a lot more people running stamina skills on their mag characters, and it's kind of messing up my idea of how the world is supposed to work. I've seen a lot more magcros and magdens running Turn Evil, a noticeable amounts of mag players throwing caltrops (even tried it out myself), even saw a sword and board dark cloak magblade using vigor which was wild.

SshadowSscale

For me it is sniper/ganker with detect pot then healer then who ever has lowest health or I'd someone is really doing a lot of damage them..... the more healthier guys I will focus on when all the others are gone

Thraben

JayKwellen wrote: »

Joy_Division wrote: »

Conversely, I do tend to target players using what I think are poor/inefficient skills as this generally indicates either a lack of experience or someone who may not be familiar with how much the game has changed over time.

Sometimes though, it's a trap.

Used to be I'd focus on wardens lugging around their bear because more often than not it usually meant it was some dude who just wandered in from PvE. Then one day I saw someone who I knew was quite good on a warden with the bear out. Apparently he had the same idea and was using at as a lure, and also as a portable body-blocker.

There is still a small visual clue in that case, most of the time: if you use the Bear to pretend Noobishness, you will use Natures Embrace, in order to increase your self-healing power.

And Nature's Embrace is a skill which requires quite a skill to use effectively - so much actually that no noob would even touch it.

But yeah, in general Bear Wardens are good targets

spotzhopz

When im on my ganker(since its my most used character atm) if im about to solo attack a group the first thing i do is check who has lower health, then if any of them have damage shields(case by case basis i might attack the one with the damage shield if they also have lowest health, since attacking from stealth might be my best way to get rid of the shields and burst them down before they get them back up). Then if any are obvious healers theyve gotta go. Then if i can tell what classes they are, ill most likely ignore the ones with a burst heal like warden and dk until last, try to take care of other gankers first so i dont get surprise attacked. Then theres also the times if i run into a group i know then the order usually goes, the one im most worried about and then go from easiest to hardest.

Or if i run into a player that i just dont like ill probably go for them first

Animus-ESO

Healers>sorcs> then anyone we find squishy