L2joust the Stoppable Force Way

I see comments like this every day, whether it be in BA chat or Twitter or what-have-you:

Leafy: Anyway, now I am going to drive home and then fail to joust for a while.

It pains me to see so many people having such a hard time with jousting. It doesn’t require any twitchier reflexes or awareness of movement than, say, a typical raid boss – and not even a particularly hard one. If you possess the following skills, you can joust:

1. The ability to reach numbers 1-4 on your numberpad.
2. The ability to strafe in a circle, whether by using the keybound strafe buttons (Q and E by default) or by “fake strafing” (holding your right mouse button down and moving it one way while using A and D or the left & right arrow keys to move in the opposite direction).
3. Two functioning brain cells to rub together.

BIG FAT BOLD DISCLAIMER: Now, I am fully aware that there are multiple strategies for jousting. Everyone has their own strategy. However, I have been using this strategy since day 1, and I have never lost a jousting match except to (1) players or (2) complete disconnects. This works on valiants, this works on champions, and (as long as you drag them away from other enemies) this works on Boneguard Commanders. (Side note: get the Commander at the back near the stairs and drag him up them while fighting. You’ll thank me later.)

ANOTHER BIG FAT BOLD DISCLAIMER: This is going to be very hard to do correctly if you still click your skills. I have nothing against keyboard turners – you can keyboard turn and do this, probably – but if you still click skills to activate them, this more than likely will not work for you. Caveat emptor.

If you have your own thing that works for you, fine – DO IT. This guide is for the completely hopeless, for the totally-given-up, for the people who pitch hissy fits at the thought of having to joust again. Read on.

1. Mount up. Doesn’t matter what mount. Keep pressing using your Defend ability (4) until there are 3 little green shields circling your mount. Now you’re ready.
2. Walk up to your enemy of choice. Stand behind and a little to the side of them. Open the dialog box. Accept, and:
3. IMMEDIATELY STRAFE LEFT. Even better if you do so in a partial circle. While strafing, as soon as you can do so, launch a Shield Breaker (2) and keep strafing.
• SIDE NOTE: A lot of people recommend meleeing here: this is worthless on Champions, in my opinion. Remember, Champions start off with three shields, and Valiants with two, so you’re only doing 10% of a melee hit to a champion. Regardless, if you can launch one as soon as you speak to someone, do it on Valiants. For Champions, start strafing instead.
• For the rest of the match, strafe in a circle around your opponent. They will usually try to move away: pursue them, then keep moving in a circle. This keeps you from being an easy target, and keeps you in range to do Shield Breakers and Charges.
4. As soon as the cooldown is up, launch a second Shield Breaker. Champions will now be at one shield; Valiants will be at 0.
5. Charge! Valiants will take the full brunt of your charge, Champions will take most of it and lose their shield.
6. While you are charging, start hammering the Thrust button (1). You’ll get one melee hit during the charge.
7. The charge is going to carry you a ways past your opponent. Wheel around to face your opponent, press Defend (4) and when you reach your opponent, press Thrust again. Thrust is on a separate cooldown from the rest of the mount abilities, so you’re able to Defend and Thrust literally at the same time.
8. Return to step 3, and continue until your opponent is defeated. Circle-strafe, shield-breaker, charge, thrust, circle, defend, thrust, repeat.
9. Rejoice in your victory.

Once the fight is over, heal up and get three layers of Defend again. Repeat the process until your dailies are over. That’s all there is to it.