Vainglory Forums

First I aplogize if there are threads on this but I just signed up on the forums....and my IQ level does not allow me to find the search function...

I'm at level 18 and normally with Saw I'm pretty decent, I almost always have 2x the kills than deaths and my teams are always either hard fought battles or we win.

I have recently gotten owned several times by what I believe I found called the "stutter step" by another saw. I'm not crying...I was impressed but I have a couple questions.

1) Is this considered a valid tactic and working as intended or is it an bug/exploit that will hopefully be fixed? (and not the animation break but the increased rate of fire)

2) How the heck are they doing it? I tried on my iPhone 6 plus and just can't get it down. I assume you click back and then on the target quickly...but either I can't get the timing down or the iPhone is too small?

3) What's your best counter to this with a saw or others?

The 3 times I ran into it it gave me fits because I fell behind in the early game and with saw I have a much harder time catching up than with any other character.

How's the community around this game? I am usually one of the 10% of players that frequents and contributes to the forums, but this is the first for a mobile game for me. I'm assuming most players of this game are more typical "gamer" than your average mobile game.

Thanks!

Yes. Stutter stepping was intended and is used by high ELO players. Actually it's quite easy to pick up and is a skill that separates the decent from the awesomeness. I play on my iPad which is easy, but i believe stutter stepping on the iPhone wouldn't be too difficult. Most people play with 2 thumbs, but I have never player on a phone. And the best way to counter stutter stepping, or any fast hitters, is to build atlas Paldron or armour if you wish.

Thanks!... easy is subjective, but then again I never have been the awesomeness.

Question though...If the stutter step somehow artificially shortens/resets the cooldown on basic attacks how will atlas Paldron help?

Or to ask it a better way does Atlas Paldron actually effect the basic attacks speed if one is stutter stepping?

I'm thinking about trying to play on my ipad mini 2....but the iphone is just so much easier because its always with me.

I don't like playing on my Ipad Air because the FOV is narrower and it is just a bit too big to reach everything quickly.

Let's begin with logic. Every attack you make has an animation. For example when Ringo is shooting, we can see him suffer from the recoil of his gun (His hand goes up). He shoots, suffers from the recoil, shoots again, etc...
Stutter-stepping is nothing less than cancelling the post attack animation (in Ringo's case, when he suffers from the recoil). As soon as he shoots the bullet, you click somewhere else to cancel the animation, letting you instantly attack once again.
In order to be able to stutter step, you need at least +40% in attack speed. If you don't have at least +40% thanks to for example Blazing Salvo, you won't be able to properly stutter step. Simply Because Attack Speed should be in fact called "Reduction of the Attack Animation's duration".
That's why those who stutter step will always build some items to improve their attack speed.
Now, I'll get to the part where Atlas Pauldron is the stutter stepping's worst nightmare.
Stutter stepping needs to have a rythm :
-Click the target
-Click somewhere else
-Click the target
-ETc...

If you do it too fast, you'll cancel your whole attack animation. If you do it too slow, you'll attack just as usual. It's a rythm you have to learn, that players who stutter step know.
When you activate Atlas Pauldron, you'll slow their attack speed by 65%. In fact, you'll slow their attack animation by 65%. You'll break their rythm, because the animation's duration has changed, and what will happen is that as they'll try to stutter step, they'll cancel their own attacks because since their animations are slowed, they're doing it way too fast.
Everytime I did it, the stutter steppers kept on trying to stutter step, without realizing they weren't shooting anymore, dancing around as the fools they were.
Usually I buy 2 Atlas Pauldron when I see that their carry is stutter stepping, in order to block their stutter stepping for 10 seconds every 15 seconds.
The real thing to know is that those who stutter step are way to dependant on it to be able to fight without it. When they realize they're slowed, they'll flee most of the time because they are nothing without their precious stutter stepping. Stutter steping is their strength, but it is their biggest weakness too

From watching the devs live stream, they mentioned that it's not quite a glitch, but more of an exploit. But because it's a skill based exploit they're not focused on fixing it right now. So at some point it could be gone :P

As the others have pointed out, you target, attack, deselect, rinse-and-repeat.

Atlas Pauldron is a good counter, although a good 3v1 gank always works :P

Also, if only one opponent is stutter stepping you can simply hard counter him/her and build defesively to make him/her useless against you.

Well, the devs said a clear word about stutter stepping :
It's not at all going away, and if you look at what they said, it might be improved.
Here's where the screenshot came from, it's at the bottom, where they talk about their projects

Ohp! xD You're totally right! But at the very least they'll make it to where it's more consistent for when people want to use it. I know for melee heroes it's really hard (or at least I have trouble getting it to work).

Actually stutter stepping with 2 thumbs is quite easy to master than playing on Ipad or tablet. Playing with 2 index fingers is abit harder to master in my opinion.

Build Atlas Pauldron or Metal Jacket or both.

Also, if any of your teammates have any stunning ability, use it on saw. Without his stacks he's dead meat.

Thanks for the answers.