Taking the first hit

[ShashLigai]

<p>I have a lvl 48 monk that I am very pleased with and am still learning to play. I was in Zek the other day cleaning up some quests and noticed that when I taunt or body pull a mob to start a fight that the mob "usually" gets the first hit in. I don't know why I never noticed this before, but as the initiator of the fight you would think that the Monk would get the first strike. I don't mean the CAs, but with the normal attacks it seems he always waits until the mob strikes until he responds.</p><p>Am I doing something wrong, or is this the way it is?</p>

[Dragonhelm]

<p>Not sure but I think there is a very short recovery period after using a taunt which might be enough to give a mob a head start on you, as they're fairly short range.</p><p>If you're soloing, another way to start the fight more on your terms would be to use either a missile weapon (short range) or a hex doll (moderate range).</p><p> My preferred technique at the moment is to use the ruin hex doll to lower their mitigation, switch to my thrown weapon to get a sneaky shot in and then alternate between trip/knockdown/spin & hitting to keep them off balance. This will often get the mob halfway down their health before they've had a chance to hit me.</p><p>If it helps...! </p>

[ArcticBlue182]

also if you are body pulling you are not in "combat" mode so you are not going to hit it or deflect, parry etc unless you click melee attack then run in.if your unsure of the agro range move slowly towards the mob so u just go into the agro range, you will notice as you will be able to tell it kinda "looks at you" then run backwards to the safe place/group to fight it, as you run back click the melee attack button on your hot bar or hit one of your CA's as it gets close and get the first hit it.. maybe hit KD to open up with do you can get the 1st few hits in.EDIT: i should have added i use aswd to move about (im sure its the default keys) and have the melee attack on the number 1 key sp its in easy reach.

[ShashLigai]

Thanks for the replys. I'll give your suggestions a try tonight.